Sunday, January 8
Before the day ends, I’d like to honor an old lady, who, old as she was, gave her everything to help the Katipuneros in their revolution against the tyranny of the Spanish authorities. She was born exactly 200 years ago, for she was born on January 6, 1812
She’s “Tandang Sora” (Old Sora). Her real name is Melchora Aquino. She was 84 years old when the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish sparked in 1896. Even though weak and feeble in old age, she offered her home to the Katipuneros wounded in battle, nursed their wounds and provided these heroes with a hideout to recuperate. That was amidst the watching eyes of the guardia civil. The time came when the Spaniards discovered her and interrogated her, but she remained steadfast and refused to tell where the Katipunan was or what their plans were. She was exiled to Guam, a heavy price she had to pay that not even Apolinario Mabini could not take. Tandang Sora returned to the Philippines after the Americans took over.
Cheers to you Tandang Sora. You taught us that old age is not an excuse to compromise your principles and to not love your country.
(via gardant)
Friday, December 30
Battle of Manila, 1945
(Source: ladyurduja)
Thursday, December 29
A marketplace in the Calubang barrio. Photograph by Carl Mydans. Manila, Philippines, 1942.
(via gardant)
Monday, December 26
This blogger’s family is about to send away a couple of Balikbayan boxes to relatives in Laguna, Philippines, joining millions (one imagines) of other Filipinos overseas.
Thursday, December 22
Group of Moro women on Mindanao
1902
Philippines
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institute
Sunday, December 18
Friday, December 9
Clinton, counter-insurgency and hegemony
For many Filipinos, the 60th anniversary Mutual Defence Treaty is a sad reminder that the sun has yet to set over the nation’s long colonial history. Nearly seven decades after independence, the country still suffers from US dominance in almost every aspect of society. One US official put it this way in a leaked 2009 diplomatic cable: “No nation has the sort of special relationship with the Philippines that we do. No nation has our degree of access, acceptability or influence” (09MANILA612).
Under the Visiting Forces Agreement, a contentious mutual defence accord signed in 1999, US troops can enter the Philippines without a visa and without informing the Philippine public - or even the government - of the specifics of their activities.
If it is within their power to do so, why don’t the Americans - supposed harbingers of democracy worldwide - do more to end human rights abuses in the Philippines?
“They want advances on economic interests, investments in Mindanao and other parts of the country,” said Renato Reyes Jr, secretary-general of Bayan, a nationalist civil society group. “In the region, they want to use the Philippines as a base for power projection in southeast Asia, including projection of power towards China … it provides the US with a base in advancing its hegemonic interests in the region,” Reyes added.
WikiLeaks has helped confirm these arguments. A 2007 cable revealed that “based on incomplete data and unconfirmed reports, the Philippines may have untapped mineral wealth worth between US $840bn and US $1tn”, adding that “multinational firms are already eyeing areas in Mindanao for possible projects”.
