Hi Felice,
This is Caridad "Daddie" Albaladejo-Matic, I thought I'd
let you know that
I saw the Dagyaw Dance Company at a show in San Diego.
The Art
Director/Choreographer Edwin Duero is my mom's cousin
and he mentioned
meeting with you at their school (Iloilo National High
School) a couple of times.
Their program bore a "centennial tour" title so I want
you to know, they
sure "done you proud". The same way we're proud
of your being so involved in
promoting and elevating the Philippines' Art and Culture.
Keep it up lady!
It was just awesome, a lady in the audience wanted to
know why they only
charged $15 for the tickets and said she would've paid
$30 or more - they
were sponsored by a local dance company (Larawan) and
the show was held a a
local high school (technicals were excellent their tech
director was on loan from
PETA). There were 18 in our party (immediate family
and relatives from San
Francisco). My 15 yr old Mattthew wanted to take
lessons so he could use
their leaps in his basketball games.
It's been great getting connected back with our classmates
on the net. If
you ever find yourselves (we'll take Andy too) here in
L.A., do give a holler
so we can round up the folks and let's spend some
time together. So far,
we've extended the West Coast's warm welcome to Ruth
Monserrate-Villareal, Pat
and Franklin Mangonon, Mila and Hermie Garcia plus the
Vancouver guys Dennis
and Edgardo. We''ve set our sights on a quarterly
to do, hopefully we'll come
up with some worthwhile projects while together ...
Take care and regards to Andy.
Daddie
- - - - - - - - - - -
Dearest Daddie,
So glad to hear from you. What a wonderful surprise
to find you are related
to such a talented young man. The Dagyaw group
is well known here and has
been increasing its international performance record.
It is so important
that we have creative spirits pushing hard outside of
the capital.
I have just finished the new exhibit at the Bahay ng Kasarinlan
(Independence House), which is also the house of
the late Emilio Aguinaldo.
The entire Proclamation of Independence Act is carved
into a marble wall in
the park we added in front of the mansion. (The
park is over a hectare.)
The ground floor museum space -- in what was a former
private bowling
alley -- includes a life-size hologram of an actor portraying
Aguinaldo on
the eve of the Proclamation; a cartoon on how to honor
the flag; and a
video-generated recreation of the Proclamation on June
12, 1898 set into a
model of the original Aguinaldo house. The second-flooor
living area now
has linens and accessories appropriate to the period
when the house was
made: the 1920s. The multimedia shows are on daily
at the push of a button.
But in case you want to be sure about schedules, tours,
etc. phone Lina
Aguinaldo, the curator, in Cavite at 046-434-8573.
I have helped conceptualize and retool 24 sites, 6 of
which are very
major -- 5 of them with museums. If all goes right,
the birthplace of
Rizal, his place of exile in Dapitan, the birthplace
of Asia's first
constitutional democracy (the Philippine Republic, Malolos),
and Pugad Lawin
(an outdoor statue park) where the Revolution began --
will all be ready.
Fort Santiago where Rizal was imprisoned prior to his
martyrdom has also
been redone into a minimalist shrine with Mi Ultimo Adios
as the icon. The
poem is carved from wall to wall into a second-floor
stone wall. The
entire floor of the gallery tells the story of the Mi
Ultimo Adios
discovery -- in marquetry, little pieces of wood laid
into the floor to make
up letters. Unfortunately the government's electrician,
who we had to use,
made a mistake in the installation of a line -- which
blew last week. It is
a major mistake which my staff noted a month ago, but
which the electrician
was taking forever to fix. Now he has no choice
or he will end up in court.
But that means we cannot show the introductory video
on the five-foot wide
screen that stares you in the face upon entering
the shrine. It's a really
great "greeting" -- a very moving inetrpretation of Rizal's
role in the
revolution and in inspiring humanists worldwide.
Until all the kinks are out, I have been keeping away
from the press. But
as I said, everything should be ready by end of August.
Hope you and the
children can see everything. The exhibits are made
to last for 10 years,
while the new infrastructure in Dapitan has been engineered
for 50.
Love, Felice
Subject: Philippine Culture and Centennial
Hi, Felice--
I was just looking up our webpage and came across for
the first time the
exchange between you and Daddie. I have known,
of course, for sometime now
about your devotion both personally and professionally
to the promotion and
preservation of our rich cultural heritage and I just
wanted you to know how
proud I am of you and all that you do for all of us Filipinos
and, of course,
for Prep 65. I can't avoid some degree of insularity--the
habit is much too
ingrained from over 35 years (gosh!) of practice and
brainwashing!
I was so excited though to listen to all the up-to-date
details of all the
Centennial activities and celebrations. Ned, our
only child Nina (17 years,
18 on August 21, now better known as Ninoy Aquino's day)
and I are fairly
involved in Philippine-American activities here in the
Washington, D.C. area,
particularly if they pertain to cultural, political and
economic issues. Nina
has been involved in Philippine affairs since she was
about three or four
years old, and she is staunchly Filipina. Part
of her earliest memories was
being the youngest member of the Children's Choir that
welcomed Cory Aquino
during her triumphant visit to the States in September,
1986. We were at
Andrews Air Force Base to welcome her, attended a glorious
Mass at the
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and watched
her address the
Joint Session of Congress, the memories of which still
send shivers up and
down my spine after almost twelve years.
In her eighth grade, she chose as her English term paper
topic "The Evolution
of Philippine Literature in English." We, of course,
had to find books here
and I ordered a lot from a bookstore in LA (Mila did
not have their Internet
bookstore yet then), and she read all those authors we
read: Paz Marquez-
Benitez, Carlos Bulosan, Bienvenido Santos, Arturo Rigor,
Manuel Arguilla,
etc. She just graduated from Sidwell Friends School
here in D.C. and two
months ago, as co-head of the Asian Club, she invited
Ambassador Raul Rabe
(whom we have known since the mid 80's) to speak on "A
Century of Philippine-
American Relations." It was the first such exposure
of Sidwell to the
Philippines; whenever, they have had Asian events, it
is mostly on mainstream
countries like China, Korea and Japan. Ned and
I were so proud of her! She
said teachers and students came up to her and told her
how much they enjoyed
it.
You can imagine how much she will enjoy all the details
in your letter to
Daddie. We will definitely make it a point to visit
these exhibits during our
next trip home, hopefully within the next year.
I am so proud of you, Felice! Do keep me abreast
of your activities.
Personal news including Andy would also be welcome.
Warmest regards,
Rory
P.S. Mila Garcia and I had a lovely reunion in Toronto
last Saturday, July 11,
when the three of us went up for the wedding of a close
family friend.