WALA LANG SHARP OBJECTS AND BLADED WEAPONS Talibóng of the Mundo (Panay-Bukidnon) warriors and the handle of one, depicting a Makara, a mythical being of Hindu origin. (photo courtesy of Floy Quintos) Apart from what my kasambahay calls kutsilyo or nayp , the most familiar weapon nowadays is the...
WALA LANG PARK AT YOUR OWN RISK. The Rizal Monument at Rizal Park before the pandemic. Color/Number Coding . I’m all for reducing traffic and certainly number-coding helps. Those who can afford it, however, buy a second car, maybe even a third, to use when their first car is grounded. Traffic is...
WALA LANG PLACES OF WORSHIP. An imaginary church façade drawn with details of the Philippines’ 50 must-see churches on the cover of Regalado Trota Jose, Simbahán (Manila: The Crown Book, Inc., 2020). In Tagalog, simbahan is a noun meaning church and simbahán (with accent on the last syllable),...
WALA LANG WORKS ON PAPER. Prints by Manuel Rodriguez, Sr. (Juggler, ’82, 10/100) Covid-19 notwithstanding, art auctions continue to set new records. At the Nov. 28 León Gallery Kingly Treasures Auction 2020, paintings fetched the highest prices. An HR Ocampo ( Tempo Rubato , 1949) went for P37.4...
WALA LANG 'MAIN STREET, MANILA Escolta, 1898. The Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War was signed on Dec. 10, 1898 seven months after Admiral George Dewey won the Battle of Manila Bay the preceding first of May. That was when journalist Margherita Arlina Hamm came our way. It took 30...
WALA LANG Jaime C. Laya Along with the photo of a 19th century belén , I posted the Tagalog greeting to my Facebook friends, taking for granted that it means “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” In minutes, a query arrived from Vallejo, California. Elmer de Leon , ex-SGV colleague, asked...
WALA LANG Jaime C. Laya It’s been nine months since life changed on March 17 when Covid-19 quarantined us all. I am in the super-vulnerable age group and am under doctor’s orders to stay locked in. I still work and the immediate impact of the lockdown is extra time. Before Covid, it took me an...
WALA LANG Jaime C. Laya I got a message from Jojo Canlas about the lost and found ivory parts of an image of Santa Ana ( Wala Lang , Nov.16, 2020) that’s too good not to share. Canlas had gone to see Antonio “Tony” Martino to report a vandalized santo that on the same day led to its...
WALA LANG We were witnessing a third birth, intoned the priest. He continued, the first is when one enters the world, the second when one is baptized and admitted into the church, the last is when one begins eternal life. It was a most elegant farewell to Conrado A. Escudero as he ended a fulfilled...
WALA LANG Jaime C. Laya Church authorities are often ignorant of the historical value of church contents. Probably not a rare case, Franciscan chronicler Fr. Felix de la Huerta mentions a relicario containing a relic of Santa Ana given ca. 1755 by Gov. Gen. Juan Josė de Obandó to Manila’s Santa...
WALA LANG Jaime C. Laya The Manila antique collectors world is small. Collectors, shopowners, agents, pickers, etc., know each other. They compete but are a friendly lot. News circulates fast about who bought what and for what price, what is fake, what is missing, what might be available. Naturally...
WALA LANG Jaime C. Laya Twice, lightning struck San Blas, patron saint of veterinarians. Also invoked to ease choking and to perform healing miracles, the saint’s venerated image in Baclayón, Bohol, was twice stolen and twice returned through the efforts of the same person, handicraft exporter...
