Equus Series

According to stories passed on from generation to generation, the name of the town was derived from an abundantly-growing plant in the area, known locally as “Sali-argaw”. Extant records pertaining to the establishment of Argao as a town go only as far as the middle eighteenth century, when the Augustinians started building the church in Argao, later named after St. Michael the Archangel. According to church records, the church of Argao was founded on October 16, 1733. Another source says that Argao began as an encomienda and that the Argao parish was founded on May 17, 1734. The first town executive during the American regime was Capitan Juan Lucero.

The main poblacion of Argao remains one of the reminders of Spanish influence in Cebu. The old municipal building is also made of the same structure as this old house, and indeed this structure is perhaps one of the remaining old municipal buildings in the province of Cebu. The following buildings and structures are places one can visit if doing a tour around the pueblo:

San Miguel Archangel Parish Church and Convent. Argao became a parish in 1703, which prompted the construction of a beautiful rococo-baroque church structure in 1734 and was completed in 1788. A good number of religious artifacts have remained in the church. The altar (retablo) of the church is still the original. The church was renovated for its bicentennial celebration in 1988, and its outer walls were scraped. Despite some renovations and modernizations done to it, the San Miguél Archangel Parish still remains one of the richly furnished churches in the South. The unique ceiling of the Church. Its church is with unusual ceilings of canvass painted all over with religious motifs.

The Pipe Organ of Argao. The Church of Argao is possessed of one of the remaining 14 Spanish era pipe organs, and is one of the three towns in the whole Cebu province to still have this instrument. The pipe organ of Argao, though today no longer useable, is estimated by many historians to have been built between the 17th to the 19th century. Organs built in this period were of typical Spanish Baroque style except for the ones built during the last part of the 19th century which are Neo Gothic in style. It is a great possibility that Argawanons took a great part in building their pipe organ along with Spanish or Mexican Organ-builders. Professional organ makers describe Argao’s organ as having “windchests constructed from a massive solid wood. Three towers are separated with flat field of pipes. Unfortunately, no records in the church exist to show who played the organ, though according to some residents, after the 2nd World War Mr. Juan Calledo played the instrument and a certain Noy Ino was tasked to pump the organ.

The Argao Museum. Through the initiative of one of Argao’s most loved residents, Monsignor Elias Matarlo, the Argao Museum was constructed in 1999 in order to house what was left of the church’s priceless antiques, and also to showcase the religious artifacts and icons of families who have decided to let the museum safe-guard their family heirlooms. Church Plaza,

The Site of the Former Palacio, Morgue/Chapel. Visible also in this area is the former “Palacio”, the temporary residence of church dignitaries from Manila or Cebu City who came to Argao to visit. Also, sadly located at the back of the Kintanar Memorial Hospital, is the Church morgue, a very old structure that was build around the early 1800’s.

One day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a theft, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.

As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambitions, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world and come home in the end; the other will become a powerful corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.

World Without End is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth. However, it doesn't matter which you read first. The second book is set in the same town, Kingsbridge, but takes place two hundred years later, and features the descendants of the original characters.

In a time of civil war, famine and religious strife, there rises a magnificent Cathedral in Kingsbridge. Against this backdrop, lives entwine: Tom, the master builder, Aliena, the noblewoman, Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge, Jack, the artist in stone and Ellen, the woman from the forest who casts a curse. At once, this is a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age.

When he falls ill on his way home from school, 15 year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. The two begin an unexpected and passionate affair only for Hanna to suddenly and inexplicably disappear. Eight years later, Michael, now a young law student observing Nazi war trials, meets his former lover again, under very different circumstances. Hanna is on trial for a hideous crime, and as she refuses to defend herself, Michael gradually realizes his boyhood love may be guarding a secret she considers to be more shameful than murder....

Some talk has been devoted to whether the Mumbai terror attacks and the $1bn accounting scandal t Satyam Computers in India will affects growth in BPOs in the country.

I could only imagine now the companies that have exposure in those locations are now looking aggressively to mitigate their risks and therefore considering at countries like the Philippines. But much of the growth comes from the size of the market, not so much the market shares. We don't know if we'll benefit from that. Nobody wishes a terror attack anywhere and any negative report on the industry affects everyone because it's global industry.

Another problem is Barack Obama, as a candidate, had pledged to create jobs that cannot be outsourced and tax policies to discourage American companies looking to bring jobs abroad. It's Obama's fiscal policy versus the whole outsourcing equation and I think the realities of the global economy will take over.

The Satyam scandal has shocked India. It has brought into question the levels of corporate governance in the country, and has cast an ugly shadow on the once shining image of Indian industry overseas.

Satyam shares plummeted on the news by 75%, dragging down India's main stock market by 7%. This will put the spotlight on Indian companies, and overseas investors will be wary of putting their money here without taking a good, hard look at the company's books.

Indian's main stock exchanges have announced they are removing Satyam Computers from their indices as of January 12 because of the stunning revelations. But caution alone may not be enough to convience international investors that Indians companies are serious about cleaning up their governance. Many of Satyam's customers were persuaded to get into business with the company because of Mr. Raju's suave, professional image. The Western educated MBA graduate was one of the poster boys of India's new economy.

According to Mr. Raju's statement, about $1bn of the cash on the company's books was made up---and analyst say it was the manipulation of the cash flow which could have been one reason why the deceit was undetected. Many analysts also say that the chase for huge profits and the desire to keep up with the breakneck speed of India's $50bn outsourcing industry's growth rates that may have been behind Mr. Raju's motivation in fudging the accounts at his firm.

But trying to get any answers from Mr. Raju since his confession letter is proving to be impossible---he has disappeared.

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18 Suck-It-Up Moments that Pack a Serious Payoff
THEGUYLIST compiled by the Men's Health Staff

1. Returning a wallet. With all the dough. Witnessing the owner's delight is worth more than money.
2. Abstaining. If the Starbucks line snakes out the door, thou shalt not whip, frap, steam , cream, or half-caf. When time is of the essence, take it like a man: straight up.
3. Weaving. Your entire hand, not just the middle finger. Thousands die each year in aggressive driving-related accidents. Showing up five minutes late to work is better than showing up 6 years early to your funeral.
4. Stopping at second base on a first date. Especially when she's waving you in from third. Settling for a stand-up double almost guarantees fireworks next time, when you put it over the fence.
5. Donating platelets. One apheresis session yields the same amount of clotting factor as six standard transfusions---and provides crucial help for burn victims, cancer patients, and organ-transplant recipients. Whose life have you saved today?
6. Fighting a bogus ticket. The day we're too tired to fight even the smallest of insults is the day the bureaucrats break out the tattoo needles and bar codes.
7. Voting. Did you do it last month? If you didn't weigh in, you don't measure up.
8. Holding your tongue. Every man possesses a simple superpower: silence. Too few flex it on a regular basis.
9. Dancing. Especially if you can't. No woman can resist a man who puts her pleasure ahead of his ego.
10. Laughing. At that humorless "joke" your dad trots out before family reunion meals.
11. Not laughing. When yur boss ponders what his secretary might do in a closed room with a clown. And in a wading pool. And with Joe Lipa. Standing up for your beliefs doesn't always require a lecture. See number 8, "Holding your tongue."
12. Cashing in your chips. In a perfect world, the dealer would continue to bust and the Mavericks would be a lock at +. But Lady Luck is a fickle lover. Take the money and run.
13. Donating to charity. Anonymously.
14. Ordering salad in a steak house. So what if your buddies are biting down on 24-ounce porterhouses and taunting you mid-chew? Your payoff comes at the beach; theirs vanishes with a belch.
15. Wearing blinders. When the attractive lady with the heaving chest and tiny tank top bends over. So what if she wouldn't notice, or wouldn't mind: You gain more power by exercising restraint when sin comes in the form of 42DD cleavage. To wit...
16. Forgoing. As in "Thanks, but I think I'll pass out on that tap dance."
17. Putting it in writing. It's too easy to dismiss a casually uttered "thanks" or "sorry." If you really mean it, commit it to paper.
18. Concealing your connections. At least at first. Sure, mention your father's first frat days with the mayor and you might score the job. But saving it until you're already n board earns you respect.
    
    

Cal realizes that once this book is published that he may become the most famous hermaphrodite in history, and he names a few of the other historically famous hermaphrodites. Cal then goes into an argument that he is a better case to study because he was born with a brain chemistry of a male but raised as a girl. Therefore, his situation is a great study of nature versus nurture.

Cal then rewinds the story once again to the summer of 1922. The story begins on the slope of Mt. Olympus in the Asia Minor with Cal's grandmother Desdemona. While working in her silkworn cocoons, she is sure that she feels her heart skip a beat. This feeling will be the genesis of her always feeling ill inside a perfectly healthy body.

(Click for more pictures here).
Boracay, the three-syllable word is said to have come from the local word borac, meaning cotton, an obvious reference to the beach sand's color and texture. When Doug and I went there, it was few weeks before the typhoon Frank hit the island, sometime between June and October. During this time the resort and restaurant prices are cheaper than at peak season that starts early November and ends around May, and the island is at a more relaxing pace.

They said that it is dumb bell-shaped, perhaps they've seen it from above but for us who were traveling and sailing, it was several buses and ferries ride from Toledo to Kalibo, motor cab to Caticlan jetty, from there it takes 15 to 20 minutes, to get to Boracay.

At the jetty, we're hustled by fixers of the over 300 beach resorts who chanted the same spiel, theirs is located at the White Sand Beach. Thanks to this lady fixer, she billeted us at Alice in Wonderland Resort, non-beachfront, between Station 2&3, main White Sand Beach. The resort offers 35 well appointed air-conditioned cottages with queen sized bed and pull-out couches, private toilet and bath, your own veranda with a hammock awaiting your arrival. In the middle of its well-groomed grounds is a quaint two-story tree house. It has a swimming pool and an area for the guests to play table table tennis, billiards, chess and darts. One could sit at the bar and restaurant and enjoy the freshest seafood 24 hours while looking at the sea before you.

Doug wonder at this last detail after reading the resort's brochure. How could we ever look at the sea? We're across the road before the beach inside the resort compound! That's a joke, a roaring starter for our stay in Boracay.
(Continues to Cotton Beach 2)

The purpose of this documentation is to amplify the interplay of realities presented, met and subsequently addressed by the Upland Development Programme in its struggle to facilitate the embankment of its mission to the lives of upland folks in southern Philippines.

After eight years, UDP has threaded the dreams of improving lives in remote terrains found in mountainous topographies. Despite the many pitfalls and setbacks, it continues to struggle and reach out to better the lives of the upland folks and communities. This is its story woven and entangled by the challenges, failures and successes of true people engaging to make a stake at progress...

Pictures of upland realities in yesterdays struggle

The traces of the past are essential tools in dealing with the future. It is the memory of lives spent hurdling with difficulties. Sometimes it posts barriers for improvement, making its trail strongly felt to burden the present in the struggle to reach a better future. The upland is practically the most difficult road to traverse. Its remoteness may prove to be unfriendly and hard to transgress...most of the time; it is left out and hardly awakens by progress.

This is an attempt to unveil the past pictures of upland communities…the struggle of its people on the road to rehabilitation and positive changes.

An abstract of the lives of eight villages scattered in the hilly and mountainous terrains in southern Philippines will somehow paint a replicating picture of common realities lived by and survived by upland folks. Let us try to imagine the lives of people resplendent with mediocrity, simplicity, and scarcity by journeying into the flashes of their past before the UDP and other key players for progress started working on the new pictures of their struggles…

Synchronizing goals through community formation

another facet of this documentary is snapshots of realities found in the many faces of upland lives when the UDP started its journey in the realm of its mission and goals.

We will attempt to immerse and become acquainted with the endeavors of initiating little changes in communities as a means of staking bigger and more practical schemes for development. The upland folks are the major stakeholders of progress who are rarely afforded the opportunity to grow beyond the confines of their ordinary and customary day-to-day struggles. Yet when the UDP alternative and more systematic stance against all forms of scarcity became felt in their communities, motivating changes gradually beat common insecurities and apprehensions.

The Stories:

• hustling over veggies
• the rape of a forest
• going bananas
• striptease to progress
• nuts over rats
• a climb to flourish
• the tale of two villages
• the rope of life

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl (Calliope), and then again, as a teenage boy (Cal), and so begin Jeffrey Eugenides's second novel, Middlesex. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel, and also he is the bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides.

Writing his story is yet another birth, which is now taking place...Three months before being born, his grandmother held her magical spoon over her mother's pregnant belly. The spoon swung from north to south, foretelling the birth of a son. Cal's mother, Tessie did not believe her mother-in-law's prediction and believed so strongly that a baby girl would be born that she already had the name Calliope picked out. Tessie and Milton, Cal's father, was so desirous to have a daughter that they had determined to do whatever it took to have a girl.

Topics to discuss...

1. The author's chosen point of view. Do you believe this story could be told in another point of view? Would it be as effective?
2. What part does the choice of setting the story in mid-west Michigan, specifically Detroit and Grosse Point play in the story?
3. How important to the story is Cal's being a hermaphrodite? How similar would this story be had Cal not been a hermaphrodite?
4. Why does the author choose to never introduce Chapter 11's given name?
5. Discuss the author's purpose in including flash-forwards in Cal's present life in Berlin? How would the story change without the flash-forwards?
   
   

Barangay Maligang in Kiamba, a town in the province of Sarangani, is experiencing the difficult road connecting them to the nearest market---the common problem in the upland communities. The village has about 261 families and mostly indigenous people, and farming is their livelihood. The area is highly suitable to abaca production.

The FIDA, a government authority on fiber, opened Kiamba for Abaca production, however, unfortunately, their first attempt to organize failed. In 2001, UDP rekindled the interest in Tinagak making, using the knotted abaca fiber, into fabric, and other handicrafts. The UDP had worked closely with the FIDA in conducting skills training and exposure trips; thereafter a Tinagak producers association was formed and despite their lack of capital ventured on Tinagak making.

The village is on undulating hills with rivers to cross, and its roads are hardly passable on rainy days---the slippery stretches, and the gullies. But these didn’t hampered the productivity in the village, while farmers are growing abaca, their women, youth, and even elders are preoccupied into tinagak making, as additional income for their families.

Abaca, the primary crop grown by farmers in Maligang, can be considered a viable enterprise for them.

The odds…

The nagging road problem is among the many struggles of the community. The deteriorating quality of abaca due to age and diseases is also a serious concern to sustain the enterprise. However, the people are unfazed with these odds that they even work harder to achieve their goals.

The knotted strength…

From its lowly beginning, the association is now known as United Maligang Farmers Cooperative with 181 members accumulating a capital of some P38, 000.00 pesos. It has also increased its production of tinagak from 8.35 kilos in 2001 to an average of 140 kilos per month, employing about 115 people, mostly women, youth, and elders. The enterprise has contributed an increase in household income of about P700.00 to P5, 000.00 pesos monthly. The growth of the coop can be seen in the participation of the community, and the assistance from local governments and funding agencies.

The Task...

However, the small gain by the coop in trading isn’t good enough. They still need to strengthen themselves by building skills and right attitude, that in realizing the dream to improve their lives, they must also take care of the environment.

Bringing development to Maligang is a formidable task but seeing how it gradually changes their lives is inspiring.

This is Doug, my significant other. I just bounced back from a broken relationship when I met him. I thought it was only a 'one night stand' but I was wrong. He moved into my life and open up a gateway to infinite possibilities. Our relationship is not normal but he is like a solid rock that stands firm in the storms that rage about us.

Doug is very hard working. He is more than happy to put in a full day at the office, realizing that it will likely take a lot of those days to get to the top. Life is one big project for him, and he adapts to this by adopting a businesslike approach to most everything he does. That's no problem, he is practical as well, taking things one step at a time and being as realistic and pragmatic as possible.

I'm always there for him. At times, however, I tend to get caught up in his dream and views of how things should be. I fear that my pleas aren't being heard that I tend to lapse into melancholy and, worse, the kind of pessimism which leads to procrastination and lethargy. Thankfully, he is patient, too, and is happy to wait for me to come along...

I'm the ultimate finisher. Nothing can stand against my determination and willpower. Victory is mine! I'm the most modest and unassuming. I acquire knowledge, and then sometimes fail to show it, often regarding it of little consequence and believing that other people who brag about their ability must actually know more than I do. But, I'm most cautious of all, where my own efforts are concerned. I have a happy disposition! I could ride over deep troubles almost as trifles.

I'm selfless, spiritual and much focused on my inner journey. I also place great weight on what I'm feeling. Yes, feelings define me, and it's not uncommon for me to feel my own burdens (and joys) as well as those of others. My intuition is highly-evolved. Many people associate me with dreams and secrets, and it's a fair association, since I feel comfortable in an illusory world.

I'm not quite a pushover, but I'm certainly sensitive. Even so, I revel in my compassionate and imaginative natures and love to cater to others. I could also be quite romantic, dreaming up delicious treats for my lover. Hopefully, any kindness would be reciprocated, because I could certainly turn blue if I'm not.

Life in Libi

Rancho and Kolambog are villages at the eastern hilly sides of barangay Libi, and the B’laan tribes settled in them since the 1930s, about 30 families scattered in some 869 hectares.

There are no clinic and school, before the clearing for the road in 2003, the villages and their children had to walk over five kilometers to reach the health center, and for the children to attend elementary. But horses are also available for easier visits.

Potable water was also lacking and the villagers fetch in the springs far from their houses. Corn is largely planted in the villages, and rice is grown for eating, and cassava, sweet potato and banana are other staples.

In essence, life in Libi is simple and unsecured…the people are praying for land to farm to improve their lives.

‘Win some, loss more’

These upland villages in Libi are in Malapatan, a town in the province of Sarangani. The UDP came sometime in 2004, and provided consultants to assess their existing and potential local enterprises to be managed by them. The same consultants were again contracted to assist KRANFO, an upland barangay association from the two villages, in preparing the business plan and manual. Also, they are there to provide coaching and training in operating the enterprise and install some systems.

To date, KRANFO has their business plan but their proposed enterprises are not yet started. The organization is composed of 62 members, 30 of whom come from Rancho and 32 from Kolambog.

The UDP’s partners in the projects in Libi include the town of Malapatan that allocates counterpart funds, and maintains a project team headed by their agriculturist, and assigns personnel to provide technical assistance. There is also the Rural Bank of Sarangani to loans to farmers using the model packages by the UDP.

During the business planning with the consultants, the farmers have identified the trading of banana and peanuts, and a store to be managed separately by each of the villages. However, the villages in Libi still struggle with the changes. Their pitfalls usually mean missteps for the association. It was realized that so much is left undone that every step forward somehow lead them away from their goals. Notwithstanding the fact, the farmers are still willing to stake at progress because they have shared with the UDP’s vision of development.

Guinang Fucal, a pastor and one of the chairmen in Libi in their dialect said, ‘Before, we are always short of cash. Until UDP came, we only had corn and coconut, but they taught us to plant all types: from long-term like coconut, mango and coffee; and medium-term like banana; and short-term crops like mongo beans and peanuts.’

Here, we will somehow see that people are people, their issues, small gains and heavy set backs are part of the process.

The trails to Kablon…

The village is at the foot of Mt. Matutum with an area of 4,700 hectares, more or less. It is the most populated in Tupi and most of its inhabitants are indigenous people, the B’laan tribe. It has very fertile land, and cold weather with no distinct wet and dry seasons, favorable to vegetables like potato, radish, carrot and cabbages that are commonly planted. The village life is mirrored by the ‘habal-habal,’ a modified motorcycle to transport farmers and vegetables that ply along its roads, aside from trekking by foot. The land tenures are merely certificates of stewardship that worried the farmers.

The farmers relied heavily on lending at unreasonable rates to finance their farms. They could hardly get by their income. Health care is scarce in this part of the upland, and education is expensive that only few farmers are literate. Despite these facts of life, they still enjoy the horse fights and “Amyak Maleh Matutum,”-a climbing activity at the peak of Mt. Matutum.

…or a descent to perish?

Ever since Glandang is into vegetable farming producing vegetables in commercial scale and trading normally takes place at the roadside. The price is so unstable and usually happened at harvest when vegetables flood the market, and farmers would engage in price war just to avoid spoil.

The UDP approved the proposed Bagsakan, a buying station at Glandang to improve the trading of vegetables in Kablon. It was completed in 2003, with a rainwater reservoir for washing the vegetables. The farmers finally experienced payment on time at delivery; while their association with scarce capital could only buy a limited volume of vegetables--such with some internal conflicts, the buying stopped after two months.

However, the UDP have known their problems, and provided them with consultants to revive the Bagsakan Center. A team was formed, the “Matutum Enterprise,” as a subsidiary of the farmer’s association.The farmers made a business plan and manual focused on renting the bagsakan and how the enterprise would run the center. The association is able to prove that the business is profitable. The farmers were not able to make use of the bagsakan, as a trading facility, in a sense they failed to manage.

Until now, the Bagsakan is not operating. The farmers insisted on their old ways and hard to accept changes.

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