Palace pays tribute to Francisco Mañosa

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday paid tribute to National Artist for Architecture and Allied Arts Francisco Mañosa and praised him for championing the use of indigenous Filipino materials.

The 88-year-old architect died last Wednesday, more than three months after he was proclaimed National Artist. 

“The Palace expresses its deep condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Architect Francisco ‘Bobby’ Mañosa, who was conferred the Order of National Artist (Orden ng Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining) in the field of Architecture by President Duterte last year,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement. 

“Architect Mañosa will be missed but his influence and legacy will continue to live on. May perpetual light shine upon him as we pray for the repose of his soul,” he added.

Mañosa was a known nationalist who popularized the bahay kubo and the bahay na bato, which became motifs in contemporary Filipino architecture, Panelo said.  

Dubbed the Father of Philippine Neo-Vernacular Architecture, the late architect, who graduated from the University of Sto. Tomas, had been quoted as saying, “I design Filipino, nothing else.” 

Mañosa’s most famous works include the Coconut Palace, which became the former office of the Vice President of the Philippines, and Sulo Hotel.

“What is most valuable is that Mañosa was in the heart and soul of a Philippine architectural movement. He has developed a legacy of Philippine architecture, which is essential to our Filipino identity and at the same time, deeply appreciated and shared in our world today,” the National Commission for Culture and the Arts said in a statement last October.