Merry Christmas
Friday, December 25, 2009
It's 3.40 am Christmas morn - I just wanted to jot down some notes before calling it a night. It has been a great Christmas Eve spent first by attending a Christmas worship service, then spending the rest of the evening at the house of one of my sisters here in Maryland. For the first time in many, many years, Maryland actually out-snowed Illinois. Click on the photo taken from one of my sister's houses. They haven't dared remove the accumulated snow at their deck. It's more than a foot high.
Fantastico. Merveilleux. Wunderschön. Exquisito. Now, I'm running out of European superlatives to describe the beautiful Sagada pictures from the 
The daughter of our next door neighbor here in Illinois, a teenager, alerted us on the death of Marky Cielo on December 7, 2008. I immediately checked the news and on the next days, my wife and I were glued to Youtube and other Filipino showbiz websites as news of the young Igorot's death, and various speculations surround it, dominated the networks until his funeral more than a week later. It was a shocking event - a young very promising actor at the peak of his career found dead by his mother on his bedroom. There were many speculations about his death and to date, the family has refused to provide additional details except that he was found lying on the floor of his bedroom and that he was rushed immediately to the hospital. It has been a year now - in a few days, as is the custom of Igorots and I believe most Filipinos in general, his 1st death anniversary will be observed by at least, his family members and closest friends. 
The Sagada pottery trade is featured in an article in the BusinessWorld website. A 53-piece exhibition called "UB UBBO" is highlighting "contemporary work by six indigenous potters from Sagada". All 53 pieces, made almost entirely from Sagada resources, are among the first to be fired in a wood-burning kiln constructed with funding from the Australian Embassy. The exhibit is currently on view at the Le Soufflé Restaurant and Wine Bar, The Fort, Bonifacio Global City until Dec 5, 2009. The organizer, clay artist Pablo Capati has praised Sagada's pottery tradition. "Sagada people are among the top potters in the Philippines in terms of knowledge, technique, and style," he said. "They really put their thoughts and culture into their work". Sagada visitors can join information sessions or buy stoneware from the Sagada town center. Article Reference: 
There is a Sagada - Bontoc - Banaue tour advertised at the PhilEcoTourism blog scheduled for December 27 to 29, 2009. I've copied and pasted the full trip information on this blog post. 
I've just added the 
I join the outrage at what is being dubbed as the Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao, Philippines. The cold-blooded murder of at least 57 innocent people is cowardly, inhuman, and evil. The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called the Maguindanao massacre the single deadliest event for journalists in history. Google News Search has the developments as its top story today, several days after the killings were first reported. 4,300 articles have been reported about it - majority of them from the AFP, Reuters, Philippine, European, and American media sources. The Ampatuan massacre already has a Wikipedia page. The primary suspect in the massacre, Andal Ampatuan, Jr is in government custody. There's a lot of skepticism on whether the Philippine government can bring justice to the victims and their families. The family of the primary suspect is a friend and a close political ally of Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. With the international media and the local opposition scrutinizing the developments of this story, a whitewash is hopefully averted. Watch the Youtube video below on the Ampatuan Massacre from Al Jazeera. 
While I was washing the dishes a couple of weekends ago, my wife hinted of how much fun it would be if our family were to spend the week of Thanksgiving in Maryland – where my 3 older sisters and their families live. I immediately shot down the “absurd” idea because – we were trying to minimize our spending; I was working that week; we had several appointments scheduled; and the idea of driving 12 hours was tiresome knowing that we would be travelling to Maryland for Christmas and New Year anyway. But the wife was persistent and as any married man with an iota of wisdom would know, the overall health of the whole family depends largely on the mood of the mother. In Tagalog, 
In a recent Manila Bulletin article, the Department of Tourism (DOT) in the Philippine Cordillera region indicated that Sagada's hanging coffins and limestone caves are amongst the region's popular tourist attractions. Sagada was the only town mentioned from Mountain Province. Other attractions of note are the city of Baguio, the Banaue rice terraces, white water rafting in Kalinga, the strawberry and flower farms in La Trinidad, Benguet, the mummies at Benguet's Kabayan caves, and trekking to the Philippines' second highest peak - Mount Pulag. The list of foreign tourist arrivals in the past years are topped by those from European countries. Other foreign visitors come from the USA, Russia, China, Korea, Japan and Germany.
The Igorot city of Baguio is in the showbiz limelight. Abs-Cbn.com has reported that new pictures of boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and alleged mistress, the sexy starlet Krista Ranillo has emerged. The photo was apparently taken at the Manor Hotel in Baguio City. Three pictures posted in the Abs-Cbn.com website show Manny Pacquiao, Krista Ranillo, and Krista's father, Matt Ranillo dining alongside other unidentified people. The photos were supposed to have been taken in September when Pacquiao was in Baguio City training for his November 14 fight with Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico.
Check out the latest blogs and news on the Igorot and Igorot-landia using sagada-igorot.com's Feedburner feeds.
Check out the latest blogs and news on Sagada using sagada-igorot.com's Feedburner feeds.
Sagada is one of the ten towns of Mountain Province in the Cordillera Region of Northern Philippines. It has a population of about 10,000 divided into its 19 barangays. The barangays are Aguid, Ambasing, Ankileng, Antadao, Balugan, Bangaan, Dagdag (Pob.), Demang (Pob.), Fidelisan, Kilong, Madungo, Poblacion (Patay), Pide, Nacagang, Suyo, Taccong, Tanulong, Tetepan Norte, and Tetepan Sur. 
"They rise up to the heavens... giant steps leading to the sky..."
On the way to Ambasing, one of Sagada's 19 barangays, limestone karts cliffs dotted with pine trees dominate the landscape as seen in the this photograph. On these cliffs, perched precariously on a wedge, four or five coffins are arranged in a pile. The oldest one is more than a century old; the latest addition was put into place decades ago. It belonged to a lady from Demang (another Sagada barangay) who happens to be a great-aunt of this webmaster. 
Underneath Sagada is a network of limestone caves and subterranean streams. These caves were created by water eroding whole limestone mountains over a period spanning thousands of years. Some caves are dry, as if the underground rivers that have created them disappeared. However, these caves are dry simply because the water has found another channel by seeping through the mountain and emptying through numerous small watery caves. 
There are two prominent waterfalls in Sagada; the smaller but older BOKONG situated in the outskirts of the central barangay of Patay, and the more majestic but younger BOMOD-OK, located in the northern barangay of Bangaan.
I’m posting my list of 9 can’t-miss sites for any Sagada visitor. This list is in just one webpage in the sagada-igorot.com website, but I’m splitting it into 2 blog posts. It may take around 3-4 days to visit and enjoy these places. I’m listing the first 4 in this post; the list includes an American-established institution, rice paddies carved out of whole mountainsides, an unusual burial place, and a huge limestone cave. 
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