Reflectors
Dec. 19- 24, 2016 Vanguard OPINION
Vintage View
By Prof. Rolly Borrinaga
Palo 400 years ago
In the run-up to the visit of Pope Francis to Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte on January 17, 2015, I featured some essays I had written or published in the past on the history of Palo. In this item, I provided the English translation of the Spanish narrative about this town 400 years ago by Manuel Artigas y Cuerva in his book Reseña de la Provincia de Leyte( Manila, 1914). It provides a context of this town in those years.
Palu was a visita [ village with chapel but no resident priest ] of Dagami, which could be considered until 1595 and even some years later like a simple rancheria( homestead). In the mentioned time and month of September [ 1595 ], the Augustinian religious that were the first ones to evangelize this town, turned it over to the Jesuits. Those who arrived were Fathers Juan del Campo and Alonso Humanes, who found that there was not a established town [ here ] and that each principal( prominent resident) formed a group of his own, there being in the town but two houses, occupied by the servants of the encomenderos( territorial trustees).
Reflectors
By Reynaldo B. Almenario
Of late, 14 senators reportedly voted to give Pres. Duterte emergency powers to use in solving the Metro Manila traffic problem. This without even a clear strategy how to address the problem substantially. Thus, if only to contribute our cent’ s worth to tackling the traffic issue, below are some thoughts the administration may consider--in addition to the what effective measures the MMDA is now implementing. In the immediate term:
• Do not approve the renewal of old vehicles and the registration of new vehicles if the owners do not have their own carpark. For where else would their vehicles be parked if not along the streets, thus stealing so much space for a free flow of traffic?
• Penalize all vehicle owners / drivers for parking along streets any time of day.
The inhabitants of this town at that time [ 1595 ] celebrated sacrifices in honor of the Maganitos. And they adored their gods, [ by ] calling to the old Humalagares [ lit., abiders; i. e., ancestor spirits ], and were allowed polygamy.
The Jesuit were opportune at their entry, because those [ residents ] of Palu who had rebelled against the encomenderos( territorial trustees), from whose faces could be seen the history of sad memories, were then quite exalted, and the Spaniards had seen the necessity of arming themselves, for fear of being attacked.
The Jesuits worked with tact. They established a seminary where [ the boys ] were trained to read, to sing and
to play the flute. And three years after their arrival, on August 1598, they inaugurated their Church and convent with very good auspices, such that the principal( prominent resident) Kanganga, who lived in Malirong about a league [ distance ] from Palu, and who was the ruler of that doctrina( evangelization area), accepted the Christian religion and was baptized, godfathered by the Corregidor( military commander) of the Island, the alferez( second lieutenant) Francisco Rodriguez de Ledesma, and received the name of Juan.
There was already then, as missionary of the town, Father Cristobal Jimenez, who had arrived in October 1596. Belonging to Palu were the towns of Malirong, Dagami, Banayon and Malaguikay.
Father Humanes wrote to the principales( prominent residents) with the intention of attracting them and it was his affectionate achievement that the people abided by his wish. Speaking of this [ process ], he said:
( Go to p. 9)
Some measures to address Metro Manila traffic
• If parking should be allowed on some streets, then install parking meters and charge the vehicle owners reasonable fees.
• Regulate the number of new vehicles to be registered each year, by district, according to the capacity of Metro Manila streets to absorb traffic.
• Penalize bus, jeepney and passenger van drivers that stay beyond the time limit allotted at loading and unloading points. The Baclaran area, close to the overpass and just beyond the flyover, is one critical choke point especially during rush hours( beginning at 6:00pm) in view of jeepneys, buses and passenger vans that stay too long in search of passengers. More often than not, traffic on top of the flyover stands still for long minutes, exposing the passengers and people and vehicles under the flyover to great risk
should the strength of the old flyover give way to the weight of vehicles on top. In most cases, we don’ t see traffic aides in this area to rid the choke point of overstaying jeepneys, buses and passenger vans.
• Repair all non-functioning traffic lights at road intersections. For instance, the traffic lights at the Casimiro-Alabang Zapote Road intersection have been left non-functional for ages. There are traffic aides manning the intersection and directing traffic, but they only cause undue delays in the movement of vehicles from all directions. These traffic lights must have cost the city government a fortune to acquire, yet why leave these unrepaired until now? Is it simply to employ the traffic aides who would have been otherwise jobless? As it is, the pedestrians are left with-
( Go to p. 8)
Celebrating Christmas in the Philippines
By Ralph Alvin Canoy
Remember back then when you’ re just a kid? Looking for tansans( small metal caps of bottled soda), hammering and flattening them down to have your own makeshift-tambourine; prepping up for the upcoming Christmas carol with your friends? After which, you and your friends will be singing the all-time Christmas-song favorites, filling up the air with common, yet calming tones of the season? Well everybody does, however it seems like with all the modern stuff popping out, the happy memory is deemed to stay as it is.
With modernization happening and progressing rapidly right under our noses, this is just the beginning. Ever been to a restaurant wherein most of the customers have their attention divided among the food and their smartphones? Of course, you have. Well probably we all have.
Maybe, you are one of the many people included in that lot. But, why is that so? Why is more than half of the customers so focused on their smartphones? The answer probably lies with the device itself. The smartphone as the name implies— is smart. And by means of being smart, it isn’ t just your average level of intelligence. This is at par with what a computer can do since it is technically a handy computer.
And with that said, it is capable of doing a long line of things. Things, that will and can pique somebody’ s interest. This interest-theft I’ m talking about in here covers a great depth as of this moment. Down from the simplest things such as note taking, alarm clock, music player up to the most complex ones such as blogging, posting anything in different social medias— anything you have in mind, it pretty much covers it.
However, among the
To all our readers
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fewer, bigger things that the trend of smartphones can influence, one we could probably say that it can influence greatly is our culture.
Our culture, as a matter of fact, is currently evolving from stones to diamonds; from libraries to Google. So, with that said in this era of smartphones, and with the season brimming in the air, how will we celebrate Christmas right at this moment?
As per observation, in which most of you will agree with me, we’ d probably have our Christmas on our right hands and our smartphones on the left.
It will, and always will be stuck with everything we do. And it is visually observable. Here in our place, perhaps a year or two ago, the streets will be busy, filled with kids singing Christmas tunes in front of different houses.
However, now it seems like instead of looking for tansans, they are looking for followers. Followers in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other social media you can name.
And, the saddest thing about this, is that with the magnetic force of social media present, the spirit of Christmas is now ceasing to exist. Or probably, in the brink of that scenario. Whichever might be the case, our culture is directly affected.
The long history of Christmas Carols, Christmas decorations lining our streets will just stay the same— history. And probably, Filipinos will have a change of heart.
Maybe they will post something in their social medias. Or, perhaps they might snap of something evident that we still the Christmas in our hearts. However, that won’ t change a thing. Still, we are stuck with our smartphones.
Everything we do, we have our phones with us. Might as well give the happiest Christmas to another country, since we obviously do not deserve it anymore. #
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
from
The Weekly Vanguard staff and personnel