Posts Tagged ‘Batangas Philippines’

Even Expert Swimmers Doesn’t Know How to Swim

Usually, news regarding people being drown to death are people who doesn’t know how to swim or not expert swimmers and make lapses on their swimming acts. But news about expert swimmers like scuba divers in a dive resort ends their lives with either unable to swim because of the overwhelming currents beneath the deep waters or just make lapses on their scuba diving lessons, as the authorities trying to explain or comprehend what had happened to the two scuba divers that were reported drown on the waters of the dive resort at Mabini, Batangas Philippines,is really quite absurd.

Scuba Diving

As of now, there is no yet concrete reasons why the said two Pinoy scuba divers were drown to death (?) and the said reasons for their drowning is just a mere hypothesis of the authorities. If there would be a power play regarding their death, we will know on the long run if there is none but if it is just the mere absurdity of life; truly life is full of surprises and there is no guarantee that if you are expert of this field you will not have worries about biting you.

But that is the absurdity of life; if you are expert how to swim, this expertise will also kill you like what happened to these two scuba divers and similarly to the famous wildlife expert Steve Irwin (Stephen Robert Irwin) who dies on his own expertise when he was pierced by the wild aquatic creature “Stingray”. Moreover, not to mention expert Journalists in the Philippines who die on their own expertise on Journalism.

The current national Philippine flag today is just a mere derivative flag from the Philippine flags that precedes it. Long before it was wave on General Emilio Aguinaldo’s balcony on 1898, its predecessors already made a mark to some Filipinos who love their countries.

The very first Flag of the Philippines that has been created is said to be the flag of Andres Bonifacio. It is the flag of their Secret Society named Katipunan, which has an acronym of three Ks or KKK. These three Ks stands for Kataas-taasang Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or in English word Highest and Most Honorable Society of the Sons of the Nation.

This very first Philippine flag is in full red color with the three Ks on white color on the center of the red flag. You can google the image of this flag to see for yourself what it looks like. This KKK flag was made by Andres Bonifacio’s wife Gregoria De Jesus and Benita Rodriguez.

This Flag of the Philippines have variations that is some put the three Ks in a horizontal position, some in triangular form and some one large K only.

Another distinct variation of this flag is the flag of General Mariano Llanera. His version is of black background with one K on the left side and a skull above a two cross bones on the right.

This first Philippine flag has gone many revisions, variations and versions until it reach the present day flag of the Philippines.

There are variations with the three Ks but with an image of a sun above them but with red as background; there is a version with a white triangle lying down horizontally on the left corner or an equilateral triangle and within this white triangle are the three Ks spread on the three corners of the triangle, while on its center is the image of a rising sun behind a mountain, this version was said to be created by General Pio del Pilar; some version of the Philippine flag is the one called the Sun of Liberty of the Naic Assembly whose only image on the red flag is the image of a sun with a face on it without the three Ks.

Another variation is the Magdalo flag. This flag has only an image of the sun on the center which one letter K at the center of the sun. The letter K here is written on the ancient Filipino alphabet.

However, on the Battle of Tirad Pass and Pasong Balite, General Gregorio Del Pilar introduce a new flag with a striking resemblance of a Cuban flag. But this flag of General Gregorio Del Pilar was not at all sensationalized by Filipinos because of it resemblance to a Cuban flag.

But on 1898, while on exile at Hong Kong, Emilio Aguinaldo made another banner flag. This time the flag have a freemasonry triangle symbol with three stars on the corners and a sun with a face or a mythical sun on the center, Which according to him, the eight rays of the sun represents the eight provinces that revolted against the Spanish ruling, namely Manila Philippines, Pampanga Philippines, Cavite Philippines, Bulacan Philippines, Nueva Ecija Philippines, Bataan Philippines, Laguna Philippines, and Batangas Philippines. While the three stars represents: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

And this flag was wave at General Emilio Aguinaldo’s balcony, and also this flag of the Philippines was revised by former Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon by removing the face on the sun. Thus revised version has now become the current flag of the Philippines. It is now the accepted Philippine flag.

Who says “its April fool’s Day” during the month of April at the Philippines? The very start of the month the Philippines have already round-off revelries within the archipelago. Take for example the Butanding Festival at Donsol Sorsogon where street parades were held in thanksgiving for the blessings the whale sharks or butanding gave to Sorsogon. And in simultaneous celebrations are the Suroyta festival at Davao city Philippines where everyone have free tours in the city, the Annivesary of Enchanted Kingdom at Laguna Philippines that features fireworks competitions, the Fiesta Pasiklab at Commonwealth Avenue ,Quezon City Philippines where it highlights and celebrates the twelve famous and known festivals in the Philippines like the Ati-atihan Festival of Aklan Philippines, the Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo Philippines, the Higantes festival of Angono Philippines, the Pahiyas Festival of Lucban Quezon Philippines, the Kadayawan Festival at Davao city Philippines, the  Viva Vigan Festival of Ilocos Sur Philippines, the Masskara Festival of  Bacolod Philippines, the Hermosa Festival of Zamboanga city Philippines, the Penafrancia Festival of Naga City Philippines, the Parada ng Lechon of  Batangas Philippines, the Pintados Festival of Tacloban City Philippines, and the Sinulog festival of Cebu Philippines; the Human Canvas Body Competition held at Mandaluyong city inside SM Megamall that celebrates body arts in order to drive out the misconception that this kind of Art is pornography.

Another April 1 celebration is the Banana Festival of Negros Occidental at La Castellana where of course showcases different varieties of banana. And the Kesong Puti Festival of Sta. Cruz Laguna Philippines also celebrates this festival beginning April 1, which of course features the Kesong Puti or White Cheese made from the carabao’s milk.

April 1 in the Philippines is not a ‘fool’s Day’ but the start of the April Festivities in the Philippines. But the Festivals which I mentioned above never stop at April 1 only but continue on the succeeding days of celebration.

Following the April 1 revelries is the Agricultural and Industrial festival in Liliw Laguna Philippines which parades floats relating to agriculture and industry. This festival is called Liliw Gat Tayaw Footwear Festival. This festival is held during April 3 which showcases of course Liliw’s agricultural and industrial products.

Another April Festival is the ASEAN Paragames which is held during April 7 -9 at Zamboanga city Philippines,however, it can also change the location of the games. It a Paralethics games of the paralethic of Visayas Philippines and Mindanao Philippines. Along with this Visayas and Mindanao festival is the National Invitational Skimboarding Competition being held at Misamis Oriental.

Of course, April festivities in the Philippines will not be completed without the April’s main event in the Philippines, that is, the Araw ng Kagitingan Day which is held at April 9. I thought this is a National Holiday in the Philippines. It celebrates the defense and bravery of the Filipino soldiers to defend Bataan Philippines, which eventually fall into the hands of the conquering foreigners.

There are still April festivities in the Philippines which we could no longer discuss on this brief article.

The First Class Batangas Philippines

This Province in the Southwestern part of the Philippines is known as the most popular tourist destinations near Manila Philippines and at the Philippines. And why is it so? Of course because of Batangas Philippines famous beaches and resorts and diving spots, like Matabungkay, Anilao, Punta Fuegeo, Calatagan, and other famous tourist spots. Moreover, the famous Taal Volcano was also located at Batangas Philippines where most tourists flock to see the volcano. Taal volcano is the smallest active volcano known in the world and famous for its crater which has a lake in it. Its crater with lake is now called “Crater Lake” which most tourist love to look into. It is a volcano within a lake (Lake Taal) and the volcano itself has also a lake with its crater. Amazing is not it?

However, there are also interesting stuff about Batangas Philippines than its popular beaches and resorts. That is, Batangas Philippines’s famous fan knife or in local dialect “balisong”. Batangas Philippines has been known of this famous product in connection with its urban legend that a “Batangueno”(or local residents of Batangas ) always carry a secret “balisong” in anticipation to defend oneself from any outsiders who would challenge or offend one Batangueno to fight. Thus, there is a scare saying that “don’t mess yourself with a Batangueno” if you love your life. Batangas knife is a folding pocket knife with two handles counter-rotated at the grip of the blade of the knife. The knife can be concealed and surprise revealed when an enemy is attacking you. That’s really quite terrifying if you happen to bull with a Batangueno.

Batangas Philippines is also known for its cattle species, throughout the Philippines the “Batangas Cow” is sought after and almost every Saturday there is an auction.

However, like other region in the Philippines, Batangas in the Philippines has also other products which it can be proud of like pineapples, tuna fish, bangus, tilapia, coconut belt, etc.

Batangas Philippines is also known as the Cradle of Noble Heroes in the Philippine history because of heroes and statemens it produced, like Teodoro Kalaw,Apolinario Mabini,Jose Laurel,Claro M. Recto, and others. There are number of museums also which depicts this historical side of Batangas Philippines like Marcela Marino Agoncillo Museum and Monument which immortalized the contribution of this semi-hero Marcela Agoncillo who sew the first Philippine flag which was raised and wave during the times of Emilio Aguinaldo. This museum is actually an ancestral house of Marcella Agoncillo or where Marcela Agoncillo used to live during her times.Actually, I thought this was called Apolinario Shrine.

So where Batangas Philippines does located? Batangas Philippines is located at the CALABARZON region of Luzon Philippines, confined with the provinces of Cavite and Laguna. If you are from Manila Philippines, Batangas in the Philippines is 110 kilometers away southward through land transportation. Once you get there, you can ride a passenger jeepney or tricycle to go around the province or you can ride boats if you want an island-hopping adventure.