Fort Santiago: A depiction of Filipino Heroism (Features/Travelogue)

     It was January 2013 when I had one of the most unforgettable experiences in my life, and it was the “Educational Tour.” Every place was a good destination – every step that we took in these places was memorable. But among all the places that we’ve went to, there was one destination that made an impact on me during that tour – and that was Fort Santiago.

     Everything about Fort Santiago captured my heart. As far as I remember, it was like a beautiful park with majestically-designed landscapes. That place was so classic – I saw old houses, huge gates, bridges and stone-made structures that I have never seen before. But beyond all these, there was one fact that broke my heart – it was when our tour guide told us that ‘thousands of death took place at the very spot where we lay our feet.’ I couldn’t just imagine how did that happened.

     Out of curiosity on what our tour guide said that time, I visited a ‘travel blog’ in the internet. There, I have read a lot about Fort Santiago. I knew that it was not a paradise like what I thought before. Stories of heroism occurred in this historic place. Several lives of Filipino soldiers were lost in its prisons during the Spanish Colonial Period and World War II. Moreover, this was also where our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, was imprisoned before his execution at Bagumbayan which is now known as the Luneta Park, in 1896.

     During the Spanish Era in the 16^th century, Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the Spaniards first built a walled city in the Philippines known as Intramuros. The huge walls were strong enough to wade off invaders and were designed to protect the city and the Spanish Empire from foreign invasions. On the endmost portion of their walled city located a “defense fortress” where the Spanish soldiers guard the city throughout the day. This is called “The Santiago,” the main gate of Fort Santiago. This place became the base of the Spanish Military during their colonization of the Philippines in 333 years.

     This was also where Dr. Jose P. Rizal was imprisoned before his execution in Bagumbayan. Because of love for freedom for his beloved nation, he fought not through the strength of his body – but through the might of his quill pen and paper. In fact, while he was in Fort Santiago, he wrote his “Mi Ultimo Adios” (My Last Farewell) to the Filipino people and passed it to his sister by hiding it in a lamp during the eve of his execution. As a tribute to the heroism of Dr. Rizal, the government built a replica of Rizal Shrine which is originally located at Laguna. Currently, the Rizal Shrine in Intramuros serves as a home to various memorabilia such as the shells he collected in Dapitan, books, manuscripts and artworks belonging to Rizal. His footsteps from his cell to the location of actual execution are also represented by footsteps embedded on the ground in bronze.

     Moreover, inside the fort were huge and deep cells where Filipino and American soldiers were thrown by the Japanese army during the World War II in 1940s. In a travel blog, it was instituted as the “Hole of Death.” It was infested with rats, snakes, vermin and was full of rotting water. This is where hundreds of soldiers tortured overnight. Having a small hole for air to enter, everyone packed inside died of asphyxiation – and when it rained so hard – they would drown.

     The Fort Santiago and the whole city of Intramuros were heavily damaged during the Second World War by the Japanese Imperial Army. That was why when the city was declared a National Historical Monument, the government began to reconstruct its walls in 1951 and make replicas of completely-destroyed structures. However, lots of walls, huge canons and several ruins were preserved to keep it original.

     Fort Santiago in Manila is really a historic heritage site. It depicts the heroism of the Filipinos from the very beginning when it was built. Currently, it is declared a Shrine of Freedom since 1950 and the Intramuros Administration now manages the reconstruction, maintenance, and management of the fort since 1992.

    January 2013 became memorable for me. Everything that I saw that time instilled in me that I should be proud that I am a Filipino.

*I wrote this travelogue two years after we went to Fort Santiago for the Educational Tour.