Forgotten Giants Of Ocampo Compound

Tuck inside the quiet streets in Quiapo is the Ocampo Compound. Well, in the first glance it seems there is nothing out of the ordinary in this compound... Until you enter inside.

There you will find a large cement sculpture of saints, a priest and the Blessed Mother.

I was wondering what are these sculptures are all about. Where did they come from, who placed them there?

It was said that the area was once the location of the estate of a rich  lawyer and realtor, Don Jose Mariano Ocampo. These large stone sculptures are part of his large garden. It was in 1939 that the whole mansion (plus the garden) was finished. Unfortunately, World War 2 entered Manila 3 years later. The whole mansion became a place of refuge.

After the war, the whole estate was sold and divided into separate parcels, yet the cement statues were left... Hidden by plants and some of the new residents' belongings.

In this very narrow passage, you can see the Virgin of the Alley (Birhen ng Eskinita). It is a representation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Some residence of the area says that the statue is miraculous and have saved a lot of lives during WWII.

Fortunately, we have a clearer view of the  “Birhen sa Eskinita” courtesy of Mr. Rence Chan.

Ok... So what's with this fish? This is a Shachihoko (AKA sachi) a creature in Japanese folklore which is often depicted having a head of  a tiger and a body of a carp.

It was said that this creature has the power to make rail fall, so maybe that is why it is often seen as an ornament on top of temple and castle roofs to protect it from fire.

Don Ocampo's garden has ceased to exist, but at least his cement statues have withstood the test of time to serve as one of the heritage of Quiapo.

Before the Internet, there's the local Postal Service

We now call it "snail mail" but back then it is one of the most important way to communicate around the world. Yes, I'm talking about the postal service and what's the best place to go to remember this is at the Manila Central Post Office.

President Corazon "Cory" Aquino historic speech in front of the Philippine Post Office in the mids 80's.

They call this stamp "The Golden Monkey"(So why is it black?)

Anyway, according to the lecture, this Golden Monkey stamp now cost 150,000.00 PHP. Wow! According to Wikipedia, " The Chinese Golden Monkey Stamp or Gēngshēn Monkey is a postage stamp issued in China in 1980 of which 5 million copies were printed and which therefore cannot be regarded as rare but which has come to symbolise the strong market for collectable postage stamps in Asia. Demand for the stamp has made it one of the most sought after contemporary Chinese stamps. The stamp was designed by Huang Yongyu and Shao Bolin and printed by the photogravure and recess printing methods.Although the stamp was initially common, it is frequently offered at Asian philatelic auctions. Despite having a very low value when issued, a full sheet of this stamp sold for 1.2 million yuan ($180,000) in 2011 with a single stamp selling for 10,000 yuan ($1,500), which was 125,000 times more than its original price of 8 fen.[5] The stamp had a catalogue value of US$10 unused and US$5 used in 1988."