What Happened Today

I know I shouldn’t be blogging about this. I am not much into political blog. You can count on your toes and fingers how many times I did before. I just watched retired SPO3 Arthur Lascanas being  interrogated by the Senate on his involvement with Davao Death Squad.  He said he killed almost 200 people while he was active in service. Wow, what a shame.

One senator, a famous boxer at that lectured Lascanas on “spiritual renewal”.  Is that the only thing he  can talk about? My goodness, he even tried to move that the latter should be cited in contempt but he was stopped by another senator. They wanted to hear what Lascanas was going to say. Another one wondered why in his testimony, there  are different fonts used.  That senator got popular before in copying and pasting his speech…haha.  Funny guys, doing their ugly thing in the Senate. Some of them are really laughable but the other senators were well prepared and have researched before they  came to the Senate. They tried hard to discredit the hitman. I do think he is telling the truth this time. I understand there will be a third hearing soon.  I do hope the whole truth would come out in the end.

Our foreign  affairs secretary keeps on denying at first that he was not a US citizen then he admitted that he was…finally. My goodness, how could you handle a local position if you are a foreigner? In addition, our esteemed president (kono) asked why the House didn’t include rape and plunder to their watered-down version of  the  “death penalty”. It’s as if he really does not know about it. Funny, funny, funny.

I could go on and on  but then  like before I don’t want to mention their names. Suffice to say, we have a country run by idiots. Sorry, I didn’t vote for them.

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So This Is Bora

The first words I heard from my son when he came home from a week-trip to Boracay were,  “Enjoy talaga,  umitim ba ako Ma?” I laughed and he embraced me and said, “I’ve missed you Ma”. Of course I’ve missed him too.

He said he was sorry he was not able to find sea glass for me. It was just a lovely powder-white  sand all throughout. That’s okay though because based on his accounts, he enjoyed his one-week stay there and that what really counts. He didn’t take pictures but took videos of the activities they did there. Aside from swimming and exploring the place,  he enjoyed parasailing, one of the many things they did with his friends. When I saw the video, it was really, really beautiful.  Imagine yourself high up in the air with just the blue ocean underneath.  One thing that he would like to experience again if he ever has the chance to come back was the helmet diving. It was his first time to dive. They  were briefed on how to equalize pressure in the ears,  taught  hand signals to the divers and just enjoy the gifts of the sea. They gave a small packet of bread to feed the different species of fish they saw there and he enjoyed that too. The corals are just so lovely. The diving package comes with a CD where you will see yourself  feeding a school of fish and admiring the lovely corals. They tried the ATV ride (buggy cars, one of the many options to go around the island) but it was not much of a challenge compared to helmet diving and parasailing. The place is open 24/7. The whole story-telling itself was just as exciting.

Parasailing….

Banana boat ride…

About to experience the best of all….helmet diving!

So there is a grotto there, an image of Mama Mary..

Boracay is one of the many (if not the best) tourist attractions in our country. A lot of tourists, foreign and local visit this place throughout the year. To view some photos of the place, just click this link. It is one of the world’s top beach destinations.

He brought home sweets, lots of key chains for me, for Nissa and for his office mates and t-shirts.

It’s more fun in the Philippines.

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Life’s A Beach

Last Saturday Nissa showed me the photo book that she made using a hundred photos of their trip to Siquijor and Dumaguete last year. I was impressed. She chose the pictures, did the layout and write-ups and edited it online.  She’s been into arts and craft since she learned how to use a crimping scissor and make her own greeting cards. She has a cabinet full of art materials and invested in a good and sturdy cutting mat, scissors, pens, paper cutters, beads and what have you’s. She is into scrap-booking too. I remember the photo book she made before she got married using their prenuptial photos taken by an official photographer. She is planning to make another one for Nate. I told her to include Nate’s pictures since he was born until perhaps he reaches three in five months.  She got a discount from Photobook Philippines. The book was printed in Malaysia and was mailed directly to her a few months ago.

this is the front cover of the photo book.

She has a way with words…

I love these shots….father/son bonding at the beach.

Silliman University, established in 1901, a private research university in Dumaguete.

Nate probably could not appreciate this yet but he is lucky that his childhood adventures are being documented by his mom and Nonna. Wherever life takes you, appreciate what it brings. Between words and photographs, there will always be some lessons learned, memories cherished, moments treasured.

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Papal Visit 2015 (Welcome POPE FRANCIS)

The Pope’s Arrival

This is it! Today is the day  we have been waiting for, the arrival of Pope Francis to the Philippines. The past days, I’ve been glued to the TV screen on  news on what the government and social media has done in preparation for the Pope’s 5-day visit which starts today at 6pm. Just like the rest of the Filipino Catholic community I am excited to see him. I could imagine the warm welcome from a predominantly Catholic nation.

Thursday, Friday and Monday are special non-working holidays here in Metro Manila since most roads are closed to give way to the motorcade and masses that would be held at the Manila Cathedral and in Luneta. The most important event would be his visit to Tacloban  and Palo, Leyte and meet the survivors of typhoon Yolanda, saying mass there and  having lunch with choiced families from different barangays in the province.

UST Papal Visit

The Pope would visit University of Santo Tomas to meet the youth on Sunday at 10am  and the campus is open to the public. There will be a motorcade inside the campus. They have allotted separate gates for the Thomasian community at the Espana side, the football field where the grandstand is would be exclusively for the youth participants though. The youth delegates will come  from the Archdiocesan Commissions on the Youth, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on the Youth, the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), member-schools of the Association of Catholic Universities of the Philippines, and the 2nd Philippine Conference on New Evangelization. The public are allowed to enter the back gates of the campus.  Gosh, even old/expired Thomasian alumni IDs will be allowed. I have mine but it expired three years ago and haven’t renewed it yet. Spiritual renewal is the core of Pope’s Francis visit to UST this coming Sunday, January 18.

A lot of people are asking “why UST, why always UST?” “How lucky can UST get?” When Pope Paul VI visited the Philippines, he went to UST. When Pope John Paul II came, he also visited  UST.  Pope Francis  will also visit  UST. Here’s the answer  provided by the Central Media Committee for the Papal Visit.

The University of Santo Tomas is a pontifical university, directly under the authority of the Roman Pontiff—the successor of Peter, the first pope. Aside from its function as a regular university, a pontifical university has a special mission of spreading the Gospel and promoting the teachings of the Catholic Church. The Rector of a pontifical university is appointed by the Vatican, and whenever the pope travels to a country where there is a pontifical university, it is his duty and pleasure to visit this university not only to see how it’s doing but also to inspire and encourage its students, faculty, and staff in their evangelization efforts.

Photo credit: Paul Quiambao (UST)

UST Papal Visit 1970. I was here and I remember those moments, we were even made to wear our gala uniforms. I was in high school then. (Photo credit: UST FB page)

UST Papal Visit 1981. It was the first time Pope John Paul II visited UST. (Photo credit: UST FB page)

UST Papal Visit 1995 during the celebration of World Youth Day held in the Philippines.

Mercy and Compassion

Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses; for they have been ever of old.- Psalm 25:6

I love this logo. According to the official website of the Papal Visit to the Philippines,  this symbolizes the following:

COLORS.

The colors of the logo (blue, red, and yellow) are the colors of the Philippine flag. The colors therefore represent the country and its people. It is in solidarity with the victims of recent calamities that the Pope is coming to the Philippines.

CIRCLES.

The innermost circle resembles a pearl, and again it symbolizes the Philippines, which is known as the pearl of the orient seas. The white Cross symbolizes the Christian faith, and our fervent prayer that the center of our country be our Lord Jesus Christ. It serves as a reminder as well that more than a State Visit, the primary objective of the Papal visit is a religious one. He comes to show and share the Lord’s mercy and compassion with the Filipino people.

The red circle symbolizes Mercy, one of the themes of the Papal visit. Red is the color of blood and recalls the sacrifice of our Lord on the cross for our salvation, a holy sacrifice that manifests and exemplifies Divine Mercy for sinful humanity.

The blue circle means Compassion, the other theme of the Papal visit. Blue is the color of divine presence – it is the color of the sky and the sea that surround our life, much like God’s presence, that is, God’s compassionate love that permeates and sustains human existence.

The sequence of the colors follows the order of the colors of the Philippine flag: Yellow at the center, blue on top, and red at the bottom.

The red and blue circles appear like arms embracing the yellow circle. These are the merciful and compassionate arms of the Pope, the Vicar of Christ, embracing the Philippines, the pearl of the orient seas. The current Pope is well known for expressing his love and care for people by spontaneously hugging and kissing them. The red and blue circles or arms therefore symbolize the Pope’s Merciful and Compassionate Embrace, and by extension, Christ’s loving embrace. The Pope now comes to the Philippines to embrace us with his arms of love.

Finally the blue and red circles appear like ripples, or waves emanating from the inner circle, from the Cross. We pray that the Papal visit will indeed create ripples of compassion and mercy throughout the Filipino nation and beyond January 2015.

THANK YOU POPE FRANCIS. Praying for your safety and looking forward to your visit here in our country. We are indeed blessed.

Welcome to the Philippines!

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When A Picture Needs No Words

Sunset scene at Calayan

Lovell sent me this picture a while ago, a dramatic shot of a sunset in Calayan. He said it is his birthday gift to me.  Calayan, when will I see your shore?

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Dreaming Of Calayan

“Come over and experience the peace and quiet, see the pristine beaches, just be”, he enthused.

And I said, “I wish, I wish, I wish.”  I wish I have wings to fly and visit this wonderful place and enjoy what nature has to offer.

My priest son and I were in  a long, long chat a few nights ago and he reiterated his invitation that we go visit him and see Calayan Island while he is assigned there in one of their Dominican Missions in the North.  I am writing this from memory, from what he shared during our occasional but lengthy phone conversations. You’re right, I spent a few nights searching for videos on Calayan and visiting some blogs written by travel bloggers who’ve been to the place. I still dream of visiting Batanes of course but Calayan offers the same lovely, unexplored places  which make my soul dream of it more.

Posted with permission from Estan Cabigas, a travel blogger who writes for international and local travel magazines. Thanks Stan for these lovely images.

Who would not be impressed by this scenery?

 

“We’ve just harvested corn”, he continued and “enjoying the cold weather now”.  I jokingly answered “Send some via LBC”.

Unfortunately, they don’t have LBC there. Every day, they only have electricity from 12pm to 12am but they don’t complain, they are used to it. I love the idea of  fishing when you need food to eat, growing vegetables on one’s backyard and they come fresh everyday, planting rice the traditional way (and Lovell tells me that he will try using it – the plough hooked at the back of a carabao), breeding chicken and pigs for meat. I was so surprised when he said that they don’t have a public market in Calayan. The people peddle their  produce from house to house.  Sometimes, the parishioners give lobster, fresh veggies  or live chicken to the parish.

Children walk to school and they have the luxury of time to just admire the sunrise and the endless blue sea an hour before classes start.  You could never do that here in the city. Tricycles and motorcycles are the popular means of transport. The best time to go there is during the summer months of April or early May.  Twelve-hour bus ride, (unless you take a plane to Cagayan) and four to six hours boat trip to the island.

Here is a Wiki description of the place.

Calayan (Ibanag language, meaning “where laya (ginger) abounded”) is a municipality in the province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 16,200 people in an area of 49,453 hectares (122,200 acres).

It is located in the South China Sea, in Luzon Strait north of Luzon Island. The town is composed of four of the five major islands of the Babuyan Islands namely: Calayan, Camiguin, Dalupiri and Babuyan Island. Calayan Island is the largest of the Babuyan Islands. Fuga Island, the fifth island within the Babuyan Islands, is part of Aparri municipality.Calayan is home to the Calayan Rail, a flightless bird identified as a separate species in 2004 and endemic to Calayan Island.

Lovell says, you cannot appreciate it enough through pictures. The best thing is to go there and see the island for real.

 

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It’s National Heroes Day

Photo: 123greetings.com

“Unconsciously we all have a standard by which we measure other men, and if we examine closely we find that this standard is a very simple one, and is this: we admire them, we envy them, for great qualities we ourselves lack. Hero worship consists in just that. Our heroes are men who do things which we recognize, with regret, and sometimes with a secret shame, that we cannot do. We find not much in ourselves to admire, we are always privately wanting to be like somebody else. If everybody was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.” – Mark Twain

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It’s Ninoy Aquino Day

“The Filipino is worth dying for.”

Proclamation 1081 (Martial Law) was signed by then Pres. Marcos on September 21, 972. I was in high school.  Ninoy Aquino was assassinated on August 21, 1983 (31 years ago today), I was a young mother then with an eleven-month old daughter.  February 25, 1986 was the highlight of the return to democracy when Marcos and his family left Malacanang Palace for good after more than two decades of governing the land.

Watching the two-hour documentary today on the assassination of Ninoy  and the presidency of Cory Aquino made me remember the dark days of Philippine history. I remember the  bloody student demonstrations and rallies  before martial law was declared. I remember the day when we could not even listen to news because radio and television channels were closed. The glorious days of a dictator just started, the ambitious dream of a man to rule by military power. He incarcerated his enemies including Ninoy Aquino, the man who could have been the greatest president of the Republic of the Philippines, the only powerful enemy that Marcos had. I watched the documentary with my son who kept asking questions what life was like during the martial law years and how the Filipino people were affected by Ninoy’s death. I wrote a blog about this before.

Prior to what we know now in history as the People Power Revolution, I was part of the crowd at Ayala Avenue throwing confetti and yellow flowers made of crepe paper every time there was a rally scheduled in Makati. Bank of PI  (located at Ayala Avenue corner Paseo de Roxas) was at the center of those rallies and demonstration since the stage’s set-up was always facing our office building.  Now, that area is occupied by a statue of Ninoy Aquino, a tribute to a hero.I remember collecting issues of the tabloid Malaya which was the only newspaper having regular reports of the assassination and how people reacted to it. I remember keeping a copy of a newspaper when the Marcos family left Malacanang to be exiled later in Hawaii. It was the day that ended a dictatorship.

Ah, those moments of happy celebration when all Ayala employees and their subsidiaries joined the merry dance at Ayala Avenue led by our big boss, Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala. You can just imagine people in corporate attires  dancing to the tune of Tie a Yellow Ribbon and laughing  out loud – the days when democracy was truly restored in our land.

He said, ” I believe that the Filipino will respond to the call to greatness not by coercion but by persuasion, not by intimidation but through the ways of freedom”. May his  legacy live on and may the youth of today appreciate and remember what he did for our country.

Ninoy Aquino, my own personal hero.

 

 

Photo courtesy of ayalatriangle.com

 

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Is It A Fruit Or A Vegetable?

Let us not talk  about whether it is a fruit or a vegetable.  All I know is that fruits grow on trees and vegetables are harvested on the ground just like pumpkin, cucumber and squash. If it is a fruit, it is a healthy and refreshing one but then you’ll wonder if it is also considered a vegetable.

Yesterday, son and I bought a large watermelon at P100/head.  Watermelons are in season now and every summer you could enjoy them  served as desserts, mixed with other veggies as salad, refreshing coolers or if you are enterprising enough you can mix them with jellies or you can make them into ice pops. I love them cold and plainly sliced. They are anti-oxidants and so rich in vitamin C.

This reminds me of a recipe I tasted last week when some friends and I dined at Crisostomo Restaurant at Ayala Fairview Terraces.  It was my first time to visit this mall and  dine at Crisostomo. All branches serve authentic Filipino recipes and all the recipes are named after some characters in Rizal’s book, Noli Me Tangere and some biblical characters too. Crisostomo must be Crisostomo Ibarra.  One of the recipes we ordered was called Sinigang ni Eba and I was pleasantly surprised that they mixed it sliced watermelons. Oh boy, it was simply delicious. The blend of the tangy tomatoes and tamarind and the sweetness of the watermelons is just out of this world. Even their Laing (taro leaves cooked in coconut cream) was just as yummy. Would love to explore more of their recipes one of these days. Although, it is a bit pricey to dine there, you have lots of menu to choose from. Good ambience, friendly wait staff. They have a branch at Eastwood which is very near our place.

(note: second pic culled from the official website of crisostomo)

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President Obama’s Visit To The Philippines

I am not a political analyst, neither am I into politics but I appreciate President Obama’s visit here in our country. They say he is the most powerful man in the world on account of the USA being the most powerful country. I won’t delve into the nitty-gritty of the whys and the hows of his visit here because I am not qualified to do so. What I saw of the warm welcome, the warm smiles, the wonderful speeches that both leaders delivered yesterday are enough to gladden the hearts of the Filipino people who believe that peace could only be achieved not by arms and golds but through  a sincere dialogue and communication.

It was the second straight two days that I allowed myself to stay in front of the television to watch the canonization of  Saints John Paul II and Saint John XXIII in Rome the other day and the arrival of President Obama yesterday.  I enjoyed watching both. I found some pictures posted by the Gazette of the Republic of the Phils. on Facebook which I follow.

I love this. He took his time shaking hands with the ordinary Malacanan employees, smiling and looks truly glad to step foot in the Philippines.

 

U.S. President Barack Obama’s inscription in the official guest book of Malacañan Palace: “I thank President Aquino and the people of the Philippines welcoming me. May America’s oldest alliance in Asia always be renewed by our friendship and mutual respect.”

 

The welcome ceremony at the Palace grounds.

 

It was short (not even a twenty-four hour visit) but I saw a glimpse of the man who is so polite  and knows what he is talking about.  Report says this is the eight visit of a President of the United States to the Philippines.

 

(photo credits: Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines)

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