Grito de Dolores

TOMORROW, September 15, Ambassador Julio Camarena Villaseñor will host a reception on the eve of the 205th anniversary of “Grito de Dolores” (Cry of Dolores), Mexico’s Independence Day (16 September, 1805). The President of Mexico traditionally hosts his reception on the eve of the event, and the parade and celebrations follow the following morning of September 16.

The “Grito” was declared by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest, from the small town of Dolores, near Guanajuato, marking the start of the Mexican War of Independence. It is like our Cry of Balintawak. But, despite Guillermo Tolentino’s “Monumento,” our historians cannot agree whether the first cry was at Balintawak or at Pugad Lawin…Or even on the exact date (Aug. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 or 26)? Fortunately, Emilio Aguinaldo hoisted the Philippine flag on June 12th, 1898, for a definitive Independence Day commemoration date.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that a churchman raised the first cry, Mexico’s separation of church and state borders on being anti-clerical. (Graham Greene, in his novel “The Power and the Glory,” had his characters bring up the paradox: Why a government needs the upright officer, while the church can hobble along with a flawed priest.)

BRAGGING RIGHTS. When Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto comes for the APEC Leader’s Conference (18-19 November), AmbassadorCamarena will have a red carpet ready for him – to inaugurate with SM president Hans T. Sy, (and most likely with President Benigno Aquno III and in the presence of other APEC Leaders) the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Museum.

Former Mexican Ambassador Tomas Calvillo is consultant to the Galleon Museum project, which features a reproduction based on precise 18th century naval architectural blueprint The exhibit traces the roots of today’s banking, shipping, commerce, and cultural exchanges across the Pacific – silver, potatoes, maize, guava, cockfighting (?), etc. from the Americas for Asian silk, spices, and ceramics; religious icons and artifacts from the 42 nations on the galleon’s route, (including some still undisclosed contribution from the collection of Señor Carlos Slim the world’s richest man). The long-and-short of it: The Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, Harbinger of APEC!

Last year, the Ayala Museum exhibited “Fantastic Identity, 20th Century Masterpieces” (Sept. 30-Nov. 9, 2014), 60 artworks by Latin American artists, including Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, Frida Khalo and Antono Ruiz. The exhibit is the collection of the Mexican firm Femsa, the largest franchise holder of Coca-Cola products. Recently, it acquired 51 percent of Coca-Cola Philippines. Whatever Mexicans and Pinoys say about the gringos, they cannot

deny Coca-Colonization.

Our umbilical cords were tied for 256 years when the Mexican Viceroy oversaw affairs of the Philippines. During WW 2, a Mexican contingent flew with the Allies, and their valor is remembered and helped to pay back the stolen galleon money.

Ambassador Camarena looks at cementing ties between Mexico and PH with a $300-million investment of CEMEX in PH; and several Filipino enterprises are investing in Mexico, including drugs, (the kind made by United Drug Company requiring Rx prescription).

In their book “Mexico and the Philippines,” the father and daughter coauthors Gregorio F. Zaide and Dr. Sonia .M. Zaide, quote the Mexican saying that “Mexico and the Philippines are sister republics -- Without Mexico, there could have been no Philippines.” The authors recall the close relationship between the two sisters -- how much of our Spanish heritage is actually Mexican, how the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade crossed five continents and impoverished three governments, how Mexicans started the 19th century Philippine revolution, and how Filipinos helped save the Mexican revolution.

One question that won’t go away is: Who designed and who copied a gentleman’s haberdashery? I have it on authority from GQ that the Barong Tagalog made its way (perhaps via the galleon) across the Pacific and reached Mexico where they added the pockets and called it the Guayabera.

The gentleman that he is, Ambassador Camarena acknowledges Mexico’s debt to Filipino ingenuity. I learned (from someone who heard it first-hand) that the envoy tells his guests that Filipino seamen -- no landlubbers but thirsting on liberty and finding no spirits in parched Mexican desert -- tapped the cactus, distilled it. and, voila, Tequila!

If true, to my knowledge none of the heirs or successors of the intrepid Filipino seamen-alchemists claim royalty.

In the event, 205 years after, we can drink to that…Salud and Viva Mexico!.

MEXICAN SOLUTION. Reacting to last Wednesday’s “Daang Matuwid or Daang Masikip” column, Gabriel Dolor (his real name) suggested a simple solution for EDSA: Fence the two lanes (1 & 2) to prevent buses from swinging to the 3rd and 4th lanes trying to overtake the queue. This will ensure that private cars run smoothly on EDSA. In Mexico, it is the other way around: Private motorcars were cutting into the bus lane, which is faster. (Because Mexico has a metropolitan bus line; no multiple bus franchisers and no colorums). Mexico City’s solution: Run the buses IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. After a few head-on smash-ups, private motorcars stopped trying the bus lanes. FEEDBACK: joseabetozaide@gmai.com