The other day, I was reminded of the late Pio Andrade Jr. when I read an article by the Philippine Information Agency that mentioned both of us. My friendship with Andrade began after I attended a seminar of his many years ago. He asked if I was a student from La Salle. “I think you […]
Category: Historia
I recently released Elizabeth Medina’s “Sampaguitas in the Andes” on Kindle. I requested the author to publish it on Amazon’s platform because I felt it deserves to reach more Filipinos worldwide. The original Spanish version, “Sampaguitas en la cordillera” was released in Chile in 2006. She later translated it into English. So, I had my work cut […]
Growing up, Magallanes’ a place where we took buses going to Alabang. In grade school, I remember a cardboard illustration in a wall depicting Magellan and Lapu-Lapu fighting while in knee-deep seawater. We all know how that ended. When I started reading local history books, the Portuguese explorer was always depicted as a […]
An unexpected discovery reveals that a great grandparent is Chinese. Surprise! The man first settled in Calatrava, Negros. So I got curious, whatever happened to Chinese immigrants of Negros during the Spanish times? The Chinese pioneer’s of Negros’ bloodline are still very much alive. “Gonzaga, Yanson, Locsin, Montelibano, Lacson, Yulo, Yusay, Guanco, Limsiaco, de la […]
I got a notification from a website called slife.org a few days ago. They added my blog (here) about Nuestra Señora de Guia as reference. Wikipedia’s entry on Ermita Church used that same blog. But all I did was type, the content came from a worn booklet, “Libreta y Novena”, handed to me when I visited […]
Por fin! the film “Goyo, the Boy General” is now showing on Netflix. Here’s hoping that they add “Dahling Nick” soon. So was the movie good? What about it was bad? In my book, it’s right up there with Raymond Red’s Sakay and Heneral Luna, which by the way is from the same Director, Jerrold […]
Remember the Bear Brand TV ad “look at my mole” that aired in the 80s? It was about an old man reminiscing about his childhood. It opens with people gathering around, performing music (Tertulia), enjoying food and card games. He was in a sailor outfit, dancing with his Lola, dressed in elegant baro’t saya. It […]
Two years ago, a friend from Tarlac told me that their province has a piece of the Holy Cross. Curious, I googled it, her story checks out. The relic can be found in the Church of Monasterio de Tarlac. It was donated by a German monastic in 2007. I wanted to see it until I […]
Looks like our local educational system is opening its doors to more languages like Korean. Hardcore K-Pop fans were delighted to hear the news! But why prioritize Korean and Mandarin? Why not Spanish? Our old lingua franca? All my siblings had mandatory Spanish. It was removed from standard curriculum when I started tertiary education. With […]
Governor General Juan de Silva’s mission to go after the Dutch outside Spanish Philippine territory, deep into the Malay peninsula, was not without its critics. “Silva set sail from Manila late in the season, ill-staffed, ill-equipped, under a barrage of criticism from the church, the orders, the bishops, the cabildos and the Audiencia Real. Worst […]
According to historian Peter Borschberg (National University of Singapore), “Spanish Governor of the Philippines, Juan de Silva, commissioned the construction of what was arguably the largest European armada seen in Asian waters before 1620. In the course of joint operations scheduled for the years 1615 and 1616, the Spanish and Portuguese sought to evict […]
The few fiction titles I enjoyed growing up were Les Miserables, The Last of the Mohicans, Don Quixote and The Old Man and the Sea. In college, an even shorter list, there’s Sophie’s World and some Stephen King classics. I prefer non-fiction—history books–of course. I picked up Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince” when I was […]
I must have sent a note to the universe and it decided to respond. Last week I was at the Philatelic Museum (Singapore) to see the exhibit, “The Little Prince: Behind the Story” (more on my next blog). Then a few days ago, Jerome Herrera sent a link (to this blog’s FB Page) to his […]
Monch Weller on An old Random map and more Alabang historyI see; thank you very much! Looking forward to mor…
Arnaldo on An old Random map and more Alabang history@monch thanks for the link, I didn't know that the…
Hispanidad Filipina on Volcano storiesThe Hargrove book must reprinted. I myself have re…
alex c. on Fitting tribute to RizalExample of adaptive re-use, common all over EU and…
mar786667@yahoo.com on Ghostly visitation❤❤❤
Pepe Alas (@JoseMarioAlas) on Magellan’s a hero too?That’s stupid. Was Enrique even the leader of the…