The Soccsksargen Bloggers or the Sox Bloggers for short, has recently added another feather to their cap with the airing of a special feature on them by Kapuso Channel GMA-8 on their new local semi-docu news and public affairs program, ISYU KARON.

The episode, entitled “BLOGGERS” was hosted by Michael Carbon, a fresh MassCom graduate of the Notre Dame of Dadiangas University who did well in coaxing answers from the usually timid bloggers and in presenting their agenda for South Central Mindanao.

It was anotated in Cebuano although the bloggers who were featured including Bariles, Sheng Dumalay, Gilbert Tan, Alexis Chua and Hector Minoza all spoke in Taglish.

The shooting and interview was conducted during a regular meeting of the Sox Bloggers and eyeball with Dubai-based Wilma Villanueva, author of the coffee-table book, Mindanao Postscripts at the Piyesta KTV & Resto Bar.

The Sox Bloggers which now has a website at www.soxbloggers.com has really come a long way since 5 of them decided to form themselves into a group to counter the negative news coming out from Soccsksargen in particular, and all throughout Mindanao generally.

Now three years after that eventful first eyeball, their blogs have been dominating Google and Yahoo search engine page search rankings for anything about General Santos and the rest of South Central Mindanao.

The video below (thanks to GMA-8) is testament to their success story.

And to balance out things, we are also giving you Kapamilya Channel TV 10′s newscast feature on the Sox Bloggers on their TV Patrol Soccsksargen, aired two weeks ago.  This time, focus was on the recent victories of Bariles and GandaEverSoMuch at the Philippine Blog Awards for Mindanao 2010.

Watch it below.  Thanks to ABS-CBN Reporter Francis Canlas for this report.

Good news to all videoke masters out there.

Music City Family KTV has just recently launched its HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS!

If you need to unwind and chill with your barkada right after class or office by singing to your delight, you do not need to spend much now that Music City Family KTV located at the 2nd floor of SunCity Complex has a HAPPY HOUR PROMO!

From 5pm to 7pm everyday, each room will only cost you P130 per hour!!!

Yes that is right!  Then of course, you will have more money to spare for an early dinner which Music City Family KTV actually serves for their clientele.

How’s that from GenSan’s newest KTV hangout?

For reservations, you may call Music City Family KTV at telephone #s (083) 553-8833, 0932-9008877.

Koronadal City has a week-long treat for the locals and visitors alike as the new administration of the young and dynamic Mayor Peter Miguel, MD conducts its DIVISORIA SA KORONADAL.

With the intention to encourage people to shop, eat, go out and have fun in line with its new battlecry, “KANAMIT KORONADAL“, DIVISORIA SA KORONADAL runs from November 22nd up to November 28th, 2010.

Divisoria sa Koronadal boasts of nightly activities at the Old City Hall Freedom Park.  For this weekend, here are the remaining activities:

• Tiangge – the lowest prices for bargain hunters;
• Singing Star and Chizbols Band –  happening on November 26;
• Singing VIDEOKE with the Fiberorosa Band; and
• Hinugyaw Cultural Dance Troupe Anniversary Show on November 27.

There’s definitely something in store for everyone in Koronadal City this weekend.

Sa aton na mga kasimanwa, mag-DIVISORIA na kita!!!

The Munato fever is upon us once again as the Munato Festival 2010 unveils its exciting line-up of activities starting tomorrow, November 25, 2010.

For the first time ever, it will also be Representative Manny Pacquiao‘s first festival as a Congressman in his own turf.   Below is the Munato Festival 2010 poster he shares with Governor Migs Domiguez and Vice-Governor Steve Solon.

Here is the Schedule of Activities:

(UPDATE) Don’t miss the TRUEFAITH CONCERT tonite, November 27, 2010 at the Capitol Grounds.

The Christmas Season is almost upon us and here in General Santos City, different establishments have started launching their Yuletide offerings.

The earliest among them has proven to be the most inventive with the various exciting  promotional gimmicks and the classy culinary treats that go along with them.  Of course, we are referring to Ranchero’s and for the most anticipated season of the year, it has come up with a double whammy of a winner.

If you want your Noche Buena or Christmas parties to be more than special without tiring yourself, then check out Ranchero’s Signature dishes from the poster above.  Consider these mouth-watering culinary fare which are entirely different from your usual yuletide food…

• The tender Beef Pot Roast at only P775
• The Classy Callos ala Madrilena at P750
• The succulent Baby Back Ribs Platter at P795
• The aromatic Herbed Baked Jumbo Chicken at P650
• The healthy Fisherman Christmas Delight at P850
• and the flavorful Chicken Galantina at P850.

Then if you’ve had your feel all all those meaty dishes, check out any of their delectable array of their famous cakes and kakanins!

• The glorious Concorde Cake at P1085 (10″ x 2″) and P750 (7″ x 4″)
• The sinful Dulce de Leche at P680 (9″ x 4″)
• Their heavenly Blueberry or Strawberry Cheesecakes at P1100 (10″ x 2″) and P750 (7″ x 2″)
• A box of exciting Gourmet Cupcakes at P475 (9 pieces) or at P375 (6 pieces)
• Their to-die-for Frozen Brazo de Mercedes at P675 (12″ x 8″ x 2″)
• Their comforting 3-Flavored Sapin-Sapin at P475
• The homey Tibok-Tibok at P475 (Big Bilao) and P375 (Small Bilao)
• Their delightful Suman sa Lihiya at P550 per Dozen in a Basket

These Christmas Food Delights from Ranchero’s could also serve as Christmas gifts for your friends and loved ones.  It sure beats the hell out of scouring for good buys inside an overcrowded and stuffy mall department store along with hundreds of other frantic holiday shoppers for gifts.

At Ranchero’s, there’s definitely no rush, no waiting in line… just the dreamy thought of the wonderfully lavish Yuletide feast that is waiting for you.

To reserve your orders, please call Ranchero’s at (083) 553-9298 or 303-1120.

The ongoing ground works on the 6-hectare lot leased by SM Holdings from the Salazar Family for their upcoming SM City General Santos is now on fever pitch.

For the benefit of our readers who have not been to the fenced area personally or couldn’t visualize where it is exactly, we are providing you with this photo rendering of the SM City GenSan map courtesy of Google Maps.

It shows the footprint of the whole mall compound straddling the corner of Santiago Boulevard and San Miguel Street (its frontage) up to a small portion reaching up to Jose Catolico Avenue, eating up into the property of the SOCOTECO II Compound (which they bought).

In this map, San Miguel Street has been renamed as San Miguel Boulevard by the people of SM.  Bariles will explain why in a future post.

Thanks to our mole at SM who provided us with this SM City GenSan Map.

Watch out for our other features on SM City GenSan within the week.

So that you can immediately be updated on our latest blog posts, why not subscribe to our feeds.  Just fill out the form below with your email address.

For more pictures, click here—-> SM City GenSan perspectives.

One of the more progressive suburban streets in General Santos City these days is Aparente Avenue, which used to be an old farm road leading to the banana plantations of Stanfilco in the 60s and up to the early 80s.

Right now, Aparente seems to be the favorite of investors and developers as rows of commercial buildings have been sprouting like mushrooms here, one after the other.  One of these is the JMP Building of Manny and Jinkee Pacquiao, located near the National Highway crossing, a mixed-use edifice which houses a disco bar, restaurants, a sports bar, a spa, Jinkee’s own boutique and many more.

Then there’s the row of buildings at the Aparente-Salvani Street (Block 8 ) junction which has two new rows of commercial buildings, one of which has just opened two months ago.

The second one which has just finished construction a few weeks back has not opened any of its doors yet but passing by the L-shaped structure at the entrance of Pacheco Subdivision just a few meters from the Aparente-Lacap junction, Bariles noticed this tarpauline hanging from its facade.

It’s a streamer announcing the opening of another Mercury Drug outlet at the unnamed building and this time, it is the Mercury Drug – Aparente Avenue Branch.

This latest outlet of Mercury Drug comes right at the heels of the opening of its North National Highway Branch last month and the Robinsons Place branch early this year.

This one will be their seventh outlet and will be serving the needs of the subdivisions and villages of Barangays San Isidro and City Heights, two of the bigger barangays this side of the Tuna Capital.

Whoa!  Three branches of Mercury Drug opening up in GenSan in a year’s time!  Where the next following branches will open up soon after is anybody’s guess!

Last Friday evening’s Rock On Manila Concert featuring  5 of the country’s top bands was one of the biggest and most attended in the history of GenSan.

Just imagine gathering Parokya ni Edgar, Kamikazee, Gloc-9, Sandwich, Franco and Centerpoint in one setting!!!  Luckily the generals were one behaved bunch that night, kudos to the presence of the police and the military.

Bariles was lucky enough to get a Backstage Pass from event co-presenter and organizer K101 FM together with the winners of the Rock On Manila Blog Contest and some friends.

The concert was front acted by local band Centerpoint who led the way to a spectacular night of awesome talents and to-die-for rock music.  Crowd estimate was at 10,000 rivaling that of the last Tuna and Kalilangan Festival.  It ended at past 2am already causing traffic jams in most of downtown streets.

Even GenSan Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio stayed on till past 1am and jammed for her friends from Parokya ni Edgarde and Kamikazee.

Kudos to the city’s peace-keeping forces and the Office of the Mayor for keeping the peace all throughout the night and making all of the spectators, performers and concert crew and staff feel secure and right at home!

Truly it was one big night to remember in GenSan!!!

Here are some of the photos taken by the talented Brian Dan Congson.

"KAMIKAZEE WOWS GENSAN"

FRANCO REYES OF THE CEBU-BASED BAND, FRANCO.

BASSIST BUWI MENESES OF PAROKYA NI EDGAR AND GUEST BASSIST FOR FRANCO REFRESHES WITH MANILA BEER. THE GOODLOOKING ARTIST WAS A FORMER SURVIVOR CASTAWAY.

NO, SHE'S NOT A ROCK ARTIST. THAT'S GENSAN CITY MAYOR DARLENE ANTONINO-CUSTODIO GREETING THE GENERALS SHORTLY AFTER FRANCO PERFORMED.

ARISTOTLE POLLISCO, AKA GLOC-9 IN HIS TRADEMARK MACHINE-GUN RAP!

GLOC-9 IN CLOSE-UP LOOKS LIKE BARILES' FRIEND ROCK GARAY OF PACIFIC SEAS SEAFOOD MARKET.

FORMER ERASERHEADS MEMBER RAIMUND MARASIGAN, NOW OF SANDWICH SOULFULLY DOING HIS STUFF.

MONG ALCARAZ, SANDWICH LEAD GUITARIST AND BACKUP VOCALS ELICITED MOST OF THE WOMEN'S SHRIEKS.

"IF WE HOLD ON TOGETHER, PEACE WILL REIGN IN OUR LAND"

RHYTHM & LEAD GUITARIST DIEGO CASTILLO OF SANDWICH BELTS IT OUT.

CROWD FAVORITE JAY CONTRERAS OF KAMIKAZEE KNEELS WHILE REACHING FOR HIGH NOTES!

BARILES WITH SOME OF THE SOCCSKSARGEN BLOGGERS, WINNERS OF HIS ROCK ON MANILA CONTEST INFRONT OF THE STAGE

KAMIKAZEE LEAD AND RHYTHM GUITARIST JOMAL LINAO IN ACTION!

KAMIKAZEE ROCKS THE CROWD AS ONLY THEY CAN!

"CHITO MIRANDA PERFORMS WITH HIS BAND PAROKYA NI EDGAR AT AROUND PAST 1AM"

PAROKYA NI EDGAR DRUMMER DINDIN MORENO PERFORMING HIS STUFF.

HAMMING IT UP BACKSTAGE ARE FRANCO'S HALF-NAKED FRANCO REYES & DRUMMER JANJAN MENDOZA WITH STATUESQUE GENSAN BEAUTY ROMARIE RIGHT AFTER THEIR GIG.

PAROKYA NI EDGAR AND CHITO MIRANDA WAS THE LAST PERFORMING BAND FOR THE EVENING THAT GENSAN WILL NEVER FORGET.

Thank you Manila Beer for giving us one evening we will never forget.

Thank you Dodie Ladrera, Manager of K101-FM and Joel Malabon for spearheading the local organizing team to run this event.

You rock guys!!!

The party never stops at Dolores Tropicana Resort Hotel!

Fresh from their October weekend parties featuring the best of GenSan’s bands, comes another exciting promotion to mark their anniversary at the end of November 2010.

Dolores Tropicana Resort Hotel presents FIESTAHAN SA TROPICANA on November 27-28, 2010, a November to Remember!

Dolores Tropicana Resort Hotel which is the only beach resort hotel in General Santos City is offering a 50% Discount on their regular ENTRANCE FEES for those two days (Nov 27,28).  Aside from that, starting at 4pm 1 stand-up comedian and 3 live bands will be entertaining their guests on the 28th (Sunday).

I just hope that they also have their own version of a FOAM PARTY which seems to be a hit among party-goers these days.  Who knows?  Come summer of 2011, the management of Dolores Resorts and Hotels might have something similar coming up their sleeves.

Here are what most of you have been waiting for – the names of the winners to our 3rd Blogoversary iPod Shuffle Giveaway Contest.

Our cut-off time for receiving comments was at 11:00am on Saturday, November 13, 2010 and by that time, we have already received 80 comments.

With the use of random.org, we finally picked our winners of the different prizes we announced in the earlier blog post we did on the contest.

Here they are:

1. Jack Daniel’s 160th Anniversary Special Edition Travel Wallet from Little Dubai – won by Chris Lopera.
2. Free 3 Nights Overnite Stay at a Hotel in Bangkok with Buffet Dinner if you’re travelling there between Dec 2010 and March 2011 – won by Fitz.
3. 1 piece Dress or Tops from Ehlaiza Bogayong – won by Bea.
4. 1 Body Scrub from Ehlaiza Bogayong –  won by Jay.
5. 1 Fashionista Belt from Ehlaiza Bogayong  -  won by Chessy.
6. 1 coffeetable book “Filipino Building Beliefs” each from Architect Myke Ang
   1. Lyle Santos
   2. JenJacqs
7. 1 Team Pacquiao Souvenir Sports Tumbler from Macho Mucho  -  won by Kyawkyaw.  
8. 1 Tattered and Refurbished Denim Pants from Rain Ramas  -  won by Donna Mae Congson.
9. 1 Fashion Jewelry from Impressions’ Leah Valle  -  won by Joana Grace Lapore.
10. 1 ProtechA BackPack from Byahilo.com  -  won by Winston Almendras.
11. 1 Talking and Moving Frog Stuffed Toy from GandaEverSoMuch.com  -  won by Ma. Christina Obeso
12. 1 Photo Frame each from GandaEverSoMuch.com
    1. Jaidy Salasalan.
    2. Loys Park.
    3. MicaMyx.
13. 2 Cover Girl Lipsticks from RJ Boutique  -  won by Lito Antoque.
14. 1 Wordcamp Kit each from Avatar Media
    1. Gilbert Yap Tan
    2. Belinda Sales Canlas
    3. BrVince
    4. richard
    5. ark
15. 1 Studio 3802 Shirt from Sarah Cada  -  won by Fahdingding
16. 1 Bag Organizer from Lynette’s Unique Finds  -  won by Ronald Eron
17. 1 Tidy Bag Pockets from Lynette’s Unique Finds  -  won by Atty. Magman
18. 1 Bag Hook  from Lynette’s Unique Finds  -  won by Nestor.
19. 1 KeyChain  from Lynette’s Unique Finds
    1. Brendel
    2. Arghie
20. 1 Cellphone Accessory  from Lynette’s Unique Finds
    1. GenSan Boy
    2. Bambina
21. 1 pair Spider Energy Sunglasses from Marthin Millado  -  won by Liezl
22. 1 piece Fashionista Bracelet each from Kikaymuch.me
    1. Hunee
    2. Denden Oville
    3. Paolo Songcayoan
    4. Sheng
23. 1 bookazine “Franchise Your Way to Business Success” from Fitz Villafuerte  -  won by Marty.
24. 1 book from Gilbert Tan  -  won by Cliff.
25. 1 CD from the Soundtrack of New Moon from Bibliarch  -  won by win
26. 1 Box of Myra 300E from Eats Terrific  -  won by Dimple.
27. 1 imported Thermal Mag from New York c/o Mandi Nicolas –  won by Ayel
28. 1 Full Body Massage from a new spa in GenSan c/o Rain Cindy  -  won by Zoan
29. 1 Fonti Cafe Gift Certificate worth P500 from Psyche Fontanilla  -  won by Mikael Paolo
30. 1 Voucher for a Free 2-night stay at a condo at Cypress Towers at Global City  -  won by Faust
31. 1 Ultimate Sticky Pad each
    1. chris
    2. hibalag
    3. ahgarcera
32. 6-cans of San Miguel Beer each to the following courtesy of San Miguel Beer.
    1. Mara
    2. Alexis C.
    3. Allan
    4. Orman
    5. nanardxz
    6. tiara
    7. wheng
    8. ria jose
33. iPod shuffle  from Dale Palileo of Commerce Collective — Gay.

The prizes will be mailed to all who are not based in GenSan except if you want to donate them back for a worthy cause.  The rest may be picked up at Bariles’ Office beginning Monday, November 22, 2010, 9am to 5pm.

Congratulations to all our winners!  Thank you for joining our 3rd Blogoversary iPod Shuffle Giveaway Contest!  We are also grateful to all our Contest Donors and Sponsors!

Bariles loves you all guys!

UPDATED: Get your prizes from my office between 9am and 12pm and after 2pm to 5pm from Dec 20-23, 2010!