Ang Dabawenyo

Recently, a reader left a comment on one of my posts regarding the importance of blogging as a means of getting a message across. Curious, I clicked on her name’s link, and it brought me to an advocacy blog called In Defense of our Safety. The way I see it, the blog is (1) an [...]

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Undas. Kalag-kalag. Day of the Dead. Technically — according to the Catholic Church — 1 November is actually All Saints’ Day; it’s the day after that’s supposed to be the day for remembering our departed relatives. But in traditional practice (one might even say it’s now part of our culture), millions of Filipinos troop to [...]

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Not that I’m naïve, but it was a shock when I saw what results come out on Google when you do an image search for “Filipina”. I’ve been encouraging my friends to join Janette Toral’s “Filipina” Writing Project, and one of them showed me the current Google image search results. To put it very lightly, [...]

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The past years’ Kadayawan sa Dabaw celebrations, it’s been thought, have veered away from the authentic spirit of this most important of Davao’s festivals. People have started talking about how ‘commercialized’ the Kadayawan has become over the years. And this probably explains the knee-jerk reaction by this year’s organizers — their unexpected move to change [...]

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Pretty soon the Comelec will be announcing the victors of the last Philippine elections. Namfrel Davao wrapped up its operations last Saturday, having canvassed almost 90% of the city’s 3,600+ poll precincts. It was a very successful effort, considering that we had only 5 days of lead time to organize the citizens’ quick count.

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Tomorrow, 14 May, Dabawenyos will once again go out and catapult into power our city’s and our country’s elected government officials. I hope that the turnout will be considerable, so that the populace will have enough confidence in whomever assumes public office. I have mixed feelings about this, though. I will go out and vote, [...]

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Took this photo while in a cab, just before the ramp of Bankerohan Bridge. By now we all know the traffic situation in that part of the city due to the impassability of Bankerohan Bridge I. And look! Right above these jaywalkers is a pedestrian overpass….

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Somehow I haven’t witnessed any expressions of gratitude or jubilation after the installation of new traffic lights all over the city. Some say that’s because of the traffic accidents that have happened ever since. And this, in turn, is apparently due to Davaoeños’ not being used to so many traffic lights.

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Yesterday, after a pleasant time with my friends Bob & Feyma Martin, I wrapped up some loose ends for the day and proceeded to one of my favorite cafés to unwind. Basti’s is usually a bustling place at that time of day, and this foreigner didn’t have a table, so he asked if he could [...]

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Recently I read a post on a blog somewhere about the difference between pure blogging (i.e., unadulterated) and pro-blogging (adulterated??). The author apparently had an axe to grind, alluding to pro-blogging as some form of prostitution. Some bloggers might be hung-over the fact that blogging was supposed to be for freedom of expression. It’s still [...]

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