Unlike many countries, historian Manolo Quezon noted, the Philippines would often demolish its historical landmarks.

British historian Simon Schama, he added, coined the term 'landscape of memory' which means our physical surroundings can and should provide a navigation tool to connect yesterday with today.

The Manila Jai Alai Building, he noted, was once world-renowned, earning a spot among the architecture books, but is now decrepit.

News nowadays say there is a proposal to convert the Rizal Memorial Coliseum--which saw war, a performance by The Beatles, a game by baseball great Babe Ruth--into a mall.

"If you look at the landscape of memory in the area, the Rizal Memorial has been there since the 1930s...it's been a fixture in three generations of students' lives," he said.

"Most of all, it is a public building for a public purpose--a public purpose that is often not served in a metropolis that is getting crowded all the time," he added.

-Mornings@ANC, 28 November 2016