more pix from One Visayas

Nelson Petilla gave me permission to feature some of his "One Visayas" pictures in this blog. Here I go:

More pictures form Nelson's blog.

‘One Visayas’ opens in Cebu today

Let me share something which I got from the Manila Bulletin website. It's Mars W. Mosqueda, Jr's report for today's edition of the Manila Bulletin.

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — Representatives from 16 provinces in the Visayas will gather at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) starting today for the week-long, first-ever comprehensive exposition of tourism products, arts and crafts products, delicacies and specialties and cultural presentation in the event dubbed "One Visayas."

The event is aimed at further promoting the close partnership among the three Central Philippines regions, namely Region 6 (Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Negros Occidental, Iloilo and Guimaras), Region 7 (Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Negros Oriental), and Region 8 (Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte).

"One Visayas," a brainchild of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, was launched in October last year when the heads of the three Regional Development Councils met in Cebu and began threshing out details to bring together the offerings of the 16 provinces under one roof.

The leaders of the three regions decided to establish "One Visayas" to acknowledge the cultural bond that connects the islands, despite being separated by sea waters.

The event, which carries the theme "One People, One Destiny," will feature the Visayas seven arts namely, architecture, dance, theater, music, visual arts, literature and film; arts and craft; tourism products, festivals and culinary arts.

The ambitious gathering was envisioned when Antique Gov. Salvador Perez, chairman of the RDC in Region 6, and Calbayog City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento, chairman of the RDC in Region 8, and their tourism council officers met with Garcia at the Cebu Provincial Capitol to discuss "One Visayas."

"Let us make the Visayas a shining star in the entire archipelago," said Garcia, who also heads the RDC in Central Visayas.

Garcia said unity among residents in the Visayas can be achieved if the people themselves are aware of their heritage and appreciate their culture.

"When we are united and instill a sense of pride among our people that could turn to passion, it will make us aim for greater heights and development," Garcia said.

Sarmiento, for his part, said cultural tourism is an asset of the Visayas that should be enhanced. He used to head the arts and culture office of his town.

"I think Visayas should strengthen this, because we are fed up with always having to go to Manila. It’s very expensive, and people from Luzon have the tendency to be bias for Manila," he said.

Cebu Pacific flies to Calbayog

The Maiden Manila-Calbayog flight of Cebu Pacific landed at approximately 7:15 this morning. On hand for the short program at the Calbayog Airport Terminal were the City's OIC, Bong Galang, Calbayog PNP Chief Lito Bigoy, some Assistant Department Managers namely Asner Dean, Brenda Tan, Dr. Sylvia De Guzman, Evelyn Junio and Roberto Billate. They were joined by Cebu Pacific's Candice Iyog, Michael Shau and RG Orense.

A Ceremonial ribbon-cutting to officially open Cebu Pacific's Manila-Calbayog route. (l-r) Ms. Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific VP for Marketing and Distribution, me in my capacity as Assistant City Tourism & Information Officer, Mr. Bong Galang the Office-in-Charge and Mr. Michael Shau, Cebu Pacific VP for Airline Operations.

Speeches were delivered by . . . Mr. Bong Galang (on behalf of the City Mayor)

. . . Ms. Candice Iyog

. . . and me (for the Tourism and Information Office)

For more images, please check this link.

Cebu Pacific flies to Calbayog

It's official, Cebu Pacific will be serving Calbayog starting February 18, 2009. Manila - Calbayog flights will depart at 5:50 am and arrive Calbayog at 7:15 am. Calbayog - Manila flights will depart at 7:35 am.

Here's what I got from the Cebu Pacific website:

Cebu Pacific flies to Catarman, Calbayog, Virac, and Cauayan

Cebu Pacific (CEB) is set to take delivery of its seventh brand-new ATR 72-500 aircraft which it will use to fly to Catarman and Calbayog in Samar, Virac in Catanduanes, and Cauayan, Isabela starting next month.

The new service to Catarman, Samar and Virac, Catanduanes will start on February 14; flights to Calbayog, Samar and Cauayan, Isabela will start on February 18.

Candice Iyog, CEB VP for marketing and distribution, said “We are expanding our Manila hub operations with the arrival of our brand new ATR and will make more areas accessible through our low fares and new planes.”

To mark the announcement of these additional services, CEB is offering a promotional P500 all-in ‘Go Lite’ seat sale for flights from Manila to Busuanga, Calbayog, Catarman, Cauayan, Naga and Virac. The airline has also included select Cebu hub flights to Cotabato, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Legaspi, Ozamiz, Siargao and Tacloban in the promotion.

The seat sale will run from January 9 to 14, 2009 and is good for travel from February 1, or the start date of respective flights, to March 31, 2009.

CEB will fly Manila-Catarman and Manila-Virac every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; Manila-Calbayog and Manila-Cauayan on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

news from the PAL Express site

Calbayog City was an item in the corporate news section of the the PAL Express website. I have attached two links from the said website:

link 1

link 2

The Speech of the PAL President

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was in Calbayog today. Her first engagement was the welcome program for the inaugural Manila - Calbayog flight of PAL Express.

Among the VIPs on hand was PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Jaime Bautista. Mr. Bautista delivered a briefing at the airport.

(President Arroyo as she listened to the briefing given by Mr. Jaime Bautista. With the President are Mayor Mel Sarmiento, Gov. Ben Evardone and PAL Deputy Chief Executive Henry So Uy. Photo by Henry Puyat)

Here's the speech delivered by Mr. Bautista:

Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Ambassador Robert Desjardins of the Government of Canada, Ms. Ellen Ruth Zeisller, Senior Trade Commissioner of the Canadian embassy, ranking officials of the National Government, the Province of Samar, and the City of Calbayog, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Good Morning.

On behalf of our chairman and Chief Executive Office, Dr. Lucio C. Tan, and the entire Philippine Airlines family, I thank President Macapagal Arroyo for graciously taking time to join us this morning to welcome the inaugural flight of PAL Express to Calbayog City.

Your presence here today, Mrs. President, adds immeasurable honor and prestige to this occasion and we in PAL are most grateful to you for this noble gesture.

I also thank the honorable officials of the Cabinet and other government agencies, as well as our host officials from the Province of Samar and the City of Calbayog, for the very warm welcome accorded us this morning.

Today's maiden flight is historic in that is the first service to Calbayog and to Eastern Visayas, for that matter, of PAL Express, the new low-fares sub-brand of Philippine Airlines using state of the art Bombardier Q400 turbo prop aircraft, made in Canada.

But PAL itself is no stranger to this city. We were the first airline to fly to Calbayog - this occurred 50 years ago, in 1958. So today's inaugural flight of PAL Express is very fitting indeed, coming on the golden anniversary of PAL's first flight to this city.

Back in 1958, Calbayog was a fledging city, having received its charter just ten years earlier. The arrival of PAL and the establishment of direct air links to Manila and Tacloban opened the way for more investros, traders and tourists to visit Calbayog.

It also opened new markets for the city's products, spurring trade and development in the process.

Today, we hope to take Calbayog's development to a higher level with our new PAL Express service. Indeed, PAL Express was created with an important mandate - to provide quality, affordable air service to the many far-flung island communities of our country.

This is PAL's modest contribution towards the realization of President Macapagal Arroyo's visions of creating "super regions" throughout the country.

In particular, today's inaugural flights to Calbayog and three other points - Virac, Catanduanes; San Jose, Occidental Mindoro; and Surigao City, Surigao del Norte - directly support the initiative to make Central Philippines a super region for tourism.

Indeed, this region - and Calbayog, in particular - can significantly share in the tourism bonanza if we can bolster infrastructure.

With your indulgence, Mrs. President, we in PAL would like to humbly seek your support for a much-needed upgrade of Calbayog Airport, in order for it to handle the operation of jet aircraft.

We realize, of course, that a full-scale sirport upgrade entails considerable time, effort and resources, thus the following small-scale enhancements are respectfully submitted for your consideration:

- Asphalt overlay of the runway extension

- Perimeter concrete fencing

- Installation of runway lights

- Expansion of the turning pad

- Installation of x-ray machines

- Installation of walk-through metal detectors

- Installation of baggage carousel

- Air-to-ground communications

We believe that these physical improvements will lead to a corresponding expansion in the Calbayog operations of not just PAL Express but other airlines as well.

And with more carriers serving Calbayog Airport, we can, of course, expect tourist arrivals in this heretofore undiscovered region to take-off.

With that, I would like to once more thank you, Mrs. President, along with all the other officials and guests, for honoring us with our presence this morning.

Maraming salamat po. Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat.

Daily Manila - Calbayog - Manila flights

Philippine Airlines through its new, low-fares unit PAL Express will be offering daily Manila - Calbayog - Manila flights starting July 15, 2008.

Flights from Manila to Calbayog will depart at the NAIA Terminal 3 at 5:20 am and will arrive in Calbayog at 6:40 am. Calbayog - Manila flights will depart at 7:10 am.

an sungkaan

I've got a good number of titles in mind for this blog update: "sungkaan", "hell roads of Samar no more (almost)", "mabalud", "the good news and the bad news". I guess sungkaan would be the best choice.

So, what about it?

First the good news. Part of the rehabilitation of the Highway in Samar is "asphalt overlay" or something to that effect. And when I took these two pictures last week (February 10, 2008 to be exact), they have put asphalt on the portion in Brgy. Bagacay. I still need to know about the portion from Catbalogan to Calbiga, but I heard that the section from Hinabangan to Calbiga is now okey. Anyway, when we traveled to Catbalogan last Saturday, I found out that the portion with asphalt on it extends from Bagacay to Ilo. And that's where the good news ends (so far).



Now for the not-so-good news. I have featured below two videos I took when we traveled to Catbalogan last Saturday. The first one was taken while on board a van to Catbalogan. The second one was taken while on board a bus going back to Calbayog. I guess I took it while we were plying the highway between San Jorge and Gandara.

T'was an uncomfy ride, no question. But knowing that rehabilitation work is being done or is ongoing makes one give a sigh of relief.

the road not less traveled

With all due respect (and apologies) to that literary classic, "The Road Less Traveled" was the first line that came to mind when I discovered that I had in my phone two videos which I took while on board a van during one of my trips to Tacloban sometime in September.

I decided to share these videos to give you an idea on what it is to travel from Calbayog (or is it from Gandara?) to Tacloban. Let me inform you however that during my latest trip (November 8 to be exact), thanks to PGMA, work is going on (or has been going on for quite sometime). Many portions of the highway have been cemented (or concreted, I dunnow which is the proper term). But then news had it that President Arroyo (during her latest visit to Region 8) got irked upon learning about the delay in the road project. Anyway, work is being done, thanks God.

Back to the videos. The first video was taken as the van approached Hinabangan or somewhere near it. I think it captured the bumpy ride that should be familiar to most travelers who trod this road that is not exactly less traveled. The second video is supposed to show the smooth ride from Calbiga to Tacloban.

a bumpy ride

some kinda smooth ride