LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta With Secretary Fortunato de la Peña at the helm, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) commemorated the 125th anniversary of Jose Rizal’s execution in a profound and meaningful manner. It all began in 2019, during the Rizal Day breakfast at the National...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Treaties are contracts between two or more States, but before these are signed elaborate negotiations take place between or among its signatories. Demands and counter demands are embodied in Protocols. According to lawyer-historian Saul Hofileña, Jr.: “Protocols...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Most of my friends cannot believe that I am living happily ever after with three puspins, pusang pinoy, all rescued from different parts of the city by two other cat lovers of the family. Five years ago, my niece, Carmen, rescued four grubby kittens one of which was a...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta As two political dynasties, each with a pervasive air of privilege, act out a tragic-comic zarzuela, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) averts its eye and points a moral compass towards pivotal issues concerning the nation’s future. Last week, the...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta He was only 32, a month older than my daughter, Fatimah, who was also born in 1966. Teodoro Brawner Baguilat, Jr. is a Tuwali Ifugao with Gaddang blood. He was elected councilor of Kiangan in 1992 at the tender age of 26 and after serving a three-year term, he ran for...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta These days, the query — what have you done for the country? (Ano bang nagawa mo para sa bayan?) — is a galling trick question intended to mock and discredit. The malicious interrogator does not want you to state how you perform your civic duties, on the contrary, he...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Pundits, pubic intellectuals, political analysts and media practitioners have spoken and written about the decay of our national institutions. This seemingly unstoppable process threatens the very existence of the Philippines. Our country used to be called the...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Political winds now ravaging the cyber super highway are like typhoon signals that warn us of an impending electoral tsunami. Most of the presidential wannabees from various regions of this archipelago are already hymning praises to themselves. Social media is...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz-Araneta As this writing (Sept. 15), I am commemorating two events close to my heart. The first was the inauguration of the Malolos Congress in 1898, in Malolos. The second is my 56th wedding anniversary. My husband, Antonio Araneta, and I chose that significant date to...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta When Pres. Joe Biden decided to extricate the United States of America from Afghanistan, he said it was to end the “forever war” in that distant land. He does not want to send more American soldiers to their death. After 20 years of military intervention and...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta What is happening in the USA is definitely none of my business, but allow me to give my two cents worth about President Joe Biden’s decision to terminate the 20-year US occupation and war in Afghanistan. He said: “I am the President of the United States of America,...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta “La Solidaridad,” that valiant fortnightly of the Propaganda Movement bid its readers farewell on November 15, 1895. Its maiden issue was dated February 15, 1889, and against all odds, it survived for almost seven years. Graciano Lopez Jaena was its first editor,...
