Walk with the Giants

As devotees brought the Black Nazarene in town for the yearly pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage on November 29, Angono's signature Higantes - eight of them, plus Santa Claus - strolled along the streets of poblacion at dusk. A band set the pace of merriment; strains of that old folk song tells they are visitors also to the land known for kasuy and the once pristine waterfalls.

The visit of the Black Nazarene ushers in the feast day of the Virgin on Dec. 8. Both religious icons share a symbiotic history during the time of the war. And the devotees have kept on the tradition over kilometers of road between Antipolo and Quiapo and clung on to their faith throughout years of change.



-redmark video
Nov. 29, 2010
Antipolo City

Something old, something new

After PCOS, this wall should be updated to modern times.

Finally, automated elections, Pilipinas circa May 10, 2010.

As summer and discontentment sizzle up the nation, voters are greeted by the same old ways of overzealous politicos and their supporters, missing names and discrepancies in tattered voters' list, long and slow moving queues, uncomfortble precints and for those in isolated areas and election hotspots, the herculean task of casting their votes.

Then came 21st century technology. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had brought in the Precinct-Count Optical Scan (PCOS) to town to speed up validation and counting of our votes.. All 76,000 of them with lots of spare units in case of snafus. Its partner in poll automation, Venezuelan tech firm Smartmatic, promises to dash post-election blues by having the results known in three days. That's something unheard of in this side of democracy.

In a few days, a new set - or old as the case maybe - of leaders will be known. People may dispute. People may not. As if we're not used to endless mudslinging.

But the next question is: will they deliver the goods?


- redmark

The Fabulous Hawker Boys

Even in crisis, they're still cashing in on our perpetual appetite for the unhealthy. Antipolo City proper. Feb. 2, 2009 at 11:22 PM.