Taking largely from Paul Gauguin for his lively use of color, Diego de Rivera for perspective, and Juan “Tandang Juancho” Senson, Angono’s painter of religious icon in the 19th century, for tradition, Carlos “Botong” Francisco proceeded with his refinement of the mural to make it his own art form.
During his time, Angono native Botong was modern art’s most prolific practitioner as Claude Monet was to Impressionism or Fernando Amorsolo to Traditional Realism, producing the most number of murals in the country.
Visual arts flourished in the rustic towns of Angono and Binangonan in Rizal when Botong, with the advice of then Education Secretary Alejandro Roces, established a haven for artists, with the uniqueness of his sun-drenched color palette and wind-swept folk tradition and later the country’s history.
Commissioned by then newly-elected Manila mayor Antonio Villegas, who started contemporizing the old kingdom of Lakandula while returning to its roots, such as by using Tagalog (for instance, gatpuno, often clipped into Gat. for the Spanish alcalde), Filipino Struggles Through History, also known as History of Manila, is the epic 10-panel mural painted in 1964 to festoon the upper panels of Mayor Villegas’ cavernous office at the Manila City Hall, renamed Bulwagang Katipunan, now Bulwagang Gat Antonio Villegas. It is arguably Botong’s greatest extant work of art and among his last, finished only months before his death due to tuberculosis on March 31, 1969.
Depicting the history of Manila, from the pre-colonial reign of the rajahs to the American period, as well as the heroism of Dr. Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, the magnum opus perfectly captures the ordeals and feats of the Filipino people in his distinct style. With three panels depicting historical scenes from the first rajahs of Tondo all the way to the American colonial period, Botong’s timeless painting remains one of the most iconic murals about Philippine history.
The fourth painting, consisting of three panels, shows Mayor Villegas’ progressive vision for the city of Manila, grounded on a proud past of Filipino leadership and fervent nationalism.
In recognition of his superlative artistic achievement, the city of Manila awarded Botong the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan in 1964. Botong was also honored as a National Artist in Painting in 1973 and with the Republic Heritage Award in 1976.
The mural was declared a National Cultural Treasure, the highest official designation given to a cultural property, by director Gabriel Casal of the National Museum in 1996. The paintings, which had deteriorated and suffered damage from water leaks from the ceiling through the decades, were removed from Manila City Hall in January 2013 at the urgent request of mayor Alfredo Lim upon the recommendation of his adviser on culture, former Tourism Secretary and National Museum director Gemma Cruz Araneta, to undergo painstaking restoration under the supervision of the National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA), with funding by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority as facilitated by then chairman, Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr., of the Department of Tourism.
In a 2015 report, the Commission on Audit (CoA) claimed that the restoration work appeared to have been “abandoned by painting conservators hired by Laurel Design and Construction and left unattended by the assigned National Museum art conservators.” It observed the firm was a general construction contractor with no known expertise in art conservation. It also claimed that the contractor employed five of the NMFA’s own art restorers to do the work.
“Due to the award of the contract of restoration to a seemingly inadequate art restorer and the suspension of the restoration works, the purpose of preserving the art work… was not achieved,” it added.
CoA took the NMFA to task for “consent(ing) to the hiring of Laurel despite the latter’s apparent inadequacy to handle the work.” CoA also ordered museum officials to “initiate appropriate proceedings” against those involved in the mural restoration project “for possible double compensation and conflict of interest.”
It noted that in its formal reply, the NMFA management admitted that its own art conservators did not restore the painting while denying that the restoration work had been suspended.
Museum officials counter-claimed that “the main phase of the work of art was completed in 2015.” All that remained was the mural’s “transfer to and installation in a permanent location to be approved by all concerned parties,” they added.
Estimated by Manila councilor Ali Atienza in 2013 as worth P400 million, the epic mural figured in a botched conservation project worth P19.9 million. The NMFA removed the mural from the City Hall for conservation in its premises. The industry standard for the conservation of a work by a National Artist and master is 10 percent of work’s estimated price for materials and labor.
Allegedly, Fine Arts “graduates” of the University of Santo Tomas as claimed by National Museum assistant director Anna Labrador and not “students” as claimed by a former conservator who were paid P500 daily did the restoration project. Why the NMFA hired an external contractor is unknown as it has the country’s top 13 conservators who did excellent restoration of Juan Luna’s Una Bulaquena. Perhaps this was due to the many conservation projects on hand.
Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council approved a landmark agreement in 2017 to allow the original paintings to remain at the NMFA for enhanced public access, appreciation and continued preservation.
As a major highlight of the commemoration of National Arts Month 2018, the NMFA reopened the Old Senate Session Hall at the Old Legislative Building, which has been closed for two months to allow the installation of the mural’s major parts, three of the four paintings.
The fourth painting will soon be accessible for public viewing in the adjacent Vicente and Carmen Fabella Hall (Gallery XIII) of the NMFA.
Museum-quality reproductions will be installed by the NMFA for display in their original location at the Office of the Mayor in Manila City Hall.