Titas de Bacolod: February 2016

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Meet The Man Who Helped Marcos Bring Negros Island To Its Knees

Negros Island was in a woeful state at the eve of the snap elections in 1986. Negros as a word was synonymous to "Crisis" in those days. For the longest time, the sugar industry, romanticized by the well-heeled landowners of Negros and Iloilo, was the prima donna of Philippine society. It was a firm circle which not even the imperial Manila politicians could easily penetrate.

Negros, the rich land of sugar now had to contend with the criticism of many. The lady had fallen into disgrace as pillaged by one of its own, strategically placed by the dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

Roberto S. Benedicto, a law school classmate and fraternity brother of Marcos, who became president of the government-owned Philippine National Bank, ambassador to Japan and head of the national sugar monopoly, aided Marcos in a systematic plunder of the sugar industry. While Benedicto had been made to control various media interests, RSB as he was most easily know in Negros was the Marcos crony for sugar. Benedicto later bought the Traders Royal Bank, which loans money to sugar planters, and Northern Lines, which carries sugar to the U.S.

The charges pointed to the gross and deliberate mismanagement of the billion peso sugar industry by the National Sugar Trading Corporation (NASUTRA), Philippine Sugar Commission (PHILSUCOM), and the phased-out Philippine Exchange (PHILEX).

Because of the dire straits the sugar industry and Negros as in, an unsettling atmosphere was felt throughout the cities of Bacolod and Silay, but more so in the countryside where the insurgency was brewing. The New People's Army was strong and energized with the bravado of vengeance from the fresh wounds of the Escalante Massacre. Overall, it was the domino effect of RSB's raiding the sugar industry for and in behalf of Marcos.

By 1986, sugarcane planters and millers in Western Visayas and elsewhere in the country slowly mustered their guts and were reported ready to testify before the Batasan foreign trade subcommittee on the charges of graft, corruption, and other irregularities which allegedly caused them losses of P116 billion to P144 billion since 1974 thereby contributing to the downfall of the sugar industry which greatly affected everyone in the chain, especially the impoverished in the countryside.

The EDSA revolution came at the right time. The planters had enough.

It may be an exaggeration but there is truth in the fact that words cannot describe what kind of bloodshed would break out in Negros in the summer of 1986 if EDSA had not happened in February.

I leave this story here for all Negrenses to retell the story of the horror of Negros in Crisis - a crisis aggravated by a man who played traitor to his "kasimanwas". For those who don't know about it, ask a Negrense.

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Thursday, February 18, 2016

Behind the Scenes - February 18, 2016 : A Post Valentine Dinner

Behind the Scenes with Ivy Visitacion

It was just an impromptu idea to hold a post-Valentine dinner with a few friends, mostly members of our club, Circulo Negrense, at Dr. Ver Lacson's residence recently.

A couple of hurried text messages (oh, the convenience of modern technology!), and some last minute telephone calls, set the ball rolling and everything was all set for an intimate dinner that cool, drizzly evening.

Coming in from the drizzling rain, it was such a pleasant sight to see the beautiful table settings set out with welcoming glasses of red wine, nuts and cheeses to set the party mood. It was so nice to meet a new friend, Malu Tanatan, a balikbayan from Montreal, Canada, who decided to settle here in Bacolod.

She is an expert in beauty enhancement and has put up a new esthetic clinic, which the local fashionistas would love to try.

Another familiar face we haven't seen in a long while was Jose Marquez Lim, a debonair Spanish businessman from Madrid, who is now an enterprising sugar planter in Negros. He came with our dear friend, Jo Natalaray. Soon, the place was filled with lively conversation interrupted with bursts of laughter, showing that the group was having a fine time.

Dinner was a delectable array of party dishes especially concocted by our genial host - prawns bathed in garlic-lemon butter sauce, chicken ala “Ver” (you have to taste it to believe it!), nachos Spanish style, pasta in pesto sauce, etc. The dessert table beckoned sinfully and some of us hesitated to be tempted. But when Dr. Ver announced that it was “sugarless dessert”, we immediately indulged to our heart's content.

The after-dinner conversation sizzled with such red hot topics that we stayed, nibbling on fruits and cheeses washed down with hot tea until almost midnight! It was THAT interesting. Which goes to show that impromptu dinner parties can be so much fun.*

Monday, February 15, 2016

Trading on Nostalgia: the February Visual Arts Scene

#art, Art

By Ma. Cecilia Locsin-Nava,Ph.D.

      Nostalgia or "the desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to one’s home, or to one’s family and friends" binds the three visual arts exhibit currently showing in Bacolod. These are Wayne Lacson Forte’s “Ano May ReklamoKa?” which opened February 2 at the Negros Museum; DioknoPasilan’s “Locale” which opened February 6 at Orange Gallery and EdbonSevilleno’s “Glimpses of Negros” which softly opens on February 10 at MuseoNegrense de La Salle to accommodate special requests from friends who would like to gift their loved ones with an art work for Valentine where are works will be pegged down for as low as 10,000 a piece. Over cocktails on February 12 guests will likewise be treated to an interaction with Sevilleno who will demonstrate what makes him a watercolorist of the first order.

      Considering the millions of Filipinos abroad it seems inevitable that nostalgia would inform the works of these three visual artists despite their differences in personalities, backgrounds, and mediums and styles.

       US-based Forte uses oil in scenes of a bygone era color dealing with , among others, our history of colonization; Riyadh –based Sevilleno employs watercolors in capturing idyllic scenes of country-life in Negros before urbanization sets in and celebrates the eternal sameness of the ordinary in portraits of street people and sacadas, one aptly entitled, Ti, amo man Gihapon, as well as genre paintings that capture Norman Rockwell-like street scenes of Bacolod epitomized by one painting of chess playing in downtown plaza and the furious betting that accompanies it.

        Most poignant is Palawan and Australia-based Pasilan’s homecoming exhibitthat brings together past projects from Australia, Palawan and Bicol which captures, among others, a way of life that is long gone, namely boat-building in his native Santo Nino, which has since become a casualty of over-logging. This is symbolized by a new work done in collaboration with carpenters and craftsmen in the community where he grew up. Called “ The Santo Nino Project” this consists of a hardwood remnant of a long-vanished fishing boat which the resident craftsmen have turned into a sculpture ever since their wooden-hulled boats have given way to second hand vessels from other Asian countries.   This travel metaphor is repeated on the walls of the gallery with little boats carrying eyes of the artist’s subjects sailing into the horizon.

    Not unlike Sevilleno, Pasilan likewise shows like Rembrandt (who did self portraits in his old age many times over) a fascinationfor faces of old people illustrated in his “KinalawangnaLarawan” –iron dust portraits on archival paper as well as his ID photos of senior citizens in Bicol and Palawan.

     The Filipino as wandering Jew is a recurrent theme that runs not only in our literature but in visual arts as well. One reason is our world famous resiliency. As Pasilan puts it in his artist statement for” Locale”: “Some people find significance in a place. Others make a place significant. As an artist, both hold true for me. I am a wanderer who puts down roots wherever my journeys take me. Thus, in external exile I am always home.”

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Thursday, February 4, 2016

Thursday, February 04, 2016

Behind the Scenes - February 4, 2016 : A Fashion Show for a Debut

Behind the Scenes with Ivy Visitacion

Pretty Nikka Amable is a typical teenager, who dreams of being a successful fashion designer someday. Like the rest of her friends, she loves to dance and sing and swoon over her “crushes”. For her debut recently, her family and friends wanted to make the occasion extra special, something she would treasure and remember the rest of her life.

Nikka's Tito Cris Amable, a popular event stylist, came up with the concept “Fashion Runway Show”, just like the finale of the famous Project Runway. The venue was the grand ballroom of Bacolod's Sugarland Hotel. The runway was 50 feet long and six more chandeliers were added, giving the place an ultra classy look. The color motif was black and white, from the entourage to guests who came in their most fashionable black and white attire. In stark contrast to the black and white theme, red flowers adorned the entire room, filling tall glasses, crystals with mirror runners and candles as centerpieces. A spectacular stage backdrop displayed four mannequins wearing the exquisite gowns of Manila designer Eric delos Santos.

When the debutante made her appearance, looking “drop-dead-gorgeous” in her dazzling evening gown, the guests showered her with rapturous applause.

Nikka's gown was designed by celebrity designer Michael Leyva, a favorite of Kris Aquino, Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach, and other celebrities.

Everyone enjoyed the fabulous fashion show which had 18 members of the debutante's entourage as models for the 18 footsteps, 18 candles and 18 roses.

Nikka and her sister Nikki wowed the audience with their rendition of their favorite song, “Lean On”.

The party was a big hit as guests had a ball dining on the delicious dishes and dancing to their hearts' content after the show.

Happy birthday, Nikka, and welcome to the grown-up world!*