By Gabriel Cardinoza
Inquirer

BINALONAN, Pangasina–Residents of Binalonan, an Ilocano-speaking town in eastern Pangasinan, can now read in their native tongue the highly acclaimed novel of their famous town mate, Carlos Bulosan.

Thanks to Manuel Diaz, a local fiction writer, who translated Bulosan’s “America is in the Heart” into Ilocano.

“Adda iti Puso ti Amerika” is now being serialized in Bannawag, a weekly vernacular magazine that circulates in the Ilocos region.

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By Ma. Diosa Labiste
Inquirer

ILOILO CITY–Inspired by stories that her grandfather was once a conductor of a local orchestra and that school orchestra competitions drew huge crowds in Iloilo decades ago, a 36-year-old Filipina, born in Manila but who grew up in Canada, has set her mind on forming an orchestra in Iloilo City.

Finding nothing to start with, Melissa Lopez-Exmundo opened classes in violin, teaching children from three years old and up, hoping to build a base for a chamber orchestra she dreams of.

Exmundo is among those who reversed the migration of professionals to North America and elsewhere. In 1998, she decided to stay in Jaro district and teach because she was amazed by the talent she was able to coax from her young students, who are now saying they want to be musicians playing in an orchestra.

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By Pablo Tariman, Alcuin Papa
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–The Philippine Madrigal Singers won the prestigious European Grand Prix for Choral Singing Sunday night (Monday morning, Manila time) in Arezzo, Italy.

The Madz, as the choir is popularly known, is the first and only choir to win twice in what is known as the choral Olympics of the world.

It won the European Choral Grand Prix (GPE) for the first time in June 1997 when the Madrigals represented the Tolosa Competition, the first and only Philippine choir to win this competition.

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By Reni Roxas
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–In Spain, people are snacking on Filipinos.

Not exactly a cannibalistic practice, when the Filipinos I refer to are foil-wrapped wafers. I’ve tried them. Yummy!

But are they yummy enough to start another Spanish-Filipino War? Don’t think so. Because over here, Filipinos are too busy calling each other names.

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By Juan Mercado
Inquirer

“IT’S your fault that i never got to talk to the man,” my son Francis gripes when former senator Benigno Aquino’s death is remembered, as we do today.

Francis was a grade-school kid when our family bumped into Ninoy Aquino at San Francisco’s international airport. We were flying to Bangkok, and Aquino was booked on a Boston flight. The years have blurred most of our chat that day. But we did laugh over my securing a “carrier pigeon” to sneak his article, smuggled from a Fort Bonifacio prison cell under martial law censors’ noses. A sympathetic Air India manager brought it to the editor Theh Chongkadikhij at the Bangkok Post.

In February 1973, the Post published “The Aquino Papers,” a three-part series that challenged martial law. “I will not accept President Marcos’ offer of an amnesty because I do not believe I’ve committed any crime,” Aquino wrote. “He violated our Constitution and broke our laws.”

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By Hazel P. Villa
Inquirer

ILOILO CITY–Sashaying to the live renditions of old Ilonggo favorites like Pinalangga (Beloved) and the more current Handumanan (Remembrance), models made their entrance up the burnished narra stairs, glided through antique rooms, and preened before an audience seated atelier-style on a balmy evening at the Sanson y Montinola Antillan House in E. Lopez Street, Jaro District, Iloilo City.

The Antillan House itself, one of the very few left intact in the country, was like a debutante dressed for a grand ball—its trademark yakal rooftop carved decors were restored and repainted, shuttered windows were cleaned, and the exterior was painted a more cheerful mocha and pastel blue even as the brick foundations were spruced.

It was not only because the Iloilo Heritage Gala was held at the Antillan House in May that Greg Sanson, the owner, decided to glam up his family’s turn-of-the-century ancestral home but also because heritage-conscious Ilonggos have once more revved up the advocacy machine calling for the preservation of Iloilo City’s heritage houses and buildings.

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By Pennie Azarcon dela Cruz
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–The idea, says fashion designer Barge Ramos, is to come up with clothes that are unmistakably Pinoy without looking like one is bound for an Independence Day Parade or a costume party.

“It is possible to look thoroughly modern and contemporary and still retain the Filipino touch in one’s clothes,” says Ramos who is widely known for his barong Tagalog creations. Aside from being a gauge of one’s age, taste, income level and politics, clothes should proudly hark back to our cultural identity, says this erstwhile fashion journalist who expounded his theory through a weekly column for the newspaper Malaya from 1990-1995.

The best of those columns have recently been gathered into a book of the same title, “Pinoy Dressing: Weaving Culture Into Fashion,” a scrumptious coffee table book that details how history has shaped the way we dress, and how clothes in turn reflect cultural beliefs and traditions.

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By Carmela Reyes
Central Luzon Desk

CITY OF MALOLOS, Philippines–Bulacan residents and officials hailed an 11-year-old girl from this city who topped the junior division in the World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA) held on July 31 to August 3 in California.

Aria Daniella Clemente, who arrived here last week, was proclaimed grand champion in the WCOPA junior division after besting 5,000 contestants from 52 countries.

Clemente, a Grade 6 pupil of Stella Maris Academy of Malolos, also bagged the “Performer of the World” award in the junior category after she beat winners in other categories.

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By Rafael Castillo, MD
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Just when I thought that Filipino doctors have forgotten their solemn oath “to serve humanity to the best of my ability,” and just when I thought that Filipino doctors have no qualms of giving up their medical profession for the prospect of earning green bucks abroad, Dr. Rogie Tanco, the cardiologist-editor of The Filipino Internist, reminds me of the Filipino medical volunteers of the Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF (Doctors Without Borders), who serve in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic and pandemic diseases.

The MSF is a Nobel Peace Prize awardee and annually, it recruits about 3,000 doctors, nurses, midwives and logisticians to provide health care in more than 70 underserved developing countries. A good number of these volunteers are Filipinos. “These doctors and other volunteers are unsung heroes,” Rogie told me.

Filipino volunteer

Among these volunteers is Dr. Elpidio Demetria, a board certified internist and infectious disease expert previously of San Lazaro Hospital. Before volunteering for MSF, Elpidio signed up with the Philippine medical contingent to Iraq.

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By Ruth L. Navarra
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–A Filipino graphic artist literally makes waves in Sony Pictures’ latest animation “Surf’s Up.”

Armand Serrano confessed that’s he’s no surfer dude but, has worked the waves for the past three years as only geeks can — he studied and researched on the principles of water. It was necessary because he had to know how water moved and flowed so he could draw it accurately.

“I also had to study foliage of a tropical forest because there was a scene in the movie where a character called Geek took in the hero Cody into his secret home,” he said.

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