Have I told you that I’ve been a bum for two and a half months? Yes. Great deal. You should try it. It started April 1st and ended second week of June. Haha. It was the best time to give yourself a break and it’s like living through my schooling days – after March 31st, a 2 months vacation then voila back to cluttered world. But that vacation did not go to waste at all. I went to Cavite and Batangas where I spent time with family. I memorized all shows in channel 11 (Q11, there’ll be another entry for their addicting tv shows hehe), I have been a loyal fun of teleseryes and Mexican telenovela (seriously! hahaha), been busy with household chores, visiting National Museum (twice), Rizal Park, Roxas boulevard, Intramuros, rooming around Makati, Ortigas and Paranaque, and sometimes surprising Keko in his office. I really had fun. But what made my vacation more interesting is because of Bonifacio’s Bolo.
It was created by Ambeth Ocampo, a journalist, academic, teacher and writer. He has a column Philippine Daily Inquirer and an author of many historical essays.
Who says that Philippine History is never as fun and interesting? Ambeth’s style is different from the other authors, he researched the whys, what, when and how. He peeled on the traces of history and on the people who make it happen.
Here are some interesting facts from Bonifacio’s Bolo.
“There were five dates of the Cry of Balintawak: August 20, 23, 24, 25 and 26 and five different venues: Balintawak, Pugadlawin, Kangkong, Bahay Toro and Pasong Tamo“
“Historical relics are concrete links to the past, but many were destroyed in the National Library during the liberation of Manila. Before the National Museum was founded, the Library set up a Gallery of Art and History whose contents were listed in a Catalog of Paintings, Sculptures and Historical Objects in 1938”
“Bonifacio: Myth and Reality: Myth tells us that his image is popularly known as one wearing an open camisa de chino to display his chest and pants rolled up to reveal his brafeet. His left hand waved the Katipunan flag while his right raised a defiant bolo but Guillermo Tolentino proven that Bonifacio’s is represented in one closed barong tagalog with a handkerchief tied oh his neck and a gun on the other. Bonifacio prefer his gun over a bolo.”
“Humabon was twice a traitor, first betraying his own people by conceding to Spanish power and second, by betraying the same Spaniards with whom he negotiated peace under whose auspices he converted – all these in less than a week.”
“Antonio Luna betrayed his friends including Jose Rizal.”
“Aguinaldo never really wanted to be a President. He rather fight than to lead.”
“Magellan’s cross in Cebu is only a replica. The cross was used as a panggatong by Humabon and his people in Spaniard’s feast”
“One day, William Howard Taft, a fisherman in Manila Bay found ‘bubbles’ like a crown of pearls stretched upon the surface of the sea. He tasted the water and to his surprise it was sweet. Sweet water in the middle of the sea? The fisherman returned with a priest who promptly pronounced a miracle. People from nearby Tondo came in boats and saw bubbles from a cross. They took bottles of miraculous water home. Two days later, one of the cholera epidemics hit Tondo. It was found out that the bubbles and sweet water came from a busted sewage pipe.”
That’s enough teasers for now. Better buy and read the whole book. Right now, I am searching for Ambeth’s collection of essays in Aguinaldo’s Breakfast. I remember when I was in my 3rd year or professor gave us the taste of Ambeth’s essay concerning the ‘History of Curse’.
If you want to experience a bit of Ambeth, try his articles in Inquirer.net.
fishoi | 
08 29th, 2008| 
