When the Urban Roamer got the opportunity to visit the Philamlife Building at Ermita during its (sob) final days, one of the things I was fixated upon was the artworks whose artist was a mystery to me at that time. Thanks to a reader, I found out that those artworks were actually done by Vicente Manansala himself, National Artist for Visual Arts alongside with colleagues like Fernando Amorsolo and Botong Francisco. The paintings are a a series of 7 commissioned works completed by Manansala in 1961, the same year the Philamlife Building was completed, done in the cubist style Manansala was known for. While the issue about the fate of the…
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The Metropolis and Natural Disasters
A few days ago, a story was published by the Philippine Star about a study by a Swiss insurance firm which stated that Manila was the 2nd most at-risk metropolis from natural disasters. With such a story, one has to get more information, preferably straight from the source. Fortunately, Swiss Re, the firm that commissioned or has done the study, has a copy of this study online, which you can check here. One thing to note though is that this study has been published way back in September 2013. So how it managed to fly under the radar of local journalists until a few days ago is a puzzle to…
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It’s Earth Hour Once More
On Saturday, March 29, the world will once again turn off their lights for 1 hour as part of a global event called Earth Hour. And of course, the Philippines is taking part in it.
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A Subway for Metro Manila?
Recently, there has been news of the country’s Department of Transportation and Comminication (DOTC) eyeing to build a subway system for Metro Manila to connect the Mall of Asia area to the business districts of Makati and Fort Bonifacio.