Place: Fort Santiago
Date: 09 August 2008

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

The exit door of the Rizal Shrine lead us to a path to the dungeons near the Pasig River. The sight looked great, but I am sure during the time this country was under the Spanish then the Americans, then the Japanese regimes, this place was one of the worst places there is. Too many bad memories, but I am happy that the place was still looking okay for the new generations to see. Places like this one would certainly make people understand and respect how freedom was important. If not for the souls who sacrificed, I might not be here to write this blog entry.

Anyway, here are a few from the last set of pictures from the fort:

Like what I’ve said in my previous posts regarding the place, this was a defense fortress. The “man” in the picture was actually a statue to depict how a civil guard works back in the Spanish regime. The body of water is the Pasig River.

Just one of the many dungeons in the area. Some are used as storage places, while some are used as prison cells.

This cross was seen near the dungeons. According to the information written on the base, this cross marks the final resting place of approximately 600 Filipinos and Americans who were victims of atrocities during the last days of February 1945. The appearance of their bodies suggested starvation and possible suffocation. They were found inside a nearby dungeon (possibly the one on the picture above), which had inner doors of massive iron bars and outer doors of iron plate on wood.

Just an addition, during the World War 2, it was said that Japanese soldiers would pile body after body, and some Filipino would pretend dead so they could leave when the right time comes. However, the Japanese soldiers were very intelligent that they would put a glass or a bottle of water near the piles of bodies, and if they saw that the water was gone, for sure there was an alive body in the pile, and the soldiers would either rain the pile with bullets or burn the pile. Very cruel, but it was part of history. I just hope none of those episodes would come back.

Brother and I saw saw this gallery of Vintage Warcraft scale models, so we entered and took a few shots. The red dot on the aircraft makes me think these were models of Japanese war aircraft.

And here we are, the photographers / bloggers of the Litratong Pinoy meme. It’s a Thursday photo meme exclusively for Filipino bloggers. The one who initiated the meme came back to the Philippines from the Netherlands, and to celebrate her homecoming, we decided to meet up. It was a good way to give a face behind the blogger, too.

From left to right: Keith (Clicking Away), Thess (Thesserie), Arvin (Komski), Pinky - Keith’s wife (Chinois972), me (ShutterHappyJenn), Jeff (Jeprocks), Ronnie (Ronniverse), Lino (LinoPhotography), Marie (Vanidosa), and Girlie (HipNCoolMomma).

This picture was shot by brother, who was not yet a part of the team back then. Now, with the changes he did on his blog, he’s now one of us. =) I am so glad to have met them, but the day was just starting for us. More stories about our Manila Heritage trip in the days to come.

*** Jenn ***