LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta In the days of Lapu Lapu, the “ umalohokan” (town crier) was the main source of breaking news. As soon as town’s people heard his gongs and horns, they quickly gathered around him to hear the latest which could be new laws of their datus, instructions of barangay...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta How ironic; the current unemployment rate in the USA is 10 percent, very high for American standards, but at the same time, there is a labor shortage. In agriculture, specifically in the fresh produce sector American farmers have to depend on migrant labor. It is...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta He wrote in English to the editor of the “Hong Kong Telegraph,” but did not sign his real name. “Yours faithfully, Philippino,” was how he ended. Curiously, the date line was Manila, February 1, 1892, although he was still in Hong Kong. His second homecoming...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta The Spanish-American War of 1898 was described as inter-imperialist by no less than Lenin himself because it was a grab for existing colonies. That was how Dr. George Aseniero, eminent Filipino historian and authority on Rizal, began his brilliant paper, “The Game of...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta San Pedro Calungsod, patron of sacristans and overseas Filipino workers (0FWs), was a mere adolescent when he was killed in Guam by natives called Chamorros. Born in 1654, during the habagat season, Pedro was killed in the summer of 1672. He was barely 18. He died...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Luna, Arquitecto is not exactly an art book, it is more of a secular decretum that distills social history; it is also a tender and inquisitive life story of a tortured soul whose creativity and technical virtuosity raised the bar of Philippine architecture. The...
The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) announced Wednesday, July 7, its partnership with Asics as the official outfitter of the PH team bound to the Tokyo Olympics this month. POC President Bambol Tolentino hopes this renewal of partnership would translate a similar success when the country won the...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta None of the Filipino trade unionists who attended the 1924 Conference of Transport Workers of the Pacific in Canton (now Guangzhou), China were communists. One of them, Domingo Ponce, disclosed that they were totally unaware the conference was convened by communists,...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta In the Philippines, not a single ripple was felt when the Bolshevik Revolution or the Great October Socialist Revolution ripped Russia asunder in 1917. A communist party was established in 1918 and the year after, the first Communist International (Comintern or CI) was...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta (Part II) Thanks to President Diosdado Macapagal, we no longer celebrate our Independence on the very same day that the USA does, July 4. Although June 12 seems more appropriate than July 4, it may not be as accurate as you may wish it to be. The Declaration of...
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccination in Quezon City continues at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. The local government will resume with its distribution of first vaccine dosage at the Big Dome from June 16 to 20. This will now be open to residents up to priority group A4 (frontliners in essential...
Landscape Gemma Cruz Araneta Since 1962, we Filipinos have been celebrating Independence Day on June 12. Before that, it used to be on July 4, a historical aberration corrected by President Diosdado Macapagal who said Filipinos, “… called the whole world to witness their powerful resolve...
