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PISTIA STRATIOTES’ NAZARENO Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 09 January 2017 During my early teenage years, I would regularly take trips to places all alone to experience being “independent” and to check on my “diskarte” (one’s effective way of doing things). I remember when my dad regularly tagged me along Quiapo District in Manila to buy supplies and parts for the manufacture of fire extinguishers which was our family’s means of livelihood.  One sunny day, I decided to visit Quiapo by myself and descended at Quiapo Church. Outside the Roman Catholic Church, I saw the historical marker issued by the Philippine Historical Committee in 1939 which reads: “Governor General Santiago De Vera founded the District of Quiapo August 29, 1586. Franciscan missionaries build the first church of bamboo and nipa that was burned in 1639. Rebuilding and repair as intervals gave the parish the strongest edifice that the earthquake of 1863 partially destroyed. The next church, completed i...

BORN BECAUSE OF THE JAPS Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 02 January 2017 I sought the assistance of my dad on my Araling Panlipunan homework in Ateneo Grade School and asked him about the Dambana ng Kagitingan in Bataan. He narrated events during World War II and how gruesome and horrifying the Japanese Imperial Army (JIA) was especially after the Fall of Bataan in 1942 and Liberation in 1945. He also revealed that if not for the Japanese Occupation, he would not be born and I would not be around. Curious as a bee, I asked him to expound on the story. I learned that my paternal grandfather, former Calbayog, Samar Councilor (1916-1919) Felimon Capeding Miano was residing in Sampaloc, Manila before the Second World War erupted in 1941.  A jeweller and a bachelor at the age of 48, Felimon went home to Calbayog before Manila was declared an Open City to evade arrest and resist convincing to join the Japanese puppet government since he and his cousin Jose D. Avelino were active ...

NEW YEAR’S DAY IN BATAAN Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 01 January 2017 When I was a child, my parents would always bring me and my siblings to parks and historical places during weekends and holidays. Now that I have my own family, I always insist on continuing the tradition every Christmas vacation, summer and semestral breaks. My bilas or my wife’s brother-in-law invited us to visit their relatives in Hermosa, Bataan for their family reunion and New Year’s lunch. We decided, however, to leave early and visit Mt. Samat in Pilar town where the Dambana ng Kagitingin was located and drove for another 51 kilometers south to Mariveles where the Kilometer Zero (KM 00) of the Death March was erected. Researching on the etymology of the names of the eleven towns and one city of Bataan province reveals fascinating historical facts, stories, legends and versions. It is interesting also to note that Bataan is one of the provinces with no “saints” as the name of their local governm...

RIZAL @ 120 Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano 30 December 2016   Today, the country commemorates the 120 th Martyrdom of Dr. Jose P. Rizal. After attending a twin Christmas gathering of the Cabatuan Rescue 24/7 and the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (MDRRMC), I passed by Rizal’s monument in front of the MDRRMC Office and paused for a minute of silence. I remember seeing an old photo of the edifice from the files of my maternal grandfather, the first elected mayor of our town, being unveiled on April 19, 1954 (exactly 20 years before I was born) by Provincial Commander Major Jose Alejandro and assisted by my grandmother, mayora Marciana R. Gozum. The concrete statue and pedestal were donated by the Macabebe Peddlers Association, the merchant migrants from Pampanga. We left for Manila only to realize that I need to have a souvenir photo with the Rizal memorial to remember the day. Cruising the AH26 or Pan-Philippine Highway, also known as the Maharlika Hig...