X Marks the Spot

Naglalakad sa Luneta.

This phrase is commonly associated, in the Philippines, with people walking slower than your average snail – seemingly savoring the ambiance with every step they take. But what really is the significance of Luneta?

During the Spanish Era Bagumbayan was a plaza, a village square of sorts where people would take afternoon strolls as a means of leisure. In 1872 this place was put in the spotlight as it became the stage for one of the most famous executions in Philippine History. Three Filipino friars, namely Mariano Gomez, Jacinto Zamora, and Jose Burgos were condemned to death and garroted  in Bagumbayan with a young Paciano Rizal in attendance.

Over three decades later,  Bugumbayan once again became the center of Philippine History when it became the site for the execution of the brother of Paciano Rizal. The First Filipino, the Great Malayan, the Martyr of Bagumbayan, or the Greatest Loverboy in the history of the Philippines, Jose Rizal, was condemned to death by Spanish musketry for crimes against the government and awakening Filipino consciousness. He died at 7:05am of December 31, 1896.

Today, one of the most common images every Filipino has in their memory is the towering, semi-phallic, structure dedicated to Rizal and his martyrdom.

The monument to Rizal was built years after Spanish Colonization in the Philippines and the Philippine – American war. The American government saw it fit to promote Rizal to a deity status seeing that Rizal never wrote anything that could undermine their control over the islands. The American Civil Government in the Philippines, after naming Rizal as the Philippine National Hero, issued Act No. 243 which commissioned a design contest for a monument paying tribute to Rizal. Due to complications, the design of the second place winner Dr. Richard Kissling of Zurich, Switzerland was chosen. In 1912, Rizal’s remains were brought to the base of the monument and construction began. The spot that was chosen for the monument was thought to have been the exact spot where Rizal fell in 1986.

Ten years after the construction of the Rizal Monument, a reexamination of facts was conducted and found a few inconsistencies in the exact spot where Rizal was killed. According to Ambeth Ocampo, in his book A Calendar of Rizaliana –  Detailing the Rizal papers stored in the National Library, a report was made to determine the exact spot of Rizal’s execution. In the report opinions of Austin Craig, a famous Rizal Scholar, and Eulogio Rodriguez of the Philippine National Library and various testimonies of first hand witnesses were taken into account. It was discovered that the actual spot of Rizal’s death is not where the monument was situated on but a few meters away. Today a steel diorama with a plaque stands to mark the exact spot the National Hero was gunned down.

Although the exact spot of Rizal’s death is not where his monument stands today, the significance of Luneta and the Rizal Monument itself should not be diminished. This simply leads us to question: If the details like this could be missed what else in our history  is wrong? Things like these obliges us to keep searching, to keep trying to piece together events of the past to preserve our heritage. This task is a daunting one and will never see a definite end.