Don’t bark up the wrong tree
“Barking up the wrong tree” can vary in meaning depending on the situation. But for purposes of this article, allow me to use this phrase in the context of asking for help or seeking redress......»»
EXCLUSIVE: Jayda inispluk ang pinakamahalagang advice nina Jessa, Dingdong
KAHALAGAHAN ng work ethics at pantay-pantay na respeto sa lahat ng tao. Ito lamang ang ilan sa mga magagandang payo na tumatak kay Jayda mula sa celebrity parents na sina Jessa Zaragoza at Dingdong Avanzado. Matapos ang press conference ng singer para sa bagong hugot single na “Right Lover, Wrong Time,” nagkaroon ng pagkakataon ang.....»»
Jayda bet na bet ang pagiging ‘Pambansang Sad Girl’: I will take that 100%!
KAHIT ang singer na si Jayda Avanzado, tanggap ang pagiging certified “Pambansang Sad Girl.” Ito ang inamin niya sa isang exclusive press conference kasabay ng pag-release ng kanyang latest single na “Right Lover, Wrong Time.” “I will take that, 100%!” sey niya matapos tanungin ang tungkol sa kanyang reaksyon na binabansagan siya bilang “Pambansang Sad.....»»
EXCLUSIVE: Jayda chinika ang hinahanap na katangian ng ‘right lover’
ANO-ANO kaya ang mga katangian na hinahanap ni Jayda Avanzado sa isang ideal “right lover?” ‘Yan ang inisa-isa niya sa BANDERA nang makachikahan namin ang singer kasabay ng pag-release niya ng latest single na “Right Lover, Wrong Time.” Sa exclusive interview, inamin ni Jayda na gaya ng maram ay gusto rin niya ng taong marunong.....»»
Jayda may hugot sa TOTGA, nilabas ang single na ‘Right Lover, Wrong Time’
PINAGTAGPO, pero hindi itinadhana. Ito ang mensahe sa bagong hugot song ng OPM artist na si Jayda Avanzado na pinamagatang “Right Lover, Wrong Time.” Kamakailan lang, nagkaroon ng exclusive press conference ang singer at isa ang BANDERA sa mga naimbitahan niya. Nag-open up si Jayda tungkol sa bagong kanta at inamin na hango ito mismo.....»»
Fa-BOO-lous Halloween celebration with your pups
Too cute to spook? Dress up your kids and pet dogs in fun and colorful costumes and take them to The Westin Manila for a Halloween lunch celebration and a Fa-BOO-lous Costume Parade on 29 October. The themed Sunday lunch buffet at Seasonal Tastes features a wickedly wonderful spread alongside premium meats, such as Australian Beef Rump, Turkey, BBQ Pork Ribs, Roasted Chicken and a variety of sausages, plus an assortment of sweets, treats and much more. Lunch is served from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Every two adults who dine at the Halloween lunch buffet are entitled to two complimentary tickets for their children to join the Kiddie Costume Soirée in the afternoon at 2 p.m. To be held in the ballroom foyer on the second level, the afternoon activity is offered to kids two to 12 years old. The program includes games, cookie decorating, costume parade, giveaways and a five-minute self-portrait shoot per child at the A Studios booth. Pet dogs are invited to the Doggie Costume Paw-ty at the Lobby Lounge veranda at 4 p.m. Tickets are sold at P1,500, good for one dog and one pet owner, and the rate is consumable on food and drinks from the A La Bark and Lobby Lounge menus. The event will include a paw-lor game and costume parade, giveaways and a five-minute photo session for each dog at the A Studios booth. Register through westinmanila@westin.com or call 8256-2020. The post Fa-BOO-lous Halloween celebration with your pups appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Cookbook features Pinoy classics using Australian products
It was a celebration of great food and great friendship during the recent launch of Australian-Filipino food and travel writer, photographer and cookbook author, Yasmin Newman’s Under Coconut Skies: Feasts an Stories from the Philippines at SM Aura Premier. The event, organized by the Australian Embassy and the Australia Global Alumni in the Philippines, brought together members of the Filipino-Australian community, alumni and corporate executives. During the afternoon reception at the mall’s Skypark, Visum Ventures founder and chief executive officer John Michael Hilton, also a Filipino-Australian, joined Newman in preparing kinilaw na isda using kalamansi and Australian finger lime. Broadcast personality and Australian alumnus Martin Andanar hosted the program. They were welcomed by SM’s Millie Dizon. [gallery columns="4" size="large" ids="141790,141791,141792,141793"] Under Coconut Skies is Newman’s second Filipino cookbook. The book is a celebration of the Philippines and its food, and takes her readers on a journey to discovering classic Filipino dishes through stunning photographs and unique culinary traditions, folklore and personal stories. Australian Ambassador to the Philippines HK Yu PSM said: “One of the things that Filipinos and Australians share is our love for food — we love bringing people together to enjoy great food and have great conversations. We are delighted to have Filipino-Australian Yasmin Newman here in the Philippines to celebrate Philippine culinary heritage with the best of Australian products — a culinary fusion of the best of both countries.” In the cookbook, Newman invites readers into her kitchen and into the homes of friends and locals, sharing traditional dishes and vegetarian and modern interpretations on the classics. From sizzling wild mushroom sisig, golden turmeric and cassia bark rice from the Muslim south and pork belly adobo to glistening candied kalamansi cake, Filipino food celebrates and satisfies all the senses. Guests were seen enjoying the afternoon tea curated by Newman which featured well-loved Filipino dishes from her cookbook using fresh Australian ingredients, such as Tasmanian salmon with turmeric rice and ube pavlova. As a proud ambassador of Filipino cuisine and Australian food products, Newman also shares her love for food and her Australian and Filipino influences in a series of cooking videos called A Taste of the Philippines, produced by the Australia Philippines Business Council in partnership with the Australian Government. In 2013, she also wrote and published her debut cookbook 7000 Islands: A Food Portrait of the Philippines. Under Coconut Skies: Feasts and Stories from the Philippines is available on www.amazon.com The post Cookbook features Pinoy classics using Australian products appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Taiwan tribe despairs as drought shrinks bamboo crop
Hacking at a bamboo plant with a machete, Avayi Vayayana peels back the shoot's stiff bark as he scans southern Taiwan's mountains, anxious for more of the money-making crop his Indigenous tribe increasingly struggles to find. Generations of the Tsou tribe have lived off Alishan township's bamboo forests, which Vayayana says were planted by his forefathers and typically harvested in April and May. But "the weather in the last few years has really been out of whack", the 62-year-old tribal chief tells AFP. "The rainfall has been delayed and the bamboo shoots' growth is noticeably affected." In the Indigenous village T'fuya, the dark-brown cones of the island's native stone bamboo -- or Phyllostachys lithophila -- have become harder to spot. "The little young shoots will not sprout if there's no rain. After a while, they will die inside the ground," Vayayana says. The February-to-April rains are crucial to the growth of bamboo shoots -- which are popular in Asian cuisine -- but since late last year, there have not been any significant downpours. The Tsou tribe, which has a population of 7,000 in Alishan, has seen their bamboo shoot harvest steadily decline. On a misty May morning, a welcome drizzle finally blankets the bamboo forest Vayayana is working in, but he tells AFP it is too late. This year, his haul is one-third of 2022's harvest. Worse, Vayayana and his family must now also contend with crop-raiding monkeys, he explains after an airgun shot rings out in the distance: his cousin trying to scare away the marauders. "Because many surrounding bamboo forests have died, now where there are bamboo shoots, all the monkeys will go," he says. 'Frontline victims' Southern Taiwan is experiencing its worst drought in decades. Water levels in the Tsengwen reservoir serving the southern Tainan and Chiayi regions plummeted below 10 percent this year, the third such drop since 2018, leaving reservoir beds cracked and exposed. The Tsengwen serves as a primary water source for a massive foundry making the island's precious semiconductors -- soaring in demand globally -- and also supplements the region's rice-growing plains. But for the third year in a row, the government is providing subsidies to farmers not to plant their crops -- a sign of the severe water needs. An hour's drive from the reservoir, Alishan too is experiencing drastic weather changes. From January to April, rainfall declined to 226.5 millimeters (8.9 inches), a more than 50 percent drop compared to the same period last year, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Station. For the Tsou -- whose lifestyle is entwined with nature -- the impact is "comprehensive", says Greenpeace Taiwan's Lena Chang. "They are the frontline victims of climate change," Chang tells AFP. Data compiled by Greenpeace Taiwan shows the drop-off in rain to be persistent. In the past three decades, Alishan has lost an average of 2.6mm of rainfall per year in February and 1.2mm in March -- a vital period for bamboo shoot growth. At T'fuya's crop collection point, villagers offload sacks of bamboo shoots from trucks, weighing them before sending them to factories to be boiled and tinned for mass consumption. "This year, the rain came too late and many bamboo trees are sick. The harvest is very bad," Voyu Baniana, 24, tells AFP. "In my family's plantation, we have none. I can only work for other people this year." New cash crop Those who returned to their villages after a period of working in cities are finding it harder to live off of crops they grew up cultivating. Voyo Yulunana, 43, still remembers the long days he spent as a child harvesting bamboo shoots, the sale of which bolstered the community's living standards. "Buying a car or building a house, we counted on the bamboo," he says. Since Yulunana returned from a brief stint in the city working in construction, he has noticed "the rains don't come when they should". Luckily, his grandfather made a switch to growing coffee beans, which Yulunana and other younger Tsou have shifted toward in the past decade. "Coffee is slowly replacing bamboo shoots as the cash crop" in Alishan, says Yulunana. But even it is not immune to climate change -- a late spring rain affects the plant's flowering season, and the erratic weather last year nearly devastated his family's 400-shrub crop, he said. "At this point, I can get by with just growing coffee," Yulunana said. "Who knows what new crops will appear after coffee?" The post Taiwan tribe despairs as drought shrinks bamboo crop appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
First Panambal Festival promotes Siquijor’s folk healing practices
[caption id="attachment_123658" align="aligncenter" width="558"] Photographs by Roel Hoang Manipon for the daily tribune | Common healing oils, concoctions, haplas and tambal used in Siquijor.[/caption] At the junction of Tañon Strait, Cebu Strait and Bohol Sea, in Central Visayas, the island of Siquijor has been inspiring fascination and curiosity mainly because of its reputation of being a home to many practitioners of sorcery, witchcraft and folk medicine, and its often being described as “mystic.” Whenever I was in Dumaguete City, in the neighboring province of Negros Oriental, I could see the island from the coastal boulevard, a fuzzy landscape floating on the sea, shrouded in mystery. My only images about it were culled from television shows featuring sorcery practices, particularly of a man who made paper dolls dance. Last Holy Week, through the very first Panambal Festival, I was able to step foot on the island province, which is about an hour’s ferry ride from Dumaguete City, and know more about the culture, particularly the folk and traditional healing practices, of one of the smallest provinces of the Philippines. [caption id="attachment_123661" align="aligncenter" width="747"] photographs by Roel Hoang Manipon for the daily tribune | Olang Arts Park in Maria was the venue for the first Panambal Festival.[/caption] We arrived at night in the town of Maria, in the southeast portion of the island, and during late dinner, we heard the story of Maria Nico, the resident engkanto of the town, together with his sisters Maria Nica and Maria Luisa, told by the town’s tourism officer, the loquacious and always flamboyantly dressed Aldrin “Aldrina Braxton” Daguman. Said to be tall, handsome and fair-complexioned, Maria Nico seemed to be a benevolent character, often granting wishes of people. Aldrina said that once millions of pesos worth of furniture was delivered to Maria but the recipient was unknown. People attributed this to Maria Nico. Stories about him bear some similar details to stories of Maria Kakaw of Cebu, Olayra of Antique and other engkanto characters in other parts of the Visayas. Local lore of mystical beings before we got to see the island was a very apt introduction. [caption id="attachment_123664" align="aligncenter" width="742"] The opening of the Panambal Festival led by Maria mayor Roselyn Asok.[/caption] The folk and traditional practices are what many people in Siquijor want to highlight and promote, and a cultural and touristic festival was created for that. Using the Cebuano word for “to heal” or “healing,” “tambal,” the Panambal Festival was held in the town of Maria, spearheaded by the local government, led by its mayor Roselyn Tancio Asok and co-organized with Eufemia “Minnie” Solomon Crouse and Anna Lacpao Tabujara Cornelia of the Olang Arts Park, the main venue of the festival in the barangay of Olang. The festival was conceptualized by veteran events organizer and tourism planner Nilo Agustin, who lives in Metro Manila but considers Siquijor a home, with the crucial help of 43-year-old folk healer and visual artist Junel Tomaroy. [caption id="attachment_123660" align="aligncenter" width="525"] Junel Tomaroy, one Siquijor’s traditional healers.[/caption] The Panambal Festival is not Siquijor’s first festival highlighting local pananambal. The province has been holding the Pahi-uli Festival since 2010 in Mount Bandilaan, a 212-hectare forest reserve in Maria. The mountain is the highest point of the island and is an important source of plants used in folk medicine and concoctions. According to Agustin, the event has become too commercialized, and Panambal Festival aims to present more authentic practices and spotlight the traditional healers. Both festivals are held on Holy Week, particularly from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday, which is a very important time for local folk healing. During this time, haplas or healing oil, tambal or remedy and other potions are concocted. According to Tomaroy, considered one of the most reputable mananambal or practitioner of folk and traditional medicine, in Siquijor, they start gathering ingredients on Friday after Ash Wednesday and continue only every Friday, culminating on Good Friday. They can only gather ingredients and make concoctions during this time of the year, the Lenten season, on seven Fridays. [caption id="attachment_123665" align="aligncenter" width="525"] Traditional healer Ricardo Oyog doing the haplas.[/caption] Folk healing in Siquijor is a blend of practices that appear old, animistic and of pre-Christianization and Catholic religiosity, with the use primarily of concoctions, prayers and rituals and faith. The people of Siquijor are predominantly of Cebuano ethnicity as much of Central Visayas which includes Cebu, Negros Oriental and Bohol. Catholicism is a strong presence in the island, which has a number of old churches, as in most parts of the country. The neighboring Cebu is where Christianity first gain foothold. But remnants of native Visayan Cebuano culture survive. The Panambal Festival opened on 7 April with a short program at the three-and-half-hectare Olang Arts Park, which was established in 2005 by Crouse, who hails from Pangasinan. According to organizers, the festival aims to feature the arts as well as traditional healing. A visual arts exhibit was also opened, showcasing works, mostly depicting healing practices, by Siquijodnon artists of the Pahiuli Artists Collective—Tomaroy, Joven Y. Ansing, Vicente C. Looc, Jr., Peter G. Agan, Dubonga Jorom, Louie Gabucan, Malvin E. Lomosad and Dondon dela Victoria. Performances of the young Olang Arts Park Orchestra were also featured. The next day, Good Friday, healers demonstrated steps in making concoctions and oils, and conduction healing sessions in a cluster of huts surrounded by mahogany trees. One common healing practice is the tuob or suob, a kind of body fumigation, for a variety of ailments and to drive away general bad vibes or spirits. The minasa, a black dry concoction, is burned inside a dry coconut husk to create palina or healing smoke and is place under the patient who is wrapped with a blanket or malong. [caption id="attachment_123666" align="aligncenter" width="525"] Tuob using fumigation is a common healing practice.[/caption] In one corner, Ricardo “Ricky” Oyog doing the haplas, application of healing oil on the feet and legs, massaging them with their version of reflexology. The 55-year-old mananambal, a former radio operator from Caitican, Siquijor, Siquijor, also had common oils and remedies for sale. These concoctions include himughat, a dry mixture of wood chips and bark of different plants believed to be medicinal. At P250 per bag, the himughat is mixed into vino or wine or any alcoholic drink, letting it steep. A shot or a tablespoon or two is recommended for fatigue or general tiredness, for headache, dysmenorrhea and kidney ailments. The haplas sa panuhot is an oil concoction for lamig or bodily aches. It is also used for buntis (pregnancy), pamanhod (numbness), pamaol (muscle ache), and arthritis. The tambal sa hilo ug daot is a treatment for as well as panagang or defense against poisoning and paninira (slander, defamation) and jealousy and envy, which is a kind of poisoning. It is also used to treat pangatol or itching. There were also concoctions in small vials, to be placed in the cash box to bring luck in business, and in amulets, a general charm. Other participating healers were Daniela Sartin, Gibrint Edd D. Reyes, Dodong Amboludto, Jomar Enanor, Dean Mark Enanor, Tessie Calimpon and Delia Bajo. On Good Friday, the mananambals performed the adlip on the gathered woods, stems and branches of different plants and trees, which they have gathered during the season. There were several kinds and the healers know by their local names such as tagnipas, duguan, tabun-hangin, etc. There are kinds they call pahiuli or restoration plants. According to Josel B. Mansueto, a professor at the Siquijor State College who have conducted studies on the island’s folk healing practices, mananambals use 377 varieties or kinds of plants. The forests and mountains are sources of these. Other sources of other ingredients are caves (stalactite, earth, etc.), the sea (anything that causes itching or irritation, bearing toxins, etc.), the church (holy water, flowers offered on funerals, candles, etc.). Pag-aadlip involves chopping the woods and stems into smaller pieces. On this day, they also do the pag-uuling, the burning of collected materials to be used as ingredients in the making of minasa. On Black Saturday, Tomaroy led in pagmamasa, the preparation of the minasa. A large kawali was placed over fire and ingredients were put in, which included beeswax, candles, incense, tawas, kamanyang, tuba, honey, soil from the floor of a langub (cave), lana or coconut oil, pahi-uli wood, uling and many others. [caption id="attachment_123662" align="aligncenter" width="728"] Preparing the minasa to used to make palina for the tuob.[/caption] The black mixture was frequently stirred until the healer deemed it ready. Aside from tuob, the minasa is also used in producing anting-anting or amulet or charm. On Easter Sunday, the paglalana was done. It is the process extracting coconut oil. They scraped off the meat out of coconuts using the kudkuran. The most potent coconut comes from the “bugtong na niyog na nakaharap sa silangan,” or a lone coconut facing the east. Every batch must contain at least one. If more, they must be in odd numbers, such three or five. Lana made with coconuts facing the west and used in even numbers (two, four, etc) is for pangkukulam/pambabarang or witchcraft. They squeezed the milk out of the grated coconut meat. Only kakang-gata, the milk of the first squeezing or extraction, is used. The milk was boiled over fire until the oil came out after about two hours and was then separated from other particles. The lana or coconut oil is an attracting agent as well as a vehicle to deliver the efficacy of the herbs and other ingredients. The popular lumay is also concocted during Easter Sunday. It is also known as gayuma or love potion but lumay gererally is meant to attract positive vibes and good fortune not only in love and romance but also in business, career and even marital and family life. [caption id="attachment_123657" align="aligncenter" width="752"] Flowers, seeds, twigs and other ingredients for making lumay, popularly known as gayuma.[/caption] Lumay is concocted during Easter Sunday because many ingredients are gathered from materials used in salubong and other Easter events and practices of the church such as leaves and flower decors. It can be concocted by anyone if one knows the ingredients. Some of the ingredients in making lumay include tawa-tawa, amorseko, buhok sa hangin, lagay-lagay, makahiya or mimosa, rosary pea seeds, sampinit, kadena de amor, and likup-likup. These are gathered and put in a bottle together with perfume or honey. Dab some perfume on the skin or smear a little honey on the lips, the healer advised. Tawa-tawa is used maybe because the fruits are phallic, and the likup-likup, maybe because they cling to the trees. The plants’ perceived characteristics as well as their names indicate what powers they can add to the potion. One ingredient is the curious, bag-shaped plant called lagay-lagay sa amo, the Hydnophytum plant that grows on tree branches and trunks, and is structured like an ant colony, thus it is called the ant plant. The mananambal includes it their healing oil concoctions to treat bukol or swellings or tumor-like symptoms as well as goiter, and certain types of cancer. The name means testicles and it is also included in the concoction of lumay because of its sexual connotation. While the lumay making was going on, an Easter egg hunt was organized for the children, a seemingly incongruent inclusion in the festival. But the hunt is also a practice with old, paganistic roots, with eggs and bunnies as symbols of fertility, like the healing practices, an amalgam of native and Catholic beliefs. Agustin has been planning for the next holding of the Panambal Festival. He has invited the Aralan ng Gamutang Pilipino, led by Dr. Isidro C. Sia, convenor and executive director of Integrative Medicine for Alternative Healthcare Systems Philippines, to hold its national convention during the festival. Organizers also envisioned having traditional healers from different parts of the country, such as mumbaki of the Ifugao and healers of the Ati of Negros Island, as guest participants. An herbarium has been started, with an ambition of growing all the plant ingredients used in pananambal. All these are for the vision of making Siquijor the healing center of the country. The post First Panambal Festival promotes Siquijor’s folk healing practices appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
The bark before the bite
By DEE AYROSO The post The bark before the bite appeared first on Bulatlat......»»
Don’t bark up the wrong tree
“Barking up the wrong tree” can vary in meaning depending on the situation. But for purposes of this article, allow me to use this phrase in the context of asking for help or seeking redress......»»