Much ado about nothing.
That just about sums up the
position of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on the
controversy over the 49-storey Torre de Manila condominium rising within the
visual corridor of the Rizal monument at Luneta Park.
According to NHCP legal
counsel Jose Manuel Diokno, Rizal himself had indicated in a letter to his
sister that he did not want his death to be glorified and that he only wanted a
simple tomb.
"Jose Rizal would not
want to be glorified after his death, based on his letter to his sister. All he
asked for was a stone or a fence,” said Diokno, dean of the De La Salle
University College of Law.
In other words, Rizal probably
would not have minded buildings being constructed behind his monument in Luneta
nor would have wanted a monument in his honor at all.
Diokno added that he could
imagine Rizal being “confounded” and saying that the country “has much bigger
problems” to focus on than securing that his monument's vista is free from
obstruction.
NHCP chairperson Dr. Maria
Serena Diokno, for her part, cited the Bonifacio Monument as another monument
surrounded by buildings.
She added that sight lines are
not protected either under the Constitution or international charters on
heritage conservation. –End-
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