Philippine Travel Notes

Hey I'm going to show and tell you one of my favorite areas in Leyte as of now - that would be the "government center" in Palo. Why? Because the buildings look good (already) except for that of DTI near the NFA warehouse over at the highway, and DENR of Leyte Province across the MacArthur Landing Memorial. Their offices are still in ruins. But speaking of DENR, that is where my "show and tell" can be found... many BOATS! Overwhelmingly ang dami, that's why I like passing by this place. It kind of re-assures me that indeed, government is helping fisherfolks! Where are the boats? Look at the arrows! Let's describe the arrows... The lower left yellow arrow points to MacArthur's landing memorial and park. All the rest of the arrows point to many many boats! The upper left arrow is best for photo-ops as the boats are just beside the highway. This is before (and approaching) Oriental Hotel. Here, I took a closer photo of those kids strolling on thei...

These are just some of them actually, as there had been many. But it is already more than 9 months after super typhoon Yolanda(Haiyan) and they're still here! This one named M/V Eva Jocelyn really made a very high climb up from the normal sea water level. Its nose now even touches the main road that trucks and buses must avoid it! It is a big and heavy metal thing in the first place, so even a heavy truck will probably easily crumble to pieces on impact hehe! Thus, better to avoid her, especially at night! M/V Eva Jocelyn is the most prominent amongst these big ships since she is the one that went a bit too high and far from the sea. I imagine that would have been some 400 or so meters from the water's edge, and the height is unbelievable! No no no no, I do not wish to discuss here how many houses this ship crushed or how many lives were wasted here. Look at the red arrow on top of the picture. It is not a street lamp. It is that of the ship! then look at the neon-green lin...

Noting what I said in the last paragraphs of the previous post , let me say... meanwhile, the ride continued, there were many more sights and scenes worthy of my memory. Yes like that one. All I could silently exclaim to myself was ano ba yan, nakikibagay si panahon sa mga nakikita ko! Almost 4 months after Yolanda everywhere still looks sad. Hindi yung jeep oy, normal yan kahit walang Yolanda! The devastated structure at left is/was the Barangay Hall of Brgy. Tibak, Sta. Fe, the first barrio after Palo. Sad, but what can we do, andyan na yan. Smile & move on na! Warays (Pinoys I guess), are generally like that, right? When it seems like we're in our lowest-of-lows our brains try to find something that makes us genuinely smile, diba? Sali ako dyan, Pinoy ako. I always smile when I pass by this barangay because... Sometime ago, a colleague (Tagalog) was reading (aloud) the names of devastated barangays we've seen so far. He pronounced the name of the area a...

In the previous story , we asked where the parents were. And here is the answer... They were 'at work'. Some did attend mass at a distance (from the shades of trees) . Why did they keep a distance? Why were they in uniform? Working? On a Saturday? They told me they have to let their children be. Whatever the kids were doing, it was school activity (Saturday make-up class) . Kids can't skip (escape actually!) when they see their parents nearby - especially the little ones in Grade 1. Oo nga naman. ano?! But why were they in that blue uniform? CFW. Ano yan? Bayanihan pa rin! What is Cash-For-Work (CFW) Ever heard about Cash-For-Work Program ? It is a 'disaster recovery' mechanism of NGO s ( N on- G overnment O rganizations) - even NGA s ( N ational G overnment A gencies) . One of many, I must say. It generally aims to help disaster victims help themselves ! How does that work? Aw, disaster victims (like farmers, fishermen, housewives, other mea...

What Is Bayanihan? Helping others they don't even know , and for no apparent reason , other than " because helping feels good ". It still happens. I still see it here & there. May it be forever & ever . I'm encountering these mainly at the Yolanda/Haiyan-devastated areas of Region 8, with the help that keeps pouring in from everywhere, from all walks of life, in all forms . Bayanihan Misnomer ! I just realized, many of us (yes, me included) thought/thinks that bayanihan is about "lipat-bahay" or heavy manual labor things associated with constructing or building. All because, we saw in our school textbooks; we saw on broadsheet editorials; that bayanihan was always portrayed like this: mga taong pasan-pasang ang isang bahay! In reality, it's not only on houses or tangible physical assets ! At times, it can be about "makeup" or "barkada nyong bigo sa pag-ibig" - mag-bayanihan nang pasayahin yan! Very often, it ...