City of non stop action and fun…

As we wrap up the month of July 2008, we have decided to build Paraiso Philippines into more of a resource center to a much broader reference by the inclusion of city articles all over the country. Thanks to the contribution of this article from the owner of When Silence Speaks, website owner Mitch Carvalho, a native and resident of Olongapo City. The City of Olongapo has been a landmark for decades since it was made into a city in 1966. But prior to that it was a part of the United States Naval Reservation and was owned by the US until they handed it over to the Philippine Government in 1949 and made as a municipality. The now closed Subic Base and know as Subic Freeport Zone, located in Olongapo City is home to the US Fleet that guarded Asia even in the Korean and Vietnam War. I remembered how the perimeters inside and out of Subic looked like those times and much like the Mabini area. Bars and Clubs lined the streets with live bands playing nightly. That also paved the way for most of our musical talents in rock n roll such as Joey “Pepe” Smith of the Juan De La Cruz Band, Mike Hanopol, Freddie Aguilar, Sampaguita and other musical talents that performed there and made their way to different parts of the world. It all started in Gapo.

Olongapo City a part of Zambales that became famous and known through the years with the motto that reads “Bawal Ang Tamad sa Olongapo” and later on people came up to another one that says “Fighting For Excellence” or “Aim High”. This was due to the time when Mt. Pinatubo erupted and at the same time when Americans bid goodbye to the Subic Naval Base. At first it was a horrifying experience for all the residents. They never thought the place would be saved from the killer volcano. Plus the fact that Americans vacating the Base has affected a lot of people whom have lost their jobs. But as what the sayings go “Bawal Ang Tamad Sa Olongapo” and “Fighting For Excellence” led the people to strive more and get up from where we have left off. That was the time when the Subic Freeport Zone was made.

Thanks to the people of Olongapo who have dedicated their time and effort saving the place. There were hundreds of people who have worked as “Volunteers” all throughout the maintenance of the whole zone. And guess what the best part was, Olongapo City boomed more than expected. Colored coded jeepneys were maintained. Sidewalk Vendors, Drivers and Public Utilities willingly complied to wear the uniforms given in every designated area. Jeepneys Drivers wear blue shirt with their names printed at the back. Flower or Sampaguita Vendors wear pink vests and pants. Sidewalk Vendors show off their goods in a uniformed blue painted stall. These things have always made the place well. It does not only project a “beautified or maintained town” but because of the “unity” and “concern” that the people of Olongapo City has always shown and extended to their beloved hometown.

After so many years, now it could be claimed that the people of Olongapo City have recovered all the losses after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption and proved that they could survived. Olongapo has now become one of the famous and often visited places in the country. One of the spots that attract tourists and other country’s residents is the newly developed “Zoobic Safari” the only tiger safari in the Philippines. For just P395 entrance fee you’ll get to see different animals and the whole place for at least 3 hours. Fair enough eh? One of the main attractions is the “Tiger Encounter” where you have the chance to see and feed the tigers safely (P200 for a whole of chicken), of course with the help of the professional trainers. Not only that, there’s another one called Crocoloco where crocodiles are kept. Just like the tigers you are allowed to feed them in the feeding area (a piece of chicken for just P50). Believe me you will enjoy the experience. Resorts, accommodations, restaurants, malls, airport and even theme parks are now the most visited that changed the ways of life of every residents in Olongapo City.

Normally we wouldn’t bother to publish any political events in the Philippines, since we don’t want to dip any finger in that field here in Paraiso except for a few which we deem appropriate, but I could not resist this one. First of all one can include this in the Guinness Book of World Records, as it is an important event highlighted with fashion at the same time a unique nativeness of an attendee in the recently concluded State of the Nation Address 2008 ( SONA) by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Aside from the red carpet “fashionistas“wearing tuxedos, gowns and expensive barong tagalogs, there came a certain town mayor from Nagpinan, Quirino Province by the name of Mayor Rosario Camma. Clad in “bahag” or native G-String, he proudly paraded his fashion native clothing through this political event. While we are watching the speech we could not resist to laugh and most of the senior citizens present, almost lost their dentures. But after the hullabaloo, we discussed the point of the event and we proudly came to a conclusion that we are very proud of you, Mayor Camma, for your support sa Bayan ni Juan. We are very proud of you and we salute you for your sincere nationalism, unlike most of the socialite fashionistas (ahh! those take the tongs ) who paraded their expensive clothes and jewelries. We would like to see more of you Mayor Camma, that would take care of our country and less of those usual politicians or the usual suspects in our book. As soon any photos or videos of this event becomes available we would just insert it for our viewers.

View Video of the Event.

More of this Philippine Event taken from the Manila Standard Newspaper (July 28, 2008).

Bugkalot in ‘bahag’ steals
show from fashionistas

The red carpet that is the stuff of Oscar nights has rolled over to the Batasang Pambansa, home to the Philippines’ House of Representatives in Quezon City.

It served its purpose, to be walked on by VIPs, including wives of lawmakers and Cabinet members, as they made their way from their cars to the session hall where President Gloria Arroyo was scheduled to deliver her State of the Nation Address on Monday.

The women had made their (fashion) statements faster than President Arroyo would be introduced by House Speaker Prospero Nograles. Perhaps the fashionista in them overtook the presumably primary reason why they were there—to listen to what the President has to say in her report to Filipinos, not to show off clothes and jewelry in these hard times.

It apparently rained on their parade. A town mayor from Northern Luzon upstaged them all, apparently believing that less is more. He came in clad in his native bahag (G-string), and a colored one at that.

Mayor Rosario Camma of Nagpinan, Quirino province, going tribal made him an instant hit among videographers and photographers, and some congressmen who ogled him.

Camma, who claimed to be the leader of the Bugkalot Tribe in his home province, proudly showed off his blue bahag as he passed by the aisles of the session hall. He said he had been invited to the occasion.

“I am proud to wear our ethnic costume, which pictures our culture,” Camma told reporters when asked why he wore the G-string.

He said he was representing the more than 20,000 of his townmates. According to him, it was an honor to be asked to listen to the President’s SONA in person.

The apparent lesson learned here was that it pays to go for less than for more. After all, the red carpet was just a piece of rug that called attention to itself. Camma, evidently, had no practical use for it.
–Sammy Martin - Manila Standard

The only municipality in Metro Manila with the smallest land area as well as in resident population and the only first rated urban municipality. Even though that is the case, its popularity has become a mighty word to all walks of life in the Philippines and in the world for its famous industry of duck raising and the world renowned egg “Balut“. Balut …the exotic Philippine food that is hyped to be a potent aphrodisiac is from the Municipality of Pateros. Balut is a duck egg incubated for 17 to nineteen days. The egg is boiled and eaten with salt. Apart from being an aphrodisiac, balut is touted to be an excellent source of energy. Duck raising, balut and salted egg making are considered to be the prime source of livelihood of the people in Pateros. Duck raising was a thriving business in Pateros as the place is rich in kuhol, tulya, and susu which are the food sources of itik (Mallard ducks). This famous industry that has been handed down from generation to generation is considered to be a tourist attraction of the Municipality of Pateros. Pateros used to be an agricultural community. Presently however, fishing, manufacturing, quarrying, construction are the sources of income of the people. Additionally, it can be discerned that the Pateros economy is service based given that quite a big percentage of the population are employed. Pateros is also considered as the biggest manufacturer of alfombra slippers in the country.

In 1700, Pateros used to be a barrio of Pasig. Back then Pateros was known as barrio Aguho due to the numerous Aguho or shade trees the profusely grow along the banks of Pateros River. Embarcadero which means port was also a name given to Pateros during those times as this barrio with a small land area served as the hub of trade and commerce for Pasig and the neighboring municipalities. Moreover, Embarcadero served as a port of call for foreign traders like the Chinese, Malays, Indians and Swedish. Because of the brisk trade, Pateros is considered to be the most progressive barrio of Pasig. The Chinese traders eventually became settlers and they were the ones who introduced the balut industry and the manufacture of alfombra slippers to the people. It was during this period that the name of Barrio Agoho or Embarcadero was changed to Pateros as the name came from the word “pato” which means duck and “sapatero” which means shoemaker.

Balut making is considered to be the biggest tourist attraction of Pateros. This is the reason why this municipality is called the Balut Capital of the Philippines. Here are some facts to get things straightened out for this native delicacy.

• Only duck eggs can be made into Balut. More specifically, it is the egg laid by the local duck variety called the “pato”, sometimes more commonly referred to as “itik”. They should not be confused with the common white-colored duck, which we call “bibe”. The eggs laid by itiks can be distinguished by its hard shell. In the olden days, these ducks were raised in the Pateros River, where abundant shellfish were conducive for ducks to produce these hard-shelled eggs. But now the river is dead and the ducks are gone, thus Pateros imports the eggs it uses to produce balut from Laguna. Some towns have tried to imitate balut by using chicken eggs. Believe me, you will not like what you will see when you crack open those bogus baluts. So make sure the shell is hard enough before buying that balut.

• Fresh duck eggs are called “sariwa”, which literally means fresh. This can be boiled like ordinary chicken eggs and eaten with salt, or made into delicious omelets. The “sariwa” is also the base for another famous Pateros product – the red egg. The fresh duck eggs are immersed into a salty concoction for some time, then boiled and colored red to distinguish it from its more famous cousin. The best “maalat” or “itlog na pula”, as the red eggs are called by locals, are those that have yolks oozing with natural oil. Definitely yummy, especially with fresh tomatoes and rice, or as filling for hot pan-de-sal.

• Those that are selected to become balut are put into large drums made from bamboo strips filled with dried rice husks and kept in warehouses called “kamalig”. This is the native and completely organic version of an incubator used to keep the eggs warm. The counting of the days need to be precise, or else you may end up with embryos that are either too small or too large. Monitoring is done through “pagsisilaw” or putting the eggs against a small hole carved out of a wooden box with a high-wattage bulb inside working pretty much like an x-ray machine. The ideal incubation days would be between 16 to 17 days for a perfect “balut sa puti”.

• When an egg fails to fertilize during this period, it becomes another incarnation of the balut, the “penoy”. Remember, your friendly balut vendor always shout “balut! penoy! balut!” as immortalized in that catchy folk song. The Penoy is a Balut that failed to fertilize, and is boiled like an ordinary egg and can become either a “higupin”, meaning it is creamy and can be sucked from the shell – literally, or like an ordinary hard boiled egg but with the yolk and the white already mixed together – imagine scrambled egg but still inside the shell. There is also the “heko-heko”, which is a bit blackish and had a slight pungent smell. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

• As in any pregnancy – which is what balut is all about anyway, things can go wrong along the way. The fertilized egg can “die” before it reaches the ideal maturity date – a miscarriage if you may call it. The embryo stops developing and start to rot inside the shell. Ordinarily, these rotten eggs will be thrown away, or put into better use by being thrown towards the direction of rotten politicians. But in Pateros, there is a special name for this – the “abnoy”. It is a delicacy that requires an acquired taste. It is not for everyone, especially if you do not relish eating a rotten egg. But like the durian, its connoisseurs swear that it might smell rotten like hell, but it sure does taste like heaven. Just be careful in case you want to be adventurous with what you put in your mouth.

The Manggahan Shrine that separates Pasig City from the town of Pateros is the place where Marcos Lozada and Macario Almeda, two of the heroes that defend the town were killed. Every 29th of August, a program that commemorates the heroes is held in the Manggahan Shrine. The Dulong Bayan Monument, the same as the Manggahan Shrine, is a historical site that depicts the Filipinos bravery and resistance to Spanish colonizers. Guillermo Manalo and Eusebio Hermosa are only two of the brave Filipinos who defend the town. Another point of interest is the San Roque church that was built in 1815. Although the church interior is furnished with chandeliers and new pews, the exterior and the main church is a legacy of the past to the people of Pateros.

One of the provinces that is highly urbanized and could never be missed when traveling north, dubbed as the ” Gateway to the North”, since its location is just at the northern tip of Metro Manila. The province has a rich national heritage, culture, historical places and monuments, also, it is home to many national heroes, artists, sport figures, politicians and to sum it up a place of so many popular folks in all walks of life. Bulakenyos and in the Province of Bulacan.

The Province of Bulacan is composed of 21 municipalities of Angat, Balagtas, Baliuag, Bocaue, Bulacan, Bustos, Calumpit, Dona Remedios Trinidad, Guiguinto, Hagonoy, Marilao, Norzargaray, Obando, Pandi, Paombong, Plaridel, Pulilan, San Ildefonso, San Miguel, San Rafael and Santa Maria with 3 cities as Meycauayan , San Jose del Monte City and Malolos City as its capital. The predominant language is Tagalog and spoken almost by all of its residents and Kapangpangan due to its proximity to the Province of Pampanga.

Business has never been better as the real estate industry is booming in this province. ( I’m still scouting for a nice place since I missed an opportunity. ) Affordable housing is being built on almost everywhere in its municipalities with elegant homes being built on plush subdivisions and prime locations. Shopping complexes and malls are being built to facilitate the growing number of residents migrating to this province and relocating on prime properties. While farming is still a major industry, livestock raising from small scale to grandiose can be seen throughout Bulacan with major corporations planting their footholds such as B-Meg, San Miguel or Robina Farms. Not only that as investments on other opportunities such as aqua culture and food processing is growing on a rapid phase with thousands of jobs being created. Garment, leather, jewelry, furniture and handicraft manufacturing or processing are on the rise paving the way for more jobs, investments, trading, a good economical growth for both the provincial and national government. Marble, quarry tiles, stones, ceramic or porcelain manufacturing are at its best. Most locals as well as foreigners and even expatriates are taking advantage of this growing opportunities that is taking place.

Bulacan also makes one of the best sweets and other delicacies in the country and are being exported worldwide. Its even considered as an income generating opportunity for most residents as it can be easily manufactured from home. One of the most popular is the trademark brand Bulacan Sweets, which has polvoron, pastillas de leche, kalamay, suman, puto, cassava among others. Native dishes are my favorites too such as sinigang sa miso, embotido, kaldereta, bopis and many more. Their distinct preparation of foods and presentation is one of the finest in the land.

Tourism in Bulacan is also a major industry boasting of exquisite accommodations, historical sites, theme parks, resorts, ecological parks, golf courses and sports complexes not to mention shopping which is invariably almost present elsewhere. Festivals are one of the most celebrated and watched by everyone with bands and colorful parades marching through the streets, dancing, singing, beauty pageants, sports and all kinds of festivities for a fiesta. The best of the best of fiestas and the pride of Bulacan is the Singkaban Fiesta, a showcase of various bamboo products from musical instruments to varities of ingenuities. Some of the famous festivals in the Province of Bulacan are the following:

• Feast of the Holy Cross of Wawa in Bocaue
• Calumpit Libad Festival
• Santa Cruzan in Malolos
• Luyang Dilaw in Marilao
• Obando fertility Dance
• Linggo ng Bulakan
• Sto.Nino Festival
• Baliuag Lenten Procession
• Lenten Rites in Paombong
• Plaridel Horse Festival
• Pulilan Carabao Festival
• Angel Festival in San Rafael
• Sukang Paombong Festival
• Buntal Hat Festival
• Bulak Festival in San Ildefonso
• Dumagat Festival in San Jose

The Province of Maguindanao, a member of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao or ARMM, bordered by Lanao del Sur, Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat and literally means ” people of the flood plains” that occupies the Pulangi River. The population predominantly composed of our muslim brothers speaks the subgroup Danao Language composed of Maranao, spoken in Lanao, Ilanun spoken by the coastal based inhabitants between Lanao and Maguindanao, and the local dialect Maguindanao used in the province, Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. The Province of Maguindanao, its capital of Sharif Aguak, has 22 municipalities in its second district and Cotabato City as an individual component.

Since most of the population are predominantly muslim, Maguindanao citizens follow Islamic beliefs and practices. In visual arts and crafts, as muslim lowlanders they posses a strong crafting and weaving practices which prohibits representation of animals and humans forms in arts which led to the development of an abstract form of representation in artistic carvings of wood, weaponry, musical instruments and textile making. Some examples are the musical instrument kudyapi, kampilan knife, tube skirt malong and the batik shirts which became popular in the 70’s and 80’s and still worn by many today because of its colorful abstract summer representation and cool wooven texture. The handicrafts industry is unique to its heritage. Farming, fishing, mining are amongst the local way of living for Maguindanaons. Tourist usually troop to Cotabato City, often dubbed as the Land of Crabs in the Philippines, which have an enormous supply of delicious crabs and prawns which could be bought at the lowest market price.

Being a muslim community doesn’t mean its roots of Filipino tradition and heritage has been forgotten. Our brothers and sisters from Maguindanao pride themselves of celebrating their yearly festival, the colorful event of Shariff Kabunsuan Festival with shocasings of woven native dresses, loud drum beatings of gongs and other native musical instruments while capping this fiesta with the Pagana Magauindanao, a traditional dining among Maguindanaons and Maranaons with special invited guests. Traditional muslim cuisine of tinadtag, plil, putrid mandi and sininang baka are among the popular menu with of course the yamang dagat seafood variety inihaw. Maguindanao also boasts of natural resources that includes the Kutawato Caves. The longest river in the Philippines is located in Maguindanao, exactly in Cotabato City and also where the annual Guinakit Festival is held yearly, also known as the river festival where they showcase colorful boats and vintas.