FACE N' KNOW ABOUT IT!!!

Filipino Basketball Citizenship issues

2010-11-12T03:20:00.001-08:00

http://www.manilatimes.net/others/sp...31110spe1.html

http://www.manilatimes.net/others/sp...31111spe1.html

Posted on Monday, November 10, 2003
‘Fil-pretenders’ put up zone
defense against deportation
By Dave L. Llorito, Research head
(First of 2 parts)
FOR Sen. John Osmeña, what is at stake in the controversy regarding the so-called Fil-foreigners is not only the “credibility and integrity of the Philippine Basketball Association [PBA].” It’s also the “sanctity and honor of having Filipino citizenship.”
On August 7, 2003, the Senate released its Committee Report 256 finding eight PBA basketball players claiming Filipino citizenship as fakes. The Senate Committee on Games, Amusement and Sports, headed by Sen. Robert Barbers, conducted the investigation, which lasted a year.
These eight players are Paul Asi Taulava (Talk ’N Text team), Jonathan Ordonio (Alaska), Andrew Seigle (Purefoods), Davonn Harp (Red Bull), Rudolf Hatfield (Coca-Cola), Michael Alfio Pennisi (Red Bull), Dorian Alan Peña (San Miguel) and Alex Vincent Crisano (Ginebra).
“They are Fil-shams,” concluded Senator Osmeña in his separate report.
Two months after the release of Senate Committee Report 256, the “sanctity and honor of having Filipino citizenship” continues to be trampled on PBA’s basketball courts.
Taulava and the other Fil-shams will probably do so for long, unless the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Justice could find a way out of the legal tangle that is shackling them from kicking out the Fil-pretenders.
Jun Santander, lawyer for a group of Filipino players who complained against the Fil-shams, finds it lamentable that until now nothing has been done about the recommendations of the Senate Committee Report.
“The more these players stay and play with the PBA, the more they violate the law and the Constitution, besides displacing the local basketball players,” Santander told The Manila Times in a telephone interview.
Senate Committee Report 256 urged the Bureau of Immigration to conduct “summary deportation proceedings” against the Fil-shams. But Santander said the bureau has yet to act on the senators’ recommendations.
“Wala kasing nag-file ng kaso eh,” said Robert Jaworski, Philippine basketball-icon-turned senator. “The results of our investigations are just recommendatory.”
Overtaken by events
Roy Almoro, executive director of the immigration bureau, told The Times that Commissioner Andrea Domingo formed a “task force” on August 11, 2003, to start deportation proceedings against the Fil-shams, five days after the senators released Senate Committee Report 256.
On the same day, Almoro said that, being the head of the new task force, wrote to Antonio A. Abanilla, acting chief state counsel of the Department of Justice, to clarify whether the bureau could immediately initiate the deportation proceedings.
He explained that the bureau gave Taulava and the seven other Fil-shams identification certificates as a “Filipino” after the justice department “affirmed” their citizenships. Technically, therefore, Almoro thinks the department has to revoke the affirmation first before the immigration bureau could initiate deportation proceedings. “Or should we just start now even without the revocation of the affirmation?” Almoro wondered.
“Without that clarification, we cannot move against them,” Almoro said. “Now some people are asking why we are sleeping on the job. But we cannot move without any authority from the justice department.”
Until now, the department has yet to issue an opinion.
The Times called on Abanilla at the department to ask about its failure to respond to the bureau’s request. His staff told me that Abanilla was abroad attending a conference. But one of his senior lawyers, Ruben Fondevilla, explained that the department is reviewing the documents as well as the Senate recommendations.
Fondevilla says it was the justice secretary himself who granted the affirmation, thus they could not just revoke it outright without following certain procedures. “We still have to follow due process.”
So far “due process” is working in favor of the Fil-shams.
On September 3, 2003, Branch 34 of the Manila Regional Trial Court enjoined Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong and Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo, to suspend or not to cancel Identification Certificate 019150 issued to Taulava.
“In the case of Taulava, we have been overtaken by events,” admitted Almoro. With the case now in court, the issue of summary deportation will ultimately become a civil case.”
That scenario, he says, means that Taulava will present evidence in court to prove that he is a Filipino while the Bureau of Immigration will try to prove that he is a sham, using the Senate findings as among the evidence.
“That process will take time,” admits Almoro, explaining that the deportation of other Fil-shams will be as difficult especially if the seven others will also file an injunction case against the bureau.
The Senate Committee on Games, Amusement and Sports, headed by Sen. Robert Barbers, initiated the investigation into the influx of bogus Filipino American players into the PBA in November 2002 after displaced Filipino players, led by the former Alaska player, Isabelo “Jojo” Lastimosa, publicly aired their gripes.
After seven hearings and several field investigations that ended on May 5, 2003, the senators found that at least eight of the more than two dozen players claiming Filipino ancestry are fake.
Asi Taulava: no records
“Paul Asi Taulava’s claim to Philippine citizenship cannot be established,” stresses the Senate Report. Taulava traces his roots to Samar, but the result of the investigations says otherwise.
“His alleged Filipino mother is Pauline Hernandez Mateaki, whose late registration of birth in Bobon, Samar, was attended by irregularities, because the [registration] was done without the documents required,” said the Senate Report. “…Nobody in San Jose [formerly Caraingan], Samar, the alleged residence of Taulava’s Filipino relatives, knows Ana Hernandez Mateaki and Felipe Mateaki, his grandparents.”
There is no record in Bobon’s register of death nor any record of birth, death or marriage of Ana Hernandez and Felipe Mateaki. “…Members of the Hernandez clan in Santa Clara, Bobon, Samar, belied claims of Taulava that his roots came from the said place,” said the Senate Report.
Nonexistent relatives, suspicious documents
Taulava’s case appears to be consistent with that of other Fil-shams.
Jonathan Ordonio claims to be a Filipino because his grandfather is a Filipino named Mauro Estrada Ordonio, who was supposedly born on December 11, 1913, in Balaoan, La Union. But field investigations done by the Senate revealed no records that could prove his claim.
“The documents Mr. Ordonio filed with the Bureau of Immigration, upon verification through field investigations, resulted in contrary findings,” said the Senate report. “His alleged relatives do not exist in Balaoan, La Union.”
On Harp, the Senate Report has these findings: “Davonn Harp presented before the Bureau of Immigration and the committees a certified true copy of the Certificate of Live Birth of his father, Manuel Arce Gonzales, to prove his claim to Philippine citizenship. It appears, however, that the certificate of birth is simulated, if not highly suspicious.”
“Upon field investigations, the marriage of Manuel Arce Gonzalez’s parents, Davonn’s alleged grandparents, Ernesto Prudencio Gonzales and Natividad de la Cruz, cannot be established,” says the Senate report.
On the part of Hatfield, he submitted documents to the Bureau of Immigration indicating that his grandfather, a certain Don Valdez, was born in Luna, La Union, sometime in 1921. But, according to the Senate Committee Report, “upon a thorough search of birth records in the local civil registry of Luna, La Union, so such records exist.”
In his document submitted to the bureau, Michael Pennisi claims to be a Filipino because of a Filipino mother, Anita Tomeda Quintos. The Senate report, however, says the document is “highly suspicious.”
“His alleged mother and other relatives, especially the parents of the former, Felipe Quintos and Celina G. Tomeda, who were mentioned in his application for recognition of Philippine citizenship in the Bureau of Immigration, are not known and have never existed in Panabingan, San Antonio, Nueva Ecija,” the Senate report stressed.
The same pattern emerged in the case of Dorian Alan Peña and Alex Crisano: their documents are inconsistent and their roots could not be established after field investigations.
The only difference is the case on Andrew Seigle. The senators believed that his claim that Filipino lineage because his mother Blesylda Yadao was a Filipino. Seigle, however, never elected Philippine citizenship immediately after reaching the age of maturity (18 years), thus disqualifying him from having a Philippine passport.
“…The date when Andrew John elected Philippine citizenship, which was November 23 1998, the say was apparently done for convenience and a mere afterthought—that is to qualify as a local player in the professional basketball league,” said the report. “…The Department of Foreign Affairs even canceled Andrew John’s passport based on the same foregoing reasons.”
Fictional, false and fraudulent
“I agree with the findings of the committee that Taulava, Hatfield, Ordonio and Harp are not Filipino citizens,” concluded Senator Osmeña. “They are Fil-shams. Their claims to Filipino citizenship are concocted, fictional, false and fraudulent. The papers they submitted are fakes, falsifications, illusions and misrepresentations.”
Osmeña also agreed with the report on Pennisi, Peña and Crisano. “Their claims to Filipino citizenship were also concocted, scripted and planted to suit their selfish positions. Their supposed ancestors were products of malicious and criminal imaginations, with basketball fortune and other economic rewards as the most obvious motivations.”
But he disagrees with the Senate Committee Report’s findings on Seigle. He said Seigle’s papers are “straightforward, clearcut and substantiated…. There are no fictions, fakes and falsehoods in his case,” he stressed. “The issue against Seigle was purely procedural.”
Seventeen other supposed Filipino Americans—including Eric Menk, Mike Cortez, Jimmy Alapag, Chris Jackson and Robert Duat—were not included in the Senate Committee Report. Nevertheless, Osmeña said their noninclusion should not be taken to mean clearance and confirmation of their Philippine citizenship.
“The Department of Justice and the Bureau of Immigration should continue their investigation into the cases of Fil-Americans,” Osmeña said.
PBA’s motivations
Economic consideration—nay, survival—motivated the PBA to take in the supposed Fil-Americans into the league. Gate receipts are down, hence the need to bring back the crowd, a fact that Jun Bernardino, then-PBA commissioner, admitted to the senators.
“[Gate receipts] continue to drop and so talents obviously have to come in,” said Sen. Robert Jaworski, a former PBA basketball star, at the first hearing. “[They] have to put up some flavor.”
“We are experiencing globalization … and I think everyone is experiencing hard times. We must be honest enough to say that we are experiencing hard times,” Bernardino testified at the first hearing on November 26, 2002.
“Senator Barbers noticed the sparse attendance in the PBA games on TV. “It was not as tremendous as before, when the gym was filled to the rafters. Gone are the days when [ticket scalping] was a very lucrative underground profession.”
“We have to understand that the PBA by itself is not only competing with another basketball league,” Bernardino said at the first hearing. “We are in effect competing with a lot of competitors which are not related to basketball at all. We have theaters, the malls… PBA gate attendance will always be a function of the economy. So you know we are suffering from economic conditions right now. That’s why I think the PBA fans are becoming very, very selective in watching the games.”
The Fil-shams apparently are putting some excitement in the league. But Robert Jaworski Jr. notes that the crowds are not coming back to the games in droves.
“Kitang-kita naman, eh,” he said.
In sports, integrity and credibility are important, Senator Jaworski said. “How can you say it’s fair to play All-Filipino when in fact you are 100-percent American?” “Sa perception pa lang nawawalan na ng gana [yung mga tao].
(To be continued)

__________________
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Basketball is not for Filipinos!!!

2010-11-12T03:15:00.000-08:00

Do you believe this crap?

Basketball is not for Filipinos

By Manolo Iñigo
Inquirer
Last updated 05:25am (Mla time) 07/18/2006

Published on page A22 of the July 18, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE STIRRING victories of Filipino jungolfers Dottie Ardina, Cyna Rodriguez and Mia Legaspi in last week’s Callaway Junior World Golf Championships in San Diego, California, and the euphoria over the just-ended FIFA World Cup in Germany should open the eyes of sports officials to encourage the development of non-basketball sports where height is not an advantage.

I have no quarrel with the fact that basketball is the country’s No. 1 sport, but sports officials should be reminded that the importance they are giving to the dash-and-dribble game has become too exaggerated. In fact, even the legendary Carlos Loyzaga, the greatest Filipino basketball player of all time, once noted that in the Philippines basketball has top priority over the other sports. “This is wrong,” said Mr. Loyzaga, who is now based in Australia, “because there are other sporting disciplines where the Filipino athletes can excel.”

Basketball is simply not the sport for Filipinos. Take the 2006 William Jones Cup in Taiwan, for example. Even though sports officials formed a well-funded Philippine team composed mostly of PBA players and a few pro-bound college stars, SMC-Pilipinas still failed to make the round of four after losing four games in five starts during the qualifying series. It’s a pity because in the past the Philippines was always assured of making an impact and, in most cases, bringing home a medal from a regional tournament of this level.

Many say that the huge budget earmarked for the national cage team would have been spent more wisely if it was used to promote and develop non-basketball sports like golf, football, tennis, boxing, bowling, billiards and chess, to cite a few.

In the mid-1980s, then jungolfers Ramon Brobio and Carito Villaroman put the Philippines on the world map when they won the World Junior Golf Championships. Frankie Miñoza, Dorothy Delasin and Jennifer Rosales also did the country proud by making their presence felt on the international golf scene. In football, Filipinos can perform better because of their speed and raw courage. As retired Col. Julian Malonso, a former Philippine Olympic Committee president, said: “Basketball is not the sport for the Filipinos because height counts much. We should concentrate more on football mainly because the ball is on the ground.”

The late Felicisimo “Mighty Mite” Ampon, the first Philippine Sportswriters Association Athlete of the Year in 1950, was the toast of the tennis world during his prime; Gabriel “Flash” Elorde was pro boxing’s hero before Manny Pacquiao, while Olympic silver medal winners Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco were the country’s top simonpures. Paeng Nepomuceno gave us our proudest moments in tenpin bowling, winning a record four World Cup titles; simple and humble Efren “Bata” Reyes is the planet’s “greatest billiards player” while Eugene Torre, Asia’s first grandmaster, and, most recently, Mark Paragua, are the brightest stars in the world of chess.

The Philippines was unable to participate in three international basketball tournaments last year, including the Asian Basketball Confederation championship and the RP-hosted 23rd Southeast Asian Games after the country was suspended by FIBA, the international basketball federation. FIBA banned the country after the Philippine Olympic Committee expelled the Basketball Association of the Philippines. Now both the POC headed by Jose “Peping” Cojuangco and the BAP led by Joey Lina are racing against time to convince FIBA honchos to lift the suspension so that the Philippines may again compete in the Asian Games set in Doha, Qatar, on Dec. 1-15.

http://forums.interbasket.net/f32/basketball-is-not-for-filipinos-783/

JOSE PROTACIO RIZAL MERCADO Y ALONZO REALONDA

2010-11-10T22:36:00.000-08:00


José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines.
Born	June 19, 1861 Calamba, Laguna, Philippines
Died	December 30, 1896(1896-12-30) (aged 35) Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park), Manila, Philippines
Monuments	Rizal Park, Manila Calamba,Laguna
Alma mater	Ateneo Municipal de Manila, University of Santo Tomas, Universidad Central de Madrid, University of Paris, Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg
Organization	La Solidaridad, La Liga Filipina

Dr. José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda^[1] (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896, Bagumbayan), was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is considered a national hero of the Philippines,^[2] and the anniversary of Rizal's death is commemorated as a Philippine holiday called Rizal Day. Rizal's 1896 military trial and execution made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution.

The seventh of eleven children born to a wealthy family in the town of Calamba, Laguna, Rizal attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Arts. He enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas and then traveled alone to Madrid, Spain, where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He attended the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. Rizal was a polyglot conversant in at least ten languages.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El filibusterismo.^[7] These are social commentaries on the Philippines that formed the nucleus of literature that inspired dissent among peaceful reformists and spurred the militancy of armed revolutionaries against the Spanish colonial authorities.

As a political figure, Jose Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan^[8] led by Andrés Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. He was a proponent of institutional reforms by peaceful means rather than by violent revolution. The general consensus among Rizal scholars, however, attributed his martyred death as the catalyst that precipitated the Philippine

Jose Rizal's parents, Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro (1818–1898)^[9] and Teodora Morales Alonso Realonda y Quintos (1826–1911),^[9] were prosperous farmers who were granted lease of a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by the Dominicans. Rizal was the seventh child of their eleven children namely: Saturnina (Neneng) (1850–1913), Paciano (1851–1930), Narcisa (Sisa) (1852–1939), Olympia (Ypia) (1855–1887), Lucia (1857–1919), María (Biang) (1859–1945), José Protasio (1861–1896), Concepcion (1862–1865), Josefa (Panggoy) (1865–1945), Trinidad (1868–1951) and Soledad (Concha)(1870–1929).

Rizal was a 5th-generation patrilineal descendant of Domingo Lam-co (Chinese: 柯儀南; pinyin: Ke Yinan), a Chinese immigrant entrepreneur who sailed to the Philippines from Jinjiang, Quanzhou in the mid-17th century.^[10] Lam-co married Inez de la Rosa, a Sangley native of Luzon. To free his descendants from the Sinophobic animosity of the Spanish authorities, Lam-co changed the surname to the Spanish "Mercado" (market) to indicate their Chinese merchant roots. In 1849, Governor-General Narciso Claveria ordered all native families in the Philippines to choose new surnames from a list of Spanish family names. José's father Francisco^[9] adopted the surname "Rizal" (originally Ricial, the green of young growth or green fields), which was suggested to him by a provincial governor, or as José had described him, "a friend of the family". However, the name change caused confusion in the business affairs of Francisco, most of which were begun under the old name. After a few years, he settled on the name "Rizal Mercado" as a compromise, but usually just used the original surname "Mercado". Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, José dropped the last three names that make up his full name, at the advice of his brother, Paciano Rizal Mercado, and the Rizal Mercado family, thus rendering his name as "José Protasio Rizal". Of this, Rizal writes: "My family never paid much attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an illegitimate child!"^[11] This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who had gained notoriety with his earlier links with native priests who were sentenced to death as subversives. From early childhood, José and Paciano were already advancing unheard-of political ideas of freedom and individual rights which infuriated the authorities.^[12]^[13] Despite the name change, José, as "Rizal" soon distinguishes himself in poetry writing contests, impressing his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign languages, and later, in writing essays that are critical of the Spanish historical accounts of the pre-colonial Philippine societies. Indeed, by 1891, the year he finished his sunset, this second surname had become so well known that, as he writes to another friend, "All my family now carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado because the name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and be worthy of this family name..."^[11] José became the focal point by which the family became known, at least from the point of view of colonial authorities.

Aside from Chinese ancestry, recent genealogical research has found that José had traces of Spanish, and Japanese ancestry. His maternal great-great-grandfather (Teodora's great-grandfather) was Eugenio Ursua, a descendant of Japanese settlers, who married a Filipina named Benigna (surname unknown). They gave birth to Regina Ursua who married a Tagalog Sangley mestizo from Pangasinán named Manuel de Quintos, Teodora's grandfather. Their daughter Brígida de Quintos married a Spanish mestizo named Lorenzo Alberto Alonso, the father of Teodora. Austin Craig mentions Lakandula, Rajah of Tondo at the time of the Spanish incursion, as an ancestor.

Education

Rizal as a student at the University of Santo Tomas.

Rizal first studied under the tutelage of Justiniano Aquino Cruz in Biñan, Laguna. He was sent to Manila and enrolled at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He graduated as one of the nine students in his class declared sobresaliente or outstanding. He continued his education at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila to obtain a land surveyor and assessor's degree, and at the same time at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters where he studied Philosophy and Letters. Upon learning that his mother was going blind, he decided to study medicine specializing in ophthalmology at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery but did not complete the program claiming discrimination made by the Spanish Dominican friars against the native students.^[14]

Rizal, 11 years old, a student at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila.

Without his parents' knowledge and consent, but secretly supported by his brother Paciano, he traveled alone to Europe: Madrid in May 1882 and studied medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid where he earned the degree, Licentiate in Medicine. His education continued at the University of Paris and the University of Heidelberg where he earned a second doctorate. In Berlin he was inducted as a member of the Berlin Ethnological Society and the Berlin Anthropological Society under the patronage of the famous pathologist Rudolf Virchow. Following custom, he delivered an address in German in April 1887 before the anthropological society on the orthography and structure of the Tagalog language. He left Heidelberg a poem, "A las flores del Heidelberg," which was both an evocation and a prayer for the welfare of his native land and the unification of common values between East and West.

At Heidelberg, the 25-year-old Rizal, completed in 1887 his eye specialization under the renowned professor, Otto Becker. There he used the newly invented ophthalmoscope (invented by Hermann von Helmholtz) to later operate on his own mother's eye. From Heidelberg, Rizal wrote his parents: “I spend half of the day in the study of German and the other half, in the diseases of the eye. Twice a week, I go to the bierbrauerie, or beerhall, to speak German with my student friends.” He lived in a Karlstraße boarding house then moved to Ludwigsplatz. There, he met Reverend Karl Ullmer and stayed with them in Wilhelmsfeld, where he wrote the last few chapters of "Noli Me Tangere".

A plaque marks the Heidelberg building where he trained with Professor Becker, while in Wilhemsfeld, a smaller version of the Rizal Park with his bronze statue stands and the street where he lived was also renamed after him. A sandstone fountain in Pastor Ullmer’s house garden where Rizal lived in Wilhelmsfeld, stands.^[15]

Rizal's multifacetedness was described by his German friend, Dr. Adolf Meyer, as "stupendous."^[16]^[17] Documented studies show him to be a polymath with the ability to master various skills and subjects.^[3]^[4]^[16] He was an ophthalmologist, sculptor, painter, educator, farmer, historian, playwright and journalist. Besides poetry and creative writing, he dabbled, with varying degrees of expertise, in architecture, cartography, economics, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, dramatics, martial arts, fencing and pistol shooting. He was also a Freemason, joining Acacia Lodge No. 9 during his time in Spain and becoming a Master Mason in 1884.^[18]

Rizal's romantic attachments

Business Card shows Dr. Jose Rizal is an Ophthalmologist in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Government erected a plaque beside Dr. Jose Rizal residence in Hong Kong

Rizal's life is one of the most documented of the 19th century due to the vast and extensive records written by and about him.^[19] Most everything in his short life is recorded somewhere, being himself a regular diarist and prolific letter writer, much of these material having survived. His biographers, however, have faced the difficulty of translating his writings because of Rizal's habit of switching from one language to another. They drew largely from his travel diaries with their insights of a young Asian encountering the west for the first time. They included his later trips, home and back again to Europe through Japan and the United States, and, finally, through his self-imposed exile in Hong Kong. During December 1891 to June 1892, Dr. José Rizal lived with his family in Number 2 of Rednaxela Terrace, 5 D'Aguilar Street, Central district, Hong Kong island, this house was also used as his ophthalmologist clinic from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.. This period of his education and his frenetic pursuit of life included his recorded affections. Historians write of Rizal's "dozen women", even if only nine were identified. They were Gertrude Becket of Chalcot Crescent (London), wealthy and high-minded Nelly Boustead of the English and Iberian merchant family, last descendant of a noble Japanese family Usui Seiko, his earlier friendship with Segunda Katigbak and eight-year romantic relationship with his first cousin, Leonor Rivera.

Leonor Rivera is the one who kept Rizal focused on his studies and kept him from falling in – love with other women. The news of Leonor Rivera's marriage to an Englishman Henry Kipping (her mother's choice) devastated Rizal. She was then immortalized by Rizal in the character of "Maria Clara" in his novel Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

The others were: Leonor Valenzuela (Filipina), Consuelo Ortiga y Rey (Spanish), Suzanna Jacoby (Belgian),and Josephine Bracken (Irish).

His European friends kept almost everything he gave them, including doodlings on pieces of paper. In the home of a Spanish liberal, Pedro Ortiga y Pérez, he left an impression that was to be remembered by his daughter, Consuelo. In her diary, she wrote of a day Rizal spent there and regaled them with his wit, social graces, and sleight-of-hand tricks. In London, during his research on Morga's writings, he became a regular guest in the home of Dr. Reinhold Rost of the British Museum who referred to him as "a gem of a man."^[19]^[20] The family of Karl Ullmer, pastor of Wilhelmsfeld, and the Blumentritts saved even buttonholes and napkins with sketches and notes. They were ultimately bequeathed to the Rizal family to form a treasure trove of memorabilia.

In 1890, Rizal, 29, left Paris for Brussels as he was preparing for the publication of his annotations of Antonio de Morga’s “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.” There, he lived in the boarding house of the two Jacoby sisters, Catherina and Suzanna who had a niece also named Suzanna ("Thill"), 16. Historian Gregorio F. Zaide states that Rizal had “his romance with Suzanne Jacoby, 45, the petite niece of his landladies.” Belgian Pros Slachmuylders, however, believed that Rizal had a romance with the niece, Suzanna Thill, in 1890. Rizal's Brussels' stay was short-lived, as he moved to Madrid, leaving the young Suzanna a box of chocolates. Suzanne replied in French: “After your departure, I did not take the chocolate. The box is still intact as on the day of your parting. Don’t delay too long writing us because I wear out the soles of my shoes for running to the mailbox to see if there is a letter from you. There will never be any home in which you are so loved as in that in Brussels, so, you little bad boy, hurry up and come back…” (Oct. 1, 1890 letter). Slachmuylders’ group in 2007 unveiled a historical marker commemorating Rizal’s stay in Brusells in 1890.^[21]

Writings of Rizal

Rizal was a very prolific author from a young age. Among his earliest writings are El Canto de los Dioses, A la juventud filipina, Canto del viajero, Canto de María Clara, Me piden versos, Por la educación, Junto al Pasig, etc. On his early writings he frequently depicted renowned Spanish explorers, kings and generals, and pictured Education (the Philippines enjoyed a free public system of education established by the Spaniards) as "the breath of life instilling charming virtue". He had even written of one of his Spanish teachers as having brought "the light of the eternal splendor".

The content of his writings changed considerably in José Rizal's two most famous novels, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. These writings angered both the Spaniards colonial elite and some of the hispanized Filipinos due to their insulting symbolism. They are highly critical of Spanish friars and the atrocities committed in the name of the Church. Rizal's first critic was Ferdinand Blumentritt, a Czech professor and historian whose first reaction was of misgiving. Blumentritt was the grandson of the Imperial Treasurer at Vienna in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and a staunch defender of the Catholic faith. This did not dissuade him however from writing the preface of El filibusterismo after he had translated Noli me Tangere into German. Noli was published in Berlin (1887) and Fili in Ghent (1891) with funds borrowed largely from Rizal's friends. As Blumentritt had warned, these led to Rizal's prosecution as the inciter of revolution and eventually, to a military trial and execution. The intended consequence of teaching the natives where they stood brought about an adverse reaction, as the Philippine Revolution of 1896 took off virulently thereafter.

Leaders of the reform movement in Spain: Left to Right: Rizal, del Pilar, and Ponce

As leader of the reform movement of Filipino students in Spain, he contributed essays, allegories, poems, and editorials to the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad in Barcelona. The core of his writings centers on liberal and progressive ideas of individual rights and freedom; specifically, rights for the Filipino people. He shared the same sentiments with members of the movement: that the Philippines is battling, in Rizal's own words, "a double-faced Goliath"--corrupt friars and bad government. His commentaries reiterate the following agenda:^[22]

That the Philippines be a province of Spain
Representation in the Cortes
Filipino priests instead of Spanish friars--Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans--in parishes and remote sitios
Freedom of assembly and speech
Equal rights before the law (for both Filipino and Spanish plaintiffs)

The colonial authorities in the Philippines did not favor these reforms even if they were more openly endorsed by Spanish intellectuals like Morayta, Unamuno, Pi y Margall, and others.

Other works

The Triumph of Science over Death

Rizal also tried his hand at painting and sculpture. His most famous sculptural work was "The Triumph of Science over Death", a clay sculpture composed of a naked, young woman standing on a skull bearing a torch upheld high. The woman symbolized the ignorance of humankind during the Dark Ages, while the torch she bore symbolized the enlightenment science brings over the whole world. He sent the sculpture to his dear friend Blumentritt, together with another one named "The Triumph of Death over Life".

[edit] Persecutions

Upon his return to Manila in 1892, he formed a civic movement called La Liga Filipina. The league advocated these moderate social reforms through legal means, but was disbanded by the governor. At that time, he had already been declared an enemy of the state by the Spanish authorities because of the publication of his novel.

Wenceslao Retana, a political commentator in Spain, had slighted Rizal by a reference to his parents and promptly apologized after being challenged to a duel. Aware that Rizal was a better swordsman, he issued an apology, became an admirer, and wrote Rizal's first European biography.^[23] The painful memories of his mother's treatment (when he was ten) at the hands of the civil authorities explain his reaction to Retana. The incident stemmed from an accusation that Rizal's mother, Teodora, tried to poison the wife of a cousin when she claimed she only intervened to help. With the approval of the Church prelates, and without a hearing, she was ordered to prison in Santa Cruz in 1871. She was made to walk the ten miles (16 km) from Calamba. She was released after two-and-a-half years of appeals to the highest court.^[3]

In 1887 Rizal wrote a petition on behalf of the tenants of Calamba, and later that year led them to speak out against the friars' attempts to raise rent. They initiated a litigation which resulted in the Dominicans evicting them from their homes, including the Rizal family. General Valeriano Weyler had the buildings on the farm torn down.

Exile in Dapitan

Rizal was implicated in the activities of the nascent rebellion and in July 1892, was deported to Dapitan in the province of Zamboanga, a peninsula of Mindanao.^[24] There he built a school, a hospital and a water supply system, and taught and engaged in farming and horticulture.^{[citation needed]} Abaca, then the vital raw material for cordage and which Rizal and his students planted in the thousands, was a memorial.^{[citation needed]}

The boys' school, in which they learned English, considered a prescient if unusual option then, was conceived by Rizal and antedated Gordonstoun with its aims of inculcating resourcefulness and self sufficiency in young men.^{[citation needed]} They would later enjoy successful lives as farmers and honest government officials.^{[citation needed]} One, a Muslim, became a datu, and another, José Aseniero, who was with Rizal throughout the life of the school, became Governor of Zamboanga.^{[citation needed]}

In Dapitan, the Jesuits mounted a great effort to secure his return to the fold led by Fray Sánchez, his former professor, who failed in his mission. The task was resumed by Fray Pastells, a prominent member of the Order. In a letter to Pastells, Rizal sails close to the ecumenism familiar to us today.^[25]

-Adrian christian Nua Lee- "We are entirely in accord in admitting the existence of God. How can I doubt his when I am convinced of mine. Who so recognizes the effect recognizes the cause. To doubt God is to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence, it would be to doubt everything; and then what is life for? Now then, my faith in God, if the result of a ratiocination may be called faith, is blind, blind in the sense of knowing nothing. I neither believe nor disbelieve the qualities which many attribute to him; before theologians' and philosophers' definitions and lucubrations of this ineffable and inscrutable being I find myself smiling. Faced with the conviction of seeing myself confronting the supreme Problem, which confused voices seek to explain to me, I cannot but reply: 'It could be; but the God that I foreknow is far more grand, far more good: Plus Supra!...I believe in (revelation); but not in revelation or revelations which each religion or religions claim to possess. Examining them impartially, comparing them and scrutinizing them, one cannot avoid discerning the human 'fingernail' and the stamp of the time in which they were written... No, let us not make God in our image, poor inhabitants that we are of a distant planet lost in infinite space. However, brilliant and sublime our intelligence may be, it is scarcely more than a small spark which shines and in an instant is extinguished, and it alone can give us no idea of that blaze, that conflagration, that ocean of light. I believe in revelation, but in that living revelation which surrounds us on every side, in that voice, mighty, eternal, unceasing, incorruptible, clear, distinct, universal as is the being from whom it proceeds, in that revelation which speaks to us and penetrates us from the moment we are born until we die. What books can better reveal to us the goodness of God, his love, his providence, his eternity, his glory, his wisdom? 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork'."^[19]

Bust in clay, by Rizal

As a gift to his mother on her birth anniversary he wrote the other of his poems of maturity, "Mi Retiro," with a description of a calm night overlaid with a million stars.^{[citation needed]} The poem, with its concept of a spontaneous creation and speaking of God as Plus Supra, is considered his accommodation of evolution.^{[citation needed]}

...the breeze idly cools, the firmament glows,
the waves tell in sighs to the docile wind
timeless stories beneath the shroud of night.

Say that they tell of the world, the first dawn
of the sun, the first kiss that his bosom inflamed,
when thousands of beings surged out of nothing,
and peopled the depths, and to the heights mounted,
to wherever his fecund kiss was implanted.^[26]

Rizal's pencil sketch of Blumentritt

His best friend, professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, kept him in touch with European friends and fellow-scientists who wrote a stream of letters which arrived in Dutch, French, German and English and which baffled the censors, delaying their transmittal. Those four years of his exile coincided with the development of the Philippine Revolution from inception and to its final breakout, which, from the viewpoint of the court which was to try him, suggested his complicity in it.^[19] He condemned the uprising, although all the members of the Katipunan had made him their honorary president and had used his name as a cry for war, unity, and liberty.^[27]

Near the end of his exile he met and courted the stepdaughter of a patient, an Irishwoman named Josephine Bracken. He was unable to obtain an ecclesiastical marriage because he would not return to Catholicism and was not known to be clearly against revolution.^{[citation needed]} He nonetheless considered Josephine to be his wife and the only person mentioned in the poem, Farewell, sweet stranger, my friend, my joy...^[28]

Last days

Main article: Philippine Revolution

By 1896, the rebellion fomented by the Katipunan, a militant secret society, had become a full-blown revolution, proving to be a nationwide uprising and leading to the first proclamation of a democratic republic in Asia. To dissociate himself, Rizal volunteered and was given leave by the Governor-General, Ramón Blanco, to serve in Cuba to minister to victims of yellow fever. Blanco later was to present his sash and sword to the Rizal family as an apology.

About two weeks before he left Dapitan, Rizal met Dr. Pio Valenzuela an emissary from the Katipunan, to whom Rizal expressed his doubts of an insufficiently armed revolution. Rizal argued that the revolution cannot succeed until sufficient arms can be assured and the support of the wealthy Filipinos had been won over.^[3]

Rizal was arrested en route to Cuba, imprisoned in Barcelona, and sent back to Manila to stand trial. He was implicated in the revolution through his association with members of the Katipunan. During the entire passage, he was unchained, no Spaniard laid a hand on him, and had many opportunities to escape but refused to do so. While imprisoned in Fort Santiago, he issued a manifesto disavowing the revolution and declaring that the education of Filipinos and their achievement of a national identity were prerequisites to freedom; he was to be tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy. Rizal was convicted on all three charges and sentenced to death. Blanco, who was sympathetic to Rizal, had been forced out of office, and the friars, led by then Archbishop of Manila Bernardino Nozaleda, had 'intercalated' Camilo de Polavieja in his stead, as the new Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines after pressuring Queen-Regent Maria Cristina of Spain, thus sealing Rizal's fate.

His poem, undated and believed to be written on the day before his execution, was hidden in an alcohol stove and later handed to his family with his few remaining possessions, including the final letters and his last bequests. Within hearing of the Spanish guards he reminded his sisters in English, "There is something inside it," referring to the alcohol stove given by the Pardo de Taveras which was to be returned after his execution, thereby emphasizing the importance of the poem. This instruction was followed by another, "Look in my shoes," in which another item was secreted. Exhumation of his remains in August 1898, under American rule, revealed he had been uncoffined, his burial not on sanctified ground granted the 'confessed' faithful, and whatever was in his shoes had disintegrated.^[3]

In his letter to his family he wrote: "Treat our aged parents as you would wish to be treated...Love them greatly in memory of me...December 30, 1896."^[19]

In his final letter, to Blumentritt – Tomorrow at 7, I shall be shot; but I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.^[19] He had to reassure him that he had not turned revolutionary as he once considered being, and that he shared his ideals to the very end. He also bequeathed a book personally bound by him in Dapitan to his 'best and dearest friend.' When Blumentritt received it in his hometown Litoměřice (Leitmeritz) he broke down and wept.

Execution

A photographic record of Rizal's execution in what was then Bagumbayan.

Moments before his execution by a firing squad of native infantry of the Spanish Army, backed by an insurance force of Spanish troops, the Spanish surgeon general requested to take his pulse; it was normal. Aware of this, the Spanish sergeant in charge of the backup force hushed his men to silence when they began raising '¡vivas!' with the partisan crowd. His last words were those of Jesus Christ: "consummatum est",--it is finished.^[4]^[29]^[30]

He was secretly buried in Pacò Cemetery in Manila with no identification on his grave. His sister Narcisa toured all possible gravesites and found freshly turned earth at the cemetery with guards posted at the gate. Assuming this could be the most likely spot, there never having any ground burials, she made a gift to the caretaker to mark the site "RPJ", Rizal's initials in reverse.

Rizal's tomb in Paco Park (formerly Paco Cemetery).

A national monument

Main article: Rizal Park

A monument, with his remains, now stands near the place where he fell, designed by the Swiss Richard Kissling of the famed William Tell sculpture.^[31] The statue carries the inscription "I want to show to those who deprive people the right to love of country, that when we know how to sacrifice ourselves for our duties and convictions, death does not matter if one dies for those one loves – for his country and for others dear to him."^[19]

Aftermath

Retraction controversy

There is controversy on whether Rizal actually wrote a document of retraction which stated: "I retract with all my heart whatever in my words, writings, publications and conduct have been contrary to my character as a son of the Catholic Church."^[32] That his burial was not on holy ground led to doubts about his retraction. Then there is no certificate of Rizal's marriage to Josephine Bracken.^[33] Anti-retractionists also point to "Adiós": "I go where there are no slaves, no hangmen or oppressors, where faith does not kill," which they refer to the Catholic religion.^[34] Also there is an allegation that the retraction document was a forgery.^[35] After analyzing 6 major documents of Rizal, Ricardo Pascual concluded that the retraction document, said to have been discovered in 1935, was not in Rizal's handwriting. Senator Rafael Palma, a former President of the University of the Philippines and a prominent Mason, argued that a retraction is not in keeping with Rizal's character and mature beliefs.^[36] He called the retraction story a "pious fraud."^[37] Others who deny the retraction are Frank Laubach,^[4] a Protestant minister, Austin Coates,^[29] a British writer, and Ricardo Manapat, director of the National Archives.^[38]

On the other side of the debate are Catholic church leaders, and historians such as Austin Craig,^[3] Gregorio Zaide,^[39] Ambeth Ocampo,^[38] Nick Joaquin,^[40] and Nicolas Zafra of UP.^[41] They state that the retraction document was deemed authentic by Rizal expert, Teodoro Kalaw (a 33rd degree Mason) and "handwriting experts...known and recognized in our courts of justice," H. Otley Beyer and Dr. José I. Del Rosario, both of UP.^[41] They also refer to the 11 eyewitnesses present when Rizal wrote his retraction, signed a Catholic prayer book, and recited Catholic prayers, and the multitude who saw him kiss the crucifix before his execution. A great grand nephew of Rizal, Fr. Marciano Guzman, cites that Rizal's 4 confessions were certified by 5 eyewitnesses, 10 qualified witnesses, 7 newspapers, and 12 historians and writers including Aglipayan bishops, Masons and anti-clericals.^[42] One witness was the head of the Spanish Supreme Court at the time of his notarized declaration and was highly esteemed by Rizal for his integrity.^[43] Because of what he sees as the strength these direct evidence have in the light of the historical method, in contrast with merely circumstantial evidence, UP professor emeritus of history Nicolas Zafra called the retraction "a plain unadorned fact of history."^[41] Fr. Guzman attributes the denial of retraction to "the blatant disbelief and stubbornness" of some Masons.^[42]

Supporters see in it Rizal's "moral courage...to recognize his mistakes,"^[39]^[44] his reversion to the "true faith," and thus his "unfading glory,"^[43] and a return to the "ideals of his fathers" which brings his stature as a patriot to the level of greatness.^[45] On the other hand, senator Jose Diokno stated: "Surely whether Rizal died as a Catholic or an apostate adds or detracts nothing from his greatness as a Filipino... Catholic or Mason, Rizal is still Rizal: the hero who courted death 'to prove to those who deny our patriotism that we know how to die for our duty and our beliefs'."^[46]

"Mi último adiós"

Main article: Mi último adiós

The poem is more aptly titled, "Adiós, Patria Adorada" (literally "Farewell, Beloved Fatherland"), by virtue of logic and literary tradition, the words coming from the first line of the poem itself. It first appeared in print not in Manila but in Hong Kong in 1897, when a copy of the poem and an accompanying photograph came to J. P. Braga who decided to publish it in a monthly journal he edited. There was a delay when Braga, who greatly admired Rizal, wanted a good job of the photograph and sent it to be engraved in London, a process taking well over two months. It finally appeared under 'Mi último pensamiento,' a title he supplied and by which it was known for a few years. Thus, when the Jesuit Balaguer's anonymous account of the retraction and the marriage to Josephine was appearing in Barcelona, no word of the poem's existence reached him in time to revise what he had written. His account was too elaborate that Rizal would have had no time to write "Adiós."

Six years after his death, when the Philippine Organic Act of 1902 was being debated in the United States Congress, Representative Henry Cooper of Wisconsin rendered an English translation of Rizal's valedictory poem capped by the peroration, "Under what clime or what skies has tyranny claimed a nobler victim?"^[47] The Americans, however, would not sign the bill into law until 1916 and did not grant full autonomy until 1946—fifty years after Rizal's death.

Josephine Bracken

Josephine Bracken promptly joined the revolutionary forces in Cavite province, making her way through thicket and mud, and helped operate a reloading jig for Mauser cartridges at the arsenal at Imus. The short-lived arsenal under the Revolutionary General Pantaleón García had been reloading spent cartridges again and again and the reloading jig was in continuous use, but Imus was under threat of recapture that the operation had to move, with Josephine, to Maragondon, the mountain redoubt in Cavite. She witnessed the Tejeros Convention prior to returning to Manila and was summoned by the Governor-General, but owing to her stepfather's American citizenship she could not be forcibly deported. She left voluntarily, returning to Hong Kong. She later married another Filipino, Vicente Abad, a mestizo acting as agent for the Philippine firm of Tabacalera. She died in Hong Kong in 1902, a pauper's death, buried in an unknown grave, and never knew how a line of verse had rendered her immortal.^[48]

Camilo de Polavieja

Polavieja faced condemnation by his countrymen after his return to Spain. While visiting Giron, in Cataluña, circulars were distributed among the crowd bearing Rizal's last verses, his portrait, and the charge that Polavieja was responsible for the loss of the Philippines to Spain.

Criticism

A photo engraving of the execution of Filipino Insurgents at Bagumbayan (now Luneta)

Attempts to debunk legends surrounding Rizal, and the tug of war between free thinker and Catholic, have served to keep him a living issue. While some leaders, Gandhi for one, have been elevated to high pedestals and even deified, Rizal has remained a controversial figure. In one recorded fall from grace he succumbed to the temptation of a 'lady of the camellias.' The writer, Maximo Viola, a friend of Rizal's, was alluding to Dumas's 1848 novel, La dame aux camelias, about a man who fell in love with a courtesan. While the affair was on record, there was no account in Viola's letter whether it was more than a one-night event and if it was more of a business transaction than an amorous affair.^[49]

Others present him as a man of contradictions. Miguel de Unamuno in "Rizal: the Tagalog Hamlet", said of him, "a soul that dreads the revolution although deep down desires it. He pivots between fear and hope, between faith and despair."^[50] His critics assert this character flaw is translated into his two novels where he opposes violence in Noli and appears to advocate it in Fili, contrasting Ibarra's idealism to Simoun's cynicism. His defenders insist this ambivalence is trounced when Simoun is struck down in the sequel's final chapters, reaffirming the author's resolute stance, Pure and spotless must the victim be if the sacrifice is to be acceptable.^[51] In the same tenor, Rizal condemned the uprising when Bonifacio asked for his support. Bonifacio, in turn, openly denounced him as a coward for his refusal.^[52] Rizal believed that an armed struggle for independence was premature and ill-conceived. Here Rizal is speaking through Father Florentino: ...our liberty will (not) be secured at the sword's point...we must secure it by making ourselves worthy of it. And when a people reaches that height God will provide a weapon, the idols will be shattered, tyranny will crumble like a house of cards and liberty will shine out like the first dawn.^[51]

The fact that Rizal never fought in the battlefield leads some to question his ranking as the nation's premier hero, with a few who believe in the beatification of Bonifacio in his stead. In his defense, the historian, Rafael Palma, contends that the revolution of Bonifacio is a consequence wrought by the writings of Rizal and that although the Bonifacio's revolver produced an immediate outcome, the pen of Rizal generated a more lasting achievement.^[53]

Legacy

Rizal Park, Seattle

Rizal on the obverse side of a 1970 Philippine peso coin

Rizal's advocacy of institutional reforms by peaceful means rather than by violent revolution makes him Asia's first modern non-violent proponent of political reforms. Forerunner of Gandhi and contemporary of Tagore and Sun Yat Sen, all four created a new climate of thought throughout Asia, leading to the attrition of colonialism and the emergence of new Asiatic nations by the end of World War II. Rizal's appearance on the scene came at a time when European colonial power had been growing and spreading, mostly motivated by trade, some for the purpose of bringing Western forms of government and education to peoples regarded as backward. Coinciding with the appearance of those other leaders, Rizal from an early age had been enunciating in poems, tracts and plays, ideas all his own of modern nationhood as a practical possibility in Asia. In the Noli he stated that if European civilization had nothing better to offer, colonialism in Asia was doomed.^[54] Such was recognized by Gandhi who regarded him as a forerunner in the cause of freedom. Jawaharlal Nehru, in his prison letters to his daughter Indira, acknowledged Rizal's significant contributions in the Asian freedom movement. These leaders regarded these contributions as keystones and acknowledged Rizal's role in the movement as foundation layer.

Rizal, on the 2000 Philippine peso coin

Rizal, through his reading of Morga and other western historians, knew of the genial image of Spain's early relations with his people.^[55] In his writings, he showed the disparity between the early colonialists and those of his day, with the latter's atrocities giving rise to Gomburza and the Philippine Revolution of 1896. His biographer, Austin Coates, and writer, Benedict Anderson, believe that Rizal gave the Philippine revolution a genuinely national character; and that Rizal's patriotism and his standing as one of Asia's first intellectuals have inspired others of the importance of a national identity to nation-building.^[29]^[56]

Rizal Park, Wilhelmsfeld

Although his field of action lay in politics, Rizal's real interests lay in the arts and sciences, in literature and in his profession as an ophthalmologist. Shortly after his death, the Anthropological Society of Berlin met to honor him with a reading of a German translation of his farewell poem and Dr. Rudolf Virchow delivering the eulogy.^[57]

The Taft Commission in June 1901 approved AcT 137 renaming the District of Morong into the Province of Rizal, and Act 346 authorizing a government subscription for the erection of a national monument in Rizal's honor. Republic Act 1425 was passed in 1956 by the Philippine legislature that would include in all high school and college curricula a course in the study of his life, works and writings. The wide acceptance of Rizal is partly evidenced by the countless towns, streets, and numerous parks in the Philippines named in his honor. Monuments in his honor were erected in Madrid^[58] Wilhelmsfeld, Germany,^[59] Jinjiang, Fujian, China,^[60]

Tribute to Rizal, Cavenagh Bridge, Singapore

Chicago,^[61] Cherry Hill Township, New Jersey, San Diego,^[62] Seattle, U.S.A.,^[63] Mexico City, Mexico, Lima, Peru,^[64] and Litomerice, Czech Republic, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.^[65] Several titles were bestowed on him: "the First Filipino", "Greatest Man of the Brown Race," among others. The Order of the Knights of Rizal, a civic and patriotic organization, boasts of dozens of chapters all over the globe [15] [16]. There are some remote-area religious sects who claim him as a sublimation of Christ.

A two-sided marker bearing a painting of Rizal by Fabian de la Rosa on one side and a bronze bust relief of him by Philippine artist Guillermo Tolentino stands at the Asian Civilisations Museum Green. This marks his visits to Singapore (1882, 1887, 1891,1896).^[66]

A Rizal bronze bust was erected at La Molina district, Lima, Peru, designed by Czech sculptor Hanstroff, mounted atop a pedestal base with 4 inaugural plaque markers with the following inscription on one: “Dr. José P. Rizal, Héroe Nacional de Filipinas, Nacionalista, Reformador Political, Escritor, Lingüistica y Poeta, 1861–1896.”^[67]^[68]^[69]

[edit] Rizal in popular culture

The cinematic depiction of Rizal's literary works won two film industry awards more than a century after his birth. In the 10th FAMAS Awards, he was honored in the Best Story category for Gerardo de León's adaptation of his book Noli me Tangere. The recognition was repeated the following year with his movie version of El Filibusterismo, making him the only person to win back-to-back FAMAS Awards posthumously.^{[citation needed]}

Both novels were translated into opera by the composer-librettist Felipe Padilla de León: Noli me tangere in 1957 and El filibusterismo in 1970; and his 1939 overture, Mariang Makiling, was inspired by Rizal's tale of the same name.^[70]

Several films were produced narrating Rizal's life. The most successful was Jose Rizal, produced by GMA Films and released in 1998. Cesar Montano played the title role.^{[citation needed]}. A year before it was shown another movie was made portraying his life while in exile in the island of Dapitan. Titled "Rizal sa Dapitan" produced by Viva Films it stars Albert Martínez as Rizal and Amanda Page as Josephine Bracken. The film was the top grosser of the 1997 Manila Film Festival and won the best actor and actress trophies.^{[citation needed]}. A documentary called "Bayaning Third World" directed by Mike de Leon and starring Joel Torre was released in 2000.^{[citation needed]}

Rizal also appeared in the 1999 video game Medal of Honor as a secret character in multiplayer, alongside other historical figures such as William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill. He can be unlocked by completing the single-player mode, or through cheat codes.^[71]^[72]

Lee Min Ho

2010-11-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

- Name: Lee Min Ho
- Date of birth: June 22, 1987 (age 21)
- Height: 186cm
- Star sign: Cancer
- Family: Father, Mother, Older sister.

Lee Min Ho is a South Korean actor who is best known for his leading role as the leader of F4, Goo Joon Pyo, in the Korean adaptation of the popular manga series, Hana Yori Dango, titled Boys Before Flowers, in 2009.

His acting debut was in 2005, in MBC's Love Hymn, appearing as a minor character. His first lead role came in 2007, starring as Cha Gong Chan in SBS's Mackerel Run, an 8-part high-school drama.

However, his first big career break came when he was announced to be part of the Korean F4 on October 2, 2008. He was successful in getting the biggest role as F4's leader, his character is Goo Joon Pyo in the Korean version, and he stars alongside the actress Koo Hye Sun, Kim Bum and SS501's Kim Hyun Joong.

The role of Goo Joon Pyo catapulted him to fame, and led to many endorsements including Levi's Signature, LG Telecom, Samsung Anycall, Trugen, Market O, Cadillac CTS, Samsung, Cass Beer and Dunkin Donuts.

TV SERIES

* Boys Before Flowers (2009)
* But I don't know too (2008)
* I Am Sam (2008)
* Mackerel Run (2007)
* Secret Campus (2006)
* Love Hymn (2006)

MOVIES

* Our School's E.T. (2008)
* Public Enemy Returns (2008)

Son Ye Jin

2010-11-02T04:03:00.001-07:00

Profile
Name: Son Ye Jin (Son Yeh Jin) 孙艺珍 손예진
Real name: Son Yeon Jin (Son Yun Jin) 孫言珍 손연진
Date of birth: January 11, 1982
Place of birth: Daegu, South Korea
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 45 kg
Blood type: RH+A
Horoscope: Capricorn
Profession: Actress, model
Biography

Son Ye-jin (b. January 11, 1982) has taken on a variety of roles in her career to date, propelling her to fame both in Korea and in other Asian countries. She first appeared in a supporting role in Park Ki-hyung's film Secret Tears in 2000, and then went on to take the lead in TV dramas such as Delicious Proposal, Sunhee Jinhee, and Daemang: Great Ambition. Her first high-profile role in cinema was in Im Kwon-taek's Chihwaseon, which screened at Cannes and took home a Best Director award in 2002.

The biggest success of her early career was in the subsequent films Lovers Concerto and The Classic. Both were solid mid-level hits in Korea, and The Classic in particular -- being a work of My Sassy Girl director Kwak Jae-yong -- received wide exposure in countries such as Hong Kong and China.  

Son further solidified her status as a "hallyu" (Korean wave) star in 2003 by taking the lead in TV drama Summer Scent, a part of the hugely successful series of TV dramas including Autumn Love Story and Winter Sonata (though this drama would not attract the attention of the previous two). Her next two films also proved to be huge hits in Asia: A Moment to Remember, based on a famous Japanese TV series, set box office records in Japan and sold over two million tickets in Korea, while April Snow in which she co-starred with superstar Bae Yong-joon was also a smash hit in Japan and China (though not, incidentally, in Korea).  

Son's most recent work sees her cast off her nice girl image to take on the role of a seductress in The Art of Seduction. From Marc 2006 she is also scheduled to appear in a TV drama together with Gam Woo-sung, playing the role of a divorced woman. 

Personal taste or perfect match

2010-11-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

* Title: 개인의 취향 / Kaeinui Chwihyang
* Also known as: Kae In's Taste / Personal Taste
* Genre: Romance, comedy
* Episodes: 16
* Broadcast network: MBC
* Broadcast period: 2010-Mar-31 to 2010-May-20
* Air time: Monday to friday
* See inserts: Personal Preference OST

Synopsis

Jeon Jin Ho is a straight guy who pretends to be gay in order to become Park Kae In's roommate. His hobbies include organization and ironing, and he’s known for his stoic poker face. He’s a stickler for cleanliness, but he also has a talent for figuring out a women’s feelings. Kae In is very trusting even though she has a habit of being betrayed. However that doesn't stop her from giving people the benefit of doubt and Jin Ho is no different. How will Kae In react when she finds out that her gay roommate is not actually gay at all and that he has fallen for her? --Source: Javabeans

Cast

* Son Ye Jin as Park Kae In
* Lee Min Ho as Jeon Jin Ho
* Kim Ji Suk as Han Chang Ryul
* Wang Ji Hye as Kim In Hee
* Choi Eun Seo as Na Hye Mi
* Im Seul Ong as Kim Tae Hoon
* Jo Eun Ji as Lee Young Sun
* Jung Sung Hwa as No Sang Joon
* Ryu Seung Ryong as Choi Do Bin
* Park Hae Mi as Jin Ho's mother
* Ahn Suk Hwan as Han Yoon Sub
* Jang Won Young as Secretary Kim
* Kang Shin Il as Park Chul Han
* Yoon Eun Hye as Eun Soo (cameo, ep8)
* Bong Tae Kyu as Lee Won Ho (cameo)
* Jung Chan as bridegroom (cameo)
* Song Sun Mi as bride (cameo)
* Julien Kang as Chang Ryul's foreign friend (cameo)
* Park No Shik as Goo Joon Pyo (cameo)
* Kim Joon Ho (cameo)
* Kim Na Young (cameo)
* Kim Nam Gil (cameo)

Production Credits

* Production Company:
* Chief Producer: Choi Yi Seob (최이섭)
* Director: Son Hyung Suk, No Jong Chan (노종찬)
* Original writing: Novel "Personal Preference" by Lee Sae In (이새인)
* Screenwriter: Park Hye Kyung (박혜경)

Photo:

YOON EUN HYE!!!

2010-11-01T04:47:00.001-07:00

Name: 윤은혜 / Yoon Eun Hye (Yun Eun Hye)

Nicknames: “JamGgoDae” (Stick) / “Pooh”
Profession: Actress, singer and model
Birthdate: 1984-Oct-03
Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea
Height: 168cm
Weight: 48kg
Star sign: Libra
Blood type: O
Family: Younger brother
Talent agency: Kraze Entertainment
Education: Joong Kyung High School, Kyung Hee Cyber University (Tourism Management degree)
Hobbies: Photography
Specialty: Drawing

About Yoon Eun Hye

Yoon Eun Hye first entered the entertainment industry in 1999 as a member of the K-pop girl group Baby Vox. She left the group in 2005 to pursue an acting career. Yoon performed her first major role in a drama, Goong as Shin Chae-gyung. This role propelled her to stardom. She portrayed as a tough girl named Han Su in her first movie, Escaping from Charisma. Her next drama after Goong was a comedy called The Vineyard Man. Yoon Eun Hye was the lead star of The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince portraying the lead in the drama. Criticism of her acting arose after the first episode aired, but then came to a stop, after displaying her acting talent as the drama proceeded. In light of this, different companies were eying her to endorse their products due to her increased popularity.

TV Series

Take Care of the Young Lady (KBS2, 2009)
The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (MBC, 2007)
The Vineyard Man (KBS2, 2006)
Goong (MBC, 2006)
Rainbow Romance (MBC, 2005)

Movies

The Legend of Seven Cutter / Escaping from Charisma (2006)

Awards

2009 KBS Drama Awards: Best Couple Award (with Yoon Sang Hyun in Take Care of the Young Lady)
2009 KBS Drama Awards: Popularity Award (Take Care of the Young Lady)
44th Baeksang Awards: Best Actress Award for The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (2008)
2007 MBC Drama Awards: Top Excellence Acting Award for The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince
2006 The Grime Awards: Best Actress for The Vineyard Man
2006 KBS Acting Awards: Best New Actress Award for The Vineyard Man
2006 KBS Acting Awards: Best Couple Award with Oh Man Suk
2006 MBC Drama Awards: New Actress Award for Goong
2004 Hallyu Award: 15th Seoul Music Awards
2003 Korean Music Awards: Best Singer Award
2002 SBS Music Awards: Representative Award
2001 Award Model Line: Best Dressed Singer
10th Seoul Music Awards: Best Singer Award (1999)

Endorsements

DHC Korea
LG Telecom
Samsung Happy Together
Green Tea
Domino’s Pizza
MPLE
JOINUS
Levi’s Lady style jeans
Samil Pharmaceutical eye2o
Philips Satinelle Ice Premium
CK
KT Mega TV
PRO-SPECS
Trofish
Maxim Latte Ditto
New Balance

Note

In late 2007, she was involved in projects for a cause such as Wish Come True and Letters from the Angels No. 5 Campaign
She was one of the ten Hallyu stars of 2007 thus she became one of the most highly paid actresses in television at the age of 23.
Yoon Eun-hye was formerly in Baby VOX; she was the last member to join and stayed with the group from 1999 until 2005.

Bi Rain...!!!

2010-11-01T04:22:00.000-07:00

Rain, Jeong Ji-Hoon (born on 25 June 1982 in Seoul) is a male Korean R&B and pop singer. He has become well-known throughout East Asia as a leading star of the Korean wave: Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, and Thailand . He has been called the "Asian Usher" or the "Asian Justin Timberlake." In April 2006, Time magazine called him the world's second most influential entertainer.

Biography

The story of his name is rather complicated: he's known by a variety of names in different countries. Although his stage name is an English word, in Korea, he is known as Bi (pronounced like the English word be), which is the Korean word for "rain". In Japan, his name is pronounced Pi ("ピ," pronounced like pea in English). In countries outside of Korea and Japan, the English name Rain prevails.

Rain discovered his passion for dancing ever since he was in the 6th grade. As a teenager, he was part of the boyband group called "fanclub" and years after the group ended, Park Jin Young (Korean producer/singer who worked with American singers Will Smith, Mase, Lil’ Kim, 3LW, Tyrese) took Rain under his wings after he auditioned for JYP Entertainment and trained him for years in dancing and singing. Rain was a back-dancer for a famous Korean singer named Park Ji Yoon and Park Jin Young himself. During those training years, Rain was not at home much and would lie to his parents telling them he was going to study in the library while in fact he went to the dance studio. He struggled financially and at times had to go without meals. Nevertheless, he continued to focus on his dance and singing even though he was anxiously waiting for his debut.

Finally in 2002 he debuted with the song "bad guy" charming fans with his singing and powerful choreography. After the 1st album, he starred in the drama "Sangdoo let’s go to school". Many people were impressed by his acting skills regardless that it was his first time acting in a drama. Following the success of his debut, he came back with a new set of style in his 2nd album and hit song "Way's To Avoid The Sun".

In 2004, he starred in another successful drama called "Full House" which has aired in other Asian countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and was one of the highest rated Korean dramas which has won the hearts of many fans across Asia. His performance in Full House has won him the Best Actor Award at the KBS Acting Awards.

His 3rd album "It’s raining" has been released in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and has top the foreign music charts in those countries. This album has selling over 1 million copies in Asia. His concert called "Rainy day" which was held in Korea and Japan had concert tickets sold out on the first day.

In 2004, Rain earned even greater recognition by winning the MTV Asia Grand Slam, winning top honors in all the Asian countries that broadcast MTV Asia. Rain won the "Favorite Artist of Korea" from the 2005 MTV Asia Aid held in Bangkok , the "Popular Asian Artist Award" from Channel [V] Thailand, and the "Best Buzz Asia Award" during the MTV Japan Video Music Award 2005 and the "Best Korean Singer" award in the MTV-CCTV Mandarin Music Honors in Beijing. Rain was also the first Asian performing artist ever to be invited to the 2005 American MTV Video Music Awards in Miami and the 2005 MTV Latin Video Music Awards in Mexico. These accomplishments among others earned Rain media attention including interviews with Time Magazine Asian Edition and CNN Talk Asia.

Rain also won the "Best Korean singer" award 2005 at the Mandarin Music Honors in Taiwan. Having been voted as the best Asian singer by the Taiwanese media, Rain is positioning himself as one of the most admired Asian stars this year. Wherever he goes, he generates huge public interest and becomes a hot topic of conversation. His every move is monitored by the media and draws keen attention from music fans.

In addition to Times magazine voting Rain the second most influential artist of 2006, the magazine has also noted that Rain may do a future collaboration with P.Diddy. This was after reviewing Rain's awesome performances in Madison Square Garden in February 2006. His two concerts, Rainy Day in New York, were sold out in a couple of days.

Rain is currently on a RAINY DAY 2005 Tour which started in Seoul and will travel to Tokyo and Hong Kong. He is creating and showcasing fresh new spectacles at every single concert, and tickets are selling out quickly as a result. His first solo concert in Japan last summer, entitled "Rainy Day Japan" and held at the Tokyo International Forum, was so popular that all the tickets were sold out 30 seconds after going on sale. And the tickets for another of his concerts in Taiwan were sold out the moment they became available. His performances in Hong Kong also sold out in a couple of hours. Rain continues to set records in Asia. Now planning to go beyond Japan and Hong Kong, Rain will make a foray into China by giving a concert in Beijing.

There is also news that Bi will be singing a duet song with Omarion, who used to be the vocalist of the popular, hip-hop group, "B2K", and had starred in the movie, "You Got Served". When Bi's first movie had completed filming in early July, he had departed for the U.S. to discuss about the possibility of singing the duet song with Omarion, and meeting up with his organizers of his Asian Tour.

Bi's Asian Tour will include producers and stage designers (for example, Jamie King and Mark Fisher) who have done tour concerts with famous artists, such as Michael Jackson, Ricky Martin, Madonna, U2, Britney Spears, and the Rolling Stones.

Rain had apparently met Omarion through his producer, Jin-Young Park, who had written a song for Omarion's recent album. Also, after Bi's concert in February in New York - where Omarion had danced to Bi's song "Bad Guy" - Omarion and Bi became friends, says JYP Entertainment. They also noted that the two may star in a movie together one day.

JYP also announced in an interview with Yonhap News on June 4rth, that the two will record their song when Bi arrives to the U.S. the next time, and it will be released as a digital single in Korea and the U.S.

Also, Pepsi Cola has shot a TV commercial with Bi and Christina Aguilera, a well-known, American pop singer and star. There is also talk that the two will sing a duet song together.

Bi's fourth album will be released in Korea in the fall.

Korean Discography

Albums
Volume 1 | Bad Guy
Volume 2 | Rain
Volume 3 | It's Raining

Singles
나쁜 남자 | Bad Guy (debut single)
악수 | Hand Shake
태양을 피하는 방법 | Way's To Avoid The Sun
알면서 | You Already Knew
It's Raining
I Do

Japanese Discography

Singles
Sad Tango (2006)
Free Way (2006)

Chinese Singles
手記 | Memory In My Hand (2006 for Pantech)

Filmography

Television Series
[2002] Orange / 오렌지
[2003] Sang Doo, Let's Go To School
[2004] Full House
[2005] A Love To Kill
Sangdoo, Let's Go To School (2003) had good ratings but Full House (2004), in which he costarred with Song Hye Gyo, was much more popular. The story is based on a manwha about a girl who marries an actor while trying to get back her house.

In his most recent and most popular drama, A Love To Kill (2005), Rain portrays a man who works as a bodyguard for a famous actress to take revenge on her for putting his brother into a vegetative state.

Other appearances

Commercials
[2005] DOHC Clothing Line (Korea)
[2005] Pantech Mobile Phone (China)
[2006] DHC Cosmetics Career (Hong Kong, China,Taiwan)
[2006] Pepsi (Hong Kong, China, Taiwan)

News

In early May of 2006 Rain was the first Korean performer honored as one of the 100 most influential people who shape the world [2] by Time Magazine.

Superstar Rain headed to New York and walked down the red carpet at the Lincoln Center to attend the Time 100 party [3]on Monday, May 8 2006 where he was given a commemorative medal.

Rain is becoming more and more popular, and is now at the level of an international star. He will make his official debut in the United States in 2007.

On May 29, 2005, Rain was invited to the MTV Japan Awards as a performing artist in Tokyo, Japan. He is the only non-Japanese Asian singer to perform at the show. Other international guest artists included American singers Ashanti, and Mariah Carey. He performed the title song from his latest album, It's Raining.

On July 1, 2005, Rain held his third album showcase and press conference in Beijing, China. He also performed at various mini concerts in Hong Kong on July 3-5. Thousands of fans swamped the Hong Kong International Airport to greet him. His popularity in Hong Kong and China has soared since the KBS series "Full House", starring the artist, aired in that country.

Rain has been invited to perform at the pre-match show of the game between the English premier league team Manchester United and Japan’s Kashima Antlers on July 28 at 7 p.m. at the Tokyo Yoyoki National Stadium.

Rain held his first solo concerts in Japan, entitled "Rain Day In Japan," on July 30-31, 2005 at the Tokyo International Forum, Aug. 3-4, 2005 at the Osaka Pension Hall and an encore concert held in Budokan, Tokyo.

Rain held his first solo concerts which sold out within a few days in the United States, entitled "Rainy Day in New York," on February 2-3, 2006 at the Madison Square Garden, New York. Both nights were sold out and Rain was the subject of a profile in the January 28th New York Times and his performance at the Madison Square Garden was also reviewed by the New York Times. The review also noted possible future collaboration with Sean Combs, who at the concert named him the first Asian Sean Jean model.
In March of 2006, it was announced that Rain was to make his film debut in the movie "I'm a Cyborg, But It's Okay" (Saibogujiman Kwenchana). Filming has already begun and the movie is said to be released around December.
His fourth album will be released on October 15, 2006. He will then tour 11 countries in Asia to promote his new album.

spirit means......

2010-10-30T05:54:00.001-07:00

The English word spirit (from Latin spiritus "breath") has many differing meanings and connotations, all of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. The spirit of a human being is thus the animating, sensitive or vital principle in that individual, similar to the soul taken to be the seat of the mental, intellectual and emotional powers. The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap, as both contrast with body and both are imagined as surviving the bodily death in religion and occultism,and "spirit" can also have the sense of "ghost", i.e. manifestations of the spirit of a deceased person.

The history of All Saint's Day by Firdous

2010-10-30T04:53:00.001-07:00

All Saints Day is also known as All Hallows, or Hallowmas, where "hallow" means "saints", and "mas" means "Mass". The day before All Saints Day, "The Eve of All Hallows", is Halloween.

Throughout the earlier years, Christians had been persecuted by others. All Saints Day remembers all those who sacrificed their lives, rather than their religion.

In about the 4th century, several churches began to commemorate the death of martyrs. The origins of the festival of All Saints, as celebrated here in the West, dates to around May, in the year 609 or 610. The Pope Boniface IV restored the Pantheon at Rome, to become a church to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs.

About a hundred years later, Pope Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a new chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all saints (not just to the martyrs) on November 1. So the date was changed to 1 November. It was made a day of obligation throughout the Frankish empire in 835, by a decree of Louis the Pious, issued "at the instance of Pope Gregory IV and with the assent of all the bishops," which confirmed its celebration on the 1st of November.

In some countries, (Spain, Mexico, Portugal), offerings are made on All Saints Day. There are countries in which the people lay flowers at the graves of their deceased relatives, such as Italy, France and Spain. In Poland, Slovakia, Crotia and others, traditionally people light candles and visit graves of their relatives. In English speaking countries, All Saints day is celebrated by the hymn "For All the Saints" by William Walsham How.

Taking Smart’s Surf TV for a spin Published by: yuga under: TV and Display , Telecoms. 28 replies posted: March 24th, 2010

2010-04-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Was able to borrow a demo unit of Smart’s Surf TV and was testing how the internet TV box really works. Here are my first impressions on how the device works.

Smart Surf TV is primarily for content consumption rather than content creation. As such, it is more usable in the living room than the office or study.

So, what’s inside the box?

The entire package consists of the following — the TV box, a USB keyboard, USB mouse, a wireless remote, Smart Bro Plug-It, Smart SIM card, and VGA cables. So basically, all you need is a TV, monitor or a projector to hook it up to.

What ports are built into the TV box?

At the back of the device, there is a VGA port (monitor), a TV out, RCA (video in), 4 USB ports, a LAN port. There’s an one extra USB port left after the keyboard, mouse and USB dongle has been plugged. The VGA port allows you to hook up the device to an PC monitor, TV set or projector.

The LAN port is also interesting since it could mean you can hook it up to your wired network at home and get it online as well (I need to try this out for the full review).

How does it work?

There’s an embedded OS (Linux-based) into the device that boots up the system. I’d say it’s similar to the Express Gate and all those other quick boot-up OSes that you find in netbooks and ultraportables. The browser used here is Opera.

The SmartBro Plug-It provides internet connectivity to the device although that LAN port could also be an option.

The wireless remote allows you to do some basic navigational features but you have the mouse as well as the keyboard for data input.

There’s no internal storage built into the device but since there’s an extra USB port, I think it’s possible to plug in a flash drive and use it as storage.

I’ll need more time to play around with Surf TV before I can write anything substantial or conclusive but so far, the device is promising.

The true reason why do people cry?

2010-04-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

You’re watching the final scene in Thelma and Louise, and you’re on your third handkerchief. You turn your tear stained face to the side and look through blurred, saline-flooded vision at your cat, who is staring back at you witnessing the curious spectacle. Why is it that humans can be reduced to blubbering messes, while other members of the animal kingdom don’t seem to let out even a sniffle?

We have tear ducts to lubricate and protect our eyes from dust and other particles. The ducts are under the upper eyelids and produce a salty liquid—a tear-–-that gets spread throughout the eye after each blink. Animals too have the ability to produce tears, but not necessarily for the same reasons that we humans produce them.

Three types of tears are generated by the human eye. Basal tears protect the eye and keep it moist. Reflex tears flush out the eye when it becomes irritated. And emotional tears flow in response to sadness, distress, or physical pain.

Studies have shown that emotional tears contain more manganese, an element that affects temperament, and more prolactin, a hormone that regulates milk production. Sobbing out manganese and prolactin is thought to relieve tension by balancing the body’s stress levels and eliminating build ups of the chemicals, making the crier feel better.

But this minor physiological benefit aside, the most likely reason we produce emotional tears is because it’s a means of communication. Before babies can speak, they can cry. The only way for infants to express frustration, pain, fear, or need is to cry. Adults may use crying to bond with other humans. Expressing sadness can prompt comfort and support from peers. Different languages can provide barriers to spoken communication, but emotions are universal. There are also culturally acceptable reasons for crying that bring people together, such as at funerals or weddings.

Though there is a significant debate over whether animals have emotions and can express them, some animals do appear to cry for emotional reasons. Elephants seem to grieve when a family member dies and will guard the body and travel long distances to view it. Elephant experts at the London Zoo once told Charles Darwin that the animals do indeed mourn. Chimpanzees also appear to cry, but some scientists still insist that the tears released by these animals are strictly for cleaning the eye.

Whether or not animals shed tears for emotional reasons has yet to be scientifically proven. Humans, however, can and do dissolve into tears for any number of reasons. Cleansing the eye, relieving stress, conveying pain, communication, and societal assimilation can all lead to an empty tissue box. So weeping after that sappy movie might not mean that you are a total wuss after all. In fact, it may mean that you are behaving like a perfectly normal human being.

How to Make Your Wedding a True Family Affair

2010-04-08T01:35:00.001-07:00

Step 1 :
Sit down with your partner and make a list of important family traditions you can incorporate into different aspects of your wedding day or pre-wedding day preparations and ceremonies. Ask elder family members if certain flowers, colors, or ornaments have significant meaning or value to your family. Think creatively about family traditions that will add a sense of familiarity and warmth to your wedding day. Find ways to include these traditions in a fun, creative and memorable way! Try to use significant traditions that include siblings, best friends, and grandparents.

Step 2 :
Assign two to three family members to work with the catering company to design an appropriate menu for your wedding day. Impress upon these family members the importance of selecting several key food, wine and dessert varieties that appeal to the greater family dynamic. You can even provide family recipes to help the decision making process. (If you do not want to give executive control to a third party, explain that although you will consider the suggested menu very closely, you also reserve the right to make any changes or modifications you feel are necessary to enhance the menu and satisfy the greatest number of people.)

Step 3 :
Make a song list that includes songs that are especially important to your family, your partner and yourself. Think about songs that were played when your parents or siblings wed, a song playing on the radio in the car on your way to your college graduation ceremony, a song that best describes your partner, a favorite song you sing along to with your best friend, etc. Try to compile a song list that creates a sense of emotion, nostalgia and sentiment. (Aim for songs that will recreate positive shared moments you have shared with the ones you love!)

Step 4 :
Divide tasks among family members. Ask a parent or close sibling to read a passage from your family's religious text, an old love letter, or a favorite poem. Have a younger niece or nephew recite several funny family antedotes. These recitations will inspire unity and connection amongst your guests. Also, having a parent or sibling perform special reading(s) that hold significant meaning for you and your family will allow the wedding to serve as a a celebration of family tradition, values and themes.

Step 5 :
Study video footage from your parents, siblings and other family member's wedding day events. Try to incorporate small ideas that, together with your own unique vision of your wedding day, will create a memorable wedding for you, your partner and your family. Also, consider if you can wear your mother's wedding dress, fly in family members who are not in town, have creative family members help you (or the wedding planner) decide on key decorations, make a memory book of the day for family members to receive in the mail after the ceremony, mix the bride and groom family when organizing the seating chart, ask family members to record special video messages on the day and distribute later as part of a video diary of the wedding, or plan a big family dinner prior to the wedding (separate from the rehearsal dinner). Incorporating all, or just a few, of these tips will help to make your wedding a true family affair!

My true Barkada.

2010-04-08T01:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, my beloved barkada. This is where I felt the true “friendship”. Like I said before, my barkada is like a family to me. We rarely see each other, mostly on holidays and we enjoy our meetings so much because of the busy days of college. I am just happy that we get to meet once again, especially during the Christmas season. Although there were a few people missing in the pack but still the fun continued. We miss those people a lot. We celebrate this particular reunion during the Lantern Parade in the University of the Philippines Diliman. This year, we get to do an overnight although only four of us went, and I’m the only guy. Hahah~!

I wish events such as this will continue as I rarely see a chance of finding decent friends in my school, my barkada is the only group of true friends that I have. I remember what my Philo professor said that the true barkada is the barkada that’s only few in number and very close to each other. Close in the sense that we treat each other as a brother or sister rather than just a mere friend.

OoOOh I so love my barkada. and I hope I would see friends as decent as them in my school and everywhere else.

10 Keys to True Happiness

2010-04-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

The Set Point
Better living through science is possible. Over the last 70 years or so, researchers have been probing happy and unhappy people, and they're finally zeroing in on the factors that make a difference. What follows are the top ten. By the way, the experts think your genes account for about 50 percent of your disposition; the other nine factors make up the rest.

1. Wealth
Money can buy a degree of happiness. But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself, each extra dollar makes less and less difference.

Whenever and wherever they look, scientists find that, on average, wealthier people are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complicated. In the past half-century, average income has skyrocketed in industrialized countries, yet happiness levels have remained static. Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to boost happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues.

"Dollars buy status, and status makes people feel better," says Andrew Oswald, an economist at Warwick University in Coventry, England. This helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways -- scientists or actors, for example -- may happily accept relatively poorly paid jobs.

2. Desire
How much stuff do you need to feel good? In the 1980s, political scientist Alex Michalos, professor emeritus at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, asked 18,000 college students in 39 countries to rate their happiness on a numeric scale. Then he asked them how close they were to having all they wanted. He found that the people whose aspirations -- not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health, the works -- soared furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who perceived a smaller gap. Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. "The gap measures just blow away the absolute measures of income," says Michalos.

This "aspiration gap" might explain why most people fail to get much happier as their salaries rise. Instead of satisfying our desires, most of us merely want more. In surveys by the Roper polling organization over the last two decades, Americans were asked to list the material possessions they thought important to "the good life." The researchers found that the more of these goods people already had, the longer their list was. The good life remained always just out of reach.

3. Intelligence
Only a few surveys have examined whether smart people are happier, but they indicate intelligence has no effect. That seems surprising at first, since brighter people often earn more, and the rich tend to be happier.

Some researchers speculate that brighter people could have higher expectations and thus be dissatisfied with anything less than the highest achievements. "Or maybe scoring high on an IQ test -- which means you know a lot of vocabulary and can rotate things in your mind -- doesn't have a lot to do with your ability to get along well with people," says Ed Diener, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He speculates that "social intelligence" could be the real key to happiness.

4. Genetics
Are some people born happy or unhappy? David Lykken, a behavioral geneticist and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, believes our feeling of well-being at any moment is determined half by what is going on in our lives at that time and half by a "set point" of happiness, which is up to 90 percent genetically determined and to which we eventually return after dramatic events. "While our happiness set point is largely determined by our genes," says Lykken, "whether we bounce along above it or slump along under it depends on our -- or our parents' -- good sense and good training."

Lykken found that genetic variation accounted for between 44 and 55 percent of the difference in happiness levels. Neither income, marital status, religion nor education accounted for any more than about 3 percent.

But whether you trudge through life on the low side of your set point or skip along on the high side is up to you. Many studies have shown that extroverts tend to be happier than most people, and a lot happier than introverts. And research has found that putting people in a good mood makes them more sociable. Michael Cunningham at the University of Louisville in Kentucky showed that people were more talkative and open with others after watching a happy film than after watching a sad one. Theoretically, even someone with a low set point can boost his or her outlook.
Let's Get Together
5. Beauty
First the bad news: Good-looking people really are happier. When Diener got people to rate their own looks, there was a "small but positive effect of physical attractiveness on subjective well-being."

Perhaps the explanation is that life is kinder to the beautiful. Or it could be more subtle than that. The most attractive faces are highly symmetrical, and there is evidence that symmetry reflects good genes and a healthy immune system. So perhaps beautiful people are happier because they are healthier.

You may be able to cash in on beauty's emotional high even if you aren't gorgeous -- if you believe you look great. Unfortunately, studies show that women tend to think they are too fat and men worry about being puny.

6. Friendship
It is hard to imagine a more pitiful existence than life on the streets of Calcutta or in one of its slums, or making a living there as a prostitute. Yet despite the poverty and squalor they face, people with these lives are much happier than you might imagine.

Diener interviewed 83 people from these three groups and measured their life satisfaction using a scale for which a score of 2 is considered neutral. Overall, they averaged 1.93 -- not great, but creditable, compared with a control group of middle-class students in the city who scored 2.43. And the slum dwellers, who were happiest of the three disadvantaged groups, scored 2.23, which is not significantly different from the score the students had.

"We think social relationships are partly responsible," says Diener. He points out that all three deprived groups got high satisfaction ratings in specific areas such as family (2.5) and friends (2.4). Slum dwellers did particularly well, perhaps because they are most likely to be able to cash in on the social support that arises from the importance of the extended family in Indian culture.

7. Marriage
In an analysis of reports from 42 countries, U.S. researchers found that married people are consistently happier than singletons. The effect is small, but that still begs the question: Does marriage make you happy, or are happy people simply more likely to get married?

Both answers may be true. In a study that followed more than 30,000 Germans for 15 years, Diener and his colleagues found that happy people are more likely to get married and then stay married. But anyone can improve his or her mood by getting married. The effect begins about a year before the "happy day" and lasts for at least a year afterward. For most people, satisfaction levels do return to their baseline, but the researchers say this conceals the fact that a good marriage can have a permanent positive effect. Furthermore, people who are less happy to begin with will get a bigger boost from marriage.

And it seems there's something special about signing that piece of paper: The research shows that you can't get as much benefit from simply cohabiting. "My hunch is that cohabiting couples lack the deeper security that comes with the formal band of gold, and that is why they are not quite so happy," says Oswald. "Insecurity, we know from all data, is bad for human beings."

Aging Happily

8. Faith
Karl Marx was fairly close to the mark when he described religion as an opiate for the masses. Of the dozens of studies that have looked at religion and happiness, the vast majority have found a positive link.

Believing in an afterlife can give people meaning and purpose and reduce the feeling of being alone in the world, says Harold G. Koenig at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., especially as people get older. "You really see the effect in times of stress. Religious belief can be a very powerful way of coping with adversity."

Religion also brings social interaction and support. But Koenig believes it is not just about receiving. "Studies have shown that people who provide support to others are better off themselves. They even live longer." This, researchers agree, makes religious involvement a source of greater satisfaction than other socially inclusive activities such as book groups.

9. Charity
Several studies have found a link between happiness and altruistic behavior. But as with many behavioral traits, it is not always clear whether doing good makes you feel good, or whether happy people are more likely to be altruistic.

James Konow, an economist at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, tried to tease apart cause and effect in a lab experiment.

He recruited subjects to answer questionnaires, and toward the end of the session gave half of them $10 and half, nothing. He then told the subjects who had been paid that they could share their money with those who hadn't been compensated. Konow found that the happier students were overall, the more likely they were to share the money. However, being in a happy mood on the day of the test did not make them any more generous, and students who gave did not report any immediate increase in happiness. In fact, they were slightly less happy.

But those who shared their money were more likely to show the personality traits of a "self-actualizer" -- they were concerned with their own personal growth and improvement. Konow thinks that while a single act of generosity did not make his subjects happier, the cumulative effects of being a generous person did.

10. Age
Old age may not be so bad. "Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied?" asks Laura Carstensen, a psychology professor at Stanford University in California.

In one study, Carstensen gave pagers to 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and paged them five times a day for a week, asking them to fill out an emotions questionnaire each time. Old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people, but they reported negative emotions much less frequently.

Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they're more realistic about their goals, only setting ones that they know they can achieve. But Carstensen thinks that with time running out, older people have learned to focus on things that make them happy and let go of those that don't.

"People realize not only what they have, but also that what they have cannot last forever," he says. "A goodbye kiss to a spouse at the age of 85, for example, may elicit far more complex emotional responses than a similar kiss to a spouse at the age of 20."

True People Within The World Of Fakers

2010-04-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows about the online world. The online world is a vast place filled with information as well as the largest network of people out there. Of course, the online world isn't a place that is full of the truth. Just like some information could be completely false, there are some people who don't show their true selves. Even though, this stuff happens in reality too, the internet is imfanous for that aspect. So what about friends and the people out there? Are there really people that are really truthful?

Of course, there are. Behind each username and montior lies a real person who have real stories and real issues. If there are real people behind those monitors, it is very possible to make friendships with those people. The beautiful of the internet that is that the distance of the network is limitless. Being friends from state to state or country to country is really easy (other than the langauge gap). People don't need to take friends on the internet for grant as hurting someone online can be just as hurtful as hurting someone in real life.

Yeah, I do believe that internet friends are real because those people are real.

True love

2010-04-06T21:52:00.001-07:00

In most cases we think: this is true love, when in fact it’s not. But than if this ain’t love than what it is? There are plenty of things that we confuse with love.

It could be just the basic instinct. The feelings can be passionate and crazy, but in fact both people may want only sex. And after it all the misunderstanding starts, and once infatuated lovers will find out that they have nothing in common and sometimes they don’t even know what to talk with each other.

Another variant is when people lack support, care and attention to their person or they just scared to stay single. Being with someone can be a habit when one simply got used to the other. It can either be a sick addiction or some self-interest. People call all these types of relationship love just by mistake or trying to conceal the true nature of it.

But than what does real love look and feel like? Maybe it’s when two people seem to know each other for ages and even in their previous lives. They can go on talking and talking and conversation never lacks topics and never gets dull. Or people don’t have to say anything because they understand each other without words. And those moments, minutes and even hours of silence are never uncomfortable. True love is when partners complete one another, when they’re together it’s peaceful, the whole other world with it’s sufferings and problems doesn’t exist and nothing even matters.

True love means understanding. One trusts another more than him/herself and feels ready to satisfy every little need of a partner. Two people don’t stop for a second looking into each other eyes.

It’s said that two persons truly in love aren’t looking at each other but in the one direction. And this is rather reasonable because they don’t say nothing “this is yours and this is mine” and share everything: friends, enemies, interests, problems and etc. One has his/her own identity but sees him/herself only as a part of the other. Still real love is not a relationship of property. If you really love someone you may say “I belong you” but always be ready to let go if it makes the person you love happy.

Jealousy stands out of the true love. How can one be jealous if there’s so much love and faithfulness? Real love doesn’t long for power, it doesn’t want to hurt, doesn’t want to punish for mistakes, it’s self-sacrificing and ready to forgive other and other again. But it’s wrong to think that true love is always a suffering, it only means that you take a person as he or she is and don’t expect the one you love to be perfect.

True love isn’t supposed to blow your mind, yet it doesn’t tend to get and to possess – it’s a and very special state of a soul.

But the question that true love is still has no definite answer. Do we truly love only once in our life? At what age are we supposed to meet our love? Does it last for a lifetime or just for a while? Probably everyone has his own answers to this questions. The truth is that no one should spend life chasing ideals or building relationships by some model of a true love. One will probably fail and miss the real thing beyond all this.

We should remember that very many things we need to supply our healthy and comfortable living but only the true feeling of love makes life really longer and happier. And this is scientifically proved.

tRue Beaty of nature

2010-04-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Getting There
Going to Anawangin will approximately take 6 hours. From Manila, you can drive or take a bus to San Antonio, Zambales. Upon arriving at San Antonio you can hire a boat at Pundaquit that will take you to Anawangin. It is advisable to leave Manila at night so it wouldn’t be hot while traveling.

true happiness

2010-04-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

POVERTY REDUCTION

2010-03-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Poverty has historically been accepted as inevitable as non-industrialized economies produced very little while populations grew almost as fast making wealth scarce. Poverty reduction, or poverty alleviation, has been largely as a result of overall economic growth.Food shortages were common before modern agricultural technology and in places that lack them today, such as nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation methods.The dawn of industrial revolution led to high economic growth, eliminating mass poverty in what is now considered the developed world. World GDP per person quintupled during the 20th century.In 1820, 75% of humanity lived on less than a dollar a day, while in 2001, only about 20% do.

POVERTY

2010-03-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

Poverty refers to the condition of not having the means to afford basic human needs such as clean water, nutrition, health care,education, clothing and shelter.

please help the poor fillipino

2010-03-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

when all people free from poverty?

2010-03-25T18:26:00.001-07:00

the poor children

2010-03-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

my Life

2010-03-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

My name is Royssan Lopez Salinas, 19 years old. My birthday is January 14, 1991. I was born in Barangay Luna, San Antonio Zambales. My mother’s name is Marciana Lopez Salinas and my father’s name is Roque Garcia Salinas, we are five siblings, two sisters and three brothers and I’m the youngest among them. When I was I child my mother told me the story of Mt. Pinatubo erupted she’s always carring me at that time and wrapped me because of poisonous smoke coming from the Mt. Pinatubo. At present I’m residing in Sto. Rosario, Iba, Zambales. I was graduated in elementary in T. R. Yangco Memorial School year 2002-2003, when I was first year high school I’m studied at jesus f. Magsaysay high school in Castillejos, Zambales. When my parents decided to stayed here in Iba, Zambales my mother transferred me in Zambales National High. It’s hard to move on for new classmate, I tried to be friendly for them.
I was so shy to my classmate because I was only living at the market and sale some scrapped tools. Every Saturday and Sunday I helped my mother at the market. It’s very hard to live in the market because no light, no television and we’re not comfortable when I had an assignment. I went to the street light or mall to make my assignment. For being a poor person sometimes I tried eat “Malagkit” for dinner.
When I was third year high school I have a Best friend name Mary Jane Bruan, we are being close to each other because her mother was also a vendor in the market. Sometimes if I don’t’ have no allowance she gave me some food for break time.
I graduated in high school year 2007-2008 I’ve realized a lot of hardship and then I realized the importance of education it’s really hard to graduate in high school. Many obstacle and trials were in my life. I was try to escape my classes and I fell alone when my all my classmates treat me like a stranger I don’t know what I do but I’m not stop to be friendly with them and I also try to drunk it’s really unforgettable experience in my high school life .I was very happy when I was graduated in high school I feel the real function of education and the importance of it.
Last year I went to my ante to help them to sale some school supplies. After my job I went to Ramon Magsaysay technological University to enroll in college but when the time that I was would pay my tuition fee. My mother called me because my father was in the hospital so I decided not to paid and stopped studying for one year.
When I tried again to enroll again in the Ramon Magsaysay Technological University year 2009-2010 the cashier said that I still have an account to pay. On that time I don’t have any enough money to pay my account. I lose faith in my self to continue my study in college. I said to myself if I’m not continue in college I just help my parents to sale our home made product.
But my mother said just try to another school exactly the mayor of botolan was constructed a school for colleges that was a public school. So I tried to enrolled in that school but he didn’t accept me because I did not lived in botolan, but the registrar Mrs. Rico gave me a chance to continue my study in college. Now, I’m taking up BS Info Tech.
My first day in college, I’ve met my best friend named Kristel Joy Dante and new acquaintances. About my love life, my first girlfriend in college is Joan Evangelista. I court her for almost two weeks but then after two weeks I realize that she is not my only one. I’m met not happy with her, because I discovered her bad attitude. After the broke up, I’ve met my best friend; she teaches me how to love unconditionally. I remember the time a met her at exactly September 09, 2009 at 2:45 pm in the class of our major subject. We’ve been so close to each other. Many students and instructors of our college are expecting that we’re more than friends but not a lover.
My life so far is comprised of a wonderful family, great friend and a sincere dedication to my family. As I stated in the beginning, I have always placed a great importance on education and have had a drive to learn more and excel in life. I would like to see my relatives and family continue their educational interests no matter what they are. I would hope that through all of my experiences in my personal as well as simple life this will provide the foundation on which my family can succeed and as a professional to help the company of others. I do my best for to succeed as well. I feel a great need to practice what I preach and in telling my friend’s that education is vital to their success, my actions have spoken louder than any words I could have said to them. In my life this is true as well, in being Responsible for developing education. I have found it is essential that we practice what we preach as our level of Education in the field directly relates to the success of our dreams. The diversified Experiences in my life and the level of education I currently obtain have afforded me Opportunities that would have been passed by. It is because of my friend’s and family and their support I have been able to chase after and accomplish dreams and goals that without them would not be worth pursuing. Because of my experiences I am better suited to provide for my family both monetarily and educationally. I hope you have enjoyed my Autobiography, I think you can see that my life has been based on hard work, education, and responsibility. It is these principles that I believe can have the greatest effect on Anyone’s successes.