Cebu City's Colon Street: Curating Frames Of

Gregg S. Lloren University of the Philippines Cebu May 24, 2015 Cebu City’s Colon Street: Curating Frames of Antinomies, from a Cultural Heritage to the Culture of Indifference 2015 J. Elizalde Navarro National Workshop on Critical and Cultural Heritage Studies “Antinomy is more suiteD to the postmoDern moment (DefineD historically as the moment when moDernization graDually eliminates from the socioscape all aspects of the premoDern)” Fredric Jameson, The Antinomies of Postmodernity Much has been saiD about the Demise of a certain cultural heritage: that we saunter at the sight of olD churches, lanDmark eDifices, lanDscapes — even traditional customs — anD community spaces becoming powerless to the forces of both nature anD nurture (anD the lack thereof). One can simply browse Facebook anD finD a proliferation of shared nostalgia of the past as vintage photos of old Manila and elsewhere (e.g. Escolta) juxtaposed with current urbanization where colonial brick houses are replaced by artistically unpalatable architecture; turn-of-the-century streets transformeD into a commercial hub that brightens in neon lights by night, whimpers into dreary images of grimy urban capitalism by Day. It is not totally subjective for a social commentator anD cultural critic to suggest with utter pessimism that these transformations are almost Dystopian. In the classical aesthetic point-of-view, the beauty of the past is measureD in proportion, by the discipline of orDereD arrangements, symmetry anD harmonious content. On the other hanD, the emergence of Democratization reDefineD consciousness and perspectives into seeing and doing things by new rules on every person’s own initiative (Eco, On Beauty 2004) in the spirit of both autonomy anD heteronomy. Consequently, this paraDigm shift in aesthetic proDuction anD consumption has contributeD to the consumerist Deification of baD taste. The polarities introDuceD by Democratization Do not come without sacrifices. To Do what one ought to Do, one becomes inDifferent with another: to keep up with progress, roads are widened, resulting to the sacrifice of colonial era edifices that may get in the way. Say, in order to maximize the value of location where the view of sunset is the prized feature of a property, a tall building is built against a backdrop of a historical lanDmark. The same goes when a family who owns a heritage house raises the saiD property to give way to a more practical and profitable investment. These antinomies cause us to wake up to a worlD where a cultural heritage fell victim to some nuisance in cultural consciousness; indifference is one, among others. In Determining my purpose to write a critique on the frustration over the preservation of cultural heritages (vis a vis indifference, consumerism, new aesthetics and bad taste, etc.) it was a matter of serenDipity to consiDer the antinomies that workeD behind the polarities between cultural heritages and the cultures of many others that I shall be illustrating further in the following discussions. Thus, I stumbleD upon some cultural phenomena that threaten a cultural heritage; which I regurgitated in the following discussions unDer my own informal coinage. Consequently, I founD it fair anD impartial to reflect on the importance of a cultural heritage on one hand, while recognizing the inevitable presence of other cultural phenomena in an ecology that is indefatigably changing. Perhaps, by curating these phenomena in worD-frames, I can call attention to the very causes why and how our cultural heritage sites bleed away, anD how it may rise again. I must note that these frames of antinomies are curateD against a backDrop of foreign scenes anD iDeas. I am attempting to Demonstrate that what Colon St. shows us is not unique to the Cebuano narrative, nor to that of the Philippines as a whole. Frame 1: The Culture of Spiraling Cycle “These stood their ground and fought a battle by the banks of the river, anD they were making casts at each other with their spears bronze-headed; anD Hate was there with Confusion among them, anD Death the Destructive; she was holDing a live man with a new wounD, anD another one unhurt, anD DraggeD a DeaD man by the feet through the carnage.” Homer, Iliad, Book XVIII In Book XVIII of the IliaD, Homer DevoteD a lengthy elaboration on a shield fashioned by Hephaestus (Vulcan in Latin), upon the request of the river goddess, Thetis, for her son, Achilles, as a weapon in avenging the latter’s beloveD, Patroclus. Homer’s lyrical descriptions are replete with scenes from the Daily life of a Greek community, sanDwicheD between particular celestial boDies (e.g. Pleiades, Orion, Ursa Major) anD Earth: images of war, scenes of peace, weDDing anD hunting tableaus, the tensions between the Fates and warriors, a king and his subjects, women anD their house chores, farmers anD their routines, festivals and grief, blood and birth… Death as complementary to life, vice versa; with the “mighty river Oceanus surrounDs, limits anD enDs every scene anD separates the shielD from the rest of the universe.” (Eco, The Infinity of Lists 2009) This framing of the shielD brings us to appreciate a mise-en-scene where antinomies, one phenomenon reversing and contradicting the other, as paradoxes occurring in cycles, shaping the Dynamics of life and community. OutsiDe the boundaries set by Oceanus – a kind of frame that sets the boundaries of this universe – life could have been better, or maybe worse. But Homer wants us to keep our focus on the universe enclosed in the shielD by Oceanus. Homer’s poetic narrative on the shielD of Achilles sums up what I felt when I first saw Colon St. in Cebu City; vibrant yet chaotic; for the romanticist, beautiful but fatal. Reputed as the oldest street in the Philippines, the street was founded by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, the first Governor-General of the Philippines, as the first seat of Spanish governance of the colony before Manila. Colon St. has shown me how Daytime in a city can be crazy, how maDDening it can be at nightfall (Fig. 1). Having been the center of Spanish colony in the country, one can surmise with little inaccuracy the impeccable urban planning of the community using an analogy of the orDer anD symmetry founD in olD European towns and cities (Fig. 2). It is frameD by Cebu’s significant lanDmarks: The Parian Monument (Fig. 3) and the Cebu port in the east, the South Road Properties down north (where another enormous SM Mall is being built), and Jones Street and Fuente Circle far south (Fig 4). Its vicinity is jotteD by Cebu’s most important historical sites: the Sto. Nino Shrine (Fig. 5) and Magellan’s Cross (Fig. 6), Malacanan sa Sugbu (Fig. 7), Plaza Independicia (Fig. 8), Fort San Pedro (Fig. 9), Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral (Fig. 10), among others. More than a showcase of colonial history, Colon Street has witnessed the rise and fall of Cebu. As the islanD city progresseD into the twentieth century, prominent Cebuano families markeD the area with their ancestral homes; cinemas featuring classical anD art Deco architecture were built; anD some of the finest universities in southern Philippines were establisheD: University of San Carlos (Fig. 11), University of San Jose-Recoletos (FIG. 12); anD the first campus of the University of the Philippines outside Luzon (then known as University of the Philippines Junior College), once an American garrison, Warwick Barracks (Fig. 13). But as a witness to this economic anD intellectual resurgence, Colon St. has also fallen victim to the devastation wrought by the Second World War (Fig. 14); to which it has yet to take back its former glory from a spiraling cycle of birth, death and rebirth. From the ashes rose shopping centers, malls, bazaars, anD other small-time business establishments that characterize bargain commercial centers (Fig. 15 & 16). Art Deco Cinema Oriente (Fig. 17), before its brave make-over, was near to becoming a house for sex traders while its neighboring cinema, EDen Theatre (Fig. 18), has exactly that kind of designation. Neo-classical Vision Theatre (Fig. 19) ironically houses pirateD DVD hawkers. As most major businesses have moveD to newly developed properties elsewhere in Cebu City, Colon St. fell into neglect anD became synonymous to pickpockets, snatchers, night crawlers, and sex workers. In aggregating opinions from travelers anD tourists, TripAdvisor Philippines has only three worDs to describe the area – “dirty, dangerous, and crowdeD.” (TripAdvisor Philippines 2015) It can be contemplateD whether Colon has really risen from the war’s Devastation or simply incarnateD into another form of Death. If one wishes to see hope glimmer for this heritage site, it coulD have come from the current Mayor who called for the rehabilitation of the street. He believes that such move will “promote tourism as it gives back life to “classical Colon” being the olDest street.” (Quintas, Rama mulls revival of olD Colon street 2014) However, this same call was alreaDy maDe eight years ago by then Councilor Hilario Davide III, now current governor of the Cebu province, who proposed the closure of “historic Colon Street and its connecting roads to vehicular traffic so the closed areas can be converteD into a tourism zone…” (Bongcac, Colon Street eyeD as special tourism zone 2006) One coulD simply suspect that the Mayor’s call will flicker away just as the Governor’s proposal diD. Bongcac reporteD in the same article that the closure of Colon Street met opposition from the very establishments that coulD have benefitteD from the proposal. The business owners believe that the closure will hurt their enterprises as it once did when the road was rerouted due to traffic management. Many of these businesses are informal enterprises: street venDors, hawkers, stores-on-wheels, etc.

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