Panglantaw sa baybayon

In archepelagic Philippines, it is an irony that its municipal fisherfolk of about 10-million are among the poorest of the poor. Photo taken in brgy. Tup-on, Medina, Misamis Oriental

Driftwood

Photo taken in brgy. Manapa, Buenavista, Agusan del Norte.

You wouldn't understand

The picture says it all. Taken in downtown Butuan City the capital of the CARAGA Region.

Children of Jabonga

In the haste of daily living, we often forget to listen to the silence of dawn, the early morning chirping of the birds, miss the energy sunrise delivers and the beauty of sunset and even fail to listen to our innerself. Photo taken in brgy. Mandagooc, Jabonga, Agusan del Norte where people still live simple lives enjoying bliss and placidity.

KILAW

KILAW - (v to eat raw, n kinilaw) It's a feast every after good catch in fishing communities. It is said that as a vestige of the communal nature of sustenance fishery, which basically is still a hunt-gathering economic activity, coastal dweller share a portion of the day's catch for consumption and the rest for selling. Fish fresh out from the sea is sweet.

It is believed that the kinilaw has been with us since the pre-castillan period. The artifact? - shells of tabon-tabon, an indigenous and unique kinilaw ingredient in Mindanao were found near tuna bones in a midden in the Balanghai site. Perhaps a perfect pulutan to laksoy/ nipa wine (Jess Yuson's book: Inumang Pinoy). Tabon-tabon (Hydrophytune orbiculatum) is endemic in Mindanao. It looks like chico on the outside, but with hard shell, its meat is scraped, pressed to extract its milk and presto, it gives the kinilaw a tinge of bitter taste, it is believed to fight off bacteria in fresh fish meat.

In this photo, they are preparing kinilaw from the abundant tamban catch (Sardinella sp.) which is abundant in bays especially near estuaries. Remembered debating with a lot of people who refuse to believe that the fish inside the sardines can (i.e. Young's Town, 555) are actually the lowly tamban pressure-cooked and drowned in tomato sauce then sealed in that humble can.This photo was taken in Tubay, Agusan del Norte, Philippines.

Beer Hug

Sitting alone in some hole in the wall,

beer bubbles in lips bursting,

smoothly flows, to guts and in brains overflow.

Bitter memories, personal realities,

inebriated, pain, pangs of rejection

in the torrents of denial washed away.

Tired body, battered soul rests,

slips into the dark coldness of the night.

Then I hug myself tight.

Town disturbed by mining

The tranquility of Tubay, a small and sleepy fishing town in the northeastern side of Butuan Bay in the province of Agusan del Norte, Philippines is disturbed by a controversial mining operation which threatens its rich fishery and aquatic resources. Government projects with funding from Official Development Aid (loans and grants) have been implemented in the town to install sustainable coastal resource management systems (e.g. establishment of fish sanctuaries and mangrove reforestation areas, alternative livelihood for fisherfolk) only to be threatened by destructive mining operations that is supported by the powers-that-be of the town and the province. The Archdiocese of Butuan where Tubay is a part of is vehemently against the mining operations in the said town. For updates on mining advocacy, you can log on to http://atm.blogsome.com. Sunset photo taken in brgy. La Fraternidad, Tubay, Agusan del Norte.