Titas de Bacolod

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Thursday, March 03, 2016

Behind the Scenes - March 3, 2016 : 2nd World Radio Day

Behind the Scenes with Ivy Visitacion

It was a glittering affair when the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas and the city government of Bacolod celebrated the 2 nd World Radio Day with a formal dinner and award-giving ceremony at the Bacolod Government Center recently.

There was an unmistakable air of nostalgia with the presence of the pioneers of radio broadcasting in Bacolod. Guests came in their formal attire while loud shouts of greetings could be heard across the hall as radio old-timers shared their special camaraderie with their long-lost colleagues for the first time in years.

A tinge of sadness pervaded the room when we heard of a former colleague's passing. It was difficult to imagine that a once vibrant and well-modulated voice on the air had been silenced forever.

For a touch of class, red wine was offered to the guests, who were enjoying the endless plates of crunchy and delicious lechon as pica-pica, while dinner was a virtual feast of scrumptious dishes especially prepared for the occasion.

Councilor Alex Paglumotan welcomed the crowd while Mayor Monico Puentevella stressed the importance of remembering the golden voices in radio broadcasts of yesterday and the courage of broadcasters who gave their all for their profession. KBP chairman Jopy Plotria enlightened the audience on the significance of World Radio Day through the ceremony's theme, “Radio in times of emergency and disaster”.

It was a touching scene watching former radio idols slowly climb up the stage to receive their awards as the physical signs of old age had taken its toll on their once vigorous arms and legs. All the awardees felt honored at the unexpected recognition of their efforts for the profession they loved so well.*

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

What's Wrong With Toting An Ostrich Birkin Bag? Watch This Video

Business, Issues

So you think toting an Ostrich Birkin bag is so fashionable? There are other bags you may want to consider having after you watch this video.

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Follow me on Twitter @TitasdeBacolod

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Does Grace Poe See Marcos As A Hero?

People,

Grace Poe has shown that she is really a politician in true form. It is the votes she is after just like nearly all politicians.

Thus, when the lady senator was asked to make a clear stand on the burial issue after it was raised during Poe’s press conference in Tacloban City last Friday, this is what took place:

Poe denied the report that said she’s open to allowing Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and said in a clarificatory statement: “I have been consistent about this from the very beginning. Former President Ferdinand Marcos deserves to be accorded proper burial.

“As to where, I would like to clarify that I did not state in an earlier interview that I am open to allowing the burial, and I quote the report, ‘wherever that may be,’ and which would naturally include the Libingan ng mga Bayani.”

Is that an Assumptionista answer? Come on now, we can do better than that!

We have witnessed opposing relatives in the Marcos and anti-Marcos camps before, father and children....brothers, sisters cousins.... Some served the dictatorship, while others opposed it. Now Grace Poe has to answer the challenge: does She see Marcos as a hero?

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Follow me on Twitter @TitasdeBacolod

Related Post:

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

Negros : An Island of People With Super Short Memories

To see Imelda at the food court without the pomp and splendor normally attached to her wherever she goes brought up a myriad of emotions. I felt a bit sad seeing this. It reminded me of my Mama's last days. But I quickly snapped out of that sadness because I was reminded of the incident two years ago ......Read More

Thursday, February 25, 2016

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

#disgusting, Business

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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Follow me on Twitter @TitasdeBacolod

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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Follow me on Twitter @TitasdeBacolod

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!*

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Behind the Scenes - January 21, 2016 : Kara's Dream Debut

Behind the Scenes with Ivy Visitacion

It was Kara Amantillo's dream to celebrate her 18 th birthday, complete with a cotillion and all the trimmings that make up a grand debutante's ball. Her first dance was with her Dad, Gino Amantillo.

The dream debut, titled “Kara, Legally 18, the Broadway Musical Night”, at the La Proa Ballroom of L'Fisher Hotel in Bacolod, was lovingly supervised by Mommy B-ging Amantillo and Daddy Gino, who made sure their debutante's party would be extra special. The party opened with a song from Cinderella, “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, and the debutante entered – looking so radiant in her magenta red Johnjohn Ditching gown – escorted by her big brother Ken, and segued to an offering of bouquet by parents Gino and B-ging.

This was followed by the Cotillion Dance participated in by seven pairs of cousins and Kara's close friends. The theme of broadway hit, Phantom of the Opera, was choreographed by Lyndon Estanol, a friend and dance troupe barkada of B-ging way back in college at La Salle.

After the cotillion, Kara was ushered to her beautiful cake with her parents for the birthday cake candle blowing and singing. During dinner, Broadway excerpts were presented: Front act was Kara's first cousin, Gia Gargoles, followed by Broadway numbers, like Mulan's “Reflection” by Church choir mate Trisha Marie de Vera; “New York, New York” - a song and dance number performed by the father and son tandem of Anthony and Ali Visitacion; “Chorus Line” dance number by the youngest and so charming sister of Kara, Kyla Amantillo; “Sister Act” by Kara and her church choirmates.

The most applauded was the finale, “Dancing Queen”, a “Mamma Mia” Broadway hit. This was followed by the presentation of 18th Roses – composed of male cousins, male close friends/barkadas in high school and college. The 18 candles were presented by female cousins and close friends, who gave their wishes for Kara.

The first dance was from escort, brother Ken, second to the last was Lolo Ramon Arboleda, and the last dance was the most moving and touching one, as Daddy Gino wrapped his arms around the teary-eyed and happy Kara.

Her parents also expressed their joy and pride in their lovely debutante on her special day. Happy Birthday, Kara!*

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Behind the Scenes - January 14, 2016 : Dinner for Friends

Behind the Scenes with Ivy Visitacion

I can think of nothing more pleasurable than a small dinner party with interesting friends, terrific food and scintillating conversation to whet the appetite. This is exactly what our good friend, Robert Harland, hosted at his sprawling place recently.

There was a bright moon above with a gentle breeze cooling the air during the al fresco dinner at the patio, that was filled with lush, green plants (Robert is a member of the Neg. Occ. Garden Club). Our host welcomed his guests with sparkling red wine chilled to perfection, and scrumptious hors d'oeuvre, while waiting for the “entertainment” to arrive.

It was wonderful to see Jhay Broad (formerly Montelibano), who came with her Australian husband Kevan Broad. Another guest was our good friend, Donnie Poblador, and new friends, pretty Evy Holt and her handsome British husband, Richard Holt. On hand to welcome us warmly was Stessie Hecita and son Robert Jr., who livened up the party with his antics.

A small crowd of young people arrived which Robert announced, was to be our “entertainment” for the evening. It was the Maranatha Christian Academy Choir that performed delightful Christmas songs from their repertoire.

Dinner was highlighted by the Harland specialty, “Shepherd's Pie”, which everyone raved over. Kevan and Richard were absolutely bowled over by this great favorite of theirs. It was paired beautifully with delectable veggies. Dessert was a decadent trifle which Robert served with aplomb. Donnie had also brought delicious buko pie, which Evy thoroughly enjoyed.

After thanking Robert for the superb dinner, it was time to go. What a pleasant dinner party it was to savor and enjoy.*

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Thursday, January 07, 2016

Behind the Scenes - January 7, 2016 : A Smashing Cowboy Bash

Behind the Scenes with Ivy Visitacion

It was a night of “denims, diamonds and dancing”. Bob Cuenca's rip-roaring 75 th birthday celebration at L'Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City was certainly an evening of pure delight.

When we arrived, we saw the A-list crowd greeting old friends, who were mostly clad in denims and some wearing cowboy hats. The ladies at the reception table invited us to add faux diamonds to our outfits and even our faces! All over the room, there was an endless crowd of ladies blinding our eyes with sparkling diamonds from their faces, down to their outfits.

You could see that the crowd was all set to have a rollicking fun time reminiscent of their younger days in ‘old Bacolod'. Bob and lovely wife, Agnes, were all over the place greeting the guests with hugs and kisses. Soon, the place was packed with well-wishers, who came to greet Bob a Happy Birthday, people who know how to party and let it all hang loose in the spirit of fun.

Excellent wine flowed freely as guests enjoyed their drinks with scrumptious hors d'oeuvre. Dinner was a masterpiece of dining pleasure as the cuisine was designed to treat our taste buds to a plethora of exciting flavors. We enjoyed a meal that was deliciously hazardous to the waistline. But who cares? It was Bob's birthday, anyway! Enjoy!

Soon, the music filled with danceable songs that became too tempting to resist and the dance floor exploded with dance aficionados, who were swinging, twirling, shaking and sliding to their hearts' content. The dancing crowd let it hang loose; dancing the night away till they dropped.

Happy Birthday, Bob!*