MICHAEL “XIAO” CHUA
FOR the 126th anniversary of the establishment of the La Liga Filipina (The Philippine League) last July 3, I was invited to speak by the Museo ni José Rizal, Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago. The actor Robin Padilla, who once played another hero, Andres Bonifacio, attended the event. In that shrine, its founding is portrayed in a popular 1961 painting by D. Caparas entitled “The Establishment of La Liga Filipina.” It shows a meeting with only a few people around. But an original photo-postcard of a drawing by an eyewitness in the possession of the collector Mariano Cacho shows that it was actually a surprisingly very big meeting.