Balikbayan Magazine July 2009

JULY 2009

Volume I number 5

US$ 5.00•PHP 150.00

7 KEEPING A JOURNAL America is Still in the Heart

BY ROGER LAGMAY ORIEL, PUBLISHER

8 A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Meet Mr. and Mrs. Write

BY LITO OCAMPO CRUZ, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

BY WINTON LOU G. YNION

14 Clark Flying High

BY LOUIE JON A. SANCHEZ

19 The Next Frontier for Clark Freeport 20 Clark’s Field of Dreams

BY ALMA ANONAS-CARPIO

26 TOURBUZZ Subic Day

BY LOUIE JON A. SANCHEZ

32 Subicman

BY LOUIE JON A. SANCHEZ

38 Quijano de Manila’s Manila

BY JOEL PABLO SALUD

42 A ROOM WITH A VIEWPOINT A Home in the Country (Club)

BY LOUIE JON A. SANCHEZ AND MARIE ANGELI S. SYJUECO

48 ESSENCE OF PLACE Pangasinan: The Flavor of a Found History

BY WINTON LOU G. YNION

54 THE RED CARPET Funny. Very. Really.

BY RUBEN V. NEPALES

60 ESTATESIDE East(wood) of the Son

BY MARIE ANGELI S. SYJUECO

65 A Mirror of our Roots

BY RACHEL RAÑOSA

68 Love of Country in the Time of Ruth Elynia Mabanglo’s Poetry

BY ROCHELLE C. PANGILINAN

74 SCENIC ROOTS The Fort of July

BY AHMED TOLEDO

76 THE UNGUIDED TOUR Behold the Fort

BY ALTHEA LAUREN RICARDO

84 Old School This Way to the Ateneo

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balikbayan

on our cover

Publisher & CEO | Roger L. Oriel President & Co-Publisher | Cora M. Oriel Editor-in-Chief | Lito Ocampo Cruz Associate Editor | Louie Jon Agustin Sanchez Contributing Editors | Malou Liwanag-Aguilar, Alma Anonas-Carpio, Jewel Castro, Cynthia De Castro, Gayle Gatchalian, Ruben Nepales, Janet Susan Nepales, Rhod V. Nuncio, Rochelle C. Pangilinan, Joseph Pimentel, Rachel Rañosa, D.M. Reyes, Althea Lauren Ricardo, Joel Salud, Aldus Santos, Ahmed Toledo, Walter Villa, Momar Visaya, Winton Lou Ynion Contributing Photographers | Joe Cobilla, Ted Madamba, Raphael John Oriel, Miko Santos, Andy Tecson Assistant Art Director | Le Grande Dee Pedroche Editorial Assistant | Marie Angeli S. Syjueco Production Manager | Kristine Tan Vice President for Advertising | Noel Godinez Vice President for Sales | Sharon Ann Z. Bathan Account Manager | Vince Samson Staff Writer | Billy dela Cruz Staff Photographer | Andrew Tadalan Staff Artists | Edward Dy, Napoleon Laurel, Jr., Valory Lim, Bienvenida Salazar, Vanessa Augustin Circulation Manager | Vince Samson Circulation Assistant | Arthur Sibulangcao Accountant | Ria Fabro balikbayan Magazine is published monthly by Asian Journal Publications, Inc. Distributed in the Philippines by East West All Media Services, Inc. 1100 88 Corporate Center, Valero St., corner Sedeño St., Salcedo Village, Makati City, 1226 Philippines.

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balikbayan | July 2009

Our ace photographer Walter Villa, a former Mabuhay managing editor, shot our spreads at Subic Bay and Clark Freeport.

This stunning photograph on our cover featuring a parachutist descending with the Philippine flag from the colorful Clark skies, symbolizes perhaps the Freeport’s, and by extension the country’s, arrival in the global scene. If Walter is not shooting for Balikbayan or a corporate client, he is busy cooking macaroni and cheese for his five-year-old daughter. He has just wrapped up shooting for three annual reports for multinational companies and now cherishes watching Backyardigans with his kid.

(0917) 811-0377

Carlos Bulosan

balikbayan | July 2009

v editor’s note| BY LITO OCAMPO CRUZ, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

BY ROGER LAGMAY ORIEL, PUBLISHER

America is Still in the Heart WE BEGIN WITH CARLOS BULOSAN’S REAL COUNTRY, PANGASINAN, the land of bangus and “who’s who,” having produced the likes of National Artists F. Sionil Jose (literature), Fernando Poe, Jr. (film) and Victorio Edades (visual arts), who like Bulosan once worked in the salmon canneries of Alaska; the late First Lady Evangeline Macaraeg-Macapagal, who also hails from my hometown, Binalonan, and is the mother of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; and Representative Jose de Venecia, Jr. National University of Singapore scholar Winton Lou Ynion makes a pilgrimage to Pangasinan, revisiting the old landmarks and the shrine of the Virgin of Manaoag.

That this is his first piece after a year’s sabbatical is in itself a miracle.

Last May, on the eve of the changing of guards in late night American television from Jay Leno to Conan O’Brien, Pangasinan’s most famous son, former President Fidel V. Ramos, was tickling our funny bones over dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Also in our company was Hollywood journalist Ruben Nepales who hails from Calasiao, Pangasinan. He was recently elected the first Filipino board director of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which hands out the prestigious Golden Globe Awards. Ruben’s wife, also a member of the HFPA, took the photographs.

In the coming issues, we will probably return to Pangasinan, since there are still other stories to tell—like the Revotes’, the blacksmiths of Pozzorubio, who crafted the swords in the epic film The Lord of the Rings. We are also awed by the glamor and majesty of Carmen Rosales, the 1930s matinee idol, whose name is forever etched in a place called Carmen, Rosales. There are a lot of hometown stories worth telling and retelling. Expect us to drop by soon.

As this issue celebrates Philippine-American Friendship Day, we also remember that historically the 4th of July used to be a shared Independence Day for both the United States and the Philippines. President Diosdado Macapagal restored it to its original date, June 12th, as declared by President Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898. We revisit Clark Air Field and Subic Bay, once the most strategic American military bases in Asia, and now the new boomtowns in our midst. The trip down memory lane also takes us to the Baguio Country Club, one of the last reminders of American rule and splendor.

Legend has it that then US President William Mckinley colonized the Philippines after the Treaty of Paris because it was God’s will. Imagine your world without The Fort.

The Bonifacio Global City, formerly Fort Mckinley during the American times, and until recently, Fort Bonifacio, is fast becoming a fort of leisure to behold. Our resident “unguided” tourist and Palanca winner Althea Lauren Ricardo takes us on a walking tour of this exciting metropolis.

This issue is all about returning to our roots and our shared history with America.

Yes, America is still in the heart. g

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BY LITO OCAMPO CRUZ, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Write DURING MY WATCH AS HEAD OF E! ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION PHILIPPINES, it was our daily task to bring Hollywood to the country. It was the “wild on” days of E! and Brooke Burke. During the awards seasons, like the Oscars and the Emmys, E! Live at the Red Carpet was the big buzz in town.

Thanks to E!, twice a year, I would attend with RMN Networks President Eric Canoy, the markets in Cannes and go to the annual Los Angeles Screenings for the exclusive preview of the new television season. Those were the days when Hollywood was Hollywood. Sometime in between, I became the Executive Director of the Philippine International Film and Television Office under the Office of the President of the Philippines. That’s how I got my first Hollywood screen credit for Kevin Costner’s Thirteen Days. Quietly, I thought I had the dream job, until I met Ruben and Janet Nepales in Los Angeles early this year. They are Balikbayan Magazine’s “Mr. and Mrs. Write”. In this issue, they share with us their hilarious encounter in Beverly Hills with former President Fidel V. Ramos.

And yes, they have a dream job to die for. Both are members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, covering the most glittering celebrity events and constantly treading the red carpets from Hollywood to Cannes. Just recently, Ruben was elected to the board of this prestigious association, which gives out the annual Golden Globe Awards. Janet, on the one hand continues to stay close. They much resemble legendary literary couples. I can’t help but recall the canonical poets Robert and Elizabeth Browning, and even Dumaguete icons Edilberto and Edith Tiempo, national artist for literature. Ruben and Susan also remind me of Pete Lacaba and Marra PL. Lanot (the PL stand for the husband’s initials), poets and magazine editors both. And of course, how can I forget the husband and wife team of Asian Journal publishers Roger and Cora Oriel. Their story is also one for the books.

Ruben and Janet Susan Nepales at the gala of the Filipino-American Symphony Orchestra at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

But let’s talk about the other writers, single or otherwise, who helped us put together this issue. Associate Editor and resident poet Louie Jon Sanchez continues to be on a roll. His bosom buddy and colleague, Winton Lou Ynion writes again after a year-long hiatus, on the American Dream and Pangasinan. Winton won a Palanca for Hiligaynon fiction in 2004. He was also a scholar at the Asian Research Institute of the National University of Singapore. He is finishing a PhD in Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

Meanwhile, Philippines Graphic’s managing editor, Joel Pablo Salud, paints a literary portrait of old Manila through the eyes of our idol, the late National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin. I was fortunate to get my copy of Manila, My Manila, autographed, shortly before he died in 2004. In this nostalgic piece, Joel remembers the life and times of Great Ol’ Quijano de Manila during the American colonial times. Joel was formerly managing editor of Mabuhay.

Palanca winner for the teleplay Althea Lauren Ricardo wears the “unguided tour” guide hat again and brings us this time to Market! Market! and the Bonifacio Global City. Althea teaches English online and writes a column for the entertainment section of The Freeman in Cebu. She is well on her way to earning an MFA degree in Creative Writing from the De La Salle University-Manila. Joining her is journalist Ahmed Toledo who remembers the former Fort Mckinley from old tales and photographs.

Another Palanca winner, poet and journalist Alma Anonas-Carpio, interviews pilot and fellow traveler Joy Roa, host of the ANC travel show Asian Air Safari, and the man behind the annual Hot Air Baloon Fiesta in the Clark Freeport. Roa shares his passion for flight and love of country in this heartwarming interview. Alma currently covers the technology beat for the Business Mirror and Philippines Graphic.

Winton Lou G. Ynion

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Our review about the book 150: The Ateneo Way begins the first of a series on alma maters, called “Old School”. Simply put, it is a magnificent book that every Atenean must have. g

It is perhaps our penchant for chocolates that made us susceptible to the enchantment of the “land of milk and honey.”

It isn’t really Lady Liberty doing the American version of Katipuneros who lit up their sulo on the way to the Revolution.

It wasn’t the visual splendor of this Torch that first caught our sensibility; it was the imagination of a giant chocolate factory. This fairy tale was read to the first recipients of the Thomasite education, and to wow them, the chocolates were there as a present. They took a taste of the bar. It was the bite that changed our future.

This gastronomic angle of American imperialism to the Philippines opens an interesting avenue toward the Filipino travel and pakikipagsapalaran. In a generic sense, a balikbayan encounters claustrophobia in an international airport that is the seat of transport to the location of dream, all for the image of the bars of chocolates. It isn’t just a pasalubong on his eventual return.

The chocolates, regardless of their shape, color and flavor, and even brand, represent our consumption of the American society and our ingestion of its culture and future.

It is a dangerous field, we were taught – that flicker of light in the moth fable. Immortalized by the pieta relationship of Jose Rizal and his mother, the story was proportioned in Lupita Concio’s Minsan’y Isang Gamugamu.

Philippine Cinderella Nora Aunor played a nurse who dreams that dream,

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until an American soldier accidentally killed her brother, mistaking him for a pig. The political metaphorics need no analogical explanation. Expected to serve as a poetic alarm, the tragic narrative has only found itself in the stacks of classic films. Not even Aunor’s cultist power has dehypnotized a country from the Disney that was the United States of America.

In 1943, Carlos Romulo published a book in New York, Mother America. Romulo shared an unforgettable and honorable experience about the United States. In 1935, he was awarded with Doctor of Laws, along with US President Franklin Roosevelt, by the University of Notre Dame.

After the hoods were laid over their shoulders and their citations read, the Notre Dame choir sang the national anthem of the Philippines, followed by “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Romulo said, pertaining to the songs, they were equally mine. It was, of course, a moment of magnanimous honor for the Filipino respected diplomat, and it was also a moment of Oedipal symptoms towards America – its being a mother singing the national lullabies to her child of West-East political birth. For Romulo, America has always been there for the Philippines, ecofeminine in its capacity to rock the hammocks of those whose linage under the principled seal of blood on Luzon, Bataan and Corregidor. It is a given, especially made for the Philippines – that kind of love that resulted in dismemberment of future Filipinos.

by winton lou g. ynion

July 2009 | balikbayan 11

The cover of Mother America by Carlos P. Romulo, rendered by Venancio Igarta.

We, Filipinos, have always been itinerant. We constantly travel. To excuse our uneasy feet, we point at a mole, which looks like a chocolate dot, which elders dismissed as sign of unending tour. But our independent nation has never been cohered. We have always been scattered. That is why our nation, specifically, as an imagined community, vibrates the classic definition of Benedict Anderson. And this is in a literal sense. Even the wealthiest of Filipinos would find impossibility meeting all the members of the Philippines. Let alone archipelagic geography explain the fantasy.

It is only, therefore, a parcel of land that a balikbayan pertains at when he or she speaks of a country. Not a nation-state, but a village, always referred to as probinsya. The probinsya has been signified with varying marginality. It is the setting of idyllic dreams and ambitions whose citizens have been predetermined for dispersion and disenfranchisement by the capitalist society. In Manila, we can’t help but ask an acquaintance, saan ang probinsya mo? In the US and in any part of the world, it is commonly reduced to saan ka sa atin? It is ours, equally ours, but that portion of land, now locatable through the Google’s online satellite, signifies, more than just ethnicity and language, our determined place of return.

Eminent expatriate scholar E. San Juan, cites in his book, Balikbayang Sinta (2008), that Filipinos in time may desire for eventual return. But only when they are secure financially. In general, he says, “Filipinos will not come back home… Of course, some are forcibly returned: damaged, deported, or dead.” Whatever is the packaging of the return, the good news is: they return as heroes. They are the Darnas and the Captain Barbels and the Lastikmans, and other superhuman characters imagined

by Mars Ravelo and Carlos J. Caparas, how victorious or distorted their arrivals may be. It’s the long tradition of epic that blessed their returns as such, regardless of the presence or absence of the heel mole. It is the culmination of pakikipagsapalaran.

Ours is a country of festive performances. We own a bunch of memories and stories of mortals who lost in the wilderness of enchantment. But at the hype of the globalizations of locals, we

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know that these are only assorted narratives of our childhood; for our folklore and primetime television have proven otherwise. Our residual ties, with the likes of Rizal, monumentalize our sacrifices; even if it is at home that he was tied like a pig and executed by firing squad. His death is a national celebration we showered with myriad definitions of heroism ranging from toppling lightweights and heavyweights, singing Pocahontas at the Broadway, dominating the YouTube and performing all the way to Oprah, and even designing the meals at the White House. The Romulo personalization takes place on these performances – the mine, the mine. Back home, we do not mind Lea Salonga in flying carpet at the Oscars, nor Charice rendering her version of “The StarSpangled Banner.” One day, Salonga said in an interview, I sing every song as if it were mine.

And we see this total performance of owning in Charice. The positive reality that these heroisms elicit is that – we have all the talents to colonize the world. We own the boxing ring, the Broadway stage, the American television, the cyber vision, and the world’s kitchen. Twisted, Jessica Zafra commented that Filipino domestic helpers might want to make use of the kitchen to colonize the world. And she is right, from condominiums to expensive flats to the White House, the Filipino consumers range from ordinary American citizens to powerful men and women who visit the house of power, the US President included.

Are we seeing a party at the White House where dignitaries are treated to American-style kare-kare, pinakbet, sisig, and adobo, with different kakanin as dessert, and lambanog as wine and bonus performances from Salonga and Charice, and, why not, the FilipinoAmerican Symphony Orchestra playing in the White House?

The winning moments of Filipino latter-day celebrities heal the trauma of removal of OFWs. In show business equation, it is like we have upstaged the Americans by owning that dream. We have consumed that dream like chocolates. We ate it not once, but twice. We know that it is our dream. The American Dream is Filipino. g

BY LOUIE JON A. SANCHEZ | THE AJPRESS

THE LANDSCAPE IS CHANGING. In its over 94-kilometer stretch, the freeway known today as the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (STEX) has literally moved greens and mountains to connect what is envisioned today as the three major economic points of Luzon—the Subic and Clark Freeports, and Tarlac.

The road, which begins at the Pampanga leg of the North Luzon Expressway, cuts travel time to all the major points of the region, including Baguio City up north, and makes possible the vision to create a competitive logistics corridor for the country.

Moreover, the development is expected to bolster economic exchange in all the provinces, all of which would house the important and bustling business zones and joining the major freeports and economic zones in the Southeast Asian region, a vision in the future tense. But as they say, we might be getting ahead of the story.

In our recent drive, the majestic view at the SCTEX welcomed us not only to the wonderful flora and fauna of the marshlands and mountains of Tarlac, Bataan and Zambales. It also foretold what was emergent: a major economic hub, an important center of commerce on steady rise.

Just 20 minutes away from the expressway, the Clark Freeport Zone came into full view, like a great economic dream. People on sidewalks

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PHOTOS BY WALTER VILLA

clad in uniforms were well on their way to work in one of the freeport’s locators. Several branches of a popular convenience store chain stood in many of the freeport’s corners. On the horizon, an emerging but affordable airline took off. Outside, by the metal fences, one could see the city of lights that is Angeles City, beginning to awaken.

The theme is indeed landscape changing, and the beat is not lost on Clark Freeport, one of the most important business hubs in the Central Plain of Luzon since it was created through a Senate Bill, signed into law by President Macapagal Arroyo in 2007.

Since it was converted into an economic zone, Clark Freeport is home to many investors in IT, logistics and tourism. In its business update of February 2009, it had leased some 2,800 hectares to its investors, with committed investments of P 94 billion in the fifth year, and a promise of more than 100,000 jobs.

Business is definitely booming here in Clark, if we ask Sec. Edgardo Pamintuan, chair of the Subic-Clark Alliance of Development Council (SCADC). As head and champion of the Luzon Urban Beltway, Pamintuan makes sure the development goals are met. He boasts the major feat of the multiphase plan to turn Clark around forever: The SCTEX. The road concretizes the Arroyo administration’s agenda of connecting the major freeports of Luzon, he says.

“The SCTEX begins our journey,” Pamintuan notes, when we paid him a visit at his quaint office at the Clark Freeport Zone. “We started it in 2005, and we are close to full delivery. This road not only involves Subic, Clark and Tarlac, but the whole archipelago.

It sort of connects us to the Batangas Port, and all the Roll-on, Roll-off ports.” Connecting the two free ports and the whole of Luzon, he also mentions, just begins the president’s grand project of creating a mega logistics hub, a vision that could definitely make us a key destination in the Asian logistical map again. “Road networks are really important, and for this dream to happen, we have invested on improving and connecting all our existing hubs.”

Pamintuan, a former Mayor of Angeles City himself, has seen the rise of Clark from the ashes—literally of Mt. Pinatubo. When the volcano exploded, the former US Air Base was practically turned into a ghost town. That time, government has yet to convert the base and so much had been lost during the eruption.

“A lot of the facilities could not be used, there was so much damage,” relates Pamintuan. And with the cease of operation in the bases, the sleeping town was challenged to stand up and face the future. “We believed that life would go on even with the end of bases. And we did survive.” And indeed, the biggest among the US bases which employed some 57,000 from Angeles and beyond transformed.

The developments at the Clark Freeport were overwhelming and soon, it became home to technology businesses, and even business process outsourcing, one of the lead industries in the current Philippine economy.

The SM Group of taipan Henry Sy also found potential in the area, putting up SM City Clark, which now enjoys good patronage from foreigners and locals alike. Clark Freeport also entertains the participating American servicemen of the Visiting Forces Agreement in their hotels, resorts and casinos, and it seems like the old times are back.

But still, making business easy in Clark is the most important agenda. To make sure that investments are maintained, the government adopted measures such as tax and duty free incentives, computerized permits and customs processing, among others.

Also, the Clark Zone had been properly planned and divided to accommodate the booming industries in the region.

Clark Freeport continues to expand and is expected to create more growth, especially under the aegis of SCADC, the agency under the Office of the President of the Philippines, which links Clark to Subic in realizing this business and logistical dream.

Another notable development in the Clark Freeport is the continuous improvement and expansion of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), using the wide and sturdy runways of what was known before as the Clark Air Field. As an important base of the Air Army Corps, the runways were the centerpieces of Clark, whose history dates back to the days of the American cavalry of Fort Stotsenburg in the 1900s.

Today, under the management of the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), DMIA is home to budget carriers, and is about to become one of Asia’s most important complexes for aviation. With the runways up for expansion, and with more infrastructure and development, the airport is projected to soon decongest Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), and eventually become the country’s gateway to the world. Plans are also underway to link up DMIA with NAIA through a bullet train system.

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DMIA CEO and Executive Vice President Alexander Cauguiran.

The entrance to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

“At this point, the airport enjoys some two million passengers a year,” says DMIA chief operating officer and executive vice president Alexander Cauguiran. And with the DMIA Terminal III in the works, Cauguiran projects that the airport would be able to accommodate about seven million. “Currently, we have 49 flights per week to various cities in Asia and in key Philippine destinations as well. We have the future in our midst. This is really the airport of the future.”

The airport complex that is DMIA is a 2,367-hectare area within the freeport zone. In a current master plan, the complex has been zoned into different aviation industries aside from passenger and cargo airline operations.

Almost Php 4 billion will be spent in the expansion, which would open various aircraft maintenance and repair facilities, airline support businesses, in-flight catering, and airport commercial centers. The airport also aids the logistics project of the region, and as an airport city, it sees handling 60 to 80 million passengers per year. A third runway is being planned, which will make simultaneous landing and take-off possible.

The airport is also adopting alternatives like green technology. Aside

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Photo by Napoleon C. Laurel, Jr. | The AJPress

from investing on efficient aviation facilities, it also looks into possibilities of harnessing solar power as an additional energy source. Meanwhile, the airport is now fully automated and has a staff that coordinates operations well and carries a friendly and warm attitude. The very personal feel and the accommodating set up of the airport already make a difference.

“We envision the DMIA to be a premiere airport,” says CIAC chair Nestor Mangio. The visionary architect and urban planner and true blue Kapampangan believes that at this juncture, the airport is blessed with lots of opportunities. “We see an opportunity with the economic slump. People today would prefer local destinations.

Because of so many economic factors, we are constantly and consistently growing.”

But the welfare of the communities, especially the indigenous ones, is not completely lost on Clark Freeport, despite the various developments in the economic zone. With the unspoiled lands of what is called the Next Frontier of the Clark Special Economic Zone, Clark Development Corporation (CDC) strives to uplift the living conditions of its Aeta communities and settlements.

Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.

CIAC Chairman Nestor Mangio.

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All roads lead to Clark.

“Development efforts must be on site,” according to CDC president and chief executive officer Benigno Ricafort. “We are basically dealing with nomadic people. That’s why we are involving even the government, the local government units to lend a new dimension to this development vision.”

Development, Ricafort stresses, must be holistic, too. “We have to help these communities so we can accomplish all our plans of development. We need to lay the foundation. Otherwise we cannot bring about any of our projects, even tourism development.

It is their land, and they are the lawful owners based on ancestral domain. They must have ownership of the very developments we are bringing in.”

In the next few years, much could be expected from Clark Freeport. The road to becoming the bustling economic hub has been taken. We just have to continue trekking. The landscape continuously changes. g The fairways at the Mimosa Leisure Park inside Clark.

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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo looks on as CDC President Benigno N. Ricafort (right) and Donggwang Clark Corp. Chairman Lee Shin Kun sign a Memorandum of Agreement for the construction of two road projects in Clark’s Next Frontier and a lease agreement for the construction of a $10 million property inside the Clark Freeport.

The Clark Development Corporation (CDC) on its 16th anniversary continues to progress to its next frontier.

Under the leadership of President Benigno Ricafort, CDC envisions leadership for the Clark Freeport in the next couple of years.

Ricafort boasts of a 15-year track record of serving the CDC Board since the early days of the corporation. “I am not here to outdo whatever the other past CDC presidents have done. I am just here to get things done,” he said.

And he has now successfully laid the groundwork for the future of the Clark Freeport –”The Next Frontier,” a raw stretch of land in the Sacobia Valley spanning more than 10,000 hectares waiting to be tapped and developed.

The Next Frontier is being pursued in consonance with the Joint Management Agreement (JMA) – a contract signed in 2007 by CDC, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and leaders of Aeta tribes who have inherent rights over certain areas of the Sacobia Valley under the Ancestral Domain Claims.

While the JMA and The Next Frontier enable CDC to generate investment potentials in tourism, housing, commercial, institutional and light industry projects in the Sacobia Valley, the undertaking also ensures the recognition and promotion of the overall welfare of the Aeta tribes in the area.

“Lands that are available for leasing are running a little scarce in Clark’s main zone. But this, of course, is because of the continuous pouring of investments inside the Freeport,” Ricafort said.

With the groundwork for The Next Frontier in place, Ricafort assures that “optimism is plentiful at Clark.” He is optimistic that the Clark Freeport would continue to make a strong showing despite the worldwide economic slowdown as companies continue to invest here.

The CDC president said both local and international firms have continued to eye Clark for their investments assuring that SYNERGY. Officials of the Clark and Subic Freeports and Bureau of Customs signify solidarity during the signing of Joint Memorandum Order on Automated Transit, Admission and Declaration Cargo at the OTS Conference Room of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC). From left are CDC President Benigno Ricafort, BOC Commissioner Napoleon Morales, SCADC Chairman Edgardo Pamintuan, and SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza.

employment opportunities in this freeport remain strong.

Ricafort’s optimism for Clark is anchored on strong investor performances as shown by reports from stakeholders who continue to hold dialogue and consultations with the CDC. “To address the effects of the world financial crisis, the CDC is working hand in hand with its locators and investors through the continuous holding of dialogue. Because of these regular consultations with Clark stakeholders we continue to improve our services,” Ricafort said.

Clark’s proximity to Subic and the presence of infrastructure and facilities like the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) are highly considered advantages amid the financial crisis.

Ricafort noted that job opportunities will continue to remain strong inside the Clark Freeport citing the recent signing of four new lease agreements with a committed employment of 3,000 workers.

Today, Clark’s total number of operational firms reached 434 infusing new committed investment of P36.51 billion.

The Freeport’s actual investment has already reached P68.63 billion from various Clark firms that are mostly industrial, garments manufacturing, tourism, IT and electronics, and Business Process Outsourcing industries. Peter Alagos g

Clark’s Field of Dreams by alma anonas–carpio | photos courtesy of air safari

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Some Filipinos are born for the sea and yet others are born to soar. Capt. Joy Roa is just such a person. The sky encompasses his passion for flight and lets him fly where he will. Roa’s business ventures and even his advocacies revolve around the concept of flight.

As he ushered us into his office in Pasay City, his manner was genial, kind and calmly in control—exactly the manner a frequent flier seeks to find in his pilot.

Roa is the owner of Air Ads and he is the man behind the annual Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark Field, Pampanga. Now, Roa seeks to bring his flights of fancy to other people through the ANC television travel show, the Asian Air Safari.

He speaks of flying and travel with intensity and focus: “I can be in Catbalogan, Samar, riding a tricycle or in Tuscany riding a jet and the passion for travel is just the same,” he says, exuding an enthusiasm that takes decades off face. “I fly everything: Hot air balloons, fixed wing aircraft, jets, helicopters. I enjoy myself flying anything, whether it is a 2-seater, a 747, an aerobatic plane, or a helicopter.”

Rambling comfortably but intently about his passion for flight, Roa said, “I also like to tinker with airplanes. We fly small planes and use all of the country’s international airports, which I believe are places to develop, along with their air routes.” He lives up to his passion’s demands and is qualified to pilot practically any aircraft, from small, light planes and float planes and helicopters all the way up to commercial passenger aircraft, such as the ubiquitous 747 jet.

The Clark Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, Roa said, “is where we open the eyes of everybody, from kids to grandfathers, to the romance and adventure of flying. This is a weekend of everything that flies, the only time people of all walks of life get exposed to aviation.” It is during this festival that Roa and his colleagues take the opportunity to educate the audience about “how important safety is, not just yours, but the safety of your passengers, audience and the environment.”

This festival, he said with a contemplative air, is “definitely part of my advocacy.” He and his colleagues also have a “scholarship foundation to put aviation students through college,” as part of a fledgling effort to increase the skill sets and manpower base of Filipino aviators—pilots, mechanics and ground support personnel. “We’d like to start them young, mold them into thinking of working for the good of our country, to educate them to come back and try to do something for the Philippines.

Everybody should think that way, in my opinion.”

“There is a sense of freedom when you are flying. When you defy gravity, it is like you’ve changed everything in your whole life,” Roa said, speaking of the freedom of flight that he seeks to share with like minded people through his TV show, the Hot Air Balloon Festival and the scholarships he provides. “People are so used to being on the ground.

Flying changes your views, perception and your outlook in life - and it goes on from there.”

Ready for takeoff?

Besides having established the first flag carrier in Asia (Philippine Airlines), the Philippines “was the first to make use of general aviation in Asia,” Roa said with emphasis. Citing the ASEAN Federation of Flying Clubs, of which he is a member, Roa also noted that “everybody looks up to the Filipino aviator. Majority of our people have good motor skils and education, but we need to improve our discipline and training.”

While the Filipino, as a worker, is seen as world-class, smallmindedness and short-sightedness are our downfall, he said: “we have a tendency of wanting to get away with things, of taking the shortest route.

That is what we want to avoid. Our reputation is ruined by this attitude.”

With the Asian Air Safari, Roa said, “We want to share the romance of flying and the discovery of adventure in traveling. We also want everyone to see what flying can do for a community, whether it is in Malaysia, the Philippines or elsewhere.”

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He also said that “flying can do so much for a community. It brings a lot of interest to the community. It also brings industry and income and helps transport and move local products.

Flying also exposes the whole community to the world. There are exchanges of culture, tradition, ideas.”

“Flying,” he noted, is “faster definitely than taking a bus. Things move very fast when you are flying. This is my advocacy—to make people see what flying can do, what the benefits are for everyone.” He added that, “I also want to show everyone how things work overseas” through the show, so that “people (will) see how things work in another place, so they will open their eyes and see how far behind we are. If I show them what is good, what is nice, instead of just telling them what I think is wrong with the Philippines, they will realize for themselves what they are doing wrong and, hopefully work to correct these things.”

Loving Inang Bayan “Everywhere you look in my show, there is love of country,” Roa said calmly, yet with bright fire in his eyes. “I am a Filipino and I am very proud to be one. This Filipino has been all over the world. My wanting to change things in this country is love of country. When you show people how we should do things in a proper way, even down to management of natural resources and tourist spots, that is love of country. Key aspects of the show are friendship, because I have friends in every place that I visit, and my Filipino upbringing that has made me friendly and hospitable, that conveys my country’s culture, traditions and history.”

He noted that “many people think that flying is high-class, expensive and not for everybody.”

But he begs to differ with this view, despite the cost of aviation fuel. “(Flying) can help in many other areas as well. There are the spray planes to help in agriculture, this is how the (aviation) industry can go.

Instead of exporting our airplane mechanics, we can make the Philippines a hub for plane maintenance and for tourism.”

“Nobody is building infrastructure for tourists,” or, indeed, for aircraft maintenance in the Philippines, he noted. “If we want to have tourism, we have to build infrastructure for this to happen. We have so many islands, so many beautiful places to visit that are so hard to reach. The government should do this. There is an alternative, there is a way to speed up what we are after, and developing a good aviation industry is one of the ways we can accomplish things.”

While shows like Lonely Planet and even the Survivor reality TV series showcase the beauty of many, many possible tourist havens worldwide, Roa noted that “no Asian is doing this.

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“It is mostly Caucasians who do the traveling,” and the documentation of their travels for others to see. “I don’t want to say that I am just a Filipino working to show my viewers the beauty to be had in the world.

Asia (represents) my roots and Asia is one of the biggest continents in the world, yet people talk of America or Europe.”

Said he of the Orient, “our cultures are older. The most beautiful places on earth are in Asia. The most romantic traditions and (many of the world’s oldest) religions originated from our part of the world.”

Thinker’s show Asian Air Safari, according to Roa, is a show that is thought of and planned: “The story has to be good, the features must be good. We have to have good writers who come up with good ideas. We are the first and only (travel) show shot in high-definition (HD).”

“It shows an airplane, of course,” he continues with a wide grin and his hands spread out wide, as if to encompass his ideas, “and this Filipino traveling to many scenic places both in the Philippines and overseas. It is very seldom that Filipinos get to fly in different types of airplanes. We are often underestimated. The Filipinos seen from a foreign perspective are often our OFWs, who are struggling to carve a niche abroad to send money home.”

“I am very proud of that and I am very proud of them, but not all Filipinos are OFWs. There are a lot of educated Filipinos who are not seen as OFWs, who have so much to share here. I wish they would come back, share their talents and knowledge for the betterment of the country.

(My show) is a soft sell and it is deeper that a cursory look at it would make you think it is.”

“You see that you are very proud of being Filipino when you are

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broadcast all over the place as a Filipino,” he said, traveling and exploring the many wonders of the world, large or small. Being a pilot by profession and doing business for a living did not prepare Roa for the rigors of television production, however, and he noted that he finds the work he needs to do to put his show on the air, “very difficult. I’m not from the broadcast industry and it is a challenge for me to create something with a high-quality production. We are competing with foreign productions, not local travel shows.”

As for the profit margin, Roa cocks his head to the right as he leans more deeply into his armchair: “The production cost of our show will not be covered even if we sell all the advertising spots locally. What we do is sell the show overseas. It has been bought by a Hong Kong broadcast company and dubbed in Chinese. Can you imagine me talking about my travels in Chinese, this Filipino sharing his experiences with a Chinese audience? That is how I show my love for my country.”

On the show, he said, “I am not acting. This is me in real life. This is my advocacy. I am myself and speak my mind.” Behind the camera, Roa also works, “all day and all night, but I never realize I’m working. There is a touch of the artist in me. I never used a camera before and now I take pictures all the time.”

Despite the toll on time and finances that Roa’s passion for flying takes, he cannot see himself doing anything else: “There is no sense of adventure if you are (stuck) in an office everyday. Of course, you need to balance that off with a sense of responsibility and with pointing yourself in the right direction.” The right direction for Roa is up and in the skies and on the air to put Filipino values and the Filipino’s view of the world out there for others to experience. g

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| tourbuzz | by louie jon a. sanchez | the ajpress photos by walter villa

This is the Subic in my mind: rolling green mountains, misty rainforests, and the shimmering sea. The Subic of my childhood is a gate to an unknown, mystifying territory. In our old Ford, I always tried hard to peer through what was beyond the gates, at Cubi, even at the Main Entrance in Magsaysay Avenue in Olongapo City. The personnel then looked like busy ant workers from afar. The grey ships were properly docked at the bay and the American flag, its blues and reds bright in the sky, flew like a valiant pilot facing the gusty winds.

It was not too long ago that the Subic Naval Base was transformed into a freeport where all could roam freely. Like my mother, I grew up in this place where the servicemen prepared for military missions, and entertained after a hard day’s work and training. Today, the Subic Freeport is a bustling metropolis, a large-scale rest and recreational complex, and a

growing economic and international trading zone.

With the presence of the newly opened Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), the proverbial landscape of the way to Subic had been made more picturesque, more exquisite. The vastness of the lands had been restored to farming after that massive volcanic eruption. In Pampanga, at least, you will think that you are on Eliot’s beautiful Waste Land, where there is no water but only rock.

A different, more vibrant Subic awaited us. We started the day roaming around, getting acquainted with the terrain and the sights. I personally thought I had seen enough of Subic, having lived in it all my life. Indeed, there’s really more where it comes from. Our journey started in the gates, and indeed, it was sort of a signpost to the beginning of an auspicious ride.

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SUBIC DAY

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In the day, Subic is still kissed by greens. When you climb its hills, like in Binigtikan, the military and staff quarters have been turned into scenic, first class housing facilities. The base had been dramatically transformed.

Even a part of its forest had been reinvented for adventure, thanks to the likes of Tree Top Adventure where one could enjoy rappelling and tree canopy walking.

Before I finally got the chance to see what’s inside the base, I already saw it in my mind as a perpetual tropical paradise, because my grandfather always talked about its rain forests, where he said monkeys walked the streets. When we drove around Subic recently, I remembered the first time I set sight on the roads at Pamulaklakin, embraced by foliage and thick greenery.

But there’s a lot more to Subic, and it’s quite unmistakable. Coming out of this forest where native Aetas thrive, and which closely resembles the forest in that fictional Macondo town of Garcia Marquez, we can rediscover Subic in a new light. Under the auspices of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), headed by administrator and chief executive officer Armand Arreza, himself a pioneer at the SBMA (fresh from college, he worked with the agency as a financial analyst), Subic Freeport continues to change day by day.

What may amaze us is the variety of activities Subic has to offer. For one, the Subic Yatch Club is a welcoming lifestyle destination. For animal lovers, a safari is just right here, in a hill, through Zoobic Safari. For one whose passion is water, there’s the amazing school of sea creatures from Ocean Adventure, where surely, the heart and the soul would take that much needed leap of faith. I was swept away by the intelligence and innocence of the creatures and I was teary-eyed when they handled their tricks. The twists and turns were stunning beyond belief.

The sea is an everlasting presence in Subic Bay and you would often catch yourself simply taking the breathtaking views. From afar, one could see the logistical complex mounted in Subic Bay by the government.

Subic Bay is a strategic economic and trading center, and is part of a logistics network being strengthened to cater to the needs of the region.

The hills are alive and one could not help but remember that once, in these same seas, fleets of the US military on mission to different areas in the world abound. This was after all, their sea since the turn of the century, at the dawn of the American colonial period.

By 1899, this locale called “hubec”, which literally means “head of a plow,” (probably a description of the Subic land and seascape) had been infested by ladrones and pirates. The American colonizers however were able to transform this station, known for its deep natural harbor and sheltered surroundings.

The USS Essex was in town in our recent visit, as if the old times were back. All around the complex, American servicemen and women took strolls, visiting the stores and the hotels. After a day of driving around the newest highlights of the Freeport, the beach was simply alluring and some of the visitors were walking by the sea or taking a dip.

The evening started to creep in, and the young officers were off to their great night out at the local dining places and bars at Dewey Avenue, Subic Freeport’s entertainment strip. The scenes were reminiscent of the days of the old Subic Naval Station, and what came to mind were the stories of mother and my lola selling cigars along the Magsaysay. The times are different and the servicemen are here because of the Visiting Forces Agreement signed by the Philippines with the United States. But tonight, they’re here to enjoy.

The day in Subic could end up magnificently, at the dinner table.

And where could we be led but to that extraordinary spot in the blue Subic Bay, the Lighthouse Marina Hotel. From afar, it is a perfect place to rejuvenate the mind, and even start the drive. Its lighthouse stood proudly while we enjoyed our generous dinner of fish and chips. It’s simply romantic. The stretches of aqua blue sea, the green trees, the blue sky and the lovely hotel are already enough to make one look forward to an enjoyable stay. And there are still a lot more inside to make one fall in love with the place.

Lighthouse Marina Hotel was designed by renowned architects and urban planners to make it a quaint boutique resort hotel. It is inspired with the love for water. Aqua, as its rooms are called, have a contemporary oceanic motif. A stay inside the rooms makes one feel close to the sea.

The sight of the pastel hues of its furnishings was so relaxing. One could feel excited to just jump into the bed and relax. Its rooms are equipped from the chic beddings to the glass-encased rain showers in the bathrooms.

The day in Subic was filled with adventure and memories. The bay shimmered, as always. g

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SUBIC night

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jon uie o l by

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ez nch a s a.

the ajpress urel, jr. | a l . c leon napo y b s oto | ph

WE NEED NOT ASK WHOSE WOODS these are, these woods at Pamulaklakin Trail at the Forest Hills area of the Subic Bay Freeport. The Subic Man, Dominador Liwanag, 59, an Aeta from one of the Freeport’s indigenous communities, is the well-known guide of many Subic visitors who come to learn life on the trail. When we came to see him that misty morning, the Pamulaklakin river streams sing, gushing forth unseen behind the tall trees. He came up the hut where guests are briefed, all smiles, and ready to go.

Clad in an old olive green shirt and a tattered khaki shorts, he holds his bolo very confidently, as if it’s part of his body. He greets us giddily, with two aeta teens in g-strings, in tow. He introduces himself, makes fun of himself and us, his guests at times, and picks up cut bamboo wood placed at the entrance of the hut. Pamulaklakin is his woods, and certainly the very woods of his tribe since the birth of time.

“My name is Kasoy, they call me Mang Kasoy,” tells the man in Tagalog, who is known to have mentored countless US servicemen and military staffers—during the US bases days, and even after—in surviving the jungles. He’s named after the cashew plant, which is, according to him, plenty where he came from.

The Aeta who walks to the tourism center of the trail for two hours from their community in the deep woods of the bases knows very well the pulse and beat of the greenery here. “If I were timid, I would not have gone places,” he says, when one of us praised his astounding presence in front of us, his audience. And to think that he still had three other groups lined up. He really knows what he’s talking about. He’s been teaching jungle survival techniques for many, many years, and doing it has radically changed his family’s life.

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Mang Kasoy has mastered the forest, learned its intricacies, and memorized its long and winding trails, having lived in it all his life. “And that two hours is Aeta time,” one of our hosts chides. “If we try walking it, it may even be longer.” With that reminder, we politely decline Mang Kasoy’s invitation to see his humble abode, where he says, “you will be surprised.”

Before seeing Mang Kasoy in person, we had already seen him once, featured in a Danish TV feature of a European network over cable. The TV crew walked with him to visit his home, which they confirmed, took “a long time” to reach. We were surprised with the scenes—the humble home made of concrete, the spacious sala, the TV set, and the big refrigerator, which Mang Kasoy opens quite proudly, full of pitchers of drinking water and brimming with refrigerated goodies.

All these looked luxurious for the area filled mostly with huts and dirt roads, but Mang Kasoy’s hard work really pays. The Danish host comments that this is the ideal life, the life away from the city. In the English subtitle, the host also expresses her amazement at how life could be “this comfortable out here.” Mang Kasoy in the end leaves the Europeans, and in general, all of us, with a nutty remark: “We’re not as backward as you think.”

Mang Kasoy had a very long story to tell, aside from the jungle survival techniques he teaches all his guests, or whenever he gets invited anywhere. We had a strong feeling he’s always oblivious with time, especially when he is at his element. That morning was no exception. He cut bamboo, burned wood using bare hands and friction, and taught us how to cook all the imaginable meals in the middle of the jungle. He also joked a lot.

“You can cook your adobo using the bamboo, and you can make it really tasty with proper cooking,” he says. He never put his bolo down, and kept on cutting, even putting designs in the body of the bamboo. “You can even draw flowers so it would look beautiful,” he says in jest. But the food talk is just the tip of the iceberg.

This well known guide, who had also been featured in National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, has been the esteemed guide of Pamulaklakin woods ever since. Growing up in the tropical jungle of Subic, he has seen the area grow and transform. “I remember pretty well during the time when the Americans were still here,” this member of his tribe’s justice council says, while he continued cutting bamboo, fashioning it into chopsticks. “We never went hungry. A truckload of food from the base always parked here and brought food. My favorite then was roast chicken. It was really good,” he says, laughing out loud. “There was also fried rice, ham and turkey. It was lovely back then.”

He lays the long bamboo with the imaginary adobo and the still imaginary hearth, and puts underneath it, the bamboo he was trying to burn but just could not catch flame. He set aside the utensils he made out of bamboo and also remembered the story of the coming of the Boat People, the refugees who had fled Indochina by sea during the Vietnam War in the 1960s, without food and drinking water for very long months. “There were a lot of them, and they were treated well here,” he tells us.

Memory reminds us that a part of the bases had been turned into a refugee processing center, where the Boat People tried to live peacefully, away from their war-torn land, before they were taken to the United States. The processing center was later converted into what is known today as the Bataan Technological Park, where one of the wooden boats serves as a remembrance of a people who risked life and limb just to find peace. “I really pity them. We Aetas lived abundantly, our lives revolved around nature, wild pigs and deers. I became friends with some of them, and they really had a sad experience. But they’re a happy people, all in all.”

Mang Kasoy is also a man of great oral history and primal inventiveness. Aside from his skillful handling of the bolo, and his knowledge of the jungle, he also keeps in mind and heart the stories of his land. The master tour guide of the Subic forests relates a popular legend of how the word “Subic” came along.

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The Old West Gate, the last remnant of the Spanish colonial history of Subic Bay, used to be the entrance to this original naval station in 1885. By 1899, the station was occupied by the US Navy Photo by Walter Villa

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“This place had long been known to be full of wild pigs, the small ones we call biiks. When white men came, saw and conquered us, one of the natives was trying to send the biiks away. He was shouting “suuu, biik, suuu, biik!” While our host was quick to correct that it was just an invented story, we certainly valued this one version since it came from the mouth of the forest’s storyteller. It was something symptomatic, really and it sounded as if the natives were really bound on sending the conquerors away.

Mang Kasoy’s antics will never end and the host tells us he could last demonstrating making bamboo utensils for hours on end. He just never runs out of things to do, especially with his bolo on hand. His wit is something that hits rock bottom, and it made all of us laugh the whole time.

The wonder, we think, is in his natural glow, his faith in nature and the passing seasons. And he never forgets to share what he knows, this holy knowledge of the forest. “Never ever give up,” he tells one of the boys who tried to help him make fire using soot and bamboo. He struck the bamboo with another piece, teaching the young one how to beget holy

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fire. He was really bent on showing us how it’s done.

“They’ll never give up doing that,” our host tells us. “Everything’s a matter of life and death for them, and the real lesson is survival.” Mang Kasoy is definitely a great mentor of that one skill all rangers of the forest must be imbued with. His generosity is also obvious when he helps fix the bamboo of the boy who looked really exhausted making fire. He guides them with the wisdom of tradition, the knowledge of the river, trees and all free creatures. Soon enough, the bamboo gives off smoke. Mang Kasoy blows it some more and a small flame finally emerges.

The last thing Mang Kasoy leaves us is making traps, and he teaches us how to catch wild chickens for a nice forest roast. He picks up two small bamboo sticks, plants them in soil and gets a thread from his pocket.

He ties the thread with one of the bamboo stick and does a knotting trick that’s just too fast for the eyes, it would have to escape this description.

He finishes the trap and tries if it works by throwing a pebble. The trap snaps, catches his finger as he tries imitating a chicken falling for the trap of imaginary scattered rice. He had probably done us the same thing, shaman-like, leaving us amazed at a wise man of the forest. g

Nick Joaquin was beyond doubt the Literati of Manila as was James Joyce to his beloved Dublin

By Joel Pablo Salud | photo by walter villa

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A photograph of the old Ateneo de Manila in Intramuros, from the book The Ateneo Way (MuseBooks).

little onching’s arrival into the world left nothing much to the imagination. It was a loud cry he gave, and within that “great howling noise” many surmised, perhaps, including his mother Salome, an English teacher, that one who was extraordinary had been born to them.

It was six in the morning in the old Paco, Manila, the sun barely on its course toward noon. One can hear the tap-tapping of kalesas and other horse drawn carriages marching along Calle Herran while the voices of early morning revelers signaled the start of a new day. The infant’s father Leocadio Joaquin paced in uneven circles, his head held high as his lips mumbled unintelligibly words that seemed like the hushed chants of priests.

He was thinking deeply of a name. “Nicomedes,” he said to himself. “Yes… Nicomedes”.

The day was cooler and more amiable than was expected. The air was crisper, cleaner, and the young, infantile city was yet to turn into the boisterous megapolis that it would soon be. Trees lined along the thin, tapered streets had, thus far, not suffered untold cruelty from developers.

Murmurs that Manila would before long become a city of skyscrapers and automobiles now that the Americans had arrived had been making its way from ear to ear, entrancing many a Manileño to imagine what it would be like to move and strut along a modern urban setting. In 1917, many Filipinos had never seen a modern city before, much less an automobile or a high-rise. Their predilection to fantasies brought them so far as to envision a city of stone and steel—much like the great cities of the West, which the Tomasites brought with them in pictures—far from the rough roads and fragile wood and earthen houses Manila was sparsely dotted with at the time.

With the arrival of the Americans also came the option for change.

English newspapers and publications like The Manila Times and The Tribune now littered the walkways, a clear indication that a world eclectic

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and more entrancing, far beyond our own capacity to imagine, actually existed. Manila had recently been introduced to the Tomasites, the American teachers, and English, a language definitely alien to most Filipinos at the turn of the 20th century, was slowly becoming second tongue after nearly thirty years. By this time, Spanish literature had totally ceased in circulation.

Although it was little over a decade when the Philippines was considered Spain’s princess of the Far East, little by little, Filipinos had begun donning coats, suits, ties and hats, looking every bit the brown American. As the roarin’ twenties kicked-off, bellowing jazz and the blues in distant America, many a young American brought their music with them to these out-of-the-way islands, giving us a taste of Western music. In New York City, famed writer of The Great Gatsby—F. Scott Fitzgerald—had just published his novel The Beautiful and the Damned sometime in 1922. It was rather a difficult time for many of those formerly called indios to make that blind leap from tradition to modernity.

Underneath the merriment and apparent progress, a tacit clash between the conventional ritual and avant-garde lifestyle had ensued, forcing the Filipino to rethink its cultural roots. Filipina women were more daring in their dress and speech, a trifle more impudent to conventional belief; the men had turned carefree—blithe and casual in their everyday affairs with the world. Bit my measly bit, Manila was being transformed into Asia’s New Orleans, complete with the glit and glam The Great Gatsby was known for.

Nicomedes grew under the caring and thoughtful tutelage of his mother.

In a public elementary school and Mapa High School, and most distinctly at their humble home, was where the young Nicomedes Marquez Joaquin was immersed in the cauldron that was the English language. It did not take long for the young man to experiment in the rudiments of the English

tongue, now and again caught by his mother in the throes of a poem or short story in the far end corner of their modest home in Calle Herran.

That he was a voracious reader upon learning the language was no doubt a customary upshot of his burgeoning literary passion. And it was not without irony that the young boy had to drop out of high school to pursue odd jobs. Poverty was still very much a reality despite the coming of the Americans, and learning language and reading novels weren’t at all the most practical thing to do. Finding it nearly impossible to make ends meet, the young Nick Joaquin—barely out of his teens—published his first English poem in the Tribune. The poem bore such force and intensity that the Tribune’s poetry editor, Serafin Lanot, went out of his way to congratulate the young writer when the young man arrived at the newsroom to collect his fee.

But the young Joaquin, shy and diffident as he was then, chose to run away. It was to be the genesis, nevertheless, of a passion not even an impending world war was able to quell.

There, in the tacit twists and turns of cobblestone in Intramuros, behind the walls of what is much touted now as a tourist destination than an erstwhile dungeon for Filipino and American patriots, the young Nick would take long walks in tattered shoes, all the while ruminating what his next obra would be.

Soon enough, the Philippines found itself in the throes of war. The Japanese Imperial troops had occupied much of the country, more so Manila. War was fiercer and more brutal than ever, leaving much of the city in ruins, and a great deal of the populace either strewn lifeless on the streets or in perpetual shock. His much loved Intramuros—the Walled City—had been bombed countless times, destroying much of what had been left standing by the Spaniards. The whole city reeked of the blood and cries of the dying, while those who had survived picked the pieces of a now shattered dream that was Manila. The grueling experience of conquest undoubtedly led Joaquin to pen his famous essay on the defeat of the Dutch Fleet by the Spanish conquistadores way back 1646. This work earned for him a scholarship to study under the Dominicans in Hong Kong’s Albert College.

But Nick Joaquin, now a grown man, was nowhere near being a saint.

There was much to life for him than rigid rules, and ultimately deciding to leave, in 1950, he returned to the Philippines to start his career as a journalist—beginning as proofreader—for the Free Press. To quote the words of the young Guido in Nick Joaquin’s fictional work “The Summer Solstice,” when the young man had returned from Europe, he said, “Ah, I also learned to open my eyes over there, to see the holiness and the mystery of what is vulgar”.

Life in Manila upon his return had all but become tranquil. Things hadn’t changed much a decade after the war, and if at all, life in the Philippines had only attempted a somersault oddly accomplished before the half-lit face of postwar autonomy. Modernity it seemed had much to do with the Filipino’s undoing, which led Nick Joaquin to pen his famous play Portrait of an Artist as Filipino—an indubitable treatise on the conflict between family values and the modern Western lifestyle. In the eyes of Nick, Manila was turning into a creature less likely to survive the onslaught of years under the grip of an identity crisis.

Needless to say, much of his literary work touched upon the conflicts dictated by the differing beliefs, or the past weighing on the present, as in The Woman Who Had Two Navels. What was clear, though, in all his attempts at casting light upon who and what we are as Filipinos, was that he would write—in the flowing, tempting and enchanting prose Filipinos have all come to love—the condition of his countrymen wherever the Fates will bring them.

The 1970s arrived and Manila was once more thrust into the dark light of political upheaval. He was editor-inchief of the publication Asia-Philippines Leader when Martial Law was declared by former president Ferdinand Marcos in 1972.

Out of a job as most newspapers and publications went under the gun of military rule, he spent his while writing short stories and essays, compiling his works as he went along. Manila was overly turning into a hub for the burgeoning entertainment industry and this did not pass Nick Joaquin’s keen gift of observation. It was during this period when he wrote numerous biographies and non-fiction work, like Nora Aunor and Other Profiles; Ronnie Poe and Other Silhouettes; Reportage on Lovers; Reportage on Crime; Amalia Fuentes and Other Etchings; Gloria Diaz and Other Delineations; and Doveglion and Other Cameos.

His book A Question of Heroes offered much by way of acute revelations into a written history erroneously penned for a number of years. But what was to be the promenading of his literary prowess about his beloved city came in the form of essays and reportage collected in the book Manila: Sin City and Other Chronicles.

From his modest home at Calle Herran to the bustling city that Manila has been since the 1990s, the city of Nick Joaquin’s passion and literature had ceased to be the simple, tacit home where he had taken long silent walks along cobblestone roads. It has matured, true enough, in that sweettempered yet raucous manner of any city. Manila had by now grown an impressive skyline, cutting across thick puffs of exhaust mixed with the white of cumulus, its cries and shrieks slicing athwart various voices—from the social to the political to the apolitical—leaving much to be desired in matters of concord.

At one point, apocryphal as the story may seem, he was once seen by two artist friends howling “Take it off! Take it off!” inside a burlesque show in Manila, a silhouette of a figure raising his bottle of San Miguel Pale Pilsen amid the raucous crowd of men. He loved this city still, warts and all, and with a mind as clear and crisp as the day he was born, in an unbroken stream of words, he once more took his pen and wrote like no other city was worth the blood and sweat he poured tirelessly in every piece of his prose. By turns lush and lyrical, Nick Joaquin, better known today as Quijano de Manila, took the reins as editor-in-chief of The Philippines Graphic, and persisted in his “great howl” amid its pages until his quiet demise. Quijano de Manila was never, not a mere second, what the poet T.S. Eliot painted in his poem “Gerontion”, as “an old man / a dull head among windy spaces”.

He moved as with a creature born with wings, and if at all windy spaces come, it was only for the purpose of lifting him higher. Nick Joaquin was beyond doubt the Literati of Manila, as was James Joyce to his beloved Dublin. g

July 2009 | balikbayan 41

| a room with a viewpoint |

a home in the country (club) by louie jon a. sanchez & marie angeli syjueco | the ajpress

42 balikbayan | July 2009

BAGUIO CITY, STILL THE ETERNAL FILIPINO SUMMER CAPITAL, will never lose its charm. It remains the one true place we all think about when the heat is unforgiving. So much has changed in Baguio, of course, and the landscape continues to transform, going with the urban and cosmopolitan times. But following its old and winding trails would lead us to its true face, rich history and its real landscape.

At the outskirts of the summer capital, in the roads that lead to Camp John Hay, still stands to this day, a testimony to the Baguio we have learned to love and grown up with. Rising with Baguio City itself, the exclusive Baguio Country Club (BCC) and its picturesque fairways had not only been a place for a lot of Baguio lovers who want a comfortable and intimate place where they can spend their holidays or where they can tee off and enjoy the comforting breeze while playing golf. BCC through the years had made itself an important landmark that continues to define Baguio City.

When we went up to Baguio City and visited BCC, the city has just held another wonderful edition of its Panagbenga Festival, which

according to locals gathered thousands of local and foreign tourists this year. Festivals, congresses, and big functions are not so new to Baguio since it remains on the A-list of venues and event planners.

In fact, this coming November, the Philippine Advertising Congress is returning to city, gathering up media and advertising practitioners from all over for a week of discussions, balls and other recreational activities. But the much-anticipated event by the hospitality industry in the city at this point—a historic one actually—is the year-long Baguio Centennial.

BCC in itself played a big part in Baguio history, being one of the most important facilities to rise when the Americans built it in the 1900s.

“Baguio Country Club is older than the city,” tells Mary Lou Galiste, executive assistant manager of BCC, which celebrated its own centennial in 2005. From that small shanty with small rooms and the golf course, frequented by American expatriates and military officials from the camp, BCC has grown into the exclusive and respected country club that it is.

July 2009 | balikbayan

43

Harmony in the community

is music to our ears

The original shack of the Baguio Country Club.

Mary Lou is a true blue Igorot, born in Bontoc, Mountain Province.

She’s been with the BCC for 33 years now. “I saw the BCC grow, I saw its sterling years, even when it was gutted by fire and during the big earthquake. I’ve witnessed how it stood up to glory, again and again.”

Starting off as a one-room shack, BCC today is now a holiday paradise for social and business gatherings, family get-aways and rendezvous. It is an exclusive respite away from the city.

The BCC today is actually a remodeling already of the building originally made of pinewood. Since it was put up, the place had been a favorite hang out retreat hub of Americans and military officers from Camp John Hay and from all over. Since then, BCC has become a symbol of the Filipinos and Americans relationship through the years and it has stood the test of time witnessing the history of the Filipino nation.

“There’s so much history in our halls. We are very proud of our heritage,” tells Mary Lou. In the course of our talks, Mary Lou recalled the very important dates of BCC’s history. In 1900, Capt. Robert Rudd established the American government in Benguet. Three years later, the Philippine Commission declared Baguio as the Summer Capital of the Philippines. Five years later, in 1905, through a simple request from William Cameron Forbes, a business executive and diplomat, “let there be a country club,” Dallas McGrew, an assistant government architect, made it possible and there

46 balikbayan | July 2009

came about the BCC. By the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935, BCC had a growing number of members. It had also accommodated Filipinos by that period. The BCC never stopped operations, even during the Japanese occupation when it became an officer’s club. The war could never stop its well-trained staff. During those years under the Japanese rule, mint juleps and “on the rocks” were replaced with saki, the Japanese rice wine. This period is steadily remembered by the presence of the Hamada Japanese Restaurant, where one can indulge in the cuisine while staying at the country club.

In 1945, the Philippine liberation finally came about. A year after, the Philippines regained independence. The BCC continued to admit Filipino members and even launched a real campaign encouraging and inviting Filipinos to join. It didn’t take long until a Filipino became the president of the BCC. In 1957, the former Justice Roman Ozaeta became the first Filipino president of the BCC. Ozaeta was a brilliant lawyer and an eminent jurist who was American-educated and yet truly Filipino.

But the most remembered, and well loved among the Filipino presidents of the BCC was elected fifteen years later. Potenciano “Nanoy” Ilusurio was a lawyer-businessman who served the country club for 27 years. “I remember him so well,” says Mary Lou. “He was always here, and he was very hands on. He took care of the needs of the country

club. He was very sincere and extremely warm.”

BCC did not only stand witness to the wars that happened during the colonial rule. It also faced natural calamities that changed its physical structure. In 1990, the killer earthquake destroyed not only the old original clubhouse built in 1908 but also the modern wing proudly built by the Filipinos in 1975. Nothing was left of the old structures after a fire spread throughout the remaining building and gutted it to the ground. But the steadfast BCC stood its ground, and even became a refuge for the stranded visitors. “We accommodated all the guests here, we helped them camp out in the fairways. It was an unforgettable time,” Mary Lou shares.

But this did not deter the BCC from expanding and becoming better, if not, the best. In 1992, the construction of the newer and bigger clubhouse started. BCC now has around 3,000 members of which mostly are Filipinos, a favorite place of the high echelons of the society.

Staying in the BCC, one could choose from room accommodations to cottages that are not only special but also definitely exquisite. One could experience luxury in the suites that could give you a taste of the high class cabin suites, a perfect escape to the exhausting everyday city life. The ambiance and the respite the BCC gives are the very main reasons why the most important people choose to be billeted here during holidays or state visits. “Almost all the presidents of the Philippines went up in Baguio and stayed here,” Mary Lou shares. “President Arroyo for one shares a

very important memory here. It was in the Palo Room where she was courted by the First Gentleman.”

BCC also pampers its guests with nothing but the best food. The Verandah is the most popular restaurant in the Club, offering fancy gourmet with the ambiance of heavenly scented pines. The Cotterman Room serves mouth-watering international buffet. Sweets are meanwhile served at the Raisin Bread Shop for those who love to indulge themselves with cakes, pastries and BCC’s popular specialty, the raisin bread. There’s no better way to enjoy food than to have it in the Club where a good ambiance of the place is truly one of a kind – everything simply made perfect.

And though staying inside the suites are enough to relax the body and mind, the BCC is also the perfect place for fun activities under the sun and in the cozy environment. One could choose from the many sports activities that groups and individuals could enjoy: golf, bowling, swimming, billiards, table tennis and darts. And if you’re up for pure relaxation of the muscles, the club also has masseur and masseuse services for complete body massages.

It is BCC’s mission “to be a premier membership Club with the distinct ambiance of a second home by providing excellent facilities and personalized services through the collective effort and commitment of its employees”. And this is what the Club has been performing in the past hundred years, and in the next hundreds. g

July 2009 | balikbayan 47

| essence of place |

by winton lou g. ynion photos by raphael john oriel | the ajpress

It is a funny tale, embellished with sequences, located within a hundred islands. A giant found a fishing community (this is after all, bangus country) that was promising in its culture of travel.

It was an itinerant society, always searching for fish and tale. Wanting to ease their hunt, the giant befriended the townsfolk. From then on, his body, contoured and chiseled as how picture books have rendered, became the bridge of women who were transporting baskets of salts from one island to the other. But there were too many of them who stepped and gathered along the giant’s delicate parts. Tickled, he stood up; but it was late to realize that the women have been drowned with their salts, the fishermen are lost in the vast sea, and the islands have been divided and relocated.

48 balikbayan | July 2009

There was a convenience in the telling of the tale. Separated from marine measurements of saltiness is the legend that is now embraced by a people living in a province called Pangasinan. What is noteworthy about the legend that has experienced permutations and re-accommodations is that it is as if a tailor-fit story for the waters and the coasts of Pangasinan.

While this may seem an ethnic ownership in the tale of taste, some local scholars account the toponymic term to its explicit form, “land of salt.”

Pangasinan boasts a richness of superior salt and a popularity of exotic bagoong. This pride in natural and home-made products names the flavor of communal production. The salt has been indispensable, and the peoples have found varying equations and proportions for a tasteful consumption of its culture.

July 2009 | balikbayan 49

The aisle that leads to the Virgin’s altar.

It is significant to cite that Pangasinan only refers to the exterior of the province. To complete the dichotomy, the Spaniards came up with “caboloan” for the interior where bolo, a species of bamboo, is largely found. In varying periods, Cabaloan was synonymous to Pangasinan and was a separate locality. The use of the latter as the provincial name subverts the thought that it is the center that holds the hegemony of culture-formation. The periphery, represented by the coast, upstages the representative image, the bolo, and contents itself with the commercialization of bamboo and rattan – the cattle caravans as an example.

With a phallic image of the bolo at the center, the yonicism of the coast has suggested a history that is hardly found but greatly monumented once caught.

A symptom of a coast-oriented history is the debate on the location of the Kingdom of Tawalisi in the 19th century. Jose Rizal, who found excitement in folklore, hypothesized that the kingdom is somewhere in the “neighborhood of the northern part of the Philippines.” Eminent historian Austin Craig cited this in his 1916 pamphlet, “The Particulars of the Philippines Pre-Spanish Past.” What makes this search more enigmatic is that Tawalisi was ruled by an amazon whose name is Princess Urduja.

The source of this enchantment is said to be Ibn Batuta, a Mohameddan traveller from Morocco, who visited her in 1348 or 1349. It is necessary to cite that these were considered historical truths during the

Bangus ponds by the road in Pangasinan.

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Pilgrims line up to pay homage to the rear altar of the Virgin of Manaoag.

American Period – in a milieu that the entire archipelago was collecting tales for its history, stalking women for its Lady Liberty version, and defining an image for its Oriental identity.

At the height of climate change, the salts of search melted, relegating Urduja and her kingdom to the ranks of myths. Aware of the fleeting mode of imaging, the Pangasinenses immortalized her through the art of naming.

The residence of the provincial governor is named Urduja House.

There is Urduja Hotel in Urdaneta, Farmacia Urduja in Dagupan, Rural Bank of Urduja in Tayug and Urduja Communications building in Sual, or even Urduja sari-sari store in Sta. Barbara. Urduja was also adopted as symbol of the Women Development Foundation in Pangasinan and so are national feminist groups in Manila.

What the Urduja text lacks, the Nuestra Señora de Manaoag fulfills.

The Our of Lady Manaoag echoes a tradition of an ancient past and an appropriation of a people writing their history. Brought to the coast in 17th century by Fr. Juan de San Jacinto, O. P., the ivory image of the Nuestra Señora glamorized the ancient image of po-on, regarded as a fitting package of this material representation of an unwavering maternal love. Unlike Urduja whose land remains unlocated, that of “Apo Baket,” Pangasinense term for the Nuestra Señora, has been designated on the hills of apparition and negotiated by the Church for expansion of spaces and geographies of sacredness and holiness.

The main spectacle of Manaoag, the Virgin of the Most Holy Rosary, which appeared to a native during the Spanish colonial period.

Photo by Andy Tecson | The AJPress July 2009 | balikbayan 51

The proliferation of locations suggests a cultural interface between the “manag-anito” native tradition and Christian ecclesiastical performance.

The tales of Urduja and “Apo Baket” reverberate the once fall of women at the rise of the giant. Women were seasoned to the sea that ever dissolves memory. In defense of lives lost is the body of female images that nurse the soul of a Pangasinense. In times of doubt, the Virgin’s Well and the Pyramid of Asia in Manaoag are there to remind an evangelical seat of hope and healing. One needs no kneeling at a handful of salt for penitence and cleansing.

With a caravan culture that depicts real journeys and exploits, and miracle narratology that accounts discoveries and faiths, Pangasinan is a home to eminent politicos like former Presidente Fidel V. Ramos and to national artists like F. Sionil Jose. It has seen its people parade in geoeconomic and ethnohistoric trails. In the context of diaspora, its people has been scattered from the East to the West Coast of the United States, catching up with the peripatetic Ilocanos. This in itself was exemplified by the son of Binalonan, Pangasinan, Carlos Bulosan, who sought to tell Pangasinan’s story while he was seeking America—in the heart. In coming home, the bagoong is a sweet spread. It’s a heaven to those who experienced removal from the wonder of the Hundred Islands. They recite petition to “Apo Baket” in front of her reproduced image. They retell the amazon’s lost Kingdom and replay its animated film adaptation.

From outer space, it occupies 5,368.82 square kilometers of the northern portion of the Central Plains of Luzon with an east-west configuration that extends into a peninsular form fronting the China Sea. From inner space, it occupies a history that never gets melted nor frozen. g

Where else is the bangus but in Pangasinan?

52 balikbayan | July 2009

Mouth-watering tinupig.

Fidel V. Ramos: Pangasinan’s famo

54 balikbayan | July 2009

| the red carpet |

by Ruben v. nepales photos by janet susan r. nepales

famous son is also a funnyman

July 2009 | balikbayan 55

56 balikbayan | July 2009

Holding an unlit cigar in the posh restaurant of the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, former President Fidel V. Ramos was telling a joke about a newly arrived balikbayan in a Pangasinan town.

Ramos said the man hurried to the market, eager to buy and taste puto (rice cake) again after many years of living in the United States.

Ramos put on an amusingly exaggerated American accent to show how the balikbayan asked the puto vendor: “May piyutow ba kayow?”

Pangasinan’s most distinguished son said this is how the vendor, humoring the returning US-based Pinoy, answered, “Opow. Anow ang gustow niyow, piyula o piyuti?”

Ramos’ audience in this intimate dinner last May erupted into laughter.

We’ve heard about “Steady Eddie’s” sense of humor but we didn’t realize until this dinner with him that he is that funny. Dapper in a suit with a red tie, Ramos stood out and looked distinguished – presidentiable, if you will – in this classy LA restaurant. The waiters buzzed when he arrived with former First Lady Amelita “Ming” Ramos, an assistant, and the Philippines’ Consul General in Los Angeles, Mary Jo Bernardo-Aragon.

He told more wisecracks about a balikbayan asking for “yub” (ube), Erap jokes and quips about the origins of common Filipino names. Asked for the source of his puns about Pinoy surnames, Ramos was beaten to the draw

by Mrs. Ramos, who exclaimed to laughter, “He just made those up!” In that case, the 12th President of the Philippines, who is a prolific author of books, should consider showcasing his wit and humor in his next tome.

On a roll, the West Point-educated octogenarian, razor sharp in mind, paraphrased Nick Joaquin’s classic essay quote about how the Philippines spent 400 years in a convent and 50 years in Hollywood. Ramos also dished anecdotes, in a fond way, we must emphasize, about the thick Pangasinan accent, with its guttural e, resulting in a fellow Pangasinense and politician apologizing that he will be “lit” (late) for an appointment because of “bumperr to bumperr” traffic or of another kabaleyan (townmate) asking a waiter, “Do you have Black Lee-bel (Label)?”

Beneath the amusing banter is a man deeply proud of his Pangasinan roots. “I grew up there,” said Ramos, who was born in Lingayen, Pangasinan on March 18, 1928, to parents, Narciso Ramos, a lawyer, journalist, legislator and diplomat, and Angela Valdez-Ramos, a teacher and suffragette. “I’m very proud of the province,” he proclaimed.

Pangasinan is proud of its son as well. Never one to rest on his laurels, Ramos soldiers on, especially as the founder of the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation (RPDEV), a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to the promotion of peace, development and people empowerment in the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region. He likes to stress that he travels and speaks as chairman of this foundation “at no expense to the government.”

He invited his dinner companions to Pangasinan, which is about 170 kilometers north of Manila. Asked what places in the province are a must-see to visiting Balikbayans – real ones, not the “piyutow”-speaking characters in Ramos’ humorous mind – he answered, “The Hundred islands—wala ng ibang ganyan. Next is the Our Lady of Manaoag Cathedral with the miraculous Virgin. And the third is the San Roque Dam.” He proudly pointed out that the San Roque Dam in San Manuel is the largest man-made structure for fresh water capture in Southeast Asia.

“The two biggest investments in the Philippines in the last 15 years are in Pangasinan—the Sual Power Plant and the San Roque multipurpose dam,” he said.

Breaking into a grin, Ramos enticed us to go on another honeymoon in the Philippines by visiting the picturesque dam on the way to Baguio.

A man whose passion for his country is as deep as his knowledge of its geography, Ramos recited a detailed road trip from Manila, including crossing “the longest bridge in Luzon,” which connects the towns of Asingan and Sta. Maria, and then arriving in San Manuel. He touted how new roads have made the trek to Pangasinan shorter. Still smiling, “Steady Eddie” said, “You reach the dam, you get out of the van, take a boat ride and you are having your honeymoon. It’s very difficult to have your honeymoon in the van.”

July 2009 | balikbayan 57

All thumbs up. From left to right: Errol Santos, a friend, President Ramos, former First Lady Ming Ramos, Consul General Mary Jo Aragon of the Los Angeles Consulate, Asian Journal’s Cora and Roger Oriel, and the author.

The man who finished his elementary education in Lingayen wishes that someday, the dam site would have hotels nearby, a viewing deck and offer whitewater rafting and canoeing trips.

Committed to honoring his humble roots, Ramos said that he had the “nipa hut where I was born rebuilt. I rebuilt my birth home as a private citizen, at my expense, but opened it to the public with all kinds of memorabilia.” He invited his dinner guests, “You should go there and take a look.”

He cited Pangasinan’s other outstanding features: “The education system is very strong. The roads are the envy of everybody. The province has the most overseas workers except for Cebu so we have a big proportion of the remittances from the overseas workers going to Pangasinan. We have a big proportion of licensed doctors and nurses. The Pangasinan market is big for all sectors.”

Asked about his own memories of Pangasinan, Ramos, ever the statesman, delved into the history of his province instead. “You have to order breakfast,” Ramos quipped, joking about how long it would take to cite Pangasinan’s interesting past.

“We had two kingdoms in Pangasinan—one headed by Andres Malong of San Carlos in 1600,” shared the Pangasinense war veteran.

“One hundred years later, there was Juan de la Cruz Palaris, also from San Carlos. But of course, they did not last very long because they did not have the military forces to resist Spain. The Katipunan was active in Pangasinan. For a while, the capital of the Philippines followed the route of the railroad. (General Emilio) Aguinaldo was retreating. Even Bayambang became the capital of the Philippines. But of course, that railroad ended in San Fernando, La Union. Overall, we have a proud history of struggle and rebellion to gain our independence.”

Ramos expressed hope that from serving as a gateway for invasions – “Chinese pirates, Limahong, Japanese invaders,” Pangasinan would become the gateway of opportunity, especially for what he called the three T’s – technology, tourism and teamwork. He declared, “The province should be the center of those T’s but it has not yet shown its full potential.”

On which places in Pangasinan should be developed for tourism, the

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hero of the first People Power Revolution said, “We must target the ones most likely to be successful. The problem with that is if there is tourism in the next town, the other town also wants to have its tourism efforts equally supported by the national government. Nag-iinggitan e. What we were able to develop is one village, one product. If the product that you do best is pinakbet, doon na lang kayo. Huwag na kayong pumunta sa walis o kamatis. The Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cabinet has adopted what is called, OTOP – one town, one product.”

He dreams of better hotels opening in the province. Queried as to where is the ideal location for a five-star hotel and golf course resort in Pangasinan, Ramos replied, “You put up one in the Sual and Alaminos area because you have the sea and mountains, and there is a nearby airport in Alaminos.”

In the meantime, Ramos, in his mirthful manner, volunteered that there is a golf course in Dagupan, “but you see the golfers share the space with goats, carabaos and cows. Therefore, it is the only place where the green is surrounded by barbed wire para hindi makapasok ang mga baka.”

For Ramos, being a Pangasinense means “there is something you can be proud of. There are two kings that emerged from Pangasinan, both rebels against the king of Spain and although their kingdoms were shortlived, at least they rebelled, unlike others. Secondly, it is a province of great potential, having a gateway access and a good area which is potentially productive.”

But the ex-President, whose term was marked by an economic boom in the Philippines, clarified, “People should stop looking at themselves as Pangasinense or Ilocano. We are adding to the disunity and regionality.

We become less strong, less credible, less competitive. But if we could synergize Pangasinan, one plus one is not equal to two but it could be equal to three or five. Or 11.”

Pressed to share his favorite Pangasinan food items, he recited the items the province is best known for: bocayo, bagoong and bangus. How about “piyutow” from Calasiao where we’re from, we asked the man.

Once more breaking into that famous FVR grin, he answered, “Ano ba ang pinag-uusapan natin, piyula o piyuti?” g

| estateside | By marie angeli syjueco | photos by andrew tadalan | the ajpress

60 balikbayan | July 2009

Every person dreams of “the good life”: an elegant home, a high-paying job to give a boost to one’s career and a time to relax and have fun with family and friends. The ideal made possible, wandering around Eastwood City feels like you are suddenly being transported into a different country of riches and progress. With all its towering structures and high-class businesses, one could experience life with style. It’s a community built in luxury by Megaworld corporation, for families and young individuals to enjoy.

At its center is the Eastwood Mall that completes this perfect scene, giving more life to the small city. “What basically is a community center is a mall as the community center,” said Kevin Tan, son of Andrew Tan, founder and principal executive officer of Megaworld Corporation.

“Everyday we’re improving and improving,” says Kevin, when we roamed around with him in his mall one afternoon. He was in a very cool

office polo, and he seemed always ready to stroll. His day, he says, almost always starts in the mall. He maintains his offices in the complex, walks around to see to it that things run smoothly. Kevin, in his youth loved to visit malls. It was, according to him, what he enjoyed the most in his teenage years. Lessons are best learned through experience and definitely, no other person could understand a mall-goer very well than a mall-goer himself.

By how it looks, he’s very much hands on in the business, like his mogul father. “There are many lessons. Of course, the one thing that I’ve learned is the virtue of hard work and the number of hours you put to your work.

And, basically, the kind of focus you’re supposed to put to your work,” he said. He led us to the halls and the escalators, knowing by heart each and every corner and floor. It was definitely reminiscent of the days when he used to walk with his father looking for lands to develop. He practically grew up while the empire that is Megaworld was being built.

July 2009 | balikbayan 61

Kevin’s vision had always geared towards innovation and customer satisfaction. “What gives us satisfaction is when we create events and we see lots of people there enjoying themselves – kids, moms, families, young people. We see enjoyment in people’s eyes and we are happy to give them this place to converge in. That’s what creates the best satisfaction of all,” he said talking about the newly opened wing of the Eastwood Mall.

Now investing to build his own legacy, Kevin is working to continue improving Eastwood. “We added the things that we felt was lacking in normal malls. In this mall, I’d like to think that we’re trying to create all the personal touch with our customers. Something that other malls don’t try to do anymore.” There are a lot of changes to expect from the mall, created to serve the interests of different markets.

“We created a mall that’s basically luxurious in terms of amenities, in terms of aesthetics, in terms of service. And I think that’s what sets us apart from the others,” said Kevin. At the center of the towering buildings that picture the busy corporate world and the residential condominiums of high-living city

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lifestyle is a mall that doesn’t actually look like a mall. Its park-like appearance gives it a relaxing aura that gives people comfort and time to enjoy right in the middle of a busy city. Eastwood Mall is a venue where families, kids, teens and the busy working class could unwind and spend time leisurely.

Eastwood Mall is not like any ordinary mall. It exhibits a high-profile architecture of wealth and class. With its aesthetics, it embodies the utopian ambiance of the Eastwood City, an ideal community. Eastwood Mall is crossing beyond boundaries, breaking out of the ordinary and definitely unconventional.

From outside, there’s the welcoming view of the mall’s façade of shapes and lively colors, a picture of both simplicity and elegance, which at the sight of it could already make people feel comfortable. The big blue lagoon, fountains and the bridge make it even more relaxing to stay or sit on the benches just like in parks where people could stroll and chat.

At night the Eastwood Mall seems to transform with its purple lights that invite everyone and tell people the party has begun. Walking in its park-like

façade becomes even more pleasurable while enjoying a romantic evening under the stars. Eastwood Mall also has “al fresco” dining space for people who would like to enjoy the outdoors. On its second and third floors are balconies and open air corridors where people could see the view of the lagoon and fountains.

Inside, the Eastwood Mall is very spacious, it breathes. It is comfortable to walk on the wide well-lit corridors forming curvilinear paths. There seem to be no corners and the circles and curves of the architecture seem to depict infinity.

The lighting resembles the natural daylight and the whiteness of the interior adds to that effect which gives a delightful feeling. In contrast to the whiteness are bright colors seen in the accent decor of the mall, like in its cinema ticket booth and the cinema entrance. The bright lights give the mall a livelier aura.

Present in Eastwood Mall are a variety of stores for men, women and kids; restaurants, shops of clothes, beauty care, gadgets, and movie theaters

are for different people. It could serve the needs of the citizens of a micro city that depicts the ideal urban environment. “We’re still growing,” said Kevin.

There is more to expect and look forward to from this highly urbanized mall.

“It’s easier said than done. And through the years we’ve been encouraged to step outside our boundaries, to expand are way of thinking, and to be always open-minded. And always to stay focused.”

Through the years, there grew his love for this career and his vision helps him create new developments for Megaworld Corporation. “Definitely I’ve learned that this industry’s quite exciting. You meet a lot of people. And you learn a lot from these people that you meet along the way. And everyday you learn something new or you create something new. And that basically is the whole experience which is exciting,” he said.

His experience has helped build his passion for this exciting world of business. And this is what he is actually doing in developing the Eastwood Mall to make it an even better place for the people, even the balikbayan, to visit and enjoy. g

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A mirror of our roots

By Rachel rañosa

Photos by andrew tadalan | the ajpress

When Laurice Alaan decided to come home with her family to the Philippines, her friends back in Los Angeles were bewildered. “My friends thought I was crazy,” the MBA student recalls. “‘Why would you go there? Everyone there is trying to come here.’”

Born and raised in the United States, Laurice and cousin John Lim, who came all the way from Canada, know what it means for Filipinos to live the American dream. John had a career in sales and Laurice in public relations.

But their American dream doesn’t just stop with being successful. It’s also about being socially responsible, and coming home to the Philippines was their way of paying it forward.

(Re) connection They are part of today’s generation of global Filipinos who are young, smart, and ahead of the game—global Filipinos who are revisiting their home country, not only to rediscover their roots, but also to sharpen their expertise in their fields.

Laurice and John came to the Philippines to study at the renowned Asian Institute of Management (AIM), which, for over three decades, has produced top-caliber leaders in the financial world.

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“From our parents’ generation, we heard there was so much prestige around this school,” Laurice says. “We also have cousins who have done their MBA [here] and they spoke very highly of it.”

Studying at AIM was, indeed, a homecoming for Laurice and John.

“We really wanted to connect with the culture here and understand what the needs were,” she explains.

The two decided to take their Master in Business Administration as an opportunity to learn from the best and to get a “contextual understanding” of contemporary Asian life.

With the shifting landscape of the global economy, many of the world’s leaders now recognize the region’s potential.

“Everyone realizes there are a lot of business opportunities in Asia now,” shares Laurice.

“Now, we know how to work with our group. It’s almost like a welloiled machine,” Laurice says. And as the two continue to adjust, things are “still hard.”

“But maybe instead of getting two hours of sleep, we get three hours now,” John muses.

They are currently taking their internship at a local pharmaceutical company and so far the experience “has been a sensory overload for us,” Laurice, who speaks very little Tagalog, reveals. “We’re figuring out how to make the commute, figuring out the language.”

“It’s only been one week. It’s a lot of work too. But it’s good,” John shares. “The beauty of it is that it strikes such a good balance with our education,” Laurice adds.

The classroom and beyond Given the challenges of today’s market, John says, “The school also prepares us for tough times.”

Inspired and inspiring Laurice and John have each been inspired by their dads: from their commitment to succeed to their willingness to help others. John wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

Education at AIM goes beyond the four corners of the classroom.

There is a balance between practitioner-oriented and highly academic courses. The teaching styles are tailored to meet the demands—and address the uniqueness—of Asian markets and institutions.

The school’s rigorous training deals with real-life situations.

“We didn’t expect it to be this hard,” John admits. In the first month or two, “We would average like two hours of sleep [each night].”

But the intensity of training at AIM goes with the territory. It is, after all, one of the best business schools in the world.

“On purpose, they match you with people you might not get along with, just to show you how the business world is. You have to work with people you might not like,” he shares. “But now, we’re pretty close.”

The diversity of students at AIM contributes to the richness of the experience.

And of her own dad, Laurice recalls: “Even while he was working in the US, he stayed very involved here.”

This is, perhaps, one of the reasons Laurice would also like to venture into social entrepreneurship in the future. “Since I got here, I got involved in Gawad Kalinga. It’s something I plan on really bringing back to the US,” she adds. “There is a wealth of resources there that can be better used here.”

They are, of course, a testament to AIM’s vision of developing socially responsible students. Today’s economic challenges are, in fact, becoming an opportunity for international students like Laurice and John to harness their potential and to give back.

And high-caliber institutions like AIM are paving the way for these bright minds to turn into leaders, not only of our industries but, more importantly, of our communities. g

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F1 City Center lifestyle now at The Fort

LOCATION LIFESTY LOCATION, LIFESTYLE, FEST LE LUXURY, FESTY R VALUE RY, VALUE. Bonifacio Global City, today known as The Fort, has never been more in demand than today. Located at its heart is the F1 City Center, five minutes away from the Makati Center and 15 minutes away from the international and domestic airports.

Condominiums have been booming in the last few years. F1 City Center is a condominium that boasts of a well-thought out modern architecture and facilities that are both functional and unique. It offers a tropical lagoon swimming pool, an outdoor entertainment area, a lap pool, a jogging trail, a meditation garden and a fully equipped gym, spa and sauna. It also provides owners five high-speed elevators, an emergency back-up generator, comprehensive 24-hour security and an on-site professional condominium management.

F1 City Center is conveniently located near premier educational institutions like the International School, British International, Japanese International School, Chinese International School and the Makati Gospel School. Within a few minutes walk, one could enjoy the high-life at Bonifacio High Street, The Fort Strip and Market! Market! Also nearby is the world-class St. Luke’s Hospital.

F1 City Center is very unique for its “Build Your Own” (BYO) method which saves the investors up to 40% off the usual condo unit cost. This involves no middleman and secures payment through partner Banco de Oro. Through this plan, owners may expect their units to be delivered within two to three years.

F1 City Center symbolizes urban living at its finest. It could provide the four important things buyers consider: location, lifestyle, luxury and value.

Balikbayans who are thinking of going back to the country or retiring soon or simply investing on a property here are faced with a perfect choice.

Interested parties may get in touch with F1 City Center through its display offices at MC Home Depot, CS 282-290 32nd Street corner Bonifacio Blvd., Global City, Bonifacio, Taguig City. Call (632) 815-1010 / 815-8080 or fax at (632) 815-7070. Log in too, at www.f1citycenter.com or email at info@f1citycenter.com.g July 2009 | balikbayan

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68 balikbayan | July 2009

in the time of

by rochelle c. pangilinan | photos by andrew tadalan | the ajpress Critically acclaimed and controversial novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie hit the nail on the head when he proclaimed, “A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.” And this is something Ruth Elynia Mabanglo can truly relate to.

Since bursting into the literary scene with the special prize-winning poem “Caloocan: Balada ng Duguang Tinig” at the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards back in 1972, Ruth has made a name for herself, captured the attention of readers and gained commendation from her peers, whether the subject matter was a Catholic priest in an illicit affair (“Si Jesus at si Magdalena”), sexual harrassment (“Ang Maging Babae”), Jose Rizal’s lost dreams (“Awit kay Jose Rizal”), distressed OFWs and Filipino expatriates (“Bayan ng Lunggati, Bayan ng Pighati”) and singlehood (“Mesa Para sa Isa”).

Ruth’s poetry has named the unnameable, as indicated by “Awit ni Apolinaria” (“The Lament of Apolinaria”) where she wrote, “Noong Mayo, 1987, sumulat si Apolinaria kay Presidente Corazon Aquino, nagsusumbong na ibinigay siya ng asawang Amerikano sa isang eksperimentong naglalayong buntisin siya sa pamamagitan ng “artificial insemination.” Nang lumaon, limampung “doktor” umano ang nagtulung-tulong para palitan ang kanyang kasarian.” (In May 1987, Apolinaria wrote President Corazon Aquino and related her sad plight, saying that her American husband gave her to an experiment called “Project Couplet.” She was made to believe that she would be impregnated through artificial insemination. However, she was “attacked” by 50 “doctors” who used her as a human guinea pig in an attempt to change her sex.”)

Her poetry has also pointed at frauds, as evidenced by “Anyaya ng Imperyalista” (“Invitation of the Imperialist”). “Nagkakanulo ang tinig ng ginoo/Ginigiyagis ako hanggang buto/Sabi nila, kayong mga Pinoy, okey makisama/Kahit ipangutang, pakakanin ang bisita/Marunong daw kayong mangutang ng loob/Habambuhay nang nagbabayad, di pa makatagpos.” (“The man’s voice is treacherous/He tortures me to the bone/They say, you Pinoys, mingle well/Even borrowing money to entertain visitors/You know how to accrue debts of gratitude/All your life paying for it, though you can never repay.”)

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And more importantly, her poetry has shaped the world like in “Ako Ay Pilipino” (“I am A Filipino”) where she declares, “Pilipino ako’t may kaluluwang/lalaging Pilipino/saanmang bayan/saanmang panahon/ saanmang katawan.” (“I am a Filipino with a soul/That will remain Filipino/in whatever country/in whatever time/in whatever body.”)

While her poems touch on varied subjects, a common theme is love of country. And she did her country proud back in 1990, when she was invited by the Australian government to read poetry at the Adelaide Festival of Arts, sponsored by the Queen of England. The festival takes place once every two years, and Ruth was beyond ecstatic to be given a chance, especially since the festival normally invites poets in English. She was actually the first Filipino poet to be invited.

“I never felt so elated in my life,” she says with a bright smile accompanied with a giggle, as if the invitation just came yesterday. It was an offer she couldn’t pass up even though it put her current job on the line.

At the time, she was on her first probationary year as a full-time professor at the De La Salle University-Manila and was only allowed seven days of leave of absence (the event required at least 21 days as she was also to read poetry at Sydney and Melbourne).

Given the circumstances, Ruth eventually decided to leave her job at the La Salle, but it still seemed like the stars aligned for her as an offer to teach FIlipino at the University of Hawaii practically called out her name.

“During that time, Dr. Teresita Ramos (who was teaching Filipino then) was to be on sabbatical leave,” Ruth shares. “I didn’t know her, it was Isagani Cruz who told me she was looking for someone to substitute for her. So from Australia, I wrote to her.” It wasn’t long before Dr. Ramos took her in, and for three years after that, Ruth was a visiting professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Now, apart from being a professor, she is the coordinator for the Department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific languages and literatures as well as the Filipino and Philippine Literature Program. She is also in charge of the university’s Advanced Filipino Abroad Program (AFAP) which Dr. Ramos (now retired) used to head. AFAP, now on its 18th year, is funded by the US Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays Groups Projects Program and was launched in the summer of 1991. The program is designed to provide American teachers and students with the opportunities to learn the Filipino language (Tagalog) in a Philippine setting, through a uniqure short-term immersion program usually taking place in the summer.

Teaching Filipino at the university was initially a challenge for Ruth who admits she was not familiar teaching a language course. Ruth graduated with a Filipino degree at the University of the East and went on to receive a master’s degree from the Philippine Normal University and a doctorate in Filipino from the Manuel L. Quezon University, but with her new job title, she felt the need to learn Teaching Second Language courses.

Good thing the University of Hawaii granted her a free opportunity to take up the courses (she met the requirement of teaching a subject with at least six units). The next big challenge was adjusting to the broad cultural differences between students in the Philippines and students abroad, but this was something she easily overcame.

Challenges are nothing new for Ruth when it comes to her personal life, who claims she’s lived a “difficult life” since childhood, when her parents separated. With her mother dying when she was only 14, as the eldest of four children, Ruth claimed responsibility to take care of her siblings, accepting to work for relatives so she could have enough to support her and her siblings’ educational expenses.

She fell in love with a married man and then had a child out of wedlock whom she raised on her own. Now, with two grandkids (ages 5 and 12) later, there is not a hint of any of the hardships she encountered as her eyes lit up as she shares how she always look forward to coming home so she will get to spend time with her family. Still, she stresses that the pains in her life groomed her life as a poet and a lover of words.

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Ruth Elynia Mabanglo.

“Lumalabas ang mga pains na ‘yan in my poems,” she reveals.

“Unknowingly, they have been written in my psyche that I didn’t realize they were there all along.”

She writes from gut feel, something she is quick to point out lacking in today’s works. “One of the things that make a good writer is you write true-tolife experiences. Some writers can come up with a good structure, but there is no soul. There should always be a balance between craft and content.”

Much debate has been devoted to art and suffering and how one cannot exist without the other, something Ruth would have a lot to say on, not surprisingly. It was also the setback of losing her job as a desk editor for the Manila Times’ Taliba as a result of the declaration of Martial Law where job opportunities for publishing companies became scarce which led her to become a freelance writer, allowing her to devote more time to writing poetry.

“Wala akong choice,” she recalls. “I began watching plays. I went to other writers. I was a vagabond writer, but I was serious in my writing.”

Ruth entered her work at the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, picking up the first prize for “Si Jesus at si Magdalena” in 1973.

What may be considered surprising is despite facing adversities early on in her life, she considers them integral factors to her becoming the woman she is today.

“The experiences made me very strong, and it made me what I am today,” she quips. “I was shaping myself to be a better woman... without me necessarily doing it or willing it, but because of contingencies, it happened. I became a master because of my own experiences.”

Her run-ins with fellow women confronting their own sets of tribulations are something she has drawn upon as well for her poetry. In 1986, she accompanied lauded novelist and National Artist for Literature, F. Sionil Jose, in Singapore for a conference of a theater foundation. Eager

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to go to church on her idle time, she made a stop at the plaza, which was apparently frequented by domestic helpers, and where she was mistaken for one herself... by a fellow Filipina. Ruth was caught offguard but decided to play along.

Sensing Ruth’s reluctance to share details of her “job,” the lady told her there was no need to feel ashamed in admitting she was a maid, as she claimed that back home, her father is a judge. Such is the plight which continue up to this day of the overseas Filipino workers abroad, who give up their lives at home to seek greener pastures abroad, and this inspired Ruth to write “Mga Liham ni Pinay,” in 1990 which received heaps of praises from critics and readers alike. The book validated the many sentiments of Filipinas everywhere, giving them solace and reassurance as well as a renewed sense of hope and empowerment.

A sense of hope is what the Philippines is in dire need now, especially since times have proven to be a lot tougher than ever. Ruth says that people like Manny Pacquiao seem to fulfill this void.

“A lot of Filipinos, whether here or abroad, identify with Manny Pacquiao,” she says. “But I believe that lahat tayo may capability to be as great as Manny Pacquiao. But because of our colonial experiences and too much disparity between the opportunities for the rich and the poor, we lost that kind of confidence in ourselves.”

But like many Filipinos, Ruth is perennially optimistic of the fate of the country, which is quite a Herculean task seeing that for every good and uplifting deed done by the Filipino-fronted civic organization Gawad Kalinga, there is a spirit-crushing criticism such as the country as “a nation of servants.” To this, we can console ourselves with a verse from one of Ruth’s poems: I am a Filipino with a soul. That will remain Filipino, in whatever country, in whatever time, in whatever body. g

| scenic roots | fort mckinley revisited

The

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At the turn of the 20th century, when nearly all of the land south of Pasig River (Taguig, Pateros, Muntinlupa) down to what is now Alabang was declared a US military reservation, no one could have foreseen the transformation.

BY AHMED TOLEDO

US President William McKinley, Jr. (1897 - 1901)

A SURPRISINGLY REFRESHING DRIZZLE was falling over the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial for the last two weeks of June, and the dreary pale blue skies filtered whatever light there was.

The dew gave life to the manicured greenery, and yet the somberness was magnified for in the distance a man knelt at a marble headstone, just one of many that marked the graves of more than 17,000 souls that perished in the wars of the Pacific and beyond. He did not look up, and was oblivious to everything else, but the lips mumbled silently, seemingly lost in thought, or prayer.

He would have also been lost in this vast piece of land more than a century ago when it was still known as Fort Mckinley where, in 1901, the then US Armed Forces Far East established headquarters for a division of 10,000 men.

Just like the former Clark Air Base, Subic Naval Base and Camp John Hay, Fort McKinley was another proof of the unique American foresight to utilize natural terrain in its colonies for use in future wars.

Named after the 25th president of the US, William McKinley, Jr., the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected and who was assassinated on September 14, 1901 by an anarchist named Leon Csolgosz, Fort McKinley is known by those who remember its history not for stately colonial architecture or historical monuments, because there are none, but rather for two cemeteries (the other being the Libingan ng mga Bayani).

Upon the departure of the Americans in 1946, it was renamed Fort Bonifacio (for Philippine revolutionary hero, the plebeian Andres Bonifacio) and the major services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines moved in to make it their base.

It really could be a separate city soon. But at the turn of the 20th century, when nearly all of the land south of Pasig River (Taguig, Pateros, Muntinlupa) down to what is now Alabang was declared a US military reservation, no one could have foreseen the transformation.

The only homage to an earlier age is this: Whoever thought of naming it after McKinley was probably prescient.

For this twice-elected Republican was a trailblazing capitalist who resorted to public relations to get his message across.

His 1896 run for the White House cost an estimated $3.5 million, the most expensive presidential campaign at that time, and saw the then unparalleled use of advertising as a campaign tool that is today seen as the forerunner of a modern political campaign for its skillful use of publicity and issue management. McKinley’s slogan? Patriotism, Protection, and Prosperity!

Not to digress, The Fort has thrived on the same principle and attracts buyers through slick advertising and creating a niche market for the very rich individuals as well as blue chip companies who have already made their fortune in Makati and have no qualms on forking over a few more millions for a prime piece of real estate that goes for P125,000 per square meter at the least.

Today, it is simply the Fort, or Bonifacio Global City, a staggering 25.78 kilometers of contiguous land whose real estate value has reached astronomical proportions and is the place to be, with its high-end condominiums, posh restaurants and bars, sleek showrooms. g July 2009 | balikbayan

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| the unguided tour| BONIFACIO GLOBAL CITY

BY ALTHEA LAUREN RICARDO PHOTOS BY ANDREW TADALAN | THE AJPRESS

BEHOLD A WHIMSICAL DESIRE TO HAVE A BITE of deep-fried pork meat drenched in cane vinegar blooms into a ravenous craving for the specific: I want some Ilocos bagnet dipped in Sukang Iloko, flavored with some freshly crushed garlic. But, alas, my Southern Manila home teetering at the edge of nowhere interesting is a million miles removed from Ilocos Norte and other such sources of delectable native delicacies.

What’s a girl with a whetted appetite to do, short of jumping on a bus to Vigan for an eight to ten hour ride to an hour of a meal’s pleasure?

Why, wake up early on Sunday morning, of course, remembering that her balikbayan cousin lives right in the heart of Bonifacio Global City and has Market! Market! as a bright and welcoming souk of a neighbor. I contact her, make arrangements for a “home-cooked” dinner in her flat—promising a meal that could very possibly put Cebu lechon a few notches lower from her list of favorite Filipino foods—and leave way too early for a self-styled morning-to-afternoon urban adventure in Taguig. After all, it—from Market! Market! to Serendra to Bonifacio High Street—is easily one of my favorite spots in the city.

It is not difficult to imagine Market! Market! as a ceaseless feast that caters to every consumer’s fancy. Functioning much like the marketplaces of yore, the unique mall anchors the entire Bonifacio Global City development, which is made up of upscale residential condominiums and modern office buildings, as well as trendy places

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THE FORT for the city’s patrons who want more of the intimate, yet none of the already too familiar.

Nightspots and restaurants are sprouting like mushrooms in the city, but it is still everyday Sunday at Market! Market!, with its fresh and airy outdoor bazaar constantly bustling with the energy of close to a hundred vendors peddling fruits and vegetables, flowers and grains, honey and sugarcane, seafood and meats and other such goods you would normally have to seek out in a scattering of destinations.

This late Sunday morning, I cut through a crowd of perfumed housewives with their shopping lists and yuppies in their designer flip-flops out to replenish the pantry. This is their version of the street market, and, looking at the huge ornamentals intriguingly shaped like safari animals and the fountain gracing the wide open center of Market!

Market!, it is easy to understand their willingness to pay a little premium on a lot of comfort.

I find my way to the regional kiosks lining the Fiesta Market. This is my favorite part, as a stroll along this short walkway is a quick trip around the country: I see pili nuts from Bicol, pastels from Camiguin, lamayo from Palawan, Carcar chicharon from Cebu, turones de kasuy from Pampanga, and biscocho from Bacolod, before finally finding the row of oily brown paper bags hung in a row containing the Vigan meats I seek.

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to market! to market!

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serene serendra July 2009 | balikbayan 81

The Market! Market! Activity Center.

Mission accomplished, I decide to make the most out of my day by doing some shopping. I set my sights on the air-conditioned mall: it is a bargain-hunter’s paradise in a five-story edifice, with a heady mix of staple stores, like National Bookstore, and small shops, like Vente (where everything can be had for P20), that offer a wide variety of goods, some difficult to find, in a wide range of prices. Each level has areas devoted to specific product categories sold in a tiangge setting: there is the Gift Market, which is a treasure trove of trinkets, the Home Market, which carries home accents to antique furniture, and the Fashion Market, from where one can emerge with affordable fashion finds.

I am on the lookout for local organic beauty products—the sort that can be easily found in Tagaytay, for example, but really tough to locate in Manila—and I find a cozy little store called Eco Market selling just that.

I spend a small fortune on tiny spritzers of lemongrass and mint mouth sprays, small pots of olive oil-based hand moisturizers, and several bottles of citronella-based mosquito repellent.

Aside from being a veritable shopper’s paradise, Market! Market! is also foodie heaven. The Fiesta Market is a never-ending Filipino feast, with its numerous food stalls brimming with local treats. A circle of food booths offer meals in a dampa-like setting—where you have the option of choosing any of the day’s fresh catches and having it cooked to your liking—while others present you with a seemingly endless array of options

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in terms of local cuisine. Feeling like some old-school lechon manok? Just follow your nose around the corner to the 24-hour Andok’s. Just don’t confuse it with the delectable scent of Ineng’s Special BBQ. Do you want a plate of that native pansit you have to eat with a dash of vinegar? Have a plate of the famous Pancit Lucban from Buddy’s.

I settle for a plate of grilled tilapia, with a salad of chopped green mangoes and tomatoes and bagoong. I am not feeling particularly adventurous, as I am holding on to the promise of bagnet for my next meal. I do, however, down it with two large cups of freshly squeezed dalandan juice from a stall selling different sorts of citrus fruits. It is getting hot, and I have decided to cross the street to Serendra and Bonifacio High Street.

If Market! Market! gives you a flavor of the Philippines, Serendra gives you a taste of the world. How it is possible to have the sensation of travel in a couple of steps escapes me, but I feel exactly as if I had done just that as I find myself amidst a bevy of outdoor sculptures, some shaped like balls, some featuring metal and glass splendidly shooting up over a number of intricately designed ponds and gurgling fountains.

Serendra is a mixed development: it’s heart is a high-end retail and dining complex, while its soul is a burst of citrus-hued low-, mid-, and high-rise residential buildings surrounded by generous spaces and lush greenery. For those who are so inclined, it seems to be condominium-

living at its pleasing best: city living, with a suburban feel.

Its retail area is an extension of Bonifacio High Street, and yet it stands out aesthetically for its merchants’ unique, self-designed store fronts.

Imagine a mix of art galleries and high-end novelty stores and restaurants feting European, Asian, Latin American, Filipino culture and cuisine: the sight alone is already a feast for the senses.

Filipino restaurants hold their own against international fare, with the Filipino-themed restaurant Abé being a favorite of locals, balikbayans and the expatriate crowd alike. The restaurant, which is owned by Larry Cruz’s LJC Group, is a tribute to Larry’s father, Emilio Aguilar Cruz, the artist, writer, editor, art critic, diplomat, and nationalist, who was a proud son of Pampanga and, like many of the Kapampangans, was also a food connoisseur. It is no surprise that Abé’s specialty is Kapampangan cuisine.

A taste of a recent dinner at Abé still lingers: lamb adobo, pritong baby hito with a dab of buro, bottomless rice, all washed down with refreshing tamarind shake.

I head for another local favorite, Kapé Isla, a coffee bar that only sells Philippine coffee and extends it Filipino-theme to its design, snacks and even its background music. Its Choknut Coffee, complemented with a slice of Brazo de Mercedes (or, sometimes, a helping of bibingka topped with queso de bola) leisurely consumed to the tune of Sitti never ceases to win my pledge of allegiance all over again.

Feeling a little bit lazy, I cross the street to the main boulevard of Bonifacio High Street, a stretch that marries business with pleasure, putting well-designed office spaces alongside high-end retail outlets, and crowning it with a beautifully designed expanse of a park hosting outdoor art (a giant teddy bear’s shadow flat on the ground, a fountain featuring a huge rock perched on curved metal stands, among others); public events, like art exhibits and street performances; and, at any given time, a population of pampered little doggies and their loyal train of proud humans.

I could spend all day browsing and shopping in the many upscale boutiques that line its main street, but if you ask me, the real jewel of Bonifacio High Street is its Fully Booked Branch, all five of its magnificent storeys. In my book, in my beautiful third world country, where leisure doesn’t always come easy, nothing spells pure, unadulterated pleasure as much as a building full of delicious, delicious books.

In a few hours, it is time to head back to Serendra, to see my cousin who had recently come home from America. I pass through the lobby, also in citrus hues; cross an expansive lawn; span both ends of a sparkling blue swimming pool; climb a flight of stairs; and knock at her door. I bring special treats with me—one, that Vigan bagnet, wrapped in an oily brown paper bag; the other, the joy of a day well-spent, feasting on both the simple and exquisite pleasures of my country, warm in my heart. g

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the asian journal press

July 2009 | balikbayan 85

THE ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY is celebrating 150 years, and the Blue Eagles have all the reasons to do so. The journey is nothing but epical, almost parallel to the mythic return of its Jesuit founders, who had come back from oblivion after the Suppression in the 1700s.

In fact, if we try treading the Ateneo historical path through this magnificent coffee table book, 150: The Ateneo Way by Jesuit scholar Jose S. Arcilla, the journey really started (or restarted, historically, since the Jesuits were also sent away from the country during the period of suppression) when ten Jesuits arrived in Manila in June 13, 1859 after an absence of more than a hundred years.

Instead of going to Mindanao, where there was greater need, as put by that popular Jesuit saying, the sons of Ignacio de Loyola would be “detained” in the royal city because the “Manila burghers, frantic for a good primary school for their sons, saw their chance, grabbed (the opportunity in the presence of the Jesuits) and prevailed upon the government…”

Somehow, the Ateneo story began when the Jesuits were being prevented to become the men for others that they really are. But it had proven to be for the greater glory of God. Fr. Arcilla’s sharp and circumspect commentary on the story of the Ateneo complemented the book’s rare compendium of photographs from the Jesuit archives and from various sources.

From the transformation of the Escuela Pia to what became the precursor of the Ateneo, the Escuela Municipal, to its contemporary glory as a premiere Philippine university, excelling in the humanities, civil law, business and economics and even the allied health sciences, Fr. Arcilla leads the reader to an awesome and inspiring narrative that shows not only the main highlights of Ateneo history, but also the colorful student life of Ateneans through the years.

He also brings us back, in words and images, to the glorious years of the university in the walled city of Intramuros, to the bustling Ateneo

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campus at Padre Faura and to the vast campus of Loyola Heights. The more interesting sections of the book like “Sports and other Pursuits” and “A Flair For the Dramatic” render the Ateneo’s life and history as performed by its myriad athletes and artists through time.

The book features rare pictures of the young Lamberto Avellana, National Artist for Theater, in a 1936 stage production, and the statesman Raul Manglapus. It even has nostalgic images of the young Horacio dela Costa, considered today as one of the most important Filipino Jesuits of his time.

The book is beautifully designed, making the photographs speak for themselves, in an image-as-history narrative. The well-thought out structure of the images and the history according to Fr. Arcilla gives this coffee table book a classic feel, a worthy remembrance of the Ateneo way of life and style. A book for keeps, it is a great repository of the long academic tradition of the Ateneo and a magnificent chronicle of the works of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines. After 150 years, indeed, the Ateneo has shown the way. And this is clearly emphasized by the publishing team of Muse Books and Media Wise Communications, Inc., headed by publisher Ramoncito Ocampo Cruz.

With the outstanding editing of writers Alya Honasan and Krip Yuson, the book has wonderfully expressed the aspirations and ideals of this great university much loved by the National Hero Jose Rizal himself (the book devotes a chapter on Rizal the renaissance man, who enjoyed “happy years” at the Ateneo Municipal according to his memoirs).

Simply said, The Ateneo Way is about the Atenean as a man for others. The book magnificently captures the moment. g 150: The Ateneo Way by Fr. Jose S. Arcilla is distributed in the United States of America by the Asian Journal Publications, Inc. For information, call at (213) 250-9797 or Media Wise Communications, Inc. at (632) 922-7583 / (632) 435-5725 or The Ateneo Sesquicentennial Secretariat at (632) 426-6001 loc. 4083.

| parting shot |

That Little Old Lady From Pasadena

Baby Boomers will surely remember the classic Jan and Dean song “The Little Old Lady from Pasadena”. Well, the Asian Journal Foundation will be taking you to Pasadena on December 6, 2009, but Jan and Dean won’t be there. FASO will.

After its resounding success at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills last May, the Filipino-American Symphony Orchestra (FASO) will give Southern California an early Christmas treat with a very special evening of Christmas music dubbed, “Handog ng Faso sa Pasko”.

Well, that beautiful, “little old lady from Pasadena” is still around, The Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which was built in 1931 and is still revered as one of the nation’s great performance halls. It has hosted several Broadway musicals, ballet, symphony orchestras, public lectures and even the Prime Time Emmy Awards and the People’s Choice Awards.

With FASO performing at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, can Carnegie Hall be far behind? g

88 balikbayan | July 2009