WASHINGTON, DC — Unknown to many, a picturesque national park in Washington, DC that features the iconic Tidal Basin and is widely known for its cherry blossom trees was inspired by Luneta Park in Manila.

US first lady Helen Taft, who had lived in the Philippines while her husband William Howard Taft Luneta Park was civilian governor general in the Philippines, wanted to have a public space in DC similar to Luneta where people could meet for social gatherings. Her husband was elected president of the United States in 1908.

Philippine and US ties first arose after Spain ceded its long-standing colony of the archipelago in 1898. It remained an American colony until the United States recognized its independence in 1946. Years later, Manila would become Washington’s oldest ally in the Indo-Pacific.

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During their time in the Philippines in early 1900, the Tafts spent most of their evenings at Luneta Park listening to the popular Philippine Constabulary Band, which would later be invited to Taft’s inauguration parade in DC and the launch of the park itself, the West Potomac Park.

“That Manila could lend anything to Washington may be a surprise to some persons, but the Luneta is an institution whose usefulness to society in the Philippine capital is not to be overestimated,” the first lady wrote in her memoir, “Recollection of Full Years,” published in 1914.

Connected histories

For Georgetown University professor Dr. Erwin Tiongson, a Nueva Vizcaya native now based in DC who describes himself as a community historian, this is just one of the many ways that illustrate how the Philippines and the United States in the US capital are deeply intertwined.

Tiongson and his family have spent the last 12 years digging up these kinds of stories for a passion project—dubbed as the Philippines on the Potomac—but it has been turning into an educational resource that people may look back on.

Just last year, he published a book called “Philippine-American Heritage in Washington, D.C.” that contains some of those stories they have so far discovered that traces the connected histories of the two nations along the streets of DC, which are often overlooked and rarely found in textbooks.

PH INFLUENCE ON US A 1910 postcard of West Potomac Park in Washington, DC. Georgetown

“When we started this project 12 years ago, in a way, we started it because we wanted something for our children,” Tiongson recently told Filipino journalists participating in a reporting tour hosted by the US Embassy in Manila.

“If you want to characterize this project that we’ve been leading, it’s an effort to find our older home right here where we live …. We were trying to find traces of our older home right around us,” said the professor, who first moved to the United States in the 1990s.

PH ‘executive experience’

Tiongson said his discoveries over the years have made him realize how Philippines-US relations became “mutually transformative.”

“I was taught to believe that the US basically created institutions in the Philippines. The derogatory term is sometimes, ‘civilized the Philippines,’” he said.

But the United States did not start as a centralized government, and it was their colonial experience in the Philippines that taught them how to run a country, he pointed out.

“In fact, some people call the Civil War the war of the states because some states wanted certain things, including slavery, and others did not. Imagine if that was the context, and then suddenly, in 1901, they were running a country, our country, and they were also designing for the first time programs that would later become part of their federal government here,” he said.

“It’s not like they taught the Philippines how to create institutions in a way that colonial experience taught them how to create institutions. It’s been mutually transformative that many people acquired important experience in the Philippines, which they brought back to the US and changed their way of life here,” he added.

Taft, for instance, became president of the United States “on the strength of his executive experience in the Philippines,” he said.

Tiongson and his family have been conducting free walking tours around DC over the last decade for small groups of professionals, students and even diplomats, to guide them around sites that display the cultural heritage of Philippine-American ties.

PH INFLUENCE ON US. University professor Dr. Erwin Tiongson said Luneta as an inspiration and model for the DC park is just one of many Philippine “traces” on Washington’s experience in its colonial administration of the country.

“We do it pro bono, so we don’t charge anybody. It’s just to raise awareness of all these aspects of Philippine-American history,” he said.

As part of the tour, he brings along all the artifacts he has collected, from postcards to photos and other memorabilia to show his guests.

They have identified over 100 sites in DC that showcase those Philippine-American cultural links. For instance, the Bataan Street NW was to honor the Filipino and American troops captured on the Bataan Peninsula by the Japanese during World War II. Manuel Quezon, who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, lived on K Street where he was exiled. At the time, he was a nonvoting member of the US Congress as resident commissioner.

With the help of the Philippine Embassy in the United States, they have developed a map for a self-guided tour for these sites in DC.

There are many more stories waiting to be told. Tiongson estimated that his book only represents a fifth of all the stories he and his family have gathered over the years.

“The work never stops. I’ve been telling friends, I teach economics at Georgetown, if I retire now and if all I do is to write about everything I found, I will never finish. That’s how much materials we have,” he said.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser faced criticism over a pair of trips that are alleged to have taken place using taxpayer money during the month of May. Earlier in May, Bowser took a trip to The Masters that appeared on her public calendar of events as a “sports and economic development visit.” According to the mayor’s spokesperson, the mayor and her team were invited to the event by two women who are chairing a Gallery Place/Chinatown Task Force.

As Fox 5 reports, one of those chairs is a CEO for EDENS, Jodie McLean. EDENS does millions of dollars in business in Washington, D.C. When Fox 5 reporter Stephanie Ramirez asked Bowser for additional clarification, she bristled, telling Ramirez, “We tried to be transparent, so I don’t know what questions you have that remain. We disclosed – I don’t know what questions you have that remain; we expect an invoice if it hasn’t – we haven’t received it yet from EDENS… I believe that the estimated costs were in the range of $5-$6,000 and that’s for air travel … per person.”

Bowser continued, defending her trip to Augusta National Golf Course, “Listen, voters have placed their trust in me to make the best decisions for the District for the last 15 years, including three elections as mayor. We made no secret about the fact that we make sports investments. We are the sports capital, and we are going to promote the District in every corner of the world, and that has been my experience as mayor.”

When Fox 5 asked about why the trip had so much secrecy around it, Bowser replied, “You know the reason why you know about the trip? Because it was on my public schedule. That’s not a secret.”

According to the Mayor’s public calendar, the next trip is described as an “economic mission” to the International Council of Shopping Centers in Las Vegas, which is being held from May 19-21. “On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Mayor Bowser will attend the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) LAS VEGAS to attract retail to the District of Columbia. This economic mission is coordinated by the Washington, DC Economic Partnership, which has organized the District’s presence at ICSC since 2001.”

The mayor’s trips to the council of shopping centers have received scrutiny since at least 2017. At the time, D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) defended the trip, telling the Washington Post, “It’s great. D.C. has changed, and we can make a different pitch than we could make years ago. It used to be that we had to tell them about the vision of what D.C. could become. Now, everybody wants to come open a store in the District. Frankly, if we weren’t here, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs.”

Others, like Monica Kamen, then the co-director of the DC Fair Budget Commission, believed there was a better way for taxpayer money to be allocated, given the gentrification concerns in the District. Kamen told the Post, “There’s been a lot of development in D.C. that has led to massive gentrification and a rise in the cost of living, and we need to be looking at how we continue development without further displacing people. A week before the budget vote, I would hope that that is where most of their focus was — on how to maximize spending for those in need . . . not in Las Vegas talking about giving away too many tax dollars to retailers.”

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Throughout the procession, attendees said prayers, including the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

A crowd of more than 1,000 Catholics processed with the Eucharist through the streets of downtown Washington, D.C. to celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph on Saturday morning in spite of scattered rainfall throughout the event.

The Catholic Information Center’s (CIC) second annual Eucharistic procession — which took place just blocks from the White House — drew participation from priests, nuns and lay people from the area. The May 18 procession was nearly twice the size of last year’s procession on May 20. 

“People have shown their love for the Eucharist [by] showing up in this rainy weather,” Father Charles Trullols, the director of CIC, told CNA after the procession.

Father Trullols said he “wasn’t certain” whether the weather would reduce attendance, but surpassing last year’s turnout was “even more incredible because of the rain.” He added that bystanders who saw the procession appeared “so impressed” with the “beauty of the procession” and “the reverence of everyone praying.”

“[This procession] impacted so many souls,” Father Trullols added.

The event began with Mass inside CIC’s chapel, although a large portion of attendees viewed the Mass on a video displayed on a truck outside of the building as the whole crowd was not able to fit inside. 

Massgoers at the Eucharistic Procession in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph, on May 18, 2024. Christina Herrera

This was followed by the exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament on K Street and a recitation of the Litany of St. Joseph before the procession began down the road. 

The Blessed Sacrament is seen at the Eucharistic Procession in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph on May 18, 2024. Christina Herrera

At the lead of the procession were the cross bearer and candle bearers, followed by religious sisters. After the sisters were children who have recently received their First Communion, and then the Blessed Sacrament itself inside of a monstrance and under a processional canopy. Behind the Eucharist were the priests, the choir and the lay faithful. 

Throughout the procession, attendees said prayers, including the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. The faithful also sang various hymns and stopped at three stations to kneel in front of the Blessed Sacrament where Trullols would read from the Gospel. 

One of the attendees — Joseph Duncan from McLean, Virginia — told CNA the procession was “amazing” and noted the importance of a procession near the White House during an election year: “[It can] bring a lot of grace to the country.”

The faithful kneel during the Eucharistic Procession in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph on May 18, 2024. Christina Herrera

Brittany Baldwin, from Houston, Texas, told CNA the procession was “incredibly moving” and that she “choked up” during the procession and “watching people’s reactions was equally moving.” 

Baldwin, who said she also attended CIC’s procession last year, noted the growth in attendees and added: “I’m sure there would have been a lot more if it wasn’t for the rain.”

The CIC offers daily Mass on weekdays and regularly hosts informational events on Catholic theology and other Catholic issues. The organization also has a bookstore.