Ezequiel Sabarillo and "Los últimos de Filipinas"

Ezequiel Sabarillo is unique among all the immigrant Filipinos living in Spain. He is known as the keeper of the flame of "Los Ultimos de Filipinas." The Last Ones in the Philippines have forever entered the consciousness of Spanish popular culture as those brave and noble Spanish soldiers who made a year-long last stand for their empire in a small church in Baler, Quezon against the Katipunan. Their surrender and their subsequent pardon by President Emilio Aguinaldo is now marked every June 30 as Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day.

This historical incident has loomed so large in the Spanish imagination that countless books, songs, and even a popular historical film to the point that Spaniards make jokes about it. And Ezequiel keeps the flame of Baler burning bright by bringing together all the relatives of the survivors of the Last Stand in the Phi

On the Fifth Anniversary of 9/11

Photo 2001 © by The New York Times and Fred R. Conrad

I am writing this as the roll call of names is being read in the void of the World Trade Center. It's a beautiful crisp and bright late summer day, exactly like it was five years ago. I still remember the sounds of the two jets as they came low over my lower Hudson River home following the course of the giant river straight into their targets. Perched high on the river I can still remember the two frightful mushroom clouds that suddenly engulfed the site as the towers came crashing down. We thought there had been a nuclear attack.

I remember the total chaos, the collapse of the whole telephone system, the reigning confusion from conflicting TV and radio news reports (the White House had been attacked, a nuclear bomb had gone off in LA, the President and Vice President had both gone into hiding), the frantic call to my brother-in-law Bobbit begging him to leave Citibank's Wall Street office as I watched the South Tower collapse, the hundreds of concerned phone calls from around the world, the empty cars that stood unclaimed at the end of the day at the Dobbs Ferry train station, the blizzard of Missing posters, and always the din of emergency and police sirens that wailed throughout the day.

Then the hundreds of anecdotes. My cousin Marietta, stranded high above the air that day; her plane was finally diverted to Toronto. Ross working at the 99th floor for AON Corporation, saved only because he had been called the day before to go to Cleveland, hundreds of his colleagues died in 2 World Trade Center. Bobbit walking miles from downtown to pick up his son William uptown and their long way home to Connecticut. Marita, alighting at the grand concourse just moments after the first crash, suddenly pushed into the path of thousands of panicking commuters. How lucky she was to have kept her wits about her as she struggled against the thousands struggling to escape from the building. The working mothers who escaped only because their children had demanded extra attention that morning. Your survival that day seemed to be only because of happenstance.

I had a scheduled trip to Morocco the following month and I struggled against the idea. Finally I decided to go, being the only Americans on the tour, except for a brave family from Washington DC. We were apprehensive how Muslims would treat us. But everywhere we were welcomed, even in the tiniest hamlet. Most of the Moroccans knew of what had happened and were happy to see us there with them.They admired how brave we were. Perhaps just in the same way that I admired all the brave cops and firefighters of NYC that fateful day.

Two years after I found myself in Tunisia amidst the worsening international crisis brought on by America's inexorable fall into Iraq. And yet I found out that Tunisians are the most hospitable and least prejudiced people in the world. It's such a strange impression, given the level of alacrity that the media gives to the Muslim world. What a genuinely friendly people, even to a lone American. In Europe the atmosphere was quite different and charged. Friends escalated the level of aggressive talk against American politics and our so-called "war on terror."

Three years ago I was in Madrid just a month before their own version of 9/11. I took the very same train every morning to commute from Guadalajara to Atocha Station in Madrid, riding the same Cercanía 2 wagon, the very same type that was exploded by terrorist bombs on March 11, 2004.

Last year I found myself in London on the very day of their second Underground bombings, July 21. Again I experienced the same feeling of dislocation, deja vu, and fear.

It's been five years since the momentous events that forever changed America and the rest of the world. And I'm ashamed to admit that I have avoided being in New York every time the anniversary came around. But this year is different, somehow with the distance of space and time I can now allow myself to contemplate. I suppose I can't always run away from remembering.

I have never said it, but I did take hundreds of photos documenting the aftermath of the event. I have never gotten the time or the courage to share them with you. And maybe I never will. Perhaps it is better left off as some distant and sacred memory that I will always keep deep within me.

LINK TO OFFICIAL WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE

LINK TO FINAL DESIGN OF WTC MEMORIAL

The proposed master design by Architect Daniel Liebeskind uniting the designs of 7 great international architects. Clockwise from upper left: Freedom Tower designed by David Childs; immediately below it 7 World Trade Center by the same architect; Tower 2 with the four slanted diamond tops by Sir Norman Foster; below Tower 2 is the Santiago Calatrava PATH transportation station; Tower 3 by Sir Richard Rogers, reminiscent of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in HK; Tower 4 by Fumihiko Maki, the least obtrusive design, bottom left quadrant, the WTC Memorial Garden, "Reflecting Absence," by Michael Arad. Note that the original footprints and slurry walls of the original Twin Towers have been preserved. Scheduled day of completion: January 1, 2011

Solved! The Mystery of the Palace of the Viceroy of Manila, Molina de Aragón, Spain

On a very hot spring day this year my friends Carlos, Jaime and Marius took a daytrip to Molina de Aragón, a delightful small town in the province of Guadalajara. An English student of Jaime's had been nagging us about visiting the town which he claimed had a direct relation to the history of the Philippines.

When we got to the town we discovered that everyone seemed to know where the Palacio del Virrey de Manila is. Yes, they said, go to the corner of Calle Quiñones and you will see a stone facade with the heraldic insignia of the Viceroy. When we arrived we discovered a 3-storey stone palace with an imposing principal entrace surmounted by a seal decorated with 2 putti holding aloft a royal crown, and with decorations of armaments, musical instruments, flags, castles and a tree.

What was more exciting was discovering that the facade had once been covered with extensive murals; we were told by the locals that the expanse of blue green color once represented beautiful images of Manila from the seaside and that there were several allusions to the sciences, painting and the navy, of which the Viceroy had been very fond of.

Carlos and Jaime were approached by several very friendly natives, but unfortunately the Palacio had passed from the original owners to a new one who now maintained it as a private home. The local history museum was closed and we were resigned to the fact that the Palacio del Virrey de Manila would remain a tantalizing enigma.

Serendipity to the rescue! While working for Filipiniana.net, I began tracking down an important historical account by the 32nd Philippine Governor General Fernando Valdés y Tamón. On googling his name I saw out of the corner of my eye a search result with the words Virey de Manila and I knew in an instant that I had now solved the mystery...

Don Fernando Valdés Tamón was the governor general of Islas Filipinas from 1729 to 1739 and unsuccessfully tried to colonize the Palaus from 1730 to 1733. Don Fernando did sign a treaty of peace with the Sultan of Jolo Muhammad Alimuddin. After ten years of grappling with the vexing problems of the Spanish Orient, he returned to Madrid remaining in favor with the court of the Bourbons. In Madrid he met a young noblewoman from the town of Aragon de Molina. Marriage followed soon after with the palace being erected in 1740. The couple filled the palacio with murals, paintings, tapestries and other sumptuous furniture that it was said that they spent a "thousand and one happy nights" there. The noble house passed on to their descendants of Brigadier Vigil de Quiñones until their family sold it recently to the new owners who are busy renovating it.

The New Numa Numa Song & Dance Now a Certified Worldwide Phenomenon

Currently making the viral rounds of the internet is the "New Numa Numa Song." It features an obese American boy lipsynching to the original Romanian Moldovian song Dragostea din tei by Dan Balan of pop groupO-zone.

Mr Gary Brolsma, 20, of Saddle Brook NJ rocketed to worldwide fame on the back of a spontaneously recorded webcam performance of his lypsynching and dancing to a Romanian pop song. Posted on the newgrounds website in December 2004, it quickly gathered more than 2 million views in less than 2 months.

To date more than 10 million viewers have watched Mr. Brolsma gyrate to the original "Numa Numa" song. (The words are derived from the chorus sung in Romanian "Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei/ Nu ma, nu ma iei/ nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei" meaning 'You want to leave/ but you don't want don't want to take me,/ don't want don't want to take me,/ don't want don't want don't want to take me'").

Hounded by the American media ("Good Morning America", VH1, even the New York Times ), Mr Brolsma soon went into hiding, cancelling his appearance on NBC's "Today Show" and turning down numerous requests for media interviews.

But two days ago, he experienced a sudden change of heart with the release of his second song. In two days it has gained more than a million views and has been bookmarked as a people's favorite more than 7000 times. Now recognized as an instant worldwide phenomenon "Numa Numa" has entered the Wikipedia encyclopedia.


LINK TO THE ORIGINAL Numa Numa Song and click on "Watch This Movie!" on upper right

LINK TO NEW Numa Numa Song

Rediscovered: A Lost Spanish Fort in Calamianes, Palawan

Photo © 2004 by islomaniac

In browsing references to Relación de las Islas Fiilpinas by Fernando Valdés Tamón (1739) I found this very exciting report of a lost Spanish fortress that was found by a certain Cheyenne Morrison (President of the Islomaniacs Society and Private Island Specialist) who took time to read Governor General Valdés Tamón's original account and the subsequent retelling by Vicente Barrantes in 1878. This just illustrates how powerful the Internet is when it gives the public unprecedented access to previously hidden archives.

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THE CASELEDAN SPANISH FORTRESS
Location: 13.5 kilometers from Town Proper, in Pangaraycan, North Bay, Barangay Maroyrogrog, Calamianes Islands
by Cheyenne Morrison

"During my last expedition to the remote Linapacan Islands of the Calamianes group of Palawan I became the first person to document and photograph the Lost Spanish Fortress of Caseledan. The fortress was mentioned in some guides to the area, and is mentioned in records of the 18th century as such.

On the island of Linacupan, beside the town and on the edge of the sea, rose a rock whose ascent was difficult with only one access to the top. A plain extended over it and there a parapet of masonry had been constructed, surrounded and guarded by artillery. It dominated the town and defended its entrance so well that it couldn't be attacked without the attacker being attacked in return. Within was a church, quarters for the troops, some houses of refuge for the inhabitants and a natural spring that provided sweet and potable water. The inhabitants and the priests, without any aid from the central government, supported the fort. It was only during the administration of Gov. Fernando Valdés Tamón (1739) that four cannons, the battery and gunpowder were sent for its defense. -- Vicente Barrantes (1878)

The Provincial Government Tourism Guide to Palawan merely said..

"Caseledan Spanish Fort. 13.5 kilometers from Town Proper"

That was all I had to go on, but every time I went to Linapacan nobody could tell me exactly where it was located; so on my latest trip I decided to finally track it down.

On the morning of Monday the 8th of November (2004) after a 3-hour bangka (local boat) trip we arrived in San Miguel, the main town of the municipality of Linapacan. We stayed overnight with one of the local councilors and asked many people where the fort was located, as usual nobody could tell us exactly. I knew that it was supposed to be located in Caseledan and when I asked where this was people knew that it was located on the other side of the island. The next day we proceeded over to the other side of the island, the western side of the island has two large bays, each of these bays is then divided into a further 5 smaller bays. Entering one of the larger bays we stopped a local fisherman for directions to the village of Caseldan, he pointed in a rough area, but as we proceeded closer we couldn't see anything. Coming closer into the end of the bay we asked another fisherman who gave us a better direction. Finally we could see a small bay with a beach dominated by a large hill, a deep anchorage extended into the bay and there were 3 houses on the beach.

I pointed to the hill covered in very old trees and said to my friends "That's the Fort, I'm sure of it because it's in the right place and those trees are very old."

Sure enough when we asked the people on the beach they said yes the fort was on the hill. We went just behind the beach where we came upon a small stream which fed into a well. Just past this a small trail turned left and steeply up the hill. After a few minutes of pushing our way through the undergrowth I spotted the first stone wall which was only 2 foot high, this was the edge of the outer rampart which surrounds the fortress proper. After about 5 meters we came to a corner of the fortress and we followed the walls along to the front of the fort which is dominated by two baluartes or bastions. These are heavily overgrown by Balete trees, a kind of strangler fig which has grown up through the fortress walls giving it the appearance of the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

As we progressed our way around the wall we passed the other baluarte and as we rounded a short wall we came to the entrance to the fortress. As we entered a very large gate a stairway was immediately to our left, we took this up to the upper ramparts of the fortress and with difficulty made our way all the way around. From the SW baluarte we could see the beach 250 feet below us, and if the trees were cleared we would have a fantastic view of the surrounding area. In the middle of the fortress it is overgrown with trees, some of them with huge roots.

As we stood on the upper parapet of the SW baluarte I finally had achieved the goal I had since childhood of find an abandoned ruin in the middle of the rainforest, and like many of my heroes I had discovered a valuable piece of history forgotten in all but name. As I stood up there and gazed down into the bay I could almost feel what it must have felt like being a Spanish soldier in one of the most remote outposts in the world.

LINK

PHOTO ALBUM

A landmark Hispanic Philippines study: Colonias para después de un imperio

I recently finished reading Josep M. Fradera's landmark cross-colonial study, Colonias para después de un imperio. In contrast to most other historians who base their colonial narratives on documents and studies from their particular countries, Señor Fradera crosses the oceans to compare the experiences of the three colonies left behind with the metropolí after the 1820s: Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

Through this exhaustive 750-page book, Sr. Fradera examines the economic structures that were established to continue the fiscal maintenance of each colony, going into a comparative detailed study of their nascent sugar and tobacco industries, as well as the social systems built around them, in particular slavery. He also examines very carefully the political systems in each colony, which were a marked contrast from the liberal tendencies in Madrid.

He exposes the systematic exclusion of the American and Philippine colonies from the constitutional processes resurgent in 19th century Spain, leaving them under an authoritarian rule in sharp contrast to that of the Peninsula. This book is a landmark study not only in the Philippines but also in Spain, because it establishes definitively the authentic global dimensions of Spanish history from the 18th to late 19th century.

Sr. Pradera is a Ph.D. in contemporary history of Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and currently teaches at Universidad Pompeu Fabra. He was a visiting professor at Harvard and New York University. He has published several titles on comparative colonialism, including the brilliant book Filipinas, la colonia más peculiar (CSIC: Madrid, 1999).

CASA DEL LIBRO, MADRID LINK

Twilight Dancers: Official Philipine Entry to Toronto International Film Festival

Pinoy New Yorkers are agog that Mel Chionglo's film Twilight Dancers will be one of the two Philippine entries to the biggest film festival in the world. The movie premieres on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11.

It seems that Pinoy cinema is making a mark in the world with a specialized genre, as noted by TIFF programmer Cameron Bailey:

"The macho dancer story has become a small genre within Filipino cinema, with Chionglo at its forefront. His Midnight Dancers and Burlesk King took inspiration from Lino Brocka's Macho Dancer, mining both the desperation and the unabashed sexuality of this world. With Twilight Dancers, Chionglo once again finds an unexpectedly graceful balance between sober social drama and pure erotica."

Pinoy Americans can't believe that this movie has been nominated, coming so soon after last year's Philippine submission of Ang Masahista. Vernon Totanes (Filipino Librarian) in Toronto now for postgraduate studies wonders "I wouldn't be surprised if some Canadians start thinking that all Filipino men are as good-looking as the macho dancers they've seen on the big screen. Actually, I wouldn't mind being mistaken for one =)".

LINK TO MOVIE TRAILER

LINK TO TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM GUIDE

LINK TO MEL CHIONGLO'S NEW YORK TIMES FILM REVIEWS AND FILMOGRAPHY