President Marcos has signed a law declaring the Paoay Lake area in Ilocos Norte as protected landscape for better management and appropriate funding. Marcos made the declaration by signing Republic Act 12230 on Aug. 4. According to the law, the declaration of the Paoay Lake Protected Landscape...
ZAMBOANGA CITY – An investigation is under way after a video circulated on social media purportedly showing a cockfighting incident within a protected area in Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur. Arturo Fadriquela, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-Zamboanga Peninsula executive...
BACOLOD CITY – Seven landmarks in Negros Occidental, which are part of the Sugar Cultural Landscape of Negros, have been tentatively listed as a world heritage site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. CECILIA Tirol (second from right), director for Visayas...
LANDSCAPE As painful as the truth. Manila is right now losing yet another cultural heritage treasure. There are people, among them local government officials, determined to make our capital a maze of high rises with no distinguishing aesthetic features; they want Manila to look like New York, I was...
LANDSCAPE Tomorrow is the National Day of the Estados Unidos Mexicanos. In English, the United Mexican States. That is the country’s official name for it is a federation of 32 states. In the Philippine context, their states are like our provinces. Mexico’s Independence Day is unique, it...
LANDSCAPE When I turned five, my mother threw a party. It was a barrio fiesta in the heart of Pasay where we settled after World War II. She was a young widow (juggling two babies, she used to say) living in her father’s house and writing for a newspaper on Soler Street in downtown Manila. I am...
GEMMA CRUZ ARANETA LANDSCAPE “Enigmatic objects: Notes towards a history of the museum in the Philippines,” Dr. Resil Mojares’ monumental opus should not (and cannot) be read in one sitting. I am still very attentively mining its 500 pages, rereading chapters for nuggets of wisdom I may...
LANDSCAPE Dr. Resil Mojares’ latest book – Enigmatic Objects: Notes towards a History of the Museum in the Philippines – is a fountainhead of knowledge. I dare say, this historian par excellence truly deserves the National Artist Award for Literature. I have begun to read this 500-page...
LANDSCAPE Many years ago, I hosted “Krus na daan” (Crossroads), a daily radio program for DZRJ; Wednesdays were dedi-cated to Philippine history and Dr. Jaime Veneracion, an eminent Filipino historian from Bulacan was the regular guest. Every January, with the Sinulog Festival in mind, we...
LANDSCAPE She grew up in Argentina and has traveled extensively in Spain and Latin America where there are statues and images of the Blessed Mother, Jesus Christ and the saints, not only in churches and homes but also in secular spaces. No wonder Prof. Cristina H. Lee, Ph.D., had...
LANDSCAPE Instead of hauling in the wrecking ball to demolish the Aduana, a heritage custom house, the local government converted it into the National Museum of Cebu, disbursing close to ₱250 million for adaptive reuse. That was taxpayers money well spent on the 16th regional site of the National...
LANDSCAPE There were two SONAs (State of the Nation Address) which I was fortunate enough to witness in the flesh, in the august session hall of the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City. I was then the Secretary of the Department of Tourism, appointed by President Joseph E. Estrada. The SONA is a...
