Heritage Sites and Why Are We Afraid of Them
Aminin na natin, there
is one point in our lives that we associate old houses or buildings, churches,
cemeteries (well, this is too obvious) to the paranormal, the scary, and the
haunted. Personally, I’m 30 and very exposed to anything heritage, yet there is
this lingering image that old houses and sites are full of ghosts and miasmas.
Medyo immune na ako sa mga antigo at mga lumang bagay, but when it comes to
place-making, these heritage sites are often the “victims” of bad publicity.
Why it that these heritage sites are often associated with the haunting?
Lumang Bahay = May Multo, etc.
Perhaps one of the biggest sources of this perception is
from the mass media itself: from movies to TV shows. Every time there is a
heritage building, an old mansion—especially those unkempt and seemingly
abandoned—evokes haunting. It’s a visual cue that “malignant spirits are here”
to the audiences.
We remember Bob Ong's critique on Philippine Cinema on the book (and later the movie) "Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin" on why whenever there is a stereotypical Filipino horror flick, the protagonists end up in an old yet usually abandoned house where they end up being haunted by different ghosts and poltergeists.
This isn’t a sole Filipino phenomenon. Other cultures,
especially the West and Hollywood, have used abandoned or old houses as a
setting for horror stories.
In the Philippines, the stately mansions, houses, and
buildings are often used as a setting for something sinister. Well, not exactly
sinister, but something that produces fear of the unknown.
Buildings, especially houses, have good and bad stories to
tell.
Owners of big mansions, which are usually owned by the
elite, are riddled with so much chismis and
controversy, which you might thought that it only happens on telenovelas? While some rumors are true,
some are just inventions, these “stories” that are often associated with the
stately architecture and the intimate space of the tahanan, and it becomes kwentong
bayan in the long run.
Nakaksira talaga ng
buhay ang tsismis at kontrobersiya—hanggang sa kabilang buhay, susundan ka pa
rin ng tsismis. Speaking of chismis...
Urban Legends, Folklore, and Gossips
How do you ruin somebody? Chismis of course. Fabricate stories that are sometimes out of this world and basically not true--especially for prominent people. Our politicians and celebrities are aware of these things nowadays, hence they have PR to clean it over. Image is everything. However, how did a chismis somehow tainted the image of a place. I'm quite familiar with the town of Duenas in Iloilo.
The story of "Tinyente Gimo," said to have been popularized by mass media through radio drama and readings, has become notorious in associating with the town of Duenas in central Iloilo, where the said lieutenant came from.
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Duenas Church in Iloilo. It is the hometown of "Tinyente Gimo." In this section, we will see how an urban legend or gossip may have tainted the reputation of the town itself. |
There were a lot of stories attributed to him. One of which is the townsfolk found a dead body of a child with innards exposed in Tinyente Gimo's field. The famous one was when a friend of the daughter of Tinyente Gimo "saw" him taking the body of his own daughter to a big cauldron to be eaten. She escaped from the house and spread the news in the city.
The story was so infamous, that Duenas suffered the labels of "aswangan," "airport sang mga manananggal," "taga-dira si Tinyente Gimo," and all other negative imagery that strike fear among the many.
For most Duenasnons I've known and encountered, this is all a sham to destroy Gimo's image. The townspeople are so mad about this labeling that they even filed a persona non grata ordinance to a giant media corporation based in Manila. The councilors said that this media company deceived the descendants of Tinyente Gimo and the townsfolk to conduct an interview for clarifying the urban legend, only to be shown on national TV as something otherwise.
Narinig ko nang galit na galit ang pari noon nung may isang researcher ang pumunta doon para klaruhin ang urban legend na ito.
As for the descendants of Tinyente Gimo, who really exists, they have become somehow anti-social and feared for being aswangs too by the people, even if they are not. For them the urban myth that they believe came from a demolition job and is a burden that their family has to carry on. An injustice that was brought by tsismis.
That is how place making made Duenas as it is today, and the people of the town are fighting the injustice that the negative image the "tsismis" has brought upon them.
A History of Agony, Despair, The Unknown, and Death
Historical sites are places that remind people of an event
that may have shaped the local community or the entire nation or even the
humanity. These events may be triumphant, but it is those of bravery, valour,
sadness, and death that seemed to touch the human’s consciousness more.
Places such as colonial churches, cemeteries, hospitals, asylums, and prisons, are often in the list of the "most haunted" in the country, because these places invoke sadness, despair, agony, death, the spiritual, and the unknown.
The stories about grief, despair, and death are often
associated with anger, sadness, and sometimes rage. Look no further, as Manila
and a lot of places in the Philippines has some local horror or sad story to
tell—and is often associated with violence and death.
The Battle for Manila at the end of World War II took more
or less 200,000 people’s lives, mostly innocent civilians who were wedged at
the crossfires of the Japanese and the Allied Forces. The destruction of the
city, with stories of mass murders especially in the southern districts of the
city, reminds people of the days their loved ones died, the stench of death was
everywhere, and the face of despair was just too much to bear.
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The ruined convent of Paoay in Ilocos Sur. At the time we went there, it wasn't clean and was left to ruin. |
Baguio is another city that seems to have double whammies in
tragedies—of World War II’s atrocities, and the 1990 Luzon Earthquake that have
killed a lot of people in the city. The city’s tall pine trees and cooler air
may have added that “haunting” or “chilling” effect—that may have been influenced
either by Western media and our folk beliefs.
Perhaps the “Bahay na
Pula” in Bulacan is a controversial topic in heritage conservation and
place making. While it is aesthetically beautiful and somehow unique (and
protected by law due to its presumption), the local community perceives it as a
harbinger of bad memories of the people there, and they believe that they still
hear the wailing of the ghosts in agony. It is said that the Japanese made it
as a house for comfort women. Some heritage advocates say “preserve the house! It’s
your history!” while the local community has somehow felt negatively on it. How
do we treat it?
Personally, it may have been a shrine to honour those who have
perished. It’s the least we can do to serve justice and appease the local community
or retain “the spirit of the place.”
Old buildings, those that have survived the Great War, or
those that have been reconstructed, are frequently used as settings for
haunting stories. Is it because it reminds us of the atrocities that humanity
has ever done to its kapwa?
If we are believers to the paranormal, are these ghosts
reminding us of their unfinished businesses, or are they ghosts of humanity’s
greatest blunder? Were they reminding us of what may eventually happen to us if
we are to repeat the follies that our ancestors did before?
As a student of history, personally, ghosts are reminders—of
the agony and ecstasy of our story as a nation, as species.
Nakakatakot nga namamg
isipin ang nakaraan na masaklap at masama, na maaaring mangyari sa atin uli.
Ang pagmumulto kaya ay isang paraan ng pagpapaalala? Isang aral ng kasaysayan?
An event that happened in a particular space, with perception
of both the past and the present, is already place making.
Fear of the Unknown
Perhaps one of the greatest fears the humanity has faced is “facing
the unknown.” It has baffled and sometimes horrified us for generations and
generations, to which only those who are fearless and the great conquer. Life
beyond death is one.
Most of the perceptions about the haunting of these heritage
and historical sites were created by people—of both fact and imagination. We
people of today rely on these “signals of perception” or akala to describe the place itself.
"May namatay na diyan,
may maligno diyan, may kapre diyan, may kwan diyan.” These are just some of
the frequently used statements associated with heritage buildings or sites that
often linger in the “unknown.”
However, in place making, there are times that those who
produces perceptions, silence some of the events that may either be too mundane
to mention, or was deliberately done to malign or benefit the place’s
perception. Hence, what we hear or perceive are usually that of “filtered
perception.” Kumbaga, hindi kumpleto ang
buong detalye ng istorya. We are left in the darkness, having to fear or
conquer what lies beyond.
To Fear or To Face, It is the People’s Decision
If we are to discuss this further in a more academic way, it
will take more than a thousand word essay or blog post to do it. Ang dami kasing kailangang pag-usapan
kumbakit ganun na lang ang takot natin sa mga lumang bahay, buildings, at kung
ano-ano pang antigo ang makita natin. There will be psychoanalysis, space analysis, ethnographic methods, perceptions, and surveys involved if we are to dig deeper.
The bottom line of these things is
that the people still produces perception or experiences within a particular space
that makes it a place. Place making processes continue. Kumbaga, tayo ang gumagawa ng perception ng isang espasyo na maaaring maimpluwensiyahan ang pananaw ng iba. We create the "spirit of the place," if we are to quote Professor Ozaeta of UP Diliman.
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The Molo Mansion in Iloilo, now restored to its grandeur. Back in the day when it wasn't cleaned up, the people thought of it as a haunted house. |
Fear of some places especially that of historic and cultural
significance may stem on our national trauma of the atrocities of the colonial
past. It may also have to do on how our current educational system may have
influenced these perceptions of atrocities—to the point that we would rather
shun and run away from it, rather than face it. Hinahabol nga ba tayo
ng multo ng nakaraan, parang ex mo?
How about the media? To be honest personally, I do not
support the mass media’s move to create a “traumatizing” experience these heritage and historical
sites as places of haunting. How will the people learn from its past when we
keep on running away from them? There are stories worthy to be added in the narrative
that is often silenced to benefit or malign the place. We may have to cross
that “unknown” and explore more about ourselves and accept who we are.
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This was a former provincial prison. Today, it is the gallery and the office of the National Museum of the Philippines in Heritage Town of Vigan, Ilocos Sur. |
There is an old saying, "mas matakot kayo sa mga buhay kaysa sa mga patay." Fear more of the living rather than the dead. Because the living are the ones creating places and perceptions.