On the night of 31 October, the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC) offered visitors a rare and spine-tingling experience—an after-dark exploration of one of Manila’s most storied landmarks.

Dubbed “Paco Park sa Dilim,” the one-night-only walking tour, facilitated by NPDC deputy executive director Jezreel Gaius Apelar, invited guests to uncover the rich and haunting history of Paco Park, tracing its transformation from a colonial-era cemetery into a beloved urban sanctuary.

Nestled between General Luna Street and Padre Faura Street in Paco, Manila, the park was originally known as Cementerio General de Dilao. Apelar shared that it was built during the Spanish colonial period as a burial site for victims of a devastating cholera epidemic. Over time, it became the final resting place for both Spanish and Filipino aristocrats before its conversion into a national park in 1966.

Spanning one hectare, the park’s circular design—featuring two concentric walls—has made it a landmark of modern Filipino landscape architecture, largely due to the improvements introduced by National Artist for architecture Ildefonso P. Santos Jr. The inner circle, once the original cemetery, has hollow walls that served as niches, while the outer wall of thick adobe now forms shaded pathways that once enclosed burial vaults, some of which remain intact to this day.

During the moonlit tour, Apelar shared stories of the notable figures connected to Paco Park. Among the most significant was the original burial site of Dr. José P. Rizal, the country’s national hero. After his execution at Bagumbayan on December 30, 1896, his remains were secretly interred here until 17 August 1898, when they were exhumed. They were later transferred to their permanent resting place beneath the Rizal Monument at Luneta on 30 December 1912.

Equally solemn is the resting place of the three martyred priests—Fr. Mariano Gomez, Fr. José Burgos, and Fr. Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as Gomburza—who were executed on 17 February 1872, following the Cavite Mutiny. Their unjust deaths would later inspire the nationalist awakening that shaped Philippine history.

The tour began at the park’s circular center before proceeding to the St. Pancratius Chapel, which remains under the care of the San Vicente de Paul Parish and the Vincentian Fathers from the nearby Adamson University.

Today, Paco Park stands not only as a site of memory but also as a living space where the past and present gracefully intertwine. Managed by the NPDC, an agency under the Department of Tourism, it has become one of Manila’s most picturesque settings—popular for weddings, prenuptial photoshoots, concerts, cultural events, film productions, and intimate gatherings.

Whether visited in daylight or under the quiet spell of night, Paco Park continues to enchant as both a witness to history and a haven of reflection—where Manila’s storied past finds new life beneath the glow of its timeless walls.