Bloggers' Kapihan: A Trip to Pampanga

(My first longish entry in months! Yay!)

The bloggers food tours I’ve attended can’t possibly measure up to the energy-sapping Bloggers’ Kapihan event yesterday at Pampanga. Even if walking around for a couple of hours, drooling over the most delicious (and expensive) dishes from different restos in the Metro, and actually tasting them for free appeal to my senses (but not to my poor heavyweight-supporting pair of feet), they’re almost child stuff compared to what we have gone through a day ago.

My brother and I left home early to meet up with the rest of the participants in Philcoa. So scared was I to be left by the coaster that I forgot to cook something for my father before my bro and I bid our goodbyes (see, my dad doesn’t know how to do anything but scramble eggs). We made a quick stop at McDonald’s to buy something to break our fast, to go, and flew to the meeting place. It turned out we were quite early (insert grumpy grumble here), and Petron (yeah, yeah, the gas station) promptly repaid my punctuality by trapping my right foot in a hellhole (if you were there, you’d know what I mean). Joy. There were already Mong Palatino, Noemi Dado, Jhay Rocas, and Hannah Dormido, a former classmate (and political org-mate) of mine in UP who was there in behalf of Bulatlat. We all talked about lots of things while waiting for our only means of transportation.

Needless to say, I wasn’t in the best of moods. But then, I never claimed to be a morning person. Besides, while I was debating with myself on whether to call in sick for the day, I fell out of the sofa (where I sleep). And, with only less than an hour of sleep that time, it was virtually impossible for me not to look sullen.

The hour-long ride (in which I found out this one-sentence political-situationer: the mayor of San Fernando was Among Ed’s only supporter) went by without another hitch, and we arrived at the Pampanga Provincial Capitol a couple of minutes after 10am. My acquaintances and I entered a half-full conference hall, which put a big grin on my face; I never would’ve thought that the youth of Pampanga were interested enough to take part in the event.

In Which the Event Starts

Hannah, Robby, and I were seated at the front, across the spunky members of the community-based youth council: Jazz, Larnie, Ghie, Ives, and Paul being some of them. They served as my unofficial translators whenever there were some Kapampangan words I couldn’t understand (translate: all Kapampangan words).

The launching of Among Ed’s blog was kicked-off with a prayer, followed by a video presentation of the Philippine National Anthem. It was a notable video, that it was. In it, a child found a Philippine flag made of paper on the ground, looked up in the sky to see the top of the [flag]pole empty. He then climbed up the pole (and it was an amazing feat…I would’ve just fallen down if I were him), waved the flag a couple of times, and then put the flag in its rightful place (at the top of the pole, duh). Truth be told, I tried really hard to look natural even if I was averting my gaze away from the screen. My hormones were acting up and I was tearing up while watching the video. Bah!

Pampanga’s Music Video for tourism was presented next. It was long and mouth-watering. The happy-beat song, Mekeni Tuki Ka, was performed by ArtiSta. Rita (website is here, but it’s suspended as of this writing), one of Pampanga’s pride.

Blogging for Good Governance

The highlight of yesterday’s BK event was the launching of Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio’s blog site, AmongEd.org. It was a breakthrough event to remember, well-attended mostly by the members of the youth council of Pampanga. Several questions were raised by the young’uns regarding local issues that involve the youth, and Among Ed answered those inquiries splendidly.

Among Ed read a three-page speech that was very interesting, to say the least. He started off with the ever so popular Global Village, as coined by the equally popular Marshall McLuhan (y’know, when I first “met” McLuhan in my Media Studies class back when I was a college freshman, I hated his guts). Some points in his talk were:

• Technology, as what McLuhan predicted, has collapsed time and space barriers in communication, but in ways that even surpassed McLuhan’s expectations
• The internet has become a means and venue for a healthy exchange of ideas, which good governance is all about
• There’s a crisis of hope in the country, but we shouldn’t lose hope. If others have succumbed to this, we should align ourselves with people of hope instead of adding weight to the crisis

Angela Guevarra (a youth leader in Pampanga) and fellow BK crew Jhay added their own thoughts about good governance and responsible citizenship.

Angela told three stories which she related to the two topics, and concluded that at the end of the day, even if you were all beaten and battered with your job and advocacy, it’s between you and your god (in which I asked Hannah in a whispered hush, “Paano kung wala kang diyos?”). Also, responsible citizenship, she surmised, requires being corny. She added that even if there was only one person left on earth with hope, it would still make a huge difference.

Jhay, on the other hand, started his speech with a photo op with Among Ed. He said that good governance is a new thing in the country, what with Martial Law and sloppy past administrations, but with someone like Among Ed in the office, we’d get to see and experience the perks of it. Furthermore, he attacked Friendster and Multiply users (haha, joke lang :p).

Ma’am Noemi and Tonyo liveblogged the event.

Among Ed, Among Others

Among Ed proceeded to type his first entry, My First Year in Public Service. He likened his experience with a ship that didn’t stray off course despite the strong winds and big waves. He added, “To me good governance is leadership by example.” He said he wants to generate hope for the country.

And now I gladly add one name to this list of Kapampangan bloggers (and/or bloggers living in Pampanga) I know (in the order that I got to know/heard of them):

• Lo Christian Evangelista (hahaha, my apologies)
• Jason Paul Laxamana (formerly of lagsh.com)
• Kat Ferrer (formerly of katlikestowrite.com)
• Ivan Henares
• Alex Castro
• Gov. Eddie Panlilio

Bloggers’ Kainan, Part 1

Part one of the Bloggers’ Kainan commenced. We were to continue with a cultural tour of Pampanga that afternoon. We also took advantage of the free hour by photo op-ing and exchanging numbers/email addresses with newly-made friends.

Also, may I say that the food was absolutely fantastic?

I may?

Thanks!

The food was absolutely fantastic!

Reclaiming the Kapampangan Cultural Heritage

We boarded the coaster and went our merry way to Holy Angel University, which houses The Juan D. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies. The center “hopes to contribute to the total development of the Kapampangan, the Filipino nation, and the world.” It was an educational stop, and I learned about the Kapampangan culture more than what the media and books usually make of it.

The most interesting things I learned were (1) the Augustinians, instead of teaching the Kapampangan natives their language, wrote their own grammar and vocabulary books to understand the language, (2) the Kapampangans were among the bravest and most patriotic (not to mention most radical and notorious) freedom-fighters in the Philippine history, and (3) the rivalry between Kapampangans and Tagalogs.

The Death Mask of Benigno Aquino, Jr. and Fernando Poe, Jr. are also on display in the center. They’ve been made by National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon Abueva. There’s the Kapampangan Timeline, which goes back to 5000BC and has three rows: world history, Kapampangan history, and Philippine history. There’s also the 100 Faces of Kapampangans, a mural that features 100 pictures of Kapampangans born each year of the 20th century.

On to Poracay!

The weather was unusually cooperative (sort of). It rained as we were about to leave the center, but then it stopped when we reached Bgy. Manibaug Pasig in Porac.

We rode a bus to the sand quarry site we were to visit, and it was helluva bumpy ride. I didn’t mind it one bit though, as I was used to such “inconveniences” here in Manila.

We were welcomed by a kagawad and were given the chance to ask questions. Apologies, though, because I spaced out the entire time and wasn’t able to catch something extremely significant (and so I have nothing to write, what pity). You’d have to ask the other intuitive bloggers I was with who relentlessly questioned the kagawad. All I found out was that it was 1994 when the barangay was washed out by the lahar. Plus, there wasn’t anything to see but the breathtaking shades of green and gray, and the trucks.

Quarry sites in Pampanga are among the province’s biggest earners in revenues. Manibaug Pasig is a consistent top grosser, and has received the biggest share in the distribution of quarry proceeds in two years (maybe more?).

Bloggers’ Kainan, Part 2

I was on full tank after consuming 2 servings of pansit. It was YUM!

Conversations about the now-expensive education in UP, the state university’s professors, the required bravery of Journalism students, and a lot of other topics were mulled over. Being in a table chock-full of UP alumni and students alike did that.

Sayonara, Byebye

And then it was time to head back to Manila. The ride was a long, almost painful one. Most people fell asleep, so I entertained myself by listening in on the amusing conversations behind my seat and playing some of my favorite songs on my PDA phone. I was thisclose to asking my dad for a ride back home because I just knew it would be such a pain to catch a ride that night (and waddaya know, I was right).

Lemme see…What were the songs played? Those from the Rosas ng Digma album, a couple of oldies that I very much love, plus a few revsongs. We said adieu when we set foot in TriNoma, and went our seperate ways.

It took my brother and me more than an hour to get home. Darn long taxi queues and arrogant taxi drivers. I was dead on my feet by the time I opened our gate, and, after uploading the pictures on my Multiply account and taking a shower (and whining like crazy when I caught Hercules on Disney Channel because I wanted to much to watch it but had no enough energy to even look at it), I shut my eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

Shoutouts

Congratulations to the Bloggers’ Kapihan group for another successful event: Mong, Ederic, Tonyo, and Bikoy. Kudos, thank you, and welcome to the Philippine blogosphere, Among Ed (and all the people involved in the event). Hello to the people I’ve met and seen yesterday.

Photos:

• AmongEd.org Blog Launching
• Juan D. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies
• Porac Quarry Sites