Seeing an old edifice demolished
(plus an incident happened)
or all after seeing one of Leandro Locsin's work being demolished
followed by an incident out of fallen debris
With its demolition undergoing, the once-familiar edifice has been heared in every news report such as an Australian woman being injured and a Toyota Fortuner sports utility vehicle damaged after debris came showering during the demolition of the edifice days ago. And Makati Mayor Romulo "Kid" Peña then ordered a suspension of the demolition of the Mandarin Oriental hotel as authorities continue to investigate that said incident. He also directed the Makati Public Safety Department (MAPSA) to cordon off the affected area on a 24/7 basis to prevent a repeat of the incident and ensure the protection and safety of motorists and pedestrians.
Well, as expected, regardless of all the clamour for preserving the familiar edifice, the developers rather chose to proceed having it be demolished as shown by this picture below, with a caption coming from Matthew Lopez of "Manila Nostalgia" as it says.
 |
| The demolition of the iconic Mandarin Oriental Hotel has caused major traffic and has hurt a passerby. This could have been instead a major iconic cultural centre like a modern art museum like the Centré Georges Pompidou in Paris or the National Gallery Singapore through adaptive reuse. (Image courtesy from the Twitter Account of Former Rep. Gilbert Remulla; ©2015 All Rights Reserved) |
Well, it's been decades old to end familiarised, if not done by a national artist, to justify that the late great Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati has to be preserved instead of being currently demolished for a new "commerical-financial" complex like any other building situted in the Philippines "Little Manhattan".
This writer, as well as some others concerned, may have not entered its halls, but in seeing the recognisable concrete edifice and eventually be demolished would ask "how come a work of a national artist has end up being destroyed all in favour of building a new one?" Sooner the much older Hotel Intercontinental Manila will be demolished as well, and that is also a creation of a well-known national artist who is also the man behind that now-demolished edifice.
Maybe sooner or later there are familiar buildings that has to be vacated and be demolished afterwards in the name of "modernity". Worse, as what Irish Constantinou said:
"Unfortunately old buildings are not important for us. Commercialism comes first before preservation of history. I am sure that they figured it would be economically rewarding to demolish and replace with a new high rise."
Well, that's all for now. Remember the Mandarin, and if demolished, Remember the Intercon!
Well, that's all for now. Remember the Mandarin, and if demolished, Remember the Intercon!