Archive - Arts & Culture

                                                  By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS KINARAY-A is the language spoken mostly in West Visayas. It is spoken in Antique, where I come from. Writer Alex de los Santos , author of the book, “The Rise of Kinaray-a”, said Kinaray-a is also spoken in some parts of Aklan and Capiz, most of Iloilo and even in

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA Photos by ANNA LEAH SARABIA THE cast and music directors of La Cenerentola promise not to change a thing that Gioachino Rossini had written in his opera. Well, maybe skip parts or let the voice of the storyteller take over but to change to make it easier for the human voice? No

Text, photos and video by JHESSET THRINA ENANO IN contrast to the busy urban scene outside, the halls of St. Paul University in Manila are quiet on a Saturday afternoon. At its College of Music and the Performing Arts, however, voices resonate through the corridors, singing to the accompaniment of a piano. The maestro on

By DANIEL ABUNALES RAY Charles, Stevie Wonder, Andrea Bocelli: world-renowned artists with visual impairments yet with exceptional musical talents. They’ve had countless performances before admiring fans. Unfortunately in the Philippines, visually impaired talents are often relegated to street sidewalks or found performing under a bridge, a donation box close by. Stationed in crowded areas, they

Text and video by GRAZIELLE CHUA THE multi-awarded athlete holds his right fist to his chest as he recalls the moment the Philippine flag was being raised after he won at the 9th Far East and South Pacific (FESPIC) Games in Kuala Lumpur in 2006. Besting more than 40 countries in the pentathlon wheelchair event

By VJ BACUNGAN DRIVING a manual can be agonizing for many drivers, especially in the stop-start traffic of the often-gridlocked metro. Anyone who has been on EDSA or C-5 during rush hour knows the strain of constantly pushing and balancing the clutch pedal just to move at a snail’s pace, like a sadistic dance between

By CAMILLE AGUINALDO RAPHAEL Torralba never thought that a fall from the stairs would change his life forever. The impact of the accident when he was two years old left him with tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. He tried to subdue this unnerving feeling by covering his ears but to no avail. Every time

    By PATRICK KING PASCUAL THE countdown has begun for the last months of President Benigno Aquino III. Activists from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community hold out little hope that the Aquino administration will address their grievances in its final months after it failed to respond to their needs in its

[metaslider id=32442] Text and photos by KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING VOICES echoed across the Senate conference room as senators and representatives of various persons with disabilities organizations across the nation discussed the creation of PWD Affairs Offices (PDAOs) at the local government level in 2008. Charito “Chato” Manglapus, then president of Cerebral Palsied Association of the Philippines

Text and photos by JOHN FRANCES C. FUENTES DAVAO CITY — Wheelchair user Sofronio Floro, 54, has carefully assembled an armchair, one of the hundreds he and his fellow workers with disabilities have made the past couple of days. The armchairs and desks will be shipped hundreds of miles away from the city — to

By YVETTE B. MORALES CZARINAH Mercado was nervous. It was her first time to stand before a huge crowd. Clad in a persimmon dress made by a famous Filipino designer, she knew all eyes were on her. Only she couldn’t see them. Guided by a white cane, Mercado confidently strutted down the runway to show

  By COOPER RESABAL, VERA Files MARIBOJOC, Bohol – A middle-aged woman sweeps her hands across what appears to be a mosaic painting of stylized young seedlings on the front wall of a bamboo cottage in Toril village in this town. “This was made by volunteer tourist students of the Asian Institute of Tourism (AIT)

By KIRA DEL ROSARIO, Loveonexcel.com LOS ANGELES, California — Like most modern long-distance relationships, Mirasol Fajardo Savchenko, a person with post-polio syndrome, met and fell in love with her husband online. She was then working as a computer programmer at the municipal IT department of Dalaguete in Cebu and the president of the municipal association

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL IN the Philippines, one spoken word can have several variations in meaning. The Tagalog word for “bird”, for instance, is the same as the Kapampangan for “egg.” Indeed, one must be very careful in telling the classic story of which came first. There are 182 living languages used across the archipelago, which

  By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS AT the reunion of Filipinos who have been to Taiwan upon the invitation of Taiwan government last week, Dr. Gary Song-Huann Lin, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila, announced a number of good things that would strengthen relations between the Philippines and the Republic of China.

  By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS IN the movie “La Famille Bélier,” which is one of the featured movies in the ongoing 20th French Film Festival, there’s an election campaign because the father of the main character was running against the incumbent mayor. Filipinos, who love election campaigns, should be able to identify with the movie

A generation of children — the so-called “martial law babies” — was left heartbroken and wondering how the Voltes V story ended.

By JOHN PAUL ECARMA MAUNES and JAKE SORIANO CEBU CITY – Deaf triathlete Lester Lagos remembers that afternoon in Cebu very well. Visiting a training session of deaf student athletes after taking part in an international triathlon competition in Cebu, he was deeply disheartened to see them practice barefoot, and without the proper sports gear