5 Shrines in the Garden
Living with Nature Center
San Vicente Ilocos Sur
Heritage Zone of the North (RA 11645)
Dr Abe V Rotor
Naturalism - the Eighth Sense
15th Year 2800 Posts
1 - Rizal in Exile Shrine at the Living with Nature Center
The restored icon is now enshrined at the San Vicente Botanical Garden
(Living with Nature Center) San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.
Rizal was exiled to the remote town of Dapitan in Mindanao. Throughout his 4-year exile, Rizal practiced ophthalmology and general medicine at no charge to the townspeople. He became a farmer and proved that farming is a good profession. He demonstrated it on an abandoned farm he bought in Talisay, a barrio near Dapitan. This farm had an area of sixteen hectares and was rather rocky.
Not only as a doctor and farmer he pursued scientific studies, continued his artistic and literary works, widened his knowledge of languages and established a school for boys.
2 - Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine
A broken icon found refuge in a garden
One sunset a broken bust glows alive
Under the trees in my garden;
Smashed on the chin and across the face,
This figure is sadly spoken.
If heroes were immortals by their deeds,
Mount Olympus won’t be forgotten;
Legends live in the hands of the artist,
Even those who’ve sought in vain.
Concrete bust probably that of General Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the First Republic of the Philippines, who fought the Americans after nearly four centuries of Spanish colonization of the islands, but lost. The country became Commonwealth of the Philippines for 50 years under the US. The bust was discovered and acquired by the author in a lumberyard in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur in 2018. The sculptor remains unknown to this day.
Restored bust image of General Emilio Aguinaldo
by local sculptor Bhoy Adora
Emilio Aguinaldo fought for a free and independent Philippines, first against Spain and then against the United States. When the Philippines declared itself an independent republic in 1898 and Aguinaldo became its president, a significant milestone was reached in the struggle against colonial rule in Asia.
3 - Apo Baket'
Keeper of Time-Honored Tradition and Values
"She sits calmly in a garden,
full of thoughts and memories,while our troubled world grinds;would you like to hear her stories?"
- AV Rotor
The icon, symbol of the old folk generation, keeper of time-honored tradition and values, was made by the late Francisco Boy Peralta in the seventies, and restored by Bhoy Adora. Both sculptors are natives of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. The icon can be viewed at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente Ilocos Sur.
Apo Baket'
Keeper of Time-Honored Tradition and Values
“Apo Baket, keeper of tradition in the garden,
Reminds us the values of old, now and then.”
Life size concrete icon of an old woman, keeper of time-honored traditional values,
enshrined at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente Ilocos Sur. In memory
of the late local sculptors Francisco Boy Peralta and Bhoy Adora, the latter
completing the unfinished artwork some time in 2022.
She is mother, grandmother, guardian, of countless children through generations throughout the world, teaching them the true values of growing up, to adapt to the ever changing environment, save those values that must NOT change.
She leads the community, church, school, in fact all facets of life, side by side with men, and behind their struggle, in the likes of Tandang Sora, Fe del Mundo, Gabriella Silang, Leona Florentino, along with Florence Nightingale, Saint Mother Teresa.
She is the ever-loving mother in the Pieta, symbol of universal love and compassion, dedication, and asceticism on the highest level; the ever-loving partner in marital life vowed "till death do us part," core of the family as the primordial social institution.
She is the widow of honored men in the battlefield, or by circumstances beyond her control, accepting such fate and bravely taking over the responsibility not only for her own sake, but for those under her care, and society itself.
She keeps the kitchen of old alive and invitingly delectable as ever - pinakbet, kare-kare, ginatan, sinigang, bulalo, la-ing, papaitan, kilawin, surpassing fast foods, extravagantly labelled foods, culinary preparations lavishly advertised.
She is the storyteller Lola Basyang, pen name of Severino Reyes, around her, children gather to listen to folktales and make-believe stories, including versions of stories from the Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Anderson, and Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Arabian Nights.
She is the mother or grandmother of overseas workers who leave behind their families to secure a better socio-economic status of their families; and under her care their children grow up properly in spite of the absence of father and mother.
She is the yaya, the traditional nanny, who other than taking care of the nursery and growing children, does varied household chores - cooking, cleaning, laundry, errand, marketing, making housekeeping light on the part of parents and children as well.
She is the weaver of abel' (Ilocano blanket), and many household items made of pandan, buri, and tikiw; maker of the finest dress and formal wears made of pina; maker of fine pottery and china wares; and keeper of the old aparador of antiques and memoirs.
She is the grandmother in Johanna Spyri's novel Heidi; Madame Curie, greatest woman scientist; Mary Shelly, author of Frankenstein, world's scariest bedtime story; Florence Nightingale, the Lady with a Lamp who kept vigil on the sick in the wee hours.
She is Basang, my auntie-yaya from the time my mother died when I was only two until I went to Manila for college; Lola Usta who painstakingly applied all local remedies to revive me born a blue baby amidst extreme danger of WW II breaking out.
She is the First Lady of a president of state; queen beside a king, or head of state; saint of the church; on the other hand, victim at the gallows; maligned old woman, the butt of jokes and unkind stories, yet she stands her ground brave and perseverant as the world goes round. ~
4 - The Unknown Nanny in the Garden
A Tribute to Ignacia Repulleza (1900-1984) et al
Concrete icon of The Unknown Nanny, counterpart of The Unknown Soldier in honor of the unknown hero in the battlefield. For all we know, the role of the nanny carries a great responsibility of taking care of children, particularly those orphaned or abandoned for whatever circumstances, for which nannies are regarded guardians to these unfortunate children.
This icon stands in the San Vicente Botanical Garden, a tribute to Basang Asiang (Ignacia Repulleza), nanny of the author, then an infant when his mother died at the outbreak of the Second World War. Basang Asiang also served as nanny to two siblings of the author, and stayed as member of the household until she died at the age of 84.
The word Basang (Ilk) is a respectable title befitting a new kind of hero or martyr in our troubled society today. The icon is an interpretation by the late Francisco "Boy" Peralta a local sculptor of San Vicente Ilocos Sur. His other works are the bust of our national hero, Jose Rizal, life-size Apo Baket (an old woman regarded as keeper of time-honored tradition), and The Apparition of the Blessed Mother before the child Bernadette at Lourdes. The three masterpieces of the local artist grace the garden, a tourist attraction and landmark of the historical town.
5 - Apparition of Mary before Bernadette at Lourdes
A Tribute to Sor Veneranda Valdez Rotor, ofs
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