Western Mindoro Historical and Cultural Society

After the pandemic, officers of the Society got to meet! Setting new sights towards a culturally and heritage-sensitive sustainable development.

Physically present are is its Provincial President, Mr. Paz, its Provincial Vice-President, Don Vincent Bautista Busto Treasurer Ma'am Stiffany Lhyka Domingo Finez its Directors Sir Sondy John Berso and Ma'am Venz Dizon Siodo as well as its Auditor, Ma'am Elisa Espinola.

Other officers who took their participation virtually are its Information Officer, Sir Benjamin Jr. Castro III, its Secretary, Ma'am Elizabeth Viaña, and its Directors Sir Michael Suerte and Sir Dondon Soriao

If only could we see our natural heritage as part of our development...

The Tragedy of Lake Lanao, Southeast Asia's Only Ancient Lake There are only 15 ancient lakes in the world. Lake Lanao is one of them.

The NHCP now adopts Limasawa as the site where the 1521 Eastern Sunday Mass, or the first recorded Eucharistic Mass was held in the Philippines. Other places that were investigated was in Butuan and other places in Cebu.

READ the six-page official statement of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines on the issue of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines [https://nhcp.gov.ph/official-position-of-the-national-historical-commission-of-the-philippines-on-the-site-of-the-1521-easter-sunday-mass/].

The Board of Commissioners of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) signed on 15 July 2020 Resolution No. 2, adopting the report submitted by the panel that reviewed the issue surrounding the site of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass in the Philippines. In the report (check the website like), the panel recommended Limasawa, in today’s Southern Leyte, as the site of the said event.

The panel was convened in response to the requests from various institutions, including the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), even as the anticipation of the Filipino Catholic faithful had just begun for the 500th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity in the Philippines (check the website like).

Republic Act No. 10086 or Strengthening People’s Nationalism Act of 2009 mandates the NHCP to “actively engage in the settlement or resolution of controversies or issues relative to historical personages, places, dates and events.”

Napakaganda ng Wikang Filipino! ✨

Ilan sa mga salitang ito ay hindi galing sa Wikang Tagalog katulad ng Mabaya (Ivatan), Kunig (Iloko), Puraw (Iloko), at Dagtum (Sebwano).

Kuha ang mga ito mula sa UP Diksyunaryong Filipino.

The celebrates the .

As the world’s largest living land mammal, elephants are a sight to behold. For most Filipinos, Mali the Manila Zoo’s elephant is their first and only encounter with the animal. But do you know that these gentle giants once roamed the Philippines about 750 thousand years ago? Or that there was at least one species with a shoulder height of only 1.2 meters?

Remains of ancient elephants have been discovered in Cagayan Valley, Pangasinan, Rizal, and Iloilo. Most of them are molars, tusk and bone fragments, belonging to large elephant species Palaeoxodon sp., Elephas namadicus, Elephas cf. namadicus, and Elephas sp. Based from the molar size, the size of these elephants is similar to that of the living Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), found today in India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia. Most of the fossils, however, are typically fragmented and do not allow further identification.

It seems, however, that not all Philippine elephants were giants. In 1911, a small lower molar, estimated at 9.5 cm in length, was reported in Cabarruyan Island (also known as Anda Island) in Pangasinan. This is the first fossil elephant found in Luzon. It belonged to a new extinct species, Elephas beyeri, named after Henry Otley Beyer, the Father of Philippine Anthropology. Based from the molar, E. beyeri is believed to be a species of dwarf elephant, having a shoulder height of only 1.2 meters. Compare this to the shoulder height of carabaos (1.5 to 1.8 meters). The cause of its dwarfism is suggested to be a response to the limited natural resources in a small environment, like the Luzon Island.

The Philippine elephants have long been extinct, and now we are in the brink of seeing their last living relative, the Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) for the last time. Unlike the African elephants (Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis), which came out of endangerment, the Asian elephants continue to decline in population. Poaching, trophy hunting, and habitat destruction continue to threaten this species. You can help preserve them by not buying ivory products, and supporting the organizations that are actively committed to elephant preservation.





Text and poster by Jaan Nogot and Yloisa Magtalas/ NMP Geology and Paleontology Division
©National Museum of the Philippines (2020)