Transient legacy

“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

When I first read the newspaper accounts about the “damaged” Marcoses’ shoes and clothes of the Marcoses found in the National Museum, these lines from Shelley’s most famous sonnet immediately came to mind. Googling the poem to refresh my memory, it further amused me to note that Shelley used the imagery of “two vast and trunkless legs of stone”. He does not say, and we are left to speculate, as to whether these legs were attached to shodden feet or not.

Ozymandias’ theme is precisely the transience of hubristic autocrats; it is an allegory which highlights the ephemeral nature of imperialistic glory. No matter how powerful one might have been in this life time, in the end, nothing remained but shattered stone and “colossal wreck”.

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Some of the Philippine-made gowns can indeed be used, as the National Museum is in the process of considering, as “the core of a fashion collection”. Undersecretary Manolo Quezon also appears to acknowledge that certain gowns made by Filipino designers are culturally and historically significant. Certainly that is a reasonable proposition. But there is another reason we ought to keep and take care of these shoes and fineries.

Like the more precious jewelries, these other vanity possessions can be shown or displayed — where appropriate — as symbols of profligacy and extravagance especially when juxtaposed with the imagery, real and haunting, of Filipinos who endured abject poverty and suffered loss of rights and dignity. Yes, the provenance of these things is politically sensitive, and any public exhibit will remind us of how far we’ve come as democracy and, conversely, what we’ve failed to do. While both kinds of reminders are polar opposite, they are equally acceptable and in fact welcome.

If any exhibit — whether of jewels, clothes or shoes — sparks outrage and continued vigilance, then so much the better. If those who visit go out of initial curiosity and take away from the experience some modicum of resolve to support the government’s anti-corruption stance, then we would have achieved our aim. If those who go do in fact ask why they got away with what they did and leave with an awareness of the shortcomings of our democratic institutions and judicial courts, then that too is a most acceptable outcome.

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On a related note, I read the National Museum’s statement on this issue. It clarified that the boxes were sealed and secured in a room which “met the basic requirements for the storage of artifacts in terms of security, dryness and non-exposure to light” and that it was indeed unfortunate that the room suffered serious leaks during the August rains. Such is the nature of force majeure. I was told that structural repairs are ongoing at the Old Legislative Building of the National Museum and hope that such long due rehabilitation will help prevent similar occurrences in the future.

 In other countries, the national museum is often the prime destination of local and foreign visitors. Not much time to spend in the nation’s capital? Just go visit the museum.

The US (population 311 million) has the Smithsonian in Washington, DC; number of visitors in 2011: 28.6 million. The UK (population 62.6 million) has the British Museum in London; number of visitors in 2011: 5.8 million.

Closer to home, we have Asian neighbors whose national museums are also noteworthy. Malaysia (population 28.8 million) has the Muzium Negara in Kuala Lumpur which attracts some half million visitors annually. Singapore (population 5.2 million) also has its own National Museum with 932,600 people visiting in 2011. South Korea (population 49.7 million) recorded 2.7 million visitors to their national museum in Seoul in 2009. With a population of 95 million, the Philippine National Museum has been able to attract a paltry 150,000+ visitors annually.

I hope someday ours will also be national museum of note.

Museums serve to generate self-awareness and identity-recognition. Concepts that would greatly benefit us as a people, as Filipinos are often derided as having decidedly short memories. Indeed, the return of the Martial Law players to public life seem to affirm this observation. Such is the dismaying phenomenon of our electoral processes and betray the degree of political maturity and forgetfulness of our voting public.

In the matter of the damaged boxes, I do believe that the Museum tried “its very best on limited resources” and can only commiserate. Given sufficient resources, it can perhaps fulfil its mandate of being the premier repository and custodian of the country’s heritage.

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A joke?: Yesterday’s PDI headline, “Party-list system a joke,” dovetails with the following story.

Seven assault-weapon wielding men mounted a daring daylight robbery attempt against an armoured van at the heart of Lucena City’s commercial district last July 27. While the heist was aborted because an Ultra security guard returned fire, three of the latter’s colleagues were unfortunately killed.

Ultra immediately provided financial assistance to each of the fallen guards’ heirs of about P140,000. Insurance coverage from Cocolife resulted in an average pay out of P180,000 each. And donations received from UCPB employees totalled close to P200,000 for each of the guard’s families.

Interestingly, Ultra Security agency President Ed Cuisia recounted how Meg Glinoga, account officer of UCPB Lucena, received a call from the certain Mark Navarette of Ang Galing Pinoy (i.e., the party-list for security guards) inquiring about the locations of the funeral wakes so that they can visit and provide financial assistance to the guards’ families. But after a few days, no representative from the party had showed up so Ms. Glinoga called Mr. Navarette to follow up. The latter then apologized saying no one ended up attending the wake because of their busy schedules. Not the type of treatment constituents would expect from their supposed party-list.

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Greetings: Today’s birthday celebrants are all big bosses: GMA 7’s Mike Enriquez, Meralco Power’s Aaron Domingo and DB Services USA’s Gabe Bautista.

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“The strongest poison ever known came from Caesar’s laurel crown.” — William Blakes “Auguries of Innocence”

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