As house of Apolinario Mabini The bamboo-and-nipa house which would later become known as the Mabini Shrine was owned by Cecilio del Rosario and Maxima Castañeda. The del Rosarios became related by
affinity to
Apolinario Mabini, a significant figure of the
Philippine Revolution, after Mabini's younger brother Agapito married a woman in the del Rosario family. On May 13, 1903, Mabini died of
cholera in this house.
Relocation The house was moved in the 1930s to an adjacent site at 23 Calle Nagtahan, which was acquired by the government, to make way for the construction of
Nagtahan Bridge (now Mabini Bridge). It was moved once again in 1960, this time to the south bank of the Pasig River within the Bureau of Animal Industry compound (now Presidential Security Group Compound in
Malacañang Park) in order to give way for the widening of Nagtahan Bridge. It was then restored under the supervision of
National Artist for Architecture,
Juan Nakpil. In 1968, the shrine was declared as a national shrine under the administration of
National Historical Commission of the Philippines, pursuant to Proclamation No. 324 signed by President
Ferdinand Marcos. In April 2007, the
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority proposed that the Mabini Shrine be relocated to another site, as part of a project to widen the
Pasig River. Dante G. Guevarra, President of the
Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), proposed in 2007 to have the house moved inside the main campus of his university. PUP allocated of land for the shrine and officially renamed its campus as the PUP Mabini Campus. There was a proposal to move the house inside the
Arroceros Park, a plan which had the support of Manila
Mayor Alfredo Lim. On February 8, 2010, President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued Proclamation No. 1992 declaring the PUP Mabini Campus in
Santa Mesa as a permanent home of the Mabini Shrine. This is to prevent another relocation that "may further diminish its historical and architectural authenticity and sanctity as a National Shrine". A yearlong project was undertaken in 2013 to restore the house and its surrounding grounds. ==References==