Fort of July

Earlier this month, Americans celebrated their independence day. We used to celebrate ours on the same day. This was a joint celebration for close to two decades, from our post-war independence to 1962, when President Diosdado Macapagal moved it to June 12. This was the date in 1898, when we originally declared independence from Spain in 1898.

A hundred years ago our two countries’ histories were intertwined in terms of conflict and colonialism. Philippine school- children are presented the history of our thwarted independence and the circumstances by which America took over the reins of country from Spain in August of 1898. American children have no idea of this period of their history. Only a few paragraphs are devoted to the Filipino-American War.

Central to the events of the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries was the Battle of Manila Bay. Admiral Dewey won a much-celebrated naval battle against the rusting Spanish fleet on May 1, in 1898. The Americans raised the stars and stripes over Philippine soil at Fort San Felipe at Sangley in Cavite a few days later.

Months passed before further action ensued, as Dewy and American commanders had to wait for land forces to arrive from California. Eventually about 12,000 American troops gathered for the push to Manila.

The Spanish had drawn a line of defense a few kilometers south of Intramuros. The trenches were anchored on an old fortification that nestled on marshy land called Maytubig by the locals. The district that hosted it was Malate.

Fort San Antonio Abad started life in 1584, a decade after the establishment of Manila. It served to guard the route from Intramuros to Sangley in Cavite. Like the walled city, the fort evolved into a stone structure of the Vauban variety with the signature guardhouses at the corners of canted walls. It also served as the southern garrison and gunpowder storage for Spanish troops. It was therefore called Polvorista.

Fort San Antonio Abad was not that good at its job. The events of 1898 were preceded a century earlier as the British overran the fort and staged its successful attack on Manila from there. The British eventually returned the fort to the Spanish after that conflict was over.

In 1898, the fort stood between American forces, Filipino troops and the Intramuros. In July of that year the Americans brokered a deal with the Spanish to stage a mock battle and allow Manila to change hands, bypassing the Filipinos. The fort played a key role. It was to be the target of bombardment by Dewey’s fleet, signaling the final thrust to Manila. Dewey did not want to damage Intramuros or harm the officers he had connived with so the fort was collateral damage.

The fort was not completely destroyed in the sham battle. In the American colonial period it served as a landmark beyond which, the beaches of Pasay served as backdrop to Americans’ regular escape from the heat. The Manila Polo Club built its facilities nearby and many an expat constructed bungalows, or tsalets, as the Filipinos called them (from the work chalets).

The famous American architect and planner Daniel Burnham had designated the area around the fort as a large park in his master plan for the city. The park was not fully developed in the American colonial period except the sports complex near Taft Avenue. Then war came again.

The Japanese also used the fort as a base but the allied liberating forces did not have any difficulty here. The worse battle was at the grounds of the Rizal Memorial baseball stadium a few hundred meters inland.

The American shelling in World War II did, however, considerably damage the fort. It lay in ruins for three decades after the war until it was restored in the 1970s. In that decade it suffered the sad fate of being hidden from public view by the Central Bank Complex, where it languishes in ignominious invisibility.

I have visited the fort only once while at the Metropolitan Museum a decade ago. It is tightly sandwiched between the museum and the main tower of the Central Bank. It is a shame that the historic structure’s story is not told, and its heritage not acknowledged. It would be a great centerpiece for a walking tour of the area, as it has played a role in the three great conflicts that mark the history of our nation.

I did suggest a scheme for its salvation a few years ago. My proposal was a radical one that involved moving the Metropolitan Museum to another site inside the complex. It could also be moved to the PICC, which is owned by the Central Bank. The exposed fort could also be renovated as a museum and gallery to house part of the bank’s two billion-peso treasure trove of art.

My suggestion also involved the possible linking of the fort to the five-hectare Manila Zoo behind it. The zoo itself should be turned into an open park (since the animals are already dead or dying). The even larger and more radical project would be to turn the whole Harrison area to the large park that Daniel Burnham had proposed for the city in 1905.

Many more Spanish era forts are crumbling to dust. This rich heritage in military architecture would, in other countries, be key tourist attractions and acknowledged landmarks of a nations history. But I don’t think anyone is listening and Fort San Antonio Abad will be silent and invisible forever. You can bank on that.

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Feedback is welcome. Please email the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.