Milestones

Spanish-born Fr. Pedro G. Galende, who acquired Filipino citizenship in 1975, will mark his golden jubilee as an Agustinian priest with a concelebrated Mass tomorrow at San Agustin Church.

Fr. Galende has spent the major part of his life in the Philippines, having arrived here in 1962. For highlighting, through the years, Spain’s cultural and religious legacy to the Philippines, thereby cementing the bond of friendship between the two countries, Fr. Galende was recently given the Isabel la Catolica award by the Spanish government through Ambassador Ignacio Sagaz.

A week ago at the San Agustin Church, Fr. Galende opened an exhibit of artifacts, documents and paintings dating back to Legazpi whose remains, incidentally, lie buried in the church crypt.

To backtrack, shortly after Fr. Galende’s ordination in Valladolid, Spain, in 1954, he studied English and English literature at the Driam Academy of Zaragoza, then obtained his English Certificate in London’s Davis School of Languages, an affiliate of Cambridge U. He taught for eight years at the Colegio de San Agustin in Zaragoza, Spain and after arriving in Manila, took up a photojournalism course at the UST, then traveled around the country taking pictures of beautiful monuments.

While teaching in Iloilo’s San Agustin U., he devoted his leisure to visiting the churches of Panay on which he subsequently wrote articles for publications in Iloilo and Manila. Finishing his MA in English at the UST – his thesis was on Shakespeare’s "dark" comedies – he taught in Cebu’s Colegio del Sto. Niño, then spent his longest period as educator in the Colegio de San Agustin in Makati (1969-90) where he was serving as HS principal and teacher, while obtaining his Ph.D. in Literature degree at the UST.

Currently director of the San Agustin Museum, he has restored it as well as its gardens and ruins, as also the 18th century pipe organ of the church where Lenten concerts and international music festivals are now held.

His research in history and architecture has yielded three books: Angel in Stone Apologia pro Filipinos and San Agustin Monastery Noble Stone Shrine. Bilingual editions of Fr. Blanco’s Flora de Filipinas and Gaspar de San Agustin’s Las Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas followed, as also San Agustin Art and History and the catalogue Gold and Silver Collection.

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In celebration of 35 years of musical partnership and 30 years of marriage, internationally acclaimed violinist Gilopez Kabayao and his outstanding pianist wife Corazon Pineda will give an invitational concert tomorrow, Sunday, 4:30 p.m. at the Philamlife auditorium. The occasion (already publicized) will likewise mark the launching of nine Kabayao CD recordings.

The Kabayaos will also play as a quintet with daughters Siciliene and Farida and son Gilberto participating as violinists. The program will consist of works by Franck, Bizet, Vivaldi, Gluck, Wieniawski, Bach, Chausson, Bachmann and Ginastera. Also compositions by Doroteo and Gilopez Kabayao.

The 1972 Magsaysay Awardee for Public Service, Gilopez has just conducted a study which, in the words of Lourdes Mercado Balbin, communications officer of the RM Award Foundation, "establishes the critical role of music education in the development of every human being, particularly the youth. The study will help policy planners in government to keep (as well as revitalize) a humanist approach to education, and the general public to regain (musical) food for the soul."

The Education Department has already been provided a copy of the study.

Years ago, Gilopez, it will be remembered, embarked on his proselytizing mission of bringing classic music to the masses – in schools, gyms, even cockpits! To this day, Gilopez and Corazon continue proselytizing throughout the country.

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A similar mission, "Romantic Piano Concerto Journey" was undertaken much later by eminent international pianists Ingrid Santamaria and Reynaldo Reyes. Their latest "journey" began June 20, and will end July 23, with Reynaldo giving a short lecture and Ingrid playing Rachmaninoff’s C Minor Concerto No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s B Flat Minor Concerto No. 1 at the Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium in the Don Enrique Yuchengco Hall at De la Salle U. Concert sponsor will be Alfonso Yuchengco, chairman of the AYU Group of Companies.

Making the event even more significant will be the participation of Eugene Castillo, the new music director and conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. He will wield the baton for both concerti. This major engagement will thus precede Mr. Castillo’s much-awaited appearance at the opening of the PPO concert season in September.

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Architects are regarded as artists. Perhaps this is why Felino A. Palafox, Jr., principal architect and urban planner of Palafox Associates, sent me an invitation to the firm’s celebration of its 15th anniversary. (The invitation, however, arrived late, having been sent to The STAR offices and not to my home address.)

At any rate, behind the celebration is a string of distinctions.

The World Architecture of London, in its 2004 Survey, ranked Palafox Associates 127th in the top 200 architectural firms in the world. PA is the only Philippine and SE Asian firm cited.

For the past six years, PA has been the only architectural firm ranked among the top 500 and top 300 architects in the world by World Architecture magazine.

Taiwan’s Izu Chi Foundation has appointed PA its architects for eight schools and Dispatch Center in Bam, Iran.

PA will soon be constructing the tallest building in Al-Khoba, Saudi Arabia.

In Feb. 2004, the TUV of Germany again cited PA for his quality environmental management policies in architecture, urban and master planning.