The Mexican connection

There are several linkages between Mexico and the Philippines. The historic galleons bearing Spanish goods sailed from Acapulco, Mexico to Manila and back. Our Spanish dictionary is riddled with words of Mexican origin, e.g., petate. The Black Nazarene, the focal object of veneration in those massive processions in Quiapo, came from Mexico.

At an informal luncheon Mexican Ambassador Enrique Hubbard hosted for Alejandro R. Roces, Cecile Guidote Alvarez, Bambi Harper, Belinda Olivares Cunanan and myself, he asked how Phil-Mexican ties could be fortified. Cecile had just come from Mexico with her Dreams Ensemble (a group of disabled, disadvantaged performers) and it was decided, after a most impressive performance, to have Manila as venue for the next UNESCO conference in 2005.

Ambassador Hubbard observed that although Filipino students are being sent on scholarships to Mexico by the Mexican government, the reverse is not the case. Historians Anding Roces and Bambi Harper had their own ideas of how Phil-Mexican ties might be strengthened, and they will most probably be writing about these. Anding suggested, among other things, the establishment of a Mexican restaurant which Belinda thought could be named "Acapulco" to immediately evoke Mexican cuisine and culture.

We all have our personal remembrances of Mexico. Anding headed a delegation to Mexico when he was secretary of education, and welcomed President Lopez Mateos during his visit to Manila.

My own personal link with Mexican culture came early when as a young girl I performed, with my late brother Jose, a Mexican dance choreographed by our sister Leonor for her pre-war recital "Circling the Globe" at St. Cecilia’s Hall. Years later, as cultural editor and performing arts reviewer for the Manila Chronicle, I was given a government scholarship by the Mexican Embassy’s distinguished writer Rafael Bernal (one of his novel’s is Tierra de Gracia) to study Mexican literature at the state university.

During my stay in Mexico, I found hardly any need to adjust to life and living there, and I was quickly invited to join a group which informally discussed theater and literature.

For official activities, the Mexican Embassy, in association with the Phil-Mexican Business Council, has organized these forthcoming events:

Sept. 12: Inauguration of the Mexican Food Festival at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Sept. 15: Joint celebration of the National Day of Mexico and other Central American countries – Belise, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua – at the Hotel Inter-Con.

Oct. 12-14: Visit of a Mexican delegation to mark the 35th anniversary of the sisterhood agreement between Acapulco and Manila.

Nov. 2-5: Visit of a Mexican delegation to sign the Sisterhood Agreement between the cities of San Pedro Garza Garcia and Makati. Nov.

21: Concert of Mexican pianist Alberto Cruzprieto at the Inter-Con (pending confirmation).