Nick and Luz Ellis with their daughter Luiza. Photo by PATRICIA AURORA M. CRUZ.

By Patricia Aurora M. Cruz, VERA Files

Fourteen years ago, Nick and Luz Ellis welcomed their third child into the world, a bouncing baby girl they named Luiza.

What should have been an occasion for pure celebration was shadowed by a secret that the couple at first decided to keep even from Mrs. Ellis’ parents: Their daughter had Down Syndrome (DS).

“We could not accept yet that we would have a special child. We were in denial. We were praying, hoping that she was not a special child, that she just had narrow eyes,” Mrs. Ellis, speaking in Filipino, recounted.

“Para kang pinagsakluban ng langit at lupa (It’s as if my world fell apart),” Mr. Ellis said of how he felt.

Down Syndrome is a genetic condition in which a person inherits an extra copy of one chromosome. Each individual has 23 pairs of chromosomes, half coming from the father and half from the mother. (World Down Syndrome Day is observed every March 21.—Ed.)

People with the syndrome have three copies of chromosome 21 rather

Cesar Montano in 'The Great Raid'

By Pablo A. Tariman, VERA Files

This year is the 68th anniversary of the heroic rescue of allied prisoners of war and civilians from a Japanese concentration camp near Cabanatuan City on January 30, 1945.

The dramatic rescue inspired the Hollywood film, “The Great Raid” starring Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco and our own Cesar Montano as Captain Juan Pajota. The film is largely based on William Breuer’s book of the same title.

But there is no doubt that the most suspenseful account of the Cabanatuan Raid is told in the book, “Ghost Soldiers” by Hampton Sides who attended one anniversary rites in Cabanatuan along with Montano.

“The Great Raid” which employed several Filipino actors in Australia turned out to be a big flop (it only earned roughly $10,000,000 world-wide and it has a budget of more than $80,000,000).

Ghost SoldiersBut re-reading the Sides book (this should be in everyone's summer reading fare), you realize the film didn’t live up to the book and even manage to underplay

Text and photos by Vincent Go, VERA Files

The United Nations had declared March 20, 2013 the first World Happiness Day. But for hundreds of activists in the Philippines, it was a day of protest as they held simultaneous mass actions in various parts of Metro Manila to voice their unhappiness with the performance of President Benigno Aquino’s III, now in his third year in office.

About 50 protesters who gathered outside the Department of Health in Manila pelted its headquarters with tomatoes to assail what it said was the Aquino administration’s policy of abandoning its responsibility of providing basic social services to favor private profits.

“This government is already killing us with ever-worsening poverty and hunger caused by Aquino’s inaction over unabated hikes in the prices of petroleum products and in the rates of electricity and water. Aquino wants to kill us even more by depriving us of our basic right to accessible health care,” said Joel Maglunsod, Anakpawis executive

Text and photos by Elizabeth Lolarga, VERA Files

In death Marilyn Monroe, as portrayed by visual artist Tin F. Garcia, is the negation of the desirable Hollywood actress/sex goddess who once said she wanted “to grow old without facelifts, to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.”

The real story behind her “suicide” remains wrapped in mystery. Lifeless like a slab of meat on a butcher’s block, two-dimensional and rendered in duotones of gray and violet, Monroe is entirely without makeup, glamour and star wattage.

It may be Garcia’s outlook that death is the great equalizer or her defiant stance against the cult of celebrity that turns historical figures into pop icons (Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Mao Zedong and Imelda Marcos, the last represented by a high-heeled shoe).

Her second solo show, “Gravity Always Wins,” at Pablo Fort, unintentionally calls forth aspects of this penitential season of Lent, even her own Roman Catholic background that ingrained in convent girls the

Pianist Sofya Sulyak takes a bow with PPO Conductor Olivier Ochanine

By Pablo A. Tariman, VERA Files

When award-winning Ukrainian pianist Sofya Gulyak and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra ended their “Elegantly Brahms” concert at the Philam Life Auditorium in Manila Wednesday, many in the audience knew it wasn’t just the musicians who were bowing out.

So was the iconic and much-cherished Philam Life Auditorium, which will be demolished after serving for 52 years as the venue of the most memorable performances the country has seen.

“Elegantly Brahms” is the last major musical event to be held at the Auditorium. Its parent company, Philam Life, the country’s premier life insurance company, is moving to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and Mall of Asia starting April.

Philam Life has sold the site to mall developer SM Development Corp. (SMDC).

Known for its excellent acoustics, Philam Life Auditorium on United Nations Avenue in Ermita is a 780-seat theater whose acoustics were done by Bolt, Beranek & Newman, which also did the acoustics of the Sydney

Podcast by Krizia Arcangel, VERA Files

Residents of Artex Compound in Malabon can’t live without boats. Not since 2004 when its roads became permanently submerged in water.

The compound used to be a picturesque village with a textile factory, playgrounds and a church. But it fell into neglect following a long-drawn labor dispute between the owners of the textile company and its employees.

Over the years, the residents have become so used to their living conditions that most of them opt to stay rather than relocate on land.

But seeing dry ground might soon be a reality for the residents because of a recent development on the case over the ownership of the compound.

After visiting the perennially flooded compound, Krizia Arcangel produced this podcast in Filipino:

Read the script.

(The podcast was produced by Krizia Arcangel, a senior journalism student at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, for her J196 seminar class under VERA Files trustee Yvonne T. Chua. VERA Files is put

Sabah

By Jonathan De Santos, VERA Files

The governments of the Philippines and Malaysia must soften their individual stance on the situation in Sabah to prevent further violence in the region, the president of a policy think tank said Friday.

Amina Rasul, president of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy, speaking at a forum at the UP Law Center, warned the hardline stances taken by both countries against followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III could only lead to more incursions into Sabah.

Kiram’s followers, led by Agbimuddin Kiram, occupied a village in Sabah in February to reiterate the sultanate’s claim on the disputed territory.

This led to a standoff with Malaysian security forces that has since erupted into conflict, with 61 Filipinos and five Malaysians reportedly killed in clashes that began on March 1.

Malaysia has rejected an offer of a ceasefire and has called for an unconditional surrender.

“Total surrender can only be accomplished with the annihilation of Sultanate

By Pablo A. Tariman, VERA Files

As Cassio in OtelloTenor Arthur Espiritu, the first Filipino tenor to sing at La Scala in Milan, again made history as the first Filipino to sing Cassio in Otello mounted in Teatro Communale Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy.

Espiritu,who sang for the first time in the hometown of Pavarotti,said the audience was very enthusiastic in the first two nights of the concert this week. “I heard people cry at the end when Otello killed Desdemona and Otello killed himself. It’s still a timeless work by Shakespeare and Verdi did it justice.”

He found the Teatro Communale named after the famous tenor simply beautiful and on top of that, it has great acoustics. “The town itself has its charm, a very clean and quiet town. It is surreal to be singing in a place where Pavarotti grew up.”

He added the Otello of Kristian Benedikt and and the Desdemona of Yolanda Auyanet were both sang by fantastic singers. “Kristian (Benedikt) has this huge dark dramatic tenor and Yolanda (Auyanet) with