It was in 1903 when the American invaders established “Fort Stotsenburg.” For almost a hundred years later, the fort, which was later renamed to “Clark Air Base” became a major stronghold of the American forces in the Far East. It was considered the largest American military installation on foreign soil. With the expiration of the base agreement in 1991, the Philippines reclaimed the air base and the government sought to transform the facility into a freeport zone.

Clark has been a known as a destination for duty free shopping and leisure estate activities from swimming to golfing. The tourism offices in the area, however, have been promoting more activities for visitors to Clark.

For those who want to get to know more about the air base’s history there are tours onboard airconditioned “Jeep ni Juan” jeepneys provided by Castro Travel Solutions (+63 45 6256608) that you may avail. They also have packages for an afternoon at volcanic hot springs, a trek to Mt. Pinatubo and an even aerial tour of the infamous volcano.

Another new activity for visitors to Clark is horseback riding at El Kabayo Riding Stables (+63 09178122106). You can ride the horses around the compound or you can request for a ride around Clark. If you’re up for it, you can even take the horse for a ride along the Sacobia River to see the lahar canyons created by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.

Across the Sacobia River from Clark is a nature and conservation park called Paradise Ranch which features gardens and zoo animals. The park features one of the largest butterfly gardens in the country and a “millio-dollar” view of the entire Clark Freeport Zone. The place is more suited for kids and educational field trips. Adults, on the other hand, can hold team building seminars, retreats, camping and weddings in the garden.

With the development and expansion of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, Clark is now poised to become one of the country’s major gateways. The master development plan of the freeport zone seeks to transform the former US air base into an airport city and as a globally competitive international service and logistics center in the Asia-Pacific Region.

While that has not fully happened, Clark Airport does serve inbound and outbound flights to and from many local and international destinations. It has flights to and from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, and even the Middle East.

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Tags: Central Luzon, Clark, garden park, horseback, jeepney tour, Lakbay Norte, North Philippine Visitors Bureau, Pampanga, Rediscover the North, Travel

Why should Land Reform be a major election issue?

A huge part of our population still depends on agriculture for their livelihood. 75%, or three-fourths, in fact are farmers and farmworkers. And for every ten farmers, seven do not own the land they work on.

Farmers who do not have their own land have to work on the haciendas and estates of landlords, and corporate farms of foreign agribusinesses. As a consequence, they do not own the harvest even if they did all the labor. They do not even have a say on how the harvest should be divided and almost all the time, the division is unfair.

Many of our presidents have passed so-called land reform laws, the latest of which is Cory Aquino’s CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program). CARP was supposed to expire in 1998 but was extended. On the eve of CARP’s second expiration in 2008, peasant group KMP released a study which showed that from 1988 to 2008, the figure of 70% of peasants being landless did not change.

According to the KMP, the CARP contained many ‘loopholes’ which allowed landlords to either evade CARP or regain their lands from farmer-beneficiaries. One is the SDO (stock distribution option) of Hacienda Luisita notoriety. Instead of land, peasants are given shares of stock in the corporation owning the land. Land can always be planted with crops, meaning it is a steady source of income, or at least food. Stocks can only be exchanged for cash once, and most of the time, it has little or no value.

Another loophole is that the peasants have to pay for the land. This is unfair considering that in most cases, it is the sweat and blood of the peasants and their ancestors who made the land bloom in the first place. The decades of exploited labor by the farmers are more than enough payment for the land. Additionally, the landlords overvalue their land when it is being covered by CARP. The peasants have no say because only the landlord, DAR (Dept. of Agrarian Reform), and Land Bank get to determine the land value.

The KMP also criticized the CARPER (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms) which is brainchild of Akbayan and its Representative, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel. The CARPER did not change any of the loopholes. It only added more funds for the CARP. Coincidentally, many NGOs allied with Akbayan receive CARP funds.

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Tags: 2010 elections, CARP, Chiz Escudero, GARB, Gilbert Teodoro, land reform, landlords, Liza Maza, Makabayan, Manny Villar, Noynoy Aquino, Satur Ocampo

1,798 kilometers, 26 people, 8 provinces, 7 days, 1 bus.

Over the past week, I went with a group of print and online media representatives in a caravan around northern and central Luzon organized by the North Philippines Visitors Bureau (NPVB), a not for profit organization whose aim is to promote domestic and foreign travel in the region.

Onboard a special bus provided by Victory Liner, we visited the provinces of Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Benguet, Pangasinan, Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga. (We also passed through, though without stopping over, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Ilocos Sur). Our accommodations, meals and activities were sponsored and hosted by local Convention and Visitors Bureaus and other local tourism stakeholders.

The tour aimed to introduce northern Luzon as a re-emerging destination for tourism and trade. With growing infrastructure in the region and with the improvement of the North Luzon Expressway, travel to the north has been easier over the years and the tour aimed to encourage more people to “Rediscover the North”.

Indeed, it was a rediscovery of the places I’ve been to in northern and central Luzon, and a pleasant revelation of the places I’ve never been to–northern Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, La Union and western Pangasinan.

If there was one word I could summon to give North Philippines, it is “potential”. The trip revealed how much is in store for the provinces of North and Central Luzon in terms of tourism and trade. The richness in he region’s natural wonders, in its culture and heritage, in its people make the north a viable destination for a robust and sustainable tourism industry. Having a rich potential also means that there is a lot that can be done in terms of infrastructure and training in order to fully harness the possibilities and so that the people of the region and the entire country may benefit from the potentials north and central Luzon has to offer.

Over the next few weeks I shall be writing a chronicle of the places we visited and the organizations and establishments that have helped us “Rediscover the North”. I hope one day, you also make the same discovery and rediscovery of northern Philippines, and encourage others to continue and explore the vast potentials of this region north of Manila.

Tags: Luzon, North Philippines Visitors Bureau, Rediscover the North, Travel, Victory Liner

I had never been to Cebu for the Sinulog Festival. Because this year it fell on the day of my parent’s wedding anniversary, I made the pitch of celebrating their day in Cebu. We brought Tisay along, too. It was her first time to ride an airplane.

I wasn’t able to take a lot of pictures during the grand parade since I wasn’t able to acquire a photographer’s pass or a press pass when I went to the organizers’ office the day before. They ran out of ID’s before the deadline, so I had to make do with taking photographs from the sidewalks and sneaking into the parade lane when the marshals weren’t looking.

The day started with a light drizzle, which slowly turned into rain by the middle of the morning. Despite the fact that it was literally “raining on their parade”, the dozens of contingents of street dancers continued dancing to the common beat of the drums and trumpets as they inched their way to the Cebu City Sport Complex, where their performances were to be judged and televised across the Visayas and Mindanao.

Our family friends who live in Cebu remarked that the Sinulog can get pretty boring if you see it every year. After all, the dancers move to the same beats and tunes and the same basic dance steps of the “sinulog” dance year after year. For non-locals, however, the festive and lively atmosphere barely makes for a boring celebration.

The day before the parade, around two million devotees went on the traditional religious procession honoring the child Jesus. One of the things they reportedly prayed for was for the sun to shine on the grand parade, since it had been raining for days prior to the grand culmination.

As if their prayers were answered, the sun peaked out near noon, and warmly wrapped the city with a humid mist. There were probably a million in the streets of Cebu City by noon time. It was festive chaos. By around an hour past noon, I had completely walked the entire route around Cebu City’s midtown and I had gotten back at our hotel. And yet, the parade had barely formally started and the contingents only moved a few meters from their original designated areas. I was too tired to do the route again so I decided to take a nap. By the time I woke up that afternoon, it was drizzling again but the crowd along Osmena Boulevard had multiplied to the hundreds of thousands (the news says as many as three million trooped to the streets), all merry-making with the costumed dancers despite the rain.

Still tired and unwilling to work my way through the crowds again, I watched the rest of the parade on local television from our hotel room along Osmena Boulevard with my family.

Tags: Cebu, Cebu City, family, festival, fiesta, Sinulog, Travel

Held annually on January in Cebu City, the Sinulog Festival is one of Cebu’s claim-to-fame fiestas, which attracts tens of thousands of tourists from across the country and overseas.

Sinulog is traditionally Cebu’s version of the national day of celebration for pilgrims and devotees of the child Jesus or the Santo Nino which is on the third Sunday of January. As they do in many other parts of the Philippines that celebrate the fiesta, devotees hold religious processions to the church and hold feasts in households and various establishments. In Cebu, they do the “sinulog” dance, characterized by a two-step forward one-step backward dance, that is said to originate from some historical event. In 1980 the city government of Cebu initiated the now famous street dancing parade that attracts participants and tourists from all over.

Tags: Cebu, Cebu City, family, festival, fiesta, Travel

In a press release by the House of Representatives leadership, Speaker Prospero Nograles revealed that the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2009 (H.B. 6974) is up for third reading approval, meaning there would be no more deliberations nor debates over the bill and all Congress needs to do is to grant it its vote of approval. In other words, it’s as good as having been passed in the House.

Although we recognize the need for legislation that will protect individuals and institutions from malicious attacks through electronic means, it must not be addressed by a law that sweeps broadly to cover a myriad of electronic devices and many other legitimate electronic activities exercised by ordinary citizens. H.B. 6974 unfortunately, does not provide clear-cut definitions to “electronic devices” nor to “cybercrimes”. By deliberately providing a vague and catch-all definition of such devices and activities, government institutions and agents mandated to execute the Cybercrime Prevention Act, in case it is implemented, are dangerously empowered to intrude into the privacy of individuals, interfere with ordinary and harmless electronic activities and suppress legitimate forms of expression through electronic means.

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Tags: Batasan, congress, freedom of expression, House Bill, internet, Kabataan Party, press freedom, right to privacy

I shall continue with my “themed” film commentaries. This set, obviously, has the word “candidate” in the movies’ titles, and all involve quite reluctant individuals thrown into the election circus and get involved in all the politics and image-building behind it.

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Tags: elections, Hollywood films, movie commentaries, US politics

November 09, 2009. Before we headed off to the airport for our flight that evening back to Manila, the family decided to go shopping in some of Seoul’s shopping districts. We went to two, Dongdaemun and Itaewon.

Dongdaemun Market is near its namesake ancient landmark, Dongdaemun, or the Great East Gate. It is apparently the largest shopping district in Seoul with over 26 shopping malls and tens of thousands of stores that sell everything you can think of. Unfortunately, the shopping malls were closed when we were there (not that we would be able to get around much, given that we only had an hour or so to stay). We ended up in Pyounghwa Clothing Market since we were looking for things we could conveniently bring home to the Philippines for ourselves, and for friends and relatives as pasalubong.

The place sold, obviously, things one can wear, from socks to undergarments to coats and ties to hats and caps. Since it was nearing the winter season, most of the clothes available at that time were coats and other clothes appropriate for cold weather, ergo, clothes not appropriate in the Philippines.

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Tags: Dongdaemun, family, Itaewon, market, Seoul, shopping, South Korea, Travel

Let me start the year with an attempt to write about all the films I will see throughout the year, again. I tried doing this back in 2008 but I wasn’t able to sustain it, largely because I got too busy with law school and student council activities. This time, I’ll try doing my commentaries with themes and motifs.

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Tags: Argentine films, Chilean films, Hollywood films, Latin American films, movie commentaries, political disappearances, political repression

November 09, 2009. It was our last day in our brief visit to South Korea. We only had half the day to see the city one last time before heading off to the airport for our flight back to Manila.

That morning, we decided to take a stroll at Gwanghwamun Square. The square used to be lanes of one of the major roads in the city which the government decided to turn into a park of sorts. The place was just opened to the public in August 2009. At the middle of the square is a big monument of Korea’s most revered king, King Sejong. Towards the southern end of the plaza is another statue of one of Korea’s most famous admirals. The plaza is located in front of the main gate of Geongbokgung, Seoul’s main ancient palace complex.

I also took the opportunity to take street photos around the square, of pedestrians and other citizens of Seoul going about their daily routines.

Tags: family, Seoul, South Korea, Travel

November 08, 2009. After having lunch at Itaewon, Seoul, our tour guide brought us to a “Korean Folk Village” theme park forty minutes away in the city of Yongin in Gyeonggi, South Korea. The folk village is actually an artificial recreation of Korean folk villages that showcase traditional Korean life and culture. It was apparently built partly as a way of preserving, albeit artificially, the traditional way of life in Korea in the midst of its rapid economic growth and modernization. The park is divided into different areas featuring different types of Korean homes and communities, from farm villages, to landlord’s courtyards to traditional marketplaces. The park also features live “actors” playing the role of traditional Korean folk villagers going about “normal” everyday routines, from cooking to farming. To be fair enough, the entire recreation of the folk village was highly realistic.

Some areas also feature shows that showcase traditional Korean ceremonies from weddings to dances. Since it was drizzling that afternoon, the traditional wedding reenactment show was canceled. We were able to witness, on the other hand, a show featuring horsemen doing acrobatics with their horses. It was pretty cool.

Tags: family, South Korea, theme park, Travel

Our household has been on SkyBroadband for more than a month now. When we were still thinking about it, I had a difficult time looking for customer feedback on the internet. The only reviews I encountered were hundreds of negative feedback on the comments section of a popular Filipino tech blog. I doubted if the feedbacks were impartial and fair, I actually felt like they were paid trolls from rival ISP’s. I mean, it can’t be that bad for everyone. So here’s my contribution to the pool of reviews.

We are on Sky’s Plan 6mbps. It’s relatively expensive at P3,999 a month, which includes the internet connection, semi-premium cable TV subscription and 100 minutes of free calls to the US and Canada.

Here are the results of my SpeedTest tests. For impartial results, I selected test servers overseas. If you use test servers hosted by SkyBroadband, of course you’ll get impressive results since you’re testing with your own ISP. If you use other test servers in the Philippines, they’ll actually even be slower than overseas servers since they’re your ISP’s competition. Here are my results:

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Tags: internet, review