LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta On June 30, the world around me unveiled an astounding mural of light and brilliant pigments splashed across the horizon. Gone was the subdued landscape of impressionist paintings with indeterminate brushstrokes in pastel shades. If the colors and myriad hues I now see...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta “The Lord gazes at the Philippine Islands:” In Spanish, “El Señor mira (contempla) a las islas Filipinas” is a satirically humorous piece, translated into English by Dr. Encarnacion Alzona in 1957 and included in “Rizal’s Prose” published by the Rizal...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta On June 12, there will be a “Heritage Cannon” on the dolomite beach and it will most probably fire a deafening shot (sans projectile) to celebrate the 124th anniversary of our Independence. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) aims “to...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta According to our high school history textbook, when the Colegio de Santo Tomas (now University) was established in April 1611, it opened its doors to Filipino students. But, that was misleading, the late Dr. Domingo Abella used to argue because the Filipinos then were...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta At this writing, 22:16 hours, May 9, I am seized by dread as election results from various sources appear online. From Regions 1 and 2, the solid North, the BBM-Duterte tandem has emerged the winner, as expected. But, there are 15 more regions in the Republic of the...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Throughout his life, Jose Rizal constantly argued with himself. In his mind, political thoughts contended vigorously, endlessly. He expressed his convictions and beliefs in his letters to his family and contemporaries, in travel journals, essays for “La...
Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr. has highlighted the importance of the new law that effectively declared Mt. Arayat in Arayat town as a protected landscape or area. Mt. Arayat (Photo from Wikipedia) Gonzales was referring to Republic Act (RA) No.11684, which the former...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Jose Rizal must have wanted his two novels to be read as one book, that is why on the title page of the hand-written original of “El Filibusterismo” (1891) these words appear in parenthesis – (II parte del Noli Me Tangere). But, Rizal crossed it out before...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta When I first read “El Filibusterismo,” I was too young to understand why it is “profound and perfect” (Rizal’s own words), so I was appalled that Maria Clara jumped off the convent roof before Simoun could rescue her and that his revolution failed. Two decades...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta I am the happy owner of two pre-loved Camilo Osias books both titled, “The Philippine Readers;” I do not know if these were also used in private schools, specially the sectarian ones, during that period called “peacetime.” The revised edition of Book...
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) announced on Saturday, April 2, that it has partnered with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and three major firms in the industry sector to intensify the rehabilitation of the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta In 1901, General Arthur MacArthur (Douglas’s father) announced: “A rapid extension of educational facilities is an exclusively military measure…” What a clever strategy, that was the essence of “benevolent assimilation” and “pacification.” Immediately,...
