Up in the hills of Davao City at Dencio’s (higher than Jack’s Ridge) our team composed of cousins & friends set up to unwind after a long trip from Bislig, Surigao del Sur, and witness the end of day so far away from home. It was my 7th time or so to visit the city but my first time to take photos from up there.

The view was magnificent as we witnessed the short period before and during twilight, as the city’s late afternoon view was slowly being engulfed by dusk’s partial darkness and well into the early evening.

The beer was soooo good and refreshing.

Photos taken April 28, 2008.

View the full gallery here…

On hot, summer days one may see birds, specially the Philippine Maya, wallowing around in bare, dusty, sandy patches in the yard.

Naturalists aren’t quite sure why birds take sand baths; some say it helps control pests and lice. It seems a sand or a dust bath helps clean debris out of birds’ feathers and soothes their skin.

A bird fluffs up its feathers and proceeds to loosen up the sand with its wings and feet. Some birds even lie down and roll in the sand. Dust settles on feathers and filters down to the bird’s skin, coating everything. Finally, the bird shakes most of the dust off and then spends times preening and grooming its feathers.

The Buyogan Festival of Abuyog, Leyte - winner of last year’s Leyte Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival - ham it up today, May 3 at the culminating highlight of the Aliwan Fiesta 2008 Streetdance Competition in Metro-Manila.

The Aliwan Fiesta is the national grand competition of festivals featuring the country’s best festival contingents vying for the P1M top prize and bragging rights. Previous Aliwan Fiesta competitors included the Pamulinawen Festival of Laoag City, Bonok Bonok Marajaw Karajaw of Surigao City, Diyandi Festival of Iligan, Sinulog Festival of Cebu, Masskara Festival of Bacolod City, Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo City, Tultugan Festival of Maasin, Iloilo Halad Festival of Pigcawayan North Cotabato, Kadayawan Festival of Davao City and the Pintaflores Festival of San Carlos City, among others.

The 250-odd man Buyogan Festival contingent, loaded in 5 buses, motored all the way from Abuyog, Leyte to Metro-Manila. They have practiced for months on end, and now it’s D Day. They represent Eastern Visayas (Region 8), together with another contingent, the Alikaraw Festival of Hilongos - 3-time winner in the Leyte Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival.

The Aliwan streetdance competition starts at 4PM at the Quirino Grandstand and ends at the Aliw Theater, beside the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Here’s a preview of the Buyogan Festival during one of their tedious rehearsals…

View the full gallery here…

I have to ask for everyone’s indulgence for not being able to post anything new for the past week. I hope with this post, I’d be able to make up for it.

I was away on a 6-day arduous trip that brought me and friends to the remote city of Bislig in Surigao del Sur. It involved taking the van from Tacloban to Ormoc, then a slow boat to Cebu, then taking the plane to Davao and finally a 5-hour bus trip (2 hours of which was a jack hammer ride thru very rough roads) deep into the forest heartland of PICOP or Paper Industries Corporation’s vast logging concession - at one time reputedly known as one of Asia’s biggest timber and paper mills.

Located at the southeastern coast of Mindanao facing the Pacific Ocean, Bislig is 158 kms south of Butuan, 152 kms south of Tandag City - the capital of Surigao del Sur, and 208 kilometers northeast of Davao City.

It was a long trip but worth the taking. If only for the fact that I was able to personally see and shoot one of the best, if not the best, but lesser known waterfalls of the country - the Tinuy-an Falls in Brgy. Burboanan, Bislig City.

It is but normal for one to be struck speechless and amazed when one sees for the first time the Tinuy-an Falls - definitely THE grandest and most majestic waterfalls I’ve ever seen. It’s not an overstatement, certainly not an attempt to throw in hype to its moniker, which is the “Little Niagara Falls of the Philippines.”

Simply stunning and magnificent.

Tinuy-an Falls is a spectacular multi-tiered falls, three levels of which can easily be seen while a fourth one is hidden from view. It rises majestically to a height of a four-story building and a breathtaking width of 95 meters - said to be the widest in the country. It is nestled in a tropical rainforest with towering, century-old trees and exotic flora and fauna surrounding it.

Even now as I look at these photos, I can still imagine and hear the thundering sound it makes and feel the mist hitting my face.

Whew! Truly grand!

There was a day-shy of a full moon over Tacloban City the other evening. Just as we stepped out of the SMED Center in the early evening dusk, I saw the large, white moon. I momentarily tried to observe if it was turning into orange or yellow, but no, it wasn’t. As we were in a hurry, I just was able to take the shots shown below.

I’m sure many of you (me included) have tried photographing the moon with a point & shoot camera and ending up with a roundish white speck in the middle of the sky that doesn’t look anything like the moon!

Moon photography is not quite simple as it seems. Try to google “moon photography” in the internet and you’ll see a lot of sites offering tips and tons of technical advise on how to shoot it. There’s even a site which would tell you ALL the technical settings for your camere for a particular time and date and your location on Earth!

Being the brightest object in the night sky, the moon is not an easy subject to photograph. What makes it difficult is the fact that it is a sun-lit object and the fact that it’s pretty far away.

During the non-digital era of film, great photographs of landscapes showing the glorious moon often involved double-exposures - first of the evening landscape then later of the moon alone. Magic is done in the dark room.

As I was in a rush, I was unable to properly take a landscape nightshot of the vicinity with the moon. No doubt that has been added to my growing list of photography to-do’s.

R. Zamora Linmark of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (06/27/2006) has cited Marianne Villanueva as “one of the most important Filipino short-story writers working in the English language today.”

Karen Ann Liquete wrote in “A Writer’s Tale” (The Manila Bulletin On-line, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007):

“Born and raised in Manila, she (Marianne Villanueva) now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and teaches creative writing and literature at Foothill College, Notre Dame de Namur University, and UCLA Extension.

“Her critically acclaimed first collection of short fiction, Ginseng and Other Tales from Manila (Calyx Books 1991) was short-listed for the Philippines’ National Book Award. Her story, Silence, first published in the Threepenny Review, was short-listed for the 1999 O. Henry Literature Prize.”

San Francisco Bay Area’s Hyphen Magazine has written an interview feature of her, “Introducing: The WRITE Questions for Marianne Villanueva.”

Part of this interview reads:

Hyphen Magazine: What blogs/websites do you frequent?

Marianne Villaueva:

<snip> * I like looking at Gerry Ruiz’s photoblog. As far as I can make out, he’s a photographer based in Tacloban City in the Philippines, and he always posts pictures of such interesting places. <snip>

I was totally floored.

Very flattering.

And to think that I don’t even know her!

Thanks a lot, Marianne. I will be on the lookout for your book, “Mayor of the Roses.”

Read the full interview here.

Here’s the latest perspective drawing of the proposed Balyuan Amphitheater Roof Project, the soon-to-be latest landmark in Tacloban City, at night.

Proposed by the newly-appointed Tacloban City Architect Danny Fuentebella, the structure’s roof would be made of “tension fabric membrane” made in France similar to that used in the new Beijing International Airport and can withstand winds up to 180kph.

It would be illuminated at night like a huge lantern, with lighting fixtures from Belgium, something Taclobanons can all be proud of - a new landmark for the city!

Architect Danny says construction has started and that the venue would be ready for the Tacloban Fiesta activities June 28 & 29, 2008.

A giant billboard has been put up at the Robinsons Place Tacloban site in Marasbaras, Tacloban City.

Here’s what it shows:

Photos taken today, April 15, 2008.

The following is quoted from the official disclosure filed by Robinsons Land Corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission:

RLC TO BUILD FIRST MIXED-USE PROJECT IN EASTERN VISAYAS. PROJECT TO INCLUDE SHOPPING MALL & CALL CENTER IN A 4-HECTARE PROPERTY

Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) recently unveiled its latest provincial mall
project in Tacloban City, Robinsons Tacloban, which is expected to break ground
by the 1st quarter of 2008 and with a scheduled opening by end of 2008.

The 2-level shopping mall will rise in a 4 hectare property along the National
Highway, Taboan, Marsabaras, Tacloban City, Leyte, the largest province in
Eastern Visayas. “We will be building a full service shopping mall with a gross
floor area of 30,000 square meters. Robinsons Department Store, Robinsons
Supermarket, Robinsons Appliances, Handyman Do It Best plus 3 cinemas will
be opening side by side with other establishments like food, fashion, & service
outlets to mention a few. Aside from these outlets, we are also welcoming both
national and local retailers to join us in our commercial centers undertaking,”
says Cornelio S. Mapa, Jr, general manager, Robinsons Malls.

Future developments are also expected to rise within the complex grounds which
include a site for a 3 storey call center building, with a 700 seat capacity. For
further information, please contact 6836100, locals 791, 6875681, local 357,
3952177.

source: http://www.pse.org.ph/html/disclosure/pdf/2007/pdf/dc2007-7405_RLC.pdf

View previous posts on Tacloban’s Mall Aspiration:

http://gerryruiz.wordpress.com/2008/02/16/taclobans-mall-aspiration/
http://gerryruiz.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/taclobans-mall-aspiration-update/
http://gerryruiz.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/taclobans-mall-aspiration-update-40908/

Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez has announced plans to rehabilitate the Balyuan Amphitheater in time for its use as the center of activities for the forthcoming city fiesta this June.

Mayor Romualdez said work would start anytime this month.

The rehabilitation is not temporary in nature intended only for this year’s fiesta celebration June 29-30, but more of a permanent one so that the amphitheater could also be used for other purposes.

The mayor didn’t elaborate how he intends to redevelop Balyuan, except to say that the amphitheater would be “covered.”

Could it be that what he had in mind as “cover” would be something like this?

Cheers to all!

Ormoc City, the center of commerce and industry on the western side of Leyte, is known as the first “non-provincial capital city” of the Philippines - meaning, it’s the country’s first municipality which became a city though not a capital of a province.

It is an independent component city not subject to regulation by the provincial government. The city, however, is part of the congressional district IV of Leyte together with the municipalities of Albuera, Kananga, Merida and Isabel.

Here’s the view of Ormoc City from the sea: