Ateneo Heritage Series: All Along the Watchtower: the Manila Observatory

All Along the Watchtower
The Manila Observatory and the roofdeck of the world
by rick olivares

The Manila Observatory is many things to many people.

Its Spanish name was Observatorio Meteorological del Ateneo Municipal de Manila.

To the Ateneo students who went to school in Padre Faura, when it was said “see you in the ruins,” it meant fisticuffs at the bombed out Observatory. What was one of the most sophisticated weather stations in the country at that time was destroyed when the Allied forces carpet bombed Manila during its liberation from the holed out Japanese Imperial Army.

To the late Fr. Manuel Selga S.J., seeing the charred ruins of the Manila Observatory prompted him to cry out in despair as he paraphrased the lament of the sack of Rome by the Huns:

“These fields of solitude…
alas, my soul, you see this mound of rubbish…
once upon a time, a famed observatory.”

And to think that famed Observatory once had the most humble beginnings.

In September of 1865, two Jesuit scholastics, Francisco Colina and Jaime Nonell, took some meteorological equipment and placed it inside an abandoned pigeon house atop one of the Ateneo buildings in Intramuros. There was a typhoon brewing at the time and after it wreaked much devastation on the mainland, the two reported their findings to the Diario de Manila.

Since much of the economy was dependent on maritime shipping, the report drew the interest of Manila’s business community that pitched in some money for the fledgling weather station to purchase more modern equipment.

In July 9, 1879, Padre Federico Faura S.J. was able to forecast the arrival of a powerful typhoon that he made known to the public. That was the first official storm warning in the Far East.

Padre Faura made a similar forecast in November of the same year by providing two day’s notice of another strong typhoon that enabled Manila Harbor to close down in the nick of time.

The success of these forecasts raised the standing of the Manila Observatory making it an indispensable part of Philippine society and more importantly a full-fledged weather station.

The Observatory grew not just in terms of state-of-the-art equipment that included the Universal Meteorograph that was invented by an Italian Jesuit Reverend Fr. Angelo Seechi but its expansion necessitated a transfer from the rooftops of the Jesuit Mission House in Intramuros to a street in Ermita named after its first director, Padre Faura.

The value of the Observatory was not lost on the Japanese when they invaded the Philippines that they immediately sought to use it for their own purposes. Much of the equipment was carted off but some remained. After the war, the Observatory was moved to the Jesuit Mirador House in Baguio City for studies on seismology and the ionosphere. But in 1963, it made its final move to the Ateneo campus in Loyola Heights thus reuniting both institutions.

As it was in its infancy, the Manila Observatory is many things to many people.

After World War II, the transitional American government asked Fr. Selga reorganize it and operate a first-class weather bureau.

In the years since, the Manila Observatory has surrendered the day-to-day weather forecasting to PAGASA and seismological research to Philvocs. Instead, it has perhaps more importantly, recalibrated its mission.

If the buildings on the present campus are places of learning where students pay attention, the Observatory that sits on five hectares of land behind the statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola, is begging, screaming for attention. But hardly anyone listens.

Well, there are the usual Grade 5 level students who make the annual three-minute trek from the Grade School for a science report. Since the current Director of the Observatory is Ma. Antonia Yulo Loyzaga, her husband, former professional basketball player and San Beda and Ateneo alumnus Chito Loyzaga closely pays attention to their findings and has passed it on to San Miguel Corporation for whom he works. Their data has proved to be invaluable to the conglomerate’s businesses not just across the archipelago but also throughout the region.

The Observatory still does weather forecasting and keeps track of seismic activity. In fact, the one instrument that survived the bombing of Manila during World War II, a spectra helio graph, is still being used in those duties. But the studies they now undertake and the message they spread isn’t heartwarming as it chills the bone and heart.

One hundred forty-four years ago, two Jesuit scholastics used a telescope to look up in the sky.

Today, the Manila Observatory looks down from the sky using space-based tools where the bulk of the work done is on Climate Change.

The long, arduous, and painstaking task of studying the world around us and indicating danger zones throughout the country is being undertaken by the kilma Climate Change Center of the Observatory. Klima works in concert with Inter-Agency Committee on Climate Change, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Energy and the United States Agency for International Development.

If the movie Twister told the story of a band of storm chasers, at the Manila Observatory, some 40 scientists and volunteers are working 24-7 to stave off the coming of the 11th hour . They map the land to understand it better. They drag sophisticated radar equipment overland. They rein in their emotions as they sift, dig, and search through the carnage and the devastation.

The mission of the Ateneo de Manila is what it has always been -- preparing young minds in the service of building a nation. But on a small patch of land within the campus, the Manila Observatory’s Herculean task is saving not just the nation but also the entire world.

What do we know?

What do we not know?

How are we responsible as a citizen of the world?

What can we do and how do we move forward?

For more information on the world around us and how you can help go to http://www.observatory.ph/