Run for Road Safety in Chit Estella's memory

Source:  http://www.ellentordesillas.com/

Revived river runs through Dagupan

Cruising on the rehabilitated Dagupan River

The bangus (milkfish), touted as the national fish and the best of its kind in the world, is a given in the life and history of Dagupan City, Pangasinan. What is hardly known is the city has more to offer than traditional bokayo (sticky candy made of coconut strips) and bagoong (shrimp paste).

Mayor Benjamin Lim, who has rallied councilors and their constituents to his call of “Our City, Our Shared Responsibility,” says the city now boasts of the Dagupan River Cruise. Offered free, it is the first and only such cruise in Region 1.

It is proof of how he successfully applied political will and his corporate training in making fish pen owners realize how a rehabilitated river will benefit all in the long term. Once the city’s lifeblood, the river became an eyesore with a thick, milky brown color. The overcrowded fish pens and illegal shanties built on it contributed to a near ecological disaster called fish kill.

Today, there is a modest pier called Daungan Ed Dawel to mean “Dockyard of the World” with a tall white top open to all sides to allow the breeze in. The ferry takes the tourist up and down a clear running river that is about 1.5 kilometers long, with a depth of eight feet at low tide and 12 feet at high tide.

On the both sides of the riverbank stand mangroves young (five years old) and old (65 years old and above) that protect marine life. Tour guide Ed Caballero said the fallen leaves of these trees are left where they are to serve as fish food.

Fresh catch from the river

Two-dimensional bangus art on P. Burgos street

The dismantling of fish pens has allowed high-value fish apart from the bangus to return, thrive and swim in the river’s depths: lapu-lapu, talakitok, malaga, pompano. Juicy crabs abound and are caught by small-scale fishing from their banca or small boats and offered for sale at a reasonable price without a middle man interceding.

The Philippines has 48 mangrove species, 14 of them found in Dagupan, including rare ones endemic to the place. Ana Louise Velasco, city information officer, does not want to specify the names of unusual trees’ names for fear of poachers uprooting them.

Young mangroves by the riverbank

Twenty kinds of migratory birds have also been seen flying over the river and mangroves.

There are kayaks that will be ready for use soon for those who like water sports. Coming soon are paddle boats and river taxis, the latter if one prefers to get to a destination while skipping the downtown gridlock during peak hours.

The ferry boat is modest enough to accommodate private parties of up to 30 people. The host brings in the caterer while the city’s tourism office provides chairs and tables.

Velasco said when she had visiting relatives from elsewhere, especially balikbayans, she used to be at a loss where else to bring them after they’ve eaten bangus to their heart’s content.

Dagupan’s bangus is distinguished by its narrow mouth, bigger belly and smaller fin that are all cause by its swimming in a small area and its fin hitting the bottom of the pond. Nonetheless, Velasco said, everything can be eaten, including the innards, when freshly caught and fried.

When the river cruise began three years ago, the raves poured in from visitors north and south of the country.

BFAR's Westly Rosario

 Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the local office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, saw a lot of good from the return of fauna, a sure sign that the river is alive. This development also means alternative livelihood for those whose shanties were removed.

Lim said displaced folk got seed money to start organic hog farming with pigs fed pro-biotics, not antibiotics, to make the taste of the local lechon competitive to Cebu’s and not too heavy in cholesterol.

Kilawing talaba

 Rosario’s office is developing different ways to prepare and bottle oysters and other shellfish. These clean up the marine environment by harvesting micro-organisms like planktons that once led to yearly occurrences of red tide and fish kill.

He gave this example of shellfish’s “cleaning power”: in a tank with 16 tons of greenish water that indicate the presence of a high number of phytoplankton, put in two sacks or even eight big cans of mussels. In 24 hours the water will turn as transparent as drinking water.

Rosario said these shellfish can later be turned into food and livelihood for marginal fishermen. This type of seafood has medicinal values and anti-inflammatory substances. BFAR is testing the overseas and local markets for tahong (mussels) cooked a number of ways: adobo, pickled, smoked or steeped in brine.--Text and photos by Elizabeth Lolarga

First published by Vera Files and Yahoo Philippines, May 1, 2012.

My life in kick-ass posters

 Of the many things I ponder about, primarily the source of my next "pin money", a euphemism I use for the piddling amounts I receive, with gratitude, if I may declare so, to underwrite the things that make like worthwhile (e.g., books, pens, paints, cheap brushes, transport fare to get from here to there and back again), none makes me go deeper into myself than the most uproariously funny e-mails that arrive daily.

The source of these "posters," "greeting cards," "mottoes," whatever you decide to call them, is a friend whose consistent "we're doomed" pessimism and mordant analysis of local and world events somehow throw a lighted neon bulb in my sometimes irritatingly Polyanna-ish world. So thank you, dear FPV, for points to ponder that make me wonder (aaargh! awful pun there).

The doctor may be right, and I might just be able to save myself and my long-suffering family thousands of pesos spent on analysis sessions and meds.

And going to McDo for a caramel sundae after a night of drinking yourself blind or working till your ass has the imprint of a solihiya-woven seat is like getting a kiss from a rose.

Add

So stay in your quiet corner, kiddo, and hit the books. Remember: "Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps." Thanks for the handy quote, Ms. Ann Pachett.

Hmmm, this partly explains why I don't last longer than three to four years in a steady job. My all-time record is two and a half  months or was it one day?

This must be a not-quite-subtle variation of "Don't get mad. Get an AK-47."

Yeah, try talking to that clawed hand. Tough experience has repeatedly proven to me that getting into arguments, especially with a person with a huge chip on her shoulder (caused by a sad sad childhood or some cancerous venom in the blood), leads nowhere and can be exhausting. So follow, or be, the wise simian who counsels: "Just stop."

HIGH FIVE ON THIS ONE!

Torture, criminal raps vs. GMA and others

From the inbox:

Eight of the 43 health workers, collectively known as the Morong 43, today filed a criminal case against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Gen. Victor Ibrado, Gen. Delfin Bangit, Lt. Gen. Jorge Segovia, Col. Aurelio Baladad, Col. Cristobal Zaragosa  and 10 other officials of the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for violations of the Anti-Torture Act of 2009, Republic Act 7438 (Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or under Custodial Investigation), and robbery.

Cristina Palabay, Karapatan spokesperson and convenor of the End Impunity Alliance said that, “this is the first criminal case against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo involving human rights violations under her watch, and on the basis of the anti-torture law that was passed during her regime.”

Karapatan expressed support for the health workers for their continuing quest for justice, as the rights group also urged the Department of Justice and Malacanang “to act immediately on the said complaint to make human rights violators in government accountable for the rights they have wantonly violated.”

“President Noynoy Aquino said it himself, that the arrest and detention of the health workers are ‘fruits of the poisonous tree.’ It is however, lamentable that instead of immediately prosecuting those responsible for their illegal arrests and incarceration, the promotion of these military and police officers are being effected. It is déjà vu, similar to period of former President Arroyo, when Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. who, despite many cases filed against him, was heaped upon with promotions and accolades,” Palabay said.

In a letter sent to the Commission on Appointments (CA), through its secretary Atty. Arturo Tiu, KARAPATAN and the Council for Health and Development (CHD) expressed their opposition to the confirmation of the promotion of three officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who are direct parties to the illegal arrest, torture and detention of the 43 health workers. The said officials are Lt. Gen. Jorge Segovia, Brig. Gen. Aurelio B. Baladad and Col. Jaime Abawag.  Col. Abawag has no formal appointment yet but was already in the list of Karapatan and CHD for future reference for the CA.

Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez expressed “alarm upon learning of the recent appointment of the above-mentioned officials, they being perpetrators of gross human rights violations.” Hilao-Enriquez was one of the signatories, along with Dr. Eleanor Jara for the CHD, of the letter submitted to the CA.

Hilao-Enriquez added that, “we understand that any officer who has a pending case against him in court must not be promoted. Thus, we take exception to the promotion and confirmation of Segovia, Baladad as well as Zaragosa, who was promoted in February 2012, as they are among the respondents in cases mentioned above. We therefore ask the Commission if there are measures which it can do to rectify this transgression.”

Last year, on April 4, 2011, six of the 43 health workers also filed a civil case for damages under Articles 27, 32 and 33 of the Civil Code at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.  Segovia, Baladad and Abawag were among the respondents for illegal arrest, torture, arbitrary and illegal detention.  A complaint was also filed before the Commission on Human Rights on February 25, 2010 against Segovia and Baladad.

“Thus, their supposed promotion must not be allowed and the institutions that gave the clearances for such promotion must answer to the people,” said Hilao-Enriquez. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights

2nd Flr. Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District

Diliman, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101

Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146

Web: http://www.karapatan.org

KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. 

Yesterday once more

"As long as we have memories, yesterday remains..."--this  quotation had no source at its end and came from a forwarded email a cousin sent when she shared a video of horses running free.

I found it the apt intro to this series of photos of ex-Brookside babies in various locales from Baguio to Los Baños to Malumanay street, Teachers Village, Quezon City. The last was where the yearly Christmas reunion of the Lolarga, Romero and Valdellon families used to be held, hosted by Uncle Esting and Auntie Linda (Col. Ernesto and Dr. Erlinda Lolarga).

Lola encouraged family fellowship, a tight-knit one. The closeness was forged in Baguio. So not only were our cousins cousins, we were and still are friends.

All these photos are from Lola's scrapbooks and photo albums.

Shown are Auntie Pacing (standing center), her six Romero children and an interloping niece. From row from left: Sonny, Babeth Lolarga, Tessie, Ferdie and Henry. Back Row: Toots and Rose. James Dean must've been at height of his fame, which explains Sonny and Henry's pose.

The Romeros again (from left): Ferdie, Tessie, Henry, Sonny, Toots and Rose. Behind the younger ones is Auntie Pacing.

I imagine this scene on the hill behind Lola's house. The girls are Allyn and Telly Valdellon, the boys Henry and Sonny.

The young girls are Aunties Grace and Shirley Cariño with Lola Purang behind, an unidentified woman and Apo Loly (Flora Cariño), Lola's younger sister who served for decades as a nurse at Baguio General Hospital.

Sonny was a good declaimer at Lourdes School Quezon City and was our pambato at impromptu programs at the Brookside house.

That's cousin Tess with the flowers of May behind her and what can only be a pair of Gregg shoes on her feet.

Sonny and Henry by the lake with their wooden swords

In another Baguio located in San Juan, Rizal,  a birthday party at the Valdellon residence in Little Baguio with (from left) Tess Romero, Telly, Beng and Allyn Valdellon

When her grandchildren would reach their cutie pie phase (toddler-hood), Lola would sometimes borrow them for a few weeks or months as in the case of my second of three brothers, Dennis. Here he is in Lola's garden.

A startled-looking Dennis (he must've just woken up that morning) with his yaya and older sister Babeth in cut-off shorts

Lola enjoys a dip in a hot spring with Tessie, Ferdie, Henry and Sonny.

By this time the older cousins Rose and Toots were in college but still spent their summers in Baguio. Dig those eyeglasses! That's the main door to the house. Unknown little girl there

Lola also welcomed her grand-kids' friends into her house. Here she poses with Rose (second from left) and college gang. The house was unfenced and directly faced M. Roxas street.

Christmas season was also when Lola would visit her children and their families in the big city. Here she's carrying baby Eleanor. On the wagon is Boysie, now Boise, Lolarga, surrounded by his sisters Minnie, Eileen and Louie.

The big Christmas lunch on Malumanay street was always followed by a program before the distribution of gifts. Here the Romero children sing accompanied by Henry on the guitar. From left are Tessie, Toots, Ferdie, Rose and Sonny. Eleanor Lolarga is held protectively by Ferdie.

Lola (third from right) with her children and daughters-in-law in Teachers' Village (from left): Uncle Celso, Daddy (Enrique Jr.), Mommy (Nene), Auntie Fe Valdellon, Auntie Pacing Romero and Auntie Linda Lolarga

Lola with daughter Fe and our younger cousins Nini Valdellon and Jing Lolarga

Her year of magical travelling (Part 3)

Grainy photo of Lola with a slight breeze blowing her skirt

Here I have to go with the captions she wrote with her fountain pen on her souvenir photos of that time in Europe in the '50s. Lola doesn't identify her companions. I surmise she must've been part of a group tour or these other women are fellow Methodists or are connected with the "Y" (Young Women's Christian Association). If only pictures can speak, but thanks, Lola, for leaving so many things to remember you by.

At Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards

 Lola (middle) carries an umbrella, apparently a "must" accessory in London.

Flower gardens, also a must stop somewhere in Europe

At the Vatican Square

St. Peter's Cathedral in her inscription

Same threesome outside the Vatican Museum

Taking her own picture with her Brownie camera on a street of Paris

Wish I was there.

Who's the looker on the right, Lola?

Home again for a hearty lunch. Caption in her own write reads: "Bienvenida party given by the children. Watch out!"

Mrs. Joie de Vivre

'Collect' Patricia Paterno & help her art be flashed on Times Square's screens

Patricia Paterno: Click "Collect Me" to help me win $10,000 and a show in the most immense exhibition of art in New York City : Art Takes Times Square.

Hat and Fruits

I am trying to return to a transparent medium (gouache) with pen and ink again. And I'm also thinking of doing a series on women in hats engaged in all sorts of activities. This one can be a fruit vendor or a buyer still deciding whether to purchase watermelons, tomato-looking persimmons or mangoes or one of each. My daughter thinks the melons look like enlarged Easter eggs. My partner  glanced at this and just gave a non-committal "hmmmm." All comments point to the message: "Try and try again."