Merry Christmas!!!

A little acapella do wop ditty by Santa and the Reindeer.

Have yourself a wonderful Merry Christmas.

Christmastime in a bottle

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=1&story_id=61039

Christmastime in a bottle
First posted 11:14pm (Mla time) Dec 24, 2005
By Linda Bolido
Inquirer

THE LADY'S CHOICE HAS BECOME THE people's, too, as more than a hundred communities throughout the Philippines rallied around the new squat glass jar of the popular mayonnaise brand of consumer product manufacturer Unilever. The new Lady's Choice bottle for mayonnaise and sandwich spreads became the symbol this Christmas of bayanihan, an increasingly endangered Filipino tradition. From the northernmost province of the country, Batanes, to the heartland of Mindanao, entire towns and cities worked together for weeks to come up with their entries to Unilever's Christmasterpiece Bayanihang Pasko 2005, the first of what will be an annual competition for the best holiday season emblem that a community could produce through teamwork. The rules were simple. Among others, participants had to form themselves into teams of at least 10, use a minimum of 100 new Lady's Choice bottles, and the resulting structure should be not less than 15 feet tall. When the dust settled, rather after thousands of bottles had been emptied, the modest town of Naawan in Misamis Oriental, halfway between the capital Cagayan de Oro and Lanao del Norte's Iligan City, emerged victorious as the "Most Creative Town or City." The municipality of 17,000 built the Arc of Friendship over the main highway. Consisting of two towers, with a footbridge linking both parts, the Pride of Naawan, as Mayor Dennis L. Roa called it, could very well be the town's own Arc de Triomphe. Though it did not cost as much to build nor would it last as long as the Paris landmark (entries must be left intact until Jan. 15), the bamboo-palm-coconut arch won for the town at least P1 million in prize money (there were additional prizes in cash and kind). It also earned Naawan bragging rights over Tangub City in Misamis Occidental, which had been dubbed the Christmas Symbols Capital of the Philippines. In fact, almost every town and city in Mindanao that participated in the contest knew Tangub would be a formidable opponent. The city had been into the Christmas business for 13 years, hence the title conferred on it by the Department of Tourism. Tangub did win a silver and a bronze for two of its seven entries. Roa had the help of a former advertising man and a native son of Naawan, Bai Manginsay, in conceptualizing the award-winning arch. With the prize money, the mayor said he would set up a creativity center that would train people, particularly out of school youth, in livelihood activities. Naawan celebrated its victory in style, courtesy of Unilever. Despite the heavy rains on the evening of Dec. 17, people from the town and neighboring municipalities came in droves to watch, among others, Jolina Magdangal and Jimmy Bondoc perform. Iligan, which had three entries, won a special citation. The Department of Education's entry, which featured traditional symbols of the season like the Christmas tree, used the most number of bottles-2,672-beating the local government's replica of city hall by just a few jars. Mayor Lawrence Cruz said the people of the city were so into the spirit of the competition that they even brought unopened jars. Not wanting the items to go to waste, the mayor had them used for sandwiches for the volunteers' merienda. Though only about one per cent of Iligan's population is Muslim, Cruz made it a point to make them feel part of the whole project by having a crescent beside the cross on the roof of "city hall." In Tangub, with seven entries to fill with Lady's Choice jars, Mayor Jennifer Tan and Vice Mayor Edemar Alota, who supervised the project, said they would probably lay off the mayonnaise and sandwich spread until February. That the city has this Christmas thing down pat was obvious from the complexity and diversity of its entries. The city engineer's office's bronze-winning project even had a revolving "bottle" of Lady's Choice made of rice straw looming over a large umbrella covering the nativity scene (the umbrella was supposed to be a metaphor for faith and the encompassing protection it offers). Judges in this year's competition were National Artist Alejandro Roces, glass sculptor Ramon Orlina, architect Ma. Cristina Turalba, Tourism Assistant Secretary Eduardo Jarque and Unilever's Alex Tacderas.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all those family members around the world!
A rememberance to those that are no longer with us in body but memory.

This particular young gentleman is Matthew the son of Mike Sioson & Marlene Roces. She was kind enough to send this early in the Christmas season and I've been hoping that other family members would also send me pictures of their children on Santa's lap. I'll have to make sure that I announce the request much earlier next year.

Take some pictures of your kids opening gifts in the morning and email me the best ones you have. It would be great to share them with the rest of the family around the globe.

Merry Christmas everyone!

RITN: Migrant worker's daughter does her family proud

Roces in the News (RITN)

Every day I keep finding new things about the family name and it's legacy. It's nice to know that Lolo Rafael is still helping people help people.

Special Features (as of 1:40 AM)

Migrant worker’s daughter does her family proud VOLUNTEERS FOR PROGRESS By NARLIZA BENTER As a child Donna Marie Alcantara was no different from the others. In her grade school years, Donna, as her friends called her, usually spent her time playing without worrying about life. Back then she was studying in a private school in Baguio City. Her father worked as a laborer in a company and was earning enough for his family; her mother sold barbecue to augment the family income. Life seemed good. When Donna reached Grade 6, her mother decided to work abroad as a housemaid. As with other children of OFWs, Donna found the separation difficult. She remembers enduring loneliness and the pang her mother’s absence. "Although our financial situation improved a bit, it still could not replace having my mother around." Gifted with a maturity beyond her years, Donna decided to pour all her energies on her studies instead. Despite the hard work of her mother and father, money was still hard to come by for the family. Classes were about to start when Donna was informed that the family could no longer shoulder some of her school expenses. It was another storm that Donna had to weather. "It was bad because my classmates would tease me about my ratty old uniforms and the fact that I always had to borrow school materials. I felt like I had no choice because we just didn’t have enough money to buy all those things." When she was about to enter high school, she transferred from a private school to a public one. Fearful for her future but determined to succeed, Donna worked hard until she found herself part of the Pathways to Higher Education Program in Saint Louis University in Baguio City. Pathways to Higher Education is an innovative education program of Ateneo de Manila University, having regional offices in Baguio Marbel and Bulacan, that aims to help send academically gifted but marginalized public high-school students to college. Instead of giving doles and scholarships, Pathways offers impoverished high-school students academic enrichment classes, supplementary learning activities, and learning resource centers to enable them to study well and earn scholarships to the schools and courses of their choice. It opened a lot of doors for Donna and finally the Rafael Roces Memorial Scholarship Program provided her with a full scholarship. Now a sophomore at Saint Louis University, Donna is well on her way toward fulfilling her dreams of providing a better future for her and her family. "Someday I want to build up my own school, a school that can help marginalized students develop and enhance their talents, skills and abilities. I also dream of becoming a teacher who will serve the country and help bring out the best in students, a teacher who deals with people, touching life and letting them realize that everything happens for a reason." Donna’s family is her source of inspiration. "My family is my source of happiness. In the end, I just want to give them a more comfortable life. It is true that I am going through a lot of trials in life; I still find myself praying to God asking for help, guidance and support. I cannot allow one difficulty to defeat me, to crush the dreams that years of hard work and dedication have built. I must hold on to my dreams and believe that I can do it." Pathways to Higher Education has been helping young students like Donna chart their own courses for the future. With your help, more high-school and college students will have access to new experiences and opportunities that will make them better individuals and leaders. Get to know more about Pathways’ groundbreaking programs by calling 426-6001 local 4044-4049, by sending an e-mail to pathways@admu.edu.ph, or by logging on to www.pathwaysphilippines.blogspot.com or by texting 0920-950-8171.

Pilar Roces Felgueroso

EDITORIAL PRENSA ASTURIANADirector: Isidoro Nicieza

GIJÓN 15 de Diciembre de 2005

Aunque haya muerto vivirá

CARLOS OSORO SIERRA
Querido Carlos: Quiero estar unido a ti y a toda tu familia en la muerte de tu hermana Pili. Ciertamente ese agujero tan hondo y oscuro que siempre aparece en nuestra vida como es la muerte nos deja sin palabras. Los humanos tenemos palabras para casi todo, pero para la muerte no tenemos ninguna, lo único que se nos ocurre es decir a quien padece este acontecimiento «te acompaño en el sentimiento» o «estoy contigo». Yo hoy quiero decirte otra cosa muy diferente, en la que tú crees profundamente.

Los que creemos hemos recibido una palabra de quien es más que nosotros, que vivió la muerte en su propia existencia y que resucitó y alcanzó la resurrección para nosotros. Él nos dijo: «Yo soy la resurrección y la vida, el que cree en mí, aunque haya muerto, vivirá y todo el que vive y cree en mí no morirá para siempre».

¿Crees esto? Sé que tú lo crees. Y sé también que la inseguridad que viene de nosotros desaparece cuando asumimos la seguridad que Jesucristo mismo nos da. Pido al Señor por tu hermana. Mañana la misa la ofreceré por ella y la recordaré junto a todos vosotros, su familia. Con gran afecto.

Carta remitida por el Sr. Arzobispo, D.Carlos Osoro a Carlos Roces Felgueroso

EDITORIAL PRENSA ASTURIANA
Director: Isidoro Nicieza

GIJÓN 15 de Diciembre de 2005

Funeral en La Asunción por Pilar Roces Felgueroso

Pilar Roces Felgueroso.

María del Pilar Roces Felgueroso falleció el pasado lunes y recibió cristiana sepultura en Villalón de Campos (Valladolid).

Pili será despedida mañana, viernes, día 16 de diciembre, a las 19.45 de la tarde, en La Asunción, donde se celebrará un funeral por su eterno descanso. En el Colegio de La Asunción estudiaron las tres hermanas Roces Felgueroso y allí sus familiares rezarán por ella, muy cerca del hogar que compartieron en la niñez y juventud.

Era la mayor de nueve hermanos, de los que ahora sólo viven seis. Ella fue también madre de familia numerosa; casada, hace más de medio siglo, con Manuel Herrero Monje, fue madre de ocho hijos. Profunda creyente, Pilar vivió al servicio de su familia. Entregada a todos ellos, sin desmayar, desde la muerte de su hija Mercedes, en un accidente de automóvil, vivió con su pena y fue perdiendo la fuerza y la salud hasta su reciente muerte.

«Ante su muerte no debemos estar tristes ni lamentarnos. Su vida ha de servirnos de ejemplo a todos, para desterrar el egoísmo y servir a los demás con amor, como ella hizo durante tantos años», dice su hermano Carlos Roces

Nisena Ortiz Roces

The call came on Saturday morning. I wasn't home so I got a message from my sister on my cellphone when Mamasing passed on. I was travelling to visit a friend for the weekend and didn't have access to a computer until today.

If anyone would like to share stories or pictures for me to post please contact me rocesfamily@gmail.com.

Information on services and news as I hear about it.

The holidays are upon us

I've been quite busy with work since I've returned from the Philippines. There are several business deals that I'm working on and it's kept me from working on this project. I've literally had not spare time as I've been jet setting for the past 2 months with a trip to Carlsbad to visit my parents, London to visit my mother in law, and this weekend will be a surprise trip my wife as put together.

The holidays will bring some lighter workloads at the office so I'll be able to write up some elements I've been meaning to. If anything I don't think I'll get to the conversion to this new format until after the new year, but I can at least continue to update this blog on a weekly basis like when I first started.

Two different family members have been connected by other long lost people because of this website. One connection spans decades and is within the oldest generation, and the other is from my generation. It's great to know that even if I've not had time to update this site with stories that it still is something that can help connect the family over time and distance.

Setbacks

I've been really busy with work and haven't had much opporunity to work on putting together the pictures from the trip. I've been able to cull out the Morita's Restaurant pictures but the rest really need TLC to put together.

I was trying to upgrade the forums to the latest vbulletin and the security patch update and in doing so blew up the system. I was going to recover it, but then thought to myself,"Remember the feed back that people have given you is that it's difficult to navigate and use for non-computer people."

In that vein with the little spare time that I do have, I've been testing a different presentation software. The new software will incoporate this blog along with the forum and photo gallery in a more simplified, easy to navigate front end system. (At least I hope.) If I can at least get the blog transferred over before Christmas I'll be happy with that and then I can get the rest of the intergration after the New Year.

One of the other things that I think is interesting is that since I've not had any time to work on this project, I seem to have had a memory leak. As I look at some of the coding and technical items I'm not remembering how they work or what I need to do to modify them the way that I had been. I just need to spend more time with this and hopefully I will be able to soon.

In the meantime... Here's a movie of my wife Dori petting a tiger cub in the Malabon Zoo. (warning dialup users it's a 6Mb quicktime video!)

Anak TV Seal screening process winds up

Anak TV Seal screening process winds up
First posted 09:23pm (Mla time) Nov 11, 2005
By Nestor Torre
Inquirer News Service
LINK

EACH YEAR, THE Anak TV screening process winds up with a media showcase that gives print and broadcast journalists a chance to see how the nationwide screenings for the prized citations of child-friendly shows unreel.

This year's culminating trip is happening this weekend, with the help of Negros Navigation and the office of the Mayor of Bacolod City. Some media people sailed yesterday on the MS/St. Joseph the Worker. They are currently in Bacolod City and will be back in Manila tomorrow.

Young viewers' welfare
During the trip, they are observing how Anak TV screenings are conducted, and learning what people from all walks of life think
about television, particularly in relation to young viewers' welfare.

Onboard the Negros Navigation vessel, they are interviewing MTRCB Chair Consoliza Laguardia, and interfacing with Southeast Asian Foundation officials, led by president Edgardo Roces, and trustee Sulficio Tagud Jr.

In Bacolod, they are taking a city tour, visiting scenic sites, and sampling the city's delicacies. More pertinently, they will attend a media conference hosted by Mayor Evelio Leonardia and the city's councilors. At the event, the mayor will make an official statement about television as it affects Bacolod children.

Effectivity
We have joined a similar "educational trip" in the past, and can vouch for its effectivity in helping media people better appreciate the importance of encouraging the production and viewership of TV shows that have a positive effect on young people.

Even better, we saw for ourselves that many parents, educators and youths in the provinces are very concerned about irresponsible and exploitative TV programs, because they realize the persuasive power of television over young viewers' sensibilities.

At the Anak TV screenings, they launched into extensive discussions of the sample programs they viewed, and detailed how they impacted on
children.

Not perfect
To be sure, the Anak TV process isn't perfect. Last year, for instance, a few of the programs cited left something to be desired (at least as far as this writer was concerned).

But the process generally works, and goes a long way in involving the
viewing public in vetting programs that young viewers get to see. This is "broadcast democracy" at work, and should definitely be encouraged.

Citations
So, our hopes are high that the 2005 Anak TV Seal citations will encourage the production of more responsible TV programs, and that more media people will give SEAFCTV's signature project the support it deserves.

GMA TOASTS OUTSTANDING PINOYS FOR SHOWCASING BEST OF FILIPINO

GMA TOASTS OUTSTANDING PINOYS FOR SHOWCASING BEST OF FILIPINO
MALACANANG, November 8, 2005 (OFFICE OF THE PRESS SECRETARY) ) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo congratulated today several outstanding indigenous groups and individuals who have made the Philippines proud by garnering recognitions and awards here and abroad.

The President hailed the awardees for showcasing the best of the Filipino during a special courtesy call this afternoon at the Rizal Hall of Malacanang.

"They represent the best of the Filipino and indeed there are so many that represented the best of the Filipino… We congratulate all of them. They all represent the great Filipino worker, the great Filipino. Thank you for inspiring us and may we continue to produce more of the great Filipino," the President said.

Among those present during the simple ceremonies were Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, UNICEF Director Nicolas Alipui, national artists Napoleon Abueva (visual arts) and Dr. Alejandro Roces (literature), and Presidential Assistant on Culture and concurrent National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) executive director Cecile Guidote Alvarez.

Leading the awardees is the Xilworks team of the Far Eastern University (FEU) that won the Jaycees International Best Business Plans of the World contest last Oct. 28 in Vienna, Austria.

The team, composed of Ruth Michelle Ariem, Alexis Lozano, Michael Estorninos and their adviser Prof. Ramon Adviento, bested over 200 business plans from around the world with their clean technology of extracting silver from spent x-ray solution.

Other awardees are ABS-CBN news anchor Karen Davila whose feature "Batang Preso" (Juvenile Prisoners) in the investigative program "The Correspondents" bested 50 other entries from the Asia-Pacific region in winning the "UNICEF Child Rights Award" last October in Hong Kong;

GMA7 news anchor Rhea Santos and host of "At Your Service" television program for bagging the Gold Camera Award, the highest award given in the 38th US International Film and Video Festival, one of the world’s highest honors in audio visual competition held last June. The show’s "Under the Sea" episode, which taught a fishing community how to build an artificial coral reef as an alternative means of livelihood, bested 1,300 entries from 30 countries under the Community Development Genre category;

The Philipine Educational Theater Association (PETA) received last October the 2005 Japan Foundation’s Special Prize for Culture and Arts, the first for the Philippines, for its significant role in international cultural and artistic exchange and carrying out educational and community building efforts in Asia;

Ms. Malou Jacob, who was among this year’s recipients of the SEAwrite Awards, Asia’s most prestigious literary prize given by the Princess of Thailand in Bangkok last month;

Jacob’s book "Anatomy of Corruption" talks about the values and the re-thrusting necessary to fight corruption. "Juan Tamban," one of her plays about a street child who eats cockroaches to survive, received critical acclaim.

Visual artist Romulo Galicano, who bested 2,000 other painters from around the world in winning the grand prize of the 2005 International Portrait Competition hosted by the Portrait Society of America in Washington, D.C. last May 2005;

His winning entry, a 30x40 oil painting portrait of Eddie Chua, a businessman and friend, was a perfect example of temporary realism – a fusion of realist and abstract art discipline.

Christian choral group Coro Cantabile which received the Club UNESCO Citation during this year’s 7th Multi-ethnic Cultural Festival in Greece;

Shirley Halili-Cruz School of Ballet, for bagging a total of 67 awards and gold trophies in the different dance categories in the 7th Asia-Pacific Dance Competition in Singapore.

The President, who issued Presidential Proclamation No. 486 observing the whole month of October as Indigenous People’s Month, also congratulated the awardees in this year’s "Search for Outstanding Indigenous People’s Leadership (S.O.I.L.) that was given by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

They are Baguio City’s Cecile Afable (education and media), Iloilo’s Romulo Caballero (arts and culture), Pangasinan’s Inocencio Carganilla (entrepreneurship/livelihood), Mountain Province’s William Claver (peace, human rights and environment), and Zamboanga’s Justino Tiban Awid (public service/community leadership).

Today is All Saints Day. If I recall correctly there is an honor guard ceremony for Raphael "Liling" Roces Jr. and the others that were martyred during WWII. I'm currently reading Looking For Liling: A Family History Of World War II Martyr Rafael R. Roces, Jr. written by Alfredo "Ding" Roces. It's been a fascinating read so far.

Cemeteries are a time capsule of RP history, culture
First posted 03:17am (Mla time) Nov 01, 2005
By Jerome Aning
Inquirer News Service
LINK

IN LIFE, they helped shape the course of Philippine politics and culture. In death, their graves serve as guideposts to history.

Statesmen, politicians, military leaders, men and women of arts and letters, pioneers, martyrs and heroes come alive in the narratives of tour guide Carlos Celdran.

Once a year, Celdran takes local and foreign tourists to the Manila North, Chinese and La Loma Catholic cemeteries where the remains of some of the most outstanding Filipinos are interred. The three cemeteries are contiguous and combine to become Metro Manila’s biggest and most populous necropolis.

The final resting places of these illustrious Filipinos range from the ostentatiously elaborate to the self-effacing. Some reveal the architectural design or materials of a lost era.

Amid crosses and statues of Madonnas, saints and angels, Celdran recounts anecdotes about the dead while standing in front of their graves.

The greatest concentration of historical figures are at the Manila North and La Loma cemeteries. Three Presidents --Sergio Osmeña, Manuel Roxas and Ramon Magsaysay -- are buried there.

The cemeteries also host national politicians, like Claro M. Recto, Quintin Paredes, Pablo Ocampo and Benito Legarda, as well as Manila Mayors Arsenio Lacson, Antonio Villegas, Felix Huertas and Manuel de la Fuente.

Giants of arts and letters

Giants of Filipino arts and letters are represented by painter Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo, composer Julio Nakpil, architects Arcadio Arellano and Nakpil’s son Juan, and show biz personalities from the early 19th century up to “Da King of Philippine Movies” Fernando Poe Jr.

Before larger cemeteries were set up elsewhere in the metropolis, Manila North was the resting place of the Who’s Who of Philippine society, the scions of political clans, eminent academicians, big businessmen, sportsmen and famous entertainers.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s mother-in-law, Lourdes Tuason-Arroyo of the influential Tuason political clan, is buried at Manila North.

Through the years, many remains of VIPs have been exhumed and re-interred in shrines in their hometowns.

Only in April this year, the remains of First Lady Aurora Aragon-Quezon joined those of her husband, President Manuel Luis Quezon, originally a “resident” of Manila North, at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City.

The following month, the remains of Potenciano Gregorio Sr., composer of Bicol’s popular love song “Sarung Banggi,” were reburied in his hometown of Sto. Domingo, Albay.

A mausoleum is dedicated to the veterans of the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino-American War, like Trinidad Tecson, Pio Valenzuela, Tomas Mascardo and Baldomero Aguinaldo.

The Thomasites

A graveyard honors the Thomasites, the American teachers who pioneered modern public education in the country and were behind such institutions as the Philippine Normal University in Manila and Silliman University in Dumaguete City.

Celdran related that the teachers, who arrived in 1901 and worked in major provinces, were unaccustomed to the local climate and thus died from assorted tropical diseases.

The tomb of the well-loved American Governor General, Francis Burton Harrison, is at La Loma at the boundary of Caloocan and Quezon cities. He was known for “Filipinizing” the country’s bureaucracy and accelerating the Filipinos’ training in democracy and responsible government.

A cherub guards the simple grave at Manila North of flyweight champion Pancho Villa, who fought in the United States in the 1920s and is considered Asia’s first boxing superstar.

Simplicity is also the theme of the mausoleum of the noodles magnate Ma Mon Luk at the Chinese Cemetery.

Melancholy air

A melancholy atmosphere hovers over the plot of the La Salle Brothers who were massacred by the Japanese during the Allied Liberation of Manila in World War II.

The same is true at the mass grave of the 20 Boy Scouts who died when their plane crashed in the Indian Ocean while they were on their way to the 1963 World Jamboree in Greece.

During World War II, the Chinese Cemetery witnessed the executions of prominent citizens, like Girl Scouts organizer Josefa Llanes Escoda, Chinese Consul General Yang Guangsheng, star athlete-turned-guerrilla spy Virgilio Lobregat, and writers Rafael Roces and Manuel Arguilla.

At the La Loma Cemetery lies the tomb of convicted rapist Leo Echegaray, the first to be executed by lethal injection in 1999 when capital punishment was restored. The heated debate about the death penalty, which divided the country, is conveyed by his epitaph that contains his last words: “Pilipino pinatay ng kapwa Pilipino.”

The Manila North Cemetery also contains the country’s only known Jewish cemetery, where each tombstone is marked by a Star of David. The cemetery also has spaces allotted for Freemasons, as well as aborted fetuses and abandoned dead infants.

While Manila North seems to have lost its image as the country’s premier cemetery due to congestion and urban pollution, the Chinese Cemetery, also in Manila, has remained popular among the ethnic Chinese.

Chinese Cemetery founder

Founded in the 1850s by Lim Ong and Tan Quien Sien, also known by his Christian name, Carlos Palanca, the 54-hectare Chinese Cemetery contains graves that tell of the wealth and social status of several generations of deceased.

Mausoleums can be as high as two stories. Some resemble temples and pagodas, while others can only be described as “grave villas.”

Those in the sections dubbed Millionaire’s Row and Little Beverly Hills contain comforts for the living, such as air-conditioning, hot and cold water, radio and television, complete kitchen appliances, flushing toilets, chandeliers and even mailboxes.

The dead are remembered in accordance with Catholic practices mixed with Buddhist, Confucian or Taoist traditions on honoring ancestors. Visiting family members offer food and burn incense sticks and paper cuttings before sepulchers that display portraits of the deceased.

Celdran told the Inquirer that over the years, the elements and general neglect have caused some of the tombs in the three cemeteries to deteriorate.

“Of course, there are some graves that are in bad shape, but most of these are run by the private families that own them. It’s the fault of the individuals rather than the government which is why [tombs are] deteriorating,” he said.

Celdran said the Chinese Cemetery was generally “still in pretty good shape” since it is run by a private organization known as the Chinese Charitable Organization.

Losing architectural flavor

He added that some Chinese tombs were fast losing their architectural flavor as many high-priced lots were being partitioned and sold to newcomers.

However, many La Loma tombs, including the St. Pancratius Church, are in disrepair because of lack of funds.

City Hall has been busy fixing up Manila North. The cemetery has a new entryway and an annex to accommodate more graves.

Many squatters have also been removed and resettled.

“Nevertheless, all three cemeteries are still worthy of a visit,” Celdran said, noting the growing number of tourists, guided or unguided, going to the cemeteries.

Culture experts say cemeteries are among the last places altered by forces of economic progress and development. Like historic artifacts, cemeteries tell what life was like in the past and how it continues to evolve.

They are, in a way, a time capsule of Philippine history and culture.

Making the Connection

To me the technology of connectivity is amazing. I recieved an email from someone looking for a family member. I forwarded the information accordingly and hopefully the two long lost friends will reunite.

15 Ateneans to be enshrined in memorial

This story was taken from www.inq7.net

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http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=54434


15 Ateneans to be enshrined in memorial
First posted 04:06am (Mla time) Oct 25, 2005
By
Inquirer News Service


ON NOV. 12, at a gathering on the Ateneo de Manila University campus at Loyola Heights, Quezon City, 15 men will be enshrined in the Ateneo Heroes Memorial.

Their names will be added to those of the 112 who have been enshrined there since 1969, the year then Ateneo president Fr. Pacifico Ortiz S.J. had a modest war memorial erected to honor the Ateneans who perished in the Revolutions of 1896 and 1898 and World War II.

Three Jesuits -- Fathers James Reuter, Romeo Intengan and Francisco Perez -- are among the present honorees.

Reuter, who is currently at the helm of the Catholic Church’s National Office of Mass Media, was a prisoner of war of the Japanese interned in Los Baños, Laguna. Through the years, he has imbued his students with heroic ambitions and a passion for excellence as he taught college, coached the Hail Mary Team (the Blue Eagles), directed plays and conducted the Ateneo College Glee Club.

Intengan, former Philippine Provincial of the Society of Jesus, was arrested and detained for two months for taking part in a march protesting electoral fraud and violence committed by the Marcos martial law regime.

Perez was a guerrilla during the Japanese occupation. He was with the Matute Combat Regiment in the Bulacan Military Area headed by Gen. Alejo Santos.

To be enshrined with them are two other living Ateneans -- Dr. Alejandro Roces and Antonio Malvar Meer.

Roces was considered the youngest guerrilla when, at 15, he joined Marking Guerrillas in Rizal during WWII. A few years ago, he fearlessly faced hardened criminals, spoke to them about the importance of Literature to the nation and was able to retrieve the original manuscripts of Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo and Mi Ultimo Adios that they had stolen.

Meer served the country during and after the Pacific War, joined President Manuel Quezon’s organized guerrilla force and founded Handog sa Sundalo Foundation to alleviate the soldiers’ poverty.

Among the deceased honorees are those who fought in Bataan and walked the Death March -- Antonio Vinluan, Philip Buencamino, Antonio Nieva, Ramon Pamintuan, Oscar Coscolluela and Ramon Diaz, who was tortured by the Japanese for being a member of an intelligence cell that relayed information about the Japanese to the Americans in Australia through the interned Jesuits.

For the first time in the memorial’s history, four young Ateneo graduates will be enshrined for their martyrdom during the martial law years. They are Ferdinand Arceo, William Begg, Artemio Celestial Jr. and Abraham Sarmiento Jr.

An exhibit of memorabilia belonging to the heroes will open at 1 p.m. on Nov. 12 at the Rizal Library. A documentary on the Legacy of Heroes will be shown, with Ricardo Jose as speaker. The ceremony honoring the heroes at Bellarmine Field will follow at 3 p.m.

Los Roces vuelven a Gijón

I really have been so busy trying to catch up on work. I had to hit the ground running here and it has been nonstop since we arrived. I've been meaning to post items about things that happened while in Manila along with other things that I've discovered.

Here is something that Carlos Roces emailed me from "Los Roces vuelven a Gijón."

We'll have to make some sort of future plan to try to get all the Roces family members from all the countries together.

Handwritten Notebooks

Some notes handwritten by my great grandfather Rafael Filomena Roces. The first pages deal with him writing about the family genealogy from his point backwards. It corroborates the information already known and tracked, but it's interesting to see in his own handwriting.

Crossing the Oceans

As I have just returned back to the Big Apple to go over the items I've learned about the family history I recieved an email from Carlos Roces the painter in Gijon. There were a handful of people that were able to make it to Gijon to meet and greet each other. I've got to translate the email as to who did attend which I'll do at a more resonable hour. (Jet lag is really catching up with me.)

Lolo Rafael, Lola Enchay y familia

One of the many finds that I was able to scan. There's lots of people in this picture. How many can you name?

Meeting with Marcos Victor Roces

Yesterday I spent the day with Marquitos Roces. We caught up before lunch then had a nice leisurely lunch of lumpia (Lola Enchay's recipe with camote), gyoza, and red rice. It was very nice to catch up with the family as the last time I was with them I did not get to spend much time with them.

Yesterday we went over some old pictures of Lolo Rafael and then read his handwritten notebooks of his own discoveries of the family tree. I'm very excited to scan these books and get them posted into the family archives. There are also lots of photos of both Lolo Rafael and Lola Enchay (endearingly referred to by Tito as "Papa" and "Mama") The stories that I'm seeing unfold are making me quite jealous that I did not get to know Lola Enchay better nor did I get to ever meet Lolo Rafael.

After leafing through these pictures we went up to see his computer system. I was quite impressed with the Mac G5 and the large Cinema display. Having spend some time working that machine, I think it's time to stop being so cheap about my technology and move back to the apple roots that brought me into the technology world.

I will get together with him again today and possibly see another elder. I'm quite excited about all that is going on that I really cannot sleep between the excitement and the jetlag.

Shangri-la Hotel Makati, Manila

I'm here at the Makati Shangri-la hotel. It's a pretty place what looks like near the financial district since I can see all the tall buildings with bank names on them from our room.

It has been a bit difficult getting adjusted to the time change since it's directly 12 hours difference from NYC.

The food is yummy. Getting to eat Tapsilog and daing for breakfast is a wonderful thing. I feel like a kid again. Mangoes, mangosteens, and lanzones are very tasty for breakfast as well.

Dori has started her day at 5:30AM and I followed suit. I'm just waiting for it to be a reasonable time to start calling family members to make plans for the rest of the time I am available.

LA Power Outage

Apparently there was a massive blackout in parts of Los Angeles which affected our hosting provider. I have not had time to look at the situation as we're packing and gathering up our things and last minute items for our trip tomorrow.

The site is finally back up but was down for over 24 hours.

Thank you all for your patience.

Gearing up the technology

Tonight is the last night to futz around with technology. The computers should be ready and 3/4 packed. Spare batteries, media, accessories all need to be inventoried and put into final pockets.

I added a portable dvd player into the mix since the laptops have never had enough battery life ever.

I am lusting after a JVC 30gb hard drive DVcam. It looks reallly nice but c'mon $999.99 is not an easy price tag to swallow. Especially for an impulse buy. If I had more time to consider it I just might buy it. Next trip I just may have a camcorder. We have a digital8 but that is not the same thing at all.

Let's gear up and move out!

Travel test

I am typing this entry from my handheld onto an Avantgo Blogger client.

While the window is tiny it does work almost as well as the othe journal client I use.

Forced Hiatus

I had to take a brief hiatus from working on the site due to a death in the family on my wife's side of the family. There are still more things to work on but the biggest task is complete. I got back from Pittsburgh this afternoon.

I started to look at what I needed to do in order to be ready for next week when we leave for three weeks. Two weeks in the Philippines and one week in India. The two weeks being in the Philippines I think will hit me just as hard as my visit to Madrid earlier this year.

It isn't like I'm having a midlife crisis, but actually more like an acute heritage awareness that I've never felt before. As an American-Filipino I always felt like an outsider to both cultures. As a kid sometimes I never felt American enough around my friends growing up. Conversely when with my cousins I never felt Filipino enough. It was not until college that I came to terms and comfort of being me just the way I am.

I know that my parents instilled the culture within me but never imposed it. I know that they instilled it in me because the oddest smallest things Filipino can send me into a childhood memory.

This week I will be preparing. I will pack what I can already this weekend so that we're "ahead" a little bit and I can concentrate on finishing up work related tasks and projects. I'm also trying to figure out just how I plan on updating from the Philippines. Usually when we go to Iceland I write on a daily basis into my Palm handheld and then when I find some free wi-fi I send it all up. Since Dori is going to be working she will subscribe to internet access at the hotel so it won't be that bad. In fact now that I think about it the only time I am going to be unsure of it will be when she is actually going to be on vacation as well during the 2nd week.

Back in NY after visiting LA

A business trip took me to LA for the past week. I'm now trying to catch up on what I've missed out on. I also now have to prepare for going to Manila. We leave in just about 15 days.

Lots to do in that time. I would love to meet up with any of the readers when I get to Manila. If you are interested in meeting up, please feel free to drop me a line.

I have a little more forum tweaking to do. I have made some photo galleries broken up by family clans. I will move those Sassy Mae pictures into the various categories but ultimately it's really for you readers out there to post your pictures accordingly.

I'm hoping that I can get some good photos of family members for their biographies.

Multimedia Gallery Complete

I was able to get the video and photo gallery up late Sunday night.

I've been burning the candle on 3 ends and this past weekend was no exception. A good number of things going personally from my wife being offered a job in Norwalk, CT about 1.5-3 hours by car depending on traffic. When I'm not doing the website, I'm working on unveiling a product that I think is very marketable so that's also taking up time, but I digress from what is supposed to be the focus of my time now.

When I completed the Photopost installation on Sunday, I did had made an integration error and could not seem to figure out how come I was getting errors on the main forum board. What should have been a very simple modification (which was the major reason I picked this software over others) wasn't working as simply as I expected.

After posting on the support forums for the past couple days I had not been able to come up with a solution with the technician. It turned out that I had followed some incorrect previous solution into the newest solution. Once I patched up the coding correctly my modification popped up quite beautifully.

Please check it out...and please feel free to upload some of your family photos, movies, sound files, etc. after you at least tell the security guard a "knock knock" joke.

Under the gun

I got the video and photo gallery up and running late Sunday night.

Poring over code looking for a misplaced / here and a extra . there or a $variable makes one cross eyed very quickly. It's also very tedious. I don't really code anymore not like I did when I was a kid and could look at 6502 Assembly code and know exactly what it was doing (for you non-techies, it's Apple CPU machine language, which eventually became the NES CPU in the late 80's.)

I've got some messages posted to the support forum and we're waiting for a reply.

Announcing...Forums

Please register at the Roces Family Forums.

There is a security guard who will let you in after you make your first post at the Front Gate.

Looking forward to seeing you readers there.

Plans for this weekend are to get the photo and video gallery online.

Here's Andreas!

I received this in my inbox earlier today.

From: Alfredo Roces [mailto:dingroces@bigpond.com.au]
Sent: Fri 8/19/2005 3:59 PM
Subject: Baby's Picture

I got this today and it is the earliest photo (ultrasound) of an member of the Roces line. He is Andreas Montilla, great grandson of my brother Liling, grandson of my niece Sylvia, soon to be born son of Agustin Montilla. Isn't science-photography amazing?

God bless

Ding

Here's Andreas!

Greenlight

Dori's trip has been approved.

Now we need to hammer out dates of travel, there's a small chance of making the trip be a world wide trip, going from NYC to Hong Kong (layover) to Philippines to India to London (stay over 2 days) and back to NYC. If I cannot do the full trip, I will do an abbreviated one just NYC to Hong Kong to Philippines to Hong Kong to NYC for about 10 days. The logistics of the flight is also a challenge since we're trying to make sure that we are on the same flight and hopefully sitting next to each other.

I'm looking at a 2 week pass needed from work, and of course we need to find the funds to do this effectively. It's going to be tricky since the project that has been slowly moving is finally moving faster. While I'm just gone for 2 weeks, right now I'm critical to this since I'm the only one internally who knows it so well. I'm hoping that by that time we can have training and installation before the trip, which will give my boss much more peace of mind since he'll be the one to step up to fill in my shoes.

Busy Weekend

I was quite busy with some personal items and when I did have some spare time I was elbow deep into manuals and software again. If we are going to the Philippines in just about 5 weeks, I would like to have something already up besides this blog page.

I am putting together the forum and gallery software in the evenings. It's very challenging getting it setup the way that I'm trying to setup, along with of course, a simple interface so that it's not so intimidating to family members.

I will also start posting "Roces In The News" as I find Roces family members who are highlighted, authored, mentioned, in any news articles that I can find. I have a few collected today, so it will start quickly.

What this means is that the needs are outgrowing Blogger already. I need to have categories so that you the reader can at least sort through the information in a coherent manner to help you manage your time. Only want to see what is going on in the building of the website? Well, as it stands now, you'll have to scroll about until you find it. Categories will allow one to sort and only see those in the selected categories. I have planned for this, and the change should happen hopefully sometime this week. I have been keeping a concurrent application as I test it with most of this blog information. I just need to transfer the sidebars and 3 entries and it should be complete.

Teresita "Chit" Bautista Roces

Chino Roces Foundation board of trustees member, Teresita "Chit" Roces, is a third generation Roces descendant.

Born on February 7, 1940, Chit is the daughter of couple Joaquin "Titong" Roces, who is the former ambassador to Taipei during Aquino's administration, and Lita Bautista. Moreover, she is the niece of well-known, Joaquin "Chino" Roces, her father's cousin.

In 1951, she finished elementary at Maryknoll College (currently Miriam College). She graduated secondary education from St. Theresa's, Quezon City in 1955. After high school she moved to Spain and lived with the Theresianas for two years, 1955-57. While abroad, she enrolled at the University of Madrid and took a course on Cultura and Hispanica. After which she moved back to the Philippines and studied college at St. Theresa's Manila where she earned a degree in Journalism in 1961. When asked why she took up the said course, Chit replies, "well, I wasn't cut out for business…I thought it was attractive (but) not because of the family. I think whether the family was in journalism or not, it was my inclination…"

After college, she married her first husband, Dr. Ramon Sutter, a neurosurgeon at Texas Medical Center, and migrated to the States. She had four children namely: Gianna, Robert, Vittorio and Juan Ramon. At present she is with her new partner in life, Vergel Santos, who is a columnist at Business World, director of Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, consultant of the Philippine Journalism Review and a former professor of Mass Communications at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

On her involvement in journalism, Chit has always been a free lance writer. Back in Texas in 1971 she saw an opportunity to write for a Sunday magazine. She remembers two articles she had written. One was about the no. 1 Filipina nurse of heart transplant doctor, Michael De Becky, and the other was on a leftist patient who acquired his dream of going to Houston for a heart operation. Upon her return to the Philippines, she was offered a section at Doris Nuday's Woman's Home Companion magazine, which she had until 1986. Her work then was to interview and write about interesting women "who made fearless decisions" in life. Furthermore, she chose the subject because according to her, "I was always fascinated with women who did these things that before only men would do". Then came November 3, 1996, she and her husband, Vergel, came up with a community paper. The publication was a weekly newsletter named, Our Town, which carried the slogan, "News you could use". It catered on a subscription basis to subdivisions within the Ortigas Center. But unfortunately, the paper lasted for only nine months. Currently, Chit is preoccupied with the Chino Roces Foundation and her membership with the Winner (Arroceros Forest Park) Heritage Conservation Society.

In her ways, Chit obtains the legacy of journalistic involvement. And this is somehow attributed with her being a Roces. Moreover, she says that, "I'm very influenced by my family background because my grandfather was a pure Spaniard but the moment he came to the Philippines he did not look at himself as anything but Filipino". She also mentioned that, "Journalism, I think run(s) in our side of the family more than the other(s)…our side produces the writers…"

Wrapping up her interview, she owes some words of advice to young writers and journalists. She imparts that, "The secret of writing is that you'll be able to tell a story". Likewise, she emphasizes, "journalists should never accept free meal from anyone because it limits your freedom…to say what you want…if you take (anything), you give that (freedom) away…"

(READ FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION)

An email connecting generations

-----Original Message-----
From: Alfredo Roces
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 7:15 AM
Subject: My father



It's my father's birthday today, 11 August. The feast day of Sta. Filomena. He was born in 1887 and died in 1970 aged 83. A wonderful man. This was taken when he was about 18 years old, I think.
Ding

I got this in my inbox this morning. It was a nice surprise.

Happy Birthday Lolo Raphael...

Meeting with Kain

I'm meeting with Kain in just a few hours. We're going to discuss the flowchart and templates. All day yesterday until late last night and up early this morning, I've been preparing the beta area.

I am starting to cull content to fill up Mambo, which is a rich content management system. My hope is that Mambo will tie all the parts together to create a seamless universe via one login. What normally happens in most sites that I've navigated as you move from one function to another function you have to login yet again. This means that one could have several logins just to access the Family Tree to the Family Gallery from the Mambo front page. It would be slightly annoying the first time, but cookies help a little with the "remember me" check box. Some modules boil down to compatibility, others it's a matter of setting up properly from the beginning. I'm finally ready to rollup my sleeves and start to work putting it all together and launch. I now feel like I need to rush because I'd like to have something in place before we arrive in the Philippines.

This project is really drawing on all my skillsets from evaluting and deploying software solutions for people around the world, to creating a simple process for usage and adminstration training. I'm drawing on my years of computer support and helpdesk to create a simple robust experience that doesn't overwhelm.

Kain and I will go over the flowchart which he's adjusted and I've amended.

Joaquin "Ito" Torrella Roces III

"Before I become a Roces, I have to prove I am a Roces," says Item Trade owner, Joaquin "Ito" Roces III.

Ito is a fourth generation Roces progeny. He is the eldest son of Joaquin "Joaqui" Roces and Cristina Torrella. He is one the grandchildren of known Press Freedom fighter, Joaquin "Chino" Roces. He married Elena De Venecia Santos and had two daughters.

Ito finished elementary and high school at Ateneo de Manila. In college, he studied Marketing at the University of the East.

His involvement in journalism started in 1986 when he worked with the Manila Chronicle. In 1988, he was with his grandfather's resurrected Manila Times. He was in the advertising section where he did market research. In February 1, 1989, he continued with the Times, which was then bought by the Gokongweis. He worked in the paper's circulation department for a year.

Aside from publishing, Ito had been in the charcoal business in the years 1984-87 while he was still in college. At present, he runs his own commercial printing business called Item Trade. When the company was put up in 1993, its first client was the Chino Roces Foundation.

With his being a Roces, Ito expresses high regards on his grandfather's achievements in the newspaper industry. According to him, "…he (lolo Chino) is not materialistic at all…the Manila Times had airplanes, yachts (but) not for personal pleasure. It was for media…then imagine (during) Martial Law Mercedes Benz ang kotse niya biglang after Martial Law…he ends up with a Ford Escort but bale wala. Ganun ka-simple siya…" He adds, "I asked my tito Tony, 'why was my grandfather successful?' He told me, 'because he was able to associate himself to the people down below and up. And he knew what the people wanted to read…he had the pulse of the people…"

(READ FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION)

Proposed Templates

One of the projects that I'm working on right now has me playing with a tablet PC. I must say these things are very cool and very Star Trek. I can dictate to the machine and give it orders and it follows them, with remarkable accuracy.

One other benefit is that one can scribble notes as if it were a pad and use "digital ink" to sketchout items, quickly scribble information, and other ways of normal annotation that people do to pieces of paper.


Content Management template


Individual template


Wedding template


Birth template


Family template


Clan template


Memorial template

Balikbayan

Okay, in a very strange twist, it turns out the my wife Dori may have to go to the Philippines on business. She's the international liaison for Scholastic International. If she does go, I will also as well, trying to figure out how to make it as long a trip as possible, I think I only have 5 vacation days so maybe I can do like the fish and loaves of bread and multiply them.

What this means for me is that in just under a year, I've been to Madrid and then also Manila. Madrid awoke a slumbering muse, and meeting with Gloria Roces roused it into activity. The miscellaneous conversations I have with different family members keeps the interest at peak. I'm trying to contact family members in hopes of getting them to talk to other family members and so on to get the word out in the family. The past month has been a lot of work on this in my spare time. The visit to the Philippines should really get me into stride.

I really need to focus more on this project or at least get a regular work schedule around it. It needs to be more in place then it currently is. I'm 1 1/2 months into this and I really would like to be able to unveil something soon. I don't want to rush anything, it's been a long time coming as it is. I'm just so excited about this project that it's infectious. We are so used to instant gratification with things that I'm drawing on my delayed gratification skills to keep me focused and on track.

I want to be able to meet with as many elders as I can and also meet the newest generation of Roces family members. As details and plans start to formulate, I will post them here.

Thunderbirds Are Go! --> Thundercats Ho!!!!!

I could pick a number of battle cries that would cross many generations, the title of this entry spans quite some time. I have completed my part of Phase 2 and delivered it to Kain. I've also made my first installment payment to him.

I've been carrying around a little metal notebook for the past 4 weeks. Instead of using my normal PDA, I've carried this notebook because it allows me to just write quietly and without much ado. Sometimes technology brings about it's own challenges, and having something be in analog is a nice touch. It will also allow me to keep a record my sketches and other layout designs, which had I formulated this directly onto a computer would be lost to the file system.

Here it is. Here is the site layout or sitemap. Each beveled box represnts a main page or section and the tabbed parts are subsections or functions needed for the section. There are funcitions like photogallery and movies that will be part of the Family Tree/Bio area but for the layout I left them out since I know it's a prominent component for that section.

The forum has it's own built in security as does the CMS Main Page so that I can make sure that general population information is available to the general public or casual visitor. It also will help me target the family directly and make sure that the information gets to the right people without question or difficulty. This distinguishes elements for the young generation and also is COPPA compliant. The family tree section is where the heaviest security is going to be a combination of SSL and VPN, some will just be SSL and others will be both SSL/VPN and require actual administration by a live person. I will also have to address the spiders like google and yahoo. I need to make sure that the have access to parts that are available to the general public and denied to the secured areas.

The next step of Phase 2 is for Kain to deliver to me feedback and tweaks. He then will create some mock up pages so that we can see how the items flow together. This part will help us discover if there are any difficulties with data presentation and data flow. What this means to the layperson is that the story needs to be told in a coherent manner so that it flows naturally and is easily navigated.

Lydia "Cookie" Roces Guerrero

Lydia Roces Guerrero is a descendant of two prominent families. On her father's side are the Guerreros who are writers with the likes of Carmen Guerrero Nakpil and Wilfredo Maria Guerrero in their lineage. On the other side is the Roces clan of publishers. Her maternal grandfather, Don Ramon Roces, is the known "Komiks King" of the Philippines.

Born on April 3, 1946, Cookie, as she is fondly called, is the daughter of artist, Elena Roces and Dr. Mario Guerrero. She is the second child with elder brother, Alfredo and younger sibling, Xavier. Alfredo or Bumbo is currently the publisher of Kislap magazine and its other affiliate publications, and is also owner of a printing company called Counterpoint. Xavier or Wahoo also has his own printing business named Sonic. Cookie is a divorcee with two sons: Julio Ortega, with her first husband, and Adam, her youngest.

She studied elementary and part of high school at St. Theresa's College in both San Marcelino and Quezon City. But she graduated secondary education at Jose Abad Santos Memorial School (JASMS), which was then an experimental institution of the Philippine Women's University. She never went to college but is currently venturing into a career in print media and according to her, "I didn't take up journalism…but I really feel that maybe it's part of my genes, because I do come from a line of writers and maybe I was born with that gift and (with) my mother who is a very creative and artistic person, I suppose I've also gotten some of the genes from her side…"

After her high school graduation, sometime in 1967, she went to Barcelona, Spain to accompany her mother for an eye operation. Cookie lived in Spain for 6 years. During those times she got married to her first husband, a Spanish, and gave birth to her eldest son. Then she came back to the Philippines for a year and was offered to handle Woman's Home Companion (one of the Roces-owned magazines). At first she refused the offer because she said, "I didn't have the exposure or the background to head this kind of publication…I gave it up because I thought I wasn't really qualified…I don't like to do something just because I'm the daughter of the owner and I'm going to take over". Right after, her family migrated to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in USA. She lived there for 6 years and was a full-time housewife. But when her son reached high school, they moved to San Francisco, California and stayed for 4 years. Then she came back home to the Philippines and took the offer with the publishing business. "Part of the reason that I'm working is because we're only three (in the family) and eventually we would have to take over the business so we had to get into (it) …", Cookie explains. Fortunately, she is now the publisher of Woman's Home Companion and president of Solid Gold Publishing Incorporated. She is also the owner of a ladies' and children's boutique called Amica and president of a children's wear export company.

As publisher, Cookie's attitude towards work is distinctly of Roces character. Stating her ethics in publishing, she explains that, "I concentrate a lot on what (I'm) offering the public. I think a publisher also has the responsibility to the reader(s). I'm not going to hand you trash because you're paying. I believe in offering the best I can at the price that they can afford". She also mentions her strength behind her hanging onto the business, saying that, "I think one of the reasons that I'm still here is because we've (company) been very conservative. (We don't) launch into one project after the other. And I also believe that I owe some kind of loyalty to my grandfather's memory".

For aspiring journalists and publishers, Cookie emphasizes that, "if you want to put up a magazine seriously, you have to have enough capital to back it up". She believes that, "the important thing is you have to be consistent. You have to have this staying power because the life of a magazine is advertising and before you can get the advertisers' confidence you have to be in the market long enough for them to know that you're not going to disappear". Lastly, she reiterates, "it's not an easy thing getting into publication. It might look easy but it's not, so if you want to get into it do your numbers correctly and stay with it".

(READ FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION)

Go Phase 2!

I've been busy at work and also at home, which leave little time for me to work on this. Phase 2 is about ready, I met with Kain for lunch on Thursday and I met with him again on Friday. I have notes and sketches that I will hand off to him electronically tomorrow. He can then begin the prototyping and layout parts of this phase. I also would like to put a deadline for me to hit and then a date for launch. While there is absolutely no reason for me to have a hard deadline, it helps me manage my time better knowing that I'm supposed to complete something by a deadline. I've been wanting to work on this thing already for 2 years and only now rolled up my sleeves and started working on it.

I'm going over and double checking some of the security aspects of my design. I find it important to let family members feel safe and secure just like they would at any other family member's house that they visit. I am going over security measures and data presentation to make sure that I don't leave a "window or side door open." I am also contemplating varing degrees of security from SSL to VPN solutions in order to make sure that the possibilty of not having too much information readily available to identity theives. One thing that I was initially concerned about was date of birth, but having access to several birth certificate nationwide database searches makes that point a bit moot. It doesn't take alot to be able to get that kind of information, just a subscription to the service. So far I have been able to corrobrate birth records for everyone born in the United States between 1905 to present. While the point of birthdates and mother's maiden name are used by some institutionsl, birth records make that point moot because they are also freely available I don't see any reason to make it easy for the theives. (Some people here in NYC don't even bother to lock their car doors so that they don't get their window broken during a "break in;" I don't subscribe to that belief.) My point is not to scare people from giving me information, quite the contrary, I want to educate family members to some of the perils that are out there and how to properly protect yourself against identity theft.

MiG has so much information out there right now it's amazing. There's his official website which is currently on hiatus. After his site,the official INXS CBS site, there is the INXS contestant blog. a fan forum, "stalker" fan sites, journal communities, and reality tv discussion boards. Various press articles of his theatrical performances and now more currently his INXS performances are showing up. Because he is in this show, I'm finding hits of his name all over the globe, Spain, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, Australia, and the US to name a few. I'm not really all that sure how to distill it all down into something that fits here, but I will have a biography page for him just like I would for everyone.

Accomplishments and News

The Sassy Mae site has been archived and converted. There should be no more server overloads since it's now mirrored on the rocesfamily.com server. This conversion was more tedious that difficult but it wasn't as difficult as I had imagined since I put it off for such a long time. The wget program did most of the work of relabelling all the HTML pointers and images. The real challenge was making sure that it got all the html files and all the images. I checked a lot of them by hand and like Pokemon, I believe I got them all. If you find a broken link or image, please let me know.

The interview question pool has been completely assembled. I have not completed the interview process documentation which I think will be a refining process as I will sometimes interview in person, over the phone, via email, webcam, IM, etc. While the methodology should be similar, I need to make sure that I have a way of "recording" it to keep the "original."

I still have to complete Phase 2's outlines, which I have in my head but I really need to translate the vision onto paper so that it can get coded properly. I will have to make a point of making an appointment with Kain this week so that I can get past this point. As I look at my calendar I'm really hoping to unveil the actual website in September.

The next challenge here will be to actually reach out to the family elders. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to accomplish that just yet since I only have a few phone numbers and email addresses for a handful of the Rafael Clan, let alone the rest of the lines. This is where I'm going to rely on the readers to start informing their family elders that I want to speak with them.

One department in our office has created a "grant" to give away up to US$5,000 to any MTV employee to help achieve their dream. At first I did not see this project as applying since most examples were about film makers, artists, dancers, and the normal things that you'd associate with the arts. Since I don't really consider myself an artist, but I do feel that I'm creative in different ways I figure that I should apply for this grant. It has been a dream of mine to put together this information, the mediums being the internet, book, and DVD. I'm going to apply and see what happens.

On Thursday night, Karla Delgado had a book reading at Cendrillon in SoHo, NYC. I have never been there but I have heard very good things about it. It was nice to meet Karla and her sister Bianca, especially after reading about Karla's interview and looking up what I could find on her via Google. Bianca was a complete surprise to hear that she's attending university in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The food was very tasty and quite plentiful. The back area of the restaurant has a skylight which helps give more natural light. Small little cakes, shrimp chips, taro chips were set in simple baskets for people to sample. The waitstaff brought around other things to try curried chicken on skewers, lumpia, and small little burgers.

Once mingling had settled down, Karla took a seat on the back bench just two seats from me on the back wall. I did not realize when I was mingling that I had inadvertently picked one of the best seats in the house! She read a few passages from selected entries and also commented on the her partner the photographer who took many beautiful pictures of the markets. Many people did bring their video cameras and I'm hoping to provide a stream of the reading in the future.

All in all I did find it very nice to get back in touch with my heritage. It was a good way to bring it all back comfortably. I am realizing now how much I have neglected this part of my own self since I have very much assimilated into New York City's melting pot.

I was going to post about MiG Ayesa, but I don't think that I can include him in this post since there's lots of information about this gentleman to include. I'll have to assemble it over the next few days and dedicate a post and probably a whole page to him.

Karla Prieto Delgado

"In, I think, grade 4 when our teachers asked us what we want to be, I answered journalist but in between I don't know why. I like to write (and when) I was in IS (International Studies) and they made us write stories I liked that, so I think that's why I said journalist but it actually happened, I didn't grow up wanting to be a journalist it happened by mistake", Karla narrates how her inclination in journalism started.

Karla Prieto Delgado is one of the fourth generation descendants of the Roces clan in Philippine print media. She is the daughter of Mercedes "Peachy" Roces-Prieto and Jose Roberto Delgado. She is the middle sibling to elder brother, Marco Delgado, and younger half-sister, Ma. Bianca Santos. Furthermore, she is the granddaughter of then Manila Times' director, Antonia "Chucha" Roces Prieto, who is also the sister of the well-known Chino Roces and former Manila Times' president, Benito "Bibelo" Legarda Prieto.

Karla had gone to 13 schools from elementary to post graduate studies. Remarking with jest shesays, "I was constantly moving because my mom is somewhat of a gypsy". She first enrolled at a Montessori in Pasay for first grade and later transferred to St. Theresa's College. AfterSTC, she went to Assumption College and then International School. In fifth grade, her family decided to move up to Baguio where she studied at Brent. The next school year she went to a public schoolcalled Special Education Center which was a learning institution for students who are deaf, blind and mentally handicapped but they are gifted - like normal kids. It was the school which for Karla left a "life-long impression" on her. Then came secondary education, on her first year she went to the University of Baguio Science High School. After which her family moved to England, there she enrolled at Stoke Brunswick School and later went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Woldingham. Also at one time she applied for A School Year Abroad Program, sponsored by Phillips Exeter and Phillips Andover of Spain that enabled her to go to any high school based in New England, USA. In college, during her first year she was at an all-girl's school called Smith College at Northampton, Massachusetts. However, she later opted for a co-educational system so she transferred to Harvard in Cambridge. There she graduated cum laude on June 1988 with a degree in Bachelor of Arts major in Government. She is currently taking a Creative Writing class at the University of the Philippines, Diliman before she goes back to US to take her masters.

Her first involvement in journalism was back in college when she became one of the staffers of the Harvard Political Review. After graduation, with writing as her "only marketable experience", she applied at the Village Voice, which is an "artsy, leftist" newspaper in New York. "I started out as an intern…(then) the managing editor happened to drop by the office of the personnel's internee core, who was the senior editor. And then he said that he was interviewing for a job and if I wanted I could have an interview with him that day… So, I did and I got the job", Karla narrates. It was 1988 when she started working for the Village Voice and her beat was the Asian - American community at the lower east side of New York. She also remembers having done a story on a fiasco in the late 80s which involved the influx of wealth from Hong Kong to the city (New York). Likewise, during her time with Village Voice she used to be a stringer for the Asiaweek, contributing stories happening in the city. Despite these she knew that she would never make a good reporter because for her people's privacy means a lot. So, in 1989 she left Village Voice. At about the same time, Asiaweek offered her to be a staff in Hong Kong. She accepted the job in 1990 and migrated. She worked for three years with Asiaweek, started as a staff writer then promoted to news editor, general editor and finally, issue managing editor. In 1993 she moved back to the Philippines and was employed at Philippine Daily Inquirer. Her first job at PDI was in the corporate planning department. "I thought I might be interested in the business side but then I realized I missed the writing, editorial (and) creative side(s)", Karla explains. Returning to her line of expertise, she became editor of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine in 1996. Nevertheless, she resigned last December 2000 because of her plan of taking her masters abroad.

At present, Karla is busy attending her class at UP Diliman with mentor, Butch Dalisay. Furthermore, she is involved in writing a coffee table book on Philippine Forests with the well-known photographer, Neil Oshima, to be published by Centro Escolar University. At present she is more of a freelance person and plans to devote most of her time to writing.

In her 12 years in journalism there are several people that she considers inspirational to her career. Two of these people are PDI editor-in-chief, Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, and editorial consultant, Amando Doronilla. According to her, these are the people who became not only hermentors but also friends. They shared her not just their technical skills but at the same time their values and outlook in life and work. "I think it's important to have people like (them) in your life because they reinforce what you believe in and what you stand for", expounds Karla. For her Letty is one "committed journalist", she is "the type who leads by example" and a person who "really stands up for press freedom". On the other hand, Mr. Doronilla or Doro, as she fondly calls him, is someone who has a "very strong work ethic" and of "solid values". Karla adds, "I feel lucky to be able to know people like (them)".
Karla believes that at some point her involvement into journalism has something to do with her having a Roces blood. Karla explains, "I really relate with my Roces relatives…I feel a close bond with them…I think it has to do with how (we share) the same values…(it) reinforces what kind of person you are". Referring to her sense of activism, she is also assured that, "I get that from my mom and I know she gets that from the Roceses".

Karla leaves some words of advice to budding journalists. According to her, the first step is to find a good mentor. She urges aspiring media people to, "get out there (in the field) and chase the story, get the story yourself" and "question everything, not to take what's told, not to take it as necessarily the truth". Lastly, she emphasizes that, "…journalist don't do it for the money".

(READ FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION)

Issues

48 hours of outage netted me a free month of hosting from the hosting provider.

A mistake made by a support administrator caused me to get the account inactivated, which in turn then the billing department saw that I had an outstanding balance and credited me. This made it so that I had no account at all with them, thus no ability to update for 2 days.

This was slightly problematic since I wanted to post a couple of items which I've neglected. I forgot to post that Karla P. Delgado was doing a reading of her new book, Philippine Markets in SoHO on Thursday. I also have neglected to post about Mig Alyesa who is currently on Rock Star: INXS on CBS here in the US. Both are members of the Roces family and I will make sure to document the connection. Karla is the granddaughter of Antonia "Chucha" Roces Prieto Mig is a nephew of Alfredo "Ding" Reyes Roces I will need to get the exact connection in the future but in the interim. Know that we have a Roces who is actively pursuing his dream to be a rock star.

I'll put it all together and make a couple entries over the next few days so there will be a flurry of activity.

For what it's worth, I was trying on Wednesday to finalize the biography question pool which is when I discovered that I had problems. My deadline is tomorrow so I have that to accomplish too.

UPDATE: I just realized that the geocities site has gotten hosed for about 1 hour since a number of people all visited it. I have gotten the whole site backed up on the roces.org server and I will be adjusting all the pictures and links accordingly in the next day or two.