Last Thursday, I was able to join a media tour to the house where National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco once lived.

Carlos “Botong” Francisco was one of the greatest Filipino visual artists and muralists, best known for his vibrant, sprawling murals specially commissioned by the Malacañang Palace, Manila City Hall, Philippine General Hospital and Fort Santiago.

His masterpieces include the Malacañang mural “Fiesta”, “Code of Kalantiao (private collection), “Blood Compact” (Yuchengco Museum / RCBC Building), “First Mass at Limasawa” (National Museum), “The Martyrdom of Rizal” (Fort Santiago), “Bayanihan sa Bukid,” “Stations of the Cross” (Far Eastern University), “The Invasion of Limahong,” “Serenade,” and “Muslim Betrothal.”

Botong was also a multidisciplinary artist, working in the movies as a scriptwriter and production designer.

But more than anything, Botong was an artist who addressed the issue of national identity. Yet, despite his great impact on Philippine art, his works have grown obscure to the younger generations of Filipinos.

Part of the house has now been converted into a museum which cntains some sketches and memorabilia owned by the National Artist. Another section of the house has also been converted into an art gallery for Botong Francisco’s grandson, Carlos “Totong” Francisco II.

The museum houses an impressive collection of Botong Francisco’s sketches, old magazines, photos and some gifts from friends.

From there we then head to the house of Mr. Salvador Juban who was once his apprentice. Mr. Juban was able to retell his story with the art master citing a few anecdotes which we all love to listen. We got to visualize who Botong Francisco is from the point of view of somebody who has directly worked with him.

The art gallery also has a good collection of painting currently on display.

To rekindle interest in Botong Francisco, Vibal Foundation, Inc. (VFI) introduces a new addition to its Art Series of imprints: The Life and Art of Carlos V. Francisco.

The Life and Art of Carlos V. Francisco is set to be launched at the National Museum on Aug. 19, alongside another VFI Art Series title, Francisco V. Coching, which chronicles the milieu of the popular komiks illustrator, also edited by Flores, and accompanied by the full-color republication of Coching’s masterpiece work “El Indio.”

An exhibit, entitled “Telling Modern Time,” accompanies the launch and showcases a focused view of Botong and Coching’s works in the popular context.

The Botong and Coching books follow VFI’s first Art Series release in 2008, Fabian de la Rosa and His Times.

Listen to Salvador Juban as he recalls his life experiences with Botong Francisco:

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The life and Art of Carlos Botong Francisco

The World Pyro Olympics 2009 will be held at the grounds of Fort Bonifacio. I have alreasy seen the map, but have yet to double check where is this actually located, since the map has no distinguishing marks like builsing names or street names. But one thing is sure, this year’s edition will be more grander than ever!

The 2009 World Pyrolympics isn’t just fire works at all. This year, all countries will be blasting their fireworks at synch with the music! Isn’t that cool?

The Pyro Olympics in Manila will run for five Saturdays, from November 7 until December 5, 2009.

This year’s participating countries are:

Italy (Defending Champion)
United States
United Kingdom
Germany
China
South Korea
Japan
Australia
Philippines (Guest Participant)

Just like during the previous World Pyrolympics, on the last weekend of the show, all countires will perform together in a production known as the “Fellowship of Fire” to be followed by the special performance from the Host Country.

Full Schedule will be posted once updates are available.

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World Pyro Olympics 2009 is back!

Oops. The Malacañang Palace has just declared that July 27 will be a WORKING HOLIDAY. This means that Everyone needs to be at the office desk before the bell rings, You know what I mean

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July 27 declared as holiday in the Philippines

The New 7 Wonders of Nature (N7WN) organizers announced that after the top 77 candidates have been determined, the New7Wonders Panel of Experts, led by Prof. Dr. Federico Mayor, former Director-General of UNESCO, will then take over to select the 28 Finalists. The 28 Finalist Candidates will be announced on July 21, 2009.

Voting for the nominees that will be eligible to be chose as an Official Finalist Candidate closes at midnight, July 7. Voters anywhere in the world can take part in the poll through www.new7wonders.com or via the international telephone voting line, or with a personalized voting certificate.

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River has slipped to number 2 on the poll. The Philippine entry is vying for the top spot, which is currently occupied by the Amazon River, among other 54 nominees under the category of Forests/National Parks/Nature Reserves.

There are currently 261 nominees from all over the globe, competing in 7 different categories, only 77 of which will remain after voting ends in July 7, 2009. The campaign is at its second of three stages.

The contenders have been classified into 7 groups which are: Landscapes/Ice Formations, Islands, Mountains/Volcanoes, Caves/Rock Formations/Valleys, Forests/National Parks/Nature Reserves, Lakes/Rivers/Waterfalls, and Seascapes.

Renowned as the world’s longest underground river, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park also features a stunning limestone karst mountain landscape. Inside its large chambers are stalactites and stalagmites formations, while at the mouth of its cave thrives a bustling ecosystem which includes monkeys, large monitor lizards, and squirrels.

The New 7 Wonders of Nature is an ongoing campaign sponsored by the New 7 Wonders Foundation based in Switzerland. The same group initiated the New 7 Wonders of the World project in 2007.

Majority of the visitors on the N7WN website has likewise voted for Manila as the venue for the proclamation of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in 2011.

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Last call to vote for Palawan Subterranean River in New7Wonders

The two events were spearheaded by Janette Toral of Digital Filipino. The SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Workshop is actually more of a refresher course for me, since I already have some background regarding this topic.

But the much awaited event was the bloggers fellowship night at the Casino Fililipno Hotel. It was actually my first time to meet most of the Bacolod-based bloggers since I only knew a handful of them before this grand occassion. I am also happy to see some Iloilo City bloggers who joined the party.

Twas nice seeing Glady again. Last time I saw her was last April when we met in SM Bacolod after I gave her Media ID for the Panaad sa Negros Festival. I am also happy to meet Annie May Valdez, got to her through the Skyscrapercity forum, but its actually our first time to meet face to face.

I’m also happy that Marc and Junnjun in in Bacolod. Both of them stayed with me for a night in Tangub. Junelle gave me an Iloilo bloggers Tshirt. Yey! Thanks Junelle, kitakits next time.

I was so surprised that Ajay who works for Pagcor is also in Bacolod for the event. She flew from Manila Friday, while I arrived in Bacolod, Thursday. She also didn’t know I’m coming. Had I known that she is in town, we could have toured the entire city and feasted on the great foods Bacolod has to offer!

The night started with the usual introduction of the name/URL. then after dinner we did the table hop to make new friends and of course, photo op!

Sorry lang I was so tamad last weekend to get my camera out of the bag! HAHAHA

There were door prizes raffled of to lucky blogger! I won 500 first bet voucher at the casino. So I tried my luck in Baccarat and I won PHP1,000! not bad, since I didn’t even did a cash out.

After the event, Audrey, Marc, Junnjun Ajay and I all went to Cafe Bobd in Lacos Street for another round of Chismis and coffee and Cakes! I paid for the coffee, thanks to my casino winnings! LOL

That weekend was really a blast. I hope I’d get to see the Bacolod Bloggers again when I return October 14 just in time for the Masskara Festival 2009

Many many thanks to Janette Toral for bringing this great event to Bacolod. Sa uulitin!

I’d also like to thank Alvin Chua and Hunt Key for the plane ticket!

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BYAHILO at the Digital Filipino Bloggers meet in Casino Filipino Bacolod!