The adventurous palate of foodies and their #willtravelforfood motto are interesting phenomena. The trend mentioned in a recent lecture intrigued me and moved a university student in the audience to ask Dr. Kristine Michelle L. Santos if Filipinos of yesteryear inherited their fondness for food from the Americans during the colonial era. Santos, an assistant...
Tag: history
Post
The PICC at 47: An enduring witness to history
For close to five decades, the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) has been a witness to history, as well as to the personal stories of the generations of Filipinos, local and foreign dignitaries, and guests that have walked through its halls and venues. Listening to individuals that have witnessed the PICC’s evolution, one comes to...
Post
Norma Rae, Sister Stella L, and newspaper union organizing under martial law
They said it couldn’t be done. It was martial law, after all, and among many freedoms suppressed by Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s repressive regime (1965-1986) was the right to organize a legitimate union. Strikes were banned, and only government-friendly unions were recognized. But a hardy group of journalists at the Journal group of publications (Times Journal,...
Post
Timely remembrance of martial law off the press
Ultimately, they write to remember, and to fight: to remember the terror of martial law and its lingering impact on the lives of Filipinos, and to fight the foisted narrative that those terrible years comprised a “golden age.” This avowed mission runs relentlessly through “Serve,” a book of stories by and interviews with former members...
Post
Barbie’s story in the Philippines is not all glamour and glitter
The pink, sparkly dress of the Barbie doll has been veiling something much less glamorous—the loss of thousands of jobs when the company that manufactured the toy in the Philippines closed shop. It is now a blurry episode for most Filipinos, but it may still be fresh in the memory of the workers, mostly women,...
Post
Film continues to help Filipinos remember the sins of martial law
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...
Post
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...
Post
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 history of 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...
Post
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...
Post
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,...
