An Asian Renaissance must involve cultural rebirth and empowerment, not simply cultural jingoism. In 1886, a young Asian student wrote from Europe the following lines dedicated to his country: "Recorded in the history of human suffering is a cancer so malignant that the least touch irritates it and awakens such agonizing pains." Alone and far away, Jose Rizal tried to invoke the memory of the Philippines to compare it with countries...

By 4 p.m. the clouds had dispersed and the sun shone over Manila Bay. This looked like a good omen on the historic birth of the Republic 67 years ago. THE town of Kawit in Cavite Province assumed a festive air that Sunday morning of June 12, 1898. Local bands had been promenading around the streets since sunrise playing a medley of gay tunes, some Spanish, others Mexican, mixed...

U-Belt means Manila’s collegiate zone, an area extending from Calle Arlegui in Quiapo to Governor Forbes in Sampaloc, bounded in the west by Quezon Boulevard and in the east by Dr. Jose P. Laurel Street. In the university belt are three boroughs: Quiapo, San Miguel and Sampaloc. Hub of this campuslandia is the east end of Recto. Here and on the streets off it are the shops, eateries and cinemas...

ONLY the very naive or the very cynical would try to predict the future course of Philippine literature. There are only the weekly magazines or the occasional books as signposts to indicate trends, and these signposts do not give very coherent directions.

Questions and reflections in a "writing experiment" dealing with language, time, memory, birth, mortality and other human concerns. Only a writing experiment. Choose at random a future date—don't even think, Does it fall on a Tuesday?—and resolve to pay close attention, noting whatever small incidents occur or even ordinary things that seem to modulate the day's hum and drum, but throughout it should just be a kind of calm...

While examining the archives of the Biblioteca Nacional de...

BY HIS own admission, the young Orlando “Orly” Mercado...

Angelic, with a hint of sadness and uncertainty framing...

The celebration of the Philippines’ arts and culture is...

A book smaller than your thumb, Roman coins before...

Previous era of the arts had subversiveness, vulgarity, and...

Some 96 years ago, on June 12, 1929, the Graphic magazine published an article titled The Tinkers’ Dam by M. San Martin.

The astronauts got it right the first time. It was 1971 and Apollo 14 Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell peered through the small window of their spacecraft and saw a 360-degree panoramic view of the Earth, Moon, Sun, and the stars.”

For two and a half centuries, from 1565 to...

Juan Luna’s ‘Hymen, oh Hyménée!’ drowns the public with...

One day, toward the end of 1967, National Artist...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Before the third episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary...

Angelic, with a hint of sadness and uncertainty framing...

Previous era of the arts had subversiveness, vulgarity, and...

TRIBUTE — On September 26, the Filipino literary titan, maestro of the Philippine short story, and former Graphic editor Gregorio C. Brillantes passed away at 92.

It looks like it’s going to be a long haul when you scan the country, or even just this part of town, from the corner of Taft and Padre Faura—a long dazed journey, not to “Philippines 2000,” the splendiferous miracle promised FVR’s faithful a mere seven years from now, but to reality of NIChood probably a century hence.

I attended an awarding event once where I saw...