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I had actually gone to Intramuros twice before my visit to Fort Santiago. The first time was part of a team outing, during one of my work department’s regional team meetings. Unfortunately, I can’t remember much at all about it. The second time was when my colleague and friend got Catholic-married, and asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. The wedding took place at San Agustin Church, a lovely 16th century church within the historic Intramuros precinct. Unsurprisingly, this visit did not involve any sightseeing of Intramuros itself.
I regret not lengthening more of my earlier business trips around the region, to look around. I could have had more to write about, and earlier, if I had been less dedicated to my corporate job. So, when I went on another business trip to Manila (at the time it was almost an annual trip), I decided to come early to soak in Intramuros on my own. Or part of it, at any rate. I knew that Intramuros is dense with history, and if I were to do it ‘properly’ in the slow traveller way, I would need more than a weekend.
Staying closer to Intramuros
When I come to Manila for work, I would invariably stay in the glitzy Makati area. On the map, Makati doesn’t seem to be very far from Intramuros. However, as a veteran Manila business tripper, I was well aware of the infamous Manila traffic jams, not to mention its unreliable taxis. So I considered it worth my while to stay closer to Intramuros for the weekend, and then re-locate to where I needed to be later. I booked myself into Casa Bocobo, which I found quite adequate.
This old part of Manila is the Malate district. It was implied to me that the area is sketchy, which I found surprising since it’s next to Intramuros, a major tourist attraction and historic site of the Philippines. Nonetheless, I personally found the area around Casa Bocobo quite safe, albeit certainly not as modern and flashy as Makati.
Fort Santiago and Intramuros
You might have guessed by now that Fort Santiago is inside Intramuros. Intramuros, which literally means ‘inside the walls’, was the 16th-century fortified city built upon the native city of Manila after Spanish colonisers conquered the kingdom. Today, there are museums and universities within its precincts, as well as Catholic structures such as a basilica and the aforementioned San Agustin Church.
I decided to spend a leisurely day exploring Intramuros. This meant that it was not realistic to cover its entirety. So I contented myself with exploring Fort Santiago and the fortress walls along Santa Lucia street. After all (or so I naively thought in 2019), surely there would be future Manila trips for me to pick up the other Intramuros streets.
Entrance fee to Fort Santiago
The taxi took me all the way into Intramuros and dropped me off right at the entrance to Fort Santiago. There, I paid the PHP75 fee to enter the fort (about $1.50).
The ticket complex included souvenir shops that featured Philippine crafts. On my way out, I stopped to browse and bought a pair of traditional teak hand carved swim goggles, as a nod to my fellow marine people of the region.
A long garden walk took me to the moat, with a lone bridge over it towards the iconic citadel gate.
The arch of Fort Santiago
Most visitors would take a picture at this arch, drawn to its medieval aesthetic. It was an imposing gate, especially against the plain stone walls of the fort, carved as it was with coats-of-arms and a facade of Grecian pillars. A high-relief of a rearing horseman presided over the gateway.
As the other tourists passed through the arch, I contemplated this image. For I had been to Andalucia in southern Spain, and I recognised the style. I had a feeling I knew what the image was, and I was right. It was a Spanish knight (specifically Santiago, in this case), trampling Moors under the hooves of his steed.
It was not as bloody as some of the murals in the old churches of Granada, where Queen Isabella is depicted graphically dismembering the conquered Moors during her Reconquista victories. But it was still pretty graphic.
Holy war halfway around the world
I didn’t, however, know why they chose to decorate this fort with the image. Or did the Spanish capture Manila because, having re-taken Andalusia and sailed around the world, they came to these islands and saw in the local Muslims* the Moors that they hated?
Never mind that we in these equatorial islands are not the same race as the Moors** nor, at the time, even aware of Europe and its wars. Yet this relief picture, set upon a fort built over the defeated city of an Austronesian people, did not show a local race being trampled. No, the carvings were turbaned Moors, bearing Moorish rather than Southeast Asian martial gear.
How confused must the people have been, when Spaniards suddenly came upon them from the wide oceans east, with pre-existing beef with them even though they never met before! You have to wonder at the psychological state of the Spanish colonisers.
Fort Santiago fortifications
Fort Santiago is reasonably well-preserved, considering how often it was attacked by man and earthquake. It was a sea fort, meant to defend against invasion and bombardment from the sea. This was especially relevant in a region dominated by maritime states. Bastions and cannon bolstered the walls; at the very end the raised fortifications gave a good view of the Pasig river.
Here and there, there were metal statues of barefoot soldiers leaning against lamp posts, with an odd smirk. I wonder if it was because their spears are invisible?
Fort Santiago modern history
Somehow, from within the fort walls, I heard a faint call to prayer, though I do not know where the mosque could possibly be. As I tried to pinpoint the direction of the azan, a ruined building next to the river drew my attention.
Called the Rajah Sulayman theatre, the building reminded me of the unique thing about the Philippine people; that they can – and meticulously do – own all of their history, with all its contradictions, and even when it appears like cognitive dissonance. For they kept Santiago trampling Muslims on the archway, but put back the name of the Muslim king – their king – whose land was lost.
It really is a superpower, and one we could all learn to do more.
And it is here that the Philippines commemorates perhaps the best known Philippine national hero. For Jose Rizal had been imprisoned here upon charges of rebellion, a key historical event of Filipino nationalism.
Rizal shrine
While you’re in Fort Santiago, there is a museum that is well worth visiting. It goes double if you’re a history buff. The Rizal shrine is a whole building dedicated to Jose Rizal memorabilia. It helped me understand the Philippines that my parents’ generation knew. In those days, it was the Philippines who had the promising future among newly independent Southeast Asia, for they were the most educated.
I knew little about Jose Rizal, only that he was associated with La Liga Filipina and the independence movement of the Philippines (it was in the Malaysian history syllabus.) But in the museum, I learned the full range of Jose Rizal’s accomplishments. The man seemed to be able to do everything. A true polymath, he was a doctor and a poet, an economist and a fencer, a writer and an anthropologist, and on and on.
To my surprise, given the one thing I knew about him, the man himself denied involvement in rebellion. Among the displays was a letter he wrote, detailing evidences disputing the charge.
But the rest is history.
Walking on the walls of Intramuros
After my time in Fort Santiago, I decided to walk along the Intramuros walls as much as possible on my way back. Stretching along the western boundary of Intramuros, they would have constituted the sea fortifications, though clearly the walls are no longer right on the shoreline anymore. You could actually climb up onto the walls in some sections, and walk upon it. This is possible up to the part of the wall that looks to Reducto San Pedro, which is surrounded by a golf course today.
I did this whenever I could, in part because I love castles, and partly to avoid being harassed by rickshaws. There were many rickshaws within Intramuros, all trying to get tourist customers. But the thing is, Intramuros is such a great place to explore on foot. You want to pay attention to the doors and alleyways.
There were many placards at historically significant points along this wall, providing historical information. Repeatedly fortified against Dutch and Chinese pirates, rebuilt after earthquakes, captured by the British, Americans, and Japanese. They build up a picture of a fort that has suffered much and seen more.
The stones of the fort are pitted and worn concave by age. But the wall remains standing. You wouldn’t guess it from the mild-mannered Philippine people, but they have proved a phenomenal endurance.
Notes:
* Historical accounts displayed in museums seem to indicate that the Manila city-state where Intramuros now lies, had been a Muslim Tagalog kingdom and a vassal of the Brunei empire (yep, back then Brunei was an empire).
** The Bangsamoro (‘Moro nation’) of Mindanao got this name from the Spanish colonials, who called all the local Muslim ethnicities ‘Moors’, though they were halfway around the world apart. I’m sure they must have had their own ethnic names before that.
Carbon offset information to the Philippines
A return flight between Kuala Lumpur and Manila produces carbon emissions of approximately 1,130 lbs CO2e. It costs about $10 to offset this.
Thinking of checking out Fort Santiago in Intramuros? Aside from the historical aspect, the park and the buildings within the fort may also host art exhibitions.
