Amazing Thailand - 1

Good day to all of you! We are going to travel now in Thailand. Many said that this country is one of the beautiful Asian country. So let me just share with you what all I’ve know in the country of Thailand. As you come along with me, you will feel that you are also traveling in real.

Thailand is a safe country to visit

At the welcome reception that launched the Visit Thailand Year 2009 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Tourism and Sports Minister Kowsurat downplayed the violent dispersal of demonstrators in front of the Parliament Building in downtown Bangkok by saying that “Thailand is a safe and secure country to visit. Thailand is beautiful, warm, and hospitable.”

TAT Governor Phornsiri Manoharn pointed out the seven wonders of Thailand which are: Thainess, Treasures, Beaches, Nature, Wellness, Trends and Festivities. “Life continues as usual in Bangkok and in the rest of Thailand, Companies and shops are operating as usual”.

TG president Apinan Sumanaseni said he was pleased to co-host the invitation to Visit Thailand 2009. “Amazing Thailand will give you a very pleasant experienced and lots of fond memories.

Taal … Turning Back Time – 4

A Town of Culture and Heritage

Aside from a tour back in time, a visit to the town of Taal will not be compete without its famous delicacies and products. In order to have a complete experience of what it was like to be there during Spanish times, tasting local delicacies is something to look forward to. Tourists can indulge in the excellent tapang taal, the local version of adobo, and the scrumptious empanadang gulay, tableas (chocolate balls) and suman for afternoon merienda madness.



Taal’s public market contains stalls of their fine products which are known through the country. Guests can go through different stalls of hand- and machine- embroidered raw or finished barong tagalong, table linen, and fashion products.

Taal ... Turning Back Time - 3

Hometown of Miraculous Churces





Caysasay Church of Taal in Barrio Labac enshrines the miraculous 400-years-old image of Our Lady of Caysaysay. The miraculous image attracts legions of devotees from many parts of the country. It was in 1619, after a woman named Catalina Talayan witnessed an apparition on the rocky hillside of the village of Caysaysay, that the image started to five our miracles.

The Town of Taal also prides itself on having one of the largest Catholic Basilica in Asia, the Basilica of Saint Martin of Tours, more popularly known as Taal Basilica. The imposing church emanates an old-world simplicity and has replica of Our Lady of Caysaysay. The Basilica was dedicated to the town’s patron saint St. Martin of Tours and was built in 1755 but was rebuilt a century later after it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1849.

Taal ... Turning Back Time - 2

Remnants of the Revolutions

The early 20th century ancestral house of Don Gregorio Agoncillo is among the interesting heritage houses in Taal. Don Gregorio was an active supporter of the Philippine Revolution against the colonial government during the Spanish period.

The revolutionary hero also launched the modernization program of the sugar industry in Batangas which catapulted the economy of the provicn3e during his time into new heights. Aside from intricate antique items and interiors, another interesting fact about the house is that it was also the home of Marcela Agoncillo, the principal seamstress of the firs and official flag og the Philippines.



Another distinguished heritage hone in the town is the ancestral house of the Villavicencios. It is the home of Dona Gliceria Marcella de Villavicencio, one of the heroic women who contributed great sums of money and energy to the revolution. She was named the Patroness General of the Revolutionary Host when the Philippine Republic announced its independence in 1898.

The interior of Villavicencio house is painted with elaborate bright colors, while the ceiling is decorated with him, embossed with a floral motif. Another interesting feature of the house is their hand painted canvas walls. The designs on the wall are done in fashionable art nouveau style by Emilio Alvero, the era’s famous architect, painter and interior designer.

Taal ... Turning Back Time - 1

Near the Breathtaking beauty of Taal Volcano is a town that has managed to stop time. The hill town of Taal, Batangas contains sites and scenery that are impervious to time and allows guests to visit the past, making entertaining discoveries about our country’s history.

Two hours from the hustle and bustle of the metro, the town of Taal is among the few surviving 19th century Philippine towns. The town is composed of ancestral houses and centuries-old churches that date back to the Spanish and American colonial eras yet are preserved in their origin forms.

Rusttic Appeal of the 19th Century

The ancestral houses, the fresh air, and the nostalgic ambiance of Taal and its proximity to the metro set this place apart from the few remaining heritage towns in the country. The cluster of 19th century Spanish colonial stone houses (bahay na bato) have beautiful urbanscapes in the country.

A tour of the gracious and quaint town of Taal will lead to an entertaining exploration of the history of the country. As tourists make their rounds of the town, they will discover the pre-eminent stature of Taal in Philippine economic, political and social history, for it was the most important urban center next to Manila in Spanish times.

Among the important discoveris for tourists is how much Taal contributed to the patriotic pursuits of its old landed gentry, who helped the country gain its independence. Some of these ancestral houses are still private residences. The ground floors are usually made of stone while the second floor is made of wood. Many of these houses are located near the town hall.

My Augustinian Church Visit - 2

Good morning. Are you still there folks. I hope so. Folk out there, I’m sure you don’t want to miss to know what happened to my visit. Let me continue now.

At the entrance of the museum, we saw a granite lion sculpture that acts as a reminder of Chinese influence to Filipino culture. And we went inside the museum and looked at every statue displayed that made me think how great is there importance given to the preservation of the remains for the history of the Augustinian church.

We already went around the museum and saw Fr. Blanco’s garden and everything inside the museum especially the paintings telling the story of St. Augustine and the Augustinian church itself plus the statues of some saints. Two of them that I saw were St. Thomas Villanova, the patron saint of Valencia, Spain and St. Michael the Archangel who is one of the principal angels and fought in heaven against the evil.

Since series of weddings are happening inside the church, we are not able to go inside and look for its paintings, sculptures and statues but we were able to go to its choir loft. There, you can see the beauty of the whole church and a very big songbook that is maybe for the choir members sitting on 68 huge chairs. The songs in the book were written on maybe Spanish. After that, we took our picture at the garden.

I actually have a plan to go back and go inside the church when no weddings are taking place.

My Agustinian Church Visit - 1

Hello folks! I just remember that I have something to share with you about my visit in one church here. It was a nice visit. Let me share it with you now….


As we reached Intramuros, certain excitement entered my heart as if something different awaits me. It is our first time to go there that’s why views and ways inside were stranger to us. We really do not know where to go first. We are suppose to enter into a church expecting that the guard will collect payments from us as we enter but the guard did not so we thought that we got the wrong way so we asked him. He told us the right way and that going inside every church or anywhere around Intramuros is for free. I was also amazed with the costume of every guard. It really looks awesome.

And then, we now reached the San Agustin Church which is assigned to us and it looks like that certain renovations are taking place outside the church and wedding ceremonies are happening inside. So we decided to just go first to the museum as we are waiting for the wedding to finish so that we can go inside.

I have to stop you first, I want to see you on my next part and I want you to know what I happened there………. See you !

Fiesta – Paranaque’s Moro-Moro - 5

God gave man imagination to compensate for what he is not and a sense of humour to make-up for what he is. This is patent in the moro-moro where plain fields playing prince and princesses create an illusion while clowns assert the reality. Moro-moro clowns are offshoots of the medieval jesters or fools. The best of them have two attributes; a physical deformity of peculiarity and wit. Their buffoonery consists mainly of drawing miniature swords from outsized sheaths and fighting with other clowns with their teeny or half swords. But they are the only ones in the entire cast that are permitted to ad lib.

They have the rare privilege of ridiculing the regal members of the cast and exposing the prominent people in the audience, making impropriety the source of their wit. Most clowns succeed only in manifesting their vulgar mentality.. But some are gifted and perform in the best comic tradition, using humour to present truth inebriated. If there is anything that the clowns prove, it is that man transcends the worst that can happen to him. On this score, they uphold the dignity of man. All Filipino comedians, in vaudeville, night clubs, movies, radio and television, descended from the moro-moro clown.

It was the fantasy world of the moro-moro that appealed to the Filipino. The Spaniards presented plays about the highlights of the Moro was in the Philippines, the last being La Conquista de Jolo in 1865. The Tagalogs never associated the Mindanao and Sulu Muslims with the moro-moro. They kept its mythical content. Local touches are the kumintang and arnis, the Tagalog war dance and martial arts. The last thing they wanted the moro-moro to be was true-to-life. The down-trodden don’t go to the theater to see more of life’s problems, but to escape from them. The moro-moro declined when the Filipino evolved to a political animal.

The comedia is part of the Filipino’s collective unconscious. Theater requires three things: an appropriate play, competent actors and an appreciative audience, with each giving something. This means participation, dedication and cooperation. Suffice it to any that Plorante at Laura, the greatest Tagalog literary masterpiece, is a moro-moro.

Fiesta – Paranaque’s Moro-Moro - 4

The moro-moro is one of the main features of the fiesta. Nowhere do the Filipinos shows their synergic spirit more than in their fiesta preparations. There, they are united in the task. The most complicated part of the fiesta program is the comedia production. It entails selecting a script, try-outs, casting, training in Filipino fencing, teaching the stylized moro-moro utterance and movements, musicians, stage hands, promoters, directors, costumes, make up and props that include papier-mâché giant. These have to be prepared six months in advance. People involved are not professionals, but working people, so all activities have to be done after working hours.

The performance is a Pirandellian experience. Some participants arrive in full costume. Others do their costumes and apply their make-ups in full public view. They do not stay backstage. They are part of the audience. When does their role begin? Does their part cease when they are with the audience? On stage, you see the protagonists fighting. In the audience, you see them chatting and laughing like the best of friends. People in the audience shout suggestions to the participants. The participants not only oblige, but ask, “Was that O.K.. with you?”. On stage, some actors are watching the audience. In the auditorium, when the dialogue gets boring, the spectators group together and chat. People circulate around. Children ran about and rush near the stage each time they hear batalya music. Not even Pirandello could improve on the interaction between audience and actors.

Fiesta – Paranaque’s Moro-Moro - 3

Still enjoying? Let me begin again here.

The moro-more is staged in four different ways: as a theater in the streets, arena style, in an apron or a proscenium stage. In some towns, performances are ambulatory. The cast moves around the town and perform in front of the homes of the prominent, who grant them honorariums for their Thespian contribution to the fiesta. The audience follows the performance from house to house. Distinction between player and spectator is vague. Anyone can be part of the Moorish or Christian army by simply donning the identifying costume. During battle scenes, an onlooker may find himself totally surrounded by contending Christians and Moors. Some barrios present their moro-moro in open fields without utilizing platforms. The audience simply mill around the acting area. But generally, comedias are performed on improvised platforms or the permanent stages of the town plaza. The platform and the stage made possible the trap-doors for the enchantment scenes. Street and arena presentations dispense with décor; platform performances employ a backdrop; permanent stages utilize elaborate sceneries.

Spanish music is an integral of the moro-moro; macha and paso doble for the entrances and exits; punebre for the sad arts; batalya for the battle scenes. Instrumental accompaniments vary. Barrio performances usually use guitars, harmonicas, bamboo flutes and iguana-skin drums. Town productions have brass bands.

Originally, the full moon or torches provided the illumination for the moro-moro, gradually, candles lanterns, kerosene and incandescent lamps became the illuminants. The person in charge of the light is called a pusong. A pusong is a man or woman who has vowed to be a stagehand in the comedia for some favor granted from his particular devotion. Dressed and made-up as clowns, they replace the spent candles, pump and replenish the kerosene lamps.

Fiesta - Paranaque's Moro-Moro - 2

I hope you are still waiting fwith this second part of my article. This is exciting specially when u experienced that here in the Philippines. But anyway, let me continue here.

A moro-moro plot is like a coin: heads, a Christian wants to marry a Moro princess; tails, a Muslim wants to wed a Christian princess. In the obverse, a king holds a tournament so that his daughter can select her Prince Charming. A Moorish prince joins the tournament and wins her love. But the king will not brook a Muslim son-in-law. A timely war breaks out. The Moor displays his military prowess, becomes a Christian convert, and marries the princess. The reverse has a little more variety. The Christian prince is imprisoned. The Muslin princess helps him escape.They either flee together, or she loses her life in the process. The princess may be killed in battle. But he resurrects.


Moro-moro subplots are taken from the Spanish chivalric romances that Cervantes wanted to put a stop to in Spain. That is where the protagonists encounter lions, giants and bears in forest or enchanted places. The Christian hero invariably has an image or relic of some saint or another given to him by his dying mother. The talisman saves him in every instance. The moro-moro has conventional costume. Colorwise, it is like checkers; the Moros wear red; the Christians, predominantly black. Turbans, scimitars and crescents five the Islamic accent; tricornes, stockings, sabers and halberds provide the Christian dash. But it is not unusual to see all sorts of accputrements from every imaginable era and nationality.

Fiesta – Paranaque’s Moro-Moro - 1

It was a sunday when i decided to visit my niece and her daughter in their house to Cavite City. As I was in a passenger jeep, I passed along one place. And I remembered something about their fiesta.

"Paranaque's Moro-Moro", that's what they called it. I would like to share something about this fiesta. It is a little bit long but im sure you will love to read my article. As it's as colorful as a raibow. Try to see what I'm talking too.

Traditional theater is a feature of the fiesta. Thanks to the fiesta, the moro-moro (Tagalog comedia) survives in the Metro Manila town of Paranaque. When the moro-moro began remains a mystery. But it’s origins are clear. The moro-moro is nothing but a Tagalog adaptation of the Moros y Cristianos. The mimetic war was originally a battle of the seasons. With the Moorish conquest of Spain and the Turkish occupation of the Balkans and Hungary, the seasonal symbols changed to Christian and Moors.

The Moros y Cristianos is still the main feature of at least seven Spanish fiestas; the one in Alcoy, Alicante is world renowned. The conquista brought the Moro’s y Cristianos to Mexico, Central America and the Carribean, where it became part of the tradition of the natives who had never known Moors. From Mexico, it traveled across the Pacific to the Philippines.

The first comedians in Tagalog were miracle plays, dramas that dealt with the life of a saint or of a mystery of the faith. Comedia did not carry comic connotation; It simply meant “happy ending.” Mystery plays were religious presentations; the moro-moro was secular. The Santiago is both a moro-moro and a mystery play. It is a moro-moro because it is about Christians defeating the Moors; also a mystery play because the campeador is Saint James.

I hope you will be enjoying, till my next sequel !