Dumaguete Metropost, March 26, 2023 edition

Massacre survivors, families get aid

A total of 18 families of victims and survivors of the March 4 mass shooting in Pamplona town, Negros Oriental have received individual livelihood starter kits amounting to P30,000 to aid them after the tragedy.

The Department of Labor & Employment field office in Negros Oriental delivered the starter kits worth P30,000 each to the beneficiaries last weekend, two weeks after Gov. Roel Degamo and eight others were killed and 17 others wounded in the daytime attack at his residence in Pamplona town.

DOLE-Negros Oriental provincial head, Ma. Teresa Tanquiamco, said the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas provided the list of 21 beneficiaries, as validated by the provincial government through the Provincial Social Welfare & Development Office.

“The livelihood starter kits under the Bigasan ng Bayan program of DOLE consist of nine sacks of rice and six sacks of corn to jumpstart a small business for the beneficiaries, and we hope they can roll the money, and let this source of income thrive,” Tanquiamco said.

The beneficiaries also each received a weighing scale to complete the package.

Tanquiamco said they will be monitoring progress of the businesses they provided to the beneficiaries, stressing that the aid is not for personal consumption, otherwise, it will defeat the purpose.

Each rice sack of 50 kilos is worth P2,100 and a sack of corn was procured at P1,600 each. The beneficiaries were given a free hand to mark up

This time, it’s Henry CIDG seizes cash, guns in Tolong raid

Elements of the Criminal Investigation & Detection Group, accompanied by the National Bureau of Investigation, Army troops from the 11th Infantry Battalion, and the PNP Special Action Forces seized more guns, ammunition, and cold cash during a raid Friday of the HDJ Bayawan Agriventures Corp. compound, formerly known as the Tolong Sugar Milling Company in Bayawan City.

Atty. Thomas Valmonte, chief legal officer of the CIDG, said the raid was conducted based on a search warrant issued by the Mandaue City Executive Judge, in line with the CIDG’s Oplan Paglalansag against illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Valmonte said the raid was not necessarily conducted in relation to the massacre in Pamplona last March 4 which killed Gov. Roel Degamo and eight others.

However, Valmonte said the raid was conducted based on information that the houses in that compound were the “hiding places of the inuutusan” or those ordered to undertake certain jobs.

“There are allegations that firearms have also been buried in the yard, which we are checking,” he said in Tagalog to reporters waiting outside the compound as the raid was going on.

“We recovered firearms... mahahaba, they call it rifles,” Valmonte said. “There were not less than 10, including pistols,”

he added. He said he saw about three long firearms.

Also confiscated were ammunitions for 9 mm, .45 caliber, 5.56, for shotguns, and also for M14, “all unlicensed and illegallypossessed,” Valmonte said.

Six persons were also taken for inquest proceedings.

Meanwhile, 3rd District Cong. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr., who is still outside the country, has said he doesn’t mind being included among those investigated for the murder of Gov. Roel Degamo and eight other individuals.

In an appeal to President Marcos Jr. released through his social media account, Congressman Teves said he is requestsing that all angles to the crime be examined. “My request is that it would not be singled out. But what happened is that I was immediately blamed after the incident,” he said.

“ Dapat lahat ng angulo tignan. Ang

TO PAGE 2

March 25, 2023

Confirmed 4,079,796

Recovered 4,004,859

Deaths 66,316

Active Cases

8,621

Population 112,508,994

Source: Worldometers.info

Conrado Estrella III (right) discusses with Cong. Chiquiting Sagarbarria at his Manila office at the House of Representatives about projects on farmlands and farm-tomarket roads for beneficiaries in the 2nd District of Negros Oriental. (Photo by Elvira Alagao)

The Army’s 3rd Infantry (Spearhead) Division deploys 300 soldiers more from 11th, 15th, 47th, 62nd, 79th, and 94th Infantry Battalion in Negros Oriental to augment the peace and security operations of the Philippine National Police in Negros Oriental following the gruesome killing of Gov. Roel Degamo and eight others. (PA photo)

Three more livelihood starter kits will be delivered soon to beneficiaries in the provinces of Negros Oriental and Siquijor.

Still reeling from the massacre that left him unable to walk for now, one survivor, Raymund (not his real name), was in tears when he received the livelihood grant.

“My heartfelt thanks to the national government, President Bongbong Marcos, the DOLE, the Army and the police, and many others who have remembered us in this time of difficulty,” he said in Cebuano.

“What we experienced during the shooting attack has left us traumatized. I cannot sleep at night, as

flashes of that incident keep coming back to haunt me. I thank God for a new life, and I can only weep for those who died, including the Governor. We want justice,” he said.

Raymund had two surgeries after sustaining injuries in the leg, and still has to undergo physical therapy so he can walk again.

Another survivor, who asked not to be identified, said it was a harrowing experience for him and his uncle who were there when the attack happened.

“We went there just to follow up on our request for some prizes for a barangay event, and did not expect this to happen to us,” he

Congratulations to the

CIDG SEIZES CASH, GUNS....FROM P. 1 nangyari kasi ngayon, Mr. President, pagkatapos pa lang no’ng murder, ako na kaagad ang tinumbok. So ‘yon lang ang pakiusap ko, Sir, at sana meron akong...ewan ko kung papaano...but gusto ko sana kayong maka-usap para makaexplain ako sa inyo...kung matawagan ko man anong number ng tauhan mo, ” Teves said.

(“All angles should be looked at. What has happened now, Mr. President, is that just after the murder, I was right away blamed [as the mastermind]. So that’s my only request, Sir, and hopefully, I have...I don’t know how... but I would like to speak to you so I can explain [my side] to you... if I could call through a number of your staff.”)

He said the charges filed by the government against him so far is about the raid in his house on March 10, which he said he had warned about earlier on Jan. 11.

“I said there was a threat to my life. In my presscon with Atty. Topacio last Jan. 11, I said there would be a raid, and that if no firearms were to be recovered, the

said in the dialect. He had surgery, and now walks with crutches. His uncle escaped unharmed, but still shivers when asked to talk about the incident.

The young wife of another victim, meanwhile, wept while saying she feels apprehensive about what the future will bring after losing her husband.

“I have no source of income, and I have three very young children, the oldest aged eight,” she said. “There is no one else to help me raise my kids.”

order was to plant illegal firearms. At nangyari nga!,” he said. (And it did happen!)

The Congressman, who has been suspended for 60 days by his fellow Congressman in the House of Representatives, said he has delayed returning home to the Philippines even though his travel authorization has expired out of fear for his and his family’s safety. He said his life is in danger, allegedly because of his connection to the murder of Degamo.

“ Yon talaga ‘yong kinakatakot ko, Mr. President, kaya hindi ako umuwi. Tungkol sa murder , wala namang problema, as I said, na isama ako sa mga iniimbestigahan. Ang request ko lang sana, Sir, huwag naman sanang ako lang,” he added.

(That’s really my greatest fear, Mr. President, that is why I didn’t go home [to the Philippines]. Regarding the murder, there’s really no problem, as I said, that I will be included among those being investigated. My only request, Sir, is that hopefully, I shouldn’t be the only one [to be investigated].

She was grateful for the livelihood starter kit but hopes there will be future government aid as selling rice and corn does not guarantee immediate returns and the profit is minimal.

Survivors and families of what is now known as the Pamplona massacre are seeking swift justice as they condemned the attack on mostly civilians just asking for help from the provincial government through the governor. (Judy F. Partlow/ PNA)

EDC trains teachers on RE learning booklets

First Gen-owned renewable energy leader Energy Development Corp. launched last Friday in Dumaguete the GeoSkwela website and educational materials for Science teachers in Valencia.

The GeoSkwela online platform is a supplementary learning website that seeks to help Science teachers in Grades 6, 9, and 11 discuss more challenging topics such as energy transformation, sources, generation, transmission, and distribution, as well as the environmental impacts of energy-generation.

“EDC officially launched the GeoSkwela site, and conducted a one-day training with the help of our resource speakers from the Knowledge Community,” said Norreen Bautista, head of EDC’s Corporate Relations in Negros. Through the GeoSkwela site, she said, the teachers can download resource materials, sample quizzes, experiments, and other activities “that will help them comprehensively explain what energy is, how it works, and its effects on the environment.”

Bautista added that the site can help teachers create lesson plans for both face-to-face and online learning classes. She also emphasized that the content of the online platform are aligned with the Science curriculum of the Department of Education for Grades 6, 9, and 11.

Aside from the GeoSkwela site, EDC also prepared printed materials or visual aids like booklets for distribution to all host schools of EDC.

“We understand the challenge of Internet connectivity in some schools, this is why we also prepared booklets with five modules per grade level. These good-quality booklets are meant to be used by the students enrolled in the current school year and by the next batch of enrollees,” said Bautista.

More than 300 students from six host schools of EDC in Valencia, Negros Oriental will benefit from these materials.

The six schools are in Puhagan, Malaunay, Nasuji, and Caidiocan, San Pedro Academy-Recoletos, and Pulangbato National High School.

“We understand that teachers have been entrusted with the challenging task of enabling young minds to understand and appreciate the role of Science in human life and continue to inspire the youth to be good stewards of the environment,” added Bautista.

The launch event likewise emphasized the importance of becoming regenerative by striving to do more good for the planet and society, which is what EDC’s revitalized mission to forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future is all about, Bautista said.

“For EDC, being sustainable means doing less harm to our planet; while being regenerative means restoring it, and making it better,” Bautista said. “EDC believes that inspiring the youth to move forward and go beyond sustainability for a livable planet and a better tomorrow must start today.”

EDC is First Gen Corporation’s 100 percent renewable energy subsidiary with over 1,480 megawatts total installed capacity, that accounts for 20 percent of the country’s total installed RE capacity. Its close to 1,200-megawatt geothermal portfolio comprises 62 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity, and has put the Philippines on the map as the 3rd largest geothermal producer in the world. (PR)

Ayungon Bana Charcoal Corporation

on the groundbreaking on March 22, 2023 of the Ayungon Bana Grass Charcoal Factory in barangay Gomentoc, Ayungon, Negros Oriental.

Greetings from the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry Inc.

MASSACRE SURVIVORS....FROM P. 1

From left: NOCCI chairman for the Committee on Climate Change Luis Ramilo, James Mackay of the Amlan Bana Grass Charcoal Factory, DENR Regional Executive Director Paquito Melicor, Ayungon Vice Mayor Nelda Favillaran; Erwin Gregorio dela Cruz and Dr. Henry Sojor representing Gov. Guido Reyes; La Libertad Mayor Emmanuel Iway, NOCCI President Edward Du, Johannes Van Kessel of Van Kessel Olie B.V; Ayungon Bana Grass Corp directors Atty. Florence Tangente and Leonil Geñoso; and their business partner, Jun Sy.

“We prefer this kind of business because this will not only help the poor, it will also help the environment” -- NOCCI President Edward Du

A member of the CIDG arranges the firearms and ammunition seized during Friday’s raid at the HDG Bayawan Agriventures Corp. (Contributed photo)

Security in Bohol assured

The transfer of the Philippine Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion to Negros Island will not leave a vacuum in the government’s internal security operations in Bohol province, a key Army official assured on Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Leonardo Peña, commander of the 302nd Infantry Brigade based in Tanjay City, told the media in an interview that Task Group Bohol has been created to ensure that the Communist Party of the Philippines-News People’s Army there would not be able to recoup.

Bohol is part of the 302nd IB’s area of operations.

“Despite the Bohol Party committee being dismantled, with only less than 10 armed NPA rebels left, we cannot let our guard down because as I had previously pointed out, for every one of them, there would be at least 10 supporters,” Peña said in mixed English and Filipino.

Diocese warns vs. scam using Bishop’s name

The Diocese of Dumaguete in Negros Oriental has warned the public against solicitation scammers supposedly approved by Bishop Julito Cortes.

In a social media post Wednesday, Fr. Gonzalo Omison II, chancellor of the Diocese, said they have not issued solicitation letter for the ordination of one Dennis Ansero this week in Cebu City.

“This is to inform everyone that the attached solicitation letter is a scam. Apparently, these scammers would now use the letterhead of the Diocese, and the signature of our Bishop or any priest, so let us be extra careful about this,” the Catholic priest warned.

At the same time, he advised the public to confirm first with their respective parishes if they receive any solicitation letters.

“Please make sure to verify any Church solicitation with the priest in your parish,” said Father Omison.

In the solicitation letter supposedly signed by “Fr. Norberto Maicon” and approved by the “Bishop”, the recipients are being asked to help in the forthcoming ordination of Ansero to the priesthood for the Order of St. Benedict on March 25 in Lahug, Cebu City.

The letter said donations may be directed through Ansero’s GCash account. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)

Charcoal plant to benefit hundreds in Province

PNP NegOr chief relieved

Negros Oriental Police

Director

Col. Reynaldo

Lizardo has been relieved of his post effective March 22.

His relief was part of the ongoing investigation on the killing of Gov. Roel Degamo and eight others, and the wounding of several others during the March 4 gun attack at the Governor’s residential compound in the northern town of Pamplona town.

Lizardo told the media he received a copy of the relief order on Thursday, and immediately held an exit briefing with the police chiefs and other unit commanders.

His new assignment was not immediately known.

“This is an administrative process within the organization where a commander is relieved of his current position to give way to an impartial investigation,” Lizardo said.

Police Regional Office 7 (Central Visayas) Director, Brig. Gen. Jerry Bearis, was also sacked from his post as the national headquarters ordered a major revamp last week after the Pamplona attack wherein police personnel previously or currently assigned to the Province are being linked in the gruesome killing.

Col. Alex Guce Recinto from PRO-7 will replace Colonel Lizardo.

Newly-appointed PRO7 Director, Brig. Gen. Anthony Aberin, led the turnover of command ceremony last Friday at the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office in Aganan, Sibulan.

Earlier, Lizardo said morale was “still up” among officials and members of the Philippine National Police in Negros Oriental despite a major revamp after the March 4 Pamplona massacre.

caught in P1.3M drug bust

Operatives from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Philippine National Police arrested a suspected drug pusher and seized some P1.3 million worth of suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation in this capital city on Tuesday afternoon.

A report from the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office identified the suspect as Jay Pujol Omelan, 35, a resident of Batasan Hills, Quezon City.

The suspect was arrested

at around 3:10 p.m. at Purok Panaghiosa in barangay Calindagan.

Seized during the operation were suspected shabu weighing a total of some 195 grams.

The estimated street value of the suspected shabu is pegged at P1,329,400.

The suspect is now detained at the Dumaguete Police Station.

Charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act are now being readied against him. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)

“There are no indications that our personnel are experiencing low morale in the midst of the series of gradual transfers taking place in the Province,” he said.

Lizardo said despite the massive reassignments, uniformed personnel continue their day-to-day functions without let-up.

Police activities continued, such as conducting checkpoints, various programs and projects, and undertaking a Squad weekly interactive meeting.

“We at the lower level [of the police organization] will just follow instructions. After all, that is what we were taught to do, as long as it is legal,” Lizardo said. “We also cannot question the wisdom of our superiors,” he added.

TO PAGE 9

He reassured the public the Army will not leave Bohol because there remains an integrated territorial defense system there that requires their presence.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines had organized Task Group Bohol, headed by Maj. Jason Torino as overall commander, and is composed of the 47IB’s Delta Company leading the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit Active Auxiliaries, and the 21st Special Forces company, Peña said.

The 47IB, meanwhile, arrived on board a Philippine Navy ship at the Dumaguete City port on Monday to form part of the Special Joint Task Force Negros.

The Battalion will be headquartered at the boundaries between Kabankalan, Negros Occidental and Mabinay, Negros Oriental, JTF Negros spokesperson Maj. Gen. Cenon Pancito III said.

TO PAGE 6

Hundreds of farmers in Negros Oriental are expected to benefit from the country’s first-ever automated bana grass charcoal facility to be put up in barangay Gomentoc, Ayungon town.

Edward Du, president of the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry, led provincial and municipal officials in the groundbreaking ceremony for the charcoal plant in Ayungon last Wednesday.

“The Green Bana Charcoal facility will help farmers find an alternative source of income, planting bana grass in unproductive and idle lands with an already-guaranteed buyer,” Du said.

The concept is similar to the sugarcane industry where farmers will just bring their harvested cane to the sugar mills to be sold, Du said.

At least two harvest seasons are expected for the farmers who will engage in this type of farm production, he added.

Luis Ramilo, chair of the NOCCI’s Climate Change committee, in a separate interview, said the project aims to further push for a sustainable and greener Negros, in response to the crisis brought about by climate change.

“Bana grass growing is also aimed at reducing the illegal cutting of trees, and the destructive kaingin or slash-and-burn practice,” he said.

Bana grass is a hybrid derived from the forage crop ba bala and the perennial grass na pier , normally used as food for livestock. It grows quickly, and is easy to plant. Its stem is processed as an alternative to traditional charcoal from wood and coconut shell.

Ramilo said the construction of the facility, and the deployment of the machinery will be in three to four months’ time, and notwithstanding any impediments, he said they hope to start operations before the end of the year.

(Judy F. Partlow/PNA)

Metro Dumaguete Water COO

David Berba (3rd from left) and Alex Rey Pal (3rd from right), representing Rotary Club of Dumaguete South President Aurelio Bodo, donate chlorinators and chlorine to the town of Vallehermoso, represented by Vice Mayor Oliver Bongoyan and former Municipal Councilor Rey Bongoyan, which was recently hit by an outbreak of cholera and gastroenteritis that may have been caused by polluted water sources. According to Berba, who is also a Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Dumaguete South, the next move is to help capacitate the Vallehermoso local government unit on how to conduct daily residual chlorine testing to address problems in their water supply. Also with them during the donation were Municipal Engr. Mark Benlot and Municipal Sanitary Inspector Rita Soterio. (Contributed photo)

‘Pusher’

CHANGING OF THE GUARDS. Newly-appointed director of the Police Regional Office for Central Visayas, Brig. Gen. Anthony Aberin (center), formalizes the turnover of command from outgoing PNP Provincial Director Col. Reynaldo Lizardo (left) to Negros Oriental’s new PNP Provincial Director Col. Alex Guce Recinto. (Photo by Syril Repe)

EDITORIAL Loss of confidence?

The saga of the Pamplona massacre has seen several interesting twists and turns these past few weeks. The horrible nature of the crime, the fast military and police response, the capture of the initial suspects, the naming of a possible powerful mastermind, and the subsequent raids on several properties (never mind if the police deny that it has anything to do with the Pamplona massacre), all add up to a chilling suspense thriller.

And there’s the added suspense of the waiting game as to when the suspected mastermind will finally show up.

But this is not a story for the local media to tell. Most of the action is now taking place in Manila, and the national media has taken the lead in reporting the intriguing details of this ongoing tale.

It is surprising how the police and military have been tight-lipped to the local media about the developments in this case. Most times, the local media just read about the latest stories from Manila reporters, who are camped right here in our own backyard.

Take the raids in Bayawan, Basay, and Sta. Catalina, for example. When the raids took place, the national media was already there to cover it. The local media, even those who have deep sources within the military/police community, were blindsided.

The relationship between the media and the police has always been complex, and at times, contentious, which can impact on trust levels.

On one hand, the media relies on the police for access to information about crime and public safety issues, and to provide accurate and timely reporting to the public.

On the other hand, the police may view the media as intrusive, biased, or overly critical of their actions, which can lead to strained relations.

Greater transparency and openness in communication can develop trust between the media and police. Police departments can be more forthcoming with information, while journalists can work to provide fair and accurate reporting.

In recent times, a number of reporters have opted to write exclusively about a certain politician or politicians who are generous in giving favors. Much like some policemen who also take time to sing and dance before their favored politicians during birthday mañanitas (yes, this actually happened!). But these examples are, indeed, rare in Negros Oriental, and are more of the exception than the rule.

There are more journalists who could work hand-in-and with the authorities in rebuilding trust in our system. By working together, these two groups can help promote public safety, and ensure that accurate and timely information is being shared with the public.

ATTY. WHELMA SITON-YAP

whelmayap@yahoo.com

IsNegros Oriental prepared for any environmental catastrophes like an oil spill? Were our local officials paying attention to what happened in the morning of Feb. 28, 2023 when the oil tanker MT Princess Empress, sailing en route from Bataan to Iloilo while carrying 900,000 liters of industrial fuel oil, sank off the coast of Naujan in Oriental Mindoro, causing a widespread oil spill in the Tablas Strait, affecting as well the provinces of Antique, Batangas, and Palawan

The Tablas Strait is a waterway between the islands of Mindoro , Marinduque , and Panay , that serves as a major shipping route adjacent to waterbodies, including the Verde Island Passage , one of the most diverse in the country. At least 21 marineprotected areas could be affected by the oil spill,

according to the Department of Environment & Natural Resources

Moreover, residents of coastal settlements in Oriental Mindoro and nearby provinces rely on fishing and other marine activities for their livelihood. The Department of Social Welfare & Development estimated that

damage, and higher levels of some toxics (hydrocarbons and heavy metals).

What if it happens here along the Tañon Strait? Is our Province prepared? Our provincial officials should take into consideration that possibility since the Tañon Strait is a major waterway, knowing that supertankers, capable of

enough of it so that economic activity can resume and the natural recovery processes of the marine environment can take over? Does our Province or the City have floating booms that can be placed around the source of the spill, or in entrances to channels and harbors to reduce the spread of an oil slick over the sea surface? Does the Province or the City have a contingent plan, just in case, to source various sorbents (e.g., straw, volcanic ash, and shavings of polyester-derived plastic) that could absorb the oil from the water?

On the oilspill in Mindoro

more than 137,000 individuals have been affected by the oil spill. In Oriental Mindoro alone, more than 99,000 people have been affected. 122 of whom have fallen ill, with some experiencing respiratoryrelated symptoms, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, eye irritation, and fever. These effects can be grouped into respiratory damage, liver damage, decreased immunity, increased cancer risk, reproductive

IAN ROSALES CASOCOT

transporting more than 500,000 metric tons of oil, pass by this naval route.

The unintentional or negligent release of industrial oil transported or used gasoline solvents and crankcase lubricants by ships, industries, and individuals greatly aggravates the overall environmental problem.

Is there a specific government agency tasked to respond to oil spills to contain the oil, and remove

TEMPEST IN A COFFEEMUG

icasocot@gmail.com

Onshore removal of oil that has penetrated sandy beaches and coated rocky shores is a laborious affair, frequently involving small armies of workers wielding hand tools or operating heavy construction-type equipment to scrape up contaminated debris and haul it away.

The National Disaster RiskReduction & -Management Council has assured Oriental Mindoro provincial officials that the national government will be conducting integrated interventions to mitigate the effects of the oil spill in their province.

What can be done on the local government level?

for their second branch along _______. Thank God it’s still there. Because I still get my ______ cravings. I don’t understand though. It was so popular during the pandemic!”

“But that’s how Dumaguete runs. It runs on f*ckboy consumerism.”

Scene:

Caña at The Bricks Hotel along Rizal Avenue, Dumaguete, Thursday, 3 p.m. A table overladen with laptops and work stuff, and cups of coffee. A conversation.

“I heard there’s a new coffeeshop opening in front of your apartment.”

“It’s not really a coffeeshop, we found out last night. It’s actually more of a milk tea place—but they do serve coffee. I mean, they have to. The word ‘bean’ is part of their name. People would expect it to be a coffee place, not a milk tea place.”

“There are too many milk tea places in Dumaguete, to be frank about it.”

“I’ve only liked one or two of them, to be honest. But Renz is a big milk tea fan, although he denies it.”

“Wasn’t that spot where the, umm, new milk tea is now…wasn’t that a fruit stand?”

“It was! I loved its name. Rizalicious Fruit Stand. It tickled me to death. Can you imagine taking Rizal’s name and making it delicious? It’s absolutely sacrilegious and bonkers, I love it. But it’s gone now. I was frustrated about that for a while, because it

became my landmark for Grab Food drivers.”

“I wonder why they moved out.”

“I’m not really sure but I was riding a tricycle the other day, and the passengers in it had some chika. Apparently, the lot owners increased the rent? That’s what I heard.”

“These days, you have to be careful keeping a business. Everything’s so expensive now. Rent is expensive. Onions are expensive.”

pandemic hit!”

“It was!”

“I remember trying to get their food in the early months it opened in 2021, and we couldn’t! The lines were so long, and by the time we got to the stall, all their food items were gone.”

“That was fun.”

“It was, kinda. We had to go back there at least four times before we could finally get our orders in. But it was worth it. That ______ is to die

‘F*ckboy consumers’

“Can you imagine for a while we were talking about how expensive onions were in the Philippines? That people were actually trying to smuggle them in international flights? What crazy times we live in.”

“I’m worried about _____, though. Its original branch in ______ is no longer around. But it’s new branch along _____ is still thriving.”

“We ate there last night.”

“I think he’s just consolidating his businesses right now. Let go of branches that are no longer working.”

“But it was such a

for. It was delicious.”

“I have no recollection anymore how much I ate there.”

“Oh, it was a lot for me. And then I stayed away for a bit because it was a bit too much. But later, when we got a craving for ______, we’d be there in a minute.”

“And now that original spot is gone.”

“Gone.”

“I went past it the other night—the spot is so dark now, and it was all so festive before. I loved how they played music like mad.”

“Now it’s gone. Except

“F*ckboy what? What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you noticed?

Whenever new places open in Dumaguete, locals throng to it like mad, for months even. But once the novelty is over, we avoid them like the plague. That’s what f*ckboys do. They’re always, like, into you—and then when they get their fill, sayonara.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember Chapters Café.”

“Yup, that café is popular in Dipolog, and franchisers thought they could make it work in Dumaguete. And it did, for a while. It was so Instagrammable with its quaint design using popular literary characters, and people went there to Instagram being there. And then suddenly, nobody came.”

“The food was horrible! And I hated how they used books as receipt and cash holders. It was so disrespectful.”

“I’ve noticed, we generally hate franchises. We do like things that are local.”

“Must be why Harbor City didn’t work.”

“The dimsum wasn’t

ORLANDO RONCESVALLES

LETTER FROM DUMAGUETE

ORoncesval4@gmail.com; Twitter: @ORoncesvalles

Money to economic man is like water to fish.

This analogy suggests that fish are oblivious to water, and man is likewise often unaware of what money does or is. Fish seem happy, at least, swimming along the sea or the river. Homo sapiens are very different. We are rarely at ease with this thing called money.

I stumbled on the fish-inwater idea in a 1974 book on money by Michael Phillips and Salli Rasberry, The Seven Laws of Money . Among the seven laws, one said, “You can never give money away.” Another said, “You can never really receive money as a gift.”

in them, cryptocurrencies are speculative toys. They start life as play money and later become an ‘investment.’

Initially, you could “buy” one Bitcoin for $0.25 (twentyfive cents), but today it is something like $28,000. This would represent a mindblowing return if you had ‘invested’ in Bitcoin in its early days (circa 2009) when you needed 10,000 coins to buy a pizza. If you ate that particular pie, you would have parted with something worth $280 million today.

To others who seek a ‘cypherpunk’ monetary universe, Bitcoin is akin to the

Selling coins

to its promise as a medium of exchange. What’s prominent is the store-of-value aspect when people hold Bitcoin for future resale.

The goal of his book, according to Hilbay, is “to help the reader understand what [Bitcoin is] … and why it matters to every human being today and in the future.” In the book’s title are eight features of Bitcoin.

Let me dispose of seven of the features of Bitcoin (other than being a “digital money and payments system”). The claim is that Bitcoin is open, permission-less, peer-topeer, immutable, censorship-

Paradigms and money don’t grow on trees

Phillips and Rasberry thought gifting money was a two-way street because the giver sooner or later gets repaid. It was, nonetheless, the first law that intrigued me most because it said, “Money will come when you are doing the right thing.”

Their book suggests that money moves in mysterious ways, even if mainstream economics sees it mainly as a “veil” that facilitates trade and exchange. For decades I struggled to reconcile the veil metaphor with a zen-like way of looking at money.

The struggle is enhanced and made more poignant when considering a more recent innovation about money. I am talking about digital money, also known as cryptocurrency, of which Bitcoin is the most prominent.

To those who have dabbled

Holy Grail. It would solve a host of problems confronting humanity.

This is the theme of a recent book by Florin Hilbay. The book is Bitcoin, an introduction to the peer-to-peer, open source, censorship-resistant, immutable, permission-less, decentralized, global, digital monetary network of the 21st century.

Hilbay is currently the dean of the College of Law at Silliman University. He autographed my copy of his book: “.. fix the money, fix the world.”

Bitcoin is theoretically money because it can perform the three functions of money — as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. Bitcoin has a tenuous role as a unit of account; I have yet to meet anyone who measures his income or wealth in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has not lived up

WILLIAM E. ABLONG

resistant, decentralized, and global. The claim is obviously valid, in keeping with Bitcoin’s anti-establishment or anticentralization features.

But the characterization also applies to gold! Gold is open, permission-less, peer-topeer, immutable, censorshipresistant, decentralized, and global. Fiat currency held as cash (in bank notes) is not much different from gold (except that it is printed by central banks and can fuel inflation). Hilbay would agree with these distinctions.

Bitcoin then matters primarily because we do not like inflation. As inflation eats away at the savings of ordinary people, an alternative to fiat money becomes attractive. Bitcoin will then “save” humanity because it will also solve related problems, such

TO PAGE 8

EYE OPENER

wea_129@yahoo.com

Alsocalled ‘Great and Holy Week,’ or ‘Passion Week,’ Holy Week in the Christian year is the week preceding Easter. Holy Week has five days of special significance, which start on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, until Holy Saturday (Black Saturday), but doesn’t include Easter Sunday.

The day commemorating Jesus’ crucifixion and death, Good Friday has been celebrated since 100 A.D. as a day of fasting. This means that Christians around the world have celebrated Holy Week and observed different services during the week for over 1,900 years!

Holy Week has names for the five special days in the week, beginning with Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ heroic entry into Jerusalem. The following day is called Holy Monday when Jesus cursed the fig tree, sent out the merchants from the temple, and responded to those who questioned His authority. On Holy Tuesday, some observe Christ foretelling his own death.

The next day is named Holy Wednesday or Spy Wednesday, which remembers how Judas arranged the betrayal of Jesus with the chief priests since he was a spy among the disciples of Jesus. Some churches celebrate Tenebrae (the Latin for ‘shadows’ or ‘darkness’) services especially on Spy Wednesday, where they gradually extinguish lit candles while reciting and chanting a series of readings and selected psalms. Holy Wednesday is then followed by the ‘Triduum’ of Holy Week

OPINION

THE WIDE READER

By Ian Rosales Casocot

In Dumaguete, the arts flourish

Part 11: The Dumaguete sound

Diomar Abrio is feeling ambitious. The longtime director of the Silliman University Culture & Arts Council, and a faculty member at the College of Performing & Visual Arts, is brewing a plan, something he has dreamed of doing in recent years but feels compelled to finally accomplish it in 2023.

In many ways, all that he has done in the name of cultural work for Silliman University, and Dumaguete in general, has led to this. Some years ago, he established an annual showcase of traditional Visayan music and dance, named Himig at Sayaw, which was later adopted by the National Committee on Music of the National Commission for Culture & the Arts [which he served for many years] into a project called Musikapuluhan. He has been trying to popularize Visayan folk music for a while now, and recently published a new edition of Priscilla Magdamo’s seminal work on Visayan folk songs, mining it for a variety of online performances during the pandemic.

This time, he is after something else. He wants to establish a choral festival in Dumaguete, and he wants the world to participate in it.

Call it inspired by pandemic restrictions, but that need to invite the world to Dumaguete is in many ways a cultural move that’s also partly therapy. When Typhoon Odette came with relentless fury in December 2021 in the middle of a raging pandemic, Mr. Abrio lost almost everything in the house he shared with his family in Barangay Suba in Manjuyod, a town north of Dumaguete.

He is still traumatized by the memory of that awful night—the sound of the terrible wind, the cries of neighbors drowning in the flood, the sight of his car submerged in deep mud once morning came. He managed to hitch a ride on a motorcycle bound for Dumaguete to buy medicines for his family, and only when he entered the premises of a pharmacy did the reality of the tragedy sink in: right then and there, by the pharmacy’s door, he broke down and cried. But he has never been one to dwell too much on pain and loss and discomfort.

Among CAC people, he is known as one who best rolls with the punches, and who makes things happen despite all the setbacks and red tape that is laid out for him whenever there are cultural events to be planned and executed. He is unassuming about it—but he does know what he wants. And now, he wants this: an international choral festival in Dumaguete, the pandemic be damned.

He has a name for it already. The Elizabeth Susan Vista-Suarez International Choral Festival, named after a beloved music mentor to many in Dumaguete, and a legend in choral music circles—but someone whose due has been overlooked for many years with regards her contribution to Philippine music.

efforts to put in print the university’s then nonexistent cultural policies].

She has also gone about solidifying the musical heritage of Dumaguete—from her leadership of the famed Campus Choristers as well as Ating Pamana, to her work as musical director of many musicals at the Luce; from her ministry as conductor of church choirs, to her occasional forays into piano-playing. In her choral work, she has become a local legend—credited by her disciples of coming up with a distinctive sound she simply calls timpla, something that she has arrived at with her music after witnessing performances by many “top” choirs and reeling from their insistence that loud is good. She refuses to believe a choir’s prowess is measured by voices belting out, which may seem to unknowing audiences like a Sensurround barrage, but to her utterly lacks grace and restraint and musicality and … timpla

It is this timpla that Dumaguete music is largely about. What it is, to be definitive about it, is a search for the best possible sound that comes from the confluence, and blending, of voices. Broadly, we can also take it to mean a confluence of genres and of efforts.

Of the latter, the Elizabeth Susan VistaSuarez International Choral Festival becomes the litmus test: a pandemic baby, it will the first international musical event in Dumaguete to be held in what increasingly seems to be the postpandemic period. A lot hinges on its success, but Mr. Abrio is nothing but determined.

— Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.

Deriving its name from a shortened form of the Latin word ‘mandatum’ meaning ‘command,’ Maundy Thursday (also called Holy Thursday) commemorates Christ’s “new commandment” that his disciples love one another as He has loved them (John 13:34).

Maundy Thursday also marks the Last Supper that Jesus shared with His disciples, the prediction of his death, his betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and his arrest at the Garden of Gethsemane. Maundy Thursday services also include an act of foot washing,

Holy Week

commemorating how Jesus washed His disciples’ feet as an act of service preceding His arrest.

Known as the most somber day for Christians, Good Friday remembers Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate, His death sentence, torture, crucifixion, death, and burial. Some Christians fast on Good Friday, while some avoid eating meat, and many attend a church service where they meditate on and venerate the cross of Christ.

The Triduum of Holy Week concludes with Holy Saturday, the seventh day of the week when Jesus rested in the tomb. On this day, Christians observe a late-night two-part Easter Vigil service. Jesus’ resurrection on the eighth day, is celebrated as Easter, marking the beginning of the Easter week, and the season of Eastertide.

Observing Holy Week

Here are some suggestions on how we can observe the week:

Join church services. Churches across the world, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians, observe different services throughout Holy Week to recall and celebrate the events preceding Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, death, and resurrection. You can join a church in your community to pray and observe any of these ceremonial services, starting with the heroic entry on Palm Sunday.

Together with the Universal Church, the Dumaguete Cathedral Parish will celebrate this year’s Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday on April 2. The central feature of Palm Sunday is the procession of palms from Quezon Park to the Cathedral Church. Blessing of palms will be at 7:00 AM at the Quezon Park, and the procession follows. Other major activities for the week include the following:

APRIL 7, 2023/GOOD

FRIDAY

4:00am – VIA CRUCIS/ Station of the Cross

1st Station - Holy Child

2nd - PNP (Locsin St.)

3rd -

Which is what usually happens when it comes to culture in Dumaguete—a veritable regional powerhouse that has produced many of the greats in Philippine arts [as well as pioneering many cultural efforts with national impact], but remains sadly unacknowledged by the gatekeepers in Manila.

A quick search through the recent edition of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, for example, attests to this. In the music volume, there is nothing on Priscilla Magdamo [but there is an entry to Ili-ili Tulog Anay mentioning her as the primary collector of the song from field work]; nothing on Albert Faurot, nothing on Constantino Bernardez; nothing on the Vistas; nothing on William Pfeiffer [but there is mention of him in the article on “research in music”], on our pioneering efforts in ethnomusicology, and on our pioneering programs in choral music in the country, among others.

Not that she wants to measure her cultural legacy with an encyclopedia entry, but Ms. VisaSuarez and her ilk clearly deserve recognition. Since she came back from the United States in 1989 after earning her masters in choral conducting from the Combs College of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ms. Vista-Suarez has been steady in remaking the platform for cultural work at Silliman University [she was head of the CAC for many years, and steered

The people behind the CAC—and by and large, the musical denizens of Silliman’s COPVA—has been largely responsible for the continued relevance of classical music in Dumaguete performance spaces, although it occasionally dips into the contemporary with concerts of pop favorites by its resident companies [including the Silliman University Marching Band, the Orkestra Sin Arco, the Campus Choristers, the Men’s Glee Club, the Women’s Ensemble, and others], and with its annual holding of the Valentine Songwriting Competition, the oldest musical competition of its kind in the Philippines. [In 2023, the VSC turns 35 years old.]

But the contemporary music scene, for the most part, is the province of the bands and performers behind the Belltower Project— although many of them are products of COPVA as well. Since 2013, when it was founded by Hope Tinambacan and his brother Juni Jay, Jan Barga, Franber Candia, and the Trasmonte twins Dave and Clark to be a community of local musicians helping each other drive forward the Dumaguete music scene, the Belltower Project has been a communal effort at determining the Dumaguete sound, at least in terms of popular music.

It has done this by undertaking an ambitious [and supposedly] yearly project, which is putting out anthology albums featuring original compositions by a well-curated playlist of Oriental Negrense singers and bands, all of them of varied musical inclinations, from reggae to ska, from shoegaze to electronica, from hard metal to café ballads. [Their efforts have also led to the creation of a 2015 stage musical, Scharon Mani, which featured songs from the Belltower Project albums.]

These albums that came out over the years were known primarily by their ordinal titles, from Uno to Cinco , and their launches were carefully coordinated concerts that regularly drew in massive crowds of steadfast fans. But efforts largely came to a halt because some of its masterminds [and some bands as well] had to leave Dumaguete to pursue professional lives elsewhere. This included Hope Tinambacan who had to temporarily leave for Singapore for theatre studies in 2016, and Natalie Curran, who had to go back home to Luxembourg after finishing her psychology studies at Silliman. But many of the bands remained—from Enchi to Hopia, from Finpot to 5Volts, from The Chocodog Invasion to Trigger Gypsies, from Odd to HNO2, from Crickets Playground to Modern Cassette, from Arnold Cristopher to N.A.N.A., and many others. Some, like Wilfreedo, have gone on to national fame. All of them were enjoying regular gigs before the

The Elizabeth Susan Vista Surarez International Choral Festival gets a launch in August 2022

The Valentine Songwriting Competition returns to live performances at the Luce in February 2023

EYE OPENER...FROM P. 5

Procession

From front of the Cathedral church at Perdices St. turn right Colon St., turn right Real St., turn right Silliman Avenue, turn right Perdices St., back to Cathedral church

9:00 PM – Soledad

Procession

From front of the Cathedral church at Perdices St. turn right Colon St., turn right Real St., turn right San Juan St., turn right Perdices St., back to Cathedral church.

SUNDAY 4:00 AM – Sugat Venue: In front of the Cathedral church across Perdices St. Watch Easter movies

There are many classic and contemporary Easter movies you can watch alone, with your children, or with family and friends. Great examples include Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, Ben-Hur, Risen, The Last Temptation of Christ, Hop, and The Ten Commandments.

Republic of the Philippines

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

7th Judicial Region Dumaguete City

Office of the Clerk of Court & Ex-Officio Sheriff

Union Bank of the Philippines, Mortgagee EJFREM No. 2022-3610 -versusSpouses Felix S. Pleños III & Ivy Lyn

Chris D. Pleños a.k.a. Ivy Lyn Cris D. Pleños, Mortgagors

x------------------------------------------------------/ NOTICE OF EXTRAJUDICIAL SALE

Upon Extrajudicial petition for sale under Act No. 3135 (as amended), filed by Union Bank of the Philippines against spouses Felix S. Pleños III & Ivy Lyn Chris D. Pleños a.k.a. Ivy Lyn Cris D. Pleños to satisfy the indebtedness which, as of Nov. 18, 2022, amounts to P1,336,624.00 exclusive of accrued interest and other necessary expenses of foreclosure, the undersigned, or her duly authorized deputy will sell at public auction on June 7, 2023 at 9:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon at the Office of the Clerk of Court, ground floor, Hall of Justice, Piapi, Dumaguete City, to the highest bidder, for cash or manager’s checque, and in Philippine currency, the following property, to wit;

TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NO. 109-2014001121

A parcel of land (Lot 22, Block 8 of the Consolidation-Subdivision Plan PCS-07-006065, being a portion of the consolidation of Lots 5869 and 4756, both of Dumaguete cadastre (Cad 96, and 6104-B, PSD-07-081233, LRC Record No. 142) situated in the barrio of Candau-ay, city of Dumaguete, island of Negros. Bounded on the NE along line 1-2 by Lot 21, Block 8 of the Subdivision Plan; on the SE along line 2-3 by Banica River (dry river bed), now Candau-ay socialized housing project; on the SW along line 3-4 by Lot 23, Block 8; and on the NW along line 4-1 by Road Lot 2 (8 meters wide), both of the Subdivision Plan.

Beginning at a point marked “1” on plan, being S. 49 degrees 18’ E., 289.01 meters from MBM No. 7, Dumaguete cadastre (Cad 96), thence S. 06 degrees 44’ E., 11.00 meters to point 2; thence S. 83 degrees 17’ W., 8.01 meters to point 3; thence N. 06 degrees 44’ W., 11.00 meters to point 4; thence N. 83 degrees 15’ E., 8.01 meters to point of beginning, containing an area of 88 square meters, more or less. All points referred to are indicated on the plan, and marked on the ground as follows; Points 1, 2, 3, 4 by PS. cyl. conc. mons 15X40 cm; Bearings True; Date of the original survey, January-August 1916 and that of the Subdivision Survey executed by Rilt Renart G. Dorado, geodetic engineer, on Sept. 17, 2011, approved on April 10, 2012.

All sealed bids must be submitted to the undersigned on the above stated time and date.

In the event the public auction should not take place on the said date, it shall be held on June 14, 2023 without further notice.

Dumaguete City, Philippines, March 20, 2023.

ATTY. MARIA ANTONIA L. BULADO Clerk of Court VI & Ex-Officio Sheriff by: ROMULO M. DINEROS JR. Sheriff IV & Executing Sheriff MetroPost 2023 March 26 • April 2 • April 9

R

worth the Dumaguete taste. I also remember how people swarmed to Max’s.”

“I still love Max’s! But yeah, it’s quiet most days. I love the chicken though. And their other stuff. How come we still patronize Mooon Café and Café Racer? Aren’t they Cebu franchises?”

“Because Rey remade them to cater to Dumaguete sensibilities. Mooon Café in Cebu is not exactly the same as Mooon Café in Dumaguete, not really. Same with Café Racer. Totally different vibes. You have to get into the elusive Dumaguete vibe to cater to Dumaguete taste.”

“I have a former student once—he now works at a

major Manila corporation— he posted in Facebook some years ago that the only way to know you’re really a success is to succeed in Dumaguete. Because we are notoriously picky, so when we pick you, you are an absolute winner.”

“Dumaguete as the litmus test for the rest of the Philippines?”

“I get that. I get f*ckboy consumerism, I guess. We do tend to swarm in the very beginning, and we do tend to easily let go.”

“Unless we really, really love the food or service.”

“Unless they really catch our vibe.”

“Unless they really get us.”

70 Rizal Blvd., Dumaguete City Tels. 225-7725, 422-9209, 225-4488

3RD STORE IN CEBU:

Siblings Chining Bustamante, Chiqui Yoldi, and 2nd District Cong. Chiquiting Sagarbarria inaugurate the third branch of Sans Rival in Cebu at the newest strip mall, 8 Banawa Centrale. The new Banawa branch, which opens from 9 am to 9 pm Sundays- Thursdays, and until 11 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, can serve about 104 guests at any one time.

These movies are a great way to bond with the family as the week wraps up. Make it real for the kids Children mostly learn by seeing, so it’s important to set the scene to reflect the season. Clean up the house with them, and team up to make crafts such as palm crosses. Organize Bible quizzes about Holy Week and give special treats to the winners to make it competitive!

SECURITY...FROM P. 3

“Actually, the 47IB has an existing presence in Negros Oriental since last year when some of its troops were deployed in the south of the province before the elections,” Pancito noted.

The Battalion’s transfer here is in line with the creation of the JTF Negros which was created pursuant to the directive of President Marcos Jr. to curb lawlessness, violence, and criminality.

The JTF’s main task is to hunt down the rest of the suspects in the March 4 massacre in Pamplona where nine people were shot dead, including Gov. Roel Degamo.

Five of the 10 suspects are now in the custody of government authorities, while another one was killed in an encounter with pursuing troops, General Pancito said. (PNA)

Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES OFFICE OF THE PENR OFFICER Negros Oriental LEASE OF PUBLIC LAND

Notice is hereby given that the Department of Environment & Natural Resources PENRO-Negros Oriental, Larena Drive, Taclobo, Dumaguete City will accept sealed bids not later than 10:00 a.m. on JULY 5, 2023 for the lease for commercial purposes of the tract of land herein described:

Location of Land : Bangcolotan, Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental Description : Miscellaneous Lease Application No.074625-12

Boundaries : Northeast : Lot No. 944-F-2 (LRC), Psd-248932

Southeast : Public Land

Southwest : Public Land Northwest : Public Land

Area : 918 square meters

Appraised of Value : Land: P560.00 per square meter Or P514,080.00 for the whole tract

Proposed/Existing improvements : P114, 350.00

Applied for : Commercial Purposes

Applicant : Enrica Recto

The right to lease the land will be awarded to the person offering the highest annual rental, which shall not be less than three per centum (3%) of the value of the land plus one per centum (1%) of the value of the proposed and/or existing improvements. In order that a person may be entitled to participate in the bidding, he/she must be a qualified public land applicant, and must, before the commencement of the same, make a deposit equivalent to at least three months rental. Only deposit in cash, money order, treasury warrant, certified checks, cashier’s check or manager’s check can be accepted. A person bidding in representation of another may do so under duly-executed power of attorney. During the bidding, the bidder has to make an additional deposit every time his bid is raised shall not be accepted, the right is reserved to reject any or all bids.

The successful bidder, if other than the applicant, must reimburse the latter of the value of the improvements if any, and the expenses incurred for the publication of the Notice of Auction and the survey of the land.

Dumaguete City, Philippines, March 20, 2023

VIERNOV D. GREFALDE

OIC, PENRO Officer

MetroPost 2023 March 26 • April 2 • April 9 • April 16 • April 23 • April 30

A U

Republic of the Philippines Regional Trial Court of Negros Oriental 7th Judicial Region | Hall of Justice Building E.J. Blanco Drive. Piapi. Dumaguete City

Perpetual Help Credit Cooperative (PHCCI), Mortgagee Extra-Judicial Foreclosure - versus - of Real Estate Mortgage Ramil C. Quis-Quis as attorney-in-fact (Under Act 3344, as amended) of spouses Zosimo Alivia Sr. & Francisca Cordura-Alivia, and spouses EJFREM No. 2022-3613

Pedrito E. Dales & Primitiva H. Dales, Mortgagors x--------------------------------------------------/

NOTICE OF EXTRAJUDICIAL SALE

Upon extra-judicial petition for sale under Act No. 3344 filed by the Perpetual Help Credit Cooperative (PHCCI), mortgagee, with principal office at Security Bank Centre, 6776 Avala Ave., Makati City, Philippines, against Ramil C. Quis-Quis, mortgagor, with postal address at Banilad, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines, to satisfy the mortgage indebtedness which, as of April 25, 2022, amounted to Five Million Seven Hundred Seventy Thousand One Hundred Sixty-Six Pesos and Sixty Two Centavos (P5,770,166.62), inclusive of interest and penalty charges, but exclusive of expenses related to foreclosure and legal professional fees, the undersigned, or her duly-authorized deputy will sell at public auction on April 12, 2023 at 9:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon at the Hall of Justice, E.J. Blanco Drive, Piapi, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines, to the highest bidder, for cash or manager’s check, and in Philippine currency, the following property with all its improvements, to wit:

TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NO. 15692

A parcel of land (Lot 4335-A of the Subdivision plan (LRC) Psd-261486, being a portion of Lot 4335 of Dumaguete cadastre, LRC Cad. Rec. No. 143) situated in the barrio of Banilad, city of Dumaguete, island of Negros. Bounded on the N. on points 6-1 by Lot 4333, and on points 1-2 by Lot 4334: on the E. on points 2-3 by Lot 4337, on the S. on points 3-4, by Lot 4355, all of Dumaguete cadastre; and on the W. on points 4-5 by Lot 1335-C and points 5-6 by Lot 4335-C, both of the Subdivision plan. Beginning at a point marked “1” on plan, being S. 45 degrees 15’ W., 592.04 meters from BBM No. 47 of Dumaguete cadastre; thence S. 84 degrees 31’ E., 40.61 meters to point 2; thence S. 11 degrees 07’ W., 47.04 meters to point 3; thence N. 86 degrees 54’ W., 43.83 meters to point 4; thence N. 11 degrees 21’ E., 20.64 meters to point 5; thence N. 11 degrees 24’ E., 23.50 meters to point 6; thence S. 79 degrees 10’ E., 2.76 meters to the point of the beginning. Containing an area of 2,076 square meters, more or less. All points referred to are indicated on plan, and are marked on the ground as follows: Points 4, 5 and 6 by PS cyl conc. mons. 15x60 cm., and the rest by BL conc. mons. 15x15x60 cm.; bearings true; declination 1 degree 20’ E., date of the original survey, January-August, 1916, and that of the subdivision survey executed by Engr. Rilt P. Dorado was on Feb. 12, 1977.

TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NO. 23913

A parcel of land, Lot 4334-B, of the subdivision plan, Psd-07-015585, being a portion of Lot 4334, Dumaguete cadastre; situated in the barrio of Banilad, City of Dumaguete, Island of Negros. Bounded on the N., along line 4-1 by Lot 4334-A; of the subdivision plan, on the E., along line 1-2 by Lot 4337, Dumaguete cadastre; on the S. and W., along lines 2-3-4 by Lot 4334-C, of the subdivision plan. Beginning at a point marked “I” on plan being S. 43 degrees 49’ W. 544.68 meters from B.B.M. No. 47, Dumaguete cadastre, thence S. 05 degrees 59’ W. 14.00 meters to point 2; thence N. 84 degrees 31’ W., 14.28 meters to point 3; thence N. 05 degrees 59’ E. 14.00 meters to point 4; thence S. 84 degrees 31’ E. 14.28 meters to point of beginning; containing an area of 200 square meters, more or less. All points referred to are indicated on the plan, and are marked on the ground as follows: All points are P.S. cyl conc. mons. 15 x 45 cms., beanings true; date of original survey on January - August, 1916, and that of the subdivision survey on Feb. 19, 1987 by Geodetic Engineer Bonifacio C. Catarata, and approved by the Regional Land Director, Bureau of Lands-Region Office, Cebu City on May 21, 1987.

TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NO. 23620

A parcel of land. Lot 4334-C of the subdivision plan, Psd-07-015585, being a portion of Lot 4334, Dumaguete cadastre, situated in the barrio of Banilad, City of Dumaguete, Island of Negros. Bounded on the N., along line

7-1 by Lot 4334-D; along line 1-2 by Lot 4334-A on the E. and N., along lines

2-3-4 by Lot 4334-B, all of the subdivision plan on the E., and S., along lines 4-5-6 by Lot 4337 and Lot 4335’ on the W., alone line 6-7 by Lot 4333, both of Dumaguete cadastre. Beginning at a point marked 1, on plan being S 45 degrees 26’ W., 557.30 meters from BBM 47, Dumaguete cadastre thence S. 84 degrees 31’ E., 5.72 meters to point 2; thence S. 05 degree 59 W., 14.00 meters, to point 3: thence S. 84 degrees 31’ E. 14.28 meters to point 4; thence S. 05 degree 59′ W. 13.79 meters to point S, thence N. 84 degrees 31’ W. 40.5 meters to point 6; thence N. 05 degrees 35’E., 27.32 meters to point 7; thence S. 85 degrees 49’ E., 20.81 meters to point of beginning, containing an area of 926 square meters, more or less. All points referred to are indicated on the plan, and are marked on the ground as follows; points 5 and 6 by Old Points, and the rest by PS. cyl mons. 15 x 15 cms. bearings true, date of original survey on January - August 1916, and that of the subdivision survey on Feb. 1, 1987 by Geodetic Engineer Bonifacio C. Catarata, and approved by the Regional Land Director Bureau of Lands-Region Office, Cebu City on May 21, 1987. All sealed bids must be submitted to the undersigned on the abovestated time and date. In the event the public auction should not take place on the said date, it shall be held on April 19, 2023 without further notice

Dated this 13th day of February 2023 in the City of Dumaguete, Philippines.

MARIA ANTONIA L. BULADO

Clerk of Court VI & Ex-Officio Sheriff

GREDAM P. EDIZA Sheriff IV & Executing Sheriff MetroPost 2023 March 12 • March 19 • March 26

Rizal Blvd. cor. San Jose St., Dumaguete City

6:00 PM - Sto. Entiero

TEMPEST...FROM P. 4

APRIL 9, 2023/EASTER

RENZ TORRES and IAN ROSALES CASOCOT

THE OBSCURE ACADEMIC

DR. JUSTIN JOSE A. BULADO JJAbulado@norsu.edu.ph

LastDecember, I received an email from the National World War II Museum’s Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. It was an invitation, to join a three-day Emerging Scholars Workshop on the New Directions in World War II History. The event was held at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

I had submitted a paper on Political Collaboration at the national level during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, wherein I looked

foreigner made me very nervous at the outset.

Since I was a child, I had always been interested in World War II history; I’ve read as many books as I can, starting with William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich then on to Stephen Ambrose’ books like Band of Brothers, Victors, and Citizen Soldiers. Of course, when I got older, I started looking into books written by A.J.P. Taylor, Richard Evans, Richard Overy, and Filipino nationalist historian Teodoro Agoncillo, focusing on his seminal two-volume work

CULINARY CUTS

renzchristianmtorres@gmail.com

passionate about to a few scholars and academics who are also equally passionate about World War II history.

All of us there had similar interests – not only were we history buffs and academics, we were, as one of the scholars jocularly said, “World War II buffs/nerds.” This might have been the reason why I was easily able to calm my nerves when I met the other scholars; it’s a different feeling to be at home with people who share the same passion as you.

On the first day, we were given the chance to tour the

History and The Big Easy: WW II historians in New Orleans

into the various motivations, consequences, and responses of Filipinos to the collaboration issue of known individuals like President Jose P. Laurel, Claro M. Recto, Benigno Aquino Sr., Jorge Vargas.

Fortunately, I was one of the few “emerging scholars” on WWII History to be chosen from a pool of applicants. The workshop had four themes: The War in Europe, The War in the Pacific, The Home Front in War, and The Holocaust and Genocide.

For each theme, there were three scholars who presented their papers; I was part of the War in the Pacific. There were 12 of us – 10 from the US, one (from Canada, and yours truly from the Philippines. I was the only one outside of North America, and admittedly, the thought of being the only

on the Japanese Occupation entitled the Fateful Years.

Consequently, after reading Agoncillo’s works and other local historians like Caridad Rodriguez and my mentor, Dr. Earl Jude Cleope, I was able to find my niche, so to speak, and thus, began my interest in research apropos of collaboration and resistance during the Japanese occupation of Negros Oriental.

Going to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, therefore, was –and has always been – part of my bucket list. Words cannot really describe how I felt when I received the letter of acceptance from the National World War II Museum – it was a surreal moment; it dawned on me that I not only had the chance to visit the museum but present a paper that I’m

museum for the entire day. I was still quite jetlagged, but I did not waste any time, and tried my best to visit all the five parts of the museum. The highlights, for me, were the areas known as Road to Berlin and Road to Tokyo – it was somehow like a tour, with varying artefacts [i.e., military uniforms, weapons, letters of soldiers, etc.], and random documentary videos playing from one corner to another; it was done chronologically from the origins of the War in Europe and the Pacific to the end of the war, with the defeat of Hitler, and the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

One of the highlights of the tour that I will never forget is the 4D film called Beyond All Boundaries. It was a cinematic

TO PAGE 8

Whenit comes to food, how much is our money’s worth?

We had dinner at this new restaurant a few nights ago. [Writing this comes with the best effort at concealment. Our mantra for this column has always been this: if we don’t like a Dumaguete restaurant’s fare, we’ll try our very best to resist the temptation to write a review—even though bad reviews are so tempting to do. Because we’d rather champion what we love, to be honest.]

In any case, this restaurant was something we had not tried before. Ian always felt a strange kind of resistance whenever we passed by it, but he soon changed his mind, and we got ourselves a table—and we ordered a chicken dish for Ian, and a pork dish for Renz. Neither dish was filling or tasty.

And the service left a lot to be desired—even if the staff tried their hardest to be polite.

And we were eaten by mosquitoes.

And when we got the bill, we were floored to see the sum of a thousand pesos for bad dinner.

Where did it all go wrong?

Mostly, the food. We run by a simple philosophy in our culinary adventures: the food should be good, and better if it comes with an experience we can cherish later. Because that’s the thing that makes us come back, right?

Sure, we can excuse the worst of atmosphere, and the rudest of staff, and the deadliest of mosquitoes, and even the steepiest of prices—but the food must be good , and also commensurate to the price tag it comes with.

What’s worse than a meal bereft of flavor and soul is a meal that doesn’t justify its exorbitant bill, that falls short of the value attached to it.

The end of pandemic lockdown is upon us, whether we like it or not, and it’s mostly back to business-as-usual, but now we have a race for patronage with pre-pandemic restaurants and

workshop—because most of us in attendance were doing exactly what the concept entailed, but now we had a word for it. In terms of culinary culture, experience economy means “giving or ascribing value or validity to something [e.g., by raising or fixing the price or value of a commodity],” particularly that which “belongs or relates to a particular place,” and declaring them as “premium” or of superior quality, and therefore should command a higher price.

Ige explains: “In the 21st century, designing and selling experiences [have] eclipsed the manufacture of physical things. An experience stirs emotions and generates memories. It embraces dramatic action, sensory engagement, and temporal interaction with users. During an experience, users create meanings and associations that become more important than the event itself. The experience economy has changed the way commercial companies design and deliver products. The experience economy has also changed how schools, hospitals, museums, and other organizations provide services to communities.”

You can give a literary tour of Dumaguete places, for example, highlighting spots that appear in Philippine literature—and end it with a sale of local books. [You give consumers an experience of literature come alive.]

You can take people to the coffee shop in Baslay in the town of Dauin—and sell coffee made from beans cultivated by local Baslay farmers. [You give consumers the experience of locally-produced coffee unavailable elsewhere.]

Experience is the key. This is how musicians make money now in the age of Spotify: they go on concert tours, maximizing that experience of live music by selling merchandise [including albums] on the side.

Ige cites Don Norman’s Three Layers of User Experience , where we start with the visceral [“The colors of that homemade ice cream

pandemic-era ones [and there’s a lot of them!]. Given the inflation, some of these are bound to bite the dust—but we think the ones that will survive are those that are unstinting in their quality, mindful of their pricing, aware of the value of experience, and also solicitous of the local palate.

That last element is the hardest one to pin down because it involves a knowledge of the local food heritage, and a respect for it.

We have a friend who recently bristled at a foreigner’s suggestion that our tablea was “unrefined chocolate,” with too much of a “burnt” taste: “I don’t get why he would denigrate our local tablea as ‘unrefined’—that’s exactly how we want our tablea to taste like. And why dismiss ‘burnt’ as a taste marker? Filipinos love a ‘burnt’ taste. That’s how we enjoy our grilled pork fat and everything else!”

On March 18, a Saturday, we had the opportunity to place all these in context with culture and entrepreneurship, in a day-long workshop and lecture by one of the country’s leading voices in culinary heritage and cultural entrepreneurship, Ige Ramos, held at 58 EJ Blanco.

Ige came with an invite from Slow Food Dumaguete/Negros Oriental organizers [in particular, Bea Misa-Crisostomo of Ritual] and the workshop was a jampacked event—perhaps with its participants enticed by Ige’s resume.

A book designer, food writer, and visual artist, he runs IRDS/Republic of Taste Food Network, a platform for his publishing, book design, and independent research projects in edible design, comparative gastronomy, food history, anthropology, and public policy. He has designed some of the most important and influential food-themed books and cookbooks in the country, including Simply Delicious, Panaderia: Philippine Bread, Biscuit, and Bakery Traditions, The Governor-General’s Kitchen: Philippine Culinary Vignettes and Period Recipes, 1521-1935, Philippine Cookery: From Heart to Platter, Kulinarya: A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine, Salu-salo: A Celebration of Philippine Culinary Treasures, The Aristocrat Stories: Since 1936, Linamnam: Eating One’s Way Around the Philippine s, and The Ultimate Filipino Adobo: Stories Through the Ages

On his own, he has written and published Lasa ng Republika: Dila at Bandila—Ang Paghahanap sa Pambansang Panlasa ng Filipinas, Republic of Taste: The Untold Stories of Cavite Cuisine, and Appetite for Freedom: The Recipes of Maria Y. Orosa with Essays on Her Life and Work

He also calls himself a cultural entrepreneur, which he defines as someone who is “a change agent and resourceful visionary who organizes cultural, financial, social, and human capital, to generate revenue from a cultural activity that benefits a community.”

It is in that capacity that he undertook the Dumaguete workshop—which he also did in Bayawan and Bacolod soon after. He considers being a cultural entrepreneur as a kind of “activism,” because it “valorizes the local as the new premium in the experience economy.”

This is where we first marveled at the

look beautiful”] and the behavioral [“That homemade ice cream actually tastes good!”], and proceeding to a future reflective stage [“I enjoyed eating that homemade ice cream, and I’d like to try it again”].

The rise of the experience economy also entails going from mere commodity to hyperlocal/full-bodied experience, employing more design features that makes it more expensive— because the experiential entails providing a memorable event.

Take coffee, for instance: you start with the basic commodity—the beans—which comes cheap for the most part. You take it higher, and it becomes a basic product, like Kopiko— packaged instant coffee for daily use. You take it even higher, and you get service coffee, like the one from 7-11—no frills coffee from a convenience store. You take it even higher, and you get Starbucks—which gives you ambience, and wifi, and air-conditioning. The highest level of the experiential is to turn coffee into a hyperlocal experience—serving it in a way that cannot be replicated elsewhere, and promising some singularity, like a unique culture or location.

The challenge, of course, is for cultural entrepreneurs to put a premium to their efforts—but at the same time, still make it accessible to the locals, and also not shortchange the producers of the basic commodity [like the farmers of coffee beans].

Ige gave specific examples of experience economies he found successful—which include tourism in Faeroe Island, Denmark [where you pay to just unwind with locals as they go about their daily tasks], tourism in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia [were you pay to stay in a farmer’s hut in the middle of a rice field, and participate in local customs and rituals], and a homestay he undertook in Basey, Samar [where you pay to stay with local families, and eat the food they prepare for their daily meals].

From his own efforts, he cited doing a DIY tour in 2016 called Sampalan ng Side View Mirror sa CaviteX, a project he did on Facebook where he posted pictures of local food vendors that could be found along the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway, giving specific descriptions of what they could offer, and pinning their locations for people to find.

It was a huge success, with many people liking the posts, and taking on the tour on their own, and sampling the food stuff that the vendors offered. It was so successful that he soon got contacted by CaviteX officials who commissioned him to do an official food tour for them. What came about was Viaje Feliz x Lasa ng Republika, which attempted to connect local gastronomic and cultural communities of Cavite via CaviteX, something he accomplished by taking on a two-week study of the project, identifying the problem [how to promote the local culture, gastronomy, history and traditions of the smaller coastal towns of Cavite], the threats, the weaknesses, the strengths, and the opportunities it entailed. Having identified the factors, he managed to design a culinary event that was also a huge success—and was

The experience economy and other things we learned from Ige Ramos

Senior Tourism Operations Officer Myla Mae Bromo-Abellana (3rd from left) shows the hyperbaric chamber to Executive Director Marco Angelo Ancheta (2nd from right) and Shaliane Carvajal (rightmost) of the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving during their inspection of diving facilities in Negros Oriental. With them were Inocencio Obligar Jr., administrative officer of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital where the oxygen therapy champer has been stationed since 2005; Negros Oriental Dive Association President Glenn Carballo, officer Magnus Nelsen, and NORDA Vice President Reggie Reyes. (Contributed photo)

Language expert Dr. Eva Washburn-Repollo (2nd from right) from Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii, launches a compilation modules and lesson plans on the Cebuano language and culture program titled Pamalandong, which were generated earlier from workshops with graduate students from Chaminade and faculty from the Apo Island Elementary and High School. (Earl Jude Cleope photo)

THE OBSCURE....FROM P. 7 bomb dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was an almost blinding light in the theatre. Overall, it was a truly breathtaking cinematic experience.

masterpiece narrated by a relatively-younger Tom Hanks. Because this was in 4D format, whenever a tank passed by on the screen, or whenever there were bombings, the chair the viewer is sitting on would also vibrate, giving him the “firsthand” experience of being present there at that time.

During the Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne, there was a simulation of real snow (thin ice sheets made to replicate the real thing) that fell upon the viewers to make us feel it was winter; and when the atomic

The second day was THE day; presentation day for the scholars, giving us mixed feelings of nervousness and excitement as the audience included established academics and historians like Dr. Thomas Guglielmo and Dr. Marcus Cox, as well as other public historians and fellows from the National World War

LETTER....FROM P. 5

as the “unfair” monopoly on seignorage accorded the US dollar and major currencies, the high fees of today’s banking transactions, the lack of banking for the poor, the recurrence of financial crises, the “forever” wars among countries, and “monetary colonialism and imperialism.”

Utopia comes to mind when thinking about Bitcoin. Hilbay waxes poetic regarding this endstate of affairs. He writes (on p. 203): “Once you get a feel of your surroundings and understand however gradually, what’s going on, the unarticulated intuitions will soon turn into clear premises that will be the solid foundations for grounding your rationality. … the heart and mind will inevitably unite: the eyes will discover vision, the lungs will clear … The path of Bitcoin will become visible, and you will finally understand that yes, this is the way.”

We can analyze the argument relating to inflation, but I don’t know how a particular form of money will eliminate wars or prevent financial crises.

So let us discuss the matter of inflation. An important characteristic that distinguishes cash, gold, and Bitcoin is their aggregate ‘supply’ or quantity. The total of cash is determined by the central bank. The supplies of gold and Bitcoin share similar features. Both come into being through mining — physical for gold, electronically through some form of mathematical confirmation for Bitcoin. The supply of gold is limited by its natural scarcity; Bitcoin is capped at 21 million coins by tacit agreement among its holders and users. (It is somewhat strange to talk about ‘agreement’ within a community that values decentralization, but never mind this for now.)

Mainstream economics considers inflation (measured in terms of a given monetary unit) subject to the ‘quantity theory of money.’ Prices are stable if the quantity or supply of money is fixed (and when we also assume constancy in the volume and velocity of transactions). Prices rise in a fiat world when central banks print too much money. Prices fall when there is too little money relative to goods.

The theory of the proponents of Bitcoin is that inflation would disappear in a world where the money is Bitcoin. Supposedly this is because of the cap on the amount of Bitcoin that can be created. But is this theory correct?

In reality, inflation was a problem during unexpectedly large discoveries of gold. Inflation is a potential problem when central authorities can create or debase the (fiat or metallic) money they espouse. It is a tax that falls hardest on those who hold assets, such as cash or bonds, denominated in fiat currency.

A libertarian view is that the inflation tax is also statesanctioned theft. A progovernment view is that the inflation tax is just another (fiscal) instrument that may help to reduce unemployment.

The questions that matter are: Will inflation in fiat currencies be solved by adopting Bitcoin as the only alternative? Will the emergence of other cryptocurrencies solve the problem of inflation? Will doing away with fiat currencies result in a deflationist tendency in the economy? I submit that there are no easy answers.

If the supply of Bitcoin were fixed and the world’s production of goods and services were to continue to grow, Bitcoin would be a prototype of a deflationary currency.

In other words, the Bitcoin price of goods and services would fall. Indeed, since 2012 (when Bitcoin prices took off materially), the annual inflation numbers in the United States — the change in consumer prices when measured in Bitcoin — show an average of minus 30 percent, which contrasts with the official (dollar) inflation average of 2.5 percent. Will the Bitcoin deflation continue?

In effect, the Bitcoin ‘ecosystem’ is dominated by a very small number of players.

There is a likely explanation for the concentration in the ownership of Bitcoin. In its early days, with Bitcoin priced at about $500, early investors could stake out significant positions with little capital. The market valued the then-existing total of Bitcoins in 2013 (12 million) at $6 billion. (Such an amount would be peanuts compared with the $13 trillion net worth of today’s roughly 3,000 billionaires.)

If something like 400 billionaires were among the early investors, each one could have bought on average less than $10 million of Bitcoin. $10 million is close to the price of a high-end super yacht or an executive jet plane. One commentator has remarked on his personal investment in high-risk, highupside assets, “[I]f it goes up a lot, you don’t need much, and if it goes to zero, you don’t want much.”

I cannot help but repeat the quip from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway: “The rich are different from you and me; they have more money.” And they probably have Bitcoin in their portfolios. If they can get others to join the speculative frenzy, the more, the merrier. Because of their concentrated ownership and relatively small initial investments, high networth owners of Bitcoin are likely to simply stay the course.” I can imagine a horizon of at least ten years for the persistence of the expectation that the price of Bitcoin against fiat will continue to rise.

For cynics who think of Bitcoin as a scam, ten more years is short. Bernie Madoff got away with his Ponzi for at least twenty years.

The idea of 10 more years is suggested by Hilbay for judging whether Bitcoin will become a legitimate form of money. He writes: “[L] et’s wait a decade and see how things turn out” (p. 202). He even mentioned Paul Krugman, who had famously suggested that the internet would be a fad (“… go and have a drink with Mr. Krugman”).

Hilbay also believes that there will be a “paradigm shift” whereby Bitcoin becomes the dominant form of money. That shift might come about through competition. He says, “… money is a commodity that is selected by the market itself from among different types of money available. From this monetary competition …, the best form of money is selected and dominates the rest. The game is winner-takes-all” (p. 194).

This approach of subjecting innovations to the vagaries of consumer preference seems reasonable. Even today, fiat currencies compete against each other within and across the borders of countries.

Whether cryptocurrencies can displace fiat currencies and related payment systems (credit cards, etc.) is perhaps an open question, at least for the next 10 years.

Alternatively, the speculative fever will end if the demand for Bitcoin collapses. This can happen if Bitcoin enthusiasts lose interest (they lose faith in the forever upward” theory) or if Bitcoin is surpassed by other digital currencies that better hedge against inflation or can process transactions at a lower cost.

Demand for money, in general, can also decline through a nuclear winter or an incurable plague that causes the global population and economic production to fall. The quantity theory then says that the fixed supply of Bitcoin will translate into a rise in the prices of ordinary goods, and Bitcoins will become (amazingly) inflationary and antithetical to the goal of its proponents. Far-fetched?

II Museum.

Admittedly, I was quite nervous as I was the only Filipino participant. However, when I started presenting, the jitters and anxiety gradually started to disappear as I was getting in the zone – discussing history that I knew I had thoroughly and passionately researched about.

I cannot accentuate enough about the varied reactions I received from the audience. Perhaps that can be a different tale altogether. (To be continued...)

In the transition from fiat currencies to Bitcoin, the issue of inflation vs. deflation is the same as how Bitcoin is priced. Against fiat, Bitcoin will rise and fall according to market expectations. The original hodlers will likely hang on to their Bitcoin if they expect its value or price to continue upward. The late-comers to this ‘investment game’ would feed the speculative beast. Will this speculation ever end?

Perhaps not, so long as newcomers’ intended purchases exceed the amounts that existing hodlers would sell. I note that the ownership and mining of Bitcoin have been highly concentrated.

In other words, “success” in Bitcoin’s price action or that of any other cryptocurrency would keep them from becoming viable as money. It is as though Bitcoin were to remain a fetus that is never born!

An even weightier consideration is an incompleteness in the economic theory behind the promised widespread adoption of Bitcoin. Inflation could give way to deflation, which some Bitcoin proponents view as good. They forget that deflation has been associated with economic recessions and depressions. Will the Bitcoin proponents who enjoy tremendous capital gains as hodlers feel responsible for that other scourge of the modern economy — unemployment?

I do not jest. Deflation is no laughing matter. If we can, we must find out how deflation comes about. We have evidence from countries that have suffered deflation. Japan is a recent case of the dangers of deflation. In the early 1990s, the Japanese economy went into deflation after a crash in land and stock prices. The deflation apparently did not reflect such possible factors as unusual productivity growth or shifts in the country’s terms of trade. The deflation also cannot be attributed to Japan adopting a hard currency like gold because it remained on a fiat currency.

The official story is that the deflation resulted from a longrunning economic malaise and stagnant aggregate demand. This is the mainstream analysis. Changes in aggregate demand result in price inflation or deflation (likely with a recession).

The theory is traceable to John Maynard Keynes who explained that recessions result from the inadequacy of aggregate demand in the short-run period when wages are sticky.’ Keynes is quoted in an IMF report as having said (in 1923): “Inflation is unjust and deflation is inexpedient. Of the two perhaps deflation is … the worse; because it is worse, in an impoverished world, to provoke unemployment than to disappoint the rentier.”

But there may be a way out of the predicament. Every time the world economy veers toward recession, the army of the unemployed should become Bitcoin miners or promoters. The unemployment problem is solved. I recall a take on Keynesian economics when I was a babe in the macroeconomics woods. Fiscal authorities, on the advice of Keynes, would have the unemployed dig ditches one day and cover them up the next, and so on, so that unemployment would disappear. Did it work?

Another way out of deflation is the emergence of alternative cryptocurrencies. Inflation measured in terms of these currencies can be positive because the so-called hard cap on Bitcoin supply will no longer operate.

Other forms of cryptocurrency will add to the moneys chasing a fixed or slowly growing amount of goods. But then we would be back to the current world of competing fiat currencies, where the issuing central banks commit themselves to inflation targets.

The last of the Seven Laws of Money is an observation: T here are worlds without money . These worlds involve “the essentials of human life” — music, art, poetry, love, sex, friendship, dreams, etc. (p. 112 of Phillips & Rasberry). We think and live in worlds without money while recognizing that we also have a day-to-day world with money surrounding us, like water enveloping fish.

The point of the preceding discussion follows from a seminal article by Kareken and Wallace (1981) on the fundamental indeterminacy of floating exchange rates. The equilibrium exchange rate (between US dollars and euros, or US dollars and Bitcoin) is rooted in market expectations — today’s price is the price tomorrow, adjusted for interest differentials. This is the ‘backbone’ exchange rate equation in the textbook treatment of an open macroeconomy.

If hodlers continue to hoard Bitcoin while using fiat, Bitcoin can never become a medium of exchange. This result is from a crude version of Gresham’s Law — the “bad money” (fiat) would drive out the “better money” (cryptocurrency) that is prized but not spent.

The economist Alfred Marshall called this world “the ordinary business of life.” We take the infrastructure of money for granted except when we face disturbances such as inflation, financial crises, bubbles, or lifechanging innovations like credit cards or online payments.

Hilbay suggests that we view Bitcoin as an apocalyptic but benevolent paradigm shift in our monetary system, not as a bubble on a bauble.

Which book should I recommend you read? As the song goes, the answer is blowing in the wind.

I put myself in the shoes of Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin, who is said to have hodled one million Bitcoins. Did I indirectly monetize the software underlying Bitcoin?

I think of what I had done as a Faustian bargain. I have caused Bitcoin to sprout into a cult. I have also absented myself from the scene, and ascended to Bitcoin heaven, leaving mortals to carry on. Or stand aside.

SUB-1 PODIUM FINISH. Local runners join the Tanjay Charter Day 10-Kilometer Run, and clock in under one hour: 1st, Marjorie Bermejo; 2nd, Jamine Cruz; 3rd, Mereeis Ramirez; 4th Maripol Rotea-Tecson. (Contributed photo)

Members of the Rotary Club of Dumaguete South, headed by President Aurelio Bodo (4th from left), partner with the Negros Oriental PNP Provincial Medical and Dental Team headed by P/Lt. Rex dela Cruz, in distributing dental hygiene kits and application of fluoride varnish to pupils at the Ramon Magsaysay Elementary School. (Contributed photo)

Energy Development Corp. officials Frances Ariola and Norreen Bautista launch their GeoSkwela program by distributing booklets and other materials for Science teachers in Valencia, through the Department of Education here, represented by Negros Oriental Schools Division Supt. Dr. Senen Priscillo Paulin and Valencia District Supervisor Dr. Rolando Pacarro.

followed by two more culinary showcases for Cavite.

On the challenges of Philippine gastronomy, he began by doing away with the question of “What is Filipino food?” and opted instead with a better question: “How does food become Filipino”—taking note of how much of our culinary culture is really a mixture of many influences, making it difficult to ascertain what is “pure” Filipino. “There is no such thing as ‘pure’ anyway,” he said.

Still, Ige insisted that we continually look at food through the lens of cultural glasses—following the philosophy of Franz Boas—but in his research, he could not find a proper framework to distill his findings, so he made his own theoretical framework instead, which mixes the lens of ingredient, geography, ethnicity, and technology, leading to combined lenses of terroir, community, trade, and culinary, and leading further to various lenses involving space. [It’s all too complicated to include here, but it was an interesting development of succeeding Venn diagrams.]

Statement of Cong. Arnie Teves

Sa aking mga palangga, mga kababayan:

Andito na po ulit ako para magsalita. Kanina kasi, ang hiling ng [House of Representatives] Ethics Committee tungkol sa akin, gusto nila [ako] marinig pero nakiusap ako na magsalita ako via Zoom para they could hear my side. Hindi nila ako pinayagan. Kailangan daw nila face-to-face.

Hindi ako maintindihan bakit pinipilit nila akong pumunta face-to-face na nakiusap nga ako na hindi muna [ako] magpapakita l doon ng physical dahil sa seryosong pagbabanta at grabeng pagbabanta sa aking buhay. Sa totoo lang, alam ninyo gusto ko na talagang umuwi, kung hindi lang sa grabeng pagbabanta ng aking buhay, umuwi na ako.

Hindi ko naman pwedeng ipagpalit yung pagkaka-miss ko sa ating bayan sa buhay ko.

Para malaman ninyo ang buong katotohanan, Jan. 11 pa lang nung nagsalita ako tungkol sa threat sa aking buhay dahil ire-raid nila ako, at tataniman ng “ebidensya”.

Bakit ko nasabing threat sa aking buhay? Dahil pwede nilang gawin doon, sabihin nila nanglaban ako, bumunot ako ng baril, pwede nila akong patayin.

Nagpa presscon kami no’n ni Atty. [Ferdinand] Topacio, alam kong may issue na laban sa akin.

Hindi ko din maintindihan bakit kinuha nila ang lisensya ng aking baril, tanggalin pa nila ako ng bodyguard. Spurious daw ang aking dokumento. Spurious means sadya mong pineke ang dokumento. Kung may magkamali man sa dokumento ko, yung police clearance, hindi spurious yun. Na correct na yon, hindi pa rin binalik and lisensya ng baril.

Pinahirapan pa ako sa aking bodyguard, pinadala nila ako dahil hindi daw naka assign sa PSPG [Police Security & Protection Group].

Noong Feb. 28, pumunta ako ng America dahil kailangan kong magpa stem cell, magpa check up sa aking doctor. Ang balik ko dapat, ang travel authority ko was hanggang March 9. Pero dapat ang tamang balik ko dun ay March 8. Ang alis ko sa Amerika ay March 7.

Bago pa ako umuwi, nangyari na yung pamamaslang sa aming probinsiya sa Negros Oriental. Agad-agad binintang nila sa akin.

Part of this is looking at the usual markers for taste— sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and umami, as well as spiciness, astringency, and oleogustus [pertaining to fat as a medium that carries flavor]—but also knowing that Filipinos have taste markers that cannot be defined by these things, including the specificities of raw fish, of coconut water, of green fruit, of patis with calamansi and sili, of alagaw, of palapa, of pork fat, of pig’s blood, of balut water, of rendered oil from chicken skin, of bagoong, of batwan, of mabolo, of katmon, of bile, of annatto

Ige also talked about how hard it is to put a “standard” to Filipino food. Like the adobo.

Most people think that the adobo comes with bay leaf, with black peppercorns, and with soy sauce, and that all these should be part of the “standard adobo,” but in his studies, he found that the oldest recipes for adobo do not even call for these things. They are recent additions to the dish!

He ended the workshop with the insight that a good sense of local gastronomy involves the following things: valuing the palengke or tianggue as public space and cultural hub; valuing the carinderia as a gastronomic ecosystem of taste, trust, and tradition; valuing nature as being definitive of our food culture, and the source of our traditional and heirloom ingredients; valuing our living food heritage tools, technology, and infrastructure [which may be disappearing fast because of “progress” and politics— citing for example the Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide (ASIN law) which has wrecked havoc on traditional salt-making in the country]; valuing living food heritage methods; valuing farm-toplate eating as a culture of sustainability; and valuing cooks as repository of heirloom ingredients and knowledge.

How do we preserve all these?

By documenting our heritage food in cookbooks, even in rudimentary ways.

By saving our food heritage and culinary traditions as much as we can.

And by telling our food heritage stories.

What was most enriching about the workshop was the chance to convene with like-minded individuals, friends and strangers alike, with whom we shared a similar vision of culinary heritage. We were cooks and divers and writers and entrepreneurs and teachers and chefs and socialites—all supportive of a future that enriches the way we relate to each other, and the way we relate to food. We learned that not every meal should revolutionize our taste buds, and food shouldn’t be a luxury unattainable to a majority. At the very least, a meal should be filling and nutritious at any price point.

What’s terrible about the hellscape we call the present world is that a statement like that feels rebellious when it should be the standard we aspire to.

The workshop with Ige was punctuated with a simple smattering of merienda food sprawled all over a tiny kitchen island table. We had bilao lined with banana leaves serving biko with ginger and calamansi, budbod with muscovado, and linuyang rolled in pinipig and dessicated coconut. We paired these delectable offers with water, coffee, and sweet tuba. All the food were sourced from within Negros Oriental, and made by local cooks and chefs. Everything was delicious.

A final thought with regards sustainability: a great meal can come from any origin, any upbringing. If paying for it means our farmers, fisherfolk, grocers, butchers, bakers, and cooks get to eat their next meal, wouldn’t that make what we eat a little bit better?

Following the assassination of Degamo, the entire 75-member Bayawan City Police force was relieved, with Lt. Col. Stephen Amamaguid named as the new chief, replacing Lt. Col. Rex Moslares.

On March 8, 56 police officers from Sta. Catalina town were also ordered transferred, with a new police chief designated.

The massive relief of police personnel from Negros Oriental came

Diba dapat sa lahat ng imbestigasyon, una ang ebidensiya bago ang suspect? bago ang mastermind? Ano ang nangyari dito sa Negros Oriental? Naglagay na kaagad sila ng suspect, naglagay na kaagad sila ng mastermind, sabay pinahabol yung ebidensiya na tumama sa gusto nilang mastermind at suspect. Hindi dapat ganon. Hiningi ko lang naman fairness at hindi yung ididiin yung isang tao. Hiningi ko rin sana na tingnan lahat ng anggulo.

Ngayon, totoo nga yung sinabi ko, raid nila sa bahay ko, may granada na, may mga baril pa. Sino ba namang tanga ang mag iiwan nung [mga] illegal dun na alam mo namang ire-raid ka, diba? Hindi naman tayo ipinanganak kahapon.

Mga kababayan, mga palangga, kayo na ang mag-isip. Kahit sa mga bashers ko, sa tingin niyo, mag-iiwan ako ng illegal do’n? Kung meron man akong illegal?

Ngayon, bakit ko sinabing tingnan lahat ng anggulo? Dahil natural yun sa imbestigasyon.

Dito sa nangyaring pamamaslang, diretso na agad tinuro sa akin na ang daming tingnan na anggulo. Hindi ko maintindihan bakit hindi sumipot ang mga gwardiya, mga pulis na nakaassign sa kaniya, at sa alam ko, ang dami ring Army na nag babantay kay [Gov. Roel] Degamo.

Sa dinadami ng Army, may detachment pa sa napag alaman ko na malapit na malapit sa bahay niya nung pangyayari iyon. Bakit walang rumesponde?

Isa pa, rinig ko sa isang interview ng kapamilya niya na kaya daw walang mga bodyguard noong oras na yun ay dahil pinakain daw sa taas. Diba kung bodyguard ka, dapat hindi mo iniiwan? At kapamilya ka, bakit mo papaalisin lahat para pakainin? Dapat salitan.

Uulitin ko to nung sinabi ko din sa isang video, nakita natin na yung pumasok, kilala. Kilala nang mga nandon, kahit yung gwardiya lang at nung aso, nag wayway pa yung buntot ng aso.

Eh ngayon, ibibintang niyo sa akin? Tingnan na natin yung mga anggulo ng mga kakilala, kapamilya. Hindi pwedeng nakatuon lang sa isang tao at pagkasyahin niyo dun or ididiin niyo dun ang lahat ng kaso, at ipa insakto niyo yung mga ebidensiya na nahagilap niyo or naimbento niyo. Huwag naman sana ganon.

Sa totoo lang, nakailang reach-out na ako bago pa ang nangyari yung murder sa aming probinsiya; nag reach out na ako kay SILG [Secretary of Interior & Local Government]. Pinadaan ko sa isa naming common na kakilala, hindi ko na lang babanggitin kung sino. Hindi lang isang kakilala, dalawa, tatlo yata ang kinausap ko, walang nangyari.

Bakit ako nag reach-out? Ang sa akin doon, gusto ko lang sana na kung may galit man siya sa akin, peace na! Dahil wala naman akong ginawang dapat niyang ikagalit. Kahit narinig ko na siya daw ang may pakana na kanselahin yung dokumento ng baril ko, still, nag reach out ako na peace na!

Baka nagalit siya nung pinagtanggol ko nung pina-resign ang mga pulis. Nagsabi lang naman ako ng aking feeling na hindi dapat pa resignin ang mga nasa tungkulin ng pulis dahil wala pa naman silang kasalanan. Yung may kasalanan, kasuhan. Parang ginawa silang guilty kahit wala pang kaso, kahit wala pang ebidensiya.

Ang pinagtataka ko rin, bakit ako tina-target bago pa man yung killing? Sabay na nadagdag pa yung killing sa Negros Oriental. Ang ibang naririnig ko lang naman na anggulo ay yung sa e-sabong.

Meron na namang mga tao na gusto nilang ma-solo yung e-sabong, kaya kina-kana nila ako. Matagal ko nang sinabi, matagal na akong wala diyan. Kung gusto ninyong mag e-sabong, mag negosyo kayo. Wala namang pumipigil sa inyo eh! Ewan ko lang kung papayag ba si President BBM.

following the creation of a Special Investigation Task Group that is primarily tasked to investigate the assassination of Degamo.

Interior & Local Government Sec. Benjamin Abalos Jr. earlier said replacing the entire Negros Oriental police force is part of the government’s efforts to restore peace and order in the Province, and the people’s trust in the uniformed personnel. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)

Bakit din ako nagsalita ngayon? Dahil sinabihan ako na may order daw sa Palasyo na idiin ako, lalo na sa killing. Pero bago pa yung killing, may operation na, at may nagsabi din sa akin na may order din daw sa Palasyo.

Sa totoo lang, hindi ako naniniwala na si President BBM mag o-order na tirahin ako or io-operate ako para lang masolo ng ibang tao ang sabong. Hindi ganon si President BBM. Naawa nga ako sa President dahil ginamit pa yung pangalan niya sa gusto lang mag negosyo ng sabong. Mga bossing, wag naman sana ganon.

Mr. President, alam niyo na siguro na masyado akong prangka na tao. Hindi naman tayo ganun magkilala, mas kilala mo yung kapatid ko dahil nagkasama yata kayo sa Congress.

Sa totoo lang, dalawang beses lang tayong nag-meet, Mr. President: Nung barangay captain pa ako for Liga [ng mga Barangay] president, at nung birthday ni Speaker Martin [Romualdez] nilapitan kita.

Hindi man tayo magkakampi noong eleksyon pero nagsalita

ako sa Congress na kung sino man ang nanalo na president, dapat pag-tulungan ng lahat na mag trabaho para sa kapakanan ng atin Inang Bayan.

Alam ko, Mr. President, na wala kayong kinalaman dito; sana lang mapuna niyo ang ibang tao diyan sa gobyerno na ginagamit ang inyong pangalan para sa kanilang pansariling kapakanan. Merong pang mga politico sa amin na ginamit pa yung murder for political mileage. Grabe naman, maawa naman kayo sa kapamilya niyo.

Diba, namatay na nga si Governor Degamo pero ginamit niyo pa for political mileage?

Siguro napansin na din nung iba diyan na yung iba pa live-live pa. Yung isa diyan na nag-live, sabi mo may kwento ka tungkol sa anak ko na si [former Board Member] Kurt. Sa totoo lang, may recording kami nang kwentuhan niyo ni Kurt, pwede naming ilabas kung gusto niyo.

Meron akong tanong: Paano natin makukuha ang totoong hustisya dito? Pareho lang kami ng pamilya Degamo na biktima dito. Biktima sila Degamo; ako din, biktima dahil ginagamit ako ng marami diyan for political mileage.

Sobrang kawawa na ako, ginagamit niyo pa ako sa negosyo, ginagamit niyo pa ako for political mileage. Huwag naman sana!

Yung nag-babalak diyan tumakbo, Senador o kung ano man ang gusto niyo, tumakbo lang kayo, huwag lang kayong manira at gumamit ng ibang tao para sa pansarili niyong kapakanan. Sigurado ako, ayaw ni Presidente BBM yan.

Again, nanawagan ako sa atin mahal na presidente, Mr. President, sobra na yung ginagawa ng ibang tao sa gobyerno sa akin. Masyado na nila akong dinidiin, kinakawawa, at inaapi.

Yung sa congress, ayaw ko sanang sabihin to eh, miyembro ako ng House of Representatives. Ilang araw lang ba ako nagabsent? Bigla lang iqu-question sa Ethics Committee.

Ganito na lang, para patas ang lahat: Bakit hindi natin ilabas ang record ng attendance ng buong 19th, 17th, 18th congress, para makita niyo, para makumbinsi lang ang ibang congressmen, because during the 18th congress, I was Deputy Speaker. Alam niyo ba, kahit sa kasagsagan noong pandemic, pumapasok ho ako physically…. Alam niyo mga kasamahan ko sa Congress, kilala niyo ako, alam niyo kung gaano ako ka totoong tao. Alam niyo kung paano ako magtrabaho. Alam niyo rin kung sino ang pumapasok d’yan, sino ang nag-absent.

Itatanong ko sa Committee on Ethics, bakit si Con. Arnie Teves lang ang inyong kine-question ang attendance? Malinaw na malinaw ang aking paalam at hiling. Ang paalam ko na i-extend, at nag paalam pa ako ng leave sana, dahil hindi ako pinayagan ng aking extension. Inspite na nag re-request ako, pinipilit pa rin akong umuwi.

Nung una, nilabas pa nung Committee na merong direct order si Speaker [Romualdez] sa akin. Alam niyo naman na wala, bakit naglabas pa kayo ng ganon? Obvious na tuloy na may operation against sa akin. Nung una naming nag-usap ni Speaker [Romualdez], ang tagal nga bago siya sumagot. Tinawagan niya ako ilang days na pagkatapos kong tumawag sa kaniya.

Sabi niya sa akin, ang advice niya lang, friendly advice, kung pwede ba daw ako bumalik sa Pilipinas. Sabi niya po proteksiyonan niya ako, pwede pa daw ako tumira sa bahay niya. Sabi ko maraming salamat, Speaker.

Eto rin mensahe ko kay Speaker Martin, Boss, nung una kayo pong tumakbong Speaker, ako yung isa na utusan mo. Alam mo yun. Magka mag-anak pa ang ating mga asawa.

Kanina, pina-sabihan niyo ang aking abogado ng mensahe na kaya ninyo akong i-safe. Hindi naman sa wala akong tiwala sa inyo, pero Speaker, eto lang ang aking tanong at eto lang din ang tanong ko sa sarili ko at sa lahat: Paani niyo ako magagarantiya ang safety ko? Unang-una, tinanggalan ako ng gobyerno ng baril. Tinanggalan ako ng bodyguard. Talagang ilagay natin ang ilang police ba or Army?

Ilang Army, ilang police ang naka-assign kay Governor Degamo? Saan na siya ngayon? Hindi nga siya na secure ng sandamakmak na Army!? Sabay sasabihan niyo ako na kaya niyo akong i-secure? Boss Martin, di ko maintindihan bakit pinipilit niyo akong umuwi.

Sa totoo lang, gusto ko nang umuwi! Boss Mart, sorry, hindi ko kayo mapag-bibigyan sa inyong hiling na umuwi dahil hindi ko puwedeng ipagpalit ang aking buhay sa inyong kahilingan.

Kilala mo ako Boss Mart, kung gaano ako katotoong tao. Alam mo kung paano kita pinagsilbihan, nung Majority leader ka pa lang, dahil hindi tayo nanalo sa pagiging Speaker.

Nakikiusap ako, boss, huwag naman sana niyo akong idiin. Ayokong lumaban sa inyo dahil wala naman akong laban. Sino ba naman si Arnie para lumaban sa gobyerno, kay Speaker, at sino man diyan? Ang kaya ko lang gawin ay magsabi ng katotohanan….

Meron lang akong konting idagdag: Si Boying [Remulla], nagsama tayo sa congress. Kanina ko lang narinig na nag reachout ba ako sa inyo o hindi, sabi niyo hindi. Sige lang, baka hindi niyo nakuha yung mga miss calls ko sa inyo. Nag reach out ako, boss. Bakit hindi ko naman kayo i re-reach out? Iniisip ko kayong kaibigan at alam niyong totoong tao ako.

Secretary [Remulla], alam niyo wala akong problema sa iyong pag gawa ng iyong trabaho bilang DOJ secretary. Isama niyo man ako sa mga suspect sa imbestigasyon, wala akong problema pero ang hiling ko lang, huwag naman ako lang. Lahat ng anggulo, tingnan natin. Hindi si Arnie lang. Ang dapat nating sundin ay ang konstitusyon, na ang tao ay presumed innocent until proven guilty. Hindi dapat rin e-deprive sa freedom at liberties at kung ano pa diyan. Baka naman bigla na lang akong lalabasan ng warrant? Ito pa ang isa kong pakiusap, baka bigyan niyo naman ako labasan ng probable cause. Ang dali gumawa ng ebidensya, ang dali gumawa ng witness. Huwag naman sana. Tingnan niyo muna ang lahat na anggulo. Anyway, lalabas naman ang katotohanan. May sinabi na naman na may bago na naman dawng nahuli or nag surrender na witness. Sa napag-alaman ko, matagal na nilang hawak yung tao na yan, kanina lang nila nilabas para makompleto ang script.

Sinabi ko na, diba, nakita niyo yung kagaling pagpatay. Ganun kagaling ang mga tirador, mahuhuli ng ganon-ganon lang?

Ngayon, ilang batalyon na ang pinadala sa Negros, isa lang yung mahuhuli?

Unti-unti ng nakikita ng mga netizens at ng taong-bayan yung script, huwag niyo naman sana gawing sine ang totoong buhay. Nag-sasakripisyo kayo ng tao para sa palabras niyo. Huwag naman ganon. Ano kaya kung kayo yung nasa lugar ko? Kayo ang ginawang sacrificial lamb? Meron nga akong kilalang isa kasama sa script nung pagpatay kay Degamo para lang madiin ako.

So ngayon, tama na yung script niyo, tama na, dahil obvious na ang lahat ay scripted.

CULINARY CUTS....FROM P. 7

Ige Ramos giving his talk at 58 EJ Blanco.

PNP NEGOR....FROM P. 3

NOTICE OF DELINQUENCY IN THE PAYMENT OF REAL PROPERTY TAX IN BAYAWAN CITY

NOTICE is hereby served pursuant to the provision of section 254 Republic Act No. 7160 The Local Government code of 1991, real property tax due for calendar year 2023 and previous years has become delinquent with respect to the following:

1. The first installment thereof becomes delinquent as of April, 2023.

2. The second installment on July 1, 2023.

3. The third installment on October 1, 2023.

4. The fourth, after 31st of December, 2023.

Under the code, upon the real property tax or installment thereof, becoming delinquent the undersigned is charged to enforce collection of delinquent taxes of year 2022 and previous years and for this purpose empowered to resort to any of the following remedies to satisfy taxes, penalties and cost.

1. Seizure of personal property of taxpayer and sale thereof at public auction;

2. File civil suit with the proper court;

3. Levy on real property and sale of delinquent property or a usable portion thereof at public auction.

However if at any time before any of the above stated remedies is instituted, payment of the delinquent tax or installment thereof and the corresponding penalty hereunder provided is made, it shall free the taxpayer of his property from liability to such auction.

Penalty for delinquency; Failure to pay the real property tax during the period of payment without penalty of quarterly installment thereof shall subject the taxpayer to the payment of interest at the rate of two percent (2%) per month or a fraction thereof.

Further, unless the surcharges and penalties are paid before the expiration of the year for which the taxes due except when the notice of the assessment or special levy is contested administratively or judicially pursuant to the provisions of section 226 R. A. 7160 delinquent real property will be sold at public auction and the title to the property will be vested in the purchaser, subject however, to the right of the delinquent owner of the property or any person having legal interest herein to redeem the property within one year from the date of sale.

DELINQUENT TAXPAYERS are therefore, requested to pay their delinquent tax or installment thereof to forestall filing of judicial action against the delinquency realty owners and/or inclusion of the property in the list of delinquent properties to be sold at public auction.

THIS NOTICE is given for the purpose of filing civil suit with the delinquent taxpayer with the proper court and/ or sale of delinquent properties at public auction.

(sgd.) OPHELIA URIKA R. TRINIDAD Acting City Treasurer

Note: In case payment has already been made on the tax delinquency, please inform the City Treasurer of the official receipts and/ or other evidence supporting the tax payment for recording purposes.

pandemic, and many other local singers and groups [such as Kyle Juliano and Midnasty and the twins Zack x Zeph, and hiphop artists Kalamay Papi, and Massiah] were being snapped up by major recording companies in Manila, or gaining national attention for their performances and videos.

The pandemic virtually put a stop to most of these things. Gone were the concerts. Gone were the albums. Gone were the gigs at the usual places such as Hayahay or El Amigo or Daddy Don’s. The Belltower Project remained in hiatus—its members scrambling to make a living, or to do something else in the long pause of three years. [One opened a bread-and-barbecue joint that became an instant pandemic success.]

By the second year of the pandemic, in 2021, some places returned to restricted operations, and were inviting once more performers to provide musical entertainment for patrons—like Caña at The Bricks Hotel, or for a while at the defunct Sinati at The Flying Fish Hostel. But these all paled in comparison to the pre-pandemic musical scene. The only light that remained were the musical shows the CAC was offering, usually via the internet—and only because Silliman University was still operational despite being largely online, and part of its educational mandate was to provide a cultural component to the Silliman academic experience.

In many ways, the characteristics of musical performances—“have instrument, have space, will play”—enabled CAC to program shows that felt ready-made for a streaming audience, the only way it could be done during the pandemic. The compromise was obvious: it could not devote equal programming to other art forms like the literary arts or visual arts or cinema like it used to—but music and dance and a bit of theatre it could. [Architecture is always hard to program.]

The CAC started what it called its “virtual cultural season” in August 2020—which by then had people losing the pre-pandemic wishful thinking that “all of these would be over by June”—by staging an annual cultural staple that brings together Silliman performers in themed concerts, Silliman Performs

For this year, the show was subtitled Hope for All Mankind . Scheduled to begin streaming on CAC’s Facebook page on Aug. 22nd, it featured a smorgasbord of artists and groups of all stripes, including the SU String Ensemble, SUACONA Chorale, Kwerdas, Orkestra Sin Arco, Men’s Glee Club, Women’s Ensemble, Silliman University Band, SU Campus Choristers, SU Dance Troupe, and the SU Gratitude & Goodwill Ambassadors.

It also had appearances by writers Alfred Yuson and Rowena Tiempo Torrevillas, as well as Alexandra Tuale, the Pacalioga Family, Beth Castillo-Winsor, Lora Espancho, Maria Elcon Kleine Koerkamp, Katrina Marie Saga, and representatives of Silliman alumni chapters in UAE, Hawaii, Thailand, and others.

The mélange of the enterprise was perhaps a necessary answer to the pandemic ravages, which was still at its voracious peak—and it was basically a call for solidarity and community, a balm for frayed nerves, and a nostalgia trip for those seeking that kind of comfort.

Later on, in October 2020, CAC began putting on streaming versions of older shows, like Amapalaya the Musical, the Michael Dadap play based on the children’s book by Augie Rivera Jr., and The Story of Dumpawa’s Lullaby in October 2020, a musical revue I wrote based on Folk Songs of the Visayas by Priscilla Magdamo with a Manobo tale of a rat in search of a lullaby to bookend it.

Christian Gonzales, Charles Abing, Casmelyn Quicoy, Allen Diadem Chesed Jovita, Alexis Faye Pal, Agape Manigsaca-Labuntog, Ricardo Abapo Jr., Winfred Quir, Romer Pielago, Michelle Dana Sabellina, Joji Jumawan Tonko, Lemoine Rey Poligrates, Kent Luigi Orbeta, Johann Rey Beira, Guide Dadang, Erik Johann Riconalla, and of course, the mother-daughter tandem of Isabel Dimaya Vista and Elizabeth Susan Vista Suarez. In May, to celebrate 80 years of COPVA’s Voice Department, CAC streamed Tinubdanan: Usa Ka Pasundayag nga Birtwal sa Atong Mga Huning Kabilin, a show “crafted to revive and relive the beauty and existence of Visayan folk songs as these songs born from the womb of our Visayan culture slowly become forgotten.”

In August, the CAC opened its 59th cultural season with another virtual programming, starting with Silliman Performs: Cradle of Faith, Justice, and Culture and by “cradle” it meant the Silliman Amphitheatre, the space in campus in front of the Silliman Church which originated many of the university’s cultural programs from its beginning decades, and which in 2021 was turning a hundred years old. It was a momentous occasion to showcase Silliman performing arts, even if it was still a streamed event—but it also boasted of online appearances by Lea Salonga, Gary Valenciano, and National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab, who has maintained a close connection with the music people at Silliman over many decades.

In October, CAC streamed Bisayaw: A Visayan Folk Dance Festival, featuring the dance repertoire of the SU Dance Troupe and the musical gifts of the SU Rondalla. In November, it streamed Reverie: A Tapestry of Celebrated Art Songs, performed and recorded live at the Romeo P. Ariniego Art Gallery, billed as the “first full production concert in the venue,” and featuring the Cantare Vocé quintet led by soprano Katrina Marie Saga, together with the SU String Ensemble and the SU Campus Choristers under Elizabeth Susan VistaSuarez, and featuring the Philippine Madrigal Singers’ Mark Anthony Carpio. In December, it streamed Jazz Christmas, featuring the Silliman University Jazz Band under Joseph Albert Basa.

By February 2022, almost a full two years since the lockdowns began and with the pandemic showing no signs of slowing, the Valentine Songwriting Competition, which had been faithfully staged at the Luce for many years, did not show up on the cultural calendar—save for a Feb. 18 showcase, titled Of Love, Music, and Lyrics: Original Music Compositions, which aimed to celebrate the 30-year stretch of the longrunning competition. But, seemingly guilted into reconsidering a Valentine season without the annual competition, a real contest was finally slated for March 13—and tagged the understandable lateness in scheduling as “never too late for love songs!” The same two categories from the previous year’s competition were retained, with Cris Aguilar winning Best Song for Closer, and Adrien Rey Urciada winning Best Music Video for Mahay.

In April, CAC streamed Sonic Quest, a showcase of original compositions and arrangements by Silliman composers, including Jovy Leo O. Mulaan, Kaye Bernadette Banguis, Miguel Dizo, Janus Arthur [Onin], Myo Aung, Jhon James Dayak, Levi Alaban, Lee Albertino “Chino” Añiga, Odoni Pestelos, Jem Talaroc , and Algernon Van Peel. In May, it streamed Ating Pamana/Our Heritage, a celebration of Filipino music and dance heritage, including creative interpretations of beloved Original Pilipino Music. In July, it streamed a replay of Reverie: A Tapestry of Celebrated Art Songs

In August, CAC hosted a lecture demonstration and concert of the McClosky Institute of Voice, featuring Priscilla Magdamo. Also that August, a pandemic milestone. After more than two years of performing virtually, CAC’s cultural calendar was now doing a shift: it was returning to the Luce Auditorium. The herald of that return was Silliman Performs: Cantate Domino playing on August 25th and 26th, and featuring many of the performers that have endeavored to continue a viable cultural program online. In October, CAC co-sponsored with the CCP a program titled The Balitaw of Negros Oriental, a look at the extemporaneous expression of traditional Visayan courtship, featuring balitaw performers from Maloh, Siaton; Jimalalud High School; Sook, Ayungon; and Dumaguete City High School. In November, it hosted a music theory workshop with Maestro Ryan Cayabyab, who was returning to Dumaguete for the first time in person since December 2018.

In December, the organizers behind the Valentine Songwriting Competition launched a return to normal programming by presenting Pagdasig sa Gugma: Love Through the Ages, an open-mic event at the Ariniego Art Gallery foyer. Later that month, CAC would restage Jazz Christmas with the Silliman University Big Band, this time with a full production at the Luce Auditorium.

& the Arts spearheaded an online concert titled True Colors, featuring Abuhuni Choir, timed for the opening of its academic year in 2020, and ended the year with the A Very Special Christmas Celebration online concert, focusing on The Christmas Pageant by Rev. Jeanne Mcintosh, and also featuring the Abuhuni Choir, the Abuhuni Marching Band, and the Buglasayaw Dance Troupe. In 2021, there would be musical participations in the university’s regular cultural roster, including Saulog Artes in February, Padayon in April, and Kasadyaan in December, and the same slate in 2022—all virtual.

The truth of the matter is, even given the hardships of the pandemic, the astounding cultural grind at Silliman could continue on, blessed with a cultural leadership who undertook savvy creative choices that accepted the limitations of the pandemic and made something viable of the challenges, and bolstered by a shift to an online platform that readily showcased performances that had no need of the physicality of audiences. Still, it should be apt to take note that many of these performers unstintingly rose to the occasion upon invitation, and always “for the love of Silliman.” And yet, despite this abundance of cultural showcases, the reception in the greater community of Dumaguete remained largely muted. Unless you were an alumnus and followed the CAC Facebook posts with religion, you would not know what exactly was going on in campus, even virtually.

That’s actually a longstanding pre-pandemic problem—engaging the greater Dumaguete community with Silliman’s cultural calendar—but the pandemic itself did not cure it. “It’s not without reason to think of Silliman sometimes as an island into itself. It’s terribly insular,” says D., a medical doctor. COPVA aside, other music schools in town definitely felt the pandemic pinch. FunShop Dumaguete, a 20-year-old music tutoring center founded by Gina Raakin and associates and headquartered at the Bandera Building along Jose Pro Teves Street, knew the lockdown meant shifting lessons somehow online [not always a viable alternative for music learning], and soon, if the lockdown continued, less enrollment to their classes. But FunShop persevered, finding ways to make the limitations work, staging recitals like music videos and other endeavors, and even staging concerts with players on separate cameras playing music together.

It was the same with the Jay Cyrus Creative Studios, which now occupies reduced space at the compound of the old Emilio Macias Building [formerly a hospital] along Manuel L Teves Street, which has been taken over with some totality by a BPO. The enrollment dwindled—but a steadfast spirit that believed that things would get better was key. One needed faith to survive the pandemic. It was faith that opened the doors to other opportunities for Jay Cyrus Villanueva and his wife, Christine Remata, [Wowee to friends].

At the beginning of the third running year of the pandemic, Wowee and Jay Cyrus Villanueva of the eponymous music school in Dumaguete stumbled on a chance of a lifetime. It was an opportunity to open an extensive performance space—and house the music school—at the old Bejar house along Hibbard Avenue in the heart of Piapi, right beside the public elementary school, a picturesque heritage structure cocooned in a vast compound. They imagined a stage gracing the extensive front lawn. They imagined a restaurant at the old garage. They imagined a lounge café in the first floor, complete with an intimate performance space. They imagined a studio and the school in the second floor. Their imagination ran towards the miraculously wonderful, so much so that only one name seemed perfect for the endeavor: Chadaa: Music and Dreams.

random. I was in a car with my sister Therese Christine, and we were driving past this house, and she said: ‘Kanindot ani na lugar butangan ug something!’ Little did we know that fast forward to a few months, we got the exact same place, and now it is Chadaa.” And all it took, really, was an invitation of some sort from her father, Nestor T. Remata, and his best friends John Rojo and Nelson Cuñado, who all expressed an interest in investing in “something fun.” She immediately took the bait, showed them the property of her dreams, and broached the idea of a performance space—a step up from her and Jay’s dreams that for her seemed both like a “revelation and evolution.”

When the financing came through, she knew she wanted to preserve the old Bejar house as is, because its structure was already beautiful. It just needed a specific color scheme to pop out—and they settled on a particular marine blue that was at once arresting and cool, a vibe they were inspired by their love for the film La La Land, and for a certain old New Orleans jazz bar, and for The Blue Note in New York City.

The pandemic also defined their drive to succeed. “I believe that the pandemic has made an effect on us, because it has given us a thirst for bringing back the vibrant music scene in Dumaguete,” Ms. RemataVillanueva says. “We want to widen the horizons of musicians here, provide a good place for music majors and all other artists—and not just waste their degrees and end up working at a call center—not that there is anything wrong with that! We want to provide a place where artists can really practice and hone what they have studied over the years and work on their passion.”

Today, Chadaa’s slate is still very much a work in progress—after declaring Wednesdays as Broadway Nights, they have just declared Saturday nights to be their Theatre Night [also for comedy specials and improv performances]—and their recently launched Jazz Nights on Fridays drew in a record number of attendees.

In the meantime, since their launch in July 2022, they have hosted a variety of concerts, starting with saxophonist Joefre C. from Cebu and jazz musicians Mike Tambasen Project from Bacolod. Willfreedo would do its tenth anniversary concert in Chadaa, and the venue became a favorite performance space for a rotating number of singers and bands, including Enchi, Lagkaw Project, Ysabelle Lucero and Jordan Lim, Zia Mandi and Seth Gadiana [of Zamboanga], Carlos Zialcita and Blues Oriental, the Silliman University Jazz Band with Joseph Albert Basa, Julsduo [of Bohol], J-Squad, Julia, Crossroad Band, Pureplay, Jayson & Jamie, Nyords, All for Jordan, Chelsea Dawn, The Blues Bringer, The Quizo Family Singers, 3 of a Kind, Standout, and the in-house musical group Jay Cyrus Squad [formerly Jay Cyrus Entertainment].

The Belltower Project hosted their return from the pandemic doldrums in a Jan. 28 concert celebrating their tenth anniversary in Chadaa. One of their pioneering members, Ms. Curran, had returned for a visit to Dumaguete—and the gang hastily took it as a chance to get back together, and to push plans to revive the Belltower Project brand and get back to the business of defining [and redefining] the Dumaguete sound. Their return concert was titled Decimo—perfect for a tenth anniversary gig, eschewing their usual homebase of Hayahay to this new concert place in Piapi. Performing together for the first time in years were some of BTP’s member bands, including Willfreedo, Finpot, Chelsea Dawn, Hopia, YONA, Trigger Gypsies, 3rd String, Own the Spot, and Chocodog Invasion, preceded by a songwriters jam early that afternoon. For many, the reunion show was virtually the fantastical end of the pandemic, a musical get-together to recollect and recharge.

In November, it streamed Timeless Arias , showcasing operatic performances by COPVA musical artists. In December, it streamed Gleeful Christmas, featuring the Campus Choristers, the Men’s Glee Club, the Women’s Ensemble, the Concert Band, and the String Ensemble.

Around this time, it was gearing up for the launch of the first-ever virtual edition of the Valentine Songwriting Competition, scheduled for streaming on February 2021—this time, tweaking the regular format of the contest by focusing on the award for an overall Best Song [and scuttling the original Best Composer, Best Interpreter, and Best Arranger awards in the process], but also adding a Best Music Video award. It was all reflective of the pandemic lockdown necessities. Even in the challenges of the pandemic, the usual slate of ten finalists was filled. A People’s Choice category was also tacked on. On competition date, the song When Quarantine Ends by Shanice Nicole Caballes won the People’s Choice award, with Melchizedek Lozarita II’s Huling Yakap winning both Best Song and Best Music Video—a windfall of P30,000 cash prize [a third of that for the latter award].

Also in February 2021, true to the Zoom-centered cultural productions common of the time, Mr. Abrio would also organize for the CAC a webinar on Accessing Visayan Folksongs as Pedagogical Resources for Music and Mother Tongue-Based Instruction, together with Ms. Vista-Suarez and Matilda Limbaga-Erojo as facilitators.

Around this time, the CAC finally put the finishing touches on its own website—which was many years in conception, but took a pandemic to finally put to reality: here, patrons could be invited to buy virtual tickets, and also to watch the streaming shows.

Its first show using the website was a concert of Filipino art songs titled Kundiman at Iba Pa in March, again featuring singers from COPVA and other units in Silliman. In April, it streamed Piknik, a piano concert celebrating the 80th anniversary of Silliman’s Piano Program—“covering a wide range of genres from the masterful classical solos, arrangement of kundiman and folk songs, up to the sweeping OPM ballads,” and featuring many of the talented alumni of that program, including Gina Raakin, Enrico Riconalla,

The return of the Valentine Songwriting Competition to the Luce stage in February 2023 also meant a return to the old categories—with prizes for Best Composition, Best Arrangement, and Best Interpretation, and the subsequent retirement of the Best Music Video category. Julia Faith Joaquin won for the song Pangandoy, arranged by Jules Steven Josol. Gabrielle Moreno won Best Interpretation for her performance of her song Mangga, perhaps the first horny song ever sung on the VSC stage, arranged by John Rafael Doroteo. And Natalya Songcal won Best Arrangement for the song Moonlit Dew, composed by Jeyah Mae Culanag. Later that month, Musikapuluhan would also return in full force at the Luce, this time with a series of concerts titled Keep the Music Playing: Young Artists Series, with shows featuring Sara Maria Gonzales on the violin, John Paolo Anorico on the cello, and Ricardo Abapo Jr. on the piano on the 24th; Gabriel Allan and Ferros Paguirigan in The Chopin I Love: A Piano Concert on the 25th; and Michael Angelo Valenciano on the 26th. The program culminated on the 28th with Handulantaw: A Festival of Contemporary and Traditional Music and Dance Today

But it would be disingenuous to compare CAC’s efforts with other similar bodies in Dumaguete, given Silliman’s resources and network. The city’s other educational and cultural institutions did rise to the challenge, facing the pandemic with cultural productions that defied the odds, some with more extensive efforts than others—and most of them virtual.

One such commendable project was Hinalad Music Ministry’s offering of a Holy Week-timed music video, Sa Krus, in 2022, which transcended university borders and mixed in musical efforts by a variety of Dumaguete music people—including Jean CuananNalam [the composer], Gina Raakin [the arranger], Juni Jay Timbacan [the orchestrator, sound designer and mixer]], Nikki Cimafranca [the director], Benjie Kitay and Kirk Antony Tebio [the videographers], and Dave Jan Fabe [the producer, with Cuanan-Nalam], featuring performances by Alexi Miraflor, Mary Anne Esquierdo, Majal Tagumpay Uriarte, Manuel Jarabe Jr., and Hope Tinambacan.

In Foundation University, its Office for Culture

In Binisaya, tsada-a means something delightful, brilliant, magnificent, astonishing, ideal. In many ways, Chadaa as a performance and events venue was a wonderful pandemic fluke— and a leap of faith. But it is also something that seemed to be long time in coming, especially for Ms. Remata-Villanueva. Born in Cebu City but with Oriental Negrense roots, she had always considered Dumaguete to be home. She was four years old when her family moved to Dumaguete from Cebu, a very specific choice since her father actually landed an opportunity to work as general manager for Pepsi in Bacolod. But their grandparents were here, and they didn’t want to move elsewhere—and thus the choice of Dumaguete stood. Ms. Remata-Villanueva earned her basic education from St. Paul’s, and went on to college at Silliman University, where she majored in Speech & Theatre. Music was something deeply embedded in her passions, and this was the only choice for her: “Ever since grade school, I have been singing—which elevated to my love for music in general, most especially musical theatre and jazz,” she says. “After graduation, I took a few musical theatre workshops with Trumpets Manila, but mostly my exposure to theatre had been with Silliman, under the mighty directorship of the late Evelyn Aldecoa, my mentor and most favorite teacher.” She would meet—and marry—Jay Cyrus Villanueva, Dumaguete’s top saxophonist who is a COPVA graduate, and who earned everyone’s delight by opening his own music tutorial center in Dumaguete, Jay Cyrus Creative Studios, which grew quickly and became a success. [This year, it celebrates its tenth anniversary.] For Wowee, marriage to a budding music mogul meant being absorbed into the operations of the school, something she was already wont to do because of her extensive musical background. She became a coach for voice lessons, and eventually became the manager of the school. She also sang for events under Jay Cyrus Entertainment [now the Jay Cyrus Squad], a pop/jazz/funk band in Negros Oriental—and together with her husband, were the faces and voices of the pandemic Christmas music video the Dumaguete City Tourism Office released in 2020.

Dumaguete remained a center for their musical aspirations. “Jay and I love Dumaguete because of how rich our culture is here,” she says. “We want to be part of it and grow with it, especially that there are all these amazing artists here that truly inspire. They have personalities that humble you, and even ignite you to become even more creative and passionate. Dumaguete represents endless artistic and cultural possibilities.”

With that always in their minds, both had always dreamed of putting up a recital place of their own for their JCCS students. They envisioned a place where guests would be treated to eclectic experiences, from theatrical performances to stand-up comedy, from open-mics to music concerts with jazz bands, opera singers, classical pianists, and string quartets. “I can imagine having a solo cellist on a beautiful morning or a lazy afternoon in Chadaa,” she says. “What we want is to be able to provide and create an elevated atmosphere to showcase amazing talents in Negros and beyond.”

Finding the spot was a fluke that might be considered prophetic. “This location in Piapi was so

It was an epic night of Dumaguete music. Tara De Leon, writer and music aficionado, recalls “ the makeshift wall of tarpaulin obscure[ing] the venue, but the numerous cars and motorcycles that lined the street ‘revealed’ what was waiting inside” Chadaa. She says: “It wasn’t surprising, while Dumaguete seems to be teeming with live music performances, there was a certain hunger for that local flavor that the Belltower Project could only deliver and Decimo satiated that seemingly decade-long itch. Old fans of BTP nodded and acknowledged each other as if no time had passed, the familiar electric atmosphere welcoming us all home. The best part was the new young faces that dotted the concert grounds, full of energy and eager for local music—the bright future that will carry on the love and support for the local music community.”

Decimo triggered memories and hopes in equal measure, and perhaps also reminded everyone of the greater cause of Belltower Project. It was also a trigger of sentiments—and love. At the peak of the night, YONA’s Lorie Jayne Soriano received a proposal from her longtime partner [and co-band member], and tearfully accepted. Later, she would write of the whole thing:

“We [could] count the [number of] people who knew what we were going through lately. They didn’t know [Enrique Morelos Jr. and I] broke up a few weeks ago, cutting our six-and-a-half-year relationship. It got us so confused and messed up at some point, and the reason we still continued seeing each other was because we were part of the same band. So we had to be professional and show up at every rehearsal, performing our maoy songs na both of us could already relate… And then finally Decimo [came]. The event was a reunion of our Belltower Project community, the same community of musicians na nahimong reason why we met in the first place back in 2016. So many flashbacks! I was just enjoying every moment of the event because I was already thinking about what [Enrique] said that [he] might leave Dumaguete real soon. So while I was already tipsy, I had the courage to tell [him] something, and I whispered in [his] ear: ‘Kabalo ka, no? Dili ko ka imagine ug other person na kauban diri, ikaw ra.’ I really wanted to cry. After looking in [his] eyes, my heart was aching so badly I decided to go [to] where my friends [were]. [When] Willfreedo [performed], [he] knew how I loved seeing them perform up close… and there was [him] looking [at] me [at the corner]. Willfreedo played ‘I Will Make You Katawa’: Bisan always ta mag away/ Bisan mag-argue ta kanunay/ Higugmaon tika hantod magulang ta.

“...Wala na ko kapugong, nakalingi ko [niya]… And then they played ‘Dumzville.’ [He was] pushing me to go to the front kay gi-acknowledge ko ni Kuya Norris as their [music video] director before. Ug sa dihang niluhod naman intawon [si Enrique] sa kilid. Mura ko’g malipong ngano [syang] niluhod, nag sagol-sagol na ang naa sa akong utok, ngano man ni siya nga gabulag naman mi! And then I heard [him] talk... Samot ko na-confused! Wala na ko kadungog unsa to [iya] gisulti specifically, pero galantaw ko’s [iyang] mga mata, [and] I saw [his] sincerity. Tinuod gyud diay ang feeling na murag mawala sa [imong] panlantaw ang ubang tawo. And then [he] finally asked the question... [It was] a very memorable night, indeed. Nisulod and ni-perform [mi] nga single sa Chadaa, nigawas [mi] na engaged.”

That was a memorable January night of music and dreams—a fulfillment of Ms. Soriano’s love, and Mr. Tinambacan’s hopes, and Ms. Remata-Villanueva’s wishes.

In September, the world finally comes to Dumaguete in celebration of choral music—and fulfilling, finally, Mr. Abrio’s aspirations. Distill all of that into a perfect timpla, and you get the Dumaguete sound.

The shadow puppetry for The Story of Dumpawa’s Lullaby being filmed before its online streaming in October 2020