Online classroom of Ronald Castillo y Maglaqui, Professor of Political Science at the University of Santo Tomas - Faculty of Arts and Letters. But for the time being, starting 2022, this blog serves as a student's public notebook of thoughts while he undertakes his international PhD in Asia Pacific Studies at National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan. Reach him through rmcastillo@ust.edu.ph
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Cando, Aimee Paulette O.
ReplyDeleteGuarin, Kristine Faye C.
Taw, Chloe Nicole D.
In the time of tribes, the bathala spoke to a village and its Raja and uttered the words, "There will come a time where great floods with arise, fires will burn your houses, and you will smother your children rather than see them starve -- your only hope will be in the form of a woman, and she will come from --" before the bathala could finish, the sun rose and the village never heard of the prophecy again. Even so, the raja after raja, they strived to produce a daughter who would become heir, but they either failed or their daughters passed away too early to rule because after being offered to their god, the girl immediately faced too many hardships.
Their village started to experience extremely hard times, and as a result, the raja called for all the ruling families to offer their princesses, and out of them all, the most capable one was chosen to rule and immediate positive changes occurred. But as it eventually turned out, the woman had been an impostor -- she had come from slavery, and the village immediately wanted to punish her for fraud. During the duration of her captivity, she was mistreated, disrespected, and her children were slain, and it eventually came to a point where it was now her that was to be executed, and even then she still swore that she wanted to serve the village. The people found that she could not be killed, though she appeared weak and unable to fight while she continuously recited prayers, their weapons unable to pierce her skin and inflict any more harm -- and that was when they realized that the woman was their true savior after all, regardless of where she came from.
CRUZ, Mary Abigail
ReplyDeleteDOÑA, Rose Anne
Once there was a kingdom of three kadatuans under the rule of a tyrant rajah who possesses powers through an evil witch of the south. The rajah contained the half of the souls of his people in a jar which was the source of his powers and kept it a secret from the three fiefdoms. The three datus have discovered the rajah’s dark secret one day and the rajah punished them thus turning them into stones. The wife of the datu from the north, Felipa, finding out the fate of his husband, plans to avenge his tribesmen and challenges the rajah but the rajah ignored her. The witch, moved by Felipa’s bravery, decided to unbound the spell of the three datus and unchained the peoples’ souls. Eventually, the people willingly threw their support for Felipa to strike, and together, with the three datus, they defeated the evil rajah and Felipa was established as the new rajah.
BALDOS, Eunice Sushmita
ReplyDeleteBISCO, Jodelyn
EMETERIO, Ma. Angela
Somewhere at the far eastern side of the world, there were three islands – all of them were abundant of natural resources but one island, named Minda, has a powerful mineral which can be used to control the whole world. One family, who lived in the first island called Luz, has successfully conquered the second island which was Vi. Because of their success, they planned to conquer Minda. They also wanted to extend their supremacy by conquering the western side of the world which will only be possible if the powerful mineral is in their possession. But despite of having a similar goal, conflict among the members of the royal family was inevitable. The queen opposed the idea of the king to kill the inhabitants of Minda and instead proposed a negotiation with them so that the handling of the powerful mineral will be done in a peaceful way. But the king refused the suggestion and insisted his plan to happen. The two royalties continued to fight and they never settled.
One day, the prince named Juan was shocked when he learned that his father pushed through with the plan of killing the inhabitants of Minda. But the pain he felt only got worse when he found out that her mother was also killed by his father. Because of such incident, the prince plotted revenge against the king but he was eventually exiled after the king's guards learned his plan.
But he never stopped and instead continued to plan about how he can give justice to his late mother. And since the inhabitants of Minda were also victimized by the cruelty of the king, he decided to join the tribe. The prince negotiated peacefully with the datu of the island and by his convincing suggestions, the datu wholeheartedly gave the powerful mineral to prince Juan as a tool to fight the vicious king.
After 2 days of battle, prince Juan successfully killed his father and with the powerful mineral, he was able to conquer and unified the three islands which eventually became a prosperous and strong nation.
On the time of Rajah Lapok-lapok, ancestor of lapu lapu, a good,truthful and full of power who ruled over the island of Subgu and nearby islands who fought and brought down the colonizers starting from the Chinese, Arab, Sumatran, warrior of Madjpahit Empire and so on. With the use of his mighty sword given to him by the Bathala, he successfully won every battle with ease. All of a sudden, the 17 datus who was influence by the "outsiders" wanted to destroy the rulership of rajah lapok lapok, and so, they conspired. Conspirators with their almost 50,000 warrior failed to overthrow rajah lapok lapok. Her daughter Fela, a beautiful, fine lady knew the plot against her father and invited all the conspirators for a party at the kingdom. She served food with pineapples but she secretly place poison on it that killing all of the conspirators and saved her father from wasting thousands of people, the life of numerous wife abandon by their husband and fatherless child with the use of her brain and courage. Rajah lapok lapok named the group of islands to her, fela and his pineapples or pinas.
ReplyDeleteRegencia, Lyle Ariane
kasama ko dn po pala si
DeleteMaragay, Dave Alexander
Tolentino, Mon Francis
Agripino Luiz Rome Mendoza III
ReplyDeleteNicole Kenneth Miguel
Mark Josep Perez
In a rich and mystical land associated with pearls and orient seas lies a small but rich nation whose Emperor is admirable at ruling his subjects. One day, a fleet of strange men who called themselves Guerreros landed on the majestic island to conquer the land to claim abundant resources for their queen, in their quest to colonize the islands they had heard of a mystical object that the islanders held sacred, it was a Golden Idol. The valiant Emperor and his subjects fought with such valour and loyalty in the battles that they fought against those wishing to exploit their beloved empire, the emperor slipped on his guard and the guerreros were able to capture the Golden Idol not knowing the full extent of its power. The leader of the guerreros had a plan, to use the golden idol which they had captured from the people, in it contained the benevolent power to manipulate the emotions and sentiments of the people, however benevolent it had the power to replace their identity as a nation and ultimately make them serve under the foreign reign of the guerreros ; . The cunning nephew of the Emperor, overheard the guerreros' plans and conversations at the ship where the guerreros temporarily settled. He ran with his amazing endurance due to his love for his nation until he was able to tell the plans to the emperor who was able to strike back at the guerreros with a unified force of the empire before they could utilize the full power of the Idol; he took back the Golden Idol and placed it in the middle of the capital of his Empire: With this idol and the new collective sentiment of the people they became even better productive citizens,the victory made them feel a surge of patriotic loyalty to their nation that will make them successful and prosperous, It harnessed a framework of identity that will not be easily broken. in the end the Golden Idol was finally taken away from the sight of the public, it was not because it was too powerful but the collective sentiment and will of the people brought prosperity to the nation.
There was a symbolic rajah who is admirable for a great ruler who conquers most of the kingdoms in their land, one day this rajah conquest to a war in order to conquer the other remaining kingdoms in their land, after the conquest, this rajah seem change a lot: a great rajah became a wicked one and the people cannot make a sentiment feeling of hatred because this rajah is the symbol of their identity as part of the kingdom. one day, The rajah called the two generals who guards the kingdom when he is away, the general of the black warriors and the general of the golden warriors to go to the deserted town and kill the group of bandits who formed there planning to sneak in the kingdom.
ReplyDeleteThe quest to the deserted town unravels the truth behind the rajah, the truth that the rajah after the conquest is not the true rajah rather a babaylan who sacrifice her soul to the dark lord in order to gain power including the power to copy the image of the rajah and the group of bandits whom the rajah ordered to kill are the remaining soldiers and the rajah himself planning to kill the babaylan and reclaim the kingdom. The two generals find a way of how to kill the powerful babaylan and they get the answer from the land of the holy land- in order to kill the babaylan, the citizens of the kingdom where the babaylan resides must unite and cast the spell of light given in the two generals.
The general of the black warriors went back to the kingdom to give a false information to the rajah(babaylan disguised) that they killed the bandits in order to prevent the suspicion of the rajah(babaylan) and to inform the citizens about what happened and their plans, the general of the golden warriors including the true rajah and the remaining soldiers formulating a plan to sneak in the kingdom and assess the plan. the ramaining soldiers of the rajah and the rajah including the general of the golden warriors manage to enter the kingdom and the people are convinced upon seeng their true rajah, the plan is a success because of the unity of the people for their rajah giving them a bright and prosperous future because of the strong feeling of unity in of the symbolic rajah.
-by Gimao, Jan Patrick S.
Braga, Larrence Paolo
2POL2
CORPUZ, Ena P.
ReplyDeleteLAUREL, Anne Medlyn C.
Once there was an evil and powerful sorcerer who was threatened and feared by the people in an ancient kingdom ruled by a wise and fierce rajah named Felipe, so Rajah Felipe together with his army trapped and imprisoned the soul of the evil sorcerer in a box.
Generation by generation, the box was entrusted to the heir of the rajahs and the heir was advised not to open the box nor should other people because it will bring chaos to the kingdom; so everyone kept clear of the forbidden box.
The present Rajah Fortuna kept growing older and older so he divided the kingdom assigning the Island of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to his three sons Matapang, Makisig and Maliksi respectively and informed them that they should be the pillars of which the piece of the land rested.
Rajah Fortuna reminded his sons about the evil sorcerer in the box as he passed the throne and while the ceremony was being done the eldest prince Matapang thought of wanting to rule the whole land for himself.
Rajah Matapang purposely went to the chamber where the box was placed and he talked to the soul of the evil sorcerer; they both agreed that the evil sorcerer would help the prince with his wicked plans in exchange for the sorcerer’s freedom.
After releasing the sorcerer it turned that it was a trick since all along the evil sorcerer still wanted to rule, which lead to chaos and war in the kingdom; regret running in his veins Rajah Matapang along with his two brothers Rajah Makisig, Rajah Maliksi and all their army decided to defeat the sorcerer and when they did peace and unity reigned the kingdom once more.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFontanilla, Miguel Luigi E. IV
ReplyDeleteMacayana, Celvin John
Montesa, Albert Vincent B.
In the land of Gaia, there were 2 kingdoms named; kingdom of Wine and the Kingdom of the Orient, which was at war with each other. In the kingdom of Wine, there had two young men, their names were Emilio who is the son of the king and Bonifacio was an orphan. When they were in a mission, the two stumbled in a cave where it has a secret passage inside and soon found that there were 2 bright things; One was shape of a sword with a silver aura while the other one was shaped of a shield with golden aura, Emilio Pick up the Silver Sword, while Bonifacio pick up the Golden Shield. When the king died, Emilio became the king and Bonifacio was exiled because Emilio was afraid that Bonifacio would overthrow him. Bonifacio went to the kingdom of Orient where he found out that he was the son of a famous general of the kingdom. Soon, Emilio attack the kingdom of Orient with all of Wine’s army and with the help of the silver sword who becomes powerful every time a soul it takes, in which every cities that is conquered are men, women and children are slaughtered. The King of the Orient was no match of the might of Emilio and soon was killed, there were no heir to the throne and the capital had fall, the only thing that stands is the castle where Bonifacio’s Home resides, and 4 villages. Soon, Bonifacio had overcome his fear of killing his brother and decided that he will defend the people. He gather, soldiers, heroes and people from the four corners of the kingdom that would fight with him, in which he becomes powerful because of the power of the Golden Shield that gains power through the Will of the people. When the Deceive battle had occur, Both Emilio and Bonifacio agreed that they would fight each other and the winner would win the war and rule the two Kingdoms. Eventually, with the Will of the people and the strong heart of Bonifacio defeated the Wicked and Evil Heart of Emilio. The 2 kingdom now become one, under the rule of Bonifacio, guided by the Golden Shield and was now name The Pearl of The Orient Sea.
Thousands of years ago, there was one peaceful and prosperous island in the East homed by mortals and ruled by several deities and one of them was Maanyag, the deity of war, who had a mortal husband and they also had a son named Pepe.
ReplyDeleteThere came a day that her husband was killed by mortals who came from the West and in frustration, he swore vengeance against them by fighting them in the war and because of the great power and anger she had felt that time, nature also sympathized with her by sending turbulent waves and horrible earthquakes that caused the division of the island into several islands. Her son died during her battle against the mortals from West so she decided to give her life and powers to Pepe and because of this incident, the deities proclaimed Pepe, having the capabilities of a mortal and a deity, as the one who will soon unite the mortals of the island.
The three main islands which were ruled by three cruel datus who treated the mortals as slaves were saved by Pepe through fighting them with his extraordinary strength and might. The people were so thankful to him because they were freed from sufferings and because of so much gratitude, the princess of the biggest island who was Linas was given to him as a gift for his heroic deed. He married Linas and when the day of their wedding came, all people from the different islands came to the balay of Pepe and Linas to celebrate--making this feast as the very moment where the oracle of the deities had been made into reality wherein the mortals who had been separated because of the division of islands were united because of Pepe.
GALVEZ, JEAN CLAUDETTE
DE CASTRO, MAIRELL CLAIRE
PLOPINIO, HANNAH GEORGIA
Mendoza, Mia Cielo P.
ReplyDeleteEnriquez,Anne Laurice I.
Castillo, Jocel Marie V.
“Ακόμη δεν είναι πάνω!” (It is not yet over!) Kronos shouted his last words as he, the King of the Titans was sliced to pieces with his own scythe and scattered what was left of him in the darkest, chaotic and ire part of the underworld, Tartarus, the gods who won against him was then feeling victorious that they forgot the last words of Kronos and what they do not know is that it is about the fourth brother of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades who is surprisingly a demi-god named “Philipion.”
Time came, knowing that Philipion is a demi-god, was sent to a specific land of the mortals in which he was supposed to live the other part of his life not as a god but as a mortal that was lead by the Rajahs and Datus who are living in a simple, ethnic and happy way of existence however Philipion realized that they are not worshiping any creature nor has any specific symbol of their being.” Philipion was outraged by it for he grew in a place full of idols, symbols and countless of gods, given that situation he decided to build an image of a being that reflects that inhabitants living, as he lived there for quite a long time he made up his mind that the person he must create an image of must possess the features and qualities that the people he lived with also keep.
In his undertaking to create an identity for the people in the last days of his stay in the mortal world it turned out to be the most vital days for the inhabitants of that place because successfully, Philipion created an identity for them. A man who is courageous, hospitable, creative, friendly, strong, resourceful and hardworking, a man who enjoys eating mangoes and adobo, loves to sing and dance particularly cariñosa and tinikling, a man who is willing to sacrifice everything for the love of his fellow natives, Philipion was successful in creating an image that will identify the mortals he lived with a specific identity, after feeling the satisfaction of living and fulfilling his will with them he went back to Mount Olympus and after several years while he was eating ambrosia beside Zeus he looked down at the place he once lived and realized that it already has a name and the people living improved the qualities that he first created and named the land after his name which is now called “Philippines.”
During the time when Gymnosperms were ruling the earth, there was a great oppression of mankind. A boy named Gespol and his brother Trespol conspired against the evil gymnosperms. their plan is to take over the gymnosperm headquarters located at the center of the gymnosperm town in Gymnospermania. the conspiracy was revealed when the assistant of Gespol named gengkol was bribed by the gymnosperm council with 30,000 gymnocoins to expose the plan. it led to the death of Gespol. Trespol was able to escape the rage of the evil gymnosperms and with the help of his childhood friend Baspol, they made an antigymnosperm bomb. one busy day, Baspol covered himself with a gymnosperm-disguise paint and went to the annual assembly of Gymnospermania where all the Gymnosperms, including the high officials and normal citizens, were present. he secretly planted the antigymnosperm bomb in the middle of the field and went out immediately. the antigymnosperm bomb exploded and it killed all the gymnosperms in Gymnospermania. Trespol became the leader of the world and he instructed Baspol to remove the Gymnospermania and the empire of the gymnosperms in the history of mankind.
ReplyDeleteDE VILLA, BIEN ANTHONY A.
Tec, Natasha Kim R.
ReplyDeleteInocentes, Carlo Luigi
In a time more ancient than the past, lived elemental gods who were majestic in stature but chaotic in nature, with each and everyone with their place in the world. This fragile peace shattered as one God of water was consumed by arrogance and greed that he wanted to conquer all that was not his, no one dared to challenge him for his power was one to be feared. Until one god, whose appearance character and will was fortified by earth challenged the tyrant water god even though he was smaller than most and only held a menial disposition. They fought, with the water god showing his impeccable prowess and the earth god struggling but still determined to hold on and fight until hi last. The earth god knew that he would never win so he raised his sword threw all his remaining strength and body to the mighty water god wherein instantly his form crumbled and perished. As time passed, still his sword lays beside him today as the island of Palawan and his ruined body, that was the epitome of sacrifice and courage, became our beloved and proud nation, the Philippines.
ALJON G. PANGAN
ReplyDeleteSIM CARLO JESUEL L. ARRIOLA
~~2POL2~~
The Chronicles of Luzviminda
Long time ago, in a very far away land in the East, there was a kingdom called Islas del Felipinas which is ruled by a cruel Datu -- Maraguidon. There is a disparity with the treatment of women and those enclosed within the lower class, they were treated to be secondary members of the kingdom. One time, the wife of Datu Maraguidon, Reyna Verba, got pregnant and the punong babaylan prophesized that it is a male child but was deemed wrong when Reyna Verba delivered a female offspring. Upon the incident, Datu Maraguidon, without second thoughts, immediately ordered one of his trusted men to kill the child in the forest. However, the Datu's servant did not abide to the command, instead he raised the child secretly and named it Luzviminda. Luzviminda, as she grows, had been trained as a warrior -- she wanted to obtain equality and rights for the women and the lower class. She ignited the spirits of the citizens to revolt against the tyrannical rule of the Datu and became the precious tool of unity and solidarity to the people. Luzviminda, then, was able to face Datu Maraguidon in a battle. When the time that she has the opportunity to slay the Datu, her foster father cried out loud, "He is your Father!" It had been a 'moment of impact' for the Datu upon knowing that women, especially his own daughter, can play a big role in the society. In the end, Datu Maraguidon launched a festival in celebration for the granting of equality and rights to women and the lower class of the society... and for a new beginnning. As a tribute to his daughter, Datu Maraguidon named the three major islands of his kingdom Islas del Felipinas as LUZon, VIsayas, and MINDAnao, derived from the name of his daughter LUZVIMINDA.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHarvey Leo M. Romano
ReplyDelete2Pol2
Life of Sanip (based from Life of Pi)
Once there are voyagers from the west travelling in the Pcific to discover different places. They pass by the Mariana trench and met a thunderous storm. To make the story short, their ship sank. Only one of them managed to survive.
In that same time, in an island where people are pagan and says prayers to land and water, experience drought and an epidemic disease kills the people one by one. At night the people of the island stand at the shore of the sea and say prayers to their known god asking for his presence and guidance. When the sun shines one morning, they saw a body in the shore wearing a fancy clothes they are not familiar with. They examine his face and color and thought that he is their god because of his unique physique. They care for him for almost a week. At that time of his recovery, the rain started to pour and timing that that people that were ill get well.
The foreigner, named Pilip Sanip, was very thankful for the hospitality and care the natives shown to him. When he got well, he honestly admitted the truth and asked if he can stay in that island and live with the people. The elders of the town agreed and because of amazement with his different skills, they derive the name of the island to his name-just scrambling some of the letters which becomes Pilip-pinas.
There, Sanip met a girl and became his wife and had lots of children.
That story shows how the Philippine island got his name and why there are different races in our country.
SOLIMAN, YLLIZA
ReplyDeleteSOTTO, KAREL
2POL2
Once there was a wimped boy who was given a special pendant by his father. The boy accepted it with no hesitation. Many years past, their place was ruled by greedy people that arose violence and wars. The little boy without knowing his duties said that, “I am going to save our society!” But nobody cares to listen. And many of them said that he was just trying to get somebody’s attention. Until one day, the villagers realize that the boy is not lying. So they decided to look for him. And after he defeats all his enemies, he was proclaimed as the king of the country.
In a place far far away, there is this unnamed group of islands rich in natural resources. It is being claimed and ruled by a powerful, and evil kingdom by a malevolent dictator by casting a malignant spell upon the people living in those group of islands; corrupting their minds enabling the dictator to control them freely. There was this boy named Fil Topino who was immune to the spell, thus having his own free will to do anything. He knew that all people have hidden powers within them which could overcome the spell controlling them then freeing them of slavery from the foreign oppressors. Fil Topino, with tenacity, ignited the spirit of everyone and together they broke the spell upon their land and overthrew the dictator claiming what is rightfully theirs. Everyone in the group of islands rejoiced and celebrated for they have been freed from slavery, living their lives normally in their own land. In thanking Fil Topino for his act of valor and bravery, they named the citizens to "Filipino" and the unnamed groups of islands to "Pilipinas" in commemoration of his actions.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, In kingdom alinam in north , there lived a prosperous and well-known royal family, Persila the queen of their kingdom and her well-known men of alinam, Leluz who is the strongest and the gladiator, Isaya the jovial one and Magui who is the smartest and the sharpshooter among the brothers. One day Queen Persila suddenly disappeared and a rumor started that the queen was kidnapped by a monster who said to lived in Avad in the south and so the brothers decided to take action in order to take back their beloved mother. Leluz wields the sharpest sword, Isaya the strongest shield and Magui the bow and arrow. Before setting off, the brothers decided for the one who first save the queen will inherit the throne. In order to achieve thier goal they must cross the middle land olibec, upon arriving they were threatened and ask to fall back,"no one should pass this land" said the soldier, but Isaya recognize the voice and it was his childhood friend and thus explained the situation and was allowed to pass through and even gave assistant to retrieve their country queen.
ReplyDeleteReaching their destination they were surprised that the queen was not kidnapped and was in a negotiation with the king in the Avad that there is a monster who threatened the kingdoms and needs aid from other country and the brothers voluntered and defeated the monster, The brothers recieved a huge reward, Leluz inherited their Alinam kingdom named it luzon, Isaya the Olibec and changed it similar to his name the Visayas and Magui the Avad and change it to mindanao.
Cabanit, Joseph
Perera, Desonny