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This is my site. A slice of my world. A world where there is both beauty and ugliness.
I invite you to come and view slices of it – from the majesty of the tropical sunrises amidst vast oceans and mist-covered mountaintops, down to the grim reality of dirty city streets replete with poverty.
So come see the paradox of the world I move in. Come join my explorations.

Galleries

UP Lantern Parade : Last December, I went back to a campus that I loved. The University of the Philippines (UP) is the premiere state university in the country, and it is where I spent my college days. Every Christmas, the students of each college and major organizations showcase their own creation of large lanterns through a parade along the university oval. The whole parade is punctuated by small performances in front of the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences where students converge to watch. It then culminates at the Quezon Hall, just behind the oblation (a statue of a naked man, arms oustretched, looking towards the sky -- the symbol of that they university has held on for years). This year, the parade was particularly colorful because it was the university's centennial year, and all the other UP other campuses (Baguio, Pampanga, Iloilo, Los Banos, Visayas and Mindanao) joined the celebration in the main campus in Diliman. And, the most celebrated hall-of-famer, the College of Fine Arts, occupied half of the whole parade since all the fine arts students were required to participate. Through the parade, one can see a miniature culture of what goes on in the university -- from the artists to the activists, the scientists and the scandals. The parade of lanterns is more like a parade of ideologies. Ahh... to be in UP again.

UP Lantern Parade

Last December, I went back to a campus that I loved. The University of ...

Updated: Jan 04, 2009 9:42pm PST

Magsaysay Ancestral House : The town of Castillejos is home to the former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay. One of the most loved presidents of the country, he is legendary because he has been known to have walked with the masses and has gained the trust of the Filipino people. His presidency, however, was short-lived because he was killed in an airplane crash at the young age of 50. Memories of his service to the people have been preserved in the Magsaysay Ancestral house in the town of Castillejos in Zambales. Here, one can find a museum downstairs exhibiting the kind of clothes he wore (he was the first Philippine president to be inaugurated in a Barong Tagalog), some of his shoes, even his sunglasses! At the second floor, is the house where he grew up as a child. The house was destroyed during the Mount Pinatubo eruption in the 90s, and has been restored by the Magsaysay family and the town of Castillejos.

Magsaysay Ancestral House

The town of Castillejos is home to the former Philippine President Ram ...

Updated: Oct 24, 2008 1:46am PST

SCTEX and Subic Lighthouse : The newly constructed Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway cuts across farmlands and mountains from Clark to Subic, cutting travel time by half. It boasts of a scenic background that makes the trip a destination in itself. It is the longest expressway in the Philippines, running a total of 94 kilometers, connecting the special economic zones in Clark, Subic and Tarlac. With the construction of the SCTEX, there are hopes that there will be economic growth in the regions and Manila will be decongested, with the increase of more investors putting up businesses in the regions.

SCTEX and Subic Lighthouse

The newly constructed Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway cuts across farmla ...

Updated: Oct 23, 2008 4:17am PST

La Mesa EcoPark : Somewhere north of Manila, amidst a growing urban civilization, there lies an oasis for birds and nature-lovers. The La Mesa watershed is the primary source of drinking water to sustain a population of 20 million people in the capital. And beside it lies the La Mesa EcoPark, which was constructed to raise funds for the rehabilitation and reforestation of the watershed, which almost came into ruin because of illegal settling and logging. The watershed is very vital to the city of Manila because it does not only bring drinking water to the Manila population, it also serves as the lung of the city, with its surrounding forests acting as the carbon dioxide sink and as a source of oxygen to a city replete with the realities of industrialization. Each time someone visits the La Mesa EcoPark beside the watershed, they contribute to the preservation and protection of the reservoir of water -- and ultimately, to the preservation of Metro Manila.

La Mesa EcoPark

Somewhere north of Manila, amidst a growing urban civilization, there ...

Updated: Oct 19, 2008 10:18pm PST

Travel photos : Whenever I find myself in a new town or province, I make sure that I bring home with me memories through photos of each place I visit. These are but samples of the places in the Philippines I visited. Most of these photos were taken using a point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot so it does not do justice to the actual beauty of the place. More than what I have captured on camera, the regions in this country is resplendent with a colorful culture of hospitable people, of festivities that bring joy to the heart, and the melodies of nature are something that cannot be aptly captured by any documenting device. If I have more time and money, I'd regularly go back to these places -- to savor the sunrise, the majesty of mist-covered mountaintops and serenity of the sea. For in doing so, I do not only find beauty in each place I travel... I also find myself.

Travel photos

Whenever I find myself in a new town or province, I make sure that I b ...

Updated: Sep 11, 2008 4:19am PST

Mountaintop Memorabilia : Last summer I attended classes at the Asian Institute of Management in their Baguio campus. It was a rainy summer up in the mountains. The rain brings out the fresh scent of pine trees and freshly cut grass. Mornings greet me with the a scenery of dew-laden flowers and the morning mist up the rolling mountain slopes. In the afternoon, the rains come. After the downpour you can see the fog descend upon the slopes, giving the city an enchanted -- even mystical -- look. No digital SLR can capture the whole beauty of it. But I did what I can, despite the limits of an old prosumer Olympus. So from the artists' abode in Tam Awan Village, to the delicate flowers of John Hay, and the gourmet coffee -- the best one I have tasted so far -- in Soul Cafe... I preserved the images of my rainy summer on the mountaintops.

Mountaintop Memorabilia

Last summer I attended classes at the Asian Institute of Management in ...

Updated: Sep 03, 2008 12:36am PST

Butterfly Haven : Vanessa means "butterfly" in Greek. No wonder I feel I have an affinity with these creatures. They start out as green crawling caterpillars who know nothing but eat leaves and sleep. They spend their caterpillar days like bums. Crawling, eating, drinking, crawling again. Life is meaningless. Soon enough, they come to a point in their lives when they get tired of the meaninglessness of it all. They decide to bury themselves in the pupa of self-pity and take a deep sleep. When you see a pupa hanging on a leaf or twig, you'd think it was some dead skin of a tree, or dust that just gathered beneath a leaf. But no... inside the pupa, one great transformation is happening.

Butterfly Haven

Vanessa means "butterfly" in Greek. No wonder I feel I have an affinit ...

Updated: Sep 02, 2008 1:46am PST

A Different Harbor View : It was a view of two different worlds. We started our little trek at Starbucks in the CCP compound. The scene outside the coffee shop was that of sailboats and yachts and cruise ships. Vehicles that only the rich and the richer can afford. And behind us, stood the CCP main theatre – still resplendent as an icon of the fine and the elegant, of high society and the high-brow crowd. Then at the end of our little journey – just at the edge of the CCP compound, behind the Coconut Palace – there was a stark contrast to what I saw in front of the compound. There were no yachts or cruise ships near – they were but images far into the horizon. The scene were that of small wooden fishing boats by the seaside, and not far away, are vendors who sell tahong for a living. From the look on their faces, it seems that they have spent most of their lives in this part of the world. There are times that I am fascinated with the way fisherfolks go about their daily tasks. Perhaps it is the fact that they have an affinity with the vastness of the ocean, or are closely acquainted with the creatures of the sea. It is a world that is unknown to me – I only had a glimpse of it when I snorkeled in Panglao and had an intro dive at Anilao. But these folks have lived by the ocean all their lives – each day witnessing the majesty of the sunrise and the beauty of the sunset. And at night, even though they do not have a roof on their heads, nor a blanket to keep them warm, they have the stars to look upon and the moon to give them light. It is a far different world than what is shown to us in front of CCP. And I’ve seen both worlds. For I have attended CCP’s classical concerts, I’ve seen its musical plays. I have rubbed elbows with the illustrados, dressed up for social events and listened to the kind of music that only the cultured appreciates. But in seeing what lies behind the CCP compound, I am reminded of my roots. When I was a child, my dad used to tell stories about how my grandparents sold vinegar for a living just to put all ten of their children to school; how he and his siblings used to walk several kilometers just to get to school because they don’t have enough money for transportation; and how my parents lived in a garage-turned-into-a –room during the time I was born. And this is the reason why I trudge in both worlds: I have come to appreciate the movers and shakers of Philippine economy – the entrepreneurs who create wealth and provide jobs that enables several families to have a better life. And, every now and again, I revisit the people who represent my roots – praying that they will soon embark on a journey towards a more prosperous life, where they will be able to see their children or their children’s children living at the brighter side of the harbor.

A Different Harbor View

It was a view of two different worlds. We started our little trek at S ...

Updated: Sep 01, 2008 11:00pm PST

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