After retrieving my passport from the nearby manpower agency located at the back of Emilio Aguinaldo College in Manila, I started strolling to nowhere as I didn’t know what to do afterwards. It was still 2: 30 in the afternoon. I didn’t have anywhere else to go and didn’t have anything else to do. Hence, I decided to explore Manila by foot until it hurts. Just a few minutes after I started my urban adventure, I saw an intriguing structure. A small fortress with towering acacia trees inside it. And since it was still all sunshiny I opted to go inside the fortress and rest under the cool shade provided by the magnificent decades-old acacia trees. As I came near the place, I saw two historical markers placed at both sides of the entrance gate.  Upon reading what’s embedded on it, I figured out that the fortress is unlike the ones found in Intramuros, also located in Manila. While the walls of Intramuros protected everyone inside it from pirate attacks, the fortress which I just stumbled upon contains remains of the dead. And then it hit me, I just came across Paco Cemetery.

Wall of the Dead.

With sheer excitement from knowing that I just stumbled upon something historical, I immediately grab my digicam and started taking pictures of the place. As I walked passed through the first fortress, I paid the five pesos entrance fee. Construction workers were busy building new structures and repairing some dilapidated parts of the park. As I looked closely at the walls inside, I was shocked to see that the fortress itself is the cemetery. Imagine the apartment set-up in placing the remains of the dead in public cemeteries. As I delve inside the second fortress, I continued seeing walls of the dead. There were no crosses laid on the ground similar to the American Cemetery located near Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. But instead, I found a simple yet soothing park occupied by around seven age-old acacia trees, a mortuary chapel and a place to get in touch with history.  As clearly stated on the markers found at the entrance of the fortress, Paco Cemetery has been completed prior to the worst cholera epidemic which struck Manila in 1820.

Pepe used to lie here.

Having seen that all the walls, except those in the chapel, were designated as burial sites, my eyes were fixated on a huge white cross placed on the ground. I said to myself that whoever was buried underneath that especially allotted spot must have some importance in the community decades ago. Intrigued, I read another marker placed near the cross. As I was reading, I remembered the other marker I saw at the entrance gate. On December 30, 1896, Dr. Jose P. Rizal has been executed at the nearby Bagumbayan (now Luneta). Afterwards, his remains were secretly buried by the authorities at the very same spot where the cross stands inside Paco Cemetery. However, by August 17, 1898 his remains were dug up. It was placed on an urn made by Teodoro Romualdo de Jesus and was deposited in his mother’s house in Estraude Street in Manila’s Binondo District. And exactly 16 years after his death, his remains were finally laid beneath his monument at the Luneta Park until this day. Now I know the reason behind this special treatment. The tomb has been the original burial site of our National Hero.

Paco Park designated as a National Historical Shrine.

Aside from Dr. Jose P. Rizal, other notable Filipinos’ remains are laid within the Paco Cemetery. The three martyred priests named Fathers Marciano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora’s are just a few of the ‘tenants’ of Paco Park.

So much has been said about how heavily polluted Metro Manila is. From above as the airplane starts to descend, one can easily compare how the sky outside the window changes from pure white cotton-like clouds to the dirty black fumes hovering above the metropolis. On the ground, trash piles up like a mini- volcano which most of the time emits stinky odor that somehow becomes the accepted natural smell of a locality. All sorts of trash have somehow made our bodies of water as their home. With clogged waterways perennial flooding occurs. Our streets are filled with jeepneys, buses and private vehicles that relentlessly exhaust thick black fumes, as if we need those to live and survive. Yes, Metro Manila is heavily polluted. One can simply tell by merely stepping one foot outside their homes.