Paete is a small town in Laguna built on woodcarving and faith. For a child growing up in the community, there was very little room for questions. Jennifer Cagandahan was born on Jan. 13, 1981, in the neighboring town of Pakil, with an “F” for gender written on the birth certificate. The child grew up...
Category: Culture
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Her words, not simply her turn of phrase
Reading “Not Quite There” presents an experience out of the usual. The range of Chit Roces-Santos’ second collection of essays is wide and welcoming; it not only invites the reader to get a glimpse of a charmed life in this neck of the woods but also and in good humor provides leeway for the reader...
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‘Man of La Mancha’: Theater as collective meaning-making
The song “The Impossible Dream” captured the national imagination when a man lay dead on the tarmac—a tragedy precipitated by his decision to return to his homeland despite the imminent threat of political persecution. He was, after all, foremost among the fiercest opponents of the dictator who had been in power for 17 years. Days...
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‘Wrap artiste’ Ditta Sandico offers a look at the future of fashion
Ditta Sandico, “wrap artiste,” clothing designer and indigenous fashion advocate, discusses her 40-year journey in the fashion industry in the recently launched book, It’s A Wrap: Unraveling the Future of Fashion. Published by Far Eastern University, written by Francine Medina Marquez, and edited by Gayle Zialcita, It’s A Wrap draws inspiration from indigenous communities, most...
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Reclaiming connection in seemingly ordinary moments
Irene Laturnas Velasco and I are both from Negros Oriental. She grew up in the town next to mine, and long before we became close we already shared many common friends and stories. She is friends with my older brother and cousins, too. But strangely enough, it took adulthood for us to really find each...
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‘Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 4’ confronts Philippine theater
Film and theater operate on fundamentally different contracts with their audiences. Cinema is more controlled: It is edited, color-graded, scored, and packaged for the screen. Theater, on the other hand, refuses all of that: It is raw, immediate, unrepeatable, and alive in ways that no camera can fully simulate or contain. For “Ang Babae Sa...
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Plant a tree, but make sure it’s not mahogany
Every tree has a story, a name, a role in healing, Glenda Flores Co told her audience. She spoke in elegant Filipino—“Bawa’t puno ay may kwento, may pangalan, may silbi sa paghilom”—at the close of the program held to launch the book “Philippine Native Trees 404: Rooted and Rising” last April 28 at Club Filipino...
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Power and survival take the stage: A review of Peta’s ‘Ctrl + Shift: Changing Narratives’
The Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) once again brought socially engaged storytelling to the stage with “Ctrl + Shift: Changing Narratives,” a four-play production that challenges audiences to confront the realities shaping contemporary Filipino life. Divided into two contrasting sets, the show, held April 12 to April 19, navigated themes of power, corruption, survival, and...
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“Endo”: Precarity in Philippine theater
Most of the trademarks of a Peta play can be gleaned in “Endo,” the company’s latest offering for the second quarter of the year. Snippets of dialogue on the burning issues of the day (fuel prices, flood control projects) slide in every now and then. The koro is in full throttle, signifying the bigger community...
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Vivid portraits of Filipino Americans Philip Vera Cruz and Narciso Manzano
Filipinos are generally unaware of the personal histories of Filipino Americans who played significant roles in the transitional period of the Commonwealth, the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, and the postwar republic. Pioneering authors Craig Scharlin and Lilia V. Villanueva have produced two books on such key figures—Philip Vera Cruz, who led Filipino immigrants in...