Government services: NSO, NBI, DFA

I had been dragging my feet about renewing my expired passport for over a year now, but mostly it's because I get the heebie-jeebies at the thought of dealing with government offices (synonymous to long lines, gossipmongering at the counters and what have you). The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the National Statistics Office (NSO) haven't failed me yet, but I wasn't sure if 2015's service will be as smooth as my previous experiences.

UPDATE: NSO is now PSA, for Philippine Statistics Authority. Thanks to Erika Presson for the info.

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Manila Rush Endless Runner Game

I think I mentioned in my previous blog entry that Anino Games has launched an endless runner game during the Manila Game Jam 2014 at the Globe Labs.

It's been 10 years since Anino's first game, Anito, was released. It was actually the game that made me join the company 3 years ago and though I had left last year, I was still hoping that the pioneer game development studio in the Philippines would go back to its roots: indie game development and love for Philippine culture.

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We Are One: A Seminar for the Benefit of Yolanda Survivors

On December 7, from 9AM to 5PM, there will be a LEARNING event for the benefit of Yolanda survivors. I personally think this is like hitting two birds with one stone: LEARNing more while HELPing others.

Here is the schedule of topics:
09:00am Prayer/ Yoga Exercise
09:15am Session 1 – Resilience Is Not Enough (by Coach Randy Esguerra)
10:15am Session 2 – YES! You Can Inspire As You Live! (by Ricky de Vera, MBA, CSP)
11:15am Session 3 – Creating A Personal Vision: You Can Do It If You Can Perceive It (by Boris Joaquin)
12:15pm Lunch
01:15pm Session 4 – Connecting and Engaging Online (by Janette Toral)
02:15pm Session 5 – Victim s. Responsible Mindset (by Joey Reyes)
03:15pm Panel Discussion (by Gwen Pang, JC Libiran and Pochollo Gonzales)
04:15pm Session 6 – Understanding & Appreciating What Happens To You (by Pido Aguilar)
05:15pm Closing

To learn more about this event, you may simply visit the "We Are One: A Seminar for the Benefit of Yolanda Survivors" website, or click to enlarge the top image.

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How you can help Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda victims

We had heard when Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) would be arriving, but I guess we weren't prepared for what it would leave in its wake. For quite some time, we heard nothing about the areas that it hit because it caused a media blackout. It wasn't until I saw photos of it in Yahoo! News that I understood the magnitude of its devastating visit.

This massive boat was washed ashore, joining the houses and lives (people, plants and animals) that Haiyan destroyed in its wake.

But you know, we can't just sit here and do nothing. We can do something. Here are ways we can help.

Via Philippine Red Cross:

Those who are looking for loved ones who have not been responding to SMS or social network messages can use this form to locate/trace them.

Volunteers can also check out this mapping advocate's blog about Haiyan/Yolanda so they can assess the situation.

Via UNICEF Philippines:

If you want to donate goods instead of cash, you can also do so through the University of the Philippines:

Viber also sent this message when I logged into my phone:

EDIT: This just in from some of the people who messaged me via FB:

http://www.obphil.com
https://www.facebook.com/obphil
http://obphil.com/v2/page/p/emergency-aid-donations

And for all of us bloggers out there: What my sister Alex said last night just hit me today. In addition to donating, we have a bit of power in social media and we can help with these organizations' efforts. We can post about these venues for donation on our blogs and on Facebook (through your own official pages), and we can pay to promote our posts. The last time I paid a measly $10 to promote a post, it reached around 5,000 people. Facebook's minimum is $3. Even if only 1/4th of those people take action, that's better than no action at all.

There's also this related article about UN needing your tweets for disaster response.

I urge all of you to help rebuild those precious lives.

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My Voting Philosophy

Voting has always been quick and easy in my precinct. I don't remember experiencing a time when queues are long and disorganized.

I suppose it also helps that I already knew who to vote for. I take these things seriously, as a person who firmly believes that education must be this country's number one priority. If we want to kick the corrupt monkeys out of the system, everyone must be educated. Everyone must learn to vote wisely.

As for the rest of my philosophy:

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UP student's suicide, reflexive of our education system

This is a screenshot from the video of Rappler's coverage of the vigil and protest over the death of a student.

Today, I mean to set aside my blog backlogs because, much as I want to avoid Philippine political discussions in this blog, this incident strikes me so much as an educator and as someone who had lived with the University of the Philippines' education system for 8 years (4 years of undergrad studies in UP Manila and 4 years of PhD studies in UP Diliman).

16-year-old Kristel Tejada, who killed herself out of despair because she could not afford to pay her tuition, and I share the same undergrad course. Her story is not new. If I think long and hard, I would remember that I knew of three Kristel Tejadas during my time as a Behavioral Studies major at UPM. Two of them lived and the third one was successful in his suicide. There were probably many others like her in other colleges within the campus that I have not heard about. The only difference between then and now is that we have social media to raise awareness on a national level this time.



My respect for my alma mater runs deep, but so does its problems. The seemingly immediate spike in tuition fee to 300% was a result of long-delayed tuition fee increases. It's a university that already has difficulty sustaining itself, even after the tuition fee rose to such proportions, and even after leasing out parts of its lands to private sectors. It couldn't even give my beloved professors the remuneration they deserve for the level of research they undertake and for cultivating in us a sense of academic freedom.

My complaints about the system -- mostly minor ones regarding long queues (UPD is notorious for this), repeatedly running from the Registrar to the Cashier and back (2 hour ping-pong game), and having to return almost every week because of requirements (that they would identify some balances here and then another balance there on the second week and then another balance elsewhere on the third week, that only the TOR is available and not the diploma, which I have to come back for, that I have not requested for a certain document that they never initially mentioned, etc. etc.) -- are merely the tip of the iceberg. They are nothing compared to the many more serious ailments that I believe stem solely from the government's apathy towards education.

In short: I blame not UP for this, but the government.



State universities are public schools. With the amount of income tax deducted from my salary as both an industry practitioner and an educator every month (30-35%), plus 12% value added tax from my purchases (including food), plus community taxes, I would like to see these being put to use on our public schools. It boils my blood when I hear representatives of Malacañang claim that they are helpless in light of this situation.

To Malacañang: You are not helpless. I, and millions of other Filipinos in the work force, break our backs to support you and the least *I* want to see is a solution to this.

I have said this before and I will say this again: All of this country's problems can be traced to our declining education, so pay attention. Please.

And uh...this...

...is not how you spend "tax payers' money on education."

(Image credits from JV Sayo, who's my colleague at Asia Pacific College.)

Update: My professor at UPD posted a Facebook status that highlights the multi-layered nature of this suicide problem:

This is something to think about and it works towards not just a singular solution. And I salute these nuggets of wisdom, considering I have also been seeing a lot of victim-blaming online.

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National Communication Research Conference 2013

Sorry to post another interruption to my P100/Day Challenge Series. It's just that this event had been one of my goals for 2013 (Goal #7) and I never imagined that I'd actually accomplish half of it in the second month of the year!

Academe related post, hehe. One of the things I had been looking forward to for the past year was going to conferences and presenting my researches. I had been absent-minded enough to erroneously submit my abstract to a nation-wide competition: The National Communication Research Conference 2013.

Thank goodness, it looks like they decided to make me into a special guest speaker instead. Since I seem to be the only research doctor with a paper in there -- the rest are college students -- they decided to not let me compete. I'm wondering what happened to the other graduate students' (master's and doctoral) submissions...

In any case, one of the things that excited me about this conference is not my speaking engagement itself. It's the fact that His Excellency Former President Fidel V. Ramos was the inspirational speaker for this.

(Forgive the fuzzy photo, my Galaxy Note is not for zooming, haha.)

I was too young to have voted for him at the time but if he would be allowed to run for president again (and if he would like to run), I would vote for him.

Imagine my delight to find out that he is actually the ultimate nerd: master's degree in civil engineering, master's degree in national security administration, master's degree in business administration, 28 honorary doctorate degrees from various local and international institutions. And these are just his educational attainments. The former president is so busy implementing many things throughout the country that his business card title is already too long. His accomplishments (not without its share of controversies) span decades, and are two centuries worth.

(With Dr. Florinda Mateo, Dr. Lourdes Portus and Dr. Elena Pernia.)

He has a strange sense of humor and I found myself laughing, especially when he told some bespectacled people in the audience that their eyeglasses were no good. He then proceeded to poke his forefinger through his own eyeglass frames to reveal that they didn't hold glasses at all!

Ok, let me take a break from all that nerd fangirling to insert another ultra nerd, university heartthrob's photo:

(Again, sorry for the blurry pic haha.)

That's University of the Philippines Mass Communication Dean Roland Tolentino, whose manuscripts would make my nose bleed (especially the ones written in Filipino).

Unfortunately, I don't have photos of myself for posterity's sake. I will have to wait for official photos to come out. Will probably just edit this entry once I get the snapshots of my actual presentation and my acceptance of the special guest speaker's certificate.

My topic, Filipino Women Social Gamers Co-Creating Images (you can read my abstract here), was actually a super chopped up version of my doctoral dissertation, which I reduced from 348 pages to 25 pages just for this conference. I had a lot of fun with the topic, I suppose because I could see that many of the participants could actually relate to the games I discussed. It also gave me an idea on how to shorten my presentation further and tailor it to fit a wider range of audience.

Whew! I was hella nervous but that actually felt good. I had always wanted to speak about things I'm passionate about, like my research and my advocacy. My previous speaking engagements had always been peppered with commercialization. (Well, I still am passionate about my job in the game industry but I'd really rather talk about the craft instead of advertising my wares in important nation-wide conferences such as this).

Hopefully, I'd be able to sit down with my editor so I can present my research findings on an international scale. If I manage that, then I have accomplished 2013 Goal #7 completely.

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Metro Manila Film Fest should be renamed

Related posts:

• Metro Manila Film Fest: Isang Kang Malaking Joke Time
• Si Agimat at Si Enteng Kabisote and the Proverbial Torture Chamber (written by Paulo Lapa)

By now everyone should have known that a beautiful movie like Thy Womb was pulled out of nearly all the theaters because of low sales. Going through comments and debates regarding the commercialism that pervades our Philippine film industry, it alarms me to notice that a good number of Filipinos have forgotten what the word "festival" stood for. Many argue that the director should have known his target market (you serious?) and that this should be solely based on economics.

I had to endure the absence of Les Misérables in the theaters because of these money-related arguments? Let me just get my beef out of my system so that I can end the year in a positive note (with a review at Sarimanok.ph).

(Poster of Thy Womb from the official FB page, an internationally acclaimed film that embarrassingly flopped in the Philippines.)

On the argument that "the director should have known his target audience." 
(Again, you serious??) This is a festival, not a marketing pitch. The goal of festivals, particularly art-related festivals, is TO EDUCATE, reflect culture and to elevate discourse. In a festival, making money should be secondary, not primary. Director Brillante Ma Mendoza did not complain about low sales, he complained about the pulling out of this entry when festivals should run everything until the event is over. By allowing the removal of Thy Womb in theaters we are telling the world that our culture is Enteng Kabisote.

On the argument that this should be solely based on economics 
If you argue about letting people's wallets decide, well...my wallet wanted to spend on Les Misérables...was I given a choice in this matter? Philippine cinema has the entire year to showcase trash movies, but when you require a month-long government mandated banning of non-festival movies, you better make sure that it is a TRUE festival that reflects our country's culture.

On the argument that the entertainment industry exists solely for fun and its goal is not to educate 
As a member of the Philippine entertainment/creative industry, this is insulting to me on so many levels I can't even begin to imagine where to start. Artists are rarely taken seriously because people think we do things for fun and we are all just here to provide mindless entertainment. Let me give you an example of how it's like: Whenever my parents introduce me to a friend, they always introduce me as the daughter who has a PhD. They never mention my day job so people immediately assume that I am jobless. If my dad weren't the sweetest dad in the world, I would think that he is embarrassed that I make video games for a living (but I know he's not like that). Our problem here is that it is difficult to explain to friends and family what we do because in the traditional Filipino eyes, working in the entertainment industry is not a real job.

And then you read comments that say we shouldn't be out to educate but just provide mindless entertainment, which basically validates what everyone thinks of us. When you tell someone that you work in the entertainment industry, the first reaction is, "Wow, sarap naman ng buhay mo." Not knowing that many of us stay awake and slave away for 20-24 hours for days on end, trying to perfect our craft so that we could provide you with values-driven entertainment that you will remember for as long as you can.

One thing most Filipinos should realize is this: MEDIA has such a profound impact on our daily living, our relationships, our culture, and the kind of discourses we produce. We have a huge social responsibility and it's a responsibility many of us take seriously, hence the number of people that choose to go indie instead of mainstream.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate shallow movies (i.e. Twilight) because it is true what they say about shallow movies being wonderful means of escaping the stress of daily living. But if we are to improve our deplorable third world conditions, we can't escape all the time. An annual film festival should allow us to reflect within ourselves so that we may find solutions. Movies like Enteng Kabisote should have no place in a true festival, not in the cultural sense. Just give us this month, please. Otherwise, give this event another title.

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Let the Pinay emerge!

I totally missed the Human Nature Pinay and Proud campaign because I'm currently at my busiest.  I will probably have enough time to get back on track by August. This blog entry is probably the only contribution I can make for this effort. :(

As I was reading through the campaign, I was brought back to the time when I was defending my doctoral dissertation proposal (November of 2011, defended/presented the results in June 2012). My topic is about Filipino Women Social Gamers and my panel members asked me to define the word "Pinay".  Apparently, you have to differentiate these terms because "Filipino Women" could mean something different from "Pinay".  The former exists in reality while the latter is a concept defined by social construction.

Plus, I'm not sure if a lot of women are aware, but I have been wielding my nerdy pen in defense of the Pinay ever since I noticed that the keywords "Pinay" and "Filipino women" seem to produce...less than desirable Google results. While doing my research, I am bombarded with nasty images and descriptions of Filipino women and sadly, a lot of those are from Filipino men who are self-proclaimed geeks and new media practitioners. Tsk. No wonder you cannot walk the streets of Manila without receiving catcalls and whistles. If educated men can openly promote the sexual objectification of women online, you cannot expect the uneducated ones to behave better offline.

Anyway, after reading the campaign, I am suddenly curious as to how our readers would define the word "Pinay". And since it has been months since I've been wondering what kind of contest I could run so I could give away my Human Nature lipsticks, this gives me an opportunity to hit two birds with one stone.

So, in this blog, let us begin to raise better images of the Pinay!

Here's my contest:
In the comments section below, define the word "Pinay". Best answer wins.

Additional points will be awarded to those who like/join Skysenshi's Hermitage FB Page and/or share this blog entry to Facebook and Twitter (of course, please leave the link below your answer as well).

It's that simple. I will pick the best comment on 12 August 2012, at 11:59PM.

Good luck!!


WINNER ANNOUNCED:
Thesa Ursal! Your comment wins. Please send me your name, contact number, mailing address and email via this form: http://www.sarimanok.ph/contact-us/

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On corporate social responsibility: What do you value in a company?

This is actually about the tree planting activity that Anino employees did a couple of months back. I wasn't able to attend because I was doing my thesis but I wanted to and I promised that next year I will be able to do this kind of activity with them.

Let me show you the photos first before I talk about why I am getting more and more attached to this company.

This is actually Anino's project with Haribon foundation. It was also the company outing. These are the beautiful beaches of Zambales.

I deeply regret that I wasn't there. Seriously. I normally do not like company outings (because I loathe parlor games), but I like this because it was fun AND relevant.

Click to view larger version of the above photo. As Vana described it on our company website:

Last June 17, Team Anino abandoned the concrete jungles of Makati to reconnect with Mother Nature in Mt. Tapulao and to cross the turbulent waters of Pundaquit, Zambales...Anino Games continues to support the environment through its annual tree planting initiative, which is now on its 3rd year. This time, the team roughed the rocky Mt. Tapulao to plant trees at Sitio Dampay, Palauig, Zambales on June 17, 2011, in support of the Haribon Foundation’s Road to 2020.

I guess one of the reasons why I am happy with Anino is that I had always been torn between my love for video games and the guilt I've been harboring from the kind of social divide we digital peeps have actually brought about because of the developments we do in new media.

It has been a while since I have worked with a company that shared my values. The CEO and CFO are vegetarians (I am not completely one, but I'd like to be like them in the future) because they care for the environment. They care about a lot of things. They're very socially aware and they're not just lip service. They actually go out there and do something tangible about it. They're not afraid of literally getting their hands dirty (see above photo, that's my boss) if that meant that they're going to help make the world a better place.

I had a rough first month here, truth be told, because I was struggling to reconfigure my paradigms. I had been in the academe for 5 years...that's the longest I have ever been in one field. I felt that a lot of my previous skills went into cryogenic hibernation while I was an academician. I started thawing and rebuilding my skills here. And I guess everything fell into place when the CEO decided to create a new department (Communications) and planted me there. He gave me some of his responsibilities as well, so he could pursue his extra-curricular activities (which are still mostly about social work and outreach projects).

His philosophy is that, if I were to promote the company, I should not just do it for the company's sake but for the entire Philippines as well. Our country has a lot of valuable talents that we've been constantly losing to brain drain, plus we need to recognize that educational and government institutions have to keep up because we are developing so fast. That's why even when I feel so exhausted, I value the the fact that collaborating with government bodies, schools, and other organizations are parts of my tasks.

(I'm actually excited about the launch of a collaborative project we're doing with two major government institutions. It's been taking a while -- three years to be exact -- but we'll hopefully release it by September 2011. The project is more of a vision-mission thing, since we want to show the world what Filipino culture and talent is all about.)

I guess what I'm saying is that I feel like I am empowered to do more for the country now. The fact that the CEO doesn't want us stuck within the confines of our small building and encourages all of us to actually go out there (he'd even adjust our schedules if it meant that universities and other institutions can borrow any of us) means a lot to me.

I guess that's what I value most.

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Human Nature's products for Independence Day

Although we all honor Independence Day as a national holiday, I can't exactly say that I feel it much. Everywhere I look, I barely see anything that pertains to our original culture. In fact, as Independence Day approaches, I realize that the one thing I miss most about being in the academe was the fact that I used to handle a subject (Digital Media in the Social Context) that incorporates social awareness into thesis proposals.

I'm glad Human Nature sees what I see and it's one of the things I respect about the brand. Founded in 2008 by Anna Meloto-Wilk and Camille Meloto, daughters of Gawad Kalinga's Tony Meloto, Human Nature has always professed to be pro-Philippines, pro-poor and pro-environment. In celebration of Independence Day, they are calling for the support of Philippine-made products and of our local farming community.

Here's a snippet from their Independence Day write-up:

Each raw material used in Human Nature products is carefully considered to make sure it has the potential to grow here in the Philippines and can eventually be sourced here too. The raw material for its top-selling product in fact, the citronella bug spray, is sourced from a local Citronella farming community in Labo, Camarines Norte, Bicol and its lemongrass raw material needs on the other hand, are met by the Lemongrass farming community in Negros. Its latest venture with a Filipino farming community is a partnership with the Passion Fruit farming community in GK Catigan, Davao where their passion fruit seed oil will eventually be sourced for Human Nature’s Hydrating Mineral Lipstick and all-new Passion Fruit Hydrating Lotion.

The now popular ingredient, "Manila Elemi oil" (pili), can be found in Human Nature's Balancing Facial Wash and toners. I've read that the ingredient is anti-aging and is used by Chanel, Dior, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Marc Jacobs in their perfumes.

I have not tried any of their new toners yet, but I love their facial washes, especially the variant that has bamboo bits in it. Which reminds me...I'm about to run out, hehe.

They also seem to have released new products in time for Independence Day, most notable of which are the Intensive Hair Mask (with gugo bark extracts) and the Natural Moisturizing Shampoo with CREAMFoam Technology. The latter is touted to contain their "star ingredient", the Philippine Coco Nectar. It's supposed to be enriched with 24 amino acids, 17 vitamins and 14 minerals.

Oooh, nifty new packaging! I likee!

Anyway, for those who are not yet familiar with the brand, just head on over to http://www.humanheartnature.com. I've been a long-time supporter of their products since I'm all for using organic and natural brands and it's a boon for these to be completely Philippine-made.

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DigitalFilipino Talks: Making Philippine History Relevant Online

Thanks to the DigitalFilipino Talks episode that tackled issues about the Big Bad Blogger, I discovered yet another website that deals with one of the things that are very dear to me: PhilippineHistory.PH.

Making Philippines History Relevant Online from Janette Toral on Vimeo.

I must admit that my interest in Philippine History only surfaced in college, when UP professors profoundly -- and animatedly -- spoke about our ancestors' emotions, behavior and culture. Those were things that were never touched in elementary and high school. Primary and secondary education tackled dates and events in such an emotionless manner that it isn't very shocking to find that kids are bored.

Holistic Education
Dates and events, for many college students, are irrelevant. For most people now, these are merely good for dictating holidays. I say this with such deep regret and sadness. When I was in UP and figuratively dying because of my major subjects, my General Education subjects saved me from leading a very unbalanced college life. They kept me sane.

When I began teaching in private schools (after years in the corporate world), however, I noticed that students find General Education subjects -- History in particular -- to be more of a nuisance than a relief from all the cerebral study load. Students now are more concerned about graduating and immediately making money than enjoying their academic life while they still can. Though I do teach technical major subjects (eCommerce and Game Design are just a couple of them), I find it so unbalanced for students to just want to concentrate on one thing, willing to be technical/work force drones instead of critical thinkers that can form various conceptual frameworks. I cite this imbalance as one of the reasons why this generation of youngsters experience burn out at earlier ages.

But who can blame the students? If a professor isn't very passionate about the subject he or she is teaching, they will never go beyond what is written in books. Lack of passion begets lack of inspiration. Ms. Gloria Melencio understood the problem well enough and she took it upon herself, as a writer and educator, to address this.

Reframing for Relevance
Ms. Melencio spoke about primary and secondary sources when Ms. Janette Toral asked about history books. Ms. Toral brought up a very interesting observation and she hit it right on the nose: historical accounts are tainted with the biases of the historian. Comparative Literature majors are well aware of this fact. That's why they compare the works of Gregorio Zaide, Teodoro Agoncillo, Renato Constantino, Reynaldo Ileto (a very unorthodox historian and one of my favorites) etc. and even go so far as to study the works of fiction writers like Jose Rizal to see if they can extract the "full flavor" of a particular period. Agoncillo, for instance, provides the dates and brief descriptions, but Rizal provides the texture, the dialogues, the poetic imagery and language of his time though his literary masterpieces. Primary sources, like Rizal's journals and artifacts, are the raw information, while secondary sources provide angles to which meaning making could take place.

How do all of these make History relevant? Well, they add to the wealth of knowledge that could somehow be useful to us. As a game designer, for example, toying with the what-ifs in history can be a very rewarding task. I have seen the results of such intensive research in my students' thesis Mayi, which is a 3D game set in pre-Hispanic Philippines.

Here's a screenshot of their thesis:

My Personal Satisfaction
As I look at what the author of PhilippineHistory.PH has done, I feel empowered by my decision to co-create Sarimanok.PH: Philippine Arts & Culture last year. We seem to be doing the same thing. Because of Sarimanok.PH, I have undertaken the task of going around the country in search for primary sources -- case in point: the Cebu Sinulog Festival and my Cebu City museum visits -- as I play willing to be a secondary source. I do this in the name of education and my personal goal of highlighting the importance of embracing our culture.

And like my minor subjects, these activities keep me sane. I work in a very cerebral environment. My PhD studies are equally as left-brained. I needed to participate in this project to bring about holistic perspectives, which are my keys to maintaining a balanced lifestyle. Though I don't intend to be an entrepreneur just yet, I'm hoping my passion will keep me from becoming a drone.

Ms. Melencio's interview -- which centered on her passion and her advocacy -- seemed to be echoing my sentiments, which is why her blog has just been added to my reader. Thanks again, DigitalFilipino, for the wonderful insights. I have found yet another kindred spirit.

"So this is what you've been doing instead of studying for our PhD compre." - Manila Standard columnist, Jenny Ortuoste, when she visited my recent art exhibit.

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Cebu 2011 Day 3: Arts, Culture and Beautiful Hotels

This is going to be a very long post, that's why I'm just going to do a photoblog instead of writing too much because that would make this page even longer than it already is. This is one of those times when I wish Blogger would come up with a way to insert an image gallery within a post and not just as plugins (because those widgets look very un-stylish). I mean, Multiply and Wordpress both have this feature. The way it is now, this post is equivalent to five entries already! I thought of dividing the day into parts but that would make my list of backlog entries longer, too, so I guess I'll have to make do and use the "Read More" option.

Anyway, for Day 3, we decided to just book a tour package that our hotel, Crown Regency Guadalupe, offered. Two packages were available: PhP1,500 for the first 3 hours and PhP350 for succeeding hours, and an 8-hour package for PhP3,000. These are rates for car usage. Tours that require a van will cost slightly higher.

Day 3 was our most packed:

• Magellan's Cross
• Basilica del Sto. Niño
• Fort San Pedro
• Museo Sugbo
• Taoist Temple
• Lapu-Lapu Shrine
• Alegre Guitar Factory
• Plantation Bay
• Waterfront/PAGCOR

To think, we actually had to remove a couple of places from our list -- Casa Gorordo Museum and San Carlos Museum were replaced by Museo Sugbo -- because they were starting to close down roads for the Sinulog Festival. We ended this tour by buying pasalubong from Shamrock, which was actually low on stocks. They had absolutely ran out of otap, so I bought lots of peanut products like turones, browas and peanut kisses.

Magellan's Cross & Basilica del Sto. Niño


This is where Magellan's Cross resides.

Here's a depiction of Magellan planting the cross into Cebu's soil.

The real Sinulog. My dad was very adamant about me seeing this, instead of just the festival, because he insists that this is where it all started. I'm not going to go into details here, as I am reserving the Sinulog post for Sarimanok.PH. Suffice to say that you pay these old women (PhP10 per candle) to pray for you and your family and they will do so by dancing while chanting their prayers.

The streets of the Basilica del Sto. Niño was busy with commerce.

This is my Shin-Chan2's zoom doing an overtime. See...you cannot believe how huge this crowd was. My first test shots of this square were full of taller men's heads. This parade of saints seemed like dots to my naked eye.

Saints surrounding the square.

Just to give you an idea of how packed the church and its streets were...we thought we wouldn't be able to get out of here alive. Seriously. It's kind of scary when you think about how little oxygen all of you would be sharing.

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Andalucia Galleon arrives in the Philippines

Super late post!!!

A replica of a 17th century galleon, Andalucia, is floating around the Philippine shores. It first docked at Pier 13 in the City of Manila. The mobile exhibit, Dia Del Galeon Festival 2010, is brought to us by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in remembrance of how the Philippines participated in the galleon trade. They're now making this project as part of protecting our seas from the impact of climate change and global warming.

Here are the complete details of NCCA's project:
http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca/dia-del-galeon/dia-del-galeon.php

There were LOOOOTS of people, students and teachers mostly. Some were stuck for 7 hours in line just to get in. I think the time the galleon spent in Manila isn't enough because more people wanted to get in and it could only accommodate 100 per tour. It left Pier 13 last October 10 and arrived at Cebu's shores on October 14.  It is open for viewing at Pier 1 till October 18.

These gorgeous photos were taken by Aliza Conde, who is also a Lumix user. I was too stupid -- forgetting to charge my camera.

I love the composition of this photo. Beautiful sky, beautiful ship. See how the colors compliment each other.

Going near the ship. You can see the frontal details up close. All these make me wonder how long it took before this replica could be completed.

Kids playing a musical tribute. They're so cuuuuuute. There were also police officers around, not on duty, but were there to watch the parade.

This reminds me of that last scene in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. These breathtaking details look like they were screen shots from an actual movie!

Left photo: my sister Alex going down to the main deck.

Right photo: I think that anchor looks really thin, but Aliza said that it was heavy. I took her word for it.

Kiddies playing with the helm. I'd like to pretend I was a pirate ship captain, too, but I remember reading about women bringing bad luck on old ships.

This was where the crew ate. I had to remind myself that Andalucia is a replica because I was thinking, "Gosh, those people must've been small!"

Left: I'm not sure if that's the foremast but that shot, emphasizing the dark contrast of the ship against the blue skies, is just something to behold.

Right: My sister going down into the gallery.

Details! Details! How did the ship's crew survive such a dark and dank looking space...? Also imagine that they would be traveling for a long long long long time.

Heck, it took the ship four days to reach Cebu. Sulpicio lines and Super Ferries usually reach Cebu (from Manila) within 24 hours.

Left: Elegant dining area.

Right: That is obviously a cannon. Aliza said she wanted to try firing one.

Some visual information about the ship could be found here. This is quite interesting. A small map also displayed which parts of the world the galleon has already touched.

Pristine quarters. I doubt they were really this clean during the 17th century. But I like the gusot na kumot  effect. Hehe.

End the day with a bowful of bulalo at the Singing Cooks and Waiters restaurant, which is also located in Manila.

Yeah, my sister eats this much. My family members are relatively known for having 5-6 stomachs. Like cows.

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As International Literacy Day passes, I think about our local literacy rate...

I'm writing this on the eve of International Literacy Day, which I had been celebrating for nigh two months now. First with a contest, which produced  creative participants. Then with this post.

Incidentally, some lovely -- and quite timely -- news greeted me in my Facebook inbox today: I had won a Levi's contest held by AskMeWhats. It was a last minute decision to participate, after much prodding from my friend Rowena (Animetric). Last minute because I didn't want to compete with my sister (who was participating in another blog and she did actually win, too), plus I felt like my brain could no longer churn out creative entries. I couldn't think of a catchy tag line for the contest's "I Believe" promo, so I just answered as honestly as I can:

"I believe that education will shape our future."

And yet there are two pressing issues when it comes to this particular sector in our local news:

1. The addition of 2 years to our basic education.

We are studying the extension of the basic education cycle from 10 years to the global standard of 12 years. The addition of two years of schooling is expected to enrich basic education and enable our children to get into the best universities and, consequently, get the best jobs. (Source)

This proposal I actually agree with, even if I know it could be a new entry point for more corruption. I am sick of the Philippines being called a "slave nation" or being turned into a flesh hunting ground by those international perverts (I still get disgusting messages from fugly international dirty old men whose educational backgrounds fall waaaay underneath mine). I want our nation to be globally competitive, even if it means we have to play their game.

What most people here don't realize is that our college degrees are no longer considered college degrees because we lack two years of basic education. Many of us might have spent four years in college, but it all amounts to a vocational degree. I was probably lucky I pursued a second bachelor's degree before moving on to graduate studies. Not many people are as bent on pursuing scholarships as I am and really, not many people should have to be as crazy as I am.

Furthermore, I wouldn't be agreeing to this proposal if I weren't in the higher education sector. I have seen how diluted college analytical thinking have become. I actually blame the sorry state of our basic education: errors in books, lack of facilities, lack of teacher training...

Right now, we in the higher education sector are trying to fix what we can but this second issue might just hinder us...


2. The decrease in state universities' budgets

We allocated P23.4 billion to 112 State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in 2011. This is 1.7 percent lower than the P23.8 billion budget for 2010. We are gradually reducing the subsidy to SUCs to push them toward becoming self-sufficient and financially independent, given their ability to raise their income and to utilize it for their programs and projects. (Source)

Ok, professionally, I shouldn't be affected by this because I work at a private school. Personally, I am affected because I am a graduate of a state university. This battle is of a personal nature. Honestly, being in education does not pay all that well. (That's why many of us are professors by day, artists/scientists/entrepreneurs by night. It's the nightly gigs that bring in the dough.) I am an educator not because it's my main source of income but because it is my passion. It's a vocation. Education is my advocacy.

I am of the firm belief that lack of education is the root of all evil. When people are not learned, it's easier for political leaders to take advantage of them. (I consider religious leaders here to be very political.) When people are illiterate, they make uninformed decisions that -- when piled up and combined with other people's uninformed decisions -- ultimately end in the hindrance of progress.

I could go on and on and on.

My bottom line is, let us please concentrate on education above all else. It's our intangible weapon against so many social ills. Deducting from the state universities' budget isn't going to empower those who cannot afford to pay for college education. We need intellectuals, ones who could improve knowledge so that younger generations may benefit from them. Ones who could propel this country out of poverty. There are so very few intellectuals left. Soon they'll be a dying breed.

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