Tiwanak and the Sunset

A singular shutter and the setting sun is suspended upon the horizon along with this silhouette of dried tiwanak bamboo washed helplessly ashore. Its stalky stems reflect the likeness of constantly opposing ideas, twists and turns all around us, so like life on the island of Marinduque – harmonious now, discordant the next, with the neutral sun watching, merely impressing upon us the eternal truth that there’s simply no shortcut to attaining peace, freedom and happiness for our people.

Yet none could ever suppress the reality that great ideas in their various shapes and forms could also soon merge according to the laws of nature, balance and proportion where the good is raised, the wicked, so wicked ones forgiven or simply cast away far into oblivion, such that fresh, new Hope unfolds her wings that it comes naturally for us, as we do now, to wish for everyone PEACE, PROSPERITY AND HAPPINESS IN THE NEW YEAR!

Photo by Rudy Mariposque.

Of Beach Games and Coastal Clean-ups with the Kids

Friends Nestor, Rudy and myself decided to laze the day away in a fisherman's kubo, hut as the overcast skies seemed to confirm there was nothing much to do when the year was about to end. Then a group of 17 children aged 4-10 taking a break from school and apparently finding the beach the right place for their shrieks and laughter startled us with their noise - the elderly having siesta at this hour couldn't hurl invectives from a distance, the kids thought of ways to while away the lazy afternoon perfectly for themselves.

What kind of games could they play on the beach? Rudy, who overheard the kids' conversation, suggested "Lungkot-Manok", a parlor game he remembered playing as a growing boy in Tanza. Only a few among the children were familiar with the game so Rudy explained how it was done:

Boys together, girls together, they sit on a straight line like chicken laying eggs. Both groups assign a leader, 'mother hen' ('father rooster' in the case of the boys), who'd give a magic stone to one among their group. The leaders would then exchange places and make a guess, by the behavior of the chicken, who among them is hiding the magic stone. This involves touching the ear of the sitting chicken, as it is believed that the one hiding the stone who must be feeling guilty and nervous, had the coldest ear.




A correct guess entitled the group to a single jump forward to a finish line. The game is repeated until one of the two groups reached finish. The boys won here but it was a close fight.

Next was the 'magdala dini', bring me, game. With boys and girls competing as a group, they had only one minute to search around and bring to me any object I'd ask for that are found on the beach - red stone, white stone, bottle caps, cigarette butts, and finally, rubber sandals or whatever footwear washed ashore. Grass grows about 15 meters from the highest tide here. In just one minute the kids were able to find 40 rubber slippers and shoes altogether hidden under the grass and debris. The girls found 16 pieces, the boys found 24. Could they have been owned by passengers of capsized vessels, you wonder.


Nestor treated them to Coke and biscuits, and for the fun of it everyone was declared winner with each happily receiving a crisp twenty peso bill (equivalent to just about fifty cents).

We ended the surprise interaction with an agreement that next year we'd invite more participants to the same venue, on Ninos Inocentes Day, for the holding of the same games, with additional ones added, to this evolving "Traditional Parlor Games with Coastal Clean-Up Twist", who knows.

Soon, the sun set on the Mindoro horizon and the windy day was over.

Monstrous Blue Marlin in Banot

Two fishermen named 'Inshot' and Edwin from the fishing village of Banot in Gasan caused quite a stir when they anchored their outrigger dragging this huge silvery-white fish, Malasugui, caught near the Tres Reyes Islands off Gasan. This Blue Marlin is said to have weighed a hundred kilos and measured about nine feet long. The long spear-shaped upper jaw of this big fish was cut off to be preserved by the catchers as anting-anting, charm against asuangs.

Sold at one hundred fifty pesos per kilo the families of the two fishermen met the holiday season with faces beaming, gratified for their Christmas wishes granted.

Photos by Joseph Emil Biggel.

Eskapo message

Surely one of my favorite travel and photography blogs is dong ho's eskapo. It seems he and his fellow photographers will never get tired of scouring every nook and cranny of the Philippine archipelago to show the awesomeness of these islands. Above photo courtesy of 'eskapo', escape with today's universal message, Maligayang Pasko!

Christmassy Marinduque

The Christmassy Marinduque air. Grade schoolers to senior citizens enjoy the cool feel of the holiday season in organized gift-giving parties at covered courts or open spaces like the capitol grounds. Shown here are photos from last week's Christmas gatherings organized by Governor Bong Carrion and his beloved wife, Armi.

Above photo courtesy of Dr. Ed Ancheta taken during the capitol Christmas party last Thursday.

Marinduque's First Lady and the Governor.

Members of families of the capitol employees entertained by Omar, the Ladder-Balancer of "Talentadong Pinoy" fame.

The elderly joined the Christmas fun too.



Some photos during the annual "paskuhan" for children sponsored by Gov. Carrion at the Boac Covered Court.


Gift-giving party photos at Boac covered court courtesy of JR Baculado.

The world is just awesome in Marinduque, too !!!

"I Love the Whole World" is an advertising campaign launched by Discovery Channel last year to promote its tagline: "The World is Just... Awesome". The song used is a re-writing of a scouting song "I Love the Mountains" with the distinctive chorus "boom-de-yah-dah, boom-de-yah-dah". In our days during campfires in the central mountains of Marinduque we sang it as "boom-biyaya, boom-biyaya" (biyaya is Tagalog for grace or blessing).

I created this "Boom-De-Yah-Dah" video for the Discovery Network's Channel on YouTube as a video response to their popular ad. Such responses have been posted on the said Channel from all over the world. This Marinduque one features my 'moriones version'.

Photos courtesy of the capitol's Gerry Jamilla and Joven Lilles. JR Baculado took the shot of central Marinduque mountains and of the new bridge connecting Boac and Torrijos. The Teatro Balangaw photos are from my collection.

Gasan Waltz: The season's mood holds sway.

'Tis the season to be jolly! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!
The senior citizens of Gasan gathered recently at the town's covered court for a fun-filled, song-filled, dance-filled day. Surely, with negative politics and orchestrated machinations out.

Today, the various departments of the capitol are having their Christmas Parties. For once, politics also takes a backward step.

SEASON'S GREETINGS!

Dicaprio's Global Warning

The previous post conveyed serious concerns expressed by scientists meeting in Washington D.C. on the effects of climate change and over-exploitation of resources to the wealth of marine biodiversity particularly within the Verde Island Passage Marine Corridor covering the strait between Marinduque and Mindoro and the pass between Mindoro and Batangas.

With this in mind, a global warning expressed by Leonardo Dicaprio in a shortfilm he created and narrated is posted here for all its worth. Glaring concerns similarly expressed by environmental organizations on the degradation of Marinduque's environment during the last decade and related current issues are touched by Dicaprio's video, like the video was especially created for this region.

Marinduque Within Center of the Center of the Center of World's Marine Biodiversity

The center of the highest concentration of marine biodiversity in the world is an area of 900,000 square kilometers, the heart of the coral triangle in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, accounting for 50 percent of the world’s coral species. This is known as the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape.

In 2004 American marine biologist Dr. Kent Carpenter, global marine species assessment coordinator of the World Conservation Union and fellow researcher Dr. Victor Springer, curator emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution discovered that the center of the center of marine shore fish biodiversity in the world was the Philippines and not Indonesia.

Amost 3,000 maps showing the distribution of marine species from all over the world were analyzed, and it was found that the highest percentage (2.5) of biological diversity was found in the Philippines.

The central Philippine archipelago which includes the Tubattaha Reef, a UNESCO world heritage site, was thus identified as the center of the center of marine biodiversity.

Within this center of marine biodiversity, the largest concentration of marine life in the world with a recorded 1,736 overlapping marine species in a 10 by 10 kilometer marine habitat was identified within the Verde Island Passage between Batangas and Mindoro. The entire Verde Island Passage Marine Corridor, a busy sea lane, covers portions of the coastal waters of Batangas, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque and Romblon.

Conservation efforts and management plan

In 2004, First Gen in partnership with First Philippine Conservation, Inc. (FPCI), Conservation International-Philippines (CI-P) and the local government of Batangas City formulated and implemented a conservation and development program for the two marine protected areas of Batangas City located in Verde Island.

Much of the conservation efforts are at present centered on Batangas due to serious problems such as mangrove area conversion and marine pollution. USD1-million was committed by First Gen that would be used by FPCI and CI-P to ensure that conservation work in the passage is implemented and sustained in partnership with the local community stakeholders. By 2007, the project has expanded to cover marine protected areas in the island municipality of Tingloy, Batangas and the Apo Reef Natural Park (ARNP).

In 2006, the ‘Center of the Center’ campaign was launched by the project partners together with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to raise public awareness on the Verde Island Passage and the impending need for concerted action. .

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo then responded by convening a national conference on biodiversity. During that conference held on November 8, 2006, she signed Executive Order 578 ordering, among others, the creation of a multi-agency task force on Verde Island Passage with specific mandate of formulating an integrated management plan for the passage.

Call for Action from Scientists

In August 2009, a gathering of scientists was organized by Conservation International (CI) and held in Washington, D.C. During the meeting, the scientists collectively called for immediate action from the global community to protect the hugely important site. This site has been dubbed by the scientists as "the world’s blue water version of the Amazon River basin."

The CI report stressed its importance to marine conservation because habitat threats in the Philippines could result in mass extinctions of species similar to what is occurring in the Amazon River Basin. "The Philippines can therefore be considered as the marine counterpart of this famous terrestrial center of biodiversity", the report stated.

CI said the Passage “has arguably the highest concentration of marine species of any region in the world’s oceans, including whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and giant clams (Tridacna gigas).”

The scientists said climate change, along with over-exploitation of resources, is threatening the marine habitats. “The marine habitats and species of the Verde Island Passage are already threatened by human impacts, like overfishing, pollution and coastal infrastructure development. Climate change is intensifying these impacts, with severe consequences for the well-being of the people of the area,” said Dr. Giuseppe Di Carlo, CI marine climate change manager.

Photos courtesy of Sammy Ang.

My Ancient Marinduque

The beginnings of archaeology in the Philippines began right here in Marinduque, our oft politically-troubled island at the approach of local elections.

Prior to 1900, only one important archaeological investigation had been carried out in the country: Alfred Marche’s exploration of Marinduque from April to July 1881. While many other accidental finds have been recorded from time to time, and a few burial caves and sites had been casually explored by European or local scientists, no systematic work had been done anywhere else prior to these explorations. After Marche, the next important archaeological work was undertaken by Dr. Carl Gunthe in the Central Visayan Islands in 1922.(Beyer)

"An abundant yield of Chinese urns, vases, gold ornaments, skulls and other ornaments of pre-Spanish origin,” was what the Marche finds represented. He brought back to France in 40 crates the Marinduque artifacts he uncovered. Part of it now said to be housed at the Musee de l’Homme in France. (Solheim). The finds also included a wooden image of the Marinduque anito called ‘Pastores’ by the natives.

Part of these artifacts have also found their way into the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. “Imagine these fragile jarlets traveling from China to the pre-colonial Philippines. Buried in a cave in Marinduque for centuries, they were excavated in the late 19th century, brought to Paris and eventually ended up in a museum bodega outside Washington, D.C. Part of our history lies in museums abroad and it will take sometime to analyze these artifacts to piece together our pre-colonial past” (Ocampo)

"Where do we come from? What are We? Where are we Going?" is the title of a famous Gauguin painting (photo), a 40-year old life-sized reproduction of which still hangs in my living room. I often think that only if we knew the answer to the first two questions, everything will fall into place that the inspiring answer to the third question will reveal itself in no time.

Our local elections in May 2010 would then be not so chaotic and turbulent as it promises to be.

Reliving the Battle of Pulang Lupa

About Philippine-American War 1900-1901, only two years after the declaration of Philippine Independence, known as the second-phase of the Philippine Revolution.

Uploaded historical photos as well as footages on the commemoration of the Battle of Pulang Lupa in the island of Marinduque. Featuring "Awit sa Pulang Lupa" written and composed by this blogger, with Teatro Balangaw and the Marinduque Provincial Capitol Choir performing.

First-hand accounts of the battle and other relevant papers could be found on www.ulongbeach.com. Updates on Pulang Lupa could be found elsewhere on this site.

Marinduque Community Theater

In the towns of Boac, Gasan and Buenavista the community theater group, Teatro Balangaw, has mounted original productions based on folk beliefs in the island-province of Marinduque. Cast members usually come from the localities where the presentations are performed.

"Mara Unduk", "Bulong", "Moryonan" and "Sukat Ipag-alab ng Damdamin" are some such productions presented in the form of dance-dramas. During the last couple of years, "Bulong" and "Moryonan" were toured in the island's six municipalities as part of the celebration of the Philippine International Arts Festival, undertaken by the Government of Marinduque in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

Such presentations started in 1992, during the town fiesta in Boac, are aimed to generate higher appreciation on indigenous arts and traditions. They are inter-active and are presented free of charge to the general public.

Marinduque remains one of the poorest among the provinces in the Southern Tagalog Region, but it is known for its rich culture.

This video shows productions mounted in 2002 & 2003 and some photos of earlier performances.

Marinduque Extreme: Series 2 on Video

Sharing this video of Marinduque Extreme races held last weekend. Duathlon (Run-Bike-Run) and Aggressive Cross Country Mountain Bike Race in the island of Marinduque, Philippines.

It was good to see Curt Shepard, his charming wife Dahlia and family at the race. They maintain the highly informative website www.ulongbeach.com containing lesser known historical accounts about Marinduque. Also gracing the occasion were photographers that included Dan Pagulayan, expected to post some of his photos on Facebook.

Marinduque Extreme 2 in Pictures

Day 2 was for Aggressive Cross-Country Mountain Bike Race.

Leo Oracion, the celebrated first Filipino to reach the summit of Mt. Everest and Pepito Deapera, Champion of Guam Coco-Road Race and Northface, 100 km. Ultra Marathon were feted by the Marinduque Capitol Choir to a "putong" welcome ritual. The two sportsmen joined Marinduque Extreme Series 2.

...and there they go! On Day 1 the competition was for Duathlon (Run-Bike-Run), with participants from Lukban, Lipa City, Novaliches, Cainta, Pangasinan and Marinduque. Nilo Estoya, a member of the Philippine Team also competed.

The race venue: Old Capayang minesite, abandoned after extraction of precious metals like copper and gold. The artificial lake was dug out to a depth of 45 meters below sea level. Some migratory birds flock to a spot near the lake not frequented by humans.

The challenge to bikers covered a 5.2 km-loop that had to be encircled six times (for the duathlon, four times with bike plus two times for the run). A lot of technical drops, turns, climbs, mud pits and rock beds, really extreme conditions that separated the tough from the not-so-tough characterized this playground.

One of the technical drops is shown here.

View of the mine site. Picturesque even with degradation all around, it's a continually changing landscape with natural growth trying to survive. The area belonging to the company is all of 2,439 hectares.