Andres Bonifacio is still THE MAN!

I have written many times here in my blog about my love for Andres Bonifacio, and this is one of them. For me, he is still the national hero of the Philippines.

Many times, I got emotional upon hearing the music of the play 1896 by the Philippine Educational Theater Association on the start of the Philippine Revolution on that year. It mainly focused on Bonifacio's life as a revolutionary. I wish PETA would publish the 1896 libretto.

Meanwhile I was looking for an appropriate article for tomorrow's celebration of the birth date of Bonifacio (Gat Andres was born on November 30, 1863) and came upon this strongly worded song of the late Francis Magalona. Never heard of this song but I like the nationalistic tone of the lyrics. So this-

1896 Lyrics

Francis Magalona

Sumaludo sa harap ng bandila
Kastila ka bang umaalipin sa alila
Sinakop ng puti ang mga kayumanggi
Pinagnanakaw ang lahi at silay naghari...
Hanggang ngayon pa rin sila pa rin nakaupo
Ilang daang taon mula noon
Nakagapos ang ating mga kamay
Nakapiring ang mga mata
Dila'y pinuputol pag ika'y nagsasalita...
Tulad ni rizal na panulat ang pinairal
Si andres ay pinatay ng kanyang mga kakulay
Yo! hablo espanyol?
Si senior conio
Ako to ay isang mestisong indio po!
You a friend of uncle sam?
Yo! my man I am
I don't speak Tagalog, but I try to understand
Pilipino ka ba?!
Banzai!!!
Shinjimai!!!
Dorobo kedo moto oto kumai!!!

CHORUS:
Dugo'y inialay, para sa bayan...
Sayang naman ang kanilang pinaglabanan...
Dugo'y bumaha at naging pataba...
Bulok ang bunga, tumulo ang luha...

Dugo'y inialay, para sa bayan...
Sayang naman ang kanilang pinaglabanan...
Dugo'y bumaha at naging pataba...
Bulok ang bunga, tumulo ang luha...

Perlas ng silanganan kung tawagin ang pinas
Sinilang sa silangan angkan ni malakas
Anak ni bathala at ako'y nababahala
Di ako naniniwala, na ako ay malaya...
Akala ko ba Philippines 2000
Pero bakit ganoon, parang walang patutunguhan...
Kung buhay lamang ang ating mga bayani
Alam kong sila ang unang-unang
Magsasabi na kahit kailanman...
Bayan muna bago sarili...
Sa pagnanakaw ang nakaupo'y nawiwili...
Kapuna-puna ang mga anomalya
Ang kakapal nila mga walanghiya
Barong tagalog pa ang suot ng mga gago!
Pag nagtagalog, bako-bako, ang labo...
("Ilan sa liderato dapat sa krus ipako")
Alam ba ninyo kung sino ang mga tinutukoy ko?..

(CHORUS)

Dugo'y inialay, para sa bayan...
Sayang naman ang kanilang pinaglabanan...
Dugo'y bumaha at naging pataba...
Bulok ang bunga, tumulo ang luha...

Dugo'y inialay, para sa bayan...
Sayang naman ang kanilang pinaglabanan...
Dugo'y bumaha at naging pataba...
Bulok ang bunga, tumulo ang luha...

Dugo'y inialay, para sa bayan...
Sayang naman ang kanilang pinaglabanan...
Dugo'y bumaha at naging pataba...
Bulok ang bunga, tumulo ang luha...

Dugo'y inialay, para sa bayan...
Sayang naman ang kanilang pinaglabanan...
Dugo'y bumaha at naging pataba...
Bulok ang bunga, tumulo ang luha...

Dugo'y inialay, para sa bayan...
Sayang naman ang kanilang pinaglabanan...
Dugo'y bumaha at naging pataba...
Bulok ang bunga, tumulo ang luha... 

1896 Lyrics copied from Pinoy Lyrics

T-Shirt design grabbed from sketchouse design studio

By the way, the remains of Andres Bonifacio and his brother, Procopio were missing until today. Historians claimed they have found Bonifacio's skeletal remains (or Procopio's) but never the two. Remember they were executed for treason and were buried in the same grave. Exhumed remains in Maragondon, Cavite where they were buried was that of one person only. To this day, Bonifacio's remains is a desaparecido.

Read Ambeth Ocampo's nice article on Bonifacio by clicking on this link- The mystery of Bonifacio's bones.

I had a great time at VBS2011

Getting wacky with Guest Speaker Chris Drucker. Photo by Ms Kath of USPF.

I was there at 6 in the morning because the organizers said they will entertain walk-ins on a first-come first-served basis. But past 7 o'clock, they were still missing and some bloggers who just came in were already dying to go inside SM City Cebu for the Visayas Bloggers Summit (VBS) 2011, blocking the gates of SM with the early birds squatting on the side.

But this did not hamper me to join the Summit. I patiently waited for my chance to go in. And my patience have been rewarded.

• My favorite bloggers were there in person and giving me tips on how to improve my blog.
• Got a chance to win freebies from sponsors. I got a pack of 3 beauty soaps. I need them, I think.
• Met friends and gained new blogger friends.
• Chance to have photo ops with speakers. Chris Drucker was a nice person who knew how to ignite the audience.
• Seen beautiful ladies vying for the Miss Earth 2011. Ms. England, Ms. Estonia, Ms Guatemala and Ms. Guam stayed for some photo ops. I love Ms. Guam especially when she told the group she has Filipino roots.
• Was moved by the speech of Ms. Lopez from the ABS-CBN Foundation on the effects of mining in Palawan and some parts of the Philippines. NO TO MINING! We never gained financial stability out of this.
• Learned how to monetize my blog. But wait- I hate seeing those adverts competing with my unpolished English. So it would take a while to see nasty and irritating adverts here in my site.
• I did not expect the bloggers summit to be so "peaceful" during the event (with exceptions on the arrival of Miss Earth candidates and the charismatic Ms Lopez), but Twitter was bombarded by tweets of bloggers who were in the site. This only means that bloggers were more engaged in the virtual world. No wonder most of the speakers insisted that bloggers should be out and become a real person.

All in all, my experience at the VBS2011 was a fruitful cause worth the absence from work. To all bloggers out there, be passionate with your new found career. Write for people. Re-write. Edit. Re-write while finding a voice of your own.

Free coffee at the site from Coffee Dream

My favorite photoblogger- Evan Mendoza

The VBS2011 is full of students!

Miss Earth candidates gracing the event and were "attacked" by photomonsters LOL

Miss Guam is half Filipino and Miss England is sweet.

Read this- Chris Drucker on Effective Outsourcing, Virtual Lifestyles and The Entrepreneurial Mindset

My wish: Join the VBS Cebu 2011

I have missed so many opportunities offered by the Cebu Bloggers Society to join them or their activities for the main reason that I consider myself a very amateur blogger and despite my blog site dates back to 2006, I am still struggling with my blog. Reading from the blogs of the members of CBS, I am dwarfed by them. And so my inferiority complex dominated my desire to join in.

Now, a friend of mine invited me to join with her to the Visayas Blogging Summit 2011 on November 26 at the SM City Cebu. I am caught between enhancing my skills on blogging and work. But knowing this is again a missed opportunity if I won't come, I sent her feelers that I may come.

The Summit is, of course, initiated by the Cebu Bloggers Society Inc. Why interested? My interest is fired up again since I know that the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation is a regular sponsor of the event and RAFI has helped many groups and individuals realize their importance in the society, hence, my high expectation from them is also fired up. (Pssst, RAFI has a blogging contest with a big amount of monetary prizes! But sadly, there is an age limit to the contest. I wonder why RAFI is doing this. Blogging has no age boundaries.)

I also heard several speakers coming from the blogosphere are coming to give inputs on how to better improve my blogging skills, skills that are necessary to my amateurish writing style. At least, the event would give me a better outlook on the ins and outs of the blogging world. Perhaps earning money to add to my income.

As of this writing I am still trying to log in at the registration site but could not do so. Perhaps my connection won't allow me to. Damn!

I only wish they would allow me as walk-in participant.

NEVER FORGET

Nightlife in Alona Beach is more fun than in Tagbilaran City

Crostini

Yes it's true. While Tagbilaran's nightlife is like an all-time Holy Week celebration, Alona Beach in Panglao Island is getting more into the beat without getting invasive. Several cool and ambient places are sprouting like mushrooms, so to speak. The choices in Alona are more varied as compared to Tagbilaran's grill, grill and more grill options. I heard Tagbilaranons are now flocking to the island and having good times there.

Why not? At Alona, you can have a lot (and a variety) of food choices. When you are choked with the smoke of grilling, Swiss, Oriental, Mediterranean, and of course Filipino food becomes good, if not better alternative! I even tried an Italian menu in some nook where civilization really exist- behaved diners (meaning no noisy Koreans, thanks God!), soft and appropriate music, and good food. That nook was this restaurant- GRAZIELLA.

Bruschette

The menu at Graziella Restaurant is particularly interesting with all those Italian names, hence it is needless to say it is an Italian restaurant. I was tempted to order a dish without the server's interpretation so as to surprise myself. Take note, the servers at Graziella know what's on the menu, an exemption in Bohol where most, if not all, servers do not know what's the food in the menu they are holding. With Jollibee as an exception. I appreciate the chef's and the owner's generosity of briefing their servers on the food, and I imagined they have tasted them, too.

I feel like carbo-loading that night I ordered mostly carbo-based food. For starters, Bruschette with garlic, onions, tomato and oregano was served along with San Mig Light and regular Coke. The food came and they were serving them together with a bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sosyal!

For my main course, I ordered a hefty Al Gamberetti Tagliatiatelle in curry sauce (P275). The flat noodle was just tender and the shrimps cooked just right and to my surprise, generous enough. I mean, there were a lot of shrimps on the pasta. Some restaurants in Tagbilaran brag about seafood pasta but you could not see why their version is called as such. Even a heapful of Parmesan cheese came with the pasta, which is a very rare happening in Bohol.

Graziella is pure indulgence at an affordable price.

Unya mireklamo pa nganong midako akong tiyan!

Al Gamberetti Tagliatiatelle

The week in Philippine history was a circus

Photo courtesy of csmonitor.com

The recent weeks in the Philippine history was suddenly in commotion- all because of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). Even Joseph Estrada's incarceration, also a former president, was overshadowed by the events of GMA's. She had it big time.

But a lawyer named Ariel Salvador Magno summarized the week in just ten points. I could not agree more.

1. Supreme Court can be ignored.
2. It’s not true that we have three co-equal branches of government. The Executive is the most powerful branch. It can do no one.
3. Congress... is Congress. Res Ipsa Loquitor (The thing speaks for itself, for us who do not know this lawyer's talk haha).
4. The Bill of Rights applies only to the good ones not the evil ones.
5. Karma is so powerful.
6. If you did not do your job, blame others, especially the Supreme Court.
7. No matter how powerful you were or still are, you will be held accountable!
8. Institutions in the Philippines... wait what institutions?
9. The end justifies the means.
10. Some are more righteous than others. We are doing the same wrong things that you did but this time it’s us who are doing them, so tama lang.

(The above ten points were quoted from Ellen Tordesillas at ellentordesillas.com.)

7B and still counting

Where do you fit into 7 billion?

BBC News asks you to fill in some data so you will know where you fit in the 7 billionth population of the world.

The app is very informative as well as very cool. It tells you your position in the world history and what would it be the future of population as you grow older.

I was the 3,517,190,028th when I was born on February 1968.

Follow this link to know your place- BBC News: The world at 7 billion.

CONGRATULATIONS GOVERNOR EDGAR CHATTO OF THE PROVINCE OF BOHOL!

Bohol's governor Atty. Edgar M. Chatto

Atty. Edgar Migriño Chatto has been a consistent award-grabber since his youth days. His life, I think, is seriously dedicated to the service of the people, hence the awards he reaped from various government agencies and the private sector. 

His term as governor in the province of Bohol earned the citation from the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) as the BEST GOVERNED PROVINCE in the Philippines today.

Gov. Chatto recently was awarded the prestigious Dangal ng Bayan Award by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) extoling his "performance of extraordinary act or public service." Chatto is the only elected official to receive the two highest honors from the Civil Service Commission. He received the Lingkod ng  Bayan Award when he was the vice governor of Bohol way back.

My heartfelt congratulations to you Governor! I am very sure the Boholanos are very proud of you.

Taking a break

After a tiresome day of workshops, taking photos and technical jobs, a brief and quiet moment at the pool of Alta Cebu Resort and Convention Center was all I needed. But I also needed someone to prove that I was there, so this picture.

The resort is great for group workshops. The ambiance, the food and the ever helpful employees and staff are a refreshing sight you will miss after checking out.

Alta Cebu is located in the municipality of Cordova in Mactan Island, Cebu.

Discipline is what people from Lapu-lapu City needs, Mayor Radaza

Yesterday's headline struck a chord in me because the city mayor of Lapu-lapu Paz Radaza asked the owners of Metro Ferry, the ferry company plying daily the Opon to Pier 3 route, to solve the long lines at the ferry terminal. She may have heard the complaints from her constituents without seeing what goes on at the terminal.

Mayor Radaza even suggested that ferry owners hire more employees to ease the congestion before the city's fiesta would take place this November. But I believe the problem is NOT with the ferry company. It is the people from Lapu-lapu City taking the ferry that caused disorder at the terminal. 

For two months now, I became a transient in that part of Cebu and taking ferry boats to and from Opon for the main reason that it is the most convenient and inexpensive way to travel to the other island, Cebu City. Fifteen minutes tops and you are already in Cebu City as compared to jeepneys that usually took almost an hour to get you to Cebu City.

Why did I conclude that ferry riders from Opon are the most undisciplined commuters?

I found out that people's culture and mentality can be clearly observed through its use of public transportation. I have been to the different places in the Philippines and abroad and I could say my observations have been correct so far, albeit not scientific. And I can definitely say that commuters from Opon are the most undisciplined of all based on my unscientific observations.

Compared to the other commuters taking the air-conditioned vans from Ayala and SM City who would automatically fall in line to have a seat in the vans, these people do not know what is even a line. My first month riding the ferry was the most disgusting of all. I have been pushed, stepped on, and literally mauled beginning at the ferry terminal where Excuse Me or Please or I Am Sorry are alien words nobody would use until the ferry have docked. Like a horde of rampaging animals, these people would not give humanitarian considerations even to people bringing children, pregnant mothers or senior citizens as long as they can have a sure seat inside the boat.

I would have understood if there is only a trip or two to Opon during the day. But for heaven's sake the ferry boats come and go at a 15-minute interval or so! Sometimes, the other boat will have to wait for the other ferry to finish loading up before it can also dock.

Does breeding also reflects one capability to afford a mass transport?

The air-conditioned van is about 25-30 pesos per person while the ferry ride costs 12 pesos plus a one peso terminal fee. More expensive, more disciplined?

How many times I have heard employees asking people to make a line so there would be order and smooth flow of passengers. There was even a barong-clad person trying to man the lines but the passengers only stared an empty stare like they were high on something. That barong-clad man said, Maayo pa ang hulmigas kay maglinya pa (The ants are better because they fall in line).

Two weeks ago the ferry management changed the system at the ticketing and terminal areas. They made long and torturous ways so people would make a line. And this bothered everyone who were not keen on making lines. Or even discipline.

Even today, there are still people who cut lines and pushes to get ahead, not considering that some people were sweating waiting in line for their tickets. 

When you visit the terminal in Opon as of this writing, there is a semblance of order when you see people lining up. But old ways still prevail after they have their tickets and after paying the terminal fee. Even before the boats have finished their docking procedures, people would not go after their safety and would just rush out endangering the lives of other passengers.

So if Mayor Radaza would blame the management of the ferry, I think she should take the ferry herself. But then again, mayors are given special privileges in this country and so I am sure she won't experience lining up for a ticket and be pushed around.

Used cotton buds litter inside the ferry, a clear sign that commuters also do not know how to properly dispose of their garbage. Garbage could be seen even in the ferry terminal and the sea around the area. But not this week until November 21 because the city is going to celebrate their annual fiesta. That's a reason for another blog.

On the news:
Cebu Daily News: Passenger loading system

Just because

photo from adbusters.org

Just because you can copy and paste words and steal pictures doesn't make you a blogger. Not even better.