Gemma Cruz Araneta | LANDSCAPE Last week, my mother turned 95 and as we gathered around her bed to sing the birthday song, I realized that she was indeed the first person with whom I first hung out. Curiously enough, when all that hanging out began, she was newly married to the dashing Architect Angel Nakpil, my stepfather. Perhaps it … Read more
Hocus is an acronym, an eye-catching combination of HOfileña and CUStodio and the title of an exhibition at the Gallery XXI of the National Museum of Fine Arts. The paintings in that exhibition, each one a masterpiece, have two authors. Saul HOfileña is the intellectual author whom I have described as a historian who could … Read more
As you know, the origin of the Tarot cards which we associate with divination and the occult is mysterious and nebulous. Some writers, artists, and philosophers trace its origin to 15th century Europe, however, others insist that the Tarot definitely has Egyptian origins; they made miniature clay tablets perhaps. In the 18th century, the French … Read more
News about the resuscitation of the Metropolitan Theater of Manila spread, almost like prairie fire. The National Commission of Culture and the Arts (NCCA) had hired a private firm, Schema Konsult, Inc, to prepare a detailed engineering study that included a rehabilitation plan of the entire structure. The executive director, Cecile Guidote Alvarez, affirmed that … Read more
The Metropolitan Theater, damaged by American “friendly fire” in February, 1945, was saved from total extinction by the US Rehabilitation Act of 1946. However, by the 1960’s, it had fallen into disrepair. In 1978, the National Historical Commission received frantic petitions to protect the Met so it affixed its official marker on the façade, declaring … Read more
War babies like me have absolutely no memory of how imperiously elegant the Metropolitan Theater of Manila must have looked. As I was growing up, I remember how frightfully grotesque and forlorn it was, a painful reminder of the Battle for Manila that raged for a month, during which a 100,000 innocent, con-combatant civilians perished. … Read more
Señor Julio Camarena, Mexico’s ambassador to the Philippines, told us about things we did not learn in school. Last Tuesday, at the Ateneo amphitheater, he spoke before the Museum Volunteers of the Philippines (MVP) and the Filipinas in that group were wondering why our history books do not contain what Ambassador Camarena talked about. If … Read more
Last February, with five other heritage advocates, I spent 10 delightful days in Cuba. Based in Havana, we toured the countryside, visited Trinidad and Cienfuegos, had lunch near Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs), spent time at museums of colonial art and revolutionary memories, peeked at Hemingway’s house and favorite hang-out, passed by tobacco plantations, danced … Read more
Cuba, our half-sister, is living dangerously again, like we are; she is bracing herself again, preparing for the worst; she has been shoved back to square one, it seems. Last June 16, President Donald Trump delivered a vitriolic anti-Cuban speech at a theater in Miami. With the stroke of a pen, he obliterated the rapprochement … Read more
In his last State of the Nation Address (SONA), erstwhile President Joseph Estrada made several triumphant declarations about Mindanao. The Philippine Armed Forces, of which the president of the Philippines is commander-in –chief, had destroyed Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao and 50 other pockets of resistance under the sway of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). … Read more