Things to See at the Nayon Filipino

Filipinos about my age would still remember the Nayon Filipino (Filipino Village) in what is now Terminal 2 of the international airport. The park was a showcase of the best tourist destinations in each region of the country.  It was a favorite place to go to during our school field trips.

Unfortunately it had to be dismantled when previous governments ago decided to build a new airport.  A new park was built in the former Clark Air Base and it was much smaller than its predecessor.

We visited the park last Thursday.  It is only an hour or less away from Manila.  It is easy to get there from the main gate of the base since there are directional signs along the way.

Here are some of the things one can see in the park.

The Heroes Park which features a replica of the Aguinaldo mansion.




the Mabini house



and the Barasoain Church where the first Congress of the Philippines met.



There are also mini villages representing those from the Mountain Province.









There were also representations of characters from Filipino myths and legends like Mariang Sinukuan, Malakas and Maganda, and others

There's a cultural show three times a day at the Teatro near the Heroes Park that features dances from the colonial times, Mindanao and of course during the barrio fiesta.  I only wish that they get more graceful dancers and they improve the seating arrangement.

While the new park does not evoke the same feelings as the old one, it's still worth to visit and show off to your visitors.

Taal Heritage Town: Agoncillo and Apacible Ancestral Homes

We also visited the other ancestral homes in Taal, Batangas.  These were the homes of Gregorio Agoncillo, Leon Apacible and Marcella Agoncillo.

The heritage house of Gregorio Agoncillo is in the middle of a busy intersection.  It is easy to see because among the houses in the area, it's the only one that's painted white.  A bronze statue of his uncle, Felipe Agoncillo stand in the front.  This uncle was instrumental in the signing of the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish-American War.

Unfortunately, there was no one there to show us around the house on our visit, so we were pretty much left on our own to explore the house.

At the entrance of the house are life size busts of members of the family.  One of the ladies was named Maria A.  Aguinaldo and it turned out that she was the wife of the first President of the Republic, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo.

The house contains a lot of furniture and assortment of knick knacks that the owner has collected through the years.  I was drawn to a particular big wardrobe in one of the rooms of the house.  It was made of solid wood and looked more like a free standing trunk.  It has a huge mirror door which is quite ideal when choosing which clothes to wear for the day.

Like many homes of that era, there was a special nook for an altar where the family would pray together at night.  The Agoncillo Heritage house has several prayer areas with antique santos to boot.

The next house we visited belonged to another illustrious Batangueno, Leon Apacible.  Apacible was a lawyer, revolutionary and a delegate to the Malolos Congress.

The Apacible House/Museum was donated by his descendants to the Filipino government.  It contains relics of the country's rich historic past.  Upon entering the house, you will see a montage of pictures taken during the Spanish and American colonial times.

Tiles made from Italian marble covered the floor of the ground floor.  The stairs leading to the main living area was made of solid wood and was very impressed with the balustre.

Like most of the houses we've been to in Taal, the Apacible house was filled with antique furniture, paintings and other stuff.  The house, according to our guide, was a favorite vacation area for many of our illustrious historical figures.  Among the items that are truly worth visiting are handwritten letters from Juan Luna.

There are two curious artifacta in the house.  These are the giant shell and a picture above it of two babies sleeping inside a giant shell.  According to our guide, the babies in the picture were the twin daughters of Leon Apacible and yes, the shell they were sleeping in was the same one below it.  One of the girls died as a baby but the remaining one lived up to 93 years old and was the one who donated the house to the government.

The last stop of our trip in Taal was the house of another important Filipino, Marcela Agoncillo.  She and her daughter along with the niece of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, made the first Philippine flag while in exile in Hong Kong in 1897.  For this, she was called the "Mother of the Philippine Flag".

The ground floor of the house is like a history book.  There are panels depicting the evolution of the Philippine flag.  There are also panels tracing the lineage of Marcela Agoncillo.  That's where I found out that she's married to Felipe Agoncillo, the uncle of the owner of the Agoncillo heritage house.

At the foot of the stairs, one can see a depiction of the making of the Philippine flag.  The scene shows the three women working on the flag but they all looked sad.

Unlike the other houses, the Agoncillo house has an entresuelo.  During those times, guests are usually ushered in the entresuelo first where they are "filtered".  Only those that the owners deemed important and worthy of their time were allowed to go up the main living quarters.

On top of the stairs, the guests are first asked to stay at the antesala and opposite this place is a window from the dining room where the owner could see the visitor.

The main sala of the house contains the old furniture of the family.  Portraits of the family members also adorn the walls,  Like the Apacible house, the descendants of Agoncillo decided to donate their ancestral home to the government.

There's also a prayer area with antique icons.

There's a garden outside of the house where one can find a monument or statue of Marcela Agoncillo holding the Philippine flag.

Our visit was a really rewarding experience.  It was like getting a peek of how these illustrious people lived.  I'm glad that these house are made available to the public.

Summer is (almost) here!

I went to SM Marilao here in Bulacan this afternoon to meet a friend.  While waiting for her, I noticed that most shops were already selling goods for summer.  After all, classes in schools officially ended yesterday so most kids and their families must be preparing for a trip to the beach or some fancy pool resort.

I was attracted to the colorful items at the mall's toy store, Toy Kingdom. There were inflatable swimming pools in fancy shapes, designed to instantly set up in the backyard or in my case, the frontyard. I wanted to buy one but then thought of how the neighbors would react upon seeing me splashing like a child in a rubberized pool.

Then there were the toys and gears that can be used at the beach. There were assorted inflatable rafts, boats, and other floaters for cruising the pool.  There were also goggles, swim masks and snorkel sets for exploring the waters at the beach.  And then there were the cute sand rakes, shovels, and pail play sets for the little ones who still can't swim but still need to be busy at the beach.

Looking at those items made me want to be a child again!  

SM North EDSA Sky Garden Safari Adventure

We were at the SM City North EDSA recently and discovered the Safari Adventure at the mall's Sky Garden.  It features robotic figures of animals that can be found in the African Savannah.

The display attracted a lot of people, young and old alike.  They were all excited to see the "animals" which actually looked like big stuffed toys to me.  In fact some of the figures even have price tags on them, which made me wonder whether they will go on sale after the display.

Although there was audio that tells about the animals and their habits in the wild, this was drowned out by the loud music that played in the background.  Too bad the kids could not here the very informative narration.

I hope this display is not in any way an indication of things to come: That the future generation will only learn about the animals in the wild through figures with fake skin and hair because man has managed to lose them all.

End of Summer 2009

Today marks the official end of the summer season. The Philippine weather bureau or PAG-ASA announced that this year's summer is quite short. I say short but terrible.

The two hottest days recorded in history occurred this year. I expect my electric bill to really go skyhigh this month because I couldn't stand the daytime heat and my air conditioner had to work full time. It was so hot this summer that I had a bout with my allergies several times this season.

As we say goodbye to summer 2009, we meet the rainy season with not one but two typhoons. As I write this, the weather bureau is already tracking two low pressure areas developing in the southern parts of the country. They are, most likely, going to develop into typhoons.

Goodbye Summer 2008

A few days ago, PAGASA, the Philippine weather bureau announced that summer is officially over and the wet season is here. No sooner the office announced it, two strong typhoons came.

The first, code-name Cosme entered the country's northern parts. It caused so much havoc that the effects are still being felt today. Vegetable prices increased since, for us in Manila at least, these normally come from the northern provinces. Just this morning, I saw a news footage of bangus (milkfish) farms in Pangasinan wasted by the typhoon. The other typhoon named Dindo did not do much damage to the country and is now headed for Taiwan.

So far, Manila has not been directly hit by a typhoon but we have torrential rains almost every afternoon. The rains would sometimes cause flooding and traffic jams in the metro sometimes. You could imagine what would happen if the city is directly hit!

PAGASA later announced that we should brace for at least 18 typhoons this year. I hope it doesn't make our lives even more miserable after some natural and man-made disasters we have experienced.

The Strange Summer of 2008

Following the annual tradition of writing about the summers of the last three years, I decided to write a piece on this year's warm weather. It's almost May, anyway and it should be raining soon. But wait, I must say that this is the strangest summer we had in years.

For one, there was a typhoon in the middle of summer. Although it wreak havoc in the Southern parts of the country, it also brought some rains here in the Metro. No floods this time and no school cancellation. Well, how would they cancel school when there's none!

Anyway, I call it a strange summer also because there was no water shortage! What we had was rice shortage which I wrote about earlier.

High temperatures and humidity still hounded us the last two months but they're not as unbearable as last year. May be because half of the time, there were rains in the afternoon. This could also have contributed to the lack of water shortage this year.

Oh, I must also add that my electricity consumption remained the same. Meaning, there was no need to use so much electricity to cool myself unlike last year when I had to use the air-conditioner almost 24 hours a day on weekends.

Singkamas and HaloHalo

It's summer again. With temperatures rising to record levels, Pinoys are finding ways to relieve themselves of the heat. Some go to resorts, especially when they can afford it. But most, or almost everybody, go to the malls! Not to shop, mind you, but just to enjoy the cool airconditioning in the area.

Last Saturday, I went to a popular mall in Mandaluyong to meet some friends. The place was overflowing with people! No kidding. There were even babies, almost like newborns to me, in their strollers, and old people in their wheelchairs in the crowd. Luckily the airconditioning of the mall was still working fine inspite the influx of people.

The following day, I was not feeling well already. Old people tell us to avoid crowded places because it could make us sick. Too bad I didn't follow them. So the whole Sunday, I felt like I'd be going down with a flu. Add to this was that I had to endure the summer heat in the house.

Then it struck me. I could beat this heat with food usually associated with summer: singkamas and halohalo. I bought some singkamas (turnip) peeled and sliced it and then put some vinegar and salt to taste. The cooling effect was instantI I almost finished the whole bundle in one sitting.

For merienda, I bought a tall glass of halohalo from a neighborhood store. For the uninitiated, this halohalo is a mixture of ice, milk, sweetened bananas, camote, red beans, kidney beans, macapuno, langka, and sago. This is usually topped with a slice of custard and a sprinkle of rice crispies. The halohalo was a great merienda and a heat buster.

Actually it's been a long time since I had these two great food. That's why I truly enjoyed having them last Sunday.