Ilonggos at their best

By Alex P. Vidal

“It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” — Henry David Thoreau

ILONGGOS have just shown the world they live in a great city with a great festival and a great hospitality.

The successful staging of the Dinagyang Festival 2023 said it all. Ilonggos were able to solidly exorcise the stigma of the pandemic that pulled the festival away from the streets for a while, and handled the spectacle with a reinvigorated energy, confidence and pride.

And it is expected to translate into triple whammies—a boom in investment opportunities, a Renaissance in local tourism, and a bright prospect for peace and order.

Vatican, as well as the Roman Catholic hierarchy, would be fascinated by how the Ilonggos venerated the child Jesus, Senor Santo Niño: wholistic and unalloyed.

Hospitality is what the Ilonggos are known for; and it was manifested in the way they welcomed, hosted, and entertained guests from other parts of the country and outside the Philippines.

Visitors witnessed the amazing display of indigenous talents and materials in the two-day Kasadyahan and ati tribe competitions and in the awesome exhibition of cultural and religious presentations days earlier, including the iconic and the much-revered fluvial and foot processions that featured the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) fiber boats, dragon boats, jet skis, yachts, barges, and bancas, with the PCG’s 3503 MV Romblon leading from Fort San Pedro and passing through the Guimaras strait towards the Iloilo River on January 20.

Kudos to the Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. (IFFI), Iloilo City Government, the Iloilo Provincial Government, the regional, provincial and city tourism offices, Philippine National Police Police led by Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director, Police Brigadier General Leo Francisco.

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We are not alone. There are billions of galaxies, according to Carl Sagan.

Thanks to Albert Einstein who broadened the Law of Mechanics initiated by Galileo and Isaac Newton with his Theory of Relativity.

Truly, scientific achievement in the 20th century has become the major yardstick with which to measure a nation’s cultural advancement.

It is estimated that the Earth is 98 billion years old.

Dinosaurs lived on earth for about 100 million years before they were annihilated by a cometary impact, among other theories.

We humans starting from homo sapiens have not even inhabited the Earth for one million years but many of us already think we are already the most knowledgeable creatures in the universe.

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One manifestation of possible life in a certain planet is the presence of micro organisms.

Scientists have reportedly found a micro organism in planet Mars.

Was Mars inhabited by living creatures millions if not billions of years ago?

How about in Jupiter, Saturn, among other planets in and outside the Solar System not yet explored by human beings from planet Earth?

Those who condemn the person who rejects an organized religion should study Plato’s “Allegory of the cave”

The evolution of human thought is among homo sapien’s best contributions to civilization.

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Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged”, was reportedly a cougar like Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of Europe’s most powerful women, Elizabeth I, Catherine II, and Mae West.

“Who are you?” was the first question Sophie Amundsen got from an anonymous letter sender in the New York Times bestseller “Sophies’s World”, a novel about the history of philosophy, written by Jostein Gaarder, author of “The Solitaire Mystery”

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Sex education is a broad term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and other aspects of human sexual behavior. Common avenues for sex education are parents or caregivers, school programs, and public health campaigns.

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George Washington was only 18 when he was appointed general of the Continental Army, and was the only U.S. president who didn’t live in the White House… The FBI seized at least six more classified documents from President Biden’s Delaware home on Saturday, the president’s personal lawyer said. FBI agents searched the home for almost 13 hours and walked out with “six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials,” attorney Bob Bauer told reporters.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)