September 16, 2007

CONTENTS

Features

• Arya! The Art of Alan Gomez
  

Columns

• Stings from the Wild
• Island Blend

Arya!

The Art of Alan Gomez

His model ships have sailed off faraway places, bringing with them treasures that smell of rice fields and banana plantations. His framed mixed media artworks depicting Bohol’s best proudly gaze at you in restaurants and resorts around town. His charming original creations appear in most every trade show that the province partakes in.

His art has become a celebrity of sorts but he whose hands and genius shaped these obra’s, has remained elusive. Until now.

Alanieto ‘Alan’ Gomez is not a people person. He leaves that to his father, Nito Gomez, who has been marketing and promoting his son’s artistic creations from the beginning of this artist’s career.

It was in 1988 when Alan Gomez sold his first galleon. It started as a hobby, a fascination of model vessels meticulously 3d-rendered in indigenous materials, chiefly unas (dried banana leaves). Proud of his first creation, it sat prominently in their sala. It didn’t take long for it to be noticed by a guest. It was purchased almost instantly.

Many galleons and schooners later, Alan and his art has since evolved into framed mixed media artworks (the art includes the frame) and other model vehicles like vintage planes, jeepneys and bicycles. But he remained loyal to his media of choice, easy to come by, native materials such as unas, coco products, twigs, bamboo.

Though he spent some good years in an architectural school, Alan is self-made and takes inspiration from everything and anything that takes his fancy. In the faux-window-frame art that he made for Atty. Jun Amora’s new office, he applied the technique he saw in Disney’s Art Attack in creating the texture for the frame.

Though some may dismiss his creations as craftwork, not artwork, Alan stands by his conceptions as works of art. He says his art cannot be duplicated, replicated and mass-produced, as with the craftworks’ case. His artwork is pedantic, and could only be sculpted, modeled, painted with his own hands.

But he need not defend his art. Not in the case of Alan Gomez’ art.

His art has transcended craft and scale, Loayanon’s want a real-size galleon rise in their sandugo site, and guess who they approached?

The sails of a real galleon will be seen flapping over the Loay sandugo site years from now, it will be an Alan Gomez.

Bush Around the Beat

Bush, Inc. as a political parlance refers to the family of the US 41^st president and the current 43^rd president. The father of 41^st was a senator and a brother of 43^rd is the governor of a state. It’s a record outmatched by some political families in our country as we have outmatched the US record of entertainers throwing their hats into the political ring.

As the world knows, both Bushes made war with Saddam Hussein, and in a weirdly funny sense, those wars were between the “Butcher of Baghdad” and the “Butchers of Syntax.”

Bush the father and the son are both known for verbal miscues. Those who kept track of their mangled English have enough entries to produce books not unlike our own “Eraptions.” Our Erap can be forgiven though, perhaps not for his plunder case but certainly for his mangled English, he being a non-native English speaker.

Bushism was actually born of Bush the father and now ably continued by Bush the son. It is in keeping with Yogiism, Goldwynism, and even Yodaism, all describing ways of stringing English words a cut above, or below, the usual English syntax.

The father-and-son verbal mangling hadn’t spared their wives. Take this from Bush senior: ‘It has been said by some cynic, maybe it was a former president, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Well, we took them literally― that advice― as you know. But I didn’t need that because I have Barbara Bush.’ Dubya the son followed by declaring sometime later: ‘The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case.’

The latest from Dubya was at the APEC summit in Australia. He thanked Australian Prime Minister John Howard for the OPEC summit and declared that Howard had visited Iraq to see the Austrian troops there. The gaffe prompted this editorial in a leading Mideast broadsheet thus ‘…the son, elected to the White House, not once but twice. Americans must be gluttons for punishment.’

In terms of language, both Bushes are guilty of malapropism, neologism, spoonerism, and portmanteau. This also shows that English as a language makes it easy for language murderers to acquit themselves, what with these uncommon words to describe their crime and a French word thrown in for good measure.

Confuse two similar-sounding words, and there’s malapropism. Bush’s OPEC for APEC and Austrian for Australian belong here. ‘A tax cut is really one of the anecdotes to coming out of an economic illness,’ Dubya said in 2000. One can take heart that anecdotes instead of antidotes isn’t a Freudian slip.

Coining new words or extending word meanings is a neologism. ‘It’s no exaggeration to say the undecideds could go one way or another,’ the father said in 1988.

Spoonerism is when words or letters are exchanged, as the title of this piece shows. ‘If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, the economy will grow,’ the 43^rd famously said in 2000. So much for barriers and tariffs. They could be going to the dogs.

The best example of portmanteau, a word that combines the sound and meaning of two words, is smog for smoke and fog. Used first by Lewis Carrol in Alice in Wonderland, smog is now an accepted word. Who knows what fate awaits misunderestimated, Dubya’s own portmanteau of misunderstood and underestimated?

A president’s job must be very stressful; it also confuses Bush the son about geography. Consider where he is in the scheme of humanity in these lines, delivered on different occasions: ‘Africa is a nation that suffers incredible disease.’ ‘We’ve got to work with Nigeria. That’s an important continent.’ ‘That there be a stable Iran. Iran that is capable of rejecting Iranian influence… I mean Iraq.’ Wherefore he speaks, I believe this tops them all: ‘I think war is a dangerous place.’

Such mangled English, harmless as long as it doesn’t launch a thousand nuclear missiles, is there to be enjoyed. It even encourages wit, like the news reporter’s who dubbed Bush the 41^st as The English Patient.

‘He can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth,’ quipped a former Texas lady governor about Bush the father. So is it with the son. He would have been less pleasantly folksy if he were born as the man with the golden tongue.

Island Blend

Tourism. It’s not just about a trip to a place. Beyond a destination, there are always new cultures to observe, ways of life to learn about and from. The key to attracting tourists and winning their hearts lies not just in the natural beauty of a place but also in her gentle, welcoming people. In very similar words, Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia welcomed delegates and guests to the first ever Philippine International Tourism Fair (PITF) held in Mandaue City over a week ago, underscoring the key role the local population plays in creating a top tourism destination.

Bohol, the current white-hot buzz word in the travel trade both here and abroad, made very good use of the headways in recent years in the local tourism sector by fielding a strong delegation to the international event. The Boholano contingent—led and assembled by the Bohol Provincial Government through its Tourism Office (under the helm of the dynamic Baby Balio)—included reps from the island’s busiest resorts, restaurants, travel agencies and other tourist-based establishments.

Spotted at the busy Bohol cluster of booths were: the gracious Vicky Wallace of Bohol Bee Farm assisted by marketing agent Resti Tejido and interior design genius Brang Alvarez; Amarela Beach Resort’s owner Atty. Doy Nunag and his booth’s designer, pretty daughter Bianca, with their front office staff; Eskaya Beach Resort and Spa’s lady boss Phoebe Baquial-Lim and sales exec Rene Divino; Amorita Resort’s chirpy owner Marivic Hernandez with fun and articulate GM Rocky Jorolan; mega successful entrepreneur Paz Trotin of Bohol Diver’s Resort; and Kag. Tonypet Ouano of Pandanon Island Resort in Getafe.

One level below, the Philippine Travel Exchange was also being staged. Here we saw Bohol Beach Club’s Fe Ginete, Angel’s Wing’s Sarah Jao-Dejaresco, Lourdes Sultan of The Travel Village and Ron Garrido of 4Bs Travel busy selling Bohol resorts, services and packages to over a hundred big-time travel buyers from around the world.

Bohol Association of Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants (BAHRR) personalities Jun Caturza of JJ’s Seafood Village and Merva Budlong of Water Paradise Resort were also around to lend their support. Ditto for Peter Dejaresco, head of the Bohol Tourism Council, diver-contractor Holger Horn, travel agent Nonette Bolo, smart and no-nonsense Jo Remolador-Cabarrus along with the other pretty muses from the tourism office Orie Navarro, Gina Kapirig, their handsome gent Chito Vano, and Vida May Tirol who emceed the program during the fab well-attended ‘Blazing Bohol’ cocktails (in contrast to the lackluster Boracay presentation of the previous day). Food and drinks during the Bohol presentation was provided by Port of Waterfront Hotel.

The booth commissioned by the Province of Bohol was one of the most photographed. Ms. Balio and Boy Dumadag conceptualized a living, life-size diorama, giving exhibition viewers an interactive sensory Bol-anon experience. Ramp model and HNU tourism stude Michael Sepe and photographic model Grace Celedes rode a bamboo raft on a silken olive green river dramatically flanked by graceful nipa fronds, reeds and tropical flowers. The sound of frogs, birds and running water continuously played in the background as the glorious scent of flowers from an essence-burning pot wafted through the air. The scene could have been any of the thousands of secluded coves dotting the many tributaries snaking through our island. People got drawn. They sniffed, ogled, listened, touched the flowers and leaves, picked brochures, inquired and took pictures, most of the time with themselves front and center.

It won’t be long before we’ll see them again, this time as they enjoy the real deal—up close and personal—through a unique experience that can only be Bohol.

September 9, 2007

CONTENTS

Features

• Spa Retreat
• Flip-flop Fever

Columns

• Stings from the Wild
• La Vida Loca
  

Spa Retreat

Text by Mitzi Ibaya

The sound of flowing water instantly puts one into a peaceful trance. There is nothing like the sight of ocean ripples shimmering like sapphire under a lucid sun to calm the restless spirit. This and more is the promise of one of Bohol’s prime spas, Mithi.

The old world European Baths have been translated today into beauty and wellness retreats, commonly known as spa. This includes a variety of spas that offer physical and spiritual cleansing.

And Bohol, ever the tourist savvy tourism destination, has wizened up to the multi-billion dollar industry that mushroomed all over the world. Perhaps, the modern world’s fast-paced, over-competitive lifestyle has brought more people seeking vacations that offer more than the sun and sea.

In Bohol, Mithi is just one of several spas that are now incorporated in many of our high-end resorts. And these spas mostly cater to the A-list vacationers. The editor assured me however, this has a local-friendly rate that dispenses with the local-unfriendly resort entrance fee.

Modesty wrapped in a towel, I resolved to experience what many raved as the answer to the stress-ridden workweek; a spa retreat.

The thirty-minute sauna already loosened up the kinks from two months of political drama. Heat permeating every pore, sweat pouring from forehead to foot pads, I was surprisingly enjoying being subjected to intense heat that seeped through my soul and put me in hot, languid stupor.

A hot shower to wash away the toxins and a foot soak with a view of the sea and some tea to relax were all I needed to remind me it is still a beautiful world. My musings were broken by soft-spoken ladies dressed in asian-inspired costumes in muted colors who beckoned me to my massage.

Like several Filipino spas, this one also offers the local massage traditions of the hilot, bentosa, and the like. I, however, am treated to the combination of massage techniques. The customary query of “soft, medium or hard”, momentarily placed an impish thought. But the candle-lit room coupled with soft music and the knowing ministrations of my wellness attendant transformed my thoughts from impish to congenial.

Calm yet invigorated, I ended my retreat with a determination to subject myself to more of these beauty and wellness treats. The day’s experience has left me with nothing but happy thoughts that for a moment made me forget political madness, breakwaters, and manmade islands.

Flip-flop fever

Text by Liza V. Macalandag

Now we’re flaunting our flip-flops, like the island people that we are.

The good ole comfy tsinelas (or swalu in some parts of the island) is making a renaissance of sorts not just in our lovely island but elsewhere in the world.

Gone are the days when the slippered walk the streets with toes curled down in shame. Slippers, the enduring footwear for the casual and laid-back, the ordinary people, are coming out to the streets, trendy malls, exclusive hotel lobbies and even the red carpet - with pride (and fervor).

The culprit to this tsinelas fashion revolution? Havaianas (ah-vai-yah-nas), not only considered the “Best Rubber Flip-flops in the World” but the company that brought the cool back to flip-flops, brought to us by the coolest people in the world, (nope, not us, Pinoys) the Brazilians.

Havaianas transformed the perception of slippers, altogether. Although, a good peducure would definitely matter a lot, still, the brand made it possible for people to wear slippers with pride.

Havaianas is Portuguese for Hawaians because of the laid-back island culture that inspired the Brazilians designers way back in the 1960s, which for decades has also been the choice footwear for most Brazilians, from the Amazon natives to the stylish Sao Paulo elite. From Brazil, the Havaianas fever spread like global warming to the rest of the world.

Havaianas had people flipping over flip-flops that most designer brands now have flip-flop lines of their own.

And of course like every fashion explosion, it spawned cheap rip-off’s. So now the flip-flop fashion is not only confined to the moneyed but the indigents as well. (Buy a regular pair of Havaianas in the Chocolate Factory. Splurge P800-P1000+. Buy a rip-off in Agora, or kilid sa Agora. You dish out P40.)

Which is exactly why people wear flip-flops, to live the simpler life. In the case of Havaianaticos (yes, fanatics are called thus), living casual and chic.

Taking Presumptions

Appearances deceive. One can insist that a person matters more than what he wears, but in a world of strangers, it takes a dress to approximate how one would be initially treated.

Think of a man of the cloth, with a clerical collar and a small cross pin, beside a shabbily dressed chap with uncombed hair. Let’s say both have business with a frontline female bureaucrat scowling like she’s on rapid descent to menopause, like those tourism department travel tax collectors at the Mactan International Airport.

I bet my million centavos the man of the cloth will be dealt with more courteously. Let’s just add here, both for hypothesis’ sake and to thicken the plot, that the man of the cloth is actually a disguised terrorist while the shabbily dressed guy is the country’s best secret agent.Presumptions about people and situations can go beyond appearances as well. One’s job counts. A good job with a known good pay invites presumption that one has money to spare. I work, therefore I am.

Talk about jobs and presumptions, and I’ll always hark back to that diplomat whose statement of assets and liabilities cost him undue attention. While some are investigated for unexplained wealth, he was unique in that he was investigated for unexplained poverty.

Personal attitude, self-regard, and even delusion also spell presumptions. Thus did I come face to face with presumptions once again. Never mind having been subjected many times to the usual presumption that housewives are know-nothings. I’ve learned to live and laugh with that.

My kid sister and I were sitting on the grass one evening beside the Dubai Creek for a respite in the outside world, watching our little girl cartwheel and run wild, freedom written all over her laughing face. The two are still adjusting to an indoor lifestyle where going out for a block’s walk is a treat. When they became cantankerous, I understood that it was time to breathe the evening desert air.

Along came this smiling lady with two small boys. Kabayan? Yung alaga n’yo, Filipino ba rin? (Fellow national? Your ward, is she also Filipino?) She asked.

She volunteered personal information. She’s a teacher in Zambales. She arrived just a month earlier with her two pre-schooler sons. Her husband had been in Dubai for two years. That explained her oozing confidence.

Not all OFWs here can afford to have their families. It takes a certain pay, mostly reserved for successful professionals, to be able to afford a flat to accommodate one’s family. Otherwise, one settles as a bedspacer.

Some choose to save on rent, so it’s not unusual for three families to divide a three-bedroom flat’s rent three ways; one family to a room with the kitchen, restroom, and living and dining rooms as the common areas.

As to that lady in the grass, we volunteered no personal information. At least she’s not abrasive, my kid sister said softly as we listened to her, but why doesn’t she speak English? That, too, was another presumption. We spoke English thinking she’s teacher enough to speak as much. Besides, my sister may be a superb English speaker, but her Tagalog is atrocious. Suffice it to say that the trend of that lady’s questions showed her presumption that we were employed nannies.

My all-time favorite presumption though was about a lady ambassador who crossed paths with a lady kabayan in a department store in Rome. Friendly at best and a monger at worst, the kabayan told the ambassador that it was good that she was allowed by her employer to go out. When the ambassador issued a check for her purchases, the kabayan finished her off. Uy, pa-tseke-tseke ka pa ngayon, ha! (Hey, so now you even dare issue checks, hah!)

That particular lady ambassador happens to be capable of pulling rank, no matter who got hurt. In that instance though, she let the other lady’s presumptions be; that like her, the ambassador was also a household employee.

I would raise hell over presumptions only if it involves a case of mistaken identity and I end up landing in jail. Save for the extent of one’s personal delusions, presumptions can be good levelers. They that cannot kill cannot diminish.

Blazing Bohol.

Bohol did shine at the First Philippine International Tourism Fair 2007 held on September 5-7 at the Cebu International Convention Center (CCIC) in Mandaue City. The fair was participated in by the different regional Department of Tourism (DOT) offices, provincial and city local government units, resorts, hotels, airline companies, and travel agencies in the country. Several visitors and travel agents from all over the world came to forge connections with the Philippines through travel and tourism.

The Provincial Government of Bohol through the Bohol Tourism Office (BTO) joined the fair. Among the hundred booths in the fair, the Blazing Bohol booth came out unique and amazing. Instead of the usual four-cornered booth with tarpaulins and picture frames showing off photographs of a certain destination, Bohol recreated the river cruise experience. Designed by Mr. Boy Dumadag, the area was filled with green palm trees, ferns, and birds of paradise. The centerpiece was a bamboo raft with dashing Boholanos aboard. A play of lights made the greenery more scenic and alive. People flocked to the booth to take photos or to have their photos taken with the models. Either way, it prompted people to get the different brochures and flyers on display, and to ask for more information about our island paradise. Mr. Dumadag also designed the stage during the Blazing Bohol presentation on September 6.

The Bohol booth was joined by four different resorts from Panglao. Their booths also recreated their look and identity as resorts in their small four-cornered areas. Amarela Resort designed their booth with wood works and rustic sculptures; the Bohol Bee Farm with colorful mats, walls, and lamps made of native materials; Eskaya, on the hand, showed their elegant posh look. The Bohol Divers Resort represented an under-the-sea look. There was also Amorita Resort, which joined a country-wide collective of inns and resorts but nevertheless proudly made it known that it’s Bol-anon. A resort in Pandanon Island of Getafe managed by a Cebuano also joined the fair.

The Blazing Bohol presentation highlighted the Bohol video that Teddy Ramasola created. Each of the participating resorts were given time to share what they have and what they can offer to their guests. A raffle draw with prizes from the said resorts as well as from the Bohol Federation of Travel and Tours Operators (BOFETTO) excited the fair participants and visitors. A group of Loboc river cruise singers serenaded the crowd with beautiful Visayan music. They also performed the famous single “Biyaheng Bohol” of the Brownbuds, a Tagbilaran-based reggae band. The presentation, which was hosted by Vida Tirol (murag kaila ko nija!), was followed by a cocktail catered by the Port Seafood Restaurant of Waterfront Hotel.

The three-day fair was also participated by independent travel agents, thus, members of BOFETTO were there, too. Aside from BTO headed by Ms. Baby Balio and Ms. Josephine Cabarrus, our strong supporters were there. We met Mr. Vic and Mrs. Purita Soliven among the crowd. We also bumped into Ms. Vicky Wallace, Ms. Resti Tejido, Mr. Holger Horn, Mr. Danny Nazareno, Ms. Nonette Bolo, Mrs. Sarah Dejaresco, Mr. Jun Caturza, and Mr. Michael Yu, among others. I was told later on that Mr. Peter Dejaresco, the Bohol Tourism Council president, was there during the opening as well as BM Ae Damalerio, who was quoted saying that the Bohol booth was beautiful.

Recalling the Bohol booth during the WoW Philippines 2005 in Intramuros and the Philippine booth during the 3^rd China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, China, wherein Bohol was the centerpiece, I have concluded that the Boholanos have its own way of coming out unique. Molahi gyud ang Bohol!

For that, Congratulations!

****

Blazing Boholano!

We would also like to congratulate Mr. Noel P. Tuazon for grabbing a bronze during the Palanca Awards 2007 for the Short Story in Cebuano category. He also won an award for the Gawad Komisyon 2007 for his poetry in Cebuano. Mr. Tuazon teaches at the Holy Name University (HNU) and is a member of KaKa (Kaliwat Ni Karyapa), a group of writers in Bohol.

We’re proud of you, Roy!

September 2, 2007

CONTENTS

Features

• Finally, A Home for Loboc's World Class Music
• A Sim of their own
  

Columns

• Stings from the Wild
• Island Blend
  

Finally, A New Home for Loboc's World Class Music

They have performed in the country’s most important stages, and have trotted around the globe leaving audiences worldwide captivated by their angelic voices from different halls in the United States to the theatres in the European countries of Spain, France, Italy, & Germany, to the many cities in Asia, like Hongkong, and the cultural centers of China, specifically in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangxhi, and Hangzhou.
For years, home to the Loboc Children’s Choir is the centuries-old Parish church of San Pedro Apostol. While the convento is a fitting sanctuary for the cherubs’ singing rehearsals, the church had been transformed many times to function as a concert hall.

Now, at long last, they have a state-of-the-art theatre they can call their own and where peoples from everywhere can catch an experience of a lifetime to hear their music that flows resplendently and naturally as the emerald green waters of Loboc River.

“It’s a dream come true for us,” elatedly reveals Madam Alma Fernando Taldo, the choir’s conductor. “We cannot really thank him enough; he’s really like a father to us all.” Madam Taldo is referring to the theatre’s benefactor, Ambassador Carlos Chan.

It was in February of 2005 when the Loboc Children’s Choir was invited by the Liwayway (China) Co. Ltd, Marketing Corporation led by its officials Carlson Chan and Shera Chan (children of Amb. Carlos Chan) in a back-to-back concert with the Little Children’s Cultural Troupe from the Shanghai Chapter of the Soong Ching Ling Foundation at the Meralco Theater in Manila.

The success of that joint performance led to a similar concert, this time at the Lyceum Theater of Shanghai in July 2005. The LCC performed with the Shanghai Oriental Little Companion Art Troupe, the performing arts arm of the China Welfare Institute (CWI), founded by Soong Ching Ling (Madame Sun Yat-Sen), the late honorary President of the People’s Republic of China.

A foundation has been established after her with the aim to carry forward the spirit of love for children and the concern for their healthy growth in mind and body which she displayed during her lifetime. Amb. Chan had served as President of the Philippine Soong Ching Ling Foundation and his love for the singing children has certainly extended to all the people of Bohol, especially the Lobocanons.
It was during that 2005 performance at the CWI Children’s Palace in Shanghai when Amb. Chan shared to the choir and the Bohol delegation his desire to have a similar showplace in Loboc. Hence, the theater was first named Loboc Children’s Palace. Madam Taldo could hardly believe that in two years, that vision was transformed into a reality.

Last Aug. 24, no less than Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo arrived in Loboc to inaugurate the theater and the access road to it. The choir regaled the President and the dignitaries who became the first to sit down inside the fully air-conditioned theater that accommodates a hundred people. Madam Taldo reveals that Amb. Chan himself had seen to it that the theater’s acoustics, sound and lighting facilities were all state-of-the-art and an expert from Manila was sent to oversee its initial operations.

In the evening of the same day, local and foreign guests, which include a 20-man delegation of Chinese businessmen and investors brought by Amb. Chan were treated to a spectacular affair, starting off with a dinner by the jumbo bridge that affords an awesome view overlooking the river, with the well-lighted docking port and the Loboc tourism complex on one side and the parish church of San Pedro Apostol on the other side.

That night, the bridge finally rises above the ill fame it has brought upon the town for decades. Right there atop the infamous bridge, guests were brought to a different time and place, with the same refreshing feeling one gets while cruising placidly along the river. The music of the local musicians just floated in the breeze, as Loboc is “labyanan sa mabugnawng hangin.” Later in the evening program, the governor revealed that Pres. Arroyo will soon turn over the bridge to the municipal government so it can be used for various social and cultural functions. The idea that the dances and songs currently performed at Busai will be transferred in the area so as to maintain the serenity of the upstream cruise was also floated during the evening conversations.

After a toast led by Governor Aumentado and Ambassador Chan, the group convened at the theater to a first-rate performance of the Loboc Children’s Choir, the Loboc Youth Choir and the recently-established Loboc Youth Band. That very night, the audience cannot help but conclude that Loboc is indeed Bohol’s capital for music and the arts.

A Sim of their Own

Sixty years of witnessing to the Word, the Holy Name University community adds one more knot to even more strengthen their academic and familial bond, a Prepaid SIM of their own.

Provided by Globe Telecom, HolyName-an subscribers of the My HNU SIM will enjoy exclusive rates when texting or calling other My HNU SIM users. This specialized SIM also features a customized menu, exclusive to the HNU community, wherein students can download their most recent grades, receive information on the latest school events and be updated with important announcements. Additional intra-school emergency hotlines and other relevant services may be provided according to the school community’s specific needs.

Unveiled in a modest launching at the Academic Conference Room, HNU Lesage Campus last August 28, 2007, the My HNU Prepaid SIM was warmly received by both the HNU Administration led by University President Fr. Romeo P. Bancale, SVD, and the students of HNU represented by Central Student Government President David Maulas.

HNU is the only educational institution in Bohol, thus far, to have Globe’s affinity SIM and joins the rank of such schools as the De La Salle University in Globe’s growing roster of college-focused SIMs.

Famous Hoaxes

The Bible, an argument, and someone’s business sense in 1869 made possible one of the world’s famous hoaxes, those stunts that try to make real the unreal.

There was a ten-foot tall stone man discovered by workers who dug a well behind the barn of a farmer in Cardiff, New York. Word on the Cardiff Giant soon spread, and thousands went to the farm to see it. In time the viewers were charged 50 cents each, and still they kept coming.

A ‘petrified man’ versus ‘ancient statue’ match ensued. The former harked to the Bible, the latter favored the theory that a Jesuit missionary carved it in the 1600s.

Then a group of businessmen bought the Cardiff Giant for over 37 thousand dollars and moved it to Syracuse for a more prominent display. There it was analyzed by a paleontologist from Yale, who declared it a “clumsy fake” because its chisel marks were too clear for it to have been buried a long time.

Businessman and atheist George Hull confessed. He created the giant statue after arguing with a Methodist minister on whether the Bible should be taken literally. He didn’t think so, but the minister insisted that even the line “There were giants on the earth in those days…” (Genesis 6:4) should be taken literally.

So Hull made the stone giant to poke at Biblical literalists. It cost him over two thousand dollars, in conspiracy with the stonecutters who carved out the giant and the farmer who owned the place in which it was found. It didn’t hurt that his hoax also earned him profits.

The truth didn’t stop the public’s interest. The stone man was even called ‘Old Hoaxey.’ P.T. Barnum of Barnum Circus fame offered to rent it for three days at sixty thousand dollars. He was refused, so he had an artist build a plaster replica. It drew bigger crowds than the original fake, prompting the new owners to file a lawsuit, which fizzled when the judge decided to hear the case only if they could prove which one is original.

Across the Atlantic, in England in 1912, an artifact that proved to be ‘the missing link’ between man and ape rocked not the public but a more select group― the scientific community. The Piltdown Man, named such because it was excavated from a pit in Piltdown, England, had a human skull and the jawbone of an ape.

It was said to have lived half a million years earlier, during the Pleistocene period. For the next three decades, the scientific community accepted it as an authentic artifact and entered it in textbooks as Eonthropus Dawson, named after its discoverer, Charles Dawson, a lawyer and amateur paleontologist.

It proved to be unlike anything else as more skeletons of early man were found. By 1953, a team of researchers from the British Museum took a series of tests on the artifact. The skull was 50 thousand years old but the jawbone was just decades old. They also found out that the jawbone was chemically treated to make it appear ancient.

Since Dawson had died by then, speculations on who perpetrated the hoax remained unproved. Most suspected Dawson but some cast doubts on two heavyweights― the existentialist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who as a young priest helped in the excavation, and Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived near Piltdown and was reputed to hold a strong interest in paleontology.

Leave it to eccentric Englishmen to perpetrate hoaxes. In 1821, there was famous naturalist Charles Waterton. He arrived from Guiana with crates of specimens of South American wildlife. A customs inspector charged him with the highest import tax possible even if his cargo had more scientific than commercial value.

Waterton returned to Guiana three years later and came back with a remarkable specimen labeled Nondescript, a creature with a human head and face covered by thick fur that he claimed he had killed in Guiana’s jungles, as he described in his popular book.

Other skeptical naturalists argued that Nondescript’s face was molded out of the behind of a howler monkey. No other person can claim sightings of the creature, so Waterton’s specimen was the best case for its existence. There was just one catch: Nondescript had an uncanny resemblance to the customs inspector who taxed Waterton heavily back in 1821. It is said that he literally ‘made a monkey’ out of the tax collector.

Island Blend

Some mighty storm-category winds failed to dampen the mood when Uly Dolojol invited his inner circle of friends to his stylish birthday party held at his legendary Oops! Bar in Alona Beach very recently. The dinner was also in honor of Uly’s patron saint Santo Nino, whom he fondly calls Luisito—a thanksgiving for all the good fortune he and his partners have received throughout the years.

Set to the tune of such Studio 54 white-hot hits as Native New Yorker and I Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet, the frenzied partying and dancing that followed a fab buffet dinner took on both bohemian and club-ish flavors. Tables glittered with candles that surrounded centerpieces of deep-red roses and freshly-harvested green swamp grass. Italian red wine flowed, the cakes (from Gil and Vicky Bongato and Ronaldo Garrido of 4B Travel Services) were devilishly delish, the dance floor was packed to the brim and smart banter proliferated till the small hours of the next day. Forever youthful and even more juvenile at heart, Uly is the true embodiment of someone who knows how to ‘live life to the fullest’ and, more interestingly, knows how to grab even the slightest bit of opportunity to throw an astonishingly divine party!

MIX. Kudos to all passers of the June 2007 nursing board! Allow us to make special mention of the adorable trio of new registered nurses Magnolia Ybanez, Anne Sala and Gay Yap. Michael Villas invited a few friends over to his family’s hilltop home in Dauis, Panglao Island for his birthday blowout a couple of nights ago. The intimate gathering had guests occupying five tables set on a well-manicured garden, overlooking the twinkling lights of Tagbilaran City and fishing boats dotting the bay. There was lechon and a long table filled with what must have been more than two dozen yummy dishes! His folks, Atty. Boy and Linda Villas, played perfect gracious hosts to all. The 1^st International Tourism Fair will be held at the Cebu International Convention Center from September 5-7, 2007. “Blazing Bohol” will be one of the highlights of the travel convention. Baby Balio, the dynamic force behind the island’s aggressive tourism campaign, promises a ‘sensory’ Boholano feast for everyone at the fair.