First five

The Spanish conquistadores who conquered the Philippines in the 16th century arrived with Catholic missionaries and through three hundred years of colonial rule firmly established the Philippines as the only predominantly Roman Catholic country in Asia until the independence of East Timor in 2002. This group of badly damaged and neglected sculptures in front of the ruins of the San Ignacio Church in Intramuros represents the first five Catholic religious orders that arrived in the country. The sign posts are decorated with each order's symbols but the plaques describing them are long gone. When the Intramuros Administration rebuilds the San Ignacio into a museum, I hope they also rebuild the statues and the plaques.



1. Augustinians
Fray Andres de Urdaneta and four other Augustinians landed in the province of Cebu on April 27, 1565 after sailing to the Philippines from Mexico with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi himself. The first Augustinian mission house in Manila was established in 1571. Source: Augnet



2. Franciscans
The Ordo Fratrum Minorum (OFM), the First Order of Franciscans, Friars Minor, arrived in Manila on July 2, 1578. Source: OFM Archives Philippines



3. Jesuits
First arrived in 1581, expelled in 1768 as a result of the suppression of the Jesuits in Europe in 1767, and returned to Manila in 1859. Source: Ateneo de Manila University



4. Dominicans
The first fifteen missionaries of the Dominican Order, also known as the Order of Preachers (OP), arrived from Spain by way of Mexico on July 21, 1587. Source: OP Holy Rosary Province



5. Recollects
The volunteers of the Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR), also known as Discalced Augustinians because of their practice of walking barefoot and who follow a more austere and ascetic lifestyle than their other Augustinian brethren, boarded a ship in Cadiz, Spain in July 1605 and arrived in the province of Cebu in May 1606. By 1608, they had a priory in the walled city of Intramuros. Source: Recoletos Communications

Blue day

Last December, I mentioned that the Ateneo de Manila University will be celebrating its sesquicentennial, its 150th anniversary, on December 10, 2009. Yesterday was the grand kick-off celebration for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Since the Ateneo is a Roman Catholic university, it was but fitting that the day began with a mass. And since Intramuros was where it all began in 1859, the mass was held at the Manila Cathedral. It was concelebrated by about fifty Jesuit priests (I didn't get an exact count) and the main celebrant was Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, the Archbishop of Manila. The mass was at 7:00 a.m. but we were there at 6:00 a.m. to greet and welcome all who were attending.



I posted a photo of the ruins of the Jesuit San Ignacio Church last week and wrote that the Intramuros Administration would be building an ecclesiastical museum on the site and that the groundbreaking ceremony would be held on the day that the returning Jesuits set foot in Manila in 1859. That was yesterday too. After the mass at the Manila Cathedral, there was a procession to the ruins a few blocks away. The land was blessed anew by Cardinal Rosales and four Jesuits, the Pangkat Kawayan bamboo orchestra performed for the crowd, and breakfast was served on the old walls of the city fortress.



After breakfast, the motorcade began. It stopped at all the past and present campuses of the Ateneo de Manila University. When the Intramuros campus of the school was destroyed by a big fire in 1932, it was relocated to Ermita, Manila along Padre Faura Street. Since the school again transferred to Quezon City in the 1950s, the lot was sold to the Gokongwei family which owns a chain of malls and department stores in the Philippines. So, yes, the first stop was at a mall: Robinsons Place Manila. There was a simple ceremony to unveil a brass marker beside the mall's Padre Faura entrance. On the marker was etched an image of the old school building and an explanation of the school's history in that location. What made the ceremony memorable was the presence of about two dozen alumni who studied in the Padre Faura campus. They even sang one of their favorite Ateneo cheers after the unveiling of the marker.



Unfortunately, I missed the rest of the motorcade because of my assigned tasks for the day. In fact, I missed all the ceremonies yesterday except the one at Padre Faura. I was at the Manila Cathedral, but wasn't able to attend the mass. I saw the procession begin, but wasn't able to join it. I walked to the San Ignacio ruins, but only to immediately get in a car to go to Padre Faura, so I missed the performance and the breakfast. Yesterday was work for me and for everyone in our office, after all. But once it 's produced, we can all watch the video of yesterday's events and be proud of the fact that everything came to be because of us.

Two mathematicians

As part of the countdown to the Ateneo de Manila University's 150th anniversary, Philippine pianist Raul M. Sunico performed at the Church of the Gesù on Tuesday evening. Trained at the University of the Philippines, Juilliard School and New York University, Dr. Sunico's wonderfully eclectic program included pieces from Frederic Chopin, Isaac Albeniz, Claude Debussy, Franz Liszt and George Gershwin. The list of Dr. Sunico's many accomplishments as a concert pianist, orchestral soloist and musical arranger—both internationally and locally—is too long to include here, but beyond his brilliant piano playing, there are two things that endear him most to me: he arranged Filipino folk songs and kundiman (traditional love songs) for classical piano and recorded them in fifteen volumes—a legacy that will forever enrich Philippine culture; and his many projects on music education, especially for grade school children.



I do not have a photo of Raul Sunico at the piano, unfortunately. The conditions during the concert—dim ambient light, strong spotlights, a pianist that performs with his entire body—were just too tough for my little camera. But I did get one during the photo-op before the concert. So, without further ado, let me introduce to you the president of the Ateneo de Manila University, Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ and Dr. Raul M. Sunico, Artistic Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Dean of the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music and pianist extraordinaire.

State-ly columns

A longer view of Quezon Hall, the main administration building of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, with the statue of the Oblation, which I posted for the CDP May theme day, in its small green plaza. The University of the Philippines, or U.P. for short, is the country's premier state university.

They are definitely not tree-huggers

On Monday, I showed you some of the beautiful acacia trees that are still numerous in my little corner of Quezon City. This 'corner' is actually an academic district which includes the University of the Philippines – Diliman, Miriam College (formerly Maryknoll College) and Ateneo de Manila University. The road which connects these three is Katipunan Avenue, which used to have a narrow island which separated the main road from a side road that gave motorists safe access to the commercial establishments and condominiums on one side of the road. That narrow island used to be lined with beautiful acacia trees too. Then about four years ago, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) started cutting down the trees. Of course, the students, faculty and employees of the schools and the residents of the subdivisions in the area raised a massive howl of protest. To make a long story short, the MMDA was forced to stop cutting the trees but by that time, only the trees at either end of the road were still standing. On February 13, 2009, my husband and I went home from work as usual and those few remaining trees were still there. On the afternoon of February 14, we saw these men hacking the curb of the island and all the trees were gone! There was a sign that said that the trees were not cut down but removed with their roots and planted elsewhere. Where? No one knows. How deep do you think the roots of Monday's 60-year-old acacias would be? How big a hole do you think they would leave behind? The holes I saw looked to be about one meter (3 feet) in diameter and depth. The MMDA did not give the communities here any warning or information before the trees were uprooted in the middle of the night and the early morning of a Saturday when most students and faculty weren't around because there were no classes. The MMDA has not released any information or photos to reassure the communities here that the trees were planted and are thriving in their new home. This is my first story about the MMDA but it won't be my last.

Centennial

Since I mentioned Jose Rizal in my previous two posts, I might as well add a third and get him out of my system. Because he's a Philippine national hero, his image and name appears all over the country, especially in monuments and street names, whether he actually went to the place or not. Here, we see a bust of him through the gates of Palma Hall in the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines (U.P.). When I was in college and visiting friends here, Palma Hall was the home of the College of Arts and Letters. Now, according to U.P. Diliman's website, it is the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. We used to be able to pass through this gate too. I think it's permanently closed now, and only the gates at its sides are left open. My guess is it's to preserve Rizal's bust—you know what college kids can be like. U.P. was founded in June 18, 1908 and this year marked their centennial. Their official seal is composed of an eagle holding a shield with symbols for agriculture (inside the pyramid: a coconut tree, rows in a field, and something tied in a bundle), science (upper left: a book, an oil lamp with a flame, and a funny-looking flask which I remember from Chemistry lab), and engineering (upper right: a hammer, an anvil, and a wheel). At least, those are the symbols in this seal. Wikipedia has a picture of the seal on the gate of U.P.'s main library, and it sure looks different from this one. And it's the image on the library that was used when U.P. had its seal redrawn and registered in the Intellectual Property Office.

An early Christmas

Like last year, and the eight years before that, our office organized the Lights for Hope Christmas outreach party for young children in the poor communities and public schools that various organizations in the Ateneo de Manila University are involved with. This year, though, we also opened the event to the children of university employees who suffered from typhoon Ketsana (known as Ondoy locally). Last Saturday, about one thousand children spent the afternoon in a large field in the university. There was a program with games and prizes, and Jollibee himself (his fastfood chain provided the kids' afternoon snack) dancing for the kids. He is probably the most famous and best-loved animal mascot in the country and up close, it's easy to understand why—he has the cutest shy smile! He's a pretty good dancer too.



For those who didn't care for dancing or parlor games, there were two large inflatable slides. The college students who volunteered to help did a fantastic job of keeping the waiting lines orderly.



Canon Philippines provided a photo booth. Pose with the Canon snowman and get a free print, a souvenir of the afternoon. Filipinos are usually shy about asking strangers anything and people probably thought this was just a display booth, so two officemates and I got things going by being the first to get our picture taken. We posed together but we each got a copy. And, no, I'm not posting that photo here. No way.



Instead of just our regular one goody bag, all the children went home with four bags. Our blue tote bag had biscuits and other snack foods, a rubber ball and slippers. The Ateneo High School Class of 1967 provided a knapsack full of school supplies, including a Tagalog-English pocket dictionary. And ABS-CBN, one of the largest media companies in the Philippines which was also one of the largest relief operations centers during the typhoon, provided two bags of relief goods: rice and canned goods, and clothes. The Ateneo High School and Grade School basketball teams helped us distribute all the bags, help that was much appreciated because just before distribution I thought we didn't have enough hands. The high school boys even helped the smaller ones carry all their 'loot' back to their picnic area.



None of these would have been possible without the generosity and hard work of so many people, so indulge me as I thank others not mentioned above: all the alumni who gave donations to pay for the afternoon's expenses; Culinary Exchange for its free-flowing coffee to keep the volunteers going; Blue Christmas, the college group that organized all the kids and their facilitators; and, of course, the entire Office of University Development and Alumni Relations, especially Marijo and her team. Thank you, everyone, and may God bless you all.

An offering

THEME DAY: STATUES • In 1935, the fourth President of University of the Philippines, Rafael Palma, commissioned sculptor and professor Guillermo Tolentino to create a monument based on the second stanza of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal's "Mi Ultimo Adios" (My Last Farewell) which would be the identifying landmark of the university. The result was the Oblation (noun, something offered in worship or devotion), a naked figure of a young man with face tilted heavenward, eyes closed, arms outstretched, hands open and chest forward—a grand pose of self-offering. The original statue, made of concrete painted to look like bronze, is now kept in the university's main library. The statue in front of Quezon Hall, the administration building, is a bronze replica recast from the original and unveiled in the Diliman campus in 1958.



See more statues in the virtual global museum that is City Daily Photo on this first day of May. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Anthony Charles Lynton

Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was the speaker at the fourth Ateneo MVP Center Leadership Forum yesterday and I was privileged to be among the 1,200 people invited to the talk. I had a great seat too: not orchestra center because the first few rows were reserved for important people and the rest of it was immediately filled up, but the first row of the left side which turned out to be right in front of Mr. Blair's podium! His topic was "The Leader as Nation Builder in a Time of Globalization." The topic was specially chosen by the Ateneo de Manila University for its 150th anniversary whose theme, The Ateneo Way, comprises excellence, spirituality and nation-building.


I'm not going to say anything about the lecture itself because I've already seen three articles written about it and will just point you to them. The articles of John Nery, a journalist and columnist at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, are "Blair: The battle is about Islam" and "Her Britannic Majesty’s loyal texter." The article of Rick Olivares, an alumnus who writes regularly for the Ateneo de Manila website, is "Tony Blair: An ordinary human being in an extraordinary situation." And the article of Joaquin Alonzo Narciso, a young high school student, is "Servant-Leaders as Nation Builders." After the lecture, Mr. Blair was presented with several gifts which hold great meaning to the university: a replica of the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus carved by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal while he was a student in the Ateneo; a set of books collecting the essays and homilies of Fr. Horacio de la Costa, a historian and the first Filipino superior of the Jesuits in the Philippines; and, probably a first for the university during a formal occasion, an Ateneo de Manila jacket.

Parallel

The majestic simplicity of a single, enormous white Christmas star is appropriate for the majestic simplicity of the main entrance of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) – Diliman's Palma Hall, with its soaring, three-story high rectangular columns. The building is named after Rafael Palma, U.P.'s fourth but first Filipino president, and is currently the home of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. The small but colorful stars flanking the stairs are suggestive of the young students which populate its rooms and corridors.

Ongaku in Motion

One of the perks of working at a university is the wide range of learning opportunities right at our doorstep. And no, they are not all dry lectures. Last month, the Ateneo de Manila's Japanese Studies Program, with the assistance of the Japan Information and Cultural Center of the Embassy of Japan, celebrated the Philippines-Japan Friendship Month with "Ongaku in Motion." Ongaku means music in Japanese. The first half of the program featured traditional Japanese music and dance. This is a koto, which is the national instrument of Japan.



After several pieces of koto music, played by the Director of the Japanese Studies Program and a member of the University of the Philippines Koto Ensemble, one faculty member performed a Nihon Buyo dance. It was fascinating with its slow, exact and refined movements.



Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the second half of the program, which featured J-pop and anime music performed by the students.

A sense of place

It is sometimes tough to get a sense of a place when all you see of it are specific buildings or interiors. So come and join me at Philcoa, a major transportation stop in my part of Quezon City, so called because the landmark government building at the corner of the Quezon Memorial Circle is the Philippine Coconut Authority. The south side of the road, one fork of which leads to the University of the Philippines, has two strip malls. Behind the nearer building is the baratilyo which I love walking through for its bargain clothes.




This is the western end of the strip mall, closest to the Quezon Memorial Circle. Vendors are no longer allowed on the sidewalk, though one still managed to set up her potted plants against the wall. But she's not obstructing pedestrian traffic flow so it's okay. There is a gap between Citimall and another building at the corner, so a few fruit and vegetable vendors have their stalls there.




The green overpass below is where I took the first two pictures from. All these jeepneys are going to northeast Quezon City. GT (Garage to Terminal) Express is another form of public transportation. Mostly Asian utility vehicles (AUVs), they travel fixed routes from one specified station to another specified station and cannot—or should not—load or unload passengers between their two stops. And yes, the guy in the blue shirt inside the jeepney was smiling for me; in fact, he was quite insistent that I include him in my photo.




The gap between Citimall and the corner building is caused by a small creek which runs at the edge of an extremely dense urban poor neighborhood. It used to be choked with garbage, but the community finally learned its lesson when it flooded badly during last year's typhoon Ketsana. It is now relatively clear of solid waste but, unfortunately, not of liquid waste. The stench is still quite bad and, as you can guess from the water's color, the creek is definitely dead.




The street around the corner is lined almost entirely by small enterprises; some are franchises but most are single proprietorships where the seller, repairman, cook or seamstress is the owner. This is also where my tricycle terminal is, so this is where we'll end our walk for now.

And That's My World!

Self-offering

The mural on the second floor of the University of the Philippines - Diliman's Palma Hall features scenes from the country's long history of fighting for freedom—against the Spanish, Japanese, and Americans, then against the Martial Law regime of Ferdinand Marcos. The figure in the middle is the sculpture called the Oblation, which has become the state university's symbol.

See murals from around the world in Monday Mural.

Something old for something new

THEME DAY: GLASS • During the 1930s, the campus of the Ateneo de Manila University was along Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila. All of its buildings were destroyed during WWII. When the Jesuits rebuilt the campus, they also built a circular chapel on the grounds. In Germany, Fr. Raymond Annable, S.J. found a set of stained glass windows depicting the Stations of the Cross and the walls of the chapel were designed specifically for them. In the 1950s, the university's main campus was moved to its current location in Loyola Heights, Quezon City and the Padre Faura land was sold to John L. Gokongwei, one of the Philippines' wealthiest businessmen. Fifty years passed before the light of the sun shone through those stained glass windows again, when they were installed in the Church of the Gesù in 2002. They provide a beautiful backdrop to the church's unique holy water font, made out of a single piece of volcanic rock with a water circulating system built inside it. Reflected on the stained glass panels is the crucifix over the altar and the windows of the two other sides of the pyramid-shaped church.



Rough, smooth, faceted, colored, smoky, translucent, transparent, mirrored—look at or look through glass with the City Daily Photo bloggers. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Training grounds

The Moro Lorenzo Sports Center (MLSC) of the Ateneo de Manila University was constructed in 2001, and has multi-purpose courts which can be used for basketball, volleyball and badminton. It has an indoor track oval, a gym and a sports medicine clinic, aside from a chapel and a café. It is named after Luis F. "Moro" Lorenzo, Sr., an alumnus of the university, a former basketball player, and, before his death in 1997, a very successful businessman. The MLSC is where the Ateneo Blue Eagles, the university's men's basketball team, practices everyday. This afternoon is the third and final game of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men's basketball championship between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors. Last year, we won against the De La Salle Green Archers. I'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed today! Go Blue Eagles! One big fight!!

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6:06 P.M. update: The Ateneo Blue Eagles beat the UE Red Warriors 71–58! Woohoo!!! And the Ateneo High School's Blue Eaglets also beat De La Salle-Zobel 61–51! A double championship! Congratulations, boys! And thank you.

Keep on dreaming, Pepe

Philippine national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal and his two novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo seem to be popular topics not just in history and literature classes here but also in plays. In August, we watched the Philippine Educational Theater Association's "Noli at Fili: Dekada 2000," a modern interpretation of the two novels, and the same theater group is currently staging "Batang Rizal," which discusses the ideas of heroism and nationalism from the point of view of children, one of whom is the child Jose "Pepe" Rizal. Dulaang U.P., the resident theater group of the state University of the Philippines, recently staged "Isang Panaginip na Fili" (A Dream of Fili). Basically, the play is just a dramatization of Rizals' entire second novel. What makes it different is the fact that it is a musical, and the novel's story is interspersed with scenes where Pepe discusses his novel-in-progress with a friend. In the end, they differ in their ideas about how Pepe should end his novel. Tunying wants him to choose the way of weapons and warfare. But Pepe—much like his other choices in life—in the end decides to reject violence. It's a slower and more difficult path, and many of the social ills of the Philippines that Rizal wrote about still exist to this day. But, as the play exhorts in the end: Keep on dreaming, Pepe, and maybe one of these days, your dream of justice, freedom and equality for Filipinos just might come true. Especially if enough Filipinos dream with him, I think.

State-ly university trees

The Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) is the second largest campus of this state university system and its administrative seat. It also has some of the most magnificent acacia trees in Metro Manila. This is Roxas Avenue, where the Vargas Museum, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, and the College of Education are located. U.P. Diliman has made all the roads around its Sunken Garden one-way and set aside one lane for bicycles and joggers. Sundays, they close off these roads from all motor vehicles so it becomes a haven for families and athletes. PHOTO BY DOGBERRY

A 50-year-old dream

When the Ateneo de Manila University moved from its old campus in Padre Faura, Manila to Loyola Heights, Quezon City in the 1950s, the Jesuits dreamed of having a church built on the highest point of the campus. It wasn't until fifty years later that that dream was realized. In 2001 the Church of the Gesù was built and dedicated during the Feastday of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It is named after the Il Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus in Rome, Italy. The design of the Ateneo Church of the Gesù, though very modern, is also very Filipino. Its pyramidal roof is reminiscent of the roof of the nipa hut, the Philippines' traditional house, now only found in rural areas. The statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the left stood alone for many years on that highest point. In commemoration of this fact, the area where the church stands is now called the Sacred Heart Hill.

One night of surprises

Thanks to a classmate from my university days a long time ago, Chinoy Eater (who irritatingly still looks like she's in her early twenties—no fair!), I was invited by Patricia Tan of Events 100 to "One Night Only" last March 4. The minimalist invitation only said that it was cocktails at the Hampton Room of Astoria Plaza in Ortigas Center, Pasig City but Patricia mentioned in her email that it was also a celebration of Astoria's 9th anniversary. Intrigued, since I've never been to such an event, I asked my husband if we could go and he said yes, so we did. When we got to the hotel, the first thing that caught my eye in the Hampton Room was the wonderful light fixtures, an arboreal fantasy.




The room was set up with a small stage and a large video screen, so I immediately figured, correctly as it turns out, that it was a media event. Before the presentations, we were invited to have some cocktails. I just loved how the hotel staff laid out the forks to look like a palm frond, complete with green lights to heighten the effect.




My husband loved their crème brûlée. Isn't the presentation just so pretty? And the mirrored surface of the cocktail tables made everything look dazzling.




The purpose of the media event was three-fold. First, Astoria launched its new logo, cleverly embedded in an ice sculpture. Second, they introduced their newest celebrity endorser, Boy Abunda, who is one of the most famous and sought-after talk show hosts in the Philippines. And third, they announced the re-opening of Astoria Boracay. Located in the world-famous Boracay Island, with its fine white sand beaches, in the province of Aklan, the resort used to be known as Boracay Gold Crowne. The Astoria group acquired the resort in 2008, extensively renovated it, and the new rooms and facilities will be available this April, just in time for summer. In the photo are Astoria Plaza Hotel Manager Ping Regalado, Boy Abunda and Vice President for Operations Vivian Ng.




For attending the event, the guests—tri-media practitioners and bloggers, all—were given laptop bags and made official members of Astoria's First Club, which means that we will be invited to anything new that Astoria has to offer (more photos for me—whee!). And the best surprise of all, we were also invited to stay at the new Astoria Boracay for three days and two nights—double whee! Would you believe we've never been to Boracay? I know, pathetic. So we are definitely looking forward to the trip later in the year. I'm already so excited! I wonder if the resort will have chairs as unusual and lovely as these ones in Astoria Plaza's lobby…

Neo-classical Corinthian

Built in 1940, the former Finance Building in the City of Manila was designed principally by the Filipino architect Antonio Toledo, who received his training at the Brooklyn Institute of Technology, Ohio State University and Cornell. Toledo was a member of the Bureau of Public Works, the agency which was in charge of the construction of all government buildings during the American colonial era. He also designed the Manila City Hall. Heavily damaged during WWII, the Finance Building was rebuilt after the war by the construction and engineering company of A. M. Oreta. In 1998, it was renovated again in time for the Philippine centennial, this time to house part of the collection of the National Museum of the Philippines. That part was the museum's collection of Philippine archeological artifacts and what used to be the Finance Building is now the Museum of the Filipino People.



This post is dedicated to our good friends Vic Oreta, one of A. M. Oreta's grandchildren, and his wife Cecile.