Modern Maria Clara

Since I mentioned Spanish colonial era clothes yesterday, here is another modern interpretation of the Maria Clara—a style of women's dress now considered formalwear named after the fiancé of the main protagonist of Jose Rizal's novel "Noli Me Tangere." Maria Clara would have loved the elaborate lace and pattern, but I doubt if she would have been comfortable with Eddie Castro's slim fit and starkly graphic colors.

Mixed up eras

The mural of a jeepney, an invention after the Philippine-American war, on the wall of the park fronting the Quirino Grandstand has Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal as the driver, and men and women in Spanish colonial era clothes as the passengers. I am sure that they represent other historical figures of the Philippine Revolution, but I wasn't able to get close enough to see.

The worker

Saint Joseph, the carpenter, the worker and the earthly father of Jesus, lends his name to San Jose Major Seminary, a diocesan seminary located inside the Loyola Heights campus of Ateneo de Manila University. It is under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cubao but many of its teachers are Jesuits.

Green on green

The open-air pavilion beside the pond in Rizal Park's Chinese Garden.

See what's reflecting what at James' Weekend Reflections.

Heart's beat

Kontra-GaPi, short for Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino (Contemporary Filipino Gamelan), is the University of the Philippines' resident ethnic music and dance ensemble. I am always happy to see young ones taking an interest in preserving our cultural heritage, whatever the form and whatever the influence. Gamelan music also happens to be one of the few musical genres that will get me running out of my office no matter how busy I am.

Crunch, crunch

Tokwa is what we call firm tofu, and when I was a child, it was the only kind of tofu that I knew. Because of its firmness, it can be fried without it crumbling. Pino Resto Bar's vegetarian Tokwa't Tokwa (Tokwa't Baboy is tokwa and pork, which is popular as bar chow in Manila) is exceptionally crunchy and served with fried rice, a leaf of pechay, chili mayo, and a dipping sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar into which you can squeeze the calamansi and add the onion bits.

Third

The son of Francisco Ortigas (Don Paco), Francisco Jr. (Don Paquito), was the president of Ortigas and Company from 1935 to 1998, and it was he who led the development of Hacienda de Mandaloyon into what is now some of the busiest areas of the cities of Pasig, San Juan, Mandaluyong and Quezon. Don Paquito's son Rafael also became a president of the company and he established its corporate social responsibility arm, the Ortigas Foundation. I couldn't find anything about him, but I assume that the third person in this third relief at the Ortigas Park, Joaquin Ramirez, was also a president of Ortigas and Company.

Limited partnership

The company that developed Hacienda de Mandaloyon (see yesterday's post) into what is now Greenhills and Ortigas Center was incorporated as a limited partnership named Ortigas, Madrigal y cia., S. en C. (sociedad comanditaria por acciones) in 1931. There were several changes in the partnership between the 1920 sale and its incorporation, and in 1931, the company's partners were Francisco Ortigas, Vicente Madrigal, B.C.M. Johnston, Fulgencio Borromeo, Clyde A. Dewitt and Manuel L. Quezon.

Hacienda

The commercial, residential and shopping complexes that are now Greenhills and Ortigas Center, which straddle four cities in Metro Manila, began as part of the estate of the Augustinian Order in the Philippines. The religious order sold 4,033 hectares to a group of prominent Spanish-Filipino businessmen in 1920 who called it Hacienda de Mandaloyon (or Mandaloyong). This relief map of the origins of the area—and the history of the company that founded it—is in the tiny Ortigas Park.

New life?

According to its website, the architecture of the five-story Ascension Columbary in Quezon City is supposed to "suggest a heavenly ascent due to its unique form patterned after a Bishop's miter." When we asked for directions to the place, however, people in the neighborhood told us "yung mukhang itlog" (the one that looks like an egg). To the man on the street—and this blogger on the sidewalk—it does look like an egg, one with a vertical crack down its middle.

Guardians

Two buffaloes flank the steps leading to the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park. The carabao (Bubalus bubalis carabanesis), with its long curved horns, is a domesticated water buffalo native to Southeast Asia. It is a precious farm animal, used to pull plows and carts. It is also a source of milk (which I find milder and more delicious than cow's milk) and—rarely, because of its much-needed help in farms—meat.




The tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis), with its V-shaped horns, is the only bovine endemic to the Philippines, and is found only in the island of Mindoro. In the century since Mindoro was first settled, the tamaraw population in the island has been reduced drastically, and it is now classified in the IUCN Red List as critically endangered.

See-through

I've never eaten at Uncle Cheffy, which apparently specializes in brick oven cooking. This is their branch at Burgos Circle in Bonifacio Global City (also known as BGC or The Fort). I just like the transparent awning.

The Titanic

That's the nickname given by the students and faculty of the Ateneo Professional Schools to the diamond-shaped bridges crossing the central atrium of the Rockwell Campus building. They do look a bit like a ship's prow, especially from the fourth floor lobby.

Mind the gap

Not all of the kalesas remaining in Metro Manila are for tourist use only. Some districts of the City of Manila still allow them as public transportation, most notably in Binondo, Manila's Chinatown. In fact, one must take care when walking in its streets—look where you're stepping!




Unfortunately, just like our people, the horses also suffer terribly from the effects of poverty.