Plans to commemorate the 75th anniversary of General Douglas MacArthur’s Leyte Landings on October 20, 1944, are now being finalised. The Mayor of Palo Town, Remedios L Petilla, has said that the event would be attended by some of the dwindling band of surviving World War II veterans. These men are now in their nineties… Full Story »
History
How much evidence is enough to declare new species of human?
The announcement of a new species of ancient human (more correctly hominin) from the Philippines, reported today in Nature, will cause a lot of head-shaking among anthropologists and archaeologists. Some will greet the publication with wild enthusiasm, believing it confirms their own views about our evolutionary past. Others will howl angrily, believing the declaration goes… Full Story »
Scientists announce discovery of ancient Hobbits in the Philippines
Filipino scientists have discovered evidence of a Hobbit-like humanoid that lived on Luzon Island as recently as 50,000 years ago. Teeth and bones of the newly named Homo Luzonensis were discovered in Callao Cave, in the northern town of Peñablanca in Cagayan province. The size of the bones suggests the newly discovered people were less than four feel tall,… Full Story »
Plan to celebrate 500th anniversary of first Catholic Mass stirs debate
As the 500th anniversary of the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines approaches, a dispute over where exactly it was held rumbles on. Southern Leyte Governor Damian Mercado said the province has been preparing Limasawa Island for an influx of pilgrims to mark the event in 2021. The island’s road network has been upgraded, a… Full Story »
How Indian slave girl’s fight for freedom ended with murder in old Manila
In 1635, María, a slave woman from the Indian sub-continent living in the Spanish-controlled Philippine Islands, enters the historical record. We know that women as well as men were involved in forced movements like María’s around the region but historical documentation about their lives is rarely available. María was owned by an artilleryman named Francisco… Full Story »
