Vibal Foundation Launches Colección Iberoasia Imprint with Dolors Floch’s Martín de Rada

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Vibal Foundation, Inc. (FVI) commemorated women’s month with the launch of the first book in its Colección Iberoasia series: Martín de Rada (1533–1578): Scientist, Missionary, and Spanish Philippine Diplomat to China by Dolors Folch, an eminent Spanish scholar of East Asian Studies.

This landmark volume has a Spanish edition as well as an English-translated edition.

About Martín de Rada (1533–1578): Book Highlights

In this first volume of VFI’s Colección Iberoasia imprint, sinologist and professor Dolors Folch recreates the ideals, life, times, and works of Fray Martín de Rada, both a man of science and a man of the cloth, who arrived in the Philippines in 1565 with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi’s expedition that established a Spanish colony in the islands.

An expert in astronomy and mathematics, indispensable for the invading Spanish missionaries and conquistadors, he was not just a witness to the first two decades of colonial rule in the Philippines, he was also the first to describe China to Spanish readers.

Although Fray Martín’s only surviving portrait depicts him as the quintessential scientist, he was, for his more than twelve years in the Philippines, also an author, a critical observer of the plight of native Filipinos, a missionary, and, most importantly, an ambassador to China in 1575.

Martín de Rada (1533–1578): Scientist, Missionary, and Spanish Philippine Diplomat to China explores the milestones in the man’s life that made him one of the most important players in Spain–China relations. It chronicles his early years as an Augustinian missionary in New Spain (Mexico) who was commended for his administrative talent, as well as his mathematical and scientific mastery, leading to his selection as part of the royal expedition to the Philippines under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi. 

De Rada’s stay in the Philippines, as recounted in the book, proved crucial to the evolution of his beliefs about the real situation of the native population at the hands of the Spaniards who,  as he reported to the Mexican viceroy, abused and left them impoverished. 

The book also gives an account of his evangelization of the natives as he carried this experience to accompany a delegation to Ming-era China, a country that left an indelible impression on the Augustinian. He shared his experience of the country in his renowned Relación, which succeeding scholars would use as a primary reference on China.

About the author

Dolors Folch, professor emerita of the Department of Humanities of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, was dean of the Faculty of Humanities from 1992 to 1999 and director of the School of East Asian Studies.

Aside from supervising the groundbreaking research La China de España Elaboración de un corpus digitalizado de documentos españoles sobre China de 1555 a 1900, she also curated the landmark 2007 exhibit Els grans viatges de Zheng He at the Museu Marítim de Barcelona. 

Folch is the author of Els grans viatges de Zheng He (Angle, 2008), La Construcción de China (Península, 2002), La Fundació de l'imperi xinès (Empúries, 1991), and Wang Wei, Vell País Natal (Empúries, 1986).

About Vibal Foundation

Founded in 2007, Vibal Foundation is Vibal Group’s philanthropic arm. Its vision is to engage Filipinos in intellectual discussion of Philippine history, culture, and the arts by providing beautiful and insightful print and digital materials.

Its institutional partners are the Ateneo Art Gallery, Biblioteca Historica, Galleria Duemila, Gallery Genesis, International Rice Research Institute, National Historical Commission of the Philippines, National Museum of the Philippines, Philippine Departments of Labor and Education, Premio Zóbel, San Agustín Museum, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, and the UP Jorge B Vargas Museum.

Colección Iberoasia is Vibal Foundation’s first global publishing imprint offering digital and printed titles available on Amazon.

Martín de Rada (1533–1578): Scientist, Missionary, and Spanish Philippine Diplomat to China will be available in major bookstores, Shopee, Lazada, and Vibal Shop in May. Please follow Vibal’s FB page for announcements: www.facebook.com/vibalgroup

SM Turns to Rain Water Harvesting a key to Living Flood F

Wazzup Pilipinas!?


Climate change is real and Filipinos are among those who can attest to the devastating effects it brings to everyday life. Faced with about 20 typhoons a year, the Asian Development Bank reported that the total impact from storms have reached about US$20 billion from 1990 to 2020. It causes a temporary disruption due to mass evacuations which bring about an average of 2-8% reduction in gross domestic product annually.

Despite the reoccurring devastation felt during calamities, Filipinos still manage to see the humorous side of life and are often reported as one of the happiest people in the world. However, this may soon be tested as, according to the latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, things are about to get worse as the planet heats up, accelerating the effects of climate change and making the Philippines more vulnerable to drastic changes in weather patterns.

On average, the Philippines receives about 2,400 millimeters of rainfall each year, one of the highest in the world. While this poses a problem for the country, there is a silver lining, as it can also be the solution for water scarcity. However, currently the Philippines only harvests around 6% of its rainwater compared to India which harvests around 60% of the 700-millimeter average rainfall it receives each year.



Rain Water – a friend or a foe?

Water is a scarce resource. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 6 identifies access to clean water as one of the global priorities to be achieved by 2030. Aligned to its environmental responsibility programs, SM takes a closer look at the use of water and how it can be turned from a foe to a friend.

SM builds its malls and integrated lifestyle cities with resilience and sustainability in mind. Understanding the value of water, SM builds rain water catchments in its malls to harvest large volumes of rain water particularly in flood prone areas.

“We approach it two ways: resilience – to help communities be flood free; and sustainability – to optimize water which is a scarce resource so we can use it for other purposes rather than just waste it,” says Architect Fides Garcia-Hsu, Vice President at SM Engineering Design and Development.

Vermont Park and Vermont Royale are two communities that once saw rain as a foe. Every time it rained, their neighborhoods ended up under water, damaging their homes. Today, home owners welcome the rain as water that can be harvested and stored for future use. The reason? SM City Masinag’s rain water catchment facility! It has a 17,681 cubic meter water capacity. The two communities connected their drainage systems to the mall which is equipped with three 30HP submersible pumps which are used to pump out accumulated rain water.

“Wherever SM is, we try to help our communities become resilient to changing weather patterns,” explains Arch. Garcia-Hsu. “Nationwide, we have 20 malls equipped with rainwater catchment facilities that help rain water management to avoid flash floods for surrounding communities.”

As a company SM invests 10% of its capital expenditure to integrate disaster resilient and sustainability features in its malls and integrated lifestyle city designs. “We take a long-term view on resilience and when we talk about sustainability, we look at how we can address perennial problems like flooding and address systemic change,” Arch. Garcia-Hsu expounds.

Serving as pioneers in the installation of rain water catchment facilities, SM was instrumental in the passing ordinances and inclusion of the installation of water catchment facilities for developments by regulatory bodies. In recent years, Senator Manny Pacquiao passed the ‘Rain Water Harvesting Act – Senate Bill 1309’ mandating the establishment, maintenance and management of rain water harvesting systems in the country.

“Aside from building resilient infrastructure, we also build the resilience of our stakeholders by providing disaster preparedness training through our SM Cares programs,” shared Chito Bauzon, SM Cares Marketing Asst. Vice President. “We have programs targeted to senior citizens and those with special needs as they are the ones left most vulnerable during times of calamities.”

With the threat of climate change looming, typhoons are only expected to get stronger with intensified rainfall. With more Filipinos moving to urban centers, the Philippines will need to retrofit its cities for resiliency or build new sustainability cities to finally live flood free.

FEU filmmakers win in national, interschool filmfests

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Student filmmakers from Far Eastern University took home various awards from recent intercollegiate film competitions organized by University of San Agustin’s Augustinian Communicators’ Guild, University of the Philippines Cinema, and Adamson University’s Silip@Lente.

Francis Tavas’ “Waltz of Qualm” won the Juror’s Choice Award at USA-ACG’s 2022 FilAr Peace Film Festival while Sophie Casasola bagged Best Cinematography for the same film at the recently concluded Piling Obrang Vidyo XVIII. UP Cinema’s POV has been home to many student filmmakers since 2004.

In the film, a teenage girl (Joyce Macalia) finds a broken mirror as she wanders around the forest. Driven by curiosity, she touches it and discovers the one thing she has been trying to escape from all her life.

“The exploration of one’s identity is filled with challenge and mystery. Despite the uncertainties filled in such a phase, what I would like to emphasize is the beauty of not just the aftermath but also the in-betweens before arriving at the end of the road,” Tavas shared in his director’s statement.

“This particularly reflects what I have been through especially when it comes to my sexuality. Considering the prejudices and judgments that my 12-year-old self has faced, I was not able to treasure the moments before such discovery,” the FEU Communication student revealed.

“Thus, in order to make up for it, I have opened myself up to any circumstances and have now lived my life the way it is now – filled with kindness and liberated from the perception of others,” he added.

Meanwhile, three other FEU films, Kyle Cabarrubias “Hiraya,” Luke Del Castillo’s “Saksi ang Paslit,” and Roberto Capio, Jr.’s “Muling Pagsisimula sa Katapusan” also brought home awards from Silip@Lente-AdU’s Realifilm 2022.

“Hiraya” won for Cabarrubias and Sine Sibol the Realifilm Bronze Award, Best Original Song, and Best Actress, also for Macalia. “Saksi ang Paslit” earned the Realifilm Award for Excellence for Del Castillo and Talahib Films while “Muling Pagsisimula sa Katapusan” took the Realifilm Award of Virtue for Capio and Random Strangers Production.

“Hiraya” and Patrick Pangan's “We Were Never Really Strangers” also made it to the SineDisipulo X Film Festival organized by CINEMATA of University of San Carlos in Cebu.

Like Tavas, Casasola, Cabarrubias, Del Castillo, Capio, and Pangan are FEU Communication students under the Digital Cinema track and members of the FEU Film Society, the university’s film organization.

Both Tavas and Pangan also have other films officially selected to be part of the 14th Cinema Rehiyon film festival, a flagship project of the National Committee on Cinema under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

Aside from “Waltz of Qualm,” Tavas’ other films “Sila-Sila” and “Diva, Divine” were also shown in the hybrid film festival which was held online and in Davao City in celebration of the National Arts Month.

“Sila-Sila” is Tavas’ first experimental film project while “Diva, Divine?” is a documentary which focuses on the life of Angelica Mapanganib, an entertainer and gay beauty pageant contestant or “beauconera.”

Pangan’s other film “Shapeshifters” was also screened at the event, which wrapped up last March 31. “Shapeshifters” tackles extrajudicial killings through Philippine folklore.