Oil on wood, 5 feet x 4 feet

This painting was displayed with the permission of the local priest in the Catholic Church ofNaic, Cavite, the same church where Padre Modesto de Castro, author of Urbana and Feliza, served as parish priest in the 19th century. The purpose of the display was to arouse interest in the ancient symbols of our faith. Unfortunately, after being exhibited for months at the entrance of the church, nobody appears to have taken notice of the painting.

The painting was commissioned in order to serve as the historical object that would have been the main theme in a short story that I was writing. The attempt at writing fiction was later abandoned since I later realized that since I was writing about history and the law, it would not do me good if I start writing fiction and confuse my readers. Thus, the idea was abandoned. But the painting, which served as the image backdrop of the aborted story still exist. The members of the religious orders at the foot of the crucified Christ is shown on the left of the painting and on the right is the tombstone of the Countess of Lizarriaga, which can still be found in the ancient Franciscan church of General Trias in Cavite.

Below the picture is a panoramic painting of what Cavite, Cavite used to look like during the Spanish period. On the left are the Poderes, powerful angels carrying what looks like a treasure chest to the Spanish fort of Cavite. The painting is partly based from a story told to me by an old man who claimed to have been hired to enter a tunnel inside the Fort.

He said that there was such a tunnel and it led to the old Franciscan Church whose belfry still stands. He also said that a treasure may be hidden in the bowels of the old church.

Being a boy and impressionable, I believed him and the story has remained in my psyche. On the right is a nondescript icon of a rectangle enclosing a line flanked by two circular objects. This interesting symbol was engraved in stone and situated at the entrance of the Church of Binondo. The last time I checked, the symbol has almost been erased by the shoded and unshoded feet of the Binondo parishioners who were unmindlful of the symbolism situated at the church door. The crowning detail of the panel is the Christian God, Father of Christ. This panel is a combination of the interesting objects, places and structures that we have neglected to see and preserve. As to why the painting should not be touched if one’s heart be not pure? That was the subject of the unfinished short story.