Chinese vendor serving noodles to the Filipinos Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Many foreign powers threatened the Spanish colony during the early years of settlement, mainly the Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, and Japanese. The Spaniards successfully resisted Portuguese efforts to drive them from Cebu. Later the Spanish King annexed Portugal to Spain, closing Portuguese ports to the Dutch traders, who then sought new trading centers in the East Indies. Soon the Dutch were plundering Spanish vessels in the Philippines. In the first half of the 17^th century, repeated Dutch attacks were made on Manila, but all were successfully dealt with by the Spaniards with the help of Filipino warriors.

The Spanish colonization of the Philippines required more skilled laborers and they recruited Chinese immigrants. The Chinese community was vital to the welfare of Manila, as the city surrounding Intramuros came to be known. The economy became highly dependent upon the Chinese…

Photo Credit – Wikipedia by HueMan1

Archeological finds at ancient gravesites in Lemery include pre-Hispanic artifacts and that the people of this region, called Bombon, conducted a lively trade with Arab, Chinese and Indian merchants over the centuries. Upon the arrival of conquistadores Juan de Salcedo and Martin Goiti in 1570, the Bombon inhabitants were easily subdued. Delighted by the rivers and “excellent meadows,” the Spanish soon granted tracts of land (encomienda) to individuals and used Catholicism to spread their cause. A century and a half would pass before the locals, annoyed that Augustinians and Jesuits had snatched their land, began revolting against the class-conscious Spaniards.

During the early part of the 18th century, adventurous settlers from Taal, northern Mindoro, and southern Cavite were attracted to the vast plain near the shores of Balayan Bay because of its abundance in fish and other marine life. Salting and drying…

Image Credit: Commons.wikipedia.org 

At the end of WWII, with public transport virtually nonexistent, the U.S. Army released surplus jeeps, and enterprising Filipinos converted them into passenger vehicles called Jeepney by lengthening the bodies. Garishly colored jeepneys are as essential and ubiquitous in the Philippines as double-decker buses are in London. The jeepney gets you everywhere you want to go. Etymologically speaking, jeepney combines jeep with jitney to offer low-cost, high-pollution public transit.

What began as the sensible recycling of U.S. Army surplus jeeps, the Jeepneys have grown into a form of traveling pop art. No self-respecting jeepney driver would allow his beloved vehicle to crawl naked through the streets of Manila. A full dressing up is of utmost importance. The chrome bodies, either buffed to a shine or painted in vibrant colors, exhibit a wealth of brazen embellishments: from small silver horses (thick horsepower) on their hoods to non-functional antennae…

This weekend marked the 34^th anniversary of the People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution which was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from Feb. 22-25, 1986. EDSA or Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, is the giant ring road encircling Metro Manila where majority of the bloodless demonstrations that toppled former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos took place.

EDSA Revolution involved over two million Filipino civilians, as well as several political and military groups, and religious groups led by Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, along with Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines President Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, the Archbishop of Cebu. Confronted by tanks and troops, they brought their personal weapons of prayers, smiles, rosary beads and flowers to bear on the forces of discredited authority.

Appalled by the bold and apparent election irregularities in the 1986 snap…

I know this is a controversial post for Westerners so please be warned that some parts of this post might be offensive to some. Unlike football which I consider violent sport and never a fan of it, football players end up with head injuries that can kill the players or cause dementia or Alzheimer in later years but cockfighting ends up with a meal on the dinner table. No harm done to human.

When the bird is in peak condition after having trained for months, he is taken with pride to the arena and is held by the tail feathers while cockers negotiate among themselves for a suitable match. Before a fight, the spectators scrutinize each bird. To stir each bird up, the head of one cock is held in the hand, with the neck outstretched for the other bird to peck. After a few minutes, the…

One of the greatest and most popular questions of our time…

One hundred years from now, how will history write the era of Donald J. Trump?

Well, for starters, the anti Trump liberal establishment thinks they’ve got it all completely under their control.

In their fantasies, Trump will be forever remembered as an impeached Russian agent, fueled by narcissistic bigotry & sexism, who blindly led his pathetically inferior following of deplorable supporters off the edge of a failed racist country that was once known as America.

I ask you… what kind of sick & demented minded individual would take grace or pleasure in such a vision?

Fortunately for those of us who share a formidable sanity, and a true majority, a far more realistic account of our current events will be sealed & secured for the generations of our future.

How can I justify such a bold prediction?

Because of…