Anything Pinoy

In 1968, an intensity 7 earthquake rocked Manila causing the collapse of Ruby Tower in Binondo, killing hundreds of people.

The Ruby Tower collapse served as an eye opener in disaster management. Later that year, the Marcos administration established the National Committee on Disaster Operation which eventually evolved as the Camp Aguinaldo-based Office of Civil Defense.

Next came the National Disaster Control Center, the forerunner of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the highest policy making body on disasters in the country.

The earthquake’s epicenter was located in Casiguran,Quezon (now part of Aurora province). The earthquake of 1969 is deemed as the most destructive quake in the Philippines prior to July 1990 Luzon killer earthquake that spawned a tsunami that reached as far as Japan.

On August 1, 2009, Ma. Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino, the first woman President of the Philippines, died of colon cancer at the age of 76.

Born in Manila, “Tita Cory,” as she was fondly called, is the mother of the country’s 15th and current President, Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution which toppled the authoritarian regime of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines.

Notably, she was revered by many Filipinos as the Philippines’ “Icon of Democracy.” She was also hailed by TIME Magazine as the “Saint of Democracy,” due to her well-known spiritual life and strong adherence to non-violence and democracy. Read the rest of this entry »

On July 31, 1946, the Philippine Airlines (PAL) claimed the official title of being the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean, departing from the then Nielson Airport in Makati to the U.S. mainland with a DC-4 aircraft.

After that, PAL started its official service between Manila and San Francisco in December 1946. Other international flights to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Taipei followed in April 1953.

Earlier, deeply involved in shaping the course of the country’s historic events, PAL began its flight on March 15, 1941, using a Beech Model 18 aircraft, making one flight daily between Manila and Baguio, amid the specter of a global war. It became Asia’s first airline.

Now, PAL has become one of the most respected airlines around the world with a young and modern fleet of aircraft and a route network that spans 31 foreign cities and 30 domestic points.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte; Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile; Vice President Jejomar Binay, Chief Justice Renato Corona, Former Presidents Fidel Valdez Ramos and Joseph Ejercito Estrada; Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate; distinguished members of the diplomatic corps;

My beloved countrymen:
Our administration is facing a forked road. On one direction, decisions are made to protect the welfare of our people; to look after the interest of the majority; to have a firm grip on principles; and to be faithful to the public servant’s sworn oath to serve the country honestly.

This is the straight path.
On the other side, personal interest is the priority, and where one becomes a slave to political considerations to the detriment of our nation.

This is the crooked path.
For a long time, our country lost its way in the crooked path. As days go by (since I became President), the massive scope of the problems we have inherited becomes much clearer. I could almost feel the weight of my responsibilities.
In the first three weeks of our administration, we discovered many things, and I will report to you some of the problems we have uncovered, and the steps we are taking to solve them. Read the rest of this entry »

On July 10, 1934, the Filipino voters elected at least 202 delegates to a constitutional convention which drafted the Philippine Constitution.

Headed by Claro M. Recto, the Constitutional Convention of 1934 was responsible for framing the 1935 Commonwealth Constitution which was approved by President Franklin Roosevelt on March 23, 1935.

It has been said that the 1935 Constitution was the best-written Philippine charter ever, which followed the American model in structure and formal appearance, except for a unicameral legislature and a unitary (as against a federal) system of government.

Notably, the so-called “Seven Wise Men” — Filemon Sotto, chairman, and Norberto Romualdez, Manuel Roxas, Vicente Singson Encarnacion, Manuel C. Briones, Miguel Cuaderno, and Conrado Benitez (who replaced Jose P. Laurel) — prepared the draft of the Constitution.

The framers of the Constitution were beneficiaries of the American system of education and familiar with American political concepts of democracy and government. Read the rest of this entry »

According to Forbes Magazine, the list below are the Top 10 richest Filipino’s for 2010 :

1) Henry Sy; US$5 billion
2) Lucio Tan; $2.1 billion
3) John Gokongwei Jr.; $1.5 billion
4) Jaime Zobel de Ayala; $1.4 billion
5) Andrew Tan; $1.2 billion
6) Tony Tan Caktiong; $980 million
7) Enrique Razon Jr.; $975 million
Beatrice Campos; $840 million
9) George Ty; $805 million
10) Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.; $760 million

On July 9, 1985, Arturo P. Alcaraz, a volcanologist and acknowledged “father of geothermal energy” won the IBM Science and Technology Award.

Alcaraz, who earned his Masters of Science degree in Geology at the University of Wisconsin in the United States as a government scholar, pioneered in generating electricity by means of geothermal steam among areas proximate to volcanoes.

With a vast and extensive knowledge on volcanoes in the Philippines, Alcaraz explored the possibility of harnessing geothermal steam to produce energy. He succeeded in 1967 when the country’s first geothermal plant produced much needed electricity, ushering the era of geothermal-based energy to power up homes and industries. Read the rest of this entry »

On July 8, 1987, as official representative of the Vatican to the Millenary of the Russian Orthodox Church, his Eminence, Jaime Cardinal Sin became the first Catholic prelate to visit Lithuania since the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Born on August 31, 1928 in Aklan, Cardinal Sin, Archbishop emeritus of Manila, attended the 600th anniversary celebration of Christianity in Lithuania.

Cardinal Sin took part in the celebration despite friction between the Soviet government and the church over the Vatican’s refusal to acknowledge Soviet sovereignty in that Baltic republic.

He described his trip to Lithuania as a “pilgrimage of friendship and love.”

Notably, Cardinal Sin served at the united voice of the Filipino people during the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution and became instrumental in ending the dictatorial Marcos regime and in the installation of Mrs. Corazon C. Aquino as the country’s first woman president.

He died on June 21, 2005 at the age of 76.

On July 7, 1892, a group of Filipino patriots led by Andres Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, Valentin Diaz and Deodato Arellano, among others, formally founded in Tondo, Manila the Katipunan, an anti-Spanish society with the goal of gaining Philippine independence.

It had three principal aims: political, moral and civic. The political aim was to fight for the independence of the Philippines from Spain. The moral aim was to teach Filipinos right conduct, cleanliness, and to fight against blind obedience to religion and to overcome weakness of character. The civic aim was to help one’s self and to defend the poor and the oppressed.

Initially, the Katipunan or Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mgá Anak ng Bayan (KKK) was a secret organization.

During the next four years, the organization recruited members from various parts of Manila and nearby provinces. Its discovery in August 1896 eventually led to the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution.

Also on this same day in 1892, Spanish Governor-General Eulogio Despujol ordered the deportation of Dr. Jose Rizal to Dapitan, a remote town in Zamboanga.

From 1892 to 1896, Rizal lived in exile in far-away Dapitan. Under the missionary jurisdiction of the Jesuits, he practiced medicine, pursued scientific studies, continued his artistic and literary works, widened his knowledge of languages, established a school for boys, promoted community development projects, invented a wooden machine for making bricks, and engaged in farming and commerce.

On July 2, 1971, the first Pan American World Airway’s Boeing 747 jumbo jet arrived at the then Manila International Airport with 269 passengers.

Pan American World Airways was the second airline to open a regular jumbo route to the Philippines with 20 hours flying time between San Francisco and Manila.

Also on this same day in 1973, the 2.16-kilometer long San Juanico Bridge, the longest bridge in the Philippines spanning a body of water between the islands of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas, was inaugurated.

The San Juanico Bridge is considered one of the most beautifully-designed bridges in the country.

The bridge is supported by 43 spans rising 41 meters above the sea, with a large arch beneath allowing boats to pass.