Retrato: Filipiniana Photo Collection - Compiled Threads [Archive] - Page 6

Animo

March 1st, 2007, 06:34 PM

The story of the Santa Margarita, a Manila galleon wrecked on Rota in 1601, is a tale of one of the world’s great sailing ships on a perilous journey, commanded by a tyrant, General Jan Martinez de Guillestigui.

He was cruel, incompetent, and arrogant, piling cargo and treasure into the Santa Margarita until it was fatally overloaded. During seven miserable months at sea, during which most of the ship’s food supplies were lost, the ship was blown a thousand miles off course, and most of the crew and passengers died of scurvy or starvation. Of the more than 300 crew and passengers who left Manila in July 1600, only two dozen were still alive after the great ship broke apart on a Rota reef seven months later.

The Santa Margarita story has two parts. The second part is a contemporary expedition to recover the art, culture, and history of a 16th century sailing ship carrying the riches of the Orient back to America and Europe.

Since 1993, a group of Americans have worked to complete the first recovery of a fully laden Manila galleon. The first part of the story ends here, in the Northern Mariana Islands in 1601. The 21st century story is a work in progress, and may never be completed due to regulatory issues with CNMI agencies.

Imagine the troubled, often violent voyage of this great sailing ship, the horrendous conditions aboard, and the spectacular wreck as the massive ship breaks up on the reef of this tropical island.

IOTA Partners, a USA limited risk partnership, has chronicled its recovery of the ship. There are photos documenting, first, the difficulty and complexity of extricating the ship from the reef which has imprisoned it for 400 years, second, the frustrations and triumphs of recovering artifacts buried 400 years, and, finally, the new life given to the ship’s treasures.

Background

At the end of the 16th century, the Santa Margarita was one of the largest sailing vessels in the world. She was known as a Manila galleon, sailing a trade route from Asia to Acapulco in New Spain (now Mexico). Marine historians hired by IOTA Partners researched the ship, then located the wreck in the Northern Mariana Islands. Before searching, however, IOTA entered into a public-private partnership with the CNMI government: IOTA is to provide all the financing and know-how, and share the proceeds from sale of the recovered artifacts with the CNMI government which is not required to put capital at risk. IOTA has spent $10 million, mostly in the CNMI on the Santa Margarita project over a period of 13 years. The CNMI share of proceeds from the Santa Margarita could relieve the government’s current financial crisis.

The shipwreck

Into the hostile environment of the North Pacific ventured a ship so large it was described as "a mountain in the sea," yet within a few weeks it was reduced to a derelict. Before leaving Manila, cargo far beyond the permiso, or legal limit, had been stuffed into every empty space, and after that it was piled on the open decks, both obstructing the crew and causing the ship to be top-heavy and unstable. The additional shipping fees for the "found space," however, promised to make the ship commander rich. The ship was so overloaded and poorly ballasted that experienced sailors could not be found to sail on her.

From the outset, the ship’s instability posed problems. It took six days to clear Manila Harbor. Clearly the ship had to be lightened and reballasted, but rather than give up shipping fees by setting cargo ashore, the commander ordered 25 passengers to leave the ship with all their belongings. One such expelled passenger was the ship’s chaplain, Geronimo Ocampo, who was so infuriated he excommunicated the general on the spot, damned the voyage, and proclaimed it would end badly.

The ship carried his curse to its final resting place on a Rota reef. General Guillestigui did not live to enjoy the fortune he was to reap from his shipping abuses; instead, he earned a burial at sea a few days before the ship reached Rota.
Of the more than 300 people who left Manila in July 1600, less than a dozen survived both the voyage and the first week on Rota.

The history

The story is one of Spain’s sea power and the trade links it forged between the Far East, the New World, and the Old World. The artwork carried by the Santa Margarita includes some of the earliest known examples of the fusion of European and Oriental art and culture. The IOTA divers have recovered what is believed to be the largest collection of 16th century carved ivory religious art in the world. And there is more ivory to be excavated from the reef.

The treasure

The king’s 1599 taxes in gold coin and bullion; gold jewelry from the orient made to Spanish designs, set with precious gems, much of it to be traded for South American silver bullion and coins at Acapulco; ivory figurines and religious carvings; beads of all types, including gold, ivory, carnelian, gilded bronze, and glass cast in myriad hues, sizes and facets; fine export porcelain dishes, including cups, bowls, ewers, and boxes, all hand painted in a deep blue cobalt; cast copper and bronze; gemstones, mother of pearl, engraved silver buckles; and scabbard hangers of cast bronze bearing relief images of the King and Queen of Spain, gilded and set with diadems of precious stones.

A second life will be given to these artifacts, many of which will be put on public display. Millions of people will learn of the suffering, greed and disaster, as well as the joy of the few survivors, rescued by a passing galleon three months later.

The wreck site will be known to the world, and many will wish to visit the site, after viewing the artifacts as traveling displays. Hence, the benefits to the CNMI are significant, not only in terms of the wealth it will share with IOTA, but also in terms of long-term economic benefits from increased tourism.

Archeology and discovery

Also fascinating is the research to identify the ship, where and how she was lost, and how she and her cargo were located using archival information and 21st century technology. Once the ship and site were found, the challenge was to pinpoint exactly where she broke up and spilled her cargo. This is all part of the Santa Margarita story.

The National Museum of the Philippines is cooperating by making available marine field archeologists and conservators, working under the direction of an American Ph.D. archeologist. (PR)

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=66067

Animo

March 1st, 2007, 06:36 PM

MEXICO CITY - Archeologists said Monday that porcelain plates and other artifacts found along the Baja California coast could be from the wreckage of a Spanish galleon that sailed between the Philippines and Mexico hundreds of years ago.

Seals and other markings on some of the estimated 1,000 fragments of porcelain plates found at the site indicate they were made in China in the late 1500s, said archaeologist Luz Maria Mejia of the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

The site, near the port of Ensenada about 50 miles south of the U.S. border, is covered by shifting sand dunes that have kept artifacts like these hidden for centuries. Archeologists have been scouring the dunes for years to try to find relics from old Pacific trading ships.

While early Spanish galleons — which began sailing the Pacific trade route in the 1560s — usually headed for the port of Acapulco far to the south, it was common for some ships to land further north due to the winds. They would then hug the coast as they traveled south to Acapulco.

Researchers believe the artifacts may have reached shore following a shipwreck, although no sunken ships have been found off the coast.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070227/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_shipwreck_artifacts_2

Hawayano

March 7th, 2007, 08:12 AM

Some not-so-old postcard views of what we had to offer...

Albay's Cagsawa ruins
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/PCCagsawa-1.jpg

Taal simmering in the 1960s
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/PCBulkangTaal-1.jpg

Pre-war Dewey Boulevard
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/deweyblvd.jpg

Baguio Pines Hotel
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/PCPinesHotel-1.jpg

Is this still standing? It's a fine example of artdeco-moderne!
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/PCBaguioSTn-1.jpg

What oldtimers remember about Iloilo City:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/PCIloilo.jpg

Burnham Park when Baguio was clean and healthy:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/baguio.jpg

Wonderboy

March 7th, 2007, 03:18 PM

^^ Dang! Excellent photos Sr. Hawayano! I can imagine the greens of Dewey Boulevard hissing the breath of the earth after the heavy rains. The sky even looked overcast on the photo. Yup, I know, it can be just an effect. But please, allow me continue my fantasy. He he.

Thanks for sharing. I will send you my e-mail response before the end of the week.

Animo

March 10th, 2007, 09:01 PM

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/03/08/dd_buell942mk.jpg

Evangeline Canonizado Buell is descended from a Buffalo Soldier. Chronicle photo by Mike Kepka

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/03/08/dd_buell0802.jpg

Buffalo Soldier Ernest Stokes is pictured in the second row, eighth from the right. Photo courtesy of Evangeline Canonizado Buell

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2007/03/08/dd_buell0803.jpg

Felicia Stokes, mother of author and activist Buell. Photo courtesy of Evangeline Canonizado Buell

When Evangeline "Vangie" Canonizado Buell welcomes you into her Berkeley home, she asks two questions: Would you like something to eat? To drink?

She won't take no for an answer. It's an endearing combination of determination and compassion that has governed the life of this community activist.

From her tireless work for UC Berkeley's International House (where she "retired" as the events coordinator in 1992) and the Filipino American National Historical Society (for which she helped co-found its East Bay chapter), to writing books about the Filipino American experience, this 74-year-old dynamo of Filipino and African descent is bent on one thing: recording history.

"Writing our history and knowing our culture is knowing ourselves," Buell says early Sunday morning over slices of sweet, nutty bread and strong black coffee. We're chatting in her dining room/office. Papers overflow the table, and photos of her family and civil rights leaders such as Rosa Parks, Paul Robeson and Pete Velasco of the Delano grape strike line the walls of her home.

Buell is a living historical gem herself: She's the granddaughter of a Buffalo Soldier -- the nickname given by American Indians in the 19th century to black American soldiers. Even rarer: Her grandfather Ernest Stokes was one of the 6,000 Buffalo Soldiers sent to the Philippines to fight during the Spanish-American War during the 1890s. And he was one of the few who stayed, married a Filipina (Buell's grandmother) and had children.

In her memoir "Twenty-Five Chickens and a Pig for a Bride: Growing Up in a Filipino Immigrant Family" (T'Boli Publishing, 2006), Buell recounts her grandfather's experience, and her own, as one of the few Filipinos growing up in West Oakland during the 1930s and '40s.

She remembers seeing "No Filipinos or dogs allowed" signs posted at restaurants and having to wear a button that said "I am a loyal Filipino" during World War II, because even though she didn't look Japanese, she was still Asian -- and vulnerable to harassment.

"When I was walking in San Francisco with Bill (her husband) down the street to go to the Opera, and, you know, it was a crowded street, a white man came up to me and called me all kinds of names and said, 'You shouldn't even be here,' " Buell says.

"That was only a year ago," she adds.

But it doesn't surprise her.

In fact, her family's struggle to overcome racism began long before World War II. It was the reason her Grandpa Stokes, who grew up in Chattanooga, Tenn., signed up for the Army in the first place.

"He was escaping from the prejudice (in the United States), the discrimination. He felt that going to a foreign land would be better."

Turns out it didn't matter where he went.

"He was sent out by the Caucasian soldiers into the front line to take the bullets from the opposite side," she continues. "It was only their cunning and their street-wise defiance that they were able to not get shot."

When Spain lost, it ceded the Philippines to the United States. The Philippine-American War ensued, and Stokes was ordered to remain with about 100 others to quash the Philippine campaign for independence.

There was a problem, however. Many of the Buffalo Soldiers identified with the Filipinos "because they, too, were treated as savages by the Caucasian soldiers," Buell says. "So my grandfather did not want to shoot the Filipino soldiers."

Stokes was among the Buffalo Soldiers who married Filipinas. His wife's name was Maria Bunag, and they had three daughters, one of whom, Felicia, was Buell's mother. When Bunag died in 1917, Stokes could not serve in the military and care for his children, so he sent them to live with their mother's relatives.

The acceptance that Stokes enjoyed in the Philippines, however, did not extend to two of his daughters, including Buell's mother. Because the girls "did not look like their cousins ... and had darker skin and coarse hair," Buell says, they were treated like servants and beaten at their Uncle Nicolas' home, where Stokes had sent them. Older male cousins also repeatedly raped Buell's mother and aunt. The abuse went on for five years until Stokes found out and rescued them.

Stokes later remarried, to another Filipina, Roberta Dungca. He stayed 25 years in his adopted country before leaving for West Oakland with Dungca and the children in 1928.

Buell says her favorite memories are of her grandfather bouncing her, her younger sister and their cousin on his knee while he counted to them in Cantonese and sang in Tagalog. Stokes learned eight languages while in the Philippines, including Tagalog, Chinese, Spanish and various Philippine dialects. He even made gin in the bathtub.

He died in 1936 and is buried at the Presidio. A monument looms at the site, honoring the Tennessee fighters who went to the Philippines.

Buell says the monument serves as a physical reminder of the unique Filipino-black connection that remains relevant today.

"The relations between the African Americans and the Filipinos, the beginning of that, was in the Philippines. ... And it's important today in terms of Filipinos getting to know black Americans and (black people) getting to know the Filipinos -- to know that we have had that relationship way back, a hundred years ago."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-Five Chickens and a Pig for a Bride: Book reading with author Evangeline Canonizado Buell. 7 p.m. today. $5 donation. Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, 1616 Franklin St., Oakland. (510) 836-4649, www.opcmusic.org.
Filipinos in the East Bay: 1906-2007: Buell’s third book, with Evelyn Luluquisen, Lilian Galledo and Ellie Luis, is due out in January 2008. Arcadia Publishing. www.arcadiapublishing.com.

E-mail Michelle Louie at mlouie@sfchronicle.com. Tune in to Pinoy Pod at sfgate.com/podcasts.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/08/DDG0GOGEOH1.DTL&feed=rss.entertainment

Animo

March 11th, 2007, 05:12 AM

By Robby Tantingco
Peanut Gallery

IN THE early days of colonization, native women were not allowed to even apply to become nuns, even if many of them possessed the qualifications. They led prayerful, charitable, even heroic lives, but for the simple reason that they were not Spaniards, they were prohibited from entering the convent.

It took a Kapampangan woman to challenge and triumph over this discrimination, thus blazing the trail for countless other Filipino women and starting a tradition of fearless, fighting nuns in the Philippines.

That Kapampangan was Martha de San Bernardo, and the year was 1633.

The only convent in the colony (as well as in Asia) at the time was the exclusive Royal Monastery of Santa Clara, founded by a Spanish woman named Madre Doña Jeronima de la Asuncion, a member of the Poor Clares, who were under the Franciscan Order.

The convent was only for Spanish women residing in the colony -- daughters of Spanish officials, widows of Spanish soldiers, and single Spanish career women who had sailed to these islands in search of fame and fortune and found God instead.

Madre Jeronima had already tried to convince authorities to allow her to put up a similar convent in Pandacan for native women, but her fellow Spaniards in the Church and in government rejected the idea.

They could never imagine brown-skinned nuns mingling with white-skinned nuns in a cloistered place; their belief was that islanders were not worthy enough to become brides of Christ.

This bias had no basis: quite a number of native women were already gaining a reputation for spirituality, even mysticism, despite the fact that their only access to theology was the Mass said in Latin and the homily delivered in Spanish and on rare occasions in the local dialect (that is, if the friar had already learned to speak it).

There was no Bible in any Philippine language yet (in fact, the Bible was never translated throughout the 300-year Spanish regime -- which was why Filipinos wrote their own version of the Bible, the pasyon, based on novenarios and recollections of homilies, the gaps filled in by folk tales and apocryphal anecdotes).

Despite these handicaps, native women still managed on their own to cultivate their spirituality, minus the guidance of a priest, as required by canon law.

The turning point occurred when Madre Jeronima died in 1630. By that time, her reputation for sanctity had already spread; her nuns at the Royal Monastery of Santa Clara in Manila petitioned the Archbishop to initiate a beatification process.

More than a hundred witnesses, including 15 Kapampangans, came forward to testify in the investigation. The turnout was big news; no other event since the Spanish Conquest in 1571 stirred the people of Central Luzon more profoundly, wrote historian Dr. Luciano Santiago, in his book "Laying the Foundation: Kapampangan Pioneers in the Philippine Church 1594-2001" (Holy Angel University Press).

The nuns of Santa Clara were moved by the popular support for the cause of their founder's beatification that they accepted the first native woman that dared to apply during this time. That applicant was Martha de San Bernardo.

Martha was not an ordinary native woman. She belonged to a wealthy family in Pampanga, was a ladina (native who could speak Spanish) and had a charismatic personality. "She was so influential woman and so moral and virtuous," wrote a Franciscan chronicler, "that all the (Spanish nuns in the) convent urgently requested that she be conferred the novitiate habit."

Their petition, however, fell on deaf ears. It looked like the end of it, as all applications had to be approved by the male superiors of the Order. It was a clear case of racial and gender discrimination.

But the Spanish nuns were undaunted in their conviction that the Kapampangan woman deserved to be a member of the Poor Clares. They conspired to go around the official prohibition by sending Martha, along with the other Spanish applicants, to the congregation's newly opened monastery in the Portuguese colony of Macao which was not under the administrative jurisdiction of the mother house in Manila.

The head of the Franciscan Order discovered this conspiratorial maneuvering but instead of stopping or punishing the nuns, he decided to get into the conspiracy himself! He ruled that this very determined native woman would be allowed to receive the holy habit only out at sea, after leaving Manila and before reaching Macao, so that the Franciscan superiors in both convents could always claim no knowledge or jurisdiction and therefore would not be blamed by higher Church or government authorities.

And so sometime in October or November 1633, somewhere in the South China Sea between Manila and Macao, Martha de San Bernardo of Pampanga became the first Filipino nun in history.

It was an extraordinary moment in our country's history when a group of Spaniards circumvented colonial laws to accommodate an Indio -- a triumph of courage and good intentions over prejudice and injustice, and a triumph as well of middle managers risking the ire of top management by sticking out their neck for their subordinates.

Above all, it was the triumph of a Kapampangan woman who overcame insurmountable obstacles by the sheer force of her personality and her determination.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2007/03/06/oped/robby.tantingco.peanut.gallery.html

overtureph

March 14th, 2007, 09:17 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/factory.jpg

Wonderboy

March 14th, 2007, 03:42 PM

^^ Cool. That's Insular Tobacco Factory beside Binondo Church, fronting Plaza Calderon de la Barca (now Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz). That was destroyed during the Second World War and was never restored. Metrobank now occupies the site but constructed a dull building with sun beams.

Animo

March 16th, 2007, 09:54 AM

http://www.saipantribune.com/imgupload/lg/issx9999ns66618.jpg

The NMI Council for the Humanities is inviting the public to a book launching ceremony for a new publication on Marianas history, to be held at the Visitors Center Theater, American Memorial Park on Tuesday evening, March 20, beginning at 5:30pm.

The book, Beyond Distances: Politics and Deportation in the Mariana Islands was researched and authored by Spanish historian Carlos Madrid. It chronicles the events surrounding a sizable group of Spanish political prisoners exiled to the Marianas Islands in the 1870s.

Immediately following the book launch at 6:30pm, Madrid will present a lecture entitled “Who Avenged Rizal? Spanish Politics in the 19th Century and the Philippine Connection.” Madrid will explore how Philippine national hero Jose Rizal was perceived in Spain, and by whom, and how he is perceived in the Philippines now.

Madrid's research, funded by the Humanities Council with grants from the Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation and the CNMI Division of Historic Preservation, took him to archives in the Philippines, Spain, Guam and the United States. He also conducted interviews with descendents of some of the deportees in Spain to collect surviving family histories and memorabilia.

The resulting 245-page, hard-bound publication presents a comprehensive overview of this important but nearly forgotten chapter in the shared history of Spain, the Philippines and the Mariana Islands.

According to history professor Dr. Anne Perez Hattori of the University of Guam, “Beyond Distances provides insights of everyday life in 19th century Mariana Islands and makes superb use of rare documents to bring out native Chamorro voices and perspectives.”

Adding to the book's value are numerous contemporary illustrations and photographs, including six images dating to the mid-1870s that are believed to be the earliest photos taken in the Marianas, an extensive bibliography of primary source documents, and appendices containing translations of pertinent documents.

Madrid will be present at the launching ceremony to sign copies of his book that will be available for purchase at $15 per volume.

Interested individuals are invited to contact Council staff at 235-4785 for more information about the book launch and lecture. (PR)

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=66618

overtureph

March 19th, 2007, 06:21 AM

Plaza Moraga

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/plazamoraga.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/PHILIPPINESMANILLAPLAZAMORAGATRAMTR.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/pc_philippines_manila_plaza_moraga_.jpg

Animo

March 22nd, 2007, 07:39 AM

^^ Thanks again Sr. overtureph, oh so nostalgic!

Fabian de la Rosa and His Times," a collection of essays on the 20th century, internationally-acclaimed Filipino master, was recently launched as the maiden publication of the FilNet Art Series of Filipiniana.net, a division of Vibal Publishing House, Inc.

De la Rosa’s rightful place in Philippine art has been obscured by his illustrious predecessors Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, and his famous protégé and nephew, Fernando Amorsolo.

‘’Fabian de la Rosa and His Times’’ features articles written on and by De la Rosa himself, as well as essays by Dr. Luciano Santiago, a practicing psychiatrist and avid researcher of Philippine history, art and culture; Santiago Albano Pilar, art historian and professor at the UP College of Fine Arts; Macario Ofilada Mina, a scholar and author of four books and articles on Philippine history and culture; and Ana Maria P. Labrador, Ph.D., editor of the book and curator of the UP Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, and an associate professor of art and museum studies at the UP in Diliman.

De la Rosa was the first Filipino director of the UP School of Fine Arts (now the UP College of Fine Arts), which is celebrating its centenary this year and is among the last of the generation of artists influenced and taught by Lorenzo Guerrero, Miguel Zaragoza, Flores, Luna, and Hidalgo.

In 1904, he achieved worldwide acclaim by winning the gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition in Missouri for his painting ‘’Planting Rice,’’ becoming the fourth Filipino artist to gain international recognition after Flores, Luna, and Hidalgo.

"Through this book, we pay tribute to this great artist whose immense contribution to Philippine art has been largely overlooked, if not forgotten altogether," says Filipiniana.net publisher Gaspar Vibal. "It is our humble contribution to rescue the legacy of this Filipino master from almost certain oblivion."

"We, at the UP Vargas Museum, are grateful for another opportunity to work with Filipiniana.net and Vibal Publishing House in honoring Fabian de la Rosa, whose works cover the transition period between the Spanish and American colonial time, a phase in Philippine art history that has not yet been thoroughly explored," says Labrador.

Both Vibal and Labrador expressed hope that the book will draw much deserved attention on the genius that is Fabian de la Rosa as well as the very crucial transition phase between the Spanish and American colonial periods during which other artists such as Ramon Peralta and Guillermo Tolentino also made their mark.

Filipiniana.net, the newest and one of the most extensive online research facilities on Philippine studies, rolls out its FilNet Art Series that features retrospectives on major Philippine artists. Other forthcoming projects include the Culinarya Cookbook Series, Great Architects Series, and Townscapes Series.

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2007/03/18/YTCP2007031889723.html

Animo

March 22nd, 2007, 07:47 AM

MARCELO H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, and Dr. Jose P. Rizal were called the "Grand Trinity of the Reform Movement in the Philippines." They left the country to bring to the Madrid authorities the sad conditions obtaining in the Philippines – Rizal in 1882, Ponce in 1887, and Plaridel in 1889. They led the struggle for reforms in the country. Rizal and Plaridel focused on the social cancer while Ponce wrote on the history and culture of the Filipinos with the aim of uplifting their pride and dignity. Ponce outlived the two – Plaridel died in July, 1896 while Rizal was executed in December, 1896.

March 22 and March 23 are the birth and death anniversaries of Ponce. Born in Baliwag, Bulacan in 1861, he finished his bachelor’s degree at San Juan de Letran in 1885 and medicine at Universidad Central de Madrid in 1889. He wrote many books and articles about Philippine history and culture, love of country, Filipino heroes, etc. Folklore Filipino, Pandapira, Efemerides Filipinas, Cuestion Filipina, Sun Yat-sen Bibliografia Parliamentaria, and Bibliografia Revolucionaria were some of his written works.

In Spain, Ponce co-founded the La Solidaridad and became its managing editor when Graciano Lopez Jaena and Marcelo H. del Pilar died. When the Filipino-American War broke out (February 1899-July 1902), President Aguinaldo sent him and Galicano Apacible to Japan to purchase arms and solicit Japan’s help for the Filipino cause. Sun Yat-sen, Father of the Republic of China, became his close friend. Through the help of Jose Ramos Ishikawa, a Filipino expatriate in Japan, they were able to buy a boatload of armaments – 6 million bullets, 10,000 figles, and 30 mountain guns. Accompanied by several Japanese officers and soldiers, the cargo was loaded in the ship Nunobikimaru. Unfortunately, this ship was sunk by a typhoon off the coast of Taiwan on July 20, 1899.

With his wife Okiyo Udanwara, daughter of a samurai, Ponce returned to the Philippines and carried on the libertarian struggle. He co-foudned the Nacionalista Party, served as director of the nationalistic newspaper El Renacimiento, and served as assemblyman for the 2nd district of Bulacan. He was on his way to China to visit his friend Sun Yat-sen when he died on March 23, 1918.

May our observance of Don Mariano Ponce’s birth and death anniversaries remind us of our great Filipino hero who made the Filipino people proud of their history and culture.

http://www.mb.com.ph/OPED2007032290157.html

Animo

March 22nd, 2007, 07:48 AM

THE Philippine Army is an institution with an illustrious history. Valor is its identity. It was born in the field of battle on March 22, 1897. While the enemy was attacking, the revolutionary leaders met at Tejeros and established a revolutionary government and a revolutionary army with General Artemio "Vibora" Ricarte as its first Captain General.

First called the Army of the Revolution, it became the Army of the Republic when President Emilio F. Aguinaldo formally proclaimed on January 23, 1899 the Filipino Republic. The Philippine Army was thus the first citizen army in Asia.

Succeeding battles tried and tested the Philippine Army. The February 17, 1897, battle at Sapote Bridge; the March 24, 1897, battle at Pasong Santol; the February 5, 1899, battle at La Loma Cemetery, the December 2 and 10, 1899 battles at Tirad Pass and San Mateo, etc., are glorious chapters in the history of the Philippine Army. In Bataan and Corregidor, in the Korean War and Vietnam Wars, and in many other foreign fields of assignment, the Philippine Army upheld its best traditions and the country’s honor.

Over and above its traditional task of preserving the country’s integrity and sovereignty, the Philippine Army has also established itself as a major partner of the government in nation-building. It has been a constant source of support and fountain of leadership for the people in manning the manifold institutions in the country.

Fighters for freedom, sentinels of the nation, models of the youth and instrument of peace and democracy – these are the many lofty roles that the Philippine Army has ably performed.

We congratulate the men and women of the Philippine Army headed by its Commanding General, Lieutenant General Romeo P. Tolentino, Officers and Personnel, on the occasion of its 110th Anniversary with the theme "Hukbong Katihan ng Pilipinas: Tapat na Panunungkulan Para sa Diyos, Bansa at Kapwa." We wish them success in all their endeavors.

http://www.mb.com.ph/OPED2007032290158.html

Animo

March 22nd, 2007, 07:50 AM

IF you want to know the character of a person," wrote US President Abraham Lincoln, "give him power." President Emilio F. Aguinaldo wielded tremendous power during the years 1897-1901. He was Dictator, then President of the Philippines during these years. Despite the vast powers he wielded, these powers did not corrupt him. He used them, instead, to benefit his country and people – for their freedom and dignity as a people.

At least four times he wanted to give up these powers and the high positions he occupied. He preferred to be in the frontlines of the war to lead his people fight the invaders.

Prior to the March 22, 1897, Tejeros Convention which catapulted him to the leadership of the Revolution, Aguinaldo publicly expressed his support for General Edilberto Evangelista to be the president of the revolutionary government planned to be established. Unfortunately, General Evangelista was killed on February 17, 1897, at the battle of Zapote Bridge.

Aguinaldo was elected President in absention. He was in Pasong Santol directing the Filipino forces against an impending enemy attack. He refused to leave the frontlines. It was only when his elder brother General Crispulo Aguinaldo came and vowed that the enemy would pass only over his dead body that Emilio Aguinaldo agreed to leave the frontlines. General Crispulo Aguinaldo was killed when the enemy attacked two days later Aguinaldo proclaimed the First Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899, and was elected its first President.

He wrote a letter to Congress stating his resignation from the presidency and desire to fight in the frontlines, but Apolinario Mabini and Felipe Buencamino prevailed upon him not to carry out his plan for the sake of the unity of the Filipino people.

Finally, he issued a decree on June 27, 1900 where he named General Mariano Trias as his successor in case he would be captured, killed, or incapacitated.

These many instances of his disdain for power, on top of his many achievements – the Philippine National Flag which he designed, the Philippine National Anthem, Rizal Day, the proclamation of Philippine independence, etc. – show the greatness and nobility of President Emilio F. Aguinaldo.

The nation remembers President Emilio F. Aguinaldo on his 136th birth anniversary today. May our youth emulate his great deeds and noble character.

http://www.mb.com.ph/OPED2007032290151.html

[dx]

March 26th, 2007, 07:23 AM

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/433535628_8d3d34f56d_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/58/229584113_8f6a22fccd_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/133/406565199_130330b215_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/74/228890653_4226d240b7_o.jpg

I'm not sure if these have been posted already but it's worth sharing. Found it on flickr. Check out more photos/scans here (http://www.flickr.com/groups/manilacarnivals08-39/pool/)

LordCarnal

March 26th, 2007, 02:58 PM

Botany and Anatomy class at Colegio de San Jose Recoletos (Cebu)
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120285.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120283.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120282.jpg

A newly ordained priest celebrating his first "High Mass"
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120280.jpg

Cebuano delegates to the Boy Scouts World Jamboree held in Laguna in the 50s
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120289.jpg

Baptism, notice the priest and the sacristans
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120287.jpg

Funeral procession in Medellin, Cebu. Notice the vestment worn by the priest
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120279.jpg

At a funeral wake of a family friend. Notice how they pose with the coffin.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120281.jpg

A model house inside a school compound in Bogo, Cebu
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120284.jpg

A school building in Bogo, Cebu
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/P1120278.jpg

Rajah_Soliman

March 26th, 2007, 11:31 PM

^^ :okay:

Animo

March 30th, 2007, 07:01 PM

Animo, the statue in front of the Cathrdral is King Carlos. The monument or statue of Queen Isabel II used to be located in front of Malate church.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/Isabela.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/1070255.jpg

Hi Sr. overtureph I found the photo already. Your right, so this was infront of the church huh?

kyle@1008

March 31st, 2007, 03:18 AM

Al cinco de noviembre

The Negros Revolution, now commemorated and popularly known as Al Cinco de Noviembre or Negros Day, was a political movement that in 1898 created a cantonal form of government in Negros Island in the Philippines, ending Spanish sovereignity and resulting in a government run by the Filipino natives, at least for that part of the archipelago and for a relatively short period of time. The newly established Negros Republic would last for approximately four months, before American forces landed on the island unopposed on February 2, 1899.

Prelude to Revolution

It has been stipulated that the Spanish civil and religious authorities in Negros did not initially suspect that the sugar barons and traders of the island would participate in an uprising against Spain.[1] The clergy in Negros had not acquired vast tracts of land, unlike their counterparts in the island of Luzon. Negros had become a rich province and "the local leaders were content, sharing even in many instances the social previleges of the Spanish elite."[2]

Negros did not seem enthusiastic about the August 23, 1896 Cry of Balintawak and the subsequent revolt headed by the Tagalog Katipuneros.[3] Rather, it disapproved the same as battalions of volunteers were organized in Bais, Valladolid, La Carlota and Isabela in order to defend the island. There had been, however, early on, attempts by various groups on the grassroots level to revolt against the Spanish colonizers. See Dios Buhawi and Papa Isio.

However, a greater part of the sugar planters soon began to sympathize towards the proposed ends of the insurrection, until two years later, such sympathy bore fruit when these same sugar planters broke out in open revolt. By that time, Aniceto Lacson, a rich landlord of Talisay City had joined the Katipunan, and Juan Araneta, Rafael Ramos, Carlos Gemora, Venura and other leaders of what would become the revolution of 1898 were negotiating with their comrades in Iloilo and were arming themselves.

By the middle of August, 1898, as numerous rumors of a coming insurrection in the Visayas spread, a number of parish priests sought refuge in Iloilo. The Negrense revolutionaries agreed that the revolt would begin on November 3, 1898. It was to be led by Aniceto Lacson with Nicolas Golez of Silay City as deputy commander. South of Bacolod City, the revolt would be led by Juan Araneta of Bago City with Rafael Ramos of Himamaylan as deputy commander

Chronicle of the Revolt

November 3

Aniceto Lacson rode to Silay. A committee headed by Lacson and acting for the province included Golez, Leandro Locsin and Melecio Severino assembled and decided to begin the revolt on November 5. They then advised Juan Araneta of their decision.

November 4

Juan Araneta, from one of his haciendas in Ma-ao, advised all the southern mayors to begin the revolt the following day. In the afternoon, a woman from Kabankalan Norte (the present-day barrio of Eustaquio Lopez) in Silay told Fr. Tomas Cornago of the impending revolt, even though the planning for the same was held secretly. He inquired of his friend, Doroteo Quillama, cabeza of the barrio, seeking to verify the report. The cabeza claimed no knowledge of the revolt. That same afternoon, groups of armed men passed the haciendas of Silay, and proceeded towards the town. The guardia civil in Silay were, however, unable to report this to Bacolod, since the rebels had cut the telegraph lines in Talisay (Talisay is between Silay and Bacolod) the day before

November 5

The revolt began in Central and Northern Negros in the morning and by the afternoon had spread to other towns such as San Miguel and Cadiz. In Silay, Lt. Maximiano Correa, commanding the Spanish garrison, had ten Spanish cazadores (Spanish, literally, "hunters") and seven Filipino civil guards. They were entrenched inside the municipal building, but surrendered without a fight when they realized that the townspeople were determined to burn the building to the ground should there be resistance. The Silay parish priest, Fr. Eulogio Saez, a businessman named Juan Viaplana and Jose Ledesma persuaded the Spanish forces to lay down their arms, but in order to save face, the lieutenant had it appear in the official records that the capitulation was the result of a bloody battle with "dead and wounded littered all over the field of battle".[4] Ten Mauser and seven Remington rifles were surrendered by the Spanish garrison. Later, a Filipino flag embroidered by Olympia Severino and her sisters was hoisted by the victorious townspeople.

In Bacolod, the Spanish Governor of the province, Isidro de Castro, sent a force of 25 cazadores and 16 civil guards to engage a swarm of rebels seen camping near the Matab-ang River. After a brief skirmish, they withdrew, leaving two of their number dead. The Governor decided to make a stand in the Bacolod Convent (presently the Bishop's Palace), where hundreds of Spanish families had taken refuge. They waited for the attack, but it did not come

November 6

In the morning, the rebels advanced upon Bacolod. Lacson and Golez approached from the north, crossing the Mandalagan River. Araneta with a thousand bolo-men took positions at the Lupit River in the south-east of Bacolod. The wily revolutionaries augmented their lightly-armed men with "cannon" made of bamboo and rolled amakan, and "rifles" carved out of wood and coconut fronds. The bluff worked; Governor Castro was persuaded that it was useless to defend the capital.

Jose Luis de Luzuriaga, a rich businessman who was deemed acceptable to both rebels and Spanish authorities was sent to mediate. At noon, a delegation from each of the major belligerents met at the house of Luzuriaga. The rebel delegation included Lacson, Araneta, Golez, Locsin, Simon Lizares, Julio Diaz and Jose Montilla. In an hour, it was agreed by both sides that "Spanish troops both European and native surrendered the town and its defenses uncondionally, turning over arms and communication" and the "public funds would be turned over to the new government".

November 6, 1898, therefore, is the day that the revolution in Negros triumphe

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/kyle_Lark/surrender.jpg

Last page of the Acta de Capitulacion (Surrender Document).

kyle@1008

March 31st, 2007, 03:23 AM

República dé Négros
Cantonal Republic of Negros

On November 3 to November 6, 1898, the Negrenses rose in revolt against the Spanish authorities headed by politico-military governor Colonel Isidro de Castro in the provinces of Negros Occidental viz. Oriental. The Spaniards decided to surrender upon seeing armed troops in a pincer movement towards Bacolod. The marching revolutionaries, led by General Juan Araneta from Bago and General Aniceto Lacson from Talisay, were actually carrying fake arms consisting of rifles carved out of palm fronds and cannons of rolled bamboo mats painted black. By the afternoon of November 6, Colonel de Castro signed the Act of Capitulation, thus ending Spanish rule in Negros Occidental. This event is commemorated in Negros Occidental every Cinco de Noviembre as the day the Negrenses bluffed the Spaniards to attain their freedom.
For a detailed article on this event, see Negros Revolution.

November 5 has been declared a special non-working holiday in the province through Republic Act. No. 6709 signed by Corazon Aquino on February 10, 1989.

On November 27, 1898 the Cantonal Republic of Negros was established. It came under U.S. protection on April 30, 1899. On July 22, 1899 it was renamed Republic of Negros (República de Negros), but on April 30, 1901 this was extinguished by the United States.

Leaders

Presidents were:

* 5 November 1898 - 22 July 1899 Aniceto Lacson (to 27 November 1898 in Negros Occidental only)
* 24 November 1898 - 27 November 1898 Demetrio Larena (in Negros Oriental).

President of the Constituent Assembly (22 July 1899 - 6 November 1899) was José Luzuriaga

Civil Governor (6 November 1899 - 30 April 1901) was Melecio Severino.

[dx]

March 31st, 2007, 07:39 AM

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/1070255.jpg

Interesting photo. Was the roof of Malate Church raised, redesigned or renovated in some way? In this photo it looks like there were two bell towers back in those times. :dunno:

Pinoy_ako

March 31st, 2007, 11:51 AM

^^
If you take out the conical roof of the belltowers, the present church has this outline. The windows of the belltowers, however, have been walled in and the original outline of the former pediment has been softened.

overtureph

March 31st, 2007, 07:27 PM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila-2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila10.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila11.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila12.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila14.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila16.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila17.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila4.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila8.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila6.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila9.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila3.jpg

overtureph

March 31st, 2007, 07:30 PM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/50a.jpg

Animo

March 31st, 2007, 10:54 PM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manila9.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/Bilibid.jpg

^^ So the circular structure in the middle of the prison/carcel is a theater/teatro?

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/IsabelII.jpg

Amazing collection of postings! Thanks! :)

Animo

March 31st, 2007, 10:57 PM

Mapas antiguos de Filipinas

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/vintage.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/mapa.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/IsoleFilippine.jpg

Pinoy_ako

April 1st, 2007, 01:51 AM

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/Bilibid.jpg
^^ So the circular structure in the middle of the prison/carcel is a theater/teatro?
Amazing collection of postings! Thanks! :)

The circular structure inside bilibid prison is a sort of watchtower. The Teatro is a different structure, located somewhere near the area.

Animo

April 1st, 2007, 02:07 AM

^^ Thank you for clarifying Sr. Pinoy_ako :)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/127/376032470_187e988669.jpg?v=0

Plaza Cervantes, 1894

Plaza Cervantes, across the Pasig River in Binondo, was a mixture of the Chinese and Spanish business houses that later became the first financial district of the Metropolis.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/376032469_8145f3461b.jpg?v=0

San Agustin Church and Intramuros Houses, 1900

The historic San Agustin Church in Intramuros is one of the Philippines' oldest house of worship. It still serves the faithful and is a silent sentinel of history in a fabled and restored Intramuros.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/376032453_cc192c6846.jpg?v=0

Detail of San Agustin Church and Intramuros Houses, 1900

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/138/376032464_f40eb7887c.jpg?v=0

Sunday in Quiapo, 1904

The developing Ilustrado class could not be confined to the walls of Intramuros, so the district of Quiapo developed as an area of stately "bahay na bato" (stone houses or casa de pierda y madera) for the buenas familias that formed the growing number of entreprenuers.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/376032459_b33caa7f90.jpg?v=0

San Sebastian Church and Tranvia, 1909

A desire for progress and a taste for imports found their satisfaction in the horse drawn tram cars and the steel structute of the San Sebastian Church, both imported from Europe.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/376032455_f10955d548.jpg?v=0

Puente Colgante at Casco de Rio Pasig, 1860

The Pasig River proved to be a commercial route linking the Port of Manila with the interior particularly the towns along the shores of Laguna de Bay.

Animo

April 1st, 2007, 02:12 AM

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/369498132_59e7c66867.jpg?v=0

The Cabildo, The Cathedral, Plaza Mayor and Palacio, 1852

Plaza Mayor, fronted by the Governor's Palace, the Manila Cathedral and the Cabildo was the center for social prominades in the 19th century, when Spanish manners pervaded in the Philippines.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/376018807_159ce434fc.jpg?v=0

Detail of The Cabildo, the Cathedral, Plaza Mayor and Palacio, 1852

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/376018803_bf993c6da6.jpg?v=0

Detail of Puente Colgante, Quiapo at Casco de Rio Pasig, 1860

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/160/376018804_aae00286b6.jpg?v=0

Detail of Plaza Cervantes, 1894

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/130/376018805_bfcf29a7fa.jpg?v=0

Detail of Sunday in Quiapo, 1904

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/127/376018806_9981eb0d5e.jpg?v=0

Original pen and ink drawing by Felipe V. Adriano, Jr. Collection of Chang Rong Antique Gallery, Silahis Center, 744 Calle Real del Palacio, Intramuros. Photos from flickr by diamond (http://flickr.com/photos/diamonds_in_the_soles_of_her_shoes/sets/72157594511458496/with/376032470/).

tigidig14

April 2nd, 2007, 01:38 AM

galing animo

Animo

April 3rd, 2007, 02:36 AM

Thanks! All posters in here appreciate all you guy's gratitude. :)

Animo

April 3rd, 2007, 02:37 AM

Francisco Baltazar was born on April 2, 1778, in Bigaa, Bulacan. He was one of the few "ladino" (native Filipinos who became learned in the Spanish language) who became famous in local society during the Spanish period.

The era when Baltazar lived was already dominated by European ideals and practices. Repressive colonial policies, like press censorship, inhibited the growth of native creativity and conditioned most local intellectuals to conform to colonial models. Thus, the moro, corido, and pasyon dominated Philippine literary works. Baltazar also wrote such literary types, e.g. Almanzor y Rosalina (1841), Bayaceto y Dorlisca (1857), Abdal y Miserena (1859), Orozman y Zafira (1860), and Clara Belmori (1875).

Unlike his contemporaries, however, Baltazar broke free from his restrictive mold. His Florante at Laura became the first Filipino literary piece. It blazed a new trail for native writers. His insertion of what many people were saying, e.g., "Sa loob at labas ng kaharian kong sawi, kaliluhan ang naghahari" (Evil reigns throughout my unfortunate land) exposed the oppressive conditions prevailing in the country and made his people aware of the social cancer that afflicted them. He also included native adages, e.g., "Ang laki sa layaw karaniwa’y hubad" (Spare the rod, spoil the child). Thus, his work became a tool against evil and a means to educate his people. Through Florante at Laura, he laid the foundations of new literary tradition in the Philippines, one that was not subservient to colonial models, that expressed the people’s own feelings and sentiments.

When Francisco Baltazar died on February 20, 1862, he had witnessed the flowering of a truly native literary tradition which succeeding generations of Filipino poets and writers named in his honor – the "Balagtasan."

Our observance of Francisco’s Baltazar’s birth anniversary reminds us of the vital role he played in the development of the Filipino nation. He was not only the "Prince of Tagalog Poets." He was also the first nationalist and reformer who used the pen to advance Philippine freedom. He paved the way for Marcelo H. del Pilar, Jose P. Rizal, and others in recovering Filipino liberty lost in 1571.

http://www.tempo.com.ph/news.php?aid=29847

bonixx

April 4th, 2007, 03:59 PM

Persistent attack or campaign of persuasion is eternally imprinted in the nation’s combatant army. The blockade and the assaulting of a bastion, or other stronghold, cherish the recount chronicles of any armed conflict. Time after the hostility is settled, the winner and the loser, rekindle its history to resurrect the justifiable cause and the sacrifice of their armies. In one instance, the Boxer Rebellion of 1901 virtually diminished the episode in Peking, trying to ouster all foreigners from China. It has accomplished legendary dimensions and typified patriotism, heroism, and bravery under difficult circumstances.

The assault of the Spanish Garrison in Baler was one of those conflicts, and even though, brutal, epical, heroic than the Boxer Rebellion, was rarely taken into account by the Spanish, the Filipinos, or the Americans who took part in it. Maybe that remissness was due to the fact that the war took place after the American military took possession of the Philippines from Spain in August 1898. Or perhaps neither the major contenders, Spanish and the Filipinos, would win their armed struggles against the United States.

No place in the history of the Spanish integrity, honor, and patriotism for a lost cause, distinctly manifests the event that took place in the east coast of Luzon.

Baler, located in a horseshoe shape valley enclosed by mountain ranges of the Sierra Madre to the west and the harborless shore of the Pacific Ocean to the east, is a desolate town. Access to this location is extremely difficult by both land and sea, at certain times of the year almost impossible by sea. Impeded by this condition, there occurred an event that indelibly marked the name “Baler”, in the history of the Spanish colonial dominance for it was in Baler church where it all began. It was on this church, where Filipino insurgents from 27 June 1898 to 2 June 1899, besieged the detachment of the Spanish army that lasted for 337 days.

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/5481/balerchurchmaper1.gif (http://imageshack.us)
At that time, the church was the most antiquated and valuable structure, and the universal hallmark of Spanish authority in Baler. It was an inelegant coral structure, scrawny and forlorn and overlooked. Nevertheless, this solitary shrine became the sanctuary of the ablest heroic of Spanish sovereignty in the Island of Luzon. It was within the protection of its walls that a detachment of Spanish soldiers took refuge. Although haggard, starving, neglected, but nonetheless undefeated, it was where this army withstood the siege under impossible circumstances for eleven months during the last days of the Spanish and early days of the American takeover in the Philippines.

Following the enactment and passage of the Pact of Biacnabato on 14 December 1897 and prior to leaving as a self-imposed exile in Hong Kong, Aguinaldo issued an order to his scattered scanty forces throughout the Philippines to surrender to the Spanish Sovereignty. In El Principe (Baler), Commandant Teodorico Luna Novicio, after receiving the order from Aguinaldo, surrendered his command to Major Don Juan Genova on 09 February 1898. Unexpectedly, however, peace prevailed only a little more than two months.

Following the surrender of Novicio, the Spanish authorities in Manila determined to withdraw Major Don Juan Genova’s battalion, and replace Captain Don Jesus Roldan Mazonaida’s company. The replacement force was limited to a detachment of fifty men under the newly appointed Politico-Military Governor; Captain of Infantry, Don Enrique de las Morenas y Fossi. Accompanying him were two of his subordinates; Lieutenant Don Alonso Zayas, a Puerto Rican national serving in the Spanish army, Lieutenant Don Saturnino Martin Cerezo, and a surgeon of the Medical Corps; Doctor Don Rogelio Vigil de Quiñones, who was accompanied by a corporal and an attendant of the Hospital Corps.

The relief detachment left Manila on February 7 via Laguna to Mauban. They underwent a delay in Mauban while awaiting the arrival of the transport ship Manila. They finally made it to Baler the evening of the 12th of February 1898. Aboard the same ship was Fray Candido Gomez Carreño, once a prisoner during the massacre of Don Mota’s detachment, who was going back to his parish in Baler. After the unloading and discharging all its cargo and passengers, the ship went underway for Manila with Genova’s battalion and Mazonaida’s company onboard.
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7792/balerchurch1897wu3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The Church of Baler in 1897
The outbreaks of war between the Spanish and the Americans brought about a new situation in the Philippines. On May 16, 1898, Aguinaldo boarded the revenue cutter USS McCulloch at Hong Kong, and landed at Cavite three days later. Motivated by the status quo and his sudden reappearance, heroism among Filipinos flared anew and outlying Spanish army posts throughout the island were under siege by hordes of fanatical Filipinos. Those troops, which could not get away, surrendered with the exception of the Spanish garrison in Baler.

Around mid-April, 1898, the situation was rapidly deteriorated. Backstairs rumors were circulated and traveled fast to Baler indicating that the drafting of new men for insurgency was taking place in Caranglan and Pantabangan. Don Cerezo, in secrecy wanted to verify whether the rumors were factual. He succeeded in this endeavor via an informant and recounted his discovery to Captain Las Morenas. Morenas immediately dispatched a letter, to the Commanding Officer of the post in Pantabangan, which warned him about the situation so that proper measures could be taken.

As the days dragged along the conditions changed in an alarming situation and finally the towns aforementioned capitulated and overrun by the insurgents. It became evident that communications between the Spanish detachment in Baler and the rest of Luzon were cut off.

On the morning of the 28th of June the Spanish authority noticed that the townspeople were disappearing, and at daybreak the following morning, the town was forlorn and totally deserted. The desertion of inhabitants is an indication that a portent of the unforeseen is likely to happen. Immediately, they took to the church for it was built of corals and stone plastered together by lime and honey. Inside, they were able to stock ammunitions and other provisions. In the churchyard, they dug a well that supplied them with water.

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/7539/delasmorenasbz0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On June 29, Captain Las Morenas sent out a patrol and encountered a strong unit of the Filipino insurgents. The patrol retreated back to the church were the barrage of insurgents gunfire broke the tranquility as small arms bullets and lantacas, locally made cannons, ricocheted against the thick wall of the garrison.

Early the morning of July 19th, the besieged received a letter signed by Captain Calixto Villacorta, Commanding Officer of the Filipino insurgents, which demanded the surrender of the garrison. He wrote:

I have just arrived, with the three columns of my
command; and, aware of the useless resistance you
are keeping up, I inform you that if you will lay
down your arms within twenty-four hours, I shall
respect your lives and property, treating you with
every consideration. Otherwise, I shall force you
to deliver them; I shall have no compassion on no
one; and shall hold the officers responsible for
every fatality that may occur.
Given at my headquarters, 19th of July 1898
Calixto Villacorta, Commander”
The next morning the defender answered with the following message:

“At midday today terminates the period fixed in
your threat. The officers cannot be held responsible
for the fatalities that occur. We are united in the
determination to do our duty, and you are to
understand that if you get possession of the church,
it will be only when there is left in it nothing but
dead bodies; death being preferable to dishonor”

Upon the rejection of the demand, the insurgents dug trenches surrounding the church and from there directed a series of fire from all directions at the defenders. It continued from days to weeks and then to months, and with its passing days situations in their sanctuary became unbearable. Extreme exhaustion, the insufficiency and bad condition of their foods, the staunch and ever-present apprehension, the unclean air and the other bad unhealthy conditions to which the Spanish were subjected to, produced the fatal epidemic against them to which they had no defense.

The disease such as beriberi and dysentery overcome them and later took its toll. One of its first fatalities was Fray Candido Gomez Carreño, the parish priest who succumbed to it on 25 September. While he lay dying, a truce was arranged. During this time a Baler resident, Pedro Aragon, better known in Baler as husband of Zenaida Molina, presented himself and requested for allowance to talk to the priest. He had explained to Captain Las Morenas that he had been a prisoner in Manila, for his involvement in the assault of Don Mota’s detachment. He also explained that he had been set free after the signing of the Pact of Biacnabato, and was instructed on important matters to see the priest of having the priest convince them to surrender. Las Morenas told him that Fray Carreño was dying and had no change of speaking with him. Pedro left despondently. A day later Captain Las Morenas had fallen gravely ill. His second in command, Lieutenant Juan Alonzo Zayas died of beriberi.
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/8599/dequinonesjt3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
As the attack progress, the Spanish force diminished. During this occurrence, the numbers of Filipinos grew, and a more modern cannon had been acquired, which complemented their lantacas that were carved out from palm tree trunks. Favorably for the Spanish, the Filipino artillerymen were untrained, most of their shots fired were near misses and with poor quality ammunition. Nonetheless, the horrible sound of an oncoming missile was deafening and nerve-racking.

Filipino casualties were mounted in the rain-filled dugouts. They became easy prey for the Spanish sharpshooter stationed in the church belfry. The Filipino problems were also aggravated by the unyielding and continuous refusal of Captain Las Morenas to come to terms. Although, on several occasions he had been informed about the downfall of Spain.
Around October, more men were stricken by beriberi. Captain Las Morenas was one of several who died and following his death Lieutenant Martin Cerezo had taken responsibility of the command.

In mid-November, in spite of the earlier lack of persuading the Spaniards to surrender by force, Villacorta once again attempted to convince the remaining force. Holding up a flag of truce, he informed Lieutenant Martin Cerezo that Manila had befallen to the Americans and that the Philippines were no longer the property of Spain. The lieutenant declined to believe. Villacorta then deposited miscellaneous newspapers from Manila, substantiating the loss of the Philippines to the Americans, at the church entrance. Despite the evidence that had been placed, Cerezo still did not believe.
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/5809/cerezosh6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On the night of 14 December, Don Cerezo determined on a courageous plan to replenish their waning food supply. Under barrage of rifle fire, he dispatched Private Jose Chamiso and Jose Alcaida Bayuna to rush out of their sanctuary of safety to nearby empty houses of the inhabitants and set it on fire. The fury of the flames that had rapidly spread throughout the town compelled the Filipinos to withdraw further from the Spanish garrison. Moreover, they left behind their foods consisted of tomatoes, oranges, gourds, and other fresh vegetables. The seized produce were a welcoming sight for the Spanish, it did not only replenish their food supply, but also aided in the plight to terminate the miserable affliction of beriberi.
Unknown to the Spanish cloistered within the church, Spain had already ceded the Philippines to the United States in exchange for $20 million under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Lieutenant Martin Cerezo and his force, ironically, were now defending a territory that legally belongs to the United States.

After 184 days, the Spanish detachment suffered 14 deaths; 13 succumbed to disease and one from wounds. An additional five had deserted the garrison. Out of the 38 of what were left, 15 were still agonizing from beriberi. In total, there were only 23 able troops left to fight.

On December 29, after a long and difficult journey through the mountains, Captain Miguel Olmedo, emissary to General Diego de los Rios, arrived in Baler to repatriate his country’s army. He approached the Filipino insurgents commander, with a flag of truce in hand, to explain he was sent from Manila by Spanish high command to deliver the treaty of peace between Spain and the United States to the commander of the Baler garrison. The Filipinos allowed him to pass through their line of defense and escorted him forty paces where he could talk to Lieutenant Martin Cerezo.
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/7726/uniformas3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Spanish Uniform During The Assault of the Garrison in Baler

Upon introduction with Captain Olmedo and after having learned that he was sent from General Rios with an official order, Lieutenant Cerezo asked one of his men to obtain the letter for him to see. Due to some clerical errors in the written order, Lieutenant Cerezo suspected a ruse and refused to believe Captain Olmedo. After failing to persuade Lieutenant Cerezo of his identity and honesty of the order, Captain Olmedo had no choice but to retrace his unbearable trek back to Manila with his mission unaccomplished. Around the end of February, Lieutenant Cerezo suspected that three of his heroic men, Corporal Vicente Gonzalez Toca, Private Jose Alcaida Bayona, and Antonio Manache Sanchez, were contemplating desertion. Upon an inquiry, they admittedly reveal their plan and were placed under arrest and jailed in an improvised cell.

Barrage of fire continued throughout the month of March. Filipino forces continued unwavering cannonade of the church. The garrison jolted, but in spite of the wreckage, the church stood still. Peeping out through the hole, the deadly Spanish shooters made an easy prey for the Filipino artillerymen to put them out of action.

A puzzling event had occurred to the defenders the afternoon of April 11. The garrison heard a cannon fire from the vicinity of the sea. The restricted view of the ocean from the church steeple revealed no ship. Nevertheless, that evening, a ray of searchlight crisscrossing the sky brought eventful joy to the detachment. Thinking that the war with the United States was over and that the Spanish government had dispatched a ship for them to be rescued, they rejoiced. In actuality, the war had ended eight months before, and the shot they had heard was fired by the U.S.S. Yorktown, a Navy gunboat commanded by Commodore William Sperry. The ship was dispatched to Baler to learn the fate of the Spanish detachment.
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/6058/survivorsyd5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Survivors of Spanish Detachment in Baler

2 Gregorio Catalan Valero 3 Vicente Predrouzo Fernandez
4 Loreto Gallego Garcia 5 Ramon Buades Tormo
6 Miguel Mendez Exposito 7 Jose Jimenez Berro
8 Felipe Castillo Castillo 9 Jose Pineda Tura
10 Jose Martinez Souto 11 Eufemio Sanchez Martinez
12 Ramon Ripolles Cardona 18 Manual Menor Ortega
13 Temoteo Lopez Larios 14 Pedro Planas Basagañas
15 Francisco Real Yuste 16 Luis Cervantes Dato
17 Juan Chamizo Lucas 1 Saturnino Martin Cerezo
19 Marcelo Adrian Obregon 20 Marcos Mateo Conesa
21 Antonio Bauza Fullana 22 Jose Hernandez Arocha
23 Eustaquio Gopar Hernande 32 Ramon Mir Brils
31 Pedro Vila Gargante 30 Domingo Castro Camarena
29 Bernardino Sanchez Cainzo s 28 Jesus Garica Quijano
27 Emilio Fabregat Fabregat 26 Jose Olivares Conejero
25 Miguel Perez Leal 24 Santos Gonzalez Roncal

The commodore summoned Lieutenant James C. Gillmore and Ensign William H. Standley and instructed them to map out where the church was located. At dawn, of 12 April 1899, a whaleboat was lowered from the starboard side of the ship with Lieutenant Gillmore, officer-in-charge of the operation, and 14 of the ship’s crews. They were to take Ensign Standley and Quartermaster J. Lysaught to the foot of Point Baja (Ermita) and walk their way up the summit to locate the church. After unloading their passengers, Lieutenant Gillmore, for unknown reason, pressed onward up Baler Kinalapan-Pingit River despite a warning from an onlooker. About a kilometer away they were befallen by misfortune. The Filipinos ambushed them. Gillmore with his crews were captured. They were held prisoners for eight months until miraculously turned lose in the middle of jungle by their captors, and subsequently rescued by the American forces under Lieutenant Colonel Luther R. Hare.

During the month of May several more determined attempt to force the garrison to surrender failed. During one such attempt, a shell landed inside the church and wrecked the jail holding the three would-be deserters. They were injured and tended medically. During breakfast, Private Alcaide Bayuna got away from his jailer and hastily run out in a hail of gun fire but made it to the enemy line. Being a trained artilleryman, the dispirited Bayuna was given the opportunity to man the cannon by the Filipinos and shelled the Spanish garrison. It had caused considerable damage. To the Spaniards, Bayna was a personified Judas.
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2451/balercs1.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The Balerian Insurgents

On May 28, General Rios dispatched another of his officers, Lieutenant Colonel Cristobal Aguilar y Castañeda to Baler. Under the flag of truce he had no difficulty in crossing the Filipino line of defense. From the church, Lieutenant Cerezo cried out to them that he would not accept a conference so long as only one man went forward with a flag. Castañeda, dressed in a Lieutenant Colonel of the General Staff, approached Lieutenant Cerezo as agreed. Due to the many tricks he thought to have been attempted against him, Lieutenant Cerezo believed Lieutenant Colonel Castañeda’s story would also be another hoax. Despite Castañeda’s endeavor to convince him of the legitimacy of his mission, which lasted for two days, he was forced to give up and return to Manila. During his departure, he tossed several bundles of Spanish newspapers; among them was the El Imparcial from Madrid.

At dawn of June 1, it was decided, by the fearless commander, that the detachment of Baler could hold no longer. He planned to cut his way through the enemy lines, to try and reach the nearest army post, unaware that not a single Spanish garrison existed in the island. Before leaving, he had realized the problem about the three deserters was to be resolved. He pondered for a while and then finally came upon the conclusion to execute them according to the Spanish Code of Military Justice. Their bodies were buried in the churchyard.

As he waited for an opportune time to escape, he decided to look at the bundle of newspapers hurled by Castañeda to the church entrance.

Upon reading, he learned from the columns of El Imparcial, Cuba, the
Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam had been liberated from Spain, and the flag waving on the church steeple of Baler, was the only flag flying throughout the island of Luzon.
http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/1271/baler1897lu5.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The Town of Baler in 1897

After having realized that Spain was no longer a belligerent nation, he promptly ended the deadlock and began negotiating with the Filipino commander. In his exchange for surrender, Lieutenant Cerezo drew up and requested the following agreement, which was received without changes or delineation:

“First. From this date hostilities on both sides are suspended.
“Second. The besieged lay down their arms, delivering them to the commander of the besieging force, together with the military equipments and other effects belonging to the Spanish Government.
“Third. The besieged force do not become prisoners of war, but shall be escorted by the Republican troops to a point where Spanish troops may be found, or to a place from which they may safely join the latter.
“Fourth. Private property is to be respected, and no injury to be done to individuals.
“And, for the purpose of carrying it into effect, this agreement is executed in duplicate, being signed by the following gentlemen: Lieutenant Colonel Simon Tecson, commanding the besieging force; Major Nemesio Bartolome; Captain Franciso T. Ponce, Second Lieutenant, commanding the besieged force, Saturnino Martin; Doctor Rogelio Vigil”

http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/7982/revolutionag1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)And Finally It Was Over. The Siege of Baler, which lasted 337 days, finally ended the Iberian sovereignty over of the Philippines after more than 300 year; was frayed, tattered, torn, and deteriorated. However, what was left of the remaining 33 Spanish survivors was a nation they still honored and loved, “España!”

On July 20, they were repatriated to Spain, reaching Barcelona on September 1, 1899. There, they received their due honors with the exception Lieutenant Don Alonso Zayas, a Puerto Rican national. Captain Enrique de las Morenas y Fossi was posthumously promoted to major and awarded Spain highest military medal, the Laureate Cross of San Fernando.

Lieutenant Don Saturnino Martin Cerezo continued his service with the Spanish Army and became a general. He died in 1948.

From:Olagstories

Animo

April 17th, 2007, 06:14 PM

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/culionlepercolony.png

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/asanitarium1.jpg

In the early 1900’s with the Americans in power, there was a fairly high incidence of leprosy in the Philippines and it was decided that all lepers would be segregated and sent of to isolation in one of several locations across the country. One leper “colony,” a term which sounds really horrible, but was a fact of life then, was in what is now Naga, Cebu, another was in Manila and a third was established and located on the “Island of No Return,” or Culion Island in Northern Palawan in 1906. Not too much was understood about leprosy at the time but fear of contagion meant that they separated all those already afflicted. At its peak, the Culion “facility” was home to over 5,000 lepers. Today, there are less than 200 leprosy patients left in the hospital but the town’s population has grown to over 20,000. Families often moved to Culion to be close to one patient (e.g. a spouse and children would move to the island to care for the sick spouse) and eventually a town formed though it was only recognized as a distinct municipality just a dozen or so years ago.

Visit here for current photos:

http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/culion-sanitarium-the-island-and-hospital-of-no-return

It seemed appropriate to write about the church on Culion Island today, Easter Sunday. As I mentioned in the previous post, the island was established as a place to isolate those afflicted with leprosy. On this island, hope and faith must have always been on the minds of the patients and their relatives who had come to be near them. It would be fitting that such a wonderful church would be built on a stunning promontory jutting out into the sea. Referred to as the Immaculate Concepcion Church in some internet searches, I didn’t confirm the name when I was in Culion and my notes draw a blank. Built of stones from the area, the large church is really rather impressive considering its remote location, the small population of the town and the fact that not many outsiders would likely see this church when it was first built, perhaps 70+ years ago. I have very little knowledge of architecture, but all I can say is that it was imposing, proud, comforting. The cavernous interiors were cool, calming and one’s eyes are drawn to an impressive ceiling that is painted nicely and well-maintained. There are stained glass windows, traditional confessionals and well-worn wooden pews.

Read and see more: http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/culion-church

terrapinoy

April 24th, 2007, 08:08 PM

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e289/sikatuna/culion1.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e289/sikatuna/culion2.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e289/sikatuna/culion3.jpg

Animo

April 27th, 2007, 08:10 PM

^^ Thanks for those terrapin. I hope you'll contribute more. :)

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/Manila.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/ManilaHarbor.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/restardo/Retrato/America/MarinaHarbor.jpg

Animo

May 2nd, 2007, 10:49 AM

http://www.pslweb.org/images/content/pagebuilder/19370.gif
Gabriela Silang
Portrait: Carlito Rovira
Original painted with acrylic colors on 2 x 3 foot canvas

Friday, April 27, 2007
By: Lacei Amodei

Revolutionary women series

This article is part of PSL's revolutionary women series based on portraits inspired by Carlito Rovira. Click here to read about the series and additional profiles.

Filipino women have a long struggle against oppression, foreign control and male domination. They fought for better jobs and the rights to vote and go to school. One of them led a regional revolt against Spanish colonizers. She was Gabriela Silang.

—From the website of the organization GABRIELA

María Josefa Gabriela Cariño Silang, born March 19, 1731, and known as Gabriela Silang, is remembered as a fearless warrior and a great leader of the people of the Philippines. She was a military general in the resistance to Spanish colonialism and led the longest sustained revolt against the colonizers.

Her brave legacy has persevered long past her death. The memory of Gabriela’s actions has continued to guide women and men in the struggle against imperialism.

Gabriela was the daughter of an Ilokano peasant living under Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines. For hundreds of years, Spain dominated the Philippines through forced labor, excessive tax collection and payment of tributes.

Imperial Spain’s three centuries of colonialism were not accepted passively by the Filipino people. At least 300 significant armed revolts against cruel Spanish repression were launched by the indigenous peoples of the Philippines.

Gabriela first married a wealthy man when she was 20 years old. After three years, she left the marriage and later remarried a 27-year-old indigenous Ilocano resistance leader named Diego Silang. Gabriela was not only Silang’s partner; she was his equal and closest advisor.

During the Seven Years’ War—a war between Spain, Britain, France and other colonial powers of the day—Diego Silang was imprisoned by the Spanish. Spain was allied with France and others against Britain during the war. Britain was attempting to diminish the Spanish empire. It invaded the Philippines.

Diego Silang was imprisoned after he suggested to the Spanish authorities that they abolish the tribute, colonialist tax, and replace Spanish functionaries with native people. He volunteered to head Ilocano forces against the British. The newly appointed Catholic Bishop of Nueva Segovia rejected his call.

Diego Silang’s imprisonment stirred an Ilocano revolt. After his release, he roused his people to action once again. His effort was cut short when he was assassinated by a traitor paid by the Catholic church.

Following his death, Gabriela took on full leadership of the resistance. She moved into the Abra mountains to establish a new base, reassemble her troops and recruit from the local Tingguian community to fight the Spanish. Gabriela led the resistance group for over four months before being captured. She and around 100 resistance fighters were executed by the colonizers on Sept. 20, 1763.

Liberation struggle continues

The people of the Philippines eventually defeated Spanish colonialism in 1898, only to begin a new anti-colonial struggle against the United States. Despite harsh, racist repression and vicious massacres, the U.S. imperialists faced the same problems as the Spanish had. They too were unable to subdue the Filipino people.

The courageous fighting spirit and leadership of people like Gabriela still marks the anti-colonial, anti-imperialist struggle being waged in the Philippines.

The ongoing class struggle in the Philippines bears not only Gabriela’s mark, but also her name. Her deeds inspired the creation of the country’s leading grassroots women’s alliance, named GABRIELA in her memory. GABRIELA, formed in 1984, is the General Assembly Binding Women for Reforms, Integrity, Equality, Leadership and Action. Its sister organization in the United States is the GABRIELA Network USA.

GABRIELA is a powerful force in the fight against U.S imperialism and for democratic rights in the Philippines.

Its principles are stated clearly on GABRIELA’s website: "We believe that the freedom women seek will be brought about by the resolution of the problems of foreign domination, landlessness and political repression, and in the changing of patriarchal value systems and structures in Philippine society."

http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr007=o428c5osc1.app1b&page=NewsArticle&id=6699&news_iv_ctrl=1261

[dx]

May 4th, 2007, 10:29 AM

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/216/482488638_4aa496a99a_o.jpg
Hotel de Oriente, Binondo

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/482488640_a857627223_b.jpg
Hotel de Oriente, Binondo

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/172/425436738_bbea241435_b.jpg
Ermita, Manila

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/425436853_93721a43f3_o.jpg
Ermita, Manila - Calle Real

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/425487931_7dad53cbc4_b.jpg
Sampaloc, Manila - Calle Bustillos

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/407965978_4b8705407e_o.jpg
Iglesia de San Juan del Monte, 1909

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/397524879_8ba77a5061_o.jpg
Proposed Mapua Institute of Technology Building, 1940

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/174/397511967_05f3121de9_o.jpg
Maritima Building, 1939

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/162/394984362_6da3d69dfd_o.jpg
Plaza Calderon de la Barca

Photos and scans from pio-v (http://www.flickr.com/people/71004135@N00/)

TheAvenger

May 4th, 2007, 01:44 PM

Unsure of the below photos were already posted but I will just post it here
since it was shared to me by an alumni friend.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/jibrael_2008/rosariopareds1920.jpg

Binondo 1920 - Rosario Street.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/jibrael_2008/rizalave1930.jpg

Rizal Avenue 1930

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/jibrael_2008/escolta1899.jpg

Escolta 1899

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/jibrael_2008/escolta1920.jpg

Escolta 1920

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/jibrael_2008/escolta1930.jpg

Escolta 1930

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/jibrael_2008/cariedo1900.jpg

Carriedo 1900

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t218/jibrael_2008/carriedo1950.jpg

.

Wonderboy

May 8th, 2007, 10:43 PM

^ Yup, those have been posted before but it's nice to see previous postings from time to time. They bring back the good old days and makes everyone who loves Philippine history, heritage, and architecture feel nostalgic.

Found a rare photo atop Puente Colgante (replaced by Quezon/Quiapo bridge). I'm acrophobic so I'm imagining how it feels like to walk on a suspension bridge:

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3539.jpg

Hawayano

May 9th, 2007, 11:36 AM

^^ Wonderboy, what I like the best about this pic you posted of Puente Colgante is the rare shot of the Insular Ice Plant building under construction in the right background: looks like its famed smokestack was erected first, and the rest of the structure followed. I also like the ladies naka-baro't saya walking in the median strip...very Amorsolo-esque, no?

Wonderboy

May 9th, 2007, 03:29 PM

^^ [Sigh] The Insular Ice Plant... It was demolished to give way to the construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT Line 1) during the late 1970s. I wonder if the Manileños at that time protested? Was also wondering if there were heritage conservation groups at that time? Or why did the historical comission did not do anything? I believe it was one of the first American colonial structure built in Manila. I guess since there's martial law, they can't even voice out their opinion regarding the issue. Anyway, here's another photo:

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3538.jpg

Here's an interesting trivia on Insular Ice Plant:

What Big Ben is to London, the Insular Ice Plant is to Manila. The ice plant's whistle sounded three times a day- at seven in the morning, at noon, and at four in the afternoon-and the minute-long blast that could be heard all over the city regulated our lives: sending us rushing to school or office at seven in the morning, and rushing to lunch at noontime, and rushing back home at four in the afternoon. Wherefore our saying: Mabilis pa sa a las cuatro! Whenever you passed the ice plant (on Arroceros Street, between Sta. Cruz Bridge and the Colgante) you always took a good look at that red-brick monster that had made you so time-conscious.  Excerpt from Nick Joaquin's "Almanac for Manileños"

Sinjin P.

May 9th, 2007, 03:36 PM

^ Wow, some interesting trivia you got there Wonderboy. Sayang naman, dinemolish siya. :cry:

Lili

May 9th, 2007, 03:44 PM

^^ Oh so that was where the expression "mabilis pa sa alas cuatro" came from.

Protest during the late 70s for the demolition of the Insular Ice Plant? I doubt that was possible under the martial law regime of Marcos then. He had both executive and legislative powers and held the appointive members of the Judiciary. What he says then, goes. I believe Imelda Marcos was the Manila governor then and decided on the route of the LRT and what structures will be destroyed to give way to this. I want to find out if eminent domain proceedings was even instituted. Even if there was, there was disregard of the historic value of the building. Well, there is always that friction between historic and cultural preservation and development projects. I wish they had taken into consideration how these are to co-exist. But perhaps, that plant was already defunct by then. At least, they should have retained the tower as an industrial heritage structure.

Wonderboy

May 9th, 2007, 04:03 PM

^^ Sa sobrang inis ko nga, I included the issue in my short story, "Somersaults." Wala lang, para magparinig.

“Our business is in danger,” Alice says.
Not that I don’t care for our store. I am aware that the government has already approved the 1982 memorandum stating that the train would cut straight to Avenida Rizal. As if we could still do something about it. We can’t fight the man who declared martial law.
“The Insular Ice Plant in Lawton is being torn down. Do you know what that means?” Alice asks again.
Yes, I know that. Being a licensed architect, I am aware that the Insular Ice Plant is a good American colonial structure and should not be torn town. She’s mentioned that several times already. She even tells me that we should rally in front of city hall to stop the demolition. The ice plant was not spared, how much more our lowly business at the intersection of Avenida Rizal and Plaza Goiti?
“There won’t be a direct hit, Alice,” I reply. “The train will be in the middle of the street.”
“That’s the point!” she says. “Don’t you know the consequence of putting up a railway in the middle of a busy intersection? Our business will die.”
“We have loyal customers,” I reply.
“We have five loyal customers, Cedric,” Alice says.

Lili

May 9th, 2007, 04:21 PM

^^ ha! Your short stories even reflect your advocacy. :colgate:

Pinoy_ako

May 10th, 2007, 02:00 PM

ivanhenares

May 10th, 2007, 09:34 PM

Protest during the late 70s for the demolition of the Insular Ice Plant? I doubt that was possible under the martial law regime of Marcos then. He had both executive and legislative powers and held the appointive members of the Judiciary.

If I'm not mistaken, the LRT1 was built in the early 80s after martial law. I still remember we tried out the LRT during a grade 2 field trip in 1987 when the line was still relatively new. It was opened in 1984 to be exact.

Wonderboy

May 10th, 2007, 09:48 PM

Lili

May 10th, 2007, 10:57 PM

^ Baka naman hindi pa mataas ang heritage consciousness na maraming tao noon. Plus, ang tingin nila sa Insular Ice Plant, old factory lang na dapat ng gibain.

MNL

May 12th, 2007, 04:11 PM

yeah.. i agree.. parang sa kanila noon lumang factory na wala ng silbi.. pero still diba? 1970's pa naman yun.. sayang!

Wonderboy

May 12th, 2007, 06:34 PM

^^ Gusto ko rin idagdag...actually hindi lang naman for sentimental value ang dahilan kung bakit para akong sirang plaka na sinasabing kailangan natin pahalagahan ang ating mga heritage structures. Part 'yan ng history natin. Kapag nawala 'yan, wala nang nakaraan ang mga future generation na Pinoy. Lalo nilang hindi maiintidihan ang sarili nila, kung saan sila nanggaling, at saan sila patutungo. Kung magkakaroon tayo ng bagong breed ng mga kabataan na walang pakialam sa nakaraan nila at puro malling, clubbing, at lovelife lang ang inaatupag, wala talagang pagasa ang bansa. Kaya kailangan na isalba ang mga natitirang heritage structures para rin sa kapakanan nila at hindi lang for aesthetics purposes.

Hawayano

May 12th, 2007, 08:43 PM

Luneta, Walled City and Bayfront around 1930s
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/1933Lunetaaerial.jpg

Flying over the ornate Jones Bridge with orderly lineup of Binondo-bound calesas, ca. 1930s
Clear view of the remains of the foundation piers of old Puente de España off to the right.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/1927Jones.jpg

From a US military man's photo album, late 1930s
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/6656_12.jpg

Talim Peninsula and Laguna de Bay where it feeds into the Pasig, 1920s
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/1925TalimLaguna.jpg

Fort McKinley, San Pedro Makati...hard to believe this is now Bonifacio Global City
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/1925NicholsFIeld.jpg

MNL

May 12th, 2007, 08:50 PM

@Wonderboy:My Gosh!:D so deep ha.:D yup, i agree with you.:D BRAVO!
@Hawayano: Great pictures!:D where do you get this stuff?:D

Animo

May 25th, 2007, 02:16 AM

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/204/512746711_c22c5e2e37_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/208/512746739_6713123e6d_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/197/512746743_aee83d0424_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/512709972_1c01267044_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/512709976_b6f971be2c_o.jpg

^^ Inside Intramuros de Manila.

paulkrps

May 25th, 2007, 02:46 AM

^^ wow, i remember reading in one of those coffeetable books on the artwork above. it was a vogue during the spanish times wherein family names where illustrated with the everyday life of manila.

Pinoy_ako

May 25th, 2007, 06:40 AM

^^

Animo,

Your postings never cease to amaze me! I haven't seen that letras y figuras yet. Is that San Juan de Dios before the 1863 earthquake?

le Reine

May 25th, 2007, 09:28 AM

Ang ganda! Nakakaasar kung bakit pa kasi nawala lahat ng iyan!? Haay... Nanghihinayang ako. Hindi ba puwedeng itayo na lang sila ulit?

At tsaka saan pala yung pic na may caption na: "vista del rio Manila?"

totopurz

May 27th, 2007, 11:36 AM

I made research and found out that martial law was lifted on January 17, 1981 and the construction of the LRT Line 1 started in October 1981. Okay, so my previous posting should be early 1980s, and not late 1970s.

Lifted na pala yung martial law nung itinatayo yung LRT. May nagprotesta kaya sa paggiba ng Insular Ice Plant? Or mga taong nagcriticize sa long term effect ng paglagay ng LRt sa inner city ng Manila? Takot pa siguro ang ilan na magsalita dahil katatapos pa lang ng Martial Law. Gustuhin ko man magprotesta kaso hindi pwede dahil one year old pa lang ako nung 1981!

Marcos lifted martial law a few days before the visit of Pope John Paul II. I remembered this because it was my first taste of a protest rally. First year ako that time sa Mapua in Intramuros and was just walking distance from the pre-war YMCA Manila Students Dormitory at the corner of Concepcion-Arroceros Sts beside the Manila City Hall.

Naglipana and 'Secret Marshalls' that time and one could end up floating in the Pasig River but we were angry because Marcos was fooling even the Pope with the 'fake' lifting of Martial Law. There were around 300 protesters at the Liwasang Bonifacio surrounded by almost the same number or more policemen.

There were signs of defiance already against Marcos but more on political anti-fascist issues. Wala pang masyadong heritage appreciation that time.

The ice plant must have been demolished 1983 or 84, ginawa pang parking stations ng bus ang area (i think JAM transit and other lines plying Laguna).

Sayang din ang YMCA, ginawa ng mall, here we protested when they were tearing down the students dormitory but it was too late already. They demolished first the hostels for transients (Abad Santos and Camus buildings) and we did not moved thinking they would spare the dormitory.

Lili

May 28th, 2007, 12:04 AM

^ Ang galing talaga ni Pope John Paul II. I believe that his arrival there was a catalyst for change. Also, when he visited Cuba, Fidel Castro allowed the performance of the mass again considering that Cuba was a communist state.

Thanks for that personal account of yours @totopurz. So, YMCA is now a mall? Sayang naman. That is a historical building.

kyle@1008

May 28th, 2007, 10:43 AM

^^ don't forget about the dropping of the iron curtain and the berlin wall, the fall of the soviet union and such,.... I really admire that man, how I wish I could have had met him...

Wonderboy

May 28th, 2007, 05:01 PM

Marcos lifted martial law a few days before the visit of Pope John Paul II. I remembered this because it was my first taste of a protest rally. First year ako that time sa Mapua in Intramuros and was just walking distance from the pre-war YMCA Manila Students Dormitory at the corner of Concepcion-Arroceros Sts beside the Manila City Hall.

Naglipana and 'Secret Marshalls' that time and one could end up floating in the Pasig River but we were angry because Marcos was fooling even the Pope with the 'fake' lifting of Martial Law. There were around 300 protesters at the Liwasang Bonifacio surrounded by almost the same number or more policemen.

There were signs of defiance already against Marcos but more on political anti-fascist issues. Wala pang masyadong heritage appreciation that time.

The ice plant must have been demolished 1983 or 84, ginawa pang parking stations ng bus ang area (i think JAM transit and other lines plying Laguna).

Sayang din ang YMCA, ginawa ng mall, here we protested when they were tearing down the students dormitory but it was too late already. They demolished first the hostels for transients (Abad Santos and Camus buildings) and we did not moved thinking they would spare the dormitory.

Thank you sir for your informative posting. They really should have spared YMCA. But I believe that long before SM built their shoe box mall at the back of Manila City Hall, YMCA has been long demolished.

I remember watching Isko Moreno on TV when he was still a Manila councilor. He was questioning Henry Sy for building a mall behind the city hall because it's not adhering to the height requirements, it's near the schools, etc. Nobody listened to him. But now, since he's the elect vice mayor already, I hope he will be more vigilant in fighting for what is right and just for Manila.

Well I just hope that Isko will protect Manila's heritage. Likewise Mayor Lim. I'm glad that the man and his son wearing their "signature" Hawaiian shirts are gone.

Animo

May 29th, 2007, 08:35 PM

^^ wow, i remember reading in one of those coffeetable books on the artwork above. it was a vogue during the spanish times wherein family names where illustrated with the everyday life of manila.
It was more of a tourist guide or brochure and it became in vogue.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/225/520138401_9227456cf8_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/239/520138415_691290f771_o.jpg

^^

Animo,

Your postings never cease to amaze me! I haven't seen that letras y figuras yet. Is that San Juan de Dios before the 1863 earthquake?

Thanks! Yes, it was before the 1863 earthquake. :)

Another letras y figuras for everyone.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/235/520141699_94b1dfaaf0_o.jpg

Ang ganda! Nakakaasar kung bakit pa kasi nawala lahat ng iyan!? Haay... Nanghihinayang ako. Hindi ba puwedeng itayo na lang sila ulit?

At tsaka saan pala yung pic na may caption na: "vista del rio Manila?"

Wala nang espacio at pera para sa mga ganyan ngayon. Mabuti sana kung puede itayo sa ibang lugar sa Filipinas.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/217/520141701_a02f27d3fa_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/512709972_1c01267044_o.jpg

View of the Pasig River and the stone-built "Puente Grande", before the 1863 earthquake. Fernando Brambila. Collection of drawings and engravings made on the Malaspina Expedition. 1789-1794. MN

- Built in the first half of the 17th century, and until the suspension bridge was opened, the "Puente Grande" was the only bridge crossing the Pasig River. In 1814, the wooden roadway was replaced with masonry arches.

Animo

May 29th, 2007, 08:37 PM

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/520121020_fa17cbdb09_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/197/520120992_96036ec024_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/238/520121010_8401d4be87_o.jpg

dancethingy

June 3rd, 2007, 01:53 AM

WOW, just wow to this thread. Thank you so much for such an amazing collection of pictures. you guys are awesome.

Animo

June 4th, 2007, 07:55 PM

^^ Thanks! Love to share more but too lazy for now. :D

Manila Bulletin, Tuesday, 5 June 2007

Landscape
Gemma Cruz Araneta
Looking for EDSA

Did you know that Epifanio de los Santos (EDSA)
wrote a treatise on electoral fraud? Although he
authored a Philippine history book, “FRAUDES
ELECTORALES y SUS REMEDIOS”(Electoral Fraud and its
remedies) was certainly more controversial. It was
probably published soon after the 1907 elections for
the Philippine Assembly. Was he a victim of vote
shaving

His generation lived through turbulent
times—the anti-colonial Revolution against Spain, the
First Republic, and our anti-imperialist war against
the United States. Evidently, those political
vicissitudes intensified his obsession for unearthing
and piecing together the fragmented and forbidden
history of our country, As far as he was concerned,
the Filipino nation was in construction, a noble work
in progress where he willingly poured his material
and intellectual resources. Like many of his peers,
EDSA was consciously in search of a national
identity. As a political figure, he had no personal
agenda because he was formulating a “proyecto de
nacion”. That, I believe, is sorely lacking in
today’s politicians.

Epifanio de los Santos (1871 – 1928) went to the
Ateneo Municipal, took law at the University of
Santo Tomas and graduated in 1898, just in time for
the Revolution. With Jose Clemente Zulueta he
published the newspaper “Libertad”, and soon after was
associate editor of “La Independencia” the first
revolutionary periodical. Later, he contributed
articles to “El Renacimiento”, “La Democracia”,
During American rule, he published a series of
monographs about the Philippines and to this day,
his biographies of Andres Bonifacio, Marcel H. del
Pilar and Emilio Jacinto, as well as his book
AGUINALDO Y SU TIEMPO are considered valuable primary
sources.

An accomplished lawyer, he was appointed
District Attorney (1900,) for San Isidro, Nueva Ecija,
and after two years became Governor of the
province. In 1904, EDSA joined the Philippine
Honorary Commission for the Saint Louis Exposition and
was so appalled at the way Filipinos were presented
that from the United States, he went directly to
Europe to resume the unceasing quest for rare books,
documents and objects, anything that would shed light
on the dark chapters of Philippine history and
rectify its savage distortions.In 1925,Gov. L. Wood
appointed him director of the Public Library and there
were many inspiring stories of how he personally
helped students in their research work.

There are a number of public schools that bear
his name, and so does the longest thoroughfare in
Metro Manila. However, many have forgotten that EDSA
was a person—an illustrious Filipino politician who
used history as a tool for nation building.

(gemma601@yahoo.com)

Animo

June 4th, 2007, 08:09 PM

La Naval de Manila's photos with the original photos from the Intramuros procession.

Link: http://flickr.com/photos/lanavaldemanila/with/524337334/

By Augusto Villalon
Inquirer
Last updated 02:31am (Mla time) 06/04/2007

MANILA, Philippines - It literally took Silvana Ancellotti Diaz years of determined search to piece together the life story and artistic legacy of her compatriot, Italian sculptor Francesco Riccardo Monti, who left his native Cremona and a multi-awarded career in 1929, journeyed through San Remo, Nice, and New York City, before ending his wandering a year later in Manila, where he permanently stayed until his death in 1958.

Together with Ma. Victoria Herrera, a History of Art professor at the University of the Philippines, Diaz embarked on intensive research on Monti’s work, tracking down extant examples of his sculptures or verifying others attributed to him, often relying on oral accounts from relatives of artists and assistants who worked directly with him.

Diaz and Herrera extensively documented information and carefully studied archival material to arrive at conclusive proof of authorship, a primary concern for any art historical study, especially for a pioneering study on a relatively unknown Italian sculptor whose major body of work was in the Philippines.

The significant outcome of their task was publicly presented in a series of exhibitions held at the University of Santo Tomas and University of the Philippines in Iloilo City, and at the recently concluded Metropolitan Museum exhibition.

To accompany the exhibition series, Herrera authored an authoritative monograph on Francesco Riccardo Monti, from where most of the information below is derived.

Monti made the Philippines his home in 1930, arriving during the halcyon days of the American colonial period when major building and infrastructure projects were at their peak. For the next 30 years, he joined forces with local architects and sculptors on major projects, either commissioned by the government or by private individuals.

His major architectural collaborations were with Juan Arellano for, among other projects, the Metropolitan Theater in Manila and the Iloilo City Municipal Hall, now the UP-Iloilo City campus.

He also worked with the architect Pablo Antonio, now National Artist, for the Administration Building of Far Eastern University and other Antonio structures.

Monti also collaborated with architect José Zaragoza, producing a collection of sculptures for the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City and other religious projects.

His most prolific collaboration, however, was with Conrado de León, founder of the House of Precast, a company that still exists in Manila. Its atelier cast and produced most of Monti’s works in concrete, and is where a significant collection of his works is archived.

From adobe to concrete

Spanish colonial architecture in the Philippines is characterized by the use of Philippine adobe (volcanic tuff), lime and wood. Reinforced concrete, a technology developed in the late 19th century, was the construction material of the American colonial regime.

Reinforced concrete, a versatile material that lends itself to casting and molding, was not only used for construction but also for ornamentation since decorative elements could easily be cast from concrete. Classical column capitals and bases, statuary and sculptures usually placed on the pediment (triangular area above the façade colonnade), and moldings no longer had to be individually hand-carved.

It was only a matter of time before sculptors discovered that their works could be cast in concrete, and Monti adjusted to the new medium. Most of Monti’s grand and monumental sculptures were cast in concrete.

Unknown to many Filipinos, sculptures by Monti are part of important landmarks and structures that are taken for granted in Metro Manila and other Philippine cities. Like many public architectural sculptures from the pre-World War II years, little is known about the sculptures or the identities of their makers despite the distinct character these figures contribute to the special character of a place or building.

Monti worked in an era when sculpture was integrated into architectural design, more often than not to introduce a monumental quality to façades, or even to provide delicate texture to an interior wall.

Today, we still see Monti statues in front of public buildings or plazas. His relief work decorates many exterior and interior walls in unappreciated heritage buildings.

Some of his most dramatic works that remain in practically their original state are the collection atop the Main Building of UST, where he taught sculpture in that Pontifical University’s School of Fine Arts for several years.

Monti’s collaboration with Arellano established his practice and earned his reputation in this country. As supervising architect to the Bureau of Public Works, Arellano provided Monti opportunities to work in major and important government projects.

Integral to architecture

Monti’s work went beyond simply embellishing government buildings in Manila, provincial capitols, city and municipal halls. His sculptures on either the façades or interior walls were a fundamental part of the architectural character of the structures.

Most significant is Monti’s contribution to the Metropolitan Theater in Manila, where his sculpture appears in the façade. His freestanding sculptures and friezes are also integral to the interior architecture.

After World War II, the growing art market in Manila was more open to incorporating sculpture in the planning of interior and exterior spaces. His client base expanded to include schools, churches and private commissions.

Showing a keen interest in Philippine culture and history, Monti incorporated related motifs and elements in his design concepts, whether historical or allegorical, best exemplified in the four wooden relief panels installed in the main lobby of the FEU Administration Building.

His style continued to reflect his strong classical grounding. However, in keeping with the times and more “modern” architecture, modernist qualities made their appearance in his work.

His work, although rooted in classicism, was sensitively attuned to the times as seen in the simplified, stylized Art Deco lines that influenced his sculpture as executed in the Metropolitan Theater, Tayabas (now Quezon) provincial capitol, UP Iloilo and FEU.

Some of Monti’s public sculptures still stand today. An outstanding pair of figures, of a woman and a carabao, is found in Bacolod City and at the Bureau of Animal Industry in Quezon City.

Much of his public work has either been defaced or simply carted away.

The documentation work by Silvana Diaz and Ma. Victoria Herrera has brought out an unknown Philippine treasure our countrymen should take more notice of.

Feedback is welcome at pride.place@gmail.com
http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=69328

tigidig14

June 4th, 2007, 08:22 PM

animo meron rin bang pics nung mga us navy'ng pnoy sa cali
TFC documentary said that therewas about 6000 US seaman pnois and that was even before WW1

Hawayano

June 5th, 2007, 07:15 AM

Animo

June 5th, 2007, 10:50 PM

Ewan ko hindi ako mahilig masyado sa Military history. Sa tingin ko mahirap mag-hanap ng mga ganon kasi hindi sila masyado parte sa kasaysayan ng bansa. Marami na rin Filipino noon pa sa California.

animo meron rin bang pics nung mga us navy'ng pnoy sa cali
TFC documentary said that therewas about 6000 US seaman pnois and that was even before WW1

Mahalo nui! :cheers:

^^ ^^
Mi querido Don Animo: que bravissimo! A superb photo documentation on La Naval de Manila in that link, and a very informative article from Mr. Villalon as well. Such information is vital to the cultural integrity of historic Manila! Much thanks for sourcing these out for SSC! :) :) :)

Animo

June 5th, 2007, 11:32 PM

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1342/532187519_fe216f7a53_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1312/532187525_2aead72679_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1161/532187533_1c5bea22e3_o.jpg

Pinoy_ako

June 6th, 2007, 06:21 AM

^^ ^^
Mi querido Don Animo: que bravissimo! A superb photo documentation on La Naval de Manila in that link, and a very informative article from Mr. Villalon as well. Such information is vital to the cultural integrity of historic Manila! Much thanks for sourcing these out for SSC! :) :) :)

The La Naval Festivities this coming October will be one of the grandest. It will commemorate the centennial of the first canonical coronation in Asia. Those pictures will be part of the coffeetable book.

Although it will be great for people to see the pictures, the site preempted what would be seen in the book. I noticed that the pictures were taken from a copy that was a bit deteriorated.

This shows us what is still in store for us. The Dominicans were able to save a lot of things from Intramuros, including some of the finest extant pieces from the Spanish period. Looking forward to that book!!!

Hawayano

June 6th, 2007, 07:05 AM

The La Naval Festivities this coming October will be one of the grandest. It will commemorate the centennial of the first canonical coronation in Asia. Those pictures will be part of the coffeetable book.

Although it will be great for people to see the pictures, the site preempted what would be seen in the book. I noticed that the pictures were taken from a copy that was a bit deteriorated.

This shows us what is still in store for us. The Dominicans were able to save a lot of things from Intramuros, including some of the finest extant pieces from the Spanish period. Looking forward to that book!!!

^^ Yes, this is indeed exciting news. I didn't realize that the Dominicanos had managed to salvage a considerable number of precious artifacts from the preliminary Intramuros destruction in 1941. I wonder what the Santo Domingo vault must've been like in order to store the santos that appear in the copied photos on that weblink...fireproof? Thankfully, the Order had the foresight to protect these spectacular icons from the onslaught of war. Please let me know if you hear any leads about how to obtain a copy of that book you mentioned, Pinoy_ako. Aloha!

Pinoy_ako

June 7th, 2007, 05:58 AM

Senor Hawayano,

I am also wondering what other things were inside the vault. I know that the entire archives of the Dominicans were placed there ( The archives were sent to Avila, Spain in the 1970s when the Philippine Province was founded ). Based on the santos that I have seen, only those that were at the altar at the time of the bombing were lost, including those that were in the Sacristy. These were also significant since there were nine altars in Santo Domingo at that time. Most of the Holy Week Processional images were lost, except for two. Luckily, the UST Museum of Art and Sciences was founded in the 1940s(?). Some big canvasses that line the cloister of the Convent ( similar to the ones in San Agustin ) were moved to UST ( these were exhibited during 1987 in commemoration of the canonization rites of the martyrs ). At least three gold-thread vestments were also saved ( these were golden vestments, not just decorated with gold-thread ). I think these are in an excellent state of preservation compared to those in San Agustin. One of the priest historian from another order also said that Intramuros was already preparing for war so that even the crystal chandeliers of Santo Domingo were brought down for safekeeping. They just didn't know the magnitude of the war. One account said that the outer iron door of the vault had melted to a certain degree due to the intensity of the fire, one reason that took them quite a while to extricate the contents of the vault.

How did they fit in? Only the heads and hands of the other santos were placed in the vault. Only the most important artifacts ( according to what they value during their times ) were selected. However, the book will only be about the La Naval, so other related things will only be taken up as boxed articles.

Hawayano

June 7th, 2007, 09:11 AM

^^ ^^ @ Pinoy_ako: Incredible...I can't even fathom the atmosphere of tension during those months prior to December 1941. I am also a bit apprehensive as to the varying degrees to which the religious orders in the Philippines maintain and protect the remnants of their tangible history. The losses incurred by Intramuros alone are mind-boggling, but it is reassuring to see that much knowledge is still retained through concerned cultural historians like yourself!

Animo

June 8th, 2007, 08:25 AM

The NMI Council for the Humanities will sponsor a series of lectures next week that will explore historic and contemporary issues that link the Mariana and Philippine archipelagos.

Humanities Council executive director, Paz C. Younis, said that visiting Filipino scholars, Drs. Florentino Hornedo and Augusto V. de Viana, will present these lectures at public venues on Saipan, Tinian and Rota as a part of a Council program to explore the role Filipinos have played in local society from ancient times to the present.

Dr. Hornedo, professor of history, philosophy and literature at the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School, will present lectures entitled “Today's Native is Yesterday's Visitor” and “Changing Core Themes of Filipino Patriotism.”

Dr. de Viana, director of the Research, Publications and Heraldry Division, Philippine National Historical Institute, will present “The Historic Role of the Natives of the Philippines in the Mariana Islands.”

Younis said that the Council was fortunate to secure the participation of these two distinguished scholars. Dr. Hornedo is a leading researcher and anthropologist who has served as a prominent advocate for the preservation of culture and heritage.

Dr. de Viana has conducted extensive archival research documenting Filipino involvement in the history of the Mariana Islands. The results of his work have appeared in scholarly articles and books, including In the Far Islands published by the University of Santo Tomas in 2004.

Younis said the lectures would be offered two times on Saipan on Monday, June 11. The first will be at the Napu Room, Pacific Islands Club, from 9am to 12 noon. The second will be at the Visitors Center Theater, American Memorial Park from 6pm to 9pm.

Rota residents will be given the opportunity to hear these lectures on Wednesday, June 13 in Room B-5 at the Northern Marianas College Rota Campus fro 10am to 12 noon. Dr. Hornedo and de Viana will also make a presentation for participants of the Division of Youth Services' Summer Youth Camp that same day.

The following day, Thursday, June 14, the two scholars will present their lectures from 9am to 12 noon in Room D at the Northern Marianas College Tinian Campus.

Younis cordially invites the public to attend these lectures which are being offered free of charge. Individuals interested in receiving additional details may contact Council staff at 235-4785. (PR)

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=69224

[dx]

June 13th, 2007, 07:16 AM

Vintage photos of an erupting Mayon Volcano (1947)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/232/505201230_dda1777e8f_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/230/505233489_9bd8855464_b.jpg

Caption: Mt. Mayon erupting - photos by George S. White, taken from a B-29 - 16 February 1947 - location 13.257N, 123.685E in the Philippines

Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fizzix/sets/72157600232989228/)

boju

June 14th, 2007, 07:34 AM

Remembering the old CDO

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/cag/2007/06/13/article_216483_06-13-2007.jpg

Photo from the records of the City Historical Commission shows the old Divisoria in Cagayan de Oro. This is part of an exhibit at the City's Tourism Center in light of the City Charter Day observance. (Sun Star Cagayan de Oro photo)

Animo

June 18th, 2007, 08:04 AM

By Ambeth Ocampo
Inquirer
Last updated 02:48am (Mla time) 06/10/2007

MANILA, Philippines - It has been over two decades since I entered a classroom for the first time and stood on the teacher-side of the room. And yet each time I meet a new batch of students for the first time, I'm always nervous. You walk to the table and feel 80 pairs of eyes following you, 80 pairs of ears listening to every word that spills from your mouth. How long will the attention span of Gen X last before they get bored and slip back into their world?

As a history teacher, I deal with the past, and only recently realized that it has little or no practical use to young people, and has little or no relevance to them at all. The past is truly a foreign country, they do things differently there. While rattling off the names of Jose Rizal's brother and nine sisters recently, it dawned on me that even the names had no resonance anymore. At least Jose is still current, but do you know anyone today named Trinidad, Narcisa, Olympia, or even Saturnina? If history looks and sounds so foreign, how can it teach love or even an appreciation for country and nationhood to people at the dawn of the 21st century?

When I began teaching, I thought history was an informative subject; the challenge simply was to present the dates, names, places, and events in the most engaging manner possible. As I matured as a teacher, I realized that history is actually formative. History is the story of how the nation came to be, and more often than not, it illustrates how people fail to be the nation they want to be. History is not the only way to learn love of country, but it has a unique way of showing the different ways we see and deal with the past. These different ways of seeing are also a lesson in being Filipino.
When I was a boy I was taught that Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines. I even thought that the villains in the story were the half-naked savages led by Lapu-lapu, who killed the first tourist to our shores. To me the white-skinned Magellan coming to the yet unnamed archipelago, carrying Christianity and civilization, was the martyr, the bida, while Lapu-lapu, the barbarian, was the contrabida. Later in life I heard about Gregorio Zaide, the smiling historian with Mickey Mouse ears, who proposed that we should see history from our distinctly Philippine viewpoint. Hence, Magellan did not discover the Philippines, he merely “re-discovered” it, for how can he discover a place that already had people in it?

In my last years in college, I had the good fortune to meet the eminent acid-tongued historian Teodoro A. Agoncillo, who disagreed with the above and maintained that Zaide was peddling baloney. When I explained that this was in-line with his own views on nationalist history, Agoncillo snapped, “Gago ka rin pala, e! Do you know what you are saying? Did the Philippines disappear under the sea and come up again for Magellan to re-discover it? How can you re-discover what is not lost?” I was not in a position to argue and left things unresolved at that.

Two decades since Agoncillo passed away, I have become a historian of sorts and now threaten to write my own version of Philippine history. When I write my history, I will not say that Magellan discovered the Philippines, that is the Spanish viewpoint. I will not say Magellan re-discovered the Philippines, for that is the rabid nationalist Filipino viewpoint. All I will say is that Magellan arrived in the Philippines in 1521. The dates, names, and facts have not changed; but one can readily see how one word, from discovered, to re-discovered, to arrived, changes the whole way in which we see ourselves in relation to our past, our present, and our future.

The story of Magellan and Lapu-lapu is but a simple lesson, and may explain why there are two shrines and two historical markers in Mactan today. Somewhere along the shores of Mactan, a battle was fought in 1521 between Magellan and Lapu-lapu, a spot was designated to memorialize the event and so we have: a handsome monument of coral, an obelisk that commemorates the glories of Spain, and a modern bungalow-like structure adorned by a mural showing the battle of Mactan, and in the center of the structure on what looks like a tombstone with jagged rocks at its base is a marker that reads, “Here on 27 April 1521, Lapu-lapu and his men repulsed the Spanish invaders killing their leader Ferdinand Magellan, and thus Lapu-lapu became the first Filipino to have repelled European aggression.” The marker was installed in 1958.

Behind this “tombstone” is another older marker installed in 1941 that reads, “On this spot Ferdinand Magellan died on April 21, 1521, wounded in an encounter with the soldiers of Lapu-lapu, chief of Mactan island. One of Magellan's ships, the Victoria, under the command of Juan Sebastian ElCano sailed from Cebu on May 1, 1521 and anchored at San Lucar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522, thus completing the first circumnavigation of the world.”
One event, different interpretations. History may be confused and confusing, but if people learn to see how, for whom, and why that history is written, then maybe they will also see a nation making sense of its past.

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ ateneo.edu
http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view_article.php?article_id=70437

Sinjin P.

June 23rd, 2007, 06:36 AM

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila2.jpg
San Miguel Brewery

Can someone identify these structures in Manila? :D

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila4.jpg

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila6.jpg

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila7.jpg

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila5.jpg

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila3.jpg

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila8.jpg

Sinjin P.

June 23rd, 2007, 06:36 AM

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldpagsanjan.jpg
The arch as you approach Pagsanjan

Sinjin P.

June 23rd, 2007, 06:51 AM

CLARK AIR BASE

1950s
http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_001.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_002.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_003.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_004.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_005.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_006.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_007.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_008.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_009.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_010.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur50_011.jpg

1970s

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur70_001.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur70_002.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur70_003.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur70_004.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur70_005.jpg

1980s

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_001.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_002.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_003.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_004.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_006.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_009.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_011.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_013.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_014.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_015.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_016.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_017.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_018.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_019.jpg

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur80_020.jpg

1990s

http://www.clarkab.com/ck_phodur90_021.jpg

Animo

June 24th, 2007, 12:35 AM

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1352/604040575_5f3a56cc6f_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1088/604040515_625ef880ab_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1046/604040605_a2fa9cfa3f_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1353/604040739_1c6d05608a_o.jpg

Animo

June 24th, 2007, 12:39 AM

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1085/604044219_4aeaa03eff_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1030/604040797_9be33c4388_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1423/604040751_16d5f2c139_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1185/604044155_c67033171b_o.jpg

Map of the Hispanic World made by a Filipino artisan. The maps of Spain, Colonial Americas, and Filipinas (lower portion- legs/foot) are represented by Lady Hispania.

thomasian

June 24th, 2007, 05:49 AM

Can someone identify these structures in Manila? :D

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila3.jpg

San Agustin Church, Intramuros, Manila.

BTW, do we have an image of it with the left belfry still intact?

Pinoy_ako

June 24th, 2007, 10:30 AM

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila2.jpg
San Miguel Brewery

Can someone identify these structures in Manila? :D

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila4.jpg

Jaro Bell Tower ( destroyed in 1948, recently reconstructed ).

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila6.jpg

Parin Gate with the dome of San Juan de Dios and Sn Francisco

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila7.jpg

Fort Santiago

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila5.jpg

http://www.tribo.org/history/oldphil/oldmanila8.jpg

Silliman University, Dumaguete City

Animo

June 25th, 2007, 09:36 PM

There are now efforts at the national level to revisit the historical legacy of Isabelo delos Reyes – scholar, journalist, labor leader, and revolutionary.

BY LYN V. RAMO
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 20, June 24-30, 2007

BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) – Redeem the interest in the works and life of Isabelo delos Reyes – a revolutionary, a great Ilocano, a patriot and a homegrown intellectual who was among the first to envision the Filipino nation.

This was what the resource speaker seemed to tell students and faculty of the University of the Philippines (UP) here as they remembered the great Ilocano hero during a lecture last week. The lecture served as the inauguration for the centennial lecture series which is being held as part of the university’s 99th Anniversary Week.

Invited to lead the recollection on the patriot's life and works was Prof. Resil Mojares, himself a distinguished writer and recorder of Philippine culture and history.

Mojares, who flew in from Cebu City, said there is some sort of a rediscovery at present as efforts are being done on the national level to retrieve whatever is left of the archives Isabelo delos Reyes started some 120 years ago. Original manuscripts and published materials at the National Museum are now being re-encoded, and translated for the public.

Mojares described Delos Reyes, among others, as an Ilocano writer and journalist, homegrown intellectual, the father of Filipino folklore, and historian who aspired to write Philippine history independently of his contemporary historians Jose Rizal and Pedro Paterno.

“He is a man of many projects,” Mojares said of Delos Reyes.

As a historian, he first wrote the history of the Visayas, Mojares said.

“In 1885, he referred to himself as the brother of the forest dwellers, referring to the Aetas, Igorots, and Tingguians,” Mojares told his young audience. He envisioned a nation in his aspiration to collect works, knowledge and evidence of folklore, Mojares also said. Mojares noted that his works were then not fully appreciated, much less recognized.

As a journalist, Delos Reyes knew his audience and had a sense of his public, according to Mojares, as evidenced by his multi-lingual writings and journalistic outputs. Delos Reyes wrote mainly in Spanish, but saw to it that he had his work translated in Philippine languages such as Iloco, Cebuano, and Tagalog. He even translated classic works in Iloco for his local readers to appreciate. He wrote comedia, which was then the popular form of literature.

Delos Reyes also founded the first vernacular newspaper, the El Iloco, in 1889.

As a prisoner in 1897, he took pains interviewing Katipuneros among the prisoners and wrote the history of Andres Bonifacio's Katipunan at the Bilibid prisons. He was later sent to a prison in Barcelona, Spain where he came into contact with European political activists

He returned in 1901 and together with Pascual Poblete, another nationalist, put up a pro-labor newspaper, El Grito del Pueblo, and later became the first president of the first national labor union in the country, the Union Obrero Democratica (UOD).

Mojares did not fail to mention the contribution of the Ilocano revolutionary in the founding of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI or Philippine Independent Church), or the Aglipayan church in 1902.

“He was also a politician,” Mojares quipped. Delos Reyes was councilor of Manila when he returned from Spain. Later, he was elected senator from Ilocos in 1922, when senators were voted by their respective districts.

Dr. Eleanor Imson, who was among the audience in Mojares' talk, has been translating the works of Isabelo delos Reyes. “It is hard re-encoding the Spanish text,” she told Nordis, “especially (since) words have evolved through time and that there were a considerable number of typographical errors in the original text.”

Imson, a UP Baguio professor, started working on Delos Reyes' works in the early 1980s, and was able to finish her first volume of translations in 1984. She stopped for a while when she left the university, and resumed in 2004.

“Technology advance makes the work harder because I had to re-encode what I (had) done before, when I used to work on Wordstar and Wordperfect, she said in jest. Nevertheless, she said the work is worth it.

According to Imson, it takes one who is learned in Spanish to be able to do a Delos Reyes. She said the translation work will help rekindle the people's interest in the works of the great Ilocano writer, journalist, historian, labor leader, politician, and revolutionary. Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat

http://www.bulatlat.com/2007/06/remembering-isabelo-delos-reyes

Wonderboy

June 27th, 2007, 07:50 PM

Ermita, Manila

Below are a couple of photos of Ermita before the American colonial period made the fishing village into a residential area. However, long before the street names such as Issac Peral, Arquiza, and San Luis, its streets were unpaved, mostly flattened dirt roads sprinkled with water every day to avoid the accumulation of dust.

The beach is just right across the town. Fondly called, "Ermita beach," the seashore has been a favorite area of Ermitaños every Sunday afternoon why even during the lazy hours of the week. If I as alive then, I will describe Ermita as a place where one can simply go astray, running along the shore, its brown sand caressing my feet. Oh my Ermita! You're the side of Manila that's undiscovered, virgin, and truly a pearl outside the walled city of Manila!

Another interesting information is that Ermita is probably the smallest town in Manila. The true blue Ermitaño, Carmen Guerrero Nakpil mentioned that she cannot place what Ermita really is until the American colonizers formally called it a district. Nonetheless, this little town in the obscure part of old Manila has a historical past, nostalgic for those who lived during its heyday, and a catastrophic memory that is ought to be forgotten when the Second World War wiped out the good old Ermita and turned this piece of beauty into a desolate part of Manila.

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3552.jpg

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx25489.jpg
Ermita seashore. Can you see the bell tower of the church?

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3550.jpg
Ermita when it was still a fishing village

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3551.jpg
Women of Ermita

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x4567.jpg
A street along Ermita

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x49580.jpg

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x48656.jpg

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x48564.jpg
Young women of old Ermita

* Photos courtesy of California Digital Library
* Brief intro written by Wonderboy

TheAvenger

July 3rd, 2007, 05:33 PM

signing of surrender documents ending the Fil-American War

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z82/jewel_087/4thcavalry.jpg

From the files of US 4th Cavalry

Wonderboy

July 3rd, 2007, 09:00 PM

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/9509/manilaue8.jpg
Pasig River, Manila, Philippine Islands at the turn of the century

Wonderboy

July 3rd, 2007, 10:04 PM

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/w3513.jpg
An Old Spanish Residence, Manila,

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/w3509.jpg
The Bridge of Spain, Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x49446.jpg
Queen Isabel in Malate Square. Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x10677.jpg
Oriente with its tropical Spanish arcade. Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3566.jpg
One of the numerous canals in Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku63696.jpg
Paco Cemetery Chapel

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku69465.jpg
Wharves Along The Pasig River, Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku85885.jpg
Intramuros

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/specialtopics/photographers/white_f//details/ku98825.jpg
Bureau of Post

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x48718.jpg
Manila Botanical Garden

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/as405.jpg
Manila Cathedral

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x48312.jpg
Filipino house servant

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku58345.jpg
Washing clothes on the banks of Pasig River

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku24257.jpg
Malecon Drive, Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x4566.jpg
Church of S. Ignatius, Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/v10003.jpg
On the banks of Pasig

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x48272.jpg
A convent in Paco, Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku24641.jpg
University Jesuit Church & School, Manila

Hawayano

July 4th, 2007, 06:09 AM

^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ Wonderboy: Bravo on the most magnificent period photos I've seen in a long time! What a valuable resource they remain for all of us!! My kudos and gratitude to you! :master:

PS: it's kinda interesting to see the errata on some of the captioning, though...like, isn't that last pic in front of the Dominican church and university? and I think the one labeled as "Intramuros" is actually in old Cavite?

Pinoy_ako

July 4th, 2007, 09:41 AM

^^
Yung Intramuros, Cavite ba dahil sa mga sailors? Mahirap nga malaman lalo na ganitong puro bahay. May Real street din kasi sa Cavite. Although, mas maraming coche sa Intramuros.

ishtefh_03

July 4th, 2007, 10:07 AM

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku24641.jpg
University Jesuit Church & School, Manila

that's Benavides... which is now at UST...

thanks for the photos!!! nice!!

Wonderboy

July 4th, 2007, 03:23 PM

PS: it's kinda interesting to see the errata on some of the captioning, though...like, isn't that last pic in front of the Dominican church and university?

Agreed, sir. I even saw other errors on the captions in my photo files. Some photos have the caption, "Manila, Philippine Islands," wherein fact, the photos were taken in Hawaii, San Francisco, and California. One has to be very careful (like me) in labelling the photos. I remember what TCR said in one of his postings before, "Another lesson learned: I will listen to the people who have been there and not be a smartass. My apologies for the confusion."

And I think the one labeled as "Intramuros" is actually in old Cavite?

Sir, are you pertaining to the photo below? I agree that it looks like Calle Real in old Cavite, as I saw some period photos of the same area when I was doing my research on Cavite City in 2003. That area is time warped. One could feel that the area is really "old" and historic. Anyway, the photo below also looks like Intramuros to me (maybe because of the cars?). It's a little difficult to distinguish the two streets.

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku85885.jpg

Animo

July 7th, 2007, 07:46 PM

By BOBIT S. AVILA

Whether you accept this truth or not, 61 years ago, the Philippines became a truly independent state free from its colonial master in a ceremony where the United States of America lowered its flag (back then the Stars and Stripes only had 48 states) and all foreign governments confirmed this act by recognizing Philippine sovereignty.

The Philippine Star

Whether you accept this truth or not, 61 years ago, the Philippines became a truly independent state free from its colonial master in a ceremony where the United States of America lowered its flag (back then the Stars and Stripes only had 48 states) and all foreign governments confirmed this act by recognizing Philippine sovereignty.

In short, today should be celebrated as the country’s real Independence Day as provided for on Aug. 29, 1916 by the Jones Law and amended on March 24, 1934 with the Tydings-McDuffie Law, which clearly stated, “An Act to Provide for the Complete Independence of the Philippine Islands, to provide for the Adoption of a Constitution and a Form of Government for the Philippine Islands, and for other Purposes.”

But why are we so troubled as a nation today 61 years after being granted true independence by the United States of America? I can only say that it is because our politicians bend the truth for their own political purposes. The Declaration of Independence by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo was for many Filipinos a farce as it did not blossom into a real working government nor did foreign governments ever recognize it. It was the act of a man raising the Philippine flag inside the safety and comfort of his home in Kawit. In short, Gen. Aguinaldo’s act was merely another war for Philippine Independence, no different from Lapu-Lapu’s fight against the Spanish invaders or the Dagohoy Revolt against the Spaniards in Bohol.

Checking the Internet for bits of history on this issue, I came across an article written by Bobby Reyes, a “media advocate and founder of the Media Breakfast Club (MBC)” who was also the main organizer of the Philippine-American exhibits and shows that occasionally grace the halls of the West Covina Mall in Southern California. He wrote the article way back in 1996 entitled “The True Philippine Independence Day” and let me extract a quote from his article:

“There are many of us who want to set the record straight. We celebrate only what is real and factual. We cannot distort historical facts. We cannot celebrate an event that only ‘resembles the truth.’ We reckon that it was only on July 4, 1946, when the United States granted it independence that the Philippines became politically free as a country.”

Speaking of the Internet, if you go to Google and check the timeline for Philippine history, you will not see June 12 as the date of Philippine Independence, rather you will read that Philippine Independence was granted by the US Congress and carried out on July 4, 1946 with Manuel Roxas as the first President of the Philippine Republic. So when will our political leaders tell the real truth about our history?

I don’t know when. But let me say it here that the average Filipino knows that many of our politicians (politicians throughout the world share this trait) are born liars and if they can lie about our history, then they can lie about anything. Hence, every time this issue comes up, we shall always write the whole truth and nothing but the truth about how and when the Philippines truly gained its independence and sovereignty.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=83373

estan

July 13th, 2007, 07:48 PM

San Agustin Church, Intramuros, Manila.

BTW, do we have an image of it with the left belfry still intact?

thomasian, here it is:

http://www.aenet.org/manila-expo/p16ima11.jpg

Photo of San Agustin after the 1880 earthquake.

Animo

July 14th, 2007, 08:43 PM

^^ Thanks estan! I remember seeing it before but can't find it anymore. :)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1256/809564915_bd8b3a2696_b.jpg

^^ This I believe is in Sampaloc, Manila

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1168/809565067_8ba59e2d38_b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1118/809565053_1de84ea31d_b.jpg

Animo

July 14th, 2007, 08:47 PM

Landscape
Gemma Cruz Araneta

Lenten revelry

No, this is not a blasphemous article but a feeble attempt to trace the roots of what seems to be our increasingly irreverent behavior during Holy Week. As early as 1842, Sinebaldo de Mas (Spain’s official spy) lamented, in his report about Filipinas, that religious practices associated with Lent were marred with “…a carnival amusement, or to speak more painly, into a pretext for the most scandalous vices, and the result of these canticles is that many of the girls of the village become enceinte.” Enceinte is French for pregnant, if I am not mistaken; was nosy Sinebaldo speaking literally?

Apparently, the tide of irreverence could not be stemmed for in 1878, the religious orders running parishes in the islands were still alarmed by “ bad
trends of the times…” or “…anti-Christian ideas.” A Spanish scholar in 1880, Vicente Barrantes, observed that in and out of Manila, Lenten rituals were
punctuated with blasphemous gossip-mongering and sullied by popular music and dances that lasted all night long, alongside with the reading of the Passion of Christ. There are other reports of friars, whips in hand, angrily dispersing natives for profaning Lenten rituals with pagan behavior and folk
versions of sacred doctrines. A couple of days ago, I heard Arch. Oscar Cruz ‘s woeful observation that Filipinos today would rather flock to beach resorts than meditate on the what Jesus Christ sacrificed tosave humankind.

That a sacred ritual was turned into something profane, in the hands of the natives, is a purely religious view of what was going on during centuries
of Spanish colonization. However, to secular historians, linguists and writers, this phenomenon is evidence of how native indio creativity defied monastic surveillance and control. What the Spanish colonial authorities deemed as heretical, profane “mistranslations” of Christian doctrine were , according to Rio Almario (National Artist for Literature) the natives’ attempt to recuperate the deeper and older meanings of their languages and in the process, produce their own version of Christian salvation. That is, salvation from Spanish colonial rule.

The early missionaries who learned the native languages , instead of teaching Spanish, inserted Christian doctrine into indigenous forms of language as a medium of evangelization. They appropriated the Tagalog dalit, loa and existing oral forms, replacing indigenous themes with Christian ones.

A decade before Sinebaldo de Mas wrote his report, Hermano Pule (Apolinario de la Cruz), the frustrated priest, had already founded the Cofradia de San Jose and had become the object of a manhunt. Attempts to portray him as a kind of fanatic babaylan who wanted to revive the animist, pre-colonial beliefs have no basis. As Dr. Reynaldo Ileto (Pasyon and Rebolusyon) points out, Hermano Pule wanted to join a European religious order but when scorned, formed the Cofradia, another a European- type organization. Dr. Ileto expounds that it was not an “indigenized Christianity” that provided Hermano Pule with the language to articulate inner revival and resistance, on the contrary, it was a “Christianized animisim”, that is, the reappropriation of indigenous meanings that had been smothered by Western religious text.

Hermano Pule was not the first native to lead a religious revolt but for the first time “kalayaan” became a rallying cry. Evidently, the Passion of Christ became the Pasyon of a suffering nation, seeking salvation and freedom from oppression. (sources: Resil B. Mojares, Rio Almario and Reynaldo Ileto) (gemma601@yahoo.com)

Lili

July 15th, 2007, 03:55 AM

^^ Thanks estan! I remember seeing it before but can't find it anymore. :)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1256/809564915_bd8b3a2696_b.jpg

^^ This I believe is in Sampaloc, Manila

Yes, it is in Sampaloc, Manila. Calle Guipit is now called Sta. Teresita Street and there is basketball court (I don't know if it is still a basketball court) called Plaza Sta. Teresita. The street is perpendicular to Legarda Street. It was called "Guipit" because it was a deadend. A school run by nuns called Nazareth School is situated at its end. This school used to be a monastery which was used to house prisoners during World War 2.

The faces of the ladies in this picture are almost ghostly distorted.

Awesome pictures of old Manila, @Wonderboy and @Animo.

Ang_Bantayanon

July 15th, 2007, 05:15 AM

These women must have been very poor to live in such a place called Guipit.

Anyway, besides being poor, they may have also been afflicted with leprosy, thus, the ghastly facial figures.

Interesting.

Lili

July 15th, 2007, 05:29 AM

^ Yeah, I believe they were poor working class because most of Sampaloc then were held by the Estates of the Legardas, the Tuazons and the Prietos, as well as other prominent families then. These were later expropriated by the government to distribute to tenants.

But perhaps the distortion of the faces was because of the reproduction of the photos.

habagatcentral1

July 15th, 2007, 05:44 AM

Some old pictures of Iloilo City (courtesy of Museo Iloilo and Center for West Visayan Studies)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/8/photos/50/500x500/1/Museo00001.jpg?et=5i%2Cksae0jt7LUthsnjmnGQ
Casa Real and the original Arroyo Fountain (circa early 1930's)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/2/Museo00002.jpg?et=uNMy6CfWpzPmsEZj0aFrhg
Calle Real (JM Basa Street) (circa 1920's - shown in Manila Bulletin)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/3/Museo00003.jpg?et=UPUrfUjEIjka%2C7tRvrsXhQ
Downtown Iloilo City (circa 1910's)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/4/Museo00004.jpg?et=xZT%2ChD1iJChQxG7M1inZFg
Calle Iznart (?)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/5/Museo00005.jpg?et=omnoENHY7KhKJWucx%2CkL1Q
Petit Metropole Hotel (Calle Real)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/6/Museo00006.jpg?et=Bt67W0zWJ7ANZYbvSrlWzA
Jaro Belfry and what was then E.Lopez Street of today

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/7/photos/50/500x500/7/Museo00007.jpg?et=jFh0HTxnDEh5735o%2CKYfKA
Ilonggo Revolucionarios marching at downtown after the Spaniards surrendered the Philippine islands. (December 1898)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/8/Museo00008.jpg?et=lu3qNYe67Q0CjrsfBU3iqg
Downtown Iloilo in ruins after Americans bombed to shell out the Japanese Imperial Troops (1945).

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/9/Museo00009.jpg?et=pZbCKEI53bPTLgEJFA72ug
Amidst ruins, Santa Teresita Church still stands (up to this day) (1945)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/10/Museo00010.jpg?et=ajHhgqinwGsmyCiyGkFjew
Calle General Hughes now was a coastal road then to Fort San Pedro. The Waterfront district of today (Duran, Veterans Village, Camp Delgado) was once part of the sea.

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/11/Museo00011.jpg?et=dwTboSrolrrLWfqUmrqiXw
American (?) troops lining beside Oton Church

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/12/Museo00012.jpg?et=60gFfnHfLTed7wa8bXiK7w
Tanks in Calle Real (1945)

habagatcentral1

July 15th, 2007, 05:55 AM

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/4/photos/50/500x500/13/Museo00013.jpg?et=IrMXfCw98Mh%2Cw4kEv0qOwQ
Iloilo High School (1930's)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/15/OldIloilo00003.jpg?et=SXUlaf4weZtUvXhG0X5JLA
San Jose de Placer and Lacson Ancestral House in downtown Iloilo City (early 1900's)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/16/OldIloilo00004.jpg?et=5ciCR1AYD14ymCeuyST%2C2Q
Fuerza Real de San PEdro in laye 1800's. One of the largest Spanish forts, it survived the bombardment of the Americans in 1899 yet was pulverized during the "Liberation" in 1945. A monument lost forever because of the ravage of war.

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/17/OldIloilo00005.jpg?et=qMEI%2CVtt61Q7YG%2Bj%2C4P9yw
Elizalde & Co Building (circa 1920's)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/18/OldIloilo00006.jpg?et=wlvvwY2kp1B6Msv3Qbw1%2CQ
Muelle Loney before the port improvements (late 1800's)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/4/photos/50/500x500/19/OldIloilo00007.jpg?et=Hg9u7QDPRiD3B%2C7fhpeSDg
Calle Real (1911)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/5/photos/50/500x500/20/OldIloilo00008.jpg?et=FYcExWY541pC7gs5N0ewaQ
Forbes Bridge. Linking Iloilo City to Jaro City and LaPaz. (early 1900's)

Lili

July 15th, 2007, 06:48 AM

^ wow. awesome pictures. I especially like the photo of the 1898 Ilonggo Revoluccionarios.

bald_kalbo

July 20th, 2007, 02:22 PM

here's my collection of old photos and postcards.

Dalagang Filipina circa 1930's
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8249/001aw5.jpg

"Class of 1930"
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7765/002nk2.jpg
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/4186/003fi1.jpg

Mindanao Tribe
http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/2633/pic1copyez3.jpg

Chinese Cobblers
http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/5518/pic4copykq9.jpg

House on Calle Real, Malate
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/4196/pic2copyon3.jpg

Bird's eye view of old Manila
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/750/pic3copyym7.jpg

le Reine

July 20th, 2007, 03:52 PM

nakatayo pa ba yung bahay sa malate? ang ganda naman ng bahay na yun.

Pinoy_ako

July 21st, 2007, 07:03 AM

^^

Unfortunately, Malate and Ermita were razed by fire during the Liberation, so very few of these structures survived.

overtureph

July 21st, 2007, 08:24 AM

Hello Everyone,

I got this email last May but failed to act on it immediately and my apologies to Mr. Castro. Kindly read the email he sent me which I think is within his rights and a pretty much fair request.

Hopefully, we will be more respectful of other people's property and intellectual property rights. Let us give credit where credit is due.

Thank you.

email below:

You've been sent a Flickr Mail from Maleldo:

My Pictures at Skyscraper Forum

Hello, Alex here, Ivan Henares' friend, I hope u remember:
I noticed a lot of my pictures on flickr are being
"reposted" at Skyscraper Forum where you are an active
member. I've seen some of my Manila Carnival fotos, vintage
fotos of churches and even an old family foto appear in the
discussions, most of which are uncredited. I hope you can
call the attention of the other members regarding this. I
know my photos are labelled "public", but I think the least
one can do is cite the source. I have now put watermarks on
my photos.
Thanks and hope all is well,
Alex R. Castro

overtureph

July 23rd, 2007, 07:09 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/sm-2017-7.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/sm-2017-6.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/sm-2017-5.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/sm-2017-4.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/sm-2017-3.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/sm-2017-2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/sm-2017-1.jpg

overtureph

July 23rd, 2007, 07:12 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/53a.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/tienda.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/flower-1.jpg

overtureph

July 23rd, 2007, 07:13 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/bon.jpg

tigidig14

July 23rd, 2007, 07:23 AM

^isnt it funny, you see all those great pics and then at the end you see cebuanas.com where flipina meet foreign men haha

overtureph

July 23rd, 2007, 11:42 PM

Pinoy_ako

July 24th, 2007, 07:40 AM

Does anyone know where this place is? It says Manila but exactly where? I have my doubts that this is in Manila.

Paging the expertise of Jun (Pinoy_ako) and Hawayano.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ebay6.jpg

This is not Manila. The church complex is in next to a plantation. One more thing, the view was taken from a high ground. A quite similar picture, probably forming a set with your picture, shows this area in the middle of a plantation, next to Laguna de Bay and with Talim Island in the distance. This is the town of Pagsanjan. The more expansive landscape view can be accessed through this link:

Http://www.teleguam.net/~ewebpro/gallery-asian/manila/manila-07.htm

The belltower may be compared through this link:

http://www.waypoints.ph/thmb_pop.html?wpt=pgsnjn&passfile=pgsnjn01.jpg

overtureph

July 24th, 2007, 07:50 AM

Thanks Jun. I'm truly impressed with your knowledge.

Hawayano

July 24th, 2007, 06:39 PM

Yes, this same view is replicated in several US publications of the early 1900s. Pagsanjan and Majayjay were often viewed by the colonizers as quaint destinations away from the bustle of Manila's arrabales. Idyllic panorama, no?

overtureph

July 25th, 2007, 12:50 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ty2300-1.jpg

overtureph

July 25th, 2007, 12:52 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/manilabridge.jpg

Animo

July 26th, 2007, 07:38 PM

By ALEJANDRO R. ROCES

The Philippine Star

On Saturday, July 22, marks the birthday of one of our national heroes, Apolinario Mabini. Known to Filipinos as “The Sublime Paralytic” or “The Brains of the Revolution”, he was born 143 years ago in Talaga, Tanauan City, Batangas, as the second of eight sons of Inocencio Mabini, a peasant; and Dionisia Maranan, a vendor in the Tanauan market and daughter of the village school teacher.

Even at an early age, Mabini has already displayed an extraordinary level of intelligence and was always studious. This allowed him to pursue education in a regular school. While studying, he worked as a houseboy for a tailor in exchange for free board and lodging. He later transferred to the school of Fr. Valerio Malabanan, a renowned teacher in Tanauan who had been mentioned in Jose Rizal’s El Filibusterismo. Mabini’s parents and Fr. Malabanan served as his earliest influences. He then continued his studies at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, where he received his Bachelor of Arts and the title Professor of Latin; and at the University of Santo Tomas, where he received his law degree in 1894.

Mabini has always shown concern for other people and his dream to defend the poor led him to abandon priesthood, which his mother had always encouraged him to pursue. In early 1896, he contracted a severe fever that led to the paralysis of his lower limbs. This, however, did not serve as hindrance to Mabini to continue fighting for the rights of others. When the revolution broke out that same year, Spanish authorities suspected him of being involved in the disturbance and had him arrested. However, upon seeing that Mabini could not even move his lower limbs, the Spanish authorities thought they had made a mistake and had him released.

Mabini was most active during the Philippine revolution in 1898, when he served as chief adviser of General Emilio Aguinaldo. He drafted decrees and proposed and crafted the first ever constitution in Asia for the First Philippine Republic, including the framework of the revolutionary government which was implemented in Malolos in 1899. In drafting the Constitution, Mabini made sure that the general interests of the people are included and compliance with the laws ensured. As Mabini said: “Society, then, should have a soul, - sovereignty. This sovereignty should have a brain to guide and direct it, - the legislative power, a will that works and makes it work, – the executive; a conscience to try and punish the bad, – the judicial power. These powers should be independent in the sense that one should not encroach upon the attributes of the other. But the last two should be made subservient to the first, just as will and conscience are subordinate to reason. The executive and the judiciary cannot separate themselves from the laws dictated by the legislature, any more than a citizen can violate them. The power of legislation is the highest manifestation of sovereignty, just as reason is the highest attribute of our soul” (Source: Assembly of the Nation, page 35). Mabini eventually went on to serve as our country’s first Prime Minister and Secretary of Foreign Affairs. On May 13, 1903, he passed away at a young age of 39.

Apolinario Mabini was a staunch believer in the right of every Filipino to be free. He was a brilliant thinker who, despite his physical handicap, used the might of his pen to awaken the consciousness of his fellow Filipinos and fight for freedom and democracy. May the memory of Apolinario Mabini’s heroism and patriotism inspire our politicians to set aside selfish political ambitions, to become modern day heroes and lead our people and country to greatness.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=85333

overtureph

July 31st, 2007, 06:44 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/THEPHILIPPINESUNDERSPANISHANDAME-1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/THEPHILIPPINESUNDERSPANISHANDAMERIC.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ebay5.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ebay4.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ebay3.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ebay2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ebay.jpg

overtureph

July 31st, 2007, 07:00 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/IMG_1963.jpg

Animo

August 1st, 2007, 07:56 PM

By Ambeth Ocampo
Inquirer
Last updated 02:22am (Mla time) 08/01/2007

My first experience with archival work came by accident. While I have always been interested in history, I had never thought of pursuing a degree in history. At most, I was a consumer of history. I read books on history but didn’t imagine myself as an academic historian. That was until I went on tour in Madrid after college.

I decided to take a short trip to Valladolid to visit the museum in the Augustinian monastery that had some artifacts from the Philippines. The museum was easy to find because it was on a street called Paseo de los Agustinos Filipinos. Of course, the friars there were Spaniards, but they were referred to as “Agustinos Filipinos” in recognition of the centuries of missionary work they had undertaken in the Philippines, beginning with Andres de Urdaneta, the navigator of the Legaspi expedition way back in 1565. The Augustinians are best remembered today for many colonial churches built under their direction, and schools, foremost among them Colegio San Agustin in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City.

Serafin D. Quiason, who was then director of the National Library, had advised me to visit the museum and look up the historian of the order, Fr. Isacio R. Rodriguez. At the time, I was doing some research on Pampanga, the province of my father. I gave myself a day.

Father Rodriguez directed me to the card catalogue (no Online Public Access Catalogue in those days). I went through each and every card relating to any source on the Philippines and ended up with a long list of things I wanted to see. It had taken a whole day just to skim through the catalogue.

The next day, I planned to open a few books and return to Madrid. But I got drawn into all the materials, including some on Pampanga, early dictionaries and grammar books, newspaper clippings on the Philippine Revolution and a printed document, “El Proceso Luna,” on the trial of Juan Luna for the murder of his wife and mother-in-law. The day turned into a week, and that week turned into a life-long career in history.

After I had gone through the printed materials, Father Rodriguez introduced me to archival sources. First, he asked whether I read Spanish. I had completed 12 units of required Spanish in the university and thought myself competent, not realizing that what was to be laid before me was handwritten, 17th-century Spanish. It was a crash course on paleography as Father Rodriguez taught me the basics of dealing with old documents, formats, abbreviations and the different ways in which certain letters of the alphabet were written. Twice a day, in the morning before lunch and in the afternoon before the library closed for the day, Father Rodriguez would ask about my research, often asking to see my notebook and providing more hints into reading ancient texts. While I have not returned to archival research on Pampanga since then, it was this introduction to archival work that provided the foundations for my future research.

Confident after this experience, I returned to Manila and decided to try out the Records Management and Archives Office, now, by law, the National Archives, located at one end of the National Library building on T.M. Kalaw Street in Manila. I went to the research room and was promptly given a folder with a list of bundles arranged by subject. On the shelves in this room were bound photocopies of documents from certain record groups or bundles marked “Protocolos,” “Ereccion de Pueblos,” “Sediciones y Rebeliones.” Although easier to consult, I ignored these, wanting to handle actual manuscripts straight out of a bundle. There was so much material listed I didn’t know how or where to start, so I chose the easiest record group “Varias Personas” because the alphabetical list had names from the pages of our history. Naturally, I went for the most prominent name on the list, Jose Rizal, and was surprised that the other researchers in the room twitched their noses at an obvious beginner. As I waited for my bundle, one of them approached me and sneered, “Why did you ask for the Rizal bundle? Everything about Rizal has been written about 10 times over. You are wasting your time.” Undaunted by this unsolicited advice, or maybe because my pride was pricked, I decided to sit there and read the contents of the Rizal bundle.

Wrapped in Manila paper and held together by a thick piece of rope, I opened the Rizal bundle and the very first piece of paper on the top was a note from James Alexander Robertson, director of the National Library, stating that all the important Rizal papers had been transferred to the National Library. The impertinent fellow who approached me earlier was right: there was nothing of interest or importance in the Rizal bundle.

Yet, I decided to plod on and save what was left of my pride. What I found there were crumbling letters of Rizal’s sisters. Why these were not considered important enough to be transferred to the National Library escapes me. Although these letters were not written by Rizal himself, they are significant as they provide a glimpse into the family he grew up with. The sources can provide new insights if they are given a chance, if people give Rizal a second look.

The same can be said of Philippine history. If our historians do not give the primary sources a second look, our view of the past will remain the same, and we do not move forward.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=79842

Animo

August 3rd, 2007, 06:36 AM

Philippine Historical Association
2007 Annual Conference

In cooperation with:
National Commission for Culture and the Arts
National Historical Institute
Philippine Social Sciences Council
The National Library

September 21, 2007
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The National Library Auditorium
T.M. Kalaw St. Manila

The Philippine Historical Association will hold its 2007 Annual Conference on Friday September 21, 2007 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at The National Library Auditorium at T.M. Kalaw St. Ermita, Manila on the theme Controversies and Fallacies in Philippine History.

The teaching of Philippine History is hounded by numerous controversies and fallacies which have come to light in recent times. The conference aims to gather historians and teachers of history to discuss the matter. In holding this conference, the PHA aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. to update teachers on new studies and perspectives that will shed light on controversial issues and fallacies in Philippine History
2. to understand the nature and background of controversial issues in Philippine History and help teachers deal with these topics
3. to know the implications of these issues in Philippine historical education with regards to teaching, research and textbook writing

The PHA invites you to attend the conference. The registration fee is Php. 1,200.00 inclusive of registration, 2 snacks, 1 lunch, complimentary copy of the Historical Bulletin, conference kit, and certificate of participation.

We have already requested the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Education to endorse this conference.

Please confirm your attendance as soon as possible with Mr. Jonathan Balsamo, Annual Conference Convenor at the Social Sciences Department, Manila Central University, Caloocan City or at 09278824456 or at jobal_kasaysayan@yahoo.com or Dr. Celestina P. Boncan at the Social Sciences Department, University of the Philippines Manila at telefax no. 524-1556 or at 09178804215 or at cpboncan@yahoo.com.

7:30-8:30 Registration

8:30 National Anthem
PLEDGE TO THE FLAG

Invocation Dr. Teofista Vivar
Auditor, PHA

Welcome Remarks Mrs. Prudenciana C. Cruz
Director, The National Library

Message Dr. Celestina P. Boncan
President, PHA

VIDEO PRESENTATION The Philippine Historical
Association Through the Years
Mr. Jonathan Balsamo
Public Relations Officer, PHA

Introduction of Mr. Jerome Ong
Participants Secretary, PHA

9:00
KEYNOTE SPEECH Hon. Ambeth Ocampo
Chairman, National Commission for
Culture & the Arts and National
Historical Institute

9:30 BREAK

10:00-10:45
SURVEY OF CONTROVERSIES AND FALLACIES IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Dr. Estrellita Muhi
University of Perpetual Help Las Pinas

10:45-11:15
CONTROVERSIES AND FALLACIES IN THE CONTEXT OF VARIOUS HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
Mr. Jonathan Balsamo
Manila Central University/ De La Salle University-Dasmarinas

11:15-12:00 OPEN FORUM

12:00 LUNCH

1:00-3:00
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND ACADEME IN ADDRESSING CONTROVERSIES AND FALLACIES IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

1:00-1:30
Ms. Socorro Pilor
Director, Instructional Materials Corporations
Department of Education

1:30-2:00
Dr. Augusto de Viana
Chief, Research, Publications & Heraldry Division
National Historical Institute

2:00-2:30
Dr. Celestina P. Boncan
University of the Philippines Manila

2:30-3:00 OPEN FORUM

3:00-3:20 BREAK

3:20-4:20
IMPLICATIONS OF CONTROVERSIES AND FALLACIES ON PHILIPPINE HISTORICAL EDUCATION

3:20-3:50
Challenge and Response in Textbook Writing
Dr. Grace Estela Mateo
University of the Philippines Manila

3:50-4:20
Dealing with Controversies and Fallacies in Philippine History
Dr. Gloria Santos
Executive Director, PHA

4:20-4:50 OPEN FORUM

4:50
Closing Remarks Dr. Evelyn Miranda
Immediate Past President, PHA

Awarding of Certificates
Raffle of Books

Masters of Ceremonies: Mr. Jerome Ong and Ms. Arlene Domingo

---

Jonathan Capulas Balsamo
670 T. Santiago St. Lingunan, Valenzuela City
Mobile No: 0927-8824456 / Home: 294-1142

Instructor 1, College of Arts and Sciences - Manila Central University - Monumento, Caloocan City
Lecturer 3, Social Sciences Department - De La Salle University - Dasmarinas
Executive Assistant, Association of Philippine Colleges of Arts & Sciences (APCAS)
Business Manager, Philippine Association of Teachers of History and Rizal (PATHRI)
Public Relations Officer, Philippine Historical Association (PHA)

habagatcentral1

August 3rd, 2007, 07:36 PM

^^ To be honest, I'm having a headache regarding Historical associations in the Philippines. There is simply too many of them.

overtureph

August 5th, 2007, 12:50 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/chinesech1-1.jpg

overtureph

August 5th, 2007, 12:53 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/binondo-1.jpg

overtureph

August 5th, 2007, 03:31 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/RPC109.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/dandypics074.jpg

Wonderboy

August 6th, 2007, 10:20 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/RPC109.jpg

Old photos of Plaza Goiti never fails to amuse me. Think I was 14 then when I first saw a photo of this plaza when mum asked me to pay our MERALCO bill that afternoon. And in the waiting area, there was an enlarged photo of Goiti. I was just staring at that photo until it was my turn to pay the bill.

Such affection to the area remains to date. Could have been a really nice plaza if they did not change the name (foremost) and restored the tranvia, among other things.

overtureph

August 8th, 2007, 09:55 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/palace1.jpg

overtureph

August 8th, 2007, 09:56 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ae34_1.jpg

Wonderboy

August 10th, 2007, 08:11 PM

Here's one for Mr. Monsi...

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/binondo-1.jpg
* Thanks for the photo, Bogs.

Text below from Mr. Monsi's previous posting:

Let's see if this waterway is what Joaquin described, through the older Monson, in "The Woman Who Had Two Navels,"...

He would describe how their house in Binondo had a large stone azotea behind, with steps going right down to the water, and how you could go out on that azotea and buy everything you needed--rice, fish, honey, eggs, live poultry, feed for the horses, fruits and vegetables--from villagers rowing into town in small boats that looked something like American Indian canoes. The villagers' voices were what woke you up in the morning and his father would jump up from bed and run to the window and it would be just light enough to see the small boat down there on the river and the two people it carried: the husband sitting behind and rowing; the wife standing up in front, facing the river, her hands on her hips, and her body turning this way and that as, very clearly, very solemnly, her melodious voice lingering on each syllable, she described her wares to the sleeping houses. His father would snatch a towel and run down to the azotea. On other azoteas, on both sides of the river, other boys would be stripping for an early dip and hallooing at each other. The water was never very clean--"but that never stopped us," said his father, seated on the sand, eating a sandwich; and with one of his rare smiles he would add: "And I hope that a few dead pigs or dogs floating around will not stop you boys from enjoying that river when we go home."

Nick Joaquin, "The Woman Who Had Two Navels." Tropical gothic. (Pasig: Anvil Publishing, Inc. 2003).

overtureph

August 11th, 2007, 07:59 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/890r.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/1d87_1.jpg

overtureph

August 13th, 2007, 09:03 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/62084229_o.jpg

overtureph

August 13th, 2007, 09:04 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/8aaf_1.jpg

Is this the one near Feati?

overtureph

August 13th, 2007, 09:05 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/a17b_12.jpg

overtureph

August 13th, 2007, 09:05 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/1d87_1.jpg

overtureph

August 13th, 2007, 09:22 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/PHILIPPINEISLANDSCEBUMAGALLANESMONU.99.jpg

esagerato

August 14th, 2007, 10:14 AM

It took me years in searching these photos in the internet... I'm glad that I finally found these photos in skyscrapercity!!

"Long live all the posters in this thread!"

Long live skyscrapercity!!

Animo

August 14th, 2007, 10:33 AM

Amazing overtureph! So much nostalgia! I spend too much time talking w/ old folks that I can only re-create what was loss in my dreams. Filipino siguro rin ako dati kung naniniwala ako sa reincarnation. :D

esagerato

August 14th, 2007, 10:37 AM

^^ Animo, that's what I believe too.. feeling ko Filipino rin ako kung totoo ang reincarnation dahil sa sobrang hilig ko sa filipino history lalo na yung spanish colonial era. that's why i love looking at vintage photos!!

bald_kalbo

August 14th, 2007, 02:55 PM

Mula sa "koleksyon" ko ng old pinoy postcards:

Filipina with an American child
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/7858/91620255ls3.jpg

Parade Queen on carriage
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/4220/86892036hl3.jpg

Wonderboy

August 14th, 2007, 04:40 PM

^^ Nice photos, sir. I like the second one. I wonder where and when the photos were taken.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/8aaf_1.jpg

Is this the one near Feati?

Actually, FEATI occupied the former site of Hotel Metropole, which was once located at the foot of Sta. Cruz bridge.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/a17b_12.jpg

This one's a rare photo, Bogs. Sadly, the original structure of Casino Español was destroyed during the Second World War. Reconstruction was done but part of the club was sold to a private company hence, you will see Masagana Supermarket on its former site while the club is at the back and just beside the newly constructed Instituto Cervantes Manila.

By the way, nice random photos of Plaza Cervantes and Escolta district. Same as the other lads here, I may have been a prewar Escolta kid hence my affinity to the place.

overtureph

August 17th, 2007, 07:56 AM

^^ Nice photos, sir. I like the second one. I wonder where and when the photos were taken.

Actually, FEATI occupied the former site of Hotel Metropole, which was once located at the foot of Sta. Cruz bridge.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/a17b_12.jpg

This one's a rare photo, Bogs. Sadly, the original structure of Casino Español was destroyed during the Second World War. Reconstruction was done but part of the club was sold to a private company hence, you will see Masagana Supermarket on its former site while the club is at the back and just beside the newly constructed Instituto Cervantes Manila.

By the way, nice random photos of Plaza Cervantes and Escolta district. Same as the other lads here, I may have been a prewar Escolta kid hence my affinity to the place.

Thanks Jeff. That explains why Casino Español seems to be located on a side street and not on a more prominent location. So they use to own the land where Masagana is now located. It would have been nice if they where able to retain it's ownership, it could have been turned into a garden.

overtureph

August 17th, 2007, 07:58 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/270957511.jpg

This picture must have been taken during the postwar period and after the National Museum/Legislative building was reconstructed. The side of the building seems to be different from the pre-war photos.

overtureph

August 18th, 2007, 04:28 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ej23e.jpg

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overtureph

August 18th, 2007, 04:32 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/JonesBridge1.jpg

Animo

August 18th, 2007, 08:10 PM

Jeff was it uncommon to have 2 levels of tranvia in Manila? It seems like its rare to find photos with this kind of transportation.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1162/1161652204_1bc8e111a5_o.jpg

vs.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/RPC109.jpg

Old photos of Plaza Goiti never fails to amuse me. Think I was 14 then when I first saw a photo of this plaza when mum asked me to pay our MERALCO bill that afternoon. And in the waiting area, there was an enlarged photo of Goiti. I was just staring at that photo until it was my turn to pay the bill.

Such affection to the area remains to date. Could have been a really nice plaza if they did not change the name (foremost) and restored the tranvia, among other things.

Animo

August 18th, 2007, 08:16 PM

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1299/1160849727_4b841b7b59_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1288/1160849757_6d09127b55_b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1028/1160849795_2ade3c3e8e_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1080/1160849779_5dce61b1a1_o.jpg

Wonderboy

August 19th, 2007, 07:16 PM

Jeff was it uncommon to have 2 levels of tranvia in Manila? It seems like its rare to find photos with this kind of transportation.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1162/1161652204_1bc8e111a5_o.jpg

vs.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/RPC109.jpg

Hello Animo. You're right, a two-level tranvia is rare and often used in the outskirts of Manila such as Malabon on the old photo that you posted. However, when MERALCO took over between 1903-1910 to operate the electric streetcar, they only had the regular tranvia that you see on the other old photo.

Actually, even before MERALCO operated its tranvia in Manila, there was the horse-drawn street railway of the Compania de los Tranvias de Filipinas.

Animo

August 20th, 2007, 10:20 PM

^^ Thanks for the information. I have seen a couple of international tranvias and it is actually rare to have two-levels. It reminded me of the London bus actually. :D

http://images.inquirer.net/media/globalnation/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/images/pic-08200116320798.jpg

By Sol Auerbach
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:41pm (Mla time) 08/20/2007

President Manuel Quezon had a different approach; he feared the rebel and dissident intellectuals precisely because they came from the elite classes. The Spaniards had also been sensitive to such recalcitrant elements. In one of his novels Rizal tells of the arrest for conspiracy of Filipino students who had gathered for a quite innocent celebration in a Chinese restaurant.

Quezon was more sophisticated in dealing with discontent among the intellectuals whose loyalty he sought and whom he rewarded with position and privilege. Counting on his power of persuasion and priding himself on his readiness to face critics, he invited the "Beer Club" rebels for an intimate tête-à-tête in the Palace. It was evidently a pleasant social affair, with plenty of good-natured banter on all sides, in which the President sought to show his guests how enlightened he was as against the ignorant, feudalist, reactionary nature of his ruling colleagues.

In any case, they were invited, as I was, to the gala celebration to mark the first year of the Commonwealth. The full dress affair was held at the luxurious Manila Hotel on Dewey Boulevard with perhaps a thousand people attending. The cream of Philippine society and of the business, political and military world had been invited, with a few editors and journalists thrown in. For the occasion, I had to have made a tropical full-dress suit-with short white jacket, black trousers and a broad black cummerbund, the only formal dress I have ever owned and which I wore only for this event.

The celebration began with the stately and pompous rigodon, led by the President and his wife. The dance is a hand-me-down from Spanish colonial society, reminiscent of European royalty; I had been assured that an interview with the President would be arranged. Justice Jose Abad Santos, at the request of his brother, introduced me to Quezon. He invited me for a talk at Malacañang, the former residence of the Spanish and U.S. governors.

The interview began at breakfast on the spacious veranda overlooking the apartment in the Palace, after he had called off a scheduled Cabinet meeting. I do not know why he thought it worthwhile to devote the better part of a day to me, I could only conjecture that he was well-informed of my wide association with opposition elements, including the Communists and Socialists, and was concerned with criticism of his first year as Commonwealth President in liberal U.S. quarters as The Nation.

Read the rest of this excerpt from the Auerbach memoirs here (http://www.quezon.ph/columns.php?view=article&id=38).

Sol Auerbach (1906-1986) was “an organizer, Marxist scholar, writer and editor for the Communist Party, USA” who visited the Philippines in the 1930 to help “arrange the merger of the socialist and Communist parties.” He later assumed the name James S. Allen (http://dlib.nyu.edu/eadapp/transform?source=tamwag/allen_j.xml&style=tamwag/tamwag.xsl).

- A Girondist’s Off-Duty Rants, website of Manuel Quezon III

overtureph

August 21st, 2007, 05:46 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ChurchOfTheConventAtSantoDomingoDeB.jpg

Church and convent of Santo Domingo de Basco, Batanes Island

overtureph

August 21st, 2007, 05:47 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ej23m.jpg

Maxxclip

August 21st, 2007, 06:59 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ej23m.jpg

Wonderful! Parang ibang dimension ito ng luneta...

Maxxclip

August 21st, 2007, 07:01 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/JonesBridge1.jpg

Parang sa Paris:)

overtureph

August 22nd, 2007, 06:23 AM

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http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ManilaPI-2.jpg

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overtureph

August 22nd, 2007, 06:27 AM

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overtureph

August 22nd, 2007, 06:28 AM

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overtureph

August 22nd, 2007, 06:39 AM

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Pinoy_ako

August 22nd, 2007, 07:14 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ChurchOfTheConventAtSantoDomingoDeB.jpg

Church and convent of Santo Domingo de Basco, Batanes Island

Church and convent of San Carlos Borromeo de Mahatao, Batan Island, Batanes - One of the 26 churches declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum in 2001.

Wonderboy

August 22nd, 2007, 09:35 AM

^^ I saw an indie film entitled "Kadin" and that church was used as backdrop. Maganda rin loob niya.

http://www.imagesphilippines.com/images/042605_093331.jpg
* From imagephilippines.com

Animo

August 22nd, 2007, 11:26 PM

Actually, even before MERALCO operated its tranvia in Manila, there was the horse-drawn street railway of the Compania de los Tranvias de Filipinas.

http://www.geocities.com/cd_gotica2004/tranvia.gif

http://www.tramz.com/cl/iq/31.jpg

http://www.todoadrogue.com.ar/historia/19.jpg

The Compañía de los Tranvías de Filipinas was established in Madrid by Jacobo Zóbel y Zangróniz and his Manila- and Madrid-based partners with an initial capitalization of $350,000. Jacobo, who was a fulltime partner of Ayala y Cía., had been granted a permit to construct five tramway lines in Manila. At the peak of its operations, the company had animal-drawn and steam-driven tramcars running from the hub in Plaza San Gabriel to Intramuros, Malate, Malacañang, Sampaloc, and Binondo. The streetcars were Manila’s main means of transportation. The Compañía de los Tranvías de Filipinas continued operating until 1903, when it ceded its rights over the tramway lines to another company.

overtureph

August 23rd, 2007, 02:24 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/TheFamousMayonVolcano.jpg

Mayon Volcano.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/Carabao-CartWithChineseDriverManila.jpg

Carabao cart with Chinese driver Manila.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ClassInBiologyNormalSchool.jpg

Class in biology Normal school.

overtureph

August 23rd, 2007, 02:24 AM

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overtureph

August 23rd, 2007, 02:25 AM

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overtureph

August 23rd, 2007, 02:26 AM

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House of a rich Native.

overtureph

August 23rd, 2007, 02:27 AM

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Bamboo organ

overtureph

August 23rd, 2007, 02:31 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/walledcity1.jpg

overtureph

August 23rd, 2007, 02:36 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/ARiverSceneWithNativeHouses.jpg

A river scene.

overtureph

August 23rd, 2007, 02:37 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/emil1_IMG.jpg

This item seems to be a handkerchief showing Emilio Aguinaldo.

Animo

August 25th, 2007, 11:16 PM

By Ambeth Ocampo
Inquirer
Last updated 02:45am (Mla time) 08/24/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- At the start of each semester, when I meet a new class for the first time and go over the syllabus, I watch out for the collective groan that comes when I announce that a visit to the National Museum is required. For many college students who had to endure a grade school trip to the museum, going there a second or third time is considered cruel and unusual punishment. This mind-set is not the fault of the museum; it is the fault of the teacher or museum guide who did not infect the students with a sense of discovery and appreciation of our past. Many of my students complain after visiting the National Museum that they do not want to see another piece of blue-and-white ceramic for the rest of their lives, but they say this because they do not appreciate not just the artistic and symbolic beauty of the pieces but more importantly the fact that these are traces of a long and complex story that goes beyond our written history.

If you haven’t visited it yet, there is a very comprehensive display of ancient porcelain excavated from Philippine archeological sites in the Ayala Museum. Ably curated by the president of the Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines, Rita Ching Tan, the exhibition is but a small fraction of the Roberto T. Villanueva collection of ceramics that used to be kept in a private museum in Forbes Park. At first glance, you will be overwhelmed by a hall filled with ceramics, but Rita Tan has not only arranged them by point of origin -- China, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia -- she has also arranged the Chinese section chronologically by type so that anyone can follow the development of Chinese ceramics from the 9th to the 19th century and appreciate these artifacts, which have been imported into the Philippines over the centuries. Now that the United States is making such a big fuss over Chinese exports, and we are told not to eat White Rabbit candy or give children Chinese-made toys, it would be interesting to note that we have been importing things from China for over 1,000 years.

Over the years, I have been picking up pieces of ancient ceramics from antique shops not for a systematic collection but rather as souvenirs of a pre-Spanish past. Over the years, I have tried to read up on ceramics starting from the pioneering work by Leandro and Cecilia Locsin’s “Oriental Ceramics Discovered in the Philippines.” Much of the material is scattered over a number of books, all of them out of print and hard to obtain. And even if I had a book on ceramics or a photocopy, there is no substitute to seeing actual pieces. Now that the Roberto T. Villanueva collection is on display and arranged so sensibly, one can get an introduction to pre-colonial trade.

A smaller exhibition of Chinese ceramics, also curated by Rita Tan, is on view in Kaisa Museum in Intramuros. I tell myself that if I had these resources when I was a student, my visits to the National Museum and my lessons on pre-colonial Philippine history would have been enriched and made more engaging.

If the present Ayala Museum exhibition were done 20 years ago, I would have been more appreciative of my mother’s modest collection of ceramics. Once she arranged them all neatly on a shelf in my study and I was so upset by the intrusion that I gathered everything and left them in a box outside the door. Infuriated, she threatened to break a particularly beautiful Song period celadon plate on my head but changed her mind when she realized how much more valuable -- historically and monetarily -- the plate was than her son’s hard head. Years later, I ate my pride and sheepishly asked for a few pieces and, like all mothers, she forgave. I inherited the whole lot of mostly Ming 15th to 16th century pieces.

These days whenever I go to the beach, I spend time with goggles and snorkel, scanning the bottom of the sea for broken shards of ancient ceramics that fell off some ancient ship. In Mindoro, I found some Ming period shards of blue-and-white ceramics and pieces of black ceramics made in Thailand. In Cebu, aside from a broken Noritake plate and a torn condom, I found two pieces from a Ching (probably 19th century) plate.

When I show these to the locals, I’m usually told that these things turn up on the shore after a storm, making me imagine shipwrecks with ancient cargo in the vicinity. I’m often shown other broken pieces that are just tucked away in homes, sometimes even used as markers for a game of "piko" or even “sungka.”

Now that most of the archeological sites on land have been exhausted, the last frontier is the sea. Clues to our pre-history lie on the sea-bed, and we are glad that the National Museum Underwater Archeology Section, in cooperation with interested individuals like the Frenchman Frank Goddio, are bringing things to the surface. By patiently documenting each piece in its historical context, they help complete the proverbial jigsaw puzzle we call Philippine pre-history.

So many resources available today were not around when I was a student. We hope these can be disseminated in a more popular and lively way so that museum visits will be a joy rather than a chore.

* * *

My lecture on Juan Luna at the National Museum, which was cancelled due to bad weather last weekend, has been reset to Saturday Sept. 15 at Abalaza Hall, National Art Gallery.

* * *

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=84404

Insanedriver

August 26th, 2007, 03:45 PM

The Torres Ancestral Home
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d113/fbgcxxxx/TorresAncestralHome.jpg
Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City (circa 1940's)
Lots of good stories about this home and it's neighbors.

lol my neighborhood :D
yea, the neighborhood got alot of traditional houses from the 40's which includes my grandma's thats still standing.

anyways... saang street yan?

Animo

August 30th, 2007, 09:47 AM

Mayor Alfredo Lim leads the celebration of the 157th birth anniversary of Marcelo H. del Pilar today at the Paraiso ng Batang Maynila.

He will officiate at the wreath-laying rite before the national hero’s statue at the park on Quirino Avenue corner Roxas Boulevard in Malate.

Lim will be accompanied by the Samahang Plaridel Inc., an association of journalists and writers headed by Neal Cruz along with Vice Mayor Francisco Domagoso, also vice chairman of the Manila Historical and Heritage Commission, and the councilors of Manila’s six districts.

A Bulakeño, Del Pilar was born in 1850. He was the moving spirit of the “Propaganda Movement,” (1880-1895), a nationalist advocacy established in Spain by José Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, the brothers Luna and other Filipino expatriates.

He used the pen name Plaridel and was editor of the movement’s political quarterly “La Solidaridad.”

Del Pilar believed that the unmitigated power of the Spanish friars was the root of oppression and corruption in colonial Philippines. He exposed these abuses in “La Soberania Monacal en Filipinas” and “La Frailocracia en Filipinas.” Plaridel’s “Dasalan at Tocsohan” (a spoof of the catechism, “Amain Namin” at “Aba Ginoong Barya”) were popular among the masses. He died in Barcelona in 1896.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=police5_aug30_2007

Animo

August 30th, 2007, 10:20 AM

By Ambeth Ocampo
Inquirer
Last updated 01:31am (Mla time) 08/10/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- It has always been a puzzle to me that very little academic attention is focused on the Philippines in graduate and post-graduate university programs on Southeast Asia abroad. Maybe it’s the fact that the Philippines isn’t as exotic as Burma (Myanmar) or Cambodia. Maybe it’s the fact that a student or scholar does not have to learn Filipino to undertake research in the Philippines because they can get around with English. I have always wondered about the lack of interest in Spanish and American universities to study their former overseas colony. To think that Filipino historians must undertake archival research abroad because much of our library and archival holdings were destroyed during the Battle for Manila in 1945.

I also wonder why Filipino students are not given some Spanish or American history in order to help them understand the colonial days and the way in which our republic today relates to former colonial masters.

Gaps in my inadequate education in American history are filled by TV and movies, which are sometimes more effective than teachers or textbooks. For example, I remembered Rosa Parks while reading the memoirs of Victor Buencamino. Parks made history by challenging segregation. She simply refused to move from a front-row bus seat reserved for whites to a seat in the rear set aside for people of color. I had forgotten that segregation was also practiced in the Philippines during the American period, until I read about people like Buencamino and, of course, Manuel Quezon who literally crossed the line and made history that we have unfortunately forgotten.

By his own reckoning, Victor Buencamino’s claim to fame is that he was: the first Filipino to earn a doctorate in veterinary medicine; the first Filipino to hold the post of director of the Bureau of Animal Husbandry; the first Filipino to establish a veterinary hospital in the Philippines. He was one of those responsible for the founding of the College of Veterinary Science in the University of the Philippines.

I don’t normally read material outside my area of expertise but, kept indoors the other day by rain and flood, I decided to sit down and see what Buencamino had to say about the Philippines of his times. What caught my attention was that he was one of the founders of the present Philippine Columbian Association way back in 1907.

The Columbian clubhouse today is better known as a venue for sports. I used to swim in the club in its old place along Taft Avenue, and I remember entering its formal, wood-paneled library feeling intelligent even if I didn’t open or read a single book. I didn’t realize that the Columbian was originally founded as a social club for Filipinos who were denied membership in other clubs like the Polo Club, Manila Golf Club, YMCA and the Army and Navy Club.

Buencamino and nine other friends decided to found the Philippine Columbian Association exclusively for Filipinos who had studied in the United States. Later they relaxed membership rules, and Jorge Vargas was admitted even if he had not studied in the United States. The association became nationalistic and its clubhouse in 1934 became the headquarters for the national Congress for Philippine Independence. Manuel Quezon held many strategic meetings there.

Buencamino narrates that segregation was not confined to “Americans-only” social clubs, but also to the dance floors of the Lerma and Santa Ana cabarets. Quezon was the first to cross the line with the support of US Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison, who should be better remembered aside from the street running along seedy parts of Pasay and Manila today. Harrison reserved a table for a small party at the Lerma cabaret and was given one in the “Occidentals-only” section. Then the governor-general arrived with his guests, among them Manuel Quezon, Buenaventura Barona, Victor Buencamino and their ladies. The management was too stunned to do anything as they sat in the segregated part of the cabaret, feasted on juicy steaks. Buencamino recounted: “[W]e danced all night, somewhat pleased inside us that we were making a little bit of history. Thus was demolished forever the race barrier in these once exclusively white cabarets. Gradually, the other exclusive clubs also dropped the racial barriers.”

Time has softened the sharp edges of colonial history. Many of us today cannot imagine that the only Filipinos allowed in the Manila Hotel were servants. Or that the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club was founded by William Shaw because his wife and “mestizo” child were not welcome in the Manila Golf Club then in Caloocan. Or that Manuel Nieto, aide to Quezon, was denied membership to the Manila Polo Club so the President encouraged the Elizaldes to establish the alternative Los Tamaraos, now a residential subdivision in Parañaque.

Crossing the race barrier seems insignificant today, but it must be remembered as a footnote in our development as a nation.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=81655

Lili

August 30th, 2007, 11:35 PM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/pc5486.jpg

Wonderful vintage colorized picture. I wonder which river is that?

(I fancy that little girl in yellow making laba laba kinda looked like me as a girl. :colgate: The baby at the leftthandmost side looks like Baby Tigs. :D)

paulkrps

August 31st, 2007, 03:23 AM

^^ the above pic looks very amorsolo.

el_dasik_oo1

August 31st, 2007, 11:04 AM

The Torres Ancestral Home
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d113/fbgcxxxx/TorresAncestralHome.jpg
Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City (circa 1940's)
Lots of good stories about this home and it's neighbors.

Torres Ancestral Home? Is your family came from Bulacan? If so then we might be relatives since I'm also a Torres. :D

overtureph

September 2nd, 2007, 10:52 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/1910RPPCManilaPhillipinesPandacanSt.45.jpg

Animo

September 11th, 2007, 01:23 AM

By Robby Tantingco
Peanut Gallery

THE record of the evolution of civilization is called history, but some people with a feminist bent argue that the word history is not gender-sensitive, proposing instead the word herstory. They claim that historians, being mostly men, often marginalize the role of women in history. While men fought wars, built cities and ruled empires, women stood in the shadows and stayed in the sidelines, doing nothing much beyond nursing wounded soldiers, whispering unsolicited advice to royal ears, and generally being satisfied with the best compliment that masculine society can concede to them, i.e., “behind every man’s success is a woman.”

In Pampanga, however, women -- although often described as totally devoted to their husbands -- will never be satisfied with a passive role, whether in family, in society or in history.

Shrewd, strong-willed and deeply religious, Kapampangan women manage their households like rural CEOs, investing their small savings in small ventures that eventually become big family business. The Arnedos, the Hizons, the Gonzalezes, the Dayrits, the Panlilios, the Lazatins, the Singians, the Hensons, the Nepomucenos -- they all had dominant matriarchs in their lineages.

Kapampangan society is also dominated by assertive, articulate women -- examples are mayors, vice mayors, board members and congresswomen (even a governor); business leaders, university heads, etc.

In that last bastion of male dominance, the Church, only the Vatican prohibition on women priests is probably preventing Kapampangan women from taking over, but in all other areas where they are permitted to participate -- religious organizations, parish councils, para-liturgical services -- the ladies cannot wait to lead.

Kapampangan women have also altered the course of history not only of Pampanga but also of the entire country.

As the City of San Fernando dedicates the week to the memory of Nicolasa Dayrit y Pamintuan, who played a key role in the prevention of bloodshed in Pampanga during the Revolution, let us remember the other Kapampangan women who figured in history:

Martha de San Bernardo is the first Filipino nun; before her, monasteries and convents were exclusively for Spanish women living in the Philippines. But all the Spanish nuns in the Franciscan convent in Manila petitioned their superiors to make an exception for her on account of her virtues, and when the superiors refused, the white-skinned nuns brought the native woman out to the open sea, where the official prohibition did not apply, and there, on the ship, she became a nun. That was in 1632.

Dionisia Mitas Talangpaz and Cecilia Rossa Talangpaz, although born in Calumpit, Bulacan, were half-Kapampangans and most likely spoke Kapampangan. Their paternal grandmother, Juana Mallari, and maternal grandfather, Agustin Songsong de Pamintuan, were from Macabebe. Against all odds, the sisters jointly founded in the early 1700s the Congregation of the Augustinian Recollect Sisters, the oldest non-contemplative religious community for women in the Augustinian Recollect Order throughout the world. The cause for their beatification started in 1999. Their grandfather’s uncle, Phelippe Songsong of Macabebe, will also be applied for beatification by the archdiocese of San Fernando.

Asuncion Ventura (real name: Cristina Ventura Hocorma y Bautista) of Bacolor founded the Asilo de San Vicente de Paul in 1885 in Paco, Manila, thus becoming the first Filipino woman to establish an orphanage.

Luisa Gonzaga de Leon of Bacolor is the first Kapampangan (of any gender) to author a book; she also holds the distinction of being the first Filipino woman to author a book, by translating into Kapampanga the 308-page Ejercicio Cotidiano (Daily Devotion), a compilations of prayers, for the benefit of Kapampangans who could not read Spanish. Using her family resources, she was on her way to publishing the book when she died in 1843. The book was eventually published in 1845, reprinted in 1854, 1867, 1910 and 1967.

Women are also credited for having founded or co-founded towns in Pampanga: Monmon, wife of Dapat-Magmanuk (who was son of Prince Balagtas, a Madjapahit sovereign from Java who came to Luzon in 1380), founded Bakulud (Bacolor); Bayinda and her husband Kapitangan, direct descendants of Malangsik, another son of Prince Balagtas, founded the town of Apalit; Mandik, wife of Malangsik, founded Bebe (which eventually became Macabebe) and Mandasig (which eventually became Candaba); Rosalia de Jesus led the clearing of Culiat which paved the way for the founding of Angeles. The town of San Luis was named after a certain Doña Luisa, wife of the town’s legal counsel in the 1760s who won a case against neighboring town Pinpin (Sta. Ana) over a land claim.

Meanwhile, the Zambales town of Botolan was founded by a Kapampangan woman named Doña Teresa from Mabalacat, at the time when there was a direct pass from Pampanga to Zambales through the Zambales Mountain Range.

Women warriors in the mold of Gabriela Silang are not lacking in Pampanga history, particularly during the struggle for social justice following World War II. To name only a few: Felipa Culala (a.k.a. Kumander Dayang-Dayang), who led a daring operation on a Japanese armory in Bataan; Elena Poblete (alias Kumander Mameng), who led a unit of Huk guerillas in Minalin; and Cherith Dayrit Garcia, a cum laude graduate of St. Scholastica College who became a ranking NPA officer.

References: Articles of Tonette Orejas and Alex Castro in Singsing Magazine; Dr. Luciano Santiago’s book Kapampangan Pioneers in the Philippine Church (HAU Press)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2007/09/11/oped/robby.tantingco.peanut.gallery.html

Animo

September 14th, 2007, 06:47 PM

By Ambeth Ocampo
Inquirer
Last updated 02:45am (Mla time) 09/14/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- People are still spilling their two cents worth on the Sandiganbayan decision on the long drawn-out Erap plunder case, and the comments often reflect a personal knee-jerk reaction favorable to either Erap or the judicial system since few people have actually read the whole decision.

I expected to spend Wednesday morning watching history unfold as the decision was read on TV. I expected it to be similar or more dramatic than the conviction of Mayor Antonio Sanchez whose Jekyll to Hyde transformation was caught live on camera. That was reality TV at its best. Many people felt cheated that the Erap sentencing was so short we had not even warmed our seats and started on our chichiria. Only the conclusion was read on air, and some people complained that viewers would not understand how the decision was arrived at, as if non-lawyers could digest all that boring legalese and snippets of Latin.

Fortunately, historians deal with the past rather than the future because I'm not inclined to go over the voluminous Sandiganbayan decision to form a learned opinion on the matter that will be used in casual conversation this week.

For many people the Erap trial was a test case. Would justice be served now that we have the proverbial "big fish" in the net? Others take the Erap trial as a warning to those who aspire to or are currently serving in government that if they do something wrong, the law will catch up with them somehow, someday.

If people remembered their textbook history, they would have known that during the first two centuries of the Spanish period government officials, from the governor general down to insignificant functionaries, were made to undergo a review of their official acts at the end of their term of office. This was known as the residencia(not, mind you, the residence tax or cedula).

An obscure work by Charles Cunningham, "The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies as Illustrated by the Audiencia of Manila," first published in 1919, remains the standard source on the topic. Cunningham opens a whole chapter on the residencia by stating: "The purpose of the residencia was to uphold the morale of the colonial service by making officials answer for all their acts in judicial examination held at the close of their terms. It may be said that the fear of the residencia was almost the sole incentive to righteous official conduct or efficient public service." If you change "colonial service" to "civil service" in the passage just quoted, you would have yet another answer to graft and corruption.

Furthermore, Cunningham cites the historical introduction to the 55-volume compilation of documents by "Blair and Robertson" on this matter:

"The residencia was an institution peculiar in modern times of the Spanish colonial system. It was designed to provide a method by which officials could be held to strict accountability for all acts during their term of office. To allow a contest in the courts involving the governor's powers during his term of office would be subversive of his authority. He was then to be kept in bounds by realizing that a day of judgment was impending, when everyone, even the poorest Indian, might in perfect security bring forward his accusation. In the Philippines the residencia for a governor lasted six months and was conducted by his successor and all the charges were forwarded to Spain. The Italian traveller Gemelli Careri who visited Manila in 1696 characterizes the governor's residencia as a 'dreadful trial,' the strain of which would sometimes 'break their hearts'."

I once thought the residencia was a solution to graft and corruption in government, but reading on I realized things are not as simple as they seem. Ideal in principle, the residencia was bad in actual practice because knowing what we are like as a people, the residencia degenerated into an institutionalized form of revenge or harassment. Anything from the large to the petty, from the real to the imagined, could be taken up during a residencia, and, depending on who is administering it the ex-government official was fined, imprisoned or exiled. Sometimes the unfortunate fellow suffered all of the above punishments, and his family and friends were reduced to poverty. No appeal was allowed. Often, death during the residencia was the most merciful way out. If an official did not see see eye to eye with the Royal Audiencia or other officials on matters of policy or favors and concessions, he knew what to expect come residencia time. The charges ranged from graft, to immorality to inability to stop Moro raids or pursue the Dutch after a naval battle.

Then as now, Manila was crawling with fixers, influence peddlers, sipsips and balimbings, who made a living in the corridors of power. Once rebuffed, they set off from Manila to Mexico as soon as the term of a governor ended, to take the return trip with the incoming governor. They then used the long and boring sea trip to ingratiate themselves with the newcomer and poison his mind regarding the ex-governor at whose residencia he would preside. No wonder the residencia became obsolete. When practiced it did not stem graft and corruption but probably even multiplied it three-fold because the proverbial advice to government officials was: You don't steal once, you steal thrice--once for yourself, a second time to pay the judge, and a third to pay penalties.

* * *

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=88471

estan

September 16th, 2007, 07:47 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/1910RPPCManilaPhillipinesPandacanSt.45.jpg

may mga attics ba ang mga bahay nato? :)

overtureph

September 16th, 2007, 08:40 AM

^^ I think the roof was constructed in such a way as an added cooling effect or adaptation for the tropical climate and possibly also for the strong tropical rain.

Wonderboy

September 17th, 2007, 04:33 PM

^^ I wonder what part of Pandacan that nipa house was once located. Maybe Labores or Jesus Street? Had good memories of Pandacan when I was a kid.

paulkrps

September 23rd, 2007, 05:16 AM

repost.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/hqarmyofphil.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/infirmary-manila.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/24003.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/ku82872.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/ku58408.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/x24211.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/x24213.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/ku58326.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/paulkrps/x8944.jpg

overtureph

September 25th, 2007, 01:54 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/w8403.jpg

overtureph

September 25th, 2007, 01:55 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/w8602.jpg

Wonderboy

September 25th, 2007, 06:14 PM

Spot the difference:

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx25475.jpg

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3526.jpg

driftwood

September 25th, 2007, 06:23 PM

Photoshopped? You made her smile, wonderboy? :lol:

Wonderboy

September 25th, 2007, 08:58 PM

^^ Hehe...nah, that's not a wonder of photoshop. The photographer probably asked the girl to smile since she was frowning on the first photo. Take a look at her arms, they look firm and muscled. I wonder what she does for a living.

Wonderboy

September 25th, 2007, 09:03 PM

More photos...

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/ku85880.jpg
Philippine Legislative Building, Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x24102.jpg
The Cathedral, Old Manila

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3533.jpg
Pasig River (If you look closely, you will see the Bridge of Spain)

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/wx3527.jpg
"Gambling on the highway"

http://138.23.124.164/images/kmast2/geographic/asia/philippineislands/luzon/details/x4578.jpg
A suburb in Manila (could be Ermita or Malate)

Animo

September 27th, 2007, 12:32 AM

Sensors' clue leads to railroad debris, not galleon
Nehalem Bay - Searchers eliminate one area that could have held wreckage from the long-lost "Beeswax Ship" Wednesday, September 26, 2007RICHARD L. HILL The Oregonian Staff
MANZANITA -- The whereabouts of a 17th century Spanish galleon that wrecked on the northern Oregon coast about 300 years ago remains elusive.

A team of about 20 researchers and divers spent last weekend at Nehalem Bay State Park looking for remains of the trading ship. The three-day search for the "Beeswax Ship" -- so called for its cargo of Philippines beeswax -- found no signs of the vessel, but project leaders say they plan to return next spring to continue their work.

The researchers focused on sites at the bottom of Nehalem Bay. In May, sensors had detected irregularities in magnetic fields there during an initial phase of the project. The anomalies could pinpoint cannon or other objects from the ship.

But divers found only wooden railroad ties and rails that apparently had been dumped into the bay long ago. Rough ocean conditions prevented them from exploring potential sites offshore.

"We accomplished a lot in three days," said Scott Williams, a Washington state archaeologist who is leading the project in his spare time. "We can now eliminate some sites and move on to other places that show promise. We knew this was going to be challenging work."

The wreck has been well-known for more than 150 years. Native Americans and 19th-century settlers made use of the shattered ship's teak timbers and abundant blocks of beeswax.

The Spanish galleon probably was on its way to Acapulco, Mexico, after picking up its cargo of Chinese porcelain and beeswax in Manila, Philippines. A storm may have blown the ship off course, and it wrecked near the mouth of Nehalem Bay.

Any survivors could have been the first Europeans to make contact with Native Americans in the Northwest.

The ship's cargo of several tons of beeswax, prized for candles, was strewn throughout the area. Blocks of the beeswax, stamped with numbers and other designs, are on display with other artifacts at the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum in Tillamook

Evidence, including records of missing galleons, has narrowed the vessel's possible identity to two ships: the Santo Christo de Burgos, which vanished in 1693, and the San Francisco Xavier, which disappeared in 1705.

The search for the ship is supported by the Naga Research Group, a nonprofit archaeological organization based in Hawaii. (Information: www.nagagroup.org/BeesWax/about/about.htm)

Researchers hope to renew the hunt in May.

"We're just beginning the search," said Jack Peters, a project staff member from Springfield. "The ship isn't going to give herself up easily."

http://www.oregonlive.com/science/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/science/119076270374720.xml&coll=7

Hawayano

September 29th, 2007, 09:09 PM

Hotel Filipinas--so funky I loved it. My grandparents stayed here in 1970 during their first visit to the Philippines since 1934:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/HotelFilpinas.jpg

The New Luneta as planned by Daniel Burnham. I wish the Museo Pambata would consider a full restoration to its original look (Elks Club bldg.)
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/NewLuneta.jpg

Aerial (retouched) postcard of the Manila Hotel around 1940. That sprawling. silver-roofed wing on the bayside of the main building was the famed Fiesta Pavillion, ballroom of prewar aristocratic weddings.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/ManilaHotelandIntramurosaerialPC.jpg

Hawayano

September 29th, 2007, 09:14 PM

I think this building was the topic of an earlier thread this past summer: the prewar University Club whose neoclassic details complimented her neighbor, the Luneta Hotel. What a glorious city we had once been!
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/LunetaHotelandUniversityClub.jpg

Then, sometime in the 1950s, they converted U-Club into the Shellborne Hotel which later became the New Otani Hotel, and finally an empty lot at the start of the 21st century :ohno:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/otani.jpg

overtureph

September 29th, 2007, 10:01 PM

Truly once upon a time, it was the Pearl of the Orient. Great photos Hawayano.

Hawayano

September 30th, 2007, 03:41 AM

^^ @overtureph: thanks for that. I only wish that one of the powerbrokers in this country would take seriously our ranting about endangered or demolished historic architecture...sayang--we of the masa can only imagine old Manila through photos.

GearX

October 2nd, 2007, 11:17 AM

Reclining Filipina Beauties....
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/reclin.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/reclin2.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/reclin3.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/reclin4.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/reclin5.gif

GearX

October 2nd, 2007, 11:24 AM

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/1931.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/1935.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/1933.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/1935-mindanao.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/1920.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/1920_2.gif
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/carlos.gif

LordCarnal

October 5th, 2007, 06:43 AM

Some old Cebu photos

Now I don't know where Bernie or rage@cebu got these old photos so that we could properly credit the source.. Hehe..

Magallanes Street?
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/old_cebu01.jpg

The old San Carlos College in Martires Street, now M.J. Cuenco.. Notice the church, the facade looks somewhat Churriguresque in style.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/old_cebu02.jpg

St. Thomas of Villanova Church in Danao, Cebu
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/old_cebu04.jpg

St. Therese of Avila Church in Talisay, Cebu
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/old_cebu03.jpg

U.S. Club near the Aduana
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/old_cebu06.jpg

Old steam locomotive
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/CebuHeritageWalk/Old_Photos/old_cebu05.jpg

overtureph

October 5th, 2007, 07:07 AM

^^ It would be nice if there would be a then and now comparison for some of the above photos.

LordCarnal

October 7th, 2007, 01:24 PM

Pope John Paul II's visit to the Philippines
(Manila-Cebu-Davao-Iloilo-Bacolod-Camarines-Baguio)

From the book, TOTUS TUUS

The Pope at Tondo
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_tondo.jpg

At University of Sto. Tomas
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_stotomas.jpg

At Manila Cathedral
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_manilacathedral.jpg

Beatification rites for Lorenzo Ruiz at Luneta, the first outside the Vatican
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_luneta.jpg

CEBU

Salute of ships at Cebu Harbor
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_cebu01.jpg

At Lahug Airport for the mass
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_cebu02.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_cebu03.jpg

The image of the Sto. Niño at the altar
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_cebu04.jpg

Archbishop's Palace in Cebu where the Pope spent a night
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/arnoldsa/pope/pope_cebu07.jpg

.:.

overtureph

October 8th, 2007, 10:35 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/2923_1.jpg

UST

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/THEJONESBRIDGE.jpg

Jones bridge

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/PCVIEWOFLEGISLATIVEBLDGCITYHALLPHIL.jpg

Legislative Building/National Museum

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/6318_1.jpg

Manila City Hall

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/4905_1.jpg

Was this clock the one in Luneta?

overtureph

October 8th, 2007, 10:38 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/union.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/UnionChurchA.jpg

Union Church

overtureph

October 8th, 2007, 10:45 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/bef4_1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/2196_1.jpg

overtureph

October 8th, 2007, 10:47 AM

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/PINESHOTELBAGUIO.jpg

Wasn't the old Pines Hotel in Baguio used to be located where SM is now standing? The old hotel looks better and seems to blend more with it's Baguio surroundings.

Animo

October 9th, 2007, 09:57 PM

By Gary C. Devilles (http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=93101)
Inquirer
Last updated 00:20am (Mla time) 10/08/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- In “The Promise of the Foreign: Nationalism and the Techniques of Translation in the Spanish Philippines,” by Vicente L. Rafael (Duke University Press, 2005, 230pp.), Rafael argues that translation was a key to the emergence of Filipino nationalism in the 19th century and such techniques can be gleaned from various texts such as Rizal’s novels, Balagtas’ “Florante at Laura,” rumors, speeches.

One can see the intimate but fraught connection of literature to nationalist discourse and the function of translation, a project Rafael started with his earlier book, “Contracting Colonialism” (1993), where he maintains that the limits of translation opened up the convergence of linguistic and historical negotiations for the Philippine nation to be articulated as a possibility and imperative.

In this book, Rafael tackles a similar framework, demonstrating that the “promise of the foreign” is predicated also in language, in this case Castilian, that resulted not in union of colonizer and colonized, but in each other’s misconceptions, with the effect of estranging both and preserving the foreignness.

Rafael uses the scene in the novel “El Filibusterismo” in which he says the class in Physics becomes an extension of the Church, and scientific education becomes lamentable since students regurgitate lessons and are never allowed to use the instruments. For Rafael, the scene is instructive of how communications between teachers and students are never smooth and they find themselves in the midst of other signs that interrupt the circulation of the language of authority.

Rafael points out how lengua de tendia, spoken by the Castillian professor, elicits laughter from students and thus showing how Castilian can be spoken in ways that evade linguistic authority and at the same time students recognizing an authority that comes from the intermittent and interruptive language.

The classroom scene is charged with various semantic registers, according to Rafael, that anticipate the crisis built into the economy of colonial communication.

Colonial communication

It is this crisis in colonial communication that enables people to appropriate the foreign, as noted by Rafael in comedias where actors dress up in medieval European fashion. For Rafael, costumes are technics for bringing distances up close the way a photograph conveys the sense of nearness of what is absent.

The eccentric costumes in comedias make the actors as if in contact with some place else, in foreign kingdoms of an unseen and indeterminate past. Hence, foreign costumes have the same generative power of language in which audience and actors are suspended as though they were in constant dialogue and communion, transcending time and space barriers.

Aside from the crisis language generates among speakers and listeners, Rafael also discusses the disseminative power of Castilian as demonstrated in Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere.” Rizal himself alludes to the novel as being untimely as though intimating that the novel would be best understood in the future.

In one scene in “Noli,” the protagonist Ibarra visits Pilosopo Tasio who is busy in his study room, writing hieroglyphics. Ibarra is surprised by the writing, and Pilosopo Tasio tells him future readers will be more discerning and acute and in better position to reckon with his work. Hence, the foreign language allows the work to survive and spread beyond the point of its emergence.

Even if neglected or suppressed, its Castilian language assures that the “Noli” can be discovered through its continuous translation and transmission, says Rafael.

Similarly, such continuous transmission has already been at work with Balagtas’ “Florante at Laura,” since the author uses Castilian words as well as classical Greek mythology and tragedies. The poem instigates as much as it dramatizes the possibilities of translation dwelling in the midst of untranslated words. It mobilizes the vernacular to conjure the foreign and brings it to lodge in the familiar, thus enabling the promise of the foreign as which is always yet to come, of others who are always yet to hear, and in hearing, respond.

The book contributes to our understanding of the fundamental assumptions informing nationalist discourse, as well as the contradictions and complex realities at work in Philippine society.

By radicalizing our concept of what and who we are collectively, and instead of arguing from essentialist standpoint about what makes us unique, we may begin to see the wisdom in how a community imagines itself based not on who we exclude but rather on who we include. The nation is a complex project and translation is a key to understanding such complexity.

Silent

The book, unfortunately, is silent on how such translation can also be radicalized into an ethical technology such that the reckoning of the foreign within various sociopolitical sites of analysis can be seen as dialectically producing or reproducing the nation.

If Rafael believes the intellectuals and the public have been successful in appropriating the foreign through comedias or novels, he must also tell us whether there is still a need for a revolution. We can see translation at work from Ladino poetry to Pasyon, and comedias to novels, then we must be able to situate the revolutionary poetry of Bonifacio and Del Pilar or the essays of Jacinto as culmination of this nascent nationalism.

Ultimately, Rafael must also explain the validity and viability of this nationalist project especially now when the world seems endangered by the borderless war on terrorism and that the United States is bent on exterminating all that is “foreign” to it.

The book should also articulate how we, who have been muted or oppressed by the foreigners, are able to learn from our miseducation, since Rizal himself had to reckon with foreigners’ misconceptions about Filipinos as well. In other words, the nationalist project must also be transformed into a strategic pedagogy to avoid the mistake of being indebted to the colonizers for the formation of the nation.

The foreigners need not be colonizers, and since we have been dealing with the foreigners even before the colonization of Spain, then our pre-colonial experience up to the present must inform us of how we are constantly reconstituting ourselves and being reconstituted in the process.

Magdiwang

October 11th, 2007, 05:00 AM

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/typicalmarket.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/tinguianesabra.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/panchovilla.jpg
Pancho Villa the Filipino boxer who became a world champion.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/pacoembroideryclass.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/coconutraft.jpg
Coconut raft in Pasig River

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/callesanpedrocavite.jpg
Cavite City

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/bambooorgan.jpg
Las Pinas Bamboo organ

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/uluuliroad.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/singer.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/libertybond.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/sanpedromakati.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/sanpedromacati.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/sanpedromacati2.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/33cavitenavyyard.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/2calbayogsamar-1.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/1bomberosmanila.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/oldmakati1.jpg
old Makati

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/luneta.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/39filipinos.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/46manila1899.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/acrosspasig.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/ayalabridge.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/bridgeofspain.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/escoltajuly41899.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/filipinomaiden.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/lalomachurch.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/manila1899.jpg
Manila Market

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/pasigbridge.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/sampalocmanila.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/noel/sansebastianst.jpg

Rence

October 12th, 2007, 06:08 PM

:lol: The flower clock in Luneta is now being maintained by the Manila orchidarium in a MOA with the Park .. So far they are still replanting the Flower clock

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/4905_1.jpg

Animo

October 15th, 2007, 10:18 PM

By Peter Jaynul Villanueva Uckung, Senior History Researcher, National Historical Institute (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/oct/16/yehey/opinion/20071016opi7.html)

(The country marks today the centennial of the first Philippine Assembly, the forerunner of the current Congress. Many outstanding Filipinos, led by former President Sergio Osmena Sr., took part in its work and pioneered in modern lawmaking. This account about Assemblyman Dominador Gomez, considered “the noisiest independence-minded representative,” gives us a glimpse of the personalities who helped shape the assembly’s history)

One hundred years after the Philippine Assembly convened at the old Manila Grand Opera House, the nation looks back with nostalgia to this founding of the Philippine legislative body. Time has a way of erasing the rough edges of eventful memories. Viewed from afar, like a crusty yellowed old photograph, the event seemed so fleetingly serene in its portrayal of the Filipino quest for legislative autonomy during that era.

Only pictures remain to remind us of this historic episode. Still, the reverberations of its passing, unnoticed yet so potent, are still animating our political character. A closer look at the picture, a few pages more in the history books a few more queries more in the Internet give us a bigger, deeper insight on the Philippine Assembly as it was a hundred years ago. And it was anything but serene.

The Assembly was created by the Philippine Bill of 1902 (the Cooper Act) calling for the establishment of a bicameral legislature. The Philippine Assembly would be the lower house (all Filipino members), and the Philippine Commission (all Americans) would be the upper house.

An election was held on July 31, 1907. Voters must be at least 21 years old; resided six months in their district; had held office up to a certain time; owned real property worth P500 pesos; could write and read; could speak Spanish or English. Only about 1.41 % of the population voted. The all-Filipino Assembly seemed to be a promise of independence from the Americans. Closer to the truth was that it was meant to pacify a people fresh from a losing war of liberation.

The Partido Nacionalista, whose platform was immediate Philippine independence (the Partido Nacional Progresista advocated eventual independence) won almost 80% of the seats. Calling for immediate independence was just a political slogan. The Filipino representatives could only pass resolutions asking the US Congress to grant independence in the future.

The power and influence of the traditional landed elite were woven into the Assembly, and the preservation of their political and economic power came first into their agenda. There was still no public opinion to spur them to act for the greater good. Moreover, whatever principle that might have united them at the start was now being undermined by intrigues, jealousies and personal differences.

Fourteen seats were contested. And one member was ejected like a hot potato from the Assembly—Dominador Gomez, considered the noisiest independence-minded representative.

Gomez was ousted on a technicality—that he was a not a citizen of the Philippines. Unlike Jose Rizal, Gomez served as a surgeon for the Spanish army then at war in Cuba and was even awarded for his effort. His wartime stint became an issue. He was eventually ousted after several heated sessions, which spilled over the streets and became an important topic for the common man; for Gomez was a champion of the cause of the common man.

Born in Manila in 1868, Gomez finished his medicine course in Madrid. He was a member of the Propaganda Movement. He helped finance La Solidaridad. When he returned to the Philippines, he found himself taking over the Union Obrera Democratica, the first trade union center in the Philippines. Its leader and founder, Isabelo de los Reyes, was jailed after leading a strike against the Manila Electric Railroad Company.

Under the tempestuous Gomez, the federation drew in more members from all over the country. In 1903 he led a gathering of a hundred thousand workers in front of Malacanang during the first celebration of Labor Day (he helped make it a legal observance). The Americans arrested Gomez and charged him with sedition and illegal association. He would later persuade the still rebellious Macario Sakay to come down from the mountains to talk peace with the Americans (Sakay was instead arrested, tried and hanged as a bandit).

When Gomez was elected to the Assembly, his fiery rhetoric attracted foes and few adherents. His bitterest critic was Manuel L. Quezon, and in 1915 they nearly had a duel. Before Gomez could even warm his seat or make laws for the good of Filipino workers, he was ousted. The legislator who came in from the cold, who was the most visibly driven lawmaker to ever support the Filipino laborers, was himself thrown back into the cold. Whatever promise of redemption he might have dreamt for the workers never saw fruition.

Rence

October 16th, 2007, 04:40 PM

They had some sort of celebrations in the ruins of the old Ayuntamiento

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=95976

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(UPDATE) Anakpawis solon injured in Manila car crash

Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran was reported injured when his vehicle figured in a road accident in Intramuros district in Manila Tuesday.

A radio DZMM report said Beltran was stepping out of his Toyota Hi-Ace van when a Ford Everest with commemorative plate 0770 rammed their vehicle at the corner of Victoria and Juan Luna streets in Intramuros before noon.

Jimmy Miranda, the congressman's driver, said Beltran was bleeding from the nose, mouth and head while being rushed to Philippine General Hospital on Taft Avenue. He said the congressman also complained of chest pains after the accident.

The 74-year-old lawmaker had just recovered from a heart ailment at the Philippine Heart Center where he was put on hospital arrest for a rebellion case. The case was later dismissed.

Miranda said he is also suffering pains on the hips and shoulders after the incident.

He said the congressman was about to attend the centennial celebration of the Philippine Legislative Assembly in Intramuros when the accident took place.

Animo

October 25th, 2007, 05:11 AM

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Painting by Filipino artist Juan Luna which he submitted to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884, where it garnered a gold medal.

Spoliarium: a chamber beneath a Roman arena, where bodies of dead gladiators are being dragged into a shadowy area, presumably to be put in a bigger pile of dead bodies.

Main Gallery, National Museum of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines

Flickr - GIBBster

By Monalisa Quizon , History Researcher National Historical Institute (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/oct/24/yehey/opinion/20071024opi6.html)

(The nation marks on Oct. 24 the 150th birth anniversary of the great Filipino painter, Juan Luna. He made his debut in the European art world in 1880 with “Death of Cleopatra,” followed in 1884 by his masterpiece, “Spoliarium,” which hangs today at the National Museum of Art. As the writer tells us, Luna was also an outstanding propagandist and diplomat of the First Philippine Republic.)

Juan Luna is one of the finest painters ever produced by the country. His best-known work, the “Spoliarium,” won a gold medal at the National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid, Spain, in 1884. He created beautiful masterpieces and, at the same time, helped awaken the sense of nationalism in the heart of every Filipino. The journal El Comercio on July 16, 1884, reported that the Philippines rejoiced after the highest honor in art was obtained by one of her sons—Juan Luna. Unfortunately, little is known of him as a propagandist and diplomat of the First Philippine Republic.

When Luna went to Spain, he joined the Propaganda Movement along with other Filipino patriots—Marcelo del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena and Jose Rizal. The movement gathered Filipino intellectuals to unite and clamor for reforms for the Philippines. In 1882, Filipino propagandists and Spanish sympathizers founded the Circulo Hispano-Filipino and, in 1889, the propaganda newspaper La Solidaridad was launched as the movement’s official organ, serving as an avenue for propagandists to express their thoughts for fellow Filipinos and against the abusive Spanish government. In 1889, Juan Luna was one of the seven Filipinos picked by Jose Rizal for Indios Bravos, the society he organized in Paris in 1889 “to uphold the dignity of the Filipinos who were usually referred by the Spaniards as “indios.”

On April 27, 1894, Luna returned to the Philippines together with his brother, Antonio. Two years later, the Philippine Revolution broke out. On the evening of Sept. 16, 1896, Luna, together with his brothers and hundreds of Filipino leaders, masons, liberals and Katipune*ros, was arrested by the guardia civil. Luna was captured for alleged complicity in the Kati*punan and was jailed at the Bilibid prison, later transferred to Fort Santiago and, finally, to the Cuartel de Caballeria de Lan*ceros in Manila.

He was pardoned on May 27, 1897, on the birthday of King Alfonso XIII through the Queen Regent who came to know Luna personally after she witnessed the unveiling of Luna’s La Battalla de Lepanto in the Hall of the Senate in 1887.

Juan Luna returned to Europe and was appointed revolutionary diplomat of the First Philippine Republic in November 1898. Together with Ramon Abarca and Pedro Roxas, he joined a delegation to Paris headed by Ramon Abarca and Pedro Roxas. Later he was appointed member of the diplomatic mission that presented the Filipino side in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. The delegation was headed by Felipe Agoncillo.

His diplomatic career was cut short when death struck him on his way to the Philippines. He suffered from heart attack while in Hong Kong on Dec. 7, 1899. Some speculated that his death was caused by unfortunate events in his life, like the tragic death of his siblings Antonio and Nemeriana, apart from the tragic experiences he suffered while in Europe.

His remains were buried in a cemetery in Hong Kong, later transferred to the Crypt of the San Agustin Church in Intra*muros, Manila on March 28, 1953 occupying niche No. 73. Though he was not able to see the realization of his dream and the vision of his peers, his efforts were not in vain. The revolution against Spain succeeded, but final victory was snatched by the American interlopers. The Filipino people would always remember Luna for the honor he bestowed on the Philippines and for his patriotism that helped shape the destiny of our nation.

Juan Luna is an inspiration to Filipino artists and youth today. In his speech delivered at a banquet in Madrid in honor of Luna and Felix Resurrección-Hidalgo, another outstanding artist, on June 25, 1884, Jose Rizal said: “In the history of nations there are names that by themselves signify an achievement, names that, like magic formulae, evoke pleasant and smiling thoughts, names that become a pact, a symbol of peace, a bond of love between two nations. The names of Luna and Hidalgo belong to these; their glories illumine the two extremes of the globe—the east and the west, Spain and the Philippines.”

Animo

October 25th, 2007, 05:14 AM

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By Ambeth Ocampo (http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=95347)
Inquirer
Last updated 01:43am (Mla time) 10/19/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Next week, we hope people will join the National Historical Institute, the City of Manila and the Province of Ilocos Norte in celebrating or at least remembering the patriot and painter Juan Luna on his 150th birthday. I presume that everything will run smoothly, from the commemorative programs, to lectures, painting contests for children and an exhibit by members of the Art Association of the Philippines who will embark on a pilgrimage to Badoc town, paint on the spot and exhibit their work in the reconstructed birthplace of Luna.

Badoc was recently in the news because of some cowboy movie-like shootout in that sleepy town inspired by local politics. There was one fatality, a bodyguard of the vice mayor, which was not good for local tourism, but then Ilocos Norte tourism officer Rene Guatlo commented dryly that guns and mayhem are nothing new in the history of the Ilocos region.

The recent shooting was quite appropriate because textbooks tend to forget that Luna shot and killed his wife Paz Pardo de Tavera, and his mother-in-law Juliana Gorricho in a jealous rage in Paris in 1892. Furthermore, because he survived becoming a Paris crime statistic in 1892, few people know that Felix Paz Pardo de Tavera was also shot by Luna during that bloody day when he tried to come to the aid of his mother and sister who had locked themselves in a bathroom and screamed for help from the third floor window.

When they returned home after years of living in Europe, Juan and his younger brother Antonio opened a “sala de armas,” or fencing school, in what was then Calle Alix in Sampaloc, Manila.

When all the festivities were being planned, I insisted on having two floral offerings in Manila, first at the foot of the statue of Juan Luna that stands on an island as you enter the Walled City today through Puerta Real [Royal Gate]; and second, in the crypt of San Agustin where Luna’s remains rest in niche No. 87. The tombstone was the source of much confusion because the text, as translated from the original Spanish, reads: “Juan Luna y Novicio. Painter. Patriot. Born in Badoc, Ilocos Norte 23 October 1857. Died in Victoria, Hongkong December 7, 1899.”

The problem was that for over a decade the National Historical Institute (NHI) had celebrated the anniversary of his birth on Oct. 24. A check with the pioneering and much cited biography of Luna by Carlos E. Da Silva revealed that when it was first published in mimeograph form in 1957, Luna’s birthday was Oct. 23. However when the NHI decided to publish the biography by Da Silva, the birthday suddenly became Oct. 24. This posed a problem because a tombstone should normally be infallible.

To be sure that the Oct. 24 date followed by the NHI for over two decades was not a typographical error, verification was undertaken. Pending new research, the compromise was that there would be two commemorations on two separate days: Oct. 23 in Ilocos, Oct. 24 in Manila. The Augustinians of San Agustin insisted on Oct. 23, following the date on the tombstone. Then, like an answered prayer the National Archives faxed the NHI a copy of Luna’s baptismal certificate issued by Fray Ricardo Alonso, OSA, parish priest of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, on Jan. 19, 1898. We do not know why this document was made and for whom, but the good friar certified that on page 215 of the 8th volume of their Record of Baptisms, the following text reads:

“On October 27, 1857 Fr. Sebastian Diez, parish priest of Sinait with the license from the parish priest of Badoc solemnly baptized Juan Luna de San Pedro, a three-day old boy, legitimate son of Don Joaquin Luna y San Pedro and Doña Laureana Novicio. The godfather was Juan de la Fuente a Spaniard who commanded the Spanish Infantry in both Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.”

The name of Luna’s “ninang” [godmother] is not recorded. Why? We will never know. Therefore, if Luna was baptized on Oct. 27, and he was three days old at the time, then his birthday is Oct. 24 not Oct. 23. The source for the wrong date must have been Luna’s daughter-in-law, Grace Luna, an American married to Luna’s son Andres who grew up to become one of the pioneering Filipino architects. After a memorial service in Hong Kong, following his death of a heart attack on Dec. 7, 1899, Luna’s body was cremated and Andres, according to the late Antonio Sindiong, kept the urn containing his father’s ashes all his life. Sindiong said that Luna’s remains were kept in a pail under the bed of Andres. It was only after Andres’ death did Juan Luna’s ashes find a final resting place in San Agustin.

This obscure and almost trivial bit of information only goes to show that there is much more to Juan Luna that remains to be researched and published so that we can come to terms with the artist of the violent and depressing “Spoliarium,” both as a painter and, more importantly, as a Filipino patriot. Why is he great? Because of his art? Because of his friendship with Rizal? Perhaps it is connected to being General Luna’s kuya or even his service as Philippine diplomatic representative of the Emilio Aguinaldo government in Europe?

There are many old questions about Luna that await new answers. Old questions that will generate new questions and push our knowledge further.

* * *

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu.

overtureph

October 28th, 2007, 04:00 AM

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overtureph

October 29th, 2007, 05:10 AM

Miag-ao Church

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overtureph

October 29th, 2007, 05:44 AM

I think this was taken from the old Jones bridge going towards Binondo.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/77966083_o.jpg

Hawayano

October 29th, 2007, 07:55 AM

^^thanks for the clear reso vintage pics, overtureph!

Here's one from 1939, with a swarm of Manila's most modern cabs lined up along Calle Cortabitarte (what name does it carry today???) and in the background there's Fort San Antonio Abad, out in the open. Back then Manila Bay still came up to Dewey Blvd. in this area (no reclamation). What I can't get over is the way everything and everybody looked so neat and orderly in Manila back then...

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/Cortabitarte.jpg

OtAkAw

October 29th, 2007, 09:32 AM

^^Such a contrast to what we Filipinos see in Manila today.

Hawayano

November 7th, 2007, 09:15 AM

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Aerial view over Calle Cortabitarte (see earlier post with taxi cabs in 1939) in the foreground, and the southern terminus of Dewey Blvd. At the time of this photo, sunken remains of Montojo's fleet still jutted from the surface of the Bay, just offshore of where the boulevard ended but not visible in this photo. Parts of Leveriza and Malate were still open space.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/revnewLunetaaerial.jpg
A nice look at the Elks Club and Army-Navy Club on the early bayfront reclamation. The Legazpi Landing (later the Presidential dock for Manuel Quezon's yacht Casiana) is still under construction in the background, and there's a glimpse into the front yards of the elegant mansions along Dewey Blvd. in the foreground.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/REVnewlunetasouthport.jpg
A closer look at the area called "New Luneta" by the Americans, later the site of the Quirino grandstand, now blocked off from a clear view of the sea. So much attention was paid to European-style formal landscaping back then...

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c211/hawayano/revaerialbilibid.jpg
Finally, the Bilibid Prison, then Asia's most efficient and sanitary penitentiary. Even the surrounding neighborhoods looked so neat and orderly...such a pitiful and disgusting contrast to think of what Manila has become :ohno:

le Reine

November 7th, 2007, 09:21 AM

^^yes, everything looks so organized.

Animo

November 12th, 2007, 10:06 PM

Sr. Hawayano what books did those photos came from? I might have time to read during the Christmas break and look into the archives. :D I think I might want to read first the Pedro Ortiz Armengol: Intramuros de Manila: desde 1571 hasta su destrucción en 1945. :)

Animo

November 27th, 2007, 07:00 PM

By Ambeth Ocampo (http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=102574)
Inquirer
Last updated 11:37pm (Mla time) 11/22/2007

In the past two years, there have been commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and a number of countries, like the United States, Japan and France. These countries, together with Germany, Great Britain, Belgium and China, had consulates in Manila even in the 19th century, when the Philippines was still a Spanish colony. There was something almost magical that happened when, after World War II, the United States finally decided to recognize the independence of the Philippines, transforming it into a free and independent nation capable of handling its own internal and foreign affairs.

Because there were a number of commemorations with different countries, it was normal to go deeper into history in an attempt to outdo each other in finding a link beyond the establishment of formal diplomatic relations. Of course, no country can beat China, whose relationship with the Philippines goes back a thousand years as evidenced by Tang period (9th century A.D.) ceramics in our archeological record, but then it is still worth a try.

Last June, with the encouragement of French Ambassador Gerard Chesnel, a symposium was held at the Ateneo de Manila School of Social Sciences on Philippine-French relations that brought together academics and even descendants of early French settlers in the Philippines. In his opening address, Chesnel traced the relationship between France and the Philippines all the way to the French sailors in the ill-fated Magellan expedition of 1521. One can only speculate if these Frenchmen died in the waters of Mactan during the encounter with Lapu-lapu, or whether they were taken prisoner and later sold to Chinese traders as slaves. It has been a standing joke between me and Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, who hails from Cebu province, that he should work double-time to make up for the killing of our first tourists by Lapu-lapu.

Last Wednesday, a symposium was held at the National Museum tracing the relations between the Philippines and Italy. It dawned on me that Italy fared better than France, because the chronicler of the Magellan expedition was the Italian Antonio Pigafetta. But then if you go back to the four earliest manuscripts of the Pigafetta account of Magellan’s voyage, you would be surprised to note that three are in French and the only one in Italian happens to be in an obscure Venetian dialect.

When asked to name Italian primary sources on Philippine history, two names come to mind: first, of course, is Pigafetta who visited the Visayas in 1521, and then Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri, who visited Manila from May to June 1696. The works of both are filled with obscure but interesting details about geography, language, the appearance and customs of the people they encountered, fruits, animals, flora and fauna. While Pigafetta was a pioneer, Careri had recourse to earlier travel accounts of the Philippines and it is believed that he lifted from these works, particularly “Labor evangelica” (Madrid, 1663) by the Jesuit Francisco Colin. Nevertheless, Careri makes fascinating reading, especially with his detailed description of Spanish Manila.

Over the years, I have fed this column from travel accounts of the Philippines by foreigners. I wonder if it would be useful someday to turn the tables around. Instead of learning about the Philippines from the eyes of foreigners, wouldn’t it be just as engaging to learn about foreign countries through the eyes of early Filipino travelers? One rich source is the well-traveled Jose Rizal who was a compulsive diarist. Then there are his contemporaries: Antonio and Juan Luna, Marcelo H. del Pilar and Mariano Ponce whose writings are usually mined for material on the propaganda movement in Spain rather than their impressions of the countries they visited. The great cities of the world are covered -- London, Paris, Madrid and even New York -- but Italy seems underrepresented even if it was, then as now, a prime tourist destination.

One of the early Filipino travel accounts is that of a secular priest named Villafranca who was in Rome in the 19th century. He narrated his visit to St. Peter’s at a time when the Pope was being carried around in a sedan. While dispensing blessings on the crowd, the Pope noticed the priest with brown skin and Filipino features, and thus we have an early face-to-face encounter between a Pinoy and the Pope.

Then as now, there were travelers and Filipino workers in Europe. One can only wish that Filipinos will keep a journal rather than text or talk about their impressions. A written record would enrich our perspective today.

For example, Mateo de los Angeles was sent to Spain in the 18th century as caretaker of an albino deer from the Philippines, sent as a present to the King of Spain. The king placed both the “venado blanco” and its keeper in Buen Retiro, the royal reserve. De los Angeles eventually married, returned to the Philippines and fought on the Spanish side when the British sacked Manila. As reward for his services to the crown, he petitioned the king for a special favor: he wanted to be declared, by royal decree, as a white person.

Now this is but one of many obscure tales that can form part of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s talking points for her forthcoming visit to Spain.

* * *

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu.

Animo

December 29th, 2007, 10:58 PM

By Augusto V. de Viana (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/dec/30/yehey/opinion/20071230opi7.html)

National Historical Institute

Rizal Day traces its origin to the decree by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo on Dec. 20, 1898 setting aside Dec. 30, the anniversary of Jose Rizal’s death, as “a day of mourning” for the hero “and other victims of the Philippine Revolution.” Dec. 30 remembers not only Rizal but also those who died in this episode of the country’s history. The day however focuses on Rizal and is listed in the Administrative Code of the Philippines as a national holiday.

The day is replete with many activities, including the reenactment of the hero’s last march from his jail at Fort Santiago to the execution site, a flag raising, a wreath offering, lectures and programs.

One problem faced by the Rizal Day organizing committee is the relatively sparse attendance. Since the day falls during the Christmas season, students are on a break. The committee has limited resources and funds to help pro*pa*gate Rizal’s ideas and ideals. There is little mention about Rizal on television though some news appears in the newspapers. Since the yuletide is essentially a time for merrymaking, Rizal Day becomes a passing event.

Rizal’s birth on June 19 is not a national holiday although it is remembered in the province of Rizal and in Calamba, Laguna. It is unfortunate that the country does not honor Rizal on his birth which also falls near important days in history. On May 28, the country marks Flag Day to recall the first time the national color was first unfurled following the victory of Filipino forces over the Spaniards in Cavite Nuevo. Two weeks later, on June 12, the country commemorates its independence.

With the momentum generated by commemorative activities on these dates, it would be appropriate to observe Rizal’s birthday. By this time classes would have been opened and students could participate more actively.

Having holidays on a hero’s birth has a positive bearing since birthdays are usually festive occasions. Proponents of holidays extolling a hero’s death however argue that a person achieves his heroic status through his death, especially when martyrdom is involved.

There seems to be a sentiment that greatness could be achieved only by suffering, death or martyrdom. There is also an emphasis on the graphic depiction of suffering and the death throes of a hero.

This can be seen in the annual reenactment of Rizal’s last walk from his cell to his execution at Bagumbayan which recalls Jesus carrying the cross. One of Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s famous paintings shows Rizal being felled by musketry. In Maragon*don, a tableau depicts Andres Bonifacio standing with his arms tightly bound.

A statue of Sen. Benigno Aquino Sr. shows him falling from the plane stairs to the tarmac. Another tableau shows Ninoy being dragged away by military escorts before his murder. This mentality is morbid and self-defeating. Unless a hero’s death has some positive bearing on the country’s history, the dying moments need not be immortalized and a holiday based on a more celebrative event, such as a birthday, should be promoted.

Many of the holidays are about the deaths and martyrdoms of heroes or defeats in the battlefield. April 9, Araw ng Kagi*tingan, commemorates the fall of Bataan to the Japanese in 1942. National Heroes Day, celebrated every last Sunday of August, approximates the date of the Battle of San Juan del Monte (Aug. 29-30). The battle—the first major skirmish of the 1896 Revolution—was a defeat because more than 150 Katipuneros were killed by Spanish forces. In the past the nation used to commemorate the fall of Corregidor (May 6) to the Japanese.

Celebrating one’s fall is defeatist. Rizal, writing as Filosopong Tasio, said: “A dead hero is no use.”

While it is important to honor the courage and sacrifice of our heroes, it is also important to commemorate our victories and vin*dications. There is no national day that celebrates events where the Filipinos triumphed over enemies.

One such day is Sept. 2-3, 1896, when Filipino forces took over the town of Imus, Cavite. On Sept. 3, Emilio Aguinaldo and municipal captain Jose Tagle scored a decisive victory over the superior Spanish forces. This battle was significant because it reversed the tide of demoralization following successive defeats in the hands of the Spaniards.

In the words of historian Teodoro Agoncillo, many Filipinos in Cavite were so inspired that many took up the bolo to join the uprising.

Also on Sept. 2, 1896, in Nueva Ecija, Filipino forces under Cabiao municipal captain Mariano Llanera and Pantaleon Valmonte, the capitan municipal of Gapan, led a force of 3,000 Katipuneros and captured the provincial capitol and the governor at San Isidro. The battle, like the Battle of Imus, was one of the first Filipino victories of the Revolution.

In another event, Japanese Gen. Tomuyuki Yamashita, emerged from his hideout on Sept. 2, 1945, and surrendered to USAFIP-NL forces in Kiangan. On the following day he formally surrendered in Baguio. The two events marked the end of the Second World War in the Philippines.

Countries that fought on the side of the Allies celebrate the end of the Second World War as a national holiday. The Philippines should have its own Victory Day to honor Filipino victories related to the Philippine Revolution and World War II.

Celebrating victories, not defeats and deaths, has a more positive effect on the national psyche. It sends the youth a message that Filipinos can win wars and battles despite overwhelming odds.

In commemorating these victories, Filipinos should remember those who had fallen during the dark days of the struggle. It is also important to remember our heroes and epic events even if they are not declared non*working holidays as long as appropriate commemorative activities are held.

These activities will generate among our people greater historical awareness and pride in our past and heroes.

(The views expressed in this article are the personal opinion of the author and do not reflect those of the National Historical Institute)