Philippine E-Journals

Rediscovering Intramuros Borderlines: A Proposal to Create a Database for the Establishment of Letran Center for Intramuros Studies (LCIS)

Manuel R. Zamora

Discipline: Education, Humanities, Cultural and Ethnic Studies

 

Abstract:

What is new? What is hot? Intellectuals tend to look for the novel idea; the sparks that will make them shout “Eureka”! But an idea cannot be taken in isolation. Along side with it comes the what-it-is-not; and it consequently contributes to the what-it-is. So for a new thing to emerge, there are tons and tons of what-has-been, things that already emerged if not dilapidated or scorned and abandoned. New things are actually offshoots of the old things. But the question is what should be done to the old things? Practically speaking, one could with ease say throw them or worse set them into the flames for they are hazards and liabilities to attain par excellence or ISO standards; and their ashes will mark a fresh start for something new. But how could one throw away something of great historical significance? How could one afford to abandon a locale of marvelous cultural legacy? This perhaps is the dilemma why the Philippine government took effort to preserve the Intramuros ruins.

 

This paper is a proposal to create a database for the establishment of the Letran Center for Intramuros Studies (LCIS). The Colegio de San Juan de Letran is one of the few institutions which saw how Intramuros was reduced, from a colonial capital city into a struggling remnant of a world war. The fact that the Colegio is the only remaining educational institution established in the area during the Spanish era compels her to bear witness to the significance of the place through the establishment of said center.