The Philippines Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow
Viewing the gold kinnari at the museum is perfect timing. It is an auspicious timing actually, because it is Vesak month, also known as Saga Dawa among tantric practitioners. Buddhists believe that the kinnari or kinnara is, respectively, a female or male demigod who serves the deities. Fond of music, the female plays cymbals, and … Read more
Manila by NightOriginal Commemorative Screening PosterFilm by Ismael BernalExperimental Cinema of the Philippines1985 Collection: Archivo 1984 Gallery This 1985 poster for a commemorative screening of “Manila by Night” was in leiu of none for the 1980 premier. (A newspaper advertisement was however released when it was first shown.) The film was directed by the inimitable … Read more
The Spoliarium by Filipino painter Juan Luna is probably the most famous painting in the Philippines. Luna, working on canvas, spent eight months completing the painting which depicts dying gladiators. The painting was submitted by Luna to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid, where it garnered the first gold medal. The … Read more
The Manila Post Office Building FireMay 21-23, 2023Photo and poster: Karl De Santos Today marks the first anniversary of the fire that gutted the venerable Manila Central Post Office Building at Plaza Lawton, Ermita. In the late hours of May 21, 2023, smoke and fire were detected at the Post Office Building. Firefighters and volunteers … Read more
José Abad Santos Day is observed in the province of Pampanga and Angeles City every May 7, commemorating Chief Justice Abad Santos’s execution. The date of his execution is widely known and often reported as May 7 or May 2, but the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) ascertains May 1, 1942, to be … Read more