Travel Agent

When I saw Miss Lautner blog about the rebuilding of the Metropolitan Theater, I thought the rebuilding was already completed and people could actually see cultural shows and other theatrical performances inside. Curious, I gave myself the task of actually going to the place to see how it was transformed from it’s ruined state to what I thought to be a genuine political deed.

Today, despite the heavy rains, I went left Tagaytay to go and see the current state of the Metropolitan Theatre in Manila only to see this:

HAHAHA! This is just one of the many “graffitis” that can be seen painted all over the cracking walls around the Metropolitan Theater.

Okay, let’s give Mayor Alfredo Lim and the then Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a break. There really is some improvement at the front hall of the Metropolitan Theater. The front, perhaps the main entrance, has been repainted and probably the lobby and whatever resides there has been renovated. Unfortunately, it was closed this afternoon so I wasn’t able to see the changes made.

If we could just crop the range of our human vision, we could actually see that the theatre has been really reconstructed and all we can see is how its original beauty has been, at last, restored to it’s original glory.

But truth isn’t always very kind. Beyond that small reconstruction are walls dying to be reconstructed.

From the left wing of the theater, we could see these:

I didn’t dare to zoom the lens of my camphone or come closer because all of us wouldn’t want to have those things captured on any camera.

This one’s taken from the right wing. I think this used to be the theater cafeteria.

Here are some photos from the rear side of the theatre:

I believe this used to be the main exit or the back door.

The space at the back side of the Metropolitan Theatre now only serve as a parking lot.

I know what I’ve written are bad for the old theater’s image. But that is the sad truth. I believe the Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and the rest of the city council is on their way to rebuild the Metropolitan Theater. We could just see from the posters plastered on almost every corner that they are actually doing something to rebuild what used to be a center for cultural arts. Let’s just all hope that all those posters will not just remain posters and that the old theater will be restored to it’s former, or better, glory.

Help build the Metropolitan Theater!