Dr. Angeles with replicas of four angel monuments he wants to rise in Angeles City in a bid to remove its reputation as Sin City. Photo by Ding Cervantes
ANGELES CITY – Will this city’s American-era image as Sin City be finally vanquished by angels towering 30 feet high?
The move to finally redeem this city, or at least the image it earned from red light districts that mushroomed as “rest and recreation” areas for US servicemen at the former US Clark air force base, was initiated five years ago by former Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Dr. Emmanuel Angeles.
Dr. Angeles sought to dedicate Angeles appropriately to angels under whose patronage he hoped this city – his birthplace – would be cleansed of its sinful reputation. Because the red light districts have remained despite the departure of the US air force from Clark in 1991, this city has kept the moniker Sin City.
“Our city can perhaps be promoted instead as education center of Central Luzon, with its big universities and colleges churning out topnotchers in government board examinations,” he said.
“My plan was to dedicate Angeles to holy angels by building 30-foot high monuments of angels at the four major rotundas in the city,” he said. The rotundas are located at the boundary of Angeles and San Fernando, at Barangay Pandan, at the Balibago bridge, and at the Clark Freeport.
Renowned sculptor Toym Imao did a small scale replica of the four monuments which Dr. Angeles has kept displayed in his office at the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) where he is chancellor.
The project never took off, but Dr. Angeles has again revived the project after what he claimed to be a “miracle” he and his doctors at the renowned AUF Medical Center here found out only last Thursday.
The miracle was the total disappearance of a stone in his gall bladder, just as he was being prepared for surgery. The stone, however, has remained in the image from a computerized axial tornography scan or CT scan which he underwent previously following an ultra sound test that had also indicated the presence of the stone.
“Experts who examined me at the AUF Medical Center simply no longer found the stone in my bladder, even if the stone was clearly there in the CT scan image,” said Dr. Angeles, 75, who said his wife was apprehensive about his supposed surgery amid his age.
Dr. Angeles again appealed for support for the realization of the monuments to the angels. Already, Imao, who designed the monuments, vowed to help him raise funds for the project.
“Each monument would tower 30 feet high and be made of bronze,” he said. He estimated that when he first proposed the project five years ago, each monument would have cost P2 million each.
“Now the prices of materials have gone up and we estimate that each monument would cost about P2.5 million,” he said.
Apart from paying homage to the angels and seeking their prayers for the good of the city, Dr. Angeles also said the monuments could also serve a focus of interest of tourists in a city still in search of any landmark for tourism brochures.
Various religious and non-government organizations have expressed support for the project and have even proposed an annual festival of angels that could turn this city into a major pilgrimage destination.
