Bandits and curios

Last Monday, the first working day of the year, I visited the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the National Library and the National Museum, and I found out that all these agencies, often neglected when the national budget is being prepared, face a busy and promising 2012. The NHCP had just finished the Rizal Day activities but it was already preparing for the 200th birth anniversary of Tandang Sora this coming Jan. 6. The Library has new rules welcoming the public to use its collection and services, and I checked out the digitization of the Rizal manuscripts. The project makes research easier without the need to handle the fragile originals. At the National Museum, renovation work continues in a hall of what used to be the old Congress.

Spring cleaning at the National Museum brought to light the noose used on General Yamashita. This gruesome relic of the war reminded me of many fascinating things in the old museum, judging from the “Catalog of Paintings, Sculptures and Historical Objects” published in 1938. Long before things were compartmentalized, the National Library once served as the National Museum, the Gallery of Art and History and as ready reference for the Legislature that took over the top floor of the building that housed the old Congress. Historians poring over this obsolete list cannot but sigh in despair at the loss of many items during the Battle for Manila in 1945. We cannot be sure if these objects were destroyed or if they survived through looting or were recovered from the rubble. I would understand people keeping a gold coin or a silver medal for the purpose of pawning or displaying them later, but what would you do with the diplomas of Supreme Court Justice Victorino Mapa? Or his old typewriter?

On the other hand, finely carved furniture made of Philippine hardwood—molave, narra, tindalo, balayong, or kamagong—some of them with horn or shell inlay, might have been too heavy to carry away or were probably chopped into firewood as many people picked up what remained of their lives and possessions after the war.

There were many framed portraits of famous people, mostly American colonials, like: A.W. Ferguson, Elwell S. Otis, Luke Wright, James F. Smith, Maj. Gen A.R. Chaffee, Gen. Arthur MacArthur (father of Douglas “I shall return” MacArthur), Francis Burton Harrison, and William Howard Taft. These are names immortalized in streets and history books and names that are pulled out of memory during Quiz bees and TV game shows. There were a handful of gavels, one specially made in kamagong with silver trimmings and used by former speakers of the House: Quintin Paredes, Manuel Roxas and Sergio Osmeña.

A heaven for pack rats and hoarders, the National Library even kept surgical instruments used in an operation on Manuel Quezon! There was an assortment of pearl jewelry that belonged to Justice Mapa among which were: a bracelet with five pearls, three pearls surrounded by 22 regular size diamonds valued at P2,500; a gold ring with one big pearl surrounded by 11 regular size diamonds valued at P800; a pendant with six big diamonds and two big pearls that came in four pieces, was oval in shape, could be worn in three different ways and was valued at P8,000.

There were also paintings we know from their titles, mostly portraits, landscapes, some genre scenes like the famous Simon Flores painting of a woman feeding chickens; some of these are still in existence. Famous painters like Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Fabian de la Rosa and Fernando Amorsolo are joined by obscure but equally talented artists: Felix Roxas, Pablo Amorsolo, Gaston O’Farrel, Teodoro Buenaventura, Vicente Rivera y Mir and Lorenzo Guerrero who are but footnotes in the history of Philippine painting today. Some canvases were kitsch like “President Roosevelt signing the Tydings-McDuffie Law” by an artist from Capiz who signed himself “Ylejay.” There even was an oil portrait of Rudolf Valentino.

Some curious items, made me understand the word “curio”: 12 Egyptian stone pieces said to be “about 3,000 years old”; lottery ticket No. 15835 for the Nov. 10, 1896 draw; trousers from Panay; “trowel used in laying the cornerstone of the Bonifacio monument”; two other trowels in silver preserved because these were used in laying the cornerstone of the Manila Metropolitan Theater in 1930; ashtray used by Rizal; salt tray used in Malacañang; petrified wood;  19th-century wooden funeral wreath of lanete presented by the wood carvers guild to the Queen of Spain; and a pair of silver salad tongs with the Spanish coat of arms. The item with the longest description was an 18th-century baul—“This small narra trunk with iron brazers was used by bandits in keeping stolen goods. It formerly belonged to the famous bandit chief Martin Huelgas, a native of barrio Buli, Taal, Batangas. Upon his death, it passed into the hands of the other famous bandit Francisco alias ‘Kikong Ilog’ who was at the time the terror of Laguna, Tayabas and Batangas. The commandant of the Guardia Civil Villa-Abrille, with a large force under him, made a futile attempt to capture the bandit Francisco. Captain Getulio Salazar eventually captured him. Sotero Salazar, son of Capt. Salazar, sold the trunk to the National Library.” Our National Library once had more than books, it had an enviable collection of historical curios to delight and educate visitors.

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