By Rex Catubig

 

THERE are no road markers to lead visitors to the site. The site, in fact, is hardly known in the vicinity. The name Villa Milagrosa no longer rings a bell, silenced by the hands of time.

Undeterred, we found the way through some remembered route much like a canine sniffing for clues. We made a left turn after a waiting shed, through a narrow gravelly path that seems to hit a dead end. It’s the rusty gate of the Villa Milagrosa, the festive beach resort of our youth, and one right away imagined the laughter of people echoing within, only to be met with the eerie solitude of empty structures and forlorn landscape.

We drove along the fenced perimeter towards the beach, but we couldn’t get closer as the narrow path is made impassable by a big pool of rainwater that floods a portion.

From inside the van, we could see the solitary figure of a man perched on a concrete pedestal that stands tall amid shrubbery overgrowth and willowy cogon grass. It is the monument of Gen Douglas MacArthur commemorating his famous landing in Lingayen Gulf.

Napoleon Maramba, a son of Major Moises Maramba on whose beachfront property the statue is located, has this to say:

“The MacArthur monument was a project of my dad together with the American legion. Unfortunately, various publications had accused him of using his influence to have it erected in his property. In reality, it was erected through his hard work, in a government land.  Provincial officials claim that he landed in Lingayen but I’ve only seen pictures of him touring Torres Bugallon Street and at his HQ which was the West Central School but no pics of him in Lingayen. If he landed in Lingayen, why would he establish his HQ in Dagupan? My father wrote a very detailed article published by Sunday Punch, even naming several witnesses (who could vouch) that he (McArthur) landed in Bonuan”.

Oddly enough, the marker of this historic event, lies several meters away, tucked inside a private compound. Where before one could still catch a glimpse of the marker through a metal fence, now it is completely walled off from sight.

In an article by Liezle Basa Inigo, Dagupan historian Restituto Basa “insisted that the marker was placed in the wrong site in Bonuan”. He asserted that it should have been placed in Ayusip Road which he alleged was close to the General’s Bonuan Headquarters.

Towards noon, we left the place in the company of kindred spirits, saddened and perplexed. It is yet another instance where the legacy of the proud past is not only embroiled in controversy but is abandoned to the mercy of the elements that hide it in plain sight. With sight unseen and unheard of, its slow disappearance into obscurity is inevitable.

But we take comfort in the thought that the city government is laying out plans to transfer the memorial to a new appropriate site that is accessible to the public. It may not be the right site and again be a subject of dispute, but it would be the right site if it is made visible and closer to the hearts of the people.

A monument given its due place of honor and respect.

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