Carlos Celdran's Walking Tour of Intramuros

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

FOR those who are expecting Carlos Celdran's walking tour of Intramuros to be a visual spectacle, be prepared to be slightly disappointed. The tour itself only revolves around three structures in Intramuros - Fort Santiago, the Church of San Agustin and the Plaza San Luis Complex. This is not to say that the tour is a disappointment. In fact, it could be a valuable eye opener for someone who has taken Manila for granted.

I participated in one such tour last Sunday, December 21. In a span of three hours, Mr. Celdran adequately (but not exhaustively) explained in scientific, socio-political, socio-cultural, architectural and even ecclesiastical terms the history of Manila from pre-Spanish times up to the present. Although I consider myself an above-average enthusiast of Philippine history, I was pleased to discover new historical tidbits about the city of Manila from the tour. On the other hand, being indeed the historical enthusiast that I am, I was able to catch a few debatable assertions of Mr. Celdran, but this is acceptable subjectivity given the circumstances.

[A brief digression: What strikes one upon meeting Mr. Celdran is his height - he is short. This fact is not too apparent when one views his pictures in magazines given his sharp mestizo features, and the fact that he always wears dignified upper garments (such as the barong and top hat shown in the photo.)]

Mr. Celdran is a storyteller more than he is a tour guide, and as far as storytelling goes, he is very engaging and passionate, with never a dull moment. In short, he is a very good storyteller, and one would find this enough to compensate for the shortage of other tourist spots within Intramuros that other tour guides would have incorporated in their own itineraries. Certainly adding life to the tour is Mr. Celdran's incorporation of various minor costumes and sound effects to capture the sights and sounds of various periods of Manila's recent history. One moment he's marching in Plaza Moriones in his barong and top hat while waving a US (?) flag, .....in the next he's leading everyone in solemn prayer within the crypts of San Agustin Church for the victims of Japanese atrocities.

Mr. Celdran spares no one from the occasional acerbic tongue - whether they be the Catholic Church, the Spanish, the Americans, the Japanese, or the Filipinos themselves - whenever he comes to a point in his discussions wherein some fault of any of these groups becomes apparent.

The most important aspect of Mr. Celdran's tours is his way of integrating all seemingly disparate facts of the history of Manila into a coherent story that shows why Manileños (and by extension, all Filipinos) are the way they are today and why they should always look back to Manila's past. This ability to show the big picture (or at least one's subjective version of it) is something that many tour guides do not possess - consequently boring the audience with a simple barrage of facts.

I recommend Carlos Celdran's walking tour of Intramuros. And I also recommend that you explore Intramuros on your own by foot, like what I did.