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National Theatre of the Philippines

My final year dissertation which explored a symbolic edifice in Manila, built by the National Artist for Architecture as per request of the former First Lady of the Philippines. It discusses Architecture's innate role in a political society, specifically in a country that has undergone centuries of colonialism; which got an overall grade of A.

My final year dissertation which explored a symbolic edifice in Manila, built by the National Artist for Architecture as per request of the former First Lady of the Philippines. It discusses Architecture's innate role in a political society, specifically in a country that has undergone centuries of colonialism; which got an overall grade of A.

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figure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> country. There is an idea in <strong>the</strong> <strong>Philippines</strong> about a mo<strong>the</strong>r’s love – It is<br />

that a mo<strong>the</strong>r always brings home <strong>the</strong> best for her children; and for <strong>the</strong> former first lady,<br />

it was <strong>the</strong> extravagance <strong>of</strong> material beauty that <strong>the</strong> country can be proud with.<br />

At this point for her, <strong>the</strong> good, <strong>the</strong> true and <strong>the</strong> beautiful is to celebrate our arts and<br />

cultural heritage and to be globally put on <strong>the</strong> map. Image building <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Philippines</strong><br />

was considered first. Despite <strong>the</strong> country being poor, <strong>the</strong>y borrowed billions <strong>of</strong> dollars<br />

from o<strong>the</strong>r countries to sustain <strong>the</strong> commercial infrastructure development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>Philippines</strong>. The plan were quite unrealistic for a young country, as it was like a kid<br />

trying to look like an adult. With that said, she created and built numerous institutions<br />

and one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m is <strong>the</strong> Cultural Centre <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Philippines</strong>. On a BBC documentary called<br />

‘To sing our own song, 1984’, <strong>the</strong>n Archbishop Cardinal Sin branded <strong>the</strong> projects as<br />

‘distorted priorities’. This is because <strong>the</strong> main concern was <strong>the</strong> continuous poverty <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> people and housing for <strong>the</strong> poor,<br />

38<br />

which did not happen until <strong>the</strong> later part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

regime (BLISS project). 39<br />

During <strong>the</strong> 20 year period <strong>of</strong> having Marcos as <strong>the</strong> president <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> country, a lot <strong>of</strong><br />

infrastructure were built not just commercial and housing but as well as road networks<br />

and <strong>the</strong> regulation for train services.<br />

However, during <strong>the</strong> second term <strong>of</strong> Marcos’ regime in 1971, <strong>the</strong>re was a series <strong>of</strong><br />

bombings and assassination attempt to <strong>the</strong> minister <strong>of</strong> defence. The re-rise <strong>of</strong> guerrilla<br />

movement (which was originally formed to fight <strong>the</strong> Japanese during <strong>the</strong>ir occupation in<br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>Philippines</strong> but later became a rebellion group against <strong>the</strong> Philippine government)<br />

resulted into Martial Law being proclaimed <strong>the</strong> following year. In <strong>the</strong> beginning it was<br />

well received by <strong>the</strong> people but after a while, as more killings and media blockout were<br />

imposed, <strong>the</strong> administration was soon criticised and uttered by <strong>the</strong> citizens as corrupt.<br />

38 To Sing Our Own Song. Directed by BBC TV. Performed by Jose W. Diokno. 1983.<br />

39 Urban BLISS project, http://imelda.mybcnet.net/?p=3243 (accessed 18 December 2017)<br />

!48

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