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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Bud Dajo - an American officer's account

(In March, 1906, Governor General Wood ordered the assault on Bud Dajo, a summit of an extinct volcano near Jolo, where about six hundred moro men, women and children built an impregnable "cotta" and stood defiantly, refusing to pay taxes or recognize the authority of the American colonial government. )

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Igorot in the battle of Caloocan

The Igorots participated in the Philippine American war. Reproduced here is an account by an Igorot named Fanged describing how "Don Bilong" recruited two hundred and fifty of Igorot tribesmen on the pretex that they were to perform a dance in Malolos, but found themselves in the midst of battle in Caloocan in February 11, 1899.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

An episode in the Philippine-American war

(The rift that caused the loss of a battle after the hot-tempered General Luna with two companies of riflemen and cavalry, armed also with two mountain guns, abandoned the battlefield and sought to arrest General Mascardo who refused to obey orders.)

Monday, March 1, 2010

The root of corruption in public office

In an article entitled "CACIQUE" SYSTEM IN THE PHILIPPINES", written seventy-five years ago, corruption in public office is traced back to its roots. Here is the full article of Pedro dela Llana, from his "A book of Comments and Criticism", Manila, P.I.: Sugar news press, 1926:

Friday, February 26, 2010

Early Filipinos had strange sex practice

Pigafetta, the Spanish chronicler of Magellan's voyages, cited a strange practice among the Visayans, in common with various other ethnic groups of south-east Asia.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

ANCIENT TAGALOG POETRY

PAUNAWA SA BABASA

At kung ikaw ay babasa
Nang hindi magkamali ka
talastasin mong maganda
punto, tilde't, birgulilya.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Time to reform electoral process

"More than 50 million Filipinos are choosing a new president, vice president, about 300 lawmakers in the two-chamber Congress and more than 17,600 local government positions in the country's first nationwide automated elections on May 10" - says news item. Wow, this is a really gargantuan effort.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Who Is to blame, GMA?

Indeed, the country is in a leadership crisis. This crisis is not necessarily ascribed solely to GMA, or even to Erap but it had been with us since the third republic was inaugurated in 1946. I believe that from President Roxas down to GMA, we have not had a leader who is an embodiment of the lofty aspirations of the Filipino people.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

P437 billion NAPOCOR debt

There is an urgent matter that needs Senate Blue Ribbon committee attention and this is the proposed pass on to the electricity consumers the P437 billion NAPOCOR debt. Not only is the proposal immoral, but could actually be a design to whitewash irregularities in past bidding or mishandling of funds.

Friday, August 14, 2009

The Powerade Team Pilipinas

I watched all the games of Powerade Team Pilipinas in the recently held FIBA Asia Olympic qualifying games and it seems that the team has all the potential of being competitive because it has good shooters.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Filipino knows

The massive outpouring of love during the funeral of former President Corazon "Tita Cory" C. Aquino, reminiscent of EDSA I, only proves the Filipino knows a hero from a villain when he sees one.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Philippines for sale?

94,000 hectares in Mindoro leased to a Korean firm to produce corn solely for export to Korea. 128,000 hectares in Ilocos region leased to a Japanese company to produce biodiesel for Japan. China wants 100,000 hectares in Mindanao. My God, what are we doing to our country?

Are we producing too much food already that we have no more need for these thousands of hectares of land that are better used to feed our starving millions?

After the mines and the timber and the wild life and the corals ........ now, it's the tierra firma.

Who are the people behind these deals and why does the government allow the partitioning of our patrimony?

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Philippine embassy in Barbados?

Where is Barbados, an island? a country? a republic or what? An Inquirer news item says the Philipines is establishing diplomatic relations with Barbados. My immediate reaction is to ask why only now?

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

February 4, 1899

Today, February 4, 2009, is the 111th anniversary of the opening of hostilities between American troops and the Filipino army of the first Filipino republic, with Emilio Aguinaldo as president.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Water for BF Homes Paranaque

After almost 30 years BF Homes Paranaque will finally have piped water. Residents are going to shell out between P4,000 to P5,000 initially for digging.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Grass cutter

Yes, grass cutter. I did not know it is difficult to find a store that sells grass cutter.