The lure of Hundred Islands in the Philippines

HUNDRED ISLANDS, a natural configuration of about 100 small islands straddled in over 1,800 hectares of Lingayen Gulf in Pangasinan, spells magic to many looking for beautiful places to visit and also seeking adventure.
But to the people of Pangasinan, especially to the residents of Alaminos City, from where the islands can be reached through wooden-hulled boats, Hundred Islands is a source of unparalleled pride.
Indeed, the lure of this natural park is the mystery and the magic that comes from the untrammeled beauty of the islands fashioned by nature out of rock formations, complete with caves and coves, cliffs and mangroves, including a lush of wild vegetation, recreate a paradise on earth.
There are actually more than a hundred islands that comprise the Hundred Islands – ranging from tiny to gigantic, every single island has its own distinct character and peculiar beauty, perhaps a miniaturized representation of the diversity of the Philippines, with its more than 7,100 islands.
Today, Hundred Islands is the center of a broad marine ecosystem restoration program started by Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza. The program aims to build a sustainable economy for the cityfolk.
Tracing back the Hundred Islands’ tourism record, Braganza recalls that it was once the premier land and sea tourism destination in the province. “Probably, in the entire Luzon mainland,” he says.
“We have suffered setbacks in the past decade, due to the emergence of many alternative destinations in the south, with some boasting of unparalleled beach quality,” he noted, admitting also that a huge captive market was lost with the departure of American military personnel from Clark in Pampanga and Subic in Zambales.
Communities, once benefiting from tourism, exerted pressure on the marine resources of Hundred Islands for livelihood, he explained. “Also, illegal fishing proliferated and the fragile marine habitats were adversely affected,” he added.
But Braganza said he and the people of Alaminos are determined to bring back the magic of Hundred Islands and its underwater life through a Coastal Resources Management Program which combines rehabilitation, conservation, protection, stewardship, responsible use and economic alternatives to restore the health of the marine ecosystem.
Guided by a development paradigm to make Alaminos City a competitive center of industry, commerce and services, Braganza said they are also repositioning the Hundred Islands as a marine theme park, complete with fish sanctuaries, inter-island floating bridges, and a living Marine Institute, which he says, will make the islands not just a sand and sea destination.
“Eventually, Hundred Islands will evolve into an ecological theme park, complete with adventure sports and ecotourism with an educational value,” Braganza said. “It will be unique and unparalleled once more,” he added.
As a matter of fact, the mayor said that various water-based adventure sports, like kayaking and snorkeling, have made regular runs in the Hundred Islands.
“Once we’ve put everything in place, we will not have only regained the magic of the Hundred Islands, but added more luster to it,” Braganza said.
Also, Braganza disclosed that travel to the Hundred Islands will soon be dramatically abbreviated. “Instead of the four-hour or so trip from Manila, Hundred Islands, the largest marine sanctuary in the Philippines, will soon be accessible by air,” he beamed, as he announced that the groundwork for a commercial airport in Alaminos City is now in the works.
(More photos at http://pinoygnews.multiply.com/)

Sounding the call in Hoy, Pinoy!

IN THE PHILIPPINES, where politics is fodder stuff that feeds every aspect of its people’s lives, it is extremely difficult, if not totally impossible to find someone finding poison in everything going on.
But take heed! Read, then listen to a new program on radio, called “Hoy, Pinoy!” It is advancing the odd foot in an archipelago where nobody seems to swim against tide.
“Hoy, Pinoy!”is hosted by a young broadcaster. His name is Marlon O. Villarojas. He started out as a car salesman. But he’s not your knock-at-your-door regular marketing guy. He exudes confidence and is very candid about his idealism.
Indeed, in just 18 months selling cars, he outpointed, in sales, that is, thousands of veterans. “I know I can do things, even make a difference,” he said about his full-circle plunge into broadcasting. And he also writes columns for two local weeklies.

THE PROGRAM
Looking at the program brief of “Hoy, Pinoy!”, however, there’s nothing extraordinary or earthshaking.
“Hoy, Pinoy!”, according to the brief, is an innovative Public Affairs Program on radio that will serve both a specific and broad market of Filipinos, and their friends, here and around the world.
Further: (The program contains) regular features of a Public Affairs Program – News & Commentary, Interviews, Features of Subjects/Topics interesting and/or relevant to its target publics.
The statement goes on to say: “Hoy, Pinoy!” will incorporate a real-time interactive segment that will allow its listeners not only to broadcast their comments and sentiments, but also allow them to create a networking forum that will discuss and focus on issues concerning specific groups and organizations.
Finally: Aside from being informative, features and interviews on HOY, PINOY! will be constructive in content and promote relevant advocacies, both from the private and public sectors.

THE HOST
Marlon Villarojas started as a columnist for a local weekly whose niche is the burgeoning army of workers and immigrants leaving the country for the so-called greener pastures.
The weekly, albeit not very popular nor influential, didn’t even serve as a baptism of fire for the budding journalist. It was his extensive interaction with people, whom he interviewed, that moved his into plunging head on.
“People had always been at the center of my career and development – I learn from them and I want to serve them as well,” was how he described his entry into media a couple of years ago.
After a series of sit-ons with veteran radio hosts and commentators doing live broadcasts, he decided to go on his own. According to him, the live interviews and interactions influenced his decision. But he continues to do a regular column for the weekly newspaper.

THE SOUNDING CALL
“Poverty is everywhere,” he says in Pilipino, “and hopelessness is creeping in.”
But he believes the country is not about to be thrown into the abyss of desperation. “It’s just that we, Filipinos, are in a period of difficult transition,” was how Villarojas described the situation. “But that will certainly pass and we’ll be able to muster our collective will and strength to get out of this rut.”
In an expansive, post broadcast, conversation, he talked about his youth, his family, his community and his work as a volunteer of the Philippine National Red Cross.
Out of the radio station and walking to the corner of the road to get a cab, three shabbily-dressed and barefoot children – two boys and one girl – tag at his pants and whisper something to him.
He mutters something to the girl, who responds in the vernacular: “Thank you, Kuya Marlon.” And off the three street urchins go.
“I cannot allow my children to be like them and I cannot let them to be like that until they become street denizens and petty criminals,” he said, “I could do something, not just help them with their next meal.”
In his most recent broadcast, Villarojas is calling on his listeners to join a group he is organizing. Calling it “Brigadang Hoy, Pinoy!”, Villarojas outlined the effort as community organizing and harnessing the group into vocal and working catalysts for change in their respective communities.
“I hope to make this viral, using ‘Hoy, Pinoy!’ to propagate genuine volunteerism, aiming to meaningful change,” was how he capsulized the objective of his group.
Well, the program, which airs every Sunday, from 7:30 to 8:30 in the evening, over AM radio station DWBL 1242 KHZ, will just provide the impetus and serve as an avenue, no matter how small, for issues that the volunteers can work on and change.
The important thing is: It is real and its host, Marlon Villarojas, knows what he wants to and is determined to do it.

The heart of an artist

THE EVOLUTION of Seb Chua as an artist may be described as extraordinary. Against the backdrop of art history, however, his passionate pursuit of the fine arts finds parallelism with one of the greatest artists that ever lived. But only to a certain point.

Indeed, Seb, whose obligation to tradition transcends the corporate environment from which he fulfilled the so-called obedient-son responsibility, is not the regular late-bloomer, when it comes to his passion - the fine arts. He started young, but kept this close to his heart and pursued it in the quiet of his own world - doing sketches in elementary and high school and finding expression in caricatures and cartoons.

The artist may still exhibit the corporeal guilt, but his works do not. In a recent interview, Seb was quoted as saying: "… my current occupation as an artist happened by chance; but when it did present itself, it was my own personal choice, balancing both business and art."

Hardly, however, does any of his works - in canvas or in form - exhibit a trace of chance or that of reluctance. Truthfully, his every work shows that one who creates never hesitates. Thus, in only four years, he has achieved what many artists fail to achieve in a lifetime.

Embarking full circle into the art world in 2007, with his first solo exhibition titled "Fractal Visions," Seb served notice of how serious his passion for his art is. And noted art critic Cid Reyes saw this.

Reyes said: "('Fractal Visions' is) an abstract and sensuous unfolding of (the) organic form in Seb's cubistic sculptures, resulting in a discrete elegance."

More than the distinction Seb imparted in his works, on that first exhibit, is the probity of his creations. It is both a release and a celebration, imbedded with truth and goodness - the message his works convey and hopes to impart.

Seb affirms the integrity of form and the message it carries, when he said: "Art as something you do, not out of blandness. In the emotions that accompany art, advocacies and stands take root in an artist and shape how he creates not only his art, but everything he can touch and see."

Years after his first solo exhibition, Seb says: "I presented a medley of views on the human being as an abstract journey. Using the representational figures, I was able to convey that life is a series of stages, in that we live and breathe change, even at a moment's glance… When I work on my craft, I leave it to become something more than just material. I form it, but that and only that is my task. The audience is what gives it a story, one that can be as boundless as one person's difference with another."

Today, his artistic views remain and his works have taken more than change to express the message that he wants to impart. And it runs parallel to the advocacies he passionately support.

In creation, as in art, a message is an inspiration and advocacy is the source of passion. The artist in Seb definitely knows this and took this, seriously, to heart.

Oliver's twist

THE INITIATIVE of lawyer Oliver Lozano to bring U.S. President Barack Obama and former First Lady Imelda Marcos together to discuss ways by which the billions of dollars in gold and dollar deposits of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos could help ease the worsening global economic crisis is by itself already a laudable out-of-the-box effort. More than an attempt to vindicate the former Philippine president via donating his vast wealth for the benefit of the suffering economies of the world, it is also a noble intent of giving President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the respect she deserves in the community of nations, particularly that from the first Afro-American president.
For a local daily broadsheet to tag the President of the Philippines as an “Obama stalker” is an insult to the Filipino people, not to Madame Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself. Mrs. Arroyo, in whatever she does and whether we like it or not, carries the weight of representing the Filipino people and our sovereign country, the Philippines. Even against what her detractors may claim that she does not have a mandate, the issue remains to be resolved.
Indeed, while in the eyes of Mrs. Arroyo’s enemies, she stole the presidency twice – from two actors! – no one, not a single one of those accusing her of robbing power had brought the issue to the proper forum to question the issue once and for all.
In this light, Lozano sees Mrs. Arroyo as a true and genuine beneficent mother of her people and, in that vein, accords her the position she deserves as a leader of her people and her country, recognized by the community of nations. Moreover, he gives Mrs. Arroyo her due respect and acknowledges her critical role – if former First Lady has the power to disburse the billions of dollars of Marcos wealth, President Arroyo holds the key to the vault that contains the Marcos wealth. Only the President can lift the sequestration order to this vast wealth deposited in more than 170 accounts in 72 countries worldwide.
More than alleviating the suffering of peoples around the world, through this initiative, Lozano, who’s been dubbed as Mr. Impeachment, bodes well for his country and his people. His initiative is more an attempt to vindicate President Arroyo and save the Filipino people from further shame – that their President is a stalker.
Well, Lozano, in the eyes of the public, may be a lawyer who’s served the Marcoses, and continue to serve their interests, but he also has a heart for the poor and those who are suffering. Perhaps, Lozano, in his own right, is a visionary who comes up with surprises that serve what the French philosopher Rousseau calls as the “common good.” And this is what many people fail to see and realize from what Lozano is doing.

Dealing with diabetes

DIABETES is a complex disease that can affect many areas of your body as well as many aspects of your life. Basically, however, it affects the way your body uses food for energy.

What you eat, when you eat, treatments and medications, testing your blood glucose, exercising are all important in the management of diabetes. Your goal is to live a happy, healthy life while dealing with diabetes.

Among the noted people who lived a happy and productive life, while dealing with diabetes, are: noted Filipino singer-dancer and pure Mr. Energy Gary Valenciano, world renowned painter Paul Cezanne, singer Ella Fitzgerald, inventor Thomas Alba Edison, writer Ernest Hemingway, Russian statesman Michael Gorvachev, tennis star and champion Billie Jean King and science fiction writer H.G. Wells.

Of course, there are many others, considering that today there are nearly 200 million people worldwide afflicted with these incurable, but very manageable disease. The World Health Organization, in a recent study, predicted the number to double by 2030, to 366 million, with India on top of the list, followed by China, the United States, Indonesia and Japan.

WHAT IS DIABETES?
According to endocrinologists, diabetes is a disease that can best be described as a disorder that affects the way your body uses food for energy. Usually, the sugar you take in is digested and broken down into a simple sugar called glucose. This glucose circulates in your blood where it waits to enter cells to be used as fuel.

To enable glucose to enter cells, a hormone called insulin is necessary. Insulin is produced by the pancreas. It also adjusts the amount of insulin based on the level of glucose. However, if you have diabetes, this process breaks down, and blood sugar levels become too high.

There are two types of diabetes: Type 1, where the pancreas is completely unable to produce insulin, and Type 2, where insulin is produced, but not sufficient to move glucose into the cells. In both cases, the glucose that can’t move into cells accumulates, resulting into very high levels blood glucose. In time, these high glucose levels can cause serious complications.

Type 1 diabetes most often occurs before age 30, but may strike at any age. It can be caused by a genetic disorder. However, the origins of Type 1 are not fully understood. But all the possible causes have the same end result: The pancreas produces very little or no insulin anymore. Thus, insulin injections are need for this type of diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in adults over 35 years old. But that doesn’t preclude any age from getting the disease, including children. A person afflicted with Type 2 diabetes has adequate insulin, but the cells become resistant to it. The reason: Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle disease, triggered by obesity, lack of exercise, increased age, and to some degree, genetic predisposition.

RISK FACTORS
There are many risk factors for Type 2 diabetes. Some come from family history and genetics, but some can be turned around to help reverse or manage Type 2 diabetes.

The number one risk factor for Type 2 diabetes is obesity. According to health statistics, 30 percent of adults are obese. Greater weight means a higher risk of insulin resistance, because fat interferes with the body’s ability to use insulin.

Next to obesity, is a sedentary lifestyle. This kind of lifestyle is damaging to health and bears responsibility for the growing obesity problems. Inactivity and being overweight go hand in hand for Type 2 diabetes to set in. Muscle cells have more insulin receptors than fat cells, so a person can decrease insulin resistance by exercising. Being more active, as against a sedentary lifestyle, lowers blood sugar levels by helping insulin to be more effective.

Third is unhealthy eating habits. Ninety percent of people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are overweight. Unhealthy eating habits contribute to obesity. Too much fat and not enough fiber, and too many simple carbohydrates all contribute to a diagnosis of diabetes. Eating right can help greatly in managing Type 2 diabetes.

While there are not concrete scientific findings yet to support it, it appeals that people who have family members who have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are at a greater risk of developing the disorder themselves.

It is also sad but true that the older we get, the greater our risk of getting Type 2 diabetes. Even if some elderly persons are thin, they may still be predisposed to getting Type 2 diabetes. The explanation given by experts is that as we old, our pancreas ages right along with us and it doesn’t pump insulin as efficiently as it did when it was younger. Also, as our cells grow older, they become more resistant to insulin as well.

The sixth risk factor to Type 2 diabetes is high blood pressure and high cholesterol. These two risk factors are also hallmark risk factors for many other diseases and conditions. Not only do they damage heart vessels but are also the two key components in metabolic syndrome, a group of symptoms that includes obesity, a high fat diet and lack of exercise.

Gestational diabetes affects about four percent of all pregnant women. Thus, a history of this problem is also considered a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes, because studies show that many women who have gestational diabetes develop Type 2 diabetes years later. Moreover, their babies are also prone to developing diabetes later in their lives.

DEALING WITH DIABETES
Learning about people living with Type 2 diabetes can help you better understand the disease. Look for them, meet them, talk with them and share with them experiences with the disease.

If you have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, then there’s a lot to do and a lot to learn. The feeling of knowing you have this disease may be overwhelming at first, but you have to start understanding it as an important beginning in managing it.

You must remember that people with diabetes are responsible for much of their care, which oftentimes is an extremely challenging, if not daunting, process. But self-care can be made a lot easier by setting goals for blood sugar levels, weight loss, exercise and for control of other health risks.

One suggestion is the use of a checklist in managing your Type 2 diabetes. A checklist is a useful tool that can help you manage the disease effectively by keeping close track of test results, general health goals, questions to ask a doctor, and more.

Another important thing to remember in managing Type 2 diabetes is blood glucose or blood sugar control. There are two basic tools in accomplishing this task – checking and recording regularly your blood sugar levels and adjusting insulin. While the task requires knowledge and expertise, you can, in time, efficiently master this task.

In determining the amount of insulin, people with Type 1 diabetes require supplemental insulin because their pancreas no longer produces insulin. In Type 2 diabetes, it is totally different. Less than one third of those with Type 2 diabetes take insulin, the rest use prescription medications.

This brings us to one of the most important factors in effectively managing diabetes – putting together your own personal health care team. At a glance, this looks like a big job. Yes and no, it depends on how you do it. But remember, this is necessary. Remember, diabetes is a disease with many faces, but its management depends on one person, you or the one who has the disease.

Diet and exercise, eye and foot care, keeping track of blood sugar levels, monitoring blood pressure, medications and/or insulin is your responsibility. So, aside from yourself, who else will you need to be part of your team?

First, of course is your doctor, more specifically your endocrinologist. He helps you interpret your checklist and determines processes or tests needed to evaluate your condition or progress in dealing with the disease.

Next is your dietician. This person is very important in determining what food you should take to maintain a good level of blood sugar. Also, he will advise you on what food to avoid. People with diabetes also must have to have balanced food.

Third on the list is your family. They are your support system, continually reminding you of the dos and don’ts in dealing with your disease. Likewise, they can help call your attention to your exercise regimen and medications.
After you put in place all of the above, you’re on your way to effectively dealing with diabetes… even stopping it right on its tracks!

REGULAR CHECK-UPS
Even if your diabetes is in total control, you can still have complications that may go unnoticed. That’s why regular medical check-ups are important.

One critical situation among people with diabetes is a condition called period of denial. According to psychologists, denial is a way for people to cope with something whey they’re not quite ready to face it.

People who lie about their disease do so for many reasons. Some lie to appear good. Some, to avoid being judged. Others do because they don’t want to admit a bad habit themselves, diabetes being an effect of a bad habit – eating unhealthy foods and leading a sedentary, without exercise, lifestyle.

Regardless of motive, anyone with diabetes should not forget that honesty and health go hand in hand.

Another important thing people with diabetes should remember is alternative medication for diabetes remains at the research and test level. Use of herbal and other forms of cure that claim to control diabetes should first be referred to your doctor.

Always remember, your doctor is your indispensable partner in managing diabetes. The rest depends on your – eat the right food in the right amount, exercise, and follow faithfully your medication. If you do, you’re on your way to living a healthy, active and productive life, even if you have diabetes.

When writing, write

MANY a writer has difficulty taking off from the first word, more so finishing the first sentence. And after the first sentence had been constructed and properly ended with a period, making the second sentence requires more effort than the first.

This usually happens when a writer thinks, and believes, he or she can develop any idea that crosses his or her mind with a sufficient stock of verbs and adjectives, coupled by a good grammar. But when he or she starts pounding the keyboard away, he or she suddenly hits a snag – how to go on from the last sentence or even the last word or if he or she is lucky to reach the third sentence, he or she is suddenly at a loss on how to end the paragraph.

Basically, writing is putting across – in a sheet of paper or on a digital document – what one has on his mind that he intends to share to others. On a more deliberate purpose, writing is putting together an idea for others to read. Or more specifically, writing to earn money.

In the past, creative writers just write to put their ideas across, regardless of who reads it. They can observe grammar at its highest order or mangle the Queen’s language with the arrogance only a master of words can do away with, especially in poetry.

In today’s writing, the bottom line is information – does a reader learn something from what he or she reads?

Take for example on how-to topics. In writing how-to articles, the basic rule is clarity or putting across precise information. Short sentences, not beyond 18 words, are ideal. Two to three-syllable words are perfect. And opinions are definitely out of place.

In organizing how-to topics, better prepare an outline before sitting down in front of a computer. Like the topic one intends to write, the article should be written step by step. And ideally, sketches or photographs of the step-by-step process would be a big help.

As how-to topics are intended for all types of readers, no matter their educational attainment or literacy levels, it should be as simple as possible.

In other topics, like essays and impressions, a writer should have extensive knowledge of the topic he or she intends to write about. While the Internet is a good provider of instant information, it is stock knowledge that enriches a good essay and makes profound a readable impression.

Stock knowledge is gained from reading and experience. What one gains from reading, he or she compares, and affirms, with his interactions with other people. One doesn’t simple take as gospel truth what one has read. Rather, it would be good to find affirmation in life’s dealings or even in simple neighborly discussion. Also, you don’t get a good working stock knowledge overnight.

So when you have a topic to write about and you have what it takes to write, start writing. But when you write, go on writing and finish what you have to write about before you edit your work.

Editing a work in progress will not help you any in finishing a good work. It will just stall the smooth flow of ideas. Take care of the redundancies, dangling modifiers later. Just write and finish putting across your ideas first before attempting to edit.

The rule is: Write your ideas first and do the refinements (editing) later.

Many Can Write, Only Few Can Excite

WRITING, whether for fun or for enhancing one’s funds, is sometimes simple but more often a little bit complicated. First, you have to have a good vocabulary and a working grammar. Second, a combination of both should be able to create a good prose, following good usage of the figures of speech. Third, select a good subject. Fourth, follow a style that best suits the subject. Then, off you go hitting the letter keys and creating ideas you hope would massage your ego or fill your pocket.

But most writers, particularly those who believe more themselves to be than they really are, are hampered by the Confucian story of the overflowing teacup. They tend to overrate themselves and feel that a 25,000-word vocabulary is enough to put into words whatever they have in their heads. Moreover, being able to recognize a dangling modifier and knowing how to cut prosaic deadwoods are not license enough in putting together a readable paragraph.

Indeed, other writers, remembering of having made a good grade in elementary English composition, would have more in temerity than in objectivity. Driven by this tendency, they seem to self-fulfill in putting words together, wracking up sentence after sentence, and imbibing on the impressiveness of monosyllables without regard to the effectiveness of 18-word-and-below statements.

It is totally different to have made an A in elementary English composition than in continuously honing one’s stock of verbs and adjectives over the years. Getting away with an A is eon apart from getting your way through a cornucopia of information, digesting it and tempering it against other readers, even writers. The first could be done through rote (parental coaching is more like it), while the latter is learning and enriching one’s stock knowledge and putting it into good writing use.

Writing, for the most part, is impressionism. However, instead of using an admixture of colors, a writer uses words to create colors. So, how can a writer render color to his paper of a canvas if his vocabulary is limited to basic colors and he has no brush to impart strokes or a palette to create a combination of hues?

This is the essence of writing that can put across exciting prose. Remember, hardly are there new and worthy topics to write about. So, you can always write about dogs and roses, and get a huge readership. Roses without thorns would make an interesting read, so do dogs that mew.

Also, the next time you choose a topic to write about, be sure to make your adjectives create a rainbow and implant a paw on a flower. Don’t forget that verbs are important too. But the element in writing you cannot do without is a good balance between form and substance, with a sprinkling of wisdom and good doze of syntax.