A Business Graduate's Reviewing History Blog

As today is Rizal Day, I was thinking about how it's easy to mock him for what he did. Some say he should've just left the country and never returned. Some people tell me, "If you want to become a hero, why not get shot?" I always said, "Well, if Rizal didn't get shot then our predecessors will not get their freedom!" The Filipinas Heritage Library shares this information about Rizal: While awaiting trial in 1896, Rizal wrote a manifesto that expressed his disapproval of the armed revolution against Spain . He cleared his name, which he said was being used by some revolutionaries to espouse certain ideals. He said that he has always opposed, fought, and made clear that armed revolution was impossible, absurd, and disastrous. He explained that reforms must “also come from above,” because reforms that “come from below are upheavals both violent and transitory.” He emphasized, however, that like any Filipino, he desired our country’s freedom; and that educ...

Today is Rizal Day and I feel like revisiting a high school lecture. It was all about Noli Me Tangere meaning Touch Me Not . It would be interesting that, while in college, I did notice the parallelism between two books-- Noli Me Tangere and Notre Dame De Paris (Our Lady of Paris)  which is more popularly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame . My first exposure to the story was the Disney version (in 1996) and later some adaptive versions. The Disney version changed Frollo from a priest to a judge, in contrast to the original novel. Later, we had Noli Me Tangere where   Padre Salvi lusts after Maria Clara, who unknown to him was really Padre Damaso's biological daughter. Both Frollo and Salvi are bound to celibacy by their professions.  The term Kastila in Filipino may come from Castile or Castillian. Castile is a place in Central Spain. I bet a lot of Filipinos of Spanish descent may be of Castillan descent. Above is the song "Hellfire" by Disney in Castillian Spanish. I...

I may be no lawyer or constitutionalist but it's time to use common sense . I'm afraid common sense is hardly taught or even encouraged in schools. Right now, I want to do this provocative entry to ask, "Fact or gossip: Is the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines the best in the world?" Yes, you read that right. Hilario G. Davide Jr. said that last 2018 and I'm still laughing at it. I've decided to write this common-sense post to actually contest the idea that, "The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines is the best in the world."  I'm laughing at some things Davide Jr. had said such as, "It' is the only institution in the world where the public office is a public trust." However, this man is terribly wrong because, around the world, we see the doctrine where public office is a public trust. Thomas Jefferson also said that public office is public trust -- way before Davide Jr. was born into the world! I really laughed at their claim o...

I think one of the most interesting must-reads is Amy Chua-Rubenfeld's book Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother . I bought that book during my MBA days and gave it a read. I remembered seeing the movie The Joy Luck Club  which analyzed four different stories by Amy Tan. The Joy Luck Club explored the plight of Chinese women back then such as how they were often forced to share a husband, how gender inequality was an issue and the mistakes made by Chinese parents. There was the part where the two mothers frequently competed on who was better. "My daughter is a first-class pianist!" "My daughter is a chess prodigy!" Amy Chua, having been born during the Generation X generation, did show her mistakes as a boomer when she wrote Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother with her Jewish-American husband, Atty. Jed Rubenfeld.  Amy Chua was born to Chinese-Filipino parents. I guess the whole Chua surname already speaks volumes. She had already violated the older Chinese rule of never int...

The song "Dayang Dayang" was given a parody cover called "Dayang Daya". Oftentimes, the song "Dayang Dayang" is thought to be Indian. Instead, it's arguably said to be from Muslim Mindanao or was brought in either from Malaysia or Indonesia. Historically, some of the settlers in the Philippines were Malaysians and Indonesians. So, it's probably safe to say that most Filipinos of brown skin descent are mixed Malay and Indonesian. I was even reminded how I mistook a Malaysian woman for a Filipino woman. Back on topic, the parody song has an introduction that says, "Kami Bumbay galing sa India..." (We're Bombay coming from India). I even tend to refer to Indians as Bombay--something I ended up tactlessly saying during my first trip to Singapore. Many times, Filipinos tend to use Bumbay not as a racial slur but to simply refer to an Indian. Some Filipino-Indians don't even mind being called Bumbay for a reason. I guess they got accust...

People can be so delusional into thinking nothing wrong can happen on Christmas. Two years ago, some parts of Visayas were hit by Typhoon Ursula (Phanfone). Last year, there was no Christmas celebration because of the devastation brought by Odette. Yet, I guess not so many have thought that Christmas never made COVID-19 suddenly disappear. Christmas didn't stop the Second World War either. I decided to do a history review lesson. This time, it's about how cheerless Christmas hit the Philippines during the reign of Manuel Luis Quezon. It was during the time of Commonwealth America. We had the Allies and the AXIS forces. Sadly, the AXIS forces, under Japan, took over the Philippines. It was at that time when the Japanese emperor was still believed to be divine. Later on, Emperor Hirohito himself renounced his so-called divinity. Today, the Japanese monarchy is as symbolic as the British monarchy. It's December and Christmas celebrations were prepared. Unfortunately, the Empir...

I think one of the biggest problems of Filipino-Chinese schools and their Chinese education is the method. I remembered how we were taught zhuyin and pinyin wasn't really taught. We had to memorize long sentences. More often, Chinese language teachers tend to act like we were in China than the Philippines. It wasn't until later that I developed an interest in learning Mandarin. I developed a sudden taste for Chinese media. It was there I learned about the existence of another dialect known as Cantonese. Pinyin was barely taught. Instead, we were taught zhuyin which was still widely used in Taiwan. Zhuyin was the standard Chinese alphabet. Then there was pinyin which is the proper Romanization.  We need to take a look at the history of pinyin with the late Zhou Yougang. He was born on January 13, 1906, and died on January 14, 2017 . As I was using the Tao Li, I got curious and Googled the inventor of Pinyin. I'd dare say that the inventor himself is a plain genius. I do have...