The first women's association in Albania was founded in 1909. Albanian women from the northern Gheg region resided within a conservative and patriarchal society. In such a traditional society, the women had subordinate roles in Gheg communities that believe in "male predominance". This is despite the arrival of democracy and the adoption of a free market economy in Albania, after the period under the communist Party of Labour. Traditional Gheg Albanian culture was based on the 500-year-old Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, a traditional Gheg code of conduct, where the main role of women was to take care of the children and to take care of the home.

History

Rights to bear arms
According to a column in The Literary World in 1878, Albanian women were allowed to carry arms.

Traditional Gheg social status
Edith Durham noted in 1928 that Albanian village women were more conservative in maintaining traditions, such as revenge calling, similar to women in ancient Greece.

Prior to World War II, it was common for some Gheg Albanian women to become "live-in concubines" of men living in mountain areas.

Having daughters is less favoured within the patriarchal society of Gheg Albanians. Due to the giving of greater importance to the desire of having sons than bearing daughters, it is customary that for pregnant Albanian women to be greeted with the phrase "", meaning "May it be a son".

Traditional Lab social status
The Labs of Labëria were a patriarchal society. As among the Montenegrins, women in Labëria were forced to do all the drudge work.

Gheg sworn virgins

In the past, in family units that did not have patriarchs, unmarried Albanian women could take on the role of the male head of the family by "taking an oath of virginity", a role that would include the right to live like a man, to carry weapons, own property, be able to move freely, dress like men, acquire male names if they wish to do so, assert autonomy, avoid arranged marriages, and be in the company of men while being treated like a man.

Meal preparation
The women in central Albania, particularly the women in Elbasan and the nearby regions, are known to cook the sweet tasting ballakume during the Dita e Verës, an annual spring festival celebrated on the 14th of March. On the other hand, Muslim Albanian women, particularly women from the Islamic Bektashi sect cook pudding known as the ashura from ingredients such as cracked wheat, sugar, dried fruit, crushed nuts, and cinnamon, after the 10th day of matem, a period of fasting.

Women's rights in Albanian politics

In the 19th-century, Sami Frashëri first voiced the idea of education for women with the argument that if would strengthen society by having educated women to teach their children. In the late 19th-century, some urban elite women who had been educated in Western Europe saw a need for more education for women in Albania. In 1891, the first girls' high school was founded in Korçë by Sevasti Qiriazi and Parashqevi Qiriazi and in 1909 they founded the first women's organization in Albania, the Morning Star () with the purpose of raising the rights of women by raising their education level.

The women's movement in Albania was interrupted by the first world war, but resumed when Albania became an independent nation after the war. The Qiriazi sisters founded the organization  in Korçë, which published the newspaper . In 1920, Marie Çoba founded the local women's organization Gruaja Shqiptare in Shkodër, which was followed by several other local organizations with the same name in Korçë, Vlorë and Tiranë.

In 1920 Urani Rumbo and others founded  (the Women's Union) in Gjirokastër, one of the most important feminist organisations promoting Albanian women's emancipation and right to study. They published a declaration in the newspaper , protesting discrimination against women and social conditions. In 1923 Rumbo was also part of a campaign to allow girls to attend the "boy's" lyceum of Gjirokastër. The Albanian women's movement were supported by educated urban elite women who were inspired by the state feminism of Turkey under Kemal Ataturk.

During the reign of Zog I of Albania (r. 1928-1939), women's rights was protected by the state under the national state organization , which promoted a progressive policy and secured women the right to education and professional life and a ban against the seclusion of women in harems and behind veils; equal inheritance rights, divorce, and a ban against arranged and forced marriages as well as polygamy. However, in practice this progressive policy only concerned the cosmopolitan city elite, and had little effect in the lives of the majority of women in Albania.

Limited women's suffrage was granted in 1920, and women obtained full voting rights in 1945. Under the communist government of Albania, an official ideology of gender equality was promoted  and promoted by Union of Albanian Women. In the first democratic election after the fall of communism, the number of women deputies in parliament fell from 75 in the last parliament of communist Albania to 9. In a turbulent period after 1991 the position of women worsened. There is a religious revival among Albanians which in the case of Muslims sometimes means that women are pushed back to the traditional role of mother and housekeeper. As of 2013 women represented 22.9% of the parliament.

Marriage, fertility, and family life

The total fertility rate is 1.5 children born per woman (2015 est.), which is below the replacement rate of 2.1. The contraceptive prevalence rate is quite high: 69.3% (2008/09). Most Albanian women start their families in the early and mid-twenties: as of 2011, the average age at first marriage was 23.6 for women and 29.3 for men.

In some rural areas of Albania, marriages are still arranged, and society is strongly patriarchal and traditional, influenced by the traditional set of values of the kanun. The urbanization of Albania is low compared to other European countries: 57.4% of the total population (2015). Although forced marriage is generally disapproved by society, it is a "well known phenomenon in the country, especially in rural and remote areas," and girls and women in these areas are "very often forced into marriages because of [a] patriarchal mentality and poverty".

Abortion in Albania was fully legalized on December 7, 1995. Abortion can be performed on demand until the 12th week of pregnancy. Women must undergo counseling for a week prior to the procedure, and hospitals that perform abortions are not allowed to release information to the public regarding which women they have treated.

During the government of Enver Hoxha, communist Albania had a natalist policy, leading women to have illegal abortions or to induce them on their own. Eventually the country had the second-highest maternal mortality rate in all of Europe, and it was estimated that 50% of all pregnancies ended in an abortion.

Employment
During the communist era women entered in paid employment in large numbers.
The transition period in Albania has been marked by rapid economic changes and instability. The labour market faces many of the problems that are common to most transition economies, such as loss of jobs in many sectors, that were not sufficiently compensated by emerging new sectors. As of 2011, the employment rate was 51.8% for young women, compared to 65.6% for young men.

Education

As late as 1946, about 85% of the people were illiterate, principally because schools using the Albanian language had been practically non-existent in the country before it became independent in 1912. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Ottoman rulers had prohibited the use of the Albanian language in schools. The communist regime gave high priority to education, which included the alphabetization of the population, but also the promotion of socialist ideology in schools. As of 2015, the literacy rate of women was only slightly below that of men: 96.9% female compared to 98.4% male.

Violence against women
In recent years, Albania has taken steps to address the issue of violence against women. This included enacting the Law No. 9669/2006 (Law on Measures against Violence in Family Relations)
 and ratifying the Istanbul Convention.

See also
 Union of Albanian Women
 Gender roles in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe

References

External links

 Association of Albanian Girls and Women (AAGW)
 Women and Children in Albania, Double Dividend of Gender Equality (PDF), Social Research Centre, INSTAT 2006
 World Vision promotes the equality of women in Albania
 The Women's Program, Open Society Foundation for Albania
 OSCE Presence in Albania, osce.org

Albania

Women in Albania


Alexander Sheldon (October 23, 1766 in Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut – September 10, 1836 in Montgomery County, New York) was an American physician and politician.

Life
He was the son of Phineas Sheldon (1717–1807) and Ruth Harmon Sheldon (1733–1805). He graduated from Yale College in 1787. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1800 to 1808, in 1812 and in 1826, and was Speaker in 1804, 1805, 1806, 1808 and 1812. He was the last of the Speakers that wore the Cocked Hat as the badge of office.

He graduated from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1812.

He was a regent of the University of the State of New York. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821.

He was married to Miriam King (b. 1770 Suffield). Their son, Smith Sheldon (1811–1884), established the publishing-house of Sheldon and Company. Their daughter Delia Sheldon was the mother of the Presbyterian missionary, Sheldon Jackson, who established more than a hundred churches, mostly in the Western United States.

Sources
Bio at Famous Americans
 Ancestry
 Members of NYSA from Montg. Co.

1766 births
1832 deaths
Speakers of the New York State Assembly
People from Suffield, Connecticut
Regents of the University of the State of New York
Yale College alumni
People of colonial Connecticut
New York College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni

Alexander Sheldon


The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, England on the south bank of the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Albert Embankment)  and the London Borough of Southwark, (where it adjoins Bankside). As such, the South Bank may be regarded as somewhat akin to the riverside part of an area known previously as Lambeth Marsh and North Lambeth.

While the South Bank is not formally defined, it is generally understood to be bounded by Westminster Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge, and to be centred approximately half a mile (800 metres) south-east of Charing Cross. The name South Bank was first widely used in 1951 during the Festival of Britain. The area's long list of attractions includes the County Hall complex, the Sea Life London Aquarium, the London Dungeon, Jubilee Gardens and the London Eye, the Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall, National Theatre, and BFI Southbank. In addition to their official and business functions, both the County Hall and the Shell Centre have major residential components.

As it is often waterlogged in winter, the area was slower to develop than the north bank of the Thames. Throughout its history, it has twice functioned as an entertainment district, interspersed by around a hundred years of wharfs, domestic industry and manufacturing being its dominant use. Restoration began in 1917 with the construction of County Hall at Lambeth replacing the Lion Brewery. Its Coade stone symbol was retained and placed on a pedestal at Westminster Bridge and is known as the South Bank Lion.  The Queen's Walk pedestrianised embankment is part of the Albert Embankment, built not only for public drainage but also to raise the whole tract of land to prevent flooding.

In 1951 the Festival of Britain redefined the area as a place for arts and entertainment. It now forms a significant tourist district in central London, stretching from Blackfriars Bridge in the east to Westminster Bridge in the west. Central London road, rail, and foot bridges connect the area to the north bank of the Thames—Golden Jubilee and Waterloo Bridge.

History

During the Middle Ages this area developed as a place of entertainment outside the formal regulation of the City of London on the north bank; this included theatres, prostitution and bear-baiting.

By the 18th century the more genteel entertainment of the pleasure gardens had developed. The shallow bank and mud flats were ideal locations for industry and docks and went on to develop as an industrial location in a patchwork of private ownership.

There was a shift in use when the London County Council required a new County Hall, which was built between 1917 and 1922 on the south bank near North Lambeth's Lower Marsh. The construction of County Hall returned the first section of river frontage to public use. This was extended eastwards in 1951 when a considerable area was redeveloped for the Festival of Britain.

It was renamed 'South Bank' as part of promoting the Festival. The legacy of the festival was mixed, with buildings and exhibits demolished to make way for Jubilee Gardens, while the Royal Festival Hall and The Queen's Walk were retained as part of the Southbank Centre. During the years following the festival the arts and entertainment complex grew with additional facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and other arts venues opened along the river such as the Royal National Theatre.

Geography

The South Bank stretches two square miles (five square kilometres) along the southern bank of the River Thames. The western section is in the Bishops ward of the London Borough of Lambeth, and the eastern section is in the London Borough of Southwark where it joins Bankside.

There is much public open space along the riverside. Between the London Studios and the Oxo Tower lies Bernie Spain Gardens, named after Bernadette Spain, a local community activist who was part of the Coin Street Action Group.

Cultural aspects
The South Bank is a significant arts and entertainment district. The Southbank Centre comprises the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Hayward Gallery. The Royal National Theatre, the London IMAX super cinema and BFI Southbank adjoin to the east, but are not strictly part of the centre.

Polish-British visual chronicler and artist Feliks Topolski was provided a studio under one of the arches of Hungerford Bridge in 1951, where he worked consistently until his death in 1989. Topolski was commissioned to produce a 60ft by 20ft mural under the arch over Belvedere Road for the Festival of Britain, unknowingly painting only two arches up from his eventual studio.[6] Offered to him by David Eccles, it wasn't until 1953 and Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, when the windows from the dismantled annex to Westminster Abbey were repurposed to fit Topolski's studio. Over the years the studio became a central feature of the South Bank, hosting countless people at his 'Open Studio' Fridays from 3pm, with an open door to whosever wished to pop their head in. Now the Studio functions as an archive and exhibition space operated by Topolski Memoir, the charity set up to preserve the artist's legacy.

Topolski was provided with three further arches in 1975 by the Greater London Council (GLC), where he painted his epic 600ft long, 12-20ft high 'Memoir of the Century'. Telling his broad-ranging experience of the 20th century, Topolski painted the work from 1975 until his death, writing that he hoped to die working on it, with a brush in his hand. It remained open until 2006 in its original state, working with students, but, due to its poor condition, underwent a £3'000'000 conservation and renovation program, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, private donations and several other grant bodies, and raised by the artist's son, Daniel Topolski. Reopened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 2009, the Memoir only ran for a year due to commercial pressures and was converted into the Bar Topolski, where some of Topolski's work can still be seen.

County Hall was converted into The London Marriott Hotel County Hall, Sea Life London Aquarium and the London Dungeon.

The OXO Tower Wharf is towards the eastern end of South Bank, and houses Gallery@Oxo, shops and boutiques, and the OXO Tower Restaurant run by Harvey Nichols.

Gabriel's Wharf is a redeveloped wharf on the South Bank, located at 56 Upper Ground, London. It has been converted into a shopping area. Nearby places include the Oxo Tower and Bernie Spain Gardens.

The London Studios, the former home of ITV faces the Thames and Rambert Dance Company have their new studios on Upper Ground. The Old Vic and Young Vic theatres are nearby.

The Florence Nightingale Museum to nursing, medicine and the Crimean War adjoins the 'district'.

The undercroft of the Queen Elizabeth Hall  has been used by skateboarders since the early 1970s. Originally an architectural dead-spot, it became a landmark of British skateboarding culture, but later was under threat, though supported by the Long Live Southbank campaign. Part of the Southbank Centre was turned into shops looking out over the river.

The South Bank was the main scene of the 1952 comedy film The Happy Family, set around the Festival of Britain.

Transport
Part of the success of the area as a visitor attraction is attributed to the high levels of public transport access. Several major railway terminals are within walking distance of the South Bank, on both sides of the river, including Waterloo, Charing Cross and Blackfriars. The London Underground has stations on or near the South Bank, from west to east, at Westminster, Waterloo, Embankment, Blackfriars and Southwark.

The development of the Thameslink Blackfriars railway station in the early 2010s, which has access from both the southern and northern side of the river, prompted the additional named signage "for Bankside and South Bank". Accessibility to the north bank is high, with connections made, from west to east, over the Westminster, Golden Jubilee, Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges. The river is utilised as a means of transport with piers along the South Bank at the London Eye, Royal Festival Hall and Bankside.

References

External links

 South Bank London
 Southbank Centre

Areas of London
Districts of the London Borough of Lambeth
Districts of the London Borough of Southwark
Districts of London on the River Thames
Tourist attractions in London
Festival of Britain
London sub-regions

South Bank


The Philadelphia Soul was an American football team in the Arena Football League.  The team had played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are not to be confused with the Philadelphia Eagles.  They were owned by Jon Bon Jovi and Ron Jaworski, a former player for the Philadelphia Eagles. They won the Arena Bowl in 2008. By 2019, however, all the teams ceased team operations and later the league folded due to bankruptcy.

References

Arena Football League
Soul

Philadelphia Soul


, also known by the ring names  and the mononymous , is a Japanese professional wrestler, shoot wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to Gleat, predominantly performing in its G Prowrestling and Lidet UWF divisions; he also serves as Gleat's UWF Rules Technical Officer.

Known as "The Special One", Tanaka first gained prominence in Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG) and Fighting Investigation Team Battlarts (Battlarts) before moving on to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a four time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, a five time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2006 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. After leaving NJPW, he joined All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he found continued success in the junior heavyweight and tag team ranks upon winning the World Junior Heavyweight Championship once and the All Asia Tag Team Championship twice. From 2013 to 2016, Tanaka worked for Wrestle-1. He also performed for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he held the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice and is a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, making him the second man (after Naomichi Marufuji) to hold all three major Japanese junior heavyweight singles titles as well as the only man to hold all five major junior heavyweight titles in Japan (counting the aforementioned tag team prizes).

Professional wrestling career

Early years
Minoru Tanaka was originally a shootboxer. He started his career as a wrestler in Fujiwara Gumi, trained by its owner, Yoshiaki Fujiwara. In late 1995, Tanaka and everyone else in the promotion abandoned Fujiwara and formed their own promotion, Battlarts, led by Yuki Ishikawa. Despite being a simulated shoot style professional wrestling promotion, Battlarts, like its predecessor, often cooperated with other federations and styles, such as Fighting Network Rings (where he competed in some legitimate shoot fights), Kingdom, Michinoku Pro and Big Japan Pro Wrestling. Tanaka's first championship, the UWA World Middleweight Championship (originally based in Mexico and introduced in Japan through Universal Lucha Libre and Michinoku), came in 1996. He later won Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling's Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship (which was outsourced to Battlarts after Hiromichi Fuyuki abolished all previous FMW titles and replaced them with WEW titles).

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Early success (1999–2002)
Tanaka made his New Japan Pro-Wrestling debut on April 10, 1999, and would proceed to take part in Best of the Super Juniors in block B. Tanaka would reappear for New Japan in late 1999 to early 2000 before he joined the New Japan roster as a full-time competitor. His natural talent enabled him to immediately rise in the junior heavyweight ranks and win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in July with Koji Kanemoto, who used a similar but more ground-oriented style. The Kanemoto-Tanaka combination was reminiscent of the old Akira Maeda-Nobuhiko Takada combination in 1987. In October, Tanaka won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship - thus becoming the first man to hold both junior titles at the same time. In March 2001, Tanaka and Kanemoto lost their titles to El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger, in June he lost in the finals of 2001's Best of the Super Juniors to Liger and in July he lost his singles title. Even with all these losses, Tanaka finished 2001 strong, winning the G1 Jr. Six Man Tag Team Tournament Masahito Kakihara and Masayuki Naruse. For a second time in his career, Tanaka held both junior titles, defeating Masahito Kakihara for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and defeating Gedo and Jado with Jushin Thunder Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. After Koji Kanemoto defeated Tanaka in 2002's Best of the Super Juniors, Kanemoto defeated Tanaka once again for his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, and a month later lost his tag team championship to Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Control Terrorism Unit (2002–2007)
In late 2002 Tanaka began wearing a mask and calling himself "HEAT" (ヒート) in reference to the Game Boy Advance video game Toukon Heat. In only his second match under the persona, Tanaka faced on Kanemoto in an attempt to regain the title but failed. Like the game, the HEAT character often floundered in his early years with the only positive being his victory of the Naeba Cup Tag Tournament alongside Manabu Nakanishi. Heat finally began to pick up steam in 2003, and defeated Jado in December to become a three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. In September 2004, Heat returned to his birth name and reunited with Kanemoto to challenge Gedo and Jado for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Before the match could end, however, Minoru turned on Kanemoto and helped Gedo and Jado win, turning heel and joining CTU in the process. Heat's true success came after turning heel, though he competed as both Heat and simply Minoru Tanaka after joining CTU. After losing to Tiger Mask in the semi-final of the 2004 Best of the Super Juniors, he found his new rival and defeated Tiger Mask. Their rivalry continued over the year and culminated at Toukon Festival: Wrestling World where Heat lost his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Tiger Mask. After this loss, he officially dropped the mask and began wrestling as Minoru Tanaka once again until dropping his surname, calling himself Minoru . He also competed as Masked CTU-J sporadically from this point forward. On May 14, Minoru teamed up with new CTU recruit Hirooki Goto and defeated  Koji Kanemoto and Wataru Inoue to become a three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and would lose them to El Samurai and Ryusuke Taguchi in early 2006.

In 2006, Minoru joined the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion as a member of Team Japan (consisting of Hirooki Goto, Jushin Thunder Liger, Black Tiger and Minoru), one of the four teams competing in the TNA 2006 World X-Cup Tournament. He debuted in TNA on April 23, 2006, at Lockdown, where he teamed with Hirooki Goto against Team USA members Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal and Alex Shelley. Team Japan defeated USA when Black Tiger pinned Lethal. On the April 27 episode of Impact!, Goto and Minoru lost to Dutt and Shelley, giving a first round victory and two points to Team USA.

Following his stint in TNA, Minoru managed to find success upon returning to Japan, as he won the 2006 Best of the Super Juniors after defeating Tiger Mask in the finals. Minoru lost his chance at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in October, but would be granted another one at "Battle Xmas! Catch the Victory", where he defeated Koji Kanemoto for the title, making him a four-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. He would hold the title until he was defeated by Ryusuke Taguchi. After this loss, CTU would take a turn for the worse and eventually disbanded on August 8 where all members would wrestle under their Masked CTU personas.

RISE (2007–2009)
In late 2007, after the break up of CTU, some of the former members, which included Prince Devitt, Hirooki Goto and Minoru along with Shinsuke Nakamura, formed the stable RISE. In early 2008, Minoru and Devitt would win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. However, they would lose the title not even a month later to members of the Legend stable, AKIRA and Jushin Thunder Liger. Minoru and Devitt defeated AKIRA and Liger in their return match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, making the pair two-time champions together and Minoru's fifth overall. They lost the titles in October to No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi). Minoru stayed out of the lime light during late 2008 and early 2009 making him unhappy with his status in the company. Along with Minoru becoming unable to come to terms on a new contract, he left New Japan after nearly a decade with the company January 31, 2009.

All Japan Pro Wrestling

VooDoo Murders (2009–2011)
After leaving New Japan on January 31, 2009, in a shocking move, Tanaka quickly signed with rival promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling in late February and made his presence felt by joining the hated Voodoo Murders stable, replacing the recently retired brother YASSHI in the group. In his first All Japan pay-per-view, he took on Kaz Hayashi for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship and lost. Moving on from this loss, he teamed up with Toshizo to take part in 2009's AJPW Junior Tag League, where they defeated  Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo. After finishing top in Junior League 2009 he was defeated by Super Crazy in the semi-finals. In 2010, he participated in that years junior tournaments failing to win any of them but did come close in the Junior League where he lost to Jimmy Yang. In late 2010, he won an All Asia Tag Team Championship contendership tournament with KONO but failed to win the titles on the next night.

On January 2, 2011, Minoru won the World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Kaz Hayashi. On June 3, 2011, in the aftermath of a backstage fight between Yoshikazu Taru and Nobukazu Hirai, which resulted in Hirai suffering a stroke, All Japan Pro Wrestling disbanded Voodoo Murders, suspended all of its Japanese members, including Minoru, and vacated the World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Minoru was suspended specifically for not attempting to stop Taru's assault on Hirai. Minoru's suspension was lifted on June 30. In October 2011, Minoru began once again wrestling under his full name. In an interview on All Japan's official website, Tanaka explained that by using his full name he wanted to pay tribute to his original home promotion BattlARTS, which closed its doors on November 5, 2011, and where he originally made his breakthrough under his full name.

Stack of Arms (2011–2013)
On December 21, Tanaka along with Masakatsu Funaki and Masayuki Kono formed the stable Stack of Arms. The stable tried to start of strong by winning the AJPW Junior Tag League 2012, but failed in their attempt, not even getting through the starting stages. From this point, Stack of Arms have feud against Team Destruction (Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo and Suwama). When Koji Kanemoto joined Stack of Arms in October 2012, their fortunes turned around, Kanemoto and Tanaka defeated Kazushi Miyamoto and Tomoaki Honma to win the vacant All Asia Tag Team Championship. On January 26, 2013, Kanemoto and Tanaka, calling themselves Junior Stars but still part of Stack of Arms, lost the titles to Hikaru Sato and Hiroshi Yamato but would regain the title less than a month later. Their second reign ended on April 25, 2013, when they were defeated by Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki. In June 2013, Tanaka, along with the rest of Stack of Arms, announced his resignation from All Japan in the aftermath of Nobuo Shiraishi taking over as the promotion's new president. On June 30, Tanaka unsuccessfully challenged Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship in his final All Japan match.

Brief Return (2017)
In the beginning of 2017, Minoru Tanaka returned to AJPW after three and a half years of being away. As Nobuo Shiraishi had long been gone from the company, his original reason for leaving is gone. He returned on the January 2nd Korakuen and soon announced his participation in the 2017 Junior Battle of Glory. Unfortunately, Tanaka would fail to advance to the final after going 1-2-1 in four matches, only achieving three points but tied with AJPW Junior Champion Keisuke Ishii. He stayed in the company after the tournament, consistently working undercards. On July 17, he challenged fellow shooter Hikaru Sato for his recently-won AJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship but was unsuccessful. Tanaka worked All Japan's 45th Anniversary Show in Sumo Hall on August 27, in a brief all-star tag-team match in the upper mid-card where he, Jun Akiyama, Koji Iwamoto, and Takao Omori got a quick victory. He would not stay much longer after this - his final match came on September 19 in an unsuccessful challenge for Jun Akiyama's GAORA TV Championship. He began working for Pro Wrestling NOAH full-time after this.

Wrestle-1 (2013–2016)
On July 10, 2013, Tanaka was announced as part of Keiji Mutoh's new Wrestle-1 promotion. During the promotion's inaugural event on September 8, Tanaka reunited the Junior Stars with Koji Kanemoto in a tag team match, where they defeated Fujita Hayato and Masaaki Mochizuki. On January 31, 2014, Tanaka celebrated his 20th anniversary in professional wrestling, teaming with Kanemoto and the debuting Jushin Thunder Liger and Yoshiaki Fujiwara in an eight-man tag team main event, where they defeated Desperado (Kazma Sakamoto, Masayuki Kono, René Duprée and Ryoji Sai). In September, Tanaka took part in the Wrestle-1 Championship tournament, where he made it to the second round, before losing to Kai. Through Wrestle-1's working relationship with American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Tanaka worked TNA's Bound for Glory event in Tokyo on October 12, defeating Manik. On December 7, Tanaka defeated Hiroshi Yamato to win the European Wrestling Promotion (EWP) Intercontinental Championship. Later that month, Tanaka traveled to Hannover, Germany to successfully defend the title against Michael Kovac. Through Wrestle-1's relationship with Pro Wrestling Zero1, Tanaka won two more titles on March 1, 2015, when he defeated Jason Lee for the International Junior Heavyweight and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championships. On May 5, Tanaka won yet another title, when he defeated Kaz Hayashi in the finals of a tournament to become the inaugural Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Champion. Tanaka lost the first of his four titles on May 16, when Tajiri defeated him for the EWP Intercontinental Championship. He regained the title on May 30 in a match also contested for the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship. On September 12, Tanaka lost the EWP Intercontinental Championship to Robbie Dynamite in Hannover, Germany. On September 23, Tanaka lost the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship to Andy Wu in his sixth defense. On October 11, Tanaka lost his final two titles, the Zero1 junior heavyweight championships, to Shinjiro Otani. On January 31, 2016, Tanaka, Kaz Hayashi and Tajiri won the vacant UWA World Trios Championship. On June 28, Tanaka announced he was leaving Wrestle-1 due to his contract with the company expiring. On July 29, Tanaka, Hayashi and Tajiri lost the UWA World Trios Championship to Andy Wu, Daiki Inaba and Seiki Yoshioka in their fifth defense.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2017-Present)

Tanaka made his first appearance in NOAH after 15 years on September 5, 2017, and called for a shot at the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, but first defeated Hitoshi Kumano on October 1. He'd eventually get his shot on December 22, but was defeated by the defending champion Daisuke Harada. On March 11, 2018, he and Yoshinari Ogawa defeated XX (Hi69 and Taiji Ishimori) to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but, as Ishimori announced his departure the very next day, Ogawa opted to vacate the titles as he would not accept a title victory over someone focused mentally on leaving rather than focused on the match. This led to a tournament being set up to crown new champions, where Tanaka and new partner Hi69 defeated Ratel's (Hayata (wrestler) and Yo-Hey) in the finals on April 15 to regain the titles. On May 29, the two continued their battle against the stable by successfully defending the titles against Tadasuke and Daisuke Harada. On August 18, they successfully defended the titles by defeating Hayata and Yo-Hey once again. The pair continued their dominating run in a series of matches against some of Tanaka's regular career rivals - on September 2, the duo defeated Ikuto Hidaka and Takuya Sugawara from Zero1, the former of whom came up with Minoru as a rival in Battlearts. On November 25, Minoru and Hi69 won their fourth and final defense of the Junior Tag-Titles, taking on Tanaka's 20-year partner and enemy, Koji Kanemoto, and his partner Hiroshi Yamato. At Great Voyage on December 16, the duo's reign came to an end as they were defeated by The Back Breakers (Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano). On March 10, 2019, Tanaka finally defeated Harada to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship and complete his wins of the top three junior heavyweight championships in Japan (New Japan's IWGP, Noah's GHC, and All Japan's PWF) as well as Zero1's and Wrestle-1's titles.

Personal life
In 2002, Tanaka married former professional wrestler Yumi Fukawa soon after her retirement. The couple have two children. Their eldest daughter Kizuna is training as a professional wrestler and is due to debut for Pro Wrestling Wave in March 2023.

Championships and accomplishments
All Japan Pro Wrestling
All Asia Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Koji Kanemoto (2) and Toshizo (1)
Gaora TV Championship (1 time, current)
World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Junior Tag League (2009) – with Toshizo
European Wrestling Promotion
EWP Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
Fujiwara Gumi / Battlarts
FMW World Junior Heavyweight/Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
UWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
Japanese Junior Crown League (1999)
 New Japan Pro-Wrestling
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Koji Kanemoto (1), Jushin Thunder Liger (1), Hirooki Goto (1) and Prince Devitt (2)
Best of the Super Juniors (2006)
G1 Junior Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2001) – with Masayuki Naruse and Masahito Kakihara
Junior Heavyweight Tag MVP Award (2005) with Hirooki Goto
Naeba Cup Tag Tournament (2003) – with Manabu Nakanishi
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Ranked No. 12 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2002
Pro Wrestling Noah
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Yoshinari Ogawa (1) and Hi69 (1)
GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Zero1
International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Koji Kanemoto
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Wrestle-1
UWA World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Kaz Hayashi and Tajiri
Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship (1 time)
Wrestle-1 Cruiser Festival (2020)
Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
Best Technical Wrestler (2001)

References

External links
Wrestle-1 profile

1972 births
Living people
Japanese male professional wrestlers
Masked wrestlers
People from Komaki, Aichi
IWGP Junior Heavyweight champions
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions
GHC Junior Heavyweight Champions
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions
All Asia Tag Team Champions
World Junior Heavyweight Champions (AJPW)
UWA World Trios Champions
Independent World Junior Heavyweight Champions
20th-century professional wrestlers
21st-century professional wrestlers
Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Champions
UWA World Middleweight Champions
Gaora TV Champions
Best of the Super Juniors winners

Minoru Tanaka (wrestler)


Sant Dnyaneshwar is a 1940 film about the life of Jñāneśvar (1275–1296), a 13th-century Marathi poet, philosopher, sant and yogi of the Nath tradition.

Plot
Jñāneśvar was the second of the four children of Vitthal Govind Kulkarni and Rukmini, a pious couple from Apegaon near Paithan on the banks of the river Godavari. Vitthal had studied Vedas and set out on pilgrimages at a young age. In Alandi, about 30 km from Pune, Sidhopant, a local Yajurveda Brahmin was very much impressed with him and Vitthal married his daughter Rukmini.

After some time, getting permission from Rukmini, Vitthal went to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India, where he met Ramananda Swami and requested to be initiated into sannyas, lying about his marriage. But Ramananda Swami later went to Alandi and, convinced that his student Vitthal was the husband of Rukmini, he returned to Kashi and ordered Vitthal to return home to his family. The couple was excommunicated from the Brahmin caste as Vitthal had broken with sannyas, the last of the four ashrams. Four children were born to them; Nivrutti, Jñāndev, Sopan, Mukta. It is believed that later Vitthal and Rukmini ended their lives by jumping into the waters at Prayag where the river Ganges meets Yamuna, hoping that their children would be accepted into the society after their death.

The orphaned children grew up on alms. They approached the Brahmin community of Paithan to accept them, but the Brahmins refused. According to the disputed "Shuddhi Patra", the children were purified by the Brahmins on the condition of observing celibacy. But when they returned, the Brahmins did not pay any attention to the Shuddhi Patra and said that it was fake. Later, a farmer took them to live with his family, where Jñāneśvar translated the Bhagavad Gita into the Marathi language and performed many miracles; riding on a flying wall was the most famous of these.

Directors
Vishnupant Govind Damle
Sheikh Fattelal

Writers
Anand Kumar
Shivram Vashikar

Cast
Shahu Modak as Dnyaneshwar
Datta Dharmadhikari
Pandit
Tamhankar
Shanta Majumdar
Sumati Gupte
Bhagwat

References

External links

 Full movie on YouTube
 Full movie on Dailymotion

1940 films
Indian biographical drama films
Films set in Maharashtra
Prabhat Film Company films
Articles containing video clips
1940s biographical films
Indian black-and-white films
Indian multilingual films
Religious drama films

Sant Dnyaneshwar (film)


The S1G reactor is a naval reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships.  The S1G designation stands for:

 S = Submarine platform
 1 = First generation core designed by the contractor
 G = General Electric was the contracted designer

History
This nuclear reactor was constructed by General Electric as a prototype for the USS Seawolf (SSN-575) submarine.  It was a liquid metal cooled reactor using pure sodium to cool the core instead of water, because the higher temperature of liquid sodium (compared to pressurized water) enabled the production of more superheated steam in the steam generators.  This resulted in a more efficient thermal cycle, yielding more shaft horsepower for a given reactor size.  The reactor design had problems because of limited operating temperature constraints.  The major disadvantage of this concept was the ignition of sodium when exposed to air.

S1G was used for testing and training.  Eventually a sodium leak resulted in a fire, and the facility was shut down.  In the meantime, the S1W and S2W pressurized water reactors, conceived for the USS Nautilus (SSN-571), had demonstrated their superior reliability.  The S1G reactor facility and its Horton Sphere were later reused for the D1G prototype destroyer reactor.

References

United States naval reactors
Liquid metal fast reactors

S1G reactor


Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles are a type of vehicle that use hydrogen gas as a source of fuel to generate electricity. They are one of the cleanest forms of transportation.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles use a fuel cell stack in order to convert the chemical energy that's being stored in hydrogen into electrical energy. This energy will then be used to power an electric motor. A Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle starts with Hydrogen gas being stored inside a high pressure tank located within the vehicle. The hydrogen is given to the fuel cell stack, which is made of an Anode, Cathode, and an Electrolyte. Hydrogen molecules from the storage tanks are then introduced into the anode compartment of each fuel cell. The Hydrogen molecules then usually encounter a catalyst which creates the electrochemical reaction. The electrochemical reaction is done with the help of the catalyst, which helps split the hydrogen molecules into protons, labeled "H+", and electrons, labeled "e-". Once this step is done, the protons move through the proton exchange membrane, while the electrons are forced to use an external circuit because the proton exchange membrane is very selective. The electrons flow through the external circuit, which creates an electrical current. This will power the electric motor in the vehicle. On the other hand, Oxygen is provided to the cathode inside the fuel cell stack, which has the electrons that have taken the external path, and the protons. While inside, they are all mixed to create water (H2O), which will be the only thing the car will leave behind. Using this technology, we are able to assure that Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles will not produce anything that will harm the environment nor use any non-renewable resources aside from the transportation of the Hydrogen needed to power the vehicle.

There are some issues with Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles. One of those issues is that it lacks a proper infrastructure. The reason is because a hydrogen fuelling station costs millions of dollars to make. Another issue is that Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles are also really expensive, as the technology for using hydrogen as fuel is still fairly new, therefore it is also extremely expensive.  Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles usually get great range, much more than gas and electric vehicles. Some examples of Hydrogen Vehicles are the Hyundai Nexo, Honda Insight, and the Toyota Mirai.

Green vehicles

Fuel cell vehicle


Carmen Lyra (January 15, 1888  – May 14, 1949) was the pseudonym of the first prominent female Costa Rican writer, born María Isabel Carvajal Quesada.

Life
Lyra studied at the school in her neighborhood in the Buenaventura Corrales. She studied pedagogy at the college and got the teacher's certification. Lyra began teaching in the rural El Monte School in the province of Heredia. In 1906, she worked in the San Juan de Dios Hospital for a short time.

Teaching methods
Lyra travelled to Europe. While there, she  learned about new educational systems. When she returned, she worked with a teacher and founded the first pre-school in Costa Rica.

Writing career
Lyra's first publication was the novel En una silla de ruedas (In a Wheelchair), in 1918. Her short stories were published in the Pandemonium Magazine, Ariel Magazine, and the Repertorio Americano.

The stories of Carmen Lyra have been used in many schools. The most popular is Cuentos de mi tía Panchita (Story of my aunt Panchita). It was published in 1920. This story is well known by most Costa Rican.

Other works of Maria Isabel Carvajal are Las fantasias de Juan Silvestre (1918), Obras Completas (1975), La cucarachita mandina (1976) and  relatos escogidos (1977).

 Politics
Carmen Lyra was involved in Costa Rican politics. She was part of the communist party.

She helped organize women schoolteachers to burn down the building of the official newspaper and to overthrow the dictatorship of Costa Rica's Federico Tinoco Granados in 1919. She is credited with translating the Communist Manifesto into Spanish in 1920. She went on to take a leading role in the banana workers' strike of 1934. During this time, she wrote Bananos y Hombres'' (Bananas and Men).

In 1948, she was forced into leave Costa Rica after the Costa Rican Civil War because of her politics. She went to Mexico and died there in 1949.

1888 births
1949 deaths

Teachers
Costa Rican people
North American writers
People from San José, Costa Rica

María Isabel Carvajal


Credit score is a number that is based on a person's spending and saving habits. It is often used by banks to tell if you should be able to pay back a debt (eg. a loan).

Most credit scores are between 300 and 850, where a higher value is achieved by paying back debts, and avoiding debts. It is calculated based on the information in a credit report, which shows how much the person has been spending and if they've made payments on time.

Finance

Credit score


Romblon ( , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main components include Romblon, Romblon, an archipelagic municipality of the same name that also serves as the provincial capital; Tablas, the largest island, covering nine municipalities; Sibuyan with its three towns; as well as the smaller island municipalities of Corcuera, Banton, Concepcion, San Jose. The province lies south of Marinduque and Quezon, east of Oriental Mindoro, north of Aklan and Capiz, and west of Masbate. According to the 2020 census, it has a total population of 308,985.

Romblon has been inhabited by aboriginal Filipinos prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1569. Archaeological artifacts recovered by the National Museum in 1936 indicate that the aborigines of Romblon already have a rich and advanced culture. During the Spanish colonial rule, Romblon was initially administered under the province of Arevalo (Iloilo) until 1716, when it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the newly created province of Capiz. With arrival of the Americans in 1901, Romblon was declared a province and placed under civilian rule. It lost its provincial status for a short while between 1907 and 1945, but regained it in 1946, just after World War II.

The inhabitants of Romblon are divided into three ethnolinguistic groups: Romblomanon, Onhan and Asi. These groups occupy specific islands in the province and have their own language and customs. Romblomanon is mainly spoken in the town of Romblon, in all of three towns of Sibuyan Island, and the town of San Agustin in Tablas. Onhan is mainly spoken in the municipalities in the southern part of Tablas (Alcantara, Looc, Ferrol, Santa Fe, San Andres, and Santa Maria), as well as in the island municipality of San Jose. The northwestern part of Tablas Island (in Odiongan and Calatrava, as well as the islands municipalities of Corcuera, Banton, and Concepcion), speaks the Asi language.

Currently, the province relies on agriculture, particularly rice and copra farming as well as fishing, for its livelihood. It also has a lucrative marble industry due to an abundance of Italian-quality marble, hence, its moniker as the "Marble Capital of the Philippines." In recent years, the province has also become an ecotourism destination, with several white sand beaches, diving spots, mountains and rainforests that tourists visit annually.

Etymology
According to legend, the name "Romblon" was derived from the Romblomanon word Nagalumyom, which pertains to a chicken in the act of sitting on its eggs on a nest. This eventually evolved to Lomlom, and later on to Donblon, the name reported by Spanish chronicler Miguel de Loarca in his book Relacion de las Islas Filipinas in  1582, before finally evolving to Romblon.

Meanwhile, local historians Roland Madeja and Evelyn Reyes relate the origin of the name "Romblon" to the shape of Romblon Island. Madeja claims that the name was derived from the Spanish word ronblon, another term for tornillo, meaning "screw." According to him, the Spanish claimed to have observed the screw-like shape of Romblon Island. Meanwhile, Reyes claims Romblon originated from "doubloon", which refers to the Spanish coin used by Moro pirates in paying dowries for their brides-to-be. The Spanish might have named the island after the shape of the coin.

History

Early history
Romblon's aboriginal inhabitants were the Negritos from Panay and Mangyans from Mindoro, who settled in the islands during the precolonial period. Ancient wooden coffins discovered in the Guyangan Cave System of Banton Island in 1936 signify a rich ancient civilization and culture in the province before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1569. These artifacts are currently on display at the National Museum in Manila. Remnants of Negrito and Mangyan aborigines now live in the mountains of Tablas and Sibuyan after they were displaced by the influx of Hiligaynon, Aklanon, Bicolano and Tagalog migrants as early as 1870.

Spanish colonial era

According to historians Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, the Spanish arrived in Romblon in 1569 led by conquistador Martin de Goiti who was dispatched by Miguel López de Legazpi to explore the western and northern portion of the Visayas region including Romblon and Mindoro. The islands were later organized into three encomiendas and were administered from Arevalo. De Loarca visited Romblon in 1582 and conducted the first census of the islands.

In 1635, Augustinian Recollect missionaries arrived in Romblon to establish Catholic missions and settlements. They helped the Spanish authorities establish peace and order in the islands. In 1868, they established seven missionary centers at Romblon, Badajoz (San Agustin), Cajidiocan, Banton, Looc, Odiongan and Magallanes (Magdiwang). They also built massive forts, churches and watchtowers in the province, such as Fort San Jose in Banton and Fort San Andres in Romblon, following a Dutch attack in 1646 which destroyed the capital town and to repulse recurring Moro raids.

Romblon was separated from the jurisdiction of Arevalo and annexed to Capiz, when the province was created in 1716. More than a century later in 1850, the inhabitants of the province began using Spanish family names after governor-general Narciso Clavería decreed on 21 November 1849 the use of surnames from the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos. Asi-speaking natives were assigned the letter F, Romblomanon speakers were assigned the letter M, speakers of the Sibuyanon style of Romblomanon were assigned the letter R, while Onhan-speaking natives were assigned the letter G.

In 1853, the islands were organized into a politico-military comandancia ("sub-province" in English) administered from Capiz and continued to be so until the end of the Spanish rule in 1898. As a sub-province, Romblon was under an army officer with the rank of captain. The town of Romblon was its capital and the other municipalities were Azagra, Badajos (now San Agustin), Banton, Cajidiocan, Corcuera, Looc, Magallanes (now Magdiwang), Odiongan, Despujols (now San Andres) and Santa Fe.

Philippine revolution
In 1898, amid the Philippine Revolution, Katipunan leader Emilio Aguinaldo sent his generals to several provinces in the Visayas to expand the recognition of his revolutionary government in the central and southern Philippines. The Katipunan general Mariano Riego de Dios and his forces liberated Romblon, while generals Ananias Diocno and Leandro Fullon proceeded to Panay. On 25 July the same year, Riego de Dios took the Romblon capital and captured Spanish officials. Four days later, the Spanish politico-military governor Don Carlos Mendoza formally signed the surrender of Romblon's district government, ending more than three hundred years of Spanish rule in the archipelagic province.

Later, Don Wenceslao Molo, a local from Romblon town, was appointed governor and became responsible for the collection of a total amount of , Romblon's share to the war expenditures of the Revolutionary Government from 31 May 1898 to 28 February 1899. A local election was also held in Romblon town for its ministers of justice and barrio officials. However, Molo's term was a brief transition to another era as the Americans arrived in the province a few months later.

American colonial era

Upon the restoration of peace and order in the province following the Philippine–American War, the Americans established civilian government in the islands on 16 March 1901. Romblon was created as a regular province in the same year but due to insufficient income, it became a sub-province of Capiz again from 15 July 1907 until 22 February 1918, when Act No. 2724 reestablished the province. Under Commonwealth Act No. 581, enacted without executive approval on 8 June 1940, the province was reorganized with four towns or municipalities, namely: Tablas (composed of Odiongan, Looc, and Badajoz), Romblon (including the islands of Logbon, Cobrador and Alad), Maghali (comprising Banton, Corcuera, and Concepcion), and Sibuyan (composed of the towns of Cajidiocan, Magdiwang and San Fernando).

Japanese occupation era
During World War II, the Japanese Imperial Forces established a garrison in Romblon on 21 March 1942 which they maintained until the end of the war. The islands became one of the centers of resistance movement against the Japanese. The movement was led by the Free Panay Guerilla Forces composed of members from the 6th Military District under the direction of Col. Macario Peralta, Jr. One of the major naval engagements during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Battle of Sibuyan Sea, happened off the waters of Romblon on 23–24 October 1944  between Japanese Admiral Kurita's fleet from Singapore and Admiral Halsey's carrier planes from the US Third Fleet then stationed east of the Philippines. Units from Company C of the 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division landed on Sawang, Romblon on the night 11 March 1945. By 18 March, the province was liberated from Japanese forces.

Philippine independence
On July 4, 1966, the United States relinquished sovereignty over the Philippines and recognized the Republic of the Philippines as a sovereign and independent nation with the signing of the Treaty of General Relations and Protocol by representatives of the United States and Republic of the Philippines.

On 1 October 1946, Congress passed Republic Act No. 38, sponsored by Cong. Modesto Formilleza, which abolished the four special municipalities and restored Romblon and its municipalities to its pre-war status.  In the decades that followed, the province saw the creation of new municipalities, such as Alcantara (1961) from Looc, Calatrava (1969) from San Agustin, Ferrol (1978) from Odiongan, and Santa Maria (1984) from San Agustin.

Geography

Romblon is strategically situated at the center of the Philippine archipelago. Geographically part of the Visayas, it is composed of three major islands (Tablas, Sibuyan and Romblon) and 17 smaller islands. It is surrounded by deep waters, and is bounded by Masbate in the east, Mindoro in the west, Marinduque in the north and Panay in the south. It is approximately  and  south of Manila. The islands are dispersed and accessible only via sea transportation except for Tablas Island where a domestic airport is located in the municipality of Alcantara.

Topography
The province has a total land area of approximately  representing about 5.3 percent of the total land area of Region IV-B Mimaropa. It is generally mountainous with about 40 percent of its land area having an inclination of more than 50 percent. Only four percent of the total area has an inclination of three to eight percent, while a sparse 10 percent has an inclination of three to zero percent. Narrow strips of coastal lowlands, low hills and plains typify the topography of some of the islands.

Romblon Island is hilly with a maximum elevation of about  above sea level. Tablas Island shows varied relief characteristics. The western coastal areas are level to undulating while the eastern coastal areas are rough to rugged. The southern section covering Santa Fe and the mid-western portion may be described as having rolling to rough terrain. Extremely rugged areas can be found in the central section of the island. The highest elevation is almost  above sea level. Sibuyan Island is a thickly forested mountain mass. The western portion of the island may be characterized as extensively rugged, having ascents of 60 percent or more while the eastern section is relatively undulating to rolling. The highest elevation, the peak of Mt. Guiting-Guiting, reaches about 2,058 meters (6,750 feet) above sea level.

The major areas that are highly productive and buildable are basically in Tablas and Sibuyan. These include Odiongan, San Andres, Looc and Santa Fe in Tablas Island. All three municipalities in Sibuyan Island, on the other hand, have substantial level to gently sloping lands. Overall, good developable lands represent about 13 percent of the province's total area.

Flora and fauna
Romblon, particularly Sibuyan Island, is among the few places in the Philippines with a well-preserved natural environment. Uninterrupted rainforest covers 75 percent of the island. It is also home to the country's cleanest inland body of water, the Cantigas River, as well as 34 waterfalls. Sibuyan is commonly known the country as the "Galapagos of Asia" because of its many endemic plant and animal species, some of which have just been discovered recently. Among these endemic species are nine mammals, seven lizards, two amphibians, three birds and 112 vascular plants, such as the Nepenthes argentii, Nepenthes sibuyanensis, Nepenthes armin, Sibuyan striped shrew rat, Sibuyan shrew, Philippine tube-nosed fruit bat, indigo-banded kingfisher, and the Romblon hawk-owl. In Tablas Island, at least two endemic bird species can be found: the Tablas drongo and Tablas fantail.

Administrative divisions
Romblon comprises 17 municipalities. Of these, nine are located in Tablas Island (San Agustin, Calatrava, San Andres, Odiongan, Ferrol, Santa Fe, Looc, Alcantara and Santa Maria), three in Sibuyan Island (Magdiwang, Cajidiocan and San Fernando) and five (Romblon, San Jose, Banton, Concepcion and Corcuera) are island municipalities.

Climate
Romblon falls under Type III of the Corona climatic classification system which was devised in 1920. It is characterized by no pronounced wet and dry seasons. Generally, the wet season is from June to November and sometimes extends up to December when the southwest monsoon is predominant. The dry season is from January to May but is sometimes interrupted by erratic rainfall. The annual mean temperature is , with February as the coldest month with temperatures dropping to , and May as the warmest month with temperatures reaching up to . Habagat monsoon winds pass through the province from June to October while northeasterly winds or Amihan blows through the islands from December to February.

Demographics

The population of Romblon in the 2020 census was 308,985 people, with a density of , ranking it fourth among the five provinces of Mimaropa in terms of population with 9.9 percent of the region's population.

San Jose and Romblon are the two most-densely populated municipalities in the province at 490/km2 and 450/km2, respectively. Cajidiocan is the least densely populated municipality at 110/km2.

Males outnumber females in the province with a sex ratio of 102:100 according to the 2010 census. Of the province's 283,482 household population, males accounted for 144,091 or 50.8 percent while females made up 139,391 or 49.2 percent. The voting-age population (18 years old and over) accounted for 56.6 percent of the household population of the province in 2010, up from 52.7 percent in 2000. There were more females (50.2 percent) than males (49.8 percent) among the voting age population.

Language

The languages of Romblon, as well as all languages native to the Philippines, belong to the Austronesian language family, the second largest language family in the world with 1,257 known languages, second only to the Niger–Congo family's 1,538 languages. All of the languages of the Philippines, except Samalan, are classified as Philippine languages under the Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of Austronesian. The Philippine language group has three main branches: Northern, Southern and Central, the latter of which is composed of the Bisayan, Bikol and Tagalog languages.

Unlike other islands or provinces in the Philippines where all local languages are classifiable under the same subgroup of languages, each of the three languages of Romblon — Romblomanon, Onhan and Asi — actually belongs to a different subgroup of the Visayan language group. Romblomanon belongs to the Central Visayan subgroup, which spans from Waray-Waray in Samar and Leyte, through Masbatenyo and Sorsoganon, and as far west as Hiligaynon and Capiznon on Panay. It is spoken in Romblon and Sibuyan Islands, as well as in the municipality of San Agustin in Tablas Island.

Onhan, on the other hand, belongs to the Western Visayan subgroup, which includes Kinaray-a and Aklanon, as well as several minor languages spoken on Mindoro, Palawan, and some small islands in between. Its speakers are mainly from the southern portion of Tablas Island, in the municipalities of San Andres, Santa Maria, Alcantara, Ferrol, Looc, and Santa Fe, as well as in the municipality of San Jose in Carabao Island. Finally, Asi is not classified under any specific subgroup of Visayan, and instead makes up its own immediate branch of Visayan. David Paul Zorc, a linguist from the Australian National University whose expertise is on Philippine languages, notes that Asi speakers may have been the first Visayan speakers in the region. He also suggests that Asi may have a Cebuano substratum and that many of its words may have been influenced by the later influx of other languages such as Romblomanon. It is spoken in the island municipalities of Banton, Corcuera and Concepcion, as well as in Odiongan and Calatrava in Tablas. Hiligaynon is spoken in municipalities near Capiz and Aklan. As Romblon is part of Mimaropa which is also known as Southwestern Tagalog Region, provincial settlers speak Tagalog/Filipino as lingua franca between different Visayan languages.

Religion

The people of the province are predominantly Roman Catholic. In 2012, the UP School of Economics reported that 75 percent of households were Catholic, 9 percent were Muslim and 3-5 percent belonged to Iglesia ni Cristo. Another governmental source reported in 2011 that Mainline Protestants and Evangelicals then formed a significant minority of up to 8% of the population.

Economy

Romblon used to be one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines until 2015 when it recorded lower poverty incidence of 38.63 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Poverty incidence in the province further declined to 28.28 percent in 2018. The provincial economy is heavily reliant on agriculture, tourism and mineral extraction which can be greatly affected by typhoons the frequently pass through the province yearly.

Agriculture
Agriculture is the main industry in Romblon. Coconut is the most cultivated crop with a total planted area of . San Agustin has the most extensive area with coconut plants followed by Romblon and Cajidiocan. Rice is the next crop, cultivated particularly in Odiongan, Looc, Cajidiocan and Santa Fe. Other crops grown include root crops, vegetables and fruits. Odiongan, Banton and Magdiwang have the greatest areas planted with root crops and correspondingly, have the highest volume of production. Vegetable production is mostly for home consumption and grown in small scale.

Livestock development and poultry production is a viable small scale enterprise for farmers in the province. The provincial government maintains breeding facilities in strategic locations province-wide to encourage farmers to engage in livestock and poultry production to augment their income. Livestock and poultry management training and seminars is provided to interested clients.

Due to the geographical condition of the province, crops and livestock production is generally deficient as compared to the food requirements of Romblon population. To meet the rice requirements, Romblon relies on imports from the neighboring provinces while vegetables, poultry meat, vegetables and fruits are supplied mostly by Luzon.

Marine resources
Fishing industry is a major enterprise as Romblon is surrounded by water on all sides. The fishing grounds of Romblon are a migratory path of fish from Sulu and Visayan Seas passing Tablas Strait, Sibuyan Sea and Romblon Pass. The waters also abound with demersal fish due to the coral reefs surrounding the islands.

Because the province has a great potential for aqua-marine development, the province implemented a coastal and resource management program. Each municipality established a fish sanctuary and passed laws on fishery. The use of air compressors in the municipal waters was regulated and banned altogether in some municipalities.

Mineral resources

Marble is the most significant mineral deposit of Romblon and is the most renowned product of the province. Based on statistics, Romblon is the second biggest provincial marble producer of the country next to Bulacan. Romblon marble is of very high quality and comes in shades of white, green, pink, red and black. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has estimated that Romblon is endowed with about 150 million metric tons of marble. At current rates of extraction, the supply may last for three more centuries. Tablas Island is also believed to have vast reserves of marble.

Marble quarrying and processing are major activities in Romblon. Among the most common marble products are categorized into the following: novelty items (gifts, ashtray, table bars), furniture (dining tables, baptismal fonts) and construction materials (tiles, balusters, marble chips). Other mineral resources with considerable quantity include nickel ore and gold mostly to be found in Sibuyan Island. Gold panning and small-scale mining is a lucrative undertaking in Magdiwang.

Tourism

Natural attractions
Being an archipelago, Romblon has numerous beaches and dive sites. Among its best white sand beaches are Bonbon, Cobrador and Tiamban Beach in Romblon, Macat-ang, Tabunan and Tambak Beach in Banton, Lunas and Bignay Beach in San Jose, and Cresta del Gallo in San Fernando. The sea surrounding Cresta del Gallo is a famous diving site teeming with marine life. Romblon is also home to the only known blue hole in the Philippines in the town of San Agustin. The entrance to the blue hole is a  wide volcanic chimney, which drops for  before opening up into the massive chamber below with a total depth of .

Mount Guiting-Guiting in Sibuyan, the province's tallest mountain, is considered one of the most difficult climbs in the Philippines, and is thus a major destination of local mountain climbers because of its steep and jagged summit. Another a suitable place for hiking and trekking is Mount Payaopao is Tablas. Meanwhile, Banton's Guyangan Cave System, an Important Cultural Treasure, is where the Banton Cloth — the earliest known warp ikat textile in Southeast Asia — was found in 1936.

Heritage sites
Aside from the precolonial Guyangan Cave System in Banton, the province also has several heritage sites built during the Spanish colonial period. In Romblon town, the forts of San Andres and Santiago served as fortifications against Muslim pirates in the 17th century, while the St. Joseph Cathedral and Belfry houses a centuries-old image of the Santo Niño de Cebú or the Holy Child. Both heritage sites were declared National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum. The town also has colonial-era bridges that were declared Important Cultural Treasures. A similar fort in Banton, the centuries-old Fort San Jose and Banton Church, were built in the 1600s and was also used as defenses against Muslim pirates.

Festivals
Every second week of January, Romblon town celebrates the feast of the Santo Niño de Cebú, also known as the Biniray Festival. In that week, a fluvial parade featuring the image of the Santo Niño goes around Romblon Bay in order to bring good luck to the villages. A mardi gras is also held in the town with various street dancing, food, drinks and music. A similar Biniray Festival also occurs in Banton every 10 September in commemoration of the island's patron, San Nicolas de Tolentino. Other festivals include the Saginyogan Festival in Alcantara, the Sanrokan Festival in Banton, and Looc's Talabukon Festival, which honors the giant genie-like epic hero, Talabukon, who saved the people from pirates.

Scuba diving
In recent years Romblon Island has attracted more scuba divers. It has pristine and untouched reefs with almost undisturbed hard and soft corals around the islands of Romblon, Logbon, Alad and Cobrador. With multiple marine sanctuaries and private associations most of the marine life around Romblon is protected. In addition to the reefs, Romblon has been becoming famous for its rare and unique macro habitat, such as the Melibe colemani, the Cyerce nigra and the Cyerce bourbonica.

Government

Executive

Just like any other province in the Philippines, Romblon's chief executive and head is the provincial governor. Elected to a term of three years and limited to three consecutive terms, he or she appoints the directors of each provincial department, which include the office of administration, engineering office, information office, legal office, and treasury office. As of 30 June 2019, the incumbent governor of Romblon is Jose "Otik" Riano, from the PDPLBN. He was elected in 2013 as vice-governor and reelected in 2016.

The provincial vice governor performs duties as acting governor in the absence of the provincial governor. He or she also automatically succeeds as governor upon the death of the provincial governor. The provincial vice governor also convenes the Provincial Board or Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the provincial legislative body. The incumbent provincial vice governor of Romblon is Felix Ylagan from the LAKAS. He is a grandson of the late governor of the same province, Perpetuo Ylagan.

Legislative

The province, which is a lone congressional district, is represented in the Philippine House of Representatives by longtime Representative  Eleandro Jesus "Budoy" Madrona from the Nacionalista Party. He first assumed office from 1992 to 2001, serving three terms. Following two terms wherein Perpetuo Ylagan and Eduardo Firmalo respectively represented the district in Congress, Madrona ran and won again in 2007. His third and last term will expire in 2016.

Within the province, the Provincial Board or Sangguniang Panlalawigan crafts all provincial ordinances, performs appropriation of provincial funds, issues franchises and permits, impose fees on provincial services, and exercise other duties and powers as stipulated by the Local Government Code of 1991. Romblon, being a third-class province in terms of income, is entitled to a Provincial Board composed of eight members, four each from the province's two board districts. , the incumbent board members from the province's two districts are: (First District) Samuel Romero, Anthony Rugas, Abner Perez, Nelson Lim ; (Second District) Felix Ylagan, Juliet Fiel, Venizar Maravilla, and Andres Fondevilla.

Provincial seal

Romblon's provincial sea is composed of two concentric circles: A smaller blue circle over a larger white circle. The white circle forms a band, with the words Lalawigan ng Romblon (Province of Romblon) on top and Pilipinas (Philippines) on the bottom each written in semi-circular fashion. The blue circle symbolizes Romblon's geography as an archipelago surrounded by sea. On the middle of the blue circle is the province's designated five-sided white shield. At the center of the shield are 17 green human figures that appear to be linking arms. These symbolize the 17 municipalities that make up the province. Its green color represents the island's ecological and agricultural resources.

The human figures form a circle surrounding five figures: A marble craftsman and a marble almirez (mortar and pestle), representing the province's marble industry. On its left side is the image of a fish, representing the province's fishing industry, and on its right side is a coconut, representing the province's copra industry. Behind the craftsman is a green outline of a mountain, representing Mount Guiting-Guiting National Park, a protected nature reserve where the province's tallest mountain is located. Behind the mountain is a rising sun, similar to the sun found on the Philippine flag, representing the Divine Providence of abundant natural resources.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Romblon province is connected by a network of national and provincial roads. National roads form much of this network, with a total length of . Provincial roads, meanwhile, total  in length. Municipal and barangay roads in far-flung villages and island municipalities are not part of these figures. The primary modes of land transportation in the province are jeepneys, passenger motorcycles, minibuses and tricycles that serve inter-municipal movements and linkages.

Sea transportation is the primary mode of transportation linking Romblon with Luzon and islands in the Visayas. Inter-island ferries, RORO, and cargo ships from Manila, the southern Luzon ports of Batangas City, Lucena City in Quezon province, Roxas, Oriental Mindoro, and Roxas City in Capiz province are the primary modes of transportation linking the province to the rest of the country. Montenegro Lines, 2GO, and Romblon Shipping Lines all have ferry service from Manila to the main ports of entry of Odiongan and the capital town of Romblon and vice versa. From Romblon, Montenegro also serves Magdiwang in Sibuyan, while Romblon Shipping Lines also serves Cajidiocan. Pump boats and wooden launches also link the province to the towns of Buenavista, Marinduque and Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro. These pump boats are also used in going to barangays where there are no existing road networks or between municipalities in the province that do not have existing ferry service.

Tugdan Airport in Alcantara is the only airport in the province and is less than an hour away from Metro Manila. Philippine Airlines, the country's flag carrier, used to fly thrice a week (Sunday, Wednesday and Friday)  to the airport via its budget carrier, PAL Express, but has ceased as of 1 September 2016 due to transfer of some of its flights to Clark International Airport in Pampanga. Currently, only Cebu Pacific has flights to the airport, with four flights weekly from Manila. At Barangay Azagra, San Fernando in Sibuyan Island, there is also a small airstrip that caters to tourism and general aviation.

Electricity
Power supply in Romblon is generated by the National Power Corporation (NPC) and serviced by two electric cooperatives. Tablas Island Electric Cooperative (TIELCO) serves the power needs of Tablas Island including San Jose. It operates a 5.070 MW diesel power plant in Odiongan and 1.740 MW power barge in San Agustin. The electric cooperative serves a total of 21,097 house connections. In 2013, TIELCO has entered into a 15-year power supply agreement with Sunwest Water and Electric Company (SUWECO) to fill the island's energy needs. In 2015, SUWECO opened a diesel power plant in Barangay Batiano, Odiongan, which supplies TIELCO with 8.8 MW of electricity. In 2019, TIELCO and SUWECO inaugurated the 7.5 MW peak Tumingad Solar Power Plant in Odiongan. The two power plants supply electricity to the towns of Odiongan, San Andres, Calatrava, San Agustin, Santa Maria, Santa Fe, Alcantara, Looc, and Ferrol in Tablas. Likewise, TIELCO supplies electricity to San Jose and has recently held the bidding for the competitive selection process (CSP) for a new power provider to the island municipality.

Romblon Electric Cooperative (ROMELCO) supplies electricity to the capital town of Romblon through a 1.720 MW diesel power plant and a 1.30 MW power barge. It also serves Sibuyan Island using a 3.006 MW diesel power plant in San Fernando. ROMELCO has 5,288 house connections in Romblon and 5,150 house connections in the three municipalities located in Sibuyan Island or a total of 10,438 house connections in their franchise area. Additionally, ROMELCO installed in 2010 a mini hydro power plant in Cantigas, San Fernando, producing 900 kW of power. In 2019, ROMELCO also inaugurated the Romblon Wind Farm composed of three 300-kW wind turbines in Barangays Agnay, Bagacay and Lonos in Romblon, Romblon with a combined capacity to generate 2,000,100 kilowatt hours of green energy, or equivalent to 25 percent of the total annual energy requirement of the island. The 42-meter tall wind turbines were manufactured by Japanese company Komaihaltec Inc. and supported by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan. An additional 900-kW wind turbines will be installed in 2020. ROMELCO also provides 24-hour electricity to the island municipalities of Banton, Concepcion and Corcuera through diesel power plants operated by the NPC.

Water supply

Out of 17 municipalities, 14 have Level III water supply systems serving 18,590 households or about 32.57 percent of the total provincial households. Level III has a reservoir with house-to-house connections. 5,252 households were serviced by Level II water systems and 24,700 households by Level I water system. Level I category is a common facility where the community members get their water supply from deep wells and shallow wells, while Level II has a reservoir with communal faucet. Based on the report from the Provincial Health Office in 2007, a total of 48,542 households out of the 57,079 or 85.04 percent have access to safe drinking water.

Healthcare
There are eight government-owned hospitals in Romblon that serve the local population's healthcare needs. Four of these hospitals are located in Tablas Island: the 75-bed, Romblon Provincial Hospital in Odiongan, the 25-bed Tablas Island District Hospital in San Agustin, the 25-bed Don Modesto Formilleza Sr. District Hospital in Looc, and the six-bed San Andres District Hospital in San Andres. Of these hospitals, only Romblon Provincial Hospital is a Level 1 hospital, which has an emergency room and intensive care unit. Two privately owned hospitals, the Tablas Doctors' Hospital and ISIAH Hospital and Medical Center, also operates in Odiongan. In Romblon, the 35-bed Romblon District Hospital provides the healthcare needs of residents in the capitol. It is the only other Level 1 hospital in the province after Romblon Provincial Hospital. In Sibuyan, the 25-bed Sibuyan District Hospital provides basic healthcare for the residents of the island's three municipalities. It opened in 1958 with the enactment of Republic Act No. 2400 by congressman Jose Moreno. There is also the 10-bed San Jose District Hospital in Carabao Island and the 10-bed Malipayon District Hospital in the town of Corcuera in Simara Island. Municipalities that do not have a district hospital or a Level 1 hospital are served by their respective rural health units.

Telecommunications
The province has several operating telecommunication exchanges, namely Kayumanggi, Romblontel, Odiongan Telephone Corporation (OTELCO), the
Telecommunication Office (TELOF), telegram system, Liberty Telecom, public calling stations under the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Provincial Communication System (PCS) radio transceivers and receivers. Smart Communications, Sun Cellular and Globe Telecom already have relay stations in Romblon, Odiongan and Cajidiocan, enabling most areas province-wide connected through cellphones, except on some area where the signal is weak or non-existent because of mountains that block the signal. The Triple Peak in Santa Maria has a relay station for PLDT and Liberty Telecom.

Media
There are four radio stations in the province, two of which are operated by the Radyo Natin Network and the other, 95.7 FMR Romblon owned by the Philippine Collective Media Corporation, GM FM 100.5 MHz owned by the Polytechnic Foundation of Cotabato and Asia and Radyo Natin Network operates the call sign DWMM at 104.5 MHz on FM radio from Looc, as well as the call sign DZVG 101.3 MHz on FM radio from Odiongan owned by Manila Broadcasting Company. As for print media, Romblon Text and Romblon Sun are the two major newspapers circulating in the province, aside from broadsheet and tabloid newspapers from Manila. Romblon News, meanwhile, provides provincial and national news and information via the web and social media.

A relay station for GMA Network and Romblon Community TV (affiliate of People's Television Network) in Santa Maria allows the province to access television shows broadcast by the network from Manila. There are also existing cable providers and local cable stations operating in several municipalities in the province, namely Romblon Cable Corporation (Romblon), Accutronics System Inc. (Odiongan), San Agustin Cable Antenna Corp. (San Agustin), Countryside Satellite Television System Inc. (Looc and Romblon), Gateway Cable TV Network (Calatrava), San Andres CATV Service Coop. (San Andres), Josefa J. Martinez CATV Services (Alcantara), Magdiwang Cable Television (Magdiwang), and Sibuyan Cable TV (San Fernando and Cajidiocan). Aside from these cable stations, there are also distributors of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV such as Cignal Digital TV, Dream Satellite TV, G Sat, and Sky Direct who provide television services for its subscribers.

Education
The Division of Romblon of the Department of Education (DepEd) supervises and oversees the delivery of education and operations of public schools in the province. It is composed of 13 districts, where there are 228 elementary schools, 216 of which are public and 12 are private. Of the 216 public elementary schools, 162 offer preschool education, while 20 of the private schools have the same offering. There are also 10 private preschools offering pre-elementary. For secondary level, a total of 44 schools offer secondary education, of which 37 are public schools and seven are private institutions. The Virginia Centurione Bracelli School offers both primary and secondary education. There are 13 vocational schools in the province, while tertiary education is offered by privately owned Romblon College and the Romblon State University (RSU), one of the oldest state universities in the Philippines. RSU, which was founded in 1915, is the oldest agricultural university in the Philippines and has campuses in Romblon, Odiongan, Cajidiocan, Calatrava, San Agustin, San Andres, San Fernando, Santa Fe, and Santa Maria.

Notable people

 Fitch Arboleda, Filipino footballer who plays for Kaya-Iloilo and the Philippines national football team.
 Florante Condes, Filipino professional boxer and a former IBF Minimumweight World Champion.
 Jose Dalisay, Jr., writer, poet, playwright and screenwriter who won 16 Palanca Awards. He is a recipient of 1993 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) award.
 Gabriel Fabella, co-founder and first president of the Philippine Historical Association; Father of June 12 Independence Day; and sole representative of Romblon in the First National Assembly (1935–1938).
 Ephraim Fajutagana, former Obispo Máximo or Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church.
 Seth Fedelin, actor, model, singer and dancer who first appeared on television as a housemate on the reality show Pinoy Big Brother: Otso (2018) and has since appeared in various films and television series alongside his love team partner Andrea Brillantes.
 Roilo Golez, former member of the Philippine House of Representatives representing the Second District of Parañaque. He is a recipient of 1982 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) award.
 N. V. M. Gonzalez, writer, Palanca Award winner, and National Artist for Literature.
 Dinualdo Gutierrez, Filipino prelate of the Roman Catholic Church and bishop of the Diocese of Marbel from 1982 to 2018.
 Salvador Leaño, World War II veteran and Foursquare Church Pastor who volunteered as poll watcher during the 1986 Philippine presidential election and was killed in election-related violence at San Andres, Romblon. Honored as a hero at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani.
 Elma Muros-Posadas, former track and field athlete who specialized in long jump and won a total of 15 gold medals in several Southeast Asian Games.
 Rodne Galicha, environmentalist, 2018 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee and recipient of national individual award for Gawad Bayani Kalikasan given by the Center for Environmental Concerns and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, former Philippine country manager of The Climate Reality Project.
 Jansen Rios, Filipino professional basketball player for the NLEX Road Warriors of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
 Nene Tamayo, grand winner of ABS-CBN's Pinoy Big Brother (season 1).

References

External links

 Official Website of the Romblon Provincial Government

 Local Governance Performance Management System

Provinces of the Philippines
Islands of Luzon
Island provinces of the Philippines
Sibuyan Sea
Provinces of Mimaropa
States and territories established in 1917
1917 establishments in the Philippines

Romblon


Rancho de Chimayó Restaurante is a James Beard Foundation Award American Classic (2016) in Chimayó, New Mexico.  Owned by Florence Jaramillo, she opened the restaurant with her husband Arturo.  Their food has been described as a "no-frills take on New Mexican cooking, with its obvious influences from Mexican and Native American cultures."  Their "signature dish" is the carne adovada.

In 1985, the Jaramillos were named "Restaurateur of the Year" by the National Restaurant Association.

Opened in 1965, they were named one of New Mexico's Culinary Treasures in March 2014.

When the Jaramillos opened the restaurant, they thought they would be able to capitalize on the increasing popularity of the nearby Santuario, since there were no other restaurants in the area.

References

External links

Restaurants in New Mexico
America's Classics winners
Restaurants established in 1965
1965 establishments in New Mexico

Rancho de Chimayó Restaurante


Izabela Walentyna Jaruga-Nowacka  (23 August 1950 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish political figure who had served in the national Parliament (Sejm) since 1993 (with a four-year hiatus in 1997–2001) and, in May 2004, rose to become Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Minister Marek Belka, serving until October 2005, while also, concurrently, filling in his cabinet, from November 2004 to October 2005, the position of Minister Polityki Społecznej [Minister for Social Policy].

A native of the Baltic seaport city of Gdańsk, the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka earned a degree in ethnography from the University of Warsaw and, during the 1970s and 80s was employed at the Institute for Science Policy and Higher Education (1974–76) and the Institute of Socialist Nations at the Polish Academy of Sciences (1976–86).  Although not politically active during the Communist period, near its end, in the mid-1980s, she joined the League of Polish Women then, in 1991, became active in Ruch Demokratyczno-Społeczny [Democratic-Popular Movement] and, in the election of 1993, was elected to the Sejm as a member of the Labor Union party.

A dedicated feminist, she remained a member of Sejm 1993–97, Sejm 2001–05, Sejm 2005–07 and was elected for the fourth time in October 2007, running on the platform of the new Left and Democrats party.

Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka and her husband, mathematician Jerzy Nowacki, rector of the Warsaw-based Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology, have two daughters, Barbara and Katarzyna.

She was listed on the flight manifest of the Tupolev Tu-154 of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński which crashed near Smolensk-North airport near Pechersk near Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April 2010, killing all aboard.

On 16 April 2010, Jaruga-Nowacka was posthumously awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of the Polonia Restituta.

References

External links

 Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka's website
 Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka at the Sejm website (includes declarations of interest, voting record and transcripts of speeches)

1950 births
2010 deaths
Politicians from Gdańsk
University of Warsaw alumni
Deputy Prime Ministers of Poland
Members of the Polish Sejm 1993–1997
Members of the Polish Sejm 2001–2005
Members of the Polish Sejm 2005–2007
Burials at Powązki Cemetery
Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Victims of the Smolensk air disaster
Polish feminists
Labour Union (Poland) politicians
Women members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland
Women government ministers of Poland
20th-century Polish women politicians
21st-century Polish women politicians
Members of the Polish Sejm 2007–2011

Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka


The 4th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), referred to by Kim Il Sung as the "Congress of Victors", was held in Pyongyang, North Korea, from 11 to 18 September 1961. The congress is the highest organ of the party, and is stipulated to be held every four years. 1,657 voting and 73 non-voting delegates represented the party's 1,311,563 members. The 4th Central Committee, elected by the congress, reelected Kim Il Sung  as WPK Chairman, and a number of deputy chairmen.

Delegates
1,657 voting and 73 non-voting delegates were elected to represent the party's 1,311,563 members. 32 different fraternal parties sent delegations to the 4th Congress, among these were the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (led by Frol Kozlov), the Chinese Communist Party (led by Deng Xiaoping), the  Socialist Unity Party of Germany (led by Alfred Krehler) and the Japanese Communist Party (led by Kenji Miyamoto) among others.

Congress
Kim Il Sung delivered a six-hour-long report on the work of the 3rd Central Committee since the 3rd Congress (held in 1956). In his report, Kim Il Sung talked about the economic accomplishments made since the 3rd Congress, the First Seven-Year Plan, Korean reunification, the party's victory over the factionalist tendencies and the international position of the WPK. A notable success of the 3rd Central Committee was the collectivization of agriculture and the nationalization of all industries had been completed, together with the fact that 52 percent of the North Korean workforce were by definition industrial workers (accomplishing the party's task of creating a proletariat). Kim Il Sung asserted that these developments had been initiated by the Chollima Movement, a Stakhanovite movement inspired mobilization campaign, in which more than 2 million workers were participating in. He then concluded his section by claiming that exploitation was non-existent in North Korea. He then went on too talk about the First Seven-Year Plan, stating it would be a continuation of the previous successful five-year plan, and that the state would continue to prioritise heavy industry while simultaneously develop light industry and agriculture. In regards to South Korea, Kim Il Sung trivialized the April Revolution which led to the overthrow of Syngman Rhee, the President of South Korea, believing it mattered little in the long run since North Korea was both stronger and more prosperous then South Korea. He then began speaking about the party's victory over the factionalists, citing that the party had grown rapidly in the last years and needed to appoint younger men to the top through the party's youth league, the League of Socialist Working Youth (LSWY). He then ended his speech by talking about the WPK's international position, stating that North Korea emphasized the importance of good relations between fraternal socialist countries (telling the Chinese and Soviet delegations that North Korea would remain neutral in the Sino–Soviet dispute).

On the congress' last day, amendments to the party's by-laws were announced. They were approved without much discussion; the numbers of chapters were reduced from ten to nine, while the number of articles increased from 62 to 70. The changes are not very noteworthy in themselves, but they clarified the relationship between the WPK and the LSWY and the Korean People's Army (KPA).

The extent of Kim Il Sung's consolidation of power became clear to all with the election of the 4th Central Committee. The congress elected 85 members to the 4th Central Committee, an increase of 14 from 71-member 3rd Central Committee. Of the 85 elected, only 28 of them had served in the 3rd Central Committee, in contrast, 57 of those elected had never served in the Central Committee before. All the partisans from the 3rd Central Committee were elected, with the exception of General Yu Kyong-su who died on 19 November 1958. Officials of the 3rd Central Committee who belonged either to the Soviet Korean or the Yanan faction were not reelected, if one excludes those members who had denounced their allegiances to these factions and pledged their allegiance to the partisans (such as Kim Chang-nam and Nam Il). Of the 57 new members, 25 of them were active in Kim Il Sung's partisan faction while approximately 21 of them were recruited from either the KPA or the LSWY. In addition, there were those who were not partisan but had family ties to partisan members, such as Kim Yong-ju (Kim Il Sung's brother) and Yi Hyo-sun (elder brother of Yi Che-sun) for instance. Partisans, those trained by the partisans and people with family ties to the partisans constituted 80 percent of the Central Committee; to make matters better for Kim Il Sung, there existed no other organized group within the Central Committee. Of the 50 candidate members elected to the 4th Central Committee, 49 were new (with Yi Chi-chan being the only reelected).

1st plenum of the 4th Central Committee

The 1st Plenary Session of the 4th Central Committee convened on 18 September 1961 to elect the officers of the 4th Central Committee. Kim Il Sung was elected the party's Chairman, while Choe Yong-gon, Kim Il, Pak Kum-chol, Kim Chang-nam and Yi Hyo-sun. Of these, only Kim Chang-nam was not a partisan. All organs of the Central Committee had either one or two partisans while concurrently holding either the post as head or deputy head; for instance, Kim Ik-son served as the chairman of the 4th Inspection Commission, but Kim Chang-dok (a partisan) served as deputy chairman.

The Central Committee ranking list:
Kim Il Sung
Choe Yong-gon
Kim Il
Pak Kum-chol
Kim Chang-man
Yi Hyo-sun
Pak Chong-ae
Kim Kwang-hyop
Chong Il-yong
Nam Il
Yi Chong-ok
Kim Ik-son
Yi Chu-yon
Ha Ang-chon
Han Sang-du
Chong Chun-taek
So Chol
Choe Hyon
Sok San
Kim Kyong-sok

Plenums of the 4th Central Committee
 1st plenary session (18 September 1961)
 2nd plenary session (27 November-1 December 1961)
 3rd plenary session (6-8 March 1962)
 4th plenary session (2-8 August 1962)
 5th plenary session (10-14 December 1962)
 6th plenary session (13-15 May 1963)
 7th plenary session (3-5 September 1963)
 8th plenary session (25-27 February 1964)
 9th plenary session (25-26 June 1964)
 10th plenary session (14-19 December 1964)
 11th plenary session (29 June-1 July 1965)
 12th plenary session (15-17 November 1965)
 13th plenary session (28 March-4 April 1966)
 14th plenary session (12 October 1966)
 15th plenary session (4-8 May 1967)
 16th plenary session (28 June-3 July 1967)
 17th plenary session (22-25 April 1968)
 18th plenary session (11-16 November 1968)
 19th plenary session (27-30 June 1969)

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

Further reading

Political history of North Korea
1961 in North Korea
1961 conferences
Congresses of the Workers' Party of Korea