A slice of Philippine history at San Francisco's Union Square

-
I have been to San Francisco's Union Square several times since I've started visiting the City. However, I have always been with family and friends so I never had the chance to see this bit of the city until I went exploring alone for the second time (I skipped it the first time I explored by myself). 

Anyway, I knew that there's a column in the middle of the Union Square and I've always wanted to see it up close... not just take a photo of the column but to see what it's actually about. And then I noticed the inscription on the base:
War has commenced between the United States and Spain... On the night of April 30th 1898, Commodore George Dewey's squadron entered Manila Bay... reduced the forts and held the city in subjection until the arrival of troops from America.
I was so surprised when I realised that this column is actually the Dewey Monument! And in Philippine history class, Commodore George Dewey held a stellar role. He led the American Navy fleet to victory in the Battle of Manila Bay of the Spanish-American War, that led to the significant decline in the Spanish Empire. It was no longer el imperio en el que nunca se pone el sol by the end of 1898 through the Treaty of Paris*. 

The Dewey Monument is topped by a statue of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. At first, I thought that she was holding a cross (like Reyna Elena?) but a closer inspection of the photograph revealed that it's actually a trident. The statue holds a wreath on the other hand.


I was checking out old photos to see if there was a time when the Dewey Monument was not surrounded by tall buildings. Apparently, buildings were already around Union Square when the monument was dedicated to the victory of the Dewey-led American fleet in 1903. But many of these buildings were damaged during the earthquake of 1906; the Dewey Monument was one of the few left standing.

---
*Before the Treaty of Paris was signed, the Philippines had declared its independence from Spain. Little did the Filipino leadership realise then that Spain never recognised this independence, selling this colony to the USA for $20 million. The Philippine Republic eventually became independent on July 4, 1946. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

Skyflakes

-
One of the more famous Philippine exports is Skyflakes , a wheat-based, salty cracker. It is one of my emergency food items: I typically have some stocked at home and in my handbag in case I become hungry (like in traffic jams). When there's no electricity and it's impractical to cook rice (because the leftover would spoil), I'd open a pack of Skyflakes and generously coat each cracker with Cheez Whiz... if I had a bottle of it within reach. Anyway, each time I spent more than two weeks outside the Philippines, I'd be elated to see boxes of Skyflakes inside Asian stores (particularly when in I was Australia and in the USA). Back then, I took it as a sign of homesickness. When I moved to California, I didn't miss Skyflakes because Mommy made sure that there's a steady supply in the house. Skyflakes is embedded in Filipino gastronomy as a snack, a panawid-gutom , that anyone who reacts positively upon seeing Skyflakes outside the Philippines must have spe...
Read more

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

-
I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in...
Read more

Surat Mangyan

-
Image
In high school, part of the Filipino curriculum was learning about one of the country's ancient native scripts called Baybayin . I learned back then that this script was eventually abandoned because the Spanish, and eventually the Americans, encouraged the use of the Latin script for written communications. But that's in the lowlands; the rules were different up in the mountains. In the lush mountains of Mindoro, groups of indigenous people called Mangyans  live largely in isolation away from the Christianised Filipinos. This isolation has led to the continuous development of the Mangyans' old script, Surat Mangyan . As I walked inside the Ayala Museum , I saw this bamboo tube (I'm not sure if it's an instrument) with Mangyan script written all over it. I suppose that this was equivalent to a book or a song. But I haven't figured out what's written yet, despite the translation guide provided. What I can do, however, is write my name in Ma...
Read more