Today marks the 149th birth anniversary of one of the most colorful personalities in Philippine history, not to mention one of the most renowned Filipino military geniuses, the “Heneral” himself, Antonio Luna. And this year’s commemoration of his birth comes at an interesting time, right at the heels of the unprecedented success of the film “Heneral Luna,” the biographical film based on his life. Thanks in large part to the film, more and more people are becoming more aware of this man, his legacy, and his life’s tragedy. Thus, today the Urban Roamer pays tribute to this man on his natal day, in an urban roaming way that we often do here, as…
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Cyberpreneur Philippines: Soon Off the Shelves
It started with a blog post I published here in The Urban Roamer early this year. Soon enough, it got quite a lot of attention that a book publisher contacted me to contribute for an upcoming publication based on my original blog post. After some back and forth with the publisher, I eventually agreed to take part in it. The rest, they say, is history. And history was indeed made with the release of that aforementioned publication, a groundbreaking book called Cyberpreneur Philippines. The publication of this book is quite a personal milestone for me. For one, I am now considered a published author, even if I wrote just a…
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Remembering A “Forgotten War”: The PEFTOK Korean War Memorial Hall
The Korean War that raged in the Korean peninsula from 1950 to 1953 is dubbed by some as “the forgotten war,” forgotten in the sense that it rarely gets much attention as it gets sandwiched and overshadowed in history by World War II during the 1940s and the Vietnam War during the 1960s. Nevertheless, it is an event that deserves to be given much attention as well considering it was the first armed conflict that erupted in the context of the greater tense atmosphere brought about by the Cold War era, as the United States and United Nations allies fought to stop the Soviet and China-backed communist North Korea from overthrowing…
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A Legacy in Power and Transport: the Museum of Meralco History
Having been a major and vital player in the lives of Manileños and those living in the nearby provinces, there is no doubt that the Manila Electric Company (popularly known by its acronym Meralco, something we’ll get to a bit later) has contributed much to the city’s development for more than 100 years. While we may know Meralco today as a utility providing the electricity needs of a bustling metropolis as ours since 1903, Meralco was more than just a power utility firm. And there is no better way to understand its rich and interesting legacy than a visit to its museum located within the Meralco compound in Ortigas Center.