Book publishing is alive and well

Jobers R. Bersales 09/13/2017

Banish all thoughts and doubts, book publishing is still alive and well in the Philippines. There is no other better proof than the annual Manila International Book Fair, now on its 38th year. The two largest bookstores…

In the shadow of death: The kempeitai in Cebu

Jobers R. Bersales 09/06/2017

Last Saturday was the 72nd anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. It’s very telling of how poorly we treat the past that not a single whimper nor cry was heard from government, both local and…

A Flavier Pablo comes alive anew

Jobers R. Bersales 08/30/2017

Very little is known about the Manila-based portraitist Severino Flavier Pablo (1800–1870), but his paintings live on. One of these, which he painted in the final years of his life, saw the light of day again last…

Rowdy Chinese tourists

Jobers R. Bersales 08/23/2017

After studying as well as excavating quite a number of Chinese tradeware ceramics dating from the Song to the Ming dynasties (ca. 1200 to 1644), I still cannot quite connect between these beautiful works of art and…

Ending war, remembering the war

Jobers R. Bersales 08/16/2017

Seventy-two years ago last Tuesday, August 15, Japan formally announced its unconditional surrender in a broadcast made for the first time by Emperor Hirohito. The Atlantic Monthly already published the tense-filled and the nerve-wracking story behind the…

The Left at the crossroads anew

Jobers R. Bersales 08/09/2017

Like the early phase of the Cory Aquino presidency, the Left is facing the crossroads once again. Will it go the path of working with President Rodrigo Duterte on the quasi-socialist-populist aspects of his unique brand of…

Searching the past at Carmen Copper

Jobers R. Bersales 08/02/2017

When custodian Edna Paras opened the wooden doors of the nondescript one-storey building Thursday last week, I was not prepared for what was about to see: metal shelves lining the length of the entire room from end-to-end…

A second almanac for Cebu

Jobers R. Bersales 07/26/2017

Fr. Dionisio Miranda, SVD, president of the University of San Carlos, summed up its reason for existence: when he first arrived here there was no single volume that covered everything that one needed to know about Cebu.…

Harvesting the wind in Dalaguete

Jobers R. Bersales 07/19/2017

We normally connote harvests in Dalaguete with the vegetables that grow in the cool climes of barrio Mantalongon, the so-called “Little Baguio of Cebu.” But in an upland sitio of Obong, called Pilihan, a different kind of…

Lectures and a monorail for Cebu

Jobers R. Bersales 07/12/2017

Before I proceed to the main part of this article, let me welcome Dr. Christina Lee of Princeton University who is here in Cebu today to lecture on the topic “Archival Sources on the Santo Niño of…

Educating Cebu’s drivers

Jobers R. Bersales 07/05/2017

I’m glad Cebu Business Club President Gordon “Dondi” Joseph has brought out the issue of poor, inadequate, if not totally absent, driver education in Cebu as a major factor in our current traffic mess. I hope the…

A year with President Duterte

Jobers R. Bersales 06/28/2017

The recent interview by Stephen Sackur or the researchers of his hard-hitting (and, thus, so aptly named) talk show “HardTalk” aired on BBC World late last week appears to have digressed 180 degrees from the usual lambastes…

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