Video Diary: Day 3

Video Diary Day 3 from ISOiloilo on Vimeo.

Session 2.1: Visayan Culture and Practices

Written by: Joyce Ng
Photographs by: Jonathan Lim, Orthofill.com, 123rf.com

Speech given by Professor Melanie 

(Picture taken by Jonathan) 

  

     On the third day of our study trip, Professor Melanie Padilla, a lecturer in history and culture from the University of Philippines Visayas spoke about the nation’s history and culture to the travelers. Professor Padilla broke her session into two parts, one focusing mainly on the history of Iloilo, and the other focusing on the culture of Iloilo. This article will feature Iloilo’s culture.

Session 2.2: A brief history of Iloilo

Written by Emily Choong 
Photographs by Jonathan Lim

Professor Melanie 

     The 'In Search of Iloilo' team along with their respective student guides attended a lecture regarding the history and culture of Iloilo presented by Professor Melanie J. Padilla, the Director for the Centre for Visayan Studies at the University of Philippines, Visayas.

Session 3: Catholicism and Social Action

Written by Esther Ho

Photographs by Melissa Chia and Sarah Chong

     We spent the afternoon with Monsignor Oso discussing the role his parish plays in impacting the Filipino laypeople.

Monsignor Meliton Oso

     In Iloilo, the Archdiocese of Jaro is pioneering numerous efforts to better the lives of 27 million Filipinos living in poverty. Monsignor Meliton Oso, a priest for 27 years and Associate Director of the Archdiocese for 20 years, presented the nation’s problems and his five-fold project to address them. Monsignor Oso began with an overview of Christian Monsod’s critical presentation entitled “The National Situationer”. Monsod’s presentation was presented at the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP-NASSA) in 2011.

One With The Tribe: Part 1

Written by Chrishandra Sebastiampillai

Photographs by Jonathan Lim, Sarah Chong and Melissa Chia

One with the Tribe: Part 2 >>

     When I first found out that our trip to the Philippines was to see a street festival, the immediate thought I had was food, dancing and music. When I found out that the street festival was in honour of Señor Santo Niño, I found myself struggling to insert the child Jesus into the mix. As a born Catholic raised in a conservative family, attending a conservative church, I had to wonder how Jesus would go with body paint, tribal drums, war cries and San Miguel’s. This three-part story chronicles my journey from polite disbelief to absolute acceptance- in the Philippines, Jesus does come with the works.

The Freedom Grandstand Children

Written by Sheril A. Bustaman

Photographs by Melissa Chia

*Names in this article have been changed to protect identities of minors. 

     The atmosphere was loud. The humid night sky loomed above everyone present in the Freedom Grandstand. As people attempted to secure the best seats, in ran eight little boys. Skinny yet full of life, these boys ran around the grand stand, weaving their way through throngs of people and causing a kind of ruckus only young boys could cause. Out of the blue, one of these young boys decided to sit in the small space I had left vacant for a friend of mine. Petite in a NYC cap too big for his head and shades (despite it being eight o clock at night) the boy sat silently. The other boys then came up to him, tugging at his arm screaming what I assumed were invitations for him to join them, but he just shook his head, indicating he did not want to move. With the help of Aisa (one of the student guides), I decided to attempt to have a conversation with him, hence unearthing the story of the Freedom Grandstand Children.

Daily Diary: Day 2 - City Heritage Tour

Written by Chrishandra Sebastiampillai   

Pictures by Melissa Chia

     We were met by Mr. Eugene Jamerlan, who was to be our guide for the day.  He gave us a brief description of the history and geography of Iloilo, which he described as four separate towns joined together. We began where we stood, on the UPV campus grounds, which used to be the Iloilo City Hall, and was donated by the Mayor of Iloilo in the 1930s to ultimately become the city campus of UPV. The Mayor himself went on to become the Vice President of the Philippines. 

We really enjoyed ourselves

Video Diary: Day 2

Introducing Mr. Oliver Exmundo

Written by Lestari Hairul

Photograph by Vince Cheong
 
   

Chatting with Mr. Exmundo

    After the film festival was screened, we sat with the owner of the Cinematheque for a very short interview. Mr Oliver Exmundo of Cinema Exmundo (a.k.a  UPV Cinematheque) grew up in Canada and had his formal training in traditional 2D animation at Sheraton College. Having worked on the visual effects of several big name films like The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers; Return of the King; King Kong, Avatar, John Carter and the recently completed Man of Steel, Mr Exmundo is currently back in his native Philippines for a short sabbatical. His parents’ alma mater is UPV and the Cinematheque was built as part of one of the school’s centennial year projects. The building is currently still in the process of refurbishing and according to Mr Exmundo, more film props will be placed around the gallery and lobby area (including, but not limited to a life-sized replica of a frozen Han Solo and Hannibal Lecter’s iconic prison mask from the Silence of the Lambs) to make it a film museum. As it stands now, several film posters from Hollywood’s Classic Era decorate the lobby area and they are a good representation of the type of screenings that Cinema Exmundo will be holding in the future. The UPV will also be using the facilities as part of the curriculum, with programs based around local films; independent films; student-made films and film festivals.

   When asked to comment about the Monash-UPV film festival, Mr Exmundo praised the screenings and the level of discussion that followed. He was particularly happy that the Cinematheque was filled to full capacity further commenting that the students seemed “pretty inspired by the work, you could tell”. He expressed the hope that we would visit again for future screenings and in fact, if our schedule goes well this week, we will be dropping by again for a special screening of The Wizard of Oz. Watch this space! 

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Lestari just completed her first year and is determined to make her second year even more exciting and interesting. Lestari also likes reading, writing and 'rithmetic.

Monash-UPV Film Festival

Written by Paolo Javier
Photographs by Sarah Chong

     With over 90 visitors in attendance, the Monash-UPV Film Festival paved the way as the introduction  of Filipino youth to the diverse world of filmmaking. The event opened the eyes of the youth to the intricate Malaysian independent short film community. The Monash-UPV Film Festival kicked off at the UPV Cinematheque at 5pm on the 20th of January 2013. Breaking the local's usual Sunday evening routine, the film festival had the Cinematheque filled up to its full capacity of 70 people, making it the most illustrious event in the history of the UPV Cinematheque.