The Philippines, A Manifold Land

BEAUTIFUL HARDCOVER COFFEE TABLE BOOK (voted the Anvil Awards for best coffee table book of 1992 given by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines) "From orgasmic Kalibo to tranquil Boracay. Or from the hot mystic lowlands of Pangasian to the cold mystic highlands of Baguio. Or from the mega that is Manila to the mini that is a Ma'i Village. Within this archipelago you can commute between 20th century and the prehistoric, between 13th century gothic and 17th century baroque, between the Islamic and the Hispanic, between East and West, here met and mated. After its epiphany in the world map, never again was the Philippines a backwater. Rather did it become so focal that 17th century Japan could slam shut its doors to the world for fear of being invaded by ideas from the Philippines. At that time, ours was still a geography-in-progress and it looked as if our archipelago would consist of Formosa, Luzon, the Visayas, Mindanao, Borneo, the Moluccas and the Marianas. Such was the vigor displayed by Philippine arms in conquering all those regions for the governance of an empire that might well have been called Manila, sinc Formosa, Borneo, the Moluccas and the Marianas were conquered by the energies of the government of Manila. Nor was the Philippines misnamed, whatever the nature of the prince it got its name from, since the name itself is a gem fit for a jewel of a land. The name Philippines begins with the Greek word for love and signifies a love energy, for the root word , Philip, means a love of horses, which can be translated as a love of energy and speed, horsepower being still our measure of energy. So, ultimately, too what dynamic means is manifold, since every entity in this world is a various manifestation of energy." Excerpt from " The A Manifold Land," by Nick Joaquin