Unveiling of Governors' Portraits

Back in May, when we left for the US, my brother Rafael (whom I affectionately call Cong Paing or Cong Raf, depending on the company) got commissioned to paint Pampanga governors' portraits. He's already done some several years ago and he was also tasked to restore those existing ones. He had to extend his stay to show some of his paintings at the Capitol. After finishing almost all of the portraits, he fell off a chair here and slightly injured his right elbow. His wife got so worried that she told him to go back to the US to have it examined. Fortunately, there was no serious injury aside from severe bruises to his arm around the elbow area.

When we came back last month, I got a frantic call from the capitol and I was told there will be an official unveiling ceremony June 30th and he MUST be there as the artist to deliver a short message about his works. Furthermore, he still needs to finish the one portrait that's missing from the lot.

In the mean time, he gave me a special power of attorney (SPA) to act in his behalf during the after-the-fact bidding process at the provincial capitol.

Long story short - he and his wife came the weekend before the ceremony with the finished portrait of the one governor and a new portrait of Gov. Ed Panlilio.

We arrived the day of the unveiling around 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. I took my brother Naring from Masamat. We went straight to the provincial tourism office and seated right out of the office were Cong Paing, Atching Let, Andy Ramos and cousin Gil Mallari - another artist. I think Gil went out for a smoke when I took this picture.


We headed on out to the main capitol building at around 3:30 to register. When we got seated, another brother, Romy and his wife came. A minute before the ceremony started brother Orling arrived. So yes, all the Maniago brothers were present for this historical event.

The provincial choir started the program with the National Anthem, Himnong Capampangan and Ama Namin (Our Father).

After a short welcome speech by Vice Gov. Yeng Guiao, everyone was ushered upstairs for the formal unveiling.


A short biography was read of each governor while the portraits were shown one by one. It was pretty dramatic the way the portraits were unveiled. They invited relatives of the former governors to unveil the portraits and in the case of Gov. Estelito Mendoza, he himself showed up.


The staff of CKS (Center for Kapampangan Studies) were in full force: Erlinda Cruz, Myra, Arwin Lingat. Robby Tantingco can't get out of a meeting at HAU, however and didn't make it.


All through the ceremony, members of the press were taking all kinds of pictures, interviewing people here and there. Our friends Ruston Banal and girlfriend Rona Manalac were there as well, taking pictures.


Here is Cong Paing being interviewed by a reporter from ABS/CBN Pampanga.


Here is Cong Paing's message/poem entitled "Pawaga".

And here he is reading the biography of Gov. Ed Panlilio before they unveiled his portrait.

Gov Panlilio and Vice Gov Guiao presented him a certificate of appreciation. Afterwards, the governor delivered his closing speech and then we went to the Executive hall for some hors d'oeuvres and refreshments.


Since they didn't serve rice at the reception, a wee bit later we had to go to Dulang restaurant for some much needed rice meals.

DVD Movies, etc.

My favorite room in the house is my music room, aka Entertainment room, aka home theater, aka Karaoke room, etc. In a couple of years, I've collected a number of DVD movies most of which I bought used or previously viewed from rental outlets whenever we go to the States. Some, I've inherited from Eph's collection when he switched from DVD to Blue Ray. Dan and Reg have also given me a couple of discs. Donna has also purchased a few from "dealers" (wink-wink) here around the area as well.

With the volume turned up so high, it's great to watch concert videos here. It's as if one's on the front row watching Arnel Pineda of Journey belting out their greatest hits.

When Pareng James and Mareng Celia came over on vacation from Hawaii, he noticed my collection and has mentioned that the swap meet at the Honolulu Stadium provides a good source of previously owned DVDs. So of course I gave him a list of the ones I want to have and as soon as they got back he prepared a package for me and sent them through his brother who went on vacation here recently. Not sure but I think he may still be here. Thanks a lot Pars, didn't realize you sent me that many. The last time we went to California last May, I also bought me a few more. I had to order me an extra DVD rack to fit everything. I now have a total of four racks.

We've been busy lately because Cong Paing and his wife Ate Let are back for the unveiling this afternoon of the Pampanga governors portraits that he was commissioned to do. But this past weekend I've started watching some of the movies I recently got, Nacho Libre (pretty funny Jack Black movie), among others but Pan's Labyrinth stands out. This is a 2006 film by renowned Mexican film maker Guillermo del Toro set in the 1940's during the reign of Spain's Franco. Little Spanish actress Ivana Baquero was really good in it. Great movie although a tad bit violent.