The end of the year is always a good time to look back and note progress and change. Much can be gained personally, and from a collective standpoint, by reflecting on shifts in society, business, politics and the physical setting of our lives — our communities, cities and nation.
This is what Go Puan Seng started to do in 1926 with his iconic Fookien Times Yearbook. Since then the FT has become the go-to publication for anything and everything that has changed in the Philippines. His publication has continued into this millennium by his daughter Gracie Go and grandson Vernon. The Philippine Yearbook continues the tradition and task of documenting reality so the future may be better shaped by this annual assessment.
I collect yearbooks. Philippine archival materials are what I use to write modern urban history and the Fookien Times is my all-time favorite. I have a broken set of them from the 1950s to the 1970s. They are a wonderful source of images and reportage. This is why I jumped on the chance to help put the 2013 edition of the Philippine Yearbook (PY). Vernon and Gracie Go did not have to ask me twice. Besides it’s all in the (Philippine STAR) family. I started my career as columnist when Gracie’s sister Betty was at the helm of the newspaper.
The 2013 edition of the Philippine Yearbook has a unique theme this year. It takes a view of Philippine change that is different from the last 75 years of the publication. The best place to view the panorama of the country’s progress is from above. For close to a year, I and my PY crew took to the skies to photograph the changing landscapes of the country. Since most of the Philippines is now urban, most of our aerial jaunts have been over cities, staying in comfortable Microtel Hotels or just camping out.
The aerial images taken for the 2013 PY covers over 20 cities and sites in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The main focus was on Metro Manila but we made sure that the cities north and south were represented. Key tourism destinations like Boracay, Laoag (thanks to Gov. Imee’s support while there), Cebu (Mactan), Vigan and Bohol were included to see just how much the reported fun in the Philippines could be viewed from the air.
The aerial shots were taken from a variety of platforms. We used real helicopters for some but a good portion of the fascinating images were taken using remotely-controlled drones. We banked on the services of Aeroeye Asia, whose swashbuckling head, Jojo Mariano, pioneered drone aerial photography in the country. He now travels the islands and overseas with his fleet of powerful but nimble miniature aircraft and support crew taking aerial images for commercial and institutional use.
My own staff included managing editor Ditas Bermudez, assistant editor Julia Nebrija, head photographer Joel Sol Cruz and assistant photographer Jerome Abad. We worked with Vernon Go’s able publications team to produce this heavyweight (literally) tome. We worked over a frenzied year that saw weird weather wreck havoc with our shoots and travels. We did, in fact take aerials of those cities and landscapes now prone to disasters, and we supported these images with essays on urban and climate change.
The content of the yearbook is enhanced by these additional texts along with thematic essays related to cities by culture maven Marian Pastor Roces, planner and architect Dinky Einsiedel, urbanist Benjamin dela Pena and urban development expert Allinettes Adigue.
The yearbook was launched two weeks ago at a slam-bang affair organized by Verrnon, complete with able emceeing by STAR columnist RJ Ledesma and a concert by Stephen Bishop. Gracie Go warmly welcomed everyone to the affair, stating, “Ever since we started celebrating the launch of each year’s new yearbook these past 12 years or more, the yearbook party has been known to be just a joyful celebration with friends and colleagues for the birth of another year’s yearbook.”
This launch was also special as Gracie announced “…this year, I decided to do some research and the awards we are handing out tonight are not just meaningful, but also historic!” Awarded were 13 companies who have supported the PY for the last three to four decades and 12 major awardees who have supported the publication for between four to over six decades.
The first group included the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Thai Airways, Coca Cola, Tesoro’s Group, Universal Motors Corporation (UMC), IBM Philippines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Shoemart (SM), Shell Companies in the Phils, Toyota Motors Phils Corp, Philippine Airlines (PAL), and the Bangko Sentral ng Philipinas (BSP).
The 12 major supporters of the PY have been the SEIKO Watch Corporation, represented at the affair by Mr. Peter Yee, The Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company represented by Arthur Ty for the chairman George Ty, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation with. Lorenzo Tan, its president and CEO, and San Miguel Corporation. The other companies and their representatives that night were Nedy Tantoco, president of Rustans Commercial Corp; Willy Ong, owner, Pacific Paint Philippines Inc.-Boysen Paint; Oscar Reyes, president and CEO, Meralco, Manila Electric Company, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.; Napoleon Nazareno, president and CEO of PLDT, Mr. Paul Ung, Vice-chairman, Security Bank , Mr. David Coyukiat, president and CEO, Pioneer Insurance; Aurelio “Gigi” Montinola III, president and CEO, Bank of the Philippine Islands; Peter Dee, president and CEO, China Banking Corporation.
Gracie also gave a special award to the The Peninsula Manila, which has been advertising without a miss for a total of 36 years. She also thanked Alan Chng of Canon for the 21 blow-ups of the aerial shots that appear in the magazine, some of which are reproduced in this article.
Quoting from my own notes published in the yearbook:
“The revelations from this high perspective have been the beauty of the Philippines, which must all be conserved; the speed at which our cities are growing, and must be contained; and the potential for progress, if only we could find a balanced formula for making sure we expand and improve our cities without compromising nature or messing up our lives year to year.”
A yearly look at ourselves, where we live, and how we live was what Go Puan Seng aimed to provide Filipinos so that they could take stock, see how far they’ve come and how much more they have to travel. Thanks to Gracie, Vernon and Happy Go for the chance to help all Filipinos take this annual journey.
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Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com. The 2013 Philippine Yearbook is available at National Bookstore, Fullybooked, Powerbooks, Merriam & Webster Bookstore, La Solidaridad and Goodwill Bookstore, or order directly by calling 527-2411. Aeroeye Asia’s Jojo Mariano can be contacted at 0917-8110147 or info@aeroeyeasia.com.