In February 1, 1814, Mayon Volcano erupted and sent lava flows cascading down its sides. The townspeople of Cagsawa fled to the church where they perished when it was engulfed in the fiery flows. Only the church tower remains as a memorial. Cagsawa Park Ruins is the number one tourist attraction in Bicol while viewing the famous Mayon Volcano. I’ve seen the beauty of the park thrice, visiting Bicol without seeing the Cagsawa Park make your vacation incomplete. I make it a point to visit Cagsawa after every vacation I made. Souveneirs and gift items were available at the entrance, there was even a resort inside the park. This image shows how it used to be.
After mudflow caused by typhoon Reming last December of 2006… the Cagsawa Ruins Park was nothing to visit anymore as of this writing. The park was full of black sands, bulldozers and backhoe around to sweep off the sands. It’s hard to drive to get near the church. It’s like a motorcross track! I almost want to walk to get a better shot of the Cagsawa, but its almost impossible since there are dead ends of the sand trail. I just hope that the local Government rehabilitate first the major destination in Bicol. The picture below shows the Cagsawa Church now. 
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I’ve never asked for gifts. My bestfriend asked me ages ago to post my christmas wish list to my mobile blog. She always have problems of choosing a gift for me yearly. She told me,
“Who knows, Santa might give it to you!” 
I’m shy to told her what I want, her friendship is enough for me. For the record, she’s my bestfriend way back high school days. OMG! I won’t tell you how many years was that. 
I’m blessed to have her already! If only one of us is a guy, we’ve long been married, and maybe have grandchildren by now. Hey, we have the same sexual preferences, to make things clear. LOL! Anyway, she’ll end up telling me first what she wants for Christmas from me and ask what do I want in return. What do you expect from a Psychology graduate? hehe..
What do I like for Christmas? I prefer personalized gifts, something unique or hard to find and something that can’t be bought. Whatever it is, it depends on the capabilities of the giver. hehehe… That’s why she’s having a hard time thinking. Anyway, we window shop sometimes and I take note of the things she keeps her eyes on to give me an idea. If only she’s as observant as me, she’ll know. Same strategy applied to my love ones. Usually, I bought the things that I like. Its sort of buying a gift for myself. I do that even on my birthdays. hehehe…
What am I as a giver? I window shop early to find for the gift intended for each person. I always think that I’ll be buying the gift for myself and that should be useful to the person. I don’t like wasted gift or recycled gifts. I always make home made chocolates, place it on special containers with ribbons. Yup, food is consumable but do you ever think that the receiver might wish to have the same gift next Christmas? Its better to make food as your gift especially if the receiver knows that you made it yourself. If you’ll do this make sure that the food will not expire and the receiver know what your gift is. Chances are, he/she eat it right away!
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Its a weekday daily routine that after my children left for school, I always open the TV and watch for the latest news. I got shocked to know that Atty. Rene Saguisag’s Toyota Grandia van was engaged in a vehicular accident at about 2am this morning.
Atty. Rene Saguisag was seriously hurt along with his driver, Felipe Calvario, their dance instructor, Rhea Obong while his wife, Dulce Saguisag was declared DOA at Ospital ng Makati (OSMAK) where they were initially rushed. Atty. Saguisag and his driver were transferred to Makati Medical Center. Rhea Obong sustained the least injuries. Recent reports said that Atty. Saguisag is now conscious.
According to the news,they were on they way home after attending a ballroom dancing at Byke’s Cafe in Makati City when their were hit by a dump truck in Pasay Road near SLEX. The dump truck driver, Manuel Geronimo is under the custody of Makati Police and will be facing charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, serious physical injuries and damage to property.
The taxi driver, Jeoffrey Olmogez who’s behind Atty. Saguisag’s van was interviewed by TV Patrol and confirmed that they already had a green light and estimated the dump truck to be running at estimated speed of 110kph contrary to the dump truck driver’s statement that the car carrying the Saguisag couple was running quite fast and that he had the green light. Palusot!
Let’s pray for the fast recovery of Atty. Rene Saguisag, our former Senator and Human Rights Lawyer. Our deepest sympathy to the Saguisag Family for their loss.
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I felt tired until now, we had a week long vacation to Albay, Bicol with my kids. Semestral break, the opportunity for vacation we’ve been waiting for a long time. It took us 5 years to come back again to Daraga, Albay, my mom’s hometown. Actually, I had visited Bicol 3 years ago with my 2nd son. My youngest son, Allen wants to see Mayon Volcano again since he hardly remember the perfect cone of Mayon, he’s 2 years old when I first brought him there.
We supposed to have this vacation last year but we had problems with our schedules. And I want to see with my own eyes the damage typoon Reming brought to Legaspi and surrounding areas of Mayon last year. There are many changes since I’ve last visited Bicol, there are parts of the highway that still have black sands, stones and big boulders that came from the volcano, let the pictures speak for themselves.
It was almost a year since Reming did this but until now, the rehabilitation of the area is not finish. There are still backhoes, bulldozers and other construction equipments in some parts of the highway especially in Legaspi area.
The first thing I did when I woke up on our first day (we arrived at 9pm), I went to the rooftop of my Mom’s house, I thanked God that HE spared my Mom’s house. But, analyzing the area, I thought its not safe anymore if something like this happen again in the future. The river at the back of the house was gone already, what was left was black sands and stones. Actually, my mom is planning to relocate to a much higher place. My mom’s house is near Cagsawa ruins, since Cagsawa Church survived the Mayon eruption in 1814, she thought that this is the highest location already. Not anymore.
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“Sinag” (Filipino word that means sunlight), Philippines’ representative to World Solar Challenge held last October 21-28, 2007 in Australia. Sinag finished the challenge class at 12th place according to the final tally. There are 21 participants from different countries for Challenge Class. This is the first time that Philippines had a representative.
Sinag is a solar powered car. Yup! You read it right, this is another proof of Filipino ingenuity.
The SINAG Solar Car was proudly designed and built from scratch in a record time of less than a year by students from De La Salle University – Manila with the support of Ford Group Philippines, Motolite, Philippine Airlines, San Miguel Corporation, Pilipinas Shell, SunPower, U-Freight, and Ventus. The project is also supported by Aurora, Cabrera Lavadia and Associates, JWT, CreAsia, Merritt Partners, Tuason Racing School, Gochermann Solar Technology, and Stratworks.
Joining the World Solar Challenge will be an extremely grueling endeavor, the Sinag Project Team is not expected to win any award. “We’re not looking to win but to finish the game and prove that we Filipinos can also do it.”
This is the real Pinoy spirit! I always heard this kind of mentality from my second son who’s into mountain biking. It doesn’t matter if you finish the tracks late, strived enough to finished the trail is important, never quit. That’s his mentality since he started mountain biking 4 years ago, he was 10 years then. Well, Sinag had proved so many things from joining to this competition. Even if this was their first time, they’ve managed to finished the challenge.
After mudflow caused by typhoon Reming last December of 2006… the Cagsawa Ruins Park was nothing to visit anymore as of this writing. The park was full of black sands, bulldozers and backhoe around to sweep off the sands. It’s hard to drive to get near the church. It’s like a motorcross track! I almost want to walk to get a better shot of the Cagsawa, but its almost impossible since there are dead ends of the sand trail. I just hope that the local Government rehabilitate first the major destination in Bicol. The picture below shows the Cagsawa Church now. 
