Euro Filipino Journal

Balitang Kutsero

July 13, 2016 Admin 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil1kDDeFHaPvFXCcAuqKmd8B_7PuswOLfijyJdVxFOQyND6Vt_XGWiVZMO2JS5idc39pzmx_AAyC78DMC8FfH750qAl8VgFfSGYwhUX9OQV20J1BGPd_Owliz5VaUNDcGLSKLAdPBNsefk/s1600/New-Years-Resolutions.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil1kDDeFHaPvFXCcAuqKmd8B_7PuswOLfijyJdVxFOQyND6Vt_XGWiVZMO2JS5idc39pzmx_AAyC78DMC8FfH750qAl8VgFfSGYwhUX9OQV20J1BGPd_Owliz5VaUNDcGLSKLAdPBNsefk/s320/New-Years-Resolutions.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
In an interview with ANC News, President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III said that he might pardon ex-prez Gloria Macapagal Arroyo if she showed remorse for the anomalies and scandals that had hounded her nine years in power. Yep, P-Noy told Gloria, “No remorse, no pardon!” 
 
After seeing P-Noy’s interview on her TV in her detention suite at the Veteran Memorial Medical Center, Gloria went to work and wrote her New Year’s Resolution. 
 
My investigative reporter James Macaquecquec, through his connections with Gloria’s jailers, got a copy of Gloria’s 2012 New Year’s Resolution and sent it to Global Balita. 
 
My New Year’s Resolution 
 
First of all, I would like to thank President Aquino for offering to pardon me provided that I showed remorse for the anomalies and scandals during my presidency. I am glad that P-Noy is keeping up with the tradition that I established when I pardoned former President Erap Estrada after he was convicted of plunder in 2007. I did it then out of my Christian upbringing, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.” I have always felt that my ascension to the presidency was a divine providence; thus, it was just natural for me to forgive those who erred. 
 
But what bothers me is that P-Noy offered to pardon me even before I was convicted of bogus charges of election sabotage in 2007! How could I have sabotaged the elections in 2007 when I was not even a candidate? P-Noy claimed that I cheated because all the 12 candidates on the administration slate won in Maguindanao. Well, there’s only one explanation why all my candidates won – it’s because of divine providence! There is no other reason. I did not err. 
 
However, in the spirit of Christmas, I have decided to demonstrate that I’m still a human being prone to making mistakes just like anybody else. In the nine and a half years that I was President, I made a lot of grave mistakes, to wit: 
 
1. I regret ousting Erap from the presidency in 2001. As his Vice President, I should have helped him succeed instead of plotting to remove him from office. 
 
2. I regret appointing Leila de Lima as Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights. Had I known that she would bite me like a pit bull, I would have sent her to Tawi-tawi instead. 
 
3. I regret appointing Jun Lozada as technical consultant on the national broadband project. He turned out to be a whistleblower and exposed all the anomalies involving the NBN-ZTE project. Now, he’s going to testify against me in court. 
 
4. I regret not declaring martial law when I had a chance. If I did that I would still be in power and enjoying life in the Enchanted Kingdom. Now, my life is confined to a hospital suite with no kitchen, no telephone, no computer, and I am not even allowed to use a mobile phone. 
 
5. I regret not cheating P-Noy of the presidency in 2010 by fixing the Smartmartic automated election system. Mike promised me that if we did not cheat P-Noy, he would not prosecute us for graft and corruption. Mike was wrong! 
 
6. I regret coming back from my trips to Spain and Switzerland. If I did not return, I would have been free as a bird in Portugal where there is no extradition treaty with the Philippines. 
 
With my friend Merci Gutierrez impeached and resigned as Ombudsman and my protector Chief Justice Renato Corona impeached and may soon be convicted in a Senate impeachment trial, I have come to terms with my fate. 
 
With this silly gadget wrapped around my head and neck, I don’t have any options left except to put myself at the mercy of P-Noy. Yes, Mr. President, I am sorry for all the anomalies and scandals during my presidency. I was weak and indecisive and I allowed my husband Mike to the run the government the way he wanted it and did all those shenanigans. I tried to stop him but he became too powerful to be stopped. If there is one person who should go to jail, it’s Mike. 
 
I hope that P-Noy would pardon me. In good faith, I resolve to do the following: 
 
A. I will resign as Representative of Pampanga’s Second District. 
 
B. I will not get involved in politics for the rest of my life. 
 
C. I will ask Susan Roces for her forgiveness for cheating her husband Fernando Poe Jr. of the presidency in 2004. 
 
And since P-Noy only asked me to show remorse, I will keep the money I earned during my presidency. 
 
God is my witness, 
 
Gloria 
 
Jan 2012. Other works by Perry Diaz can be read on http://globalbalita.com/
 
 
 
 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=3629012486930784822&postID=8554891807658900104&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VZfdyGqGxYxPWoelwmGbf0QFLIKAuJeUY4gkUrOuG0ypMqSfMCY5oXqRyQNoFBeMj4-rf3fO2HSZuuzFh6RfAhiQUOB0mhu1FMnZNnkfdasfJ-Tjd3cZm3lh88B0ouKAVkPXVh278OA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a>

In an interview with ANC News, President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III said that he might pardon ex-prez Gloria Macapagal Arroyo if she showe...

David Medalla Shines at Royal Academy of Art

July 13, 2016 Admin 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpD7O1RY-nqxgLRzcA08a_1TRIdSBRTyIaXuzwe7IgW3j5NpUo5WtVY4cPPHogkmndUEHmsE3nUltwzbf23Hw2XadQGKkqMaTBLqTnrcXZfqqr9ofjGNVbQt-ALkc__Jax2gmRj8h_WQ7/s1600/twznz0xugpzblglztuqp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpD7O1RY-nqxgLRzcA08a_1TRIdSBRTyIaXuzwe7IgW3j5NpUo5WtVY4cPPHogkmndUEHmsE3nUltwzbf23Hw2XadQGKkqMaTBLqTnrcXZfqqr9ofjGNVbQt-ALkc__Jax2gmRj8h_WQ7/s320/twznz0xugpzblglztuqp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
In his show held at the GSK Contemporary exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art in London, Filipino painter David Medalla showed why he is considered one of the top Filipino and indeed international artists of his time. 
 
His exhibited works at the famed Academy included a huge painting of Filipino fishermen at midnight, a virtual sculpture of Venus de Milo, and a handpainted silk scarf. 
 
The oil painting on canvas entitled “Night Fishing On Manila Bay” measuring 326 cms width x 193 cms height, and composed of panels, covered a whole wall of the venue and viewers will need to go back a bit in order to view the whole landscape. 
 
David Medalla, the artist with his short white hair and silk scarf, said —  “Alam mo ito, gumawa ako ng 24 na mga paintings ng buhay sa atin mula sa bukid hanggang sa lungsod, magmula  sa umaga hanggang hatinggabi tapos umaga  na naman.  You know, sa liwayway ng araw.  Nag-umpisa sa bayan, nung hatinggabi ganyan, naging  turning point.  So it’s a celebration of life in our country.” 
 
[Trans – “You know what, I made 24 paintings of life back home from the fields to the city, from morning to midnight until morning again.  You know, from the rising of the sun.  Starting from the town, then like this at midnight, it became a turning point.   So it’s a celebration of life in our country.”] 
 
His Venus de Milo is meant for active participation of the gallery-goer in the way they interact with the virtual sculpture.  The way the participant poses gives the impression of giving the world famous sculpted woman arms and hands which would otherwise be missing. 
 
Medalla has been living in Europe for more than four decades, and is based in Bracknell, Berkshire.  Ever since he was a student at Columbia University in the 1950s he was already known for what he calls ‘visionary art’ and performance art. 
 
Guy Brett, the art critic & author and long time friend of Medalla, in his black beret and glasses, said  – “Yes, well I’ve known David since 1960.  I met him in 1960 when he first arrived in London from the Philippines and I followed all the different phases that his work has been through but I know that he’s always painted from the beginning from the time that he was a teenager in Manila and he’s still painting.  Every now and then he produces a painting which  somehow has a style which is not really  like anybody else’s. “ 
 
 Looking at the fishermen painting, Brett said, “Ah so this is the first time I’ve seen this painting it tells me he’s still working on it.  It’s not finished yet.” 
 
In addition to the Royal Academy, Medalla was also the first Filipino artist whose work was purchased by the Tate Modern in the Southbank, for the whopping sum of £30,000 (around Php 2-3 million). 
 
This was “Cloud Canyons No. 3”, one in a series of his iconic “Bubble Machines”, which is now on permanent exhibit at the huge warehouse-like art repository by the River Thames. 
 
Another art historian/critic who was at Medalla’s opening, Alison Green, with her black swept back hair and dangling earrings, confirmed his role in modern art – “Ah I think this is a great opportunity to get to know David Medalla’s work.  Since the mid 1960’s David Medalla’s a major international figure in contemporary practice.  Except he’s done this by intentionally occupying the peripheries of art making and the art establishment and playing the provocateur in that relationship, ah challenging the viewers in terms of their preconceptions of art.” 
 
She continued, “What’s interesting about him is his longevity, the fact that he has continued to be innovative and to respond to challenges to himself and to his work and to continue in a way to stay relevant to what is happening right now.  It’s a major achievement, I believe.” 
 
Whilst his name is already known in modern art circles worldwide, Medalla continues to show his Filipino roots in his artistic creations, and on a more practical and nationalistic level, by continuing to hold on to his Philippine nationality and passport, despite having been a permanent resident of the United Kingdom for many years. 
 
Medalla was one of seven artists invited to bring out a limited edition of scarves so that art lovers attending the Academy exhibit could bring home an affordable souvenir with them.  Truly a limited edition, Medalla only produced 30 scarves and even at the rate of £120 each, the lot went very quickly. 
 
It would be very difficult indeed for any other artist to achieve what David Medalla has already done in international art, and with his exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art his name, and the country he represents, will take on extra brilliance. 
 
 
 
[Written in November 2008]
 
 
 
 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=3629012486930784822&postID=7663346008666574577&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VZfdyGqGxYxPWoelwmGbf0QFLIKAuJeUY4gkUrOuG0ypMqSfMCY5oXqRyQNoFBeMj4-rf3fO2HSZuuzFh6RfAhiQUOB0mhu1FMnZNnkfdasfJ-Tjd3cZm3lh88B0ouKAVkPXVh278OA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a>

Art Articles Contributors England Events UK Gene Alcantara David Medalla Shines at Royal Academy of Art

In his show held at the GSK Contemporary exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art in London, Filipino painter David Medalla showed why he is...

My Father's Long-Sleeve

July 13, 2016 Admin 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGnFxDgwDtQQ2CBD3Q902UtHpTigqBSp5GO1TeGP9e2DSQcfnpP9GZyexbOh5FjibJnSwhFKozCNIHOOk1f-5RrkRqtmqQt3f4h8yQkR9HOPJhKqH2Ejid5eutA6i4Xev2giRDwyjxQ_gw/s1600/2094550120_5c1bbf0c3a_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGnFxDgwDtQQ2CBD3Q902UtHpTigqBSp5GO1TeGP9e2DSQcfnpP9GZyexbOh5FjibJnSwhFKozCNIHOOk1f-5RrkRqtmqQt3f4h8yQkR9HOPJhKqH2Ejid5eutA6i4Xev2giRDwyjxQ_gw/s320/2094550120_5c1bbf0c3a_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
It is called boxing day here in U.K. and the events that transpired more than ten years ago are still fresh in my memory. I remember waking up early and rousing my brother from his slumber so we could depart early for our hometown and taking with us father’s long sleeve he asked us to bring. I was singing ‘Joy to the World’ on arrival at the doorstep with some look of reproof from my aunt on that morning of Dec’94. Having slept and watched over our house in San Fernando (about 45 minutes away) with my brother the previous night and returning to our hometown the following morning, I did not know that something terrible had happened after we left for San Fernando. They did not break the news to me until some time later, as I had gone out to see a friend, leaving my brother behind. It was only some time upon returning back to my aunt’s (my mum’s sister) house and with them insistong I go to my uncle (my father’s brother) that I sensed a dreadful thing had happened. 
 
I did not want to go and I recall my brother confessing calmly that ‘Father is gone’, fatally shot the previous night and succumbing to his wounds that same evening. The day before- that was Christmas day, father was only speaking to us to take with us on our return his long sleeve in San Fernando for their reunion. I thought it was normal to have a reunion since it was the yuletide season and New Year was fast approaching… I did not know that that Christmas day would be the last time I would see him alive and that it would turn out to be a different reunion… 
 
As with our customs and beliefs we had to bury father’s remains before New Year. After internment we had to wash ourselves in the river with burnt rice stalks on coconut shell poured on our heads and allow the river currents to take father’s clothes, including his long-sleeves, downstream. We also had to eat boiled but unripe bananas afterwards and smoke our bodies with the burning banana peels. 
 
I found myself huddled in father’s bahay kubo (nipa hut) on New Year’s eve refusing to join in the revelry. Staying in the bahay kubo brought back memories because this is where he used to spend his time when he retired and had it planted and surrounded with fruit trees. 
 
A serious man and a strict disciplinarian, father also taught us to fear God and to be honest especially with money but most of all he taught me to love history and fear the horrors of war. Having lived through the war he would recount the yonder days of the Japanese occupation [I wish that if a time machine had been invented I would already have hitched on it to save my father and correct the worst mistakes I have made in my lifetime and re-write the dark pages of history]. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
~oOo~</div>
 
The season reminds of how the Philippines and America awoke to a new day when the Japanese fleet attacked Pearl Harbour on December 8, 1941, when our forefathers had to spend a different Christmas and New Year to fight as guerrillas. In his Christmas eve address to the American people in 1941, Roosevelt asks ‘how can we light our tree, how can we give our gifts…in a world at war, a world of fighting, and suffering and death…how can we put the world aside to rejoice in the birth of Christ?’ 
 
Indeed, how can we celebrate Christmas day and even New Years day with gladness in our hearts when South Korea and the Pacific is under threat of Nuclear attack, when we are living in a sham peace, when the spectre of a nuclear holocaust a thousand times more devastating than the atomic bomb is looming everyday around the world. The words of Albert Einstein is apocalyptic ‘I know not what weapons will be used in World War 3 but I know that sticks and stones will be used in World War 4’. We have seen the devastation caused by the atomic bomb to the population of Hiroshima and it serves as a grim reminder of what war can do for humanity. I stumbled upon this thought-provoking poem against war written by Martin Niemoller, a German anti-Nazi activist: 
 
“First they came for the Jews. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a Jew. 
 
Then they came for the communists. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a communist. 
 
Then they came for the trade unionists. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a trade unionist. 
 
Then they came for the Catholics. But I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. 
 
Then they came for me. And by that time no one was left to speak up.” 
 
Then they came for the communists. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a communist. 
 
Then they came for the trade unionists. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a trade unionist. 
 
Then they came for the Catholics. But I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. 
 
Then they came for me. And by that time no one was left to speak up.” 
 
Then they came for the communists. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a communist. 
 
Then they came for the trade unionists. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a trade unionist. 
 
Then they came for the Catholics. But I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. 
 
Then they came for me. And by that time no one was left to speak up.” 
 
Then they came for the communists. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a communist. 
 
Then they came for the trade unionists. But I didn’t speak up because I was not a trade unionist. 
 
Then they came for the Catholics. But I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. 
 
Then they came for me. And by that time no one was left to speak up.” 
 
The Nazis had set out to annihilate an entire race with their hatred of the Jews bringing it to a fateful conclusion when more than 60 years ago in answer to the ‘Nazi Solution to the Jewish Question,’ more than 6 million Jews were sent to their deaths by mass extermination in what is now called as the Holocaust. I pray that the this dark page of history will not get resurrected and rear its diabolic head again. I hope and call to mind the fervent speech of civil rights leader Martin Luther King in 1963… ‘I have a dream that the brotherhood of man will become a reality… when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Catholics and Protestants, Jews and Gentiles will be able to join hands and sing “free at last, free at last”….’.I say amen to the fulfilment of this dream—when this vision becomes a reality, when this dawn has arrived …when we will be free at last of our greed and bigotry, when we have risen above our prejudice for our fellowmen. When our troops and our Muslim brothers in Mindanao, the NPA’s and world leaders have embraced and decided to make lasting peace their New Year’s resolution can we truly celebrate Christmas with all of its meanings and call this year a truly New Year. 
 
While the birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace has been told and re-told many times, I am nonetheless glad to tell a parallel story I’ve read some years ago. A Hindu man was said to be walking one day in a field when he saw an anthill. A man was plowing that field and the Hindu man saw that it was heading directly towards the anthill. Being a Hindu he considers all creatures sacred even snakes and insects and he wanted to warn the ants of their imminent destruction. But how, he can shout but can the ants hear? He can write in the soil but can the ants read? Then he understood, that for them to understand him and warn them of their destruction he must first become an ant. We were the ants and in His humility He chose to be born not in a grandiose palace but in a lowly manger and in His love for us He became man. 
 
~oOo~ 
 
Kudos and more power to the performers of Pater Noster, a seafarers’story and play written by Ramon Tenoso and presented by Philippine Theatre U.K. which was shown last Nov 10-12 at Theatro Technis. It was truly an insight into the lonely life of a seaman, my brother being a seaman himself (I had an overnight stay in their ship catching squid when it was moored in Bataan some years ago but this was just one of their activities when not watching films). Some of the scenes were poignant especially the last part when the wife of Captain Zamora (played by our editor, Gene Alcantara), died. [On the subject of death I have asked myself where the dead go and was skeptical about ‘reincarnation’ until I have watched ‘The Boy Who Lived Before’ featured on a BBC documentary. I looked up and found several books in Waterstones whose author/s hold excellent journalistic/medical backgrounds who have done research and corroboration on children’s testimonies recalling past lives in India and Lebanon. Although their findings were not easy to dismiss as fantasy I still need evidence for a Filipino that was reincarnated. Indeed, we are just passers by here on earth and like actors on a stage have different roles to play but the love we give and how much we have loved is all that matters and all that is cherished when we cross that river were our ancestors have gone before us…] 
 
Do we see a future Philippine Bollywood here? We can only hope so…I have faith that noble things sprout as a seed …As a kid I remember going to the plaza during our town fiesta to watch the zarzuela and playing the part of a shepherd in kindergarten to enact what took place more than 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. 
 
I wish that you had a blessed Christmas and will enjoy a prosperous new year and “on earth peace, goodwill towards men” Luke 2:14… I also want to impart this text I received on New Year’s day – ‘always remember…life is short so 4giv quickly, laugh & luv uncontrollably & never regret anything that made u smile’. 
 
[2007]
 
 
 
 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=3629012486930784822&postID=2029097067166985483&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VZfdyGqGxYxPWoelwmGbf0QFLIKAuJeUY4gkUrOuG0ypMqSfMCY5oXqRyQNoFBeMj4-rf3fO2HSZuuzFh6RfAhiQUOB0mhu1FMnZNnkfdasfJ-Tjd3cZm3lh88B0ouKAVkPXVh278OA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a>

Articles Contributors Journal Perry Ostrea My Father's Long-Sleeve

It is called boxing day here in U.K. and the events that transpired more than ten years ago are still fresh in my memory. I remember wakin...

Cebu's Ice Age Carabao

July 13, 2016 Admin 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1x8ceFcpWNcQvgBceLNpMJTKqhbu8EbR1dvXdG7wsPc01M48l3J5c8IZDTED6K7FyupD2QEEakUDynLAeBRxAtqnLSHTDj4E-0oyPs4kGgpgdrsESbrdutksF_S4MfWbJGmz1CwS-2hgR/s1600/BubaMCeb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1x8ceFcpWNcQvgBceLNpMJTKqhbu8EbR1dvXdG7wsPc01M48l3J5c8IZDTED6K7FyupD2QEEakUDynLAeBRxAtqnLSHTDj4E-0oyPs4kGgpgdrsESbrdutksF_S4MfWbJGmz1CwS-2hgR/s320/BubaMCeb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Bubalus cebuensis, a name new to science, is the one that was recently given to the pygmy ancestor of the present-day carabao or water buffalo that stands 6 feet tall and weighs up to a ton. Bubalus cebuensis was only 2.5 feet and weighed a mere 160 kilograms. 
 
Its fossilized bones were found in a cave-like depression in a remote mountain in Cebu 50 years ago in 1958 by mining engineer Michael Armas who was looking for phosphates. He kept the bones, then in 1995, he showed them to a friend, Dr, Hamilcar Intengan, a Philippine-born physician at Chicago’s St. Bernard Hospital who was visiting his family in Cebu. Intengan took the bones to Chicago’s famous Field Museum for identification. 
 
It took Larry Heaney, the Field Museum’s curator of mammals, only 15 minutes to recognise that the bones were those of a mammal and were those of a pygmy and not a baby’s and one which had never been found on Cebu. By examining the pattern of the teeth Heaney, a specialist in Philippine fauna, established that the bones came from a smaller version of a buffalo. 
 
Heaney is a world authority on the biological phenomenon called “island dwarfism” which traces size reduction to limited food supplies. Smaller animals would be more successful breeders under such conditions. 
 
Heaney himself, lead author Darin Croft of Case Western Reserve University, paleontologist John Flynn of the American Museum of Natural History, and archeologist Angel Bautista of the National Museum of the Philippines, documented their findings in the Journal of Mammology. 
 
Heaney dated Bubalus cebuensis to the Pleistocene during the Ice Age, some 100,000 years ago. He said that the Cebu buffalo lived 100,000 years ago when most of the island was covered by tropical savanna, a collection of grassland and scattered trees that formed an ideal habitat. He surmises that it probably disappeared when the Ice Age ended and the savanna disappeared as it got warmer and wetter. 
 
Heaney says the Philippines is a treasure trove of natural history. Of the country’s 200 species of mammals, more than two-thirds are found nowhere else in the world. Only Madagascar has a higher percentage of endemic mammals, he adds. 
He is at pains to point out that “The concentration of unique mammal species in the Philippines is among the very highest in the world, but so is the number of threatened species.” 
 
The Bubalus cebuensis is one of only two known species of dwarf buffalos that have evolved in the Philippines. The other is Bubalus mindorensis), popularly known as tamaraw, which is 20% bigger and is found on the island of Mindoro. While bubalus cebuensis has been extinct for a long time, bubalus mindorensis is on the verge of extinction due to the destruction of its forest habitat. If the present rate of destruction continues, it might not be long before the tamaraw goes the way of its relative, Bubalus cebuensis and the next generation of Filipinos would know the tamaraw through only photographs and bones preserved in natural history museums. 
 
[2007]
 
 
 
 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=3629012486930784822&postID=6001520699568945376&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VZfdyGqGxYxPWoelwmGbf0QFLIKAuJeUY4gkUrOuG0ypMqSfMCY5oXqRyQNoFBeMj4-rf3fO2HSZuuzFh6RfAhiQUOB0mhu1FMnZNnkfdasfJ-Tjd3cZm3lh88B0ouKAVkPXVh278OA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a>

Articles Contributors History Jun Terra Philippines Cebu's Ice Age Carabao

Bubalus cebuensis, a name new to science, is the one that was recently given to the pygmy ancestor of the present-day carabao or water buf...

Manta Rays Help Filipino Eco-Tourism

July 12, 2016 Admin 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsnczvbpQTPFAgDdhIfUrF30GxCrxDSWdmQM0hYkcyjlqDLK7X0np0MfUgxFVxOTUIpf8plXgI9Co5IwBX18ZgZvpFrkmilDZo7LcnXThNTP8A8cCuJ-D3_4UfFzDV8Os6aObscMZEIbV/s1600/swimming-with-manta-rays.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsnczvbpQTPFAgDdhIfUrF30GxCrxDSWdmQM0hYkcyjlqDLK7X0np0MfUgxFVxOTUIpf8plXgI9Co5IwBX18ZgZvpFrkmilDZo7LcnXThNTP8A8cCuJ-D3_4UfFzDV8Os6aObscMZEIbV/s320/swimming-with-manta-rays.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Manta rays are numerous in the mid-water reefs of Sitio Tacdogan, Barangay Bagahanglad, off San Jacinto in Masbate. Now known as “manta bowl,” the site is the play, feeding and mating area of these giant fish locally called pasa-pasa, which has a wingspan of more than six (6) metres. A relative of the shark species, these plankton feeding fish are themselves a prey to hammerhead and thresher sharks with which they share their habitat. 
 
A study by Tristan Paylado, a researcher of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources reveal that manta rays are naturally friendly and enjoy the company of humans in their water world. They welcome “friendly connection” such as direct eye contact. Some manta rays enjoy the bubbles exhaled by divers on their undersides. They are not bothered by flash photography or video. 
 
However they do not like being disturbed when courting, mating and feeding and do not enjoy being mounted on their backs, in other words, too close a physical contact. 
 
Their presence in this coral reef area, has certainly added a big attraction to divers and other eco-tourists who frequent the site. With the rise in the number of tourists, however, come the threats and disturbances to the feeding and mating activities of the manta rays. 
 
The BFAR cited the need to put up a tourist zone marine reserve to avert the detrimental effects of the growing ecotourism industry on the manta rays. It also recommends putting up a preventive buoy system in Bontod-Tacdogan to regulate fishing activities, stop the use of drift gill nets, and minimize damage to the reef system. 
 
Limiting the number of tourists and divers is also proposed to minimize disturbance. The BFAR says closing of the reef during the mating season is needed to allow for successful mating among the manta rays. 
 
 
 
[2007]
 
 
 
 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=3629012486930784822&postID=4995586953179425575&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VZfdyGqGxYxPWoelwmGbf0QFLIKAuJeUY4gkUrOuG0ypMqSfMCY5oXqRyQNoFBeMj4-rf3fO2HSZuuzFh6RfAhiQUOB0mhu1FMnZNnkfdasfJ-Tjd3cZm3lh88B0ouKAVkPXVh278OA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a>

Articles Contributors Jun Terra Philippines Manta Rays Help Filipino Eco-Tourism

Manta rays are numerous in the mid-water reefs of Sitio Tacdogan, Barangay Bagahanglad, off San Jacinto in Masbate. Now known as “manta bo...

Biodiesel from Coconuts

July 12, 2016 Admin 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy1D0HZM7wQxF3oJF_ormFTnWvXfBYVaDRPU4K-t4uYZBDjSf0MgQGLJIvPwXap2tFj23LqZNQLbKqphVkuOQX00mLrxBGp8ML3wkXfbHVwdfCADv7IxHUur91lYumCllETGVY_FaR0J89/s1600/coconut.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy1D0HZM7wQxF3oJF_ormFTnWvXfBYVaDRPU4K-t4uYZBDjSf0MgQGLJIvPwXap2tFj23LqZNQLbKqphVkuOQX00mLrxBGp8ML3wkXfbHVwdfCADv7IxHUur91lYumCllETGVY_FaR0J89/s320/coconut.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Fuel from coconut? Now, why did it take them this long to even consider this? Haven’t the locals been using coconut oil for lamps and other small energy equipments? Biodiesel from coconut is a Philippine initiative and its research and study for fuel application had been conducted by the Asian Institute of Petroleum Studies (AIPSI) with the support of leading coconut methyl ester manufacturers in the Philippines — Chemrez Inc. and Senbel Fine Chemicals Inc. 
 
It was initially undertaken to provide a long-term, high volume, and sustainable alternative domestic market for coconut oil. To ensure its acceptance, AIPSI funded the first laboratory test conducted in the United States in 2001. The excellent results became the foundation that led to the development of cocodiesel in the country. 
 
Chemrez a Filipino-owned company based in Libis, Quezon City, has begun producing fuels extracted from coconut. According to Chemrez president, Leon Lao, the company now has a capacity to produce 60 million liters a year to cover local demand and even export to other countries. The Philippines is one of the worlds biggest producers of coconut and the many products derived from it. One cannot disagree with Lao when he says that biodiesel extracted from coconut which is cheaper compared to biofuels extracted from grape seeds or corn. 
 
With the issue of global warming on top of the international agenda, the development of biofuels and other “clean” alternative energy sources other than fossil fuels such as oil has come to the forefront. Lao said that the use of biodiesel will help reduce air pollution with lesser smoke emission from vehicles using biofuels. 
 
Chemrez has invested P650-million to construct a biodiesel plant in Quezon City and the firm has allocated P350 million for the acquisition of raw materials and operating expenses. Chemrez wants to increase the production of biodiesel in the coming years to be able to export to France, Germany, The Netherlands and Italy. 
 
The Philippines Senate has approved a biofuels bill that will encourage the research on and production of biofuels. 
 
Chemrez is among the young new and pioneering companies to go headlong into this new industry. Lao says that with the Senate approval of the biofuels bill, the use of biodiesel is expected to increase and help the country save money from the importation of crude oil. With biofuels, the Philippines – a largely agricultural country rich in natural and biological resources – can save money on energy and go green. 
 
[2007]
 
 
 
 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=3629012486930784822&postID=1790500231792757620&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VZfdyGqGxYxPWoelwmGbf0QFLIKAuJeUY4gkUrOuG0ypMqSfMCY5oXqRyQNoFBeMj4-rf3fO2HSZuuzFh6RfAhiQUOB0mhu1FMnZNnkfdasfJ-Tjd3cZm3lh88B0ouKAVkPXVh278OA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a>

Articles Contributors Jun Terra Philippines Science Biodiesel from Coconuts

Fuel from coconut? Now, why did it take them this long to even consider this? Haven’t the locals been using coconut oil for lamps and othe...

"Wondergrass"

July 12, 2016 Admin 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiglWNrC0P-Tgv09wnE34EqooIhK9om0zPjmSiPBnNNIgRIvppW2dW13X8_EvlgmK3bnLYmTj34GBXkgOK5ke7rjAQb14F44P5sTApGJA2atZRwIdcBuRE1wXVX9LwYNjnAmLrflPjtJOua/s1600/1_9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiglWNrC0P-Tgv09wnE34EqooIhK9om0zPjmSiPBnNNIgRIvppW2dW13X8_EvlgmK3bnLYmTj34GBXkgOK5ke7rjAQb14F44P5sTApGJA2atZRwIdcBuRE1wXVX9LwYNjnAmLrflPjtJOua/s320/1_9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Vetiveria zizaioides L. Nash is the scientific name of a grass species found by scientists of the Farm and Resources Management Institute (FARMI) of the Leyte State University (LSU) in Baybay, Leyte to have properties of controlling soil erosion and rehabilitating poor uplands. Led by Dr. Edwin Balbarino, they came to this conclusion after testing various plants (including grasses) as contour hedgerows in barren and less productive upland farmers’ fields in the Leyte towns of Baybay, Hindang and Matalom. 
 
Popularly known as vetiver, the grass is a densely tufted perennial clump (clustered) grass with long and stiff leaf blades. Its leaf sheaths are closely overlapping, strongly compressed and keeled, creating a dense physical barrier at the ground surface. As the grass grows dense, it forms a thick hedge, making it a strong natural barrier to control soil runoff. It has a strong and dense root system that firmly holds the soil, making them withstand erosion even during heavy rains and intense flooding. 
 
Scientists also noted that the grass is versatile, growing well in both alkaline and acidic upland soils and could survive long periods of drought. Apart from that its sharp leaves and aromatic roots repel snakes, rats, and other pests. Vetiver requires minimal maintenance and does not spread to valleys since it does not multiply by seeds or rhizomes. 
 
From their researches, the LSU-FARMI research team devised the use of the grass as contour hedgerow and came up with the Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) which they are now promoting. Farmers who were involved in the LSU-FARMI research project, particularly those who have decided to adopt the technology, claimed that with the use of vetiver as hedgerows, their crop production has dramatically increased. 
 
The use of VGT has spread to many parts of the country, not only in upland agriculture but also in road, irrigation, and dam projects to control siltation and stabilize slopes, hillsides, road canals, and embankments. 
 
But guess what. Vetiver is found in many parts of the country and has been traditionally used by rice farmers to strengthen rice paddies and stabilize canal embankments. This only confirms that there is a lot that could be learned from traditional farming practices and that new technologies can be evolved from them for the modern age. 
 
[2007]
 
 
 
 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=3629012486930784822&postID=8388846703123568793&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VZfdyGqGxYxPWoelwmGbf0QFLIKAuJeUY4gkUrOuG0ypMqSfMCY5oXqRyQNoFBeMj4-rf3fO2HSZuuzFh6RfAhiQUOB0mhu1FMnZNnkfdasfJ-Tjd3cZm3lh88B0ouKAVkPXVh278OA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a>

Articles Contributors Journal Jun Terra Philippines Science "Wondergrass"

Vetiveria zizaioides L. Nash is the scientific name of a grass species found by scientists of the Farm and Resources Management Institute ...

Euro Filipino Journal

Balitang Kutsero

David Medalla Shines at Royal Academy of Art

My Father's Long-Sleeve

Cebu's Ice Age Carabao

Manta Rays Help Filipino Eco-Tourism

Biodiesel from Coconuts

"Wondergrass"

Share Euro Filipino Journal Today!

Popular Post

Tags

Blog Archive