Lawyer and Holy Name University (HNU) law professor, Rene Paredes, launches his chapbook collection of poems entitled Carousels of Time on Friday, March 24, 2012 at the Metro Centre Hotel.

A large number of the works in the 17-poem collection has been edited by acclaimed Boholana poet Marjorie Evasco.

Copies of the book will be sold at the launch. Carousels of Time may also be purchased in BQ Mall and Central Books in Manila.

2011 was a pretty eventful year for Bohol’s culture and the arts. We know, LifestyleBohol was in the middle of most of it. 2012 is bound to be even more engaging. LifestyleBohol lists down, in random, 12 exciting things to expect for the Bohol lifestyle scene this 2012.

1. TBTK 2012. Bol-anons from all over the world will again gather in one huge homecoming panagtigum, tapok-tapok here on May 2012. Moved from July to the fiesta month of May, it promises to be bigger as ever with more participating Bol-anon individuals and associations from more countries.

2. Arts Boom. We see the Bol-anon arts and culture scene take off to greater heights, with more empowered artists and arts collectives across the creative spectrum and a reinvigorated leadership in the culture and arts development.

3. Artists with a Cause. To kick off the 2012 arts boom , a visual arts auction “ARTcaUse II” on January 8 at the San Antonio de Padua Parish Conference room, this city, will have the paintings from the recent contemporary arts exhibit “Binag-o”, auctioned off to arts lovers and generous patrons to raise money for the victims of typhoon Sendong. The paintings are the works of Bol-anon painters Joey Labrador, Rhanths Anunciado, Eric Catot, Jhacky Curambao, Glenn Lumantao, Irish Glori Galon, and few budding artists from Bohol Island State University and the University of Bohol.

4. Vice Ganda in Bohol this February. Vice Ganda may be all other things, but unexciting she is not. We need not say more.

5. HNU Theater goes Broadway/West End! The HNU Culture and Arts Development Office to take on either of the popular Broadway/ West End musicales Miss Saigon or Annie. It’s been a while since a major local musicale production has been staged and this news should stir a euphoric wave among Bol-anon theater and musical lovers. It’s still in the pre pre planing stages, but we are crossing fingers for a huge 2012 staging.

6. Eco-Cultural Bohol. Bohol Tourism raises and ever-proudly waves her ecological cultural banner and makes good with it. We see a people and a leadership, after the provincial council finally closed the doors on ill-planned tourism development proposals, that will be chippier and proactive in protecting and defending its pristine environment and rich culture.

7. The Ateneo Cultural Laboratory comes to town! The Ateneo Cultural Laboratory 2012: The Bohol Quartet is a three-week intensive program composed of lectures from various heritage experts, research, fieldwork, and guided tours of significant landmarks and tourist destinations that will allow participants to gain knowledge and skills in cultural heritage documentation as well as explore the landscapes, history, and culture of beautiful Bohol. The program is open to undergraduate and graduate students, professionals and the general public interested in culture and society. The Ateneo Cultural Laboratory is in cooperation with the local governments of Alburquerque, Baclayon, Loay and Loboc; the Center for Culture and Arts Development of the Province of Bohol; and the Department of History and the Fine Arts Program of Ateneo de Manila University.

For inquiries, please contact: the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, Loyola Schools, Ateneo de Manila University | G/F Leong Hall, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Tel. Nos. (02) 4266001 loc 5270/5271 | Email: socio@admu.edu.ph |Website: www.dsa-ateneo.net

8. The Abatan River runs through and through. The Abatan River Life Tour will see more and more chunk of Bohol tourists, as the community tourism cooperation amongst the Abatan towns and communities, engages in more strategic and creative tools in marketing and promotions, assisted by PROCESS-Bohol and tourism consultants.

9. Sandugo 2012. With the TBTK to come earlier, expect this year’s Sandugo to be even more fabulous, as organizers will surely want to top the success of the May TBTK. Friendly competition makes for cultural fun and excitement for Bol-anons and Bohol guests and tourists.

10. Mugnang Bol-anon: a trademark to reckon. The DTI-Bohol-initiated Bohol-made stamp will go more mainstream and be a buzzword not just for the local creative crafts and specialty food industry but to all Bol-anon products, tangible and intangible.

11. The Bohol We Love. An anthology project of published Bol-anon writers is on the works compiling essays of love and pride, memories lived, imagined and reimagined on the Bohol we all love. Gathering the writers and their odes to their towns/barrios/memories in and of Bohol is exciting enough. A 2012 book launch is getting the cake and eating it, too.

12. 2012 is year before an election year. There’ll be a flurry of creative (political and cultural) happenings all over the province. And with the formented political clime in the province – enough said.

For sure, there’s more exciting happenings ahead for 2012. We could count down more, but, let’s rather let them unfold at their time.

There’s about 525,600 minutes ahead for all that. Enjoy!

(This article also appeared in LifestyleBohol of The Bohol Chronicle on 1 January 2012)

‘Tis!

The new Department of Tourism leadership rolled out, last Friday, its newest campaign slogan which hopes to attract more tourists in the country.

Tourism chief Ramon Jimenez Jr. simply puts it: “Our strategy is simple: while other countries invite you to observe, Filipinos can promise a more heartfelt and interesting experience. Wherever you go, whatever you do in the country, it’s the Filipinos that will complete your vacation and will make your holiday unforgettable,” adds Jimenez added.

If the slogan seems familiar, that‘s because it is reminiscent to the “more than the usual” campaign of the Department of Tourism some years back, having been conceptualized by the same agency that did that, BBDO Guerrero Proximity Philippines. The advert agency is also leading this campaign where more marketing gimmicks will be introduced in the coming months.

The campaign is also taking advantage of the Filipinos’ dominance in the social media realm, spreading the campaign in social networks most frequented by Pinoys. The twitter hashtag #itsmorefuninthephilippines and #1forFun was unveiled along with the slogan.

Philippine tourism images carrying the slogan with witty phrases on why it’s more fun in the Philippines is fast becoming an Internet meme. An Internet meme is the term used to describe any concept or phenomenon that spreads via the Internet. The idea is to spread the idea, allowing for people to tweak it, make parodies or just have fun and help spread the concept, though more satires and parodies of the slogan are coming out, which is expected of an Internet meme.

Expect Bohol Republic to be rolling out more It’s More Fun in the Philippines memes. This post is a work in progress.

(We’re not even gonna elaborate that this slogan’s been done before. Most all slogan’s been, so screw originality. Brazen copying of logo’s are another thing, though. *peace* Let’s own this!)

There’s a lot to be told about a city or town by looking at its public parks. There’s just something endearing and sophisticated about a place where we see people reading a newspaper or a book on a park bench, kids chasing and jumping after butterflies or doves, picnicking families, youngsters practicing the latest “dougie” variations, or just plain hanging out, playing board games, relaxing under the canopy of trees.

This is Sunday fare – a little tamer, homier and less greener – at our very own little park, of course, Plaza Rizal.

Plaza mayor during the Spanish colonial times, staple in every major administrative unit after the Laws of the Indies, and changed to its current name after the immortalization of Dr. Jose P. Rizal as our National Hero. Now heavily concreted, the welcome pedestrian pathway paved nearly all over it, trees pruned, plants rearranged, structures and what-not’s built, destroyed and reincarnated in some form , markers added here and there, this our dear Plaza Rizal.

Early mornings, we spot a few joggers or walkers strutting their stuff in and around it. Nighttimes, too, the night runners do their cooling-down exercises  here. We quickly walk pass through it, pause at times to enamor at the real kings of the place, the doves. It is our favorite daytime assembly place, particularly, the kiosko, at the Plaza Rizal, where we meet up for out-of-town excursions.

After or before Sunday mass, we converge there at times during the golden hour of the day, kids in tow, letting them feed the doves, only to allow them to chase the doves away. But it’s a beautiful, vibrant sight, perfect for our little digital cameras to capture and post in Facebook.

Alas, times-a-changing have chased away the fabled kodakers of Plaza Rizal, too.  As with the flocks of lansijang whose concierto of chirps and droppings mystified, fascinated and annoyed us all at once, their on-the-dot race to and from their treetop condos at the plaza endeared us, all the same . As with the hordes of us, who now all flock to the nearest air-conditioned comforts of the shopping malls – all but plaza’s in boxes, vibrant, breathable, artificial, costly.

In the end, no elaborate shopping complex can really substitute our need for breathing spaces within this slowly unfolding almost-urban jungle that we have. Public parks, the real kind, with greeneries and trees and flowers, lots of it, are the “lungs” of the city or town. “The foliage of the parks gives out vital air to purify and regenerate the atmosphere, in the same way as the lungs give it to the blood, changing its venous blue to an arterial scarlet.” This “body”, this city, Bohol, are all overgrowing and we need more public parks and spaces that cater to healthy recreation that enhance our overall quality of life.

While, if one’s lucky to still have a backyard grove and could still nestle under their own mansanitas tree, and be lost in the vortex of Nicholas Sparks’ latest melancholic romance, or just ponder upon the vastness of the universe or wait for that red mansanitas to burst from its pod, open spaces have a special air about it, a genius loci, where one could be alone in peace, but at the same time belonging  to a community of citizens taking relief from the strains of their work or school environments and everyday demands of living – walking or running, time spent sitting or reading, watching the birds, people watching even, essentially any time spent in the natural environment the open space offers. It goes without saying that when open spaces are attractive and accessible, people are more likely to engage in physical activity, which has obvious inherent health benefits.

The CPG Park is becoming that alternative. But with recent demise of some trees in the park and the lingering ghosts of prison cells past nearby, it is attracting little park culture that it should carry. Other tree-less (some, semi-public because of the fees) recreation spaces in the city are CPG Sports Complex with the newly rubberized track oval, the K of C promenade, pantalan.

There’s a lot to be told about a city or town by looking at its public parks. That we are wanting of green open spaces, there’s a lot to be told about this city, our towns, Bohol.

With three Filipina beauties – Philippine bet Gwen Ruais, former Pinoy Big Brother housemate Fil-Canadian Riza Santos for Canada, and Fil-Danish Maya Celeste Padillo Olesen representing Denmark – vying for this year’s Miss World title come November 6th in London, Filipinos all over are bursting with pride.

We, Bol-anon’s, on the other hand, have something to be doubly proud of. One of the three Pinay Miss World hopefuls, Miss World Denmark 2011 Maya Celeste Padillo Olesen, is not only half-Pinay – she is half-Boholana.

The twenty-year old Filipina-Danish, is the third of the four children of Jens Christian Olesen and Elizabeth Padillo Olesen, who originally hails from the small fishing island of Hingotanan in Bien Unido.

Maya, who was three, when the family moved permanently to Denmark, reveals her story in the Miss and Mister of Denmark Organization website:

“My parents met each other in England. They slowly developed a sweet romance through their passion for music. My father taught my mother how to play the guitar. This was the beginning of a relationship that stretched across the world. My father is from Denmark and my mother is from the Philippines. After a year, they decided to get married: the start of an adventure as a couple. They travelled to many countries via their work as missionaries. It was their mission to spread the message of God’s love and to help people who were less fortunate. After 6 years of marriage, followed by the birth of their two girls, they got me as their third child.”

“The 24th of August 1991 was the day I was born. Conceived in Nepal, born in the Philippines and raised in Denmark, I’ve always presented myself with my awkward slogan; “Conceived in Himalaya, my name is Maya”. But there is a deeper meaning to my name. Maya means love in Nepali language and it means a songbird in the Philippines.”

Maya’s mother, Silliman University graduate Elizabeth Padillo, a teacher and all-around creative person who dabbles in poetry, music and painting – relates in a weblog she wrote after daughter Maya won Miss Denmark World just last August 20 – that she was, at first, hesitant of the idea of being mother to a beauty queen.

“My disbelief was stronger than her own shock when she got the crown, Miss World Denmark.”

Besides feeling the normal concerns of a mother towards a child that would soon embark in a fairytale adventure of fame and glamour that we’ve seen one too many a young girl ensnared into, Mrs. Olesen had her own misgivings on the whole drama of beauty contests in general.

But, looking at the glass half-full, and seeing how this whole experience could open tons of opportunity for Maya – particularly with her dreams on, one day, working for charitable organizations such as Doctors beyond Borders , helping the poor and the needy – the Boholana mother, as easily, embraced her daughter’s Miss World journey full-on.

Mrs. Olesen says, “With her declared major concerns, which she thinks are very close to her heart, then I feel she will follow a road not necessarily to the road of honour and fame but to a life of service.”

This yearning to serve others, Maya takes from her parents. They were after all Christian missionaries. Mrs. Olesen, on her part, still gives back to the people of her home island Hingotanan. During her last visit in 2008, Mrs. Elizabeth Padillo Olesen donated sacks of rice to the then typhoon-struck village folks, as well as shared her take on art and human creativity to students at her alma mater, Hingotanan Barangay High School. Mrs. Olesen also gives part of her painting sales to deserving Hingotanan students.

Maya also shares her mother’s creativity, particularly with music, as she loves to express herself artistically through singing, dancing and playing piano. “I have a deep passion for music. I enjoy listening to almost any genres. And I love to find undiscovered artists on YouTube. Right now I am obsessed with Adele. She has such a wonderful voice and her songs really reach out to people who have been broken hearted.”

When ABS-CBN Europe news bureau chanced upon the three Pinay beauties for a triptych interview, Maya Celeste Padillo Olesen was asked: Being half-Danish and half-Filipino, what does it feel like representing Denmark?

“I’m so proud of my Filipino roots but I’m also proud of representing Denmark. But yeah, even though I don’t really speak the Filipino language, I feel like one. My mother makes a lot of Filipino food and we have a lot of Filipino parties at home like karaoke (party) and stuff like that. I have a lot of the Filipino culture with me even though I don’t speak the language”, Maya answered.

She has these words for her Filipino supporters. “I have got a lot of support from Filipinos. They have written to me and they tell me how proud they are that I am Filipino so I am going to do my best to make them proud.”

Maya has previously told in another interview that, when given the chance to live in another country, she would choose the Philippines.

“I was born there and left when I was three years old and my last visit with my family was when I was six years old. And I have never visited it again because it is expensive to travel, but I would love to go back some day and be closer to my other half of the family. Family is a very important factor in my life.”

Maya is the second Boholana to join the Miss World pageant, following Anna Maris Igpit, who represented the Philippines in Miss World 2006 pageant in Warsaw, Poland. She will be competing against 113 other beauties from all over the world. The London pageant night is set on November 6th, November 7th on Philippine time.

(This article also appeared in today’s issue of the LifestyleBohol, The Bohol Chronicle.)

Photo Source: www.missandmisterofdenmark.com

The late Pres. Carlos P. Garcia, the 8th President of the Philippines, is without a doubt Bohol’s most illustrious son.

R.A. 7448, in April of 1992, declared the 4th of November each year to be a special non-working holiday in the whole of Boholandia to commemorate the anniversary of the late Pres. Carlos P. Garcia. But with close inspection to the law, it didn’t in fact name November 4 as Carlos P. Garcia Day, only that it a special non-working holiday. It did however ‘designate’ Nov. 2-6 as Carlos P. Garcia Week.

But of course by all intents and purpose, today is Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Day.

and huge congratulations to this year’s Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Awards Laureates: Msgr. Margarito R. Gonzaga for Public Service, Reynaldo P. Monreal for Cultural Advocacy, Argeo J. Melisimo for Arts and Literature in Music, and Marjorie M. Evasco for Arts and Literature in Poetry. They do this each year, honor Bol-anons of worth in specific fields close to Pres. Carlos P. Garcia’s.

But of course, today is still Pres. Carlos P. Garcia’s day.

And this day we remember CPG, not for his Filipino First Policy and other accomplishments during his presidency and his life in public service (because every Filipino who’s had Araling Panlipunan knows this), but through his literary and oratory prowess. He was, after all, once renowned “Prince of Visayan Poets” and “The Bard from Bohol”.

Perhaps, the most popular balak (poem) by Carlos P. Garcia is the playfully, if I may say, risqué Dalagang Pilipinhon (kaluhang moto, anyone?). It must’ve been a treat to hear this recited by the great bard Carlos P. Garcia himself.