I am just among the crowd of passengers going to Mindoro. So many kids, maybe about half of the crowd. I am amazed to see most of them buying/eating instant noodles. The boat’s canteen is earning this trip. In my immediate front is a couple with a lot of baon (packed food) like spaghetti, fried fish, fried hotdog, fried chicken and pomfrets. Either this is their late lunch or afternoon snacks. Roaming my head, only a handful of us are not busy stuffing their mouths.
The boat leaves Batangas Port at 2PM and arrives at the port of Abra de Ilog after about two-and-a-half hour to 3hours. Shuttle vans moved the passengers further to Mamburao then bus going further to other towns.
Trip frequency is every two hours during peak season (holidays) and every four hours or sometimes very irregular during ordinary days but the sure times would be 10AM, 2PM and 8PM.
It is also very noisy with the chatters and the tv.
Tips to bring on this travel is fan, fan and hanky.
Just happy to be out asea again.

I woke up refreshed, despite the ants all over the room (I have a severe allergy reaction to ant’s bite). Apparently, these ants are more interested with the content of my bag (which I am so glad of, despite having loss the chance of eating my pancake squash I cooked and packed especially for this trip).

Having no breakfast to eat and the canteen of the inn still close, I snatched my camera quiet quickly in the bag (have to be quick so as to not disturb the ants) and went trotting to the beach. I am a fisheries biology practitioner and always attracted to fishing activities, which I immediately spotted despite having not brought my eyeglasses. A family is casting net into the waters; from the shore to about waist-deep. This fishing activity is called surrounding gillnet and is very common in the coastal areas where the tidal flat is wide. The net is about a 100-meters long at most 200 but this one is just a 100, with a height of half-a-meter. In here there are 2 adults and 2 kids, the adults set the net while the kids hold both ends. Shown below is the net just laid out and soon to be hauled into the shore. Hauling is done at both ends. One adult pulling at each end of the net while the kids go into the water to help maintain the shape of the net, ensure the net will not get entangled, and help stir the surroundings.

One operation (setting through hauling) lasts for about (at most) 30minutes or less. Below is a picture of the catch with the kids sorting. The relatively big enough fishes would be picked while the rest will be left behind for the cats, dogs, chickens and other animals. The composition of the catch are all immature fishes and different variety of shells, seagrasses, sometimes corals, sea stars, sea urchins, little crabs and other organisms that were not able to escape.

Its sad but this family needs to eat. I sat down with the kids and talked with them. Asked them, if this is for breakfast, the oldest looked at me and said it is good for a day’s meals. Just to be sure, i dumbly ask, does that mean breakfast, lunch and dinner today and they all answered yes in a chorus.

The biologist part of me said this is not right but my human mind understands. Are they the exploiters or just the victims? I further asked them if they are going to school, the oldest said “No, not anymore because she has to help her mother in washing clothes for the rich in town.” Only the two younger kids attend school.

I felt sorry for them, and for their future.  I know that their situation represents most of our coastal communities. The activists are shouting to stop overfishing (this is definitely growth overfishing) – taking baby fishes before they have time to reproduce at least once. Reforms and policies are mostly in the industrial fisheries sector and these small ones are ignored on the pretense that they are insignificant and small enough. But I do not think so, there are many of them, that needed help and education. The only way to solve overfishing is to look at them with clear eyes, start implementing reforms and policies and honest-to-goodness economic help. No dole-outs please.

This is one of my typical breakfast as it is easy to prepare and goes well with any kind of drink even tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

2 cups grated squash (I usually include the skin)

1 tbsp chopped spring onion or leeks

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 egg (lightly beaten) – this is optional depending on the diet being followed

1 tsp baking powder

salt and pepper

dash of oregano

1tbsp vegetable cooking oil

water if the mixture is too dry

Cooking procedure:

Mix well dry ingredients: salt, pepper, oregano, baking powder, flour and cornstarch. Add squash (kalabasa) and spring onions, mix well. Add egg (optional). Pour the 1tbsp vegetable cooking oil into the mixture and mix well. Add water when necessary.

Heat the (frying pan) under slow fire and pour cooking oil (volume depending on the type of frying pan and the style of the cook; but for me I usually use the small ones for eggs and put oil just enough to coat the pan). I prefer a low fire so as to prevent excesses of the so-called “cooking fumes.”

Put mixture into the heated pan (amount depending on the size of the pan and the preference of the cook). I usually make it thin and spread out so it will be crispy. Turn.

Serve as it is or with your favorite dip or syrup.

i always intend to make a picture of my food but maybe subconsciously I love my privacy most.

Due to conflict of schedule, speaking in the commencement exercise of a High School in La Union did not come true. However, being a good soldier, I still crunched a speech up and ready just in case I need to do it on a crammed schedule.

Below is my supposedly speech.

To our dear teachers, parents, graduates, students, ladies and gentlemen, Good Day!

I first learned that I am being considered to speak in this event through a Facebook message of Ma’am Delilah Ngayaan. It reminded of Ma’am Elva Fe Bang-as’s first request. That was I think year 1999. Then, I respectfully decline the invitation of Ma’am Elva. My reasons were: I really think (being a principled person) I don’t have much of value to share to the graduating class having had not much experience yet; plus the fact that I have no ‘working leave’ privilege (as a contractual researcher of the University of the Philippines), cramming on my Thesis draft in Graduate School and just recovering from a two-weeks severe flu. I guess I disappointed Ma’am Elva so much. So I would like to say Sorry to her in public through this occasion also but if I have to do it again, I could say my answer would have been the same.

I am not going to prolong your agony of waiting; I am sure you are looking forward for the prepared celebrations in your individual homes and community, so let me start my ending with the one powerful quotation from Colin Powell (form US Secretary of State) – It’s what you do with life that determines what you end up in life.

How’s that?

I am going to explain by relating to you a classic story about a farmer and a preacher.

A preacher is doing his daily chores of visiting his members when he passed by a beautiful farm. The house is simple but elegant in its structure. It is surrounded by different kind of fruit trees, rows of healthy and diverse kinds of vegetables, herbs and even ornamental plants. It was so perfectly idyllic like what you see in paintings; that the preacher stops to meditate on the richness and beauty of the place. The preacher’s rumination was cut-off by a friendly but respectful hello from the farmer owner. The farmer said, is there something I could do for you Sir? The preacher smiled and extended his hand while sincerely praising the farmer’s property and good works. Proudly, the farmer smiled and humbly accepted the lavish praises of the preacher. It wasn’t like this when we first bought the property, but with work and faith we were able to turn this barren space into the golden land it is now, the farmer answered.

Each one of us are farmers, our lives are our plot of lands. We were born with nothing but opportunities. What we do with it, is what we reap.

 At this age, you kids have been given a great opportunity that we did not enjoy when we were your age – the opportunity of a flat world. What do I mean with a flat world? I do not mean the earth’s configuration has changed from the geographically accepted fact that it is an oblate spheroid. I mean that great changes have happened which changed a lot of rules we once thought was impossible. Among the 10 world flatteners identified by Thomas Friedman, the relatively cheap cost of internet use is the most relevant for you and this occasion. In my time, lack of financial resources was a significant limiting factor into getting a degree or specialization. This is not true anymore. With only 20pesos, you could go to the internet café and learn a lot of things, for an hour.  Is this realistic? Yes, in fact I am now taking two courses in Philosophy and Business Strategy in the University of Virginia and attending classes through the internet. It also has changed working opportunities. This is mostly exemplified by out-sourcing jobs like call centers, medical transcriptions, etc. And even how professionals like me operate. I am employed by an organization that has its employee worldwide while maintaining our office in Hawaii and Jakarta, Indonesia. How do we operate and meet? – through the internet.

So what does this mean to you, dear graduates?  Your life chances and opportunities are overflowing; the challenge is for you to take full advantage of it. The successful people in the ‘flat world’ are those who can adapt and learn quickly. Otherwise, it also has great drawbacks – you could end up becoming the laborer of the universe, which is unfortunately the Philippines is going into.

This era also poses a great challenge to our teacher here and the parents. The supposedly knowledge advantage you have over these kids is already incorrect, a shift in paradigm is really necessary for you to do your roles as educators and parents, effectively.  Your roles have shifted from imparting knowledge to imparting wisdom and honest care to the wellbeing of the students and children. The challenge is how to be open to these new realities.

We are now living in an extremely competitive era that the greater our curiosity and passion for learning, the greater are the achievements we would attain.

To continue what Colin Powell said: No matter where you start (in life), you have the opportunities (to succeed) so long as you believe in yourself, in your society and country; and that you believe that you can self-improve as you go along.

Thank you.

The recently elected Pope, Pope Francis I (Jorge Mario Bergoglio), an Italian descent Argentinian is a gift of hope in a world deeply buried in poverty (morally and economically). His background shows his independent (from the bond of money and power) character which is a good preparation for the most powerful position in the world. Let us all pray for him, catholics or not.

4. Did you know that the Earth has actually a “magnetic protective cloak” (www.aas.org) called the Van Allen Belts?

3. The presence of water in the Planet of Mercury is confirmed. (www.aaas.org)

2. Scallops cough. (www.aaas.org)

1. Nature provides our food. Nature saturate our thirst. Nature supports our health. Nature cleans the air we breath. Nature provides the energy that powers our economy. Nature is the inspiration that feeds our soul. (www.nature.org)

I love reading books and listening to radio programs. While indulging into these media I usually ask the question “how will i learn from these?” Just now I am listening to a radio program discussing the works of real estate agents. Suddenly it popped up to me that the present difficult people in my life are actually gifts in preparation for my planned diving endeavor into the trade industry. I now welcome, with glad anticipation, every opportunity of communicating with these people, something that I dread doing until today… I am very happy and thankful for the sense of hearing God lavishly given. Happy Sunday Universe of Loving Souls!

At the end, when I call it finished, was it a success or a glass trap?

This is a crocheted capelet I made from a Lionbran and Redheart yarns. Here in the Philippines, the months of December to February are our coolest months and this capelet would save me from the cold mornings and afternoons.

The Philippines has just officially adopted the Blue swimming crab Management Plan last September 17, 2012 on the NFARMC meeting. Hats-off to BFAR for initiating and pushing it diligently until its adoption. The work had been about two years in the making but all the efforts of those who supported it, paid off. The bar had been set for the BSC fisheries in Asia… Congratulations! Following the adoption of the Management Plan would be another long process (but a needed process that engages all stakeholders from the crabbers to the traders to the importers and the managers), the adoption of the Fisheries Administrative Orders (FAOs) which would be the engine to the framework. In the FAOs would be the details of how the regulatory measures identified in the Management Plan would be implemented. However, the regulatory measures are not the only component of the Management Plan, there are also actions identified towards stock assessment, research and development and other measures necessary to fulfill the vision of a sustainable fisheries of the blue swimming crabs in the Philippines. Kudos to BFAR (Central Office and the Regional Offices of Region VI, VII, VIII and Region V), NFARMC, LGU’s, PACPI, NFI, SFP, and all the other participants who have supported the passing of the Management Plan.