Shortly after World War II, many survivors of the attempted annihilation of Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies recalled the final plea of their fellow prisoners while being herded to impending death: “Remember! Do not let the world forget!” It was in honoring that anguished plea that Holocaust survivors set up exhibits and scholarly...
Tag: history
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Kidlat Tahimik’s ‘Balikbayan #1’ reverses the colonialist narrative
The story of humankind is replete with plot twists and unexpected events. Take, for example, the matter of who first circumnavigated the world. The usual answer is Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who, on Sept. 20, 1519, led a five-ship, 270-strong expedition from Spain to search for a westward route toward the Spice Islands, now the...
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Edsa 1: Democracy and disappointment
Feb. 22-25, 1986, were “four days that shook the world”—the words used by the late journalist and press secretary Teodoro C. Benigno to describe the Edsa People Power Revolution that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The peaceful revolt was the culmination of a pent-up desire to get rid of Marcos short of an armed struggle....
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Independent media’s critical role in social transformation
Remembering the Edsa people power uprising that toppled Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship 37 years ago—on Feb. 22-25, 1986—must include recognizing how the independent media played a key role in providing facts on the ground, which the people at large used to become proactive in molding their milieu. Ninoy Aquino’s assassination at the then Manila International...
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Marcos Jr. should learn from history, Biazon says in wake of military brass shakeup
The dictator Ferdinand Marcos kept Gen. Romeo Espino for nine years as chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to enforce martial law, causing deep division and disenchantment among the military officers and men. The rumblings eventually reached tipping point. Then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and the AFP vice chief of staff,...
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Doing justice to Ninoy Aquino’s memory
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following message was delivered on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022, by Kiko Aquino Dee, son of Viel and Dodo Dee and one of the eight grandchildren of the late opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., to mark his 90th birth anniversary. Ninoy Aquino, then a senator, was one of the first to be...
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Filipino Canadians make history in British Columbia polls
VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Maita Santiago was sworn in as councilor of Burnaby in British Columbia (BC) last Nov. 2, 29 years after she failed in a similar electoral attempt in Vancouver. Santiago, an immigration consultant and a native of Bulacan in the Philippines, is the first of Filipino heritage to take the post of councilor of...
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Remembering: the rock that grew into an island
Last of five parts The rock lay rooted deep on top of a mountain/ A stone’s throw away stood our little farm hut/ The farm was the homestead father acquired in 1940/ The mountain was broken by two rivers/ From the north and from the south/ The two rivers intersected at the east/ Beyond the...
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Remembering: From Cavite to Upi to greener pastures
(Fourth of five parts) We were 11 in the family. Our tatay, Deogracias, was born in 1902 and died in March 1986; our nanay, Obdulia, was born in 1908 and died in April 2006. We were nine children—two daughters (my eldest sister and the eighth) and seven sons. The eldest was born in 1927 and...
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Remembering: ‘Tao po’ and invitations to a ‘pintakasi’
EDITOR’S NOTE: CoverStory is running the life story of historian and peacemaker Rudy Buhay Rodil in five parts, in an effort to contribute to “a deeper understanding of Mindanao society, history and culture,” a lifelong advocacy that he has pursued with fervor and vigor. Mr. Rodil, now 80, has much to say about what he...
