Dr. Jaime C. Laya
One-way spice route, no counterflow (A)
April 08, 2024 2:28 am
Meals with patis and bagoong, with dishes cooked with tanglad and kamias have always been enough to make us slurp and burp. Europeans are different. Whereas we have kesong puti, they have hundreds of cheese varieties, some of which stink. They also like herbs, with capers, basil, oregano, sage, thyme, and lots more. It was extreme in the 1400s and 1500s when they discovered spices from the exotic east, that cinnamon, cloves, etc. not only enhanced taste but also delayed food spoilage.
Tempest in the pulpit (C)
March 31, 2024 4:10 pm
Whoever it was who stole and/or sold pulpit panels, paintings, gold, silver, and ivory objects, and other valuables of Boljoon church ignored as worthless the documents and parish records in cabinets and bookcases. These are mainly lists of baptisms, marriages, and deaths. The earliest are in records of baptism in pigskin-bound books dating back to 1793. Earlier lists were evidently destroyed in 1782 when the town, including the church, was burned by slave raiders from Mindanao.
Tempest in the pulpit (B)
March 24, 2024 10:39 pm
Eager Buyers and Enthusiastic Sellers. It is easy enough to tell if an image, piece of furniture, relieve, textile, or other object came from a church. Size and type are giveaways. Without identifying marks, measurements, or photographs, however, it is often impossible to match a missing object and something in a collector’s home.
Tempest in the Pulpit (A)
March 10, 2024 11:53 pm
It was a high-profile affair at the National Museum, “A Gift to the Nation,” when Edwin and Aileen Bautista turned over to chairman Andoni Aboitiz and director-general Jeremy Barns a quartet of superb relieves depicting San Agustin de Hippo, a theologian and philosopher who lived in the fifth century. They are among the six panels once on the pulpit of the Patrocinio de Maria Santissima Church in Boljoon, Cebu, which dates back to the early 1800s.
Good news and challenges from the BIR
March 04, 2024 2:17 am
A local Benjamin Franklin might have said, nothing is certain except death and the BIR. That usually means “Letter of Authority” and other bad news. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed R.A. No. 11976 into law, the Ease of Paying Taxes Act (“EoPT”) a few weeks ago. Designed as part of the government’s thrust to modernize the Philippine taxation system and to increase compliance, much of it is good news, although some parts may not be entirely so.