6/11/24: Manila's Intramuros' Casa Manila, Bahay Tsinoy & Manila Cathedral

In the previous post, I wrote about how my initial impressions of Manila were less than favorable, largely because of the gritty area of the massive city where we'd chosen to stay. If and when we return to what was called the Paris of Asia in the 19th century, I'd suggest to Steven we choose the walled city of Intramuros, the remnants of the Islamic settlement by the Pasig River. Invaded at various times by Chinese pirates, threatened by Dutch forces, and held by the British, Americans, and the Japanese, Intramuros survived until the waning days of World War II, when it was finally destroyed, save for the San Agustín Church.

Intramuros, literally meaning between the walls, was founded in 1571 as the exclusive preserve of the Spanish ruling classes. Fortified with bastions, the area within the walls was home to imposing government buildings, stately homes, lovely churches, and cobbled plazas that evoke so many picturesque towns and cities in Spain. When the reconstruction of Intramuros began in 1951, the intent was to restore its colonial architecture to its pre-war appearance. From what we saw, the goal was achieved brilliantly, and it was delightful to stroll along the peaceful lanes. 

We stopped first at Casa Manila Museum, a living museum that replicated the opulent lifestyle of affluent Filipinos during the late Spanish colonial period in the 19th century.

The 1850s colonial mansion provided a window into the lives of the gentry that was like night and day compared to what we saw just hours earlier in the heart of downtown Manila. It was hard to wrap my head around the contrast. Once I read that none other than Imelda Marcos had it built to showcase the period architecture, it began to make sense!

Lavish furnishings were the norm, with stunning, authentic antique furniture from one room to the next. The master suite:

A view of the central courtyard below: 

The music room:

I think this bedroom belonged to the mistress of the house.

Of course, there was an ornate neo-Gothic family altar in the home's prayer room, reflecting high status and piety! As you might imagine, it was designed to mirror the style of large churches, and was adorned with candlesticks, religious icons, and lush greenery in decorative pots. 

The dining room sat 18 people!

The double-seated toilet was a little too much of an invasion of personal space, in my opinion. It allowed the husband and wife to gossip out of earshot from prying ears while doing their business!

The kitchen oven dates to 1850.

We were delighted to have plenty of time to wander among the almost idyllic streets and lanes where pedestrians seemed king, and not cars.

The Memorare-Manila 1945 Monument by Peter de Guzman honored the over 100,000 civilians who lost their lives during the Battle of Manila from February 3 to March 3, 1945. The sculpture depicted a grieving mother holding a dead child, surrounded by other fallen figures, symbolizing the horrific loss of life during the city's liberation. When it was dedicated on February 18, 1985, its role was to serve as a grave for the many victims whose bodies were never recovered or identified. 

Once I learned of the significance of the images in the memorial, it was especially powerful. The dominant figure of the mother is seen as the motherland; the infant, normally a symbol of hope and the future, is dead, therefore represents lost hope. The young boys are shown dead, symbolizing the youth the country lost. The dead man in the middle represents the elderly who were caught in the battle. 

The Palacio del Sana building, located in the historic walled city of Intramuros, was constructed in 1997 to reflect a style that meshed with its historic surroundings. 

The Bahay Tsinoy Museum showcased the history, culture, and contributions of Chinese Filipinos, often referred to as sangley by the Spanish, because, in the locally prevailing Hokkien dialect, sangley meant itinerant merchant in growing Manila. Established in 1999, the museum contained artifacts, dioramas, and artworks depicting the lives of Tsinoys. It highlighted the integration of Chinese culture into Philippine life, including tracing the ancestry of national heroes like José Rizal.

According to the museum, in every aspect of Philippine life, in every phase of the country's history, in its culture and traditions, language, and songs, or in other words, in everything that is Filipino, the Chinese presence is integral. Long before the Philippines' recorded history, the Chinese were already trading partners with the inhabitants of the scattered islands across the South China Sea. When the Spanish colonized the islands and called them the Philippines, the Chinese and the Filipinos worked together under the Spanish crown. With Chinese assistance, trade flourished, with Manila becoming a major trading partner with the Orient.

Swings in the country's history during its many struggles for freedom, as well as for social, political, and economic stability, sometimes left the Chinese feeling isolated from a destiny shared with the Filipinos. In the end, though, the Tsinoy emerged - the Chinese who is Filipino or the Filipino who is Chinese - who was molded through the centuries by Philippine life and has been enriched by legacies of Chinese ancestry.

Evidence of cultural ties from tribes in southern China proved they reached the Philippines. Cultural patterns in the northern highlands bear striking similarity to those of a southern China tribe in the Neolithic period. These include the cultivation of rice and taro, farming in terraced rice paddies, the use of stone adze in boatmaking, and jar burial practices.

Early Chinese records document Chinese-Philippine trade relations by the late 10th century. The mode of exchange was barter, with yellow wax, cotton, pearls, tortoise shells, and betel nuts exchanged for Chinese porcelain, colored glass beads, pottery, and needles. 

During the Spanish colonial period, the Chinese were first confined to a parian, or ghetto, established just outside Intramuros of the walls of the Spanish city in 1582. They provided labor and goods to the colonial city. The Spaniards taxed them heavily because the Chinese earned high wages. Occasional uprisings and Spanish massacres resulted from unlawful taxation without notice. Following a Chinese revolt in 1603, the entire parian population of 20,000 was wiped out.

In 1639, following a bad year in the galleon trade, economic hardship, and provoked by arbitrary tax demands, the Manila Chinese waged another rebellion and were joined by the Chinese from Laguna, who were forced to farm Crown lands. An estimated 25,000 of the 30,000 parian residents were killed. Due to the massacres, the location of the parian was changed by the Spaniards nine times. After the last parian was closed down in 1856, the Chinese were permitted to join other baptized Chinese. The six massacres cost the lives of almost 100,000 people. 

Lifesized dioramas depicted Chinese and mestizo or mixed Spanish Filipino life in the parian or Chinese ghetto. Here, a Chinese goldsmith was at work. 

For a fee, a public reader read and wrote letters for illiterate Chinese. 

Chinese peddlers, who had their origins in the parian, are still seen in the countryside with their portable stalls making jewelry, mending shoes, cutting hair, selling fruit and vegetables, meats, textiles, and mosquito nets.

 

Many churches, monasteries, hospitals, and stone houses were built by Chinese laborers. They also manufactured bricks and roof tiles, and produced an excellent lime to bind stones from oyster shells and white coral.

The most significant Chinese contribution, however, was the art of printing. The first three books in the Philippines were printed by Keng Yong in the parian. The Spaniards spread Christianity more quickly and easily through the use of woodblock printing, introduced by the Chinese. Yong, a Christianized Chinese, crafted the Doctrina Christiana, the first book printed in the Philippines in 1593. 

On December 10, 1898, the Philippines were ceded by Spain to the United States for $20 million under the Treaty of Paris. It marked the beginning of US expansion into Asia and brought about significant changes in the country's economic life. The opening of Manila to world trade ushered in liberal ideas from the West, which influenced all sectors of Philippine society. 

The American presence contributed to significant improvements in public services, including roads, postal services, communications, and sea and air transport. The development of maritime transport enabled vessels to reach remote coastal areas, thereby increasing contact between rural and urban areas. Bridges built across the country transformed the Philippines from a largely water-based transportation system to a land-based one. That eased the delivery of goods and services, which in turn spurred the growth of the import-export market. 

The growth of Chinese schools for educating Chinese students paralleled the growth of the American education system in the Philippines. The Philippine Chinese Educational Association was formed in 1914 to raise funds for Chinese schools, including the first Chinese school in the Philippines, founded in 1889, and the first Chinese high school, founded in 1923. By 1935, 56 other Chinese schools had been built throughout the country.

After the Sino-Japanese War began in China in July 1937, the Chinese community in the Philippines mobilized to send aid and boycott Japanese goods to support their homeland's resistance to the Japanese occupation. They bought planes for China's air force, and some even volunteered for the anti-Japanese army. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, war was brought to the Philippines. 

During the Japanese occupation, many Chinese migrated to rural areas where Filipinos concealed them in their own homes. If the Chinese were found hiding, they were massacred. When the Japanese entered Manila, they immediately retaliated by rounding up and executing seven known leaders of the Anti-Japanese Association and the Anti-Japanese Boycott Committee.

Chinese volunteers created organized military units active in the resistance movement, fighting alongside Filipino guerrillas to defend freedom. Chinese guerrillas conducted liquidation missions, sabotage, military intelligence collection, and aided prisoners-of-war to escape. They also published propaganda materials to promote patriotism by reporting Japanese atrocities. These acts helped win the respect and gratitude of the Filipinos.

I consider myself well-educated, but still confess to ignorance about the mistreatment of the Chinese in the Philippines at the hands of the Spaniards. I credit the excellent Bahay Tsinoy Museum for filling that knowledge gap.  

I could clearly see how the Ayuntamiento de Manila, or the original City Council and various government agencies since 1607, was once the grandest building in Intramuros, before being flattened during the Battle of Manila at the end of World War II. It subsequently became a parking lot before a faithful recreation of the original structure was undertaken in 2010. The Bureau of the Treasury is now located there.

Close by was the Manila Cathedral, built in 1581 and rebuilt an astonishing seven times since! I had to agree that its weathered Romanesque facade made it look suitably ancient after the seventh incarnation was destroyed at the end of the war. Friezes on its bronze doors depicted the string of tragic events that led to the Cathedral's destruction.

It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception in 1571. Pope John Paul II elevated it to the rank of a basilica in 1981. 

Lovely stained-glass windows and a 4,500-pipe organ were highlights of the cathedral. 

It was hard to reconcile that the Plaza de Roma out front was formerly a blood-soaked bullring.

Next post: Possibly our best day trip ever was to the Taal Volcano, followed by having strapping men lug us in a boat over the Pagsanjan Falls Rapids!

Posted on April 3rd, 2026, from Nadi, on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Selfishly, we consider ourselves fortunate to be far from news of the Iran war and the resulting fallout in the neighboring countries. Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones.