Maniolas

WATCH: UP’s Korus singing “Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas” in Toronto. MARISA ROQUE TORONTO, Ontario — To say that the University of the Philippines’ Korus capped its “Tour of the Americas” with a dazzling single performance in Toronto the evening of Saturday, August 13, would be an understatement. The 17-member University of the Philippines Concert Chorus brought the audience to its collective feet through four foot-stamping encores at the end of its three-hour performance of classic choral offerings dubbed “kontemporarius,” native music or “katutubo” and modern musical arrangements with a twist of well executed choreography called “koreokapela.” UPAA Toronto members Fanny Calucag, Maripi Leynes and Rose Nagallo are part of the registration. MARISA ROQUE The well-attended concert was held at Toronto International Celebration Church, the group’s soaring harmonies melding beautifully under the direction of artistic director and conductor Professor Janet (Jai) Sabas-Aracama. Korus began the evening with “Vytautas Miskinis’ Diffusa Est Gratia” (Grace Is Poured).  Glorious cascades of sacred choral music poured over the audience and set the stage for the “Gloria” from Ryan Cayabyab’s “Misa,” Ralph Manuel’s “Alleluia,” a mashup of “I Believe” and “Ave Maria” by Bread and Tucker, and Moses Hogan’s “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord,” among others. Ken Quismundo and his wife Beth prepare to enjoy the show. MARISA ROQUE After the first intermission, Korus switched the mood from the divine to the mundane through familiar and well-loved folk tunes of the Philippines.  Toe tapping renditions of “Katakataka” by Suarez-Laureola, followed by a fisherman’s tale Read More …

He makes outrageous, offensive statements. He praised a brutal dictator. He told his supporters to turn to violence. Two of those three statements describe President Duterte and the American political figure to whom he has been compared, Donald Trump. The third statement applies to Duterte, but isn’t quite a perfect fit for Trump, the Republican nominee for U.S. president. At least not yet. In making the false accusation that Hillary Clinton wants to take away the right of Americans to own guns, he warned that “if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.” Many interpreted the remark as a subtle endorsement of violence against the Democratic nominee. The Trump camp has vehemently denied this. Still, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called it an “ambiguous wink wink” to Trump’s most extremist supporters. “What he said was ambiguous — slightly menacing, but with just enough plausible deniability that, of course, he was not suggesting an assassination.” Duterte, as Filipinos and the rest of the world already knows, couldn’t care less about plausible deniability. “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful,” he said shortly before being sworn in. The U.S. media calls Duterte the Trump of the East. It’s becoming clearer that they got it backwards. It’s Trump who must be called the Duterte of the West. It is Duterte who Read More …

WATCH: Anti-drug use campaign publicity. YOUTUBE PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire – A survey of scholarly literature on anti-drug campaigns reveals tried-and-true strategies that have significant long-term impact. These thoughtful approaches value each human life and focus on addressing the root causes of drug use, rather than on simply condemning, demonizing and even killing those in its grip. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was reported to have said that most addicts are hopeless, justifying his extremely harsh view of drug users, who often peddle drugs on the side to finance their addiction. That view, according to the U.S. National Institute of Health on Drug Abuse in Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment, is counter to decades of research that show how drug dependency can be reversed—stopping addiction, preventing a relapse and making the individual become a productive member of the community.   All in the family Studies reported in the Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect (2012) and Pediatrics (2008) reveal that intervention at the family level can have significant impact if it starts as early as during pregnancy and early infancy for those with an addicted mother. Being born to addicted parents puts a child in one of the highest-risk groups for drug use, but longitudinal studies show that visits by trained nurses or social workers tasked with helping the mother deal with practical life issues (health, housing, etc.) and with parenting challenges markedly reduced drug use when the child reached adolescence. Programs that focus on teaching parenting skills not just to addicted Read More …

Filipino was the second most represented nationality in the recent swearing in of 6,000 new US citizens in Los Angeles. AJPRESS LOS ANGELES – Many of the immigrants reciting the pledge of allegiance for the first time as American citizens on Thursday, August 11, arrived hours before security began allowing people into the West Hall of the LA Convention Center. The estimated 6,000 immigrants who swore their loyalty to the United States on Thursday came from 142 different countries. Filipinos were the second most represented nationality among participants of Thursday’s ceremonies. Most had fought through administrative and financial hurdles and waited years for the government to sort through the millions of naturalization applications it receives annually to reach their petitions. For them, the idea of missing the oath-taking ceremony was unthinkable, according to Claire Nicholson, public affairs officer for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). “I was so excited I didn’t go to sleep until 3 [a.m.], then i woke up again at 5,” said Jacqueline McGinley, a caregiver who immigrated from the Philippines 10 years ago. “Since I was 15 years old, it has been my dream to come here.” After separating from her first husband in the Philippines, she decided to seek greater opportunities in America. Over time, she found work, remarried and started a family. However, she admits transitioning into life in America wasn’t easy. ‘Not like in the movies’ “Syempre, pag na sa Pilipinas ka, yung mga nakikita namin sa sine, na napaka sarap ng Read More …

HIROSHIMA—Visiting this port city on August 6th, the 71st anniversary of its being the first city to be A-bombed, my body threatens to liquefy, for it is intensely hot. The sky is brilliantly clear and the sun is unforgiving. It must be in the mid-90s Fahrenheit or about mid-30s Celsius. But this discomforting heat is nothing compared to the heat that those unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of that nuclear weapon felt in the nanosecond before they perished: 2000 degrees Celsius, or 3632 degrees Fahrenheit. This is some consolation; I may be sweaty but there is no question I will survive. But the extreme heat released by the bomb I find unimaginable, and hope never to experience, or for anyone else, for that matter. Enola Gay, the U.S. B-29 bomber dropped the ironically named, four-ton “Little Boy,” at 8:15 in the morning, which went on to explode 600 meters above the city, instantly creating a monstrous fireball, a miniature sun, and a mushroom cloud that bloomed, a malignant flower of death and destruction never before seen in the history of “manunkind,” to use E.E. Cummings’ perfect tweak of the word. Ninety percent of the city was obliterated. Out of an urban population of 350,000, an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 died instantly: Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Southeast Asians, and American prisoners of war. (I wonder if any Filipinos were among the Southeast Asian victims.) By year’s end, 140,000 people had died. Many literally became shadows of themselves: at the Read More …