Gemma Cruz Araneta | LANDSCAPE God willing, I will be in the Republic of Cuba next week. Cuba, our half-sister; we revolted against Spain at the same time, fought for our independence in the same manner; the villainous Weyler was there and replaced by Blanco at the request of the United States of America that conquered Cuba, like it did … Read more
In one of her elucidating speeches, CJ Ma. Lourdes Sereno said: “Justice is not something that is precisely defined in the Constitution. It is something that must be felt, something that must be experienced by the people.” Speaking of “experiencing justice,” I think I will send her this letter I received last Tuesday from Mr. … Read more
Tomorrow, you are going to be our guest of honor and speaker at the monthly general assembly meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP). For obvious reasons, you will be bombarded with a lot of questions, so I hope you will stay long enough for the Q&A portion. Early on, as soon as … Read more
I seem to have heard that Senator Manny Pacquiao, at one point of his political career, authored a bill converting the Philippine Sports Commission into the Department of Sports. He was reported to have said that if the Department of Education (it used to be of Culture and Sports as well) is mandated to nurture … Read more
Coming from an undilutedly Catholic family, I have never lost my taste for celebrating Three Kings day, a religious feast that used to be regarded with gravitas. Anticipating the arrival of the Three Wise Men was an irrefragable element of the Christmas season. “You have to believe in them, or you’ll never see them, “ … Read more
A few years ago, during a heritage tour to the Far Eastern University (proudly a UNESCO-awarded campus), we were taken to the basketball court which was not at ground level, but on the 5th floor. From that vantage point, I caught sight of the fabled Old Bilibid, now an endangered relic, no thanks to the … Read more
In the 1935 elections of the Commonwealth, Emilio Aguinaldo ran for president against Manuel L. Quezon, a young lieutenant during the Philippine-American War and the First Philippine Republic. As a campaign strategy, Quezon astutely resurrected the specters of Andres Bonifacio and Antonio Luna. He went around brandishing a sack of human bones purportedly Bonifacio’s and … Read more
In January 1900, five years before Felipe Calderon began writing his Memorias de la revolucion filipina,AmericanSenator Alfred J. Beveridge addressed the US Congress and raved about the Philippines: “No land in America surpasses in fertility the plains and valleys of Luzon. Rice and coffee, sugar and coconuts, hemp and tobacco, and many products grow in … Read more
A few years ago, I found a copy of Felipe Calderon’s Mis memorias sobre la revolucion filipina, published in 1907. He was an eminent lawyer from Santa Ana, Manila, who drafted the Malolos Constitution of the First Philippine Republic, our government on-the-run that General Antonio Luna so valiantly defended. The book piqued my curiosity because … Read more
I hope I am wrong but we might have our own Malvinas, at the rate China is occupying the Bajo de Masinloc and other bits of Philippine territory. Let us put that aside for another letter. It seems that Filipinos cannot stop talking about Lolo Kiko, Pope Francis I, and with renewed vigor at that … Read more