MICHAEL “XIAO” CHUA
AS the 2021 celebration of the Quincentennial of the Victory at Mactan and related events is fast approaching, it is time to reflect on the implications of those events for us, which although showing the humanity of our ancestors in assisting the wary circumnavigators of the world, and the valor we showed when Magellan started meddling in our affairs, led to our colonization more than 40 years later in 1565. The “Cuadricula” exhibit by HoCus (for lawyer Saul Hofileña and painter Guy Custodio), curated by Gemma Cruz Araneta, that runs until March 15 (a day before the anniversary of Magellan’s arrival in Samar) at the Gallery 27 and 28 of the National Museum of Fine Arts, affords us a way to talk about that mixed legacy in a creative way.