Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Biyaheng Bonifacio - Naic, Cavite (Jun 1, 2013) : Casa Hacienda de Naic

Historical Note:  Casa Hacienda de Naic was originally the administration building for the overseer of the larger friar lands in Naic.  The site is now named the Naic Elementary School.

During the Philippine Revolution, this building was witness to two events related to Bonifacio:

1.  After the Tejeros Convention where Bonifacio was defeated for the presidency by Emilio Aguinaldo, it was in this building were Bonifacio created the Naic Military Agreement, which formed a rival government that then rejected the election at Tejeros and asserted Bonifacio as the leader of the revolution.  The same agreement called for all Filipino men to be forced-enlisted to Bonifacio's army.   When word about this came out, none of the Cavite towns wanted to assist Bonifacio's group so he started to threaten the locals.

Whhaaatttt???  I'm a big fan of Bonifacio but I don't want to sound too arrogant either so hear me out on this - when you just had a BIG (almost fatal) argument with your political rival, you don't setup a 'pilot office' WITHIN your rival's own turf and then start harassing his supporters!!! :P  If Bonifacio only had the right temperament at that time, who knows?  We could have been a more mature and developed country by now.  But that's another story...

2.  The same building was also the site where Bonifacio and his brother Procopio were later held in preparation for their trial on charges of treason.  They were imprisoned at a small "bartolina" under the main staircase of the building.  Both of them were previously captured in Indang Cavite by rival Magdalo soldiers.



Travel time from Maragondon junction to Naic will take just over 30 minutes but be sure to mention to the driver that you're headed for the Immaculate Conception Parish Church (we only mentioned "Immaculate Conception" and that we were headed for a school; it turns out that there was another school with the same name hahaha)

Fortunately as well, we met two lovely ladies (sorry  po, I forgot your names already) just outside the school and when I asked one of them if this was the site we were looking for, she said yes and  immediately mentioned  the "bartolina" that we need to see just right after the main door of the school :)

One last triva:  Naic (and even the other Cavite towns) has an ordinance that prohibits the use of plastics (even straws for softdrinks).  I forgot about this later during lunch when I asked for straws for our drinks at Jollibee...


 These ladies were selling refreshments just outside the school so after we had our meryenda, the lady in the white shirt gamely volunteered to be our guide.







 Just seeing the door to the "bartolina" reminded me of the scene in "Invictus" where Matt Damon's character visited the actual prison cell where Nelson Mandela spent nearly 30 years of his life.  



 Kris had the guts to enter and even take pictures...all for the love of art and history :)

 Our guide also told us that when they were still students, their teachers would send the naughty kids to this same place...poor kids :( maybe that's the reason why she still doesn't want to enter the room and only wants to see the insides from a safe distance.






Outside view of the Immaculate Conception Parish Church - still undergoing its renovation...those white stones are marble, I think...


We first thought that there might be a wedding in the afternoon (which explains the elaborate floral arrangement) but after seeing a stand being setup near the altar, we realized the men were preparing for a funeral mass later that day.

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