Based on the number of people who form a line in order to transact with a government agency, the NSO (National Statistics Office) at corner J.M. Basa and Rizal streets in Iloilo City would naturally fall in the No. 1 place. No. 2 would most likely be the PRC (Professional Regulation Commission)
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
TRACE
Situation 1.
You just won the governorship position in the May 10 election. A person who claims to have supported you comes asking you to return the favor. He files his application for a position at the provincial capitol. He says that because of his help, you won by a big margin in his precinct. You want to test the veracity of his claim. And you want it done fast
Friday, May 21, 2010
Barangay of Tigbanaba
(Geo-hazardous Location)
Brgy. Tigbanaba is an inland barangay in the Municipality of Igbaras, Iloilo. It featured prominently in the news in the later part of 2009 because of an encounter between troops from the Army’s 82nd Battalion and members of the NPA’s Napoleon Tumagtang Command. Reports have it that the Army had overrun a rebel command post where they recovered
Brgy. Tigbanaba is an inland barangay in the Municipality of Igbaras, Iloilo. It featured prominently in the news in the later part of 2009 because of an encounter between troops from the Army’s 82nd Battalion and members of the NPA’s Napoleon Tumagtang Command. Reports have it that the Army had overrun a rebel command post where they recovered
Monday, May 17, 2010
KEEP MOVING ON
May 2010 election has come and gone leaving a paper trail where it came around. Piles and piles of campaign materials made of tarpaulins and paper were taken down from the common poster areas while those hanging along the highways were still flying high and proud. Oh, the smiling faces of the candidates on the posters pasted on tree trunks were just as radiant as
Thursday, May 13, 2010
High up there…
(Last night we were discussing about how the Mountain Province was so ideal for the summer vacations that Filipino families always look forward to. I'd like to share this little glimpse on the history of the place.)
Like gigantic stairways extending up over a thousand feet to the mountain sides are the rice terraces. Reportedly, when these are placed end to end, it is estimated to go halfway around the world at
Like gigantic stairways extending up over a thousand feet to the mountain sides are the rice terraces. Reportedly, when these are placed end to end, it is estimated to go halfway around the world at
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Quintos
A Spanish word ‘quintos’… the fifth!
Many years ago the word ‘quintos’ was most feared by Filipino families. Why so? Fear for this ordinal number emanated from the Spanish military draft. We were under Spain that time. The recruitment was their means to beef up their naval forces.
It was then when sailing the uncharted seas as a fighter of the big powers such as Spain was tantamount to committing a suicide because during that time, it was not a profession but it was some kind of
Many years ago the word ‘quintos’ was most feared by Filipino families. Why so? Fear for this ordinal number emanated from the Spanish military draft. We were under Spain that time. The recruitment was their means to beef up their naval forces.
It was then when sailing the uncharted seas as a fighter of the big powers such as Spain was tantamount to committing a suicide because during that time, it was not a profession but it was some kind of
Monday, May 10, 2010
LINTI
Cuss word? Oh, depends on how the word is used and who uses the term … that includes the situation too. Do you know that ‘linti’ can replace any other hiligaynon word of anger, surprise or even praise? Just listen to the accent… you’ll know.
It’s very Ilongo. Linti has no word equivalent anywhere in the world; yet, it has countless meanings to us Ilong-Ilonganons. Unlike the word idiot in English (meaning someone stupid or someone with very low IQ) which can be translated to other Asian languages such as
It’s very Ilongo. Linti has no word equivalent anywhere in the world; yet, it has countless meanings to us Ilong-Ilonganons. Unlike the word idiot in English (meaning someone stupid or someone with very low IQ) which can be translated to other Asian languages such as
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Oldest Philippine Golf Course, Asia's First
The natural layout of hilly and rolling terrain interspersed with mature trees and natural obstacles attracted the Scottish railway engineers to build the country’s first golf course in Barangay San Sebastian, Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.
Established in 1907, the Iloilo Golf and Country Club golf course started with only 9 holes. Today, it has become a challenging 18-hole course (6,056 yardage) and plays to a par 70. No two holes are ever similar, as it was designed on its natural state.
Barangay San Sebastian is just some distance from the new Iloilo Airport. Certainly the sight of the greens and fairways is something to behold from up in the air before the plane touches down or when it lifts up way above the town.
The picture above shows one of the natural obstacles in the golf course of Santa Barbara.
Taken from Google Home Images.
CRUCIFIXION
The last time my friends and I went to the different places of the provinces of the region, I realized how nationalistic our brothers and sisters in the area are. Most places in all the Provinces of Region VI have many barangays named in honor of one or more heroes. Their birthplace? No. It must be because the folks here admire the hero as a brave man who fought for Filipino freedom. That is either through the pen like Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez- Jaena, Marcelo del Pilar, and Apolinario Mabini, et al or the bolo and gun with the caliber of Andres Bonifacio, Gen. Miguel Malvar, and Gen. Martin Delgado; through their brilliance in leadership like the kinds of Roxas, Quezon,Aguinaldo and Magsaysay; their deep faith to walk towards martyrdom as was shown by Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora; or whatever good societal changes they may have made in the past that made them heroes in their own right.
Great! Out of the four thousand and fifty one (4,051) barangays of our region, it was noted that four barangays have names outstandingly different. They are named after the places mentioned in the Christian Bible – holy and historic. What more? Only one barangay of these four bears a name equated with pain and selfless sacrifices that are synonymous with the profound love of the Divine and selflessness of heroes. Common to the Provinces of Guimaras, Aklan and Antique is the name “Barangay Nazareth” found in Buenavista, Guimaras; Buruanga, Aklan and Sibalom, Antique. Why this barangay is named such in these towns is something only ‘they’ can tell us.
Iloilo has one unique name for one of the barangays of the municipality of Janiuay. Right at the poblacion, they have “Barangay Golgotha.” Why the name? We’ve gone to the place itself and discovered that it is on top of the very high place of the town. The rise is a bit steep and like the hill named Golgotha mentioned in the new testament of the Holy Bible needs more effort to climb… for a newcomer to the place.
Lest we forget, Golgotha was where the Lord and redeemer, Jesus Christ was crucified. Here, they don’t crucify anyone, I bet.
Picture on top is from iloiloonline.blogspot.com
The Aristocratic City of the South
also called the “Aristocratic City of the South.”
One of the finest harbors in the country is found in Iloilo City. On September 29, 1855, a Royal Order authorized the opening of the Port of Iloilo upon the request of the government of the Philippines. Foreign trade in Iloilo, however, was opened in 1856. The Iloilo ports also provides safe anchorage because its winding waterfront and the island Province of Guimaras protect the ships in it. The winding waterfront called Muelle Loney is named after Nicholas Loney, a philanthropist.
Formerly known as ‘Ilong-ilong’ or spelled as ‘Ylong-ylong’, the place is finally called ILOILO. Some historians say that the word is meaningless in Spanish but in Ilongo it may mean “orphan” while in the Malayan language, it refers to the “nose.” The Malayan interpretation is believed to have the nearest meaning to it because if you look at the map of the island of Panay and trace the boundaries of the Province of Iloilo, you will clearly see that it closely resembles the form of a nose.
The city, according to historians, is believed to have begun as a Malayan settlement around Batiano River then
and is called the Iloilo River today.
After Miguel Lopez de Legazpi has settled in Cebu in 1565, he sent advance parties to the old Iloilo towns of
Halawod (now called Dumangas) and Ogtong (now called Oton). Legazpi moved to Panay in 1569 due to acute food shortage and the threat to the Portuguese there. It was yet in 1581 when Gonzalo Ronquillo established the first settlement in the town of Arevalo.The Spaniards erected several forts in Oton, Arevalo, and Iloilo between the 16th and the 17th centuries. It was also when Iloilo suffered greatly from the Muslim raids and the Dutch incursions. Governor General Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera ordered the residents of Molo, Arevalo and Oton to evacuate to La Punta for their safety.
On February 7, 1890, the city government of Iloilo established under the Becera Law of 1889. It was but in 1896 that the city was authorized to have a coat-of-arms though. Inscribed in the coat-of-arms were the words, “La Muy Leal y Noble Ciudad de Iloilo.”
On December 28, 1898, when General Marcus Miller came to Iloilo during the Philippine- American War, the Spanish garrison has already surrendered to General Martin Delgado; The Ilongo revolucionarios strengthened the harbor and the San Pedro Fort. They blocked the entrance of the river and barricaded the streets. When the American warships came on February 11, 1899, they bombarded the city defense. Delgado’s troops set fire to the city and withdrew to the outskirts when the enemy forces landed.
In 1901, April 11th – Iloilo City was returned to the status of a municipality; however, on November 8, 1936,
Commonwealth Act No. 158 amended C.A. No. 57 (dated October 20, 1936)… this established the CITY OF ILOILO that incorporated the towns of Lapaz, Jaro, Mandurriao, Molo, and Arevalo into it. The city was inaugurated on August 25, 1937.
Again, the Japanese Imperial Forces bombed, attacked, and occupied Iloilo. On April 16, 1942, they established a military government here.
President Ramon Magsaysay signed into law Republic Act No. 1209 on April 29, 1955 providing that the executive and legislative members of the city be elected. The bill was authored by Rodolfo T. Ganzon. He became the first elected mayor of Iloilo City too.
The City of Iloilo is in Region VI, Philippines.The boundaries around it are:North-Municipality of Pavia;
South and East - Iloilo Strait; West - Municipality of Oton. As of 2008, the Internal Revenue Allotment is
395,629,242.00. Given the wide area, the city is divided into six districts namely, City Proper, Jaro, Mandurriao, Molo,Lapaz, and Arevalo (to some: La Villa de Arevalo)
The picture above is from Google Home Images.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Bángag (Parched Earth)
The accent is in the first syllable (BÁ – ngag) to distinguish it from the bangág (ba – NGÁG) that is used to describe a euphoric feeling when one has sniffed shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride). Bángag is the term we use in describing the cracking of parched rice fields due to the onset of dry season.
I remember my late father pointing to our damaged rice field when I was still a small child and say, "When the summer season is long, the rice fields go cracked and dry." When Tatay let go of my hand, I ran forward as I always used to and touch whatever grew in the taramnan (rice field). Hardly had I gotten 20 meters when I felt my foot got trapped in the soil crack making me fall and unable to make another step forward. I had stepped on a large one. My ankle got cut and it hurt so much. That was how I came to know the word bángag.
I hated the bángag not only because it hurt me and blemished my skin. I came to connect it with pain. I associated it also with the wilting of our garden plants, the drying of the creek, and the dusty condition of the feeder road leading to the farm. Whenever I noticed there were bángag in the fields, I became concerned about the rainless months because it would mean no water for the rice plants. How I wished that there is somebody in control of the weather. How I wished, too, there will always be rains to prevent the bángag from forming.
It was only lately that I learned that contrary to what I believed when I was a child the bángag should be associated with something good. Thanks to this El Niño thing. It was in one of the meetings of some government agencies that I heard how we should not be so alarmed or worried if we see parched rice fields—for the cracking up of the land is a very natural process for the maintenance of soil fertility—Mother Nature willed it that way.
A regular guy from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) talked about aeration and nitrogenization. Here’s what I got from him:
Aeration destroys the harmful bacteria and helps eradicate plant diseases like tungro. It is nature’s way of cleansing the earth of unwanted particles such as disease-causing bacteria. The air that we breathe is composed of 70% nitrogen. Nitrogen is an element needed by plants. Efforts should be made to help nitrogen be embedded in the soil to reach the roots of the plants. Free nitrogen in the air could not penetrate the soil if it is still wet. Free nitrogen can effectively penetrate the soil if the water in it goes scarce.
Natural aeration and nitrogenization occurs when the season is dry. The cracks in the field are where the friendly elements in the air pass through to seek and destroy the bad ones embedded in the soil. Through these cracks also pass the nitrogen that embeds itself in the soil to become food for our rice plants.
We tend to view the long dry season that comes with the el niño phenomenon as a very negative occurrence due to the shortage of water. But we should understand the ways of Mother Nature and view it from the other angle. Some agricultural enthusiasts even advice that people should prepare to deal with the bumper harvest of rice after the El Nino. Mother Earth will be kinder after resting by then, so there will expectantly be a better turn over of crops.
The El Nino also brings good things in as far as farmers are concerned. In the urban areas, however, the phenomenon is sure to bring in problems and diseases brought about by the shortage of water. It is unfortunate that the long dry spell timed itself with the election season and major decisions that have to deal with addressing a potentially calamitous situation should fall on the hands of our politicos. To those of them who believe that there is an impending calamity, no explanation appears to be necessary; and to those who do not, no explanation appears to be possible.
I wish our government agencies involved in agriculture should do more to enlighten us not only about the NEGATIVE but also on the POSITIVE effects of the El Nino phenomenon.
Contemplating on the long, deep cracks that are there in the rice fields during summer, I now understand the more profound reasons why the bángag appears again and again.
The picture above is from Google Home Images.
I remember my late father pointing to our damaged rice field when I was still a small child and say, "When the summer season is long, the rice fields go cracked and dry." When Tatay let go of my hand, I ran forward as I always used to and touch whatever grew in the taramnan (rice field). Hardly had I gotten 20 meters when I felt my foot got trapped in the soil crack making me fall and unable to make another step forward. I had stepped on a large one. My ankle got cut and it hurt so much. That was how I came to know the word bángag.
I hated the bángag not only because it hurt me and blemished my skin. I came to connect it with pain. I associated it also with the wilting of our garden plants, the drying of the creek, and the dusty condition of the feeder road leading to the farm. Whenever I noticed there were bángag in the fields, I became concerned about the rainless months because it would mean no water for the rice plants. How I wished that there is somebody in control of the weather. How I wished, too, there will always be rains to prevent the bángag from forming.
It was only lately that I learned that contrary to what I believed when I was a child the bángag should be associated with something good. Thanks to this El Niño thing. It was in one of the meetings of some government agencies that I heard how we should not be so alarmed or worried if we see parched rice fields—for the cracking up of the land is a very natural process for the maintenance of soil fertility—Mother Nature willed it that way.
A regular guy from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) talked about aeration and nitrogenization. Here’s what I got from him:
Aeration destroys the harmful bacteria and helps eradicate plant diseases like tungro. It is nature’s way of cleansing the earth of unwanted particles such as disease-causing bacteria. The air that we breathe is composed of 70% nitrogen. Nitrogen is an element needed by plants. Efforts should be made to help nitrogen be embedded in the soil to reach the roots of the plants. Free nitrogen in the air could not penetrate the soil if it is still wet. Free nitrogen can effectively penetrate the soil if the water in it goes scarce.
Natural aeration and nitrogenization occurs when the season is dry. The cracks in the field are where the friendly elements in the air pass through to seek and destroy the bad ones embedded in the soil. Through these cracks also pass the nitrogen that embeds itself in the soil to become food for our rice plants.
We tend to view the long dry season that comes with the el niño phenomenon as a very negative occurrence due to the shortage of water. But we should understand the ways of Mother Nature and view it from the other angle. Some agricultural enthusiasts even advice that people should prepare to deal with the bumper harvest of rice after the El Nino. Mother Earth will be kinder after resting by then, so there will expectantly be a better turn over of crops.
The El Nino also brings good things in as far as farmers are concerned. In the urban areas, however, the phenomenon is sure to bring in problems and diseases brought about by the shortage of water. It is unfortunate that the long dry spell timed itself with the election season and major decisions that have to deal with addressing a potentially calamitous situation should fall on the hands of our politicos. To those of them who believe that there is an impending calamity, no explanation appears to be necessary; and to those who do not, no explanation appears to be possible.
I wish our government agencies involved in agriculture should do more to enlighten us not only about the NEGATIVE but also on the POSITIVE effects of the El Nino phenomenon.
Contemplating on the long, deep cracks that are there in the rice fields during summer, I now understand the more profound reasons why the bángag appears again and again.
The picture above is from Google Home Images.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Perfect Harmony
“If music thus carries us to heaven, it is because music is harmony… Harmony is perfection. Perfection is our dream… Our dream is heaven.” – Author unknown
Music touches us with a magic we cannot explain. Since time immemorial people have used music hoping to make conquests victorious – whether to win hearts, to expand a territory or to entertain themselves. Music softens the pangs of defeat but it intensifies the joys or the pains that may be felt when one is attuned to it.
In those days when wars were fought face to face in designated battlefields, the warring parties used to have with them their own musicians, rather, young boys who beat the drums according to the tempo that informs about the heat of the battle; those who blow the bagpipes to arouse or accentuate the courage of the fighters, and those with the trumpets to announce the attacks or it signals their distressing retreat.
In the Holy Bible even God taught His people a song through Moses that will, in the future, be easy to remind them of their only Lord that they must not forget to honor and love when they reach the Promised Land. Revolutionary movements have their song of encouragement as much as nations have their national anthems and lovers have their own theme songs too. Often these express the feelings and sentiments in them.
I remembered Mama Paok, a gay old woman I knew who always hummed a tune - while playing the solitaire or on her way to the farm. She chided the helper once who went about her chore of cleaning the broken pots and soil in the terrace thus: “So, what has your anger done to the dog? That will just increase your headache and makes your work heavier. If you whistled instead, you’d have found it lighter as it lightens your heart too.” Right! However you sing your tune or how you interpret your song, the face brightens when you hum.
Three months ago, someone in the neighborhood played the ‘Internationale’ over and over in one day alone that I can almost memorize it when the evening came. Later that night, I suffered the ‘last song syndrome’ so I hummed it too. The day after a neighbor told me that her friend’s son was rebellious when both parents won’t allow him to attend the high school JS Prom that he kept playing the Internationale so loud as he grieved the day. What happened next? Well, he’ll be attending the Prom that February 14th. Hahaha! Hans Christian Andersen states, “Where words fail, music speaks.”
There was a time when I had to leave the house for work so early before my girls were up and come home late from work when they were almost ready for bed because of the traffic and the distance from our place. One week-end, the eldest was carrying a small bag with biscuits and choco drinks while the younger one was hugging two dolls. They pulled me to a chair and they sang me an old folk song, Dandansoy. They never knew that it opened my eyes to the fact that children need their mothers more than mothers need to spend more time in the workplace. Music power… indeed!
Here’s the part of the song in Hiligaynon that they sang haltingly as pre-schoolers could:
In those days when wars were fought face to face in designated battlefields, the warring parties used to have with them their own musicians, rather, young boys who beat the drums according to the tempo that informs about the heat of the battle; those who blow the bagpipes to arouse or accentuate the courage of the fighters, and those with the trumpets to announce the attacks or it signals their distressing retreat.
In the Holy Bible even God taught His people a song through Moses that will, in the future, be easy to remind them of their only Lord that they must not forget to honor and love when they reach the Promised Land. Revolutionary movements have their song of encouragement as much as nations have their national anthems and lovers have their own theme songs too. Often these express the feelings and sentiments in them.
I remembered Mama Paok, a gay old woman I knew who always hummed a tune - while playing the solitaire or on her way to the farm. She chided the helper once who went about her chore of cleaning the broken pots and soil in the terrace thus: “So, what has your anger done to the dog? That will just increase your headache and makes your work heavier. If you whistled instead, you’d have found it lighter as it lightens your heart too.” Right! However you sing your tune or how you interpret your song, the face brightens when you hum.
Three months ago, someone in the neighborhood played the ‘Internationale’ over and over in one day alone that I can almost memorize it when the evening came. Later that night, I suffered the ‘last song syndrome’ so I hummed it too. The day after a neighbor told me that her friend’s son was rebellious when both parents won’t allow him to attend the high school JS Prom that he kept playing the Internationale so loud as he grieved the day. What happened next? Well, he’ll be attending the Prom that February 14th. Hahaha! Hans Christian Andersen states, “Where words fail, music speaks.”
There was a time when I had to leave the house for work so early before my girls were up and come home late from work when they were almost ready for bed because of the traffic and the distance from our place. One week-end, the eldest was carrying a small bag with biscuits and choco drinks while the younger one was hugging two dolls. They pulled me to a chair and they sang me an old folk song, Dandansoy. They never knew that it opened my eyes to the fact that children need their mothers more than mothers need to spend more time in the workplace. Music power… indeed!
Here’s the part of the song in Hiligaynon that they sang haltingly as pre-schoolers could:
DANDANSOY
Dandansoy bayaan ta ikaw
(Dandansoy, I’m leaving you)
Pauli ako sa Payao
(I’m going home to Payao)
Kon ikaw gani ang hidlawon
(If you should ever miss me)
Ang Payao imo lang lantawon.
(Just look towards Payao.)
Dandansoy bayaan ta ikaw
(Dandansoy, I’m leaving you)
Pauli ako sa Payao
(I’m going home to Payao)
Kon ikaw gani ang hidlawon
(If you should ever miss me)
Ang Payao imo lang lantawon.
(Just look towards Payao.)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
From the Heart
The AM- radio was playing their station ID when I woke up this morning and the voice of the man rattled on to give the names of the technical staff of the station until it aired a tape recorded Morning Prayer. It sounded so perfect yet so distant; well written but it doesn’t seem to touch me. In the middle of enjoying my coffee, it jolted my consciousness to think how we can all be like tape recorded voices calling out to the Almighty. Then, I knew why there was no echo in me. It was not my prayer… it didn’t come from my heart. Weird but I felt funny inside. Later, I just found myself groping for a pen in my bag. Soon I was intently writing on a scrap of scratch paper. Hahaha! Below is the voice that wants to be heard from the heart…
The Prayer
Yani P. Cordero
The Prayer
Yani P. Cordero
Lord, God, Heavenly Father,
We come before you with confidence in your love and merciful graces.
We adore You in Your great holiness,We glorify You even as we ask pardon
for all the wrongs we have done…
All-knowing Father,You know us as we are… the motives in our plans,
Our righteousness and inequities;And our thoughts and deeds,
Be they sublime or ridiculous.
You know our needs and You have always provided us –
You know our needs and You have always provided us –
even those that, in our narrow understanding, we discard.
Grant us the grace to see Your hand in the events of our lives,
To see Your face in the people that we meet;
Allow us to hear Your voice as it speaks softly into our hearts…
Let us have the courage to respond to Your call when it demands more
Let us have the courage to respond to Your call when it demands more
than what we can apparently give…
Let our weaknesses be our strength in clinging to You Lord
because in our limited faculties, we can never be good without Your guiding spirit.
Father,We aspire for big things but we fail to appreciate greater things You give,
We desire to improve the widest expanse of our place; yet, we do not lift a finger
to clean out the dust that gathers ‘round our feet.
We want to be praised for the little good we do
but we seldom praise Your goodness through which we live –
We have conquered the space beyond the atmosphere, Lord…
We have conquered the space beyond the atmosphere, Lord…
but we are hypocrites refusing to peep into our inner place where we may hear your soft instructions;
We have gone to conquer the moon,
but we do not have the graciousness to cross the street
to welcome a neighbor with a smile and nary a handshake;
We have progressed far in science and technology,
but we are so proud that we cannot advance a step in our faith;
We have seen through an atom
but we decline to examine the molecules of our prejudices to correct them –
We can openly give to people in high and mighty places
but it seems too painful to give to those who cannot give back the favor;
We are fast in criticizing policies in the government and politicians in our land;
yet, we do not look into our own selves that we might shed off the undesirable traits
to start that needed social change of heart.
Lord, we wear layers of masks so that it pains to pull them off our faces,
Lord, we wear layers of masks so that it pains to pull them off our faces,
We always fall short of Your righteousness…
Help us change for the better because we are weak.
Increase our trust in Your love that we may not fear to go on in this pilgrimage of life;
Help us remember that You are our God and we are Your people.
We know that You are with us all the way –
through highs and lows, through hell and high water.
Please give us faith to believe, Lord,
that the best will come out of every experience in our lives,
That they are happening already even as we pray to You today.
Bless us all Father through our savior, Jesus Christ – Your son who suffered for us that we may have life eternal,
May our lives give pleasure to You
despite its imperfections when our day is done.
Your will be done in us… Amen.
The picture above is taken from Google Home Images.
The picture above is taken from Google Home Images.
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