Parkland Filipino Hour

  Canada Day is the national day of Canada. It is a federal statutory holiday and its day celebrates the anniversary of the effective date of the Canadian Constitution Act of 1867 (which was then called the British North America Act) that was on 1 st of July, 1867,   which united the three separate colonies – that is the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single Dominion which was called Canada. Canada Day was originally called Dominion Day. But then, the holiday was renamed in 1982, the year the Canada Act was passed. From there, Canada Day celebrations take place every year throughout the entire country, and even in various locations around the world, where Canadians are living abroad. So Kaibigan, whatever your ways of celebrating Canada Day po, be it having a barbeque party at your backyard with family and friends, or joining in with   community activities for the family or joining the Canada Day parade and watching fireworks po … amidst the ...

  Let's talk about the Inauguration of the San Juanico Bridge which was the longest bridge in the Philippines which happened 2 nd of July 1973.   The 2.16-kilometer long San Juanico Bridge, the longest bridge in the Philippines spans through a body of sea water between the islands of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas.   The San Juanico Bridge is part of the Pan-Philippine Highway (also known as the Maharlika Highway). Its longest length is a steel girder viaduct built on reinforced concrete piers, and its main span is of an arch-shaped truss design. The bridge has 43 spans and medium size boats can pass beneath its large main arch, the top of which rises 41 meters above the sea.   The San Juanico Bridge is a project under the Marcos administration. Its construction with cost of around 22 million-dollar was contracted to the Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (now the Philippine National Construction Corporation), together with Japanese en...

Let’s talk about one of the highlights of 1991... and that is one of the largest volcanic eruption that happened in the Philippines and that is the MOUNT PINATUBO ERUPTION that happened 15 th of June 1991. The eruption produced high-speed avalanches of hot ash and gas, giant mudflows, and a cloud of volcanic ash hundreds of miles across.   It started out with huge cloud of volcanic ash and gas that rises above the Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, on June 12, 1991. And then, three days later, the volcano exploded and recorded as the second-largest volcanic eruption not only in the Philippines but the entire Earth in this century. Timely forecasts of this eruption by scientists from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and the U.S. Geological Survey enabled people living near the volcano to evacuate to safer distances, saving at least 5,000 lives.   But before that, an event happened that preceded the eruption. On the 16 th of July 1990, a magnitude 7.8 earth...

       Magandang Araw or Magandang Araw po is a basic Filipino greeting that translates to “Good day”. Even though the weather is not always good.. as sometimes it can be so hot due to the tropical climate all year round in the country or sometimes typhoon and monsoon rains can really ruin your day leaving the area where you live 2 feet or more under water ..well, that’s part of normal day to day life in the Philippines. But whatever the weather it maybe, its always a good thing to greet everyone   Magandang Araw or Good day.      But if you want to be more specific or appropriate with the ti of the day…   greet everyone with “Magandang hapon!” which means Good afternoon if its in afternoon already or after noon time ,and   “Magandang umaga!” or good morning if its not yet lunch time.    In different places and provinces, you can greet Good Day or Magandang Araw according to the towns or provinces dialect like…    ...

       In 1962, President Diosdado Macapagal moved the commemoration of Independence Day from July 4 to June 12. Why? Lets talk about that..      On July 4, 1946, the Philippines gained independence from the United States of America. It marked the time when the Philippines officially became a state: it had people, territory, government, and for the very first time, sovereignty.        When Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898, it lacked two essential elements of statehood: territory and sovereignty. Although the Philippines’ boundaries were well defined, the territory lacked legitimacy that comes from recognition by other states. Aguinaldo’s government also lacked sovereignty because the Philippines was still under Spanish rule. When the Philippine Revolution ended in August 1898, the Philippine-American War took place in 1899, and then for the next 50 years, the Philippines was colonized by America...

       Lets talk about one predominant Filipino Culture that still exist up to know where ever you will be in the Philippines and that is TAMBAYS… or bystanders or loiterers. This is the Filipino culture of Pinoys hanging out in sari sari store, basketball court or plaza or wherever they can to convene for a talk or just plainly hangout with others.    Last 2018, President Duterte known for leading an anti-drug crackdown in the country has gone after the country’s “tambays” or loiterers. In the past three weeks of that year, more than 11,000 tambays have been thrown in jail for loitering in the streets.           The Philippines is a nation of tambays. From the shirtless men who spend time with their favorite sari-sari store, basketball court to secret hide out areas in Manila, the idea of tambay (a contraction of the English expression "to stand by") in the Philippines is a national, collective experience. Almost all Filipinos...