Sagay City River Cruise

In June, my boss visited Sagay City in Negros Occidental to grace their founding annivesary. The mayor treated us to a 2-hour river cruise that included lunch.

At that time, there was only one floating restaurant. They do plan to augment this with a few more so more people can enjoy the cruise.

We got off at the city boundary and boarded the resto. The trip ended up in a "port" near the mouth of the river opening to the sea. This port serves as a haven for many fishing vessels of the cityfolk.

Here are some pictures.

The river.


Lunch "on" the river.


Because of government officials on-board, we got police following us.


The raft is being pushed through the river by a modified motor banca.

Dinagat Islands - beauty and mystery

Last June, I went with my boss to visit Dinagat Islands. The province (Islands) is composed of many islands that includes the main landmass named Dinagat. It is a two hour ride using the regular public transport from Surigao City to the main port.

We arrived at the pier after 6:00pm




First on our agenda was a visit to the complex where the body of Supremo Ruben Ecleo Sr. lies in state.

Next was a visit to the Ecleo Castle that was built with contributions from Dinagatnons all over the world as a gift to their "matriarch," the widow of the supremo.

Inside the castle, you will be treated to various artworks from wall displays to carvings to lighting.







The veranda has a good view of the town below and the seas beyond. But I was only able to take photos with my back on them. My phone can't take any good shot at the good view.




The facade is just as great as the interior.




We stayed overnight at the resort of the governor of the province, the lovely and talented Gov. Jade Ecleo. She does not only sing but she has an album all her own. In fact, she will be having a concert at the Music Museum on September 12.

The resort faces a calm and inviting beach that I, unfortunately, failed to enjoy.




The ride aboard the Philippine Navy Assault Craft back to Surigao Islands took less time due to the calm seas.




Before we left Surigao City for Agusan del Norte and home, I took a picture of the welcome tarpaulin that hung at the seaport of the city.




It was a tiring yet education trip to that island of beauty and mystery. I also had a nice chat with Vice Governor Elvis dela Merced. I learned that we do the same job when we travel with our bosses - we are both super alalays.

Asiaten Hotel

During our sortie in Tarlac City for the culmination of the Emergency Employment Project of DepEd, we were booked at the Asiaten Hotel owned by Mr. Danilo Asiaten. Set in the heart of a residential subdivision, the hotel presents a cozy relaxed atmosphere away from the noise of the highway plied by North-bound buses and private vehicles 24/7.



Converted from being a school compound into a residential hotel, the two-level U-shaped Asiaten Hotel looks like an apartment complex with a large communal area in the middle.



Near the gate is the reception area where guests can check in or out 24 hours a day. Manned by helpful and courteous staff, each guest is greeted with a smile and advised of amenities available or problems at hand - we were informed the night we arrived that there will be a power and water cut-off from 7am to 9am the following day.


Though the parking space may be limited, a security guard ensures the safety of vehicles parked outside the compound. Not to mention the fact that it is inside a secure residential area with little or no non-resident traffic.



A poolside restaurant adds to the comfortable and relaxing breakfast. They serve Filipino, Continental, and other dishes to clients. They get your order for breakfast before bed time including the time you wish to have them so it can be fresh and ready by the time you take your seat on the iron and rattan chairs with your laptop on checking your morning email through the free wi-fi internet connection provided.

I hope to visit Tarlac again in the future in a more personal time to truly savor the soothing ambiance of the Asiaten Hotel.

Memory gap

During a recent trip to Baguio City, I observed that the conductors of buses seem to have a good memory of who owns which luggage.

During pre-departure, the conductor receives the bags of the passengers and ask them where they are getting off. He then arranges the luggage depending of the passenger's destination. So how can he be sure that the passenger handling or taking off a luggage is the same passenger? In my observation, he commits them to memory.

As he receives a luggage, he looks at the face of the passenger and at the luggage. It is here where I believe he makes a mental note connecting the passenger to the luggage. Theft can happen when during stops, a passenger takes somebody else's luggage from the compartment. The bus companies seem to be able to avoid this by limiting access to the compartments to the conductor. The driver never opens the compartment.

If a passenger wishes to take something from their luggage, it is the conductor who opens the compartment and observes the passenger. I think during this time the conductor tries to retrieve the face-to-luggage connection he made earlier.

So far, I have not witnessed any theft of luggages during a provincial trip with Victory Liner.

Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon

I got a chance to be on an official visit to Cagayan de Oro City and Bukidnon a couple of weeks back.

Upon arrival at Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro City, we had a quick breakfast at Koresko Hotel in the outskirts of the city before returning to the airport once again.

From there, we took a light plane (a Helio Courier I believe is the name) owned by the Summer Institute of Linguistics. SIL has a language center in Nasuli, Bukidnon and operates the light plane to ferry their linguists from one tribal center to the other.

I noticed during take-off that the plane was parked beside some assets of our Philippine Air Force based in Cagayan de Oro City.

Among our humble air assets are:



MG-520 attack helicopters,



UH-1H helicopters and OV-10 Bronco counter-insurgency aircrafts.

As we took the 45-minute flight to Malaybalay, Bukidnon, I can't help but appreciate the beauty of the Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon landscape.

I am amazed by the shaping of the lands by shallow rivers - that I believe to be the venue of the popular white water rafting.


There are, of course some farm lands that abound the area. They farm almost every crop from rice, to corn, to bananas, to pineapples.


Others even built their on inland resorts (I think) on these untouched lands whose access roads remain to be dirt roads.


In Bukidnon, we met with local officials, teachers, parents, and students and distributed the LGU-private sector led, and later DepEd supported, Essential Health Care Packages. These packages include toothbrush and toothpastes for oral health care, solid and liquid soaps for hand washing, and medicines for de-worming.

Later that day (and after a butt-aching 2 hour drive through winding - twists and turns sharply - road), Cagayan de Oro City's representative to Congress (one of two that they have) suggested adding a fourth component of the package - a feeding program. He suggest that kids with clean teeth, clean hands, and worm-less tummies are not complete without proper meal.

In the evening we stayed at the simple yet comfortable Discovery Hotel and Restaurant located near the Mallberry Suites Business Hotel and Robinsons Cagayan de Oro.

It was a wonderful experience to see CDO and Bukidnon. I get to meet its people, savor some of its delicious local delicacies and (ehem!) flirt with its ladies (just some smiles, winks and small talks and nothing else).

You should see it for yourself.

Tacloban City

I went ahead the Secretary for the 33rd Founding Anniversary of DepEd Region VIII in Tacloban City. The actual venue of the celebrations is the DepEd Regional Office in Palo, Leyte.

When I arrived at the airport, I got to see the new planes used by the Philippine Airlines for their PAL Express flights. This one came from Cebu direct to Tacloban.

While in Leyte, I was booked by the regional office in Mac Arthur Park hotel now managed by the Philippine Tourism Authority.


In the evening of the first day, I was treated to dinner at the Ocho Seafood and Grill restaurant.

There they have fresh seafoods for customers to choose from. Once you pick a fish, you tell them how you want them cooked or ask them for the best way to serve your meal. I had plentiful and it was fun.

Most unfortunate

This morning I arrived at the PUV terminal at around 8:20 hoping to get on board soon and be on my way to the before 9:00. But what greeted me is a very long line of fellow commuters waiting for their turn to get on board.

I was debating with myself if I will go and wait in line or if I should take another way to the office. I chose to wait in line.

By experience, if I take a jeepney to Pasig City, then take another FX to the office, it will probably take me more than an hour to get to the office.

I asked the dispatcher why the line grew longer than usual. He said that there is an on-going boat race along the Pasig River and most roads used by the drivers on their return trip is closed. the boat race is part of the celebrations for Araw ng Pasig.

I had no choice but to just wait. And it is past 9:00 already.

Waiting it out, I was able to get on board after 30 minutes and be in the office in another 15. What a way to start the month...

Right turning vehicles keep right

As far as I know, the rule in a highway without a traffic light is that vehicles that will turn right must stay on the right lane and those crossing will keep the middle or left most lane wherever applicable. This however, does not hold true in C-5.

Everyday that I commute from home to the office, when we get to the corner leading to Valle Verde Subdivision, our PUV always has a hard time turning right on that corner. Well, the traffic is usually heavy in the part of the highway but it is not the volume of moving vehicles that gives us a problem turning right. It is those educated and mostly professionals who drive their cars along the right lane even if they are not turning right.

It always amuses me to see these driver in nice cars, wearing nice clothes looking all educated. And yet the education seem to have been placed on the backseat just to be on the lane where the vehicles move faster.

And what's bad about it is that if you get to cut them off so you can turn right, they'll get upset.

As the expression in one of the jokes I received through email says: the nerd of this people!

New facade

Mayor Fred Lim of Manila making putting his own make-over of the Pasig river shores. I chanced upon a project being undertaken under the Quezon Bridge near Quiapo market.

On my way home from a meeting at the Presidential Management Staff Building in Malacanang, I took a jeep plying the Pasig-Quiapo Echague route from Arlegui to Quiapo's Quinta Market. At the back of Quinta Market right beside the bridge is the Quiapo Terminal of the Pasig River Ferry.

Between the passenger waiting area and the pontoon dock is a beautification project being undertaken by the Manila City government.



The wide area about a quarter of a kilometer long is being paved with red and off-white stones. This walkway stretches from the edge of Quinta market bordering FEATI university up to the point where the river is met by another stream.

I don't know yet how this will look like when the project is done with all the displaced settlers under the bridge and beside Quinta market. And how will this sort of a promenade be accessible to the public without compromising the security of the ferry terminal.

An update is forthcoming!

Those who are first become last

There are times that you feel unfortunate to at the end of a long queue of people trying to get a ride to the office. And there are times that you feel very lucky to be first in the line or in the first group to board and leave.

An of course, there are times that even though you were the first one to leave, the driver of the vehicle that is last to leave drives a lot faster than yours.

Just this morning, I was lucky enough to leave before 8 that will assure me that I will arrive at the office right before nine. While we were on the highway (C-5) just past the u-turn slot near Valle Verde when suddenly, an FX AUV tried to bump us. It turns out that the "rammer" is a coleague of our driver. They both belong to the same transport association. And this second AUV is supposed to have left about 10 minutes after we were on our way.

Lo and behold, a third AUV was also there and overtook us.

In the end, our AUV, that left around 7.45am was the last to reach my stop. And I thought I was lucky to be in the group that went out first.

And so, the first, became last. Haaay...

Lovers are they?

On my way home tonight, I took an FX from Megamall. I took a seat at the back along with a couple who I thought to be married.

As we waited there for the vehicle to fill up and when it eventually left, I came to realize that they were not married and may be just friends. I figured this out when I heard the lady describing her daughter to her friend.

I never really thought of them as having an affair but merely chancing upon each other at the mall and since they are probably neighbors (since they discussed neighborly things). At any rate, the lady was, well, sort of a little sweet to the guy . Patting his leg, leaning on to him makes it look sweet. But then again, I do not know the depth of their relationship so its not really my business.

So, that is the more telling part of my commute today. Hope to be able to share some more in the future.

Community activities

In the last couple of days I commuted home, our public utility jeepney (PUJ) ran into two consecutive community activities of the same nature by two different baranggays (villages) bordering the same main transport route.

Friday night, I got held up in a 30 minute kilometer long traffic jam because of the Santacruzan that passed within the boundaries of Sta. Rosa, Pasig City. It was a long 3-lane crawl from the Pasig Plaza to the T-intersection near Ado's Panciteria. Fortunately, the procession turned right at the next corner. When the tail end passed that next junction, we zoomed to our destination in no time.

But then again, last night on my way home, our PUJ is once more stuck in traffic. Good for us it only took about 20 minutes for the parade to turn a corner before the Ado's panciteria T-intersection. If the line proceeded using the same route as before, I would have ended up taking the same amount of time to get home as the other day.

Although these two events are being undertaken by two different communities, these communities border the same main road and plotted their routes to include this road. Good thing I am not leaving the house today. If I had to and there is a third baranggay I did not know about, I'd be stuck again for almost the same amount of time.

Music and calls

In my previous post, I narrated about a quiet ride from our house to the office.

This morning, I had a partially quiet ride.

I am again seated at the back of the Mitsubishi Adventure AUV with four other passengers. One is listening to the music, the other just watches the scenery go by. The fourth was joyfully talking on the phone.

First, she called her (presumably) female friend as asked about the number of a male friend. Then she went on talking about other stuff. Her other phone rang after that and she is now talking to the male friend. By what I hear, the guy was thinking she is using a brand new unit as she explained that the unit she uses is an old one.

All this is happening while the music-listening passenger was tapping his knee to the beat of his overly loud music that leaks out of his plugged ears.

Silent run

As always, early morning commutes are quiet. I got into the FX as the last passenger in, paid my fare and we were all set to go.

The ride was uneventful. The four of us at the back are all dozing. I did not take much notice about those up front since everybody was really quiet. Nobody knew someone so there is no reason for chitchat. All we could hear is the music coming from the stereo.

I did not notice anyone using a personal mobile audio device either. No iPods. No MP3 players. No mobile phones with MP3 player or FM radio feature.

We all rode in peace trying to get some more shut eye that we were not able to have the evening before.

It was a silent run.

Family ride

When I commute, I notice that drivers often bring members of their family with them.

At times, drivers of passenger jeepneys bring their wives with them. Their wives are the ones who collect the fare and hand out the change.

Sometimes they bring their young children along with them. These are kids about 3 to 5 years old who do nothing but sit and watch the world go by.

And more often than not, it is the whole family who come along. The wife does her thing collecting fare and giving out change while the kids sleep, play or just sit and stare.

Family members mostly ride shotgun with them. Once they do this, the two-passenger front seat becomes off limits to passengers. Other times, wives sit behind the driver holding with her the cash box.

Even though bringing their families with them means one or two passengers worth of fare removed for the duration of the trip, it makes life easier for the driver. Bringing their wives remove the need for them to collect fares and give back changes. It also give them time to bond. Talk about things and life and plans for the future. It also allows the family to be together and when the jeepney reaches the far end of its travel, they can all go malling.

Driving passenger utility vehicles is not just about earning. It is also about sharing your line of work with your family.

Quiet ride

As I went for work this morning, I noticed that the ride was quiet except for the music coming from the vehicle speakers.

I surmised that most people, especially when they travel alone, do not open a conversation with the other passengers. Even if there is a cute passenger sitting right next to them, they don't even try to muster courage to start up a conversation.

I guess everybody just want to get to the office, clock-in their report time and go about their work.

Interaction and verbal exchanges take the back seat during morning commutes.

Commuting, Dating

On my way home yesterday, I saw a young couple sitting across me. They are sweet with each other exchanging whispers and they are young. Definitely high school.

Like me, they are on their way home. Most probably from a date (the girl was wearing make-up). And the date continues. On the jeepney.

Most young couples do this dating-rides. It helps them spend the long trip liesurely. Though, maybe, they can cut back on the sweet holds, kisses, and embraces that couples do while watching a movie, in a dark theater. And they probably think it is alright.

Lucky guy. I am sorry for the girl. I am still an uptight Christian you know. :)

Seating arrangement

While seated waiting for the FX to leave, I was asked by the lady sitting with me where I will get off. She was seating nea the door while I sit near the driver in the front row. Since her destination is farther than mine, we exchanged seats. This way, she does not need to get out of the car to let me pass when I get to my destination.

It is an unritten rule in commuting that those whose destination is the farthest should be seated the farthest from he exit as well.

This is especially observed in AUVs like the Toyota Tamaraw FX or other similar vehicles like the Mistubishi Adventure or Isuzu Crosswind. These vehicles are used in garage to terminal transports.

Passengers, without much discussion, agree to the seating arrangements with the least bother to the other.

This practice is best followed during the rainy season. Less movement meanse less opportunities to get wet.

Pedestrian watch

It cannot be avoided. When we commute we tend to look at other passengers with us. But we also look at pedestrians along the street.

I heard a comment from another passenger who noted how similar a mother and her daughter looked. The two were crossing the street as we passed by an intersection.

I did not catch a glimpse of the two ladies so I did not know if they are indeed as lovely as my fellow commuter saw.

We always take notice of many things when we are on the road and more often than not, we have a comment or two about what we saw.

People watching is a way to kill time. It works for bystanders and it surely works for commuters as well.

Radio ad

The ride home was, well, uneventful. Not much chit-chat from those on board. It seems as if everybody is just looking forward to getting home. It is, after all, the eve of a very long vacation.

While waiting for comments or discussions to begin, my attention was caught by the advertisement from the radio. The ad was for a leading shampoo brand.

In the ad, a guy talks to his close friend about a girl they knew in high school. This guy describes to his buddy how he remembers the time when he sees the girl, what he felt and how regretful he was he never tried to court her.

The buddy informed the day dreamer that he knows the girl and asked if he wanted to be set-up for a date. The dreamer agreed and his buddy dropped the bomb, "actually, my friend, she is married to me."

Question: if you are best buds or close friends, how come you did not know your friend married the girl of your dreams?