LITTLE HERITAGE WITHIN DEVELOPED CITY

UNEDITED SAMPLE FEATURE ARTICLE
By Vladimir Paat Villegas
IV – Sir Isaac Newton


If Manila has Intramuros, Makati has Poblacion so as if they had the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Concepcion, the city has Saints Peter and Paul Parish.

San Pedro Macati, or Sampiro as it was called by the folk during the turn of the century, was the official name of the place which composed of the town of Makati itself and the church built in honor of the great apostle. The name of the town came from the word kumakati, which meant the fall of the tide specifically of the Pasig River, for it was the word told by the residents of the little settlement when Governor General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.

The land comprised of the town, as owed to the encomienda system of the Spaniards, was the sole ownership of Captain Pedro De Brito, who was a retired aide to the Spanish army chief. In 1608, Captain De Brito, who was then the Alferez-General of Manila, and Ana De Herrera, his wife, executed an instrument of foundation wherein half of the land would be left to the religious orders. A church under the patronage of Saint Peter was then built on the hill of Buenavista by the Franciscans as a condition and as the leadership was handed over to the Jesuits, it was completed together with a novitiate. The church was then completed during the apostolate of Rev Fr Pedro Montes, SJ in 1620.

Its façade had a dominating carving of the papal emblem, which composes of the triple tiara and the keys of heaven. The altarpiece, which was the focal point of the church, housed the historic image of the Our Lady of Rose brought from Acapulco in 1718 with the housed reliquary containing a strand of the hair of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its breast, and the Sto Niño de Pasion, which was believed to be honored as early as the 18th century and depicted the knowledge of the youth Jesus about His destiny by bearing the nails, the crown of thorns, and the cross. The church bells, which were among the oldest bells of the Archdiocese of Manila as told in the archives, and the old acacia trees were the other notable features of the church.

However, the revolutionary period broke out and in 1899; the head, the hands, and the reliquary of the Our Lady of Rose were stolen. The bell tower and the novitiate were then destroyed as followed by the expulsion of the Jesuits from their lands due to sequestration. The American period then followed and a group of American soldiers, more known as the California Boys, had the church as their barracks to chase General Pio del Pilar up to the Augustinian monastery of Nuestra Señora de Gracia in Guadalupe, which was also ruined at that time.

Today, the structure of the church is a product of many renovations through time. Residential structures and some ownership of the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres now surround the old sites and its periphery decreased. Restorations are planned to re-establish it as one of the most historically important and beautiful structure of the developed city and the country.

The Saints Peter and Paul Parish is a little heritage within a developed city. It is place to which the city owes a lot for without it, the history of this place could never be told completely.