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Rizal: The first
global Filipino
THE BEST things in life now emerging in unified Germany are
in essence the best things in life Dr. Jose Rizal experienced
in late 19th century Europe, particularly in Germany. Among
the kaleidoscope of things that inspired the martyred patriot
of the Philippines in Deutschland is the rich religious, cultural,
institutional, and technological heritage of this dynamic
nation.
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| Her
Christmas remembrance
WITHIN his circle of friends in Cagayan de Oro, Andres "Boy"
Fernandez, Jr. was known as the local version of Elvis Presley.
He not only sang like the rock n' roll icon, he also preened
like the heartthrob and would glance at himself every so often
in mirrors or car windows as he walked by. His hair, he insisted,
must be impeccably combed and his shirt perfectly tucked in.
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Family reunions
amid Alert Orange
PORTLAND, Oregon--A very merry Christmas to all my readers.
My husband, our son and I flew into this key city in the
Pacific Northwest from the small John Wayne Airport in Irvine,
California, amid the tightest airport security. My husband
had planned for us and our two sons, Buddy and Conrad, to
visit with his sister, Juliet Cunanan-Angulo, and her husband,
Emmanuel Angulo, in Portland, and from there we are to motor
to Seattle to spend Christmas with the Angulo children, Christie
and Erwin, who have settled there. Another sister, Perlita
Cunanan-Bengzon, was scheduled to fly in from Washington,
D.C. where she was visiting earlier.
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Media noche fare
for good luck in 2004
AFTER the Christmas dinner, we now have to prepare for New
Year's Eve. Following tradition, we must fill the dining table
with round fruits, sticky kakanin and arroz caldo to attract
better fortune in the coming year.
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| Extra-creamy
callos
OX tripe usually requires long, slow cooking, and that is
the secret of extremely tasty, thick, and tender callos.
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True-blue Filipina trains
to be a cosmonaut
WHEN Irene Mora says she loves her mother country, she isn't
just paying lip service. Eleven years ago, she actualized
it by opting to give up her American citizenship and becoming
a Filipino citizen.
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San
Francisco school
has Tagalog program
YOU'D think it's an elementary school in Manila.
A brightly colored billboard perched on an iron fence reads:
"Ako ay masaya dahil Pilipino ako (I'm happy because
I'm Filipino)." On the concrete playground, dark-haired,
moreno-skinned children play basketball. In the distance,
a child calls out to her grandmother, "Lola, here's my
lunchbox po. I'm going to class now."
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Forgotten Cebuano carol lingers
WE'VE put up the traditional Christmas star parol and belen.
We lit the Advent wreath's first purple candle. All bring
back memories of singing a hijacked Visayan carol in a Thai
church.
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A loop of fate
NINETEEN years ago, my mother went to work in Japan. I was
left in the Philippines with my aunt. But no, this is not
about my horrible past. I didn't have a traumatic childhood.
Actually, by Filipino standards, mine was pretty normal. My
problems revolved around the fact that my mother was away.
Of course then I thought that was such a big deal, as if I
was abandoned and deprived. I made sure everyone around me
was careful not to mention anything about my sad state, and
if anyone ever did, I stormed the culprit with my tears. I
wrote letters to my mother too, telling her that money wasn't
important, that it was her presence I needed.
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Noted
artist wants
to repaint Bicol image
HE has received several awards, but Bicolano painter Pancho
Piano, 49, known internationally as a stained glass artist
and mural painter, still has other missions in life.
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A Fil-Am life
THE PHILIPPINES is a country of beauty, love and joy, a great
and wonderful place to live in even with the downfall of our
economy. A Filipino is hospitable, friendly, knowledgeable
and ingenious. He is creative, industrious and hard working
and survives, lives and makes the most of what he has under
most conditions. A Filipina is a thing of beauty. She is petite,
cute and charming. There is always a feature in her, like
her eyes, her lips, her hair or maybe her complexion that
is lovely to look at. She is brown and beautiful. During the
time of Jose Rizal she was shy, unassuming and demure, a good
and religious wife or a mother who loved deeply and devoutly.
For these modern times she has become more aggressive and
up to date. Not the shy Maria Clara-type anymore, but still
a Filipina of beauty, with plenty of devotion to the one she
loves.
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Tech
places RP firm
on world skincare map
IT was every Filipino entrepreneur's dream: create the best
products and take on the world.
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Migration
I RECENTLY migrated to the US together with my husband. He
is a nurse.
Of course by now everybody knows the huge demand for nurses
here in the good, ol' US of A. A lot of professionals are
taking up nursing as a second course just to be able to land
an immigrant visa.
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Homemade 'kakanin'
with hot chocolate
INTEREST in native cakes, commonly known as kakanin, is always
renewed as soon as December sets in. Blame it on the weather,
the Christmas carols and the blinking parols. Here we have
ube haleya, cassava bibingka and hot chocolate to go with
them. Serve them during the holidays or prepare them for gift-giving.
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Pinay
puts up a 'shop
around the corner' in US
A CORNUCOPIA of 10,000 books greet you as you browse through
the Affordable Bookstore located at 312 1/2 East 2nd Street
in Dalles, Oregon 60 miles east of Portland. The bookstore,
now two years old, is the brainchild of Genoveva Torqueza-Allan,
42, wife to Dan Allan, 39, a tugboat technician at the Tugwater
Barge Shipping and Transport Lines, and mom to kids Calvin,
15, and Shirley, 9. A native of Abra, Ilocos Sur, Allan worked
as a domestic helper in the mid-80s in Hong Kong where she
met her husband.
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The 19th-century friars
BACK in the mid-19th century, there was definitely an anti-friar
and even anti-religious sentiment among Spanish intellectuals,
an attitude seldom demonstrated by Filipinos.
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Foot in mouth
I AM as far away from the Philippines as I can possibly get.
As a new graduate of the UP-PGH, I swore never to leave the
country because I believed that whatever talents I possessed
were reserved only for the Filipinos. Foolishly, I thought
that if all the educated and middle class Filipinos left the
country, then who would run the country?
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| Winter
in Manila
IT'S winter here in the UK, where I've moved. The evening
temperature right now dips just below freezing and ice encrusts
the grass. Here the air is so dry that once, when I woke up
in the morning, my lips were bleeding -- dried like raisins.
Most trees are bare now, skeletons of their summer selves.
I rather like summer but my favorite season is autumn when
the leaves turn red and fall to the ground and the days get
shorter but the afternoons grow longer. The cold nights are
long, but the promise of spring is comforting.
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The women of my country
FOR those of you who haven't had a chance to read "The
Story of the Lopez Family" of Balayan town in the province
of Batangas, south of Manila, the speech delivered by Clemencia
Lopez at the annual meeting of the New England Woman Suffrage
Association in 1902 may beguile you to get yourself a copy.
It shows just how advanced and educated some of our women
were even then and how this continues to be a tradition in
this country. Remember that at the time, most Americans were
of the opinion that we were no better than "savages without
education or morals."
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A Filipino leader
in Canada's Cabinet
DR. REY Pagtakhan, the first Filipino-Canadian in the federal
Cabinet of Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien and the Member
of Parliament (MP) representing the Winnipeg North-St. Paul
electoral district in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is his own kind
of a man in politics. He's honest and forthright, well-liked
and well-respected by his constituents and colleagues. His
quiet ways of getting things done have prompted Prime Minister
Chretien to tell the Winnipeg Free Press in 1997 that he likes
Pagtakhan because he is not a "showboat. He's the kind
of MP who has never gotten carried away with the trappings
of the office."
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Pinoys
sing 'My Way'
amid gunfire in Iraq
WHEN you hear strains of Frank Sinatra's "My Way"
rising above the crack of gunfire and the din of explosions
in the middle of the Iraqi desert, you can be sure there are
Filipino peacekeepers nearby.
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New York artist
tackles powerlines
SHE won't strike you as a stereotypical New York artist.
In fact, visual artist Christina Quisumbing Ramilo won't strike
you as a trend-setting New Yorker at all. She likes her regular
T-shirts and maong, and the most adventurous hairstyle she's
probably had was a close shave a few summers ago that set
off her dark expressive eyes.
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| A 1925
tourist in Manila
A CERTAIN Juan Potous came by a little over a quarter of
a century since his country had ceded the Philippines to the
United States in the Treaty of Versailles. He was pleasantly
surprised to find that street names and places still bore
Spanish names such as Novaliches, Issac Peral (UN Avenue),
Sanchez Barcaiztegui, Alvarado, General Solano, Carriedo,
Alejandro Farnesio, Azcarraga, Balmes, Basco, Benavides, Marques
de los Castillejos, Churruca, Duque de Alba, Echague, Elcano,
Marques de Comillas, O'Donell. Other names were de España,
Lepanto, El Dorado, Estado, Estrella, Evangelista, Fraternidad,
Alhambra, Galicia, Globo de Oro, Granate, Habana, Herran,
Hormiga, Industria, Jaboneros, Colorado, Mejorada, Misericordia,
Muralla, Numancia, Palma, Panaderos, Paraiso, Peñalosa,
Peñafrancia, Peñarubia, Reina Regente, Salsipuedes,
Tenorio, Toneleros. (I name them so that you may take note
of how many have been changed since then.)
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Pinay nurse
in America
I ARRIVED in the United States last week, flying from Manila
to San Francisco to Seattle. All my life I have been dreaming
of coming to the land of milk and honey. My friends tell me
I am lucky. "It's like winning the lotto," I remember
a good friend telling me when I got my visa approved. Fool
that I was, I thought I was the luckiest gal in the planet
-- perhaps I am. But for now, as I adjust to the place where
every single nurse in the Philippines wants to be, I stop
for a second and take a deeper breath.
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Empowering
Filipino
artists everywhere
SINGAPORE--After more than a hundred performances of Eve
Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" in the Philippines,
you'd think you would have learned to relax. But the play's
current run at the YMS Theater on Waterloo Street in Singapore
is no different from those staged by the New Voice Company
in Hong Kong, Manila, Cebu, Dumaguete or Davao. You don't
know what to expect -- and that's what makes it exciting!
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| Hometown
jewels
PART of my packed schedule during a brief visit to Butuan
City was a preview of "Lawig Balanghai," a musical
play based on the lives of 16th century Butuanons. Written
by Fe Remotigue, "Lawig Balanghai" was first staged
in 1987 and toured major cities of Luzon in 1988 as a recipient
of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Tour Grant
program. It was re-staged in 1994 for "Mindulani,"
the Mindanao Theater Festival where the musical was hailed
as one of Mindanao's landmark stage presentations.
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Documentary on RP
migrants screened
"HOMEBOUND" is a documentary, written and directed
by Avic Ilagan, about the migrant workers' reintegration program.
Avic says, "I feel making this documentary will help
in the advocacy for the next generation of migrants who are
preparing for their return back home. It will help them make
better choices and alternatives. It will also show the strength
and role of migrants in shaping economic and social values."
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Flying
eye hospital
offers better view
THERE'S a life-changing view at the top for three Filipinos
on board Orbis' DC-10 aircraft, the world's only flying eye
hospital.
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Bicol
specialties
go international
LEGAZPI CITY--The growing market demand from overseas Filipino
workers and foreign patrons for two well-known delicacies
of the region -- the Bicol express and the laing -- prompted
Moonbake Inc. owner Ana Manrique, a native of Malinao, Albay,
to produce hygienically packed and preserved foods with the
goal of placing Bicolano dishes on the world food map.
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'Balik-Sorsoganon'
FOR a half-Bicolana [native of the Bicol region], I am only
now finding out how miserably deficient is my knowledge of
Bicolano "culture." For instance, I'd always thought
that the pili, which for some reason seems to be identified
solely with the region, was a nut, and grew on trees like
chestnuts or walnuts. Only during lunch at the home of Sorsogon
Governor Rolly Lee and his wife, Sorsogon City Mayor Sally
Lee, did I find out that there is actually a pili fruit --
dark-skinned and of the appearance of miniature eggplants.
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| The
Philippine puzzle
EDGAR Snow, author and political commentator, wrote a series
of articles in 1939 warning about Japanese intentions and
propaganda. Many of our leaders believed that Japan sincerely
had Philippine independence from Western influence at heart.
There were even rumors that Manuel Quezon tried to cut a deal
with the Japanese in the event that they won.
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School kids take
pride in RP history
OUR source of pride is also our source of insecurity, a paradox
that is the bane of every Filipino. We speak and write better
English than any of our Southeast Asian neighbors. Most of
us practice western religions. But unlike the rest of the
Asia, we seem to have no identity, culture and patriotism.
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| Lessons
from 'Magno Rubio' success
GEORGE Ortoll, the executive director of the New York-based
Ma-Yi Theater Company that has distinguished itself for presenting
Asian-American plays in the US, generously credits us for
"putting Ma-Yi on the map in Manila."
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Wake
up and smell
locally grown coffee
EVERY year, according to Nicholas Matti, co-chairperson of
the National Coffee Development Board and president and general
manager of Negros Coffee & Grains, Filipinos consume about
55,000 tons of coffee. Thanks to the high-street coffee war
waged by popular coffee shops, whose extensive menus woo our
palates and central nervous system, our country is one of
the few that produce four varieties of commercially viable
coffee: Robusta, Excelsa, Arabica and Liberica.
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| New
women of Bacolod
NEGRENSE women are the quintessential southern belles of
lore and vintage LVN movies. They were to the hacienda born,
with a silver spoon of muscovado in their mouths. They move
with the languid hauteur of the rich who, as Fitzgerald said,
are different from you and me. Right? Nothing could be more
wrong. Yes, they are graciosa, as only an Ilongga can be,
but they are no different from their cosmopolitan sisters
who are tough and driven and ambitious. The more privileged
among them also feel noblesse obliged to make a difference
in the lives of the people around them, while enriching their
own.
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Local
firm's 56-year success
story turns into sad tale
IT was a sad story of how the last-standing and proudly Filipino-owned
car company in the country ended up in the long list of firms
who failed to withstand the entries of Goliaths in the business.
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Exiles:
Community
theater in America
FOR Filipino families in the United States, straddling two
cultures is a daily fact of life. Remé Grefalda, a
leading theater artist based in Virginia, points out that
second- or third-generation Filipino-Americans are surprisingly
more intuitive about their parents' heritage than the parents
themselves, who can be indifferent to their children's ongoing
search for roots.
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Madrid
museum pays
tribute to Fernando Zobel
CUENCA is 140 km southeast of Madrid. No one usually goes
there, especially if the traveler's itinerary includes cities
with the top contemporary art museums and the top industrial
designs: Bilbao's still-fresh Guggenheim and its new metro,
designed by Norman Foster (affectionately called fosteritos
by the locals); Barcelona's Macba, designed by Richard Meier
and partners; and La Caixa and Madrid's Mncars, more popularly
known as the Reina Sofia, after the Queen.
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Filipinos
conquer
comic book world
AT FIRST glance, the four men appear to be painfully ordinary.
But don't be fooled. Together, they can unleash a yellow sun's
power, deploy top-secret technology and trigger the mutant
gene. They redefine the very dimensions of our perceptions.
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Filipino
rabbit poised
to hop to foreign shores
THE PHILIPPINES' affinity with American culture has exposed
Filipinos early on to famous cartoon characters such as Snoopy,
Mickey Mouse, Garfield and the Muppets of Sesame Street.
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Critics
find superlatives
not enough to describe Licad
BARELY two weeks after she walked two kilometers in the mud
after a landslide in Banaue, Ifugao, Cecile Licad kept her
United States engagements, opening the season of the Madison
Symphony in Wisconsin as soloist in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto
No. 3.
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| A 'kababayan'
in Picton
CHRISTCHURCH is a 20-minute drive from Littleton where we
docked. The beautiful city is laid out like an English university
town around a gothic cathedral with gorgeous English country
gardens. No wonder it's often called "the most English
city outside England." We decided that a great way to
see the South Island's largest city was by the historic tramway,
a 2.5-km loop around central Christchurch. From the main square,
we were brought to the shopping promenades and art galleries,
passing many super hip alfresco cafés. Then we were
whisked off to the neo-gothic Arts Centre, theaters, studios
and crafts workshops, and around the eye-catching Georgian
cafés and houses on New Regent Street where we got
off to stroll down gorgeous parks and avenues. The tram is
really the best way to visit all the "must-see"
attractions.
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| Soul
of bronze
FILIPINO-AMERICAN artist Earl Enriquez is one of the very
few of his generation who continue the legacy of classical
Filipino sculpture from Guillermo Tolentino, Anastacio Caedo
and José Mendoza. Yet only a few Filipino art lovers
have seen his work.
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'King's'
descendants
return to their roots
SOME time in the middle of the 19th century, Fernando Escaño
left his native Zambales and went to Leyte to trade in abaca.
He moved south from Tacloban to Maasin, siring several children
before he met and married Agustina Faelnar. Once married,
Don Fernando and Doña Agustina moved farther south
to her hometown, Malitbog. They had 15 children, 10 of whom
survived to adulthood.
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Are
Filipinos a
primitive people?
I HAVE not been home for three years now since I arrived
here in the United Kingdom in 2000 to further my education.
But I have kept myself updated on national events back home
through the Internet. It is rather difficult to hear news
about the Philippines in this part of the world, other than
special feature news such as our kababayans munching on dog
meat, which arouses disgust among pet lovers here.
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| Filipino
heritage festival
THE CELEBRATION of Filipino Heritage last week commenced
with the Misa Pamana at the Manila Cathedral, highlighting
excerpts from ecclesiastical compositions of the 18th century
to the present prepared by Dr. Anton Juan, creative director
of the festival. The celebration, slated to last till the
end of the month, is spearheaded by the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts, with the participation of the private
sector. The concept is, of course, ambitious and will probably
not see its zenith until a good three or four years hence,
but it's a start.
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Still
committed
after all these years
HE was named after Andres Bonifacio, the Great Plebeian whose
birthday he shares, but that's not why award-winning playwright-director
Bonifacio Ilagan continues to write socially-relevant plays
these past 33 years.
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A league
of our own
BIRMINGHAM, England--In a country which has a clear and prevailing
bias for football, playing basketball is the least of the
people's passions. But, although the Brits celebrate football
as their cup of tea, Filipino nationals here continue to embrace
basketball as a sports hub.
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| New
World Disorder
NEW YORK--The flags are still here, though fewer in number.
On our street, where there used to be a veritable gallery
of the Stars and Stripes, I now see only two. Down by Ground
Zero, the capitalist impulse took over a while ago, with vendors
doing brisk sales in photos of the towers, New York fire and
police department emblems, T-shirts, and other iconic reminders
of that fateful day. I have nothing against such commercial,
albeit unappealing, entrepreneurship, perhaps because it attempts
to place the unprecedented (and let's all hope there won't
be a second act) within the context of the quotidian, of going
on with life.
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Gay
Fil-Am's
story, Part 2
Like many hormonally crazed adolescents with online access
and a penchant for curiosity, I conducted online research
on human anatomy and reproduction, purely in the name of science,
of course. My investigation however, focused on the male sex,
particularly homosexuality. As it is for most people, homosexuality
was a mystery to me. I wanted information, to know why I felt
the way I did, but more importantly, I wanted to know how
two men had sex. Sure, I knew the "birds and the bees,"
but what about the "birds and the birds?" To me,
it was one big flaming question mark my dad wanted left unanswered.
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| Confessions
of an eBay addict
YES, I admit it. I'm an eBay addict.
Barely a day passes by without me paying a visit to the site,
usually on a nebulous, even geeky excuse that even my best
friends can see through (e.g. how much the bids are for, say,
surge protectors and voltage regulators).
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Pinay
fulfills dream
of becoming US lawyer
GRETEL Tiongson-Ness migrated to the "Garden State"
of New Jersey, USA at the tender age of 15. During the mid-60s,
Gretel's paternal grandfather, Dr. Antonio Tiongson, a specialist
in hematology, together with her grandmother, Cornelia, a
pediatrician, petitioned her father, Danilo, his wife, Grace,
and all of their four children (which included Gretel, the
eldest of the siblings) to migrate to America.
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Pinoy-Russian
wanderer
builds a career in America
AFTER traveling around the world, Pinoy-Russian Geronimo
Tagatac carved his own career niche as a management consultant
on e-commerce and e-government in the Business and Technology
Department, Information Resources and Management Division
of State of Oregon. But in the midst of business concerns,
Tagatac is also immersed in writing American Asian articles
and reaching for his Filipino roots in Batac, Ilocos Norte.
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Let
it be: A gay
Fil-Am's story
"J.P., we have to talk. I found some pictures on the
computer today," my dad seethed from his chair. The home
office, normally warm and comforting, became a cold, asphyxiating
vacuum. "What do these mean?" Images of nude men
flickered onscreen. "Dad... I'm bi." A lie, but
as a gay Filipino-American wanting to come out to your traditionally
religious Filipino father, wouldn't you say something similar?
Wouldn't you want to cushion the inevitable fall?
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| Imagination
is funny
LAST month's hugely successful Sangandaan 2003 Conference
presented a wealth of scholarly views on a century of Philippine-American
relations, specifically in the arts and media -- that complex
entanglement that continues to provoke debate and incessant
soul-searching on both sides of the Pacific.
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Mangyan
folk proud
of first and only lawyer
CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro--Given the same opportunity
as that of a lowland Filipino, the Mangyan, who are often
seen as uneducated and extremely poor, can also be a success
story.
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Citizenship
Retention 2003
THE CITIZENSHIP Retention bill that the Philippine Senate
and House of Representatives have passed and that is about
to be signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
is by far one of the most important bills produced by the
bicameral legislature.
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| Everyone
dreams of America
WHEN I was younger, I used to believe that life after college
would hold vast opportunities for me in my country. But years
after I graduated, I am stranded in a sea of labor where almost
everyone is itching to leave the country for a better life.
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Fil-Ams
speak out
on Mindanao peace
THE CONFLICT in Mindanao has attained global proportions,
first with the Macapagal administration riding piggyback on
the US war on terror. Filipino politicians train a global
lens on the Mindanao crisis for various reasons. Some hope
that if the US acts in a negotiating capacity, their involvement
will not degenerate into further military action. Others support
the US involvement in the hopes that it will funnel aid and
other resources for Mindanao's economic development.
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Where
Aquino forgot
his political ambition
IT was already the fourth day of his detention but "Alpha"
was barely touching his food. Probably, as the soldiers and
officials of the 1st Military Security Detachment (IMSD) tasked
with guarding him understood it, "Alpha" was wary
that he would be poisoned.
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| Lucy
in the sky with Lou Diamond
HER dream was to be an actress. It didn't happen. Instead,
it was her son who became an actor -- a big Hollywood star
at that. "When I was young, I wanted to be an actress
because I saw it as a very glamorous job," says Lucita
Arañas Phillips, mother of Lou Diamond, who is best
known for his roles in "La Bamba," "Young Guns,"
"Stand and Deliver," "Courage Under Fire and
"The Big Hit." "But it was my son who fulfilled
my dream, and I'm so proud to be the mother of a successful
actor."
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| Filipina
on the global stage
SHE looks sweet and guileless, but opera singer-cum-musical theater actress
Thea Tadiar can give as much as she gets. One clueless Italian
bigot found this out the hard way.
Spotting the petite Pinay waiting quietly in the Italian
subway, the Italian harassed her, cackling loudly at her in
Chinese. Instead of withering away, Thea lashed back in perfectly
accented Italian: "Mister, do you have something to say
to me? Do you have a problem?" He ended up suffering
the embarrassment and curious looks.
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Darna!
DARNA, the flying, kicking super-Filipina crimebuster and
defender of the downtrodden who came to life more than 50
years ago, lives on and has become a Filipino pop icon.
She has flown out of the comics pages to grace the movie
screen many times and has been played by noted movie actresses
from several generations. Darna never grows old and Filipinos
never tire of her.
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Making
globalization a two-way street
LOIDA Nicolas Lewis is, far and away, the most successful
Filipino in corporate America. She is the chairperson and
chief executive officer of TLC Beatrice International Holdings
Inc. The company was set up by her late husband, Reginald
F. Lewis, the first African American to create a billion-dollar
business empire. In 1994, a year after her husband passed
away, Loida, the first Asian woman who did not study law in
the United States to have passed the New York State bar exams,
took over the company.
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| Remembering
the Filipino Caruso
MUSICIANS would also congregate in a music store on Raon
Street in Quiapo, Rodolfo recalled. When one needed someone
to sing or perform in a wedding or funeral, the Raon hangout
was the place to go, he said. |
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Filipino
parents bask
in son's newfound fame
HIS ascent to fame was not particularly easy, yet despite adversity,
Filipino-American Harlemm Lee stood tall and emerged as the
grand prize winner in the recently concluded US reality TV show
Fame. Lee bested 12 other competitors, including Filipina Jamisen
Tiangco from Florida, who was booted out from competition on
the show's second week.
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Play
redefines
triumph for OFW
"THE ROMANCE of Magno Rubio" may be set in Depression-era
California of the 1930s, but the bittersweet battle of its title
character reaches across races, nationalities and generations.
Like his modern-day descendants -- the domestics in Hong Kong,
the engineers and tradesmen in Saudi Arabia, maybe even the
thousands of teachers and nurses resettling in the USA-immigrant
worker Magno Rubio left hearth and home hoping to realize his
dreams in a strange, vibrant and occasionally hostile land.
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A Filipino-American's
nightmare
EXPECT this Filipino to bellyache when US President George W.
Bush arrives in the Philippines for a state visit in October
this year.
read story |
The
romance of Magno Rubio
"MAGNO Rubio Filipino boy ... Magno Rubio four feet six
inches tall ... Magno Rubio with a head of a coconut ball ...
Magno Rubio ..."
read story |
Panay
myth in Avignon
IN SELECTING a Filipino play for the Avignon Off-Festival this
month, the French embassy's cultural attaché clearly
wanted original material that would represent in theatrical
form the Pinoy heart and soul. That's one reason there will
be no subtitles for the 23 scheduled performances of Dulaang
Talyer's "Bilog" during the month-long event which
is part of the summer arts celebration in the south of France.
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Immigrant
identities:
Rediscovering heritage
AMONG Filipinos in the Philippines, unsavory stereotypes about
Filipino-Americans abound. They're regarded as snobby, inveterate
spendaholics who shop a storm during visits to the Philippines.
Some of these stereotypes exist even within the Filipino-American
community itself. Young people, especially, grapple with shifting
identities and what it means to be a Filipino in America. Some
of them have taken a step towards addressing that identity crisis
-- albeit indirectly -- in the form of a program that organizes
student volunteer missions in the Philippines.
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Filipino
handicraft,
delicacies go world-class
A UNIQUE road show is blazing a trail across different regions
of the country to present a different kind of fare: down-to-earth
technologies designed to turn humble homespun enterprises into
productive and profitable ventures. Touching dramas unfold along
the way as success stories are shared, such as backroom businesses
that started from scratch and have already earned their first
million.
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'Child
of Silver,
Child of Gold'
WHILE the Spaniards in 1593 baptized Manila the "Very Noble
and Always Loyal City," Tagalogs, according to Adjutant
E. Hannaford, called her "Child of Silver and Child of
Gold," a rather charming name, I must say, although this
is the first time I ran into the phrase.
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Crooked
road home
RONA Reodica was 16 when she first came to visit her
parents' homeland back in 1995. She had grown up in New Jersey
and Palm Coast in Florida but her parents, Fred and Ellen, who
had migrated from Luisiana, Laguna to the United States in 1977,
thought it was high time to show the children their roots.
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RP
still largest supplier
of seafarers in the world
THE PHILIPPINES remains the largest supplier of seafarers --
both officers and ratings -- with 28.1 percent, or more than
a quarter share in the global labor market, according to results
from the Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC) 2003
global crew survey.
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Magsaysay
holds court
in South San Francisco
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO--"Magsaysay is my guy..." So the
slogan went some forty years ago. The slogan that gave such
eloquent voice to the masses then has just recently been resurrected
in the Bay Area
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RP
Independence
Day, Fil-Am style
SAN FRANCISCO--With the towering San Francisco Civic Center
as its backdrop, the celebration of the 105th Philippine Independence
Day here was eagerly attended by different generations of Filipinos
and Filipino-Americans alike.
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Moving
up, coming home
"ALIYAH" is a Jewish term which means "to move
up." Aliyah b'Ramat haChayim means a rise in the standard
of living; Aliyah b'Aspakat haChamtzan means an increase in
the supply of oxygen; and finally Aliyah laAretz means migrating
to Israel. A person making an aliyah is called an "olim,"
or one who moves up. Migrating to Israel means that they are
moving up in their standard of "Jewish living." They
immerse themselves daily to everything Jewish: language, food,
history, attitudes and, possibly, but not necessarily, religion.
It is part of every Jew's upbringing to believe that Israel
is their homeland. A place that they are entitled to return
to if they so choose.
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Changing
customs
DID you know that there was such a thing among the Americans
as one-upmanship in the matter of whether one came in 1898,
in 1900 or 1901? That's according to Mary Fee, a Thomasite first
sent to the province of Iloilo and later to the Philippine Normal
School in Manila.
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Photographer
on the front line
IT'S almost like New Year's Eve, Romeo "Romy" Gacad
thought to himself as he took in the lethal light-and-sound
show: lances of fire rising over his head before landing with
earth-shaking explosions. It was April 6, 2003, and Romy saw
the American soldiers keeping alert all around him. As they
held Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, the coalition forces
were unleashing a powerful fusillade on the Iraqi Republican
Guards.
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Filipino
coffee joins
ranks of world's best
LIVELY. Earthy. Full-bodied. Very Filipino. These are the words
that best describe Starbucks' latest coffee blend that pays
tribute to Filipino ingenuity and potential.
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Remembering
Tats
THIS is the first Fathers' Day that I will celebrate without
Tats. Not that my two younger sisters, brother and I really
had much choice to physically spend it with him the past 16
years. But this year would be much different.
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The
world is big
I AM a young merchant marine officer with an immaculate family
background, finest academy education, and with natural ambitions
in life. My profession has taken me to many corners of the world.
I am quite well versed in the geography of old and modern buildings,
whether European-made or Asian. The flights, taxi rides, brief
stay in airport hotels and walks downtown in different port
of calls can give a good idea of the world in general, if you
stay awake and interested.
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A World
War II
hero's family tale
ANTEQUERA, Bohol--How did a decorated war hero and Olympian
boxer get to raise a family that continues to earn respect not
only in this town but even in the entire province?
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The
art of fatherhood
ON THE FRINGES of Mario de Rivera's delightful painting "Perfect
Age," a 2003 oil, acrylic, modeling paste and photo transfer
paean to the joy of marking a recent birthday, the artist has
added several photo transfers. Part icons and part mini-artworks
in themselves, with their generous dashes of faux gold leaf
and swirls of modeling paste patterns, they appear like a series
of images from a happy life, a gallery of its obvious inspirations
-- De Rivera's wife Luz traveling, his nephew and niece in costume,
and, most central and conspicuous of all, a smiling portrait
of his nine-year-old son Lorenzo.
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Why
do we continue
to need foreign workers?
WITH Silicon Valley's struggle through the prolonged economic
recession, there is an effort to reduce employment of foreign
professionals under the H-1B visa. American groups, such as
the IEEE-USA, have called upon Congress to investigate perceived
visa abuses, as well as the outsourcing of jobs. This IEEE-USA
group has alleged that outsourcing has put a "squeeze on
jobs in the US high-tech industry."
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This
airline's
down but not out
AN AIRLINE that has been in the business since 1946 likes to
claim, "We don't just wait for the future. We embrace it."
read story
|
Traveling
in circles
NEW YORK -- I've long learned that there are many histories,
most of them invisible to us; that there are multiple ways of
writing, and rewriting, them; that the past is never static
(and even that the "past'' is never quite the past); that
history is a never-ending process; and that the best known version
is usually the official one -- and therefore a representation
favorable to those in power.
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New
recording star
is Pinoy from Broadway
JOSE LLANA, the Quezon City-born Filipino who grew up in the
United States and became a star on Broadway, is now a recording
star in his native land.
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Grafted
tomatoes
that yield returns
SCIENCE CITY OF MUNOZ--Tomato is a very important and popular
vegetable
crop in the country. It is a vital ingredient in many sumptuous
dishes and is also processed into various food products.
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Late
bloom
A GLORIOUS dance of lines and colors greets the viewers' eyes
and minds, the brushstrokes in the landscapes of young artist
Ivee Olivares-Mellor. Loosely based on the countryside of West
Sussex, England, where she currently resides, these are Ivee's
interpretations of the rich subject, vehicles for her own introspection.
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Fil-Am
sensation
is new PPO conductor
WHEN Eugene Fredrick Castillo showed up at the audition conducted
by the Cultural Center of the Philippines search committee for
a new conductor and music director months ago, nobody knew that
some years back, he had performed at the CCP twice-at the Main
Theater and the Little Theater with the University of Santo
Tomas (UST) Symphony Orchestra. In both instances, he was more
than a revelation.
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Gone
too fast
IT was supposed to be just another practice session en route
to the accomplishment of a lifelong dream. But May 15, 1992
would overtake everyone with the accompanying sonic boom of
a day to be remembered for many tragic reasons.
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My
mother's daughter
I RECENTLY turned 40. I still don't quite know how to react
when people look at me and say, "But you don't look your
age." Okay, so I don't wear chunky gold earrings, loose
print blouses, or rouge, and I don't listen to Neil Diamond.
Maybe they mean that I don't act my age. But then, how does
anyone know how to act their age?
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Romance
and history
amid Fil-Am war ruins
THE FRAME for this historical novel is the love affair between
the American soldier-spy Willis Thomas Wilcox and loyal-to-her-man
Coring del Pilar, sister of the heroes Pio and Gregorio, shortly
before and after America wrested control of the Philippines
from Spain.
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RP
reef makes
splash in Chicago
AFTER all that jazz about "Chicago," I found myself
right in the heart of the city, not to go on stage but to explore
the newest exhibit at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, the world's
oldest and largest public aquarium. The Shedd has just added
a new exhibit, "Wild Reef," and the addition doubles
the floor space of the aquarium.
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From
hardware to folk art
A ONE-TON object from the Philippines is now being shipped to
Europe -- 1,000 kg of metal, fiberglass and rubber fashioned
into a gleaming artwork by Alfredo Juan and Ma. Isabel Gaudinez
Aquilizan.
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Rice
cake roundup
THE JOYFUL Cook was enjoying a merienda of bibingka made by
her neighbor Aling Rosa. It was an inch thick and soft, but
more like a substantial pound cake than a fluffy pancake.
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RP's
Mardi Gras land
THE AKLANONS are generally known to be fun-loving and gracious.
The annual and popular Ati-atihan is a clear manifestation of
the Aklanons' penchant for revelry. When it comes to food, however,
Aklanons prefer simple, down-to-earth yet flavorful dishes.
read story |
Fedexed
siopao
IT was another bitterly cold winter day in Vienna, Virginia,
a quiet suburb of Washington D.C. where I stayed while applying
for residency training. My cousin and her husband were at work,
and the kids were in school. I was all by my lonesome, sitting
in the dining room, my review materials spread before me, tapping
my pencil and worrying about my upcoming accreditation exam.
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Resurrected
masterpieces
THE UNSUSPECTING culture vulture would find some hitherto lost
artworks by major Filipino painters in, of all places, the Balara
Filters.
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Sangandaan
marks centennial
of Fil-American relations
THE DYNAMIC relations between the Philippines and the United
States will be highlighted with arts and media events from July
6 to 31 by way of the Sangandaan 2003 festival.
read story |
Iron
lady
HERS was among the prettiest faces that conquered the male-dominated
Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
read story |
True
colors
I NEVER realized how much of a Filipino I am until I left Manila
for work. Since childhood, I have been exposed to foreign brands,
developing a preference for Pachebel as my favorite classical
musician to "Kiss" (by Gustav Klimt) as my desired
painting.
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The
German Club
massacre of WWII
"ON THE MORNING of Feb. 10, 1945, about 800 people including
Filipinos, Spanish and five German nationals, went to the [German
Club] clubhouse on San Luis Street in Ermita to find shelter
in a dugout located on the tennis court and in the garden,"
recalls Edgar Krohn Jr., a Philippine-born German who survived
the destruction and the massacre during the World War II battle
for the liberation of Manila from the Japanese imperial forces.
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Yes
to spring,
no to war
WHAT a gorgeous spring day March 22 was! Earth's annual hymn
to itself was being sung in the clear, crisp air, in the remembered
notes of the flowering buds and an ever-increasing chorus of
birdsong. Thousands of miles away, however, these sacred rites
and sounds of spring were being mocked by the whoosh of missiles,
terrifying explosions, and the screams of the wounded and the
dying. Even as the forces of nature signaled to us a time for
rebirth and revival, the forces of death, not only in Iraq but
also in central Mindanao and everywhere else where the policies
of the current US government hold sway, bear its bitter and
ill-conceived fruits.
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Golden
novel
NOT very many American novels have a dashing multibillionaire
Chinese-Filipino mestizo from Zamboanga as one of its major
characters. Add to that his equally scintillating sister who
marries a Yankee surgeon from San Francisco -- the hero of the
novel. Then complete the mix with a dash of gold fever triggered
by the hunt for the fabled Yamashita treasure.
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OFWs
through foreign eyes
WHY would a white, middle-aged Australian fine art photographer
be interested in shooting the tiny apartments and bedrooms of
Filipino maids and itinerant musicians in Hong Kong?
read story |
Iloilo's
organic sugar
invades Europe
JANIUAY, Iloilo--Roel Catin patiently stirs the boiling sugarcane
extract in the large stainless steel vats. Years of experience
have taught him how to gauge the heat of the twin furnace under
the vats.
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How
Pinoy export
leaders keep the lead
WHEN La Union-based Polymart Inc., one of the exhibitors in
the recent Philippine Export Furniture Show in Clark, Pampanga,
began exporting furniture pieces to the United States in the
late 1970s, the company bought most of its raw materials, thick
rattan poles, from Indonesia-until the Indonesians learned how
lucrative the furniture business was.
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Sotheby's
to auction
Hidalgo's 'La Parisienne'
TWO rare pictures unseen for a century and made by two of the
most famous artists of the Philippines are highlights of the
Sotheby's Southeast Asian paintings sale in Singapore on April
6.
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Philippines:
World
leader in migrant labor
THEY are scattered in almost 200 countries across the planet.
They are feted as the nation's heroes and are treated with respect
in their home towns.
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TAX
TIPS
Do OFWs have to pay taxes?
I AM an engineer, married and with three minor children. In
October 2001, I left my uncle's small construction business
to look for better opportunities abroad. After five months of
job-hunting, I left for Dubai for a three-year employment contract
with a multinational construction firm.
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From
dotcom to comedy
HUDDLED in a dark corner of Makati comedy club The Comfort Room,
Tim Tayag is deep in thought as he scribbles down thoughts and
jokes in a notebook before his act. Despite his self-confessed
Astro Boy hairdo and ever-present eyebags, Tim, with his model-like
good looks and hang-dog countenance, doesn't appear to be particularly
funny away from the stage. "People who don't know me will
think I'm a pretty serious person," Tim explains.
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Feasts
of season
"MACOPAS are fruiting, mahogany trees are losing their
old leaves, and noontime sun is piercing the bone. Summer is
really on its way," announced The Joyful Cook to her kitchen
sidekick Saint Sandok, an antique talking spoon that she inherited
from Lola Uning.
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A love
affair with santos
OVER 20 years ago, when I first visited the Philippines, one
of the first cities I went to outside Manila was Iloilo. It
was here that I first met Mrs. Lourdes Dellota, in her somewhat
dark and crowded shop close to the center of Jaro, west of Iloilo
proper. Inside were display cases filled with art objects, antique
bottles, bric-a-brac and hundreds, if not thousands, of santos,
votive images of Christian saints. An institution in Philippine
collecting circles, she is reputed to be the dealer with the
finest antique santos, and excavated porcelain in the Western
Visayas and a charming source of local Iloilo history.
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Absentee
voting
explained clearer
REACTING to two columns here and that of former Justice Isagani
Cruz on the Absentee Voting Law, lawyer Felix D. Carao Jr. sent
a long treatise on it, specifically as it applies to Filipino
immigrants. It should contribute to the clarification and resolution
of the case now pending in the Supreme Court questioning the
constitutionality of that law.
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Of
FATF, OFW
job info via text
THE BROAD smile of Senate President Franklin Drilon as he shook
hands with representatives of the Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) at the end of their three-hour dialogue last Monday said
it all. Tension had run high as various groups applied pressure
on the senators to approve the amendments sought by the FATF
to the Anti-Money-Laundering Act (AMLA) in order to stave off
sanctions.
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Things
spiritual
I WAS struck by something many people said about Gina Alunan,
a pillar of the migrant workers movement, before she was laid
to rest last week. That was that nobody could really call her
very religious. She wasn't particularly given to going to Mass,
though she did that every now and then. Even while being ravaged
bitterly by her disease, she did not turn to a life of supplication.
If she partook of the sacraments, only she knew. Certainly,
she did not get the last rites, she just slipped into the beyond
one fine afternoon after saying she was tired and wanted to
rest. She probably remained a Christian to the end, but never
a determined one.
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Knight
in a G-string
IFUGAO Governor Teodoro B. Baguilat Jr. was a third year high
school student in Claret School when a classmate asked him if
it was true that Ifugao natives were wild, lived in trees like
monkeys, had tails and cut off people's heads.
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Two
brave people,
two blazing trails
WE said goodbye last week and this week to two great Filipinos,
who passed on to the Great Beyond. The loss was heavy on the
heart, a fellow journalist said, and I agreed. We have been
wake-hopping. A sinking feeling, if one allows it, could pull
one down. Fortunately, I have a fair amount of serotonin --
a blessing indeed -- that keeps me up. This does not mean pain
is a stranger; I am no stranger to pain.
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Pinay
in Taiwan sells more
than chicharon and adobo
TAICHUNG CITY, Taiwan--In this city where some 30,000 Filipinos
work, many of them have found a favorite hangout in "Malinamnam"
the last 10 years.
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Greater
demand
for nurses in US
THE PROSPECTS for Filipino nurses abroad have never been brighter
than today.
read story |
Bulls
in hog heaven
NEW YORK--Most people might think the 1899 Philippine-American
War simply a historical oddity. In fact, the war (as with other
US wars in the last century) remains powerfully relevant. By
the time you read this, President George W. Bush may already
be raining 63 missiles and bombs per hour on Baghdad, for at
least 48 hours, in what the Pentagon terms "shock and awe"
tactics that will not discriminate between soldiers and civilians-tactics
that indeed shock for their repellent nature and fill us not
with awe, but with horror. Bush the Younger is beloved of the
hawks, and perhaps no more so than by the members of the Military
Order of the Carabao, founded in 1900 by white American officers
serving in the morally repugnant and racist conflict that enveloped
our islands for a decade (though officially Washington declared
the war over in 1902).
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The
artist as globetrotter
SOME artists are meant to take on critics, others to live the
stereotype of the temperamental bohemian to the hilt. Not Joe
Datuin. If there's anything the 30-year art veteran and erstwhile
advertising art director and art teacher has taken to heart,
it's his role as a globetrotting ambassador of Philippine art.
read story |
Coping
with the crisis
with a touch of fiesta
FILIPINOS have a passion for fiestas and there's a fancy for
documenting such occasions. Ever notice those glossy souvenir
programs organizers publish on whatever feast day? Of course,
in these laid-out journals there must be the parish priest's
message, an inspirational talk from some village matron and
patrons, a local mayor seeking reelection, the year-round benefactor
congressman. A message and photo from a senator or the President
not only make fiesta day the event of the year but, in some
way, seals the organizers' importance and lofty place in the
community.
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Global
or barriotic?
THE PEACE marches began last weekend, some of them, like the
ones in the United States and Europe, being pretty huge. The
one in Australia, though relatively small by the standards of
other countries, was a record turnout. As was the rally in London,
where close to a million, which is the official figure (the
unofficial one put it at more than a million), took to the streets
and put traffic to a halt. If those rallies are any indication,
Tony Blair and John Howard won't be staying very long in their
places of work.
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Philippine
vinegar saves
mammals from extinction
INDANG, Cavite--From the lowly sukang irok or sugar palm vinegar
that is being peddled in the streets of this town, a couple
formerly engaged in the frosted bottling business discovered
a gold mine that changed the meaning of vinegar and helped save
endangered mammals.
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Old
fables,
new lessons
OF COURSE, most of us are familiar with the fable, "The
Monkey and the Turtle." Even Dr. Jose Rizal, our national
hero, was known to have made comics illustrations of it for
a young relative.
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Nature's
child
EVEN as a child, Filipino-American Pamela Santos has been drawn
to the beauty of nature. This made her goodwill tour to our
country as Miss Philippines USA 2002 not only a pleasurable
homecoming cum civic duty, but also a chance to explore more
of the natural beauty of her native land.
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My
Arabian adventure
DUBAI continues to amaze me. Its astonishing growth over the
past fifty years from a small town to a modern metropolis makes
it now one of the top three most progressive cities in the world.
Much of the credit goes to its visionary leader, the late Sheikh
Rashid, whose work has been continued by the present ruler,
Sheikh Maktoum.
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A taste
of home
WHENEVER I visit a new place, whether here or overseas, the
first thing I want to see is the wet market. The market tells
you more about how ordinary people live and their culinary tastes
than all the glossy tourist brochures churned out by government
agencies.
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An
anchor for seamen
HE calls it social entrepreneurship, this business of providing
decent, low-cost shelter for thousands of seafarers in between
jobs, waiting for their work papers to be processed (if they
have found employment at all), or just trying their luck in
Ermita where recruitment agencies abound in constant search
of cheap yet skilled labor. Now Kalaw Street may be a part of
town where you'd least expect to see a face like lllac Diaz,
but it was there where the 29-year-old model, actor and businessman
found himself one day, among hundreds of bedraggled seamen baking
in the sun.
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Pinoys
and climate change
DROUGHTS, floods, typhoons, hurricanes, rising sea levels, coral
bleaching, species extinction, outbreak of diseases, water and
food shortages-we're talking about life and death here. That's
what the World Wide Fund for Nature's new magazine on global
change, Celsius, is trying to get through.
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Coffee
firm conducts
tour of Barako's future
TAGAYTAY CITY-More Filipinos are heeding the urgent call to
save the barako coffee as evidenced by the huge turnout during
the recent coffee farm visit organized by the Figaro Foundation.
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The
jazzman comes home
SOMEONE once called Angel Peña "the Godfather of
Pinoy jazz."
"No," Richie Quirino begs to disagree. "He's
the Dalai Lama of Pinoy jazz." If anyone should know, it's
Quirino, who has authored a book -- as yet unpublished -- titled
"A History of Jazz in the Philippines."
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Letter
from OFW on family
"HELLO Ms Doyo, I'm a Filipino doctor working
in a gas platform in the South China Sea near Hainan Island,
People's Republic of China. My work keeps me away from my family
most of the time, but I still manage to return home every chance
I can get.
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The
visit
THIS Christmas we had a long overdue and most welcome visit
from my partner's oldest niece Stephanie Syjuco, who is 27 and
lives with her boyfriend in San Francisco. Stephanie was born
in Manila and lived in Baguio with her grandmother, Magdalena
Javellana Ledesma, until she was 3, at which time she was sent
to join her mother Angela Silva, who was finishing college in
the United States. While still a teenager, Angela was briefly
married to the artist Cesare Syjuco. After a few rough years
on welfare and food stamps while getting started in America
as a single mother, Angela is now a highly paid media buyer
in San Francisco while Stephanie is an accomplished artist.
When Stephanie was about 10, Angela married her second husband
who became a loving and supportive stepfather to Stephanie.
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Filipino
names of typhoons
TRIVIA games on TV were only a passing fancy, but text games
still abound. For those interested in curious tidbits, the following
names have been designated for tropical cyclones that enter
the Philippine area of responsibility from 2001 to 2016.
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Made
in the Philippines
IF YOU'VE had the chance to shop in other parts of the world,
you might have noticed that most of the articles of clothing
you've bought from stores like Gap, Old Navy, Marks and Spencer's
have been made in Asia. The labels might read "made in
Thailand," "made in China," "made in Indonesia"
and also "made in the Philippines." Unknown to many,
the Asian region is a major market representing more than half
of the world exports in clothing and textile.
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Lucky
charms
ONE Friday evening, I visited Kotobuki, the yoseba
(labor center) in Yokohama where day laborers, both local and
foreign, gather to find work. There I had a reunion with Gabriel,
a Filipino from the island of Negros. He must be in Japan for
15 years now. He and I used to reside together at the Higashiyama
building. But that was 14 years ago.
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'Invisible'
families of OFWs
CHRISTMAS is the time when overseas Filipino workers come home
to the Philippines in droves. The airport arrival section is
packed with families eagerly waiting for their homecoming loved
ones.
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'Singular
artist'
ONE day you get a sex joke from him on your cell. The next day
he's gone. Santi Bose decided to take his easel to that big
blue canvas up in the sky. Without a goodbye.
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Top
10 reasons Americans
are safer here than in USA
HERE'S our counter to the recent travel advisory issued by the
US Department of State cautioning American tourists and residents
in the Philippines against "a number of security-related
incidents and the possibility of future terrorism, kidnappings,
and other violence or criminal activity."
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Masons,
penal colony, Mendiola
NOONG Enero 19, 1812, pinagbawal ni Haring Ferdinand VIII ng
Espanya ang Masonry sa bansa. Ang Masonic fraternity ay isa
sa pinakamatanda at pinakamalaking fraternal organization sa
mundo. Hindi nagbago ang organisasyon mula pa ng naitatag ito
noong 1717. Tinatayang may 6 milyong Masons sa buong mundo.
Kilala ang mga Masons sa paggamit ng mga sikretong simbolo sa
kanilang pangangaral.
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