Mindanao Access

The large mouth bass (Florida strain) was introduced to the Philippines by Alvin Seale from California, USA in 1907 as a food fish and sport. They were reintroduced in 1915 and 1958, stocked in Trinidad Lake in the northern Province of Benguet and in Caliraya Lake (not far from Manila) in the Laguna Province.


The dam in Trinidad unfortunately produced sulfuric acids some time in eighties thereby eradicating the bass there. The Caliraya has now a steady population, and the bass also managed to find their way to the adjacent lake of Lumot (this lake is where the existing bass record came from). From these two lakes avid bass anglers tried to propagate them by bringing them to other lakes and their efforts bear fruit in the Pantabangan lake too.
That lake is reported to be stocked by local governments to attract tourism and this seems to have been a well kept secret until about three years ago. the locals do not like to eat the largemouth bass (known as Tawis in the local language) and this contributes to the proliferation of the species in local waters.
So I say load up your spinning rods, baitcasters, hooks, plastics and come enjoy a day on the water that Roland Martin forgot about and have a san miguel and relax !

OK OK don’t get in a tizzy was just taking care of a little business and shopping for a tricycle and doing so honeydo chores. I promise i will be back on the grind shortly like tomorrow with some exciting news and more on fishing in the Philippines and of course, how it’s going here in Tagum City in the Ferreran ! So please stop in, take a look and leave a comment.

Thanks - Tommy

Contrary to popular belief there is a very popular place to catch mega bill fish, shark, tuna, and a whole assorted variety of sport fish in the Philippines, who would imagine that the Pacific ocean would be a good place to fish ? I have had some readers say to me ” why doesnt someone capitalize on the fishing industry in the Philippines” well the fact of the matter is everyone is focusing on safety and terrorism to even notice that sport fishing is huge in the Philippines. The bigger and most luxurious vessels are in manila but a great affordable trip can be had almost anywhere in the Philippines and especially so in Cebu where you’ll find many affordable guides and vessels and they even have a web site Cebu Sport Fishing. there are many other sites and area specific tournaments, services, forums like www.sportfishingasia.com etc. The fact is that sport fishing is such a big business the major politicians that run the country and the department of tourism put on a tournament. It is an invitational for foreign dignitary’s but there are plenty of tournaments for the average Joe as well. Here is part of copy of the DOT notice -

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is co-hosting this year’s Invitational Game Fishing Tournament here today, together with the First District of Surigao del Norte.

Ace Durano, Secretary of Tourism opens this landmark event with Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, together with Rep. Francisco Matugas of the First District of Surigao, and attended by local and foreign dignitaries.

So you see sport fishing is alive and well in the Philippines in fact it may well be one of the best kept secret adventures in the Philippines you see there is alot of recreational sports available here in natures paradise. Come check it out !

For information on local tournaments, guide service, or to arrange a guided trip is available on a fee basis Fish On !!

I know some of my readers are tired of me rambling on about not alot so i found what i think are a couple interesting video’s from youtube. I am in the process of putting together a few decent articles about local recreational fishing, fresh and salt so I hope you enjoy these and stay tuned for some really cool fishing infomation articles … Yes Bob there are tuna left for the recreational fisherman ! and Bass too !

As you may expect the Philippines like alot of other countries are laxed in catching up to the wonderful laws the US enacted to protect disability rights and encourage independence, but there are glimpses of access and ease of use in a few establishments one of which is on the the island of Cebu at a place called Bantayan Island this is probably the only beach resort that offers 100 % access and even assistance by qualified individuals familiar with assisting disabled guests. The resort is owned and operated by a disabled man and his wife and a host of help to make this one sweet place to visit if your on wheels or even if your not. So if your looking for that special place to meet your filipina or just a great vacation spot you really can’t go wrong at ST. Bernards Beach Resort take a look at thier site the prices are listed there and yea for a beach resort its a super bargain a real flavor of paradise by a real nice family.

Yea Yea i been slacking … truth of the matter is i have wireless internet and its been well its been non active shall we say for almost two days now. Sometimes i can get on for a few minutes but for the most part i cannot be productive due to slow speeds. well it came back yesterday and wow the best speeds i have had yet so i am confident they must have been doing an upgrade to the recieving antenna. So back to me post, I am sure you all have seen them reproduced and here is my rendition of why i live in the Philippines …

WHY I LIVE IN THE PHILIPPINES?

Why I live in the Philippines - funny but true!!!

When I travel, people often ask me why I live in the Philippines ? Well here it is ….. It is the only place on earth where……

1. Every street has a basketball court.
2. Even doctors, lawyers and engineers are unemployed.
3. Doctors study to become nurses for employment abroad.
4. Students pay more money than they will earn afterwards.
5. School is considered the second home and the mall considered the third.
6. Call-center employees earn more money than teachers and nurses.
7. Everyone has his personal ghost story and superstition.
8. Mountains like Makiling and Banahaw are considered holy places.
9. Everything can be forged.
10. All kinds of animals are edible.
11. Starbucks coffee is more expensive than gas.
12. Driving 4 kms can take as much as four hours.
13. Flyovers bring you from the freeway to the side streets.
14 . Crossing the street involves running for your dear life.
15. The personal computer is mainly used for games and Friendster.
16. Where colonial mentality is dishonestly denied!
17. Where 4 a.m. is not even considered bedtime yet.
18. People can pay to defy the law.
19. Everything and everyone is spoofed.
20. Where even the poverty-stricken get to wear Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger (peke)!
21. The honking of car horns is a way of life.
22. Being called a bum is never offensive.
23. Floodwaters take up more than 90 percent of the streets during the rainy season.
24. Where everyone has a relative abroad who keeps them alive.
25. Where wearing your national colors make you baduy.
26. Where even the poverty-stricken have the latest cell phones. (GSM-galing sa magnanakaw)
27. Where insurance does not work.
28. Where water can only be classified as tap and dirty.
29. Clean water is for sale (35 pesos per gallon).
30. Where the government makes the people pray for miracles. (Amen to that!)
31. Where University of the Philippines where all the weird people go.
32. Ateneo is where all the nerds go.
33. La Salle is where all the Chinese go.
34.. College of Saint Benilde is where all the stupid Chinese go and;
35. University of Asia and the Pacific is where all the irrelevantly rich people go.
36. Fast food is a diet meal.
37. Traffic signs are merely suggestions, not regulations.
38. Where being mugged is normal and It happens to everyone.
39. Rodents are normal house pets.
40. The definition of traffic is the ‘non-movement’ of vehicles.
41. Where the fighter planes of the 1940s are used for military engagements and;
42. The new fighter planes are displayed in museums.
43. Where cigarettes and alcohol are a necessity, and where the lottery is a commodity.
44. Where soap operas tell the realities of life and where the news provides the drama.
45. Where actors make the rules and where politicians provide the entertainment.
46. People can get away with stealing trillions of pesos but not a thousand.
47. Where being an hour late is still considered punctual (Grabe talaga ‘to!)
48. Where the squatters have more to complain (even if they do not pay their tax) - than those employed and have their tax automatically deducted from their salaries.
49. And where everyone wants to leave the country!

FILIPINO SIGNS OF WIT:

1. The sign in a flower shop in Diliman called Petal Attraction.
2. Anita Bakery
3. A 24-hour restaurant called Doris Day & Night
4. Barber shop called Felix The Cut;
5. A bakery named Bread Pitt
6. Fast-food place selling ‘maruya’ (banana fritters) called Maruya Carey.
7. Then, there are Christopher Plumbing
8. A boutique called The Way We Wear
9. A video rental shop called Leon King Video Rental
10. A restaurant in Cainta district of Rizal called Caintacky Fried Chicken
11. A local burger restaurant called Mang Donald’s
12. A doughnut shop called MacDonuts
13. A shop selling ‘lumpia’ (egg roll) in Makati called Wrap and Roll
14. And two butcher shops called Meating Place and Meatropolis. Smart travelers can decipher what may look like baffling signs to unaccustomed foreigners by simply sounding out the ‘Taglish’ (The Philippine version of English words spelled and pronounced with a heavy Filipino such as:
15. At a restaurant menu in Cebu ? We hab sopdrink in can an in batol? [translation: We have soft drinks in can and in bottle].
16. Then, there is a sewing accessories shop called Bids And Pises - [translation: Beads and Pieces --or-- Bits and Pieces] There are also many signs with either badly chosen or misspelled words but they are usually so entertaining that it would be a mistake to ‘correct’ them like…….
17. In a restaurant in Baguio City, the ’summer capital’ of the Philippines : ? Wanted: Boy Waitress?
18. On a highway in Pampanga: ?We Make Modern Antique Furniture?
19. On the window of a photography shop in Cabanatuan : ?We Shoot You While You Wait?
20. And on the glass front of a cafe in Panay Avenue in Manila : ?Wanted: Waiter, Cashier, Washier?.
Some of the notices can even give a wrong impression such as:
21. A shoe store in Pangasinan which has a sign saying: ?We Sell Imported Robber Shoes? (these could be the ’sneakiest’ sneakers);
22. A rental property sign in Jaro reads: ?House For Rent, Fully Furnaced? (it must really be hot inside)!
23. Occasionally, one could come across signs that are truly unique - if not altogether odd. City in southern Philippines which said: ? Adults: 1 peso; Child: 50 centavos; Cadavers: fare subject to negotiation? .
24. European tourists may also be intrigued to discover two competing shops selling hopia (a Chinese pastry) called Holland Hopia and Poland Hopia - which are owned and operated by two local Chinese entrepreneurs, Mr. Ho and Mr. Po respectively - (believe it or not)!
25. Some folks also ‘creatively’ redesign English to be more efficient.? The creative confusion between language and culture leads to more than just simple unintentional errors in syntax, but in the adoption of new words, ?says reader Robert Goodfellow who came across a sign ….. House Fersallarend’ (house for sale or rent). Why use five words when two will do?
26. According to Manila businessman, Tonyboy Ongsiako, there is so much wit in the Philippines because? We are a country where a good sense of humor is needed to survive?. We have a 24-hour comedy show here called the government and a huge reserve of comedians made up mostly of politicians and bad actors.

Now, I ask you, where else in the world would one want to live?

What ever happened to the pride of originality ? I am referring to the shameless act of copying a product and when i say copy i mean the whole shebang ! from the contents to the logo all the way to the company name! there are some suttle differences but i would give it an F- for original concept. Not that its a bad thing tho I mean taking a good thing , copy it and make it available to the masses for a fraction of their original. But why not think of a package design or company name or even contents of some sort of originality to me this is just riding the back of the original inventor when you could develop something similar and have it be a success on its own instead of intentionally ripping someone off !

<

And I am not talking about only one product but a whole line of products! I can laugh about it and be thankful i can enjoy my favorite snacks here in the Philippines but i bet there are more then a few pissed off execs at General Mills fuming over this flagrant copyright infringement. Now your asking , well who is it and what products ? well just look at Fibisco and HI-RO cookies and FITA snack crackers etc. etc. see the theme ?

One of the reasons i felt i wanted to spend time here in the Philippines is the obvious loss of a simpler time in my home country. this e-mail really sums up my childhood and how i feel times still are here in the Philippines - Enjoy

Black and White
(Under age 40? You won’t understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
‘Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet.’

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn’t seem to get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can’t remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE . and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked’s (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can’t recall any injuries, but they must have happend because they tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option, even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school l caught all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can’t recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah . and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played ‘king of the hill’ on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn’t sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.

Now it’s a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn’t act up at the neighbor’s house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home.

I recall Greg Agee from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front step, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that?

We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn’t even notice that the entire country wasn’t taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN’T; SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN’T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING.

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. My odometer rolled over to
49 in january , so here is the column :

To

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13.. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion.
Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow. 23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain. 25 No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27 Always choose life. 28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.