Now i'm kind of commercializing this Blog!

Last night I decided to try venturing into blogging while earning a little bit. I've added AdSense into my blog page.

I think anybody would feel the same curiosity as I had. You see the Customize button in your blog page and then you discover you can add features to make your blog a little interesting and fun. Suddenly you learn that you can actually earn, however little (or unexpectingly high) it may be, as you blog. Wouldn't AdSense make sense to you then?

So there, I ended up adding this commercial element in my blog page, and my application (yes, there's some sort of an application and some waiting time) for it got approved today. You see, the ads are now running here; they're everywhere. Hehe. And i smell moolah!

The downturn? I gave up my blog's some privacy to Google AdSense team. But what the heck, Google owns Blogger. They won't do anything to steal my identity. Nor my earnings, i guess. Now, I got Google team's eyes. (Peace, guys, peace. Don't worry, I love you and I trust you.)

It's Fiesta and the President is in town..

Helicopters -- Hueys and other kinds -- hovered over my hometown yesterday and early this morning. Her Excellency and party is indeed in town...

It's Feast Day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus today. I've heard GMA will be attending the mass this morning before she heads off to Balabac. Nanay & Tatay then will have the chance to see her in the church today, my oldies being regular churchgoers here. In fact, they must have been glancing at her excellency now.

Oh, if GMA only knows it's Nanay who made the flower arrangement inside the church. If she just know how Nanay and her Mother Butler cult had a hard time keeping the church polished and clean because the 'copters land and leave the Oval, which is just a few meters away from the Church, every now and then.

Suddenly, it's Year 2002 once again...GMA was alighting from a white chopper which just landed at the San Miguel Elementary School in San Miguel, Linapacan. I was among the party from the Provincial Management Staff allowed to be at the landing site an hour before she gets off........


***the SHJ photo is from this site and the 'copters are from BBC Pictures.

Philippine Entries in the Seach for Wonders of Nature now in Top 11

Last update 28-MAY-2008 10:00 GMT

( ) yesterday's ranking

1.	(1)	Ha Long Bay	VIET NAM - Asia
2.	(2)	Cox's Bazar, Beach	BANGLADESH - Asia
3.	(3)	Ganges, River	BANGLADESH/ INDIA - Asia
4.	(4)	Tubbataha Reef	PHILIPPINES - Asia
5.	(6)	Chocolate Hills	PHILIPPINES - Asia
6.	(5)	Amazon River, River/Forest	BOLIVIA/ BRAZIL/ COLOMBIA/ ECUADOR/ PERU/ VENEZUELA - South America
7.	(7)	Mount Everest, Mountain	NEPAL - Asia
8.	(8)	Mount Fuji, Mountain	JAPAN - Asia
9.	(10)	Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park	PHILIPPINES - Asia
10.	(9)	Cocos Island, Island	COSTA RICA - North America
11.	(11)	Mayon Volcano	PHILIPPINES - Asia

**** From http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/liveranking Visited 28 May 2008 11:30 PM.

Ground-breaking of Water System in Barangay Inogbong

Hours ago this afternoon, sister-companies Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) and Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTNMC) and the Municipal Government of Bataraza held the ground breaking ceremonies of the PhP26 million Water System in Barangay Inogbong.

I wonder why the big bosses of the mining companies and the local and provincial officials were there and the locales weren't? The residents should have heard and witnessed the rationale of this important project and its groundbreaking.

GMA is coming to town.

The Philippine President is coming to my hometown on the 29th, that is 2 days from now. So I learned from sources -- almost everyone in town -- since last week.

This morning, we bumped into 2 truckloads of military men, all in combat wears, near Barangay Sandoval. President Arroyo's advanced party is now here, apparently to secure the place and the sites she'll be visiting.

Why the visit? I really got no idea. She was here during the inauguration of the Hyrometallurgical Processing Plant sometime in 2005. This will be her 2nd visit. I heard Rio Tuba is just a stop-over en route to Balabac, Palawan's southernmost town (an island municipality).

Well, she might just be trying to find out for herself how the HPP, which she switched on in April 2005, is operating. Also heard she'll be dropping by a mosque in Sitio Bukid-bukid.

What I don't get about this Presidential Visit is the tearing down of bahay kubos within the confines of the townsite, the mining company property. Whoever's got a brilliant mind who thought that bahay kubo's around the townsite are "eyesores" for the President and her team, and need to be tore down, must be real brilliant and true-blue Filipino. Whatever the reason is, just don't call bahay kubo an eyesore because it kinds of make one veers away from his roots and his Pinoy connection.

[ thanks to Wikipedia for the President Arroyo's photo.and to Blogtext for the bahay kubo illustration ]

Letsugas sa Bataraza ( Lettuce Garden in Bataraza, Palawan)

Yes, lettuce does, and can, grow in Bataraza. Thanks to Congressman Baham Mitra's Organic Farming Project which has successfully demonstrated that high value crops and fruits can be grown in the locality.

Just take a look at this lettuce garden..

Yellow watermelon and honeydew (melon) are also proven to be growable in this part of the country. Here're the proof...

Elsie Nallos, a municipal government employee, is amazed that this variety of watermelon (said to be from Taiwan) can actually be cultivated in the soils of her town.

The Taiwanese watermelon variety, now in Bataraza.

Let's take a glimpse at the soon-to-be vegetable produce of the municipal demo farm...

Enchanted Kapangyan Falls

We were looking at the videos we shot from our camera phones after our descent from the mountains and watershed of Malihud. And we discovered something extraordinary that gave us goosebumps - we had a company in Kapangyan Falls. Check this video out. (Dunno how to rotate it 90 deg to the right, so you will have to view it with your head tilted leftward. I am sorry.)

Kapangyan falls

'been to Kapangyan falls yesterday!

Photos of the hike to follow.....

Two old buddies, Waraynons and the Iwahig Penal Colony.

The recently-held Palarong Pambansa 2008 in Puerto Princesa has brought together two good old friends whose last inuman was decades ago, when it was only my eldest sibling (now 35) who is alive. They haven't seen each other again until the DepEd chose to hold the Palaro in Puerto Princesa last April. This good friend of Tatay is one of Eastern Samar's Delegation Officials. He took the time out to look for his long lost friend and travelled all the way from the province's capital to the southeastern-most town of mainland Palawan, with only the stories of Tatay's relatives in Samar as his "map".

And when finally they got to see each other face to face, they reminisced the past and laughed at their night outs and drinking sprees. They now grow white strands of hair and their hairlines, receding. Tatay now sports a cane, but Sir Joe Jabagat seemed to be very strong still. Two Warays, old buddies and childhood friends, were once again reunited.

Less than a month after their meeting, this Sir Joe texted Tatay that he later found out another kababayan is also in Palawan and is the current "Penal Farm Warden". He said he wasn't able to meet this Penal farm big boss during the Palaro '08, unlike his co-officials and co-delegates, because he opted to travel to our place down south to find Tatay.

Sir Joe, a principal in his district in Eastern Visayas, asked Tatay to see the warden who happened to be Tatay's childhood friend and relative. So on our way home yesterday, my good ol' man insisted we drop by Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm Colony and see Warden Francisco "Paking" Abunales, who, to Tatay's recollection, was only five years old when he last saw.

It was my first time to go inside this famous and historical penal colony in the country. I took some pictures of course and will post them here as soon as I get hold of my USB cable which I left in my boarding house in Puerto.

My Iwahig Farm Captures:

A fortuitous event in Mainland China.

Was shuffling through TV channels when I caught BBC's breaking news about the earthquake death toll in China which is at 5000!

Wasn't it just yesterday (or was it the other day) when a tremor shook the world's biggest country.? And there wasn't any damage nor fatality reported.

But no, this is the latest earthquake which struck and oh no, it did crush buildings down, buried many people and killed thousands TODAY!

I quickly check the Net to find out more about the news. A Yahoo News account account which is just off the wires 5 minutes ago (it's not even one of the most read news today) confirmed the tremendous damage and destruction this 7.5 earthquake has caused.

The tremor accordingly occurred mid-afternoon in CHina today, Monday, when many schoolchildren are in school. The account which says that close to 900 children lay buried in the ground is incredibly unbelievable and disturbing.

CNN News (now, it's CNN as BBC has shifted to another news coverage) is broadcasting that rescues are underway. I hope many will still be saved.

As I scroll on my keypad, I offer a silent prayer for those who perished and injured and those who are greatly affected by the calamity.

Fortuitous events and calamities, they're everywhere. We haven't even seen Myanmar recover from the cyclone that hit the country last week. And what about the number of tornadoes which rummaged across the mid-eastern Unite States.

These should all remind us that these fortuitous events, in CHina and everywhere, are all which we cannot do something about. They catch us unaware and we are left wondering when exactly and where will they happen. Very much unlike the human-caused destruction and conflicts around the world which by understanding, broad-mindedness, cooperation and forgiveness, we can still do something about and put a stop to.

These are times we, Earthlings, should get inspired to be one and forget about the unpleasant past and differences.

God Bless this Planet!