CULTURE

UP Dumps Bust of National Artist, Father of Philippine Pharmacy
Rizal artist restores worn-out sculpture

Raul Funilas, a sculptor and member of the Art Association of the Philippines, is presently restoring a bust of outstanding Filipino forensic chemist and pharmacist Leon Ma. Guerrero after finding it abandoned at a garbage pile inside the campus of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

BY RICHARD R. GAPPI
Bulatlat

Tata Raul restores (right) the bust abandoned at a garbage pile inside the UP campus

Photos courtesy of Manila East Watch

This is a story about reclaiming lost soul and sense of memory and history.

Abandoned

Raul Funilas, a sculptor and member of the Art Association of the Philippines, is presently restoring a bust of outstanding Filipino forensic chemist and pharmacist Leon Ma. Guerrero after finding it abandoned at a garbage pile inside the campus of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

The late National Artist for Visual Arts Guillermo Estrella Tolentino sculpted the bust in 1953.

Popularly known among artists as Tata (old man) Raul, Funilas is also a contributing writer of the local paper Manila East Watch and a native of Talim Island in Binangonan, Rizal southeast of Manila. He found the dilapidated, chest-size bust made from plaster of Paris at the garbage pile beside the Institute of Chemistry at Palma Hall building.

Funilas said his move was born out of his concern for the arts. 

“Nakita ko ito sa tambakan ng mga garapa at drum,” Tata Raul narrated. “Nasisira na ang hitsura, may mga pilas sa ulo at mukhang nabagsak kaya nagkaganoon at wala na sa wasto ang kanyang pagkakapatong sa isang giray na silyang bulok na.  Kahalo pa siya ng mga kinakalawang na bakal-bakal at iba pang basura sa lugar” (I saw it in a pile of decanters and drums. It already looked damaged, with scrapes at the head. It looked like it had been dropped, precariously positioned on a dilapidated chair. It was also among rusty metal scraps and other garbage), Tata Raul narrated.

Oustanding chemist, renowned artist

In her essay titled “A Hundred Years of Pinoy Science and Technology,” Didith Mendoza, editorial adviser of the magazine Advanced Science and Technology, described Guerrero as the first ever Filipino forensic chemist to serve the Spanish regime and was also the first Filipino industrial scientist.

“His pioneering researches in the field of pharmacy have earned him the title of Father of Philippine Pharmacy,” Mendoza wrote.

Tolentino, on the other hand, was one of the first recipients of the National Artist Award for Visual Arts (Sculpture) given by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1973.

A website of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) says Tolentino was a product of the revival period in Philippine art. Returning in 1925 from Europe (where he was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Rome), he was appointed as professor at the UP School of Fine Arts where the idea of executing a monument for national heroes struck him. The result was the UP Oblation that became the symbol of freedom at the campus. The acknowledged Tolentino masterpiece however was the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City which he completed in 1933. The monument stands as an enduring symbol of the Filipinos’ cry for freedom.

Tolentino’s other works include the bronze figures of President Quezon at the Quezon Memorial Circle, the life-size busts of Jose Rizal at UP and UE, the marble statue of Ramon Magsaysay in GSIS Building, granolithics of heroic statues representing education, medicine, forestry, veterinary science, fine arts and music at UP.

He also designed the seal of the Republic of the Philippines and the gold and bronze medals for the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

A nation’s soul

Tata Raul, who works as audio-visual technician at the UP School of Urban and Regional Planning, said that it was a month ago while doing his morning rounds of jogging that the bust caught his attention.

“Sa araw-araw kong paglalakad sa lugar na kinasasadlakan ng busto’y tila isa nang simbahan sa akin ang nasabing lugar, hindi ko maaaring hindi sipatin ang kawawang busto.  Minsan, nauusal ko sa sariling ‘magsalita ka lamang ay hahanguin kita diyan sa kinalalagyan mong basurahan at ilalagay kita sa hindi ka mauulanan at maarawan” (The location of the bust became a virtual shrine to my mind, each day that I pass it I couldn’t help but stare at the poor thing. Sometimes I found myself telling the bust, ‘Just say the word and I’ll put you where the clouds won’t rain on you nor the sun won’t shine on you’), Tata Raul said.

Tata Raul was so bothered that the scene even recurred in his dreams. “May mga gabing panauhin ko ang matandang busto sa aking panaginip, may kasama daw itong lalaking may hawak na brutsa at pintura at pinipintahan ang ulo nung busto ng matanda” (There were nights when the old bust visits me in my dreams, and with it is a man holding a brush and paint, and painting the old bust’s head), Tata Raul recalled.

Tata Raul managed to get the bust after getting permission from the supply officer of the College of Pharmacy at UP Manila, which used to be housed at the Institute of Chemistry.

Tata Raul said it would take him a month to restore the bust that has been dumped for years. Bulatlat

Back to top

We want to know what you think of this article.