LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Yes, that’s us, the Republic of the Philippines, the “showcase of democracy.” It used to be the United States of America that was the light on the hill, the beacon of democracy. But, after that shockingly violent epiphany at their Capitol Hill, I dare say the...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta The first time I saw him at Café Havana, he did not look as if he had five daughters, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren – perhaps the latter were not born yet. nevertheless, I would not have believed that he was already a grandfather. He cuts a lean and...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta The oldest person I know may, sooner or later, be no other than myself. That entered my awareness with a jolt; there are now very few people whom I know, who are at least 10 years older than I am. Frightful, isn’t it? One fine day before the pandemic, I was thinking...
LANDSCAPE Just when I was beginning to feel like Scrooge of Charles Dicken’s “Christmas Carol,” a group of young people sent me an email asking if they could serenade me with the season’s well-loved songs. Humbug! Scrooge would have screamd. But I am not like him, I am always interested...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta Frankly, I am surprised that the institutions of the United States of America have remained immutable through the course of centuries. I thought their judiciary system was going to crumble in the face of the well-planned onslaught of outgoing president, Donald J. Trump....
LANDSCAPE The 75 th Postmaster General of the USA, Mr. Louis Dejoy, is M.I.A! In May, 2020, the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service appointed him to that strategic post, not exactly to everyone’s surprise. Although he was an outsider, Mr. Dejoy is a successful businessman who...
LANDSCAPE I am writing about Jim Toolen to show you that this world is filled with people who are interconnected without their knowing it, who made lasting impressions on each other without suspecting it, who are unaware that their lives have mingled like sand and water. Meeting someone again after...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta In my secret book, there are a select few who should have been and should be immortal; whom the Almighty should have frozen in time but in the pink of health and at the cusp of their creativity. These are (or were) the people who can live forever and should have lived...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta For us Asians, the 19 th century was pivotal because total and absolute colonization was achieved by the European powers that invaded our region with superior fire power and technology. Our ancestors did not only lose ancestral lands and waterways; they were...
LANDSCAPE Honorable ladies and gentlemen, many of you do not know me because you were not yet in office when I was working for the late Mayor Alfredo S. Lim. If memory serves, some of you I already know like Councilors Josie Siscar, Lou Veloso, Roberto Asilo, Uno Lim, Joel Chua, DJ Bagatsing, Mon...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta It is cheaper to kill them in a plane crash, a private plane crash, he said, rather cavalierly with a half smirk. There is no evidence, no smoking gun because the plane crashes, that is your smoking gun. He is John Perkins, retired chief economic adviser, and his...
LANDSCAPE Gemma Cruz Araneta From a distance, I am watching how you are restoring Manila’s historical contours, deftly melding the past with the present, to assure a brighter future for the city of our birth (we are both Manila-born). Behind the City Hall, the Bonifacio monument with the...
