"When book censors using dialogue to justify their impunity"

"When book censors using dialogue with the university
 to justify their impunity"

(Or: "thoughts after the recent dialogue between NTF-ELCAC
and the UP Visayas administration")

This note expresses concern as recent news about  the University of the Philippines- Visayas (UPV) administration was hosting a dialogue with the regional branch of the National Task-Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) through NICA Regional Director Ana Liza Umpar at the university’s Miag-ao campus last October 29, 2021. This dialogue, made days after an earlier statement "not handing over books" to the NTF-ELCAC, justified the talks as an "opportunity to exchange ideas and promote freedom of expression."

Quite reasonable at first for UPV Chancellor Clement Camposano to justify such words, as he hosted the NTF-ELCAC "in the spirit of dialogue." However, knowing the nature of the group as known for its rabid anti-leftist sentiment, it is not surprising that they take the talks as an opportunity to defend their idol not just from the left but also from the opposition in general in the face of controversies surrounding him; if not asking the UP administration to retract from its initial statement.

And in speaking of universities "handing over their books" to the NTF-ELCAC, one university in Cordillera justified this as their "moral consciousness not to allow youth to be engrained with peace-detrimental ideologies", if not in Aklan that "academic freedom as always subject to control and supervision by the state." Ridiculous isn't it- especially that they claim to be uphelding academic freedom and democracy while condoning book censorship under the Duterte administration, which he compared to state forces repressing feelings and ideas that are not acceptable to those in power. But administrators in UP Visayas will say that they allow them "in the spirit of academic freedom" to come and make their stand even most would describe that dialogue as a retreat from its initial statement, no matter how it tries to maintain some critical stance over the matter. 

Worse, to hear a statement from the Chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education J. Prospero de Vera III telling that "It would be best for the Chancellor of UP Diliman and their officials to be more prudent, circumspect, respectful, and discerning in issuing statement especially involving the exercise of academic freedom of other higher education institutions." Sorry for his thought but by telling UP Diliman officials "should respect how other higher education institutions run their campuses amid the decision to remove 'subversive' from their libraries" he seems to be condoning witch hunts and book burnings reminiscent of Nazi Germany to that of the former "Committee on Un-Filipino Activities" that targeted professionals especially in the academe. Will the Philippines' premier "national university" simply sit down and relax for this? After books, what's next? The persons who happened to be against Duterte and his camarilla within the academe? It did happen during the time of Prof. Ricardo Pascual in the mid-50s, and this may also happen in the present. 

So much for claiming to be they're defending democracy from the scourge of subversion, when in fact these orderists produced subversives in various forms. If not for the pandemic hard protests would happen anytime in the streets of Metro Manila all because of an incompetent boss-chief who tolerated corruption and impunity while claiming about "order" and "integrity". Of course, that boss and his apologists will use the subversion or rebellion card to justify their actions, including that of confiscating "subversive books" and claiming "they're saving children from the clutches of subversion and rebellion" despite horrid realities forced the poor and the young to fight and take arms in various forms.
And wouldn't be surprised that just "to clarify it all", that the vague term 'State Colleges and Universities' may end be replaced by a much clearer term: "Government-Owned and Controlled Higher Education Institutions" straight from the orderist's mouth, making it frank that those who studied in government-paid schools should be at the service of those who run the state's affairs, with academic freedom as any other constitutional right be controlled and regulated by authorities even it appears to be repressive.

"Of 'Goons' rather than 'Ghosts': Halloween over Manila"

"Of 'Goons' rather than 'Ghosts': Halloween over Manila"

As the night grows near over 'tis I recall dear

The time old folks remember the day both liked and feared

Calling upon the ancestors whose stories told

That end as legends old books as called

Strange as one may think as the bonfire lit

Followed by spells, incantations for this sacred meet

O'er the sacred fire, feast and celebrate

The new dawn as everyone awaits

With kids enjoying sweets after trick or treats

And jack o' lanterns glowing outside after a backyard feat

The moon glows so full as the owls hoot

If not seeing trees bearing ripening fruit

The magic of love resonates as couples together

Once creating sparks now casts a single power

Triumphs over fear and that of sorrow

As from this eve make way to a once-tomorrow

However the actual horror is not of ghosts

But rather of the order and its ghastly hosts

Exploiting thy home and those of the others

Reminiscent of nightmares that our sleeps bother

The attack dogs in uniforms and thieves in garb

Hamletted our villages with walls barb'd

The nation at hell- for sure the order can't tell

For it's hidden behind the beauty steered by their spell

If not the thieves this time in suit
Stealing every fruit, work, and leaving us like shit
Distorting the law by circumventing the article
To justify their trick as if making them unstoppable
As if they're concerned when in fact they are not
Even invoking the almighty even their hearts rot
Especially in facing the folk this time had enough of their spell
As their hearts hardened wiling to rebel

Quite true those horrors as seen in the newspapers

All made by ghouls whose reality they're attack dogs of the order

Some years ago we heard news about a young lad Kian

Who died accused of a crime, shot as he ran

Followed by another- this time about collateral damages

Justified by those uniformed living garbage

If not in the countryside whose just calls end silenced

By the bullets, and statements of the order's violence

But I know that the curse goons presented cannot last

For the folk now risen wanted to break the enforced past

Neither "hell" nor their "heaven" will vanquish the oppressed

Folks had enough of being subjugated, minds repressed

Expect fire and blood to exorcise the nation's soul

As the folk uprise till the rotten order’s fall

Like the old who said "there be dragons"

Yes, but this time of armed masses with cannons!

Pardon if my poem sounds political

Despite celebrating the day that's macabre and mystical

Especially as the moon shines so bright

Shattering the darkness that made the day blight

Perhaps the anger of the folk is what the order feared

Especially after decades being repressed, subjugated, or sneered

Not surprised as they all rise with torches, pitchforks, guns

Willing to burn tyrants at the stake till their souls gone!

No matter what most belittle this

Some if not few would surely miss

For on this day lies joy, and strength renew

'gainst the times of disquiet quite so true

I hope folks who passed, fallen guide my way

In every trials set day by day

For through their wisdom it gives enough light

In a time when darkness prevails, and tyrants fright.

“Still, the ghosts of victims kept haunting him”

“Still, the ghosts of victims kept haunting him”

Regardless of what his apologists deny or justify the result of his actions, particularly that of harassments, threats, and killings, it seems that the "change" that once promised in 2016 is but of blood and bullets. 

For many years past since "democracy" was restored in the country, the Duterte administration has left a legacy that outweighs those of his achievements: that of his drug war, his "war on terror", and that of his half-hearted response to this COVID19 pandemic. This may sound "political" especially when the folk are deeply affected by these problems, what more on the treatment brought by the state: that of fear than of hope, especially those who had enough of the cycle of poverty be it those from the shantytown to that of the countryside enslaved by local rural despotism. What more with the coming into effect of various unjust actions like "Tokhang" or "Double Barrel", to that of a controversial anti-terror law and the formation of a "task force" against the growing left-wing movement; and all these has brought back ghosts of Ferdinand Marcos' martial law (1972-81), especially when dissent was punished and silenced by force.

From these situations it wouldn't be surprised that this may continue. Especially when there's failure to strengthen democratic and republican traditions in the country, and with elected leaders with its allies as shamelessly transgressing justice and the rule of law as it tilts balance of power all to favor those from the executive branch. 

And in the case of Duterte, his apologists even justify it by claiming "they are for human lives", that his actions as a necessary measure, that "fear" is necessary to create order, or worse, provoking threats on those who disagree with their idol's view of "justice." They would even downplay innocents killed by the order, if not sharing the same thought of Dela Rosa that "shit happens" when it comes to operations against crime. "Human Rights"? It becomes a taboo issue for them if not claiming it as "coddling rebels and drug addicts" alike.
And to claim they're for human lives? Bullshit!  Even Duterte himself orders Dela Rosa to blame him for the drug war that caused both innocent and those falsely accused. Will people just accept it? Unless that person is a remorseless fanatic, expect the concerned seriously disagree that kind of narrative the administration is peddling to the folk. 

To cut this thought short, regardless of what apologists may insist, the ghosts of his victims continue to haunt him and even his camarilla. Not surprising especially that as calls for investigations resonate, Duterte's silence over the issue is itself an acquiescence of ICC's Bensouda's urging guised as self-denial if not remorseless over his actions. And since that the country has a "functioning judicial system and a vibrant democracy", then ask those who were imprisoned or killed due to false charges brought by some overzealous policemen claiming to be "for order and the rule of law" even it becomes contrary to it; what more of the arrests led by some judge who issues warrants simply because they are "subversives" in the eyes of the present administration and thus requires some basis to justify it no matter it is trumped-up nor its evidences as planted to justify further. 

***

Pardon if the title tends to be of a ghoulish nature, but for those victims of extrajudicial killings, of collateral damages, of falsely accused, and being planted by some "evidences", such actions created ghosts that haunts a regime that uses "justice" in its distorted form for their own interests. 

"All for Land, Bread, and Justice!"

"All for Land, Bread, and Justice!"

It is not surprising that while the government recognises highest poverty incidence in poor-stricken farmers and fisherfolks, they downplay if not deny the cry of these toiling masses but instead silencing them.

In fact, for many years, Filipino farmers considered October as "peasant month", with protests culminating every 21st, this event marks the recognition of farmers who also serves as the backbone of the National Economy. 

However, despite recognising by succeeding administrations the hard work of the Filipino farmer, most remain landless. Its agrarian reform programs all from past to present failed to address landlessness but rather facilitated the reconcentration of agricultural land to landlords in connivance with corrupt bureaucrats and even multinational agribusiness conglomerates, what more reclassifying if not changing crops from local needs to that of what international market demands. 

What more that in this COVID19 pandemic, this time demanding for greater subsidy and necessary support for as these farmers, fisherfolks, and their families have been also affected by this pandemic problem, coupled by limited movement  and even harassment by authorities, hence hindering their work. 

And now as these peasant folks marching towards Mendiola, all despite seeing riot police and other security forces with high-powered firearms waiting for them, these peasant folks still continue to demand for land, bread, and justice.

***

Also within this peasant month includes an international event. That last October 16 this event commemorated the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and is known as the "World Food Day", with people around the world come together declaring their commitment to eradicate hunger in lifetime. "Because when it comes to hunger, the only acceptable number in the world is zero" as what the statement goes.
Quite optimistic as the world promises to eradicate hunger- all despite the problems hindering food security and sovereignty ranging from unjust policies to that of climate change. But in case of the Filipinos, the right for food, like the right for livelihood, seems to be not prioritised by the order, if not making everyone concerned thinking "should food be meant to sustain the nation or by simply exporting it?" Pardon for the thought especially when big agribusiness conglomerates produce food meant for export like pineapples to that of sugar, while smallholders burdened with taxes, rent,  while having low income brought by the government's reliance on foodstuff importation. Isn't it that ridiculous that the order promises to eradicate hunger, yet those who create food rather treated as showoffs.

In fact, few days ago, this writer read an article that Agriculture Secretary William Dar underscores the importance of growing, sustaining, and nourishing together especially that of the poor being the most vulnerable sector towards hunger and malnutrition. He even announced that a new program on food was approved by the Inter Agency Task Force Against COVID19 to address issues related to the hunger problem. Even mentioned that he has already instructed the re-alignment of programs under the National Rice Program and the Philippine Rice Research Center to address the emerging rice requirement of the people. 
But from his message he emphasized that importation will be a last resort to support the department’s goal of achieving food sufficiency level for all commodities- way contrary that of the administration's action via the rice tariffication law that flooded cheap imported rice making farmers earning low income! What a contradiction as a concerned would say, especially that farmers and fisherfolks affected by this liberalisation protested against the laws that hinders self-sufficiency, food security, and sovereignty.

***

Ironically, farmers and fisherfolks did vote for Duterte being a provinceman and thus likely to address their concerns; last 2016 he appointed Rafael Mariano as Agrarian Reform Secretary, whose serious approach to Agrarian Reform earned support from the peasants and created ire from the landlords who, in connivance with bureaucrats, ousted him along with other concerned members of the cabinet. It is not surprising, for the fact that agrarian reform in the Philippines was driven by the thought of shutting the poor folk up from expressing dissent; and still these folks continue to march and express their grievances as these rural despots consolidating their interests becoming agrarian reform that of a ruse. For Duterte's followers would say "he tries to make his best" in addressing the peasant problem, that he ordered the current secretary to "implement agrarian reform" and that includes "going down to meet the farmers." But sadly, he's the same Duterte who rather support the landlord, the agribusiness conglomerate, and the scrupulous trader as laws like the Rice Tariffication Law and other decrees calling for low tariffs on meat and fish will not bring down the prices of rice and other foodstuffs but also endanger the country’s food security.

And to think that the agrarian reform under Duterte exists, then how come in Central Luzon alone, thousands of hectares of land are converted to pave way for Duterte’s Build, Build, Build projects, mining operations, and other so-called development projects. The Aerotropolis project of San Miguel affected fisherfolks as their source of livelihood end to be filled with earth for an airport! Worse, to hear reports like landgrabbing and land-use conversion all in the name of "development" that's brought under the current administration? Not surprising that these farmers who once snared by Duterte's message end realised he's same as that of his predecessors: that they use agrarian reform to silence than to empower the farmer and its community. 

And in speaking of "silencing", it is the same Duterte whose counterinsurgency programs sow fear and terror, especially with that of successive and rampant killings of peasants, forced and fake surrenders, illegal arrests and imprisonment of leaders and members of peasant organizations and bombing of communities. And these justified under  Memorandum Order No. 32 in Negros Island, Samar and Bicol together with Executive Order No. 70 (establishing the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict or NTF-ELCAC).

From their actions, what more of its justifications would say that the administration's treatment of dissent especially from the toiling masses is that of a crime against the state, and the action taken justifies the thought that his attack dogs also serve as protector and goons of the ruling order: that of despotic landlords, compradores, and bureaucrats who use state terror to justify landgrabbing to that of development aggression. Apologists would still strongly deny this as they instead insist those who killed as either rebels themselves, being killed by the rebels, or worse, collateral damage. 

***

Perhaps, no matter how the order downplays the plight of Filipino farmers and fisherfolks or gaslights them because of their just calls, these affected folks will never yield to their whims. True it may be that the order recognises poverty incidence in poor-stricken farmers and fisherfolks, but since policies continue to wallow the toiling masses to its poverty, then it's bullshit. No wonder right was Amihan's Zenaida Soriano, from a 2018 peasant month article by Bulatlat that "President Rodrigo Duterte has no agrarian reform agenda" since the last reform program bill from the past administration was expired, and yet "Land distribution won't stop" as what authorities trying to insist, only rather end bent its objectives in favour of those trying to upheld their interests, what more that other laws are trying to deprive their livelihood, and in extension, the nation's food security and sovereignty. 

"When Farmers, Fisherfolks demand Agricultural Sustainability, not flooding cheap imported foodstuffs"

"When Farmers, Fisherfolks demand Agricultural Sustainability,
not flooding cheap imported foodstuffs"

(Or "thoughts after World Food Day
and why farmers and fisherfolks protest
for food security and social justice”)

"Even if food is available, but the resources to buy basic essentials are limited, it will be a problem." These were the words Agriculture Secretary William Dar said in his World Food Day message last October 13 as he explained underscoring the importance of growing, sustaining, and nourishing together, particularly with the poor as a most vulnerable sector towards hunger and malnutrition. This statement is somehow true, especially in a time people are largely affected by the COVID19 pandemic, most of them end unemployed, depending on government subsidies, and facing the difficulty of price hikes especially that of basic necessities like food and utilities.
Including in his statement he announced that the Inter-Agency Task Force has already approved a new program that will address hunger and malnutrition, even mentioned that he has instructed the re-alignment of programs under the National Rice Program and the Philippine Rice Research Center to address the emerging rice requirement of the people.

Quite optimistic isn't it? Especially that Dar's program called "plant plant plant" and his "new thinking in agriculture" are attempts to revive if not to bolster local agricultural productivity especially in this time of pandemic. But sometimes it is wondering if these did truly benefit the farmers and fisherfolks, especially in a time when unjust laws like the "Rice Tariffication Law" and other liberalisation laws on foodstuffs affect their livelihood aside from the cycle of exploitation brought by scrupulous middlemen and traders, if not that of developers who are hunger for taking over their sources of livelihood and compromising local food productivity.

Ironically, Secretary Dar thanked them for sustaining Philippine agriculture and making food supply adequate amid the pandemic.

On the other hand, farmers and fisherfolks led by Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, fisherfolks group PAMALAKAYA, and Bantay Bigas protested at Nepa Q-Mart in Quezon City last October 16,  dubbing the event as "World Hunger Day." This action was also part of "World Hunger Day Global Action", an international day of protest led by the group People's Coalition for Food Sovereignty. And their demand is for just, equal, healthy, and sustainable food systems and not those promoted by scrupulous multinational food companies whose drivel as that of interest. 

"Today is World Food Day and yet many people have no food to eat, as well as those who create food." Said Cathy Estavillo, chairwoman of Amihan in Filipino. The group appealed to Duterte to support local production instead of liberalisation in importing foodstuffs, that of rice, fish, vegetables, and pork. "The Duterte regime clearly failed in its agricultural productivity and food-on-the-table agenda, thus, we are challenging national candidates who claim to offer reforms to sincerely assure the attainment of self-sufficiency and food security in the country, for the benefit of Filipino farmers and poor consumers," Estavillo continued.
Also according to the protesters, Duterte should be assailed for his Rice Tariffication Law as well as that of Executive Order 134 that liberalises importation of pork. Both laws lowered tariffs for imported rice and pork resulting to a flood of imported foodstuffs in markets and loss for local rice and pork farmers. Bantay Bigas even showed data on the particular effects on rice liberalisation in the livelihood of Filipino rice farmers- that the price of palay costs PhP 9.00 per kilo in Iloilo, while PhP 10.00 in Mindoro Occidental, and PhP 14.00 in other provinces. While rice costs PhP 38.00 to PhP 44.00 per kilo (in retail) in Metro Manila. The price of rice itself is not enough for those whose minimum wage as quite low, especially in a time enforced lockdowns by the government resulted to work stoppage and unemployment.

Perhaps the government is trying to appease the affected farmers and fisherfolks if not threatening them because of their opposition to the liberalisation on foodstuff imports. In fact, the statement from the Department of Agriculture emphasized that "importation will be a last resort to support the department’s goal of achieving food sufficiency level for all commodities", while on the other hand claiming that "the rice tariffication law enhances productivity and competitiveness of rice sector"- even it obviously benefited the scrupulous traders who smuggle rice and create artificial scarcity at the expense of the suffering folk. Of course, expect suffering farmers and fisherfolks to protest especially that they're not just affected by the pandemic but also the sudden influx of imported rice, meat, and other foodstuffs "all thanks" to those laws, and wouldn't be surprised if reprisals from authorities would happen on them, blaming altogether as subversives since they're against an unjust, rotten system. 

To a concerned would say that since Dar speaks about New Thinking, of empowering farmers and fisherfolks, increase productivity and all, even talking about the use of modern technology to mechanise agriculture, then why not at first repeal unjust laws, of promoting genuine agrarian reform and national industrialisation, and seriously stressing self-sufficiency to feed millions of Filipinos? This may sound repetitive but the demands of the folk means more than just restoring productivity but also reviving the land and empowering the folk.
If countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam have upstaged the Philippines in inclusive growth as what the neoliberal Bernardo Villegas said, then the primary reason is the greater emphasis that their leaders in the past put on improving the lot of their small farmers by endowing them with adequate infrastructures such as farm to market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities and agricultural services; in fact, this also did happen in the former Soviet Union through its "Agricultural Machinery Stations" aside from organising the peasants into collectives, making way for villages to sound developments from roads, irrigation, to that of schools and hospitals. Even Taiwan whose land reform also includes rural reconstruction creating the basis of agricultural prosperity which led to Taiwan's rapid economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Perhaps, unless the concerns the farmers and fisherfolks been addressed, expect slow productivity and hunger for the many. 

FACING CENSORSHIP

FACING CENSORSHIP

By Joel Pablo Salud

Source: Rappler

Some may think that, for a real journalist, hell is a dark, damp prison or the cold metal slab of a mortician’s table. This may be true to a certain extent. You can ask any who had come face to face with the corrupt, malignant conditions of our penal system.

However, there is much more to an actual hell for a working journalist than meets the eye. I would assume that hell is where censorship, in whatever shape or form, lives and breathes like behemoths lying in wait to devour the messenger. Either by visible restraints or invisible ones makes no real difference.

When we hear the word “censorship,” almost immediately we see images of Nazi book burnings. During Marcos’ martial law, censorship came in the form of the closure of news outlets and the arrests of editors, poets, and journalists.

The recent coup in Myanmar saw the illegal seizure of roughly 100 journalists with 46 remaining in custody today, according to Human Rights Watch. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said “Myanmar's rulers had effectively criminalized independent journalism”.

As early as Dec. 2020, CPJ reports that the number of journalists jailed worldwide has reached record figures, with retaliatory killings of journalists doubling as of last count. Back home, CPJ pegs the number of journalists murdered since 1992 at close to 100, with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration posting the highest number of those killed.

Does this mean that Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s regime is not guilty of censorship, as one national artist claims? “No writer is in jail,” he said in describing this regime. “There is no censorship. Duterte hasn’t closed a single newspaper or radio station.”

The current regime’s brand of censorship may be a far cry from the censorship imposed by Myanmar’s military or Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers so far as the numbers are concerned. But may I ask: how many is one too many?

Twenty journalists have been murdered since Duterte took power based on the latest count of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. Twenty-three-year-old Frenchie Mae Cumpio remains in jail under trumped-up charges for being a member of the alternative media.

To this very day, poet, fiction writer, and playwright Amanda Echanis, daughter to slain activist Randy Echanis, languishes at the Cagayan Provincial Jail together with her one-month-old child, Randall Emmanuel, after her arrest on Dec. 2020. She was one of 3,790 activists charged under the current regime. Journalist Lady Ann Salem of Manila Today was also arrested and jailed around the same time and released in early 2021.

Some journalists have allegedly been retrenched under dubious circumstances, with ABS-CBN Network getting the brunt of this regime’s antagonism. Duterte himself, on numerous occasions, had admitted that he was behind the refusal of Congress to grant the network its franchise.

In Sept. 2021, the Kalinga State University and the Isabela State University have purged from their libraries all books which even remotely suggested of communist leanings. Most everyone believes this is in line with the government’s anti-communist campaign.

Maria Ressa, the Nobel’s newest laureate for Peace, had been arrested twice. Today, Ressa and Rappler continue to face several charges, to say little of the continuing harassment of Rappler’s reporters and correspondents who’ve have been barred from entering the Palace grounds.

This is where fellow columnist John Nery hit the mark when he called out the aforementioned national artist for his false claims: “To be so out of touch with what’s actually happening on the ground—that would be a fatal flaw in any writer”.

However much one tries to exonerate the present regime from its duties to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, one thing stands clear: the spread of “fake” news is the new censorship.

The current administration has milked this for all it’s worth since it assumed power in 2016, shaking each and every day the confidence of the public against its journalists and writers.

Yet, after all’s said and done on the matter of whether Filipinos are being censored or not, it’s what is not being said that should count: that the killings of journalists, topped with the closure of ABS-CBN, and the impunity this current regime enjoys, have sent a crippling chill into newsrooms all over the country.

Some writers have resorted to self-censorship in order to stave off any further harassment from the State and its paid trolls. Others have simply given up on the pressure and threw their lot with the creators of “fake” news.

Bleak as this may seem, there are journalists who continue to defy the chill of persecution by choosing to step into the line of fire, that place of honor once proposed by anti-Marcos student activist Lean Alejandro who himself was a writer. He was gunned down in a car reportedly by elements of the military on Sept. 19, 1987.

These are the same journalists who understood Henry Grunwald’s words: “Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air”.

***

Joel Pablo Salud is a known writer in both Opinion and in Creative Writing. His works were featured in the Philippines Free Press, and in Philippines Graphic (formerly “Philippine Graphic”) where he served as Editor.  The essay was first published online by San Anselmo Press. 

His new book, "In the Line of Fire", a collection of his lectures, will be released this year by San Anselmo Press. 

"Steel Pylons over a Concrete Shell"

"Steel Pylons over a Concrete Shell"

Recently, this writer saw new steel foundations towering over the shell of a once familiar edifice. 

Became a shell of once was few years ago, its current owners this time setting up new foundations with a billboard showing its possible look: that of a glass structure that's towering over the once dominant concrete edifice. 
To some would say it is an improvement of an existing structure, especially that it meets modern demands and at the same time respecting its decades-old beauty; but to those truly concerned, this somewhat makes one say a mockery especially for a place that should meant to be preserved for posterity- especially those who remember for its ice cream churned in its halls.


A familiar sight now gone to the dogs

Made in 1926 after San Miguel brought Magnolia from
a former US Army cook, the plant was originally a two-
Story building. It added a third floor during San Miguel's
reconstruction period after the war. 

Originally made during the American period and rebuilt after the war, the Magnolia Ice Cream Plant (or its actual name "Magnolia Dairy Products Plant") was a familiar sight in Echague, Manila. Given its stripped classicist architecture to that of being the ice cream plant complete with a bar waiting for those who want a good dessert of Magnolia's favourites. 

That, according to Rene Escalante of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, the plant, inaugurated on October 1, 1926 (a year after Magnolia was founded in 1925), “incorporated the most advanced dairy processing facilities of the time, and is also dubbed as one of the great ice creams in Asia.” Therefore, the place itself was part of Filipino gastronomic history and of course, culture. 

However, despite concerns from heritage conservationists, the edifice was demolished by its new owners, that of Lucio Tan's Tanduay Distillery. Initially the structure was meant to be completely gone until being compelled by the authorities at least to leave the shell of the entire structure and instead incorporate to a new one, in a manner of preserving the fronts of buildings that have elegant architectural designs while constructing a modern building behind its old or original front.


"least it saved the structure"!?

"Towering over Gumbert's edifice: 
Steel Pylons set up on the former
ice cream plant's façade"

To some would say "least it saved the structure" by letting the shell remain, but to the truly concerned would say that the owners mocked heritage that instead of preserving for posterity they opted to destroy it. Worse, approved by a former mayor several years ago despite considered as an important cultural property! Isn't it that bullshit? Wouldn't be surprised that there are old structures that are being threatened by the wrecking ball- all thanks to those who care about that distorted interpretation of "progress" that is, at the expense of heritage in districts known for its roots. "Progress" in a sense that they don't consider the folk, much more using them as cheap labour for numerous projects to brag over. Meanwhile those assuming to be "concerned" would claim that these as for the good of the district even it requires sacrifices especially those affected by the fire and hence weaken its foundations- this made this writer wonder: since they're trying to be concerned then how come they failed to stem the destruction of heritage? Quite considering tho the idea of facadism, but as developers seemingly adopt this as part of their destruction spree in old yet intact structures, then this becomes ridiculous. 

For the Tans behind Tanduay would say that they had no choice but to make compromises with the authorities, if not feigning ignorance as they disregard the cultural value for a "prime lot" especially in a busy district of Manila. Hence, they had to adopt facadism instead of its earlier outright destruction. Worse, to see a mayor who, before his exit years had to approve those demolition permits as if those edifices, no matter how significant decades ago were deemed irrelevant in a time condominiums prevail over the metro.
But with "facadism" would say that it created an alibi for these developers to "justify" their actions by telling they're making the structure relevant with modern demands while demolishing the structure's integrity from the inside! It did happen at the former Life theatre at Quezon boulevard, Uy Su Bin and the former American Chamber of Commerce building in Binondo- whose shells as meant to compliment the proposed condominiums that worse, may affect the community as it distorts heritage and identity.

Ironically, the Tans even told the folk that the old Tanduay Distillery in Quiapo district, Manila will be renovated as a museum to showcase Tanduay's products and distillery production methods. It was decommissioned last 2013, but "will serve as a backup plant" hence it remains intact as opposed to the 1926-era edifice.


A legacy of bridging industrial need and classical beauty

The edifices made/inspired by Gabler-Gumbert:

Manila Glass Plant, Farola Tondo; the former 

Coca Cola bottling plant at Otis; the former San
Miguel main office, originally part of the brewery
 and now as a government building in

Malacanang complex, and the now-demolished 
Magnolia Dairy Products Plant in Echague

Perhaps, as construction workers continue to set new foundations over the shell of once was, this writer would say that the building that once stood did bridge modern industrial need and the classical beauty of its design. Its architect, Arthur Gabler-Gumbert, who started his architectural practise in the Philippines in 1912, stresses a less ornamental form of classical architecture as well as the use of concrete as a building material, and most of his buildings were that of edifices meant for San Miguel in its early years as a brewery: the former brewery buildings in Malacañang, the glass plant in Farola, Tondo, Coca Cola in Otis, and of course- the Magnolia Dairy Products Plant.

Quite palatial in its appearance, yet happened to be built as a factory that produces beer, softdrink, milk, and ice cream.

Nowadays, only the former main office in Malacañang (now as a government building), the glass plant (still under San Miguel making bottles), and the former Coca Cola plant in Otis (now as a restaurant) remains. 

And as for Magnolia itself, the former division moved to Aurora Boulevard in 1970. A new plant, designed by National Artist Leandro Locsin, was promoted as the "largest semi-automated dairy and ice cream plant in the far east". But for many it became a place for field trips, showcasing ice cream making and of course, its ice cream parlor bigger than in Echague. Sadly, that iconic edifice made by a national artist was also demolished despite protestations by heritage conservationists and architects, and in its place, a mixed residential-commercial complex known as "Robinsons Magnolia" was built. But despite its iconic name trying to invoke memories of its place once stood, it has nothing to do with the iconic brand, let alone a name of a flower.