Historia

Why Filipino, not Philippinean?

To the English-speaking world, Filipino is a truly distinctive word. It is a demonym of Spanish origin but has made its way into the English language. Why did we not end up being called Philippineans? or Philippinese? or Philippine Islanders? I remember a conversation with a Latin American colleague who noticed this. “We’re addressed as […]

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Historia

Glenn Anthony May historian dead at 75

Glenn Anthony May, American historian, who wrote important Philippine history books: Social Engineering in the Philippines (1980), A Past Recovered: Essays on Philippine History and Historiography (1987), Battle for Batangas: A Philippine Province at War (1991), and Inventing a Hero: The Posthumous Re-Creation of Andres Bonifacio (1996), passed away last September 10 according to local […]

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Historia

Young Pinoys defends Manila’s history

An FB post showing Mayor Isko’s visit to Manila’s founder, Miguel López de Legazpi, has received some attention from followers of the site’s FB page. Last July 24 was the 449th foundation of the city. Mayor Isko also dropped by the plaza of Raja Sulaiman park in Malate. But that is not news. What triggers […]

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Historia

Agoncillo’s Heavily Distorted Philippine History Textbook (Part 2)

The period from Ninoy’s Assassination to EDSA Revolution was covered by Agoncillo in only four pages; thus, Agoncillo did not mention many important historical happenings, such as 1. American pressure for Marcos to reform; 2. The rise of the mosquito press; 3. The Aquino assassination trial which ended farcically; 4. The convening of the Assembly in which despite the left’s […]

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Historia

The Pio Andrade Jr. project

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 […]

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Historia

Sampaguitas in the Andes now in Kindle Amazon

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 […]

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Historia | Personal

Magellan’s a hero too?

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 […]

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Historia | Manila

Lady of Guidance!

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 […]

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Historia | Pampanga

Not a critic review: Goyo, the Boy General

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 […]

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