03/01/2025
Taga-Rizal naalala mo pa ba ang una nating Kapitolyo?
The First Rizal Provincial Capitol Building
AMPARTS Santa Rosa, Pasig City
(The capitolio that we know today as capitol commons is the second Rizal Provincial Capitol Building. I’ll be talking about the first one. This is different from the capitolio that used to stand at the present Capitol Commons)
The Philippine Commission headed by William Howard Taft convened at the church of Pasig in 1901 to reorganize the civil administrations of the Spanish era provinces of Manila and Morong. Twenty-one towns from the Province of Manila were joined with the thirteen towns of the Distrito Politico-Militar de Morong. The name Rizal was adopted by the newly formed province in honor of the national hero Dr. José Rizal, with Pasig as the capital town. At the time of its inception on 11 June 1901, Rizal Province was composed of the following towns:
(Names correspond to what they were in 1901)
• Angono
• Antipolo
• Baras
• Binangonan
• Bosoboso
• Cainta
• Caloocan
• Cardona
• Jalajala
• Las Piñas
• Malabon
• Malibay
• Mariquina
• Montalban
• Morong
• Muntinlupa
• Novaliches
• Pandacan
• Parañaque
• Pasig
• Pateros
• Pililla
• Pineda
• San Diego de Quisao
• San Felipe Neri
• San José de Navotas
• San Juan del Monte
• San Mateo
• San Pedro Macati
• Santa Ana de Sapa
• Taguig
• Tanay
• Taytay
• Teresa
During the administration of Gov. Jose Tupas (1906-1909) a new capitolio was built to house the young provincial government. It was a two-storey neoclassical edifice made of reinforced concrete and were built according to the plans of Arch. William Parsons. The imposing palatial design is consistent with the theme of the American government in invoking the values of democracy through Greco-Roman architecture.
The Capitol building is located on a spacious ground at the junction of Pasig River and Mariquina River in Barrio Santa Rosa, Pasig. It followed a U-shaped floor plan and had two facades. The one facing east on Lopez Jaena Street is a semi-enclosed courtyard facade, while the one facing west at the Capitol grounds is a seven-arched facade. It is notably simpler as compared to other Parson works due to the absence of pre-cast ornamentation.
Fourteen provincial governors took office at the old Rizal Provincial Capitol building since the time it was built. The capitol grounds which is just as historic as the building itself, became the venue of the annual Pasig Carnival, an offshoot of the famous Manila Carnival. During WWII, prisoners of war were detained by the japanese forces inside the capitol building. Fortunately, the capitolio remained in tact after war, like much of the town of Pasig. However, the provincial government vacated the building in favor of a new capitolio in Barrio Oranbo, Pasig in 1962. The Ortigas Co. donated a plot of land from the Pasig portion of their Hacienda Mandaloyon Estate which we now know as Capitol Commons. The first Capitol building was sold to American Machineries Parts Inc. or AMPARTS of the Buencaminos and then was sold to its current owner Landcom which is Lucio Tan’s Realty Company. The building is in a state of ruins and neglect as of today.
With my recent inquiry with the Pasig City Cultural Affairs and Tourism Office, an NHCP marker was installed to the building in 1998 but is nowhere to be found when the area was inspected in 2004. The steel railings and the window grills also went missing as the guards of the property sold them off according to the residents living nearby. The city government of Pasig expressed their intention to purchase the property but the sale is yet to progress, although it is declared as a historical landmark by the city government. The building can still be seen from C5 Pasig River bridge
References:
1. Hidden Capitol by Paulo Alcazaren
Philstar article
2. Pasig City Cultural Affairs & Tourism Office
3. The Urban Roamer blog
4. Design Better Extended: From Provincial Capitol to a Capitol of Culture by HANDStudio
Bluprint Magazine
(C) text by Lorenzo Bukas
📸 Photos Credit to the Owner