Banaue Miclat–from China to New York to the PH stage
By Amadís Ma. Guerrero
Singing actress Banaue Miclat was born in China and spent her first seven years there, because her parents Mario Miclat (the writer) and Alma were leftist activists.
Singing actress Banaue Miclat was born in China and spent her first seven years there, because her parents Mario Miclat (the writer) and Alma were leftist activists.
The top tourist attractions in Pangasinan are religious, the miraculous Our Lady of Manaoag Shrine, for instance, and “secular,” like the Hundred Islands National Park, which the Philippine Tourism Authority has turned over administratively to the City of Alaminos headed by Mayor Hernani A. Braganza.
The Silly People’s Improv Theater (SPIT) has been around for slightly more than a decade now, chalking up more than 500 performances here and abroad with their jokes, puns, double-entendres, spoofs, skits, what-have-you, all improvised, unscripted, unrehearsed and totally spontaneous shows.
Ecotourism. Extreme adventure tourism. Spa tourism. Medical tourism. Agritourism. And now, make way for food tourism.
It was 1997. Liesl Batucan was appearing as Luisa in the long-running Broadway musical “The Fantasticks.” She was being directed by Baby Barredo of Repertory Philippines, her “theater Mama”: “She molded me, honed me, sharpened me, guided me, inspired me and at times, as needed, scolded me. But the end result was that she brought out the best in me,” Batucan recalls.
Saint Pedro Calungsod, of course, belongs not just to Cebu but to the Philippines. The same can be said of San Lorenzo Ruiz of Binondo, Manila.
The best-known product of Zambales—whose coastal towns are named after saints and alluring islands facing the West Philippine Sea—is the mango. The Guinness Book of World Records has declared the Sweet Elena mango from this province the sweetest in the world (though not recommended for diabetics).
An explosion of youthful energy. Such characterized the opening ceremonies of the International Dance Xchange Festival and Workshop of the National Committee for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), held recently at the big City Coliseum of Puerto Princesa, capital of fabled Palawan.
Silliman University’s Cultural Affairs Committee was established in 1962 by Miriam Palmer, and since then has had a cultural season for every school year.
The art of dance—in a land which has produced many dancers who have gained renown abroad—comes to the fore again with the fifth “Dance Xchange: The Philippine International Dance Workshop & Festival” of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). This will be held in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on April 11-14.
“I have been on the stage since the age of 10,” says Rustica C. Carpio, 82, actress, author, director, playwright, scholar, literary critic, book editor and professor, among her many accomplishments in an events-filled life. And still counting.
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