Happy New Year?

I have to work through Christmas so I haven’t posted anything about the Yuletide. I hope you all had a very  Merry Christmas and enjoyed your holidays and vacations, guys.

It was really hard for me to celebrate Christmas anyway. I felt guilty feeling merry and gay when other of my friends were shedding tears over these trying times.The market’s at gloom here in Singapore right now (and i guess pretty so in many part of the world including the Philippines) because of the crisis crunch. A number of my colleagues has been retranched already (some are Filipinos who has been here only for few months) and some found their monthly salaries slashed by 20%. I felt really guilty that I could not prevent it from happening to them, especially that they always looked at me as someone they can rely to. But life has to go on and I can only hope and pray that the year ahead would be better for all of us, for the sake of our families and the people who relied on us for financial and moral supports. So here’s wishing everyone a really CRACKING NEW YEAR!!!

A snap of an old work

One of the great things about going for a short trip home is that I got a chance to picture my old works that hang on my parents’ house. The one above is a watercolor I did back in college, based from an old postcard I had. I was so happy of it back then. Now, I see all the flaws– harsh bold lines, distorted faces and all. It was even painted using cheap water colors (well, not THAT cheap though) and Chinese brushes. But when I remember all the hard work  put into it, the puzzles of resolving every color and the labyrinth in each and every curl of cloth, I’m still proud of it. Especially with all the things that I’ve learnt  and the improvement of skills I’ve acquired through the years after this painting. It’s satisfying to know that I have improved and developed as a person and as an artist as well, at least even in my own little way. it’s great to realize that I’m not redundant. that i have evolved and will continue evolving, still be learning more things– in life and in art– for the years to come. And this 38″x 24″ painting will be a living testament to that– as it hangs proudly on my parent’s dining room.

The Baclayon Stone Church

Homecoming gave me a chance to do a round- bohol trip once again with my family. it was fun and I got tons of pictures with it too. Baclayon was our first stop.

The Baclayon Church is the oldest Catholic stone church building in the Philippines. It was constructed during the Spanish occupation and the first Spanish missionaries (called doctrineros) settled in the area in the late 15th century. Today you can still see the original stone structure of the Baclayon Church in the City of Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines.

The church’s bell tower as seen from the carpark area.

There are other preserved church buildings in the region but the Baclayon Church is the best preserved among them. The church itself is Jesuit, but the Baclayon Church (the one we see today) was completed in 1727. The erected church building known today as the Baclayon Church is formally known as The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

The area where the Baclayon Church now stands was home to the Spanish Jesuit missionaries when they arrived in the Philippines. The Jesuits were forced to leave and move their headquarters to Loboc. This was due to fears of being mobbed by Moro marauders.

 The facade of the church as seen from the roadside.

In 1717 Baclayon was raised to the status of a parish. Thus construction on a new church (the Baclayon Church of today) began. The construction of the Baclayon Church required two hundred native laborers who were forced to do the work.

These artisans hauled coral stones from the sea, then skillfully cut them into square blocks, lifted the work using bamboo to move the stones into position, and piled them like bricks. About a million egg whites were used to cement the cut coral stones together. This was a testament to the great skill of these native artisans.

Interior. The very old but still elegant gold-plated altar and aged-old paintings that adorned the ceilings.

The Baclayon Church was completed in 1727 and a large bell was added in 1835. The church building had a dungeon where violators of Roman Catholic Law were punished. Filipino natives were its usual occupants.

The attractions we’ll see in the Baclayon Church include an old convent with a small museum. There you’ll see some centuries-old relics. Most artifacts you’ll see in the Baclayon Church museum are religious in nature. Antiquities of note are an ivory statue of Jesus Christ dating back to the 16th century, a statue of the Virgin Mary, St. Ignatius of Loyola’s relics, gold embroidered church vestments, a host of books and hymnals, and 1859 paintings of Liberato Gatchalian (famous Filipino painter).

The Immaculate Conception High School. Just beside the Baclayon church, is one of the oldest surviving stone edifice of the spanish era, and very well preserved that it is still used as part of the school presently.

Homecoming

Like a full- geared Greek army summoned by the great Agamemnon, I packed and readied my things as if I would be unleashed to sail straight to the deathly shores of Troy. When in fact I’m just coming home. Nevertheless, I made sure that all my things are ready and nothing’s forgotten—all in a week before our trip to the Philippines. It maybe a bit paranoid to some, but I always maintain a philosophy that I’d better be paranoid but ready than just be cool and be caught without a thing in hand when you need it the most. I’m excited. Maybe not as excited as when Columbus first touched the sands of the new world, but excited— nonetheless. It will be a short but great homecoming. I’d be seeing my folks for the first time in two and a half years; I have a prospect of a Master planning project with the mayor of Cagayan de Oro, had a pre-arranged Bohol tour and I’ll be joining my kin (all EIGHT of us) to give a surprise 60^th birthday celebration to my father.