Banaue wakeskating, waking up call

The wakeskating incident in Banaue has drawn so much praises and criticisms, even among the people who are from the area have divided opinions.

For some, it's a degradation of nature and to the spirits of the land, but to some, an opportunity. For a few, it's just survival.

Some environmentalists criticized the activity saying it will destroy nature and even Ifugao Congressman Baguilat see it as inappropriate. A rice terrace is for planting rice only said some.

Some defended the activity since the viral video will surely promote the place and bring more tourists in bringing more income to the business establishments in the area dependent to tourism.

The landscape scene at the back of the 1,000.00 peso bill after planting season.

But do we really need to promote the already famous terraces with such activity? Isn't it already famous that's why those wake skaters were attracted to do their wake skating in the first place? Isn't it the other way around that those wake skaters are the ones promoted by the already famous place that is considered by some as the 8th wonder of the World?

To some who defended the activity, they say that tourist arrival is dwindling especially to the West Side where apparently it was taken out of the Heritage site list.

Then perhaps the answer goes back to the basic. Why was it made famous in the first place? Was it because of fun activities? We all know it became famous because of the awe-inspiring view of the terraces and the beautiful native huts that once were there. Only pictures of that once beautiful place were enough to encourage people to visit the place. There was no need to stage promotions like the wake skating stunt even when trips to go there was not as convenient as today. Yet tourists flock the area like pilgrims on a journey to their holy place.

If you go now to Banaue, you will see modern buildings and houses and a lot of terraces not maintained. It is disappointing and some parts are already off the list of the World Heritage Sites. The reason why people want to go there is slowly disappearing.

But can we blame the people? I guess everyone deserves progress in every way. Who wouldn't want to live in a better house with less maintenance? Who wouldn't want to earn better income doing more convenient work?

But then, the place is dependent on tourism and because of progress, we are taking out the very reasons why tourists are visiting our beautiful places? Can we get our tourists to like our place once more without the need to do stunts like the controversial wakeskating?

I guess that depends on what we want to trade for it. Are we willing to tear down our beautifully made concrete houses and create a hut with straw roofs that we need to change every five or ten years? And do our people who mostly are now educated willing to go back to work to the land and maintain it so that tourists can keep coming? 

Yes there are trade offs that need to happen if we need our old famous places back but I guess we will not be seeing that happening soon, maybe never. 

But as for now, as many from that place commented, they needed the promotion and as far as the viral wakeskating incident is concerned, it will surely bring many tourists back to that place. Some would say it is a "band-aid" solution that will last as long as the viral video is still going around. Surely some tourists will still be awed and some will be disappointed. Some will surely try to do the same or similar stunt.

I guess for now we have no other options but to use similar solutions to bring tourists to those people dependent on tourism activities. Everybody needs food on the table. On the part of the stuntmen, they are just doing what they dreamed of accomplishing and shouldn't be blamed. In the first place, our tourism slogan is "More fun in the Philippines" (which we "again" copied from the 1951 More fun in Switzerland campaign) and we shouldn't be angry at people having fun in our tourism sites? And another thing is they asked permission from the owner of the privately owned property and were allowed to do the activity. To the owners of the place, it's earning a living.

But will it destroy nature? Terracing the mountain already destroyed part of nature. But will it destroy the terraces? Probably if it becomes a regular activity. Those are the things we will be trading off when it comes to commercial promotions.

So until the people there are willing to trade-off convenience for tourism marketability, we will be needing more similar promotional activities to invite tourists in. 

But could there be a better way? Perhaps there is and that's up to the people living there. They already allowed this commercially made activity, perhaps they are willing to open up for more ideas. If I am to be asked, I have my own opinions. But who would listen to someone who never own a parcel of land, much less a rice paddy? Perhaps someday I will write about it.

And what can the government do? No matter how many budgets the government will allocate to repair the damaged terraces if the people there have already changed their ways, I believe it will just go back down again. It will need constant maintenance and the longer it was neglected, the rehabilitation expenses will be higher.

I guess we can never bring back the old glory of the Banaue Rice Terraces. It's not the people's fault and it is not the Government's either. We asked the government for better roads, they provided it. It gave us convenience to transport better materials to build our homes leading us to transform our lands to modern metropolis. Soon it will just like be any other places else where in the Country and will not be so attractive anymore.

The so-called progress and the ever changing way of life will continue to transform the land and the people and will continue to adopt to the changes. I guess the only thing we can do is to conserve what is left and find better ways to promote and advertise our wonders.

Photography: Professionals, Hobbyists and Amateurs

Reading the endless debate about the definition of professional and hobbyist photographer, I want to write my own opinion on the issue.

Many say that the only difference between professionals and hobbyists is that the former receives money for the job he does and the latter doesn’t. I partly disagree. Professionalism also involves the quality of work. Before you even ask for money for your work, you have to know the rules and should have developed the art in photography.

I’m not saying that hobbyists are no better than professionals. There are some who takes photos that can blow your mind. Some hobbyists have innate art of seeing that the rest has yet to develop.

The problem is the term hobbyist is always associated with amateurs, although many of them are. Hobby is what you do when you are not doing anything else. So professionals can also be hobbyists if that’s what they do when they are not shooting for money. When professionals are not shooting for the profit, they are doing it for the love of it, just like the rest of the hobbyists.

But professionals should have already developed the craft by learning the trade first hand constantly improving their art. That means they have started as amateur photographers learning from pros. That includes spending much just to get better correcting a lot of mistakes before they even decide that they can already be branded as pros themselves. Bringing out good pictures is not what professional is all about. For instance, in wedding photography, you should know where to shoot the best angle and you should already know what follows in the program so that you should know where to position yourself. Even in photojournalism, you can differentiate the amateurs from the pros by just looking at where they are positioned.

But there are amateurs charging people for their work. Some of them think that having a better camera will make them better photographers. Quoting Barry Hayes, a photographer in Vermont, “while technology may produce a camera that can make a technically perfect exposure, it cannot yet produce an artistically satisfying image or revealing portrait without the eye and mind of a skilled professional.” These posers are not professionals at all. Like any other endeavors, there are the knock offs. The following video is a classic example of amateurs posing as professionals.



I believe my short article has helped clear the issues between the differences of professionals, hobbyists and amateurs. But I’d like to end it by confusing you further with this quote from Alfred Stieglitz in 1899. It’s up to you to end the story. (‘ ‘,)

"Let me here call attention to one of the most universally popular mistakes that have to do with photography - that of classing supposedly excellent work as professional, and using the term amateur to convey the idea of immature productions and to excuse atrociously poor photographs. As a matter of fact nearly all the greatest work is being, and has always been done, by those who are following photography for the love of it, and not merely for financial reasons. As the name implies, an amateur is one who works for love; and viewed in this light the incorrectness of the popular classification is readily apparent."

Panagbenga Festival, the Complexities

The 17th Panagbenga probably has presented one of the unique innovations done with its street dancing parade shifting from the original flower filled dances backed with pop music into cultural presentations. This and many other events earned lots of positive and negative reactions from the audience. I believe all festivals have complexities.

With the final showdown at the Athletic Bowl, Cordillerans seem to have improved in showcasing their ethnic customs. However, the supposed street dancing parade was past paced along the stretch of Session and Harrison roads that the audience there complained for the lack of entertainment.

As my friend Fiscal Elmer Sagsago said of his visitors who came all the way from Bicol, “They came expecting a lot of dancing during the street dancing competition but were very disappointed. If you invite guests to your City to be entertained, make sure that they will be entertained,” said Sagsago. Many other guests share the same sentiment and they did not care to follow them to the athletic bowl because they didn’t expect a grander show.


The problem the organizers had been trying to solve was the pacing of the parade. As the BFFFI Chairman explained, “if we solve the pacing, we lose the entertainment value. But if we focus on the entertainment value, it will affect the pacing.” It probably is one of the most common problems of festivals.

During the early years of the Panagbenga festival, 2 minutes were allotted for each participant to perform in designated areas on the streets. This causes big gaps in between participants. But are the big gaps a big problem among the audience? As one of the execrators commented, “I believe the gap is the least of their worries and they’d rather enjoy watching the performances which is the reason why they came.”

Another issue among the observers is the extended 2-day parade. It was stretched so that the two parades could be finished earlier in the day. It has also more income potential for businesses with more days for tourists to stay in the City.

A veteran journalist who had been covering many festivals told me that long parades are not problems in other parts of the country, the longer the parades, the better. The festivals like the Sinulog starts at 8 in the morning and ends at 12 midnight and people enjoy them and they don’t complain.

They have concentrated their effort for that one day grand show and they have successfully generated longing for the audience that sponsors are willing to bestow their support giving away more than enough budget to make a spectacular festival.

As my journalist friend said, our festival in Baguio seems to be concentrated on the income the city can generate than to the quality that it was stretched thin throughout the month of February in five weeks of scattered activities.
Yet sponsors seem to be backing away to give their full support for the festival with less and less funds to spend for a grander showcase.

Another friend who has observed the growth of the festival through the years compared it to a cup of peanut that if placed on a large plate, the peanut would look very little for not filling the whole space. But if the same amount of peanut is placed on a small saucer, it would look plenty.

Less is more would be the statement. Putting all the Panagbenga events in 1 week instead of 1 month would perhaps become a dream vacation for many tourists, but of course, less income to the businesses sector. How can we satisfy the audience at the same time maximize the potential to the business sector? It is now a question how to balance quality and quantity.

One suggestion I received from another friend is there should be more promotions. People from other places only think of the main parade when they hear Panagbenga.


Every activity should have its own advertising budget, not a collective promotion for the whole event. Although the fluvial parade was a disappointment this year, this was one of the unique events that this friend of mine wanted to see because of the photos he saw in a magazine published last year, Yet it completely skipped his mind because he did not see any separate advertisement promoting it. There may have been ads but not enough that not many people noticed.

He said all of the activities during the Panagbenga have potentials to be Grand National events. The “Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom” could attract national or even international artists who are willing to come and create a painting that they can give away to Panagbenga and the foundation can earn by auctioning them.

With only one famous artist we can invite to come, many others will follow. And many of the best artists who can draw crowds live right in the neighborhood.

The Pony Boys day too can attract more participants it its games if properly advertised.

I do agree that if we can’t compress all the events together, separate promotions should be given more attention. I promoted the “Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom” event to online facebook groups, many came and have created beautiful designs that were chosen to be included in the parades. And that was just me. How much more when there are people dedicated to do that kind of promotions to all groups in the country? Perhaps even this event can create big income potential when it’s hyped in all advertising media.

Like what my friend said, there’s a possible way to address the quality and not loss in quantity for this festival. We may not need to hire more people to do it, just use proper mechanisms.

"Fun in the Philippines" Blunder

A photo of Thailand used in The Straits Times baring the new DOT campaign "It's more fun in the Philippines" is now one of the rising issues online.

The photo below was credited to the Department of Tourism in the online version of the News paper.


Here's the print version of the paper published on January 12, 2012.

The photo was formerly published online showing the Shongkaran Festival of Thailand.


Irresponsible reportage?
Department of Tourism Blunder?
An individual's deception?

I for one will not blame the reporter if that photo has indeed come from the Department of Tourism. If for some reason, an individual just want to make fun of the logo and the DOT readily accepted it, then perhaps that department should be the one to be educated first about our tourism for they don't know what are ours and what are not.

But if the photo was not from DOT but only attributed to them like they claimed, then the responsibility is to the journalist especially if the photo was only downloaded online.

I don't like the new slogan but I don't want to reject it. Compared to the "Pilipinas kay Ganda", there are many ways to make it work. We can promote the Philippines as a place of Fiestas, Adventures, Foods, Beaches, etc.

Yet, if our Department Heads don't have enough knowledge and don't explore for new ideas to promote tourism, our new campaign will not go far and we'll just have another useless battle cry striving after the wind. I do believe there are many talented individuals who can make this campaign escalate.

Yes, it's fun in the Philippines as what our colleagues working abroad would say, "there's no place like home" because there are many things that we can proudly say, "only in the Philippines."

War Dance

What I am going to talk about here is not the war dance of our Igorot tribes but a documentary film I recently watched, a movie about the Acholi tribes of Northern Uganda. It’s about the lives of the people in a war zone torn by unending wars between the rebels and the Government. I wanted to watch the film to learn better documentation coz it has won several awards and was even nominated for Oscar. I learned more than just documentation here.

I was supposed to title this entry “The God Forsaken Land” but I don’t believe God would abandon those people even though that’s what some people think of them. Listening to the children’s stories would make your tears fall. In this place, common people are killed by rebels for no reason at all. They would hack them mercilessly and force their families to bury them. In some cases, body parts were just scattered and families have to locate the corpses’ heads to identify their kin. Raping of women are common stories. Old enough boys are forced to join the army of rebels. For the rebels, the more children they abduct for their army, the higher their ranks will be. These children are ordered to kill or be killed. There are about 200,000 children orphaned by the war.

But despite of this cruelty the Acholi people have kept their love for music. Playing their songs and dances can make them forget even just for a while the cruelty and make them feel as if everything is just how it used to be. In 2005, in the farthest and most vulnerable government protected school in a camp in Patongo emerged a group of Acholi orphans who aspire to present their musical talents in a National Musical and Choral competition. First time to attend such a big competition, the group traveled for two days on rugged terrains under armed escorts to the capital City of Kampala. To many of them, just going to Kampala is a big enough dream. Coming from the north, they were insulted by other competitors as people from the bush, rebels and murderers. Most of the other competitors believed the first time contestants will finish last. The inferiority feelings made it hard for them to compete.

Yet where most of the news are killings and fighting, the whole City is excited to watch what these people from the north are to present. People are keen to observe every time they’re onstage. In the end, they have exceeded everyone’s and perhaps even their own expectations. They have proven that they’re more than just children of war. They are musicians. Although they don’t have the freedom and resources like everyone else, they brought home the trophy for their country’s traditional dance called Bwola. The very first time the Acholi tribe brought home such a trophy in a National competition.

This event inspired many of them that despite of growing in a cruel environment, they can still do great things. This group did not just win for Patongo, they won for the entire Acholi tribe and the people who live like they do. Like what one of the teachers in the documentary said, the war has taken their parents, brothers, sisters and relatives and left them a lot of scars. But that’s not where their story ends; they still have the chance to become the best.

This story has also won my heart. It’s more than just an excellent documentary where I learned a lot. It’s an inspiration.

If you want to help the people of Patongo or other people like them, visit http://shineglobal.org/