THE Philippines’ independence was won by many heroes but only a few are written about in history. Most of them faded into the night without anyone knowing their names. In retracing history, some names have resurrected, allowing the younger generation—and the generations after them—to pay due respect for their sacrifices. After all, these heroes paid for our independence with their own lives.
As a tribute to these unsung heroes, Palm Grass, Cebu’s heritage hotel, names its floors, suite rooms, food items and drinks in honor of local heroes who died centuries ago; mostly local heroes who were never acknowledged in most history books. On the topmost floor of this hotel is the “Hardin Dagami Roofdeck Bar,” named after Chief Dagami of Gabi—now the town of Cordova.
On Sept. 22, Palm Grass celebrated the second anniversary of its Hardin Dagami Roofdeck Bar with “DMD: Duyog, Mugna sa Dagami (Ikaduhang Tuig sa Hardin Dagami Roofdeck Bar).”
Chief Dagami was a local warrior. Accounts of this hero were written by historian William Henry Scott in his writings about Dagami and his revolt of 1565. It was said that at that time, an alliance existed among chieftains in the Visayas and Mindanao, so Dagami would sail to Cebu from Gabi to conspire with other leaders in the revolution against the Spaniards who were led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.
“You would find that our Hardin Dagami bar’s counter design is inspired by the precolonial warship with a dragon head. You would also find bamboo torches to remind us of how Dagami and his warriors displayed on a bamboo pole the severed head of Legazpi’s assistant Pedro de Arana. Two years after, Legazpi also cut off the head of Dagami and put his head on a pole at the same area near Fort San Pedro where his assistant, Arana, was ambushed,” said Serafin Guivelondo-Blanco, one of the owners of Palm Grass Hotel.
The hotel also celebrated the anniversary by celebrating Cebuano history and heritage through different mediums of art namely sculpture, music, poetry, films and videos.
During the festivity, Palm Grass unveiled a wood carving, the second artwork of a series about the history of Cebu by Palm Grass’ art consultant Radel Paredes. The first artwork was that of Leon Kilat which was unveiled last year. This year, the artwork depicts Lapu-Lapu and the Battle of Mactan.
“This piece was very challenging for me because Lapu-Lapu is quite a mysterious character in our history. All we know about him was first based on a very short account by Antonio Pigafetta who was with Magellan when he came here. After that, several accounts from other people started to surface,” said Paredes.
The biggest challenge, according to Paredes, was to depict a person whom he hasn’t seen and is not even described thoroughly in history books.
“That’s why I tried to preserve the mystery of Lapu-Lapu by portraying him as that eye in the sky. It’s not even certain in the image how old he really was because there are recent accounts that he could have been around 60 to 70 years old, quite different from the depictions that Lapu-Lapu was 30-something,” said Paredes.
After the artwork was unveiled, a video interview of Paredes on the making of the Lapu-Lapu wood sculpture was shown. The video was co-produced by Hong-Kong based Asia-Pacific Focus Features’ Prospero Laput.
The whole night was filled with fun and games. Rappers like Pain in the Neck performed on stage and a rap battle ensued with the audience participating by voting on which rapper should win.