President Benigno Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay witness the arrival at the Villamor Airbase in Fort Bonifacio of the slain seven Marines. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/INQUIRER
Perhaps the whole country is busy dealing with Juaning and Kabayan. Or about the alleged ballot switching at the Batasang Pambansa. Or too occupied praying for Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (whether they pray for her safety and recovery or the opposite, I don’t know). Or still mourning after the loss of the Azkals for their 2014 world cup bid. Or celebrating Eat Bulaga’s 32nd anniversary. Or just doing some other stuff that we failed to notice this another gruesome event at the southern part of our country.
Our marines had an encounter with the Abu Sayaff last Thursday at the jungles of Sulu and five (5) of them were decapitated.
Beheading is not something new for these bandits. Most of us would still remember how they decapitate their kidnapped victims and how they dehumanize our troops by beheading the soldiers they kill in the battle.
Maybe the Abu Sayyaf is making their presence felt. For the past few months, we barely hear a thing about them (or maybe the news agencies are just too busy covering and showing us the other important issues? I don’t know.). This just shows that the violence in the south is far from over and the government has still a lot of work to do to attain the peace in the south.
I can still remember a Catholic priest who was assigned in Basilan who told us his first-hand experience with these bandits and their victims. He was the guest speaker on the (Lipa) Clergy’s monthly recollection when I was still in the seminary. He told us his story when he was assigned to bless the mutilated corpses of the 10 soldiers who were slain and beheaded in Basilan in an encounter in 2007. He could not believe how barbaric these bandits were by doing this hideous crime.
After hearing his story, I was moved and I felt that I was also in front those slain heroes. But he also left a challenge in me if I have the courage to be assigned in a far-flung place with all the perils and dangers accompanying the mission.
Courage. I admire these courageous heroes who sacrificed their lives by defending the country. It is just sad to hear these sad tales about our soldiers in the field amidst these controversies involving the high-ranking officials of the military.
To our heroes in the field, to the thousand nameless and ordinary soldiers who fought to defend our country, thank you for a job-well done. You may have gone but your contribution to the country is priceless and may it always be remembered by the generations to come.
I give you my snappy salute.
Mabuhay ang mga sundalong nagtataya ng kanilang buhay para sa bayan. Viva Filipinas! Padayon!
(via pinoytumblr)
In celebration of #PhilippineFridays
Dear Sister,
I know I’m biased, but I think you are one of the most beautiful women in the world. You and I come from bronze sunsets and islands, of banana leaves and sampaguitas, your grace innate like the waves of the Pacific charting your way back…
The significance of the streets of Intramuros
Intramuros is the oldest district of Manila, and was the original Manila before it expanded beyond the fortress city. The streets are the oldest streets in Manila and all has different stories on why it was named that way.
Andres Soriano Sr. (Aduana)
Andres Soriano Sr. is a Philippine Industrialist, along with the Araneta Zobel - Ayala Clan, they built the San Miguel Brewery. The Street is more known as Aduana, the custom house (Intendencia Building) was located here during the Spanish Period.
Santo Tomas
The name was derived from Saint Thomas Aquinas, this street was where the UST is located.
Santa Clara
The name was derived from Saint Claire, founder of Poor Clares, on this street once stood the Real Monasterio de Sta. Clara, the oldest nunnery in the Philippines.
Cabildo
The word Cabildo means Municipal Council. In the northern end of the Cabildo street you will find the Ayuntamiento, Manila’s main edifico del estado during the Spanish Period.
General Luna St.
The street was named after Antonio Luna, a general during the Philippine Revolution. Originally, the street is named Calle del Palacio Real (Royal Palace), it starts from the Puerta Real (Royal Gate and ends the Governor’s Palace. During those times only two people have exclusive access to this street: the Archbishop of Manila and the Governor General of the Philippines.
Beaterio
Beaterios are where beatas are located. Beatas are lay people who are dedicated to worship and charitable work. The Beaterio refers to the Beaterio de Santa Catalina which is on the north end of the street.
Anda
The street is named after Simon de Anda, the rebel leader during the British Occupation and governor general from 1768 to 1776. The street was named Calle del Recogidas.
Santa Potenciana
The street is named after Santa Potenciana, patroness of Manila. It was on her feast day May 19 that Legaspi entered Manila. Santa Potenciana is a Roman Virgin that embraced Christianity during the third Century
Real St.
The street is just one of the numerous Calle Real that existed during the Spanish Period. It is from the word Real which means Royal. The Street is formerly known as Calle del Parian because it passes through the Parian Gate and the Parian District outside Intramuros.
Victoria St.
The street is named after one of the five ships that Magellan used in his expedition. Literally, it means Victory. The address 1 Victoria St. in the PC Barracks is the office of General McArthur. It is also known as the Calle de Escuela because of the Municipal School that is located here. Today Calle Escuela is a short street near the Manila High School.
Muralla St.
The street literally means wall. The street is located at the inner edges of the walls. Before they consisted of three different streets: Calle Fundicion (Foundry) in the current PLM stretch of the walls, Calle Baluarte fronting the San Juan de Letran and the original Calle Muralla behind the San Juan de Letran
Calle San Juan de Letran
Named after Saint John Latern, the Letran College is located in front of the street. The street was formerly named Calle Cerrada, meaning closed street.
Legaspi St.
The street is named after Miguel Lopez de Lagaspi, the Adelantado de Manila. The Street was also formerly called Calle de Bomba.
Solana Street
The named is named after Governor General Urbiztondo, the Marquis de Solana. The street is formerly known as Calle de Fonda, fonda means boarding house.
Magallanes Street
The street is named after Fernando Magallanes, the “discoverer” if the Islands in 1521. Also, a Paseo is also named after him at the outskirts of the wall, this is known as the Magallanes drive and was once the location of the Magellan Monument. The street was formerly known as Calle del Farol (lighthouse).
Basco Street
The Street is named after Governor General Jose Basco, the originator of the Tobacco Monopoly.
Arzobispo Street
The street is named so because the Palace of the Archbishop of Manila was once found here.
Sta. Lucia Street
The Street is named after Sta. Lucia, the street ends at the Sta. Lucia Gate.
San Jose Street
The street is named after Saint Joseph. The Colegio de San Jose, the first tertiary institution in the Philippines was once found here, the college was closed when the Jesuits, the administrators of the school was expelled by the Spanish Monarchy.
Map courtesy of Google Maps
(via theurbanhistorian)
With the population welling, and land values rising, there should be in our cities, an upward thrust in architecture, but we continue to build small, in our timid two-story fashion. Oh, we have excuses. The land is soft: earthquakes are frequent. But Mexico City, for instance, is on far swampier land and Mexico City is not a two-story town. San Francisco and Tokyo are in worse earthquake belts, but San Francisco and Tokyo reach up for the skies. Isn’t our architecture another expression of our smallness spirit? To build big would pose problems too big for us. The water pressure, for example, would have to be improved—and it’s hard enough to get water on the ground floor flat and frail, our cities indicate our disinclination to make any but the smallest effort possible. - Nick Joaquin
- June 9
- , 2011
Society for the Filipino is a small rowboat: the barangay. Geography for the Filipino is a small locality: the barrio. History for the Filipino is a small vague saying:matanda pa kay mahoma; noong peacetime. Enterprise for the Filipino is a small stall: the sari-sari. Industry and production for the Filipino are the small immediate searchings of each day: isang kahig, isang tuka. And commerce for the Filipino is the smallest degree of retail: the tingi.
What most astonishes foreigners in the Philippines is that this is a country, perhaps the only one in the world, where people buy and sell one stick of cigarette, half a head of garlic, a dab of pomade, part of the contents of a can or bottle, one single egg, one single banana. To foreigners used to buying things by the carton or the dozen or pound and in the large economy sizes, the exquisite transactions of Philippine tingis cannot but seem Lilliputian. So much effort by so many for so little. Like all those children risking neck and limb in the traffic to sell one stick of cigarette at a time. Or those grown-up men hunting the sidewalks all day to sell a puppy or a lantern or a pair of socks. The amount of effort they spend seems out of all proportion to the returns. Such folk are, obviously, not enough. Laboriousness just can never be the equal of labor as skill, labor as audacity, labor as enterprise.
The Filipino who travels abroad gets to thinking that his is the hardest working country in the world. By six or seven in the morning we are already up on our way to work, shops and markets are open; the wheels of industry are already agrind. Abroad, especially in the West, if you go out at seven in the morning you’re in a dead-town. Everybody’s still in bed; everything’s still closed up. Activity doesn’t begin till nine or ten— and ceases promptly at five p.m. By six, the business sections are dead towns again. The entire cities go to sleep on weekends. They have a shorter working day, a shorter working week. Yet they pile up more mileage than we who work all day and all week.
Is the disparity to our disparagement?
We work more but make less. Why? Because we act on such a pygmy scale. Abroad they would think you mad if you went in a store and tried to buy just one stick of cigarette. They don’t operate on the scale. The difference is greater than between having and not having; the difference is in the way of thinking. They are accustomed to thinking dynamically. We have the habit, whatever our individual resources, of thinking poor, of thinking petty.
Is that the explanation for our continuing failure to rise—that we buy small and sell small, that we think small and do small?
Are we not confusing timidity for humility and making a virtue of what may be the worst of our vices? Is not our timorous clinging to smallness the bondage we must break if we are ever to inherit the earth and be free, independent, progressive? The small must ever be prey to the big. Aldous Huxley said that some people are born victims, or “murderers.” He came to the Philippines and thought us the “least original” of people. Is there not a relation between his two terms? Originality requires daring: the daring to destroy the obsolete, to annihilate the petty. It’s cold comfort to think we haven’t developed that kind of “murderer mentality.”
But till we do we had best stop talking about “our heritage of greatness” for the national heritage is— let’s face it— a heritage of smallness.
However far we go back in our history it’s the small we find—the nipa hut, the barangay, the petty kingship, the slight tillage, the tingi trade. All our artifacts are
I’m currently doing a paper about Architect Ken Yeang’s principles on bioclimatic architecture when i felt this strange feeling towards architecture. I was kinda happy at first while reading the effects of sustainable designs, how to accomplish real green architecture, people’s comments and other related stuff, then i felt excited, like i wanna start designing, researching and heavily contribute to this movement. Then i felt really happy that i chose architecture, it was like this profession IS for me. Pakiramdam ko, dito ako talaga ako dapat, ito dapat ang ginagawa ko, at dapat akong magstrive para ipush through ung development nung profession.
I want people to learn about architecture, the gravity of proper designing and research. Specially here in our country, architects are only for the rich. Therefore, most buildings here are ugly, not only physically/aesthetically but also design-wise. In our tropical country, most houses are concrete with few windows, most do not use fences but rather concrete walls to hide their properties, everyone wants an air-conditioned house, people want every inch of space for income. They want cheap buildings. They are not educated about the effects of good urban planning and sustainable designs to our economy and standard of living. Sadly, architects do not prioritize this as well. Most architects only cares for the money they would be receiving or what the client wants.
I want to be a part of the new generation of architects who build REAL structures. Structures that live, and help improve lives. Architecture that is true to itself, its land and to its people. Buildings here in THE PHILIPPINES must be FILIPINO. Tropical, with local materials, and that would reflect the vibrant culture and rich history of our people.
For architects, future architects, designers and planners, let us not be contented with our titles, or just because we know cad, we are good in rendering, we know people, we have the power or the money. The profession is not for us, but for everyone. sinasabi nila, architecture is the ultimate form of art and science. This makes us artists and scientists, innovators and creators. hindi lang artist, hindi lang scientist, pero both. Sana sa future generations, magiba ung takbo ng industry dito sa pilipinas, magiba ung tingin ng mga tao sa profession, lalo na ung mga nagaaral nito at madevelop ung quality ng architecture natin.
- June 9
- , 2011
