MICHAEL “XIAO” CHUA
The past only becomes relevant if the people of the present give it importance. More than a decade ago, I went to the Andres Bonifacio Monument by Eduardo Castrillo beside the Manila City Hall, literally neglected amid parked vehicles and a transport terminal. Some of the metal works were stolen, and no one would want their photos taken there because of the stench. The back of it has a shorter version of the “Kartilya ng Katipunan” by Emilio Jacinto, full of human wastes.