OUR LANDSCAPES, AS SEEN FROM HIGH
of remotely controlled drones to help us take these dramatic shots. The rest of the images were taken from flights on actual helicopters, from tall buildings where we could not fly… from smaller drones, when Jojo’s remotes were not available, and even via balloon-mounted cameras, a personal experiment that worked in a crunch (and so long as there’s no wind).”
The result is a parade of images that we would not otherwise have seen or imagined — the lushness of the UP Diliman campus, Pasig City Hall’s roofdeck that proudly hosts such greenery of grassy lawns and gardens, the uniform red roofs of Vigan’s public buildings…
All of the cities that compose “Imperial Metro Manila” lead the parade, with CAMANAVA (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) strung together, as Taguig and Pateros are partnered (“From Fishing Villages to Global City”), so too Las Piñas, Parañaquue, Muntinlupa (”Southern Comforts”).
Then there are Los Baños-San Pablo, Legazpi, Naga, Cagayan Valley, Baler-Casiguran, Vigan, Laoag- Bangui- Pagudpud, Baguio, Puerto Princesa, Balicasag-Tagbilaran-Panglao, Metro Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Boracay, Dumaguete, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga, in that order.
The inclusion of countryside and island attractions obviously complements and enhances cityscapes as the primary players among our changing landscapes.
Paulo acknowledges that time constraints had him and his team (photographers Joel Sol Cruz and Jerome Abad) miss out on other places in their to-do list. Yes, I would’ve wanted to fly like Icarus above Sarangani and its bay, with GenSan right there. And over Malaybalay, Butuan, Iligan, and other parts of Davao.
Maybe next year’s edition can include or focus only on all these desiderata left out. Throw in Dipolog-Dapitan, Coron and Busuanga, Romblon, Clark and Subic, Olongapo and all the way up north to Pangasinan, Abra, and the Cordilleras.
Still and all, it is a near- magnificent effort. The book has fine thematic essays, too: “Philippine City of Culture in the Ubiquitous Medium of Concrete” by Marian Pastor Roces; “Improving the Efficiency of Cities” by Nathaniel Von Einsedel; “The City and System D” by Benjamin dela Peña; and “Climate Change Urban Correctiveness” by Allinnettes Adigue. Publisher Vernon Go writes: “We seW ouW Wo phoWograph Whe 3hilippines froP aboYe, wiWh speFial foFus on urban FenWers, Wo show Whe world and fellow Filipinos how Whe 3hilippines has grown froP liWerally a bird’s-eye Yiew. This is a rare endeaYor underWaken in a single publiFaWion. And alWhough obYiously a hundred pages Fan only do so PuFh, we belieYe we giYe… a uniTue perspeFWiYe
That the 2013 3hilippines Yearbook does. The book architect ought to have the last word, after we say again to both Vernon and Paulo: Bravo!
“The revelations from this high perspective have been the beauty of the Philippines, which must be conserved; the speed at which our cities are growing and must be contained; and the potential for progress if only we can find a balanced formula for making sure we expand and improve our cities without compromising the balance of nature or messing up our lives year to year.”