GenSan News Online Mag

Phoenix Petroleum, one of the more dominant players in the fuel industry which was a supporter of the recently concluded Kalilangan 2011 and the Soccsksargen Bloggers’ SEX Tour II, continues to make its presence felt in the countryside with their not one, not two but three events at the upcoming Araw ng Dabaw 2011 celebrations!

Last Saturday, March 5, 2011, they kicked off their participation via the PBA Phoenix On Tour Basketball Game between PBA teams Air 21 Express and Tropang Talk ‘n Text at the jampacked Holy Cross Gym!

This weekend, they will conduct the Araw ng Dabaw 3rd Phoenix Open Golf Tournament at the Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club on Saturday, March 12, 2011.

The following day, March 13, Sunday will be the turn of their Araw ng Dabaw Phoenix Run 2011 (Takbo para sa KinaBOOKasan)!

The Phoenix Run 2011 which has now received over 3,500 registrants is for the benefit of the Phoenix Philippines Foundation’s education program by providing textbooks to pre-school kids of chosen schools.   The race has four categories: 21k, 10k, 5k and 3k marathons.

All the rest of the Phoenix Araw ng Dabaw events are also for the benefit of Phoenix Philippines Foundation Inc. Charities.

Suwerte ng Davao City!!!    Hopefully, during the Tuna Festival 2011 in September, we will be seeing more of the same sporting events here in General Santos City!!!  How about it, Mr. Neb Bulaclac?

For more information on Phoenix Petroleum’s Araw ng Dabaw Activities, please access their official websites by clicking on this—> PHOENIX PHILIPPINES or this —> PHOENIX RUN 2011.

Jukebox Queen Imelda Papin and Dionisia Pacquiao, the famous mother of People’s Champ and Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao, are teaming up for a concert this weekend right at the champ’s hometown, in General Santos City!

Ms. Papin, the former two-time vice-governor of Camarines Sur was at the City Hall this morning sans Dionisia, to pay a visit to Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio who was then in Koronadal for a Regional Development Council Meeting where she is the Chair.  City Administrator Jong Gonzales instead, received Ms. Papin along with her group.

While there, she extended her invitation to the City Admin, to her and Mommy Dionisia’s concert which will be held at the GenSan Gym in Barangay Lagao on Saturday, March 12, 2011, starting from 6:00pm.

Check out the poster below courtesy of Ms. Aileen Grace Papin, Ms. Imelda’s equally pretty younger sister who uploaded it to Bariles’ Desktop.

“BAKIT, THE CONCERT” is produced by 618 Productions and I.A.P. Foundation in tandem with Ginebra San Miguel and Pizza Palace.  Minor sponsors are K101 FM, Florotel GenSan, Ranchero, SophistiCut and Crislain Ladies Wear.

Tickets to the Bakit.. the Concert with Imelda Papin and Dionisia Pacquiao are sold at P100, P200 and P300.  For ticket reservations, please call or text 0908-4350091 or 0933-3139055.  They may be purchased at all the business outlets of Manny Pacquiao, among others.

Of the many gigs and events happening in General Santos City, there is one which is unfolding this week which gets Bariles‘ “HIGHLY RECOMMENDED VIEWING” tag.

We’re referring to this joint project of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the General Santos City Medical Society in celebration of the National Arts Month which unfolds on March 13, Sunday, 6pm at the KCC Convention and Events Center!

It’s a whole night of dance in a spectacle entitled:  SAYAW PINOY 2011.

SAYAW PINOY 2011 features world-renowned Manila-based POWERDANCE and the HALILI DANCE COMPANY together with HINUGYAW CULTURAL DANCE TROUPE of Koronadal and the GSC Medical Society.

There will be two shows on March 13: the 3pm Matinee (P100 entrance fee) and the 6pm Gala (P200 entrance fee).

A portion of the proceeds of the SAYAW PINOY 2011 will go to the benefit of St. Elizabeth Cranofacial Foundation and various projects of the Gen. Santos Medical Society,

For more info and ticket reservations please contact telephone #s 0916-7395090.

HATAW NA!!!

As their ode to the fast and coming summer, the Ranchero Group of Restaurants’ PASEO DEL SOL has cooked up something grand for its loyal patrons – an intimate concert once more featuring a Manila-based artist!

From Richard Poon, who was their first major artist two years back, they have now gotten the services of Bossa Nova Queen of the Philippines for a concert on March 22, 2011 they have dubbed as Sitti: Hey, Look At the Sun.

Sitti, a member of the ASAP Sessionistas has been in General Santos City a couple of times already but it seems that the generals couldn’t get enough of her.  Blame it on her easy, breezy and laid-back style of performing that soothes stressed listeners and her refreshing presence that is candy to the eyes.

And so for her gig at Paseo del Sol, the P500 entrance fee will not only give you choice seats to watch her mesmerizing performance but will also entitle you to free drinks and finger foods for the pre-concert cocktails at the compound’s starry-lit gardens.

For ticket reservations (I hope meron pa), please call Paseo del Sol or Ranchero’s at the following numbers:  (083) 553-9298 and 301-9298.

The Sitti: Hey, Look @ the Sun Concert is also sponsored by James Michael Montano Photography and Republic Magazine.

GenSan News Online Mag is releasing this recruitment poster of the Catholic order of priests, who call themselves the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate.

This group of priests who hails from Italy will soon be conducting a sit-in or orientation for young men in General Santos City and the rest of Soccsksargen, who may want to consider the religious life for their future plans.

If you feel you have the CALLING, or know of somebody who feels the same way too, watch out for future announcements about their sit-in GenSan only at this blog.

Or if you can’t wait for that date, try contacting the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate by calling them at telephone #s (02) 828-9509 or emailing them at sonsmary@info.com.ph.  Check out their Facebook Page by searching for paschfiglian@yahoo.com.

Fresh from the online edition of Philippine Star Daily, comes this piece of good news…

MANILA, Philippines – Damosa Land Inc. of the Anflo Group recently signed a franchise agreement with Microtel Inns & Suites (Pilipinas) Inc. for a 66-room hotel in General Santos City. Microtel Gensan will be the 10th Microtel property in the country and the first international hotel chain in the city. The hotel project is also Damosa Land/Anflo Group’s second Microtel franchise after Microtel Davao. Shown in photo are (from left) Demet Lucila (Microtel CFO), Jose Mari del Rosario (Microtel Pilipinas CEO), Ricky Floirendo (Damosa Land Inc. COO) and architect Luis Nakpil (Microtel Pilipinas director).

We blogged about this already as early as two years ago in this article about a new GenSan Hotel. Hopefully, everything comes into fruition once the ground-breaking of this 62-room hotel establishment takes place this month of March 2011 or next month.

One thing is sure though, Damosa Land of the Anflo Group won’t just be constructing the hotel but will also be developing the whole commercial area that will be built inside their highway compound, much like their Damosa Gateway Complex in Davao City.

So expect not only the Microtel hotel in that area containing the 24/7 McDonalds Drive-Thru outlet soon but other restaurants, shops and stores as well.  That makes the GenSan National Highway, the busiest road section of the city when all these materialize.

Super mega Magandang GenSan na nga talaga ito!!!

A personal favorite of Bariles when it comes to Oriental fastoods is Rairaiken, which is Japan’s famost Ramen restaurants.

Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish served in a fish-based or meat-based broth, seasoned with soy or miso and topped with almost any sort of meat (fish, fowl, beef, pork).

Whether at Rairaiken‘s branch at the KCC Mall of GenSan or at the Robinsons Place GenSan, Bariles always go for their GOMOKU Ramen (Mixed Seafoods with mixed veggies, topped with fresh egg and chasyu), since he finds it healthier! He visits any of these outlests at two times a month, bringing a friend or two to let them discover the joys of partaking Rairaiken’s sumptuous ramen dishes!You can just imagine his delight therefore, when he checked into Rairaiken KCC and found that that there’s a 50% Discount on ALL THEIR RAMEN dishes!

So, Bariles fave giant steaming bowl of Gomoku which used to cost him P180 can now be enjoyed at a mere P90 only!!!!    THAT’S double the reason of visiting Rairaiken KCC or Robinsons then!

For the rest of their ramen dishes plus other Japanese goodies, here is their menu.  Please click on it for an enlarged view.

For reservations, please call Rairaiken KCC at (083) 552-0160 or Rairaiken Robinsons at (083)

UPDATE:  March 12, 2011, Saturday.  WATCH THE AIRING OF THE SOCCSKSARGEN BLOGGERS FEATURE at 6:55 PM TONITE @ BALITA PILIPINAS, Channel 65 on Skycable GenSan and Channel 11 in Manila!!

Late last year, in November 2010, the Soccsksargen Bloggers or Sox Bloggers, for short were featured in a just-relaunched at that time ISYU KARON, GMA-TV 8‘s daily docu-news program airing in General Santos City and outlying areas.

The feature centered on the group’s history, its reason for being, its activities and some interviews with a few of its members, including Bariles, who is the 3-year old group’s co-founder and “self-proclaimed” leader.  It introduced to the world, the young men and women, who through their online journals are advocating the spread of news and articles portraying the best of their beloved region, South Central Mindanao. (Check out the news feature on YouTube below.)

The docu-news segment on them was a hit, so to speak, and the Sox Bloggers basked in their 15-minute fame.  After that, they moved on with their lives, continued blogging and forgot all about it.

But then again, there was more life into the Sox Bloggers Docu-news feature after all.

GMA-TV 8′s Michael Carbon, the young reporter who filed the report, called Bariles last night to announce that the newly-launched 24/7 all-news channel of GMA, dubbed as GMA News Channel (replacing QTV)will be airing the Sox Bloggers feature NATIONWIDE!!

YES! You’re reading it right!

On Saturday, March 5, 2011, Anytime next week, at 6:30pm, (that is tomorrow) the initial telecast of their new primetime news program,  BALITA PILIPINAS will headline the SOCCSKSARGEN BLOGGERS in their program, using Michael Carbon’s 15-minute docu-news feature!  That really freaked out Bariles who couldn’t believe his group’s luck.

Since the original production was in Cebuano, they might re-dub it to Tagalog for all the whole country to understand.  Below is the teaser for BALITA PILIPINAS.

In Metro Manila, GMA News Channel can be seen at Channel 11.  Here in GenSan, it’s only available on cable and may be found at Channel 65 on Sky Cable.  It will be hosted by Arnold Clavio, who from afar, actually looks like Bariles!

Thank you GMA News Channel for this opportunity to be heard and seen all over the country.  And thank you, GMA-TV 8′S Michael Carbon, for believing in our worth and beaming our hopes and wishes for a more progressive GenSan and the rest of South Central Mindnao, all throughout the world.

So, don’t forget to watch the Soccsksargen Bloggers, on BALITA PILIPINAS, airing at GMA NEWS CHANNEL, Channel 65 on SkyCable GenSan, next week, anytime on Saturday, March 5, 20100, at 6:30pm.  Check back here to find out the exact day. Woot!!

Bariles received a confirmation the other day that the newly renovated PAL Mabuhay Lounge at the General Santos City International Airport in Barangay Tambler is set to be inaugurated soon!

The management of the local PAL office in downtown Pedro Acharon Boulevard has been sending out invites for the Friday, March 11, 2011 Inaguration to prominent personages in the city through Branch Manager Noel Herico.

According to their invitation letter, “The Mabuhay Lounge have (sic) been redesigned and refurbished to cater to the tastes of our modern business travelers.  it is equipped with some of the most useful amenities to provide comfort and relaxation before boarding the flight.  There is also a buffet of light meals and refreshments to enjoy.”

The letter continues:  “The Mabuhay Lounge serves passengers flying the Mabuhay Class on Philippine Airlines flights, as well as members of the Mabuhay Miles Elite and Premier Elite membership tiers.”

Wow!  This is welcome news if you’re  a frequent PAL Mabuhay Class flyer who before this development, could only avail of their Mabuhay Lounge privileges and perks when you’re at the NAIA in Manila.  (Bariles specially adores their hot arroz caldo at the Mabuhay Lounge there especially when your flight is at 7am in the morning.)

But if you are just an ordinary mortal who go for the cheaper seats of PAL and the budget fares of Cebu Pacific, then take your place at the  pre-departure lounge of the GenSan International Airport along with other members of the working class.

But do not be dismayed.

The pre-departure lounge there has also undergone renovation and is now much bigger and newly-renovated.  Hopefully, it is still wifi-equipped.

Bariles was doing some window shopping the other night at the KCC Mall of GenSan when he remembered that he needed to check out the Sony Center at its 3rd Floor.

Too bad that they didn’t have the Bloggie MP4 Camera he was looking for and so he focused his attention on their newly released Sony Vaio Netbooks!

The one on display was an 11.6-inch beauty and is under the Sony VAIO Y series. It looks stylish and ergonomic, and has a sleek, tapered look. It weighed only 1.5 kgs and can easily be slipped inside a briefcase or bag and can last up to 4 hours after charging.

The series is powered by an AMD Dual-Copre Processor E-350 with AMD Radeon HD 6310 Discrete-Class Graphics, delivering an incredibly vivid and smooth HD experience, including comfortable playback of full HD video and faster internet connection.

Bariles was amazed to find out that from the listed price of P29,999.00, they have sliced off 10%.  So for now, this new Sony VAIO Y Series netbook can be had for only P26,999 from the KCC Mall of GenSan Sony Center.

The Sony Center is located right across the KCC Cinemas and beside Nanay Bebengs.

Get one now!