City of Manila

A Home For Philippine Cinema: Cinematheque Centre Manila

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The story of Philippine cinema is one of the most interesting, a lot of times tragic, stories out there in the realm of world cinema. Back in the day, Philippine cinema was one of the pioneering film industries in Asia, churning out hundreds of film every year during the 1950s to the early 1960s (the First Golden Age of Philippine Cinema) to a constant output of quality films during the 1970s to early 1980s. (the Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema) Today, Philippine cinema is struggling to get up on its feet once again in the midst of various problems such as piracy, low output, and thousands of films made in the past that are now lost thanks to a lack of a national film archive.

In the midst of these problems, it is good to know that at least one of these issues has now been addressed: a facility for a national film archive that would help preserve some of the remaining gems of Philippine cinema (some surviving films are in the possession of ABS-CBN’s film archives, FYI) as well as a place that Philippine cinema can call its own: the Cinematheque Centre of the FDCP or Film Development Council of the Philippines.

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April 2016 Is Not Starting Out Well

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The Urban Roamer is one of those who cringe at those “<insert name of month>, please be good to me” type of posts. But it is one of those times that we really, really hope it would be so for the rest of the month at least. Because, quite sadly, the start of April 2016 has been quite bad, and “bad” here may be an understatement. In any case, the beginning of April has been depressing, to say the least.

Due to the nature of this site and its coverage, the Urban Roamer will not discuss here what happened in Kidapawan, North Cotabato last April 1. Do check out other sources online who can provide a better view of this issue. But while I won’t be addressing it here, there’s no doubt the Kidapawan incident is one of the things that has happened this month so far that makes April 2016 very memorable in the most unfortunate manner. My heart goes out to the victims of this unfortunate event.

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Protestantism in the Metropolis: Central United Methodist Church In Manila

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More often than not, when we talk about Manila’s faith heritage, we talk about the city’s Catholic heritage. That should not be a surprise given that Catholicism is pretty much ingrained in our culture since the Spanish colonial period and that Manila, Intramuros in particular, was the epicenter not only of Catholicism in the country but in Asia as a whole, with its 7 churches located within the city walls.

Overlooked in all this is the city’s religious heritage beyond Catholic Manila. Granted they are not as old as the Catholic churches, they have an interesting story to tell as well. One of them is the subject of today’s post, the Central United Methodist Church of Manila.

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The Two Houses of Jose P. Laurel

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Jose P. Laurel has a somewhat mixed legacy for having served as President of the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic from 1943 to 1945. Whatever achievements his administration had were overshadowed by the specter of Japanese control over the country, especially with their “support” for an independent but pro-Japan Philippines, and the horrors of World War II at large, especially towards the end when fighting between the Japanese and the US-led forces brought about much death and destruction to the country. Despite this, he is regarded as a good president who had nothing but the Filipino interests at heart and did what he could in the situation prevailing that time in the face of Japanese control.

President Jose P. Laurel (photo courtesy of Filipiknow)

Interestingly, Laurel is also one of the few personages in history who has a preserved legacy as far as the structures associated with him are concerned, with two houses he has lived in still remain standing in the midst of the rapid urbanization in the metropolis that has brought about a rapid loss of its built heritage.

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