BLUE HORIZON

The Philippines is an ARCHIPELAGO. That means whatever we do we will always be surrounded by water... We're also in the Pacific Rim of Fire... volcanoes rule our part of the globe. With all this threat of national disasters we have remained complacent in the face of adversity. Or maybe we just learned to live with the threats either water or volcano posed.

We have a coastline that's longer than that of California. If I'm to quote our Mabuhay Guide lecturer Professor Jun de Leon, it's the water that connects us. And the mountains divide us. So even during the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores our waterways were filled with balangays, chinese junks, cascos and similar vessels that ferried either people or wares.

This morning the Mabuhay Guides had a demo tour of Intramuros for Blue Horizon. I've done the tour route so many times you'd think I'd be jaded about the commentaries. But I listened to the other Mabuhay Guides present at the demo. Each and everyone had something to say about a particular body of water. I would hear tidbits about either the Manila Bay, the Laguna de Bay or the Pasig River. If it was meant to prove Professor de Leon's postulation, he would be correct! It's amazing how our way of life is somehow connected to water.

Fort Santiago is situated in a delta. A virtual fortress surrounded by nothing but water: the Pasig on the east, Manila Bay on the west and in between is a tributary which the Spaniards converted into a moat. It was a natural defense barrier from maurauding invaders... an isolated island on its own. However, much as the Spaniards wanted the Fort to be impenetrable, the walls of Intramuros were breached quite a few times; during Limahong's invasion and Koxinga's revolt and also during the British invasion in 1762.

Now this gets interesting... We seem to have forgotten that the British were here for a spell. This was because at the height of the Seven Years War with France, the British decided to get back at France by conquering the colonies which France and her allies occupied. And Spain was an ally of France. Ergo, from the Manila Bay at the area near Malate, the British Royal Navy launched an attack on Intramuros. Governor-general Simon de Anda fled through the Postigo de la Nuestra Senora de la Soledad and went upstream to Pampanga via the Pasig to establish a government there. And though we were ceded back to Spain in 1764, there's an indelible mark of British rule which was established here inspite of them colonizing nearby Singapore.

I mention this because the owner of Blue Horizon Tours happens to be British... He's been here 8 years now and he speaks fluent Pilipino. Lately Birtish birders are rediscovering the Philippines as a birdwatching destination as well. Do I detect another British invasion? I hope so... Philippine tourism could very well benefit from it... hee! =)