Bonifacio Day is fast approaching, so if you are looking into commemorating in your own way the birthday of Andres Bonifacio and his contributions to Philippine history, the Urban Roamer suggests you check out the Museo ng Katipunan, so far the only museum dedicated to the life of Andres Bonifacio and the movement he founded, the Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, which we all know better as the Katipunan. Opened in 2013, (in time for Bonifacio’s 150th birth anniversary) the museum is located not in Bonifacio’s birthplace in Tondo, Manila. Rather, its location is just beside the vast Pinaglabanan Shrine in San Juan, the site where Bonifacio…
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Pinaglabanan
August of 1896 was about to end. Shortly after the members of the now-discovered separatist movement the Kataastaasang, Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (popularly known as the KKK or Katipunan) cried out for freedom in Balintawak, (which some say was held in Pugad Lawin) the leader of the movement, Andres Bonifacio began to plot their next move against the Spanish colonial government: an attack on the Spanish gunpowder depot in San Juan del Monte called El Polvorin. Before dawn of August 30, 1896, Bonifacio and about 800 men launched their offensive. Despite being poorly armed against the Spanish troops stationed in El Polverin, the Katipuneros managed to prevail…
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The Iglesia ni Cristo at F. Manalo, San Juan
The Iglesia ni Cristo, (INC) the religious group founded by Felix Manalo in July 1914, grew in numbers and influence by the 1930s. Even after World War II, in which the INC suffered greatly as well, it still managed to become a dominant force in Philippine society, thanks in part for its practice of bloc-voting that many aspiring politicians sought to have. Perhaps the most visible example of INC’s growth after the war was the building of what would be its central temple and offices in Barrio (now Barangay) Santa Lucia in the then suburban town of San Juan outside Manila. From 1952 to 1968, this would the INC’s “home base,” so…
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Discovering the birthplace of Philippine television
October 23, 1953 is a milestone event in the history of Philippine mass media, and of Philippine television in particular. This date is now being celebrated as the birth date, so to speak, of television in the Philippines. The idea of television in the Philippines was something seriously thought about since after World War II as the country was trying to rebuild after the destruction it experienced. In fact it was the dream of an American engineer named James Lindenberg that the country would be the first in Asia to have the first television broadcast through the company he founded in June 13, 1946: the Bolinao Electronics Corporation. (BEC)