Monumento--in Malabon

The monumento: a cultural gem in the midst of urban blight.

Do you know where Monumento is? Many Filipinos would answer Caloocan City. But did you know that a short distance behind the historic Bonifacio monument is another historic monumento?

Malabon might be a crowded, flood-prone city, but it is also a heritage haven, with impressive ancestral houses, a big church with a Greek temple for a facade, and a cemetery that dates from 1835. What makes it unique apart from its oldness is a large monument located at the center of the cemetery. 

In some Philippine cemeteries, the central area is either marked by a small religious monument or a mortuary chapel. In the case of Malabon, the monument is downright humongous. In fact, it's probably the largest of its kind around!

This square structure, as tall as a two-story building, is made entirely of adobe blocks. Each corner is enclosed by faux columns rising towards an entablature consisting of an architrave and an overhanging cornice. 

Atop this entablature is a smaller second level, also square, hosting curved pediments on each side. The topmost level is a low pyramidic crown that may have once held a cross at the center. 

The neoclassic gracefulness and symmetry of the architecture is simply striking. There seems to be no religious symbols, not even niches or inscriptions, on its walls. It was obviously built to impress those who would enter the cemetery from its original entrance. 

But what of its current state? Like an adolescent's acne-plagued face, the entire monument is pockmarked with tomb markers (lapidas) and niches. And the central orientation has been obliterated by tombs haphazardly built around it, with one "cage tomb" attached to it, like a parasite living off on its host! 

A closer inspection would also reveal stone blocks in various states of erosion, endangering the already fragile structure. 

It's interesting to note that the architect of the neoclassic basilica of Taal, Luciano Oliver, also designed the facade of Malabon's church. Could he have designed also the cemetery monument? If so, then we have an important--but unknown--cultural treasure in our midst.

The monumento is pockmarked with secondary internments, depreciating its
historic and cultural value. Notice the hollow block wall "stuck" to the structure.

The dome of San Bartolome Church as seen from the monumento.

The owners of this "cage tomb" directly took advantage of one side of the 

monumento, utilizing the ancient wall as an anchor for the grillework. 

Due to the raised walkway, the monumento is now lower in height than before.