| The City of Marikina, dubbed
as the country's shoemaking capital, aims for world attention as ten craftsmen
from the Marikina Colossal Footwear Foundation create what would be the
world's biggest pair of shoes in an attempt to break into the Guiness Book
of World Records. The shoes when completed would be 5.5 meters long, 2.0
meters wide, and 1.98 meters high. Fifteen persons can fit into one shoe.
The record-breaking pair should fit someone who is 125 feet tall. The shoes
cost 1.5 million pesos and have about 200,000 stitches using 1,000 meters
of thread. The materials used to create the enormous pair can produce 250
pairs of regular shoes.
The Kapitan Moy Building,
now the Sentrong Pangkultura ng Marikina, is a two-century old building
once owned by Don Laureano "Kapitan Moy" Guevarra, the Father of the Shoe
Industry, was declared a historical shrine by the National Historical Institute.
It was here that shoe manufacturing started in 1887 by the group of Don
Laureano that discovered the proper method of making footwear. The house
was brought and converted into a home for needy residents by Dona Teresa
de la Paz. It was used as a primary school for many years. In 1993, the
local government of Marikina turned it into a cultural center.
Marikina, a valley bounded
by mountain ranges and sliced by a river, was founded on April 16, 1630.
The Augustinians were the firsts to arrive in the valley at the spot now
known as Chorillo in Barangka. The Jesuits also came in 1630 in a place
now called Jesus de la Pea. Here the Jesuits established a mission and
built a chapel. In 1687 this pueblo became a parish known as Mariquina.
In 1901, with the coming of the Americans, its name officially became Marikina.
By the turn of the 20th century,
Marikina had emerged as a town of shoemakers. The craft of shoemaking had
started in 1887 through the efforts of Don Laureano "Kapitan Moy" Guevarra.
Honed by years in shoe manufacturing, the natives had developed a work
ethic that prepared them for the arrival of heavy industries in the 1950's.
With the industrial plants came waves of workers who chose to stay, rapidly
increasing the population. Marikina soon became a victim of runaway growth.
Not until 1992 was it able to turn a corner and found a new direction under
the dynamic leadership of Mayor Bayani Femando. It became a city on December
8, 1996. By dint of hard work and discipline, guided by a vision of a modern,
livable city, Marikina has been
transformed into what it
is today under the equally able leadership of incumbent Mayor Marides C.
Fernando. |
