Shortly after the February 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that saw the exile of President Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (1917-1989) from the Philippines, a group of individual who were persecuted under his regime came together to plan for a memorial about the movement against Marcos during his twenty-one year stay in power and the crimes committed by the government during the enforcement of Martial Law (1972-1981). So, on the 21 of August 1986, on the 3^rd anniversary of the assassination of Senator Benigno Simeon “Ninoy” Lampa Aquino Jr. (1932-1983), the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Memorial Foundation (Monument to the Heroes) was established by individuals who fought against and/or were persecuted during Martial Law. The foundation was first proposed by the Filipino-American doctor, Ruben Polintan Mallari (1936-2013), and was aided in drafting its proposal by UP College of Public Administration Dean, Ledivina Vidallon Cariño (1942-2009); which was submitted to and supported by Pres. María Corazón “Cory” Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino (1933-2009), widow of the slain senator.

And on the 129^th birth anniversary of the Katipunan founder Andrés de Castro Bonifacio (1863-1897), the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Park was inaugurated on the 30^th of November 1992, near the corner of Quezon Avenue and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA for short). The highlight of the park is the 13.7 meter tall bronze sculpture of “Inang Bayan” (Motherland) by Eduardo De Los Santos Castrillo (1942-2016), presenting the embodiment of the Motherland trying to lift her fallen son, as she cries for justice.

Eduardo De Los Santos Castrillo (1942-2016) is a noted sculptor, who had defined the second wave of modernist sculpture in the Philippines. Castrillo graduated from the UST Fine Arts program, and first started at first as an illustrator for publishing before embarking into a career in public sculpture. In the course of time, Castrillo has represented the Philippines in many exhibitions abroad, and has also been commissioned to create monuments all over the country and overseas. He received the TOYM Award for sculpture (Ten Outstanding Young Men) in 1970, the 13 Artists Award by the CCP in 1970, Outstanding Makati Resident in 1971, Outstanding Sta. Ana Resident in 1974, Outstanding Son of Biñan Award in 1980 from the Maduro Club, Outstanding Son of Laguna Award in 1980 from the Laguna Lion’s Club, Adopted Son of Cebu in 1996, the Far Eastern University Green and Gold Artist Award in 1998, and the Most Outstanding Citizen Award of Quezon City.

At the base of the monument are three plaques in Spanish, Tagalog and English of an excerpt of poem “Mi Último Adiós” (My Last Farewell) by Dr. José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (1861-1896), written on the eve of his execution:

Yo muero cuando veo que el cielo se colora
Y al fin anuncia el día tras lóbrego capuz;
Si grana necesitas para teñir tu aurora,
Vierte la sangre mía, derrámala en buen hora
Y dórela un reflejo de su naciente luz.

I die just when I see the dawn break
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day:
And if color is lacking my blood thou shall take,
Pour’d out at need for thy dear sake,
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.

Mamatay akong aking natatanaw

Sa likod ng dilim ang bukang liwayway;

Kung kailangan moa ng pulang pagulay,

Dugo ko’y gamitin sa kapanahunan

Nang ang liwanag mo ay lalong kuminang.

Behind the wall of the Inang Bayan Monument is the black granite Wall of Remembrance, which featured sixty-five names of “martyrs and heroes who offered their lives for freedom, justice and truth” in its unveiling. Over the years, more names have been added on the anniversary of the 1898 approval of the revolutionary government of the Malolos Congress on the 29^th of November 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2012; on the anniversary of the 1899 surrender of revolutionaries at Bayumbong Pampanga on the 28^th of November 1998 and 2014; on the 169^th birth anniversary of Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista on the 7^th of December 1999; on the 115^th anniversary of the founding of La Solidaridad on the 10^th of December 2003; the 10^th anniversary of the bombing of Philippine Airlines on the 11^th of December 2004, the 9^th of December 2005, the 1863 Bonifacio  birth anniversary on the 30^th of November 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019; the 109^th death anniversary of Gregorio del Pilar on the 2^nd of December 2008; and the 439^th anniversary of the defeat of Limahong on the 3^rd of December 2013. Currently there are three-hundred-nineteen names etched on the Wall of Remembrance, including the four 1981 martyrs of Daet, and the nineteen killed in Escalante, 1985.

The whole park was designed by the future-National Artist, Arch. Ildefonso Paez Santos Jr. (1929-2014), occupy a 3.45 hectare lot, which was awarded by Pres. Aquino to the foundation by Proclamation No. 132, of the 25^th of July 1987. The land was originally part of the planned larger Balintawak City Park of President Manuel Luis Molina Quezón(1878-1944), but was turned over to the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation by Pres. Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay (1907-1957) by Proclamation No. 373, signed on 21^st of December 1956. But for decades, the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation (now the National Housing Authority) was unable to develop the area for housing or any other plans, until it was turned into a park.

Arch. Ildefonso Paez Santos Jr. (1929-2014) is often called the “Father of Philippine Landscape Architecture”, and he is more popularly known simply as “IP Santos”. Santos graduated for the University of Santo Tomas, and continued his advanced studies at the University of Southern California, School of Architecture. After his studies, Santos worked for a while for Cornell, Bridgers, and Trollers, landscape architects in Los Angeles. In 1963, Santos returned to the Philippines to establish his own firm that would have clientele all over Asia. In 1964, Santos started lecturing at the University of the Philippines (U.P.) College of Architecture, and would later head its graduate program in tropical landscape architecture. Santos would help found and head the Philippine Association of Landscape Architects, and become a member of the Board of Examiners for Landscape Architecture of the Professional Regulation Commission. Santos career would receive numerous accolades such as the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award by the City of manila in 1977, the Outstanding Landscape Architect by the United Garden Clubs of the Philippines in 1986, and National Artist for Architecture in 2006.

In 1998, the First Quarter Storm Foundation was formally founded, with Loretta Ann “Etta” Pargas-Rosales (born 1938) as its chairperson. The foundation worked to help get the Batayog ng mga Bayani Foundation a permanent home, and in 2003, the administrative building of the foundation was constructed in the park. Named the Bahay Bayani (Heroes Home), the new edifice was supposed to house a museum dedicated to those who fought against the Marcos administration. However, the building proved to be too small for the requirements of the organization, so a newer 1,000 square meter building was constructed in 2007; and it was named after Sen. Jovito “Jovy” Reyes Salonga (1920-2016), one of the staunch critics of Pres. Marcos and chairman emeritus of the foundation. Currently, the Bahay Bayani is being used by the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo, est. 2001), which helped in the funding and construction of the new building, in partnership with the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The two-story Bantayog Memorial Center (BMC) – Sen. Jovito R. Salonga Building not just houses the foundation’s administrative offices, but also contains the Bantayog Library and Archives, the Hall of Remembrance, the Museo ng Bantayog, and the Ambassador Alfonso T. Yuchengco Auditorium, which was named after the former-foundation chairman, ambassador and business tycoon Alfonso Tiaoqui Yuchengco (1923-2017).

The Museo ng Bantayog was already set up by 2007, but only opened its doors to the public in 2009. Located at the second floor of the Jovito R. Salonga Building, the museum contains infographics about the Marcos administration and its opposition, photographs of key events against the Marcos administration, as well as artworks donated by the various artists who have long been critical against the government. This is evident once a visitor enters the building, and is greeted by the 2008-2009 multi-panel montage on Martial Law, human rights violations and the EDSA Revolution by Leonilo “Neil” Ortega Doloricon (1957-2021), Frederico Boyd “Boy” Sulapas Dominguez (born 1953), Brenda Villanueva Fajardo (born 1940), Edgar “Egai” Talusan Fernandez (born1955), and Pablo “Adi” Baen-Santos (1943-2021).

Continue reading “Quezon Avenue, Quezon City: The History and Artists of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani”