Zamboanga Lifestyle

Zamboanga City keeps up with the Metro scene with its restaurants serving luscious meals and night spots for entertainment. Watch the video to give you glimpse of the lifestyle in Zamboanga.

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Happy Slip has Arrived

Christine "Happy Slip" Gambito has finally arrived in the Philippines to serve as a Tourism Ambassador. I'm actually very excited for her. I've seen her recent video and saw the other side of Christine. She brought laughter to us a lot of times, but in that video she just expressed how she truly felt coming to her parents' homeland.

It really amazes me that Filipinos living abroad feel proud about our country. Happy Slip serves as a reminder for us Filipinos living here in the Philippines to appreciate the country even more. God bless Christine on your work as our newest tourism ambassador. Kudos also to the Filipino parents abroad for making sure that their children would always be proud of their roots!

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Happy Slip is Coming Home

The Fil-am Youtube and Internet star Christine "Happy Slip" Gambito is coming home to the Philipines courtesy of the Department of Tourism. She is scheduled to visit Manila, Nueva Ecija, Tagaytay and the beaches of Boracay, Bohol and Palawan. I hope that she will be posting her adventures while visiting the PI. I wonder if her Dad, Mom and Tita would come too. It would be so much fun. :)

See her video here. Read more...

Congratulations Philippines

Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin won the Women's World Cup of Golf. Congratulations pinays! We are proud of you. Photo courtesy of www.dorothydelasin.com. Read more...

Migratory Birds Flock in Zamboaga's Electrical Wires

When you visit Zamboanga and you roam around the "pueblo" at night, you will be amused in the thousands of birds resting on the electrical wires. I haven't seen any other place in the Philippines that experience this unique happening. Accordingly, this birds migrated from nearby countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. Read more...

"Dancing Inmates" perform Sinulog Dance

To give tribute to the patron saint of Cebu, the internationally known inmates of Cebu performed a sinulog dance. A request was made to allow the dancing inmates to perform in the Cebu Sports Complex but to no avail. Personally, I understand the point of the City Mayor for not approving the request. It's better to be safe than sorry.

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Pit Señor! Sinulog 2008

The world famous Sinulog Festival of Cebu has already started. My mom and sister is actually on their way to Cebu for the celebration. For them it is convenient because my brother lives in the city. As my tribute to the festival, below is a video of a Sinulog Festival dance performed by my students during the Atfest 07. For more information about the festival please visit http://www.sinulog.ph.

Photo courtesy of Sinulog Festival 2008 Website

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Bienvenidos a Zamboanga: Asia's Latin City

"Bienvenidos a Zamboanga" means "Welcome to Zamboanga". Zamboanga City is a melting pot for different cultures. It is considered as one of the earliest cities in the country.

Many people fear in coming to Zamboanga due to "peace and order problem". A lot of them are not really aware of the beauty it poses and how peaceful the place is. This miseducation is basically brought about the negative image portrayed in the different networks.

Let me invite you to watch the video below to introduced you to the wonderful and beautiful city of Zamboanga. I give credit to my students for producing this video.

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Philippine Tourism Industry Revenue for 2007

Tourist arrivals breach three-million mark in 2007

STATE TOURISM data show that 8.7% more tourists arrived last year over 2006, spending 40% more than total tourist expenditures recorded in 2006.

The summary of the Tourism department’s yearend report showed that tourist arrivals breached the 3-million mark after staying within the 2-million territory from 2004-2006.

Specifically, number of arriving tourists rose 8.7% to 3.091 million last year from 2.843 million in 2006.

The 2006 figure was 8.4% more than 2.623 million in 2005, which in turn was 14.4% more than the 2.291 million recorded in 2004.

Tourists last year spent a total of $4.885 billion, or 40% more than the $2.622-billion tourist spending recorded in 2006. Last year’s amount was also nearly a third more than the $3.782-billion target set for 2007.

The 2006 amount was 17% more than the $2.236 billion in 2005, which in turn was 12% more than the $1.99 billion recorded in 2004.

The Tourism department targets tourist spending to rise to $5.8 billion this year.

The top 10 tourist sources last year were:

• South Korea, with arrivals increasing 14.2% year-on-year to 653,310, accounting for 21.1% of total tourist arrivals;
• US, rising 2% to 578,983 and accounting for 18.7%;
• Japan, actually dropping 6.4% to 395,012 and accounting for 12.8%;
• China, rising 18% to 157,601 and accounting 5.1%;
• Australia, rising 11% to 112,466 and accounting for 3.6%;
• Taiwan, dropping 2.4% to 112,206 and also accounting for 3.6%;
• Hong Kong, rising 16.3% to 111,948 and accounting also for 3.6%;
• Singapore, rising 15.9% to 94,008 and accounting for 3%;
• Canada, rising 13.4% to 91,308 and also accounting for 3%; and
• the United Kingdom, increasing 16.3% to 79,670 and making up 2.6%.

Russians posted the biggest jump, doubling (128%) from 2006.

The GMA News, Saksi, reported that the tourism industry earned higher than the BPO industry. It's amazing to know that foreigners really love our country. I hope all Filipinos will also find our country beautiful. Read more...

3 Philippine Cities: top Asian Cities in the Future

The capital cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao are included in the promising Asian cities according to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Magazine. The cities of Quezon, Cebu and Davao were listed as 7th, 8th and 10th respectively. Hong Kong earns the title of Asian city of the future with Sydney picking up the race.

While browing FDI's website, I also learned that Naga City was named as the most cost-effective city and Davao was awarded as runner-up. Naga's low cost labor and facilities yet world-class offer investors a good bargain. Read more...

Kudos to MMDA's Pink Lines

This time, the chair of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is bent on painting all the sidewalks of major and secondary roads around the metropolis with two-inch pink lines.

His objective: stopping drivers from parking their cars on the sidewalks.

Aptly dubbed the "Pink Line Project," the undertaking would be part of MMDA's effort to strictly enforce illegal parking laws, Fernando said.

"Let us now return the sidewalks to the people who face the risk of being sideswiped by running vehicles because they cannot walk freely on the sidewalks," he said in a statement. "This is the best way to instill discipline in some uncaring people who disregard the law and wantonly inconveniencing their fellowmen."

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view_article.php?article_id=87965

I hope this policy will be strictly implemented. Hopefully during my next visit in Manila, I can already see changes in the streets of the Metro. :)

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December 2007 Dapitan Tour Guiding

Last Christmas, two (2) of my students from Zamboanga City visited Dapitan City. Since I was at home during the holidays, I volunteered to tour them around the city. Jet is from Dipolog City so she has been to some of the places. On the other hand, Franz who is originally from Manila had a great time since it was her first time in Dapitan.

Our first stop was the Rizal Park. During the 4-year exile of Jose Rizal in Dapitan City, he was able to buy this property when he won in a lottery. In this area, he was able to built a clinic, a school and a home.

Our next stop was the St. James Parish Church which was built by the Jesuits in 1883 during the Spanish period in the Philippines by the Jesuits. The church symbolizes the early Christianization of Dapitan. It still looks the same as the building where Rizal heard mass. Jet and Franz had the opportunity of climbing the "veranda" to be able to see the top view of the church interior.

Right across the church is the relief map of Mindanao which is another landmark in the city. The visitors were able to trace the path they took from Zamboanga City to Dapitan City. The map is part of the City Plaza which Rizal helped designed. In fact, some of the trees that Rizal planted are still standing in the plaza. I also showed them the Dapitan City Cultural and Multi-Purpose Center. During our visit, carpenters were preparing the stage for the Mutya ng Handuraw search.

A few meters from the city plaza are the Spanish style houses. I took them at the ancestral home of the Adaza's which serves as a satellite office of the Department of Tourism for Region IX.

Our next stop was the Gloria de Dapitan which a commercial and recreational complex. We rode on a tricycle going to Gloria. Franz was amazed with how much the tricycle ride costs. In Dapitan, the tricy fare is only PhP6 within the city proper. It is very cheap compared with the tricy ride in Zamboanga.

It was unfortunate that we went to Gloria de Dapitan during day time when many of the shops and establishments were closed. Therefore, I just toured them around the complex and took souvenir pictures.

Our last destination before heading back to our house is the Rotonda in Lawaan wherein a big galleon was constructed. In my last post, I mentioned that the galleon was constructed for the Christmas. I made an erratum because it was actually built for the Handuraw Festival celebration.

After the tour, we went back to our house to rest for a while. Jet and Franz headed to Dipolog for another adventure during the holidays. :) Read more...