Angels of Naswak

By: Carl Carino Taawan
(Published by Star Eye, Zigzag and Cordillera Today)

Vanessa Maturana, a 26-year old accountant was one of the winners for this year's Lucky Summer Visitors or LSV in Baguio. LSV is a major annual event of the Baguio Broadcasters and Correspondents Club where lucky winners are given a 4 day red carpet treatment to the most interesting places in and around the City.

However, Vanessa decided to forego the offer for her philanthropic work in the remote place in Bokod called Naswak. Vanessa is part of a group of mountaineers called KIKKM Inc. They were on a mission to build a dormitory for young students in that remote Barangay.

The mountaineers adopted the said community in 2003 and had been conducting several projects like medical missions, relief operations, providing school supplies and learning materials, and emersion to the community for cultural awareness. The dormitory is one of their projects to address the problems of the school children in that community.

Elementary students as young as 7 have to trek the mountainous and dangerous paths for hours to get to school. With the hardship of the travel, many of the students can't regularly attend their classes. Some eventually stopped and just helped their parents at home. Many had to wait till they’re old enough to travel before they can back to school.

Project Coordinator Joffrey Geroso said,”The dormitory will serve as their temporary shelter thus they don't have to travel the long distances everyday. They will be spending more of their time to study in school, not on the trails. It will eventually help them improve their school records. This is a way to help students help themselves empower poverty thru education.”

The dorm will accommodate 50 students from grades one to six. It has a library and separate toiletries for girls and boys. “The dormitory with be located at the school premise and will be managed by the Parents and Teachers Association and the community”, Geroso said.

“Ground breaking last March 19, 2008 was the 1^st phase” said Geroso. “We erected 2 posts and two more will be accomplished by the local community. “We are still on funds generation and solicitation for the said project. It still needs support from other organizations and funding agencies. Material costs double because of the hauling from Baguio to Bukod, Bukod to Petal, Petal to Upper Ekip and to Naswak.”

“We will be opening an account just for this project for those who want to donate”, the group’s president July Tadifa said. KIKKM Inc. is registered as a nonprofit organization at the Security and Exchange Commission with registration no CN200406487.

Ms. Maturana’s sacrifice to forego her VIP treatment has brought a more lasting reward. The gratitude of the people of Naswak. To this remote community, Vanessa and the KIKKM Inc. officers and members are indeed heaven sent. They are inviting other groups and individuals to participate in this project or initiate other sustainable development projects to the community.

For donations and more details, you may contact the following number:

Baguio Group Mario Abraham: 09178806254 / Rodel Mapa: 09193910398 / Kimberly Gaturian: 09275012088
Manila Group: Ian Abao: 09188744665 / Joffry Geroso: 09106219604 / Teresa Jimena: 09177858257

The Baguio Forums

When baguiocityonline.com pioneered local forum sites, many used it to exchange ideas, news, or just plain talks. Many people met new friends. It has become a tool for organizations to post activities. Many organizations were started here and many forum sites sprang to deliver the demand of the growing forumers.

Organizations for philanthropic works were also formed. One is the "Baguio Forumers Club" now called Forumers Association of the Philippines (FAPI). The group adopted a part of Burnham Park to improve. This site was poorly maintained for the lack of park workers. The group started with tree planting activity, in concord to the City’s Regreening movement. “It was not merely tree planting on the site”, explained the group’s president, known as S.S. or Single Shot in the forums. “The place was entrusted to the organization to beautify and create it into a real park.” Donations from individuals locally and abroad were funneled to finance this project. Individual volunteers did the handworks.

Another group from the newly formed baguiophoria.com lead by the Administrators have adopted an orphanage and used their site to raise funds. The raised money were used to fix the children’s playgrounds and repaint their toys and equipments.

A newly formed organization was the Cordillera Online Community from cordilleraonline.com. The group undertook projects in isolated shools in Benguet distributing school materials. They have also supported several fund raising projects like concerts for causes. Like the other forum organizations, they were able to raise funds for those who can’t afford medical treatments.

With the help of the forums raising funds for projects are made easier. Without these sites, communications would have been impossible. Baguio Forums will always be a part of these organizations.

From these forums a yearly tradition was born, a grand eye-ball was held where members of the different forum sites meet. This year it will happen at the City Tavern on May 10 at 7 pm. My names in those forums are shadow and hunter.

Paypal Philippines At Last

I believe this is something a lot of us had been waiting for. There had been a lot of potential online businesses in the Philippines but there was one big problem. That's how to receive credit card paymets for our local products or services. I actually missed this email I received last January 29. I stumbled upon it when I was cleaning up my spam messages.

All you need is your credit card. If you can't open a credit card, just open an account and apply for a debit card. In some banks, debit card account is only Php2,000.00. Next you open an account with paypal and include your debit or credit card number.

Now you can receive payments through paypal. You can transfer your payments from your paypal to your bank account online. You can then withdraw the money from your bank.

For more infomation click this link. You can also use xoom, moneybookers. If you want to know how to setup your website just pm me.

Back to my saddle again

After almost a week in the mountains covering local festivals, I'm back with darker skin, a little cough and a bunch of photographs. I also earned a new name from my media colleagues. Boy alcohol. I'm not alcoholic but why did I earn that name?

Maybe because I was drinking even when it's liquor ban in those places. Maybe I was drinking redhorse with my lunch and the rest are not. Maybe I was looking for gin when the stores are already closed. Maybe because I had to drink before going to bed so I could easily sleep with the snoring of my room mates.

The answer is all of the above.

 Visiting several villages made me realize how much we in the Cities have forgotten in our cultures and traditions. Customs that the foreign oppressors thought of as backwards. Many of us have already lost those customs with the influenced of the so called western or Christian cultures. With those influences, many of the old cultures are crumbled and along with it comes the deterioration of the people's love of their homeland.

In the far away villages in the mountainous regions of the Cordillera however, many still respect the old traditions and they still practice their old beliefs along with the new ones. The beauty of the old ways are still intact with their festivals and celebrations. Our camera shots are not enough to describe these beautiful and colorful traditions that has been intact for hundreds or thousands of years. But why would the Spanish and American Conquistadores thought of our old traditions as backwards when it brought balance in nature for many centuries?

The influence of the west is also strong in those places and perhaps someday, these beautiful customs and traditions will cease to exist. Let us hope that even though these people will embrace the Christian beliefs, they will still retain their customs that has been instrumental in bringing the beautiful terraced landscapes we enjoy today.

Some of the books that I read

Here's my online bookshelf

The Shadow (4th Composition)

I am just a tale of twilight...
magnifying your illustrious silhouette...
smothering your every subtle move...
taunting your shape until the lights are out.



Shadow was my pen name and my former cybername before I started using Baguiosmile. I wrote the above for this purpose.

Session Road in Bloom

Went up Maharlika roof top to shoot the Session Road Scene with Sir Noli. Here's how it looks up there.