The Philippines Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow
Santa Mesa Fire Station Poster: Karl De SantosPhoto: David Montasco We open the New Year with another heritage issue: the impending demolition of the Santa Mesa Fire Station. While Manila “celebrates” its heritage treasures, it also demolishes and destroys them at the same time. Santa Mesa Fire Station (December 2, 1920) Eighth and last fire … Read more
Barcelona Ruins Park The ruins of the Presidencia Building are what remains of it today. Unlike the Barcelona Church, a good portion of the building withstood not the wrath of tropical events like typhoons, storm surges, and punishing winds coming from the Pacific Ocean. The other building built by the Spaniards was Escuela Pia, a … Read more
Indredus It’s National Marites Day! or National Gossip Day! How do you say “gossip” in your language? INDRÉDUS • (in-DREH-doos)gossip, rumorTagálog (Filipino): tsísmis/chísmis, chíka/tsíka Etymology and Tagálog (Filipino) Comparison:Although Philippine languages share a lot of similar Spanish loanwords, there are instances when they use different or unique ones. An example would be the words for … Read more
Pusa Happy International Cat Day! How do you say “cat” in your language? PÚSÂ • (POO-sa’)catTagálog (Filipino): púsà Possible Etymology or CognateTamil (Southern dialect) பூச்ச (pūcca) “cat” You may want to read: Tapusan Festival
Did you know that Kapampángans have their móchi that is not etymologically related to the Japanese mochi? MÓCHI / MÓTSI • (MOH-chi)Kapampángan glutinous rice delicacy with bean paste filling served with sweetened coconut milk sauceAlternative forms: móche, múche, múchi/mútsi EtymologyFrom Hokkien 麻糍 (môa-chî) “ciba cake; muah chee”, a traditional southern Chinese rice cake made from … Read more