By the Jal-o River

A screen copy of my entry at WCJ I received a notice from the publisher of my other personal blog informing me of the following: Dear author,     After nearly 5 years and more than 7 million words written, WcJ is ceasing service. In order to give you a chance to retrieve your writings if you so desire, WCJ is now available again until the end of 2011. To retrieve the contents of your journal(s), you should visit the site and login and then select the journal you'd like to retrieve. Then click the Print button, and a new page will be shown with all your journal entries, in "New to old" order. If you'd prefer to see them in the order you wrote them, just click "Old to new" at the top of the page. When you're happy with how that looks, you can use your web browser to save the contents of the page, or you can click Print to print it, or to save it as a PDF if you have that functionality available. Kindest regards, The Team Reading it, something ins

A police officer came over my office the other day to ask if the Sanggunian has any relevant legislation regulating the selling or display of firecrackers especially during the Christmas season. I responded in the negative. Balete ranks among the few municipalities in Aklan to have the "luxury" of  having a firetruck and more importantly, the presence of personnel from the Bureau of Fire Protectio n. Armed with a Comprehensive Land Use Plan and Zoning Ordinance, and the mandate of the BFP to implement and enforce the provisions of the Fire Code , the Sanggunian is spared from legislating "more" ordinances concerning the regulation of those firecrackers that stray into our quiet town in this time of the year. It may of archival interest however to mention that the Municipal Council has an ordinance on the matter as early as 1956. On February 1, 1956, the Municipal Council of Balete, then part of the Province of Capiz, and composed of the following: Mr. Apolin

A lot of people have decided to postpone their long planned Christmas parties and in lieu thereof, donated their entire budget to augment the rehabilitation fund/relief of those victimized by the shocking flashflood that washed out Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. Apart from the shock is the seemingly lost of appetite to celebrate the season. "How could you have Christmas party when your countrymen down south are grieving for their lost?", they rhetorically asked. The President got lambasted in the process for going out of his way to attend such a party at the height of the tragedy (for how one could refuse if you have a Valerie Concepcion as guest performer?) Often times, we fall into the assumption that Christmas is Christmas party, or garish decorations, lavish food and exotic gifts. Christmas has to be merry and bright otherwise it is not Christmas. Then when we find ourselves in such unfavorable situation, we qualify ours as "bleak Christmas"," mamae

Merry Christmas. Bleak Christmas. Are there such a thing?  Last week, I asked my friend, Lagumbay, if he can spare me sometime to a bottle of Emperador. He profusely excused himself for the moment, disclosing in the process that he has to attend a retreat at Sibaguan, Capiz.  The invitation was meant to process his traumatic experience. Lagumbay and his family have barely recovered from the flood of November 15. His house was one of the eight houses washed out by the raging waters off the Jal-o. I was entertaining to sense some tinge of resentment on his voice. But his was placid. He promised me in a placating tone to make out some time of talking out some things over a bottle of brandy after the retreat. It is a priority: to confront his Creator of the miseries and trials of his life. He wanted to give his God the benefit of doubt. Like the prophet Job, my friend fight on to keep the faith: "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb and naked shall I die. The Lord gives

Today is the feast of St. Nicolas of Myra (December 6). Of course, only a handful know about it. Less even cared about it. Saints are no longer popular these days. Much more their feast days. What people cared is that Piolo Pascual, their idol set upon a pedestal, remains true to the image he let his fans made of him all these years. As for old St. Nick, well, (pardon the word) he stinks--unless we reinvent him and call him by his popular name. And of course, by presenting him as the one who makes dreams and wishes come true, especially this Yuletide season. Balete LGU employees sing Christmas carols for the poor Take for instance our Paskwa sa Banwa. Considering that Balete was the first in the Aklan to stage a grand Christmas decoration by lighting trees within the Municipal Park and Plaza, we deemed it proper that the Baleten-on constituencies have a responsibility in sustaining this laudable pageantry through collaboration with the local government and the various civil soc