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The Philippines comes to the modern world with a history distinguished for a variety of influences and cultural currents. The Filipinos were an ancient people, already in the process of constructing a state when Spanish sailors in search of a trade route landed on a Visayan island; long ago they established values and traditions that remain undiminished to this day, retaining the primeval scent of native soil, the marrow of old character and vision. The archipelago has more than seven thousand islands and through these islands voyaged ancient mariners bearing arms and implements of trade as well as set notions from everywhere - Chinese and Arabs, Malays and Indians, British and Dutch, Spaniards and Americans. They inspired and imposed change, not infrequently causing protest and pain among the colonized. They converged, sometimes benignly, other times ruthlessly, to enter the indigenous culture, to blend passion and wisdom, routine and inventiveness, music and hubbub. But the land and the people have preserved and developed an essence all their own...The Philippines is a rich land, not only in natural resources but in the diversity of its people. Capture this essence on each photograph. This is my way of explaining Philippines to other people in other parts of the world. The pictures tell many things about Filipinos and their birthplace. After viewing these pictures, one who has not set foot on the land, or who has seen it cursorily, will undoubtedly experience the thrill of a sudden intimacy with the people and their environment and startle himself with the thought: "I know this place and this people".When this happens, I hope the impression will last for a lifetime.
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