They can now pack and have their Branson vacations, and leave family planning in the hands of the couple and the state. Oops, here’s the funny thing. What makes these celibate bishops credible speakers of family planning? Unless Father Damaso is alive and still kicks ass.

We’ve been like hostages of the church for centuries, dictating how to run our lives based on the rules set by the Pope who they deemed infallible. They have invaded our minds, then our bedrooms. Not that everything they said was bad, but there are matters that also require common sense. Example, we can no longer allow couples to procreate irresponsibly like it was in the post-Holocaust era. This country today is already overpopulated and majority of us live below poverty line. Our resources and opportunities are diminishing as a direct result.

Fathers, we have lost most of our agricultural lands to house 90 million people. Is it any wonder why we import rice these days?

Support the Reproductive Health Bill.

But the good thing about living in this hot tropical country at this time of the year is that you never run out of visual spectacles on air, land or sea. I’d tell you why.

1. Beach-ing

Traditionally, we don’t go to beaches at the peak of the Holy Week season. We don’t go out of town. We dislike traffic, crowd, and sweat. The operators of Boracay restos and hotels complained of a slow down in tourist traffic and sales. But DOT-Boracay office claimed that there were more people this year than last year. Whatever. You can’t just pull me out there and get baked under the sun. Skin cancer, hello.

2. Philippine aviation: Butt of another joke

We’ve been banned in the past by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) for failure in meeting international aviation standards. This time, European Union followed suit. British were advised not to use our local carriers when going to the Philippines. In other words, for them, Philippine carriers are unsafe. As expected, local aviation officials insisted they are not. Okay. Fine. Get over it and start doing something.

Ceylonese writer Nuri Vittachi wrote a humorous article on the Reader’s Digest, implying that our pilots are not serious in their jobs. Personally, if these are all true, these men should be selling discount rugs than fly a plane.

3. Bloody Good Friday

Good Friday in the Philippines are typically marked by re-enactments of Christ’s crucifixion played by the most devout among the local folks who willingly beat their bodies until their flesh glisten red with blood before they get nailed down on their crosses. We all know it’s horrifying medieval, the Roman cross being one of the most feared symbols of execution. But for Pinoys, it is atonement in an extreme graphic way.

But you can always count on Erap for comic relief when boredom strikes you the hardest. Erap let out an innocent mistake when asked about his opinion on political dynasties. To get his point across, he asked a seminarian in the audience: “…padre, kung may anak ka na gusto magpari….” It cracked me up. Failon, the show’s host, was quick to point that out (that priests are not allowed to marry and have sons) and everyone bursted a gut of laughter. Has Erap been drinking again?

I voted for Brother Eddie in the last presidential race because of lack of credible choices. I sincerely doubted FPJ’s ability, questioned Lacson’s credibility and never trusted GMA. Brother Eddie was that year’s better option until the poll results came out placing him at the bottom. The pulpit became an avenue for him to address his grievance. That was the time I thought of the real danger in announcing to the public that God spoke to him. Somehow that can either make one a false prophet or God a liar if they don’t come to pass.

I am always for what is godly, morally sound and realistic. The four other candidates expressed the first two qualities but forgot that they have not ascended to heaven yet to aspire for something intangible, like making yourself a strong person through prayer on first 100 days in office (duh). It takes more than an utterance of prayer or belief in a supreme being. Being a president does require a brilliant mind, wisdom beyond his years, strong character and will to make things happen.

Shaped like Magellan's hat

We were at Sto. Nino Parish Church in Mactan to hear mass on a late Sunday afternoon. This is the first time I attended mass conducted in Cebuano dialect and saw young women in their ministry wear long veils like the very icons in the altar. We left with no idea what the entire one-hour sermon was all about. It felt like much being a foreigner in your own land. I hope they have English and Filipino versions during the day, and even Korean. This particular area in Mactan Island is a tourist belt.

Inside the hat-shaped church on a Sunday

So in between ho-hums, unimaginable boredom and missing church services at CCF, I managed to steal shots of the Sto. Nino Parish Church. The small church is right across two major roads leading to Cordova and Punta Engano. What’s amazing about this church is its unique architecture. The building was shaped like Magellan’s hat (I would have said Anakin Skywalker’s) and its glass panels depict the image of the Sto. Nino tinted with bright colors. It is no longer as backward as what a typical parish in the outskirts of a province should be, bamboo blinds and all. Cebu churches have actually come a long way to become one of the province’s heritage sites.

Greenbelt 5

The last time I was inside Greenbelt 5 was more than a month ago. Phase 2 was still covered with dusts, the smell of paint was filtered through my nostrils and at every corner, construction was underway.  But after a couple of weeks of massive work, Greenbelt 5 is now in its full form, positioning itself as one of the few shopping centers that caters to the elite.

While the possibility of people being laid off from their jobs looms in the horizon, Pinoys are busy building malls…and shopping

Not that it is a bad thing. These malls that sprouted at every corner like your mega sari-sari store sent Philippines back to the map. It was SM Mall of Asia, the world’s third largest mall, that did it and every mall management seemed to head to that direction. We’re no longer just notorious for being one of the world’s most corrupt governments and top human resource exporters. We, a third world, have become the world’s shopping capital, housing every signature brands and welcome the likes of an Oscar de la Renta to our fold.

Our malls can actually shame those that stand on the English soil. Well, the British are known to build magnificent palaces that can overwhelm every visiting statesman. Even their ordinary houses can turn the most common among us green with envy. While we build palatial malls, we have a huge chunk of the population subsisting in a P50/day budget.

What we lack is a lifestyle consistency. We simply dress to impress.

Basking under artificial light

Maribago Bluewater Beach Resort is not really my typical beach haven compared to other beaches I’ve been to in the north. Crablets seemed to have invaded their artificial shorelines and made walking around the beach area on barefoot quite uncomfortable. Either I might crush one of these creatures or I risk losing a toe. My feet simply missed those smooth white sands that define most of the beaches in Luzon.

Allegro Restaurant at night

But Maribago’s facilities and the hospitality of people made up for what is lacking. After dinner, we went around the beach and saw how lovely the place was at night. The lights made the entire beach landscape appear more like a fantasy island than a resort. We went to The Cove, a bar and restaurant that allows you to choose from a selection of live fishes, seafood and appetizer recipes and drinks.

The way to The Cove

And there’s this cold sea breeze blowing from the north. So we got out frolicking along the shore in our rubber shoes.

Magellan's Cross, believed to be miraculous, is nothing but a deceptive tool to conquer the unsuspecting ancient Cebuanos.

I find it disturbing how some history textbooks tell us that the Philippines was “discovered” by Spanish-hired Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Wow Philippines has even repeated the same confusing remark when describing the island of Limasawa as a birthplace of Christianity in the Philippines. I question the use of the word “discovered” because hundreds of years before these Spanish/Portuguese explorations, the islands have long been inhabited by its natives. In fact, Mactan Island’s chief Lapu-Lapu was already there when Magellan and his team arrived.

The word Christianization also does bother me. Spain that time was using God as a scare tactic to conquer and manipulate inhabitants in the east. What the Spaniards had really brought us was an idolotrous religion that subsisted on the sweat and blood of those they have conquered. Where is Christianity there? Not even a trace.

The house built for the ancient cross

Just across the present Cebu City Hall is Magellan’s Shrine that houses the Cross of Magellan. The original cross, believed to be encased in Tindalo wood, was made a symbol of Cebu and local government seal when it is nothing but an ugly reminder of how our own gullibility made us Spanish captives for 333 years. Lapu-Lapu, probably one of the brightest minds of his time, refused this religious crap from gaining a foothold. We all know how this brave warrior made a faucet out of the Spaniard’s body. Our historians may have named a small city after him, but Magellan’s cross was made a symbol of the province the Mactan chieftain so tried to defend. Call that irony.

Devotees light their candles and offer up prayers

The marathon to explore Cebu City four hours before the flight schedule landed us on our second destination for the day. Our lengthy walks from one spot to another digested every lechon bit I had earlier and probably shed off a couple of pounds without even taking in Fastin diet pills. If I happen to be a Roman Catholic, I would have exclaimed, “Pit Senor!”

Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño

Just right across Magellan’s Cross is The Church and Convent of the Sto. Niño (known as Basilica del Sto. Niño), the oldest church started by the Spanish friars in the Philippines. It was founded by the Spanish Augustinian priest Rev. Andres Urdaneta in 1565. It was on the same year that the Legaspi expedition arrived in the Philippines and gained foothold in this southern city. What followed next was a strong Spanish influence that scattered like a disease lasting for more than three hundred years.

Spanish influences remain inside the house of prayer

The intense devotion of the Visayans to the Sto. Niño and religious pilgrimages are centered on this church since the time of Legaspi. Aside from being a house of devotion, the Church and Convent of the Sto. Niño was also a center for educating the natives, rest house for missionaries and care home for the elderly and the sick.

Today, this church remains as the permanent home of the oldest known relic of the Sto. Niño for centuries.

Maribago Beach Resort in Cebu

Travel Light goes to Cebu this September!

My friend, Mayan, invited me to her trip down south. I haven’t been to her native town in Naga City because I kept postponing the trip for last five years (I think). I guess changing the destination from Bicol to Cebu does wonders. Last week, she already booked my plane and accomodation for 3 days at Maribago Beach Resort in Cebu. I don’t know where that place is but I think it’s cozy, lovely and quiet just by looking at the blue-sky-coconut-trees shot above. It’s like having one of those Vegas vacations already except for the beach.

This is how MY itinerary would be like:

Day One

• Departure at 7:30 a.m.
• Breakfast on board Cebu Pacific (Magic Flakes for sure)
• Arrival at 9:00 a.m.
• Resort taxi service will pick us up at Mactan
• Unpack
• Set up Mayan’s laptop, check wi-fi
• Lunch
• Sleep
• Merienda
• See a trade show
• Dinner
• Back to resort
• Read a book
• Sleep

Day Two onwards

• Internet
• Breakfast
• Leave resort
• Explore the city
• Lunch
• Explore the city
• Merienda
• Back to resort
• Maybe swim
• Sleep

Aside from clothing, I’ll bring with me a good book, DVDs and my old reliable Sony digicam. Mayan is bringing her laptop which is excellent for my mental health. I might also drop by the cemetery to visit dad. I will need a good map, or maybe a guide.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS ASIA 2008 (MarCommAsia 2008) International Exhibition & Conference will be held at the World Trade Center Metro Manila from September 24 to 26, 2008. This is the first major international marketing communications event in the Philippines since the Asian Advertising Congress (AdAsia) held in Manila in 1997.

The event’s objectives are as follows:

MarCommAsia is a biennial event that will make the Philippines a regular exhibition destination for Asian marketing, with simultaneous conference sessions from distinguished international speakers and Filipino business leaders sharing their insights on topics related to the latest trends and successes in the marketing communications field.

The strength of the event comes from Motiv8 Marketing and Consultancy, a team of experienced marketing professionals dedicated to helping uplift the standards of marketing in the Philippines.

MarCommAsia 2008 is supported by The Asian Federation of Advertising Associations, Advertising Foundation of the Philippines, Advertising Board of the Philippines, and Philippine Conventions & Visitors Corporation.

For more information, please send an email to Ms. Susie Achacoso-Cruz at susiecruzpr@gmail.com or visit her website at http://susieachacosocruz.com/.