My Christmas Three

MC 2 U Merry Christmas To You from MC

My Christmas Three

I

M — am

MC — Make Change

EMC — Every Moment Counts

EMCY — Every Moment Creates Yield

EMCEE — Every Moment Contains Essential Energy

I

M - Mean

MC - Merry Christmas

EMC - Emanating Mary’s Child

EMCY - Embodying Moral Compass Yearning

EMCEE — Eradicating Man’s Corruption, Exploitative Environment

I

M — Mend

MC — Mass Course

EMC — Enhance Movement’s Commitment

EMCY — Educate, Mobilize, Cultivate Youth

EMCEE — Empower Communities, Manifest an Enlightened Era

I am

the one who chooses to Make Change,

because Every Moment Counts,

because Every Moment Creates Yield,

because Every Moment Contains Essential Energy

waiting to be offered, shared, multiplied.

I mean

Merry Christmas in its deepest sense—

Emanating Mary’s Child,

Embodying a Moral Compass Yearning

for justice, for truth,

for the courage to Eradicate Man’s Corruption

and the Exploitative Environment

that dims our collective light.

I mend

through this Mass Course of becoming,

as we Enhance Movement’s Commitment,

as we Educate, Mobilize, Cultivate Youth,

as we Empower Communities

and Manifest an Enlightened Era

where kapwa is not a concept

but a daily practice of remembering

we rise together or not at all.

This is my Christmas Three—

a trinity of becoming,

a map for the season,

a promise to the ancestors,

a blessing for the children,

a charge to the movement

to keep the light alive.

May you have a meaningful Christmas!

Posted Facebook 12/25/25

Naked Lanterns Amidst Darkness

 On Hubad na Parol (Naked Lanterns)

On Naked Star Lanterns / Hubad na Parol (December 2024)

I started producing this type of lanterns (complete with five-point star bamboo frame, with fairy lights inside, and tails/skirts of tissue paper) in 2022. This was my response to the post pandemic and the so-called new norm. For me, it captures the essence of Naked Star Lantern, hard work and simple living, but being soulful and colorful, even during Christmas.

Last year, I donated these naked star lanterns to Galing Bata and St Patrick’s Church for their fundraising.

This season I intend to produce more to share the meaning and technology of naked star lanterns.

This musical video was created by Samantha Nicole Canlas from my collections of videos and photos. The lanterns were at my house in San Francisco.

I requested my Co Pilot to draft me lines for naked star lantern. And here is a copy of AI generated poem.

Naked Star Lantern**

In the quiet of the night, a star lantern shines so bright,

With a frame both pure and soulful, it casts a gentle light.

No cellophane or tinsel flair, just fairy glow inside,

A beacon through the silent dark, where humble truths reside.

In a world of glittered dreams, where more is often sought,

This naked star lantern softly shows the beauty that's unsought.

It whispers of the simple joys, of love and peace so dear,

Reminding us that Christmas cheer is found when hearts are near.

No ornaments to weigh it down, no frills to steal its gleam,

It shines with soulful clarity, a light that lets us dream.

In its glow, we find the truth, that less can often be,

A richer life, a deeper love, a heart that's truly free.

November 30, 2025

Welcoming the first day of Advent.

Advent is a spiritual season of expectation and preparation.

Advent is about waiting in darkness for light. The parol, traditionally a star-shaped lantern, embodies that light of hope pointing toward Christ's coming.

A Hubad na Parol (Naked lantern)- a bare bamboo frame, no cover -reminds us that hope is not always wrapped in spectacle. It is fragile, exposed, and honest.

In advent, this naked lantern says: Strip away excess, return to essentials, prepare with humility.

Naked Lantern (Hubad na Parol) as an Anti-Corruption Symbol

- The massive anti-corruption movements in our homeland (Philippines) and the recent nationwide mobilizations from EDSA to Luneta, from major towns and cities, from all walks of life, intergenerational and multi-sectoral, are about exposing what is hidden- laying the systemic and structures of greed, power-hungry, and abuse.

--A naked lantern parallels this: it refuses ornamentation that hides flaws, insisting on transparency and accountability.

--Just as Advent calls for repentance and readiness, the lantern calls the nation to purify its institutions, strip away corruption, punish corrupt officials and their cohorts, and let truth shine through.

Advent waiting = People's vigilance and resolve to end corruptions. Both require patience, endurance, and collective hope.

Light of Christ = Light of accountability.

The lantern's glow, even without adornment, insist that truth can pierce darkness.

Stripping down= radical honesty. Advent strips away distraction: anti-corruption strip away lies. Both reveal what is essential: justice, solidarity, and Kapwa (Shared identity, shared responsibility) as in Kapwa Natin, Pananagutan Natin.

KONTRA KORAPSYON, NUON AT NGAYON, ANG PARATING ITUON

PANAGUTIN ANG MGA KURAP, ANG BAYAN AY NAGHIHIRAP.

HUBAD NA PAROL, HUBAD NA BAYAN

Sa Advent Naghihintay, Matamo ang Katotohanan

Mamayani ang Liwanag sa Kadiliman,

Katarungan at Kaginhawaan,

Sa ating Lupang Tinubuan

Sinag-Tala sa Silangan

Facebook post (11/30/2025)

From Morro Bay to Manila Bay: The Choreography of Maritime Superpower in the Pacific

My October Reflections, part 5

From Morro Bay to Manila Bay: The Choreography of Maritime Superpower in the Pacific

Today (10/13/2025) provides an opportunity for reflection.

I am not working today because it is one of the paid holidays granted by our company to its employees. Although this is a federal holiday, our company recognizes it as "Indigenous People’s Day" on the official calendar of holidays.

Columbus Day has been observed federally since 1937, originally established to honor Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and to celebrate Italian heritage. In contrast, Indigenous People’s Day, though not a federal holiday, is increasingly acknowledged as a counter-observance that commemorates Native American history and resilience.

Currently, I am synthesizing previous posts for my "October Reflections" series with the goal of contributing to ongoing discussions about Filipino American history and the evolving concept of “Kapwa Nationalism” within the diaspora.

Additionally, I am revising and expanding my August 13 lecture-presentation at YBCA, titled “13th August (1898) Scripted War, Silenced Victory,” into a broader subject, “From Morro Bay to Manila: The Choreography of Maritime Superpower in the Pacific,” which will be presented at upcoming lectures.

As the United States wrestles with the meaning of Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day, the Pacific offers its own choreography of conquest—one less discussed yet deeply entangled with the global currents of empire. From Morro Bay to Manila Bay, the ocean was not merely a route—it was a stage. And the dancers were galleons, gunboats, and ghosted revolutions.

First our very own discourse as Filipinos in the United States of America. We are celebrating Filipino American History Month in October based on an erroneous premise.

On October 18,1587, Filipino sailors aboard the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza landed in Morro Bay—long before the United States existed. California at that time was part of Nueva España, governed from Mexico City, and deeply integrated into the Spanish American Empire. The Philippines, colonized in 1565, was administered through this same imperial structure, making Manila and Acapulco twin nodes in a transpacific choreography of power.

The Manila Galleon Trade was the first globalization: silver from the mines of Zacatecas and Potosí flowed through Acapulco to Manila, exchanged for Chinese silk, porcelain, and spices. These galleons were not just ships—they were imperial arteries, pulsing with the lifeblood of mercantilist ambition. Filipino labor powered this circuit, conscripted into a maritime empire that stretched from the Americas to Asia.

Pedro de Unamuno, the Spanish captain who documented the 1587 landing, referred to the Filipino crew as “Luzones Indios.” This term, while geographically descriptive, was also deeply denigrating. It collapsed complex ethnic identities into a colonial category that rendered them lowly, undignified, and interchangeable. In Unamuno’s account, the Luzones Indios were not named, not individualized, not honored—they were imperial subjects stripped of character, reduced to laboring bodies in service of Spain’s maritime choreography.

To commemorate this moment without reckoning with its colonial context is to echo the logic of Columbus Day: celebrating arrival while silencing the cost.

The United States entered the scene via the Spanish American War. Although the spark plug was in Cuba in Atlantic, Manila Bay and the Philippines was seen as the gateway to Asia and the Pacific maritime power for the United States.

By 1898, Spain’s maritime dominance had waned. The British, Dutch, and Germans had carved their own routes into Asia. The United States, a late-blooming empire with industrial muscle, saw its chance.

The Dewey Monument was installed in Union Square, San Francisco to honor Admiral George Dewey’s victory at the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, during the Spanish American War. But its placement in San Francisco wasn’t just about naval glory—it reflected the city’s pivotal role in America’s imperial expansion.

San Francisco was a major naval port and the primary departure point for U.S. troops heading to the Philippines. The city’s Presidio served as a training and embarkation center for over 10,000 volunteers bound for the war. Installing the monument in Union Square symbolized San Francisco’s central role in projecting American power across the Pacific.

The August 13,1898, Mock Battle of Manila was not a clash—it was a handoff. Spain exited stage left, the U.S. entered stage right, and Filipino revolutionaries were barred from the spotlight.

The U.S. did not liberate the Philippines—it acquired it. With steel hulls and expansionist ambition, it joined the choreography of conquest. The Pacific was no longer Spain’s theater—it was America’s proving ground. The Philippines was under Spanish rule for 330 years, under American rule for 43 years, and Japanese rule for 4 years.

Currently, maritime activity continues in the South China Sea—referred to by Filipinos as the West Philippine Sea—where China has increased its presence in Philippine waters through the deployment of coast guard vessels, maritime militias, and water cannons to enforce control over disputed reefs and shoals.

The United States' maritime role is being tested. Citing a Mutual Defense Treaty, the U.S. government has stated its support for the Philippines. Naval exercises, joint patrols, and strategic deployments demonstrate ongoing military cooperation. Historically dominated by Spanish galleons, the Pacific is now an area of competing Chinese and American interests.

These developments represent evolving maritime dynamics in the region.

Facebook series post 10/13/2025