MikeLigalig.com

Deadline is on Saturday for the submission of entries for the 2nd Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Literary Awards for Poem Writing, J. Ning Literary Awards for Essay Writing, and Bob M. Mejorada Literary Awards for Short Story Writing.

The contests are open to all, except members of the Committee on Awards. Officers of the sponsoring groups, the Association of Writers and Radio Announcers Foundation, Inc. (AWRAFI) and the Bohol Literary Arts Circle (BLAC) are disqualified from joining the English category and officers of the Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya, Inc. (Ludabi), Metro Tagbilaran-Bohol chapter are disqualified from joining the Bisayan category.

All entries must be typewritten or encoded through the computer, double-spaced using short bond papers. Each entry must be produced in four copies.

Poem writing entries (English and Bisayan) must not be less than five stanzas but not more than 14 stanzas.
         

Essay writing entries (English and Bisayan) must not be less than 300 words but not more than 500 words.

Short story writing entries (English and Bisayan) must not be less than four pages, but not more than 10 pages.

An entry must have a title and it must not bear the name and address of the contestant. However, the complete name and address of the participant and the title of the entry must be written on a small piece of paper placed in a small sealed envelope. The small sealed envelope must be placed in a large envelope together with the entry which bears the title only.


more at this link : http://boholchronicle.com/2008/oct/12/comm5.htm

this is how we've gone from sexy to vavaboom after 13 years

whack this link for photos and more: http://batchninefive.multiply.com/





Good tidings and great NEWS, este, JOY!!!
REUNION UPDATE:

here's a repost from Maleth Zafra:

Please see the details below >>>>

Proposed reunion date: 27-28 December 2008
Proposed activity:overnight party. yea baby!
Venue:beach
Assembly Time: 4:00 pm
Assembly Place: to be announced
Contribution: php500.00

Working Committees:

Communication
â€" Adonis Damalerio
â€" Ma. Leticia Zafra
â€" Fatima Mapesos

Venue
â€" Alfonso Alcala

T-shirt & batch banner
â€" Dominic Aparicio

Transportation
â€" Dominic Aparicio
â€" Egbert Galve

Food
â€" Jonathan Inojales
â€" Mary Ann Mapait

We are requesting everyone to broadcast this information to the rest of our batchmates in whatever possible means.

If it’s okay to ask, we also request everyone to please text or email us the contact numbers of our batchmates whom you know.

Moreover, we plan to do tri-media campaign (thru radio, newspaper etc.) while we have plenty of time to prepare for our reunion.

The floor is open for pledges. Keep those lechon and red wine coming! yey!

For more information, feel free to contact:

Dobap - 09187545835
Maleth-09185576609 / 09173040757
Fatima-09193281019.
Adonis-09173042463

From time to time, please check this bulletin for more updates.

Thank you.

lifted from: http://up.edu.ph/features.php?i=87


Only two RP universities made it to the world’s 500 best; but must the rankings be taken seriously? 
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Alicor L. Panao 




No doubt everyone wants to score well in a beauty contest for academic institutions. But should a university’s worth be judged on reputation alone?

In the recently released 2007 Times Higher Education survey only two Philippine universities made it to its list of the world’s top 500. The University of the Philippines, the national university, was ranked at 398, about a hundred notches down from its 2006 rank of 299. Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University came in at 451. The University of Santo Tomas and the De La Salle University, which were both included in the 2006 list, dropped from the radar.

It did not take long for the media reports to elicit reactions from academicians, policymakers and alumni. Journalists and columnists pitched their own speculations as to what has been dragging down the country’s universities. However, the question that was not being asked was: what was the basis of the ranking?

Published by The Times Higher Education Supplement in collaboration with Quacquarelli Symonds (THES-QS), the rankings are meant supposedly to serve as “the definitive guide to universities around the world which truly excel.” In evaluating institutions, however, the THES-QS computes half of the index based on its reputation as perceived by academics (peer review, 40%) and global employers (recruiter review, 10%). Since it is not specified who were surveyed or what questions were asked, the methodology is obviously vulnerable to manipulation.

Even peers need some standardized input data to review. But according to the October 2007 study International Ranking Systems for Universities and Institutions: A Critical Appraisal published in BioMed Central, the Times simply asks 190,000 experts to list what they regard as the top 30 universities in their field of expertise without offering input data on any performance indicators (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/5/30). Moreover, the survey response rate among the selected experts was found to be below 1%. In other words, on the basis of possible selection biases alone the validity of the measurement is shaky.

The other half of the index is based on such indicators as student-to-faculty ratio, the number of foreign faculty and students in the university, and the number of academic works by university researchers that have been cited internationally. Data for these indicators, however, typically depend on the information that participating institutions submit. An institution’s index, in other words, may be easily distorted if the institution fails to submit data for the pertinent indicators, or if it chooses not to participate.

According to UP Vice President for Public Affairs Dr. Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, the University of the Philippines manifested its refusal to participate in THES-QS survey in writing as early as July 2007 because Times could not explain where it got the figures on which UP’s rank was based in 2006. In response to UP’s objection, however, Quacquarelli Symonds research assistant Saad Shabbir simply wrote back that if it did not receive the information by the deadline then it would be “forced to use last year’s data or some form of average.”

Apparently for the QS researchers, old data would doâ€"data that had been questioned precisely because its source was dubious. UP has not participated in any international survey of academic institutions since 2000. To date, the country’s National University has neither released official statistics for survey purposes nor consented to any survey undertaking by a local or international body.

Ateneo de Manila University, whose current rank was supposedly an improvement from last year, cautions its alumni and the public to view the results with some degree of prudence. In her comments on the 2007 THES-QS survey published in the Ateneo de Manila University website (http://www.ateneo.edu/index.php?p=120&type=2&aid=4489), Vice President for the Loyola Schools Dr. Ma. Assunta C. Cuyengkeng writes that the rankings do not even reflect Ateneo’s vision and mission. Instead of getting distracted, Cuyengkeng encourages its community to work instead towards strengthening the leadership and excellence of faculty and students as its contribution to national development.

Interestingly, THES-QS are causing quite a stir in other higher education institutions in many countries, not necessarily because of the controversial rankings it annually publishes, but because of what some experts deride as its remarkable flair for making mistakes.

The University of Malaya’s (UM) decline from 89 in 2004 to 169 in 2005, for instance, caused a political turmoil in Malaysia and cost the career of one of the university’s Vice Chancellors. It turned out that QS had counted all the Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians as foreign students (one of the criteria in their rankings) in 2004. According to The Star on a Nov. 18, 2005 news report (http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/11/18/nation/12625998&sec=nation), QS was apparently under the impression that a larger number of foreigners were studying and teaching at UM when actually there were just a lot of Malaysian citizens of Indian and Chinese descent. QS tried to correct this mistake in 2005, resulting to a steep drop in the university’s ranking.

Meanwhile, between 2004 and 2005 Duke University’s rank rose dramatically in the THES-QS survey, thanks to a nasty clerical error. Duke was listed to have 6,244 faculty members, which was well beyond what the university had declared on its website. It turned out, according to Prof. Richard Holmes of the MARA University of Technology in Malaysia, that this was the number of undergraduate students enrolled at Duke in the fall of 2005 (http://rankingwatch.blogspot.com/2007/01/more-about-duke-on-january-23rd-i.html). Obviously, somebody made the mistake of copying the figure for undergrad students and counted them as faculty, giving Duke four times the number of faculty it actually had.

Quacquarelli Symonds is relatively new in the ranking business but the impact of its surveys can be far-reaching. Some institutions use their resultsâ€"their methodological flaws notwithstandingâ€"as basis for the distribution of finances over departments and to bolster rivalries among institutions. The October 2007 BioMed study cautions that this could actually be more harmful to science and education and may even encourage global brain drain. For instance, if ranking affects funding policies, institutions and scientists may seek to excel only in the specific criteria used to determine excellence.

There is no debate about the importance of defining, measuring, interpreting and improving institutional excellence. But current international rankings contained in the THES-QS cannot be taken seriously until it establishes its own credibility with the academic community.

with monthly get-togethers taking place near you (i.e. Tagbilaran)
until 21 December 2008.


meanwhile, whack this link baby for photos and updates:

http://batchninefive.multiply.com

If you happen to know of anyone who belongs to DWC-T HS Batch Nine Five,
please spread the fever.

padayun!

COngratulations to my youngest brother and to my high school batchmate who are on the same list (E).

My family now has two registered nurses. I could have been the third if I didn't quit nursing school at the time when hiring slowed down in 1998. No regrets. I'm happier now. Just envious with my former nursing classmates in their condo units in South Beach, Florida. hahays. LOLS

........................................................................................
here goes:

Roll of Successful Examinees in the
NURSE LICENSURE EXAMINATION
Held on JUNE 1 & 2, 2008
Released on JULY 23, 2008

...
9682 EBUENGA, ADELE VIVIEN MAJAROCON
...
10046 ESCATRON, MARK PAUL CALAMBA

i'm all over the place 

somewhere near upper west side

NEW YORK CITY.

here's my number one fan holding my debut album

LOS ANGELES.

backroom of louvre

PARIS.

posh spice is looking for me

LONDON

kayak at Php150.00. kayak ha. hahaha

Eric T. Gamalinda was born on 14 October 1956 in Quezon City. He is a poet, a fictionist and an essayist. He took undergraduate courses at the UST for three years and the UP for a semester. He was a local fellow for poetry of the UP ICW in 1983. In 1990, he went to Great Britain to represent the Philippines in the Cambridge International Writers’ Conference and to attend the Hawthornden International Writers’ Retreat in Scotland, 1991. he got a Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, Italy. He participated in the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s Programme for the 21st century. He currently works with the Center for Investigative Journalism.

Gamalinda’s poems are collected in Fire Poem/Rain Poem (1976) and Lyrics From a Dead Language (1991). His stories have been gathered in Peripheral Vision (1992). His first novel, Planet Waves (1989), was set during the turbulent Martial Law era. A second novel, Confessions of a Volcano (1990), was written after a visit to Japan, and explores the differences between Filipino and Japanese consciousness. A third novel, The Empire of Memory (1992), is set against the momentous events before, during, and after the EDSA revolt.

Two of Gamalinda’s poetry collections won prizes in the Palanca. Ara Vos Prec won in 1985, while Patria y Muerte won in 1988. He also won Palanca awards for: Anatomy of a Passionate Derangement, a one-act play in 1980, "Mourning and Weeping in this Valley of Tears," a short story in 1988, and "The Unbearable Lightness of EDSA," an essay in 1990. His novel, Planet Waves received the National Book Award for fiction from the Manila Critics Circle in 1989.

lifted from Panitikan






Eric Gamalinda
Poem Not Written in Catalan


Out of everything that is not eternal
I deny the patience of water, the divinity of salt, and the persistence of the spider

I would like to write a suicide note in three and a half languages
and travel south on a Thursday towards
some form of life outside of earth

And although people will think I'm no longer there
I will live in geodesic domes
and count only in numbers less than zero

Sometimes when I walk past trees in the city I hear them denying me
Normally this doesn't bother me but today
I'm not going to take any conspiracies

I deny bodies of water smaller than the Great Lakes
I deny any planet larger than America

I deny the fact that when I kill time, time is actually killing me
I am air, light, sound, all of which I deny
I deny the Buddha, I do not deny the Buddha

An exact copy of my life is being lived a million light years away
If there's a way to prove it
If mathematics were the only religion

We are passing an era of turbulence
Make sure your souls are in the upright position

"I am afraid of the profound certitude of things"

Love like an arsonist
steals into my life and burns down all my tenements

(In a court of law, love will deny me
and the burden of proof rests entirely on me)






poem lifted from the internet

Eric Gamalinda
Corporeal



A skim of moonlight on these hills: a self-effacing moon.

Overnight, even the roads have lost their way.

I must have turned invisible myself: in the rearview mirror

my image is a pixel, a small gray speck.

It looks nothing like me.

Iridescent in disguise, lizards emulate the solitude of stones.

I’ve come back again and again to the sanctuary of wells,

but there is nothing there still;

the water will not reveal its sources.

No one speaks to the swallows.

Rain for a day, an afternoon, a dewdrop’s lifespan.

I will walk into the sunlight, if it ever comes, and disappear.

Perhaps my shadow, like my soul, will never recognize me.

It will wander aimlessly, buoyant, lifted by longing,

which is more than I have ever aimed to be.

Last night: a dream. And then a dream of a dream:

I have never learned to live inside this body.

I carry it like an instrument whose usefulness

has become arcane to me. I am tired of God,

tired of counting the cycles, the exactitude of stars.

There must be a constellation of nothing

where all things begin. A zero, motionless,

far from the spindrift of time.

I don’t expect to gain anything from these words;

I don’t think the rain, despite my praise, thinks itself dear.

Once again, my sorrow leads me where it will.

I am a target, a vector, a pair of wings.

Something massive is breathing: that’s what the thunder tells me.

I listen closely, like a hunter of songs.

I hope never to return.

Buayahon



Kwarenta      karun sa pangadyi

Alang sa      iyang mipanaw nga ikatulong bana.

Ubay-ubay      ang misabat, ubay-ubay pod ang

Nanglibak.



Dili na ikalimud      hunghung sa usa

Ngano man dyung wa gipatudlis

Pangutana      sa ikaduha.

ktapsang pangadyi na oist :-)

Text      pod sa laing silingan

Ngadtu      sa iyang mga kaila.



Paghuman      ug lituk sa katapusang linya

Sa litanya,      iyang gialsa ang iyang bagahe

Dayung      kadyikab sa habal-habal

Nga      modala kaniya sa landiganan.



Hamis      ang dagat karung gabihuna

Huyang      ang hapak sa bawud

Ang      dagat, alkitran sa iyang kaitum,

Miunong      sa iyang kasakit.



Miplastar siya      sa tihiras, gainusara

Ganahan      niyang i-tunglo

Silang tanan.      Basulon sa

Iyang      nahiaguman.



Apan      nasayud siya nga sa pagpakli sa mga

Panid sa kalendaryo,      numero nga gikwadradu,

Sa lilong      sa asul ug puwa, sa hunas ug taub



Ang dagan sa panahon

Napatik na sa iyang pad

Gipatik ug apil ang pagbutad sa angkla ug

Ang iyang pagtabuk

Sa damyu nga karun gihinay-hinay na ug saka.




ni RV Escatron








……………………………………..

Filipino translation

Buayahon



Kwarenta      ngayon sa dasal

Alay      sa kanyang yumaong pangatlong bana

Madami-dami      ang dumalo, madami-dami din ang

Nagtsismisan



Hindi na talaga ikaila     bulong ng isa

Bat di naman kaya pinatudlis

Tanong      ng pangalawa

Pnghulng dasalan na oist :-)

Text      naman ng isang kapitbahay

Sa      kanyang mga kakilala



Pagkatapos      bigkasin ang huling linya

Sa litanya,      kanyang binuhat ang kanyang bagahe

Sabay      na lumundag sa habal-habal

Na      magdadala sa kanya sa daungan.



Makinis      ang dagat ngayong gabi

Malumanay      ang sampal ng alon

Ang      dagat, alkitran sa kanyang kaitiman

Dumamay      sa kanyang pighati



Sumampa siya      sa tiheres, nag-iisa

Gusto      niyang isumpa

Silang lahat,      sisihin sa

Kanyang      pinagdaanan.



Pero      alam niyang sa pagbuklat sa mga

Pahina ng kalendaryo,      mga numerong de-kahon

Nakatago sa asul at pula, sa paglaki at pagkati ng tubig



                Ang takbo ng panahon

                Itinakda na sa kanyang palad

                Kasamang itinakda ang paghila ng angkla at

                Ang kanyang pagtawid

                Sa andamyo na ngayon ay dahan-dahan ng itinaas.

news lifted from: http://sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2008/05/04/news/14.lawmakers.tackle.federalism.bill.html

Sunday, May 04, 2008
14 lawmakers tackle federalism bill

LEGISLATORS from Bohol and Oriental Negros also want to make Cebu City the seat of the proposed Federal State of Central Visayas and will push for it when they file the Lower House version of the Senate’s proposal to shift to a federal system of government.

Fourteen legislators from Central Visayas will meet tomorrow to discuss their proposed amendments to Senate Resolution 10.

Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district) said legislators from Bohol and Oriental Negros prefer to make Cebu City the seat of government, which will be one of the amendments they will make.

Seat in Bohol

They are also amenable to making Tagbilaran City in Bohol the seat of the Federal Legislature, where all senators from the 11 proposed federal states in the country will hold office and their sessions.

Central Visayas legislators hope to file the bill this month, but they don’t expect to get the support of Rep. Pablo “Pabling” Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district), who reportedly has his own proposal.

“Ever since, Congressman Pabling is not sold out to the idea of a federal system. I discussed it with him and he said he has his own proposal that he is still preparing. So I said we will just file our own proposal without him and he can propose his and we are all fine with that. At least we have broken the ice on this issue,” Cuenco told Sun.Star Cebu.

He said Garcia still has not told the other legislators the details of his proposal.

In a phone interview yesterday, Cuenco confirmed that as stated in the Senate resolution, senators are proposing to make Tagbilaran the seat of the legislature of the federal republic, and not just for the state of Central Visayas.

Retain

In the Lower House version of the bill, this provision will be retained since most legislators from Central Visayas agree to it.

“We are not averse to that provision but we will make Cebu City the seat of the federal government instead of Toledo City as proposed by the senators. The legislators from Negros and Bohol want it in Cebu City because they find Toledo too far,” Cuenco said.

Eleven senators filed last month “A resolution convening the Congress into a Constituent Assembly for the purpose of revising the Constitution to Establish a Federal Form of Government.”

They proposed to create 11 states with their own centers of finance and development, so that the country’s development programs are not centrally determined, planned, funded and implemented by the National Government in Manila as it is under a unitary system. (LCR)

"love your opponents and suffer to convert them"

"people describe me as a saint trying to be a politician, but the truth is the other way around."--M. Gandhi, most commonly thought of as the little brown man in a white loincloth who successfully twisted the tail of the British lion

"Specific names were mentioned. What one luminary did to another luminary was mentioned. And mostly with, as I said, scandal-fashion. The details of what this Cyclonetrading wrote would make Lolit Solis look like a writer and commentarist for the Disney Channel," my multiply online buddy danikook shares on his blog.

And by golly, the long dead statesmen will send those involved in the ZTE scandal and the so-called "Philippine high society" for some post-mortem spanking.

the link: http://cyclonetrading.blogspot.com/

"So, which is better, Canon or Nikon?"

Friends who come to me for my two-cents worth leave more confused than before.

Though I've always been a Nikonite for almost a decade, I can’t bet my 13th month pay since I really haven’t gotten in depth with both cameras.

Every Sinulog, the image of professional peer of photographers with their bazooka of lenses and their Nikon babies helps put Nikon a notch higher, if at all. But you know how politics and soft advertising play in this circle.

In January this year, I met a Manila-based photographer, a National Geographic photo contest winner at that, who told me it's not about the toy but it's on how you see thingsâ€"the eye, the angle for the out-of-the-ordinary. I definitely agree with him. He has a Nikon toy by the way.

In one thread I've read, one commented that Canon bites the pie share more than Nikon because of advertising. Canon's core branding, brand recall and all that jazz are doing their magic perhaps. And another one wrote that in the long haul, the investment ain't really about the body (I'm referring to the camera, of course. Silly!) anymore, but the lenses or glass in photographers' parlance.

   With a little help from this link, next time a friend comes up to me and get my two-cents worth, I will no longer just say "er, it depends on your needs as a hobbyist or it's like choosing between a nokia and a sony-erickson phone" or worse, "an apple and banana."

Another link goes technical and scientific about the DLSR in the market today. In the end, as they say it here at the workplace-- "IT'S UP TO YOU, really."

As for me, a trip to Hidalgo St. in Quiapo is already tucked in my planner. My loyalty has paid off.

this article is lifted from : http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2008/04/03.html

Recovering the music and culture of an Asian nation's colonial past

Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release
Posted 04/03/08 • Rebecca Bailey • (603) 646-3661

An international and interdisciplinary symposium at Dartmouth College April 30 through May 2 will celebrate the unique music and culture that flowered in the Philippine Islands in the late stages of its colonial rule by Spain.

"Encuentro Filipino: Rediscovering a Hispanic Nation: The Fine and Performing Arts in the Philippine Islands Before The Invasion of 1898" will feature five leading scholars of 19th-century Filipino music and the Fine Arts, as well as performances by Hopkins Center for the Arts pianist-in-residence Sally Pinkas and one by one of the Philippines' leading youth ensembles, the Loboc Children's Choir. All events are free and open to the public.



more on the link above

Last Trip
crossing Tañon Strait

             Thirty minutes is a drag yet too short
             To wipe dry the salt spray pricking
             A wound about to heal, so

I write this letter in my head and tell you
How we've changed. How the wave and
Monsoon wind pelt the starboard of the barge.
How the air reeks of ammonia and
Spoiled lunch. Of how the sole seagull
Fathoms the madness of the afternoon
And of how fast moving clouds span
The froth, the breadth of the sea,
The vastness of the sky

In transit, in between shadow and light
Should all else fail, at the very least
I’ve written, in draft
This first and last letter
That you will read,
Not in the dark, not

Far beyond
The last bus stop.



RV Escatron [revised, 22 January 2008]

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net


MANILA, Philippines -- The city of Baltimore in Maryland, USA will be hiring 178 more public school teachers from the Philippines by summer, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) disclosed Monday.

The embassy reported to the DFA that officials of the Baltimore City Public School Board informed assistance to nationals (ATN) officer lawyer Loy Cortel, welfare officer Oliver Flores and consul Rico Fos about the decision to hire more teachers during a meeting.

The embassy officials met with the school board to discuss the case of 12 Filipino teachers reportedly in danger of being sent home because the board will no longer sponsor their employment visas due to lack of funding.

more on this link : http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20080121-113726/Baltimore-hiring-more-Filipino-public-school-teachers

UPFI this January 2008: aussie, lgbt, indie flicks   


For a full view of UP Film Institute’s current screenings, check out pertinent notes as follows: 



NEW YEAR 2008

Foster Child

A Seiko Films Production

Special Full Run: Jan 17 Thu-Jan 24 Thu 5/7 p.m.

An urban-poor family makes a living by providing for a fee a temporary home and care to abandoned babies pending their adoption.

Official Selectionâ€"2007 Festival de Cannes (Director’s Fortnight); Winner of Fiction Prizeâ€"2007 Paris International Festival of Environmental Films; Winner of Special Jury Prizeâ€"2007 Eurasia International Film Festival (Kazakhstan); Official Selection in Main Competition and Winner of Best Actress for Cherrie Pie Picacheâ€"2007 New Delhi Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian Cinema; Official Selectionâ€"2007 Karlovy Vary IFF; Official Selectionâ€"2007 La Rochelle IFF; Official Selection for Lino Brocka Grand Prizeâ€"2007 Cinemanila IFF; Official Selectionâ€"2007 Pusan IFF among more awards and distinctions

Direction: Brillante Mendoza. Screenplay: Ralston Jover. Cast: Cherrie Pie Picache, Eugene Domingo, Jiro Manio, Alwyn Uytingco, Dan Alvaro, Kier Segundo.

2007 98 minutes 35mm color



Signos (Daven Productions; Kamurayaw Pictures)

Screens on Jan 19 Sat 2/5 p.m.

As a city-based architect returns to his hometown on false news of his father’s heart attack, he is spooked by a series of mysterious deaths in the village shrouded in looming horror.

Best Foreign Filmâ€"2007 Lone Star IFF, Fort Worth, Texas; Award of Excellenceâ€"2007 Accolade Film Awards, California

Direction and Screenplay: Aloy Adlawan. Cast: Luis Alandy, Irma Adlwan, Ricky Davao, Nancy Castiglione, Nicolette Bell, Lauren Novero

2007 87 minutes 35mm color



REPLAY

@ the Videotheque

Autohystoria (Jan 14 Monday onwards)

Manoro (Jan 15 Tuesday onwards)



MANILA PRIDE FEST

Best of the Fest Edition

Unrated and Uncut

4-5; 7-12 January 2008 Friday-Saturday; Monday-Saturday 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.

Extended: Jan 19 Sat; 21 Mon-22 Tue; 26 Sat 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.



CINEMA AUSTRALIA

Free @ the Videotheque

Jan 23 Wed

5 p.m. The Cars that Ate Paris (Peter Weir)

7 p.m. The Devil’s Playground (Fred Schepisi)



Jan 24 Thu

5 p.m. Mad Max (George Miller)

7 p.m. Tail of a Tiger (Rolf de Heer)



Jan 25 Fri

5 p.m. Backroads (Phillip Noyce)

7 p.m. The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (Bruce Beresford)



CINEMA ONE ORIGINALS
Jan 28 Mon
5 p.m. Maling Akala
7 p.m. Confessional (with short film Astig)

Jan 29 Tue
2 p.m. Altar

5 p.m. Prinsesa
7 p.m. Tambolista

Jan 30 Wed
5 p.m. Confessional (with short film Astig)
7 p.m. Altar

Jan 31 Thu
2 p.m. Maling Akala

5 p.m. Tambolista
7 p.m. Prinsesa

Also watch

Jan 22 Tue 5 p.m.

OBEM Docufest Featuring I-Witness



Jan 23 Wed 10 a.m./2 p.m.

CONTEND-UP Screening with Batch ’81



Jan 30 Wed

2 p.m. KINO-SINE (Philippine-German Cinema Relations): Noli Me Tangere



To always get screening alerts, join UP Film Institute e-group: upfilminstitute@yahoogroups.com



Always watch UP Film Institute screenings and be kept informed of all UP Film Institute’s forthcoming attractions. Be especially alert of added screenings day by day. Unless indicated otherwise, screenings are held at the Cine Adarna’s 800-seat main cinema. Program is subject to change without prior notice.



Anne Marie G. De Guzman
Director
University of the Philippines Film Institute
agdeguzman@up.edu.ph



Libay Linsangan Cantor
Faculty Coordinator for Academic Programs and Research
libay.cantor@gmail.com



Maria Carolina Rodriguez Bello
Faculty Coordinator for Theater Services and Extension
bahaynicarol@gmail.com



University of the Philippines Film Institute

(Member, CILECT/International Association of Film and Television Schools)

Academic Programs and Research

Plaridel Hall, Ylanan Road, UP Diliman, Quezon City

Tel: 9818500 (UP Trunkline) local 2669, 2670; 9206863 (Telefax)

Extension and Theater Services

Cine Adarna, Magsaysay and Osmeña Avenues, UP Diliman, Quezon City

Tel: 9818500 (UP Trunkline) local 4286, 4289; 9262722 (Telefax); 9263640 (Cinema Hotline); 9250286

http://www.upd.edu.ph/~film_institute

upfilminstitute.multiply.com

filminstitute@up.edu.ph

upfi.academic@gmail.com

upfi.adarna@gmail.com

upfi_workshops@yahoo.com.ph

Last Trip
crossing Tañon Strait


revised version in another thread

Sian Elizabeth Maynard (center) is this year’s Miss Cebu. Also proclaimed winners at last night’s pageant at the Waterfront Hotel were (flanking Maynard, from left) Karen Nacario, fourth runner-up; Jam Charish Libatog, second runner-up; Kathy Lynn Atuel, first runner-up; and Priscilla Mae Honorio, third runner-up. (Sun.star photo/Arni Aclao)

Sian Elizabeth Maynard (center) is this year’s Miss Cebu. Also proclaimed winners at last night’s pageant at the Waterfront Hotel were (flanking Maynard, from left) Karen Nacario, fourth runner-up; Jam Charish Libatog, second runner-up; Kathy Lynn Atuel, first runner-up; and Priscilla Mae Honorio, third runner-up. (Sun.star photo/Arni Aclao)

Addressing the poverty problem of the country takes addressing first the “poverty of the mindset.”

This was one of the opening statements of Dr. Francis Kong, CEO of FunWorks Inc. and one of the country’s renowned inspirational speakers and authors, explaining how the mindset of people contributes to the worsening problems of the country.

Dr. Kong said everything starts in the mind, and that “the people today are the products of the decisions they made yesterday.” He spoke of three gaps that stand as roadblocks to achieving success and addressing the problem of poverty.

The first is the “skills gap”. He said the challenge to academic institutions in the Philippines is to churn out graduates with the rights skills for the corporate world. The inability of institutions to develop relevant and emerging skills in their graduates passes on the burden of training to the employer. This, Dr. Kong, explained, costs the organization large sums of money.

The second is the “values gap”. He said a growing number of young people ruin their lives with how they have themselves influenced by culture and the things around them. To crystallize his point, he mentioned a businessman who shared with him statistics on items that are most salable in his relative’s convenience store located near a call center. It caught the attention of students, who guessed coffee was most salable, when Dr. Kong revealed that it was condoms.

The third is the “leadership gap”. While success is easy, he said succession is not. The present society now, he said, needs to breed a culture of leadership within the young people. The retirement of older, more experienced executives leave management responsibilities to the younger generation. But while there may be a mix of talent and creative minds under the top bracket of the organizational structure, there is a need for leadership to be enhanced to raise the standards. When those at top level management fail to innovate and raise the standards, the development at the bottom will be limited as top level management serves as the lid or ceiling of growth.

Dr. Kong advised the participants in the National MDG Summit for Young Filipino Leaders to continue learning even outside the school. He said learning is better when it becomes a commitment instead of a requirement for compliance to people.

He also stressed on the importance of attitude over skills, reminding students that as they strive to be successful, they should do so without comprising their integrity and values.

Dr. Kong gives an average of 300 talks every year.

source: su.edu.ph

former colleagues Sunstar Chief of Photographers Alex Badayus and writer Orly Cajegas tagged me along for the Sunstar Yearbook 2004 features on Bohol

photos: RV Escatron
 

photoblog

Central Azucarera de Bais (Bais City)

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

...plain rest and recreation with Ahmed and Michelle, dinner was at MB's authentic German style pizza and pasta, with the ever-famous uber-sized serving.

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron



fog at 4:00pm






VISCA

photoblog

strategic planning with colleagues

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

Dr. Cris (of Jagna, Bohol) and Dr. Marivic Bernido, well-known educator, formerly with the National Physics Institute at The University of the Philippines in Diliman, who makes Jagna Bohol (Central Visayan Institute) their home, were our speakers for a seminar at school. We brought them to Arano for the authentic Spanish cuisine.

good food, good wine and good conversation~

Food cook to perfection by Senyor Arano
address: top secret. hahahha. basta somewhere in Guadalupe.

photography: RV Escatron







paella!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  yum yum yum

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

Almost at the tip of Cebu.

Mid-year assessment slash rest and recreation right after All Souls

(Found a downright creepy cemetery at a beachfront a few heartbeats from the resort. Hundreds of skeletons were scattered all over.)

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron





I sneaked my camera inside the Balay Negrense. Nalipat ang curator. hahahha
kids, under any circumstances, do not try this in any museum

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron






model: Van Joot, (2 months old) with the special participation of my hand. YAY!

from Dr. Gloria Fuentes of USLS



Be ONE of the 15 FELLOWS with multi-awarded writers!

                                       

      IYAS Writing Worshop



Ø      Applicants should submit original work: either 6 poems, 2 short stories, or 2 one- act plays using pseudonym, in five (5) computer-encoded hard copies of entries, font size 12, bound or fastened, in separated folders with a diskette (MSWord).



Ø      These are to be accompanied by a sealed size 10 business envelope with the author’s real name and pseudonym, a 2x2 ID photo, and a short resume, which must be mailed on or before March 14, 2008.





Ø      Entries in Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Tagalog or Filipino may be submitted. Fellowships are awarded by genre and by language.



Ø      Grant will cover board and lodging and a partial transportation subsidy.



Ø     PANELISTS

Dr. Cirilo Bautista                     Ms. Genevieve Asenjo

Dr. Marjorie Evasco                 Prof. Danny Reyes

Dr. Elsie Coscolluela                 Dr. Antonio Tan



Ø      Workshop is on April 20-26, 2008 at the Balay Kalinungan Complex, University of St. La Salle, Bacolod City.



Sponsored by:       University of St. La Salle, NCCA, Benvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center, De La Salle University, and Negrence Studies Development Center



SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TO:



For inquiries, email:                                          by mail:

glofuentes2003@usls.edu                                 Dr. Gloria Fuentes

glofuentes2003@yahoo.com                 Asst. Vice President for Academic Affairs Office

                                                                        University of St. La Salle

                                                                     La Salle Avenue, Bacolod City

photoblog

from the archive

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

the best thing in life is for free! labi na ug free food! yehey!

il ristorante italiano
the best italian cuisine, cocina in Upper Busay =)
(is Budoy's place nearby ya?)

photography: RV Escatron




pesto!!!!!

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron





Tabang! Gigunitan ko ni Mc Arthur!

using the sony digicam photo capability (not as good as the slr)

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

Ms. Bambi told me they stayed here during a visit to the recipient (of their generosity in Ormoc).
from my stock photos. here goes.

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

welcome to paradise!

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron







biggest convent in Asia


kita ka sa kanding?

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

photoblog


photography: RV Escatron

photoblog


itlog sano, naa ka? para offering

dinhi mitagu si former Pres. Cory Aquino usa ka adlaw sa Martial Law years

photography: RV Escatron

and only one survivor lived to tell the tale

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

labadami, labango



padung sa tanaman ug bebe's bret. YAY!



ubus niining kurus ang makinsa sa eroplano nga na crash



makina sa Mt. Pinatubo--ang pangan sa eruplanu ilang gisakyan

photoblog

photography: RV Escatron

photography: RV Escatron

huwaw

photography: RV Escatron

photography: RV Escatron

photography: RV Escatron


from the river

Sinulog 2008
Schedule of Activities

(Fuente Osmeña, January 11-31, 2008)
January 11, 2008 (Friday)
   
Sinulog 2008 Kick Off
   
Sinulog Photo Exhibits through the years @SM City Cebu, Ayala Center Cebu, MCIAA
2:00PM
   
Solemn Mass (Basilica del Sto. Niño)
3:00 PM
   

Launching Parade (Basilica del Sto. Niño to Cebu City Sports Center)
7:00 PM
   

Opening and Launching Program, Fuente Osmeña featuring Mandaue City Children’s Choir, Dancesports Team Cebu and Dance Troupes from Cebu’s schools and universities
8:00 PM
   
Launching Fireworks
8:00 PM
   
Concert @ Fuente O, Street Party Bands
January 12, 2008 (Saturday)
   
Sinulog sa Kabataan â€" Lalawigan
1:00 PM
   

Parade of Participants, Capitol Site to Cebu City Sports Center
2:00 PM
   
Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Lalawigan, Cebu City Sports Center
4:30 PM
   
Awarding of Winners
7:00 PM
   
Cultural Show (Fuente Osmeña) DepEd, Cebu Province
8:30 PM
   
Ms. Cebu ’08 Presentation
9:30 PM
   
Concert @ the Fuente O , Street Party Bands
January 13, 2008 (Sunday)
   
Sinulog sa Kabataan- Dakbayan
8:00 AM
   

Medical Mission sponsored by Unilab Rose Pharmacy @Plaza Independencia
1:00 PM
   

Parade of Participants, Plaza Independencia to Cebu City Sports Center
2:00 PM
   
Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan, Cebu City Sports Center
4:30 PM
   
Awarding of Winners
7:00 PM
   
Cultural Show  (Fuente Osmeña)
University of Cebu
9:00 PM
   
Concert @ the Fuente O, Street Party Bands
January 14, 2008 (Monday)
   
7:30 PM
   
Cultural Show (Fuente Osmeña)
Univ. of Southern Philippines Foundation, Cebu Institute of Technology and University of Cebu
9:00 PM
   

Concert @ the Fuente O , Street Party Bands

January 15, 2008 (Tuesday)
   
7:30 PM
   
Cultural show  (Fuente Osmeña) University of San Carlos
9:00 PM
   
Concert @ the Fuente O , Street Party Bands
January 16, 2008 (Wednesday)
   
9:00 AM
   
Airport Welcome (Balikbayan Flights)
7:30 PM
   
Cultural Shows (Fuente Osmeña)

Abellana National School, Cebu Doctor’s University and Cebu State College of Science and Technology
9:00 PM
   
Concert @ the Fuente O , Street Party Bands
January 17, 2008 (Thursday)
   
9:00 AM
   

Airport Welcome (Balikbayan Flights)
7:00 P.M
   
Ms. Cebu ’08 , Coronation Night @ Cebu Waterfront Hotel
7:30 PM
   
Cultural Shows (Fuente Osmeña)
University of San Jose Recoletos, Southwestern University, Salazar College â€" Science Institute Technology
9:00 PM
   
Concert @ the Fuente O , Street Party Bands         
January 18, 2008 (Friday)
   

Visual Merchandising Contest
(Dept. Stores and Malls)
8:00 AM
   
Devotee City
7:00 PM
   
Metro Cebu Popular Music Festival
7:30 PM
   

Cultural Shows (Fuente Osmeña)
DepEd, Cebu City
7:30 P.M
   
Handumanan “The Concert” @SM City Cebu
8:00 PM
   
Balik Cebu, Welcome Party @ Ayala Center Cebu
9:00 PM
   
Concert @ the Fuente O , Street Party Bands         

January 19, 2008 (Saturday)
   
6:00 AM
   
Fluvial Procession of the Miraculous Image of Sto. Niño
6:00 AM
   
4th Street Vibrations Bike Rally 2008
9:00 AM
   
Re-enactment of the Baptism of Queen Juana and Rajah Humabon Basilica del Sto. Niño
2:00 PM
   
Solemn Procession of the Miraculous Image of Sto. Niño
6:30 PM
   
Sinulog Festival Queen 2007, Cebu City Sports Center
7:00 PM
   
Street party @ Fuente Osmeña and Plaza Independencia
8:00 PM
   
Kasadya Nite Mardi Gras @ Ayala Center Cebu
January 20, 2008 (Sunday)
   
SINULOG GRAND PARADE
9:00 AM
   
Sinulog Grand Parade Carousel Kick Off
7:00 PM
   
Grand Fireworks, Cebu City Sports Center
7:30 PM
   
Street Party Bands, Fuente Osmeña
8:00 PM
   

Grand Fireworks Display @ Ayala Football Grounds
Sponsored by Mitsumi Group of Companies
January 21, 2008 (Monday)
   
1:00 PM
   
Awarding Ceremonies, Cebu City Sports Center
January 31, 2008 (Thursday)
   
1:00 P.M
   
Awarding Ceremonies Photo Contest and Video Documentary Contest
February 1-10, 2008
   

Photo Exhibits “Winning Photos Sinulog ‘08” @SM City Cebu
For more information: Contact Us at 253700, 2545010, telefax 4164548

Holy Name University (Divine Word College of Tagbilaran)

Featuring 82 poems by 29 of the Philippines’ best young poets in English.

From the Introduction: By subtitling this collection “An Anthology of Philippine Postcolonial Poetry, this is precisely what I wish to editorially endorse, what I wish the prospective reader (local or translocal) to remember, what I intend to announce at the outset: these poems, like the rest of Philippine literature in English, will in fact be largely incomprehensible when decontextualized from the histories that engendered themâ€"particularly the violent histories of colonization that the Philippines, as a geopolitical and indeed national reality, has endured.

The top prizes went to Santo Niño, Kaloy-i Ako (by Jafet Vistal and interpreted by Wilson Mendez Jr.), Daghang Salamat, O Santo Niño (by Emmanuel Abellana and interpreted by Danica Caballes) and Viva Santo Niño (by Niño James Banares and Ma. Lyndie Abella and interpreted by Wilson Po), winning first, second and third slots, respectively.

Friday, January 11, 2008
P1 billion Erap assets discovered

MANILA -- The anti-graft court have found over P1 billion worth of suspected assets of pardoned former President Joseph Estrada placed in a trust account with Equitable PCI Bank, which is now known as Banco de Oro-EPCI, Inc.

The money is being eyed for forfeiture in favor of the government for allegedly being part of the ill-gotten wealth of Estrada, who in September last year was convicted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan Special Division.

In an update report he submitted to the Special Division last Thursday, Chief Sheriff Edgardo Urieta said the amount was found intact at the bank under IMA (Investment Management Agreement) Trust Account No. 101-78056-1.

The amount covers P500 million listed under "promissory note and chattel mortgage;" 450 million shares of Waterfront Philippines with an estimated value of P427.5 million (at today's P0.95 per share); 300 million shares of Wellex Industries worth some P84 million (at today's P0.28 per share); and cash deposits in a common trust fund investment account containing P95.76 million, which will mature on July 25 this year.

The trust account is traceable to the infamous Jose Velarde account, although Urieta failed to state it in his report.

Urieta attached to the report the December 14, 2007 letter of lawyer Gerardo Banzon, head of Banco de Oro's legal advisory and research department, confirming that the stock investments and trust deposits remain intact as of that date.

Banzon said nobody has been able to touch the assets because of a "constructive distraint order" imposed by then Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) deputy commissioner now Commissioner Lilian Hefti dating back to January 29, 2001.

A distraint order is slapped on certain properties as a safeguard to ensure recovery by or indemnification of an aggrieved party.

Hefti's order was addressed to the then president of the Equitable-PCI Bank, a copy of which was attached by Urieta to his report.

In her 2001 order, Hefti specifically identified that properties to be covered by the order are assets of "Joseph Ejercito Estrada a.k.a. Jose Velarde and Kelvin Garcia".

Hefti explained that the order was issued "to protect the interest of the government and to prevent them (Estrada family) from dissipating or conveying their properties without authority from this Office (BIR)."

Urieta's office continues to search for Estrada's properties that may be levied to satisfy the Sandiganbayan's forfeiture ruling, which was not covered by the executive clemency granted to the convicted leader by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Among the properties that were ordered forfeited in favor of the government include the P545.3 million that Estrada received as kickbacks from jueteng operations, the P189.7 million representing the commission that he got from the purchase of Belle Corp. shares by two government pension funds, and the house and lot dubbed "Boracay Mansion" in New Manila, Quezon City.

In its September 12, 2007 decision, the Sandiganbayan held that Estrada was the beneficial owner of the Jose Velarde account although the former President maintains that the real owner is businessman Jaime Dichavez.

However, the anti-graft court said the prosecution failed to show that the entire P3.22 billion once deposited in the Velarde account were all "ill-gotten" as only P545.3 million was supported by evidence to have come from jueteng payola. (Sunnex)

For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao.

By Pocholo Concepcion
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:34:00 01/10/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones once said he’d rather be dead than still be singing “Satisfaction” at age 40. But he’s now 64 and just finished a world tour that made his band richer by $437 million.

Arnel Pineda has just turned 40 and the roller-coaster ride that has marked his profession as a rock singer is about to take a new turn. On Feb. 1 he will fly to the United States to start rehearsing and recording as the new vocalist of Journey -- the American band famous for its power ballads, and whose records have sold 75 million copies since 1973.

Landing the slot wasn’t exactly the biggest deal of his life. “At least [not] in the first few days after Neal Schon (Journey founder and lead guitarist) told me I was their new man,” Pineda said Wednesday in an interview at the Greenhills office of his manager, TV director Bert de Leon.

Pineda recalled telling himself, “This isn’t a very secure job; they can fire me anytime.”

But the thrill of everything that lay ahead -- performing as a Filipino musician who would certainly make his countrymen proud sank in soon enough. “I thought my Friendster account would explode with the volume of e-mail that poured in from Filipinos based in the US and Europe,” Pineda recounted. “But here at home, there was little noise about it. Lately na lang.”

for more:
http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view/20080110-111456/Filipino-rocker-hits-global-stage

By Joey A. Gabieta
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 17:05:00 01/10/2008

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines -- Eight fishermen from Eastern Samar earlier declared missing returned safely after 10 days of drifting in the Pacific Ocean, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional office reported Thursday.

The OCD identified the eight fishermen, all residents of the City of Borongan, as boat captain Nestor Sale, 43, brother Felimon, 26, Kerby Ricafort, 35, Gilbert Toral, 19, Billy Quitorio, 24, Leonardo Medrado, 36, Jose Lustre, 30, and Rogel Gaco, 30.

The eight, who sailed January 1, failed to return home and were declared missing.

Members of the Coast Guard in Borongan, Eastern Samar and other rescue groups set out to sea but could not find the missing fishermen.


for more of this news, click the link below

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080110-111554/8-fishermen-return-after-10-days-adrift-in-Pacific-Ocean

By Janette Toral
Digital Filipino
Sunstar Cebu

SINCE last month, I’ve been managing a blog that features Filipino migrants and those working abroad. Reading stories about them firsthand made me more sensitive to the reasons they are there.

Those who have family members who are working or have worked abroad are more inclined to pursue the same path. The young ones tend to take up courses that will give them the opportunity to travel or work overseas.

I have a cousin who did not pursue careers related to the degree (advertising) she finished; she was determined to get a job abroad. Her dad was based in the Middle East for more than a decade and her two brothers are out of the country working. Even if she gets a redundant or clerical job, she prefers to work in a strict-culture country than settle with the kind of income she is getting here today. I guess, with assistance from her brothers, she can earn more abroad.

Young people are now pressured to take courses out of practicality rather than passion.

As a typical Filipino family has more than three children, taking care of household, school and other expenses â€" with escalating cost of living, uncertain government support and without significant income increases â€" can be frightening for some parents. Thus, we may ask, “is the trend of Filipinos working overseas really caused by lack of competitive opportunities in the country or by a determination to earn a large income? Or do many Filipinos merely desire to just leave the country right away and look for opportunities to migrate?

If this lack of interest to build a career in the country continues, what will become of this nation?

Thanks to the Internet, resources are now available for families to keep in touch, such as text messaging and affordable international phone calls (where a growing number is done through voice over Internet protocol), online chat, web cam, blogs and e-mail. At least, the absence and tension caused by having a member of the family work abroad is eased through these means.

It is through the Internet that most of us discover opportunities that can be worth exploring to improve our lives. What the future holds for our country will greatly depend on our future leaders. Which path do we want them to take us?


Join the Sun.Star message board

MORE and more Filipino women, like those working as care-givers, are showing interest in becoming embalmers or professional morticians, an industry official said.

Philippine Embalmers and Morticians Association (Pema) president Sarah Dychangco said women, especially those that have taken care-giving courses, are now venturing into the funeral services industry to become embalmers as they foresee a huge demand for this type of job abroad.

“A lot of embalmers abroad are nearing age retirement and so the demand is so huge. Now, you see caregivers wanting to become embalmers because of the hefty salary,” Dychangco said, who is also president of the Pacific Center for Advanced Studies (PCAS).

In an interview with reporters, she said that in order to gain competitive advantage as professional embalmers, more women, even those outside of Cebu, have started to take advanced studies on embalming at PCAS, the first formal embalming and mortuary training school in the Asia Pacific.

PCAS is found at Nivel Hills, Cebu City.

Great chances

Dychangco said the good reputation of Filipinos as world-class caregivers is something that the country can capitalize on as embalming has become an extended service in the global care-giving industry.

“Caregivers abroad, who have embalming skills, have greater chances of (getting a) huge income as this kind of service pays higher than the basic care giving,” she said.

Jeffrey Chancellor, Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes Inc. (CFHI) consultant and PCAS chairman, earlier said that an average embalmer or mortician abroad earns more than $30,000 annually or roughly P1.2 million based on the current foreign exchange rate.

Apart from the Philippines, demand for professional embalmers is seen in the United States (US), Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Chancellor said the US government recently opened employment opportunities for this profession, through a guest worker program as the demand for skilled embalmers has risen to 50,000.

Last year, Canada also announced it needed to hire 200 professional embalmers, he said.

However, Philippine Mortuary Association president Renato Dychangco Jr. earlier pointed out that while the mortuary industry is a “sunrise industry,” he understands the call to “change its image” if it wants to lure more people to become professional embalmers, especially since it is a misconstrued profession in the Philippines.

He said there is a need to professionalize the funeral services industry by upgrading the standard of death care services. (MMM)

By EMMA VANDORE, AP Business Writer


PARIS - What price happiness? French President Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking an answer to the eternal question â€" so that happiness can be included in measurements of French economic growth.

He's turned to two Nobel economists to help him, hoping that if happiness is added to the count, the persistently sluggish French economy may seem more rosy.

"It reflects a general feeling in Europe that says, 'OK, the U.S. has been more successful in the last 20, 25 years in raising material welfare, but does this mean they are happier?'" said Paul de Grauwe, economics professor at Leuven University in Belgium.

"The answer is no, because there are other elements to happiness," said Grauwe, once a candidate for the European Central Bank governing council.

In terms of gross domestic product, the internationally recognized way of measuring the size of an economy, French growth lagged behind the U.S. throughout most of the 1980s and '90s and in every year since 2001.

Although recent turmoil in financial markets may hit the U.S. economy harder, the loss of speed in the world economy's biggest player will also drag down growth in France. Economists say growth may fall short of the government targets this year.

Sarkozy's move raised questions about whether he wants to ward off disappointing growth numbers as a rise in oil and food prices combined with a slowdown in the U.S. clouds the effect of his economic reforms.

Since his election in May he has sought to boost growth, notably by encouraging people to work longer than the much maligned 35-hour week.

Sarkozy has often appeared impatient with the French economy's lackluster performance, once declaring: "I will not wait for growth, I will go out and find it."

Frustrated with the what he termed Tuesday "the growing gap between statistics that show continuing progress and the increasing difficulties (French people) are having in their daily lives," Sarkozy said new thought should be given to the way GDP is calculated to take into account quality of life.

At a news conference Tuesday, Sarkozy said he asked U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel economics prize and a critic of free market economists, and Armatya Sen of India, who won the 1998 Nobel prize for work on developing countries, to lead the analysis in France.

Sen helped create the United Nations' Human Development Index, a yearly welfare indicator designed to gear international policy decisions to take account of health and living standards.

Once the preserve of philosophers, measuring happiness has now become a hot topic in economics.

A recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development considers taking into account leisure time and income distribution when calculating a nation's well-being. And the European Commission is working on a new indicator that moves "beyond GDP" to account for factors such as environmental progress.

Richard Layard, a professor at the London School of Economics and author of the 2005 book "Happiness: Lessons from a New Science," said Sarkozy may be seeking recognition for policies, popular in Europe, that promote well-being but don't show up in the GDP statistics.

Governments are rated on economic performance, and this influences policy in favor of boosting GDP, the value of goods and services produced over a calendar year, he said.

"But people don't want to think they live in a world of ruthless competition where everyone is against everyone," Layard said. "Valuable things are being lost, such as community values, solidarity."

His book shows that depression, alcoholism and crime have risen in the last 50 years, even as average incomes more than doubled.

Jean-Philippe Cotis, the former OECD chief economist who took over as head of France's statistics office Insee two months ago, said Wednesday that a measure of happiness would complement GDP by taking into account factors such as leisure time â€" something France has a lot of.

France's unemployment rate is stubbornly high, and when French people do work they spend less time on the job â€" 35.9 hours per week compared with the EU average of 37.4.

Cotis said he looked forward to a "passionate" debate beyond the traditional realms of his science.

"Statisticians are also interested in happiness," he said.

And so, it would seem, are presidents.

Basking in the happy glow of new love with model-turned-singer Carla Bruni, Sarkozy showed on Tuesday that his concern for happiness is universal.

A president, he said, "doesn't have more right to happiness than anyone else, but not less than anyone, either."

 

from Ron Tan of Sinulog Foundation



Join us as we move on to a higher level of excitement and opportunities! We're getting bigger! Be with us in embracing a wider scope of a more challenging experience.

In addition to the Video Documentary Competition, we are now including entries for the Sinulog Short Story! Tell us your point of view, or better yet share your actual personal experience with the Señor Santo Niño's miraculous power that has affected and changed your life! You, too, can be an instrument in changing other people's lives!





Be a part of it and win the Grand Prize!

Grand Prize: Php 30,000.00 / trophy
Second Prize: Php 20,000.00 / trophy
Third Prize: Php 10,000.00 / trophy
Consolation Prizes Seven (7) Php 1,000.00

Special Awards:
Best Story
Best Director
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Best Sound Engineering & Musical Scoring
Best Editing

Deadline of Registration : January 15, 2008, Tuesday, 5 P. M.

For more information, contact:

Ron Heri Tan, Chairman
Sinulog 2008 Short Film Festival Committee
09272589909 / 09229906074 or e-mail:
ronheri888tan@yahoo.com

Sinulog Foundation Office
Ground Floor, Cebu city sports Complex, R. R. Landon St., Sambag II, Cebu City
Telephone Numbers: (032) 253-3700/254-5010 / 253-2224
Telefax: (032) 416-4845
or visit our Website: www.sinulog.ph

HNU CHOSEN AS ONE OF THE CENTERS OF TRAINING INSTITUTIONS FOR DEPED CERTIFICATION AND OTHER IN-SERVICE PROGRAMS
Dr. Eddie R. Babor

Excellence is non-negotiable. It is both a cause and an effect -- arguing from an a priori demonstration. It is a cause because it is undoubtedly the reason of peoples' achievements. It is an effect because it is an ontological exhibit of its beholder's reaping of rewards, appreciation, and above all, a source of inspiration and an effective paradigm for the holder's adherents.

Yes, Holy Name University did not negotiate of her excellence. And yes, she is the cause of her graduates' achievement in their varied academic undertaking, i.e., topping board and bar exams. And finally, yes, HNU's excellence is the effect why she reaps a lot of honors, rewards, and appreciation-in a word, prestige.

In the light of prestige, she is chosen as one as one of the Centers of Training Institutions for DepEd Certification and other In-Serving Programs. Of the numerous schools in Regions 7 and 6, only six qualified to reap the air of conquest and might as Centers of DepEd's new program. Sharing with Holy Name University's excellence are the following academic institutions: Cebu Normal University, St. Theresa's College of Cebu, Silliman University, University of San Carlos, and University of San Jose Recoletos.

In support of the above claim, here's the letter written by Dr. Beatriz G. Torno, Executive Director II, to the Regional Directors of the Depatrment of Education.

      
"FOR       : THE REGIONAL DIRECTORS

             Department of Education

THROUGH    : DR.VILMA L.LABRADOR

             Undersecretary for Programs and Projects

FROM       : DR.BEATRIZ TORNO

             Executive Director II

SUBJECT    : LIST OF CENTERS OF TRAINING INSTITUTIONS FOR

             DEPED CERTIFICATION AND OTHER IN-SERVICE PROGRAMS

DATE       : 10 September 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------

During the regular Technical Panel for Teacher Education (TPTE) - Commission on Higher Education (CHED) meeting held on September 7, 2007, it was agreed that the Teacher Education Council (TEC) would inform the DepEd on the official list of Centers on Traning Institutionsas identify by the CHED.

In this connection, please see the attached list of Centers of Training Institutions per region which could be tapped as service providers for the DepEd Certification and other in service programs. The regional Directors/School Division Superintendents are encouraged to request the said Training Institutions to design induction/INSET programs for our beginning teacher including the newly hired locally funded teachers in 2007. The training shall take place during the INSET break from October 22 - 26, 2007 and this coming summer of 2008...

For your information and guidance. Thank you.

TORNO

Cc. President, Center of Training Institutions"

Based on the list provided by Dr. Torno, there is a total of 82 schools throughout the country which are accredited by DepEd for the aforesaid purpose. In Regions 7 and 6 - to repeat - only six schools got the title as Centers. And in Bohol, only Holy Name University earns the merit of being an excellent school - from the standpoint of the Department of Education. What else?

"The coming revolutions in fundamental physics"

A dialogue with Professor David Gross
2004 Nobel Laureate in Physics

College of Architecture and Fine Arts Theater - University of San Carlos :: Talamban Campus
Friday, January 11, 2008, 2:00 p.m.

Paul B. '11 | January 07, 2008
"The Space Between"

Over Winter Break, whenever any of my friends or relatives asked me when I was going back to MIT, I couldn't help but sigh, just a tiny little bit. In the past semester or so, I've realized that being an MIT student makes answering supposedly “normal” questions into rather elaborate affairs. As one example, when someone asks me what classes I took during fall semester, my natural, MIT-conditioned response is to rattle off the course numbers: “18.02, 5.112, 7.012, and 8.012.”

So I know I'm not in Cambridge anymore, Toto, when I - realizing that none of my relatives know what any of those numbers mean - have to force myself to say the actual subjects themselves: “Well, I took calculus, chemistry, biology, and physics.” It's the same problem with majors, or buildings, or the Pass/No Record system for freshmen, or any of the wide variety of acronyms that have worked their way into the lexicon of MIT slang.

So, when someone asks me when I'm going back to MIT, what I'd really like to tell all my friends and relatives is that, “Oh, I'm heading back this Sunday for IAP.” If I actually said that, though, I'd be met with, at best, a raised eyebrow and an innocent query of “What's...IAP?” Or, somewhat more likely, I'd receive a blank, quizzical stare, as my aunt silently thinks to herself, What are they feeding my nephew out there in New England? It's like he's talking in another language! (For all you pre-frosh out there, just think: next year, this could be your aunt. Another great reason why you should come to MIT.)

All humor aside, that basically brings me to the point of this entry: what is IAP? The one-sentence, in-a-nut-shell version that I like to tell my friends and relatives is that “IAP, which stands for Independent Activities Period, is a month-long intersession in January between the fall and spring terms, which we spend taking courses, doing research, or just hanging out and having fun.” At which point the aforementioned friends and relatives nod knowingly and generally go, “Ah, that makes sense, I guess.” (I'll be addressing my answer to their common follow-up question - “So what are you doing for this IAP?” - a little later.)

But there's a slight problem with that explanation. While it's a perfectly true statement, that single sentence doesn't really capture the true sense and scope of IAP. Today's MIT homepage describes IAP as “an intriguing array of possibilities.” Again, that's completely accurate - but at the same time, it's quite not the whole story, either.

I think the real answer is that IAP is truly what you want it to be. MIT students and faculty are, after all, famous for their innovation. So when you give 4,000-some undergrads, approximately 1,000 faculty, and countless other staff and community members four almost-completely-free weeks to participate in and organize whatever ridiculous, crazy, and/or freaking sweet activities they can up with...well, you can bet some sparks will fly. (Literally and figuratively speaking. Have you heard about the welding class?)

If you ask two people what they're doing over IAP, you'll almost certainly get two completely different answers. Melis already blogged about the variety of activities some of her sorority sisters are pursuing, and I've witnessed the same breadth and depth of pursuits among my own friends. Their plans range the gamut from fun (if perhaps slightly absurd) things like truffle-making lessons and a Mel Brooks movie marathon, all the way to completely serious and intense offerings like the EMT training course and for-credit classes in physics, computer science, or calculus. Other friends are rounding out their month by studying glass-blowing, investigating the history of constructed languages, taking PE courses, or just relaxing with friends and enjoying all that MIT, Cambridge, and Boston have to offer. And, of course, there's always Mystery Hunt to look forward to.

Of course, not all students come back to MIT for IAP. A few of my friends are indeed using the first week or two of January to extend their winter break, although they'll be back for the rest of IAP. And campus definitely feels quieter, at least around the dormitory areas, although main campus remains fairly busy. (Perhaps the fact that more people are sleeping in has something to do with it as well. But that's just a hypothesis.) All that said, most students who remain off-campus for IAP are actually pursuing some other sort of educational or career experience outside of Boston, anywhere from New York and California to Spain and India. Since taking a full semester abroad can sometimes be disruptive, visiting another country during IAP can be a great way to expand your global horizons without sacrificing too much else.

As for me, I'm trying to keep things low-key during my first few weeks back at MIT. I'll be spending most of my time working on my UROP in the Langer Lab - I actually wrote most of this entry during my lunch break. A little later on, I'll be dedicating another entry to how UROP works at MIT, and how I found mine. In about two weeks I'll be joining Matt, Bryan, and maybe a few other bloggers as we compete in the annual Mystery Hunt - an IAP tradition I've been looking forward to for quite a while now. And with any luck, I should have evenings open (more or less) to hang out with friends, watch some movies, play a little Rock Band, go to a quick seminar or two...that sort of thing. I guess we'll just have to see how it all goes.

It's IAP, after all. Anything can happen.

But requires consultations with parents

By Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:03:00 01/09/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Good news for owners and operators of private tertiary schools nationwide but bad news for students and parents.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently gave private educators the go-signal to lift the ceiling on tuition and other school fees earlier imposed by the government, "provided there would be consultations with students, as well as the parents," top officials of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) quoted her as saying.

Arroyo arrived at the decision after a series of meetings with CHED, Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) and the Coordinating Council for Private Educational Institutions (COCOPEA), among other groups.


click the link for more
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080109-111345/Arroyo-lifts-tuition-cap-for-private-colleges

Kathy Lynn G. Atuel

Age: 23 years old
Height: 5? 5?
Vital Statistics: 35-25-35
Cebu Doctors University
Capitol Site, Cebu City







see voting guidelines in this thread~

PIT SENYOR!

1

photography: RV Escatron

Provincial Capitol

photography: RV Escatron

St. Joseph Cathedral

photography: RV Escatron

Old Town Center

Sitio Ubos, Tagbilaran City

WHAT GIVES?
seeking for some thrill this holiday slash break

Thirdy has to justify the two grand I paid after its shutter broke. Thirdy has to make his amu smile. hahaha

So what does a restless kiddo do with a camera in tow?
here goes...

(kids, under any circumstances, don't try this at home, este, in a museum)
I'm not saying that the curator took a catnap *winks*

Fathom This Darkness
Sunset in Plaza Rizal, Tagbilaran


It takes its shape from blackbirds
                 swarming
Toward the branches, leafless in December.

And announces its coming, swirling above us,
Above posts,
   posts covering this vast sadness
         pulling its silken sheet.

It further takes its shape, in a single file,
In livewire, between a withered yellow blossom
And a pigeon standing on one leg
In the [Capitol's] eaves.

And tries to seal itself on a dead leaf
On this bench catching

Beads of rain.




A. Scott Calamba
29 December 2007

MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- Dramatically played out on live television, an opposition politician and rebel military officers surrendered to government forces after taking over a luxury hotel in Manila.


"We're going out for the sake of the safety of everybody," Philippines Sen. Antonio Trillanes said.

The senator made the decision to give up after the military peppered the inside of the hotel with tear gas. Live pictures from inside the hotel showed reporters and rebel soldiers covering their faces.

An armoured personnel vehicle was also seen firing into the lobby of Manila's Peninsula hotel and later rammed through the front entrance of the building.

"The situation is contained within the Peninsula hotel, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told CNN.

"The perpetrators are in the process of being arrested." Those who held the hotel were shown being loaded into a Philippine National Police bus.

Teodoro said no one was injured, but Associated Press reported that at least two people were injured.

The standoff began hours earlier when a group led by Trillanes and Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim bolted from a court hearing on charges linked to a failed 2003 coup attempt. Video Watch footage of troops storming the hotel in Manila »

"What happened, to me, was clearly either an attempted rebellion or an attempted coup d'etat," Teodoro said.
Don't Miss


Philippines military and police personnel had been surrounding the hotel, where the group was asking for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to step down. After Trillanes' announcement, soldiers milled around the outside of the hotel, but the scene had calmed noticeably.

Arroyo had issued orders to the military and police in response to the seizure of the hotel, located in Manila's Makati financial district, journalist Adrian Addison told CNN. Few supporters of the rebels were visible around the Peninsula hotel, Addison said.

Philippine authorities gave the rebel group until 2:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) to allow guests to leave the hotel, and until 3:00 p.m. (0700 GMT) to surrender, the ABS-CBN news service reported.


Businessman Peter Parcel was caught in the middle of the hotel's takeover and subsequent tear-gassing. Listen to the eyewitness in the hotel describe what happened Video

"I couldn't see and couldn't breathe," he said, noting he faced "at least 100 guns" as he exited the hotel. E-mail to a friend



All About Manila • Philippines • Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Beautiful Pain
RV Escatron

My eyes were still fixated on the remnants of the bonfire when she emerged naked from the water. Her pool-toned body formed a silhouette against the full moon.

“Here, take this towel. You might catch cold.” I offered.

She came near me, grabbed the towel and wrapped herself.

“The water is warm, you should try it.” She whispered, her breathing sent a tingling sensation in my earlobes, as water came dripping into my right shoulder, sliding down to my back.

“Later.” I answered her in a puppy-dog-eye look. Then smiled.

“Sorry to kept you waiting ha?”

“Not a problem.”

Earlier, straight from picking her at the city airport, I accompanied her scouring for bikinis and flip-flops at the only city mall. When she found nothing that suited her fancy, we headed to the grocery and rummaged through the wine and spirits section. Took a bottle of Bordeaux, a Scotch and two dozens of Pilsen. To complete the list, I took bars of dark chocolate and packs of fried cashew nuts, and she, not failing to remember my appetite for cheesecakes, ordered one from the bakeshop.

As I watched her joined the queue at the counter, I couldn’t help but be amazed with the changes in her. A lot. From the naïve college girl seven years back, she morphed into this high-strung woman I was with that Saturday afternoon. At thirty-one, she still maintained a body that could give a bikini open champ a run for her money.

“Santi?” she called.

“Coming, er, right up!” Caught off-guard, I stammered, trailed at her with two bottles in one hand and the chocolate and cashew on the other.

“We’re missin’ somethin’?” in a distinct NYC accent.

“Oh, yeah, I know it.” I smirked.

A bottle of Gilbey’s and limeâ€"the ultimate potion back in college when we had to stretch our meager allowance for a night of booze and god-knows-what. “We have this new flavor sir.” Interrupted the salesgirl. “There is also a premixed sir.” She persuaded in broken English. “No. Thank you Miss.” I still prefer the way we used to do it. It brings back the memoriesâ€"of the cold sea breeze whisking our faces, the sound of the palm leaves pelting each other.

The cab driver obliged to take us to Doljo Point.

“No news yet?” Reema was now in front of me. I nodded.

She wrapped herself. “So, I’ll just have to see you at the cottage later.”

“All right.”

And she blended with the darkness and underneath the thick foliage. “Lest I forget, the bed near the terrace door is mine!” I hollered, chancing if she still heard me.

At the taxi earlier, she started talking about her hiatus that made me puzzled for years. Not really much of a story. It was more like a teaser. She narrated about how her life went about. Sheltered in a hut in a famous town nestled in the mighty Cordillera. It fog there everydayâ€"that by two in the afternoon, transportation is at halt. Visibility is zero. One has to wait the next day. It was a life of simplicity and solitude, or so she thought. Then she met Abata-a native who went to the State University in Manila for college. He was the unconventional Igorot who worked for Murdoch and Bach Advertising in Makati.

There was hissing from my back. “Sant, this fleece blanket will keep us warm for the night.” She reached out for the last can of beer, squat beside me and lighted a cigarette. “Since when did you learn to smoke?” “You know how life is in the big city, duh.” She puffed and threw me the familiar look. Yes. Those eyes that smiled every time it meet mine. This couldn't be happening again. Must be the beer. Dang!

Smoke covered the space between us. "Care for a walk to that boulder Sant, what do you say?”

We opted to trail the dirt path. The illumination coming from the moon, partly hidden by the overcast, provided us enough light. We settled at the clearing below the boulder.

Pamilacan Island, a few nautical miles from where we crouched appeared obscure from afar. The chirping crickets provided us solace. While the romantic cycle of the waves that soaked our feet provided us comfort. It was a quarter past midnight.

Amid the stillness, I nursed my sixth can of beer. “Somehow, your alcohol tolerance has never gone down rock bottom, no? Geez.” She smirked. “Let's just put it on this term. Over the years, I did, but only seven.”

Like the bitter aftertaste of the first gulp, the memories of what transpired in the last eight years still lingered in my mind. But as drinking progressed, a sweet tangy sensation soon replaced it.


794 words

I love this TVC. Happy Holidays ol chaps in TB~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laui7-IA3pA

Small Hours of Monsoon
…after a photo, by the windmills of Bangui, Ilocos Norte



Like how, yesterday, you sift dust in our photograph



In these small hours, here in darkness,

Run your fingers in my back. Let each tip

Fathom the depth and muffled quietude of our soul.



Catch my breath as you please.

Let my tongue seek, slowly, for your earlobes,

“All night, tonight, we will make wild love…”



And when all is, piece by piece, button after button,

Reduced into our own nakedness, please go slow

As we swim into the regions of our being.



Let me flick the tinderbox and

Let the lamp glow in desire. “I want to see you in honeyed light.”



And when this is through, when the last stick of  Marlboro lights

Is puffed, ashes nudged, on the chequered tiles of this room

Please don’t leave.



Instead, keep those windows open,

Gather the curtains to the side.



Let me wrap my arms around you,

Let your head rest in my chest

And in the drizzle, in the stillness like in the eye of a storm,

Of this small hour, we stare at [the] windmills

As they glow in the thin moonlight



                                  For every drop of rain on the tin roof,

It’s my wont not to let

This beautiful pain

Slip away.





A. Scott Calamba
11.25.2007

"Organized in 1960s, Bathalad or Bathalad-ong Halad sa Dagang (Divine Gift of the Quill), a clique of Cebuano poets and fictionists aims to nurture appreciation of Cebuano language in the survival and strengthening our own culture and identify as a people." --Myke Obenieta (from the internet)

Pers taym naku mitambung upon the invitation of my Faigao co-fellow nga si Karla. Haskang lingawa nakighimamat sa ubang magtatagik nga si Veep, Jiji, May, Anthony, Gloria ug sila Bambi, Chai, Russ, Greg (featured poet of the month) ug Ernie Lariosa didto sa laing la mesa. Matud pa ni Anthony "shop talk." Lingawa oist! Last call sa alsa baso mga alas dos na sa kaadlawun.

camera: Karla
photos: Vince
lingaw metre: Priceless. Yay!



dagkut sa kandila


Bambi Beltran ug Ernesto Lariosa


Karla Quimsing


Jiji Borlasa ug Gloria


Russ Ligtas


Anthony Kintanar


Veep Cerna ug May Rosales


Anthony ug ako


Chai Fonacier


Greg Fernandez

....

And what about those smart Filipina girls who whip out snappy replies to turn down "unwanted men." Here are some of those crackling replies from a smart Filipina executive - who is still single.

He: "Can I buy you a drink?"
She: "Actually I'd rather have the money."

He: I'm a photographer. I've been looking for a face like yours.
She: I'm a plastic surgeon. I've been looking for a face like yours.

He: Hi. Didn't we go on a date once? Or was it twice?
She: Must've been once. I never make the same mistake twice.

He: How did you get to be so beautiful?
She:" I must've been given your share."

He: "Will you go out with me this Saturday?"
She: "Sorry. I'm having a headache this weekend."

He: "Go on, don't be shy. Ask me out."
She: "Okay, get out."

He:"I think I could make you very happy.
She: "Why? Are you leaving?"

He: "What would you say if I asked you to marry me?
She: "Nothing. I can't talk and laugh at the same time."

He: "Can I have your name?"
She: "Why? Don't you already have one?"

He: "Where have you been all my life?"
She: "Hiding from you."

He: "Haven't I seen you some place before?
She: Yes. That's why I don't go there anymore.

He: "Is this seat empty?
She: Yes, and this one will be if you sit down.

He: So, what do you do for a living?
She: I'm a female impersonator.

The actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, however, didn't have such problems. "I never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back," she explained the comedian Groucho Marx had a different perspective: "I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury."

Winston Churchill, however, waxed philosophical about men-women tiffs. "Don't worry about avoiding temptation," he counseled. "As you grow older, it will avoid you." And Billy Crystal agreed saying: "By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.

(E-mail: juan_mercado@boholchronicle.com)

from The Bohol Chronicle

By KIT BAGAIPO

One-year and 11-month old twins died after drowning in a deep well Monday morning in barangay San Isidro, Pilar town.

Justin and Jansen Matunhay were to celebrate their birthdays next month until their tragic death.

According to the twin's father Martin Matunhay, Justin and Jansen were left to the care of their 10-year old brother John Philip as he had to work at their farmland together with his wife.
          

The victims' father said John Philip failed to notice that his brothers had walked outside of their house while the older boy was watching television.

The twins purportedly walked to the family-owned deep well just a few meters from the house.

Responding police of the Pilar PNP Station said the twins were found embracing each other while floating lifeless in the deep well.

The well was around 10-meters deep from the ground and was almost filled with water that time due to heavy rains, according to police.

Nearby residents reportedly heard the twins crying but never thought that they fell off the well which has no cover.

Rescuers tried to bring the victims to the Municipal Health Office but was declared dead by Dr. Ma. Luisa Tago.

Police said there was no foul play in the death of the Matunhay twins.

from The Bohol Chronicle

Overheard in School by my other 9-year-old kiddos & more


The 9-year-old Matchmaker

9-year-old: Sir, right, you love to read books?

me: Yup. Why do you ask?

9-year-old: 9-year-old: (gets excited, with glow in the eyes) I have a Tita who loves to read books. You know, you can be soul mates!



Sir, are you an American?

7-year-old:(Boy raises hand in the middle of my Grade One Reading class.) Sir, excuse me…

me: Yes (insert name)?

7-year-old: Are you an American?

me: (grins, presses own chin) No. Why do you want to know?

7-year-old: …because you sound like one.     


--during the first day of school






--cycle: motorcycle, unicycle, popsicle!

me: Anybody else who can give me a word with the suffix â€"cycle?

9-year-old: (raises hands) …bicycle!

me: That’s right! Do I see another hand? Yes (insert name)? What do you have?

9-year-old: (thinks for a split-second, then blurts out an answer with conviction) POPSICLE!

(class laughs out loud)

me: (poker-faced) Nice try (insert name). What about another word…





Goosebumps in my Stomach

teacher A: This is my first time to be in Card Day.

teacher B: I see.

teacher A: I’m nervous…

teacher B:  Please don’t be. You know, even though if I’ve been doing this for so many years, I still have goose bumps in my stomach.



--overheard by me, seated one table away





One of the reasons why I won’t trade the Lower Elementary Grades for any other level.

Inspired by a website. From memory, I will start entries like this, in between classes.

In an effort to conserve energy, reduce storm water runoff and deflect heat, the roof of Chicago City Hall has been transformed into a brilliant garden.


Anne Ryan / Polaris

Need to Weed Your Roof?
Thursday, Nov. 08, 2007 By JEFFREY KLUGER

The best thing you can say about the roofs of most city buildings is that you don't have to look at them much. That's very good, since an urban landscape viewed from above can be an unlovely thing--block after block of tarred black rooftops, sticky in the summer, windswept in the winter, ugly year-round. Or at least that's the way it used to be.

But urban roofs are going green. Environmental designers looking for new ways to soften cities have begun to realize that the tops of buildings don't have to be wastelands. Indeed, they can be gardens, planted with grasses, flowers and shrubs that control temperature, conserve water and clean the air. A newly published paper in the journal BioScience reveals just how much good green roofs can do.

A planted roof usually comes in one of two varieties: extensive or intensive. The extensive type is wide and shallow, with a soil depth of less than 8 in. (20 cm), able to support smaller plants. The intensive type may be smaller, but it's deeper and home to larger plants. Whatever the design, green roofs are a lot more complicated than ordinary gardens. They have multiple layers beneath the soil, including a filter membrane, a drainage layer, waterproofing, insulation and structural support.

But this elaborate infrastructure can do a great deal of good. The BioScience paper, which aggregated years' worth of other studies, reported that green roofs can cut heat loss from a building 50%, reduce air-conditioning costs 25% and reduce the so-called urban-heat-island effect--the tendency of cities to retain heat--by 3.6ºF (2ºC).

Green roofs are by no means limited to the city, but it's in cities that they're needed the most. Chicago already has more than 2.3 million sq. ft. (214,000 sq m) of rooftops planted, and more are on the way. Other rapidly greening U.S. cities include Washington; New York City; Phoenix; Kansas City, Mo.; and Portland, Ore.

Of course, for all the square feet greened and heat reduced, there is one less quantifiable metric that argues even more persuasively for the value of the green roof: the psychological boost that city dwellers can gain simply by having a quiet place to go, far above the churn of the streets. As so often happens, what's good for the planet can also be good for the spirit.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1682278,00.html

UNYA, asa na man ibutang ang akong sorfboard?!? MEOWW! LOL


British Airways' abrupt decision last week to reverse its generous policy for some sports enthusiasts traveling with their equipment has outraged the world surfing community. As of today, passengers are banned from checking surfboards, kayaks, canoes or wind surfing boards. BA's decision is what surfers might call a roundhouse cutback â€" a 180 degree shift in direction â€" from their original policy that still allows passengers to bring most sporting goods free, including golf clubs and bags, skis and snowboards.

World No. 1 surfer, Australian Mick Fanning said, "As a British Airways Platinum One World frequent flyer, it's really hard to take that people who have been so loyal, and spent so much money with BA have been dealt this blow." The British Canoe Union, which supports the 1.5 million U.K. residents who canoe and kayak is similarly alarmed. In a statement, it wrote, "We are concerned about the irony of 2008 being Olympic year. Our athletes will need to transport their equipment to pre-Olympic events, training camps and to the Olympics themselves in Beijing, China. This will significantly limit our athletes' ability to prepare for important events. And it will have further significant implications as we head towards the London 2012 Olympics." Newly crowned European long board champion and English champion Ben Skinner is also raising his voice in protest, saying, "As part of the British team I have always traveled with BA. I think it's a disgrace that they have thrown this ban back at us. BA seems to have totally underestimated the amount of business they stand to lose."

BA spokesman, Richard Goodfellow isn't so sure about that. Despite the uproar, he says, the airline is not considering changing its decision. "If you look at it as a percentage," he says, "the numbers of surfers that are traveling is tiny, miniscule."

Several airlines that serve high-profile surfing destinations such as South Africa and Australia are poised to gain BA's lost customers â€" and none is ready to follow suit with BA by banning surfboards. BA's reversal is particularly drastic: going from allowing these items for free to banning them entirely, while other airlines like Qantas, SAA, Delta and American charge extra for surfboards and similar equipment and will continue to do so.

A South African Airways spokeswoman says, "There won't be any decision to follow in BA's footsteps. For us, every passenger is essential. We would never take a standpoint to alienate such a large population of our travelers." A Qantas spokesperson told TIME, "We have no plans to change our existing arrangements." Virgin Atlantic, well regarded in the surfing community, and always eager to land a dig at British Airways announced today that it was expanding the types of sporting goods it would allow on board for free. "Virgin Atlantic continues to be the airline for sports enthusiasts, unlike others who are doing everything they can to prevent the gold medalists of the future transporting their equipment," it said in a statement. As long as the equipment complies with size and weight allowances, Virgin Atlantic travelers can check their diving equipment, golf equipment, fishing equipment, hang gliders, skis, surfboards, windsurfing boards, booms and sails, bicycles, paragliders, canoes and kayaks all free of charge. One roundhouse cutback deserves another.

concealing



I might have sulked in your presence

                                 and concealed the canvas


with the stained white sheets that you covered

the dinner table with

                       last night.



I might have allowed myself to get drowned

                                          to the pelting rain,


picked up the paint brush buried in Van Gogh’s hues

in the old paint can and splattered the dead-end

of my stroke

                but I hadn’t.



I have refused to do any of those

since your return to this room even if

the candle ran through of its brief, delightful existence



for again, we have chosen to be like strangers

swamped in the tension of silence

like the animosity of brushstrokes

in the stained canvas

I have left

                                 

                                       hanging.



RV Escatron [rev.2007]

Spooling the Lights



Who’s going to spool the (series) lights that you’re gone?

The cobwebs are tweaking the branches

And the icicles are falling, one by one, to one side.



The dinner is cold,

and the windows are open--

                yet it bars the satin moonlight from crawling

                in the dust, into this roomâ€"plank after plank of this floor

                where I lay on my back.



By the doorway, the gauze curtains sweep a dead leaf

to the beat, to the beat of my heart.



The empty whisky glass is rolling and my mouth is parched.



Look now, Miranda.

Who’s going to spool those lights and gather the stars back into their box?

The cellar is still damp and it’s almost another Christmas.





RV Escatron (c.2007)

Another Morning But He Wakes Up with a Different Hangover



There is something about how the sound of surf, this morning,

                                                           reminds him of his Eve Ensler



each lapping displaces pages of memories,

of that summer afternoon

                              on their cottage by the hill

the summer she left like the windswept leaf that dances by his windowsill



for the first time in years, those memories

refuse to cling on his head like a hangover.





RV Escatron (c2007)

When the Duplicate Key of Another Flat Doesn't Fit
Anymore




After she handed him the daily paper,

                             she makes herself a coffee cup,


out of habit than by heart.




In her head, she is a cappuccino cup in another flat...



                       After her husband left for office,

                                        she bangs the kitchen door


and slips the secret key in her bag

not knowing the one she thought had waited

has changed the lock.









for Juvy

RV Escatron (c.2007)

photography: RV Escatron



Sagnap Spring :: San Vicente



Lake Malinao (dam)



freshwater shellfish



dike



kahumayan



spillway



and another view of the spillway



lake



fern sa dam



tinubdan sa Sagnap



sapa sa Sagnap



tubod sa Inaghuban



butterfly



bugsay-bugsay kiling-kiling dyutay



sunken stairway



public garden



uhong

Photos: RV

The long  break is not complete without new sights to discover in the island.

Sure enough, my robust passion for off-the-touristy path and daredevil speed in the high road brought me to a secluded waterfalls in Candijay, Bohol. I had to walk barefoot for two-hours in mud and puddle (half-rice paddies and half in the jungle-like reserve just before the waterfalls) The little waterfalls, about five of them, were a sight to, well, appreciate as I went up the river until the mighty Can-umangtad waterfalls.

Days after the visit, over beer, my younger brother narrated that it was the area of a shoot-out between the rebels and the military not so long ago. The barrios in the border are said to be rebel-infested. Yay!

Small wonder why the place was so Jurassic. The 2 km. radius was untouched.




Can-umangtad Falls :: Candijay



mighty baby!



Sagnap Spring :: San Vicente, Pilar



Canawa Spring :: Candijay



Lake Malinao (dam) :: Pilar



fern sa Malinao Dam :: Pilar


haiku


dead-end :: sunken stairs


Pilar Dam baby!


public garden



ting tanum na. yehey!

photos taken during a visit (2 summers past) by RV



Dr. M. Victoria Carpio-Bernido and Dr. Chris Bernido


upperclassmen


What's revolutionary about the School?

First off, the force behind the school is not your ordinary Pinoy couple. Dr. Chris Bernido (Director od Studies) and Dr. Marivic Bernido (Principal) earned their degrees in physics in UP-Diliman and their Ph.D degrees in Theoretical Physics in New York State University, Albany. Both were connected with the UP National Institute of Physics (Dr. Chris was Director) and were awarded "Outstanding Teachers" when they resigned in 1999.

Next is DLP or Dynamic Learning Program which aims to address the current problems we have in education--considering the brain brain and the competence of most of the country's teachers today. The academic performance of its students is a proof. It should be noted that majority of the students are children of farmers and fisherfolks--that translates to less than Php5000 as annual tuition fee. Weekly payroll also served as a challenge.

Last but not least, it gets to host a triennial conference in Theoretical Physics with Nobel Prize winners as speakers, without support from the government.

some of it's icing:
-a former UP President and emeritus professor as one of its students,
-two Nobel Prize winners as speakers when it hosted its triennial Conference in Theoretical Physics
-esteemed academic institutions like DLSU-Manila and Poveda among others, as visitors.

All along, in my province' gateway to Mindanao is an institution that boost of global standards in education.



The Blast!

When everything was set, I couldn't contain my excitement.

I was drafted as a part of the advance party to visit the Central Visayan Institute or CVI. Finally, I get to meet the Bernidos. (The school where I am currently connected plans to bring the Academic Council sometime in March. Its sister school, PAREF Southridge in Alabang had it late last year.)

The town is located 63 kilometers east of Tagbilaran City. The supposedly one-hour ride became three hours due to the ongoing road improvement. The two long (about 30 minutes) stops were near the blasting sites. The boulders were a freaken sight. Vehicles had to queue while waiting for the road to be cleared of debris. For the most part, the ride was bumpy.

The drag and drear of the drive dissipated as Dr. Chris greeted us and entertained our questions in the Advanced Physics library. Moments later, Dr. Marivic joined.

for more, please check:

My Kind of Filipinos
By Solita Collas-Monsod
Inquirer News Service
http://www.inq7.net/globalnation/sec_fea/2005/feb/24-01.htm

Learning as one nation
By M. Victoria Carpio-Bernido, Christopher Bernido
Inquirer News Service
http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=1&story_id=57190

'Learning by doing' could revolutionize RP education
By Raul V. Fabella, Cristina B. Fabella, Vigile Marie Fabella
Inquirer
http://beta.inq7.net/common/print.php?index=1&story_id=28108&site_id=26


5th Jagna International Workshop: STOCHASTIC AND QUANTUM DYNAMICS OF BIOMOLECULAR SYSTEMS
Start:        Jan 3, '08 09:00a
Location:     Jagna, Bohol, The Philippines

SPEAKERS INCLUDE

* Alfonso Albano (Pennsylvania, USA);Chaotic Biological Systems
* Philippe Blanchard (Bielefeld, Germany);Complex Networks
* John W. Clark (Missouri, USA);Neural Networks
* Giselle Concepcion (Diliman, Philippines);Biochemistry
* Richard J. Creswick (South Carolina, USA);Statistical Physics
* Nelson Cue (Hong Kong, China);Materials Physics; Nuclear Physics
* Hiroshi Ezawa (Tokyo, Japan);Field Theory; Stochastic Processes
* Takeyuki Hida (Nagoya, Japan);Stochastic Analysis
* John R. Klauder (Florida, USA);Mathematical Physics
* Hui-Hsiung Kuo (Louisiana, USA);Stochastic Analysis
* Toru Nakamura (Tokyo, Japan);Mathematical Physics
* Maria João Oliveira (Lisbon, Portugal);Mathematical Physics
* Baldomero Olivera (Utah, USA);Neurobiology (to be confirmed)
* Axel Pelster (Duisburg, Germany);Nonlinear Dynamical Systems
* A. K. Rajagopal (Washington, D.C., USA);Condensed Matter Physics; Nanophysics
* Ludwig Streit (Madeira, Portugal / Bielefeld, Germany);Quantum and Stochastic Dynamics
* Frederik Wiegel (Amsterdam, The Netherlands);Biophysics

WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS
Christopher C. Bernido (RCTP) M. Victoria Carpio-Bernido (RCTP)



The 5th Jagna International Workshop organized by the Research Center for Theoretical Phyics (RCTP), Central Visayan Institute Foundation, has a threefold-aim:

* To investigate the possible areas where recently developed analytical tools from physics and mathematics can be applied to gain a deeper understanding of biomolecular systems;
* To provide a forum for interdisciplinary research collaboration in the physical and life sciences;
* To honor Professor Ludwig Streit and Professor Frederik W. Wiegel on the occasion of their 70th birthday, in appreciation of their scientific contributions to physics, mathematics and biophysics, and their generous support for the RCTP.


WORKSHOP SITE
The RCTP is located in the small coastal town of Jagna in the southern part of the island province of Bohol. Situated in the Central Visayas Region of the Philippines, this island is known for its white beaches, diving sites, the Tarsier, and the Chocolate Hills, as well as its rich cultural and historical heritage. The town of Jagna has a port which connects it to several neighboring provinces by sea. Jagna is a one hour and fifteen minutes drive from Tagbilaran. There are several direct daily flights from Manila to Tagbilaran, and fastcrafts to Tagbilaran from Cebu by sea. Manila and Cebu are international gateway cities.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
The scientific sessions of the Workshop will be from 3 to 5 January 2008. Talks will be at the pedagogical level (with graduate students and young Ph.D.’s as the target audience), review level, and recent research results. There will be an optional tour of some sites in Bohol on 6 January 2008.

PARTICIPATION
Applications for participation should be sent to M. V. Carpio-Bernido of the RCTP at the latest by 30 November 2007. Selected contributed papers are also welcome but must be communicated to the organizers by 30 October 2007.

WORKSHOP FEE
The Workshop fee of US $ 65 includes cost of registration and materials, lunch and refreshments during coffee breaks for 3 days, and the conference dinner.

WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS
The Proceedings of the Workshop will be published. Instructions to contributors on the preparation and submission of camera-ready manuscripts will be given during the Workshop.

ACCOMMODATION
Participants who need help in the reservation of accommodation should communicate with the organizers, at the latest by 30 November 2007. There are pension houses near the workshop site. Their contact numbers are: 63-38-2382-398 for Garden Café IDEA Pension House; 63-38-2382-127 for Domene Kaw; and 63-918-4062-991 for DQ Lodge. The first two numbers refer to the country code. Room rates per night range from US $ 20 to US $ 25 (Exchange rate: US $ 1 ? PhP 46).

There are a couple of tennis courts available as tennis is a favorite sport of the townsfolk. A few hills in the town are within easy hiking distance. Small beach resorts are also nearby.

TRAVEL INFORMATION
Since January is peak travel season in the Philippines, we advise an early flight reservation, most especially for participants from outside the Philippines. Manila and Cebu City (Mactan) are international gateway cities and can be the port of entry to the Philippines.

There are several direct daily flights from Manila to Tagbilaran (Bohol). The flight takes around 1 hour and 10 minutes. The websites of the airlines that fly to Tagbilaran are www.philippineairlines.com for Philippine Airlines (PAL), and www.cebupacificair.com for Cebu Pacific Airlines. There are also fastcrafts to Tagbilaran from Cebu by sea, which takes about two hours. The names of the fastcrafts are OceanJet, www.oceanjet.net , and Weesam Express, www.weesamexpress.com .

From Tagbilaran, Jagna is a one hour and fifteen minute coastal drive. Taxis are available (for around US $ 28), and may be contacted by phone: 038-411-2548 for Varescon; 038-411-4068 and 038-235-5806 for Caveman Taxi. The first three digits refer to the area code of Bohol.

The town of Jagna has a port which also connects it to several neighboring provinces by sea.

VISA
Except for stateless persons and those from countries with which the Philippines has no diplomatic relations, all visitors with a valid passport may enter the country without visas and may stay for 21 days provided they can present onward or return tickets. For further information, please consult the nearest Philippine consulate.

CLIMATE AND CLOTHING
January is one of the best months for a visit to the Philippines. At this time, the average temperature is 78 F / 25 C and humidity is about 77%.

Recommended personal gear: comfortable sneakers or loafers and light cotton wear.

PRE/POST-WORKSHOP ARRANGEMENTS
Reservations and arrangements can be facilitated by the organizers for those who plan an extended stay before or after the Workshop, either for leisure, or for seminars and discussion sessions.

For more information contact:
M. V. Carpio-Bernido
Research Center for Theoretical Physics
Central Visayan Institute Foundation, Jagna, Bohol 6308, Philippines

e-mail: cbernido@mozcom.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Telephone: 63-38-2382-219
Fax no: 63-2-931-4287
Cell Phone: 0920-945-7357

photography: RV
all rights reserved



Pagatpatan sa Panggangan, Calape


pinikas sa Getafe


Bohol Yacht Club


trike :: Tagbilaran Port


Tagbilaran Bay


Our Lady of Light Church :: Loon, Bohol (the crowning glory of the Recollect Mission)


Abatan River



Padung Cortes Church


Cortes Church

Panelists: Rosario Cruz Lucero, Erlinda Kintanar Alburo, Jaime An Lim, Leoncio P. Deriada, Merlie M. Alunan, German V. Gervacio, Steven Patrick C. Fernandez, and Victor N. Sugbo.


Maria Cristina Falls :: view from the restroom


with M'Merlie Alunan after the Closing Ceremonies and the end of my week-long rite of passage


from left to right: Celeste Flores of UP Diliman, Douglas Candano of Ateneo de Manila, Jo of DLSU, Mara of SU, Rommel Rodriguez of UP Diliman and Dette of UP Baguio


the fellows from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao


giving any Close-Up toothpaste model a run for her money


Gloria. Gloria sexy labandera =)


pinakurat vinegar

panelists: Prof. Merlie Alunan and Dr. Vic Sugbu of UP Tacloban, Larry Ypil and Daryl Delgado of Ateneo de Manila University, Dr. Genotiva of LNU, Jethol Paanud of NIT.


panelists and fellows


with Singaporean guest: visiting professor, novelist Suchen Lim with Daryl, Larry and M'Merlie

An outreach program of the University of San Carlos through the Cebuano Studies Center, the workshop started in 1984 and has been serving as a training ground of around 250 creative English and Cebuano writers not only from Cebu but also from other parts of the Visayas and Mindanao.


ako, gabasa ug balak sa fellow's night


mga panelists, gabahak-hak, nalingaw


Panelist: Prof. Merlie Alunan of The University of the Philippines-Tacloban College


Panelist: Dr. Erlinda Kintanar-Alburo, Director, University of San Carlos-Cebuano Studies Center


Panelist: fictionist/novelist Carlos Cortes


Panelist: writer/poet Ester Tapia


tagay-tagay with writing fellows nga lumad from Dumaguete, Surigao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Ilo-ilo, Leyte, Cebu ug ako, proud to be from Bohol. Yehey!

holler back 

It’s a lazy Sunday morning.



By the time I wake up, the crowing of the cock is still drifting in the Sunset Drive neighborhood. The last song syndrome, the (Christmas) song ubiquitously heard in all department stores starting yesterday, is still clinging in my head like a hangover.



With my bedroom windows eternally open and sleeping only in boxer shorts, the chill this morning exceeds the past rainy morning. The sunlight that escaped the overcast is sifted by the bamboo curtain, streaking in the floor filled with laundry.



My alarm clock, dead since a month ago, registers 1:30am. Then my handyphone by the bedside table blinks that familiar blink. It’s 7:30am, with 8 messages queuing up.



What I always look forward to a morning like this is the Inday Text Series. With all these humorous (green), motivational to religious (ahem!) forwarded messages, you’ll never know when it fights for its own space in the inbox.



Inday is a rather high-brow and philosophical household staff whose spiels would equal Plato or Shakespeare. Pun intended. I’m sure you have your own dose of Inday also.



After the Malu Fernandez OFW issue that rocked the blog community, I’m sharing the Inday SMS stored in my archive. It’s the first Sunday of September for crying out loud! Here’s my dose:



Let us hear Inday make some philosophical noise:



“Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction. Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you somebody who has never achieved much.”



--sagot ni Inday nung sumabog and microwave na ginamit niya.





-------------------------------------



Atty:                 Inday, pwede mo bang e describe dito sa korte and taong nang rape sa iyo?

Inday:            Maitim, panot, tighiyatin, pango ang ilong at bungal.



Suspek:         Sige! Mamintas ka pa! Tang *** mo!





-------------------------------------





Amo:            Inday, bumili ka nga ng mga isda. Ay oo nga pala, inglesera ka na ngayon. Would you please buy many fishes for this week’s meal?



Inday:          Judging by your statement, I believe you meant a variety of fish. The term ‘fishes’ although rarely used, connotes a plethora of different kinds of the said gilled aquatic creatures. But the more pressing questions before I go to the wet market would be: What type of fish? Fillet or not? Forzen or fresh? (pauses) Ahh… given the meager budget afforded by this household’s quasi-peasant class taste, I assume I shall source the staple “ ga-lewng-gong.” Am I correct?



Amo:           L***e!





-------------------------------------





Nurture others with positive, truthful words, not words that hurt. It doesn’t cost anything to do so. But mean what you say and say what you mean. Do it everyday. This is one of the most obvious qualities of the most beloved people. If you cannot be generous financially, at least be generous with your words.



--yan ang sinabi ni Inday noong di siya pina-utang at pinagmumura pa ng amo niya.





-------------------------------------





I’m so sick and tired of this cruel life! In solitude I always thread this life’s endless road, amidst the spooky, cold and uncertain darkness of the night. Shouting relentlessly at the top of my lungs just to touch your ears and answer your exotic cravings…



--magbabalot, sosyal at depressed, kaibigan ni Inday







I will end this entry with something fit for a Sunday’s consumption. This one is a statement about the OFW household staff.

From the Filipina who made Momma P.I. truly proud:





Q: "What do you say to the people of the world who have typecasted Filipinos as nannies?"


A: "I take no offense on being typecasted as a nanny. But I do take offense that the educated people of the world have somehow degenerated the true sense and meaning of what a nanny is. Let me
tell you what she is. She is someone who gives more than she takes. She is someone you trust to look after the very people most precious to you -your child, the elderly, yourself. She is the one who has made a living out of caring and loving other people. So to those who have typecasted us as nannies, thank you. It is a testament to the loving and caring culture of the Filipino people. And for that, I am forever proud and grateful of my roots and culture."

--Miss International Precious Lara Quigaman (2005)







Hail!

There you go.



Now, Santa, can you hear me? I’ve been good all year. iBook lang please. Promise, I’ll never procrastinate.

stateside nga lawud sa pagmahay
ni RV


gisulayan ko pagtugkad
ang kalawom sa kagabhi-on

        dinhi
        sa akong
        lawak sa kasubo

                 akong handumon
                 ang naanud
                 nga mga pangandoy
                 nga gitagik
                 sa layang dahon

ilawom niining
bombilyang ga awp-awp
akong tugkaron
basin masiplatan man lang
sa kataposang higayon
ang mohon nga gi ugdok
sa utlanan
sa atong
mga damgo ug sa imong
mga damgo nga stateside
mga damgong

                   mitig-

                             lum