Here’s one list the country would be proud to be on for a change. The Department of Foreign Affairs is calling on Filipinos worldwide to vote for the heritage city of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, in the New7Wonders Cities campaign, a global competition initiated by Swiss nonprofit New7Wonders Foundation.
It must have been during the early American period when parents began naming their kids “Baby Girl” and “Baby Boy” (lest they forget). In time the girls ended up becoming, of course, Lola Baby or Lola Girlie, and the guys Lolo Boy or Lolo Boyet. A counterpart today could be “Missy” who will, too, inevitably become “Miss Missy” or “Mrs. Missy.”
Stray golf balls, catfish of unknown provenance, and a life-size statue of the scourged Jesus Christ that roams the grounds during the wee hours are just some of the stories told by residents inside the Bautista compound in Malabon.
For the rural folk of Tayabas City, one of the oldest localities in Quezon province, the religious art of palm frond weaving is a tradition that has to be sustained and passed on to future generations.
Anyone visiting this former US hill station in Baguio City would have difficulty missing the controversial mansion owned by eccentric entrepreneur Joel Cruz aka The Lord of Scents.
For years, devotees of the Señor Santo Niño have been coming to Cebu City from all over the country to show their gratitude and fidelity to the Holy Child in the nine-day Sinulog festivities that culminate in a grand parade Sunday.
Supertyphoon “Yolanda” showed the best and the worst of social media. In the immediate aftermath, at least, there was none of the irreverent humor that Filipinos are known for, we who make fun of anything and anyone, even and especially our own misfortune. The enormity of the tragedy was such that not even the worst kibitzers on social media had the guts to post any wisecrack.
Squinting in the cruel midday sun, a handful of construction workers carried heavy steel bars to the left side of the Basilica San Martin de Tours, more popularly known as the Taal Basilica, where the ground floor of a new structure was about to be completed.
It took a major earthquake to make us realize that other than people’s lives, we also value our heritage structures, our centuries-old churches.
The Spanish Embassy in Manila is exploring ways to help the Philippines reconstruct Spanish-era churches that have been destroyed or damaged in a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Central Visayas on Tuesday.
