It literally rained on Apolinario Mabini’s parade last Wednesday. Heavy rain and resulting floods led to the cancellation of the commemoration of his 161st birth anniversary at the two Mabini
It literally rained on Apolinario Mabini’s parade last Wednesday. Heavy rain and resulting floods led to the cancellation of the commemoration of his 161st birth anniversary at the two Mabini Shrines: in Tanauan, Batangas (where he was born in 1864), and Manila (where he died in 1903). The Manila Shrine is one of my favorites, because in a simple wooden house with a thatch roof, you get a sense of how Mabini spent his last days before he succumbed to cholera from drinking fresh, unpasteurized carabao milk. “Mabini House” is a misnomer because it was not owned by the Sublime Paralytic. Rather, Apolinario was a long-term guest of his younger brother Agapito, who married into the family of Cecilio del Rosario, who owned the house that originally stood on Calle Nagtahan 21.
When Nagtahan, now Mabini Bridge, was built, the Mabini House was moved, literally a spitting distance, to Calle Nagtahan 23 to make way for the northern end of the bridge. Then it was moved a second time to the south bank of the Pasig River within the Malacañang Palace grounds, which later became the Presidential Security Group Camp. I first visited the Mabini Shrine in Pandacan in the 1980s, and didn’t have a problem gaining access by leaving my ID at the gate, but I guess most people would not even try. In 2009, yet another flood control project was implemented that required widening the Pasig River, where the Mabini house stood. Instead of moving the house within the camp, it was decided to relocate it to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines campus, further down the Pasig River, where it would be an inspiration to the students.
