20/02/2017
No to the replacement of Palo’s cross
Some people in the bureaucracy just can’t understand the meaning of icons and cultural symbols. All that matters to them are physical structures that probably serve the needs of the present. To them, the past is passe, irrelevant, probably useless. When old structures get in the way of ‘progress’, these are torn down to make way for the latest architectural craze, all in the name of ‘change’ and ‘progress’. But what kind of change or progress is this heading to?
The town of Palo has been in the historical map of the island since the Jesuits came to bring Christianity to its natives way back in 1596. Since then, its native sons and daughters have embraced Catholicism with a fervor that impressed the early Jesuit missionaries, such that the order built its residencia or central mission station, from which to spread Catholicism to its neighboring villages. Eventually, the town would become the seat of the diocese when Leyte was ecclesiastically separated from Samar to form its own diocese in 1937.
In the early 60s’, this fervor has not left Paloanons. And probably one of the most concrete manifestation of this attitude is the construction of a large cross atop the Guinhangdan Hill, an enterprise that could not have left the drawing boards had its builders not showed determination and conviction for building it. We can just imagine the many discussions and arguments that came before it was finally approved.
The task was not an easy one. Today we lose our breath just going up its 522 steps. But at that time, there were no such steps, only slippery and stony trails. People had to carry bags of cement and sand and gravel, and, of course, water to mix them with, up the hill. But these were paid laborers, you will argue. Oh, yes, they were probably. But there were volunteers too who labored from their convictions.
Yes, the cross is a product of such conviction and more. It is a product of the people’s faith in the cross of Christ. Probably they thought it was a protective mantle over their town that was earlier ravaged by war. That hill was were Japanese troops stationed themselves so that the American liberators could not take the town. The cross became a permanent symbol of that conquest, the triumph of good over evil forces.
But many people no longer see the meanings behind such symbolisms. People in the bureaucracy especially. They no longer see this as an icon of the people’s faith, as a symbol of their convictions. They cannot see the values that its builders had expressed when they decided to undertake the enterprise. Nay, they refuse to see the hidden meanings of the cross. To them it is at best a relic of the past that has outlived its relevance and, therefore, can be torn down just like what they do with other old historic structures.
But we who value our history and its icons, we say no to their senseless drive to modernization and progress.
