BUSHCRAFT IN THE PHILIPPINE OUTDOORS SCENE

SINCE THE TIME I shifted to Bushcraft and Survival, I now know where I am going. This is no accident for me but it had been motivated by one popular TV show whose producers made one fine dude into a buffoon. That show had made nonsense of what bushcraft is really all about. I know that, for I had been taught primitive-living skills by my late grandfather, who exposed me to woodlore at a young age.

In the Philippines, bushcraft or primitive-living skills or wilderness survival or off-the-grid living is still practiced by a good percentage of the populace, even more so, when you travel to the far countrysides. Shades of it are even carried by migrants into the big cities but that is just all about it. Nobody is interested anymore because it is low technology and inconsequential. This present generation thinks that the search engines and their tablets could provide them of what they want.

This direction I am talking about is imparting my knowledge to people and, at the same time, converting contemporary yuppies into weekend bushmen. My philosophy of enjoying the outdoors is not conventional and does not follow how the mainstream work but I place it in a proper perspective so it could be understood better by those who may practice it. It is an activity that uses a lot of common sense and a good dose of hard labor, although it is disdained by many conventional types because of its nonconformist methods.

I would like to emphasize that there is more of the outdoors than just being conventional or mainstream. I have seen the difference because I had been there. I cannot comprehend long ago why my hands were tied when I am supposed to enjoy “ultimate freedom”? It is not a very good idea going on camping with someone watching behind your back constricting your movements along the rigid lines of a foreign ideology called Leave No Trace.

Be advised also that there is a limit to enjoying a bushcraft activity which is really different from what you see on TV. You do not just cut green branches without considering the type of species. You do not just make fire without a purpose and without also considering the impact it gives to the camp ground. You do not just show off your blades on popular mountain sites without offending the sensibilities of certain people. Our own concept of the outdoors does not necessarily gets appreciated by the mainstream crowd.

People are now more aware of their environment because they choose to help and preserve Mother Earth in a good state in whatever way they can and that is good. Their adherence to LNT made them better hikers or mountain climbers, I suppose, and educates other people who visit the mountains for recreation. Ethical backpackers are incensed of people and activities that despoil the environment and are now more forceful in their approach. Rightly so, for a lot of reasons like garbage to fire rings to mass climbs to crowded campsites to commercialism.

I am practicing Philippine-style bushcraft and I make it sure that its impact on the environment is negligible if you compare it with how Westerners does theirs. I shun popular campsites and I would rather be with as few people as possible so we could enjoy bushcraft better. I encourage my adherents to practice light backpacking and to absorb the principles of “adapt, blend and improvise”. Campfires are mandatory on preparation of meals but, do not worry, we keep it small.

Conventional hikers always love to camp on high places and when they see fire rings on their beloved campsites, they would attribute that to bushcrafters even though it runs contrary to how and where we choose our fireplaces. We prefer hidden nooks, inconspicuous places that are too remote and wild, even to an adventurous urbanite but, sometimes, we use our old haunts which are now frequented by people. We equate our activities akin to those of indigenous people and we imitate their ways of moving about in a forest.

We learn plant ID by heart and that distinguishes us from firewood and charcoal gatherers who cut trees wholesale. We prefer cutting green limbs from introduced or invasive species, if we do not find any left behind by locals, when we need it for general bushcraft work. Firewood and kindling we get from dead branches which do not touch the ground and save someone the trouble of being hit by a falling one. We forage and use wild edible plants on our cooking; natural fibers for cordage; and natural tinder for our fire kit.

What we cannot leave behind, we burn. Any organic refuse, goes back to the land. As much as possible, only opened cans and empty bottles goes back to civilization to be sold in junk shops. Bringing in of garbage back to the cities are unnecessary since it would only use more fuel needed to transport these to dump sites, add more man hours and help hasten the filling up of landfill projects. Smoke from small garbage we burned in an hour of a weekend are peanuts compared to everyday poison unleashed by coal-fired power plants and vehicle fumes.

The importance of knives in bushcraft and survival are supreme and its presence in all our activities are mandatory. If you cannot stomach the sight of it, then keep your distance else learn from us. We have no other purpose for the knife except as a tool and, without that, tasks would be downright difficult to accomplish. Nowhere else is an outdoors hobby would you get to learn a myriad of skills except here in bushcraft and, as always, the knife is very relevant.

Where does one learn bushcraft here? If you search the Internet, this word is confined to countries that are mostly found on the temperate zones. In the Philippines, your search will take you to Cebu, the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp and me. Yes, I teach bushcraft only during the PIBC, which is always held on June 10 to 12. The Mountain Climbers Alliance of the Philippines also requests me to teach their members wilderness survival each year. Apart from that, I instruct people indoors about urban survival techniques.

To keep and maintain the skills of local bushcrafters sharp all the time, I established an organization for this purpose: the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild. It is the only one of its kind in the Philippines and is based in Cebu. Camp Red members are always out there on the field every weekend, hiking mountain trails, exploring, foraging, learning outdoors culinary, firecraft and a lot of real-world skills. You can distinguish them by their preference to carry openly their knives.

Bushcraft, for me, is the ultimate experience. You are the sole master of your own fate and you will know the mountains and its valleys and rivers more than anyone else. You just stay in a few places while everyone else are preoccupied of their time and destinations, totally missing out the finer details of a journey which would have given one lasting impressions, wonderful discoveries and irreplaceable wisdom. I have achieved total and unimpeded freedom doing all these and no foreign ideology, modern technology or expensive gears had altered or prevented that.

Bushcraft shall remain outside of the mainstream and so would the men and women who had embraced it. It will never ever replicate activities of conventional outdoor interests nor would it intrude on their realm but it can be integrated into theirs, with a few adjustments to their individual’s mindsets. I have come to the conclusion that Philippine-style bushcraft will stay for good and it will develop people into self-reliant individuals who may become leaders of a community of survivors should there be a SHTF situation.

The introduction of bushcraft as one of the activities in the Philippine outdoors scene should be welcomed, even from those whom have thought that the outdoors is their monopoly. Although we do not abide by the principles of LNT, we understood the spirit by what it was meant for and we have our own set of values when in the outdoors. We appreciate nature very much and we, like the rest, are never in a good mood when our mountains are abused. It is our playground as much you had considered it as your own.

Document done in LibreOffice 3.3 Writer

PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE BUSHCRAFT CAMP

THIS IS THE FIRST time that had been done in the Philippine Islands. Camp Red, your only Philippine bushcraft and survival guild south of Subic Bay; and Warrior Pilgrimage, a personal blog dedicated for bushcraft and survival; recently introduced the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp or PIBC MMXI to fourteen newcomers.

The activity was held at an undisclosed site designated as “Camp Damazo”; found deep in the bosom of the Babag Mountain Range in Cebu City on June 11 and 12, 2011. The party were led by this writer starting from Guadalupe by way of Bebut's Trail on the early morning of the first day after a short prayer of protection and good journey.

After claiming the campsite at midday, the participants chose their spot where to set up their tents and then the preparation for the noontime meal started. Camp Red prefer their meals eaten fresh from the cooking fires and it had been their trademark ever since. A water hole was dug for this purpose from a sandy bank of a free-flowing stream to supply the event's water requirements like washing, cooking and drinking.

In the afternoon, this writer introduced the participants to bushcraft and survival; what is its relation to the environment; and how it affects the individual's psychology. Field manuals and similar handouts were distributed by this writer to everyone to satisfy the demands of their curiosity. In addition, this writer stressed the vital importance of knives or bladed weapons as a part of every bushman's equipment.

Following up is a lecture about the basics of outdoor cooking by a Camp Red member-participant wherein the activity dragged on to preparing the next meal – dinner. During the cooking, this writer demonstrated the participants how to forage food along the stream after dark. All in all, five good-sized fresh-water crabs were added for supper.

A small campfire beside the stream was started and a joyous camaraderie ensued among the participants. “Camp Damazo” have never witnessed such an unusual gathering at this time and date before. There never were lights or sounds of laughter introduced before in this hidden nook and that makes this activity a source of adrenaline.

The following day, June 12, the national flag was raised on a staff secured by cords made from inner bark of trees. Newcomer Nikki Ledesma led the group to the singing of the Philippine National Anthem. Later, another newcomer, Glenn Pestaño – the one who demoed yesterday of how an everyday carry or EDC should look like – led the Oath of Allegiance to the republic.

After that, this writer discussed about the basics of survival-tool making and how to use such skill to ensure your survival. The ability to create something like cordage, digging sticks and cooking utensils from nothing is greatly emphasized by this writer to the participants and highlighted by cooking milled corn inside of a bamboo pole.

The activity ended after lunch and this writer again guided the party to a long river trek that pass over many hidden waterfalls, thick jungle, difficult terrain and back to Guadalupe. The following are the sets of collage that describe this very novel activity:

OBSERVATIONS:

1. PIBC MMXI taught the participants that bushcraft and survival can complement well with backpacking and mountain climbing.
2. Bushcraft and survival is an interest or hobby worth trying. Foreigners love to learn survival techniques in the tropics. We live in the tropics yet we rather spend expensive gears and equipment geared for an outdoor activity that is done in high altitude.
3. A peripheral outdoor activity was held during this date and PIBC MMXI demonstrated that this will be the best alternative in the future.
4. We are used to following an event tailored for Westerners and we disregard the crafts that our ancestors taught us. All of us have the potential to practice traditional crafts but, somehow, we are ignorant that it exists even if it runs in our veins. It is stored in our subconscious and all we have to do is remember.
5. Camp Red and Warrior Pilgrimage have espoused the practice of these skills and it is our obligation to transfer these skills to those who would want to learn these.

Document done in Libre Office 3

REMEMBERING THE "SCORPION"

I RODE ASTERN ON the motor tugboat, M/T Koala. The double-engined little tug crossed the Mactan Channel from Pier One, Port of Cebu, to the seas off Bagacay Point to rendezvous with another tug, the M/T Scorpion. It is May 23, 1986 and it is near dusk.

Going back, I applied for a slot of apprentice marine engineer with the National Stevedoring and Lighterage Corp.¹ (NSLC) where they own a fleet of tugs and barges. A lot of my neighbors work at NSLC either as office staff, stevedores or bargemen. One of them, Godo Villaro, rode with me that afternoon and assured me that the M/T Scorpion is one of the biggest tugboats that NSLC own and operate.

I brought with me my embarkation paper for M/T Scorpion and I saw two small tugs and a barge in the distance but no large tugboat. I looked at Godo's way for confirmation and he gave a thumbs-up sign. I am quite confused by his story. Anyway, I hoped the bigger of the two tugs might at least be the Scorpion and, as we get closer, I saw that it is not!

Godo has taken me again for a ride and I could not remember how many times I succumbed to his sick jokes. Someday, man, someday I'll turn the tables against you but he was laughing out loud enjoying the late afternoon fun. Some of the tug crews and passengers within earshot of the joke joined the guffaw and I could only shake my head and give a sheepish smile.

My co-passengers were Alex Gultia and Marlon Flores who are destined to be part of the Scorpion's crew like me. Alex will be my second engineer while Marlon will be my second mate. The Koala nudged the Scorpion and we all transferred boats. From Scorpion, one crew went overboard and rode the Koala back to Pier One. I waved Godo goodbye and he waved back with a victorious smile.

The Scorpion's captain, Danny Monte de Ramos, welcomed us aboard and introduced us to the rest of the crew. They were Boy Gildore – the chief engineer, Rene Subingsubing – the chief mate, Roger Paulin and Vecoy Arcenal – quartermasters, cooks and able seamen. I was shown my quarters, a cavern-like cabin with a steep stairway which has six empty bunks.

The M/T Scorpion is a 25-year old motor tugboat that is made in Nagasaki, Japan and was known by its former name as the M/V Keejang. According to legend, it used to be a patrol boat of the South Vietnamese Navy and was used in patrolling the Mekong Delta. It is armed with two caliber .50 machine guns at the fore and aft. Aside that, it also has a toilet, a washing machine, a small refrigerator and a cooking gas range.

During the last days of the Vietnam War, it was abandoned in Cam Ranh Bay and was towed to Hong Kong by a certain Captain Marcial of the Luzon Stevedoring Company² were it underwent repair and conversion into a tug boat. The UNION 6-cylinder main diesel engine and the LISTER-BLACKSTONE 2-cylinder auxiliary diesel engine are what is only left of the original equipment and accessory.

It is 13.5 meters long, 4.5 meters wide and 7 meters deep. It has a single pitch propeller and cruise at a stand-alone speed of 6-7 knots and a towing speed of 2-4 knots. There are two water tanks in the fore and aft with a total capacity of 5,000 liters and two fuel tanks in the port and starboard side with a total volume of 3,000 liters.

The pilot house has a huge old-school steering wheel, a gyro compass, speed sticks, sleeping bunks for two and a VHF and SSB base radios. Behind the captain's quarter is the kitchen and wash sink. Drinking water is pumped by hand which comes from the fore tank and a single gas burner cook our food. Everyone is assigned to cook the rice while Roger alternately cook the viand with Vecoy unless, of course, somebody has a delicious menu in mind.

Behind the smoke stack and above the engine room, someone long ago built a shelter made of light materials that became an extension of the cabin. Everyone loved to stay and sleep here instead of that stale cave below hold and became the official sleeping quarters for four or five people. It is an ugly structure but its necessity is given more importance and it stayed. Adjacent it is our dining table and it is our center of our social activities like eating, drinking, card games and mahjong.

Strictly speaking, there is no bathroom and there is no toilet. You take a bath or wash clothes at the aft from the well in full view of everyone. You can piss all you like anywhere beyond the gunwales or just sit on a hanging wood propped over the ocean fastened by two ropes and drop your “bomb”. Of course, you could not do this while moored in a quay. This is applicable only when nobody is watching like cruising on an open sea.

The main engine is started by pressurized air kept supplied by the auxiliary engine through a high-pressure tank. Although it is 6-cylindered, one cylinder is condemned leaving the 240-horsepower engine hobbling at 190 HP. The auxiliary is started by a hand crank and it takes a lot of persistence and muscle power to start it especially when it begins its vaunted tantrums.

When I alighted for the first time, Boy Gildore was working on the cylinder head of the Lister-Blackstone. Alex joined him, then me, and we work in the half-light when the day gave in to evening and a single 10-watt bulb is the only other illumination and, all the while, we were under the towing line of the M/T Rhodora with the empty barge behind us.

We adhere a gasket to the cylinder head and replace it back to the block. We leave the dark engine room and took dinner under the silvery light of a full quarter moon. After the meal, they give me the honors of starting first the small engine but no fire. Tried again and again and again but, still, the engine conked. Red-faced, I surrendered. Boy tried once and it emit just a whimper. Alex made it cough after a second try and never let go the crank wheel until it accelerated and roared to life.

Everyone on the deck shouted simultaneously after the dark ages is scuttled. The Rhodora towed us late that night to Isabel, Leyte and exchanged barges with M/T Marlin. The Marlin is a huge tug and a beauty. I stepped on its wide deck and awed at its opposed-piston main engine. Perhaps, one day, I said to myself, I will be a crew here. But it was not to be. Please continue reading.

From Isabel and Semirara Island, the Scorpion is left on its own power with its own barge to tend in the vast Visayan Sea. We came and went to Calagnaan Island and Sicogon Island, to the towns of Estancia, San Dionisio and Carles, all in Iloilo, even to faraway South Gigantes Island to occasionally seek food and water and safe anchorage away from bad weather.

Life as a crew of a tug boat has its own special privilege compared to a crew of a bigger passenger or cargo ships. Protocol is not much emphasized here and you could do as you please and live island life to the fullest like fishing, drinking rum and chasing girls. During work, a tug crew is serious and could adapt to all tasks easily – be it above and below deck.

My fellow crew members taught me how to splice ropes, plot a route, throw a mooring rope over a bollard, catch a squid, even becoming an alternate quartermaster when the regular excuse himself to answer the call of nature. Even so, my ears are piqued for the slightest change in the engine's rhythm and instantly my eyes zoom on the individual thermometers and mechanically release steam to achieve equilibrium.

One time, the Scorpion got stuck in the delta of the Himogaan River in Sagay, Negros Occidental after a day of racing to the sea against the low tide from a wharf 12 kilometers inland. The small tug stood on its toes and it looked eerily huge standing on the sand with its exposed sides.

Twenty meters away, tilting to its side, is the barge LC-500 loaded full of sugar. The instant the sun sat on the horizon it reflected a pleasant glow that created a certain effect which forever got etched in my mind as the most beautiful sunset I ever saw. The wide flat sands of of the tidal plain produced a desert-like effect that is strangely awesome.

After that, several ports of call were done in Port Danao, Escalante, Negros Occidental for loading of sugar; in Matlang, Isabel, Leyte for gypsum which we dragged to Tinaan, Naga, Cebu; in Bacong, Negros Oriental for chemicals; in Ayungon, Negros Oriental for lumber before returning to Cebu for minor repairs at the National Slipways in Lapulapu City.

The Scorpion's journey to Northern Mindanao took them to Kiwalan, Iligan City where she was exposed to engine trouble. She was under the mercy of the dreaded habagat³ winds and, fortunately, there was M/T Rhodora, M/T Knothead, M/T Bonehead and M/T Dolphin. These fleet of tugs took care of her and ensure her safety until we pooled our wits together in bringing to life the Lister-Blackstone and made the Scorpion able again.

For almost five months, the Scorpion made home in Kiwalan Cove. The Scorpion have endeared to the locals in Kiwalan so much after it tried to free a beached barge during the aftermath of habagat. The Scorpion's stern bollard flew away from the bulwark, unable to pull the heavy barge, and landed into the sea making us a staple story for months and a butt of jokes owing to that comic episode.

In Kiwalan, I saw my first Chemite battle tank running at full speed in the concrete highway making “clink-clank” sounds. The next week, I saw newly-freed Nur Misuari of the MNLF⁴ parading with a convoy of trucks full of heavily-armed supporters. The inactivity at sea led me to a romantic interlude with a local lass that made up for my yearning of home.

In February 1987, we finally leave Kiwalan for Cebu but a typhoon forced us to hide behind the safe waters of Bais Bay in Negros Oriental for three days. Once we reached Cebu, the Scorpion is dry-docked and that gaping hole left by a missing bollard is patched up and a new one is attached.

By March, the Scorpion were on to another adventure, this time to Calatrava, in Negros Occidental, to supply coal for a fertilizer plant in Toledo City, Cebu. For six months, the Scorpion crossed the Tañon Strait and her seamen displayed skills and charm that awed the local populace and rival ship crews alike. Life to a tug crew, as always, is the epitome of leisure while working.

The Tañon Strait were just as rough as any other sea. The wharf in Toledo is dangerous during amihan⁵ and much more so during typhoons. After the aftermath of a Signal No. 3 tempest, the M/T Dolphin came to retrieve a sunken ship but quite inadequate to do the task. Then the biggest tugboat I have ever seen, the M/T Mt. Samat, came and successfully salvaged the derelict ship.

Then the Scorpion was called to home in the last week of September 1987 and moored at the National Slipways. On October 26, 1987, I received my disembarkation order and pulled out from sea duty. Before I left, I detached the Scorpion's only identity board, which I carved with my own hands and kept this as a souvenir.

A year later, a Notice of Bidding is printed in SunStar Cebu Daily for the sale of M/T Scorpion and two barges beached below the Mactan-Cebu Bridge as scrap material. It saddened me that my ship is decommissioned for the rest of her short life and left to be chopped into pieces.

I reminisced at the many friendship I have forged while working as a crew of the Scorpion. I could not forget the places I have been to, knowing that I can never step on their shores once again. This episode passes only once in my life and I hang on to it and revel at its existence, the aura of its images slowly blurred through passing of time.

The newspaper ad came as a shock to me. I have expected of this cruel interruption and I never thought it would go out this way. I swore, at that time, that I will make a story out of my journey with M/T scorpion, maybe a book or something, but, that would come later. I have a blog. I thought, maybe, this is the right vehicle to let people know of the M/T Scorpion's existence.

Document done in OpenOffice 2.1 Writer

Sketches in ballpoint pen by PinoyApache

1Used to be known as the Cebu Stevedoring Company, it was nationalized during the Marcos regime and became a government-owned and controlled corporation. During the aftermath of the February 1986 Revolution, it was sequestered and placed under the umbrella of the National Development Company.

2Known also by its acronym - LUSTEVECO. A sister-company of CEBUSTEVECO based in Manila Harbor.

3Southwest monsoon.

4Moro National Liberation Front.

5Northeast monsoon.

MY CHOICES: May the Best Men & Women Win

I WILL AGAIN exercise my right of suffrage come May 10, 2010. This is the first time that the Commission on Elections will implement an automated counting system. This is my first time to make public my choices and THIS IS NOT a template for which to base your votes ad verbatim. Mind your own list.

This early (or at this late date), I have finally made up my mind after a long and thorough study and recollection of whom to vote for the best possible people to lead and govern my city and my country.

My preference varies and will not toe the line of party dominance or of popularity but hinged on a standard and values entirely on my own conception and design. I am pseudo-liberal and my political strata varies from left-of-center to ultra right.

I am a bona fide resident of Cebu City and, where I live, belonged to the North District. There are only two credible political party slugging it out for slots in the city council (which has eight), the vice mayorship, the mayorship and the district representative of the north.

Of course, the incumbent has the edge for their achievements are the benchmark. The Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) political party have endeared to me, partly because the outgoing mayor – Tomas Osmeña – have made Cebu at par (if not, better) with Metro Manila. Partly because of personal and sentimental reasons.

Sounds biased? No and no. The IT factor is heavy on BO-PK. However, two guys from Kugi Uswag Kusug (KUSUG) and one independent made it to my list for city councilors while a KUSUG lady convinced me with her education, achievement and experience that she is better than her rival in a seat for the House of Congress. Wanna see?

COUNCILORS:

1. Andales, Sisinio (BO-PK)

2. Arcilla, Alvin (BO-PK)

3. Cabrera, Ma. Nida (BO-PK)

4. Fernan, Danilo (KUSUG)

5. Garganera, Joel (KUSUG)

6. Japson, Lea (BO-PK)

7. Labella, Edgardo (BO-PK)

8. Rupinta, Felicisimo (Independent)

VICE MAYOR: Young, Joy Augustus (BO-PK)

MAYOR: Rama, Michael (BO-PK)

NORTH DISTRICT REP: de los Santos, Mary Ann (KUSUG)

Sorry Hon. Raul del Mar, your daughter Cutie doesn't have the IT to represent the North District and continue your good works. You degrade yourself by painting government buses used by northern barangays with you and your daughter's name and face and lending the phrase “Serbisyo del Mar” as if your constituents owe you for providing them these buses which is not your money, in the first place, spent to buy those.

To think that all your constituents might be that dumb when you could not find even one deserving party mate to replace you except your own daughter, of all people. How paternal and traditional. Yes something like a TRAPO does. What a legacy to leave behind.

>>--oOo--<<

Now for the national scene. There are 187 PARTY LISTS out there (as of last count) and I'm sure these marginalized groups are worthy of your vote. Chose well and study every group's aims and advocacy. They vary according to its purpose.

I have a soft spot though for tribal communities and I have seen their children deprived of the basic amenities like education and shelter. Besides they have to walk one to three hours in the jungle trails just to learn and I just hope this time they will have someone from their kind to represent them and gave them a voice.

PARTY LIST: Indigenous people's group like ADD-TRIBAL, ALIM, A-IPRA, AGILA, ALLUMAD, ALUM, ALIF, ANG NICP, AKI, KATRIBU, KASAPI, KATUTUBO

I will chose and vote ONLY ONE from among the above list.

>>--oOo--<<

In the battle for 12 slots in the House of Senate, I would very much like to place at the top of my list fellow Cebuanos. Then those senatoriables coming from the rest of the Visayas and Mindanao are considered before I work on the rest. Below is the trend I would like to happen.

SENATORS:

1. Osmeña, Lito (Independent)

2. Osmeña, Serge (Independent)

3. Maambong, Regalado (KBL)

4. Defensor-Santiago, Miriam (PRP)

5. Tamano, Adel (NP)

6. Cayetano, Pia (NP)

7. Tatad, Francisco (GAD/Gabaybayan)

8. Enrile, Juan Ponce (PMP)

9. Hontiveros-Baraquel, Risa (LP)

10. Ople, Susan (NP)

11. Querubin, Ariel (NP)

12. Ocampo, Satur (BMP)

Why blend leftists and an ultra-rightist to the mainstream? Simply, because I want a better Senate representation from all sides of the political arch than just be dominated by these same elite and traditional politicians that does nothing but make the Senate a half-way house for half-cooked pirates and dim-wit nags who called themselves “honorable”.

>>--oOo--<<

The vice-presidency is an honorable office that have been regarded at one time as a staging ground to usurp the presidency by that second sequel of People Power. However, it has regained some of its lost glory (as a silent bridesmaid) courtesy of the incumbent – Mr. Noli de Castro.

The present cast of vice-presidentiables are a hoary lot. Three are too noisy and too vindictive, another one is too TRAPO and the rest are feeling their way in their dark shades. Of course, I need someone who is not a traditional politican and who could fit well as a silent bridesmaid but could not be dictated by a mere presidential staff.

I have one in mind:

VICE PRESIDENT: Yasay, Perfecto Jr. (BMP)

>>--oOo--<<

Six years is a long time to experience a bad president and I would not want that. Would you? There are five heavyweights and four lightweights in the presidential race. Let's start with the lightweights.

JC de Veyra of Ang Kapatiran is a child playing in a game purely designed for matured men, except one. Though endorsed by six archbishops of the Roman Catholic Church, he knows he does not have a chance of winning this lofty position and you don't have to be a rocket scientist why is it so.

Nicanor Perlas, an independent, is my original choice before with his non-traditional platform and for espousing green politics. But I have changed course since then when I became convinced that he has not an iota of a chance to pummel his way via an upset. Not in 2010. Needs more exposure though.

Jamby Madrigal is a sitting senator running as an independent and I think she should concentrate more as a housewife and a soon-to-be mother than by just chasing another candidate as the highlight of her platform of governance.

I remembered after the 2004 polls when Bro. Eddie Villanueva cried foul after being “cheated” saying God anointed him to become the next President of the Republic of the Philippines. This electoral process is quite interesting don't you think?

Honestly, I never voted for Joseph Estrada in 1998, much more so this May. He had his chance then and he blew it. I am just wondering why a convicted felon is allowed to run in the elections? Only in the Philippines.

Richard Gordon is a doer and his candidacy is a fresh wisp of breathing air to a stale market populated by old traditional parties of whose tentacles lived off on a society of corruption, patronage politics and violence. A good choice but rather “Hitlerian” in style which tend to divide a nation instead of healing it.

Noynoy Aquino's candidacy is anchored on the death of her mother. Nothing else. It may start like a wildfire - big and threatening - but peters out at the last stretch as everyone became wise. Trend setting. Credit that to his handlers. Personally, I don't think he has the skill and the depth to run a country if you base his forgettable 9-year stint in congress and another six ho-hum years in the senate. He could not even lick his aversion to smoking. Basically, he is just a child trapped inside a man's body.

“Naliligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura?” (Have you bathed in a sea of garbage?) This line from Manny Villar's campaign jingle caught everybody by surprise and endeared himself to the masses. It projected himself to be one with them. Which is true, perhaps. On the heels of a corruption headline he caught up and tied with another candidate in the surveys which got the ire of the latter. However, he invited suspicions of how he would recoup his campaign expenditures once he gets elected.

Many people say, an endorsement from the most hated person today – Madame President – is a kiss of death. That is only an innuendo thrown by skeptics to Gibo Teodoro's candidacy. For the record, Gibo was never a member of long standing with the dominant party LAKAS-KAMPI and was only thrown into the seat because many believed he has the IT to run a country judging by his intelligence, integrity, competence and depth while he was serving three terms in congress and as Secretary of National Defense. His is a darkhorse challenge and he remains a darkhorse with full of optimism.

I always love a darkhorse. I don't know, maybe I can see things that other people don't. We're talking of substance here. I do believe that Gibo is the best man to whom we start to rally ourselves, and this nation, to respectability and recovery.

PRESIDENT: Teodoro, Gilbert Jr. (LAKAS-KAMPI)

>>--oOo--<<

One last thing, isn't six years too short for a good president to serve?

Document done in OpenOffice 3.1 Writer

CLIMATE CHANGE MAKES A STATEMENT!

THIRTY-FIVE SUMMERS ago, I lived in Cebu City when there were wide open spaces, few people on the sidewalks, fresh and clear air all around, clean seas to swim and tap water was still drinkable. I still live in the same place but I am now in a crowded neighborhood, sidewalks that are difficult to navigate, breathing polluted air, shying away from murky seas and forced to drink bottled water. Oh, yes, before I forget – constant flooding!

For many years, I have felt the temperature getting hotter and hotter every year and the rainwater getting higher and higher although, at times, the el niño and la niña phenomena visits the country every ten or eleven years and brings with it extreme drought or an abundance of rain fall. It has been like that and, I assume, it is normal. Yes, it has been like that and it is just normal when I analyzed the Philippine meteorological records from 1905 up to 1995.

But something weird happened when unabated development punched a hole above the Antarctic. It grew in size until the whole world became alarmed and asked how could that be? I think it was in the early '90s when I came to know of the news about the ozone layer getting thinner and thinner. The community of scientists and social activists were able to trace chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs as the main root of this grave issue although trapped CO₂ gases and other harmful pollutants contribute also to this world-wide malady.

Now going back to my little place in the fringes of the Pacific, I find it perplexing when a visiting typhoon make its mark on the topography of the land. Yes, we have been ravaged by super typhoons in the past but it was rare and far between. It does result to overflooding and sheer destruction caused by an abundance of rain and spurred by 200++ kph winds brought on by its strength.

The problem is, these new typhoons visiting us are not of the super genres but are mere tropical depressions and low pressure areas that grew in size to signal number two typhoons, at the most, but, they bring a lot of rain. Not only that, they come regularly as they wished and they bring flood and destruction that equal in intensity brought on by signal number four typhoons! Yes, climate change may have a hand in that, but, I'm quite sure it does. IT IS ALREADY HERE!

Why? There was a movie titled A Perfect Storm starring George Clooney that told of how two hurricanes crossed paths in the Atlantic and wrought havoc upon a fleet of fishing vessels. Tell you frankly, it is just kid's play. You know what, three typhoons entered the Philippine area of responsibility at the same time on November 25 to 27, 2007 and, I presumed they were more than “a perfect storm”. I featured this in my blog on March 25, 2008.

Lately, Metro Cebu have been experiencing subtle weather changes that goes scorching hot to cold, rainy and windy to scorching hot again and, believe me, it has caused many sick calls upon the hardy populace. These micro weather changes have been consistent that most residents begin to believe that they are typhoons of a smaller scale! They call it “mini-typhoons”.

On September 26, 2009, a squall visited the metropolis and little did I know that it has caused injury to many commuters at the Cebu South Bus Terminal when the steel railings blocking an access road collapsed under the weight of a gusty wind. Also, it has resulted to the damage of a see-trough steel gate at the Cebu International Convention Center. Not only that, the play of the winds uncorked a mini-maelstrom in CICC's small man-made lagoon! Jeez, I am fully convinced that climate change had finally made its mark in this part of the world!

Elsewhere, typhoon signal number 1 Ondoy (International Name – Kistana) ravaged Metro Manila and its outlying areas and brought with it water levels of a magnitude that is unsurpassed in 40 years! Flood waters surged on the streets leaving residents no time to evacuate to higher grounds and trapped them on their own rooftops. Death piled along river banks while garbage and other debris hang on to tree branches showing the waterline at levels of two-storey houses.

Following its trail is typhoon signal number 2 Pepeng (International Name – Parma). People in the National Capital Region braced for its arrival but it swerved to Northern Luzon and stayed there for a week causing massive landslide and mudflows and lots and lots of dead people! I could not believe a tempest staying in its grid for a week! It is unbelievable.

I hope this short article of mine would get the attention of the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Germany, Brazil and Russia to change their attitude of how we, the small poor nations, have been suffering due to their indifference and shortsightedness in steering their energy programs and managing their excesses. Their large industries caused the globe to get warmer causing water levels to rise and to an abundance of excess moisture which small weather disturbances siphon off.

It was for this reason that I opt to join a community of bloggers to give voice to Blog Action Day 2009 (as I have done in 2008 for poverty) to help create a better world to live in.

May God bless us all!

Document done in OpenOffice 2.1 Writer

THREE CLIMATIC ODDITIES AND ONE LUNATIC ACT

DURING THE DATES November 25-27, 2007 three phenomena occurred inside the Philippines. It gave me goose chills for these series of events were unprecedented in meteorological and climatic history in this part of the world that gave rise to the suspicion that climate change have now reared its fearsome effect upon us.

First of these were the appearance of three tropical storms, all at the same time, within the Philippine area of responsibility. Storm “Lando”, which was in the process of exiting the country after wrecking havoc over Central Philippines in its westerly route the week before; storm “Mina”, which got stalled at the vicinity of Catanduanes Island packing 175 kph winds; and storm “Nonoy”, following the trail of “Mina”.

The second phenomenon was the circling dance of the storms “Mina” and “Lando” in what the meteorologists termed as the Fujiwara Effect. This climatic oddity was first observed by Dr. Katsuo Fujiwara in 1902 in Japan, for which name was eventually attributed to him. The stronger “Mina” seemed to have siphoned off the weaker “Lando” causing the latter to change direction in a semi-circle and reversed back to where it came!

Then, for a preview of worse things to come, the sea water, spawned on by the gravity pull of a full moon and a storm surge, rose to an unprecedented level. In the Mactan Shrine of Lapulapu City (site of the Magellan and Lapulapu monuments), what always used to be dry land, suddenly, got inundated with sea water while seafood restaurants erected on stilts on the seashore nearby saw their floorings being flooded for the first time.

At Cebu City, sea walls located at the villages of Ermita and Pasil, where engulfed by large sea swells causing four houses to float and being removed from their foundations. Elsewhere in other parts of the Visayas and Northern Mindanao, hundreds of families were evacuated to safer grounds as big waves rose to great heights destroying their homes.

Fortunately though, the attempted putsch of Trillanes et al at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in the financial district of Makati which came at a later date (November 29) after bolting out from their guards from the middle of a court hearing did not classify as a phenomenon even though the possibility of a lunar interference which, sometimes, a full moon does to a body of flexible matter like fluids or of a living organism or creature whose body mass contained fluid-like attributes, causes it to move or act in a strange and radical manner, which that attempted power grab episode seemed to indicate.

It is a political absurdity though that occurs now and then up there in Manila that usually get a good exposure by an equally comical media that, altogether, makes the market barometer stick gyrating and shaking up and down crazily in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Even though we in the south are isolated from those political troubles affecting the National Capital Region, still, tremors caused by those events affect us down here in the provinces. Politically, we're immune to the turmoil up there and life goes on here oblivious of the drama, but what got our goat is when those foolishness occur prices of basic commodities would go berserk in the provinces without our doing and, most of the time, fundings for projects would halt to a trickle and national basic services would drag in a wait-and-see attitude.

And why does Cebu, the rest of the Visayas and Mindanao suffer the same fate every time clowns do their thing up there in Imperial Manila? I can't find any good answers but just hope and pray that we don't contract the grime and the diseases that they love to wallow in up there.

In the meantime, let's worry more about the wrath of nature.

Document done in OpenOffice 2.1 Writer, Trebuchet MS font, size 12.

BASKETBALL CRAZY!

EVER SINCE James Naismith invented basketball in 1899, this sport has taken great leaps and bounds and has been popular ever since, in almost all countries and in all continents (except Antarctica). The sport has made tremendous growth and development (and popularity) since the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States whereby the game's standard has been raised to a higher and a much competitive level by such immortal greats as Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Earvin "Magic" Johnson and His Airness - Michael Jordan.

Basketball is basically a big man's game and is well suited to Europeans, Americans and some peoples of South America, Africa and Asia where height and heft is an advantage. This game was brought by American colonists in the early 1900s here in the Philippines and it quickly gained acceptance by the islanders due to its simplicity and accessibility with regards to equipment and playing field as compared to another American invention and import - baseball.

The Philippines, despite a population having only an average height of only five feet and three inches (5'3") earnestly played basketball with such passion, ardor, skill and heart that it became champions many times in basketball in the Far East Games of the 1920s up to the advent of World War II, beating taller and bigger teams like China and Japan.

The "islanders", as they were called, placed seventh in basketball in the 1928 London Olympic Games (its highest finish since) and, at one time, 12th in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In the World Basketball Championships, the forerunner of the FIBA Cup, Filipinos have been running roughshod over bigger and taller teams by placing third in 1954 and fourth in 1956.

Here in Asia, we were masters of the game in the Asian Games from 1950 up to 1961 and in 1969. The last international title we held where we sent native-born cagers was the 1975 Asian Basketball Championships, from whence the core of that squad became the pioneers of the second basketball professional league in the world - the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

The Filipinos would talk about basketball in much the same length and breadth the Italians and Brazilians would talk about football or England about cricket. It is the staple of all topics whether you are in Malacañang, in the schools, in the slums, in high-end villages, even in combat zones.

Every generation, every child aspires to play basketball just like their idol and it is a common sight that you would see pick-up games or grassroot leagues played in makeshift basketball courts right on the streets, on dirt and grassy fields, on mountainsides and on anything that is almost flat and has space.

I belong to that generation wherein basketball is played in makeshift courts, and playing in a covered court or gymnasium is considered a luxury. I was fourteen when I started playing basketball. We were so damn good then in dribbling the ball in pot-holed and gravelly fields that when we played in cemented courts its as if our feet have wings. Much more so in a wooden parquet-tiled court.

At 14 and at 5'4'' I was tall enough to play point guard and developed the skill to dribble efficiently in both hands. I also developed a good shooting touch from all angles and, being a left-hander, opponents find it difficult to defend against me whether I'm shooting a jumper or scoring on a lay-up.

But by 17, I grew to 6'1'' so fast that I find it hard to execute my moves as a point guard. The added weight stretched and slowed me so much and that I was not accustomed to play in a higher horizontal level leaving me gasping and disoriented due to the rapid change of my growth hormone. Although I shot and made long jumpers, I was forced to play an unfamiliar position of center, my teammates contending that there wouldn't be anyone to snare the rebound if I miss those long jumpers. And they were right.

In the early 1980s, PRT gyms are quite exclusive and expensive and it would have helped me in developing my stamina and my strength, but, I opted to change gears: I played and practiced soccer instead, for a year, wherein it helped me gain my speed, my agility and the total control of the game once more.

In 1982, I tried out (and got accepted to play) with the University of Southern Philippines (USP) Panthers but went to play instead with the Cebu State College of Science & Technology (CSCST) Builders after my school records in another university got snagged. I hogged the bench that year where we were winless, but in my second year as a Builder, I averaged 7.4 points and 2.6 rebounds in the Cebu Amateur Athletic Association (CAAA) where we notched a win at the expense of the Cebu Technical School (CTS) Scanners. In that year I could never forget the 60-152 lashing our team got from powerhouse University of the Visayas (UV) Lancers, who eventually won the CAAA, the Zonal Championships and the National Students' Basketball Championships.

For the next two years we logged two wins against CTS and a win against USP. We also became champions in basketball competitions of the Association of Vocational Institutions of the Philippines (AVIP) in Region 7 twice and, in 1986, CSCST represented Region 7 during the State Colleges Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA) held in Tacloban City, wherein we placed third behind Region 3 and the National Capital Region. During my last year, we snatched two wins: against Salazar Institute of Technology (SIT) Skyblazers by a wide margin and, again, CTS.

By the time my eldest son was born in 1989, I hung up my sneakers from competitive playing. Sometimes, I got invited to play in basketball tournaments by some teams, but the zest for the game was now missing and I have to oblige their invitation by showing up in some games and practices (and the free uniforms!). I thanked God for protecting me from injuries that many have incurred and incapacitated their playing careers and I took care not to experience those injuries now late in my age. What skills I have learned and studied I will pass on to my sons, Gringo and Cherokee.

Definitely, there are no more basketball games for me, but there is the TV where I tune in to and watch with millions of other Filipinos of the country's greatest of all pastime - BASKETBALL!

Document done in AbiWord 2.4.6, Trebuchet MS, font size 12.

WHY FOSS IS GOOD FOR THE PHILIPPINES?

I AM A MARGINAL home PC owner and user who, four or five years ago, abandoned the idea of buying or owning another desktop dictated by the high cost of procuring and installing a licensed proprietary operating system, without which my desktop would just be considered a piece of junk. Even if I could afford, at a lower cost, for this software to be installed in my PC from third party sources, I don't see any reason to maintain the high cost of re-installing over and over again this operating system as it is susceptible to system crashes and quite vulnerable to viruses, internet worms and malicious software. Although there are plenty of pirated copies of this software sold in the sidewalks I was never tempted to buy one.

Last year I read about “free and open source software” (FOSS) through the newspapers and I learned that it was the “big thing” in some countries of Europe, in North and South America and in Asia where it is used extensively. I begun to study on my own about FOSS by surfing the Internet and finally found the freedom to use my home PC again by installing the equally user-friendly Ubuntu Linux 6.06 operating system, in which a free live CD installer was shipped to me free of charge courtesy of Canonical Ltd. As for the office applications (word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.), I downloaded and installed OpenOffice 2.1 in my home, where documents produced are lighter in size, and I installed and used it extensively and that of AbiWord 2.4 (another open source word document application) in my workplace in lieu of a pre-installed proprietary office application software, of whose documents eat up so much disk space. As for my browsers, I use either Mozilla Firefox and Opera and found it to be much more stable, faster and safer than using a common pre-installed browser.

However, FOSS is still unknown to most Filipinos, especially to Cebuanos, and those who do are afraid to make the change or uncertain about its benefits? One great advantage about FOSS is cost. My migration from an expensive licensed software to GNU/Linux costs me nothing, except for the fifteen pesos (Php15.00) I spent by seating myself inside an Internet cafe for an hour to access the site of Ubuntu.org and ten pesos (Php10.00) for a blank CD to access, download and copy OpenOffice, Mozilla Firefox and Opera.

I benefited myself so much by using FOSS. How much more would the government do, and the business sector, as well, and save those much-needed foreign exchange that are made to be spent to import those proprietary softwares? INTEL, a giant chip maker, reported a savings of over US$200 million by switching their servers from proprietary software to that of GNU/Linux while AMAZON reported a savings of US$17 million and beyond for migrating to GNU/Linux. DELL, a PC maker now market their desktops with pre-installed Ubuntu Linux operating systems at a much lower price than what they sold one having a pre-installed licensed software.

The New York Stock Exchange benefited much by migrating from proprietary mainframe software to that of Hewlett-Packard's AIX and of GNU/Linux operating systems by estimating their savings of about 35% to 65% and that “cost, cost and cost” has been the bottomline for that change of heart. I heard that the Vatican uses FOSS now and in Kerala state in India, the use of FOSS in public schools and offices became mandatory due to the great savings incurred by switching sides. Many organizations and several studies have shown that using FOSS in lieu of proprietary software results in significant cost savings of anywhere from 15% to 35% not only due to lower licensing costs but lower personnel and hardware costs.

Another great advantage in using FOSS is its flexibility (and so development-friendly!) as its source codes - their DNA – can be accessed by users/consumers/developers/programmers who may opt to study, modify or customize the software according to their tastes and requirements. Because of this, the Advanced Science and Technology Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (ASTI-DOST) has developed the Bayanihan Linux 4, a complete open source-based desktop solution for office and school use, and Bayanihan Linux Server 2006, an easy-to-use Linux server for government agencies, schools and SMEs. These Bayanihan Linux programs can do everything that a licensed (and expensive!) proprietary operating system can do, except drain one’s pockets. In the first place, Bayanihan Linux is free.
Another FOSS advantage is its interoperability. It can adapt to existing open standards and can work across different platforms and protocols.

And finally, FOSS is safe. The opening of the source codes and the use of open standards have allowed hundreds of thousands of users around the globe to serve as a virtual research and development team, providing patches and solutions to bugs and glitches in real time over the Internet.

A study produced by the International Open Source Network (IOSN) and United Nations Development Program-Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) have identified the following strategic benefits of FOSS: (1) Developing local capacity/industry; (2) Reducing imports/conserving foreign exchange; (3) Enhancing national security; (4) Reducing copyright infringements; and (5) Enabling localization.

The study also identified economic benefits as: (1) Increasing competition; (2) Reducing total cost of ownership; (3) Enhancing security; and (4) Achieving vendor independence.

Add to this the social benefit of increasing access to information.

As we slowly catch up with the rest of the world about using FOSS, the Honorable Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna party list, sponsored House Bill 5769, entitled the “FOSS Act of 2006”, in the Lower House of Congress. This bill will promote the development and usage of FOSS in the Philippines, particularly in the preference in procurement of ICT services and goods for government offices and schools favoring that of local open source developers and vendors and establishing for the implementation of school curriculum for students and teachers training in the use and development of FOSS in all levels of education; amending R.A. 3019, otherwise known as the “Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines”; providing penalties thereof and for other purposes. This is the right step in the right direction.

A breathe of fresh air.

Lastly, this document is done in OpenOffice 2.1 Writer, Trebuchet MS font, size 12.