territorial musings: 2009

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

JUSTICE!

for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre!

End WARLORDISM!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Signature "ukay-ukay" RTW is the fashion of choice for many poor Filipinos. These are mostly relief clothes from abroad channeled by customs and port officials to the blackmarket. Bargain prices attract shoppers in downtown Mati, Davao Oriental.

The woman is picking coconut shells beached by the waves, not sea shells. When asked why, she says she will make "uling" and sell it to buy rice. Coconut charcoal fetch much better prices than copra. Manay, Davao Oriental. July 31, 2009.

Under the bridge. Manay, Davao Oriental.

A smile for the camera. Children have fun riding a carabao-driven cart hauling coconuts. Brgy. Santiago, Caraga, Davao Oriental.

MAHAL ANG BUGAS, BARATO ANG KOPRAS. This young boy seems to mull over the steep dive in copra prices while kopreros deftly extract the coconut meat to be kiln-dried later.

Prevailing farm wage is around 130-150 pesos for every thousand coconut unhusked. A hardworking koprero can unhusk up to 2,000 coconuts on a lucky day but must take precautions or be impaled by the sharp metal stake if he gets careless.

Local compradors buy well-dried copra at 10 pesos per kilo but usually deduct a kilo from each 60-kilo sack for "resicada" or moisture content. (Photo taken July 31, 2009. Barangay Santiago, Caraga, Davao Oriental.)

The view on the road to Pusan Point. July 31, 2009.

Fishermen repair their boat. Barangay Santiago, Caraga, Davao Oriental on the way to Pusan Point, July 31, 2009.

Pusan Point in Caraga, Davao Oriental is the easternmost point of land in the Philippines and faces the Pacific Ocean. During the Second World War, Japanese troops established a beachhead at the peninsula.

Final destination. Barangay Santiago, Caraga, 31st July 2009.

NO FIRST SIGHT, FIRST LIGHT. Bad weather on the last day of 1999 kept watchers from witnessing the January 1, 2000 "millenium sunrise". Foreign media outfits who flocked to Pusan Point to document the first sunrise of 2000 went home frustrated. A rusty road sign is all that remains from the much hyped East Coast tourist attraction.

A Philippine Fiesta is never complete without lechon. Barangay San Ignacio, Manay, Davao Oriental. July 31, 2009.

The road sign says it all. Tarragona, Davao Oriental. July 31, 2009.

Tarragona Public Market no more. After failing to get reelected, the former mayor withdrew his donation of the piece of land where the town market was constructed during his term.

Downtown Mati.

Friday, November 6, 2009

First Day of Classes (reprise) Davao City

STARTING THEM YOUNG. Second graders at the Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Elementary School, a premier public elementary school in Davao City, take an early lesson on patience that will serve them through life -- awaiting their turn for the teacher to check on their schoolwork during the first day of classes.

DILIGENCE. Two little girls try to finish their task before the bell rings.

AT THEIR BEST ELEMENT. Usually rowdy, second graders are at their best element during the first day of school.

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE BELL TO RING. This little girl still mulls over the leisurely summer.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

ComVal Gold Rush (not all that glitters is gold)

VIDEOKARERA COMES TO TOWN. School-age children in a goldrush area in Brgy. Bukal, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley, learn to play the game of chance early in life.

EASY MONEY. "Packers" or porters who carry the unprocessed gold ores, while away the time playing "hantak".

GOLD MINER'S FAMILY. They came all the way from Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, to try their luck in Brgy. Bukal. The men are toiling inside the gold tunnels, owned and financed by Korean nationals.