Heard about this FB group from a friend. Im flattered.
Overheard about Ateneo-online - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Magsaysay and the busted spark plugs - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
My Inquirer column today on CIA Manila man Edward Lansdale and Ramon Magsaysay
Magsaysay and the busted spark plugs - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Magsaysay and the busted spark plugs - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
‘Aswang’ and counter-insurgency? - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
My Inquirer column today on Capiz, aswang, counter-insurgency and the Morong 43
‘Aswang’ and counter-insurgency? - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
‘Aswang’ and counter-insurgency? - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Monday, February 15, 2010
Reading Rizal for pleasure
IT is unfortunate that the novels of Jose Rizal are read in the context of a classroom rather than the comfort of an easy chair or a hammock on a beach. Nobody brings the Noli me tangere or El Filibusterismo to read on holiday except students cramming for an exam. Studying Rizal should conclude in an appreciation of his life and works but all this has turned into a boring chore. The vicious cycle begins in high school when the novels are first taken up in Filipino class. Naturally, nobody reads Rizal in the original Spanish so students are introduced to the novels in Filipino and in abridged form. In college the novels are supposed to be read whole and in the fine translations by Soledad Lacson Locsin (English) and Virgilio S. Almario (Filipino), but students return to their high school textbooks, turn to chapter summaries from the internet or the komiks versions to comply with minimum course requirements.
I remember my own experience with Rizal’s novels. We first read these in High School Filipino literature class under a teacher, believe it or not, who was named Pedro San Pedro. I liked both the class and the teacher. I remember the story of both novels. I recall the symbolism of the crocodile in the fishpen, which was said to be rapacious Spain and Spaniards feeding on the Philippines and the Filipinos. Today, Kim Atienza and National Geographic will tell you that crocodiles are not on a murderous feeding frenzy all the time. As a matter of fact they eat intelligently. Next time you use “buwaya” or crocodile to describe someone in government think twice and be kind to animals who get branded negatively. Now that Im much older and have read the novels a number of times I wonder whether there is a hidden or symbolic meaning in the crocodile in the fishpen? If Rizal were alive he might even scold us for over-reading and tell us that it is just a crocodile nothing more.
In college I liked my Rizal course lectures but hated the exams that required that we memorize all the data in the novels and the teacher’s lectures. Sometimes I wonder if tests were meant to scare us into reading the novels when I ended up reading the komiks version and supplemented this with the guide questions from my high school textbook. Today, as a teacher I feel so bad that my students are now cramming for their Noli-Fili test and will probably have bad memories of these wonderful novels. Maybe the Rizal course is counter-productive. I reflected on my lectures my the last two decades of teaching when I received this email from a student:
“I was in the middle of finishing El Fili, which i think is ten times better than Noli, and felt like expressing my thoughts. First, I wanted to tell you that I COMPLETELY agree with you! Reading Noli and Fili is SO much better the second time around. given that we studied it in Filipino in high school, I barely understood the story. The English version by Soledad something is SO much better! Second, is that I am sort of scared, well, truthfully, REALLY scared, of your Noli/Fili test tomorrow. Ii feel like I'm unprepared or something. Do we need to know about Rizal's life? Or is the test restricted to the novels? I read the novels, but it seemed like it was for pleasure more than anything else, so I am not too keen on the details. Can you give me some tips?”
I replied that if you read the novels as is required by law and by the course then that had value in itself, the test was secondary. If the student started being bored with the novels but ended up enjoying them, that was the intent of the law. Republic Act 1425 is quite specific about providing copies of Rizal’s novels, this has not been complied with. Section 2 of the law states:
“It shall be obligatory on all schools, colleges and universities to keep in their libraries an adequate number of copies of the original and expurgated editions of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as well as Rizal’s other works and biography. The said unexpurgated editions of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo or their translations in English as well as other writings of Rizal shall be included in the list of approved books for required reading in all public or private schools, colleges and universities.
“The Board of National Education shall determine the adequacy of the number of books, depending upon the enrollment of the school, college or university.”
If you go to school libraries today, will we find enough on the shelves to serve the school population? What was the intent of the law? To make copies available for free for every student? Just enough for reference? Section 3 provides a clear answer:
“The Board of National education shall cause the translation of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as well as other writings of Jose Rizal into English, Tagalog and the principal Philippine dialects; cause them to be printed in cheap, popular editions; and cause them to be distributed, free of charge, to persons desiring to read them, through the Purok organizations and the Barrio Councils throughout the country.”
During the centennial of Rizal’s birth in 1961 the novels were translated into all the major Philippine languages. If the books were available for free, where and how do you get them? Can I go to a Barangay Hall and get copies? Will making the novelss available get people to read them? That is another story.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Ayala Museum Nov 28
AMBETH OCAMPO LECTURES AT AYALA MUSEUM ON : “CHASTITY COVERS, PENIS IMPLEMENTS, AND THE BOXER CODEX: EXPLORING PHILIPPINE PRE-HISTORY”
The complete story of the Philippines and the Filipinos remains to be written. Since it is a long and complex story that depends on written records, how do we tackle pre-history? Jose Rizal took up the challenge when he annotated Antonio de Morga’s “Sucesos de las islas Filipinas” (1609) and published a new edition in 1890 because he believed that “to know the destiny of a nation, one has to open the book of her past”.
Today we have clues into Philippine pre-history from archeological artifacts supplemented by our earliest written records. In an illustrated lecture Ambeth Ocampo will introduce the collections of the Ayala Museum to explore how and why our past has been re-presented in the continuing search for that elusive thing we call national identity.
Ambeth Ocampo writes a widely-read editorial page column on history for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and teaches at the Ateneo de Manila University. He is Chairman of the National Historical Institute.
The lecture will be held on November 28 at the Ayala Museum Ground Floor Lobby. The same lecture will be delivered twice: one at 1030AM and another at 130PM. Participation in the lecture is Php200 for students and Ayala Museum members and Php300 for regular adults. The price includes admission to all galleries of the museum.
Ayala Museum is located at the corner of Makati Avenue and De la Rosa Street, Greenbelt Park, Makati City. For reservations and inquiries, please call 757-7117 to 21 local 28 or 29 or visit our website at www.ayalamuseum.org
The complete story of the Philippines and the Filipinos remains to be written. Since it is a long and complex story that depends on written records, how do we tackle pre-history? Jose Rizal took up the challenge when he annotated Antonio de Morga’s “Sucesos de las islas Filipinas” (1609) and published a new edition in 1890 because he believed that “to know the destiny of a nation, one has to open the book of her past”.
Today we have clues into Philippine pre-history from archeological artifacts supplemented by our earliest written records. In an illustrated lecture Ambeth Ocampo will introduce the collections of the Ayala Museum to explore how and why our past has been re-presented in the continuing search for that elusive thing we call national identity.
Ambeth Ocampo writes a widely-read editorial page column on history for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and teaches at the Ateneo de Manila University. He is Chairman of the National Historical Institute.
The lecture will be held on November 28 at the Ayala Museum Ground Floor Lobby. The same lecture will be delivered twice: one at 1030AM and another at 130PM. Participation in the lecture is Php200 for students and Ayala Museum members and Php300 for regular adults. The price includes admission to all galleries of the museum.
Ayala Museum is located at the corner of Makati Avenue and De la Rosa Street, Greenbelt Park, Makati City. For reservations and inquiries, please call 757-7117 to 21 local 28 or 29 or visit our website at www.ayalamuseum.org
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Hidden history of the Pasig river
Hidden history of the Pasig River
By Ambeth Ocampo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:45:00 09/09/2009
Filed Under: Environmental Issues, history
When it rains I am happy for the Pasig River because its thick polluted water will be diluted. The water level will then be higher and its stench will be reduced.
It is sad that the river that has played a role in the history of the capital is practically dead in the sense that it cannot sustain fish and other pleasant aquatic life. The Pasig River may be dead to all but organisms that promote diseases.
When people speak about the beauty of Metro Manila, they speak in the past tense. When people speak about the romantic Pasig River, they also speak in the past tense.
Today there is a river ferry that can take you from Guadalupe to Escolta in less than an hour, compared to a ride through traffic-choked streets. The river ferry is air-conditioned, efficient, comfortable. Using the river again for transportation is like going back in time.
Alejandro Roces said it best when he described the Pasig as a short river with a long history. It is only 25 kilometers long, dividing Metro Manila in two parts, north and south. It is a long artery connecting Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay. Depending on the season, the flow of the river changes: during the dry season when water levels are low, the flow depends on the tide, but during the wet season water flows from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay passing through Laguna, Taguig, Taytay, Pasig, Makati, Mandaluyong and Manila.
How the water flows gives us a clue into the origin of the name “Pasig” which is said to be rooted in a Sanskrit word that describes “a river that flowed from one body of water to another.” But despite this highly plausible linguistic explanation for its name, everyone is still drawn to the tragic legend of the lovers Virgilio and Paz: They were being separated by their parents, so they decided to elope and make their escape via the Pasig, but poor Virgilio fell off the banca (boat) and the terrified Paz realized he didn’t know how to swim. As he sank into the water, coming up thrice gasping for air, he struggled and shouted, “Paz! Sigue me! (Paz! save me!)” His famous last words are “Paz! Sig...?” This is the most popular story on the origin of Pasig.
Another etymological explanation is that in Spanish the river was known as “El rio de Pasig.” Its short form “el Pasig” happens to be an anagram of “Legaspi.” And that’s Miguel Lopez de Legaspi who founded Spanish Manila in 1571.
Pasig is a river with much history. It is what the Thames is to London, what the Seine is to Paris, what the Tiber is to Rome. The Pasig could be an alternative tourist attraction, except that our bridges are not as old or as pretty as those along the Seine.
There are 13 bridges that cross the Pasig from end to end: Bambang Bridge (a.k.a Napindan), C-5 Road Bridge, Guadalupe Bridge, Makati-Mandaluyong Bridge, Sevilla Bridge, Lambingan Bridge (which Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim wants to rename Corazon Aquino Bridge), Pandacan Bridge (a.k.a. P. Zamora), Mabini Bridge (formerly Nagtahan), Ayala Bridge, Quezon Bridge, McArthur Bridge, Jones Bridge, and Roxas Bridge (formerly Del Pan). All these bridges were given a face-lift in the centennial years leading to 1998, but only Mabini remains. Huge brass profiles of Mabini ornament the sides and at night the bridge has lights that change colors, reminding motorists of the interiors of seedy bars in the former red-light district in Ermita that bears the name of the “Sublime Paralytic.”
The Pasig is older than Manila or May-nila (not “May nilad” as propagated by the ignorant). The Pasig is older than all the other cities that have grown along its banks. Archeological excavations in Sta. Ana revealed fantastic grave goods, Chinese ceramics dating from the 11th to the 14th century, a time long before Magellan was even born.
Today the Pasig gives the visitor a different view of the metropolis. It shows you the city from the river.
A cruise down the Pasig also helps us imagine how people traveled in the past, making us realize that the way we see and describe our surroundings has already been formed by our history. For example, when you ask children taking Araling Panlipunan to describe the Philippines, they will probably say, “The Philippines is an archipelago, a country comprised of a group of islands separated by water.” While not entirely false, this statement would not have been the way a Filipino in pre-Spanish times described the archipelago. For a person who lived in the age before the coming of the wheel and the horse, for a person who lived before the construction of roads and bridges, the archipelago would have been a group of islands connected by water. In pre-Spanish times people traveled in boats. Isn’t the smallest unit in our government known as the barangay, from the pre-Spanish boat balanghai? River and sea were not obstacles to the pre-Spanish Filipino. For them water connected rather than separated islands. Water connected river banks bringing people and goods together.
I have been fascinated by the Pasig for many years and have not lost my enthusiasm for its hidden history. One can only hope that more people will travel on it to appreciate both its present and its past.
When the Pasig is cleaned up and revived, then we will not speak of it in the past tense anymore.
By Ambeth Ocampo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:45:00 09/09/2009
Filed Under: Environmental Issues, history
When it rains I am happy for the Pasig River because its thick polluted water will be diluted. The water level will then be higher and its stench will be reduced.
It is sad that the river that has played a role in the history of the capital is practically dead in the sense that it cannot sustain fish and other pleasant aquatic life. The Pasig River may be dead to all but organisms that promote diseases.
When people speak about the beauty of Metro Manila, they speak in the past tense. When people speak about the romantic Pasig River, they also speak in the past tense.
Today there is a river ferry that can take you from Guadalupe to Escolta in less than an hour, compared to a ride through traffic-choked streets. The river ferry is air-conditioned, efficient, comfortable. Using the river again for transportation is like going back in time.
Alejandro Roces said it best when he described the Pasig as a short river with a long history. It is only 25 kilometers long, dividing Metro Manila in two parts, north and south. It is a long artery connecting Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay. Depending on the season, the flow of the river changes: during the dry season when water levels are low, the flow depends on the tide, but during the wet season water flows from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay passing through Laguna, Taguig, Taytay, Pasig, Makati, Mandaluyong and Manila.
How the water flows gives us a clue into the origin of the name “Pasig” which is said to be rooted in a Sanskrit word that describes “a river that flowed from one body of water to another.” But despite this highly plausible linguistic explanation for its name, everyone is still drawn to the tragic legend of the lovers Virgilio and Paz: They were being separated by their parents, so they decided to elope and make their escape via the Pasig, but poor Virgilio fell off the banca (boat) and the terrified Paz realized he didn’t know how to swim. As he sank into the water, coming up thrice gasping for air, he struggled and shouted, “Paz! Sigue me! (Paz! save me!)” His famous last words are “Paz! Sig...?” This is the most popular story on the origin of Pasig.
Another etymological explanation is that in Spanish the river was known as “El rio de Pasig.” Its short form “el Pasig” happens to be an anagram of “Legaspi.” And that’s Miguel Lopez de Legaspi who founded Spanish Manila in 1571.
Pasig is a river with much history. It is what the Thames is to London, what the Seine is to Paris, what the Tiber is to Rome. The Pasig could be an alternative tourist attraction, except that our bridges are not as old or as pretty as those along the Seine.
There are 13 bridges that cross the Pasig from end to end: Bambang Bridge (a.k.a Napindan), C-5 Road Bridge, Guadalupe Bridge, Makati-Mandaluyong Bridge, Sevilla Bridge, Lambingan Bridge (which Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim wants to rename Corazon Aquino Bridge), Pandacan Bridge (a.k.a. P. Zamora), Mabini Bridge (formerly Nagtahan), Ayala Bridge, Quezon Bridge, McArthur Bridge, Jones Bridge, and Roxas Bridge (formerly Del Pan). All these bridges were given a face-lift in the centennial years leading to 1998, but only Mabini remains. Huge brass profiles of Mabini ornament the sides and at night the bridge has lights that change colors, reminding motorists of the interiors of seedy bars in the former red-light district in Ermita that bears the name of the “Sublime Paralytic.”
The Pasig is older than Manila or May-nila (not “May nilad” as propagated by the ignorant). The Pasig is older than all the other cities that have grown along its banks. Archeological excavations in Sta. Ana revealed fantastic grave goods, Chinese ceramics dating from the 11th to the 14th century, a time long before Magellan was even born.
Today the Pasig gives the visitor a different view of the metropolis. It shows you the city from the river.
A cruise down the Pasig also helps us imagine how people traveled in the past, making us realize that the way we see and describe our surroundings has already been formed by our history. For example, when you ask children taking Araling Panlipunan to describe the Philippines, they will probably say, “The Philippines is an archipelago, a country comprised of a group of islands separated by water.” While not entirely false, this statement would not have been the way a Filipino in pre-Spanish times described the archipelago. For a person who lived in the age before the coming of the wheel and the horse, for a person who lived before the construction of roads and bridges, the archipelago would have been a group of islands connected by water. In pre-Spanish times people traveled in boats. Isn’t the smallest unit in our government known as the barangay, from the pre-Spanish boat balanghai? River and sea were not obstacles to the pre-Spanish Filipino. For them water connected rather than separated islands. Water connected river banks bringing people and goods together.
I have been fascinated by the Pasig for many years and have not lost my enthusiasm for its hidden history. One can only hope that more people will travel on it to appreciate both its present and its past.
When the Pasig is cleaned up and revived, then we will not speak of it in the past tense anymore.
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