Wanted: Jacqueline Bermejo

The good thing that always comes out in times of tragedy is the outpouring of love amongst people. We seldom see our people unite for a common cause. Politicians have in so many ways divided our already divided nation. For some reasons, disaster is the only thing that can unite us all.

I salute all the selfless and nameless policemen, soldiers and countless of volunteers who risk their lives just to help our fellow kabayan. I salute our fellow OFWs, Filipinos all over the world and the international community; they never failed to lend a helping hand in times like this. I have renewed admiration to the NGOs, especially the Philippine National Red Cross for their undying service to the Filipino people. I’ll always remember our extended families. They are always there to help us when we have nobody to turn to.

Disaster like this also brings out the worst of people. Some doesn’t have compassion and even go to the extent of criticizing the displaced and helpless victims of the calamity. I am talking about Jacqueline Bermejo, the bitch whose name is now synonymous to hypocrisy. She’s became infamous for displaying tasteless arrogance and hollier than thou attitude over the web.

Jacque Bermejo was quoted in her facebook saying “buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners bak der! so yeah deserving wat hapend!” What the heck! Who the hell is she to judge people? I’ve seen her photos and she’s not even beautiful. In short, wala siyang karapatang magmaganda! I hope that Department of Foreign Affairs would strip her of her passport and Filipino nationality. The Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) should also ban her from entering our country. If she’s really proud of being in Dubai then, it’s better for her to be there forever!

If you want to contact her for whatever reasons, here are Jacque Bermejo’s contact details:
Tel: +971 4 4329633Fax: +971 4 4329632Mob: +971 50 3416640

Greatest Flood in the Metropolis

We can say that we Filipinos are used to or even immune to disasters, floods, volcanic eruptions, series of typhoon and any other natural disasters. But we never anticipated what had happened last weekend. The rain that caused the flooding destroyed everything our fellow Filipinos have worked for. That includes the destruction of their livelihood, houses and life’s worth.

Looking at the pictures of the flood is a humbling experience for me. The flooding only shows that people, regardless of their status in life are equal in the times of crisis. We human beings are vulnerable to the wrath of nature. The flood not only affected the poor and the lowly but the rich who lives in exclusive subdivisions as well. It also killed and displaced people in a massive scale.

Now that water has receded, the blame game starts to roll. So called so-so scientists blamed the flood on global warming. Opportunistic oppositionist politicians and irresponsible people in the media blamed it on Gloria. I say we have nobody to blame but ourselves that the flooding happened. It’s about time that we Filipinos should own up and take responsibility for our actions. It’s not bad to admit mistake because it’s the only way that we will reform and clean up our acts. We should not wait for a calamity as big as this to happen before we realize that the things we did in the past had brought this to us.

Below are the errors that people made that triggered the massive flood.

- The destruction of the trees and the absence of trees in the metropolis.
-Allowing buildings to rise and subdivisions to be made on areas that are prone to floods.
- Shanty houses of the squatters on the riverbeds that causes the rivers to overflow.
-The habit of throwing everything everywhere. That helps clog our rivers, drainages and sewers.

The list could go on and on but the reality is that, it wouldn’t have happened if we were kind to Mother Nature. Nature has no choice but to be cruel in order to be kind. We are experiencing this kind of stuff so that we could learn from it and change.

Eid Al Mubarak!

Everyone is busy buzzing around for the Eid Al Fitr Holidays. We’re lucky that our company declared a nine (9) day none working holiday. Since today is our last working day, people are on vacation mood. Everyone seems to be happy and that includes me.

I easily got bored so my primary concern now is how I will spend my 9 day break. This Thursday, I’ll be busy preparing for my friend’s birthday. Yeah right, I may not be the celebrator but I play an important part in his birthday, you know. On Friday, I’ll be in Aramco to attend a seminar for ‘would be Ninongs’. Yes, my future Kumpare Brother A invited me to be the godfather of his son John Christian. It may take awhile so I’ll be pretty occupied on that day. Some of my friends have planned to go to the Half Moon beach and then to Bahrain Bridge but it wasn’t decided yet.

Per previous experience, most of the outings that my friends made are spontaneous and unplanned. They’d just give me a call and wallah! However, should none of the plans push through, here are some of the things that I would definitely do.

-General Cleaning. Eid is the best time of the year to do general cleaning.

-Cleansing Diet. I usually schedule four (4) days to detoxify. Yes, no more soft drinks and unhealthy food.

-Meditate. It’s the best time to spend some time with yourself and reflect the things that happened to you in a year. Meditation may not necessarily involve religion. You just have to close your eyes, feel the nature around you. This is the best way to think clearly.

-Write to friends and family. I usually spend some time to write a lengthy letters to my friends and family that I’ve lost touch with.

-Watch Movie. This time, I’m gonna watch all the movies that my friend D downloaded from the internet. I’ve even purchased a media player / External Hard Drive for those movies yet I haven’t had the time to watch them.

Bukidnon’s sheer Beauty

When you ask people what they know about Bukidnon, the stereotypical reply would always be ‘Pineapple and Del Monte.’ Davco, a concessionaire of Dole Philippines recently set up pineapple and banana plantation in the land once owned by the Conjuanco’s. They practically removed all the coconut and replace them with pineapples. Bukidnon is not just about pineapples, Del Monte and Dole. People from the south particularly the sugarcane growers refused the label pineapple country for Bukidnon. Its fertile soil enables it to grow fresh fruits, vegetables, pineapples, banana, sugarcane, rubber tree and cupflower for export.

Bukidnon is also location of the world famous Monastery of Transfiguration run by the Benedictine Order. It’s pretty religious place since you can find Statues of any kind of Saints everywhere. Even the vegetable stall at the Arakan Valley has the statue of Senior Sto. Niño.

Did you know that there are true blue Ilonggos in Bukidnon? Most of them live either in BUSCO (Bukidnon Sugar Co) compound, Don Carlos or in Maramag. Some of them settled in the area during the late 50s and early 60s.

You can reach Bukidnon through Cagayan de Oro, Davao via BUDA (Bukidnon-Davao) Road and Cotabato. If you are in Cagayan de Oro, you can go to the Agorra Terminal and board Kibawe, Kadingilan or Tacurong. All of these routes will reach the southernmost towns of Bukidnon. If you are in Davao, you have to go to Ecoland Bus Terminal which is very adjacent to SM City Davao and board a Cagayan route. Davao is my favorite access point because a travel from Davao would only take 3 hours from Ecoland Terminal to Maramag (Bukidnon). I usually take the Iloilo-Davao flight that would only take 1 hour either through Cebu Pacific or Air Philippines.

If you travel to Cagayan de Oro, it would take you 4 hours to reach Maramag or Don Carlos. Aside from that, there’s no flight from Iloilo – Cagayan. One thing that delays the travel is the Mangima Road or popularly called as the bituka ng manok (zigzag road of Bukidnon). There are also several stops in several towns that add to the delay of your travel.

As an agricultural province, Bukidnon is very strict when it comes to hygiene that people coming to the province must step into the veterinary and sanitation check point. The one in the picture is the BUDA entry point.

When you see Bukidnon’s you’ll be amaze by its sheer beauty and swear that Baguio is over rated.