Category: Philippines
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Accompanied by two women, Gregoria de Jesus rushed to Capitan Emilio Aguinaldo’s residence to beg him to reconsider his order banishing a wounded Andres Bonifacio following a tribunal proceeding. Having gone amidst a heavy downpour and in pitch black darkness of night, they arrived at Aguinaldo’s house drenched. As they went upstairs, the capitan hid…
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There was a time when marauding pirates were terrorizing the southern coast of China and one of them was Limahong. Expelled by the Chinese fleet, Limahong and his entourage fled southwards towards the islands of the Philippines. En route, Limahong’s group captured a trading vessel from Manila heading back to China, and discovered that Manila…
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She was shunned by many because of leprosy; but such social stigma would later on prove to be an asset for her to do the greatest good for the greatest number. Josefina Guerrero played a crucial role in the rescue of thousands of Americans and other expatriates in Santo Tomas internment camp. Afflicted with leprosy,…
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There it was on the cover of Philippine Magazine‘s February 1934 issue: a wooden spoon with an anthropomorphic handle. Unlike the common cutleries from the western world, each spoon bore a unique design reflective of their folktales or their way of life. The Ifugao of the Mountain Province in northern Philippines has been a thriving…
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Decades ago, the authenticity of Maragtas and its authorship were frowned upon until gradually, scholars began to validate bits and pieces of the story. Maragtas is an account of the early history of Panay (Aninipay) island of the Philippines, how a group of chiefs from Borneo fleeing from the tyrannical rule of Raja Makatunao reestablished…
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Looking at an old photograph of Sabang Bridge, one can emphatically say it is hands-down an engineering feat and unique for a host of reasons. The bridge connecting Ibaan and Batangas City in the province of Batangas south of Manila was completed in 1914 for a total cost of ₱58,500. The district engineer of Batangas…
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IT was May 11th 1942 when Capt. Ethel Sally Blaine Millett, nine other Army nurses and three other women were officially captured by the Japanese at the USAFFE base hospital in Cagayan. “We stayed there until July… We were taken from Cagayan and we went to Davao by a dirty little boat,” she said. On…
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Since fifth grade, she had been dreaming of going to the Philippines. Perhaps it was written in the stars that she would go there after all Capt. Ethel “Sally” Blaine Millett, an Army nurse, from Missouri, finally got the chance she had long been waiting for. Following her nursing training in San Diego in 1939,…
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Close to 1,000 residents of Culion sanitarium in Palawan, Philippines participated in the 1937 plebiscite that resulted in women gaining the right of suffrage in the Philippines. Despite these women being relegated to a colony which others previously called “Island of No Return”, they were not, however, left disenfranchised in this democratic process. Years before…
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It is an enduring friendship that even a world war could not tear this bond asunder. Anecdotes abound how Filipinos and Americans helped each other out most especially during the war. Long before war reached the Philippines, President Manuel Quezon had banked on this friendship with the Americans as the islands had begun fortifying their…