Great Camp Out

Museo ng Santa Rosa

Entering the bayan

  Museums are usually closed on Monday.  It was a Sunday when we first tried to visit the Santa Rosa Museum, and it was closed. We were told to return on a Monday. This seems odd, but then I do remember other government museums in other towns were closed on Sundays as well.  We dreaded going on a weekday, as the bayan looks really like your "anybayan" in Southern Luzon. Just see the "7-11" in the center through the archway above.  Cringe. At least it's not the Golden Arches nor the Bee I see.  I do cringe, but how phony of me to not enjoy the convenience--when we had earlier stopped by at a 7-11 to buy batteries, while my husband used the Jolibee restroom.

  So, it is Holy Week, and I thought it the perfect opportunity to enter this Museo.  This is right next to the  parish church. It smelled of...paint and dust was flying.  They were renovating, what luck.  An elderly construction man ushered us in, saying we could still go upstairs.  A very pleasant and accommodating security head met us, explaining the reason for the renovation.   There is some sort of international museum congress happening in May, and Sta. Rosa will be the venue for the Philippine museums meeting! We still saw a bit of the second floor. It's actually surprising that items were still out on display considering all the construction dust and movement.  Here is what we saw:

Table settings, houseware such as an old coal iron, mortar and pestle, jars
photos of the old archway circa 1920s

     When the man pointed out the photos of all the town's heads on the far end of the wall, at first I thought: Why is everything in a town all about the mayor as a personality most of the time. You know, with photos on tarps everywhere, and people referring with reverence to the mayor, or the congressman, etc when one is discussing the town. Then again, he probably pointed them out as the building used to be the town hall.

     Anyway, it is going to be open week after Holy Week, and then the meeting will be held in May.  We also inquired about the Cuartel (see post) de Santo Domingo. Security head seemed excited about our interest in the ruins, and led us to the tourism office.  The woman in there could not share our excitement--she seemed frustrated too, by the fact that even they could not visit the ruins.  She said they have even had to send their request to the Taguig camp. There is hope though, as she mentioned talks are ongoing between the National Historical Institute and the camp, to open the ruins for visitors.

Cuartel de Sto. Domingo

    I didn't post the wrong photo. This is right past Crown Asia's Valenza Italian inspired village, and the area is Bgy. Sto. Domingo.  The Special Action Forces Training camp of the Philippine National Police, is here.  Fort Sto. Domingo sounds so familiar, but it took time before I realized the Cuartel de Sto. Domingo was most likely in that barangay, and not in the old bayan ng Sta. Rosa. I don't know why I had assumed it was in the other side--the Balibago, Tagapo sides where the city hall is located.   

     Even before this barangay, is Bgy. Don Jose, which covers the area of the Laguna Technopark, Paseo de Sta. Rosa and many small villages.  Both barangays have their metal arches marking the entrance to the barangays, on the right side of the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay national highway.  Again, I dislike saying negative things sana, but I have to note that both barangay's roads are dirt roads.  It is sadder to see this in the Bgy. Don Jose, because this road is between Technopark tenants such as Panasonic.  I mean, it's supposed to be a World-class city now, this Sta. Rosa, but I guess that just means that it is host to such corporations. 

    Anyway, I digress.  I had seen just one old b/w pic of the cuartel online.  Google it now, and let me know if you find new information and pics, as there is really just now. Now everywhere I've lived, I have been interested in what has gone before.  I creep myself out trying to imagine exactly what went on in the land I am standing on.  In Makati's Bgy. Guadalupe Viejo and Poblacion, I would imagine natives by the Pasig river...but it was frustrating as I could not find any stories nor sketches of such scenes.  I wondered what could be found by digging along those banks.  The scant info I got mentioned that the entrance steps of the Nuestra Senora de Gracia used to reach all the way down to the river!

   Ayayay, here I go again going off on another topic...

   Back to that boring pic of a billboard. There is a road right in front of it, and that leads to the training camp's gate.  The men guarding it were very polite, explaining that no visitors are allowed to enter unless perhaps sponsored/led by the barangay captain, or a PNP official, or some such authority.  Neither have there been field trips to the place.  Here are photos of the cuartel circa 1800 and 2000, that I took at the Museum of Sta. Rosa:

 
   They're just ruins, I know, but very important and interesting.  This land people have been moving to, buying new houses and lots, once saw battle! I still can't believe these artifacts dug up from the cuartel, were just sitting by the museum door with no case nor cordon.  I mean, some nut could just take a fancy to them.

     You will not miss the Crown Asia Valenza Italian village...it right across Nuvali,too.  After these, you'll get to "Japanese corn" vendors lined up on the sidewalks on weekends.  This is Bgy. Sto. Domingo, which I imagine, is getting "world-class" too anyway with all the new developments.  It is still more special this way, I think:

   Hard to imagine just over a decade ago--well around 1995, 1996...when we began taking this route toward Tagaytay, we were actually afraid of passing here in the evening.  We would take the old way, the one that comes out to Cavite.
This Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay highway was dimly lit back then, and it was common knowledge that "salvaged" victims were dumped here.  I know this to be true---I have a cousin whose car was carjacked on their way out of NAIA (it happened on the way from the Pasig area to Libis, the same old modus operandi) and they were then dropped off in Sta. Rosa. They were unhurt, but their driver sustained a gunshot wound on the foot.  They hailed a tricycle home.  Even before then, we had been warned to avoid this route once it got dark. 

   What is it with me today, this is going everywhere but the cuartel. Well, that's just it. We can't even visit the cuartel until some sort of agreement is reached between the PNP and the local government.   Bet most of the people living here don't even realize the historical aspect of this land.  It would give it so much more significance and interest to know. I mean, the newness of places like Nuvali, the kitsch of Georgia model showrooms and the commercial Paseo can just be so...blah sometimes.  There are people out there who would appreciate the ruins.  And I think our children ought to.