KAWIT, Cavite — The Museo ni Emilio Aguinaldo (MEA), which is run by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), will join the nationwide celebration of National Arts Month (NAM) in February.
NHCP-Cavite cluster head and MEA curator, Haidee Paulette Bedruz, said Tuesday the museum’s two-pronged proposition is to make use of the series of activities slated next month as a prelude to the 150th birth anniversary on March 22 of General Emilio Famy Aguinaldo.
“Aguinaldo is acknowledged as the country’s First Republican President and the events aim to deepen the understanding and appreciation of Aguinaldo,” Bedruz said.
The commemorative observance of Aguinaldo’s 55th death anniversary is set on February 6 with simple, traditional rites, such as a wreath-laying ceremony after a Eucharistic Mass at 8 a.m.
On February 9, the NHCP, in partnership with Fundacion Santiago, will launch a special tour of the “House of History,” (the Aguinaldo Shrine), the known historic site where Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898.
The tour, which runs every two Saturdays of every month and scheduled throughout this year, will highlight a first-person interpretation of history to be facilitated by trained actors/actresses performing the first-person narrative.
“This program will encourage the development of greater intellectual and emotional connections between the shrine and its visitors, and instigate critical thinking about the past and history as a discipline,” she said.
To present Aguinaldo’s youth, the MEA features “Mga Laro ni Heneral” (The Games of the General) on February 15.
Through his book, “Memoirs of the Revolution”, the General revealed his fondness for traditional Filipino games, such as the kalahuyo, sopo, calderon, baticobra San Anton and Tubigan, which are no longer being played now amid the advent of technology.
Bedruz said the former Kawit tourism officer and now freelance curator and Aguinaldo descendant, Angelo Jarin Aguinaldo, will manage the interactive lecture in a bid to reintroduce to the “now” generation the mechanics and history of these traditional games.
She said the revival of these traditional games hopes to encourage not just awareness, but physical activity to the young kids.
To highlight Aguinaldo’s 150th birth commemoration, a modified snakes-and-ladders type of game board will be introduced to the participants containing the timeline of the life of Emilio Aguinaldo adapted to the popular board game.
The museum curator added this will become a permanent interactive activity to future visitors of the shrine.
Other activities include a special exhibit titled, “1869: Cementing the Road to Independence”, where the significant events that paved the way to the declaration of Philippine Independence in 1898 and a lecture by Cameron Castrillo titled “El Presidente” where the various Aguinaldo monument done by Eduardo Castrillo, will be discussed.
Born on March 22, 1869 in Kawit, Cavite, Aguinaldo, whose name may be synonymous to a plethora of things – from his eventful and exciting life, his courageous and bold political actions, and the various accusations against him, became president at the young age of 29.
Aguinaldo’s most important role in history was his presidential proclamation of the Philippine Independence in Kawit, Cavite, which paved the way for the birth of the Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899.
The Palace has earlier declared March 22 a holiday, as “Aguinaldo Day”, based on Proclamation No. 621 issued last November.
The MEA is located at the ground level of the iconic Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine, at Kaingen village here, and is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday.
