I See Rizal From My Bedroom Window

Why, hello there, Dr. Rizal.

(Photo courtesy of Carlos Celdran/Facebook)

If you plan to buy a condominium unit at Torre de Manila, DMCI Homes latest project, you could be saying that yourself.

You can quibble that technically, you'll only see a small portion of Rizal's back from your future property.

This sets a horrible precedent - yes, I went there and I said it out loud - if we allow every home developer, coffee chain and mega-mall to just park their butts wherever they please, who cares if the site they plan to build on is unmissable from a culturally significant one; or one that gives us our strongest ties to our past, colonial or otherwise.

I'm assuming that since DMCI Homes has a website and some "artist's rendition" mock-ups already online, the permits for this project have been approved and deemed "okay" by the city government of Manila. (See more at this address: http://www.torredemanila.com/?gclid=CMeTiMWwvrACFUNMpgodsQiVog)

If this project pushes through, all tourism pictures of Luneta Park will now be inextricably inseparable from a glossy, new condominium from one of the largest developers of the country. The builders must be patting themselves on the back for such a marvelous coup, getting free publicity by way of Rizal himself.

Just one question.

Surely, our supposed heroes and our cultural/national heritage deserve better treatment than this?