The greatest fun I had before retirement was as program officer for the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation. Among the projects I handled for the Embassy, in cooperation with the National Museum of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, were the restoration of the baptistery and twin pillars of the Saint Vincent Ferrer Church in Dupax del Sur; the restoration of the altar and pulpit of Lazi Church in Siquijor; the ICOMOS conference on the conservation of the Banawe Rice Terraces; the conservation of mummies in the Kabayan Mummy Caves, in Benguet; the cataloguing of the Tabon Caves on Lipuun Point, Palawan; the restoration of the Panglao Watchtower in Bohol; the restoration of Malagonlong Bridge in Tayabas, Quezon; the documentation of Ifugao oral traditions (hudhud and alim), also in Banawe; the conservation of San Sebastian Church; and the restoration of the four murals by National Artist Carlos "Botong" Francisco in the lobby of Philippine General Hospital. There were a few more plus two others that I handed over to my successor before I retired that I no longer recall.
My exploration of heritage sites in the Philippines opened my eyes to great damage that fundamentalist Christians and missionaries did to destroy indigenous culture. It also allowed me to meet most interesting persons and gave me some of the richest material for my creative writing. My cyberspace novel Cubao Ilalim: Ikalawang Aklat, for example, resulted from my visits to Bohol (including a creative writing workshop I conducted there). It can be read at http://tonyperezphilippinescyberspacebook37.blogspot.com/. I hope you do and I hope you have fun doing so.
My work inspired others to take up graduate studies in Archaeology. I did not follow suit. Archaeology is a lot of hard work, perspiration under the hot sun, and the inability to be well-dressed. I was too engrossed having fun. Besides, I have always been an end-user, a collector, and, while enjoying my retirement, I prefer to have antique dealers come to me and bring me their ware.
My exploration of heritage sites in the Philippines opened my eyes to great damage that fundamentalist Christians and missionaries did to destroy indigenous culture. It also allowed me to meet most interesting persons and gave me some of the richest material for my creative writing. My cyberspace novel Cubao Ilalim: Ikalawang Aklat, for example, resulted from my visits to Bohol (including a creative writing workshop I conducted there). It can be read at http://tonyperezphilippinescyberspacebook37.blogspot.com/. I hope you do and I hope you have fun doing so.
My work inspired others to take up graduate studies in Archaeology. I did not follow suit. Archaeology is a lot of hard work, perspiration under the hot sun, and the inability to be well-dressed. I was too engrossed having fun. Besides, I have always been an end-user, a collector, and, while enjoying my retirement, I prefer to have antique dealers come to me and bring me their ware.
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