Early this year, I saw an announcement on social media that the Corregidor Island and the other surrounding fortifications along Manila Bay are collectively identified as a potential World Heritage Site (WHS): Corregidor Island and Historic Fortifications of Manila Bay. Interestingly, a few years back, I was wondering why Corregidor was not even considered as…
Tag: Culture
Yogyakarta: Journey Towards Inscription as a World Heritage Site
It’s the time of the year for the United Nations through UNESCO to inscribe new world heritage sites (WHS). The period between July and August is often the World Heritage Convention (WHC). UNESCO cancelled its usual face-to-face conventions since 2020 due to the global health crisis caused by Covid-19. July last year, UNESCO announced on…
Forts and Castles in Ghana: The Stories Must Go On (Part 1 of 2)
My expectations about traveling to Ghana were a combination of fear and excitement. I was afraid because of the current socio-political standpoint of the nation’s legal framework against homosexuality which is found in the 2021 Promotion of Appropriate Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill of the country. The bill is set to criminalize the promotion,…
Walking the Galilee Journeys of Jesus and His Apostles: Nazareth
Why Nazareth is important to Christian / Catholic pilgrims today? Nazareth is described in the Gospel of Luke as a town in Galilee and the hometown of Mary, mother of Jesus. Although it was not explicitly mentioned in the same Gospel that Joseph was from Nazareth, it can be inferred that it was also his…
Béguines, or dedicated women for Christ and their béguinages (The Antwerp encounter)
When I was young, I thought I wanted to be a priest. As early as 10 or 11, I knew I wanted to dedicate myself to Christ. I remember my elementary classmates were all excited for high school, while my eyes were all set for the seminary. I was a seminarian – and über proud…
Baroque Churches in the Philippines: 500 Years of Christianity (Part 3 of 3)
This is the final narrative (Part 3) about the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Philippines collectively known as Baroque Churches of the Philippines. In the previous two posts, I have presented three magnificent Baroque churches, all of which are located in the Philippine largest island, Luzon: San Agustin Church in Intramuros in the National Capital…
Amsterdam: An Urban Center Dependent on the Waters
Many European cities such as Venice, Brugge, Gent, Paris, and Amsterdam are entwined with water. A lot of these magnificent cities are twinned with man-made canals, leading to rivers and onto the sea. Of these European cities, Amsterdam is exemplary, in such a way that its canals are significant to the city’s economic development. At…
Historic Centre of Macao and How it “Changed” Me
Macao has a very special place in my heart. My dad used to be an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) for about six years. As the eldest of five siblings, I had the responsibility of joining him in familial celebrations such as Christmas and even Holy Week. Sometime in 2006, I even stayed there for about…
Baroque Churches in the Philippines: 500 Years of Christianity (Part 2 of 3)
In an earlier post about the UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) collectively named the Baroque Churches in the Philippines, I have discussed the impact of Hispanic colonialism in Philippine culture. In particular, I was pertaining to how Catholicism influenced the everyday life of the Filipino people. I also described how the Church through the Hispanic…
Manila, Entangled!
This post is an excerpt from my book Buhol-Buhol/Entanglement: Contemporary Theatre in Metropolitan Manila (Bern et al: Peter Lang, 2017). ENTANGLEMENT is persistent in Manila’s historical narrative. Travel writer Pico Iyer has observed many contradictions in the city of Manila. For instance, he describes the gallery going to his hotel room as an extraordinary space since: “on…
Tanghal Kultura 