I fondly recall the many occasions in my youth when my parents brought the family to attend mass in Roman Catholic churches in Intramuros, the historic walled city of old Manila. The Spanish started construction of Intramuros in the sixteenth century and completed its final walls two centuries later. Inside these walls ware grand houses, governing offices and seven magnificently built churches of varying architectural styles. Many years later, I realized with greater appreciation the genius of the designers and artisans who had transformed humble materials such as stone, wood, ivory and glass into exquisite interior sidings, panels, relief's, and religious art. My generation felt a great loss when World War II destroyed almost all of the treasures and heritage buildings in Intramuros.

In the past few decades, I have been involved in the construction industry in projects relating to commercial buildings, high-rise condominium and lately, industrial estates and manufacturing plants. In turn, I planned and worked with architectural designers, engineers and construction materials which had so impressed me in my youth. A multitude of technologically modern products are being utilized for the contemporary concrete and glass structures of today. But those buildings of old, so meticulously conceived and executed by the best artisans available in pre-World War II Manila, will forever retain a place in the history of our country and in our hearts.

In trips to Europe and the United States, I visited various museum and libraries, inspiring me to establish a museum in the Philippines. In my travels, I met various people - from learned librarians to sophisticated antiquarian book dealers - eager to share with me their understanding of cartography and maps. In the Age of Discovery, a map with its information was accorded tremendous respect and value if indicated previously unknown land masses and large bodies of navigable water. Sea charts were considered treasures to be zealously concealed from the public eye. Possession of such charts could mean the reward of gold and silver for the monarchies of Europe, the rationale for conquest and colonization, and the spread of religion, commerce and trade. Where my school history professor had failed to instill in me the larger implications of European conquest and colonization, I would learn from others the importance of centuries-old maps and the profound influence such documents had on world history.

In 1872, my great-grandfahter, Crisanto de los Reyes, a successful ship chandler, was involved in a failed revolt by shipyard workers and soldiers at Fort San Felipe, Cavite. Three Filipino priests, namely Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora, were accused of leading the revolt, and summarily executed by garrotte. Crisanto de los Reyes, together with two others, was tried for having funded the revolt and exiled to Cartegena, Spain. Historically known as the "Cavite Mutiny of 1872", the Philippine National Historical Institute recognizes Crisanto de los Reyes as a patriot and hero in our country.

My great-grandfather, a Chinese-Malay mestizo, inspired me to acquire and preserve vintage photographs of old Manila, and towns and provinces of the Philippines. This substantial collection of photographs, covering the period from 1860 to the early Americans occupation at the turn of the century, consists mostly of rare albumen prints acquired in Asia, Europe and North America. As pictorial documents of key historical events, the collection is the most comprehensive of its kind, covering the Philippine Revolution against Spain, the Spanish American War, and the Philippine American war. The photographs show a bustling trade and commerce in Manila, and agricultural activities in the provinces. In the 1860's the tall sailing ships shown in photographs along the mouth of the Pasig River, then Manila's main waterway artery, are evidence of the country's international trading importance. My favourite photograph, taken at the turn of the Century, of Binondo Church in Manila's Chinese district, shows in the foreground a variety of horse and ex-drawn carts driving by. People from all walks of life, peddlers, vendors, all headed in different directions, reveal a microcosm of old Manila, then the hub of commerce in the country.

I invite the public to visit our museum, where they may perhaps ponder their own ancestral legacy, our country's enduring past, and the profundity of Chinese culture. Or, it if suits, the visitor may prefer simply to allow the exhibits to speak for themselves.

I dedicate this museum to the memory of Filipino patriots who have unselfishly sacrificed their lives for freedom and country.