A facial peel that went too far

Wala Lang

By DR. JAIME C. LAYA

February 6, 2011, 1:44pm

Congresswoman Rosenda Ann “Sandy” Ocampo is helping revive the heart and the soul of her constituency, the Sixth District of Manila. 

She is sprucing up Plaza Felipe Calderon (Malolos Congress member and Malolos Constitution framer), clearing away unsightly structures and bulky cement works.  It will be the paseo it once was, a Roxas Boulevard without cheap-looking lampposts.

If Plaza Calderon is heart, Santa Ana’s soul is the Shrine of Nstra. Sra. de los Desamparados on the hillock at the Plaza’s East end.

With its blackened walls, the church frowns at its parishioners below.  It hasn’t always been thus.  For the 250 years from its completion in 1725, the church smiled, its facades a shade of yellow-pink.  Then, in the 1970s, in the name of “restoration,” the cheerful paletada was hammered off and replaced by cement scored to simulate stone blocks.

Adding to her important contributions in health, education and general well-being of her constituents, Congresswoman Sandy Ocampo now attends to Filipino pride and cultural heritage.  She aims to recover the old happy ambiance and preserve the very structure of a national cultural treasure. She will use part of her Congressional allocation to top up a National Commission for Culture and the Arts grant intended for the building’s main front.  Work will begin with the help of experts from Escuela Taller (a Spain-assisted heritage conservation crafts school) as soon as funds are released and rains end.

The 1970s facial peel removed not only peach-colored make-up, but also the very skin.  It went too far.  The paletada was impermeable enough to shed rain while being porous enough to allow moisture inside the adobe stone to evaporate—water rises from underground through capillary action.  It was of sand, lime (burnt oysters or coral), binder (organic material like egg white, animal blood, leaves), and coloring (powdered brick or colored rock).

The 40-year-old cement surface sealed rising damp, weakening and gradually pulverizing the adobe.  This cement has begun crumble and rain water now goes through the walls.  Unbelievably, rain water penetrates the walls’ meter-plus-thick adobe walls, dripping in where the blocks join.

Much has been accomplished in the interior through the efforts of residents and non-residents, public and private organizations, individual donors, and experts.  The ceiling paintings of the church’s unique Camarin de la Virgen have been restored. The baptistry is mostly restored, reproducing its original and unexpected Mexican colors of red and yellow with strips of black and white. 

The baptistry, retablo, dome, and sanctuary are lit with the latest technology. The Virgin’s niche shimmers in 22 carat gold leaf and the tabernacle is next.  An enormous painting of the creation by three angels of the original image of the Virgin in Valencia, Spain, was discovered and repainted.  Soon to emerge is the miraculous Pozo de la Virgen on Namayan Street behind the church, buried in the 1970s “improvement.”

A people-friendly plaza and a smiling Virgin’s Shrine beyond rejuvenate the heart and soul of Manila’s Sixth District. Congresswoman Sandy’s initiative lifts the spirit.

When in Cebu City, please visit gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Source: Manila Bulletin