This includes two short stories written in Hiligaynon: Ang Dalaga nga Makibanwa ("The Country Girl") and Ang Anak sang Sacristan ("Child of the Sacristan).
This coffee table book is most valuable in the study and appreciation of the history of Iloilo, both the province and the city. It presents more than one hundred thirty photographs taken over a period of thirty years by Pedro Andres Casanave, a consummate American photographer. Each photograph is accompanied by commentaries by Nereo Cajilig Lujan, a veteran llonggo journalist who has successfully ventured into historical research and writing. The book also includes an interesting biographical sketch of Casanave by Lujan.
Casanave was an American citizen who was born in Mexico—thus, his Spanish name. Already widely known as a photographer and artist, he joined the US Volunteers in 1899 and came to the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. After the war, he stayed in the country, married a Filipina from Negros, and established his photography studio in Iloilo City in 1905.
Casanave was not the first photographer to practice in Iloilo. The first Filipino professional photographer, Felix Laureano, grew up and started his photographic career in Iloilo. He later went to Barcelona, Spain and put up a studio.
In 1895, Laureano published his Recuerdosde Filipinos in Barcelona. The photo album contains thirty-seven photographs taken of several parts of the Philippines. Less than half of these show scenes from Iloilo. On the other hand, Casanave’s photographs depict the various facets of life and society in Iloilo from the early American period to World War II.
A picture is worth more than a thousand words, so goes the adage. When it comes to historical pictures, however, the learned words of the historian can situate a picture in its proper context and explain its significance. In this book, Casanave’s pictures and Lujan’s text, contribute to Philippine historiography, especially on Iloilo's past. We commend Nereo Cajilig Lujan for bringing to light Pedro Casanave’s peerless photographs, thereby taking the readers back to Iloilo’s glorious past.
The songs in this book were chosen from among five hundred songs gathered from the different islands of the Visayas. To get these songs field trips were made to Panay, particularly the Aklan Valley, Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol and Negros. The people who sang them were from cities, towns and remote barrios, none of them professionals but all possessed with a love for singing.
This is an official history profile of the Municipality per Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 2006-53 dated
April 19, 2006. This includes musical scores and poetry related to the Municipality.
