kulas, the canadian blogger / vlogger in love with the PH

 

kulas at 34 years old, had been in the PH (house background in Davao) since age 25, daily exploring & saving the beauty of the PH

with an indigenous person who told him that despite the many languages in the country, "we are still of ONE HEART"! :-)

biag ni lam ang

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB6FybqkM9I

(7 mins)

one outstanding lesson I got from this is to try our best to resolve our issues first from our family of origin before moving on & starting our own family

ibalon

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nvvaRKsaE8

(5-min video in filipino)

Ibalon is a Philippines epic that comes from a fragment of 60 stanzas that is said to be the source of the Philippines indigenous identity and the story follows the hero Handiong as he conquers the land of Ibalon, transforming it into the Bicol it is today. The Ibalon epic was first transcribed by Spanish friars who heard the story in its original oral tradition form from the people of Bicol themselves.

https://www.reference.com/world-view/summary-ibalon-2c5d174a1b8c4eb0

 

Re: Summary of Ibalon

Fr: https://sci-marinduque.blogspot.com/2012/07/summary-story-of-epic-ibalon.html#:~:text=Summary%20story%20of%20the%20epic%20Ibalon.%20A%20,its%20field%20and%20to%20plant%20them%20with%20gabi.

 

A long time ago, there was a rich land called IBALONG. The hero BALTOG, who came from Botavora of the brave clan of Lipod, came to this land when many monsters were still roaming in its very dark forests. He decided to stay and was the first to cultivate its field and to plant them with gabi.

Then one night, a monstrous, wild boar known as TANDAYAG saw these field and destroyed the crops. Upon knowing this, Baltog decided to look for this boar with all his courage and patience. At last, as soon as he saw it, he fearlessly wrestled with it, with all his might. Baltog was unafraid. He was strong and brave. Though the Tandayag had very long fangs, he was able to pin down the monstrous, wild boar and break apart its very big jawbones. With this, Tandayag fell and died.
   After this fight, Baltog went to his house in Tondol, carrying the Tandaya'g broken bones. Then he hung it on a talisay tree in front of his house. Upon learning of the victory of their Chief Baltog, the people prepared a feast and celebrated. The very big jawbones of the dead boar became an attraction for everyone. Thus, came the tribes of Panikwason and Asog to marvel it.
   The second hero who came to the land of Ibalong was HANDYONG. Together with his men, he had to fight thousands of battles, and face many dangers to defeat the monster. As warriors, they first fought the one-eyed monster with the tree necks in the land of Ponong. For ten months, they fought without rest. And they never stopped fighting until all these monsters were killed.
   Handyong and his men made their next attack against the giant flying sharks called TRIBURON which had hardly flesh and sawlike teeth that could crush rocks. They continued fighting until the defeat of the last Triburon.
   They tamed the wild carabaos. They even drove away the giant and very fierce SARIMAO which had very sharp fingernails. And using their spears and arrows, they killed all the crocodiles which were as big as boats. With all these killings, the rivers and swamps of Ibalong turned red with blood. It was at this time that the savage monkeys became frightened and hid themselves.
   Among the enemies of Handyong and his men, the serpent ORYOL was the hardest to kill. Having a beautiful voice, Oryol could change its image to deceive its enemies. To capture it, Handyong tried different ways. But Oryol escaped every one of it and disappeared.
   So alone and unafraid, Handyong decide to look for Oryol in the heart of the forest. He followed the beautiful voice and was almost enchanted by it in his pursuit. Days and nights passed until Oryol came to admire Handyong's bravery and gallantry. Then the serpent helped the hero to conquer monsters, thus restoring peace to the entire Ibalong.
   In one the areas of Ibalong called Ligmanan, Handyong built a town. Under his leadership and his laws, slaves and masters were treated equally. The people planted rice and because of their high regard of him they named this rice after him. He built the first boat to ride the waves of Ibalong's seas. Through his good example, his people became inspired and came up with their own inventions. There was KIMANTONG who made the plow, harrow and other farming tools. HABLOM who invented the first loom for weaving abaca clothes, DINAHONGM AN AGTA, who created the stove, cooking pot, earthen jar and other kitchen utensils, and SURAL who brilliantly thought of syllabary and started to write on a marble rock. This was a golden period in Ibalong.
   Then suddenly, there came a big flood caused by UNOS, with terrifying earthquakes. The volcanoes of HANTIK, KULASI and ISAROG erupted. Rivers changed their direction and the seas waves rolled high. Destruction was everywhere. Soon, the earth parted, mountains sank, a lake was formed, and many towns in Ibalong were ruined.
   Then appeared the giant RABOT, half-man and half-beast, with awesome and terrifying powers.
   People were asking who will fight against Rabot. So BANTONG, the third hero was called. He was a good friend of Handyong. He was ordered to kill the new monster on Ibalong. To do this, he took with him a thousand warriors to attack Rabot's den. But using his wisdom against Rabot, he did not attack the giant right away. He first observed Rabot's ways. Looking around the giant's den, he discovered that there were many rocks surrounding it, and these were the people who were turned into rocks by Rabot.
   Bantong also learned that Rabot loved to sleep during the day and stayed awake at night. So, he waited. When Rabot was already sleeping very soundly, Bantong came near him. He cut the giant into two with his very sharp bolo and without any struggle, Rabot died. So Ibalong was at peace once more.

 

chinese-filipino US-PH war hero: gen. paua (+1926)

 https://www.facebook.com/historyphils/

On April 29, 1872, General Jose Ignacio Paua (Pawa) was born as Liu Heng-fu (劉亨賻) in Fujian, Qing China. Migrating to Manila at the age of 18, Paua found himself working as a blacksmith in Binondo. At the same time, he honed his skills in Chinese martial arts (武術).

As one of the Chinese to have ever fought in the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino-American War, Paua would lend to the Filipino cause not only his fighting skill, but also his knowledge as a blacksmith. It was said he convinced Emilio Aguinaldo to build a munitions factory in Cavite. Paua supervised the repair of broken weapons such as captured Mausers, as well as the creation of makeshift ones such as cannons made of bamboo or of metal from melted objects like church bells. He also taught how to make homemade gunpowder to refill cartridges. In addition, he was known as an organizer, doing whatever he could to raise needed funds for the revolution wherever he was sent. By the time war erupted with the Americans, Paua was serving in the Bicol region as chief of military operations.

Such was the reputation of Paua that Mariano Ponce once stated how the Chinese revolutionary was even braver than El Cid (1043-1099), the Spanish hero who fought during the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule. It was his very reputation in the field that brought surprise to Filipino ranks when Paua surrendered on March 27, 1900.

This was after a near-death experience Paua survived during the Battle of Guinobatan a month earlier, on February 23, wherein he suspected a plot to take him down from the Filipinos who he chose to fight with. While charging on horseback, a shot came from behind him that almost hit his head. When he turned around, he realized it was friendly fire. Meanwhile, not even his personal escort of 30 soldiers accompanied Paua in his surrender to the United States, reinforcing his suspicions of ill-will towards him within the ranks. Despite his prevailing thoughts, it remained speculative what might have been the motivations of his fellow Filipino troops to turn against him. In retrospect, Paua has been involved in the apprehension of Andres Bonifacio, among other contentious events during his career.

Paua would settle in Albay after the war until his death on May 24, 1926. Learn more about the history of the Filipino-American War: https://history-ph.blogspot.com/.../president-aguinaldos...

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