TRAVEL | Escaping Winter for Bantayan Island

A lot of tourists from Europe are in Bantayan Island to escape the winter.

Looking like it's summer the year round, Sta Fe in Bantayan has stretches and streches of white powdery sand. The beachfront is such a delightful sight early in the morning and late in the afternoon.The sea is tantalizing as waves smash against the pristine shore. It's a common sight to see couples frolicking in the sand.

At night, the bars are busy with Italians, Russians, French, Swedes having fun. The food is cheap and so is the drink. Chicken is plenty and cheap as it is one of the island's produce. Beer, too, is cheap at P50.00. White men prefer our Tanduay. The ladies go for cocktail drinks.

Tourists are not the only visitors from Europe and Russia. There are also the migratory birds coming from as far as Siberia. A flock of white ducks flying is a sight to behold. Native birds also abound in the island which means there are still endemic trees there as well as they thrive living off endemic fruits.

POLITICS | Political realignment in Cebu

How Cebuano congressmen voted during Chief Justice Corona's impeachment in the lower house show sinister signs of possible political realignments in Cebu. Voting to impeach Corona were Del Mar, Quisumbing, Durano and Salimbangon. Gullas, PJ Garcia and his father, Pabling voted against impeachment. Osmena and Radaza both failed to cast their votes.

The Garcias' vote most probably ended the Garcia family's tactical alliance with LP in the lower house. Gullas' vote was probably a protest vote against LP's move to oust the Gullases from Cebu's First District come 2013. Durano's vote was the most surprising coming at the heels of  LPs open courtship of Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale to run with Junjun Davide in 2013.

The coming months would be very interesting.

DOSSIER | Interview with Rep. Tomas Osmena (Updated)

(Photo from Freebase.com)

Sometime in February this year, J.D. Velez interviewed Congressman Tomas Osmena for a book project. Here are a few excerpts from that interview.

J.D. VELEZ: What would be the defining achievement of your administration? You served five terms as Mayor of the City.

CONG. TOMAS R. OSMENA: You name it. I don't know. You tell me. Mactan Bridge I've done that.

JDV: The Second Mactan Bridge?

TRO: Yeah.

JDV: Your father sir, also pushed for the development of the area around the city.

TRO: Hmmn. When Lito was governor and I was mayor of the city, we really worked well together. I took care of problems which were urban in nature. The widening of AS Fortuna, the circumferential road of Mactan, even the trees going to the airport, those were all from Cebu City, F. Cabahug, MJ Cuenco in Mandaue, those were my projects, the road from old Mactan Bridge to Marigondon...

JDV: In a lot of your projects, you had synergy with Gov. Lito Osmena at that time.

TRO : He (Lito) was able to get national attention to the investment climate in Cebu. He started when he brought in Ayala.

JDV:  Ayala created a new urban center which also spurred development in the Banilad area.... The province got a lot of properties in the Banilad area which were once part of the Franciscan friar estate.

TRO: Not only Banilad but everywhere..... When the city was formed, the province retained ownership. The one you can ask more about this is Atty. Ben Militar.

JDV: The province just chose what property it will retain?

TRO: When the US Govt. took over the Philippines, what was once friar lands was transferred to the Philippines, and then it was transferred to the province.

Read the rest of the interview here... soon...

HISTORY| Not so rosy picture of the Mestizos: a page from an unpublished book

Known as pacto de retroventa, the Parian Mestizos lent money to Indio farmers when they needed it or if they didn't, convinced them into borrowing. But since Spanish law limited the Indio's debt to twenty-five pesos, in order to give a bigger amount, the Mestizo would buy the land granting the Indio an option to repurchase later. Practically, the Mestizo became landowner and the Indio mere tenant of his own land. When the Indio had the money to repurchase the land, the Mestizo would often say, "Unya na lang na Noy. Diha lang usa na imong kwarta."

Growing up in Minglanilla, I heard the story of Noy Liloy who died in the middle of the field he was tilling one noontime under the sweltering heat of the sun, his hand holding on to his plow. He had a heart attack thinking about what the Mestizo-Sangley money lender had told him earlier that day. He told him the land he was tilling was no longer his.

Forced to borrow money for the care of a man he had injured, Noy Liloy entered into a pacto de retroventa deal. But when he had the money to pay off his debt, the money lender won't take it and kept saying, "Unya na lang na Noy. Diha lang usa na imong kwarta."

Noy Liloy's descedants stayed on some of the land claimed by the moneylender, entering into a long court battle that saw all their money spent and properties sold to pay for a legal battle they were ignorant of. As expected, the moneylender won the case in court.

Noy Liloy's son cried when his house was demolished to enforce the court's decision. Never expecting it would happen, he had to be carried away from the site. That night, he and his family slept In a makeshift, roofless house, near the ricefields which a sympathetic friend offered to them. His son sobbed himself to sleep.

Shortly after, Noy Liloy's son died. Few weeks after, his wife too, died; their children orphaned.

Moving the urban center

Cebu City reaffirmed it is Southern Philippines' premier city after the end of the Marcos regime and some five decades after the end of world war 2. 

Lito Osmeña, first Cebu Grovernor after Marcos left, made tremendous impact on the city, although, he never served as chief executive, just like his grandfather, Pres. Sergio Osmena. His conversion of non-productive provincial lots, into real estate ventures during his lone term as governor from 1988-1991, paved the way for Cebu City's radical transformation.

To fund infrastructure projects in the province, the provincial government which owned a five-hectare property in Banilad, entered into a joint venture with Ayala Land, Inc. and formed the Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation (CPVDC), the first of its kind in the country. With land as its equity contribution, the province owned 74.8 percent of CPVDC, the first purely corporate venture by a Local Government Unit in the country.

Osmeña stirred Cebuano pride with Ceboom. Both an economic phe nomenon and a marketing driver, Lito Osmeña gave a new face to the promdi image. He came out on national television and marketed Cebu or Cebu Equity BondUnits, the first such move by any Local Government Unit (LGU).

The partnership with Ayala land moved the urban center from the historical yet decaying port to Cebu Business Park and I.T. Park in the erstwhile unproductive golf course and airport in Banilad and Lahug. The conversion made the area the city's prime real estate and most modern urban development. In 1990, Cebu City incorporated Cebu Business Park development features in its zoning ordinance.

Before the Asian Financial Crisis hit the country, the provincial government under Pablo Garcia was able to sell the province's share to Ayala Land, Inc raising some P1 Billion. The crisis caused the development of the Cebu Business Park (where the golf course was) to come to a halt for years.

The recovery was slow but steady. Years later, Cebu City would recover from the crisis and experience another era of unprecedented growth which continues to this day.

-----------------------------------

The Terraces in Ayala Center Cebu (above), recognized for outstanding achievement in marketing and design development from the International Council of Shopping Centers. It is Cebu City's favorite hangout. It's great for nightlife with a variety of shops, bars, cafes, delis and restaurants.

HISTORY | Failure to Industrialize: Root of our Underdevelopment

Despite the frenzy of construction, numerous infrastructure projects and the amount of public spending poured into Cebu City during the American colonial period upon instigation of Sergio Osmeña, Cebu City's economy actually slowed down as compared to that of the 19th Century. This was due to disruptions in world trade as a consequence of wars and the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Philippine economy remained basically agricultural, Cebu included for “although the Americans supported public works, they inhibited economic development through tax schemes designed to protect US commerce.” (Larkin, 1982)

Cebu City never moved beyond exporting raw materials and importing finished products during the American colonial period. It only supplied the United States with the agricultural goods it needed and failed to diversify and industrialize. That will remain so in the years to come. “When the frontier century came to a close, the Philippines had erected its modern social and economic structures, and from that time on has had to live with consequences.” (Larkin, 1982)

BEAUTY | Asian and proud of it.....

Most of those who've won international beauty pageants for the Philippines are Asian-looking Filipinos, not the fair-skinned Mestizas who have dominated beauty pageants in  the country in the past and even at present. The recent 3rd place finish of Shamcey Supsup in the Ms Universe beauty pageant, Venus Raj's 4th place in last year's Ms. Universe  and  Miriam Quiambao's 1999 1st runner-up title are testament to the fact that the world appreciates brown Asian beauty. Our uniqueness is our greatest strength. We ought to stop seeing ourselves from the eyes of our prejudiced and bigoted western colonizers.

SCIENCE | Trailblazing Christopher Go

Christopher Go pursued astronomy way back in college at University of San Carlos when it seemed quixotic and people's idea of pursuing astronomy is to be an astronaut moon walking in outer space wearing a space suit. In the 80s and 90s he provided Sun.Star with great photos whenever there are lunar eclipses visible in Cebu City. He studied physics at USC which, with its German SVD scientific tradition is one of the city's most competent universities when it comes to the sciences.

A Cebuano of Chinese descent, he got married early and got more practical putting up a furniture manufacturing and exporting business, one of the city's sunshine industries. But he didn't give up on his astronomical studies. His discovery of a red spot in Jupiter otherwise known as Red Spot Jr. made him a household name in American and European Astronomical circles. Here in an interview with Europlanet Christopher Go talks about his life as an amateur astronomer, furniture exporter, family man and physics teacher:

Leading amateur astronomer, Christopher Go, talked to Europlanet's Anita Heward about using the Hubble Space Telescope, discovering impacts on Jupiter and starting a whole new field of astronomy.

AH: How long have you been doing amateur astronomy?

CG: I got interested in November 1986, during the last apparition of Halley’s Comet. I was still in high school then, and I was just using a pair of binoculars. I was also fortunate to get a copy of the August 1996 issue of Astronomy Magazine. The rest I learned from books from our school library.

AH: Was anyone in your family interested in astronomy?

CG: No. There were hardly any amateur astronomers in my city. During 1986, there was no Internet, so it wasn’t easy to communicate with other people. I had to work things out by myself. What really helped a lot were the magazines particularly Astronomy and Sky & Telescope. These periodicals give me connections with other amateur astronomers and what they are doing.

I started planetary imaging in 2003. That was during the great Mars opposition. I started imaging Jupiter and Saturn in 2004. In 2006 I discovered that Oval BA had turned red. This spot was later nicknamed the Red Spot Junior. Because of this, I was invited by Imke de Pater, of UC Berkeley, to join her team in doing Jupiter research and we’ve used the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory. It was also during that time period that I got to know and collaborate with Glenn Orton of JPL, Amy Simon Miller of NASA GSFC, Agustin Sanchez-Lavega of IOPW and other planetary astronomers. It’s been an exciting for an amateur astronomer to link up with the professionals.

Last year in 2009, there was a quad-transit of Saturn where four moons crossed the face of Saturn. I teamed up with the Hubble Heritage Team and Mike Wong to image this event using the Hubble Space Telescope.





AH: Talk me through the last year.

CG: Early morning of June 3 (June 4 local time) last year, Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley sent an e-mail that he had detected an impact in Jupiter. As I went through my own data which I got earlier that morning, I found that I too had imaged the impact. It was just great timing that we were imaging at exactly the same time.

This would turn out to be the first time an extraterrestrial fireball was observed here on earth. One thing interesting is that this probably is one of the few times that amateur astronomers have created a new field in astronomy – which is ‘small impacts on other planets’. So right now we amateurs are basically trying to build a network constantly monitoring the planets to see if there are more impacts. This is quite important because we don’t have any statistics on many small objects orbiting the Solar System.

AH: That must have been exciting.

CG: Yes indeed. We are now able to collaborate with professionals in using the Hubble Space Telescope and other earth based observatories like Keck, Gemini, IRTF and VLT. In my case, our group (with Dr Imke de Pater) have used the Hubble Space Telescope every year since 2006 with a total of probably around 40 orbits.

AH: That must put you ahead of a lot of professional astronomers in terms of the amount of time you’ve had on Hubble.

CG: The collaboration between amateur and professional astronomers is really very strong in Planetary Science. In our study of the outer planets, we already have an excellent system where observations by amateurs are accessible to professionals.

Unfortunately, the use of the Hubble Space Telescope and the large observatories around the world are not infinite. Professionals need to fight to get time in using these instruments. And observing planets isn’t really top priority. This is where hundreds of amateurs around the world imaging on a nightly basis can provide data. The resolution of amateur images is already approaching that of professional imaging.

There is a structure wherein professionals and amateurs collaborate and, if there’s a new phenomenon, our reaction time is very fast. For example during the impact, we were able to get Hubble in two days. It was something unbelievable, because the whole process on how to use Hubble can take weeks.

AH: In the Philippines, is there a thriving astronomy community?

CG: There are two major astronomical societies in the Philippines but these are based in Manila. Right now we are starting one here in Cebu, called the Cebu Amateur Astronomers Association.

I am fortunate to have a fellow planetary imager here in Cebu. Tomio Akutsu is a renowned Japanese planetary imager who now works here. He also co-discovered a third red spot in Jupiter in 2008.

One thing nice about Cebu island is that we are very close to the equator where the planets are very high up and we have very stable atmosphere because of its proximity to the sea. We get very high resolution up to 0.2 arcseconds per pixel. Tropical islands are ideal places to do planetary imaging.

AH: What do you do in your day job?

CG: I run a furniture factory. I sell tables, chairs and accessories to the USA and Europe.

But my background is physics. I’m a lecturer in our university part-time. When I started the furniture business, I used to teach about three units per semester. But once I got busy, I had to stop. But right now I still do some lectures for the Physics Department of the University of San Carlos.

AH: You make time to come to conferences?

CG: I try to make time. This is the first time I’ve been to Europlanet, but normally I frequent the DPS meeting. This is where our group present our work , our group with Imke de Pater , and it’s also the time where we can meet. Conferences are also good time to get to know other planetary astronomers and meet those that I collaborate with. It’s good timing because the week after the DPS is a furniture show in North Carolina, so it hits two birds with one stone. These are usually scheduled during the same time period, so it’s cost convenient.

INSIGHT | Truly national

| BY J.D. VELEZ

There is no such thing as Filipino national culture.The Filipino nation is a political creation. Same with so-called Filipino national language, constitutionally designated as lingua franca of the Philippines, as if you can legislate a language into existence.

The Filipino language is based mainly on Tagalog. Same with everything else Filipino or national. They're all thinly-veiled Tagalog. And that holds true also for the Philippine national history. It's more of history of the Tagalog people. We barely read about Leon Kilat, Apolinar Velez or Arcadio Maxilom in Philippine history books.

While the Philippine political and legal establishment is monolithic, its cultural make-up is far from it. We often hear of cultural minorities. But who are the cultural majorities? They are the Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Ilonggos, Ilocanos, Warays, Kapampangans, Pangasinenses and Bicolanos. Then why should the Filipino or the national heavily biased for the Tagalogs? A truly national culture and history is one that reflects our diversity and identity as peoples of the Philippines.

WOMEN | Today's Cebuanas

Cebuanos are oblivious to ethnicity. Caucasian-looking men and women are common sight in the city and throughout the island. You might mistake them for foreigners until they speak in fluent Cebuano. For Cebuanos it's no big deal. We've come to accept we are a mix of races and proud of our Cebuano roots and heritage.

Cebu Chinese School student Kim Chiu
now a celebrity and top product endorser 

Spanish mestiza Ruffa Guitterez traces
her roots to the Ramas of  Cebu City

Spanish Chinese mestiza Lucy Torres
traces her roots to the Velezes of Cebu.

Boholana beauty Ana Marie
Igpit now calls Cebu home.

WOMEN | Native Beauty

Native women in paintings by Manuel Panares

For years, Filipinos have been conditioned to perceive the native as ugly and the mestiza beautiful. There developed a disdain for the Indio, the Spanish term for the natives who inhabited the Philippine isles. This is nowhere more evident in beauty contests. Contest organizers often prefer mestiza contestants over morenas or brown beauties. In the few instances when a morena gets to represent the country abroad, they usually return with an award. But that's only for those rare occasions they get to represent the country.

Foreigners today see things differently. Whites see the native as beautiful. It's getting to be a common sight at Philippine airports - a native woman with a Caucasian partner. White men find the dusky, morena Cebuana an exotic beauty.

Sadly, native beauties have been the victims of cyber crimes and exploitation in dating sites. Impoverished native women, including those already married, find quick cash from chatting and getting intimate online with foreigners.

This is their land. The native woman is beautiful. They need not end up exploited.

PROFILE | Cebu City, Queen City of the South

Cebu's port is home to most of the Philippines' shipping companies. It's not surprising as Cebu City has been, historically, the center of commerce, education, entertainment and information of Southern Philippines. It is also the administrative, ecclesiastical and cultural capital of the region. Its influence is far-reaching and wide. It has remained the Queen City of the South for years due to the ingenuity and flexibility of its people surviving the ups and downs of trade in sugar, hemp, copra and furniture.

During the height of the cash crop boom in the 19th century, some Mestizo traders from the city's Parian district settled in Cebu's neighboring islands, helping greatly in their development. From the Velezes of Cebu, for instance, descended leaders of Cagayan and Bohol. Aniceto Velez Clarin, Bohol's first governor was from Parian, and so was Apolinar Velez,Cagayan de Oro's grand old man.

Many Cebuanos have settled in Mindanao, bringing with them their traditions and religious practices like the veneration of their hometown's patron saint which is replicated wherever they decide to settle down.  They maintain close ties with Cebu wherever they are, sending children to study in the city and keeping ties with relatives back home.

Cebu City in turn, has also been enriched with the migration of other Mestizo elites to the city at the turn of the 20th century. Leyte-based Aboitiz and Escaño families engaged in the lucrative trade of hemp migrated to Cebu and established themselves in the city where their business interests grew and diversified.

FOOD | Native food is delicious

Native food makes your mouth water. Utan Bisaya assures one a long life if eaten regularly. It's low in fat, sugar and salt and high in nutrients. minerals and vitamins.

The lechon or native roasted pig is eaten on special occasions like fiestas and birthdays. It's high in fats and cholesterol but as long as eaten with moderation is not bad for one's health. Same with the tasty buwad or dried fish which is naturally salty.

utan bisaya

Lechon

Buwad

LANGUAGE | Cebuano is alive

Cebuano is alive. Thanks to Sonny Garcia's wise investment on a Cebuano tabloid. It was both a commercially and culturally significant move on the part of the former Cebuano DOTC secretary. To date, it is the most widely-circulated daily in Cebu history. It has a circulation of 60,000 copies daily according to its news editor Roger Vallena.

CULTURE | Cebuano is beautiful

USP Choir singing Rosas Pandan during the Gabii sa Kabilin. Video taken with Sony Cybershot 7.2 megapixel camera by my brother Gee


Almost everyone in Cebu and its neighboring isles embraced Cebuano culture including the Mestizos of Chinese and Spanish descent. Everyone spoke the beautiful native tonque. Cebuano is beautiful especially when sung. Listen to the world-renown choral piece Rosas Pandan.

PRIDE OF PLACE | Small is beautiful

Filipinos of native descent are short and small compared to the tall Caucasians who came to conquer the Asian archipelago. But like everything else in the Philippine isles, size is inconsequential.  Quality does not necessarily go with size. Take the native chili, it's the world's smallest, yet, it is also the hottest and the best.

The comparison doesn't end there. The small native chicken or manok bisaya is tastier than the American introduced commercial chicken. Try kinamunggayang manok bisaya and taste the difference.

The same is true not only with native fowl and spice. Among men, there's the diminutive Manny Pacquiao whose foes have fallen one by one inside the boxing ring, including boxers much larger than him. Pacquiao traces his roots to Pinamungahan in Cebu's west coast.

The Bisaya has much to offer the world. Filipinos confused with their identities might as well come home and discover for themselves the wonders of their heritage, both tangible and intangible.

DEVELOPMENT | Solving the Philippine puzzle

| BY JD VELEZ

The Philippines is a puzzle. America swept all the country's divisions under the rug when it wrested the islands from Spain. It colonized the country and patterned its political development with that of the US,conferring upon Filipinos their rights as citizens of a commonwealth under the United States.

Being a Filipino simply means we are citizens of a sovereign nation complete with our rights and duties. Our Filipino citizenship signifies that we belong to a body politic, a legal creation first pioneered by the Greeks and developed further by the Romans. The French and Americans restored the concept after they declared themselves no longer under any crown.

Western humanist concepts of rights and freedoms was what America introduced to Filipinos at the beginning of the 20th Century. In America, the most successful human experiment in self-governance ruled by reason and the belief in the inviolability of the rights of man, Americans manage to set aside cultural differences to give way to their civic responsibilities. In the Philippines the same can't be said. The state is weak as it is, and cultural and social problems and differences overwhelm governance.

The country has a plethora of problems. It's hard even just to identify where to start fixing it. But like any solution, it begins with identifying what is the problem. Understanding who we are as a colonized people is crucial to our development. We are diverse.  Studies of Southeast Asian colonial development is helping us understand better ourselves and our society. Maybe, that's where we should start untangling the puzzling mesh centuries of colonial rule had brought upon our land. By reclaiming the past, we again own the future.

THE CITY | Cebu is ASEAN City of Culture

Clark, not Cebu is 1st ASEAN City of Culture contrary to reports made in the local media. A check with the ASEAN's official website confirmed this. (Check http://www.aseansec.org/24337.htm#Article-9)

Cebu may not be the first but it is still a great honor especially considering the fact that the city was pitted against Manila. In the early 20th Century, Cebu clashed with Iloilo for the title, Queen City of the South. After surpassing Iloilo in volume of trade courtesy of the lucrative export of hemp and eventually, copra, Cebu laid claim to the title and never looked back. Whatever Cebu City did to deserve the ASEAN title, it's really worth keeping it. It's also a good commendation especially for a city which, despite being in the fringes of Philippine national consciousness, struggled to become Southern Philippines' premier cosmopolitan centre.


Cebu City to be launched as ASEAN City of Culture 

by Juju S.Manubag
Reposted from http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=43333


CEBU CITY, July 12 (PIA) -- The ASEAN Ministers of Culture and Arts Plus Three (AMCA+3) will formally launched Cebu City as an ASEAN City of Culture this Friday, July 15 at the Sta. Maria Ballroom of the Radisson Blu Hotel here.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama proudly bared the announcement in a recent press conference hosted by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc (RAFI) at the Casa Gorordo Museum.

The forthcoming event will also witness the arrival of 22 ASEAN ambassadors to the Philippines and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)-ASEAN members, this was disclosed during the same presscon.

Rama expressed his pride and gratitude upon knowing of the city’s designation as ASEAN City of Culture by AMCA+3--the first city to host the program.

“Such honor will carry with us forever and such recognition will bring Cebu City to the global map,” Rama said as he thanked the ASEAN for such recognition.

After the launching, there will be a series of activities and events that will take place relative to the ASEAN City of Culture Program which will run until July of next year, this is said.

Cebu City Councilor Margarita Osmeña, head of the city’s organizing committee on the declaration of Cebu City as the City of Culture said that after the formal launching, an exhibit showcasing the best of Cebu’s fashion, jewelry, furniture and virtual arts will be held at the SM City North Wing at 3:00 in the afternoon.

“There will also be a cultural show at 5pm at SM City covered terminal and the Party at the Park entitled “Kasadya sa Sugbo” which are all open to the public,” Osmeña said.

The next day, two activities are lined up namely the Heritage Walk or Pasiyo sa Kabilin and the unveiling of the marker of the ASEAN City of Culture at the ASEAN Friendship Garden, Family Park in Talamban.

A tour to Cebu City’s heritage sites will follow the unveiling rite that will start at 10:00 in the morning.

The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc (RAFI) on the other hand, will host an exhibit on Philippine Nationhood that will focus on Cebuano heroes that is slated in August The following month, RAFI will also organize a Lecture-Forum on Southeast Asian civilizations and cultures at the University of San Carlos (USC), this is learned.

In September, the Cebu City Government will hold the first Korean Festival and Moon Cake Festival while RAFI in October will again host a series of lectures and fora on ASEAN arts and literature.

Rama said it will not be easy to maintain the culture of excellence bestowed on the city and that there’s a lot of work to be done to sustain such image. (FCR/JSM/PIA 7-Cebu)

HISTORY | Cagayan de Oro's Grand Old Man son of a Parian Mestizo

Apolinar Velez, grand old man of Cagayan de Oro City was the son of Blas "Blasito" Velez from Cebu's Parian district. Blasito, son of Blas Velez of Parian married  Saturnina Ramos and moved to Cagayan de Misamis in mid-19th century. He was the brother of Ramon Velez, Sr, father of Aniceto Velez Clarin of Bohol and Ramon Velez, Jr. of Cebu.

Blasito's wife, Saturnina gave birth to Apolinar on Jan 23, 1865. Like many of his class, he carved out, after studies with private tutors, a career in the bureaucracy of the Spanish colonial government. He held various positions from oficial de mesa and defensor depresos pobres to being a second lieutenant of infantry when he enlisted in the Spanish army to repulse Moro invasions of Cagayan. He was decorated with the Medalla de Mindanao.

In 1898, despite his remarkable standing in the Spanish colonial government, he joined Aguinaldo's government and was appointed chief of the division of justice of the Revolutionary Government of Misamis. In 1900, he was assigned the rank of major in the army and appointed as commander of the "El Mindanao" battalion. He later rose to the rank of Colonel.

Battling superior American forces, he won for the revolutionaries the only major victory ever won in Mindanao.

During the American occupation he held the post of provincial secretary after which he was elected governor of Misamis and served for two terms. In 1928-1931, he served as mayor of Cagayan de Misamis. He died on Oct. 21, 1939.

HISTORY | A Parian Mestizo in Bohol

The Clarin ancestral house in Loay, Bohol

BY J. D. VELEZ | Blogger

Oligario Clarin

Aniceto Velez Clarin whose house in the municipality of Loay has been preserved and turned into a museum was a Cebuano Mestizo Sangley. This was confirmed by Clarin's elder brother's grandson, Fernando Velez Delgado, son of Soledad Velez Delgado who was the daughter of Ramon Velez y Flores, elder brother of Aniceto Velez Clarin.

Clarin was the son of Ramon Velez y Santos and grandson of Blas Velez delos Santos who in 1840 owned a cockpit in Loboc, Bohol. He took on the Clarin surname for some reason relevant to the social dynamics of 19th century Bohol. He married a Chinese mestiza who took on the surname Butalid. He became the first governor of Bohol. His son Jose Aniceto Butalid Clarin (Tio Pepe) became Senator of the country's 11th Senatorial District comprised of Bohol, Surigao and Misamis. His grandson, Oligario also became Senator after World War 2.

More ties bind us as our history would reveal. Our petty differences and regionalism dissolve in the face of the fact that our lives as inhabitants of Southern Philippine islands are intertwined.

Below are photos inside the Clarin ancestral house which remind us of Casa Gorordo in Cebu's Parian district.

GALLERY | Pañares' historical paintings

(Clockwise) Spaniards having a blood compact with heavily-tattooed natives; a Chinese trader selling silk and jars to the natives with his junk anchored at sea; native women playing using indigenous musical instruments; a native woman weaving cotton.

ART | Manuel Pañares: Historical Painter

A Manuel Pañares painting on Magellan's arrival

Cebuanos were treated to a gallery of historical Cebuano paintings both at the refurbished Cebu City Museum curated by Connie Cuyos and at the 2nd floor of Fort San Pedro during the 'Gabii sa Kabilin'. The Fort San Pedro exhibit of Manuel Pañares paintings were all reproductions but they still managed to provide Cebuanos a remarkable visualization of their history. Paintings are indispensable in reminding us of our roots especially that most of our pre-Spanish history remain unwritten. How we dress and look are better imagined with the help of historical paintings like those of Pañares.

URBAN PLAN | Moving the Urban Center

Cebu City reaffirmed it is Southern Philippines' premier city after the end of the Marcos regime and some five decades after the end of world war 2. 


Lito Osmeña, first Cebu Grovernor after Marcos left, made tremendous impact on the city, although, he never served as chief executive just like his grandfather, Pres. Sergio Osmena. His conversion of non-productive provincial lots into real estate ventures during his lone term as governor from 1988-1991 paved the way for Cebu City's radical transformation.

To fund infrastructure projects in the province, the provincial government which owned a five-hectare property in Banilad entered into a joint venture with Ayala Land, Inc. and formed the Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation (CPVDC), the first of its kind in the country. With land as its equity contribution, the province owned 74.8 percent of CPVDC, the first purely corporate venture by a Local Government Unit in the country.

Osmeña stirred Cebuano pride with Ceboom. Both an economic phe­nomenon and a marketing driver, Lito Osmeña gave a new face to the promdi image. He came out on national television and marketed Cebu or Cebu Equity BondUnits, the first such move by any Local Government Unit (LGU).

The partnership with Ayala land moved the urban center from the historical yet decaying port to Cebu Business Park and I.T. Park in the erstwhile unproductive golf course and airport in Banilad and Lahug. The conversion made the area the city's prime real estate and most modern urban development. In 1990, Cebu City incorporated Cebu Business Park development features in its zoning ordinance.

Before the Asian Financial Crisis hit the country, the provincial government under Pablo Garcia was able to sell the province's share to Ayala Land, Inc raising some P1 Billion. The crisis caused the development of the Cebu Business Park (where the golf course was) to come to a halt for years.

The recovery was slow but steady. Years later, Cebu City would recover from the crisis and experience another era of unprecedented growth which continues to this day.

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The Terraces in Ayala Center Cebu (above), recognized for outstanding achievement in marketing and design development from the International Council of Shopping Centers. It is Cebu City's favorite hangout. It's great for nightlife with a variety of shops, bars, cafes, delis and restaurants.

FASHION | Cebu's Monique Lhuillier, Amparito's daughter, wows world

Gwyneth Paltrow, Taylor Swift, Eva Longoria, Tandy Newton and Sofia Vergara in a Monique Lhuillier dress.

FAITH | The Child and the Cross

BY J.D. VELEZ | Published in Sun.Star Live

Christianity came to our shores in the form of the Cross, which Magellan planted at the site of the present kiosk that house and commemorate it, and more successfully in the little statuette of the Holy Child, the Sto. Niño.

There is so much violence and love on the cross. I can imagine the original cross splattered with blood and bits of flesh probably from Jesus’ body, bloodied and wounded from lashing. He must have writhed in pain from fresh cuts as well as dried up ones. I think Mel Gibson was right in realistically depicting the violence on the cross.

It must have been so hard to endure such a sight for His loved ones, and much more for Him to withstand all that pain. And with a human body, He breathed His last on the cross, giving in to pain, exhaustion, violence.

Yet the cross, now we look at it, was overcome with so much love. All the ill will, hatred, conspiracy, envy that had Him crucified, were washed away (together with all the blood that dried) with His love for them who persecuted Him and for mankind. He lived as He preached. He turned the other cheek.

But apparently, it was easier for the Cebuano natives to embrace the new religion as symbolized by the God-Child. It’s hard for them to grasp why would Jesus, the Man-God be so seemingly powerless as to endure pain and death on the cross.

Like a child with less than remarkable parents, Christianity came crawling into our shores and tugged at our hearts. It doesn’t matter if men with dubious purposes carried the child on their shoulders.

The Sto Nino triumphed because we see the idea of the loving, forgiving God in the innocent child who holds no rancor and makes us genuinely happy.

Love is central to the message of Christianity. To love is to see the face of God (Les Miserables).

It’s not so hard to understand it. Love is like a flower blooming. It blossoms beautifully, quietly because it is. The birds fly because they do. The tide rushes to the shore and recedes back to the sea. It doesn’t need a reason why. It just does.

One loves. One just does. And lives like a palm swaying to the wind’s whisper. Or like the brook murmuring as it meanders down among the rocks.

It made us see Him in His creations and not worship them no matter how beautiful they are like the moon and the stars that illumine the night, or the sturdy tree that gives ample shade.

Let us just remember God didn’t stay a child. He grew up and was crucified on the cross. There is as much love on the cross as in the face of the smiling God-Child.

TOURISM | World's 7th Best Island Destination

Cebu has been adjudged by the Conde Nast travel magazine as the 7th best island destination in the world in an elite list that include Maldives, Bali, Phuket, Seychelles, Koh Samui, Mauritius and Langkawi. The island's hotels and resorts include such world renown names in the business such as Marriott, Shangri-la, Hilton, Marco Polo, Waterfront and Radisson and local names that give equally excellent services and facilities such as Plantation Bay, Parklane, Costabella, Maribago, Crown Regency, Montebello, Fortuna, Midtown, Elizabeth and Paragon, to name a few.

HISTORY | Deconstructing Filipino Heroes

BY J.D. VELEZ | Blogger

Pinoy Mestizo ilustrados in trenchcoats

Heroes confuse the issue. It's, as if, all is well because we have heroes. They even have titles to match, among them: Mabini, the sublime paralytic; Jacinto, the young general, and Marcelo H. del Pilar, the propagandist. These mostly Tagalog heroes who belong to the indigenous elite class of the 19th century seem like deity when, in fact, they were just ordinary men. Well, many of them were Masons. That probably explains the mystique sorrounding them. (Wrapped in secrecy, those European-educated ilustrados who converted to Masonry mixed with local anting-anting-weilding natives resulting in  a potent mix of urban legend, superstition and shamanism. But I have digressed from the subject.)

We have heroes, hurrah, we are better off. But are we?  Have our problems been solved? Heroes confound the issue. History is far more complex and personalities obscure the bigger picture.Our problems didn't end because we have heroes. Far from it. Our heroes were the children of rich elite Mestizo-Sangleyes and Creoles who, as a logical consequence of increasing economic strength, wanted more say in the affairs of their homeland or in the running of the colony.

In the end, one group of revolutionaries led by Emilio Aguinaldo would butcher Andres Bonifacio who founded the Katipunan as the warriors inspired by Ilustrado idealism drifted far from the ideals of their cause.

The US snatched victory from the divided but would-have-been-triumphant Filipino revolutionaries. June 12 Independence Day celebration though significant is misleading. The Tagalog-led revolution was a failure. It ended in defeat as another superpower took over. Manila was designed by Durnham and he carved Baguio from the Cordilleras. The Americans made a lasting imprint on the capital and its public buildings as an American colonial city. So what exactly were we celebrating?

We honor heroes though America defeated them. Let's celebrate victories instead of defeat the way the Americans celebrate 4th of July and the French, the French revolution.

I prefer celebrating People Power 1 at Edsa when we removed a dictatorship. That was real victory. Years later we abrogated a bases treaty with the US. That's real independence from US neocolonial rule. June 12 is plain romantic longing Filipinos triumphed in 1898 and that America didn't arrive to colonize us further.