If you didn’t watch the Pacquiao-Diaz fight on Saturday, here’s the decisive ninth round. Pacquiao landed several good punches in this round, before finally knocking out his opponent. One can hear the crowd clearly rooting for “Manny! Manny!”.
UPDATE: The video I describe above is no longer available, so instead, here’s the post-fight press conference:
The Pacman sealed his place in boxing history with the win over David Diaz on Saturday, June 28, 2008, at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. Even after 8 rounds, Manny still looked fierce. In the ninth round, he claimed the WBC lightweight championship by knockout. It is his fourth championship in four weight classes, already having belts in the flyweight, junior featherweight and super featherweight divisions.
This weekend I’m all about “Manila, oh Manila“… and scouring the internet Flickr has brought me a lot of treasured finds. One of those are photos of Malacañang Palace.
Malacañang is the official residence of the President of the Philippines, as well as the executive branch of government. It’s the White House of the Philippines, if you care to compare.
But the palace is not just two wings to a building, rather it’s a complex of several buildings altogether.
I’ve never been inside the Palace so I was intrigued that some lucky Pinoys got to enter and tour it “en-grande”. Well, I am told they have the right connections. You won’t see Arroyo in the pictures though… well, she wasn’t in town this week. But also, her office is not open to the public (ooh, pun intended). What’s open to the public is the Kalayaan Hall or what is now known as the palace’s museum section.
Below is the Quezon Room, named after the Commonwealth president Manuel L. Quezon. For those old enough to remember, this is where Marcos declared Martial Law.
Below the fold is the presidential desk of Quezon himself. Uhm.. But that is not Quezon, or his wax mannequin.
Just a shout out that the June edition of the Philippine blog carnival is now live at Manilenya. Appropriately hosted I thought… Manilenya. Manila. Get it? And Melai did a great job rounding up the bloggers who joined this month’s project.
Check it out and reminisce about Manila in the old days. There are videos capturing the glory of the old city in the 1930s. Would you believe how Manila and Chicago are so alike architecturally? You’ll have deja vus if you’ve been to either one. Speaking of architecture, Filipina Soul featured one of the iconic landmarks in the city. Back to the present time, there’s a survival guide to living/visiting the metropolitan, and in case you’re wondering how much your dollar or euro will get you, check out a comparison.
The next edition will be around the end of July. Next month, we’ll feature another Philippine city and you can blog on anything about that place of interest, whether it’s your personal story, the culture, travel/tourism, experiences, food… anything within the locale. We hope the Philippine Blog Carnival will grow into a place where Filipino bloggers can enjoy each other’s writing and feel united in showcasing what our country is all about, both good and bad. Plus of course, load up on link-love.
Email me if you’re interested in participating and I’ll include you in the reminder list. Sa uulitin po!
Have I told you I love Flickr? Well, I do, since I’ve been meeting engaging photo-enthusiasts that side of the Pacific. (By that, I mean Philippines). They have generously shared their photos of their travels across the Philippines such as in the Tubbataha Reef, the Malacanang Palace of the North, Paoay Church, Ilocos Norte sand dunes, Intramuros and many others.
Just last night I emailed one cool guy who let me use his photos, with proper permission, and then pointed me to one great resource for travel! OLD MANILA WALKS! Yes, I did use “walk” and “Manila” in one sentence. Along with “leisure“…
First, Miss Saigon. An Olivier, a Tony, a heaping of awards. Then, Eponine. Last year, Fantine. Now, Cinderella.
This July 11, a Disney!
Award-winning artist Lea Salonga is having a concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, where the most celebrated classical artists have performed. She will kick off the series “Global Pop at the Music Center” which will feature some of the most celebrated international pop music stars performing today.
Tickets for both Global Pop concerts are now on sale at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office, 111 South Grand Avenue, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets are also available on line at www.ticketmaster.com, and Ticketmaster phone charge at 213-365-3500 or 714-740-7878. For groups email globalpop@musiccenter.org.
Theater: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles Lea Salonga – Friday, July 11 at 8:30 pm Tickets are $30-$115
Translated from Spanish for “within the walls”, the 400-year old city called Intramuros was once the seat of power in the Philippines. Within its walls, Intramuros displayed the best of Spain in the newly conquered archipelago of the Philippines.
Intramuros was designed after a star fort (very flat structure composed of many triangular bastions, specifically designed to cover each other, and a ditch). Surrounded by 8 feet thick stone walls that rise up to 22 feet, the city was built to protect the Spanish government and citizens from raiding Chinese pirates.
But the city was also a picture of how Spain treated the rest of the Filipinos. Only Spaniards and mestizos (mixed European descent) were allowed to live within, all others were only granted access to visit.
The city had well-planned streets, plazas, the Governor’s Palace was the official residence of the Spanish royalties. Ornately decorated Roman catholic churches were found inside. The best schools were there - Ateneo Municipal de Manila, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Universidad de Santo Tomas - all run by religious orders of the time.
However, World War II left the city in ruins, after repeatedly bombed by the Japanese forces. Everything but the two churches and the Fort Santiago are left standing today.
Manny Pacquiao on April 14, 2007, right after capturing the WBC International Featherweight Championship.
Manny Pacquiao has a fight.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. His target: the WBC Lightweight Championship. His opponent: Mexico’s David Diaz, who is the current champion in the 135-lb division.
In March 2008, Pacquiao defeated Juan Manuel Marquez by the slimmest of margins, for the WBC super featherweight crown. I watched that fight live on TV, and those with me commented that Pacquiao didn’t look too healthy/strong in that weight division. It seems it’s about time that he moved up to the lightweight division.
With a win on Saturday, the Pacman will make boxing history, as the first Asian boxer to win four world titles in different weight classes.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is in the U.S. Yesterday, June 24, 2008, she met with Filipino-Americans in Fresno, California, attending mass with them, and discussing the tragedies caused by Typhoon Fengshen. A live video conference with officials back in the Philippines occurred before the Fil-Am community. During the conference, the president proposed
1) “to make rice hoarding and profiteering economic sabotage, with disaster as aggravating circumstance”,
and 2) that “the state of calamity should include imposing a maximum of price of rice”.
