Manuel L. Quezon and Holy Week

HOLY Week is known to the older generation of Filipinos as Semana Santa, and as "Mahal na Araw" to many. These are the seven days leading up to Easter which begins with the commemoration of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, climaxing with the commemoration of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. It concludes with Christ's rest in death and descent into Hades on Black Saturday. Easter Sunday is then joyously celebrated with preparations, arrangements and merriment like Christmas. And for most of the country's faithful, to visit the sites where all the events of this week took place would be the pinnacle of their practice; the city, Jerusalem, the country, Israel.

While Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, Israel was created only in 1948, with the Philippines among the 33 countries which voted in favor of the 1947 United Nations Resolution 181 recommending the partition of Palestine and the establishment of an Arab and a Jewish state. The Philippines was the only Asian nation to have voted for the resolution. Full diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Israel were realized upon the signing of the Treaty of Friendship on Feb. 26, 1958. The Israeli embassy in Manila and the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv both opened in 1962. And as of this writing, Filipinos can enter Israel visa -free.