Sandugo Festival

The Sandugo Festival is a yearly historical event that takes place every year in the island province of Bohol. This festival honors the celebration of a local Philippine leader Datu Sikatuna's blood compact and association or treaty of friendship with the Spanish king conquistador, Captain General Miguel López de Legazpi in March 16, 1565. The annual celebration of the Sandugo Festivities begins in the month of March. However, the streetdancing competitions have been changed to July to coincide with the annual TBTK or Tigum Bol-anon Tibuok Kalibutan, translated into English, literally or otherwise as a gathering of Boholanos (the people of Bohol) from around the world. Tagbilaran City also celebrates its Charter Day on July 1 while the Province of Bohol became a separate politico-military province on July 22, 1854, known as the "Bohol Day", in commemoration of Bohol's separation from the government of Cebu. Thus, a festive mood pervades the province for the whole month of July.

Hundreds and thousands of people from around the Philippines and the world gather for this special event which involves colorful costumes and loud drum beats, street parades, church services, fireworks, beauty pageants (Miss Bohol and Miss Tagbilaran), cockfighting tournaments and sport tournaments.

The main highlights of the Sandugo Festival is a street parade with a street dancing competition, a re-enactment of the first sandugo or blood compact, and the Search for Miss Bohol Sandugo.

The street dancing competition is held in Tagbilaran City where each local high school develops its own dance custom with special costumes and choreography. A small marching band follows each group of dancers to provide the music. The bands consist only of xylophones, drums, and trumpets. Some of the dancing was very good, and the costumes were very colorful. The parade also integrated the customary entourage of local officials, police department, local business establishments and associations and, of course, the local beauty queens, Miss Bohol and Miss Tagbilaran. The street dancing has since then evolved to include entries not only from high schools but also entries from Local Government Units (LGUs) or municipalities as well as guests from other cities and provinces.

The Bohol Sandugo Celebration or Sandugo Festival, also known as Blood Compact Commemoration, is an annual historical event that takes place every year in the island province of Bohol, Philippines. This festival commemorates the treaty of friendship between two people of different races, culture, religion and civilization: between Datu Sikatuna, a native chieftain and the Spanish conquistador, Miguel López de Legazpi, representing the king of Spain. This treaty of friendship occurred on March 16, 1565 through a blood compact. This blood compact is the first international treaty of friendship between Filipinos and Spaniards and is known today as "Sandugo", meaning "one blood".

In honor of this occasion, the late Philippine President Elpidio Quirino established the Order of Sikatuna, a presidential decoration conferred upon diplomats.

Hotel Manila

When the United States took over the Philippine Islands from the Spanish in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, President William McKinley began Americanizing the former Spanish colony. In 1900 he appointed Judge William Howard Taft to head the Philippine Commission to evaluate the needs of the new territory. Taft, who later became the Philippines' first civilian Governor-General, decided that Manila, the capital, should be a planned town. He hired as his architect and city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham, who had built Union Station and the post office in Washington. In Manila, Mr. Burnham had in mind a long wide, tree-lined boulevard along the bay, beginning at a park area dominated by a magnificent hotel. To design the hotel Taft hired William E. Parsons, a New York architect, who envisioned an impressive, but comfortable hotel, along the lines of a California mission, but grander. The original design was an H-shaped plan that focused on well-ventilated rooms on two wings, providing grand vistas of the harbor, the Luneta, and Intramuros. The top floor was, in fact, a large viewing deck that was used for various functions, including watching the American navy steam into the harbor.

Archipelago

An archipelago (pronounced /ɑrkəˈpɛləgoʊ/) is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago literally means "chief sea", from Greek arkhon (arkhi-) ("leader") and pelagos ("sea"). In antiquity, the Archipelago (Greek: Αρχιπέλαγος) was the proper name for the Aegean Sea and, later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands (since the sea is remarkable for its large number of islands). It is now used to generally refer to any island group or, sometimes, to a sea containing a large number of scattered islands like the Aegean Sea.

Archipelagos are usually found in the open sea; less commonly, a large land mass may neighbour them, an example being Scotland which has more than 700 islands surrounding the mainland. Archipelagoes are often volcanic, forming along mid-ocean ridges or hotspots, but there are many other processes involved in their construction, including erosion, deposition, and land elevation.

The four largest modern states that are mainly archipelagos are Japan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Indonesia (the world's largest archipelagic state according to the CIA World Factbook).

The largest archipelago in the world by size is the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of Northern Canada. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean.

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church and represents over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world's population. It is made up of one Western church (the Latin Rite) and 22 Eastern Catholic churches, divided into 2,782 jurisdictional areas around the world. The Church looks to the Pope, currently Benedict XVI, as its highest human authority in matters of faith, morality and Church governance. The Church community is composed of an ordained ministry and the laity. Both groups may become members of religious communities such as the Dominicans, Carmelites and Jesuits.

The Catholic Church defines its mission as spreading the message of Jesus Christ, found in the four Gospels, administering sacraments that aid the spiritual growth of its members and the exercise of charity. To further its mission, the Church operates social programs and institutions throughout the world. These include schools, universities, hospitals, missions and shelters, as well as Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities that help the poor, families, the elderly and the sick.