German murder suspect enjoys VIP treatment?
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News/Manila Bulletin

BORACAY – Libacao, Aklan Mayor Charito Navarosa is looking into reports that the German suspect in the brutal killing of masseuse Mylene Dela Rosa is enjoying special privileges while in detention at the Boracay Special Tourist Protection Office (BSTPO).
Dela Rosa, 32, of Brgy. Janlud, Libacao, Aklan was found dead at Yapak Beach on March 7. Adolf Christian Westerer, 43, is the prime suspect.
Navarosa said he received reports that Westerer is allowed to drink liquor at the BSTPO.
He said he will check this out with Aklan police director Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, Jr.
“We are waiting for the results of the DNA tests from the National Bureau of Investigation to pin down the prime suspect in the killing,” the mayor said.
Carlito Bernardo, a fisherman, claimed he saw Westerer dragging the body of Dela Rosa in the early morning of March 7.
But he clarified that he never saw how Dela Rosa was killed. The victim had cigarette burns on her breasts and genitals. A softdrink bottle was also shoved into her genitalia, the police said.
Bernado said suspicious-acting persons have been tailing him in Boracay after he tagged the German national as the suspect.

Wanted: tourist-friendly services at Kalibo airport
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

Former Aklan Press Club president Atty. Ronquillo Tolentino (left) shares his views during the weekly Kapihan sa Aklan. With him are Aklan State University president Dr. Benny Palma, ATO Kalibo manager Engr. Percy Malonesio, Philippine Airlines Kalibo Office manager Fernando Bermejo and Aviation Security Group head Chief Insp. Limuel Gasataya/BRZabal

KALIBO, Aklan – Aklan State University (ASU) president Dr. Benny Palma urged the private sector to directly involved in providing tourist-friendly and hospitable services to tourists at the Kalibo international airport.
“The direct flights from other neighboring countries have enriched the cultural and educational heritage of the province. The education system in Aklan is also affected by this new developments considering the influx of tourists from Korea and China,” Palma said during the weekly Kapihan sa Aklan at the Kusina sa Kalibo Restaurant here.
Palma also cited the role of the university and the academe in Aklan in the continuing tourism developments at the Kalibo international airport like the construction of the proposed of the new terminal building and the expansion of the runway.
“We are developing and improving the education tourism curriculum of the university to serve the Asian markets in our cross-educational interface with them,” he added.
Engr. Percy Malonesio, Air Transportation Office (ATO) Kalibo manager, said the Kalibo airport is the 10th international airport in the country classified on February 11, 2008 by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Order 2008-06.
The airport serviced almost 340,000 passengers yearly from the regular flights of Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. It has also regular chartered flights from Incheon, South Korea by the Asian Spirit Airlines, Malonesio said during the weekly forum organized by the Aklan Press Club, Inc. in cooperation with the Aklan Media Forum and the Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc.
Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores stressed the Kalibo airport will start its construction for a new terminal building next week with initial budget of P80-million.
He said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has promised to improve the facilities to complement with the efforts of the national government in enhancing Boracay Island as the country’s premier beach destination.
”We are ready to serve the tourists of Boracay Island once the new international standard facilities operate in Kalibo airport. The airport runway will have expansion to accommodate wide-bodied aircrafts of international airlines,” he said.
APC president Dr. Ambrosio Villorente, former Aklan solon Allen Salas-Quimpo and former Aklan Vice Gov. Ronquillo Tolentino also graced the regular Kapihan sa Aklan.

Resort operator sees more of what Boracay can offer

BY EHDA M. DAGOOC

There’s more to Boracay than just the beaches. Pearl of the Pacific, one of Boracay’s pioneer resort operator find it’s about time to maximize the overall attraction of the island and introduce a new face for this world renowned destination.
Pearl of the Pacific Land Holdings chief operating officer (COO) Marilou Tirol-Sanson said that there is a need to initiate a new comeon for island tourists such as an overall getaway package that will showcase not only the island’s beaches but also highlighting the rich nature of Boracay.
Pearl of the Pacific, which is situated in an eight-hectare property in the premier station 1 side, has commissioned top-notch architect Jun Palafox of Palafox Associates to develop the entire eight-hectare property to start up a wholesome destination facility that will attract families, and big retreat activities, as well as conventions.
“We would like to introduce a holistic approach, to enjoy the real beauty of Boracay, because the island does not only have fantastic beach, but also nature,” Sanson said.
In an interview with Sanson, she said that her family, together with the leadership of her husband Gregg Sanson is going to put up additional attractions in the island, including an establishment of tourism oriented complex, putting up integrated facilities that would attract families, spiritual get-away activities, among others.
A total wellness facility will be introduced by the company to sustain the attractiveness of the island at the same time downplaying the impression that Boracay has become overcrowded and a commercially-abused destination.
At present, Pearl of the Pacific has 63 resort rooms, and its currently applying for a triple-A qualification by the Department of Tourism (DOT). The company is also working on providing additional suite accommodation.
“We have been here from the start, at the time when Boracay still has no electricity. We will strive to sustain and preserve the beauty of the island,” said Sanson, whose family owns a large part of the island.
She said Pearl of the Pacific is only responding to the call of DOT chief Joseph Ace Durano that the island lacks facilities that would accommodate big groups for convention.
This tiny, butterfly-shaped island at the northwestern tip of Panay in Western Visayas, which is considered as the tourism-jewel of the Visayas is now faced with several issues such as overcrowding, environmental threat among others.
Sanson said these issues have bothered the original stakeholders and that the private sector is now working with the government to save the island from commercial abuse.
She added that with the help of the Boracay Foundation, stakeholders, especially the original resort operators on Island is now moving towards pressuring the local government unit (LGU) to lay out plans in anticipation of more resort and commercial outlet establishments.
The entry of big-ticket investments on the Island, such as the opening of Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort & Spa as well as other big hotel/resort chains is seen to strengthen the international promotion of Boracay.
“The entry of Shangri-La is good for the island,” she said adding that this means greater exposure to international market. In turn, the entire tourism industry of Boracay will be benefited.
This will also improve the level of services and accommodation currently offered by existing resort and restaurant players, as competition has becoming stiffer.

Kalibo tops 1st class municipalities in Western Visayas
BY VENUS G. VILLANUEVA

KALIBO, Aklan - The municipality of Kalibo is the number 1 first class municipality in Western Visayas, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) here.
Nelia Demalata, OIC Revenue District Officer said that although there are at least 8 first class municipalities in Western Visayas as classified by the BIR, Kalibo, the capital town of Aklan, tops the list.
She bared this information during the recent Pulong Pulong organized by BIR-Aklan for Kalibo's business community to brief the participants on computing and charging the right amount of taxes of services rendered or products sold by their establishments.
Demalata said that for a municipality to be classified as 1st class, it has to have an average annual income of more than P50 million. Second class municipalities must have an income of less that P50 million but above P40 million, and third class, less than P40 million.
Along with Kalibo, other first class municipalities in the region include Tapaz in Capiz, Calinog, Iloilo, Janiuay, Iloilo, Oton, Iloilo, Pototan, Iloilo, San Jose and Sibalom in Antique.
Demalata revealed however, that business establishments who fail to register with the BIR will have to pay penalties with varying amounts depending on their municipality's classification. Establishments from first class municipalities will shell out P10,000.00 fine; second class, P5,000.00; and 3rd class, P2,000.00.
Establishments from the cities will pay a penalty of P20,000.00 each.
At the Pulong-Pulong, Demalata appealed to the Aklanons to pay correct taxes on time.
"Paying correct taxes on time is our best expression of our love of country. The taxes we pay will also come back to us through the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of our province, which will be spent to build schools, for salaries of teachers, and for other vital government services," Demalata said.

NIA to aid farmers' 3rd cropping, will irrigate 950 hectares riceland in Aklan
BY VENUS G. VILLANUEVA

BANGA, Aklan - Heeding the call of the national government to increase rice production and farmers' income, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in Linabuan Sur, Banga, Aklan recently committed to assist Aklan farmers in 12 municipalities here who will adopt the 3rd cropping planting activities.
According to Engr. Raquel Reontoy, Information Officer-Designate of NIA-Aklan, some 950 hectares of riceland in Aklan had been identified by NIA to be assisted during the third cropping season starting this calendar year.
Assisting Aklan's rice farmers in their 3rd rice cropping venture by providing sufficient irrigation water, according to NIA-Aklan, are the Aklan River Irrigation East and West Side System, the Panakuyan River Irrigation System in Ibajay, and communal irrigation systems in Tangalan, Malinao, Makato, Ibajay, Balete, Nabas, Buruanga and Libacao.
The East Side of the Aklan River Irrigation System will take care of water needs of rice farms in Linabuan Sur, Banga and in New Washington, while the West Side will supply the needs of three barangays of Lezo. Lezo has the biggest area of riceland which will be assisted by the NIA this cropping season, with a total of 22l hectares.
Presently, the 3rd cropping planting activities had been started already in some 130 hectares in the municipality of Ibajay covering Barangays Unat, Bagacay, Agdugayan, part of Maloco and part of Capilihan through the Panakuyan River Irrigation System, according to NIA-Aklan. Under the communal irrigation system, planting activities had been started on some 270 hectares of riceland too.
NIA's assistance to rice farmers this third cropping season is very significant with the onset of the dry season bringing extreme heat in its wake, which could affect the rice farms' productivity.
Coincidentally, rice breeders are now developing heat-resistant rice that can withstand higher temperature arising from climate change and still give a satisfactory yield of four to five metric tons (MT) per hectare.
Department of Agriculture-attached Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-Philrice) started since last year testing of 56 rice varieties identified to have heat tolerance. These varieties originated from warmer climate in Pakistan, Iran, and West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA).
According to Norvie L. Manigbas, chief science research specialist at Philrice's plant breeding and biotechnology division, the breeders' objective is to find varieties that can grow well beyond 35 degrees centigrade while the optimal temperature for rice growing in the Philippines is between a much lower 20-35 degrees.
Manigbas noted that the discovery of heat-resistant rice varieties will be crucial especially as the inter-government Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that temperature will increase by 1.1 to 6.4 degrees during the next century.

An Open Letter So that the People will Know

Greetings from Ibajay, Aklan!
Of late, I was surprised with what I read in the papers on the pending status of CARP, its imminent end and how people perceived its implementation.
I am Cecile M. Maquirang, a granddaughter of an Agrarian Reform Beneficiary from Unat, Ibajay, Aklan. I am 23 years old, single, and graduated Cum Laude, in Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Major in Agricultural Economics from the Aklan State University last 2007. I was able to finish my degree through a full scholarship from the Department of Agrarian Reform under the President Diosdado Macapagal Agrarian Scholarship Program (PDMASP). Last year too, through hard work, perseverance and God’s grace, I was able to pass the Licensure Examination for Agriculture hence, I am a full-pledged agriculturist.
For the last six months, I worked as a trainee/ Enterprise Development Officer of an NGO in the province and I am enjoying the challenges related to the job. It also gives me more opportunities to see and directly work with the farmers in various communities of Aklan. I truly aspire for a fulltime job as an agriculturist and entrepreneur in the near future and hopefully, I can give what I have learned especially as a direct beneficiary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in Aklan. What CARP bestowed upon us PDMASP scholars is like what our mentors kept saying that goes: “You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you.”
To anyone who reads this, I feel the need to share what CARP has concretely brought to my family’s life and today, I feel we have reached the full circle. Coming from peasant roots, my father Felicito (62) and mother Nancita (59) are farmers all their lives. They are tilling the land (1,186 sq.m.) awarded to their mother for agricultural production specifically vegetable and rice. My hardworking parents also raise Mallard ducks for eggs production as additional farm income. My three siblings, John (28), Amie (28), and Norberto (13) were taught by my parents the dignity of farming as a form of labour because farmers feed the people. The potentials of providing food for the people is the most inspiring and practical job one can find.
I believe what CARP has brought for me, as a direct beneficiary, and to my family who had been tillers of the land they own can also be felt by my community as our municipality had been recipients of various infrastructure projects that aids in improving farm efficiency and increasing the productivity of our farms. The Ibajay Upland Agrarian Reform Community which is right next to our barangay is now a new community having opened its “doors” to the entire world. A once remote upland village where insurgency breeds is now paved by almost six kms of roads and is traversed by motorcycles and jeepneys. Before, these remote barangays can only be reached by hiking and it was next to impossible to build roads as mountains and boulders abound. In one part of the ARC, a potable water system was provided and today, households enjoy safe drinking water in the area. The residents were also trained to provide technical services in plumbing through the TESDA. I learned from DAR-Aklan that the total institutional and agricultural support to the ARC alone in the form of roads, irrigation, post harvest facilities and the Level II water supply including the trainings sums up to more than P48 Million. Hence, with CARP, nothing is impossible. . . .
Our community in Ibajay is not without sceptics and I can also laugh out loud in recalling an incident where during a community consultation, and while people were raising their concerns on proposed projects, a man challenged the facilitators and swore to have his head cut off if the proposed irrigation project can be fully implemented. Today, one of the best irrigation projects in the province runs through our community, and we have yet to see the head of that cynic though.
When we graduated from College last year, the 17 (PDMASP scholars) of us were so inspired and raring to do our share in giving back what we had as taking from the data of DAR-Aklan, we are the lucky ones from among the 18,000 beneficiaries of CARP in the province. Indeed, I agree we are among the privileged….we had the best scholarship program in the college in terms of benefits and support from the DAR personnel.
Today, I truly feel disheartened as again, like the man who offered to be beheaded only to prove that the project can never be realized, sceptics in our country are one in saying that CARP was no good, it’s “palpak” as one landlord Senator said.
What about us? Don’t we deserve to be heard? Are not our families and communities concrete manifestations that indeed, CARP touched our lives, in fact, for this one ordinary girl, CARP had changed my life and I am truly grateful for this opportunity. I might be a single voice in this call but for our family and the rest of the beneficiaries, we need to extend CARP only to sustain and defend the gains which our families and other beneficiaries enjoy.
Thank you for reading my piece. For whatever this is worth, I am forever grateful to CARP and the Department of Agrarian Reform in Aklan.
Saeamat nga abo.

Very truly yours,

Cecile M. Maquirang
Agriculturist

Boracay tour cost cut in half, thanks to airfare war
BY RODERICK DELA CRUZ

TRAVELERS are benefitting from a tourism boom that has sparked a fare war among the five airlines, including the two legacy carriers, servicing the country’s domestic routes.
Also benefitting from the fare war are some of the more popular destinations for tourists such as Caticlan in Aklan, Cebu and Davao.
As the tourist season reaches its peak in the country, several travel agencies are offering Boracay travel packages at a range of P10,000 to P15,000 per head, or just half of what it used to cost tourists several years ago.
A package includes a roundtrip airfare, roundtrip land transfers, two-night room accommodation, and daily breakfast at the world-famous resort island.
More than 600,000 tourists visited Boracay last year, and this number is expected to increase this year with the addition of new flights to Caticlan, the nearest airport to the world-famous tourist destination.
The Tourism Department said four airlines were now serving the Manila-Caticlan route, with South East Asian Airlines providing the lowest one-way airfare of P2,890 followed by Air Philippines with P3,588, Asian Spirit with P3,599, and Cebu Pacific with P3,962.
Airfares for the Manila-Cebu service now range from P3,000 to P4,000, down from P4,000 to P5,000, while tickets for Manila-Davao flights are priced at P3,000 to P5,000 now from P5,000 to P7,000.
As of March 2008, the top five domestic carriers had 2,493 weekly flights with a combined seat capacity of 295,266.
Cebu Pacific had the most weekly flights at 876, with a total seat capacity of 122,996 or 41.7 percent of all seats.
It was followed by Philippine Airlines with 566 weekly flights and 101,820 seats, or 34.5 percent of the market, and Air Philippines with 380 flights and 44,368 seats, or 15 percent.
Together, PAL and Air Philippines, both owned by Lucio Tan, had a combined total of 146,188 seats or 49.5 percent.
Asian Spirit had 318 weekly flights and 17,368 seats, or 5.9 percent of the market, while South East Asian Airlines had 353 weekly flights and 8,714 seats, or 3 percent of the market.
Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said the growth in Philippine tourism had spawned new opportunities for expansion in the air transport sector and hospitality industry that now employed thousands.

Aklanon designer carves his name in int'l fashion
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

KALIBO, Aklan – London-based Lesley Mobo was the featured fashion designer of Ayala Group of Companies multi-event, “Bravo Filipino-Ayala's Tribute to Filipino Artistry” on March 27 at the Gallery of Greenbelt 5.
The event, a brainchild of Ayala chairman emeritus Jaime Zobel de Ayala, a fusion of classic works, and contemporary and modern pieces in Philippine art, music, and fashion with a special preview of the Matavanero 40-piece collection of Mobo.
Lesley, 30, a native of Aklan, finished Biology at the Far Eastern University and took his Bachelor of Arts in Fashion specializing in Womenswear with First Class Degree in 2002 and completed MA in Fashion with distinction in 2004 at the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London.
He was the recipient of the Emilio Pucci and Diesel Awards in Italy in 2004. He also designed a sold out capsule collection called Lesley Mobo by Diesel, which was manufactured and sold by Diesel in its flagship stores in Paris, New York, London, Milan, Berlin, Antwerp, and Tokyo in 2005.
His works appeared in numerous publications in Europe and the United States, such as The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Sunday Telegraph, I.D. Magazine, Vogue, Another Magazine, and other international magazines.
Mobo is currently the senior designer for the Jasmine Di Milo brand sold at Harrods in England. He was the 2004 winner of the International Talent Support festival, a leading competition among young designers.
He was among eight noteworthy designers from around the globe tapped for the “1879 Collection,” the third installment of Absolut’s groundbreaking fashion project, Absolut Label.
Bravo Filipino is supported by Ayala Corporation, Ayala Foundation, Ayala Land, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe, Honda Cars Makati, Integrated Microelectronics, Isuzu Automative Dealership and Manila Water.

Destination: Tirta Spa

Tirta Spa in Sitio Malabunot, Manoc-Manoc, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan celebrates its first anniversary on April 8, 2008 with the theme: Paving the way to the Path of Wellness.” at a thanksgiving reception at its lobby starting at 4 p.m.
Perched atop a hill overlooking Crocodile Island and the Sibuyan Sea, Tirta Spa combines world-class comforts with rustic charm.
Its name is derived from the Hindu word for holy water: Tirta, Consequently Tirta spa focuses on the art of cleansing oneself, through the spiritual healing powers of water, from negativity to the achievement of a whole new sense of wellness and a higher level of tranquility.
The brainchild of proprietor & Spa Director En Acuna Calvert, Tirta Spa is the culmiation of years of research and extensive travel. En recalls that her interest in spa dates back to her youth when she enjoyed visiting spas around the world for their therapeutic benefits.

Deciding to commit to becoming more holistic, to improve her quality of life as well as that of others, in 2001, she enrolled in a college in Hong Kong, graduating with diplomas in Physiiology, Anatomy and Holistic Massage techniques.

She subsequently was certified by both ITEC (International Therapy Examination Council) and CIBTAC (Confederation of International Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology), the world’s two most respected bodies in their respective fields. To equip her to manage a spa, she studied at the International Spa and Beauty College, affiliated with a parent school in London.
If all these preparations weren’t enough, En Calvert traveled to different countries to learn other treatments and to experience various high-ends spas with the aim of developing her holistic principles. Worthy of mention are her trips to Sedona, Arizona for a re­treat organized by world renowned aro­matherapist Michael Scholes, her stint in Kerala, India, where she learned about Ayurvedic medicine practices, her visit to Cape Town, Africa, a recognized center for holistic treatments where she studied crystal healing and Reiki, and her Hawaii visit to study hot lava stone therapy.
In June 2005, having accumulated sufficient knowledge and experience to be in a position to share their benefits with others, she deemed it time to start construction of Tirta Spa.
As a result of her retreat in the Hima­layas, at the source of the Ganges River, she had become keenly aware of the benefits of spiritual healing, which she hoped guests at Tirta Spa would experience.
The moment one enters Tirta Spa, a gong sounds, not only to announce a guest’s arrival, but also to ward off negative energy: Koi carp ponds with their colors and gentle rhythm, add to the serenity of this holistic retreat.
The spa’s architecture, drawing ins­pi­ra­tion from a blend of diverse Asian cultures—Balinese, Thai, Filipino and Indian—will calm the restless spirit. The interiors, from the furniture, drapes, and fixtures to the various Buddhist sculp­tures complete the spiritually ground­ed, paradise open to all Tirta Spa guests.
Tirta Spa offers a wide spectrum of treatments, including a variety of massages, using high quality blended oils, holistic body wraps and scrubs, luxurious facials from Germany, all based on aromathe­rapy, as well as the ancient Filipino therapeutic Massage, Hilot, which En and her therapists have studied extensively.
All treatments, held in any of the three Royal Suites Villas (each includes a private bathroom, an outdoor cabana bathtub, vichy shower and features a Koi carp pond) and the two outdoor Thai pavilions, start with the “grounding ceremony”, a delightful footbath and massage with rich organic cream.

The studied ritual of massaging body muscles in soft, gentle strokes lulls one to sleep and lessens one’s stresses. The therapies last for at least 90 minutes to as long as four hours.
Tirta Spa generally caters to a high-clientele composed of local tourists, balikbayans, Americans, Europeans, Australians, Singa­poreans, Taiwanese and Hong Kong residents, but welcomes everyone in need of relaxation and rejuvenation. It is open from 9 a.m. to midnight, daily.
Tirta Spa’s global standard of service has indeed paid off for her enterprising energetic en Calvert, who may yet achieve the goal of making Tirta Spa a definite Philippine Tourist destination in the foreseeable future.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
By Marit Stinus-Remonde

Boracay and Aklan: Two opposites

MOSTLY known for Boracay, the ultimate tourist paradise, the Province of Aklan is actually a very rural place. Palay was laid out on the road for drying during a recent visit. Farm activities are evident everywhere. Aklan is known for its fine handicrafts and gift items made from natural materials, the piña cloth being the most famous.
However, Aklan does have its share of problems. About 40% of families are reportedly living below the official poverty threshold. Bag-ong Barrio is a barangay with only 87 families. Located in the hinterlands of Makato, Aklan, the village until recently didn’t have a water system. Residents had to walk far to fetch potable water. There are only two CRs (restrooms) in Bag-ong Barrio. The village isn’t connected to the electric grid. The elementary school, already short on classrooms, lost its roof to a recent typhoon. I was told that parents have to enroll their children in other barangays. Disputes are reportedly settled by the barrel of a gun—carrying guns or other types of firearms and displaying these publicly—is common in this farflung formerly rebel-infested barangay.
About 91% of the mangrove cover in the area known as Batan Bay and Tinagong Dagat has disappeared since 1953, a study found. The sea water is now eating up some of the islets in the area. One of the causes of mangrove deforestation is the proliferation of fish ponds. Many of these, I was told, are owned by local politicians. Mangrove reforestation efforts began last year to reverse the trend.
These efforts are spearheaded by the local governments, the local fisherfolks and Developers Foundation, a local NGO.
Developers, while being a traditional NGO with foreign funding sources, has embarked on commercial hog raising to become financially independent from its donors. A couple of years ago, the NGO borrowed money from Quedancor to buy sows for its hog raising project.
Like other borrowers, Developers was required to get the sows from a certain livestock supplier identified by Quedancor. Under the agreement, the livestock supplier would also provide the feeds and technical assistance including veterinary services.
However, Developers Foundation had signed a bad deal. The quality of the sows supplied was poor. The feeds were often delayed. The pigs got sick. Employees of the supplier complained that they were not receiving their salaries and some allegedly stole the feeds in order to at least get a little compensation for their efforts. Eventually, Developers decided to terminate the agreement and returned all the sows—some of them pregnant—to the livestock supplier, the equivalent of repaying the loan in full.
Other hog raisers stuck to the agreement—and even when feeds were no longer delivered, and the quality of veterinary services questionable, these borrowers were still liable to repay their loans to Quedancor. To recover at least some cash and minimize their losses, the borrowers sold their stocks en masse, bringing to an alltime low the local price of pork.
Quedancor allegedly lost more than P1 billion on the project and the Commission on Audit is said to be investigating how the agency could pick an exclusive livestock supplier that wasn’t capable of providing the quality of sows and services that were required in order for the borrowers to repay their loans.
A short boat ride from mainland Aklan takes one from piggeries and other images of rural Aklan to a completely different world, to Boracay. It was my first time to visit this famous island and it definitely won’t be the last. I saw only a small piece of Boracay, but enough to understand why this place is such a magnet to travelers.
The cool, fine sand, the sailing boats with their colorful sails, the sun-tanned people in their beach wear and henna tattoos, the variety of restaurants, bars and shops, the kids playing soccer in the sand (the Kiwanis Club of Boracay sponsors an annual soccer tournament for boys and girls from seven local schools). It was just a different experience, a different atmosphere, and it was fun. The spell was only broken by the noisy engine of the tricycle that brought my companion and me back to the pier—and back to reality. Yes, we were still in the Philippines. (ManilaTimes)

Kalibo Bishop urges tri-media to work for truth, public interest
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

KALIBO, Aklan – Kalibo Bishop Jose Romeo Lazo urged the Aklan tri-media practitioners to do their share in the service of truth and public interest.

Speaking at the testimonial dinner of the Aklan Press Club, Inc. and the Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc., Lazo pointed out, “the Church condemns the use of violence against newmen or against anyone in any way involved in the passing on of news.”

“All men of goodwill are compelled to work together to ensure that the media of communication contributes to the pursuit of truth and the speeding of progress,” he said.

Lazo said there has been a decline of moral standards in many areas of life, that are of profound concern to all honest men and women.

“Today more than ever, we just have to believe that God is very much present in the situation in our country. The communication media can do their share and other sectors of our society. It is not a hopeless case,” Lazo stressed.

The communicators must give news that is quick, complete and comprehensible in the service of truth, the dignity of man and public interest, he said.

Kalibo mayor Raymar Rebaldo, National Press Club president Roy Mabasa, former vice governor Ronquillo Tolentino, Candaba mayor Jerry Pelayo, APC president Dr. Ambrosio Villorente and PAPI president Juan P. Dayang also graced the event.

A different Boracay trip
BY WINNIE VELASQUEZ

You’re in for a totally new experience once you enter the lobby of Boracay Tropics. The friendly staff hands you a welcome drink – the Cucumber Slush, an invigorating combination of cucumber and mango – that sets the tone for your stay. Next stop is the sumptuous buffet of the best of Oriental and western cuisine at the TropiCafé restaurant.
Set amid lush tropical gardens, Boracay Tropics on Station 2, rated triple A by the Department of Tourism, was designed to give guests privacy and a respite from the crowds and the noise on the beachfront especially during peak seasons. But even as it gives guests that much needed breathing space, the famous white beach is only a few minutes walk from the property.
Two three-story buildings blending Mediterranean and Asian architecture enclose the huge bean-shaped pool and the lush gardens. Most of the guestrooms have balconies overlooking the pool.
Media guests who were flown to Boracay on the newly opened Cebu Pacific Manila-Caticlan route, were given a taste of what the other side of Boracay has to offer. Tired of the usual sand and surf fare that a trip to Boracay entails, the group plunged into the adventure package that Boracay Tropics arranged.
The highlight of the first day was an in-land island tour on board the resort’s multi-cab. Then, driving all-terrain vehicles through bumpy and rough trails, the media group headed to Mount Luho, the highest point on the island. Rain pelted us and cold winds buffeted us but we stayed on the lookout and took photographs of the surrounding island.
Dinner was a sumptuous affair at TropiCafé and entertainment was provided by fire dancers and a band. The resort’s owners also brought to Boracay Tropics beachfront activities such as henna tattooing and braiding as well as trinkets and colorful shawls that are sold on the beach.
Water sports took up most of our time the next day. The morning was devoted to reef walking, snorkeling and island-hopping. Reef-walking was a heady experience for the braver members of the group. A boat brought them to the center of the sea; after donning a helmet that was connected to an oxygen source on the boat, they were lowered to the sea where they "eye-balled" marine life and enjoyed a close view of the corals.

Next stop was Crystal Cove with its two underground caves. Strong winds lashed at the caves and giant waves crashed on the boulders but these did not stop the media group from, what else, taking those obligatory snapshots and "we were there" photos.
The high point of the afternoon was parasailing and jet-skiing. In groups of three, the group took to the skies and "got closer to heaven" as one of us liked to describe the experience.
As dusk fell, the hungry horde trooped back to Boracay Tropics and another gustatory feast. After dinner, some members of the group headed for the KTV room while the others had a massage in their rooms. A health spa and nail salon also provided more pampering.
While Boracay Tropics allows guests the supreme luxury of leaving work behind and basking in the lush tropical haven, it also takes care of the needs of those who can’t avoid attending to business concerns. The resort has seminar facilities designed for small or big events and venues that can accommodate 150 people. Free WIFI service is also available in most areas of the resort.

Roxas visits Aklan for NVC, Aklan State U graduation ceremonies

KALIBO, Aklan - Senator Mar Roxas spoke to students during the graduation ceremonies of two notable universities in the province, to share with them his life lessons.
"As much as college education has equipped our graduates with the skills for their respective fields, I believe the most important skills will come about in the real world, such as the ability to think on your feet, or diskarte," he said, in urging the graduates to continue be open to learning new things.
"We have to cast off the attitude that the only things we have to learn are the ones we think we'd need. But life constantly offers new challenges for us, constantly surprises us with things that we haven't yet learned how to deal with. Without the ability to learn how to learn - kung walang diskarte - we'd easily be left behind," he added.
Roxas arrived in Kalibo Airport where he directly proceeded to the Northwestern Visayan Colleges in Kalibo, Aklan for the graduation of about 100 students.
Also attending the graduation ceremonies were about 1,000 friends and relatives of the graduates, and other guests such as Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez, Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores and Kalibo Mayor Raymar Rebaldo.
In the afternoon, he attended the Aklan State University Commencement Exercises for Post-Graduate, Graduate and Baccalaureate Programs in Banga, Aklan. About 300 graduates were present, along with around 1,500 guests.
Roxas noted how in the present education system, only one of five elementary students are able to graduate from college, which he said during the graduation of the NVC students a greater accomplishment.
He stressed it was important for graduates "to do what you love," saying "the good jobs are those that require imagination, and most of all, passion. These are the jobs that can be done only by people who love what they do."
In order to know what to do, he said, it was important for the graduates to be true to themselves. "Sabi nu'ng commercial: Magpakatotoo ka. Know your capabilities, and do everything you can to succeed according to those capabilities."
"If one's assumptions are not grounded in reality, then that journey can go off in all sorts of directions. Hindi mo maloloko ang sarili mo. You can't lie to yourself," he said.

Tougher security procedures needed at Kalibo airport
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Manila Bulletin/Panay News

KALIBO, Aklan – Tougher security procedures at the Kalibo airport is needed, according to Chief Insp. Limuel Gasataya, head of the airport security.
The Kalibo airport must have more airport security personnel and workers to ensure the safety of passengers, he stressed.
“There are two baggage scanners manned by three security personnel. It is necessary to deploy more,” Gasataya told Panay News.
Cong. Florencio Miraflores earlier said the national government has allocated P80 million for the construction of a new terminal building to accommodate tourists and visitors.
Gasataya said the wide-ranging security measures must also include the installation of sophisticated passenger and baggage-screening systems once the new terminal building is operational.
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza signed an order on March 5 upgrading Kalibo airport into an international airport to attract more international flights. The airport is a gateway to the island of Boracay.
The Kalibo airport is serviced by the international flights of Asian Spirit Airlines from Incheon South Korean, and regular domestic flights from Cebu Pacific and the Philippine Airlines covering the Manila-Kalibo and Cebu-Kalibo routes.
Miraflores said the construction of the new terminal building begins next month. It would be adjacent to the old terminal building.

BOMBO BOY, AGONG ROLAND COURT HEARINGS
DOJ, NPC favors Iloilo City instead of Cebu
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL /Panay News

KALIBO, Aklan – Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor is considering the transfer of murder cases of Rolando Ureta and Heherson Hinolan from Cebu to Iloilo City despite the decision of the Supreme Court.

The high court ordered on March 18 the transfer of the hearing from Kalibo to Cebu following the petition of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) citing safety concerns of the victim’s families.

Blancaflor heads Task Force 211 created by President Gloria Arroyo to conduct an expanded probe on all unsolved political killings including those of journalists.

Over Bombo Radyo yesterday, Blancaflor said the transfer of venue from Aklan to Cebu is much practical and normal, but, he will consider Iloilo City as the trial venue due to proximity and convenience of travel of families involved and the accused.

“It is final, in the sense, until we ask for new venue and we are planning to transfer to Iloilo after consultation with the proper parties,” he added.

Blancaflor cited the case of journalist Marlene Esperat of Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat whose case was transferred to Cebu City on concerns that the court hearings might be influenced by the suspects.

Three hired killers of Esperat were sentenced to life imprisonment on October 2006 while the alleged masterminds were served warrant of arrests by authorities.

On February 5, 2008, the Freedom for Filipino Journalists, Inc. -- a coalition of six media organizations in the country -- requested Chief Justice Reynato Puno to change the venue of the hearing of the Hinolan and Ureta slay cases to the Regional Trial Court of Makati City or Cebu City for a speedy and just trial.

National Press Club (NPC) president Roy Mabasa also called for a transfer of venue to Iloilo City instead of Cebu City to allow the families of Ureta and Hinolan to attend the court hearings near Aklan.Aphrodite, widow of Bombo Boy Hinolan, is staying in Roxas City , Capiz while Emilyn, wife of Agong Roland Ureta is from Kalibo, Aklan.

“If we have new witnesses, the government will shoulder their expenses under the Witness Protection Program during the course of hearings in the designated venue,” Blancaflor stressed.

A new special DOJ state prosecutor is designated to handle the cases of Hinolan and Ureta once the court hearings start on April, he added.

REP. FLORENCIO “JOEBEN” T. MIRAFLORES
‘CARP CHAMPION OF AKLAN’
BY GRACE QUIMPO

KALIBO, Aklan - “For the greater number of Aklanons especially the agrarian reform beneficiaries who have benefited from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program through its physical infrastructure projects worth over P110-million in Aklan, I am 110% endorsing the call for CARP extension beyond 2008.”

These were the pronouncement of Representative Florencio T. Miraflores, lone District of Aklan in his regular radio program over station RGMA DYRU.
Miraflores avers that CARP is a very vital legislation that addresses not only social inequity, but for Aklan, it has manifested its contribution through landmark projects that spell a great difference in the lives of Aklanons.

DAR-Aklan was able to distribute 20,441 hectares of land to 16,294 farmers. Twenty-five farm to market roads spanning 68 kilometers with P 165.70 Million were constructed. Eleven irrigation projects were built serving 2,577 hectares of riceland amounting to P 49.97 Million was also made possible which greatly facilitated the production of the farmers.

Worth noting is the construction of the Timbaban-Sipac Bridges which connected the then isolated town of Madalag worth P 7.2 M. Knowing all these, Miraflores believes more can be done to improve the farmers’ lot by extending CARP. He hopes the 14th Congress can do something to enhance and extend this program.
Miraflores had 16 sterling years of experience as a public servant before he joined the Congress. For eight years, he served as Municipal Mayor in his hometown, Ibajay. In 1995, he won as Governor of the Province of Aklan and during his incumbency (three consecutive years), he forged partnerships with the Department of Agrarian Reform in Aklan steering unprecedented development in the countrysides.

It was during his term that the Province of Aklan rose from a fifth class to second class status. He aggressively pursued various socio-economic projects and programs that promote further the agri-tourism industry of the area.
Miraflores persistently strived to facilitate projects for Aklan’s agrarian reform communities. Projects that lack counterpart from the concerned local government units are readily funded through the representation of the good Congressman.

When he was the Governor, he took to task the agricultural and agrarian concerns of the ARCs as the Honorary Chair of the Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee (PARCCOM). He was always at hand to assist and facilitate resolution of issues affecting CARP, the land owners and the farmer beneficiaries at large.

His stewardship brought to fore the formidable inter-agency partnership that fostered efficient delivery of support services to the farmers.
He publicly lauded the performance of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Aklan and the support it had extended to Aklan so far. In April 2005, then Governor Miraflores conferred the award, Outstanding Government Agency to DAR-Aklan in recognition of DAR-Aklan’s contribution to the Province.

Miraflores believes that more than any government agency and program, the DAR and CARP was able to bring meaningful changes into the lives of Aklanons. He enumerated the laudable infra projects such as roads, bridges and irrigation at the municipalities of Altavas, Ibajay, Madalag, Makato and Malinao.

Also, projects under the regular CARP funds were availed by the municipality of Batan. To date, DAR-Aklan is into the preparation of the Indicative Development plans of the municipalities of New Washington, Malay and Buruanga as forthcoming projects for Aklan from Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project 3 (ARISP 3) funded under Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) worth P40 M per ARC are underway.
Miraflores underscored DAR-Aklan’s sterling performance in the promotion of CARP. The steadfast and loyal friendship/partnership of DAR-Aklan’s PARO Atty. Daniel Y. Martelino, and the Congressman and their effective networking and collaboration with foreign funding agencies, Aklan was able to avail of the much needed support projects to increase productivity and improve the capacity of Aklanon farmers.
While trusting that tourism remains the steady source of revenue for the province, Miraflores maintains that agricultural productivity of the majority of the Aklanon farmers can sustain the much needed requirement to feed the rising demands by tourists.
A cut above the rest, Miraflores is one among the very few representatives in Region VI who continue to espouse the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program after 2008. With his presence in the Congress, Aklanons have the strong voice to heed the call for CARP extension beyond 2008.

Cool minimalism in a Boracay hotel

BY DENNIS LEDAW

When hotelier Annabella Santos-Wisniewski first saw the Boracay property she acquired for her hotel, she discovered it was a piece of land that covered a hilly slope and stretched all the way to the beachfront located at the island’s tranquil Station 1.

"I fell in love with it immediately because its location between slope and sea offered some of the most magnificent views of the island. I certainly thought it would make an ideal location for a hotel," she says.
Wisniewski manages HSAI-Raintree, which operates the Discovery Suites and Discovery Tagaytay Suites. The hotel she eventually built on the parcel of land in Boracay is the Discovery Shores. The setting of the property inspired her to create "an environment of sublime indulgence."
"The beauty of Boracay itself was my only inspiration behind the concept of the resort. Here, the traveler will have a chance to experience modern indulgences in a setting that is pristine and natural," she explains.
Wisnewski hired the designers of W.V. Coscolluela and Associates, who collaborated with Budji Layug and Royal Pineda. The result of this collaboration is an interplay between familiarity and surprise, which is palpable in the hotel’s sleek cosmopolitan architecture. Cantilevered out over a slope, the clusters of vertical lines emphasize endless space and could be at home in a upscale urban community. The open canals meandering through the structures provide a playful counterpoint and an unmistakable resort feel. Against the Boracay skyline, the property cuts like a sleek stencil.
The architects and designers chose to use simple elemental materials such as wood, stone, glass, and cement, all of which are uniquely interpreted in the design of each of the 88 guestrooms. The approach to the guestrooms is open and floating. They’re carefully studied in such a way that every space is maximized effectively. By keeping the space simple and open, the feeling of the room is peaceful and uncluttered.
The rooms were also designed to offer every luxury amenity available to guests, but without making them forget they’re in a lush tropical island resort. The colors and materials chosen for the interiors serve as the reminders. Also, most of the guestrooms overlook either the mini gardens, the hotel’s 14-meter high waterfall, or the sea itself.
The cool, minimalist look of the hotel blends beautifully with the sugar-white sands of the island’s famous beach.
The clean architecture is also a sharp contrast to the gaudy and colorful structures that proliferate the rest of the beachfront of Boracay. Where the rest of the island resembles a venue for rambunctious partying, the look and location of Discovery Shores promises serenity and peace of mind.
In fact, the hotel’s management is wary of hosting major events that might disturb the privacy of guests. Quiet and less rowdy gatherings are preferred - the hotel is ideal for elegant cocktail parties, unprententious barbecue dinners and screenings of classic films like "Casablanca"... right on the beach.

CHED grants permit to Aklan State University review center

BANGA, Aklan - The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) granted the Aklan State University (ASU) permit to operate a Review Center for Teacher Education Program with Permit Number 012, series of 2008 effective February 11, 2008.
The permit is in accordance with the pertinent provisions of Republic Act No. 7722, otherwise known as the "Higher Education Act of 1994" and Executive Order No. 566, directing the CHED to regulate the establishment and operation of review centers and similar entities and pursuant to CHED En Banc Resolution No. 056-2008.
The Permit to Operate a Review Center is valid only for four (4) years and shall be subject to revocation if the University fails to operate in accordance with the CHED Memorandum Order No. 30, s. 2007 entitled "Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations Governing the Establishment and Operation of Review Centers and Similar Entities in the Philippines pursuant to Executive Order No. 566." Further, the Permit shall entitle the University to operate an off-campus center in any part of the country provided all the requirements under aforesaid CMO are fully complied with and after proper evaluation is made by the CHED Regional Office where the off-campus center is located.
According to Dr. Edna I. Gonzales, Dean of the ASU-College of Teacher Education, the schedule of review for the Licensure Examination for Teachers are as follows: May 5-30, 2008 from Monday to Friday and June to August every Saturday. Pre-board exam will be on June 9, 2008. Application starts March 10 to April 28, 2008. For more details please contact the Office of the Dean at telephone no. (036) 267-6813. (ASU-ECS)

Candaba mayor leads guests at opening of Kapihan sa Aklan

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Manila Bulletin

Mayor Jerry Pelayo (right) of Candaba, Pampanga with Kalibo town mayor Raymar Rebaldo in his recent visit in Aklan/GCawaling

KALIBO, Aklan — The mayor of Candaba, Mayor Jerry L. Pelayo, was the guest speaker at the launching of "Kapihan sa Aklan".
He has been credited to be responsible for the booming poultry and egg industry in his town that provides continuing livelihood opportunities for his constituents, and many other Kapampangan-speaking residents making a living out of buying and selling eggs in Pampanga.
He is likeiwse credited for his conservation efforts at the Candaba Swamp Wildlife Reserve.The Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PAPI) organized the weekly forum in cooperation with the Aklan Press Club, Inc. (APCI) and the Aklan Media Forum.
"The innovative and trend-setting media event is not the stereotyped gossipy and sensation-oriented forum. It’s a no-holds-barred roundtable dialogue that seeks to dissect, analyze and interpret events and issues," Said PAPI president Dayang said.
He stressed the Kapehan sa Aklan will form a panel of discussants and reactors and resource persons coming from government, NGOs, civil society, business and other stakeholders.
Pelayo, spokesman for the mayor’s league in Pampanga, also graced the 111th death anniversary of the XIX Martyrs of Aklan and the ground-breaking ceremony of the three-storey Aklan Press Club Building in Veterans Avenue here.
The groundbreaking ceremony was also attended by provincial government officials led Aklan Vice Gov. Gabrielle Calizo, Kalibo mayor Raymar Rebaldo, National Press Club president Roy Mabasa and former APCI president Ronquillo Tolentino.
The proposed Aklan Press Club (APC) building is a monument to the professionalism, dedication and public interests of the mass media in Aklan, said Dayang during the momentous groundbreaking and laying of cornerstone of the P7-million press club building in Veterans Avenue here.
"This was historic for the first time, the club will soon have its own edifice that will serve as a venue for press conferences, seminar-workshops and other training projects. It will have its own library, a coffee shop and other facilities," he said.
Dayang said the building symbolizes the media’s upholding of the sanctity of the constitutionally enshrined freedom of the press.
Dayang, APC chairman emirutus, also thanked Kalibo Bishop Jose Romeo Lazo for his presence during the testimonial dinner at the Gov. Corazon L. Cabagnot Tourism and Training Center.
"His kind presence has accorded us the blessings of the true meaning of Christian faith as we join the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ," he said.

Firm sues DENR for stopping construction of resort in Boracay
BY NESTOR P. BURGOS, JR.

BORACAY - The owner of a multi-million-peso resort and hotel allegedly being built on a wetland on Boracay Island has sued the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for stopping the construction of the property.
In a 49-page petition for declaratory relief filed before the Aklan Regional Trial Court Branch 5 on February 29, the Cebu-based J. King and Sons Company, Inc. sought a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against the DENR's order stopping the construction of the Boracay Crown Regency Hotel and Convention Center.
Named respondents were Environment Secretary Jose "Lito" Atienza Jr., three other DENR officials and the municipality of Malay where Boracay is located.
In its petition, the property owner asked the court to bar the DENR from enforcing a Feb. 11, 2008 notice of adverse findings and cease and desist order against the construction of the hotel and the nullification of these orders.
It also asked the court to rule that the property is not covered by a moratorium on the new construction on the island. The petitioner is also seeking at least P1.5 million in damages and legal fees from the DENR.
But Atienza said they are standing by their decision and orders until ordered otherwise by the courts.
"It's their prerogative (to file a case). But we will continue to conduct a thorough investigation how they were able to secure permits and tax declarations for the area considered a wetland. This is the kind of abuse of the environment that is prevailing in Boracay," Atienza said in a telephone interview.
The 450-room hotel is being constructed in an 11,000-square meter property in Barangay Balabag, one of three villages on the island-resort.
The DENR's Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) last month issued a notice of adverse findings against the hotel for undertaking construction work without an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), which is required for projects perceived to have a negative environmental impact.
The bureau also directed the hotel to halt construction because the property has been identified as a wetland.
The DENR has blamed unregulated development and construction over the island's wetlands as the leading cause of flooding that has plagued the island during continuous rains.
Wetlands are natural deterrents to flooding because they are "storage for surface water," help control wave and coastline erosion, provide habitat to aquatic life, and recharge or replenish water supplies.
The agency has identified 10 areas on the island covering at least 14.59 hectares that were formerly wetlands but have been reclaimed.
But in its petition, the hotel owner disputed the DENR findings that the site of the project is a wetland.
It said the DENR assessment is "totally unwarranted and baseless." The petitioner claimed that the area is not a natural wetland but is being used as a diversion of the overflow coming from a natural wetland located across the property.
But DENR Regional Executive Director Lormelyn Claudio said field investigations and testimonies of long-time residents of the island back up their categorization of the site of the property as a wetland.
The petitioner also questioned the non-issuance of an ECC by the DENR.
The DENR had withheld the issuance of the permit after Atienza in August last year called for a moratorium on new construction projects to stem the environmental degradation of the island brought by decades of unregulated development.
But the hotel owner said in the petition that it was not covered by the moratorium because it applied for an ECC from September to August last year, months before a six-month moratorium on the issuance of permits for new construction projects was implemented on January 2, 2008.
The company said it started the construction of the hotel in November last year after the Municipality of Malay granted building and other permits on Oct 10, 2007.
The DENR is set to file an opposition of the hotel owner's petition, according to lawyer Romeo Mijares, chief of the legal department of the DENR Western Visayas office.

‘Kapihan sa Aklan’ launched
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

KALIBO, Aklan – The Kapihan sa Aklan was formally launched by the Aklan Press Club, Inc. (APCI) in cooperation with the Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc (PAPI) and the Aklan Media Forum.
The forum is apolitical and non-partisan. It only takes side of the truth,” said PAPI President Juan Dayang.
“It is the people’s platform to promote understanding, solidarity and single-mindedness.
The press as a Fourth Estate and as a potent democratic institution has the inherent capability and the desired will to take the lead in marshaling public opinion for the advancement of the common good,” he added.
The weekly forum is a no-holds-barred, uninhibited and free-flowing swapping of views. It aims to gauge public sentiments and feel the real pulse of the people. It will serve as a feedback mechanism for the government to enable it to strengthen the delivery of vital services to the people and forge stronger and closer rapport, Dayang said.
The forum also hopes to discuss, analyze and interpret socio-economic, political and cultural issues and trends within the realm of modern-day realities.
Also present during the launching were Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo, National Press Club President Roy Mabasa, Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez, Vice Gov. Gabrielle Calizo, Philippine Press Institute Isagani Yambot, Aklan State University President Dr. Benny Palma, APC President Dr. Ambrosio Villorente and former Aklan solon Allen S. Quimpo.
“We intend to crystallize, dramatize and address in a forthright manner the bottlenecks that weigh down opportunities for employment, education, banking and finance, investments, tourism, countryside development, peace and order, good governance and other broadly related matters,” Dayang said.
The Kapihan sa Aklan was also organized with the same zeal, passion and dedication displayed by the 19 Martyrs to serve the needs of peace, unity and development, especially in Aklan.

Nations celebrate Easter today
BY BRENDA PIQUERO TUAZON

The Philippines joins other Christian nations in the joy of the Risen Christ today, Easter Sunday.
The somberness of Lent is lifted and Easter Sunday is celebrated with joy by the two billion Christians around the world.
In Jerusalem, where it all happened, thousands of pilgrims and tourists will celebrate with great solemnity after retracing on Good Friday the steps Jesus had taken on His way to Calvary.
At the Vatican in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI in gold and white vestments will lead the world’s 960 million Catholics in the celebration of the traditional Easter Mass while a huge crowd of pilgrims await the papal blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Following the Easter Mass, the Pontiff will light the five-foot-tall Paschal Candle after a procession around St. Peter’s Square. The white and gold Paschal Candle will remain lighted for 40 days until the Feast of the Ascension when Jesus rises to rejoin and sit at the right side of His Heavenly Father.
The Easter rites over, the Holy Father will deliver the traditional papal message "Urbi et Orbi" — to the city of Rome and to the world — which will be beamed live to the world by satellite from St. Peter’s Square. The papal message is an ancient Latin rite to spoken in more than 50 languages, Tagalog included.
In the Philippines, "Salubong" rites at dawn today opened Easter Sunday observance held in church grounds, a colorful performance recalling the first meeting of Jesus and the Blessed Mother hours after the Resurrection.
"Salubong" rites are highlighted by the lifting of the veil covering the face of the Blessed Mother by a little girl, enabling the Blessed Virgin her to see her Risen Son for the first time, since His Crucifixion on Good Friday.
Evangelical Christians likewise welcomed Easter with sunrise services in public plazas and other open spaces, in keeping with an Easter Sunday tradition in many nations of the world.
As the world bursts with jubilation over the Risen Christ, the faithful are reminded to treasure the pain of His suffering while taking comfort in the words of Jesus when He said: "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me shall never die."

Resurrection Sunday is ecclesiastical year’s most important feast
BY CHRISTINA I. HERMOSO

Christendom today celebrates the most important day of the year, the Sunday of the Resurrection of Christ, known in the Philippines as "Pasko ng Pagkabuhay."
"Christ’s Resurrection, the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year, officially ending the 40-day Lenten season, completed the mystery of man’s salvation and redemption. By His death, Christ freed us from sin and by His Resurrection, He restored to us the most important privilege lost by our sin — our own resurrection," church officials said.
Eucharistic celebrations, special services, religious presentations, offerings, and novenas will be held today in celebration of the oldest feast of the Christian Church.
The faithful are encouraged to pray the Divine Mercy novena to ask for God’s mercy as Jesus opened the gates of heaven for mankind. Families are also encouraged to pray together the Easter novena.
In his Easter message, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the need for Christians "to encounter the Risen Christ and to know Him as true God and true man. By His rising, the Lord has not taken away suffering and evil from the world but has vanquished them at their roots by the super abundance of His grace. He has countered the arrogance of evil with the supremacy of His love."
The Pontiff called on the faithful "to pray for peace throughout the world."
The Resurrection of Christ occurred on the third day after His crucifixion and is considered by Catholics as "the heart and soul of Catholicism, the cornerstone upon which faith is built."
Pope Leo I called the Resurrection as "the greatest feast" (festum festorum) and said that Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter.
The main sources that directly attest to Christ’s Resurrection are the four Gospels in the Holy Bible and the epistles of St. Paul. The Risen Christ, before His Ascension, appeared before holy women, including Mary Magdalene, His disciples, and to more than 500 believers.

Church leaders urge death to old ways & rise to new life
BY LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO

As the Christian world celebrates Christ’s resurrection today, Easter Sunday, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales urged the faithful to put an end to their selfish ways.
"Death to our selfish selves. Death to our old ways that we may rise to new life," Rosales said. "Let us all belong to Him that in us Christ will rise again!" he added.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President and Jaro, Iloilo, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo urged the faithful to be living witnesses of Christ’s resurrection.
"Today, the living witnesses of the truth of Christ’s resurrection must be ourselves, shown in the qualities of commitment and hope displayed in our Christian lives. Where Christians follow in the footsteps of Jesus in alleviating from whatever pain and suffering they have, in loving as Jesus loves, there will be no crisis of resurrection faith," he said.
Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches (PCEC) National Director Bishop Efraim Tendero said Christ’s resurrection brings hope to the people.
"If Christ has not been raised then we would see only despair, deception, death and futility, and misery. But the fact is Christ rose from the dead. Therefore we can have hope. Our faith is not in vain, and we can experience life in all its fullness," he said.
"We have made mistakes, we have failed, and we will have many more failures...but thank God, in Christ our failures need not be fatal. Our hope for a great future is alive because we believe in the Savior who is alive forevermore."
National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) Chairman Bishop Nathaniel Lazaro said Christ’s resurrection is aimed at unifying the people.
"Amidst our diversity, being in full accord and being of one mind can be achieved by following the example of Jesus," Lazaro said. Thus, he said, Christians must strive to be united for the nation and for the great majority.

Tax amnesty contributed to Aklan's tax collection – BIR
BY VENUS G. VILLANUEVA

KALIBO, Aklan - The implementation of the tax amnesty law contributed to the increase in tax collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Aklan, according to OIC Revenue District Officer Nelia Demalata.
Demalata disclosed that so far, 91 taxpayers have availed of the program, increasing the collections of the BIR in Aklan. She also said that the increase in tax collections here due to the tax amnesty law enabled Aklan to place second to Iloilo in terms of revenues.
Demalata said that the implementation of the tax amnesty law was supposed to have ended March 6 yet, but she, as head of BIR-Aklan, welcomes the moves of some lawmakers to extend the tax amnesty.
"More taxpayers in Aklan could avail of the amnesty if the implementation is extended. If the extension gets approved by Congress, the BIR will have more time to campaign and more taxpayers would be encouraged to avail of the amnesty, " Demalata said.
In her recent statement, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed her support to a proposal to extend the implementation of the tax amnesty law until May 7 this year "as long as it is within the bounds of law."
The proposal to extend the tax amnesty law was announced by Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez as he explained that this is now being studied by the business community.
Suarez said that because of some raised questions as to the actual date of the effectivity of the law or Republic Act 9480, "there is room for extension."
Suarez said the implementation of the law has raised some P4.7 billion, or P1.7 billion over the P3 billion target. It has also increased the tax base with some 16,000 new taxpayers who availed themselves of the amnesty.
With the possible extension until May 7, Suarez said an additional P1 billion in revenues could be expected.
The tax amnesty law was one of the reform agenda pushed by the Arroyo administration to put its fiscal house in order. It gives qualified taxpayers immunity from suit involving tax deficiencies up to 2005 upon payment of the tax amnesty fee.

White sand beaches (other than Boracay)
BY ED BIADO

So it’s Bora year after year. Are you looking for something different? Or something a little similar? To help you find an alternative summer getaway, I’ve compiled a list of beaches that doesn’t compromise your need for immaculate white sand. Your options include a few known destinations that are more commercial and others that are obscure.
1. Cebu has its fair share of white sand beaches. Malapascua is a tiny island at the northeast tip of Cebu. It is relatively new to the international market, but is already garnering worldwide respect as “the new Boracay.” Another Cebuano island with powder white sand is Bantayan. It is a low-key, laid-back resort-island with friendly locals.
2. Puerto Galera is an ideal place to do island-hopping from Luzon or a place to do nothing and everything on pristine white sands and clear, warm water. The most popular beaches for swimming are White Beach and Tamaraw Beach. The former is famed for its Boracay-like vibe. In recent years, it has been chock-full during the peak season.
3. Catanduanes lies in the Pacific Ocean just off Luzon and is one of the Philippines’ major surfing venues. Puraran Beach’s white sand is very appealing, but currents can be overwhelming during the surfing season. There are other white sandy beaches, including Pamangal Beach near San Andres or Igang Beach.
4. Bohol is becoming more popular as the region’s best beach destination, with superb white sand and some world class diving sites, though mostly on the adjacent little island of Panglao. The picturesque Alona Beach is one of them. Meanwhile, the 2-kilometer stretch of Doljo Beach is a more secluded, less developed, shallow water option. It is utterly unspoiled.
5. Siargao Island is a newly discovered island with white sand beaches and surfing waves compared to that of Hawaii. The island is a perfect haven for the sun, sea, and surf buffs. It is a paradise of tropical land with scores of reefs, points and white beaches.
6. Samal Island has almost its entire beach areas covered in white sand. The water is crystal-blue clear throughout the coast. It offers unending fascination with its thick mangroves, coral reefs, rolling hills and rock formations. Vacationers are able to view both the sunrise and sunset from most points; a rarity indeed.
7. Honda Bay in Palawan is characterized by coral reefs breaking crystal-clear water onto empty, fine-white sand beaches. The bay is flanked with many islands like Arreceffi, which houses the plush Dos Palmas Resort. Other accommodation options can be found on other islands. Puerto Princesa is an ideal place to stay. Deserted islands with white sand beaches can be reached by a 30-minute boat ride.
8. Subic, now almost as metropolitan as Manila, is a hub for commerce and tourism. Points of interest include the 18-hole Binictican Golf Course and Clubhouse, bowling and arcade center, a ship wharf past a restricted forested area, firing ranges, fishing grounds and an area for bungee jumping. A white beach also laces its bay.
9. Pangasinan is an Ilocandia province that has at least two pristine white sand beaches. At Hundred Islands, beach bums may rent an island for one’s own privacy to enjoy. Short boat rides take off from the village of Lucap to the Hundred Islands. In Bolinao, white sands are accompanied by coral rock formations along the beaches. It is currently gaining popularity with the city crowd. Most of its resorts are already fully booked for the Holy Week.
10. Camiguin, known for its lanzones festival, offers white-sand beaches and magnificent caves untouched by industrial development. The island lies off the north coast of Mindanao. Aside from its beaches, the frontier also brags of spring resorts and waterfalls.

Libacao town exec lauds Aklan tri-media
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

KALIBO, Aklan – Libacao town mayor Charito Navarosa thanked the media in promoting his town as alternative tourist destination in Aklan aside from Boracay.
The mayor said the Aklan media are the source of reliable and truthful information on peace and order condition and the various programs and activities of the Philippine National Police, the military and attached para-military units operating in the province of Aklan and in the entire island of Panay.
“The media exposure of Libacao’s vast natural resources and potentials for economic growth had made our town to become very attractive to local and foreign investors and for helping us in restoring peace and order and the return of the rule of law in upland barangays,” he said during the 1st founding anniversary of the Aklan Police and Defense Press Corps (APDPC) recently.
The dissemination of accurate information has hastened the efforts in settling family feuds and in convincing wanted criminals hiding in the hinterlands to surrender and face the consequences of their criminal acts under the criminal justice system, Navarosa added.
“This noble task of disseminating informative and educational news to our people together we are slowly but surely building a stronger and better nation composed of enlightened and responsible citizenry,” the mayor said.
Navarosa also admitted some delays incurred in the preparation of the feasibility study of the Aklan hydro project of California Energy. The construction will be done within this year based on the progress report by Cal Energy Business Executive, Mr. Raymond Cunningham, he said.
Another investor, First Gen Corporation of the Lopez Group of companies, also signified their interest to construct smaller hydro projects in Libacao.

In the agriculture front, the Department of Agriculture has identified Libacao as the pilot area in abaca research and production under the Agriculture 2020 Plan.

Good Friday: For God so loved the world He gave us His only Son

Today, we look into the passion and death of Jesus Christ as into a mirror, and see how great and mysterious is God’s love for all of humanity.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him" (Jn 3:16-17).
In his gospel, John’s recounting of Jesus’ passion ended with the cry, "Tetelestai" (Jn 19:30), a Greek word which meant "It is finished, consummated or completed." What astonishing irony. Was there anything apparently less finished than this story? Jesus’ body hanging on the cross left the passersby who knew Him totally hanging in the air. Jesus died claiming that God had in fact had the last word. But God seemed utterly silent on the cross. No spirit like a dove descended. No supernatural light of transfiguration. No voice from heaven.
And yet, the silence of God on the cross leaves room for our free response. If we do not see the secret that is being revealed here, perhaps it is because we are not sensitive enough to the last words of Jesus on the cross. His dying word only hints at the secret, which we have to consider in order to unlock it: "I thirst" (Jn 19:28). There is more to the thirst of Jesus. For His is the thirst of God for oneness with humanity to whom He offered His only Begotten Son.
It is the wanting of God to be in our lives. It is the desire of God for each of us. "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself," He said to indicate the kind of death He was to die (Jn 12:32-33). Jesus’ only power is the power to attract, to draw us towards Him and not to force Himself on us. If for Him, "there is no sorrow like My sorrow" (Lam 1:12), it is because Christ on the cross is God who continues to suffer in love despite humanity’s continued refusal to be loved, our withdrawal into ourselves from our union with God who has become like one of us.
It would be hard, indeed, to see the cross of Christ as a sign of victory if we are not able to realize that it was not just the mere endurance of the suffering of Jesus that saved us but rather the love and forgiveness of Jesus that is the source of our salvation. Jesus’ act of sacrificing His life was full of compassion which, in its simplest terms, means to "suffer with love." We can find no greater proof of God’s love for us than the willing sacrifice of His Son Jesus who died on the cross for love of us.
The cross begins to make sense the very moment we see that love is more powerful than anger, hatred, or death. The cross of Christ, far from being a decoration or just an external badge of identity, is the very substance of our pain and struggle. It tells us there is hope for us even at our very worst and seemingly trying and helpless situations. It extends beyond us at both ends of the scale: It measures our life and gives meaning to it.

Aklan has enough rice - NFA
BY VENUS G. VILLANUEVA

BANGA, Aklan -- Aklan faces no rice shortage, the National Food Authority (NFA) here

assured.
"The province has enough rice, and presently, there are some 25,000 bags here at the NFA warehouse. Anytime from now too, our reserved stocks of some 80,000 bags at the warehouse in NFA-Iloilo could be pulled out to augment the rice supply of the province, if needed," NFA-Aklan Provincial Manager Pablito Gemarino revealed.
Gemarino said the fear of experiencing shortage of rice in Aklan and in all parts of the country was triggered with the high price of rice in the world market now, which he said presently costs $305 per metric ton, which could bring the current price of rice to P30 a kilo.
Presently, NFA sells rice at P18.25 a kilo. Commercial rice, on the other hand, has varying prices. Different varieties and manners of milling fetch different prices at public markets here - with prices ranging from P24 to 28 per kilo.
Gemarino acknowledged that rice traders, millers and households hold the bulk of commercial rice supply in Aklan. He however called on commercial rice traders and retailers, to have a "conscience" for consumers and refrain from selling rice at a very expensive price.
Commercial rice traders in Aklan, according to him, have rice stocks to last for 90.4 days. He also bared his observation that many farmers, at this point, are still harvesting their ricefields, which could add more to Aklan's buffer stocks.
Just recently, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo directed Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to go all-out against rice hoarders to ensure that cheap government rice end up on the tables of the intended consumers - the country's poor.
First on the list of the presidential directive is to place NFA warehouses under close watch to stop any hanky-panky in the build-up and distribution of the government-subsidized staple food.
Earlier last week, too, the President also ordered Yap and Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila to crack down on rice hoarders and unscrupulous traders diverting the low-priced NFA rice to the commercial market.
At the same time, she also appealed to rice traders to refrain from unnecessarily jacking up prices particularly of food products not affected by the tightening rice supply and high oil prices in the world market.
Yap informed the President that while there is no rice shortage, factors affecting the current price of the commodity include the high fuel prices, lower global production due to climate change, rising demand due to overpopulation, and the 150 percent increase in the price of fertilizers.

Aklanons to commemorate death of XIX Martyrs
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

KALIBO, Aklan – National Press Club (NPC) president Roy Mabasa is the guest speaker of the 111th year death anniversary of XIX Martyrs of Aklan on March 23.
The commemoration event will relive the heroics of the Katipuneros tortured and executed on March 23, 1897.
A Holy Mass will be celebrated in their honor at 7 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Cathedral, followed by a wreath-offering at the site where the Aklan martyrs was shot and a commemorative program at the Aklan Freedom Shrine that houses the remains of the martyrs who consecrated their lives against Spanish authorities.
Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores, Governor Carlito Marquez, Vice Governor Gabrielle Calizo, Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, Jr. and Kalibo mayor Raymar Rebaldo are expected to grace the commemorative program.
Mabasa will also join Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Isagani Yambot and Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PAPI) president Juan P. Dayang in the groundbreaking ceremony of the three-storey Aklan Press Club (APC) building at Veterans Avenue in a 250 sq.m. lot donated by the provincial government here.
The XIX Martyrs of Aklan are Roman Aguirre, Tomas Briones, Valeriano Dalida, Domingo Dela Cruz, Claro Delgado, Angelo Fernandez, Benito Iban, Candido Iban, Simeon Inocencio, Isidro Jimenez, Catalino Mangat, Lamberto Mangat, Valeriano Masinda, Maximo Mationg, Simplicio Reyes, Canuto Sucgang, Gavino Sucgang, Francisco Villorente and Gavino Yonsal.
March 23 is a special local holiday in the province of Aklan by virtue of Republic Act No. 7806.

You Are Not Forgotten Martyred 19

BY BEATO A. DELA CRUZ

Eternity has vaulted your moral bones

And memory has looked your undying heroism in the tender caskets of our hearts

It seems only yesterday when you walked this love hungered earth with prayers in your lips with protests in your hearts.

While the arrogant banner of vermilion and gold towered like flames over this one femished land.

It seems only some night ago when you stood up courageously against the fierce Iberian rulle for the racial heritage of freedom that was solely ours by birth and right.

It seems only this very morning when unbriddled passions of power bound your arms and bled your hearts broke your spirits and cracked your skulls with rifle-butts and soaring bullets, and silenced those lips once eloquent and unafraid.

This morning of your death is the darkest dawn in Aklan when women wailed in their sleep and orphans cried for their fathers who would come home no more.

Today, every fireside story, every cradle song, every march of feet, every pause from labors, all recall that immortal day in March when bullets nipped the light from the breasts and torn asunder the chairs that hold us in thrall the proceeding three long centuries of oppression.

The vintage time is long over but the immortality remains in pristine glory in the hearts ... forever.

‘In agony until time ends...’
THE PAIN, DEATH AND RISING OF JESUS AS SEEN BY SOME ARTISTS

BY C.G. AREVALO, S.J.
Loyola School of Theology, ADMU

Holy Week, “in the old days,” meant that the crucifix and the images of the saints in our churches were all shrouded with violet-colored covers. That ancient custom is no longer generally followed, though the liturgical ordo tells us it may still be observed. In Holy Week the Stations of the Cross come alive in our parish churches.

On Good Friday, especially, families “make the stations” together, and in Rome one of the high points of the annual observance of the sacred three days (the triduum) is “praying the Stations” in the evening at the historic Coliseum.

On Good Friday the sacred rites focus on the cross and the crucifix, and in our churches all over the country there are moving representations of Jesus on the cross of His suffering and death. Some of them are rather traditional or stereotyped, but many —surprisingly many—are superbly crafted, even genuine, moving works of art carved with devotion, even with passionate artistry, by (mostly) unknown local artists. Then, too, there are the images of the dead Jesus, the “santo entierro,” which are displayed and carried in processions on Good Friday also—some of them, again, authentic works of art.
JESUS Meets Mary on the Way to the Cross, by Jesuit Fratel Venzo, SJ, 20th century
A European priest who had studied religious art all his life long, after visits to our churches in many of our cities and towns, and after witnessing some of our Good Friday processions, expressed regret that not much serious study, research, documentation and reflection had been dedicated to Filipino church art across the centuries.
In the recent years, parishes building their churches, and priests assigned to plan and organize their construction, have occasionally asked me about “the kind of crucifix” they should commission.
The crucifix at the main altar is important for both the official liturgy and for people’s more personal devotion, especially here in the Philippines. It is important for its theological signification, above all in the Good Friday liturgy, which reaches a climax point in the veneration of the Cross. This veneration dramatically underlines Saint Paul’s understanding of our salvation, of the will of God regarding our salvation. The well-known Dominican scripture scholar Jerome Murphy O’Connor, an expert on Pauline thought, writes on this theme:
For Paul, the will of God is very simple, and this lack of ambiguity terrifies us. It mandates the following of Christ who is defined by the cross. This is the revealed will of God. We must exhibit the self-sacrificing, empowering love that Christ showed in his crucifixion. We must bear in our bodies the dying of Jesus in order that the life of Jesus may be manifested to the world. Crucifixion is what makes us a Christian.
There is a text from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, which I give to those who ask me about the crucifix they would want to create and collocate at their main altar. It is from his Spirit of the Liturgy, and I would like to cite him at some length.
“… the icon of Christ is the center of sacred iconography. The center of the icon of Christ is the Paschal Mystery: Christ is presented as the Crucified, the risen Lord, the One who will come again and who here and now hiddenly reigns over all. Every image of Christ must contain these three essential aspects of the mystery of Christ and, in this sense, must be an image of Easter. At the same time, it goes without saying that different emphases are possible. The image may give more prominence to the Cross, the Passion, and in the Passion to the anguish of our own life today, or again it may bring the Resurrection or the Second Coming to the fore. But whatever happens, one aspect can never be completely isolated from another, and in the different emphases the Paschal Mystery as a whole must be plainly evident. An image of the Crucifixion no longer transparent to Easter would be just as deficient as an Easter image forgetful of the wounds and the suffering of the present moment. And, centered as it is on the Paschal Mystery, the image of Christ is always an icon of the Eucharist, that is, it points to the sacramental presence of the Easter mystery.”
Pope Benedict tells us that the crucifix should, in some true way, repeat for us the proclamation of “the mystery of faith” which we make after the words of consecration at the Mass: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” The altar crucifix described by Pope Benedict will challenge the artist who designs it.
We are told that the so-called miraculous crucifix in the Franciscan church of San Damiano (?) has a face of Christ which, looked at from the front, shows him serene in death, but looked at from one side shows him still in the agony of suffering, and from the other side, already in the peace and joy of his risen life. I have never seen that cross, although I’ve heard the legend that an angel carved the miraculous face which the human artist could not complete.
In Metro Manila, we, of course, have the two striking crucifixes made by the National Artist Napoleon Abueva. The first, sculpted under the direction of Fr. John P. Delaney for the Church of the Holy Sacrifice at the University of the Philippines in 1955, has the dead Christ on one face of the cross, and the risen Christ on the other side. It is suspended from the ceiling, above the altar table.

The second crucifix, created by Abueva just three years ago for the Church of Our Lady of Pentecost parish at Loyola Heights, is fixed on the back wall. It tries to suggest both Jesus’ death (he is still nailed to the cross) and his resurrection (he looks upward, and his nailed hands and feet are pulling away from the cross, and the bands around his body are falling away).

Quite a number of crucifixes recently carved have tried to meet the difficult demands made by the text of Cardinal Ratzinger just cited; the one at the chapel of the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities at Tanauan, Batangas, being one of the latest.

It was made by the young sculptor Vox Angel Bustinera, who has already done much excellent religious art, e.g., in the Ateneo University’s Church of the Gesù.
The well-known art critic Sister Wendy Beckett has written a small book, Joy Lasts, on the Spiritual in Art, which centers on the El Greco painting of Jesus on the Cross, now to be found in the prestigious collection of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The El Greco crucifixion scene, she says, “seems to me…a miracle of grace.”
“Here is a crucifixion,” she writes, “that I can look at and enter into…because here—and this, for me, is unique—I find the Passion understood rather than shown. El Greco was no mystic…yet when he painted he moved effortlessly into a world akin to that of his contemporary Saint John of the Cross, mystical poet.”
In his art, if not in his life, El Greco understood what Jesus meant when he uttered that final cry, Consummatum est: it is done, it is accomplished. It was a transforming moment in my life when I, who had always found Holy Week and Good Friday almost unendurable, suddenly saw that, in fact, Jesus died in an ecstasy of joy. He had been sent by the Father to bring life into the world. He had done it, achieved what the Father intended.

His agony, physically and emotionally, may not have been any the less, but in his will Jesus knew the great liberation of having reached an almost impossible goal. All this I see, mystically, in El Greco. The intensity of the surrounding, enveloping darkness…is just beginning to be pierced by the radiance that Jesus has brought us.…
Jesus dies, as we all die, alone with his God. He dies as we hope to die, looking upward, his determination set upon his father’s will and its consummation. But the most marvelous touch, to me, is the depiction of the dying Jesus as already triumphant over death: he does not escape death; he passes through it and out of it. His body spirals upward like a white flame, radiating out as he spreads his arms to share the light with the defeated shadows.
Jesus brings before us the uselessness of defense, the joy of abandonment to a divine purpose. Saint Paul once wrote that when we are weak, we are strong, a mystical paradox that this painting makes visual. It is Jesus in death and in resurrection, dying in pain and rising in glory, utterly true to the dual dimensions that make him the spiritual center of so many lives. Joy lasts and grief passes: that is what I see in El Greco’s Christ on the Cross.
So much for a masterpiece of an earlier age, an age of greater faith than ours. But what of our time? “Each age seeks imagery, however inadequate, to suggest the meaning of the death of the crucified Christ, to reveal even a little of the paschal mystery,” a recent Lenten article says. “No one style is enough.

No one Gospel is enough. Each time has means, moods, needs of its own. We must support each other in responding as authentically as we can to the celebration of the glory of the mysterium fidei, the mystery of faith.… And in each age we must hope for the artists who will help us to respond.” (Leo O’Donovan)
For some 50 years now, one artist has accompanied very much of the reflection and prayer I have been able to enter into in the Lenten season. A remarkable French artist of the 20th century, Georges Rouault, created prints on the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, but joined to his images of the Christ images of men and women of our time undergoing their own “passion” also. The 58 prints were gathered in a memorable book named Miserere. Side by side with scenes from the Gospels, done in the same emotion—charged but rugged expressionist style—are sketches of contemporary men and women, the poor and the broken, prostitutes and clowns, victims of our times and our societies, which make present Jesus’ passion and dying in our own history.
Rouault, who was born and grew up in a working-class sector of Paris in the last decades of the 19th century, “brooded throughout his life over the plight of the poor, the indifference of the powerful,” and the injustice we all have seen and known. And he asked himself what the presence and message of Christ meant for all this in our time. He was always close to the hardship and even the despair of the poor. As a deep and devout Catholic Christian, his soul resonated with the great suffering he knew was everywhere present among us.
In his Miserere prints Christ is seen on the cross often enough alone, but sometimes with his mother, one of his disciples and other figures standing or kneeling near him. In many frames, Jesus has his eyes closed, his head bent, his arms outstretched, his body strong and stark, wearing only a strip of loincloth. Obviously caught up in much suffering, but without blood or stripes depicted, “his wounds scarcely visible.”
O’ Donovan writes:
“This is the cross of primal fact, unadorned, its emotional appeal centered on the death for others of this Man for Others, before whom only the most profound humility, without any hysteria, is in order.”
Some images are almost twin sketches: Jesus appears in a moment of his passion, and in a print which follows, in an all but identical pose, an ordinary man is seen. A line—often from the Scriptures—is cited under each sketch. For instance, Pascal’s “Jesus will be in agony, until the end of the world.” Or, “Out of the depths.…” The message is obvious: this contemporary person’s suffering is the suffering of the Lord made visible now to our eyes.
But as with the passion and dying, so with the Resurrection. A particularly moving sketch shows us two men standing in front of each other and reaching out to each other. One is clad only in loincloth; he has dark hair and beard. A faint halo surrounds his head. The other man has a very simple head covering, and is obviously a “common man.” He wears a thin jersey and what looks like simple briefs. Both men are looking downwards, as if in an attitude of mutual reverence. The print bears the title: “Lord, it is you. I know you.”
It may be the encounter of Jesus and the disciple Thomas (John 20); or it may be the disciple whom Jesus loved, meeting him that morning at the seashore (John 21). But surely, it speaks to us of our own search for Jesus, and our finding of him by the roadside of our lives. He is the risen Jesus in the midst of our everyday life. We meet him among our brothers and sisters. We reach out to them and we touch Jesus crucified and risen in them—especially when we reach out to the poor and powerless, the “little ones” with whom Christ has identified himself.
Rouault died in 1959, tormented to the end of his life by the growing measure of suffering and pain he saw around him, but alive also to the beauty and hope somehow already present within that suffering, because of the paschal mystery—the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, God become man for our sakes.
The last plate of the book Miserere is a powerful, even masterly portrayal of the head of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns. Rouault gave it the caption, “By his wounds we are healed.” Jesus is obviously in the midst of his passion, in the very center of his suffering. But even as in the Fourth Gospel, there is a stillness and peace, an incredible serenity present in his face: a calm of victory, a presence of glory, of eternity even in the crucible of pain.
Jesus, by your death and resurrection you have set us free.
You are the savior of the world.

Travel Postcard: 48 hours in Boracay

BORACAY, Philippines (Reuters Life!) - Boracay is not the secluded, quiet island it used to be, but its picture-perfect White Beach still can't be beat for a weekend getaway.

With over 150 resorts, restaurants and bars cheek-by-jowl on the sands, tourists are spoilt for choice.

Here are some recommendations by Reuters correspondents with local knowledge on how to make the most of a weekend on Boracay:

Saturday

8 a.m. - Get as early a flight as you can out of Manila to Caticlan, a small town on the island of Panay, about 300 km (186 miles) to the south. Only small planes operated by Air Philippines, Asian Spirit and SEA Air land there, but it's only a short 40-minute flight.

If you are checking into one of the upmarket resorts, transfers will be arranged. Otherwise stroll down to the pier about 500 yards (meters) away and get into one of the many pump-boats that will take you to Boracay in a short 15-minutes.

11 a.m. - Check in, dump your bags in the room and make your way to the beach. No shoes, and wear little besides your trunks or bikini and suntan lotion. There's no dress code on Boracay.

1 p.m. - Walk barefoot along the beach to Lemon Cafe inside D'Mall, a grouping of shops, restaurants and bars. It offers an excellent lunch -- pizzas, sandwiches, juices and light mains.

3 p.m. - Time for a massage. The top-of-the-line Mandala Spa, on a hill in the centre of the island and at the Discovery Shores resort on the beach, offers several treatments, including the traditional Philippine hilot massage. There's a vegetarian restaurant at the hillside location, and also rooms to stay.

5:30 p.m. - Get back to the beach for the best time of day. Boracay's sunsets are legendary, and almost the entire island seems to be on the beach as the sun sinks and the boats are brought in. It's also the best time of the day for a swim.

7:30 p.m. - A quick shower and then decide on dinner. Choices are manifold along the beach -- grilled seafood at Gasthaus, steaks and sausages at the Steakhouse Boracay or fine French food with a bottle of wine at La Reserve, complete with a mini-Eiffel Tower at the entrance.

10 p.m. - On weekend nights, the beach throbs to music from several impromptu discos set up near the water. Places to be seen include Cocomangas bar or the nearby Club Paraw and partying continues into the wee hours.

Sunday

6 a.m. - If you can do it, a walk and a swim in the morning can be a tonic after the previous night's excesses. Later, make you way to Cafe del Sol for a pep-me-up breakfast of omelettes, pancakes, fresh juice and coffee.

9 a.m. - A sailboat around the island is an extremely relaxing way of spending the morning. If you are more actively inclined, there are excellent dive sites within a kilometer (a half-mile) or so of the shore, and also snorkelling spots. Talk to your hotel's front desk or to one of the operators strung out on the beach.

12 noon - Walk through D'Mall for knick-knacks, stone necklaces, pearls and beachwear. Or get a henna tattoo on the beach.

1 p.m. - Lunch is good at Aria, an Italian restaurant at the corner of D'Mall and White Beach. Or pick up something to go at Heidiland Deli within the mall.

3 p.m. - The Fairways & Bluewater Golf & Country Club is an 18-hole par 72 course set across the northern part of the island, from coast to coast. If golf is not your thing, try a ride on an all-terrain buggy over mud tracks in the interior of the island. Back in the water, there is kite-boarding and windsurfing at the Bulabog Beach, on the opposite side of the island to White Beach. Both sports require prior training, but a number of shops will offer beginners' courses.

7 p.m. - To round off a memorable visit, try dinner at Friday's resort. Staff there will place a table on the beach and serve a four-course candle-lit meal with wine.

(Reporting by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Sophie Hardach)

Pacquiao’s mom eyes Boracay trip to celebrate son’s victory
BY AQUILES ZONIO/Philippine Daily Inquirer

Most decorated. Manny Pacquiao picks up his third world title after getting the judges’ nods in a split-decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez Saturday in Las Vegas. No Filipino has won in a heavier weight division since 1982, and no Asian has ever won world championships in three weight divisions. Strapped on Pacquiao are the super-featherweight belts of the World Boxing Council (WBC), the WBC International and Ring Magazine. --AP

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Manny Pacquiao's mother, Dionisia, prayed for more than two hours.
And after her son was declared winner in the fight against Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday in Las Vegas (Sunday in Manila), she revealed her wish -- a trip to Boracay for the whole family.
Dionisia and her three other close friends prayed earnestly inside the prayer room of Pacquiao's mansion in Lagao village here.
Dionisia claimed it was the longest prayer session they did.
"Sobra dalawang oras kami sa loob ng prayer room. Nakatapos kami ng tatlong misteryo ng Holy Rosary. Namanhid ang tuhod ko sa tagal ng dasal namin," Dionisia claimed. [We spent two hours praying. We finished three mysteries of the Holy Rosary. My knees went numb from kneeling.]
Although she still did not know when her son would be returning home, she said she expected him to be home soon as his youngest daughter Princess was here.
And when the Filipino ring sensation is finally home, she has only one wish -- a vacation in Boracay for the whole family.
"Maganda don sa Boracay. Di pa ako nakapunta dun eh," Dionisia said. [It’s beautiful there in Boracay. I haven’t gone there.]
But Pacquioa's father, Rosalio, said he would not ask for anything from Manny.
"I don't ask anything from Manny. He just gives on his own volition. I can't ask for anything," Rosalio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Pacquiao’s parents are now living separately.
When asked whether Rosalio could go with them to Boracay, Dionisia laughed and said, "We can't decide for him (Rosalio). May magagalit na iba." [Somebody might get mad.]
Unlike his estranged wife, Rosalio watched the fight.
"Muntik akong mag-collapse noong medyo na-groggy si Manny sa second round dahil tinamaan siya ng mabibigat na suntok ni Marquez. Mataas kasi blood pressure ko," Rosalio said. [I almost collapsed from seeing Manny becoming groggy in the second round due to the punches of Marquez. I have high blood pressure.]
"Matibay rin talaga si Marquez kasi nakabangon pa nung pinatumba ng anak ko eh. Pero mas matibay si Manny. Kita n'yo di talaga bumigay ang tuhod niya kahit sa mga solid na suntok ni Marquez na tumama sa kanya," he said. [Marquez is tough as could be seen from the way he stood up after being knocked down by my son. But Manny is tougher. As you saw, his knees did not buckle from the solid punches of Marquez that landed.]
Asked whether he was looking forward to joining the family in a trip to Boracay, he said, "Malayo masyado atsaka magastos. Dito lang ako sa bahay." [That’s too far and expensive. I’ll stay here at home.]
The Filipino ring icon gave Rosalio a three-bedroom house in San Isidro village here.
"Mahigit P1 million ang gastos ni Manny nung ipatayo itong bahay ko. Di lang kaming mga magulang niya ang pinatayuan niya ng bahay kundi pati mga kapatid niya," Rosalio said. [Manny spent P1 million building my house. He built houses not only for his parents but also for his siblings.]
The city government of General Santos promised to prepare a grand hero's welcome for Pacquiao's homecoming here.

Lawyer Diosdado Zabal Reloj, Jr., was 60.
Maritime lawyer and advocate for Seamen and offshore workers.

Diosdado Z. Reloj, Jr., Manila-based lawyer, died at the UST Hospital on March 18, 2004 due to complications from lingering heart ailment. He was 60 years old. Mr. Reloj graduated from the Ateneo College of Law in 1967 where he was a founding member of the Fraternal Order of Utopia.
As an associate at the former Salcedo Bito Misa law firm, and later as partner of law firms bearing his name, Mr. Reloj was noted practitioner in Maritime Law and Admiralty, generally representing cargo owners and underwriters before Philippine and foreign courts. "Dadz" to colleagues, he served for many years as Vice President for Legal of the Maritime Law Association of the Philippines (MARLAW), and was President of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Aklan Chapter.
Mr. Reloj was prodigious court advocate for seamen and contract foreign workers, successfully pursuing countless claims arising from contract breach and tort, worker conditions, job-related injuries and deaths. He worked on pioneering claims instituted before foreign jurisdictions where client benefits were substantially maximized.
His ashes were temporarily interred at the Public Cemetery of his hometown of Banga, Aklan on March 21, 2004, and later will be strewn by the sea according to his wishes. He is survived by wife Edna "Boots", children Dino, Pia, Lico, and RayAn, and brothers and sisters Reza & Tito, Gavino & Arline, Derly & Louie, Noemi, Noel & Arlette, and his nephews and nieces.

Cops collar 4 rob suspects
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

ALTAVAS, Aklan – Joint police elements of Altavas and Batan towns arrested four suspects in the robbery of the owner of a gasoline station here.
Insp. Gilbert Valera, Altavas chief of police, identified the suspects as Wennie Tolosa, fishpond caretaker; Elorde Graciano Jr., 19, former gasoline station employee; John Mark Tolosa, 18, and a 16-year-old lad. All are residents of Brgy. Camanci, Batan, Aklan.
Rey Arsenio, owner of Altavas Caltex service station, pointed a certain “JR” who forcibly grabbed his bag. The suspects, he said, were armed with a homemade shotgun.
They carted away the gasoline station’s P103,000 earnings and fled towards Batan. No one was hurt in the heist, the police said.
In a hot pursuit operation, Valera and his men coordinated with Batan policemen and managed to get hold of Graciano and John Mark Tolosa. The two gave up P15,190.
The minor, who served as a look-out, named Wennie as the mastermind. He was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“This was the second time they attempted to rob the victim. They have no criminal records in Altavas and Batan, but we are still verifying the records of the elder Tolosa. The minor could be a state witness,” Valera said.
Valera said the three suspects waited for hours inside Arsenio’s house in Brgy. Man-up, Batan. When the victims alighted from his vehicle, the suspects announced the hold-up.
Wennie met them in Brgy. Camanci, Batan.
The police conducted a follow-up operation in Brgy. Camanci but failed to recover the handgun and the P50,000 share of Wenni.
Senior Supt. Benigno Durana Jr. lauded the Altavas and Batan policemen for the swift arrests.
The suspects were detained at the Aklan Provincial Jail in Brgy. Nalook, Kalibo.

PNP 6 assures tourists of safety on Boracay island

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Manila Bulletin

SECURITY IN PLACE. Those tourists staying in the island resort of Boracay are assured of their safety, said Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas, regional police director/GCawaling

BORACAY — The Philippine National Police (PNP) assured thousands of local and foreign tourists of their safety as the Holy Week season kicks off in the tourist island of Boracay.
Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas, regional police director, said policemen from the Regional Mobile Group will be deployed to beef up the Boracay Special Tourist Protection Office (BSTPO) under Senior Insp. Auxelio Dador.
"The stakeholders are cooperative enough to report any untoward incidents that might affect the peace and order. The security plan by tourist police are in place to ensure their safety during the observance of Holy Week in the island," he told reporters during the 1st founding anniversary of the Aklan Police and Defense Press Corps (APDPC) in the capital town of Kalibo .
The PNP is implementing "Oplan Bantay Lakbay" nationwide for the long Lenten break in tourist destinations like Boracay Island this week.
Cuevas stressed the "the rape-slaying of masseur Mylene dela Rosa is an isolated case and should not be treated (as) affecting the tourism industry of Boracay."
Dela Rosa, 31, of Barangay Janlud, Libacao, Aklan was found dead in Yapak Beach, the northern tip of the island. A German national is the principal suspect, the police said.
Two suspected Muslim terrorists were also arrested by operatives of Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) in the island last March 8.
The arrest followed reports of assassination attempts on government officials and plots to bomb foreign embassies in Manila by suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf Group.
The alleged terrorists – Muhammad Bani and AlMidzbar Bunajal – were forcibly taken by intelligence agents in Barangay Manoc-Manoc while on their way to a church.
"The PNP has conducted background investigations of what had happened and we don’t have, so far, concrete facts and evidences to warrant filing of cases against alleged abductors," Cuevas said.

He added, “the Police Regional Office-6 received reports mainly on allegations that those Muslims were allegedly abducted in Boracay, but as of now, they have yet to receive the official reports from AFP.”

Asked to comment on the petition for a writ of Amparo filed by relatives of alleged terrorists and possible kidnapping charges against ISAFP and the BSTPO chief of police, Cuevas stressed, “it is their right provided for by the Constitution and do everything they like as long as within the bounds of law.”

“On the part of PNP, whoever are the members (of PNP) being alleged as one of the kidnappers, they are bound to answer the allegations of those complainants,” he said.

‘Abducted’ Muslim in Boracay is alive
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Manila Bulletin/Panay News

BORACAY – One of the suspected Muslim terrorists arrested by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) is alive.
This was revealed by Majid Bani, brother of Muhammad Bani who was abducted on March 7 here while on his way to their mosque for a community prayer. His brother is still in the custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Manila.
Majid said the military tried to link his brother to the Dos Palmas Resort hostage-taking of foreign and local tourists, including three Americans in Palawan in 2001.
“My brother is a Maranao and he was not involved in the kidnapping of tourists in Palawan. Muhammad is innocent since he was in Boracay when the incident took place,” he insisted.
Muhammad Bani told his brother that his “kidnapped” companion Al-Midzbar Bunajal was left somewhere in Panay Island.
“The families of Al-Midzbar are worried. They have no information on his whereabouts,” Majid said, stressing that his brother's friend has no links to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.
The two Muslims were arrested by military agents in Brgy. Manoc-Manoc. The operation was based on intelligence reports that they were attempting to assassinate government officials and to bomb foreign embassies in Manila.
Bani and Bunajal were suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah and the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group blamed for the series of deadly bomb attacks in southern Philippines.
Meanwhile, the Boracay Special Tourist Protection Office is also facing a blank wall on the operations of the intelligence agents, saying ISAFP failed to coordinate with them and the Aklan Police Provincial Office.

CRIME SOLVED?
Witness in death of Boracay masseuse tags German
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News/Manila Bulletin

BORACAY – A fisherman from Brgy. Yapak tagged a German national in the death of a masseuse in this island resort.
Carlito Bernardo claimed he saw 43-year-old Adolf Christian Westerer dragging the body of Mylene Dela Rosa into the water off Brgy. Yapak around 2:45 a.m. of March 7.
The fisherman said he was on his way to catch fish when he saw the suspect. He clarified, however, that he did not see the German kill Dela Rosa.
Bernardo said the German hurriedly left onboard a black motorcycle.
The brutalized masseuse had cigarette burns dotting her body, including her breasts and genitals. A soft drink bottle was also shoved into her genitalia, the police said.
Bernardo said he recognized Westerer from the photos of the German shown on a TV news program reporting on Dela Rosa’s case. He then asked the help of Yapak Barangay Captain Anselmo Casidsid.
Westerer is presently detained at the Boracay Special Tourist Protection Office (BSTPO) lock-up cell.
Dela Rosa was working in Boracay to support her children.
Police said their suspicions were raised when they found a bloodied clothing inside the house of Westerer.
The Boracay police said they have strong evidence against Westerer.
But Westerer said the scratches on his face and his bloodied clothing came from an accident involving his big bike.
The police, however, noted the absence of damage in his motorcycle.
Investigators also said they have a witness who saw the suspect drinking with the victim at a bar the night before dela Rosa was found dead. Some claimed to have seen dela Rosa arguing with the German.
Dela Rosa was a resident of Brgy. Janlud, Libacao, Aklan.
Police are also looking into the possibility that Westerer was high on drugs. Witnesses at the bar said he reeked of marijuana.
For his part, dela Rosa's husband Rammel said he is hoping for swift justice, but admitted being worried on how to raise his five children.
Investigation of the case continues.
The killing happened despite the tightened security in the world-famous island resort. The Bantay Boracay Task Force marked March 1 as the start of the peak season in the island. Tourists – foreign and domestic -- usually in come in troops for their Holy Week and summer vacation.

Cuevas pledges support to Aklan media
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Manila Bulletin/Panay News

VISIT IN AKLAN. Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas meets RGMA station manager Butz Maquinto (right). Looking on is Aklan police director Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, Jr. (center) during the founding anniversary of the Aklan Police and Defense Press Corps/GCawaling

KALIBO, Aklan – Western Visayas Police Director Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas is pushing for a strong partnership between the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) and the Aklan Police and Defense Press Corps (APDPC) in the enforcement of laws.
“The PRO-6 welcomes this wonderful opportunity for direct interaction and consultation with the tri-media in Aklan,” said Cuevas.
He described the press as “one of the most important pillars of our society” and stressed the need for stronger cooperation and coordination between the law enforcement agencies and the media.
Cuevas said the PNP and the media have the same objective – peace and development for national progress.
APDPC, founded on March 17, 2007, is composed of police and defense beat reporters covering the activities of the Aklan Police Provincial Office (APPO) and the Philippine Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion.
A pre-anniversary medical-dental mission with the Philippine Army was conducted on March 11 in Brgy. Cortes, Balete, Aklan. It had 367 beneficiaries.
APDPC is headed by Boy Ryan Zabal of Panay News.
Cuevas, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1977, joined Senior Supt. Benigno Durana Jr., Aklan police director; Aklan Press Club president Dr. Ambrosio Villorente, incoming Aklan United Media Association president Engr. Winston Carillo and Libacao, Aklan Mayor Charito Navarrosa in the charging of new APDPC members.
“The police operations should leave behind good impressions from the public especially the media, but the best and lasting impression is for the PNP’s dedication to do good. In the performance of their duties and responsibilities, a good public and media relations in pursuit of its mandate to serve and protect the people,” Cuevas added.
He also pledged the support and dedicated service of PNP in Western Visayas to the community and the media profession whom they are mandated to serve and protect.

With these Boracay parties, why stay in the city?

Pack your bags, leave the city behind and jump on the next plane to fabulous Boracay. No, this ain’t disrespect for the essence of Holy Week. This is, in contrast, a celebration of life, love and redemption. The two-part Easter Weekender 2008 of premier party concepts, Bigfish, is bringing the party to the single most kicking summer destination in the country.
The first weekend, March 22, will be topbilled by music label Slinky with DJ John “00” Fleming pulling the crowd up at Hey Jude! Slinky, with its 2007 release, Trans-Atlantik, which was a worldwide smash, is on solid ground with fresh ways to undertake trance.
Complementing his assured reputation as a DJ, John has displayed a great flair for production. The massive success of two artist singles, ‘Alpha 5’ and ‘Lost In Emotion’, were accompanied by a third release in 2000 with ‘Free’, which enjoyed an entry in the UK Top 40. In 2002, John continued to develop his production work with the release of ‘Belfast Trance,’ a rework of Simple Minds’ ‘Belfast Child’ and SupaKane’s ‘The Theme From SupaKane.’
Today, we see working in the studio with four of the biggest players of the trance world, Christopher Lawrence, M.I.K.E., Astral Projection, Astrix and Wizzy Noise. John’s work has been recognized over the years with rankings in various charts including Tranceaddict and DJ magazine.
Joining John that sultry night at the beach is Dennis Christopher, whose music can be described as a vibrant, funky and naughty sound which has the crowd moving in no time. He truly interacts with his audience and brings out the best in everybody.
House, funky house, vocal house and electro house being Dennis’s forte, DJs like Stonebridge, Judge Jules, Danny Rampling, Paul van Dijk, Ericke E, Marnix, Curtis Zack, Lewis Dene, Prinz, Rob Boskamp and more picked up his sound quickly and spin his records worldwide in clubs and radioshows.
The second weekend, March 29, will be one of the many teasers of the much-awaited Fierce Angel rebirth. With Fierce Angel’s new logo, new album artworks and revitalized edgier house interpretations, Craig McGivern will be giving Hey Jude! a sample of how fierce the future is and why the label’s new offerings are really something.
Craig started his club career in Northern Ireland as a resident at Belfast’s best-known style bar, Ta Tu. He then moved to the award-winning La Lea where he came to the attention of Mark Doyle. In turn, this led to Craig joining the Hed Kandi DJ team. Craig has played gigs in Rouge and Pacha in London, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Southampton, the Isle of Wight, Southend, Romford, Barnsley, Manchester, Middlesbrough, the Honey Club in Brighton, The Arches in Glasgow, Stereo and Foundation in NewcastleBelfast and Dublin.
He has played CDLC in Barcelona, Lotus in Oslo, Chateau Lounge in New York, Arena in Amsterdam and in Ibiza, the old favorites including Base, Es Vivé, Coastline and, of course, the world-famous El Divino. Craig is a founder member of the Fierce Angel DJ team and can be relied on to rock the dance floor of every Fierce Angel night he plays at.
Lending his spinning prowess to both events is Johnboy Lee, who is locally and internationally reputable for his start- and end-of-night signature grooves. Johnboy, a globetrotter who plays at different key cities weekly, is Asia’s frontrunning DJ whose contribution to the region’s club scene is immeasurable. A night with Johnboy at the booth is one that is, most definitely, a certified hit.
Bigfish has always been making summer hotter year after year with their Boracay gigs. Their antics are one of the reasons behind the vacation destination’s popularity and why most of the metro flocks it this time of the year. That has to make one wonder: who’s gonna be left to watch the city? ED BIADO

Kin of abducted Muslim clerics files complaint before CHR
BY NESTOR P. BURGOS, JR.

BORACAY - The family of one of the two Muslim clerics arrested by government agents on Boracay Island has filed a complaint before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to compel authorities to surface their kin.

In their complaint filed before the CHR regional office Mahid Bani, accompanied by his mother Omil Macaraya-Bani, accused operatives of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) of abducting his brother Muhammad Bani and his brother's friend Al-Midzbar Bunajal last Saturday.

Mahid furnished the CHR a copy of a report of the Boracay Special Tourist Police Office (BSTPO) which confirmed that the armed men who took the two clerics without any arrest warrants were ISAFP agents.

"We cannot still find them five days after they were taken and we do not know how they are right now," said Mahid in an interview at the CHR office.

He said their family and leaders of Muslim community associations are trying to locate the two clerics in military and police camps in Manila.Bani's mother appealed to authorities to surface her son and Bunajal.

"My son is innocent. But even if they have done something wrong, just file the cases but do not hide them especially from us," said Omil.

Bani's family has denied that he is involved or part of a terrorist group.Heavily armed men in plainclothes forcibly took Bani and Bunajal in Barangay Manoc-Manoc.

The BSTPO has confirmed that the armed men were ISAFP agents although they failed to coordinate their operation with the local police.AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. has also confirmed the arrest of a terror suspect in Boracay.

Omil said they have tried calling her son's cellphone but it was unanswered until it stopped ringing the day after he was taken.Mahid said the "abduction" of his brother has struck fear among the members of the Muslim community in Boracay now reaching around 1,000.

"This is the first time that this has happened to us. We fear that more of us would be taken this way," said Mahid.

He said they would be among the first ones to report any criminal or terrorist element in Boracay.

"We have been living on the island for years and our livelihood is here. We don't want anything to happen that could put Boracay on a bad light," said Mahid.

DOT releases fund for waste management

By Miguel Antonio de Guzman, Researcher BORACAY ISLAND: “The DOT is the biggest stakeholder of the island,” noted Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano. The Department of Tourism (DOT) turned over a check for P1.85 million to the Boracay Chamber of Commerce Inc. over the weekend to kickoff a residual waste management program in the island resort, presently a top tourist destination. As waste management has become a major concern in the island, the tourism department, the BCCI and Malay Mayor Ceciron Cawaling have initiated the program to ensure control over solid waste being accumulated by the growing population in Boracay. Malacañang earlier issued in January Executive Order 706 mandating the Tourism Secretary to exercise administrative control over Boracay Island through the Philippine Tourism Authority. Boracay accumulates more than 15 tons of solid waste per day on peak season, 30 percent of which are recyclables, and just a little less during the off-season. The 70 percent that are not recyclable are shipped to a dump in the mainland of Aklan. “With this residual waste management program that we are launching, our goal is not to eliminate residual waste, because that is impossible, but to lessen residual waste and the shipping of it,” Durano explained. Currently the central materials recovery facility of Boracay is able to recycle Styrofoam into concrete tiles. “Recycling of Styrofoam is going on. Biodegradable waste is turned into fertilizer. The last phase is turning non-biodegradable waste into hollow blocks and concrete tiles. And after we are done with that, only 20 percent of the island’s residual waste, which is not recyclable will be left to be shipped to the mainland,” Durano said. Present during the launch is former DENR Secretary Bebet Gozun, one of the consultants of the project. “All of the recycled products have been tested and approved by the Department of Science and Technology,” she said. “The solution is simple, all residents and tourists have to do is to segregate their waste for purposes of recycling,” Gozun added. “The guarantee for this program also lies with the investors, what we can really provide is a common direction,” said Durano. Local source of investment last 2007 reached P80 million, as opposed to the P62-million earned in 2006.

Aklan police press corps celebrates anniversary today
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

CHARGING OF NEW MEMBERS. Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, Jr., installs the new members during the 1st founding anniversary of the Aklan Police and Defense Press Corps held at Mix N' Match Restaurant/GCawaling

KALIBO, Aklan - The Aklan Police and Defense Press Corps (APDPC) is celebrating its founding year anniversary today, March 15.

The police and defense beat reporters will honor media outlets – print, TV and broadcast – for their support in all the undertakings of the organization.

Last March 11, the APDPC and the Philippine Army 47th Infantry Battalion conducted a free medical and dental services to 367 recipients of Oquendo, Cortes and Guanco, all depressed barangays of Balete, Aklan.

A thanksgiving mass will be held at 5 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Cathedral followed by the anniversary dinner at 6:30 p.m. at Mix N’ Match Restaurant here.

Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, Jr., Aklan police director, will grace the anniversary dinner and awards ceremony with Aklan Press Club president Dr. Ambrosio Villorente, Libacao town mayor Charit Navarosa and incoming president Engr. Winston Carillo of the Aklan United Media Association.

Durana is also set to install the new members of APDPC, namely, Michael Selorio (RGMA DyRU); Eleanor Reyes (IBC DyRG); Roben Laserna (CBIS 98.5 Hot FM); Jessie Reyes (Panay News); Melbert Taay (IBC DyRG); Daniel Tonel (DyIN Bombo Radio Phils) and Gary Vargas (Kalibo Cable TV). He will also renew the commitment of the existing press corps officers headed by Boy Ryan Zabal of Panay News.

APDPC, founded on March 17, 2006, has established strong partnership with the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines, Inc. by supporting the regular weekly conference “Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis” of the Aklan Police Provincial Office and the civic projects of the Philippine Army.

PhilHealth forms not for sale, public advised
BY VENUS G. VILLANUEVA

KALIBO, Aklan - Philhealth forms like applications for membership, Claim and Accreditation are readily available at the PhilHealth Service Office in Kalibo, and there's no need for anybody to buy these from persons who pretend to be connected and authorized by the Corporation to distribute and sell.
Philhealth-Aklan Chief Social Insurance Officer J'Roel del Rosario issued this statement in the wake of reports that there are unscrupulous individuals who presented themselves being connected and authorized to sell and distribute PhilHealth forms.
In the advisory sent by PhilHealth to various media outlets and concerned agencies, PhilHealth reiterated that forms are free and downloadable from the PhilHealth website at www.philhealth.gov.ph, and it has not authorized anyone to sell or to collect fee for the PhilHealth Forms.
"As of this time, we haven't received any complaint about anybody selling PhilHealth forms in Aklan yet. Forms are always available here in the office, and should anybody need to get many copies, they could make a request with justification why they need a big volume or a pad of the forms. The advisory aims to warn people in Aklan so they would not be victimized by these unscrupulous persons," Del Rosario said.
According to the advisory, any act which involved dealing or transaction of the same nature must be immediately reported to the Office of the Assistant Vice President of PhilHealth Regional Office VI at Tel No. (033)5087300 to 04 or to the nearest PhilHealth Service Office.
In Aklan, PhilHealth is located at Adante Building, Veterans Avenue, Kalibo in front of the Kalibo Fire Station, with telephone number (036) 268-9001 and (036)5007211.

Anti-terrorist operation alarms beach resort
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Manila Bulletin

BORACAY — A military operation here conducted recently had alarmed residents and stakeholders in this island resort last week.
Lt. Col. Nicolas Pasion, Jr., commanding officer of the Philippine Army 47th IB, admitted, "there was no coordination with their Boracay detachment under 2nd Lt. Rommel Callejo regarding the operations of military intelligence troops.
"We had knowledge of the arrest only after it was reported to our detachment in Boracay. But we have to understand the confidential nature of such operations involving high-risk security," he told reporters in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
On March 8, at least two operatives from the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) took part in the alleged arrest of two Muslims while on their way to their mosque in Sitio Ambulong in Barangay Manoc-Manoc here.
The operatives alighted from their rented Boracay Land Transport Multi-purpose Cooperative (BLTMPC) vehicle to arrest the suspects at 6:30 p.m. They fired their guns after one of the alleged terrorists tried to resist arrest.
Initial investigation of Boracay Special Tourist Protection Office (BSTPO) revealed that ISAFP operatives based at Camp Aguinaldo arrested Muhammad Bani Macarya and Almizhabr Bonadial, believed to be members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), a Southeast Asia-based extremist group.
After their arrest, the Suzuki APV vehicle immediately fled towards the Philippine Army Detachment in Sitio Punta Bunga in Barangay Yapak, the northern tip of the island.
But Aklan police director Senior Supt. Benigno Durana said in his incident report to regional director Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas, that "the intelligence operatives failed to coordinate with him or the BSTPO under Senior Insp. Auxelio Dador on their operation."
The family of the suspected terrorists also appealed to military officials to surface them, claiming, they arrested innocent Muslims. They went on a silent protest against the alleged abduction in front of Boracay police station over the weekend.

TERRORISTS IN BORACAY?

Covert operation pits ISAFP versus PNP
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

BORACAY – Unknown to the thousands of tourists, residents and policemen here, military agents were able to arrest two suspected terrorists over the weekend. The suspects were immediately transported to Camp Aguinaldo in Metro Manila.
The covert operation of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), however, raised one sensitive issue: military – police coordination.
Aklan Police Provincial Office (APPO) Director Senior Supt. Benigno Durana reported to Regional Director Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas that military intelligence operatives failed to coordinate with him or the Boracay Special Tourist Police Office (BSTPO).
The BSTPO is under Senior Insp. Auxelio Dador.
ISAFP agents should have made the necessary coordination to prevent possible miss-encounters with other government troops, said Supt. Larry Decena, deputy provincial director for administration of the APPO.
THE ARREST

The two suspects, both Muslims, were arrested on March 8. At least two operatives of the ISAFP took part in the operation.
The suspects were on their way to a mosque around 6:30 p.m. in Sitio Ambulong, Brgy. Manoc-Manoc when stopped by the military agents who emerged from a Suzuki APV vehicle they rented from the Boracay Land Transport Multi-purpose Cooperative (BLTMPC).
The operatives were said to have fired their guns after one of the suspects tried to resist. The suspects were later identified as Muhammad Bani Macarya and Almizhabr Bonadial, believed to have links with the Abu Sayyaf Group and Jemaah Islamiyah, a Muslim extremist group based in Indonesia but operates in the whole of Southeast Asia.
The suspects were initially taken to the Philippine Army Detachment in Sitio Punta Bunga, Brgy. Yapak at the northernmost and hilly portion of the island, and later transferred to Metro Manila.
The families of the suspects denied they were terrorists, and branded their arrests as abductions. Over the weekend, they held a silent protest in front of the BSTPO.
There are Muslim neighborhoods in this island resort. They are mostly traders.
Military sources have intercepted intelligence information that the embassies of the United States, Britain, Israel and Australia in Metro Manila are being targeted by terrorists.
CLUELESS

Aside from the APPO and the BSTPO, the Philippine Army which has a detachment in the island has apparently no idea of the ISAFP operation.
Lt. Col. Nicolas Pasion Jr., commanding officer of the Philippine Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion (IB), said there was no coordination with his Boracay detachment under 2nd Lt. Rommel Callejo.
“We knew about the arrests only after it was reported to our detachment,” he said. But Pasion stressed he understood why. He said the operation was a “high-risk security” matter.
The ISAFP operation is now being investigated, said APPO’s Decena. Durana is leading it.
“Durana heads Task Force Boracay which has the AFP as one of the members. It is but proper that ISAFP agents should coordinate with the task force to prevent possible miss-encounters among government troopers," Decena said.
The investigation aims to determine, Decena said, “whether the Philippine National Police should have a Gentlemen's Agreement with the AFP so that a similar incident would be avoided."

Bakhaw Norte residents avail of free medical, dental services

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

TREE-PLANTING. Kiwanis of Kalibo Past President Felipe Panado, Jr. (standing) joins President-Elect Juan Climaco Abella II (right) and 2nd VP Ramel Buncalan in a tree-planting activity/BRZabal

KALIBO, Aklan – Over 300 recipients were provided free medical assistance and dental check-up in Sitio Liboton, Bakhaw Norte, this town by the Aklan Medical Society (AMS) and the Kiwanis Club of Kalibo.

The joint project was supported by the Aklan Dental Society, Kiwanis Club of Kalibo Ati-Atihan, the Philippine Nurses Association and the Philippine Pharmacists Association.

Kiwanis president Cielito Ang said, “the project is a whole-day humanitarian mission in one of the flood-damaged communities and financially-strapped residents with free medical services.”

The Kiwanians also conducted tree-planting and feeding while AMS led by Dr. Cynthia dela Cruz lectured on health, nutrition and proper hygiene education as part of their calamity and disaster support programs.

The dedicated professional volunteers also distributed medicines and provide health-related services, Dela Cruz added.

Kiwanis Club of Kalibo, a global organization of volunteers, has the most number of active members in the Philippine South District. Founded on January 21, 1915, the Kiwanis International is dedicated to aid children and youth in communities as a service-focused organization.

Aklan vice guv seek to advance welfare of women, girls
BY VENUS G. VILLANUEVA

KALIBO, Aklan - Aklan women have come a long way – they are now into politics, they hold high positions in government service, are very much active in business and in the community, but in the barangays, there are still so much to do to uplift the lives of women and girls.
This was the sentiment bared by Aklan Vice Governor Gabrielle V. Calizo, guest speaker at Aklan's launching program in celebration of Women's Month here held at the Daeangpan it Mga Kababayen-an Sa Aklan attended by provincial officials led by Aklan Governor Carlito S. Marquez and municipal officials, Gender and Development (GAD) focal persons and advocates from local government units, Aklan GAD Commission members, Aklan PNP Women's and Children's Concerns Desk Officers from the province' 17 towns, and other sectors composed of women.
The program was also graced by 5 lady mayors of the towns of Ibajay, Altavas, Balete, Batan and Numancia.
"Daeangpan (the building that houses the Crisis Intervention Unit where abused women and children stay temporarily) is a big help to our women here but there are still many things to do to optimize the use of this facility which should be conducted consistently," Vice Governor Calizo said.
Calizo also called on the five lady mayors to exert all their efforts in conceptualizing programs designed to protect women and advance their rights with the use of their mandated GAD fund.
"Analyze the needs of your locality so appropriate projects will be provided to women," Calizo urged the lady mayors. "Even in this group, if we start putting our minds, strengths and efforts together, there would be no reason why we cannot improve the lives of women," she added.
For a start, the Aklan lady vice governor announced that she, together with two other provincial lady legislators, Hon. Jean Rodriguez and Hon. Daisy Sucro Briones will be contributing for a livelihood seed fund for women.
She announced that both Hon. Rodriguez and Hon. Briones pledged P50,000 each, while she will be giving P100,000 for a total of P200,000, provided that projects of AGADC for the year would be reviewed and those that would uplift the lives of women and children would be prioritized.
"Let us teach our women livelihood skills, provide them access to capital and all our programs should be consistent. It takes a while to do this but we can't afford not to do this. You have my commitment, and I know that the Provincial Governor and mayors are also supportive of the Aklan GAD Commission. Let us all work together to advance the welfare of women and girls," Calizo stressed.
Prior to the program, a motorcade around Kalibo was held, followed by a Eucharistic celebration. Messages were also delivered by Gov. Carlito Marquez and Provincial Administrator Diego M. Luces representing Congressman Florencio T. Miraflores.
Other highlights of the program were the turnover of Information Technology (computer set) to the CIU by Hon. Daisy Briones, and awarding of certificates of recognition to women leaders of Aklan – the five lady mayors – Mayor Lulu Miraflores of ibajay, Mayor Kathryne Reforl of Altavas, Mayor Noemi Cordero of Balete, Mayor Elverita Templonuevo of Numancia, and Mayor Delfina Ramos of Batan. Vice Gov. Calizo, Hon. Briones and Hon. Rodriguez also received the same award.

Stakeholders work to decongest, preserve Boracay
BY JIMMY C. CALAPATI

BORACAY - Stakeholders in the country’s premiere tourist destination plans to decongest, preserve Boracay by developing Caticlan as jump off point for development.
The Department of Tourism recently spearheaded a workshop on the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) for the island.
Resort owners, NGOs, local government units, representatives from the Philippine Tourism Authority and the DOT suggested that:
a) Caticlan be developed, make the service providers live there to decongest the island; b) remove the phone and power line eyesores; c) manage waste properly and d) increase police visibility.
"30 years ago, when backpackers started trekking to Boracay, there were no structures. Land was being sold for a mere P1 per square meter. Who would have thought that this would be a top tourism earner for the country and among the top tourist destinations in the world," DOT secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano said.
At present, there are 4,054 rooms available in the island with additional 1,301 rooms undergoing construction and expected to be completed within the next two years. International chain of resorts and hotels are also eyeing development plans in Boracay.
Tourist traffic in the island also grew by 12 percent per yeare over the last three years from 2004-2006. Even during the monsoon season, more than 25,000 visitors per month trooped to the island.
Despite the success of tourism in the island, various issues pervade such as environmental upkeep resulting from poor sewerage system, poor garbage collection and colliform as well as other social issues.
"Only 30 percent of the island is developed. The congestion only happens in the white beach of the barangay of Balabag. The barangays of Yapak and Manocmanoc are still not developed," Malay mayor Ceciron Cawaling said. The mayor added that for 2008, the local government earned close to P80 million in taxes alone.
But the proliferation of resorts and commercial establishments in the white beach is not the only problem of the island. Population is also slowly becoming a threat. According the studies, there were only 2,700 registered inhabitants in the island in 1997. By 2007, this has grown to 17,000.
"Many of these are workers. Some have migrated and became tricycle drivers, boatmen, vendors. We should also device a plan to control migration and decongest the island," Cawaling said.
During the workshop, which generally evolved around how to maintain Boracay as the premier tourist destination of the country, several resort owners and NGOs have suggested that vital to the preservation of the island is the development of the mainland.
Caticlan, 15 minutes away from the island, houses the airport, the jetty port and several small commercial establishments. But aside from being the transit point for Boracay, nothing much is happening in Caticlan.
Some said that Caticlan should also be developed to house the family of the workers. Others also suggested of transferring the tourist facilities in Caticlan so tourists can only come to Boracay during the day.
A participant also commented on the existing telephone and electricity wires that are eyesores for tourists.
Others expressed concern on the existing garbage disposal system of the island, commenting that the existing materials recovery center and the water treatment facility should be maximized.
A group suggested of increased police visibility, transparency of transactions between local government units and resort owners, and a more concrete buildings permit for future resort developments.,
Durano said that the workshop is vital for the creation of the framework for the CLUP. Once finished, the CLUP will help identify the areas that may be developed and designate areas by specific use.
The Phil. Tourism Authority is also doing a master plan for Boracay while the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources and local government units have collectively issued a moratorium on construction of new facilities.
However, there is a need to consolidate these efforts through the formulation of CLUP to guide future development of the island.
"The challenge in Boracay is that there is a contest of ideas. The property owners have their own ideas on how to manage their properties. The local government of Malay and provincial government of Aklan have their own idea on how to manage the island. DOT has its own idea, so does DENR," Durano said.
"The first thing that we really need to do is to try to marry these ideas into a unified, practical and sustainable vision for the island,’ Durano said.

Kalibo domestic airport prepares for international flights
DoTC orders upgrading of Kalibo airport to international standards
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Manila Bulletin/Panay News

AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores (second from right) discusses with DoTC Engr. Arturo Baldera and Air Transportation Office (ATO) Kalibo manager Engr. Percy Malonesio the proposed expansion of Kalibo airport terminal building/GCawaling

KALIBO, Aklan – The Kalibo domestic airport will soon be an international gateway, said Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores.
The solon said Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza signed the order on March 5 upgrading Kalibo domestic airport into an international airport.
This will pave the way for another surge of tourism activities in this province, particularly in the tourism island of Boracay.
Initially, the budget is P80-million for the new terminal building to cater the international tourists and it is expected to operate next year.
“It has regular customs and immigration offices to service more international flights and with assurance of additional facilities from the national government,” Miraflores added.
Last week, Air Transportation Office (ATO) Kalibo manager Engr. Percy Malonesio, DOTC head for Engineering and Architectural Design Division Engr. Arturo Baldera and Miraflores conducted an ocular inspection of the Kalibo airport.
Together with Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez, the solon lobbied with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to upgrade the airport and to attract more international flights from other countries.
This April, the new terminal building starts its construction adjacent the old terminal building equipped with tourism standard facilities.The old terminal building is undergoing expansion and improvement to accommodate more domestic tourists and visitors, Miraflores said.
“This is a stop-gap move in our mission to build modern facilities, but for the meantime, since our budget is limited, it will answer the needs of the demand of tourist and passengers. Let’s us make the airport safe with tourist-efficient service despite, the lack of facilities,” he added.
Miraflores pointed out Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano revealed during the Boracay Island Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) workshop in the island resort that a new regional airline from Taiwan is planning to establish regional flights to Kalibo aside from the regular flights of Asian Spirit Airlines from Incheon, South Korea.
“The Panay Island has other airports like Iloilo, Roxas and Bacolod, but the demand is in Kalibo and Boracay. We thanked President Arroyo for the support to declare Kalibo airport as international gateway,” he said.
Tourist arrivals in 2007 registered 596,798 visited the island of Boracay compared to 558,084 tourist arrivals in 2006.

Nestea Beach Volley National Circuit clean-up drive on Samal Island

AFTER the Mindanao elimination, the 2008 Nestea Beach Volley National Circuit shifts to promoting environmental awareness through beach clean–up drive today at the Samal Island in Davao. “The 2008 Nestea Beach Volley supports the coastal rehabilitation project of the Philippine Business for Social Progress by means of clean-up activities on different beaches in the country,” said Nestea brand event specialist Ronald Chuacokiong about the activity starting at 7 a.m. The next stop of the clean-up drive will be during the national finals on April 24 to 26 on Boracay Island. Six teams have earned slots in the national finals. These are University of Mindanao-Tagum (UM-T) [Mylin Que and Liezl Manatad], Holy Cross of Davao College (HCDC) [Mykah Ramos and Aiza Armacion] and University of Mindanao-Davao [Maricel Cabus and Janice Arnaiz] in the women’s division and Capitol University [Kiven Escobal and John Michael Vivares], UM-T [Lowell Fabian and Raquelito Tayabas] and HCDC [Allen Jay Sales and Celboy Atendido] in the men’s category. A total of 17 schools will see action in the Luzon eliminations scheduled on March 25 to 27 at the Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park in Cavite, while 11 teams will compete in the Visayas eliminations on April 8 to 10 at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod. The annual summer event is supported by Havaianas, Speedo, Mikasa, Penshoppe, Tagum Beach Volley Drome Rotary Park, University of St. La Salle Bacolod, Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park, Crystal Sand Beach Resort, Le Soleil de Boracay Hotel, La Carmela de Boracay Resort Hotel, D’Mall, D’Boracay and Hey! Jude Hotel Resort. -- Emil C. Noguera

Kapihan sa Aklan to forge partnerships with sectors - PAPI
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News/Manila Bulletin

KALIBO, Aklan – Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc (PAPI) Juan P. Dayang said the challenges in the social, political and economic arena can be tackled through partnerships with institutions and community press.
Come March 23, the Aklan Press Club (APC) is launching the “Kapihan sa Aklan” at the Kusina sa Kalibo Restaurant.
APC, one of the oldest press clubs in the country, is headed by Dr. Ambrosio Villorente. Among those invited are National Press Club president Roy Mabasa and DepEd Undersecretary Dr. Vilma Labrador for the forum launching and the groundbreaking of the P10-million three-storey Aklan Media Building .
Kapihan sa Aklan is an innovative and trend-setting media event initiated by Aklan Media Forum, a multi-sectoral grouping of Aklan’s distinguished opinion leaders, Dayang added.
“The Aklan version is not the stereotyped gossipy and sensation-oriented forum. It’s a no-holds-barred roundtable dialogue that seeks to dissect, analyze and interpret events and issues,” he said.
He stressed the Kapihan sa Aklan will form a panel of discussants and reactors to add a measure of intellectual depth to the forum aside from the typical question-and-answer portion.
Dayang said the invited resource persons coming from government, NGOs, civil society, business and other stakeholders will be grilled by tri-media journalists about transparency, accountability and relevance to the people.
“Outside the metropolis, it’s a different story. Talks of ways to develop the countryside, bring in investments and uplift the quality of life of the rural folks are hogging headlines and air lanes in the provincial media,” he added.
The APC emeritus also stressed that the Aklan Media Forum aims to forge a working rapport between institutions and the community press within the framework of cooperation.

Bora beyond the beach

By Gianna G. Maniego

The urge to close my eyes was almost too strong to resist. But I was afraid if I did, I’d miss seeing my life flashing by.

Granted, 40 km an hour may not exactly fall under the category of “breakneck speed.” But when you’re harnessed to a steel pipe contraption that is basically held together by flimsy leather strips, careening down a muddy dirt road at ANY speed is enough excuse to call on all your patron saints.

Not that I was, really. There’s a certain thrill in knowing you’re doing something you’ve never done before. The fact that you’re doing it in the pouring rain just ups the ante a wee bit.

Then again, this is Boracay. If you don’t spend 90 percent of the time soaking wet, then you must be doing something wrong—or dirty.

It’s Day One of our three-day Island Adventure, organized and sponsored by Cebu Pacific and Boracay Tropics, and already we’re chucked out of our comfort zone to “experience the other side of Boracay.”

The lot of us (consisting of members of media and Cebu Pacific representatives) were all on board all terrain vehicles (ATVs) and the steel contraptions they call “bug cars” (not exactly the kind of name that engenders a lot of confidence).

“ATVs are really popular among the more adventurous tourists,” says Annie Convocar, marketing consultant of Boracay Tropics. ATVs are four-wheel motor bikes that visitors can rent by the hour to explore the more rugged areas of the island. “I think they were brought here by Koreans.”

(We did spot quite a few Korean ladies confidently navigating the dirt roads on their ATVs. I could tell from the kitten-heel Candie-style sandals they were wearing.)

After about 20 minutes, we make a pitstop, not to rest, apparently, but to proceed on foot to the top of Boracay’s highest peak, Mt. Luho. Why? Just because. Oh and of course, the view is spectacular. It’s well worth a few scrapes and bruises (inevitable when you’re climbing a set of foot-high steps haphazardly carved into the mountain wall.) Wind whipping through the air, waves crashing in the distant shore... this is a side of Bora not a lot of tourists have seen. Clearly, there’s more to this island paradise than basking in the sand and shopping.

As the rain begins pouring down in earnest, we return our ATVs and bug cars and head back to the Tropics, where solicitous staffers are waiting to hand out thick towels.

More than a party place

The ATV rides are part of Boracay Tropics’ Adventure package, which is exclusively offered to local residents and balikbayans. The three-day, two night deal costs P11,800 and, aside from amenities like accommodations in a Superior or Deluxe room and lunch and dinner at TropiCafe, includes the ATV rides; reef-walking, spelunking through the underground caves of Crystal Cove, parasailing or jetskiing, and island hopping.

The adventure package is fast becoming a hot favorite especially among off-season visitors, like us, and provides the perfect lead-up to our coverage of Cebu Pacific’s Manila-to-Caticlan maiden route. (But that’s getting ahead of the story).

To give us a (wet) taste of the island’s night life, the Tropics staff laid out a sumptuous luau on the patio, composed of chori burgers, hotdogs, baked oysters, beef kebabs, and other bounties from the sea. (Seriously, if you’re a foodie with a predilection for seafood, this is about as close to heaven as you can get.)

The resort also recruited trinket sellers, henna tattoo artists, and zipline dancers—some of the more colorful characters on Bora’s beach—to keep us entertained.

Barely a year-old, Boracay Tropics Resort Hotel has already earned its AAA (the highest rating given to hotels and resorts) from the Department of Tourism. Located at Station 2, the resort blends Mediterranean and Asian architecture on a sprawling estate of verdant landscape.

It has 44 elegantly-appointed Superior and Deluxe rooms and six Cabana Suites. The Premier Suites include a receiving area and a kitchenette. All rooms are equipped with air-conditioning units, mini-bar, private shower with hot and cold water, cable TV and safety deposit vault.

The resort is owned by unassuming couple Bert and Cely Sarabia, and is the result of the couple’s quest for accommodations that would satisfy their discerning standards.

From a thatched hut built on a 1,000-sqm lot, the Sarabias constructed eight cottages and four duplex units to accommodate the burgeoning number of island visitors. Originally christened Rainbow Villas, the resort was essentially a mom-and-pop affair, in keeping with the ambience of the early Boracay days. The Manila-based Sarabias were long distance operators so Bert’s relatives ran and maintained the resort. Serious business considerations were not a priority.

It was only when adjacent lots were offered up for sale that the couple realized their little business venture could level up to a seriously profitable enterprise. By 2004, as the political and economic climate became more favorable for tourism investment, the couple decided they were in the hotel and resort business for the long haul and proceeded to reinvent Rainbow Villas into a bigger, more cohesively-structured and commercial resort. After extensive renovations, the resort was reopened under the name Boracay Tropics, which offers, among other things, excellent massages from its resident masseuse, Offel (about whom many members of the media have waxed poetic).

With everyone feted, sated, and generally winding down after a taxing day, we call it a night.

“I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” says Jeannette Reyes, of Gatchie and Partners, Cebu Pacific’s PR consultants. “We’re going reef-walking!”

Make like mermaid

The following day, the sun shows up and the day is deemed sunny enough to go ahead with our activities, despite the choppy waters that made for a really bumpy ferry ride to one of the island coves. Once we got there, however, the waters became calm enough to push through with the reef walking.

Reef walking, as it turns out, allows you to walk on the ocean floor (some 20 feet underwater) and commune with the fish, wearing nothing but a heavy, space age-looking helmet. The water keeps the heavy helmet buoyant and is donned just before you submerge yourself.

Terry (Gutierrez of Travelife), KR (Abella, our photographer) and I are the second batch of walkers in our group. The first batch, consisting of Beting (Dolor, of Philippine News and Philippine Playboy), Sarah (Primicias of Manila Bulletin), Brian (Santos of Philippine Daily Inquirer), Mapet (Dioso of Daily Tribune), and Vanessa (Balagapo of What’s On/Expat), are already on shore.

“Underwater, you can breathe normally. The water won’t get in unless you look down, so just remember to look straight ahead,” our guide advises as I slowly descend the steel ladder which, thankfully, reaches down to the floor.

I was a bit claustrophobic at first, but I eventually forgot all about this in my excitement over the wonderfully colored fish that swim out to greet me. Our guide hands out bread to feed the fish, who seem to be expecting this treat. I pick out a favorite—a silver one with bluish-green scales—and name it Dory (sorry, it was the only name that came to mind). I try running after it, but I keep forgetting these fish are smart and tourist-savvy—unless you have something interesting to offer them, they prefer to observe from a safe distance.

Meanwhile, our guide makes like a mermaid and lies down on the floor, idly playing tag with one of the ink-black fish that was swimming nearby (old friends?).

After about 30 minutes, our guide gives us the thumbs up, the signal for us to surface, and reluctantly, we ascend to the boat.

Ha! I did it!

If anybody told me a month ago, I would be swimming with the fish, I would have said he or she has been watching too many mafia movies. Now, I have bragging rights.

If only for the extraordinary experience of walking on the ocean floor, this under the sea adventure is well worth the effort. But to literally swim with the fish and explore the multicolored wonders under the water? That’s pure gravy.

Spelunking in Crystal Cove, I have to admit, is not as exciting as reef-walking. But then again, I skipped out on exploring the second cave, which, aside from requiring you to crawl across a foot-wide ledge, has the added feature of crashing waves handicapping your trek. (They should include this in the Amazing Race Asia.) But those of us who went, came back revved up (not to mention soaking wet), and ready for lunch.

Shopping or sailing?

After a really sumptuous meal at Cyma (which, as it turns out, is not just related to the one in Makati, but is the original resto to boot), we regroup to map out our afternoon activities.

Our choices: shopping or parasailing? To the more adventurous soul, this would probably be a no-brainer. But hey, you’re talking to inveterate shopaholics here.

So we split up: Peachy (Guioguio of Business Mirror), Winnie (Velasquez of Malaya), Rosbel (Bunag of Gatchie and Partners) and I head for the stalls at D’Mall, and the others go parasailing (which, judging from the photos, seems extremely fun if you don’t mind getting wet—again!)

Let me give you a tip: If you ever need to haggle when you go shopping, bring Peachy along. She’s about the best at bargaining I’ve ever seen.

Dinner, at the Bamboo Lounge is on Cebu Pacific, when RG (Orense of Cebu Pacific) reminds us of our early start the next day. We’re meeting Cebu Pacific’s maiden flight to Caticlan. So the, er, more mature ones among us decide to call an early night, while the more energetic “young ‘uns” check out the night life.

New plane, new route

The flight from Manila is slightly delayed, so we try to entertain ourselves by playing name that tune with the band playing for the Ati Atihan dancers.
The Cebu Pacific plane is probably the fourth plane of the day (then again, the day’s just starting), and what a handsome plane it is. The spanking new ATR 72-500 manufactured by the Toulouse, France-based Avions de Transport Regional has a seating capacity of 72, with two jumpseats in the first row that face the rest of the seats instead of front.
The aircraft is the first of several being acquired by the airline to service the route. Cebu Pacific now services the port five times a day, with as many turnaround flights to Manila. With the arrival of its second aircraft this month, the schedule is expected to increase to nine times a day.
“We are very happy to inform you that this route will be serviced by our brand-new, state-of-the-art aircraft, the ATR 72-500, manufactured by France-based Avions de Transport Regional, the world leader in the turboprop market.

With its great efficiency and reliability, we are confident that the ATR will greatly help in increasing the accessibility of Caticlan and Boracay to more visitors, both local and foreign... I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how pleased we are to finally be able to serve Caticlan [Aklan], gateway to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Boracay has played a very significant role in the country’s tourism, and one of our priorities now is to help make this destination even more dynamic by offering more options for air travel, and our low-fare, great value proposition to travelers,” says Michael Shau, vice president for airport services of Cebu Pacific, at the inaugural festivities.

Cebu Pacific assures its clients of a unique flying experience. We try this ourselves on our trip back. Our flight lives up to advertisement—smooth, fast, unique (especially if you try out the opposite-facing jumpseats). Exactly the proper way to end an island adventure.

Bar girl killed in Boracay

BORACAY - Police arrested a German for allegedly torturing and killing a bar girl in Boracay Island Friday morning.
The uthorities arrested German Adolf Christian Winterrer right after the body of Mylene dela Rosa, 32, of Barangay Janlud, Libacao, Aklan was discovered past 5 a.m. in Barangay Yapak.
Police said dela Rosa was seen with two men, Bobby Alonso and Winterrer, inside a bar prior to the discovery of the body.
They said the victim's body bore several bruises, contusions and cigarette burns, indications that she was torturned before being slain.
Investigators also said dela Rosa's genitalia was lacerated when a hard, blunt object was forced inside her.
Police Officer 3 Rezie Bulanon, case investigator, suspected the victim's body was killed in another part of the village.
Alonso told police he saw how the German hurt the victim and claimed he even heard Winterrer threaten to kill dela Rosa before leaving the bar on his motorcycle.
"I heard him (Winterrer) say to Mylene 'I will kill you later'", Alonso said.
Barangay watchman Felix Villanueva bolstered Alonso's statement, saying he saw the German's clothes and scratches on his neck and cheek several hours before her body was found.
When they went to arrest the German, police also found blood stains on his motorcycle.
Dela Rosa's relatives refused to accept what had befallen the victim and said she had been working in Boracay for several years.
Josephine Villanueva, cousin of the victim said there was talk that she was working as a guest relations officer (GRO). Her family is now at a loss as to how to raise the five kids, range in age from 1 to 12 years old, that dela Rosa left behind.
Villanueva said, “He (Winterrer) should be shot.” Meanwhile, police will file murder charges against the German.

Boracay is RP’s Hawaii
COMMONSENSE
BY MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

BORACAY — It was indeed a refreshing respite from the daily grind of work in the office — even for a very brief vacation leave which I spent here with my twin sons. It was also an opportunity for me to have some quality bonding time for my teenage boys while they are enjoying their school vacation. I could not, however, completely shed off my journalist instinct while enjoying the white sand beaches and clear seawaters that continue to attract foreign and local tourists to come here in droves, especially during summer months here in the Philippines.
The large tourist traffic here has, in fact, enticed the Philippine Airlines (PAL) to open 12 flights a day to and from Manila-Caticlan. PAL had their inaugural flight here last week. I came here, though, via South East Asian Airlines ( Seair). Seair is reportedly being bought by Chinoy industrialist Alfredo Yao who owns Asian Spirit. The merger talks of the two airline firms have reportedly been completed and a formal announcement will be made any day now. 
Both Seair and Asian Spirit operate 10 flights each to and from Manila-Caticlan along with Cebu Pacific Air. All of the four airline companies use their turboprop aircraft because the runway is too short to take in big engine planes. Two other airlines fly to Caticlan – Air Philippines and Corporate Air. Flights come in here at almost every 30-minute interval as early as 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. while there is available daylight. This is needed for visibility because there are no runway lights at the Caticlan airport. So you can just imagine the heavy volume of passenger traffic everyday here.
Passengers waiting for their flights back to Manila have to bear with the very humid departure area because the air-conditioning unit does not function. The seating capacity can only accommodate 150 to 170 passengers and the rest would have to stand up. How could you complain when terminal fee is only P20?
But Caticlan Airport has not apparently kept up nor even benefited from this heavy travel business. The local government has not apparently realized how much more in revenues they could generate and income for their people from the booming travel industry in the province if only they have the tourism infrastructure in place.
Boracay reminded me of my trip to Hawaii last month. I was fortunately invited by Hawaiian Air to join the inaugural flight of their latest Manila-Honolulu route. While there, we were toured to the Polynesian Center as part of the activities that Hawaiian Air lined up for our visit there. The Center showcases the unique native songs, dances, tribal culture and traditions of the Polynesian race unique to people in the South Pacific from Hawaii, to Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and as far down as New Zealand.
My visit at the Polynesian Center brought me back to my childhood memory of our own Nayong Pilipino theme park that used to be located beside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City. I fondly recall the tours we had at Nayong Pilipino where we got to see replicas of our world famous wonders like Mayon Volcano in Bicol, the Banawe rice terraces, the Chocolate Hills of Bohol, among the featured attractions of our country’s first theme park. However, this was closed down and relocated supposedly to give way to the expansion of runways at NAIA.
The Nayong Pilipino fortunately is being resurrected at the Manila Bay reclamation area in Roxas Boulevard under the ambitious “Tourism City” project being undertaken by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor). The “Tourism City” started already the groundbreaking rites for the project, the first phase of which starts later this year. The project would include also the construction of at least six world- class “six-star” hotels, theaters, sports stadiums, shopping centers, an oceanarium, museums, medical facilities, residential complexes, cruise ships and even a well-known international theme park. Under the same plans, the Tourism City will also have an observation tower which aims to become one of the tallest in the world, and the Manila Eye ‑ an enormous ferris wheel similar to the London Eye.
Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Efraim Genuino certainly acknowledged there is a pressing need to promote tourism in the provinces but at the same it should be done for Manila likewise. As Genuino pointed out: In most countries, the capital cities are considered as the most popular destinations. For example, you have Paris in France, London in the United Kingdom, Tokyo in Japan and Sydney in Australia.
Also the fact that most foreign tourists fly in direct to Manila, the Tourism City project would provide additional attractions to a handful that we have now of historical landmarks, shopping malls, restaurants, and karaoke bars. The city of Manila does not have a lot to offer in terms of tourist attractions, Genuino sadly noted. Hence, tourists are not inclined to stay longer.
Keeping this in mind, Genuino envisioned the Bagong Nayong Pilipino-Manila Bay Tourism City as a way of bringing Manila back in the world map as a premier tourism destination. This project, which is estimated to bring in more than $15 billion in direct foreign investments and create 250,000 new jobs initially, is being touted as the country’s biggest tourism development project ever.
Set to rise over 105 hectares of prime reclaimed land along the Manila Bay, the Tourism City is expected to double — or triple — the number of hotel rooms in the city as well as offer a host of recreational, leisure and entertainment amenities at par with global standards.
He also disclosed that the second and third phases of the Tourism City project will be done in other locations such as Cebu City as well as the Subic and Clark economic zones. This early the project has already gained much support from legislators and various sectors, including business, entertainment and tourism.
Once built, the project has the potential to push the Philippines to the forefront of tourism in Asia and as Genuino puts it, become the “economic miracle the Filipinos have been waiting for.”
In the meantime, our local governments like here in Boracay must do their share to keep up their tourism boom and plow back to their people the fruits of development in terms of improving their air and sea port facilities as the gateways to their beautiful island resort.

NESTEA Beach 2008

Summer will surely sizzle once more as NESTEA, the official drink of summer, invites everyone to enjoy a more exciting season when it launched NESTEA Beach 2008, summer’s biggest, grandest and hottest event. Presented during a recent press conference hosted by MYX VJ Sanya Smith, NESTEA Beach 2008 will showcase more competitive beach volley matches from the country’s best collegiate beach volley teams, as well as lots of cool parties, electrifying concerts, fashion shows and beach clean-up activities at the Coral Garden Marine Park in Island Garden City of Samal, Davao and Boracay. Top honchos of Nestlé and NESTEA graced the launch lead by Nestlé AVP and NESTEA consumer marketing manager Tina Samaco, Nestlé VP for marketing promotions and events Joey Quimbo, NESTEA brand events specialist Ronald Chuacokiong, NESTEA category manager Yods Enriquez and Nestlé Professionals consumer marketing manager Saul Babas. Helping to make NESTEA Beach 2008 become grander is its partners, who were out in full force during the launch. Expressing their support were Ammiel de Leon and Glen Macadaeg of Havaianas, Edelyn Yanilla, and Malu Nuñez of Speedo, Anil Buxani of Mikasa, Sharon Presbitero, Kat Reyes and Doris Tan of Penshoppe, Issa Lacorte and Mercy Reyes of Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park, Jimmy Coscoluella, Patricia Barretto and Kay Faustino of Le Soleil de Boracay Hotel, Rowena Amodia of La Carmela de Boracay Resort Hotel, Jose Noli Genovia of D’Mall, D’Boracay, Jay Olle of Hey! Jude Resort Hotel and Bing Tanalgo and Rose Tanalgo-Meim of Bacolod Chicken Inasal. “This year, NESTEA Beach Volley goes national as we now bring action-packed beach volley games in 4 areas: Tagum, Bacolod City, Cavite and of course, Boracay,” says Samaco, who adds that NESTEA will adopt one beach each year as part of its beach clean-up efforts with Island Garden City of Samal being this year’s adopted beach. The first beach clean-up activity is set on March 8 in Coral Garden Marine Park in Island Garden City of Samal to be followed in Boracay on April 25. Plunge into a more exciting and sizzling summer with NESTEA Beach 2008 Among the other highlights of NESTEA Beach 2008 is an ongoing VJ Search contest, which gives three contestants a chance to cohost NESTEA Beach 2008 with MYX VJ Iya Villania and Will Devaughn. Winners also get to appear in Star MYX and get to keep P10,000 as pocket money. Of course, top flight beach volley matches are a staple to any NESTEA summer event. This year’s NESTEA Beach Volley National Circuit will feature more competitive matches from the country’s top beach volley collegiate teams, as 72 teams from 43 colleges and universities nationwide vie for big cash prizes and the honor of being NESTEA Beach Volley champs. All teams that qualify for the Boracay semis are already assured of receiving cash prizes! Tagum Beach Volley Drome at Rotary Park is the inaugural venue for the elimination rounds as Mindanao teams wage beach volley wars from March 4 to 6. Luzon teams take to the sand court of Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park from March 25 to 27 while the Visayas teams travel to University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City to compete from April 8 to 10. The semifinal and championship rounds are scheduled on April 24 to 26 to be held in sunny Boracay. Of course, the event’s not just going to be purely beach volley! There’s going to be a mall tour that will start on February 23 at Market! Market! Activity Center to be followed in NCCC Mall Davao on March 1 and SM Bacolod on April 5. NESTEA Beach 2008 will also showcase parties in Boracay’s hotspots like La Carmela de Boracay Resort Hotel, Summer Place, Boracay Regency Beach Resort and Crystal Sand Beach Resort, with all the fun summer action climaxing in a victory party featuring a concert to be headlined by top band Parokya ni Edgar. NESTEA Beach 2008 is sponsored by Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park, Speedo, Havaianas, Penshoppe, Mikasa, Le Soleil de Boracay Hotel, Crystal Sand Beach Resort, La Carmela de Boracay Resort Hotel, Tagum Beach Volley Drome at Rotary Park, University of St. La Salle Bacolod City, D’ Mall, D’ Boracay and Hey! Jude Resort Hotel.

Suspect in nursing grad murder arrested
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News/Manila Bulletin

CONFESSION. Police investigators interrogate Francis Villanueva, suspect in the killing of a nursing graduate, who admitted killing 'unintentionally.' He was arrested in Malay, Aklan by operatives of the Kalibo PNP led by Supt. Arnold Ardiente/GCawaling

KALIBO, Aklan – Police arrested the suspect in the gruesome murder of a 23-year-old nursing graduate on Saturday morning.
Supt. Arnold Ardiente, police chief here, identified the suspect as Francis Villanueva, 19, a resident of Bakhaw Norte, this town.
He is the prime suspect in the killing of April “Apple” Evaristo, of Poblacion, Numancia town. The murder happened inside a boarding house in Luis Barrios Street on Friday morning.
The suspect was seen in a drinking spree with his friends the night she was murdered. The victim suffered severe head injuries, Ardiente said.
Villanueva was collared by intelligence operatives composed of SPO1 Reynaldo Macario, SPO1 Arc Gonzales, PO1 Joseph Cavan, and PO2 Ronald Macario in Sitio Sa-id, Cubay Sur, Malay town, about 70 kilometers east from here.
The suspect stayed in the house of his relative after he committed the crime.
He said he didn’t intend to kill Evaristo. Police recovered from the suspect his short pants and T-shirt with blood stains.
The Boracay Special Tourist Protection Office (BSTPO) was alerted to track down Villanueva but operatives said he was not staying in the island resort.
“I felt sorry for the unintentional killing of Evaristo. I don’t know if her family will forgive me for what I have done to her,” Villanueva said.
He admitted he was drunk when he punched Evaristo on the stomach and mouth and banged her head on the wall while she was urinating at the back of the boarding house.
Villanueva went to their house in Bakhaw Norte after the incident and fled to Malay last Friday, the police said.
The suspect is presently detained at Kalibo PNP lock-up cell pending the formal filing of charges against him on Monday before the Aklan Prosecutor’s Office.
"The night she was murdered was the first time the suspect and Evaristo met. He is the missing link in the solution of the murder case," Ardiente added.
Meanwhile, the tourist police are facing a blank wall in their investigation on the murder of a 32-year old woman in Puka Beach in Barangay Yapak in Boracay Island.
Mylene dela Rosa, a massage worker and a native of Barangay Janlud, Libacao town, was found dead on Friday morning by a jogger. BSTPO invited a certain Christian Westerer, a German national, for his alleged involvement in the killing of Dela Rosa.
The victim suffered injuries on her private parts and police theorized she was raped. The foreigner, however, denied the murder charges against him.
Rammel Dela Rosa, who is presently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, condemned the killing of his wife.

Boracay Akelco election set on March 15
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

BORACAY – The Aklan Electric Cooperative (Akelco) has set the election of a board of director for this tourist island of Boracay on March 15.

The District 10 election for Boracay Island has only one qualified candidate, Haydeen Bandiola, the current National Electrification Administration (NEA) representative to the board.Three board of directors were elected for the past two months – Atty. Immanuel Sodusta (Kalibo and Numancia), Dra. Norma Salido (Ibajay and Nabas) and barangay captain Samuel Remegia Jr. (New Washington and Batan). They will serve for three years in the highest policy making body of the electric cooperative.

Boracay has 4,400 qualified voters for the March 15 election. Akelco, the sole power distributor in the province of Aklan and the northern towns of Antique, is supplying power to the island resort through its submarine cable from the National Power Corporation.

The daily peak demand increased with the growing number of tourists visiting the island and hotels being constructed like the Shang-rila spa and resort.

Incoming Akelco general manager Chito Peralta is also asking the support of the board of directors in his three-month transition period to pursue his management goals.

Anti-dengue, waste management projects launched on Boracay
BY NESTOR P. BURGOS, JR.

BORACAY - The Department of Tourism (DoT) has poured in P3.6 million for environmental and health projects on Boracay Island.
Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano handed checks to two Boracay-based civic organizations for a campaign against dengue fever and the island's residual waste management program.
Durano said the focus should be on the prevention of environmental and health problems considering the fragile environmental situation of the island.
Addressing these concerns should not be left only to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Health, he said.
"The DOT is biggest stakeholder of the island," said Durano during a ceremony and signing of the memorandum of agreement with the Boracay Chamber of Commerce Inc. (BCCI) and the Rotary Club of Boracay.
Durano turned over a check for P1.85 million to the BCCI for the residual waste management program.
The fund will be used to purchase equipment to turn residual waste from the material recovery facilities of the three villages on the island into byproducts like hollow blocks and paper blocks.
It will also be used to train the workers in this facility, for monitoring, and a massive information campaign for residents and tourists.
BCCI president Charles Uy said the residual waste management program would help achieve the "zero waste" goal for the island. At present, residual wastes are transported to Caticlan on the mainland to a temporary dumpsite.
Aside from helping protect the environment, the project would provide additional livelihood for Boracay residents, Uy said.
Durano also gave a P1.75-million check to the Rotary Club of Boracay for a one-year campaign against dengue fever. The project was launched after a rise in dengue cases in Aklan during the rainy months in 2007.
Dr. Ma. Christina Teotico, the club's president, said while dengue could not be stopped totally, it could be controlled through an education campaign focusing on its prevention.
The program will involve the training of personnel who will monitor the cases, implementation of preventive measures and house-to-house information campaign, and the purchase of mosquito catchers and spraying of non-hazardous biological treatment.
Government agencies have given priority to environmental and health concerns with the increase of tourist arrivals on the island.
In 2007, 596,707 tourists went to Boracay, 208,870 foreign and 359,433 domestic. The tourism industry poured in P10.969 billion to the economy.
Amid calls for tighter control on development projects in Boracay, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued in January 2007 Executive Order 706 mandating the tourism secretary to exercise administrative control over the island through the Philippine Tourism Authority.

Poverty causes rise in Aklan VAWC cases – PNP

KALIBO, Aklan - Awareness of their rights as women might have triggered most victims of domestic violence to come out in the open and report their plight to the police, but the root cause of violence is poverty.

This is according to SPO4 Profetiza Morato of the Women's and Children's Concerns Welfare Desk (WCCD), Aklan Police Provincial Office here who reported on her office' Annual Accomplishment Report, as far as resolution of cases involving acts of violence against women is concerned.
Morato delivered the report during the first meeting for the year of the Aklan Gender and Development Commission (AGADC) at the Daeangpan it Mga Kababayen-an Sa Aklan Bldg. to render commission accomplishments and Violence Against Women (VAWC) reports, plan activities for Women's Month, tackle the AGADC budget for 2008 and discuss other matters.
"Poverty is the number one reason in the rise of rapes and other VAWC cases in Aklan. In poor households, houses are only one-room affairs with all members of the family sleeping together in one area of the house, so incest rapes get committed. There are also instances when mothers leave their households to work in Manila or other urban areas to augment the family income, leaving the children to husbands. We know that when a man gets drunk, he doesn't know anymore what he is doing, which could lead to raping his own daughter," Morato said.
Just recently, Aklanons were shocked to hear a news report about a stepfather who raped his two stepdaughters. The suspect is now detained at the Aklan Rehabilitation Center and cases were already filed against him by his stepdaughters' family.
In the report of the Aklan Police Provincial Office, total number of crimes committed against women for the year 2007 reached 483 while crimes committed against children numbered 122. Youth offenders were listed at 43. For crimes against women, 52 cases had been filed in court while the rest were just for record purposes. For crimes committed against children, 53 were filed in court.
To assist women and children who are victims of violence, the provincial government here is operating the Crisis Intervention Unit at the Daeangpan where victims could stay for a short period and avail of counseling, psychiatric exam, food subsistence and other basic necessities.
Just recently meanwhile, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo inaugurated the newly constructed Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC), a "one-stop-shop investigation unit" tasked to protect the rights of women and children in Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Headquarters in Quezon City.
Formerly the Women and Children Concerns Division, the WCPC now serves as the focal point of coordination and cooperation between the PNP and the different government and non-government organizations (NGOs) involved in enhancing the programs and activities for the protection and welfare of women and children in the fields of investigation, training and counseling.
The President lauded the construction of the WCPC, noting that the inauguration of the facility comes just a few weeks ahead of the celebration of Women's Month in March. (PIA)

Aklan lines up activities for Women's Month, big day set March 14

KALIBO, Aklan - To kick off the month-long celebration of Women's Month in Aklan, a series of activities are slated to be held here with focus on women empowerment and in recognition of the significant contribution of women in the nation's economic development on March 14.
The celebration here March 14 will start with a motorcade around Kalibo, Thanksgiving Mass, Program and Turn-Over of a computer set for use of the Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU), a temporary shelter for abused women and children here based at the Daeangpan it Mga Kababayen-an it Akean.
The Thanksgiving Mass and Program will also be held at the Daeangpan.
This year's activities in celebration of Women's Month here are spearheaded by the Aklan GAD Commission and in collaboration with the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), local government units, non-government organizations and other partner agencies.
Besides the activities on March 14, other ones slated aimed at uplifting Aklan women's economic condition and well-being anchored on the theme "CEDAW NG BAYAN: Yaman ng Kababaihan include Jobs Fair through the Provincial Employment Service Office (PESO) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Basic Skills Training on Meat Processing and Baking through TESDA, Women's Health Support through the PHO and Aklan Medical Society (free pap smear, breast examination, OB Gyne check-up and bone scanning), Re-echo Training on Harmonized Guidelines (DENR GAD), 3rd Women's Assembly of Panakuyan Watershed Project and GAD Orientation to LGUs (Kalibo and Malay).
Guest speaker for Aklan's Women's Month celebration kick-off will be Aklan lady Vice Governor Gabrielle V. Calizo.
CEDAW stands for Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Just recently, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the Philippines is on track in the implementation of the United Nation's CEDAW, thus earning accolades from the UN last year, including its landing as Top 6 in Gender Parity worldwide.
The President revealed this during her recent visit to Calamba, Laguna where she kicked off the country's celebration of Women's Month.
The President said that because of her administration's thorough implementation of the UN program for women empowerment, the UN has counted the Philippines among those with big declines in the discrimination against women.(PIA)

BOMBO HINOLAN MURDER
‘Collusion’ eyed between prime suspect, eyewitness
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

KALIBO, Aklan – The National Press Club (NPC) is looking into a possible “collusion” of the eyewitness in the killing of Bombo Radyo anchorman Herson Hinolan and prime suspect, former Lezo, Aklan Mayor Alfredo Arsenio.
NPC President Roy Mabasa said he is saddened by the turn of events. Arsenio surrendered Wednesday afternoon at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 7 a few weeks after eyewitness Peter Melgar said he had merely mistakenly identified the former mayor.
“We urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) to pursue the case with strong representation,” Mabasa said.
The culture of impunity has to end by bringing the killers of journalists to justice and by making a strong stand against violence in the provinces where the number of media murders are increasing, he added.
Melgar executed a new affidavit on February 12, 2008 stating that he made an honest mistake in pinpointing Arsenio as the gunman of Hinolan on the night of November 13, 2004.
Melgar said his new affidavit will correct the grave injustice done to Arsenio by reason of his honest mistake, and to avoid having the then mayor persecuted for an offense he had not committed.
Mabasa said the witness is critical to the success of the case. He hopes that the DOJ will eventually stick to Melgar’s first affidavit executed on November 18, 2004.
On Wednesday afternoon, Arsenio surfaced after almost two years of hiding, and filed a petition for bail.
His legal counsel, Atty. Lou Tirol, asked RTC Branch 7 Judge Virgilio Paman to hear Arsenio’s petition under Criminal Case No. 7457, citing the mistake of the eyewitness in the case.
Tirol said “the case against Arsenio has no more leg to stand on and he should be entitled to bail for, although he is charged with a capital offense, the evidence against him is truly very weak.”
Hinolan, 38 at the time of his death, was the station manager of DyIN Bombo Radyo Kalibo. Also anchoring the popular news-commentary program “Bombohanay Big-time”, he was fatally shot on the night of November 13, 2004 in Kalibo.
Arsenio was later implicated by Melgar, the lone witness. The RTC issued a warrant for his arrest on September 7, 2006 but he went into hiding.
Last year, the Philippine National Police offered a P100,000 reward to whoever could give information leading to Arsenio’s arrest.
After he surfaced, Arsenio was taken to the Aklan Rehabilitation Center (ARC) in Brgy. Nalook, Kalibo.
Arsenio had repeatedly denied allegations that he was involved in Hinolan's murder. He claimed he was in Lezo, eight kilometers west of Kalibo, during the shooting.
“There no longer exists any legal impediment for the court to proceed and hear the accused’s petition for bail. Arsenio should be allowed to post bail for his temporary liberty as the evidence against him is weak. Melgar executed an affidavit that he made an honest mistake in pointing the accused,” Tirol said.

DOT initiates comprehensive land use plan for Boracay
BY NESTOR P. BURGOS, JR.

CARING FOR BORACAY. The government said addressing the concerns of Boracay need the unity of stakeholders and a commitment to preserve its environment and resources/GCawaling

BORACAY - Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano yesterday called on Boracay residents, resort owners and other stakeholders to learn from past mistakes in managing the island-resort in order to effectively resolve the pressing problems faced by the island.
"If everybody can comply with (rules and guidelines), there is no need for government to come here," said Durano in a speech during the day-long workshop on the Boracay Island Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP).
Durano said addressing Boracay's long-running problems require unity among the stakeholders and a commitment to preserve the environment and resources.
"We must make sure that we won't do this (planning) again," said Durano.
The workshop, attended by around 150 representatives of government agencies, resort owners and community leaders, aims to come up with a CLUP that will serve as a basis for all development plans on the island.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has also drafted an environmental master plan amid continued concerns on the sustainability of the island's tourism industry due to years of unregulated development.
The CLUP will identify and designate areas by specific use on the 1,086-hectare island and identify infrastructure and capacity needed for particular areas, said Durano.
"This will be a foundation and basis for all other development plans," he said.
The CLUP will be initially presented by the end of April and a final output is expected to be presented to stakeholders by May. The project will cost around P 5 million.
Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores said the CLUP is much delayed.
"We should have done this (CLUP) this many, many years before. But let us not point fingers now," he said.
Noting that the problems have continued despite several attempts of stakeholders to draw up plans and recommendations in the past, Miraflores said the drafting of a CLUP is "the last chance that we have for preserving this island."
Durano said the CLUP will hopefully restore order on the island. He pointed out that only 30 percent of the island's area has been developed because structures are concentrated at the beach front and in Barangay Balabag, one of three villages of the island.
He also stressed the urgency of the CLUP because even as a moratorium on building construction has been imposed, around 1,800 hotel rooms are being constructed because these projects were approved before the moratorium was implemented in January this year.
"The first thing that we really need to do is to merge ideas for a unified, practical and sustainable vision for the island. Join us in this process with an open mind and, most importantly, with motivation for our common interest for a sustainable growth and development," said Durano.
Some resort owners while welcoming the drafting of a CLUP expressed concerns that the plans will not be implemented as in their past experience.
Durano said the success of the CLUP will depend on the response of institutions on the island.
"At the end of the day, what we (government agencies) can really provide are directions," he said, pointing that it it will be the stakeholders who will determine if the plans and solutions will be applied.

JUSTICE AT LAST?
Ex-mayor suspect in death of Bombo Boy surrenders
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

KALIBO, Aklan – Former Lezo, Aklan mayor Alfredo Arsenio, the prime suspect in the death of Bombo Radyo broadcaster Herson “Boy” Hinolan in 2004, surfaced after almost two years of hiding, and filed a petition for bail.
With his legal counsel, Arsenio appeared before the Regional Trial court yesterday afternoon.
Atty. Lou Tirol, asked RTC Branch 7 Judge Virgilio Paman to hear Arsenio’s petition on March 7 under Criminal Case No. 7457, citing the mistake of the eyewitness in the case.
Peter Melgar executed an affidavit on February 12, 2008 admitting he wrongly identified Arsenio as Hinolan’s assailant.
Tirol said “the case against Arsenio has no more leg to stand on and he should be entitled to bail for, although he is charged with a capital offense, the evidence against him is truly very weak.”
Hinolan, 38 at the time of his death, was the station manager of DyIN Bombo Radyo Kalibo. Also anchoring the popular news-commentary program “Bombohanay Big-time”, he was fatally shot on the night of November 13, 2004 in Kalibo.
Arsenio was later implicated by Melgar, the lone witness. The RTC issued a warrant for his arrest on September 7, 2006 but he went into hiding.
Last year, the Philippine National Police offered a P100,000 reward to whoever could give information leading to Arsenio’s arrest.
Melgar was apologetic in his affidavit.
“(This) affidavit is executed to correct the grave injustice done to him (Arsenio) by reason of my honest mistake and to avoid having him persecuted for an offense he has not committed,” Melgar said.
On November 18, 2004 Melgar executed a sworn statement before Prosecutor Reynaldo Peralta identifying Arsenio as the one who shot Hinolan. Last month, he retracted his statement.
“The incident happened so fast and during nighttime,” Melgar now explained.
“I was able to pick out Arsenio from the pictures shown to me. (Now) I have come to the conclusion that I committed an honest mistake,” Melgar stressed.
After he surfaced yesterday, Arsenio was taken to the Aklan Rehabilitation Center (ARC) in Brgy. Nalook, Kalibo.
Arsenio had repeatedly denied allegations that he was involved in Hinolan's murder. He claimed he was in Lezo, eight kilometers west of Kalibo, during the shooting.
“There no longer exists any legal impediment for the court to proceed and hear the accused’s petition for bail. Arsenio should be allowed to post bail for his temporary liberty as the evidence against him is weak. Melgar executed an affidavit that he made an honest mistake in pointing the accused,” Tirol said.
On February 5, 2008, the Freedom for Filipino Journalists, Inc. -- a coalition of six media organizations in the county -- requested Chief Justice Reynato Puno to change the venue of the hearing of the Hinolay slay case to the Regional Trial Court of Makati City for a speedy and just trial.
‘BOMBO BOY’
Hinolan, a native of Talisay City, Negros Occidental, got his start in 1988 as a field reporter for Bombo Radyo, one of the most popular and most emulated radio networks in the Philippines today.
He became station manager of DyIN and launched his morning show, "Bombohanay Bigtime," in 1999. The show made a lot of noise and was a big hit, his former colleagues said, because he dared to take on powerful people, including Arsenio.
Before he was elected as mayor of Lezo town in 2004, Arcenio was known to be a member of the Military Intelligence Group of the Philippine Army's 12th Infantry Battalion.
Hinolan had accused Arsenio of ethical violations involving cockfighting and gambling, accusations that Arsenio vehemently denied.
Hinolan knew he was taking risks by speaking out against gambling — in particular, the popular numbers racket called jeuteng — and corruption. He had previously been threatened, and took the precautions of hiring bodyguards and carrying a weapon.
But on the night of November 13, 2004, there were no bodyguards to stop the gunman who pumped seven bullets into Hinolan's back and arms while he was using the bathroom at a convenience store on D. Maagma St. in Kalibo. He died at the Intensive Care Unit of St. Gabriel Hospital two days later.
A .45 caliber pistol was used to shot Hinolan.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemned what they call the "senseless shooting" of Hinolan.
"Hinolan is a legitimate member of the broadcast industry and popular for his hard-hitting commentaries. The attack on our colleague was a direct assault on press freedom," NUJP said in a statement.
The group also "demand(ed) a speedy and fair investigation by police authorities and urge(d) all tri-media colleagues in Aklan and Panay to unite in fighting all those who seek to silence the press."
"NUJP's members are praying that Boy survives this crisis. We urge all citizens who value press freedom to pray for Boy and join journalists' crusade to halt the violence against media practitioners," NUJP's statement further said.
Hinolan is survived by wife Aphrodite and their now 13-year-old son Kim.
He was buried on November 27, 2007 in Roxas City. His funeral was witnessed by around 2,000 mourners calling for justice and condemning his murder.
They were driven to tears during the necrological service when a recording of one of his programs was aired for the last time, his booming voice echoing inside the Mary Immaculate Metropolitan Cathedral in Roxas City.
Many more people lined up the streets of Roxas City, capital of Capiz, as the kilometer-long funeral cortege headed for the Divine Jesus Memorial Park in Brgy. Banica. At the cemetery, the mourners lined up for a last glimpse of Hinolan.

Cuevas urges cops to be professional, competent
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News/Manila Bulletin

KALIBO, Aklan - Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas is seriously implementing the Daily PNP Personnel Accounting Report (DPPAR) program to promote professionalism among policemen in Western Visayas.

In his visit in Aklan on Tuesday afternoon, Cuevas reiterated his reform programs aimed to instill professionalism and competence among the ranks in the Aklan Police Provincial Office (APPO).

"The daily personnel accounting system will enhance the deployment of cops in police stations and maximize their tasks and functions in undertaking their duties," he told reporters at Camp Pastor Martelino.

Cuevas also made a courtesy call to Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez and conducted an APPO command conference with Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, Jr. and the 17 chiefs of police.

The new regional director said, "the non-uniformed and uniformed personnel including those facing criminal and administrative charges should be accounted daily throughout Aklan."

Cuevas said the policemen are required to report at 8:00 a.m. daily to ensure their readiness for police duty and to update them of policies of the PNP on a day-to-day basis.

The system was launched by PNP Director General Avelino Razon to have an accurate and timely personnel data for planning of operation, logistics, budgeting and programming.

Cuevas also urged the public to report those rogue officers by sending their complaints through: Ireport Kay TSIP at 0927-3134011, or email them at pro6_rpcrd@yahoo.com, the Anti-Kotong Text 0927-5151515; PNP TXT 2920 amd DILG Patrol 117

New Akelco manager appeals for support
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

KALIBO, Aklan – Incoming Aklan Electric Cooperative (Akelco) General Manager Chito Peralta is appealing to member-consumers and local officials for support.
Peralta, once Akelco’s president, pledged to “heal” the cooperative’s management in a three-month transition period.
“We should begin the healing process in the overall management of Akelco for the interest of member-consumers. The transition period would give Akelco a chance to put reforms in action,” he stressed.
Akelco is the sole distributor of power in the northern towns of Antique and the province of Aklan, including the island of Boracay. It has a 100-percent collection efficiency and a 12-percent systems loss in 2007, said Akelco officer-in-charge Wilfredo Ortiz.
“The designation of Peralta will regularize the management of Akelco. There are problems confronting the cooperative and his appointment is one way to normalize the operations,” Ortiz added.
Ortiz, who assumed the post on March 13, 2007, also expressed unity in the leadership of Peralta. He vowed to support the programs of the incoming general manager.
“The dedication, loyalty and integrity of the Akelco employees are not beholden to anybody else, but to the Akelco consumers. The best is yet to come for Akelco and with the support of our officials we could achieve progress,” Peralta said.
He also vowed to leave to the community a lasting legacy of good governance, better management and reform-oriented Akelco for future generations.

PUNCHLINES
BY JUN PRADO/The Western Visayas Explorer

Trust and understanding

Eddie Garcia’s unofficial motto as a movie director: “It’s not the time to take the take that takes the time; it’s the time between the takes.”
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The only persons against lotto are those corrupt officials who are in the take from gambling syndicates. Now, now – would you kill the goose that lays the golden eggs? Shame.
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He introduces his missus as his awful wedded wife.
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When FVR sez his last trip foreign trip was meaningful; it simply means that it was meaningless.
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The doctor felt the patient’s thin purse and admitted there was nothing he could do! What impulse!
***
Gambling, like prostitution, the oldest profession cannot just erased from the face of the earth. Here in R.P., these vices have become a way of life. Saddening thought.
***
Overheard: Our marriage is based on trust and understanding. She doesn’t trust me, and I don’t understand her.
***
I once sat at the gallery of the Upper House peopled by only a handful of senators, none of whom seemed to be listening to the orator and one of whom was reading the papers, the funnies, so far as I could see. What a funny but disgusting sight!
***
I know of a woman who has been married so long – she even faked the foreplay!
***
My wife has been booked so many times for traffic violations that the cops on the beat have given her a season ticket!
***
You can’t simply ride easy street expecting to reach the stars without hardship and perseverance, for when Christ asks us to go the second mile. He means making that extra effort in everything we do. That’s what I always tell my kids.
***
My bitter half is a poor shot. Every time she gets mad at me when I come home inebriated, she hits the ceiling!
***
One time I got this note from her: “Honey, I missed you last night. Please come home and let me have another shot.”
***
The best and shortest sermon in the world can be found in our streets. It sez: KEEP RIGHT!
***
I can say this for my wife. Spending money is her only extravagance.
***
Fed up with her naggings, I shouted back: Money, money, money – these are three words you know!
***
An Ilonggo, an Ilocano and a Boholano were invited to a stag party. The Ilonggo brought six bottles of Gilbeys, the Ilocano brought six bottles of lambanog. The Boholano brought along six Boholano friends.
***
And at the height of the party, the Ilonggo saw a fly in his beer. Well, he just picked up the fly with a spoon and drank his beer. The Ilocano had the same predicament.
***
So, he picked up the fly and squeezed it dry on his beer before drinking it. The Boholano who had the same problem just picked up his glass and downed his brew with the souses-up fly. Sayang din.
***
Here’s a cue: Borrow money from a pessimist. He doesn’t expect that you pay him back.
***
I’m nearing my seven decade in life. This time, I’m determined to face life with a stiff upper lip, a firm chin, my feet firmly on the ground, my head high in the air, my nose to the ground, and my shoulder to the wheel.
***
Overheard at a Cabinet meeting: “All those in favor say “Aye. All those against, resign!”
***
As a reporter I was trained to ask the five Ws and one H: Who, What, Where, Why and How. Then my first assignment was a wedding!
***
Tip: If you want your wife to listen to you – then talk to another woman!
***
C’mon fellows, all aboard – and reach out for that Bible!
***
READ THE BIBLE. It tames the most savage of beasts!

DOT moves to preserve RP's tourist destinations
BY MARICAR M. CALUBIRAN

BORACAY CONCERNS. The Department of Tourism is introducing the Environmental Security on Tourism program to protect the country's tourism destinations like the island of Boracay/GCawaling

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is launching today a program to conserve and protect the various tourism destinations in the country.
Tourism Undersecretary Salvador Sarabia explains the environmental Security on Tourism program during a briefingwith the iloilo media yesterday. With him are Ms. Annabelle Plantilla, Exec. Director of Haribon Foundation and Comm.Mariano Sontillanosa.
Dubbed as The Environmental Security on Tourism (TEST), the program, on the whole, aims to protect the nation's environment, said DOT Undersecretary for Security and Political Affairs Salvador Sarabia Jr.
Sarabia who met with the Iloilo media yesterday said there is an urgency to protect the nation's natural resources most of which already becoming endangered.
Sarabia said the country's tourism industry mainly depends on its natural resources—from beaches to inland tourist attractions. There is nothing else to protect when everything is already vanished, he said.
Sarabia said the government is concerned about all of the country's natural attractions especially the widely popular Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan.
TEST is a pet project of Sarabia. He opted to launch the project in Iloilo City being his hometown and because of the full support of DOT regional director Edwin Trompeta and the local government unit.
TEST is also in coordination with the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), Haribon Foundation Inc., Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). TEST evolved from the department's Security of Tourists Operation Program (STOP).
The group is currently in the city for a seminar workshop with a mission to turn the threat on tourism into opportunity by promoting responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of the community. The seminar-workshop will be attended by the local government units and non-government organizations.
Sarabia said security does not only deal with the police or military affairs but includes political, socio-economic and environment among others. Security for the environment means "protection" from destruction especially those caused by men. We want the next generation to see and enjoy all these natural resources.
The same workshop aims that all local government units in Western Visayas will come up with a position paper in protecting the environment for tourism related business opportunities.
Sarabia said all local government units must present alternatives to safeguard the environment with all the destructions such as the "kaingin" and illegal logging. They should introduce alternatives that will give economic opportunities to the people.
The same workshop aims to design programs to protect marine life such as coral reefs, sea grass and mangroves and same time a concrete forest security to protect flora and fauna that abounds in the tourist areas.

Labor secretary hails Pacto de Sangre heroes
BY BOY RYAN B.ZABAL/Panay News/The News Today

PACTO DE SANGRE SHRINE. The shrine of heroism and martydom of six Aklanons against the repression of the Spanish rule in Sitio Kuntang, Ochando, New Washington, Aklan/BRZabal

NEW WASHINGTON, Aklan – Labor Secretary Arturo Brion hailed the sacrifices of Pacto de Sangre or Blood Compact heroes to liberate their countrymen from the Spanish colonial forces.

Brion was the guest speaker of the 111th year Pacto de Sangre anniversary celebration held at Sitio Kuntang, Ochando, New Washington, Aklan. The town is also the birthplace of the late Roman Catholic prince Jaime Cardinal Sin.

The Katipuneros who expressed their grievances against the Spanish government on March 3, 1897 were Romualdo Dalida, Isidro Jimenez, Cornelio Delfin, Valeriano Dalida, Benito Motus, Albino Rabaria, Teodorico Motus and Juan Dalida.

“The heroism of these Aklanons in their struggle for Philippine Independence and the blood they spilled will serve as an inspiration to our youth and a defining moment of our rich history of revolutionary martyrs,” Brion said.

Valeriano Dalida and Isidro Jimenez were among the XIX Martyrs of Aklan executed by Spanish authorities on March 23, 1897 together with Gen. Francisco Castillo and Candido Iban They were also the pioneers of the propaganda campaign of the Katipunan and were instrumental in the suppression of the atrocities committed towards the patriots of Aklan.

The event was also graced by New Washington Mayor Edgar Peralta, Ambassador Reynaldo Parungao, Jr., Vice mayor Jean Velarde and Brenda Lorenzo-Dimayuga, an outstanding Aklanon for Business and Industry for 2005.

A shrine was erected in Ochando, New Washington, Aklan to mark the site where the Katipuneros wounded their wrists and used their blood to sign a document to revolt against the control of Spanish rule.

“These men inscribed their names in blood because of the warmth of their devotion, the crimson brand of their courage and their readiness to lay down their lives that the motherland may be free. To these intrepid men who never reckoned the cost of freedom may be regained and whose memory is a benediction,” the memoriam in the Pacto de Sangre shrine reads.

THE LODGINGS AT FAIRWAYS & BLUEWATER, BORACAY
Own a Treasure in Paradise — and Earn From It Too!

BORACAY has long been acclaimed as the best beach in the world. With its spectacular
stretch of powder-soft brilliant white sand beach and clear, cool blue waters, Boracay has become the favorite tourist destination in the Philippines.

Spread across the center of Boracay island is its only gated resort community, Fairways & Bluewater Resort Golf and Country Club whichis now evolving into one of the world’s best resort communities.
Spanning the entire width of Boracay, Fairways has two stretches of splendid white beaches, each with its own allure and mood to offer- the East Beach, which is the perfect place to catch the day’s first warm rays of the sun as it rises over the horizon, and the West Beach which offers a more romantic setting as it catches the sun’s final spectacular burst of color as it sets in the distance.
A major attraction of Fairways & Bluewater is its 18-Hole Par 72 World-Class Golf Course designed by Australian Master golfer and designer Graham V. Marsh. The lush greens and fairways complement the breathtaking beaches. Make it your home Now, a limited number of privileged homeowners can call this paradise home. Fairways & Bluewater has built majestic 3-storey buildings with luxurious homes called The Villas on the 9th and The Lodgings. The Villas offer 1-to 3-bedroom fully furnished homes comparable to hotel suites ranging in size from 520–1600 sq ft. while The Lodgings are studio units designed like first-class hotel rooms. Each home has aweinspiring views of the breathtaking beaches, ocean and spectacular fairway greens.
Earn from paradise What’s uniquely great about owning a home at The Villas on the 9th and The Lodgings is its incomegenerating opportunity. Your resort vacation home is yours to enjoy 30 days in a year.

For the rest of the year, it will be managed by a world-class California hotel management company, Newport Creek Hospitality, and rented out to upscale tourists who flock to Boracay every year. As the unit owner, you get 100% of your home’s net rental income giving you a quick return on your investment. Demand for first-class accommodations in Boracay exceeds the supply.

The Department of Tourism has reported that there is a huge shortage of world-class accommodations in Boracay that meets the standards of discriminating tourists. In 2005 alone, records show that 500,000 tourists visited.

In 2010, 1M tourists are expected and together with that, the demand for more and better accommodations. Smart and astute Filipinos should take advantage of this great opportunity. The Lodgings is now available for a starting price of only $81,000. As there are only a limited number of
units at The Lodging, many Filipino Americans have been eagerly inquiring how to be one of the privileged homeowners.

Directors want Kalibo water district manager ousted
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL/Panay News

KALIBO, Aklan – The Metro Kalibo Water District (MKWD) is asking the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to appoint an interim manager to help resolve the conflict between Engineer Renato Albar and the Board of Directors.
The beleaguered General Manager Albar was “set aside” in a resolution approved on February 28 by the Board of Directors alleging he was “involved in a series of events that has put the MKWD in a bad light.”
LWUA is the government agency tasked to regulate water districts in the country. The regulatory supervision under Presidential Decree No. 198 and the LWUA Board Resolution No. 104, series of 2005 or the guidelines on LWUA intervention over water districts have to be implemented if necessary.
It is within its expanded powers to appoint an interim general manager in case of conflict between the management and the board members, Albar said.
“The continued inactions of Albar despite reminders from the Board of Directors regarding the rejected materials from a private contractor in 2003 and questions on the water quality problems existing for quite sometime have cast doubts on his capability to effectively manage the water district,” the resolution stated.
The Board of Directors headed by Chairman Edgar Isada also claimed, “The demonstrated aversion of Albar in audit examinations is an undesirable trait of a general manager of a public utility because the audit is an effective management tool to ensure the attainment of the organizational objectives.”
“The operations of MKWD should be transparent and accountable to the general public and the member-consumers and that through audit this could be attained. The LWUA should appoint an interim manager and set aside Albar effective March 3,” they added.
But, Albar, in radio interview, said he saw the conflict in the proposed bulk water supply of proponent Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. from Cebu City to provide potable water to its 14,000 concessionaires in the towns of Kalibo, Balete, Banga, New Washington and Altavas.
“Mostly likely the differences arise in the proposal for potable water provided by Pilipinas Water charging a minimum of P12 per cubic meter. If we secure a water treatment plant costing P36 million similar to the private firm, I believe, based on our comparative cost, we could earn or break-even from this operation,” he said.
Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. is a water-business company of M. Lhuiller and Mactan Rock involved in the bulk distribution of potable water in Metropolitan Cebu and other parts of the country.

Candles for Truth against Arroyo – Bayan Aklan
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

KALIBO, Aklan – Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Aklan held a symbolical candle lighting for truth and for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Kalibo Pastrana Park on Friday evening.
Bayan Aklan chairperson George Calaor led the anti-Arroyo rally calling for political leaders and in the military to stand up, unite and fight for the genuine truth, and move for the resignation of Arroyo.
“Her (Arroyo) ouster is an urgent task of every Filipinos at this very point of our lives. We cannot expect a bright and progressive future from this government who knew nothing but to feed its monstrous greed of wealth and power at the sufferings of the people,” he said.
Calaor said the political and economic orders of the country calls on every Filipinos to selflessly exercise people power in order to exorcise and cast away the evil from the governance.
“It is not the submission of the people to this democratic process, but the corrupt and tyrant deeds of the administration officials that the world will not forgive,” he stressed.
Calaor said "President Arroyo has forgotten that the world have witnessed how she manipulated her power to shield her political and economic crimes. Her popular “I am sorry” in Hello Garci scandals and her recent admission of being knowledgeable with the anomalies in ZTE deal are of clear display of liars’ in slipping the truth."
“It is of long and hard moments of prolonging the sufferings of the already suffering Filipino in the wicked hands of this administration. The streets and highways are not that narrow and long for us to win our battle to oust her,” he pointed out.

DTI offers business services to assist Aklan SMEs
BY VENUS G. VILLANUEVA

KALIBO, Aklan - Two business services in Aklan recently formalized their intention to assist the different needs of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Aklan by signing the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) framed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the German Technical Cooperation Office (GTZ)-Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment Program (SMEDSEP).
With the theme "Making Service Market Work in Aklan for More Competitive MSMEs", the MOA Signing and Launching of the Business Development Services (BDS) was held at Hernani's Mix and Match in Kalibo, with Aklan entrepreneurs, the local media ang government agencies representatives in attendance.
The MOA Signing in Aklan was the fourth in the series of signings in Western Visayas between the DTI, GTZ-SMEDSEP and BDSes with the aim of increasing business performance that will lead to higher profitability of the SMEs in the region's top sectors – agriculture, aquaculture, processed foods, loom weaving, gifts, toys and housewares, and tourism.
In Aklan, the two BDSes that that joined the signing were the Athena Business Solutions and Management Services and the Skillshare Plus Consultancy. In Region 6, only 11 new services qualified for the program, including these two from Aklan.
In his message at the MOA Signing, DTI Regional Director Dominic Abad gave the assurance that there could be more BDS for Aklan later besides Athena Business Solutions and Skillshare Consultancy, which will capacitate MSMEs and would provide viable services attuned to their needs.
Volker Steigerwald of GTZ, on the other hand, acknowledged the importance of SMEs, saying that in Germany, SMEs are the backbone of the economy but are very competitive because they avail the assistance of BDS.
"SMEs in Germany tapped the services of BDS because they know that if they pay 10 euros, they will get 100 euros in return," Steigerwald said.
For his part, Lorenzo Templonuevo, GTZ Regional Coordinator explained that SMEDSEP is a development cooperation project between the Philippines and Germany, which aims to improve the business and investment climate for SME in the Philippines, especially in the Visayas.
"SMEDSEP contributes to the efforts of the Philippine government to improve the framework conditions for private sector development in the country. It is implemented in partnership by DTI at national, regional and provincial levels on behalf of the Philippine Government and the German Technical Cooperation on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)," said Templonuevo.
The GTZ, added Templonuevo, is an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations owned by the German Government.
DTI Proviincial Director Ermelinda Pollentes expressed optimism that with the MOA Signing, the needs of the tourism sector in Aklan will be addressed too.
"We believe Aklan will be more pro-active through the BDS", Pollentes said.

Cebu Pacific starts inter-island service to Caticlan, Boracay
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

MAIDEN FLIGHT. Cebu Pacific executives join Malay town mayor Ceciron Cawaling (center) and Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Charlie Uy during the inaugural flight ceremony of CEB 72 seater-500 turboprop aircraft at Caticlan domestic airport, the jump-off point to Boracay Island/GCawaling

MALAY, Aklan – The country's leading carrier started to service the Manila-Caticlan daily flights on February 29 en route to the famous island of Boracay.
Malay town mayor Ceciron Cawaling, Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) president Charlie Uy, Caticlan airport manager Efren Nagrama, Cebu Pacific vice president for airport operations Michael Shau, Assistant Manager for Corporate Communications RG Orense and Assistant Manager for Marketing Promotions Blessie Labra-cruz and Cebu Pacific consultant Charles Lim welcomed the passengers in the first direct flight from Manila.
The 72-seater 500 turboprop aircraft acquired from Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) will intensify the Caticlan domestic airport as a major tourism hub in the Visayas, Cawaling said.
“The anticipated demand in summer season of travelers on inter-island flights will maximize the tourism potential of Aklan and the island of Boracay at par with the best in the world,” he added.
Shau said the France-based ATR regional aircraft manufacturer is the world leader in the 50 to 74 seat turboprop market. He stressed the domestic network operations of Cebu Pacific at 10 times daily in Caticlan will also encourage tourists and visitors to visit the island of Boracay this peak season with their trademark affordable fares.
Cebu Pacific also announced the acquisition of the first six ATRs aircraft and four Airbus A320 for 2008 to service smaller airports, like Caticlan. It flies to 12 international and 21 domestic destinations including Kalibo, Iloilo and Bacolod in Western Visayas.
The Gokongwei-owned state-of-the-art aircraft commences its Cebu-Caticlan daily flights on March 28, 2008 upon the delivery of the second ATR72 aircraft.
The Caticlan airport, one of the busiest small airports in the country, also accommodates the small aircrafts of Southeast Asian Airline and Asian Spirit daily.
As this developed, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has approved the construction of a P2-51 billion new passenger terminal and expansion of runway from 950 meters to 1.8 kilometers.
It is funded by the Caticlan International Airport and Development Corp. (CIADC), a Filipino-owned company under the build operate transfer scheme.

Aklan Press Club launches weekly media forum
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

KAPIHAN SA AKLAN. The Aklan Press Club is all set to launch the weekly media forum to tackle political and socio-economic issues. The Kapihan sa Aklan is supported by PAPI president Johnny Dayang and National Press Club president Roy Mabasa (right)/GCawaling

KALIBO, Aklan - The Aklan Press Club (APC), one of the oldest press clubs in the country, is launching a media forum in cooperation with Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc (PAPI) here.

The weekly "Kapihan sa Aklan" is designed to involve the community press by inviting government and civic leaders to discuss political and economic issues, PAPI president Juan P. Dayang said. The target launching is on March 22 at the Kusina sa Kalibo Restaurant with National Press Club (NPC) president Roy Mabasa expected to grace the event.

APC president Dr. Ambrosio Villorente also announced the groundbreaking of the P10-million three-story Aklan Media Building on March 23 in a 250 sq.m lot donated by the provincial government along Veterans Avenue.

"The building is a symbol of strong partnership of the tri-media with provincial government officials headed by Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez and Rep. Florencio Miraflores," he said.

The forum is supported by Billy Arquelles, managing director and over-all coordinator and APC secretary Cecille de Lemos as assistant overall coordinator, Dayang stressed.

APC is also celebrating its 52nd year anniversary on April 25, a local holiday marking the separation of Aklan from Capiz as an independent province.