Jose Torres Bugallon

Jose Torres Bugallon, great military strategist in the Filipino-American War, was born on August 28, 1873 in Salasa (now Bugallon), Pangasinan to Jose Asas Bugallon. His father came from Baliwag, Bulakan; his mother was of the well-known Gonzales family of Pangasinan.

After elementary schooling in Salasa, he went to San Isidro Nueva Ecija where he completed in 1882 the first and second years of the secondary course under Don Rufino Villaruz. In 1886, he enrolled at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, completed the secondary course and earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1889, with high scholastic ratings.

After his graduation he entered the Seminary of San Carlos with the intention of becoming a priest although his real love was the military. Having passed the validation examination given by the Spanish government in 1892, he went abroad as a pensionado of the government to the world-famed Military Academy at Toledo, Spain where he spent three years of concentrated study in the science of military organization and warfare.

In 1896, he graduated as 2nd Lieutenant. Upon his return to the Philippines that same year, he joined and served with the 70th Infantry Regiment of the Spanish Army. He fought several battles and after the battle of Talisay on May 30, 1897, he was promoted to Captain. He was also awarded the coveted Cross of Maria Cristina and the Red Cross for Military Honor (Cruz Roja del Merito Militar). After the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, and the cessation of hostilities, he obtained his clearance papers.

At that time, General Antonio Luna urgently needed instructors for the training of officers in the European art of warfare at Malolos, Bulacan. Jose joined General Luna's staff as aide-de-camp and recruitment officer for Spanish war veterans. A well-trained military officer, he was very instrumental in the reorganization and discipline of the Filipino Army. This made him an invaluable officer to General Luna.

On February 5, 1899, Bugallon was in command of the heavily defended frontline at La Loma. The American troops under General Arthur MacArthur attacked this defense sector. In the thick of battle, the Filipino forces were outflanked, exposing Torres Bugallon to the superior firepower of the enemy. He was hit by a bullet in the thighs.Upon learning from Lt. Colonel Queri, that Bugallon was wounded, General Luna ordered: "Bugallon wounded. Order forward. He must be saved at all costs. Bugallon is worth 500 Filipino soldiers. He is one of my hopes for future victory."General Luna found him severely wounded and prostrate in a ditch at the side of the road. All that he could utter was "My ...don't expose yourself so much. Don't advance any farther."

For galiantry in action he was honored with the regalia befitting his heroism, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and pinned with a medal worth his military valor. Lt. Colonel Bugallon was withdrawn from the frontlines by Commander Hernando, and General Luna himself, who took him to the Kalookan medical station where he was given first aid by Dr. Jose Luna and Santiago Barcelona. By train, he was rushed by General Luna to Malolos for hospitalization. Somewhere after Lolomboy and nearing the approach to Bocaue, Lt. Colonel Bugallon asked: "Have the reinforcement arrived?" Too weak to keep his strength any longer due to profuse bleeding, he died on the breast of General Antonio Luna, a few hours after he was withdrawn from the battlefield.

Commander Torres Bugallon's death was a great loss to General Antonio Luna who wept unashamedly before the lifeless body of his comrade-at-arms.

Arrangements were made to bury his remains in Bigaa but it was decided later to inter the corpse at the Malolos cemetery. There a tomb with a modest stone slab marked his final resting place.
Though felled in battle, Bugallon with his gallantry under the very superior enemy firepower, surpassed whatever shortcomings he had in Iris military career. He owed a great debt of gratitude to Spain for his training and education. But his decision to renounce his military allegiance and to join the Filipino Army not only for martial laurels but for the bright future of the land of his birth for which he sacrificed his life, made him a hero, a true Filipino.

To perpetuate his memory, a law sponsored in 1921 by Congressman Mauro Navarro of Pangasinan changed the name of Salasa, the hero's birthplace, to Bugallon.

His remains now lie buried in the Sampalok Church in Manila.

Victorio Edades

Made National Artist in Painting in 1976, Victorio C. Edades was the pioneer in modernism in the Philippine art scene. In fact, he is known as the Father of Modern Philippine Painting. A lot of his paintings portrayed the hardships of the working class, using dark and somber colors and bold strokes.

Edades was born on December 23, 1895 in Dagupan, Pangasinan to Hilario Edades and Cecilia Edades. He obtained his early education in barrio schools and went to a high school in Lingayen. In 1919, he left for the United States to study Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Washington in Seattle. During the summer, he worked in the salmon canneries of Alaska. It was also during his stay in the U.S. that he married American Jean Garrott, with whom he had his only daughter, Joan.

He returned to the Philippines in 1928 and in the same year had his first one-man show at the Philippine Columbian Club. He also came up with two of his most well-known works in that year: The Sketch (also known as The Artist and His Model), and The Builders.

Edades joined the University of Santo Tomas in the 1930�s where he stayed on for three decades and became dean of its Department of Architecture. It was he who introduced the Liberal Arts program which led to a Bachelor�s Degree in Fine Arts, a first in the Philippines since art was only taught in vocational schools then. Edades later formed the Triumvirate of Modern Art with Carlos V. Francisco and Galo B. Ocampo, after they produced a mural for the lobby of the Capitol Theater on Escolta Street. This began the growth of mural painting in the Philippines.

However, it was also during this period that the infamous debate between the modernists and the conservatives, including Ariston Estrada, Ignacio Manlapaz and Fermin Sanchez, took place. This was interrupted by the second World War, but resumed in 1948, with sculptor Guillermo Tolentino and painter Fernando Amorsolo representing the conservatives.

In 1938, Edades, together with Ocampo and Diosdado Lorenzo, established the Atelier of Modern Art in Malate, Manila. This resulted in the formation of the Thirteen Moderns, considered the pioneers of modern art in the Philippines. This group was led by Edades and included Ocampo, Francisco, Lorenzo, Vicente S. Manansala, H. R. Ocampo, Demetrio Diego, Bonifacio Cristobal, Cesar F. Legaspi, Jose Pardo, Arsenio Capili, Ricarte Puruganan, and Anita Magsaysay-Ho.

Aside from this, Edades co-founded the Mindanao Ethnoculture Foundation, which focused on the indigenous culture and heritage of Mindanao. In his last fifty years, the subject of his paintings had also become indigenized.

Edades retired from the UST at the age of 70, and he was bestowed with the degree of Doctor in Fine Arts, Honoris Causa. He then settled in Davao after retirement.

On May 7, 1985, Victorio Edades passed away at the age of 89.

Edades� major works include:

1928 The Sketch, National Museum Collection
1928 The Builders, Cultural Center of the Philippines Collection
1935 Interaction, with Carlos V. Francisco and Galo B. Ocampo
1976 Demoiselles Davao
1979 Kasaysayan, a mural for a Manila bank

Achievements:

1961 Pro Patria Award, given during the Rizal Centennial Celebration
1964 Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award, from the City of Manila

Carmen Rosales

Carmen Rosales (born 1918 in Pangasinan) is a famous prewar Filipina actress better known as Mameng and is noted for her skill in acting and sweet voice. Rosales' film debut was in the 1938 movie Ang Kiri which she made a double to Atang dela Rama. When her friend brought her to Quisumbing the man rejected Rosales because the young woman did not have an aura of an actress.

But she became the most famous Filipina actress of the 1940s and 1950s and rivaled Rosa del Rosario at the box-office. She is famous for her sweet voice and recorded numerous songs. Rosales made her first debut in Ang Kiri aka The Flirt under Diwata Pictures. She starred in her first leading role opposite Jose Padilla Jr in Arimunding-Munding 1939.

She became the most bankable star in Sampaguita Pictures and the highest paid actress of the 1940s and 1950s. Her unforgettable roles as a martyr lover of Rogelio dela Rosa in Maalaala Mo Kaya 1954 and a club-singer in Ang Tangi Kong Pag-ibig.

She got her first Famas Award in 1954 via Inspirasyon opposite Van de Leon and a strict auntie in 1960 movie Estela Mondragon.

Rosales is named after Carmen, Rosales in Pangasinan. Rosales is famous in a hacendera role fighting to Alicia Vergel in Pablo Gomez version of MN. Her last appearance is from Inday Badiday's Eye to Eye and refused to appear completely in TV in a minor role.

this article is from wikipedia

Life in the old days

"The night came at last and darkness filled the house; except for the tiny needles of light that filtered through the walls from the sky, there was no other illumination. I found the small oil lamp where my father kept it in the bamboo rack under the homemade pillows. I lighted it and went to the kitchen...

We sat on the floor and ate in the twilight with our bare hands. We spread the salted fish on the steaming rice and soaked it with broth from the vegetable pot. When we finished eating my father started washing the polished coconut shells which had been our plates and drinking cups for many generations."
page 11, America is in the Heart

It still amazes me everytime I read the book of Carlos Bulosan. He described what happens in detail and in order. I'm just thankful that I haven't experience that much of the life without electricity though I'd grown up in a "barrio" which was no flourescent light at all and I'm lucky enough not to use coconut shells as plates and cups.

We are now living in century which everything is available within our reach to comfort us, to make things leaner and easier. Bulosan recorded what was life in his generation.

Francisco Sionil Jose called a Philippine national treasure

Born on December 4, 1924 in Rosales Pangasinan, Philippines, he was introduced to literature in public school and later at the University of Santo Tomas.

While working as a journalist in Manila, he moonlighted writing short stories and eventually novels. In the late fifties Jose founded the Philippine branch of PEN, an international organization of poets, playwrights, and novelists. In 1965 he started his own publishing house SOLIDARIDAD, and a year later he began publishing the remarkable Solidarity, a journal of current affairs, ideas, and arts, still going strong today. Jose wrote in English rather than in his national language Tagalog, or his native language Illocano.

In 1962 he published his first novel The Pretenders. Today his publications include ten novels, five books of short stories, and a book of verse. His works are available in 24 languages and some have recently been published in North America by Random House. He has been awarded numerous fellowships and awards, most notable being the 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts, the most prestigious award of its kind in Asia.

Jose lives and works in Manila where with his wife Teresita and a faithful staff he still runs the Solidardad Publishing House and the Solidarity Bookstore, still considered the best little bookstore in Asia. On occassion he leaves Manila for Japan, US, or Europe, where he finds the peace to write or teach.Random House has recently published Three Filipino Women, Sins, Dusk (Po-on), and Don Vincente (My Brother My Executioner, and Tree) in North America. The last two are in the Modern Library Editions, with the remaining of the five volume Rosales saga to follow.

In June of 2001, Jose was awarded the prestigious title of Philippine's National Artist for Literature in an official ceremony at Malacañang.

In March 2002's issue of the Discovery magazine, Jose's book Ermita was rated as one of the top ten English-language novels set in Southeast Asia, along side Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," Graham Greene's "The Quiet American," James Clavell's "King Rat."and others.

Fidel V. Ramos

Second President of the Fifth Republic of the Philippines
Term: June 30, 1992 - June 30, 1998


Fidel Valdes Ramos was raised by his father Narciso Ramos in Lingayen, Pangasinan. The Philippine government awarded the young Fidel Ramos a scholarship to the U.S. Military Academy after he passed competitive examinations. Seeing the need to help raise his country from the ruins of war, he pursued further studies in engineering following his graduation from West Point in 1950. He obtained a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois in 1951 while he was still a government scholar.

In 1966, Ramos was promoted from 2nd Lieutenant infantry platoon leader in the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Chief of Staff of the Philippine Civil Action. He then worked his way up to become the commander of the Philippine Constabulary, a paramilitary law enforcement agency that was created by the administration of Ferdinand Marcos.

Ramos is considered the “Father of Philippine Army Special Forces.” Some of the positions that he held in the government were Deputy Chief of Staff for Home Defense of the Armed Forces, and Chief of the Philippine Constabulary. He became known to the public in 1986, when he was appointed as the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He then became the Secretary of National Defense in 1988 under the Aquino administration.

On June 30, 1992, Ramos ascended to the highest office of the land. He led the Partido Lakas Tao, a political party that promised to move power to the people as well as greater control over their livelihood, culture, politics and all aspects of their lives. The former general tried to improve his administration by reducing the number of cabinet-ranked positions, though his good intentions were criticized because the appointed officials retired military officers.
Ramos took positive moves towards his old foes. He granted amnesty to Communist and Muslim rebels, and recognized the Communist Party. Foreign investment, particularly tourism, was also one of his targets for improvement.

He is married to Amelita “Ming” Ramos, with whom he has five daughters. The four-star general was the 12th president of the Philippines.

Of Carlos Bulosan Part 1 of 2

As I was passing barangay Sto. Nino in Binalonan, I noticed the statue of Carlos Bulosan. Last year the town declared September 11 as Bulosan Day to commemorate his death. Bulosan is noted for his book, America is in the Heart, which dramatically inspires Filipinos and other kindreds of the world to live and survive in the United States of America.

I would not blog him here unless I read his book which brought me back to my childhood days. Here is Bulosan's words in one moment of reality of life in the barrio.

"My father halted the carabao, or water buffalo, and bit the rope. He put his wet hands on his hips and waited patiently for me. When I reached him, I lean against the carabao and gasped for breath. The kind animal turned his head toward me and switched the flies off his back with his long tail."

What a complete description of his experience! His brilliance and simplicity of writing was portrayed.




Why did this book being read by other people aside from Filipinos? You have to read and place yourself in the great mind of Carlos Bulosan.

Never heard of Velma Veloria before?

I was astonished when I read about Velma Veloria. Her accomplishments deserve to be published in some of the media outlets in our province. I don't understand why there's nothing had picked it up during her years of service as State Representative in the United States. I never even heard and know about her until today.



The following paragraphs are taken from: Pasyalan.net




The First Filipina American legislator of Washington is from Bani, Pangasinan.


Velma Rosete Veloria was first elected to the Washington State Legislature in 1992. During her 9 years in the legislature she has served on several different committees including, Health Care, Judiciary, Labor and Commerce, State Government, Finance, Rules and Capital Budget. For the past six years she has been a member of the Trade and Economic Development Committee and has been the Democratic Chair of this Committee for the past three years.


Because of her immigrant and working class background, Veloria's work in the legislature and in the broader community revolves around concerns for peace and social justice. In addition to introducing legislation for economic development, women and minority businesses, Veloria has organized and led trade missions to Asia and the Pacific Rim. The mission to the Philippines in 1994 resulted in the Philippine Government opening a trade office in Seattle.



In 1995, accompanied by Gov. Mike Lowry and leaders of the Vietnamese American community, Veloria led the first state trade mission to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam where an agreement was signed to develop and discuss specific project proposals for improving commercial ties between the state of Washington and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.


Just last year, Veloria participated in an educational and humanitarian mission with other women in the legislative arena to Cuba, that once again instilled in Veloria a quest for better and fairer trade policies with other countries of the world.

Diego Silang born in Pangasinan

I was surfing the net and I accidentally landed in the page of Diego Silang Andaya who was one of the Philippine heroes. It caught my attention when I read the lines "..born in Aringay, Pangasinan..."

I have little knowledge of the history of Pangasinan but it is recorded that Aringay was a town of Pangasinan before La Union was formed in 1850, when the colonial government merged the southern town of Ilocos Sur, the northern towns of Pangasinan, and the western towns of Benguet to the east.

Aringay Pangasinan is now the area of Caba or Aringay, La Union.