GoodNewsPilipinas.Com

Filipinos are next only to the Indians as the “happiest” and most optimistic about life, according to a recent survey in eight Asian countries.

The survey by global research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), commissioned by AXA Asia Pacific, also covered China, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

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GMA News

Philippine Christmas lanterns (Parols) made in Pampanga province would be a regular attraction at Vienna, Austria.

Philippine ambassador to Austria Linglingay Lacanlale has reported that the Vienna City government had agreed to make the Philippine Parol display a regular feature of Vienna’s Christmas market.

Lacanlale announced the city government’s decision at the ceremonial lighting of the lanterns at a special Philippine tree at the City Hall square.

Sixty colorful Philippine Christmas lanterns were lit on Nov. 19 at the special “Philippine tree,” the Department of Foreign Affairs reported on Friday.

Lacanlale and Vienna City Councilor Elisabeth Vitouch led the lighting of the Pampanga-made parols.

Members of the diplomatic corps, the Philippine honorary consular officers in Austria and officials of the Vienna City Government, the Austrian media, members of the Filipino community, and the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market) crowd and shoppers witnessed the Parol-lighting ceremony.

In keeping with Philippine Christmas traditions, the ceremony was followed by a reception featuring Philippine Christmas delicacies, including ginger tea and rice cakes.

The event is a joint project of the Philippine Embassy in Vienna and the Vienna City government, with the support of San Fernando City government and the Filipino community in Vienna.

A separate Parol display featuring 30 Pampanga lanterns was inaugurated in the historic Austrian city of Salzburg last Thursday, the DFA said.

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Good News Pilipinas

Anew international survey of satisfaction with life reveals the Philippines is one of the most optimistic in the region.

The AXA Asia Life survey, the first such outlook Index by the global insurance group, found that three developing economies–India, the Philippines, and China–are significantly more optimistic than their peers in the more developed economies of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

India ranks as the most upbeat, with a score of 87.2 on a scale of 100, followed by Philippines’ 85 and China’s 75.1. The most pessimistic, at 59.2, was Singapore.

The survey drew its conclusions from interviews with 2,400 mass affluent residents between the ages of 25 and 50 in these eight markets in Asia, canvassing their views about life over the next five years.

The more ebullient mood of the mass affluent in the three most optimistic countries does not derive from their having a higher level of financial safeguards in place–as might well have been the case for their forebears–however.

The three most optimistic countries are also found to be less prudent in preparing for the future. AXA says 82% of the mass affluent in India, 69% in China and 78% in the Philippines declare they have not started making plans for retirement. That compares with the more retirement-conscious Hong Kong, at 47%, Singapore, at 41% and Malaysia, at 36%. Singapore’s mass affluent begin retirement planning as early as the age of 34, ahead of Hong Kong’s 35 and Malaysia’s 37, in contrast with the regional average of 39.

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Philippine Daily inquirer

After a decades-long search, the family of Vicente Alvarez Dizon has located his painting that won first place at an international competition in 1939 which included the works of Salvador Dali and Maurice Utrillo.

The late Dizon’s masterpiece, “After the Day’s Toil,” which was last seen by the family in 1952 when it was transported to the country for the Philippine International Fair, is in the possession of Dr. Rogelio Pine, a Filipino cardiologist based in New Jersey.

Pine bought it in 1980 from Daniel Grossman of the Grossman Gallery, who in turn bought it from IBM New York when the company unloaded a number of paintings in the late 1970s.

Dizon, of the University of the Philippines’ then School of Fine Arts, painted “After the Day’s Toil” in 1936 as a graduation thesis during postgraduate scholarship studies at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

When he returned home, he settled in Malate, Manila, and continued to lecture at UP, the National Teachers’ College, and other schools.

From 79 countries
In 1939, Thomas J. Watson, founder of International Business Machines (IBM), conceived the idea of holding an international art competition at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco, California.

He sent his representative, Kevin Mallen, to 79 countries all over the world to scout for entries.

In Manila, Mallen visited Dizon at his residence on 1111 A. Mabini Street, to take a look at “After the Day’s Toil.”

Mallen purchased the painting for IBM immediately after seeing it, and had it framed and shipped to the United States.

It was included in the International Competition on Contemporary Art of 79 Nations at the Golden Gate Exposition.

In that historic competition, “After the Day’s Toil” won first place by popular vote. The entry of Spain by Dali won second place, and that of the United States won third.

Utrillo’s entry did not win.

Pacific unity
The inscription on the winner’s medal reads: “Unity of the Pacific nations is America’s concern and responsibility. San Francisco stands at the doorway to the sea that roars upon the shores of all these nations; and so to the Golden Gate International Exposition I gladly entrust a solemn duty. May this, America’s world’s fair on the Pacific in 1939, truly serve all nations.–President Franklin D. Roosevelt”

The Golden Gate Exposition was held in celebration of San Francisco’s two new bridges.

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge were dedicated on Nov. 12, 1936, and May 27, 1937, respectively.

The exposition ran from Feb. 18 to Oct. 29 in 1939, and from May 25 to Sept. 29 in 1940.

Malate-born
Vicente Alvarez Dizon, son of Jose Sampedro Dizon of Bacolor, Pampanga, and Rosa Carlos Alvarez of Concepcion, Tarlac, was born in Malate on April 5, 1905.

The elder Dizon, an 1897 graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, was a landscape artist and botanist-agronomist at the Bureau of Agriculture.

In the course of his work, he was assigned to such places as Capas in Tarlac, Magalang in Pampanga, and Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija.

The young Vicente had his early schooling at the Malate Primary School, and continued his intermediate studies in the towns where his father was assigned.

The father wanted his son to study medicine. The latter obeyed, and attended the National University College of Medicine in 1921-23.

Dizon later transferred to the UP School of Fine Arts, where he took a five-year course and graduated with an art diploma in 1928. After graduation, he became the first artist-lecturer of the Philippines.

He is among the first Filipinos to win important scholarships abroad, such as that awarded him by the Federal Schools of Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

On his own, he applied for, and was granted, a scholarship at Yale.

Honors
In 1936, during his stay at Yale, Dizon became the first Filipino to be elected one of the 12 members of the “Yale Phi Alpha.” (Only 12 members were elected each year from more than 300 students.)

It was also at Yale that he painted “After the Day’s Toil” as his thesis.

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Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — Despite 400 years as a colony of Spain, the Philippines has retained little trace of the language but producers of the country’s only Spanish-language radio program says that’s about to change.

“Filipinas Ahora Mismo” — which loosely translated means “Philippines Right Now” — features book and movie reviews, information on the Spanish influence in different parts of the country and music by modern stars such as Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin, all in Spanish.

It is just a small step but its producers hope the show can help lead a revival in a language that has withered away in most of the Southeast Asian archipelago nation.

“It is not a question of making Filipinos speak Spanish again,” says Spanish ambassador Luis Arias Romero. “It is a question of making Filipinos aware of the importance of Spanish in culture and world affairs.”

The radio show, sponsored by the Cadiz Press Association, is part of this effort although the project’s manager Chaco Molina concedes they still have a long way to go.

Molina said when the Cadiz association first proposed the plan, they suggested an eight-hour radio show. “I told them that was too ambitious. This isn’t Guatemala where everyone speaks Spanish,” he said.

The show, hosted by veteran Filipino broadcaster Bon Vivar, airs from 7-8pm (1100-1200 GMT) Monday to Friday on government-owned DZRM radio at 1278 kHz in Manila and in simulcast to several major cities.

“I see a renaissance of the Spanish language in the Philippines,” says Molina, adding the show is aiming at a young audience who will be more receptive to the language.

What surprises Spaniards who come to the Philippines is the fact that their language has virtually disappeared.

The archipelago was first colonized by the Spanish in the early 16th century shortly after Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the islands and later died here in 1521.

Spanish culture permeates the country where 80 percent of the population are followers of a Spanish-styled Roman Catholicism and where 20,000 Spanish words have been absorbed into most of the local dialects.

Even today, Filipinos eat paella, menudo and chorizo, have brazo de Mercedes and turrones for dessert and drink San Miguel Beer and Fundador Brandy.

But when the Philippines passed from Spanish to American control after the Spanish-American war of 1898, English completely supplanted Spanish.

Today, most Filipinos speak and read English.

The most serious blow came in 1987 when the government removed Spanish as one of the official national languages of the country and did away with a requirement that college students take courses in Spanish.

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GMA News

For many Filipinos, rice is a staple food on the dining table. But to Filipino-Canadian dancer Alvin Erasga Tolentino, rice is more than just a glutinous sustenance; it is a representation of a cultural heritage best presented through movements and music.

Since the last week of August, Alvin has toured the Philippines to perform “Field: Land is the belly of man,” which will culminate on September 5. This one-man, 50-minute show incorporates music, movement, and video to pay homage to the traditional harvesting of rice.

“Rice is the grain of life. It is a source of energy, livelihood, and social stability,” Alvin said.

He was first commissioned by Ballet Philippines to create and perform a dance piece reflective of the Balikbayan homecoming.

Six years ago, amid the growing debate over Filipinos flocking the cities and leaving vast lands to go idle, Alvin found his inspiration. It was also around this time that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the Banaue rice terraces as an endangered World Heritage site.

“So, at the time when I was researching it for Ballet Philippines there was a huge call to Filipinos to bring people back to the rice paddies,” Alvin said, in an interview that appeared in The Vancouver Sun.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” he added.

Dancing shoes

In 1983, Alvin’s family decided to migrate to Canada. Like most Filipinos, his parents wanted to find a better life for him and his two other siblings abroad.

Despite going away to Canada at an early age, one of the few things Alvin never forgot to bring from home was his dancing shoes.

Before leaving, Alvin was a member of a cultural dance troupe in a school in Apolonio Samson, Quezon City. Unlike other families who might not always be open to having a male dancer in the family, Alvin’s parents were very supportive.

They even prodded him to continue with his interest when he went to Notre Dame high school in Vancouver. Later on in college, he decided to leave the West Coast to pursue modern dance training at one of the schools on the East side.

Alvin was enrolled at Toronto’s York School University and honed his skills in a dance program there. A year after, he tried his luck at an audition for a summer school at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) and landed a spot to train and perform there for two years.

After his training in RWB, Alvin realized that he wasn’t happy with his craft. He needed to change his ballet shoes.

He left school and was drawn to modern dance which had the freedom of movement that the discipline of ballet cannot give. This change of heart eventually enabled Alvin to perform with Kokoro Dance, Lola Dance and Karen Jamieson.

Armed with years of training, Alvin then tried on bigger shoes and founded his own dance group, Co. Erasga Dance Society in 2000.

A dancer, choreographer, instructor, and visual artist, Alvin serves as the artistic director of Co.ERASGA Dance Society—a contemporary international touring dance company with an emphasis in exploration and collaboration of cross cultural work promoting dance across the nation and abroad.

Among his company’s missions is to “recognize the Asian heritage and diversity within the Canadian multicultural context, and promote, share and celebrate dance to the widest and diverse audience in British Columbia, Canada and abroad.”

But after years of traveling and performing abroad, his feet ached for something else. This time, he felt he had to take his shoes back home.

Retracing his roots

“I was homesick and tired of the Western thinking, the excessiveness of the material world,” Alvin recalled.

“I was trying to find a way to discover new forms of dance, so I decided to come back to my roots and integrate [the culture] to contemporary forms,” he added.

At the beginning of his work with “Field,” some Filipinos were skeptical if Alvin can fully achieve his goal. After living in Canada for years, he may be considered an “outsider” in his native land.

However, Alvin was determined to prove his critics wrong. Alvin decided to trust his intuition.

“It was an eye opener for me. I really began to formulate in the structure of my creation and my choreography about what it is like to integrate that background, those roots, into what I know and into what I have been transformed into in the Western world.”

He employed the help of Tad Ermitaño for the visuals of the rice fields reminiscent of those in Central Luzon and the Banaue rice terraces.

Since then, he has toured other countries like Venezuela, France and Singapore to take the ‘Field’ to those who might not have seen its immense importance to a culture.

“It is paying homage to the Filipinos who worked in the field and cultivated rice, which represents our cultural heritage,” Alvin said.

“For many centuries, rice-cultivation has adorned the rural landscape in the Philippines. Rice is the grain of life. It is a source of energy, livelihood, and social stability,” he said. “The erosion of ancestral cultivation practices has inspired him to create “Field: Land is the belly of man.”

“This thought-provoking piece pays homage to the traditional harvesting of rice. It is a solemn appeal for preservation of the ancestral cultural heritage that is contained in a grain of rice, of two millennia of agricultural knowledge, and of historical and sacred customs. The performance encompasses emotion, beauty and reflection, and questions the ever-changing relationship between man and the land,” a press release on Alvin’s performance in the country said to describe “Field.”

Alvin’s work as a Filipino-Canadian choreographer and dancer has earned him a distinct reputation as an original and an unpredictable contemporary performing artist in several countries such as Japan, France, Belgium, Croatia, US, Singapore, Italy and Venezuela.

He has received professional art and dance training with The Royal Winnipeg Ballet , York University’s Fine Arts in Toronto, SUNY Purchase, New York and the Limon Institute.

This international touring initiative is supported by Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, the British Columbia Arts Council, Myra Beltran Dance Forum and The Lemon Circle Event Management & Consultancy.

Hosted by Samahan sa Sining (Department of Humanities) of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB), Field will have the last shows of its limited-engagement Philippine tour at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Havener Auditorium and D.L. Umali Theater, UPLB on Sept. 4 (7pm) and 5 (7pm), respectively, in partnership with IRRI and Asia Rice Foundation. For ticket inquiries, please call (049) 536-2320.

After “Field,” Alvin now sets his eyes on studying more about the issues in the environment which he will incorporate in his future creations.

GMANews

PITTSBURGH — A Philippine cultural and historical cornerstone is being built at the University of Pittsburgh’s historic Cathedral of Learning, reported Consul General in New York Cecilia Rebong, who attended the open house where the building plan was unveiled.

The Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh (FAAP), headed by its 2007 president Tina Purpura and Architect Warren Bulseco, is spearheading this “important project” to ensure that the classroom commemorates the history and culture of Filipinos, she said.

“They have finished the design process and are now raising funds to begin building the room,” said Rebong in a statement.

The Philippine Nationality Classroom will be designed by noted Filipino architects.

Cristina Turalba and Eliseo Art Silva using the Bahay na Bato concept. Bahay-na-Bato (or Stone Ancestral House) is a Spanish-influenced stately house with stone lower walls and a wooden upper story with high ceilings, sliding capiz shell windows, balustrades, and wood floors and walls.

With materials, furniture and art pieces created by artisans and craftsman from the Philippines, the design will have museum quality standards, and will comply with the Nationality Rooms’ design guidelines and the University of Pittsburgh’s construction guidelines.

The historic period to be depicted should predate 1787, the date of the U.S. Constitution and the founding of the University of Pittsburgh, as required by the University.

The Philippine Nationality Room joins 26 other classrooms exceptionally built by other European, Asian and American countries. This unique assembly of rooms is said to attract 40,000 visitors annually and provide spaces for classes, meetings, and cultural activities.

For the 26 other rooms, community members of participating countries contributed with generous support, often providing architects, artists, materials, and monetary gifts to assure authenticity and superb quality in their classrooms.

“FAAP hopes for the same for the Philippine Room,” said Rebong.

Over five years of research and consultation with experts and artists to decide on this most important element of the project resulted in three concepts for consideration: Bahay Kubo, Da-Pay, and Bahay na Bato.

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