Cinco de Noviembre History in Terracotta Art Created by Mr. Ramon de Los Santos

On November 5, 1898, the Negrenses successfully revolted against Spain and set up their own Republica Cantonal de Negros (read history here). November 5 is a holiday in the Negros island.

And to celebrate the historical event, the Silay City Tourism exhibited these terracotta figures created by Mr. Ramon de Los Santos at the Silay City Art Space and Showroom.

Here are his amazing terracotta figures representing the Negrense revolution of 1898.😍

Mr. Ramon de Los Santos is an artist and sculptor, and is an active member of the Association of Talisay Artists and the Art Association of Bacolod Negros.

These terracotta figures are now part of the permanent collection of the Balay Negrense Development Corporation that is showcased at the Balay Negrense Museum in Silay City, Negros Occidental.😋

#silay #silaycity #cincodenoviembre #philippines #philippinerevolution #negros #history #art #artist

The Victorias Catholic Cemetery: Honoring The Donors, Don Gonzalo Ditching and Doña Simeona Jingco, And Remembering Their Generosity

     (The entrance of the Victorias Catholic Cemetery)

In Chapter 27 of The History of Victorias, I was able to trace the journey of Don Gonzalo Ditching and his family from Fujian in China to Binondo (read blog here), although another chapter is planned to narrate the Ditching clan's journey from Binondo in Manila to Molo in Iloilo in the late 1890s, and finally to the growing town of Victorias in the northern part of the Negros Island in the Philippines in the early 1900s.

But since it's All Souls' Day and our Filipino tradition reminds us to visit our departed buried in the cemeteries, we must remember the benevolent donors of the land where the Victorias Catholic Cemetery stands today.

Of all hacienderos in Victorias in the 1900s, Don Gonzalo Ditching was the largest land owner with 500 to 700 hectares to his name, and according to his descendants, their great grandfather wanted to share his land with the people of Victorias, and one of these donations is now the Victorias Catholic Cemetery.

(The center of the Cemetery is where Catholic masses are held during All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day)

Before the creation of the Victorias Catholic Cemetery in the 1960s, the old cemetery was in the Malinong area in Barangay 7. Way back in 1934, a cemetery in the Malinong area was where all our departed in Victorias were buried. This must have been the origin of the name 'malinong', a Hiligaynon word that means serene or peaceful. During those years, after the requiem mass was said for the dead at the old Our Lady of Victory Parish church, the funeral procession would pass through the road (now known as Magsaysay Street) up to Malinong.

That time, Magsaysay Street used to be full of trees that were later cleared to create a dirt road that would serve as a path for a funeral procession from the church to Malinong. Yes, that was the original purpose of Magsaysay Street. This path was later named Magsaysay Street after President Ramon Magsaysay, who died on March 17, 1957 (read blog here).

But decades later, the cemetery in Malinong became too congested as the town and its population grew. They had to find a new site for another cemetery in the 1960s, and this was when the wishes of Don Gonzalo and Doña Simeona to donate a large piece of land that would serve as the final resting place for the departed Victoriahanon were finally realized.

Measuring about 19,813 square meters, the Victorias Catholic Cemetery was donated by the Ditching clan to the Diocese of Bacolod, and the Cemetery is now in the care of the Our Lady of Victory Parish. 

After clearing the land of trees and vegetation, the cemetery plan was drawn up, and the coffins, bones and sacred soil in the Malinong cemetery were transported to the new cemetery. If a family of the departed was not able to arrange for a new grave at the new site, those bones were put together in a common grave that is now called 'katilingban', meaning, a community. 

(The 'Katilingban' at the Victorias Catholic Cemetery)

In a public cemetery, a 'katilingban' is a small block of concrete where bones of the nameless dead from graves that had to be unearthed are buried. This is where you can light a candle for a departed whose grave or bones could no longer be located, or whose remains were exhumed and transferred to the common grave.

Before families visited their departed loved ones on November 1 or 2 every year, family members would visit the grave days before to have it cleaned or repainted white to prepare it for a proper visit by the family. Masses for the dead are held during those days at the cemetery.

With this huge land that he gave up for no monetary compensation, Don Gonzalo Ditching should be honored by the City of Victorias for this generosity of providing a resting place for the departed Victoriahanon. 

According to his descendants, this cemetery was not the only piece of land that he freely gave to the town as he was also the donor of the land where the Victorias City Hall and the Victorias Public Plaza stand today, and for this alone, he should also be given proper recognition. 

That claim of him being the donor of the land of the município and plaza is one thing that I could believe as I was able to disprove another claim of some people in position that it was Alejandro Acuna Yap-Quina who donated the land for the municipio and town plaza. The land that was donated by Alejandro Acuna Yap-Quin was located next to the Malihaw River as per the description of its exact  location narrated by the former mayor Esteban Jalandoni in his memoirs (read blog here). I have always believed that the donors of the land of the município and public plaza were the hacienderos who owned land that was situated near the current city center.

So, when we all visit the Victorias Catholic Cemetery to light candles for our departed, we also remember the kind Victoriahanon who donated the land where all of our departed are resting in eternal peace.

Madamo guid nga salamat, Don Gonzalo Ditching and Doña Simeona Jingco.🙏

(The marker inside the Our Lady of Victory Parish church remembering the generosity of the individuals who donated land and resources to the Parish)

(Read the chapters of Victorias History here).

#cemeteries #catholiccemeteries #publiccemeteries #undas #allsaintsday #allsoulsday #victoriaslgu #victoriascity #history #historian #philippinehistory #ditching #gonzaloditching

History That You Can Touch: 1821 Mexican Reales Coin Used In The Philippines During The Spanish Period

In the last history blog about old coins, I featured my 1898 US dollar coin. That coin was minted in the year when the Negrenses, the people of Negros island in the Philippines, successfully revolted against the Spaniards. That successful revolt is being celebrated every November 5 in the province of Negros Occidental as Cinco de Noviembre, a non-working holiday in the whole province.

After that successful revolution in 1898, the local officials of the small settlement of Victorias asked the newly installed government of the Republic Cantonal de Negros that Victorias be named a town and not just a mere barrio, according to the Memoirs of Esteban Jalandoni, the former secretary and mayor of Victorias. Their request was granted. This means that the year "1876" used in the official logo of Victorias City is wrong; it should be "1898". If there was any resolution or decree during the Spanish times that installed Victorias as a town before 1898, it must have been overturned in the years that followed because of the very low income generated by the settlement at Daan Banwa. For settlements that had bigger income and population, they were elevated to the status of a town. If they had poor income, they remained a barrio. This case could have been repeated in 1902 when the provincial officials again wanted to classify Victorias as a barrio, instead of a town because of its low income. But because of the intercession of former Negros Occidental governor, Melecio Severino, it stayed a town (Read Chapter 6 here). 

The earliest year that we could deduce from the stories narrated in the Memoirs of Esteban Jalandoni that proved that there was a settlement in Daan Banwa was before 1849 when there was a fatal stabbing incident in the Daan Banwa settlement. The narration of the crime did not include the year it happened. The crime had to be reported to Himamaylan, the capital of Negros Occidental at that time. It was only in 1949 that Bacolod became the provincial capital. The reason why the stabbing incident had to be reported to Himamaylan was because the Daan Banwa village was neither part of Saravia or Manapla. If it were, reporting it to the municipio of either Saravia or Manapla was enough, but since the incident had to be reported to Himamaylan meant that Bacolod was not yet the capital and that this stabbing happened before 1849.

These were specific events in the history of Victorias that came to mind when I held this 1821 coin. I wondered: how many families were already living in 1821 at the mouth of the river we now call Malihaw in an area we now call Daan Banwa? If there were, did these families come from Panay or Bohol, or other parts of the Visayas?

During the Spanish period, the coins used were from Mexico, the reales, and these coins were demoninated in 8-reales. The coins were brought to Las Filipinas via the Galleon Trade that started in 1565 until 1815. The Galleon Trade stopped because Mexico waged war against their Spanish colonizers to gain independence.

When this coin was minted, it was the year when the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico was then called 'New Spain') ended its administration over the Philippines became Mexico achieved its independence from Spain on August 13, 1821. The Viceroyalty's supervision over  Las Filipinas started in 1565 when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi started its Spanish colonization. After 1821, the Philippines was governed directly from Spain until 1898, and this coin was used in the Philippines during that time as the currency.

This coin's obverse (front side) features the view from the right side of King Ferdinand VII's face and head with the words "FERDIN VII" for King Ferdinand VII of Spain, and "DEI GRATIA", meaning, 'by the grace of God'. The "1821", the year it was minted, is written below it. King Ferdinand VII reigned twice: in 1808, and 1813 until he died in 1833.

The reverse shows the words "HISPAN ET IND REX", meaning 'Spain and the King of Indies'. It also shows a crown over symbols of crowned lions and castles that are sandwiched by the two columns of Hercules that are wrapped by ribbons. The dollar symbol ($) which has two vertical lines wrapped by ribbons is said to have originated from this symbol.

This coin has some silver content and weights 27 grams. As the Mexican reales coin was widely circulated in Mexico, the Philippines, and other Spanish colonies in the Americas, this coin must have had changed hands thousands of times since 1821. From Hispanic merchants to Chinese traders and to peninsulares, insulares and indios, and even pirates, this coin's history is more interesting than its design and commercial value.

This Mexican reales coin was the last of its kind as this was minted while Mexico was still under Spanish rule. Starting 1822, Mexico minted its own reales as an independent country.

(PHOTOS of the 1821 Mexican reales coin were taken at the Victorias City Hall and Victorias Public Plaza.)

#oldcoins #oldcoinscollection #mexico #mexicanreales #Spanishcoin #Spain #Philippines #numismatics #history #historians #Philippinehistory #coincollecting #VictoriasCity #victoriaslgu #Negros

The Anti-Red Tape Authority: Our Experience And How It Works For The People

Two months ago, I attended the hearing of the Committee on Anti-Red Tape (CART) in my hometown. The hearing was convened based on the instruction from the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), a body created by Republic Act No. 11032, that is "tasked to oversee and implement the national policy on ease of doing business and anti-red tape in the Philippines". ARTA is under the Office of the President of the Philippines.

The hearing was about my mother's complaint against a sitting city councilor who ignored our two requests to meet with her to discuss the implementing rules and regulations on the longevity ordinance that gives cash benefits to the elderly who are 80 years old and above.

My mother was turning 90 years old in September, but she could not receive the cash benefits of P15,000 for the elderly aged 90 to 99 years old due to the August 31 cut-off. These cash benefits were distributed during the Filipino Elderly Week on the first week of October. She would have to wait until next year to receive it, and so, we wanted to talk to the councilor who headed the committee for senior citizens about this. The city ordinance that authorizes the cash benefits does not mention any August 31 cut-off. This was what we wanted to discuss because, according to the CSWD staff, the implementing rules and revisions thereto were the responsibility of the councilor.

After a month of waiting for any action on our requests from the office of that councilor, we decided to use the law to remind this councilor of her duties as a public servant. 

Republic Act. No. 11032, officially titled, "An Act Promoting Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Delivery of Government Services, Amending For the Purpose Republic Act No. 9485, Otherwise Known as The Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, and For Other Purposes", allows ordinary citizens like us to lodge complaints against lazy, incompetent and unfit public officials.

At the hearing, I asked the presiding officer how many times had the CART been convened to hear any complaint, and she said it was the first time ever this happened. So, there, my mother made history! 

The hearing was attended by department heads and representatives of some department heads, but, to our disappointment, the councilor who was subject of the complaint did not even bother to show up. I found this disrespectful to the us, the complainants, and to the Committee. She must have felt that she was above the law. (Now, she has the gall to run for councilor at the next elections!😡).

Filing a complaint at the ARTA can be intimidating as the process tests your patience and determination to see the complaint through. For anyone who loathes bureaucracy, it would test you. But, fortunately, I have the patience of a Tibetan monk and the determination of Carlos Yulo to stick a landing after a three-and-a-half twists at the floor exercise.

Also, the local mayor, who is the chair of the CART, did not attend the hearing. And as my mother's representative, I was surrounded by about 20 city officials and employees who were department heads, staff, a councilor, a lawyer, a cameraman and recorder, and maybe a few ghosts of dead mayors who wanted to watch and listen to my performance.😃  

I told the Committee that it was very disappointing that I could not ask the councilor about the things she wrote in her response to my mother. I also told the Committee that, modesty aside, I was a writer and have won writing competitions locally and overseas, and I knew how to dissect a letter. I told them that the letter-response had 916 words but none of them was 'sorry', or 'apology', or 'apologize', or even a 'salamat'.

The consolation we received was that the department heads and the male city councilor present apologized to us and admitted that my complaint was "an eye-opener" for them, and that they needed to conduct a seminar again for their staff to remind them about the real public service, and probably to be extra nice to me when my shadow appeared in the corridors of the city hall.😀 

They also promised to take actions to prevent this from happening again to other local citizens.😉

I really don't care if, now, there's a big 'X' mark on my back.But at least, we tested the system and it seemed to work.

Since the councilor did not attend, and did not even apologize, the case had no closure. And since there was no closure, ARTA asked us to prepare a sworn affidavit so that they could file a case against the councilor in the proper court.

But my mother was tired of all this bureaucracy, and we believed that it would be embarrassing to the whole city, and humiliating to the sitting mayor, the Sangguniang Panlungsod and the rest of the city hall employees because, if this case became news, people from other towns would think that we voted for public officials who were lazy, incompetent and useless.😡

Remember this "3-7-20 Day Rule" under the Republic Act No. 11032: 

• SIMPLE transactions/communications must be completed by the government office concerned within three (3) days;
• COMPLEX transactions/communications within seven (7) days; and
• HIGHLY technical transactions within twenty (20) days.

So, if you think any government office - national, regional, provincial, local, or even at the barangay level - ignores your request or communication, do file a complaint against them. Why? Because we deserve a better government!😋

                               * * * * *

This is the website of the Anti-Red Tape Authority where you can file your complaint:

https://arta.gov.ph/

The email address of ARTA for your questions:

Complaints@arta.gov.ph

#ARTA #antiredtapeauthority #redtape #goodgovernance #corruption #publicservice #publicservants #Philippines 

History That You Can Touch: 1898 United States One Dollar Coin

On November 5, 1898, the Negrenses successfully revolted against the Spaniards and set up their own Republica Cantonal de Negros. According to Señor Esteban Jalandoni, our former town secretary and mayor, in the year 1898, the barrio officials of Daan Banwa went to ask the officials of the newly established Negros government for approval that the Daan Banwa settlement be officially declared a town. It was granted.

In 2019, during my early research about the history of Victorias, I noticed that the official seal of Victorias City contained the years "1906" and "1998". The "1998" was correct as this was the year Victorias became a city, but the "1906" was wrong because Victorias was already a town before 1906. I officially informed the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Victorias about this error in November 2022. The official seal was finally corrected a month later, only after I pointed out the error. The error has been sitting there since 1998, until I came along (read blog here). 

If Señor Jalandoni wrote in his memoirs that the Daan Banwa officials had to ask in 1898 the approval from the new Negrense government, this means that Victorias lost its status as a town or municipality if ever it was granted that status before 1898. In his memoirs, he mentioned that the income of the Daan Banwa settlement even in the late 1800s was so small that it was just considered a barrio or another village, and not worthy to be recognized as a town. In 1902, again, it almost lost this status as a municipality because of its poor income (read blog here). So, the correct years that should be seen on the official seal of the city are "1898", the year it was recognized by the Republica Cantonal de Negros, and "1998", the year it became a city.

This coin was minted in the year when the Philippines, along with Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico, was sold to the United States for US$20 million through the Treaty of Paris, the treaty that ended the war between the United States and Spain. This treaty signalled the end of the Spanish Empire and the birth of the United States as a world power.

This is what is called the Morgan dollar, named after George T. Morgan, the designer and the United States Mint Assistant Engraver. It's made of silver and weighs 26.73 grams. Its diameter is 38.10 millimeters and must have been minted in Philadelphia.

The obverse (main side) shows the profile of Lady Liberty with the words "E PLURIBUS UNUM", the motto of the United States that means "out of many, one". The year "1898" is at the bottom. The model for Lady Liberty was a real person, Anna Willess Williams, who was a teacher and philosopher. She is said to have a Grecian type of nose, which is a prominent feature of the profile in the coin.

The reverse shows "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and just below it are the words "IN GOD WE TRUST". The center shows an eagle with wings spread, and "ONE DOLLAR" is engraved at the bottom.

Also in 1898, Iloilo Province successfully revoted against Spain. On November 17 that year, the first-evr raising of the Philippine flag outside of Luzon happened in Santa Barbara, Iloilo (read blog here).

On to the next coin...😎

(Photos of the 1898 United States One Dollar were taken across and in the Victorias Public Plaza).

#morgandollar #1898 #TreatyofParis #oldcoins #1898coins #Philippinehistory #history #historians #numismatics #philippines

History That You Can Touch: 1944 Philippine Commonwealth Fifty-Centavo Coin

This is just a year older than the first 1945 coin I wrote about in my previous post (read blog here).

As part of America's plan to resurrect the economy of the devastated Philippines after World War II, it minted new coins to be used in the Philippines as the Japanese Imperial Army confiscated all the coins they could get their hands on. The coins they confiscated were brought back to Japan to be melted and used for their own purposes, probably for ammunitions and machinery.

Finally, on October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur landed in Leyte to start the campaign to recapture and liberate the Philippines, which gave everyone hope that this might be the beginning of the end of the war. By the time MacArthur landed in Leyte, the people of Victorias had already suffered for two years and five months in the hands of the Japanese invaders. And although the Japanese Imperial Army arrived in Victorias on May 27, 1942, the first Victoriahanon who died during World War II perished on December 16 or 17, 1942, days after the Japanese attacked the Philippines. Their ship sank in the waters of Manila Bay after it hit a sea mine (read blog here). During the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese took over Victorias Milling Company (VMC) and produced alcohol for the use of their military (read VMC history here).

(The obverse of the 1944 Commonwealth coin)

This coin also contained silver and was minted in San Francisco Mint, while coins using base metals were minted in other mints in the US. Identical with the 1945 coin, the obverse (main face of the coin) features a woman, with her hair flowing with the wind, standing with a hammer on her right hand, while her left hand seems to hold a flower. Before her is an anvil - a block of iron on which you put a metal that you want to flatten or shape into another form. The steaming Mayon Volcano is on her left, and at the bottom is the world "FILIPINAS", which is a carryover of the Spanish influence.

The reverse has "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" written on top with the official coat of arms of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in the middle that included a scroll with the words "Commonwealth of the Philippines". "1945" is written at the bottom.

     (The reverse of the 1944 Commonwealth coin)

Just like most Filipinos, whenever we see the years 1941 up to 1945 in our Philippine History, we all tend to remember with pain the suffering out ancestors endured in the hands of the invaders. This coin is also a real reminder of World War II. Liberation in Victorias came on April 26, 1945, when the first American soldiers arrived in Victorias. This is the reason why April 26 is celebrated as the feast of the Our Lady of Victory in Victorias.

The next coin will be a lot older.

(Photos of the 1944 coin taken at the Victorias Public Plaza).

#worldwarII #oldcoins #1944coins #PhilippineHistory #history #historian #WWII #Commonwealthcoins #numismatics

History That You Can Touch: 1945 S Fifty Centavos Philippine Commonwealth Coin

(The reverse or the opposite side of the coin)

Just like the 1734 Murillo Velarde map, artifacts and objects from the past always bring back stories during the time when they were created. Starting with this piece of coin, I am connecting the history of Victorias to the time it was minted.

This is my 1945 S Fifty Centavos Philippine Commonwealth coin that I am writing about today.

All these years about writing the History of Victorias City Philippines, I am lucky to have those black-and-white photographs at home whose stories were as fascinating as the personalities in the picture. I have always said that black-and-white photographs tell the most colorful of stories.

         (The obverse or the main side of the coin)

When this 1945 coin was minted, the Philippines was still suffering from the ravages of World War II. All Philippine coins during the war were confiscated by the Japanese Imperial Army and must have been brought back to Japan to be melted into ammunitions or machinery needed for the war. The Philippine had its own Manila Mint that was used by the Spaniards during their time, and later by the Americans. But during the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese must have used the facility for their own purposes. The mint was destroyed during the liberation of Manila. This is the reason why Commonwealth coins were minted in 1944 and 1945 in the US - to replace the ones that were confiscated by the Japanese. 

When the US saw the war was ending, it started minting coins for the Philippines. Coins with silver were minted at the San Francisco Mint, while coins using base metals were minted at other mints in the US. The 1945 Fifty Centavo coins had 'S' mark; 'S' stands for San Francisco. This coin was struck in 1945, the year the American forces liberated the Negros island from the control of the Japanese Imperial Army. In Chapter 17, I wrote about the way of life of the people of the town of Victorias (read blog here), and in Chapter 26, I wrote about the day when the first American soldiers arrived in Victorias (read blog here).

This coin has grooves around it and is about 0.75 silver. The obverse (main face of the coin) features a woman, with her hair flowing with the wind, standing with a hammer on her right hand, while her left hand seems to hold a flower. Before her is an anvil - a block of iron on which you put a metal that you need to flatten or shape into another form. The steaming Mayon Volcano is on her left, and at the bottom is the word "FILIPINAS", which is a carryover of the Spanish influence.

The reverse has "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" written on the top of with the official coat of arms of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in the middle that included a scroll with the words "Commonwealth of the Philippines". "1945" is at the bottom.

Almost 80 years old, it has become a real reminder of World War II, the time when our Victoriahanon ancestors endured, and eventually survived, the cruelest and saddest part of our history.

The photos were taken at the Victorias Public Plaza.

In the next posts, I will share some older coins from the 1900s, and even a few from the early 1800s.

#WorldWarII #oldcoins #1945coins #philippinehistory #history #historians #WWII #commonwealthcoins #numismatics #coins

Always Remembered, Monsignor Guillermo 'GG' Gaston

It was drizzling as I entered the grounds of the Carmelite Monastery in Mandalagan, Bacolod City. The cloudy skies came to mourn as well. As I learned beforehand that his body was to be brought that morning from the San Sebastian Cathedral to the Carmelite Church, this was a quieter place to pay my respects, I thought. When I came to the church's door, there was nobody else. From the back, I could see his white coffin surrounded by white and yellow flowers on the right side of the altar.

After making the sign of the cross, I walked towards his coffin; the sound of my light steps was accompanied by the occasional rustling of the winds that caressed the plants on both side of the church. This was my first time to visit the Carmelite Church and it felt, well, weird. Me, along in a church and approaching a casket. The eeriness I felt was just momentary. I was here to pay my respects, my tribute, my thanksgiving, and pray for this extraordinary man of cloth, a good friend and an institution in our Negrense communities: Monsignor Guillermo 'GG' Gaston.

                        (The Carmelite Church)

As I stood in front of his white coffin with his smiling portrait next to it, I whispered a greeting and introduced myself in Hiligaynon, telling him who and whose child I was. I remember thanking him for all that he had done for the faithful, his visits to our home and his endearing friendship with our family. But when I heard footsteps coming in into the church, I gave way to his next visitors and chose to sit at a pew a few rows down and prayed the holy rosary for him.

         (The rosary Monsignor GG gave my mother)

And then a very unusual thing happened. I was in the middle of the rosary and again alone inside the church when, out of a corner of my left eye, I think I saw a priest in a black sotana come in from the left side of the church. It was just a split second; the priest was young and handsome, and looked caucasian, like a foreigner. He was striding from one of the open archways at the left as if walking towards the altar. But then, when I turned my head towards him, nobody was there! The leaves of the plants at that area suddenly were rustled by a strong breeze! Again, nobody was there!

I just continued my rosary. And when I finished, I stood up and went back to Monsignor GG's coffin for a final farewell. I whispered to him to go in peace and asked him to pray for us when he is finally with The Father.

The last time we saw Monsignor Gg was when we, a group of his fans and friends in Victorias, visited him at his home in Hacienda Santa Rosalia in June 2022. We brought him merienda, asked for his fascinating stories, and made him feel he was always remembered and loved. All this while using a small whiteboard and a black marker to communicate with him as he had difficulty hearing. It was a fun afternoon for all of us.

And even years earlier, on one of my vacations in Negros, we drove up to visit him and were fascinated by his stories, including the one about his family's mansion was saved during World War II, which became this following piece. 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=143310208111630&set=a.102358232206828

(When we visited Monsignor GG during a Christmas vacation from Korea)

He had touched many lives and is still remembered by many, including my mother who still cherishes the rosary he gave her. 

Monsignor GG's contributions and service to the Negrense communities and to the faithful of the Diocese of Bacolod and its parishes are immeasurable. We all remember him today on his death anniversary.

Monsignor Guillermo Maria Azcona Gaston was born on March 7, 1932, and died on July 20, 2023. 🙏

#monsignorgaston #monsignorGG #dioceseofbacolod #bacolod #priest

The Stained Glass Artwork of Saint John Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio @ The Mary Help of Christians Church, Philippines

More than a decade ago, I was kneeling in front of the altar of the Basilica di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in the Don Bosco Valdocco district of Turin, mesmerized by the huge painting made by Tommáso Lorenzone where one could see at the center the Virgin holding a scepter with her right hand while carrying the Child Jesus on her left and surrounded by Apostles, Evangelists and angels. This has become the most familiar image to all Bosconians in the world, a painting that was created based on Don Bosco's detailed instructions. Today, inside the church named after her in the northern part of the Negros Island in the Philippines, separated by 11,000 kilometers of land and sea from Turin, I am again mesmerized, not by a painting but by another art form, and not of the Virgin but of her saint, Don Bosco.

At the wall of the eastern transept of the Mary Help of Christians Church inside the Canetown Subdivision of Victorias City, is a huge stained glass window that presents Saint John Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio in a familiar garb with a familiar background.

Saint John Bosco is wearing a barong tagalog, a Filipino shirt worn during formal occasions, in light gray and pants in tones of brown. Wearing a crucifix around his neck, Don Bosco is holding Saint Dominic Savio, his student who died at the age of 14 and was later canonized a saint. With both hands clasped together, Dominic Savio is also wearing a barong with blue and white geometric designs in front and light blue pants. 

Their background shows the northern Negros landscapes: mountains that can be seen when looking towards the east, and blue skies as well as a bright red-orange glow of a sunrise when God bestows upon the island a gift of anther day.

Both saints are standing on the fertile Negrense soil surrounded by sugarcane plantations depicted by a rich growth of green sugarcane leaves with rows of canes symbolizing the main produce of the island and the working sugar factory of Victorias Milling Company (VMC) with four of its six chimneys blowing out smoke. At the lowest part of the artwork is a small part of the railroad tracks supported by sturdy railroad ties made of wood. VMC used to have a railroad network of about 400 kilometers that meandered around haciendas and sugarcane plantations in northern Negros where its locomotive trains hauled sugarcane to the mill.

The halos of the two saints are drawn around their faces by lead rods formed in a circle, while the wrinkles on the forehead of Don Bosco, symbolizing his wisdom, are formed across his forehead. Impressive! Creating such beautiful stained glass windows require artistry, creativity and skill. I was told that a Mr. Boy Verdeflor made some of the stained glass artworks inside the Church.

The Don Bosco Technical Institute was established in 1952 inside the compound of the Victorias Milling Company after the Salesian Order in Hong Kong accepted the offer of VMC founder, Don Miguel Jose Ossorio, to open a school in VMC; that was 72 years ago. The Salesians of Don Bosco itself, founded by the Saint himself in December 1859, has 14,486 bishops, priests and novices in 133 countries around the world today. That was 164 years ago, and they continue to mold the minds and the character of the young with the teachings of the Saint.

The Salesians of Don Bosco are "open to the cultural values of the countries in which they work and try to understand them and welcome their values, to embody the message of the gospel." Seeing Don Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio in Filipino barong makes me believe that the saints are one with us Negrenses and Filipinos.

Stained glass windows require daylight to reveal its beauty. I would want to visit the Mary Help of Christians Church again one sunny morning.😊

#Donbosco #SaintJohnBosco #SaintDominicSavio #DominicSavio #Bosconian #MaryHelpofChristians #Catholic #Saints

My 1744 Murillo Velarde Map and The Philippine Independence Day

                  (My 1744 Murillo Velarde map)

In my blogs about the history of hometown, I have shared stories about the old black-and-white photographs from our family's collection. Digging into the stories and researching about the faces in the photographs were always rewarding, satisfying, and most of all, fun. I do this because history and stories about our past are meant to be shared, especially with the younger and future generations. And in doing this, what I discovered in the past years of researching and writing about my discoveries has always remained true: black-and-white photographs always tell the most colorful stories.

In this post to commemorate the 2024 Philippine Independence Day, I am sharing another historical artifact: my own 1744 Murillo Velarde map.

The 1744 Murillo Velarde map is the reduction of the 1734 map of Padre Pedro Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit friar, scholar and cartographer. This means that the 1744 map is a smaller version as it does not include the 12 illustrations that accompanied the original 1734 map.

The story about the 1734 Murillo Velarde map is a fascinating part of Philippine history.

Padre Pedro Murillo Velarde was a priest and a very learned person. He was an authority on many matters during his stay in Las Filipinas, and was an author of the Jesuit history in the Philippines. So, when King Philip (Felipe) V of Spain, who reigned from 1700 to 1746, ordered Fernando Valdes Tamon, the governor-general in Las Filipinas from 1729 to 1739, to provide him a map of his property in the east, Padre Pedro Murillo Velarde was tasked to do the project. 

King Philip ordered a detailed map to be made because he must have wanted to see for himself how his archipelago, located in another part of the world, looked like. During the Spanish colonial period, the Spanish decrees followed the feudal theory that it was the monarcy that owned all of the land. That is the regalian doctrine. Felipe V owned all the islands, although I am not sure whether he knew then that they all numbered more than seven thousand, high tide or low tide. 

Two indios, Francisco Suarez and Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay, helped in the creation of the map. Suarez drew the fascinating illustrations (and probably the images featured in the map itself) on both sides of the map while Bagay, a Tagalog who was in the employ of the Jesuits, engraved the map on the copperplates. Nicolas Bagay also helped in the printing of Jesuit books until his death. The 'project' took them about a year to complete and the finished product, officially named "Carta hydrographica y chronographica de las Islas Filipinas", was the most comprehensive and accurate, compared to what was already done at that time. It was called the first scientific map of the Philippines, naming 900 towns, regions and places, which to me, is already impressive; although I have not yet counted all the names in my map, not that I have any plan to.

Unfortunately for us, in 1762, the British attached Manila which caught the Spanish authorities by surprise. The attack happened on September 23 and the British finally captured Manila on October 6, 1762. Historians wrote that residents in Manila were either raped, tortured and killed, and offices and homes looted. Part of the loot was the eight copper plates of the 1734 Murillo Velarde map. The British commander, Brigadier General William Draper brought these plates to England and donated them to Cambridge University, his alma mater. The University then printed a few copies of the map, one of which ended up in the hands of the Duke of Northumberland who kept it at his Ainwick (pronounced an-nik) Castle. Those copper plates were later melted by the British to make their own charts. The engraving work of Nicolas Bagay of the map of Padre Pedro and the drawings of Francis Suarez disappeared forever.

That copy of the map kept by the Duke of Northumberland came into light when the current and 12th Duke decided to sell some treasures in his valuable collection to fund the repair of the drainage system in his land. The Duke auctioned off at Sotheby's about 80 art objects, and the 1734 Murillo Velarde map was labelled by the auction house as Lot #183. And in a successful bid over the phone, entrepreneur Mr. Mel Velarde bought it for an equivalent of almost Php 13 million. After more than 200 years, Mr. Velarde brought back the map to the beautiful island that are drawn on it.

              (Galit, Panacot and Lumbay shoals)

This map became part of the evidence furnished by the Philippine government when it filed in 2013 a complaint against that invader at the arbitrary tribunal that was constituted under the United Nationals Convention on the Law of the Sea. The tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines in July 2016. I realized that even from centuries past, Padre Pedro, Nicolas and Francisco helped us in this symbolic win against today's invaders. Then, in the early 1700s, they might not have realized that their drawings and the names of the shoals Galit, Panacot and Lumbay - the ones near Zambales in Luzon, and the three groups of dots representing the Kalayaan Island Group, or the Spratlys, which they called Los Bajos de Paragua (Paragua was the old name of Palawan) in 1734 were of tremendous help in our fight for our sovereignty in the early 21st century. 'Panacot' is Scarborough Shoal, named after a trading ship, SS Scarborough, that was shipwrecked in that area in 1748. These shoals were called by the Spaniards Bajo de Masinloc because they were nearest (about 240 kilometers) to the town of Masinloc in Zambales. The invader claims that it is theirs because it is within the several lines that they drew on the South China Sea with their greedy imagination. 

      (Bajo de Paragua - Kalayaan Island Group)

As I stare at the map, I wonder: how many other Spaniards and indios contributed to this map that is now known as "the mother of all Philippine maps"? 

                       (Negros island of 1734)

According to the article of Mr. Jorge R. Mojarro, Padre Pedro gathered all existing maps, charts, and any geographical information available at that time and studied them to come up with his 1734 comprehensive version. And all those maps of the archipelago that he used as references must have been prepared by other Spaniards and indios who lived in that specific region or island. This made me ask, was the person or persons who mapped out our Negros island totally surprised when the map they finally drew of the Negros island was shaped like a foot? In the first place, did some cartographer from Europe taught them how to map out an island? I wonder how they accurately drew the curves of the coastlines or the ridges of the land. Did they travel by boat around an island until they reached the point of their origin? Did they venture into the forests and encountered wild animals and huge snakes until they came close to the foot of Mount Kanlaon or Mount Mayon? In the map, both are drawn properly, by the way. It was easy for one to overlook the effort and time, and probably lives lost as well, that were spent to create this. But rather than just staring at it, I am in awe of those hands from centuries past who created what Mr. Mel Velarde calls "the map being the one true land title of every Filipino". 

But as we again celebrate our Independence Day, we ask ourselves: are we really independent? Have we gotten rid our country of colonizers and invaders who, like the attack in 1762, are catching us by surprise?

Yes, at first glance, the map may look crude and unappealing. But through their magnificent work from 290 years ago, Padre Pedro Murillo Velarde, Franciso Suarez, and Nicolas Bagay still remind us not to take for granted the freedom and liberties the Filipinos of centuries past had worked hard for.

Happy Independence Day!

Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan! 

Sources:

https://www.esquiremag.ph

https://murillovelardemap.com/manila-london-back-story.../

https://murillovelardemap.com/the-murillo-velarde-map-a.../

https://lawphil.net/.../jur.../jul2019/gr_192956_leonen.html

#murillovelardemap #map #Philippines #philippineindependenceday #arawngkalayaan #history #historian #victoriashistory #victoriaslgu #negros #maps #essay