GenSan News Online Mag

Good news to all Pinoys abroad who missed watching their favorite regional editions of the TV Patrol. ABS-CBN’s TFC NOW is offering FREE video streaming on the internet of all their provincial news programs in Iloilo, Cebu, Laoag, Negros, Davao, Dagupan, Baguio, Cagayan, Tacloban and Gensan!!! This won’t be for long because they will eventually be charging a fee for the access.But as of now, since it’s still FREE, just click on to TFC NOW and see what’s happening to your hometown.

I tried the Gensan TV Patrol and although it’s a day late, you get the full half-hour “tagalog edition” (“tagalog” is the vernacular the news reporters use in the Tuna Capital). Now, you won’t have to miss a single news report back home.

At 6:50pm today, Wednesday, an explosion wracked the waiting shed in front of the gates of the Philbest Canning Corporation in Barangay Tambler, in this city of Gen. Santos. As of 11:01pm, 4 innocent lives have been lost and 24 others injured. This is the official statement of Mayor Pedro B. Acharon, Jr on this GenSan bomb blast on one of RD Group of Companies‘ subsidiaries.

Here is an update to the investigation.

Received thru my email this Press Release from Philippine Airlines since I am a Mabuhay Miles subscriber. Recently, the Philippines was once again in the news because of the ratings downgrade by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the Philippines’ compliance with international air safety standards last December 2007.

The country’s flagship air carrier in their email to me clarifies that “it was the Philippine Air Transportation Office (ATO) that was downgraded not PAL” by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Read on…

PAL flies daily to Gen. Santos from Manila and vice-versa. And so does Cebu Pacific. BYAHE NA!!!

This is US Ambassador Kristie Kenney’s invitation card for moi to her “reception onboard the USS Blue Ridge” which I received a week prior to the arrival of the navy ship (read account here). Military personnel were asked to wear “Summer White/Class B” while civilians like me – “Smart casual”.

The confirmation or reply form which must be faxed to the US Embassy. “Vehicular details” were required for invitees bringing their transport. There was also an advisory for guests to wear FLAT-SOLED shoes “due to uneven surfaces onboard”.

The invitation card which much be presented at the gate to the reception area at the Makar wharf.

The RECEPTION.

US Ambassador Kristie Kenney greeting her guests on board the USS Blue Ridge including Mayor Jun Acharon (extreme left), and (from right) Sarangani Governor Migs Dominguez, South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes, and Congresswoman Darlene Antonino-Custodio of the 1st District of South Cotabato. While all this was happening, I was busy munching on the canapes and sushi and cold cuts offered to me by navy personnel serving as waiters. (Burp!) Music was provided by the US 7th Fleet Band which played mostly jazz tunes that night.

US 7th Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Doug Crowder offers a toast while I was trying to balance my glass of Coke light on my left hand and my heavy Canon EOS 300D on my right to take this shot. I guess I was the only one with a camera around.

The Gen. Santos City Government Choir performing their well-applauded pieces at the upper deck where the party continued. Here, the ambience was less stuffy and our movements were more spontaneous. People started wandering around the deck…

.. with some stealing a souvenir shot beside the parked helicopter in front of the bridge.

Another group of guests who escaped from the cocktails to have their picture taken below the turret.

A Navy officer with GenSan First Lady Dr. Rose Acharon (extreme left) and friends (from right) Lani, Judy and Haydee. Some ladies I talked to admitted to having exchanged email addresses with a few navy personnel.

After the welcome ceremonies at the Makar Wharf (read account here), the guests including myself were invited to take a tour of the USS Blue Ridge. Before this, we (with the mayor) passed through a rigid search for credentials/bombs/explosives/etc at the entrance to the welcome area which was cordoned off by container vans. We were in Philippine soil but it felt like I was entering American territory with the burly marines with high-powered firearms watching our every move.

Here, we are now inside the middle deck where a comprehensive display of the ship’s history is in exhibit. This photo shows the Mayor being briefed by Command Master Chief John Becker.

On the right is the ship’s bank where the servicemen can withdraw, deposit & change their dollars or send money via telegraphic transfer.

The library and internet lounge where the servicemen contact their familes thru the 5 or more MACS available

The infirmary which boasts of modern & state-of-the art medical equipment… a mini-hospital in itself. Look at those halogen lights above the operating table.

The mess mall which smells of steaks and fries.

The Mayor at the bridge. I was shooed away here but the ABS-CBN cameraman Arthur behind the mayor was not.

A helicopter landing at the upper deck’s helipad.

The USS Blue Ridge visited the Philippines sometime last year as part of a three-country goodwill tour (known as Project Kaibigan) to deliver – through a partnership with the Armed Forces of the Phils – donated goods such as clothes, toys, food & medical supplies, provide free health clinics for citizens in poor or remote communities; and conduct engineering projects to construct and improve schools and public buildings. Their first stop: GEN. SANTOS CITY.These are some of the pictures I took of that visit which I am sharing to the public for the first time.

Philippine Military personnel in formation to welcome the sailors of the USS Blue Ridge & US 7th Fleet staff including embarked Marines, as well as Seabees from the Naval Mobile Construction Batallion (NCMB)3 who are in town to complete construction on a new school bldg dedicated to Changco Elementary School in Barangay Bawing.

Blue Ridge Commanding Officer Capt. Jeff Bartkoski at the podium. Behind him are the members of the 22-member US 7th Fleet Band which plays & sings a diverse range of American music from pop to R&B, and country to rock-and-roll. This band operates from Yokosuka, Japan.

City Mayor Pedro Acharon, Jr. welcoming formally the USS Blue Ridge to his city.

The tents where guests and civilians including some navy personnel witnessed the welcome ceremonies. This is also the recreation area of the visiting Americans, containing billiards and other table games. Behind these are smaller tents allocated to US-branded fastfoods like McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Shakey’s & Dunkin’ Donuts. There was also a mini-spa for those needing a Pinoy massage or “hilot“.

The strong winds made it harder for these dancers from the Mindanao State University High School to control their “pasandalans” (native colorful rectangular flags) during their Welcome Muslim Dance but they managed to give it their best.

The Welcome Brigade from the City Mayor’s Office of Gensan.

These are the pictures I took at the 6-kilometer GenSan Off-Road Race at the Silway River involving 25 vehicles with upgraded machines and really big tires. Sponsored by the Gensan Off-Road Fun Club headed by  Assistant City Administrator Teody Dumagan, this has been an annual sports affair for the past 5 years in the Tuna Capital.

Part of the crowd at the banks of Silway River patiently waiting for the vehicles to pass by…

Look at those big wheels!!!

Hurdling the big rocks…

A few more meters till the end…

The short but suspenseful climb up the Finish Line which had everyone cheering for it…

Kulintang is a modern term for an instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally-laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums, according to the Wikipedia.

Every February, the city of General Santos showcases the musicality of kulintang players through the “Kulintangan sa Kalilangan”, a competition among kulintang groups timed during the Kalilangan Festival. With the 2008 festival fast approaching, am posting these pix which I took last year.

A group of male performers with their Kulintang Ensemble.

2 young members strutting their stuff with the AGONGS…

… while beating them every possible way they can.

This young kulintang player brandishes his mastery at the kulintang by performing blindfolded while balancing a glass on his head.

It’s the ladies’ turn to show their stuff. The lady on the left performs on the DABAKAN while the lady on the right beats on the KULINTANG.

A master’s hands at work on the horizontally laid KULINTANG.

A flag bearer stands in attention while I aim my shot.

Three generations of women await their turn to perform behind the stage.

One last good view.

Although having had my breakfast an hour and a half earlier, I couldn’t resist my driver’s invitation to try out AWENG BALBACUA on our way back to the office from the airport where I delivered a cargo of tuna for Manila. Long been a favorite stop-over of drivers who just sent off their passengers to their planes out of Gensan, I felt it was time to try its famed balbacua.

Located along the Airport Road, right at the Barangay Fatima, the city’s 2nd largest vilage in terms of population (60,000 as of 2003), which was mainly a relocation area for squatters and homeless government workers in the early 80s, this nondescript humble eatery is now one of the area’s more famous dining destinations.

I peeked at the back of the eatery and saw these two large “calderos” separately containing the oxtail and the broth. For each order, the cook (Aweng) gets it straight out of these.

Aweng’s BALBACUA Soup.

My take on it: the taste of the slightly thick broth is just right, no need to add soy sauce. The small meat portions from the oxtail are tender and have the sufficient amount of fat for the “guilt” feel, not too much to make your lips shine. Price: P25.

Here are some recent photographs of the Parish of Sto. Niño at Barangay Bula in General Santos City which I took myself. Enjoy them…

The welcome arch leading to the entrance of the Parish of Sto. Niño in Barangay Bula (population: 40,000, with Catholics controlling 98%). Bula’s fiesta in January 15 of every year is the most grandiose and the most eagerly-anticipated in the city of General Santos. It is home to majority of the area’s fishermen and is the humble origin of most of the city’s fishing big guns.

A shot of the Sto. Niño Parish Church altar taken from the choir loft at the back. Take note of the boat hull-replica at the right serving as the receptacle of the Sto. Niño de Cebu image. The parish serves mostly fisherfolk communities.

That’s Mayor Jun Acharon in light-colored checkered shirt performing the Sinulog Dance while bringing a “gift” to the altar along with other volunteers during the Offertory at the Holy Mass presided by Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez, DD.

Santo Niño images of all shapes, sizes and patronages are being sold in this makeshift stall just across the main door to the church. Hung from the roof are colorful garments for the images also in various sizes or STO. NIÑO BLING-BLINGS.

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Beside the church and on the roadside is laid out this display of various folk medicines and cures for different types of ailments from the simple (headache, tummy ache, skin disease, vertigo, dark underarms, etc) to the complicated (infertility, lack of lovelife). Surprisingly, I didn’t find any amulet.

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A balloon vendor selling colorful ballons and plastic blow-up dolls/toys infront of Sto. Niño Parish Church.