Rizal's Bust: My First Sculpture Art

I've developed my desire in arts particularly in sketching, drawing and painting as I often saw one of our eldest brothers, Manong Jaime, who was doing his pieces in painting Jesus Christ's portrait, drawing person's profile and landscaping in his spare time by just using ordinary enamel paint.

Jose Rizal

And I also developed a desire to mold statues of heroes as I happened to see a good sculptor repairing a deformed statue of Andres Bonifacio in La Carlota City plaza before. I was amazed on how he did his work.

I thought for myself, "Could I do it too? How I wish I could sculpt a very good subject or art someday."

Well in the mean time, I took over some unfinished painting of Manong Jaime by doing some coloring and doing some finishing touches to said painting with no direction. I just loved doing it.

Unexpectedly he went home early. I was caught unaware of what I was doing. Worried as I was for I was thinking that he will scold me by intruding his work without his permission. I was wrong. Instead he appreciated me for my initiative and told me that someday if I am really serious about it I could be a good painter.

He gave me some cans of paints of primary colors: red, blue and yellow and gave me tips on how to mix it to come up with different color.

Those in Bataan Death March, Are They Heroes?

Image from WikipediA

Let's recollect the suffering of those nearly 80,000 starving, disease-stricken Filipino and allied soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army in Bataan, and those prisoner of war who were forced to hike the 90-mile (140 km) from Bataan to Camp O'Donnell in Capas, Tarlac 70 years ago.

In his own historical account of the Fall of Bataan and the Death March during the "Araw ng Kagitingan", Edgar Siscar of ETCETERA refreshes our mind of the real suffering  and the terrible, death-defying ordeal of the Filipino, Chinese-Filipino and American soldiers during the World Ward II in 1942.

I Salute You, Sir Randy!

My respect and due recognition is directed to PO2 Randy de la Rez, a police officer of Cavite who was in Bayug, Iligan City, the hometown of her wife to pay a visit to her wife's parents  while typhoon Sendong was ravaging Iligan City and nearby Cagayan de Oro in the evening of December 16.

PO2 Randy de la Rea (photo: PhilStar.com)

His presence of mind as an experienced rescuer in Cavite and his bravery as a police officer made him a man of the hour and as an instant hero unknowingly by saving his wife, his in-laws and 15 others from drowning from floodwater brought by typhoon Sendong.

He related his daring and lifesaving experience. He said that in the middle of the night while their place was experiencing a blackout for the typhoon destroyed the lines of electricity and the place was heavily flooding with water, he directed the family of his wife on what to do. One by one, he brought them to the top of the Mango tree through an improvise rescue rope. In a couple of minutes, he overheard shouts, asking for help somewhere.

Building Bridges to Freedom

"Without that sorrowful yet victorious event that fateful day of December 30, 1896, we would not be here today in glorious celebration of what he had done for our motherland," opened City Councilor Karen Aguirre in her message for Rizal's 115th death anniversary today here in the public plaza of La Carlota City.

She pointed out that most of the Filipinos would just be contented on reliving the memory of Rizal has done, and would not go to the extent of doing a heroic deed.

Giving a bit of advice, she said, "In our own little ways we can do worthy acts for others like sharing a bit of our resources to those in need like our fellowmen in Cagayan and Iligan, or in a form of service to mankind."

She elaborated her message by citing a story entitled, "Building Bridges."

This story is about two brothers who had a conflict of interest with each other, instead of "reaching out and reconciling" their relationship got worsened.

Bonifacio, a hero?

Andres Bonifacio was acclaimed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines. November 30 is commemorated as Bonifacio Day in his honor.

Andres Bonifacio was admired and revered for his role in Philippine history. He started the Philippine Revolution. He was the first president of the "Tagalog Republic". He became the head of the Magdiwang as President of the Sovereign Nation (Pangulo ng Haring Bayan). He headed the Magdiwang government and the Katipunan Supreme Council. He advocated the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity in which republicanism is founded.

The Making of a Modern-Day Pinoy Hero

[Updated] Yahoo! Philippines came up with the "Pitong Pinoy" project to select seven Filipinos as identified by fellow Filipinos, the Yahoo! community, and then culled by the Yahoo! Philippines jury.

This project aims to inspire with an initiative that will recognize seven modern-day Filipino heroes in line with the commemoration of Philippine Independence, last June 12, 2011.

The nomination mechanics for these modern-day heroes include a brief explanation (not more than 200 words) of his or her accomplishments and the reason why he or she is nominated. The nominations were emailed to to ypitongpinoy@yahoo.com.ph until June 9, 2011 8:00 in the morning.