LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Early on, towards the end of the 16th century, Spanish ministers had nagging doubts about keeping the archipelago named after King Felipe II. Although the Capitanía-General de Filipinas was in the vicinity of Maluco, Ternate, Tidore, Ambon – the fabled spice islands...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Last week, we were intrigued by reports about a 30-meter deep and 300-meter-wide tunnel, with a 1.72-meter-high cave, totally man-made, “discovered” in the New Bilibid Prison Reservation in Muntinlupa City. Was someone looking for gold? Towards the end of the year,...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Fr. Pedro Chirino, S.J. ( 1557-1635) arrived with governor-general Gomez Perez Dasmarinas in 1590. He wrote “ Relación de las Islas Filipinas (1604),” which is valuable because it captured a historical moment, those early “points of contact” between natives and...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta That was Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s enlightened declaration – “We need reforestation… plant good trees.” – After the Biblical deluge and killer landslides in Maguindanao del Norte. During a conference with local government officials of Datu Odin Sinsuat, he...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta The spokesman of Filipino farmers, Ka Rene Cerilla of PAKISAMA, lamented that farmers are never consulted, much less invited to significant policy-making meetings. He was one of the panelist-reactors at the “21st Jaime V. Ongpin memorial lecture on Public Service in...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta “What is the dead body saying?” That was how Dr. Raquel Fortun answered when I asked about her profession. What is it like to be a forensic pathologist, and be with cadavers most of the time? She had just returned to the Philippines after giving up a successful...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta In 1959, while Antonio Araneta, Jr. ( my husband) was polishing his undergrad thesis (‘Elites and Economic Development in Underdeveloped Countries’) at the Notre Dame University, a be-medalled sergeant of the Philippine Army, survivor of World War II was applying...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta The phrase “red tagging,” which sends a chill up my spine, did not exist when Antonio S. Araneta (my husband) was writing his undergrad thesis in 1959, titled “Elites and Economic Development in Underdeveloped Countries.” Way back then, he called red-tagging a...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta “Elites and Economic Development in Underdeveloped Countries” was the complete title of Antonio S. Araneta, Jr.’s (my husband) thesis for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Notre Dame University (Indiana, USA) in 1959. Since then, terminologies have changed even as...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Historians, chroniclers, social scientists, political analysts and the general public continue debating about the Revolution. Whether finished or unfinished, the mere mention of the R word provokes staggering controversies, especially during heightened moments of...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Two eminent lawyers, Saul and Daniel Hofileña, father and son, authored an elucidating monograph, “Turmoil at the South China Sea” which to me is a veritable dictionary of basic yet misapplied terms. Let us review a few: Archipelago. A group of islands...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Does the Republic of the Philippines have any State secrets? If we do have classified, restricted, confidential and top secret files, where are they kept? Are these in a vault of the Department of National Defense (DND), under lock and key in the President’s study in...
