Wake-uppers:
Seen: Commander
Agapito Bibat of the Philippine Navy was chosen as class president of
International Maritime Offices Course Class 52 by the International Maritime
Officers Course (IMOC) School in the US with 36 participants from 26
participating countries around the world.
Scene: Pat Ruiz was among those who attended the early mass at the St. Joseph
Cathedral for the August 25 nationwide against the pork barrel system and term
extension of elected officials. Pat Ruiz said, “We had offered the highest form of
prayer thru a mass in relation to the existing pork barrel in our country. We
have still pork, it is still not pork less. The congressmen had identified
projects using the national agencies and it is lump sum. In this regard, we
call for active citizenship that people in Tagbilaran will also be taking into
account that we are not yet pork less. And pork barrel is the cause of
corruption, if there is corruption there is poverty. That is why it is a
continuing advocacy that we will say no to any form of pork barrel.”
***
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|
Bursting
with colors and cheers, the culminating events
of the annual Hudyaka sa Panglao, took place last August 27-28
in honor of Panglao’s patron,
Señor San Agustin.
The festivities were led by Mayor Nila Montero.- LPU
|
The last time I was in Panglao Island, the Alona Beach was
showing itself in full magnificent glory, breathtakingly beautiful, as it
always did every day except when nasty weather or habagat is in the country.
Early last week, I was at Alona Beach, it is beautiful as
ever, awesome, breathtaking, spellbinding and totally majestic, still
transfixed me in awe, holding me (actually us) in captive seduction as the waves were
rushing into the shore as if flirting with us as we were at the Alona Tropical
for a presscon with Panglao Mayor Nila Montero and Vice Mayor Pedro Fuertes.
Our
group — from the Bohol media— had a sumptuous lunch together with Mayor Montero
and some guests. Some media friends had stayed overnight at Alona Tropical
where they had experienced the hospitality of
the resort staff including Roldan Cuevas, Rico Guigue and Deo Guden.
 |
| ...with the members with Bohol media |
Mayor
Montero and Vice Mayor Pedro Fuertes also shared to the media the latest
developments and projects of Montero-Fuertes administration. They also boast of
the town’s establishment of Panglao Solid Waste Utilization and Conversion Technology.
During break, I brought Christopher Lumactud (Bohol
Chronicle’s layout and graphic artist) to the nearby Amorita Resort for a quick
look-see of an (old) friend Cesar Paterno, an executive producer of ABS-CBN, who
was with Katherine De Castro. Kat (she was also doing her ice bucket
challenge), was doing a story on Bohol for her
show on ABS-CBN. When Kat saw me, she asked
in jest if I owned a resort in Panglao for which I vehemently denied. Ha! Ha! Ha! Those Magandang Gabi, Bayan days!
At
the Panglao town plaza, we were told that ten contingents were joining this
year’s Hudyaka.
“Hudyaka
is about merry making and thanksgiving to our patron saint Augustine,” said
Mayor Montero.
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|
BC’s
layout and graphic artist Christopher Lumactud
with ABS-CBN reporter and host
Katherine De Castro. -LPU
|
August is probably Panglaoanons’ most colorful month for
celebrating the Hudyaka festival
honoring the blessed San Agustin. Aside from the usual revelry — pulsating
drumbeats, colorful floats, fluvial parade and Hudyaka street dances — the attendance
of some celebrities in this extraordinary celebration made it more memorable to
all the Panglaoanons.
While
taking pictures during the street dance parade, someone surprised me. There was
Rebecca “Bikay” Lusterio, the pride of Panglao! Bikay went home to attend the
town’s fiesta. She is taking up her Masteral studies in Denmark.
“It is my home and I missed it. It’s so nice
to see it again,” said the former best child actress. “It’s very beautiful,
colorful...it’s nice to see the talents of the people of my hometown.”
At the
height of the euphoria, there was another power interruption. And it was raining. Someone
told me that the search for the Festival Queen held on the vesper night was
stopped because of power interruption. Imagine a celebration with no
electricity! But it
didn’t dampen the spirit of the Panglaoanons.
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|
The 5 in 1 for the environment Climate Change Advocacy
Campaign of the PIA-Bohol. Courtesy: Elvie Bongosia
|
Panglao is soaring to even greater heights, making stellar
improvements in economy, education, environment and health. Like the white-sandy
beaches of the town is so famous for. Panglao,
the jewel of the south, is making waves!
***
Students & volunteers plant trees to fight
climate change
Students,
teachers and volunteers engaged in tree planting and sensitization discussions
on climate change mitigation in Ubay town on Friday.
The
event, tagged ‘Climate Change Advocacy Campaign’
centered around engaging students from the third district of Bohol on the
importance of tree planting; its social and economic benefit to combat global
warming and contributes to the global mitigation efforts with local actions.
One
of the practical ways to combat climate change is to plant more trees in order
to take more carbon out of the atmosphere. The organizers said that it is important to make sure that climate change
information gets to the grass roots to enable the young people to know what it
is all about.
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|
Former
child actress Rebecca “Bikay” Lusterio
with her fiancé during the town fiesta. -LPU
|
“I join this tree
planting because I want to help the environment back to its normal balance,”
said Jeselle Bautista.
Spearheaded by the PIA-Bohol, the students also had a
journalism seminar on news writing, feature writing, photojournalism and
broadcasting.
***
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