THE LEGEND AND ORIGIN OF GUAVA FRUIT - ANG ALAMAT NG BAYABAS

Where did the Bayabas fruit came from? Another Philippine legend and story about the Alamat of Bayabas.

A long time ago, there's a king who ruled a rich, prosperous island. He had all the things a king could ever ask for: the power, the wealth, and all the delicious foods one could only imagine.The king's name was King Barabas.

King Barabas is a rude king and overweight, indulging himself to all the foods available, hesitant to share. And his castle is starting to become filthy. He would spend most of his time sitting and eating with his bare hands. As he eats, he drips food on the floor and smile mockingly at the people around him, specially his servants.

People in the kingdom would approach with requests for his help, but he would always refuse. As he neglected his kingdom, people started to complain and starve.

After some time, an old hunched-back woman showed up at the castle begging for food while the king was eating. The old lady asked for food as she was starving.

"Go away! I don't have anything to give. Can't you see I'm eating?" said the king.

"Please, my king, " said the old woman. "I'm asking for anything, anything you could give me as I am so hungry. Even a little piece of bread or fruit would do."

"Get out at once! You disgust me," the king belittled the old beggar.

The old woman stood up straight, casting aside her stooped posture. "I've heard much about you and how your kingdom is suffering." The tone of her voice had changed. It was no longer the voice of a weak, old woman. "I asked for help, and you shoved me away. You have a lot for yourself, but when I only asked for a little food, you belittled me. You are selfish. No one loves you and no one will remember you when you are gone!"

And the beggar disappeared.

After a few more days, the king slowly weakened and became sick. No one knows what's wrong with him. He got weaker and weaker and lost much weight. He looked older than his age. Soon after that, the king died. As unfortunate and unexpected as it was, no one cried and nobody showed up at the king's burial. He died alone.

And where the king was buried, his people noticed a strange plant growing, a plant they had never seen before. The plant soon grew into a tree, which bore rounded fruits that turned yellowish when ripe.

People also noticed that the fruit seemed to have a crown as it develops, which reminded them of their selfish, arrogant king. The flesh of the fruit tasted a bit sour, just like the sour personality of the king towards them.

The people learned to eat the fruit, which helped them with starvation. And because the tree was from the grave of their King Barabas and it has crown just like their king, they named the tree after him: barabas, which in time they called bayabas.

The fruit is still called, as to this day, bayabas.

And although the guava may have came from the rude, selfish King Barabas, guava fruit is one of the fruits that offers many health benefits when consumed, the fruit is a good source of vitamin C. The leaves are made into tea and treats many diseases as well from a simple toothache, to treating diarrhea, lowering blood sugar, and many more. And it is used amongst young boys after their circumcision in the Philippines.

THE LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF MAKAHIYA

Pinoy Legend Story - The Origin of Makahiya

Maria, a very shy girl, lived with her parents Mang Dondong and Aling Iska, in a small village. Maria would spend hours tending to her garden, which was renowned for its lovely flowers.

One day, bandits raided the village, and fearing for her life, Maria's parents hid her in the garden.

While Aling Iska was praying to God for her daughter's safety, the bandits broke into the house and hit them both on the head. After pillaging the house, the bandits fled.

When Mang Dondong and Aling Iska regained consciousness, they ran to the garden to look for Maria, but couldn't find her.

They searched for her everywhere, and started to despair, when something pricked Mang Dondong's feet. Both of them knelt down to take a better look at the tiny plant closing its leaves.

At that moment they realized, that their shy Maria has been transformed by the Gods into the plant.

They named the plant Makahiya (Tagalog for shyness) and took immense care of it.

SULTANATE OF SULU - A FILIPINO MATTERS TRIBUTE BASIC INFORMATION

Sultanate of Sulu - Bastion of Filipino Muslim resistance against foreign rule

The Sultanate of Sulu, also called the Sultanate of Jolo, is one of the most powerful pre-colonial states in Southeast Asia. At its zenith, it has control over almost all islands from the southwestern tip of Zamboanga Peninsula to the islands farther south reaching Borneo and the island of Palawan to the north.

By aiding the Sultanate of Brunei in suppressing a rebellion, the Sultanate of Sulu received Sabah (North Borneo) and Palawan, as royal gifts. This is the rationale behind the Philippine claim to Sabah, as successor of the Sultanate of Sulu, which it maintained was illegally annexed by Malaysia in 1963 while still technically and legally under lease from the Sultanate.

Accounts have it that the Sultanate was founded by Shari’ful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr, an Arab born in Johore who arrived in Sulu from Malacca in 1450. He claimed to be a descendant of the Saudi House of Hashemite in Hadramaut.

This accounts for the belief by many Tausugs (natives of Sulu) and Yakans (natives of Basilan) that they were descendants of Mohammad through Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr married Param Isuli, a daughter of Raja Baguinda, the ruler of the island and by 1457 established the Sulu Sultanate.

The Sulu Sultanate was the most powerful and organized government in pre-Hispanic Philippines. Its merchant ships maintained commercial ties with Malacca and other sultanates and kingdoms in the region well before the coming of the white men. British, Dutch and German ships had called on the islands of Sulu to barter their goods for mother-of-pearls, tortoise shells and provisions for their naval explorations.

The Sulu Sultanate had long resisted Spanish rule and during Spain’s 300 years of colonizing the Philippines, they remained largely independent. During the centuries-old Moro Wars, the Sultanate devised a well-organized resistance, with Moro warriors conducting daring raids on Spanish fortifications in Visayas and Luzon.

Indeed, in the Sulu Sultanate, Spain encountered one of the greatest challengers to its imperial might.
The Royal Sultanate of Sulu is housed in Astana Putih (“White Palace” in Tausug).

It is located in Indanan, a town not far from Jolo. It is one of the lasting testaments to the greatness that was the Sulu Sultanate- a center of the colorful Filipino Muslim culture and home to a proud, brave and freedom loving people of the South Seas.

ASWANG - FILIPINO MYTH SUPERNATURAL CREATURES SERIES

What is the origin of ASWANG!!!

Aswangs are the most feared mythical creature by the Filipinos. They are Filipino ghouls and shapeshifters. They are human-like by day but transform into monsters at night.

They can change from human to an animal form like bat, bird, pig, cat, or black dog. The transformation can happen through their own will or through the use of foul concocted oil.

They also have the ability to steal cadavers secretly and replace them with the trunk of a banana tree carved in the cadaver’s likeness.

Aswangs wait by the roadsides, preying upon unsuspecting travelers. Some attacks houses to feed on sleeping people. It is said that human liver and heart are their favorite parts.

Aswangs prefer pregnant women who are about to give birth. They love human fetus that they have developed the ability to track down pregnant women by the scent of their unborn child.

Upon finding the house of a pregnant mother, the aswang positions itself on the roof and digs a hole through which it drops its long thin tongue to enter the woman’s womb and feast on the fetus.

Since aswangs can take on a human image, it is hard to detect them in a crowd. However, there are many superstitions on how to deal with them.

Firstly, it is said that you can determine if another human being is an aswang if you see your own reflection in their eyes as upside down. Also, the presence of an aswang can be revealed by a using a bottle of special oil extracted from boiled and decanted coconut meat mixed with certain plant stems.

When an aswang comes around, the oil will boil and will continue until the aswang has departed. Further, aswangs are afraid of salt, ginger, garlic, rosary, stingray’s tails (buntot pagi) and shiny, sterling silver sword, and so these items can be used as defense weapons against them.

These creatures cannot heal themselves, so an injury acquired as an aswang will remain when they revert back to human form.

The myth of Aswang is popular in the Visayas, particularly in the provinces of Capiz, Antique and Iloilo. The aswang is also known as wakwak, tiktik, bal-bal, soc-soc, and yanggaw.

EUGENE TORRE - THE FILIPINO MATTERS TRIBUTE

EUGENE TORRE - FIRST GRANDMASTER OF ASIA
EUGENE TORRE - THE GREATEST FILIPINO CHESS PLAYER


Eugene Torre is Asia’s first Chess Grandmaster who hailed from Iloilo. He started playing chess at the tender age of six. In a brood of ten, he never ran out of chess buddies in the family. His older brothers, who were then better players, gave him a run for his money.

His grandfather Eugenio, for whom he was named after, was an oido (unorthodox) player which afforded the young Eugene the intuition and instinct to create unconventional and unpredictable moves. His father provided him the books.

When his father saw his potential of excelling as a chess player, he wrote a family edict that no one can send the young Eugene to an errand so that he can concetrate his time on improving his game. In his primary years in school, Eugene was already winning chess tournaments.

At 16, he held the title of the Philippine Junior and Adult Champion, eventually seeing action in the Chess Olympiad in Germany. He holds the world record for playing Board One in 17 Olympiad appearances. He got his Chess Grand Master title in 1974 in France, where he led Team Philippines to 11th place finish.

Holding a career record of 4 decades of action in world chess Olympiads, Torre has accumulated 86 wins, 111 draws, and 29 losses in 236 games over a span of 19 years. In 1976, his international fame became more pronounced when he defeated then reigning world chess champion Anatoly Karpov.

He was also the confidante and best friend of the reclusive American GM Bobby Fischer, when he served as an official second in the 1992 Fischer-Boris Spassky rematch in Yugoslavia. He has played against world class grandmasters such as Gary Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Viswanathan Anand, Lajos Portish and Ljubomir Ljubojevic, among others.

We take pride in Eugene Torre’s rare display of discipline and diligence to pursue his dream. At a young age, Eugene devoted his attention on the boards and honed his skills. His trailblazing conquest of the world chess inspired not only Filipinos, but also many Asians, who saw in him a role model.

In a sport dominated by Americans and Europeans, Eugene Torre overcame all odds and emerged victorious.

INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE BASIC INFORMATION

International Rice Research Institute
The world’s largest institute on rice research

Do you know that the world’s largest research center on rice is in the Philippines? The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the biggest of its kind in the world, is stationed in the Philippines since the 1960s.

IRRI is located in Los Baños, Laguna, right beside the University of the Philippines. It is at IRRI where rice farmers from around the world come to study and learn new rice farming methods.

In the 1960s, the country was one of the world’s top rice producers, and, thus, was a logical site for the Institute’s headquarters.

IRRI was established by virtue of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Its goal was to help develop and improve rice production technologies.

Today, it serves as a repository of the biggest rice germ plasma collection in the world, with rice genetic materials coming from various rice-producing countries from all over the globe.

The Institute’s research and work on rice - the staple grain to more than half of the world’s population – has attracted many scientists, prominent world leaders and personalities into the country.

US Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman, President Lyndon Johnson and philanthropist Laurance Rockefeller are just some of the few leaders who have come to visit IRRI and see its experimental and model farms in the country. It is indeed a pride that the Philippines is home to this rice think-tank.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the primary organization engaged in the development of better rice production. It had helped a lot of countries from India, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia achieved rice self-sufficiency and had even become world rice exporters.

IRRI is one of the reasons behind the sustained world rice supply and we are proud it calls the Philippines its home.

Postcript: The Philippines ironically is an importer of Rice from the countries it helped to develop rice, on their own.

JUAN LUNA - ONE OF THE GREATEST PAINTERS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Juan Luna - Tribute To A Proud Filipino

Just who is Juan Luna?

Juan Luna
A testament to the greatness of Filipino painters

Juan Luna’s Spoliarium, in vivid, moving colors, is a testament to the artist’s invaluable contribution to Philippine and world arts. Spoliarium earned Luna the gold medal in the prestigious Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain.

His painting skillfully captured the drama and agony of gladiators killed in Roman arenas. Prior to this, Luna won the silver medal for painting La Muerte de Cleopatra in the same exposition.

Juan Luna’s triumph as a painter is symbolic of Filipinos’ enduring spirit and capability to succeed in a league dominated by foreigners. From his humble origins in Ilocos Norte, the young Luna went to Manila to get his diploma, and later on to study painting in the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura.

A grant recipient for art in Spain gave him the opportunity to travel to Europe, which helped inspire him to create an impressive body of works that includes España y Filipinas, Woman with Manton in Manila, and Lady at the Race Track.

In Spain, he also had the opportunity to form deep friendships with other patriots such as Rizal and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. His love for country, as well as his abiding concern for the poor and the oppressed, imbued his later paintings with deep social realism and meaning.

This is evident in his later works, such as the Les Moins Malheruex and the Le Chiffonier, which depicted the poor in various situations. Juan Luna also did the illustrations for Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere.

Juan Luna is a shining example of how one’s talent and love for art and country can empower one to overcome limitations and challenges in creating enduring beauty and continuing art’s social relevance.

We should be reminded that Juan Luna lived in a historical context when Filipinos were deemed inferior by their colonial masters. Luna breached conventional barriers and displayed the Filipino’s artistic prowess.

What Luna left for generations to come is debunking the colonial myth that Filipinos were of a weaker people. He joined international art competitions, won, and was admired by locals and foreigners alike.

Notwithstanding his personal frailties, his paintings are still being sought-after by today’s popular museums and curators around the globe. Juan Luna only proved that no barriers can prevent the Filipinos’ talent and brilliance from reaching greatness.

PHILIPPINES 2000 - A VISION LEFT NOT ATTAINED?

By the year 2000, the Philippines will be a Newly Industrialized Country.

The Ramos Administration (1992-1998). Fidel V. Ramos won in the 1992 presidential election against six other candidates. In the last five years of his administration, he has changed the Philippines from being “the Sick Man of Asia” into “The Next Tiger of Asia.”

Due to his economic programs and accomplishments, Newsweek Magazine, cited the Philippines as the “The Next Tiger of Asia.” The Ramos term ends this year, 1998. (See Ramos’ economic program as envisioned in Philippines 2000.)

The Philippines 2000 platform was widely successful, making it one of the greatest legacies of the Ramos administration to the Philippines. Ramos was successfully able to open the then-closed Philippine economy and break Marcos-era formed monopolies, especially with regard to Philippine Airlines and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, which were privitized and de-monopolized during his tenure.

He was also able to resolve the power crisis in the Philippines through privitization of power plants and the construction of new ones. The reforms spurred additional investment into the Philippines.

Other economic reforms achieved during the Ramos administration was the re-adjustment of the value added tax from four percent to an International Monetary Fund and World Bank-mandated ten percent. The success of the reforms paved the way for the Philippines to be called "Asia's New Tiger".

Economic reforms instituted during the Ramos era enabled the Philippines to experience growth rates of up to nine percent annually, and enjoy annual budget surpluses well into his tenure. The economic reforms instituted in the Philippines 2000 platform would have an effect on how the Philippines would be affected in the 1997 East Asian financial crisis.

Perhaps one of the greatest legacies of Philippines 2000 regarding peace and stability was the 1996 peace treaty signed between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front, ending over thirty years of conflict on the island of Mindanao.

A tiger economy is the economy of a country which undergoes rapid economic growth, usually accompanied by an increase in standard of living. The term was initially used for South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan (East Asian Tigers), and in the 1990s it was applied to the Republic of Ireland (the Celtic Tiger).
In 2007, Brazil, Russia, India, Panama and China are considered to have tiger economies. The Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam may also be considered tiger economies due to their high growth rates in recent years.

The Greek economic miracle of the 1950s and 1960s has also been described afterward as a tiger economy. It is not often cited internally, however, as the era was also a time of great political turmoil in spite of the economic success.

More recently, the term has been used to refer to the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, known collectively as the Baltic Tigers. Slovakia is referred to as the Tatra Tiger. Romania is referred to as the Carpat Tiger. Within Canada the province of Alberta has also been considered to have a tiger economy.
Power Crisis

The Philippines then was experiencing widespread brownouts due to huge demand for electricity and antiquity of power plants. During his State of the Nation address on July 27, 1992, he requested Congress to enact a law that would create an energy department that would plan and manage the Philippines' energy demands.

Congress not only created an energy department but gave him special constitutional powers to resolve the power crisis. Using the powers given to him, Ramos issued licenses to independent power producers (IPP) to construct power plants within 24 months. The power crisis was resolved in 1994.

Unfortunately, Ramos issued supply contracts that guaranteed the government would buy whatever power the IPPs produced under the contract in U.S. dollars to entice investments in power plants. This became a problem during the East Asian Financial Crisis when the demand for electricity contracted and the Philippine Peso lost half of its value. This caused the Philippine price of electricity to become the second-highest in Asia, after Japan.

The country was considered risky by investors due to previous coup attempts by military adventurists led by Gregorio Honasan, and experienced brownouts at an almost daily basis lasting 4-12 hours before he issued IPP licences. The low supply of power and perceived instability held back investments and modernization in the country.

In addition, the Philippines was a pioneer in the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme where private investors are invited to build certain government projects (i.e. tollways, powerplants, railways, etc.), make money by charging users, and transfer operation to the government after a set amount of time. As there was no literature or previous experience to such a scheme, most early contracts put a large and undue amount of risk on the government in cases of unfavorable changes in the business environment.

During his administration, Ramos began implementing economic reforms intended to open up the once-closed national economy, encourage private enterprise, invite more foreign and domestic investment, and reduce corruption. Ramos was also known as the most-traveled Philippine President in recent history with numerous foreign trips abroad, generating about US$ 20 billion worth of foreign investments to the Philippines.

To ensure a positive financial outlook on the Philippines, Ramos led the 4th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Summit in the Philippines on November 1996. He also instituted reforms in the tax system which includes a forced increase on VAT (E-VAT law) from 4% to 10% mandated by World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Under his administration, the Philippines enjoyed economic growth and stability. The Philippine Stock Exchange in the mid-1990s was among the best in the world[citation needed] and his visions of 'Philippines 2000' that leads the country into a newly industrialized country in the world and the "Tiger Cub Economy in Asia".

LYDIA DE VEGA MERCADO - THE FASTEST WOMAN IN ASIA A FILIPINO MATTERS TRIBUTE

Lydia De Vega - The ‘Filipina Iron’ Lady

Lydia de Vega was born on December 26, 1964 in Meycauayan, Bulacan. The Asia’s sprint queen of the eighties became the country’s first woman to run and compete in the Olympics. First, she was sent to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and later in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Lydia De Vega, fondly called “Diay,” earned the name “Asia’s fastest sprinter” in her time after carrying-off an impressive gold medal award in the 100 meter dash in the 1982 New Delhi Asiad. She defeated India’s P. T. Usha in the 1986 Seoul Asiad’s 100 meter dash with an imposing record of 11.53 seconds to grab another gold medal.

In the same Seoul meet, she also bagged the silver medal in the 200-meter race. She brought home two gold medals in the 1981 Manila SEA Games, earning her the honor of “Athlete of the Year” from the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA). She was also given the same PSA tribute in 1986 and 1987.

Before she decided to retire, she won another gold medal in the sprint race in the 1993 Singapore SEA Games. And after hanging her sneakers, she became a councilor in her hometown and also served as a sports consultant of her province, sharing her talent, skill and experience to future Filipino sprinters.

During the twilight years of Martial Law, Lydia de Vega electrified the imagination of a nation that was thirsty for heroes. While her people were cowed and subdued by an oppressive regime, Lydia stood toe-to-toe with Asia’s best runners and broke into the elite racing club with a string of gold medals and regional records.

She is a picture perfect barrio lass who personified the admirable traits of a Filipina – determined, disciplined, religious, coy and stunningly graceful. Although hurting and injured, she is said to have sprinted without complaints in order to represent her country’s honor in overseas race competitions.

What makes her life story more inspiring is that she remained a role model for the youth, which is rare for athletes today who easily succumb to the false lure of glitz, glamour and glory. Lydia de Vega’s stellar career may have been overshadowed by a country reeling from economic and political turmoil.

But her achievements in that turbulent period are the country’s few bright spots that shall forever be an inspiring tale for Filipinos.

ANG KATIPUNAN (KKK) - Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan BASIC INFORMATION AND TUTORIALS

Katipunan - The brilliance of the revolutionary Filipinos


Officially known as the Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Supreme and Venerable Society of the Children of the Nation), the Katipunan was the underground organization that served as a jump-off point of the Philippine revolutionary movement.

Known by their acronym KKK, the Katipunan was founded in July 7, 1892 and has for its aim the full independence of the Philippines from Spain through armed insurrection. The shorthand for KKK came from the Tagalog root word tipon which means “to gather”.

As one of the earliest national liberation movements in Asia, the Katipunan had the organizational leadership, ethos, financial support, network of supporters, and a military arm ready to pounce on Spain at a given signal. Undoubtedly, the Filipinos’ long quest for national independence was sustained due to the groundwork laid out by the KKK.

The Katipunan organized the “shadow” revolutionary government – a novelty at that time – to head the national leadership vested in the Kataastaasang Sanggunian or Supreme Council. The hierarchical layers begin with the Sangguniang Bayan or Provincial Council, which attended to the affairs of partisans in the provinces.

The smallest political unit was the Sangguniang Barangay or Popular Council, which handled the administration of their barangay jurisdictions. Adjudication was under the Sangguniang Hukuman or Judicial Council.

Such depth and capacity for organizational details illustrated the foresight, leadership and management abilities of the early Filipino patriots. Organizing a revolt in such a grand scale was brilliant considering the tight and repressive Spanish regime, the archipelagic nature of the country, lack of formal military training, inadequate arms and poor communication and transportation means.

It is surprising that from a few loyal members the Katipunan soon grew in numbers to eventually challenge and defeat a European power.

The Katipunan was the first organized large-scale Filipino insurrection movement against Spanish oppression. Many future national leaders who took prominent roles in the war against the American occupation started from the ranks of this revolutionary organization, such as Emilio Aguinaldo, Antonio Luna, Miguel Malvar and Gregorio del Pilar.

But most importantly, the men and women of the Katipunan were able to go beyond socio-economic, regional and linguistic differences in order to represent the national Filipino sentiments and aspirations.