Showing posts with label Cebu Manila Philippines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cebu Manila Philippines. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Reflecting on the Bikini Girls of STC Cebu


Reflecting on the Bikini Girls of STC Cebu
by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

It's the kind of summer scandal that a small place like Cebu in Central Philippines loves.

First, pictures of two teenage convent girls in bikinis (reportedly holding a bottle of liquor and a cigarette) appeared in Facebook. The girls, who attend St. Theresa's College (STC), an exclusive girl's school, were barred from attending their graduation ceremony.

The parents of the girls filed a law suit; Judge Navarro of the Regional Trial Court ruled in their favor, saying, it was "un-Christian" and possibly illegal to stop the girls from attending their graduation ceremony.

The girls with their mothers and sheriff went to school on the day of the graduation and guards prevented them from entering. In short, the nuns defied court orders.

Public uproar prompted the nuns to write an official statement, owning up to the fact that they had prevented the students from attending the graduation rites despite the court order, and that they had filed a very Urgent Motion for Reconsideration. The nuns insisted that the students were barred not only because of the bikini photos, but because the photos were obscene, sexually provocative, and revolting; the students had broken school rules when they posted and uploaded "pictures on the Internet that entail ample body exposure." Further, while the students claimed that the pictures were taken at a family picnic, the incidences occurred in a public place - hotel, bar or club.

The Judge apparently spent sleepless nights after the order was disobeyed and finally inhibited himself from the case, saying two of his daughters graduated from STC.

Last I heard, the case is being raffled off to a family court.

As a graduate of St. Theresa's College, Cebu and Manila, I have been asked repeatedly about what I think about this case. My reply has been: "The St. Theresa's nuns are strict. They were strict before and apparently they remain strict now."

I don't have all the details of course and have just read news reports and emails from friends about what happened. If it is true that the bikini pictures were taken at a bar with a girl holding liquor and a cigarette, and this photo was published in Facebook - I can understand how the nuns would prevent the girls from the graduation rites.

St. Theresa's College isn't your regular high school. It's a convent school where students are taught proper values along with the academic subjects. Parents who enroll their children in STC know this; in fact many of them pay extra to put their children in exactly this type of school so their children are "raised properly and taught right from wrong."

Likewise the students in STC know what is expected from them; the nuns make that very clear from Day 1. Their standards are high; they are strict disciplinarians.

If students don't want to follow the rules or style of this convent school, then they shouldn't bothering enrolling there.

I am not "siding" with the school because I am perturbed that the nuns defied the court order;I don't know if their filing the Urgent Motion for Reconsideration made it legally all right to prevent the girls from participating in the graduations rites. Or did the nuns' arrogance exceed legal boundaries this time? Will they be jailed? - I think not. Will they be fined? Perhaps.

I can just imagine the drama that went on that day, with the parents and girls and sheriff arguing with the guards, the other girls and teachers trying to carry on with graduation rites when their minds were riveted on the "outcasts" outside.

This story continues to evolve as I write. At first, the public felt sorry for the 16-year old girls; but when the story surfaced that the picture had been taken in a bar, not a family picnic, people started asking questions. There are always two sides to a story.

I'll write addenda to this article as the story evolves.
~~~~~
The photo is circa 1963 - St. Theresa's girls in San Marcelino

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COMMENT FROM ARACELI LORAYES:
The nuns aren't just strict; they're stubborn too, when they believe they're right. Just think of the closing of the college department; that created an uproar too, and parents went to court. I understand that now they realize it was a wrong move, since vocations have dwindled. And not just stubborn; tough, too. As social progressives, the STC nuns are battle-hardened veterans of street confrontations.

But I digress. I had a feeling that there was more to the story than meets the eye.

I have a feeling that these girls had a history of flouting school regulations, to which their parents turned a blind eye. Scratch a misbehaving student and you'll find "kunsitidor" parents, or weak parents. The problem is that such parents put their girls in a school like St. Theresa's and then abdicate all parental responsibility, expecting the school to do their job for them. It doesn't work out that way.

I think there was a better way for the school administration to express its displeasure then to call them lewd and lascivious; but on the other hand, if the girls were flaunting their sexuality, they have to expect hurtful words to come their way in a conservative culture like Cebu's.

If the nuns flouted the court, well, they had a precedent in Leila de Lima's flouting of the Supreme Court order to allow GMA to travel abroad. In both cases, the disobedient ones felt that they were doing right, and relied on technicalities.

My fearless forecast: to save face, the parents will huff and puff, and when the furor dies down, quietly withdraw the charges (especially if the nuns had the foresight to print the pictures, and present them in court, which opens them to public scrutiny). And STC's enrollment will jump, due to those parents who think, "That's just the sort of school I want for my girls."


~~~

Read also:
Supreme Court Decision Reached on Bikini Girls of STC Cebu 
 
tags: Cebu, Philippines, Catholic school, education, St. Theresa's College

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Cover of OUT OF CEBU: ESSAYS AND PERSONAL PROSE

The University of San Carlos Press will release my collection of essays, OUT OF CEBU: ESSAYS AND PERSONAL PROSE, this February 2012. I'm sharing the cover studies, the first one that was rejected, and the second one that was approved. Can you guess which one will be used as the final cover? (Answer below)






(Answer: the one with the candle)

Friday, August 26, 2011

Tripadvisor Reviews of Yap Sandiego House & 1730 Jesuit House

I posted a couple of Reviews in Tripadvisor, for the Yap Sandiego House and for the 1730 Jesuit House, both in Cebu:

“#1 Tourist Attraction in Cebu City- The Yap Sandiego Ancestral House”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed August 2, 2011
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298460-d1520123-r116188991-Yap_Sandiego_Ancestral_House-Cebu_City_Cebu_Visayas.html

I love the Yap Sandiego Ancestral House! It is an evocative Colonial house made of stone and wood and tile roofing. It is filled with lovely antiques. This house allows me to imagine how life in Cebu must have been in the 1700s. Everything about it is beautiful, even the small garden with a well that still has water. Val Sandiego and his wife decorate the house thematically, for Christmas, Chinese New Year, the June Fiesta, and so on. Every time I visit it, it is is like seeing a woman all dressed in another gown! So beautiful! I highly recommend it to all tourists of Cebu. From there, one can easily visit other tourist attractions in Cebu: The 1730 Jesuit House, Casa Gorordo, Cathedral and Museum, Fort San Pedro, Santo Nino Basilica and Museum, and the newly renovated Plaza Independencia.

~~~
“1730 JESUIT HOUSE - THE OLDEST DOCUMENTED HOUSE IN THE PHILIPPINES”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed August 12, 2011
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298460-d2233349-r116637091-1730_Jesuit_House-Cebu_City_Cebu_Visayas.html

The 1730 Jesuit House is a historical treasure tucked away in the middle of Historic Cebu City. It is located on Zulueta Street near the Heritage of Cebu Monument and the Yap-Sandiego Museum. For years, the Jesuit House was not available to the public. The Sy Family had used the premises as a warehouse until Jaime Sy decided to develop the Jesuit House as a museum. The rooms have been uncovered, galleries, and exhibits displayed revealing one of the most exciting historical museums in the Philippines.

There are two buildings that are connected by a covered bridge. The tile roof is what fascinates me most of all because it's original and shows a curve that is distinctly Asian. A plague that says "1730" sits on top of a doorway, proof of the age of this treasure of Cebu City. Jesuit historian Rene Javellana and the writer Concepcion Briones have done research on the place and documented this place as the Jesuit house.

The1730 Jesuit House offers tourists a glimpse of eighteenth century life in Cebu, Philippines. It is one place that I visit often, and I always marvel at the new developments Jaime Sy does to this marvelous and mysterious place, which allows me to reflect on the provocative history of the Black Robes in the Philippines

Restoration of the house is ongoing; visitors may make an appointment to visit the Jesuit House.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Cecilia Brainard Conducts Creative Writing Workshop, July 9, in Manla

Hi, I'll be conducting a Creative Writing Workshop in Mankati, July 9, from 10-12 in Powerbooks, Greenbelt 4.

_______

Dear Sir/Madam:

Greetings from Anvil Publishing and Powerbooks! We wish to invite your Language and Literature teachers and your most gifted student writers to a workshop on CREATIVE WRITING by award-winning novelist and editor CECILIA MANGUERRA BRAINARD on July 9 from 10 am to 12nn at Powerbooks Greenbelt 4.

The workshop covers the following;

Setting and Scene

Character development

Conflict development

Dialogue

Plot development

Point of View

Voice

Style, Theme, Tone

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of eight books, including the internationally-acclaimed novel, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, Acapulco at Sunset and Other Stories, Philippine Woman in America, Woman With Horns and Other Stories, Cecilia's Diary 1962-1968, and Fundamentals of Creative Writing.

She edited four books: Growing Up Filipino I and II, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America. Cecilia co-edited six books, including Journey of 100 Years: Reflections on the Centennial of Philippine Independence; Behind the Walls: Life of Convent GirlsAla Carte: Food and Fiction, and Finding God: True Stories of Spiritual Encounters. She has also written a novel with four other women entitled, Angelica's Daughters, a Dugtungan Novel.

Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.

Cecilia has received a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District. She has also been awarded by the Filipino and Filipino American communities she has served. She received the prestigious Filipinas Magazine Arts Award, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants in the Philippines, from the USIS (United States Information Service).

She has lectured and performed in worldwide literary arts organizations and universities, including UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Beyond Baroque, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

She is married to Lauren R. Brainard, a former Peace Corp Volunteer to Leyte, Philippines; they have three sons.

For reservations and inquiries, please call the ANVIL PUBLISHING marketing department tel. nos. 477-4752, 477-4755 to 57 loc. 807 or sign up at any customer service counter of any branch of POWERBOOKS.

Her website is www.ceciliabrainard.com

Saturday, June 18, 2011

WHAT WOULD YOU ASK RIZAL (Manila Bulletin)

Hi, Ronald Lim's article includes my question to Jose Rizal:

What would you ask Rizal?
By RONALD S. LIM
June 18, 2011

MANILA, Philippines — Jose Rizal excelled at many things, but nowhere is he more well known here and around the world than for being the writer of the “Noli Me Tangere” and the “El Filibusterismo”.

The “Noli” and the “Fili” not only stoked the fires of Filipino patriotism during the 19th century, but they have also stood the test of time and have proven themselves to be exceptional novels worthy to be ranked alongside the other great works of the world. Rizal’s works have no doubt inspired many a young Filipino to pick up their pens and write.

In celebration of the upcoming 150th celebration of Jose Rizal's birth, the Students and Campuses Bulletin has asked some of the country's top writers what they would ask the national hero if he were still around today.

Politics, maybe? “Ang itatanong ko kay Rizal ay kung kakandidato ka ba sa pagka-presidente, senador, o congressman? At kung kakandidato ka, gusto mo bang kasama sa ticket si Manny Pacquiao? Para sa akin, unang-una, tanong iyon para ma-determine natin kung tama 'yung ating mataas na pagpapahalaga sa politics at politicians. Tama ba ang paraan ng pagtingin natin sa mga pulitiko. Si Pacquiao nga eh kakandidato daw for President. 'Yun ang gusto kong malaman. Kung tunay siyang hinahangaan ng taongbayan, maaring makapagsalita siya tungkol sa uri ng ating mataas na pagpapahalaga sa politics at sa uri ng politics na meron tayo dito.

Ang ikalawa kong tanong, pahihintulutan ba niyang komiks ang ipangturo sa Noli at Fili sa high school at sa kolehiyo?” — National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario

Where do you get the energy? “If I were to ask a question addressed to Rizal, it would be this: How were you able to do all those things--study, organize Filipinos abroad, research prehispanic Philippines relentlessly, write the novels, befriend Spaniards, put up a school--in so short a time?” — Romulo P. Baquiran, Jr., editor of “Laglag-Panty, Laglag-Brief” and “Tahong/Talong”

What are you hiding? “The question I will ask is also one of the things I tell people. He left us 25 volumes of material. But those are the things he wanted us to see. There are things he didn't write. There are letters and diaries he destroyed. Why did you destroy that and why?” — Ambeth Ocampo, historian and former chair of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines

Peace or revolution? “Knowing what happened to the Philippines after your death, which would have been more effective in achieving independence from Spain - non-violence as Gandhi used, or a bloody revolution?

Jose Rizal did not join the revolution; he sought reforms from the Spanish government. Would the Spanish government have given reforms if the Filipinos had not fought? Would non-violent means as Gandhi used, have worked? Or would the Spanish government have simply crushed and oppressed the Filipinos further if they tried to get reforms peacefully?” — Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, co-author of “Angelica's Daughters”


Are we free from the church? “Pepe, what can you actually do so that the Church is truly separate from the state in all matters of state governance? Why this question? Remember he didn't like the Spanish friars then for being the real governors of the country during colonial times, and so that may be his continued sentiment today.” — Herbert Sancianco, author of “Sales Promotions: Best Practices”

A modern Noli? “I have a few questions for Jose Rizal:
1. Do the many books and other materials on you do you justice? Are they faithful to your life and all that you hold dear? Which titles do you recommend we all read?
2. Considering how you have always regarded the youth as the hope of the fatherland, what is the most important advice you'd give today's youth?
3. Seeing the state of affairs in the country today, what 2011 version of the Noli would you write?
4. What are you most pleased about the Philippines today?
5. How do you feel that the Philippine Board on Books for Young People has pegged the annual celebration of the National Children's Book Day on the 3rd Tuesday in July, when Trubner's Oriental Record in London first published your 'Monkey and the Turtle'?” — Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz, author and National Book Award winner

What's cooking? “What foods did you eat on a daily basis with your meager allowance during your stay in Europe? If you had more money at your disposal then, how would you have spent it, upgraded your lodging or spent more on food?” — Claude Tayag, author of “Food Tour” and “Linamnam”

What's the best translation? “Which English and Filipino translations of your novels best capture the aesthetic effect you wanted to achieve?” — Jonathan Malicsi, University of the Philippines professor and author of the “English Linguistics Project”

What about your big brother? “Why did you agree to everything your brother Paciano planned for your education and mission? Did you agree because you also believed in it totally or because it was expected of you? It is clear that if your brother Paciano wasn¹t there to support you on both an emotional, financial and moral basis, you may not have been able to study abroad and do the mission you had to fulfill for our country. I wonder if there was every a moment or time that you doubted what your brother Paciano had requested of you and the pact you both agreed on.” — Jeannie E. Javelosa, writer and curator of the Rizalizing the Future Exhibit at the Yuchengco Museum

Are you gay? “Your flitting from girlfriend to girlfriend, was that to camouflage a homo streak? Why I'd ask him that is explained by my observation that most men I know who leave a trail of broken hearts of women are actually, well, insecure about their manhood and they have to prove this to themselves over and over through conquest, and then dumping, so they could be assured na lalaki nga sila.” — Babeth Lolarga, editor of “Baguio We Know” and “Baguio Calligraphy”

Any advice for expats? “What advice would you give Filipino expatriates today about loving one's country from across the seas? Who better can speak about the concept of patriotism away from home better than Rizal?” — Gemma Nemenzo, managing editor of the online FilAm magazine Filipina