Puerto Galera promotes Eco-cultural tourism via Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival

The pristine, crystal clear blue waters, its magnificent coral gardens and lush forests are fitting descriptions of a paradise untouched and yet to be discovered. But one does not need to look far to find this green sanctuary for it can be found much closer to home.

Located at the northern tip of the island of Mindoro and popularly known as a top vacation destination for its beautiful beaches, Puerto Galera offers a lot more than just the sand and the sun to its tourists and locals. Its diverse marine life offers scuba divers a breathtaking site that they will forever remember and its mangroves and rainforest mountains help its locals with livelihood. The natural environment of Puerto Galera is truly a testament of its unique ecosystem.

In 2005, Puerto Galera entered new waters when it was included in the prestigious Club of The Most Beautiful Bays of the World. Soon afterwards, the bay of Puerto Galera became a part of the world tourism map and brought a new level of global attention and international prestige to the Philippines. Married to Araceli Valenzuela, a grand-daughter of national hero Dr. Pio Valenzuela with whom he has four children, Hubert d’Aboville, founder and head of the d’Aboville Foundation and Demo Farms, was at the forefront of obtaining the accreditation at the general assembly of thirty club members of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays held in Morocco. 

As the founding president of the Most Beautiful Bay Association of Puerto Galera, d’Aboville believes that it is high time that we not only celebrate the rich bio-diversity of Puerto Galera but also its indigenous cultural heritage. “Since we are already on our 4^th year of being a member of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club, we at d’Aboville Foundation and Demo Farms have made it our mission to create an eco-cultural tourism experience for our foreign and local visitors this coming February 18 & 19, 2011 at the Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival which will be staged in a totally natural outdoor environment at the foot of Mount Malasimbo,” d’Aboville said.

The two-day event will coincide with the full moon which will showcase the Mangyan Tribe's art and music as well as traditional handicrafts such as weaving and basketry. The festival will also exhibit local contemporary art through site-specific art installations by notable artists that include Dondi Katigbak, Denis Lagdameo, Olivia d’Aboville and Kawayan De Guia. The musical part of the festival will bring a series of performances of ethnic, jazz and latin music by local and international artists. “We need to focus on creating tourism destinations with sustainable activities aligned with the local cultural heritage and its people which make for a sustainable and eventful eco-cultural experience for both foreigners and local tourists,” says Jeannie Javelosa, a culture and arts expert.

Aside from bringing awareness of the indigenous culture of the Mangyans, a major aim of the Festival is to finance the reforestation along the Baclayan Trail and provide livelihood projects to the Mangyans. Each Festival ticket sold will provide one tree planted along the trail which will carry the name of the person who bought it. The ticket price will also pay for a two-year “maintenance” of every tree that will go to a Mangyan family through the Tourism Sector Coordinating Association (TOSCA), thus providing the Mangyan community a sustainable means of livelihood.

In line with its mission, tourists will enjoy all of the outdoor activities in an all natural amphitheatre-shaped area located at the foot of Mount Malasimbo, 200 meters above sea-level and overlooking a magnificent view of the bay. The audience will sit on mats and throw pillows, surrounded by the trees and will have Mount Malasimbo’s rainforest as background. The organizers of the Festival have not only maximized Puerto Galera’s luxuriant environment but has put its natural beauty in the limelight once again.

Respected marine biologist and scuba diving aficionado Gerry Reyes shares, “I have always loved diving in Puerto Galera because of the vast amount of marine life you get to see. We hope that once people see the beauty of Puerto Galera’s ecosystem as a whole, they will be encouraged to participate in preserving our environment. After all, we do owe it to our ancestors who have taken care of our surroundings for us.”

Hubert d’Aboville has taken the initiative to make the most of the international accreditation to help develop Philippine tourism and is again, partnering with the Department of Tourism under the leadership of Secretary Alberto Lim to continue to protect, enhance and promote Puerto Galera Bay as one of the world’s renowned bays to hasten economic development while preserving its natural resources. 

Secretary Lim expressed his optimism and support to the festival. “On behalf of the DOT, I would like to express my full support of the Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival. This event will be a worthy example of how the private and public sectors can work together to bring about sustainable development and alleviation of poverty in our country,” he said.

Tickets will be available at all fifty resort partners of Puerto Galera before Christmas 2010. For more information, visit www.malasimbofestival.com

EA Arena with Dead Space 2 Launch

I was invited to try out the newest games of Electronic Arts Games (EA Games) at the EA Arena held at Cyberzone, SM City North EDSA. Upon arrival, I signed up for the event and was oriented that I will be given 15 minutes per turn of each game. Since I like shooter games, I started with Dead Space 2 in Playstation 3.  A game sequel, it was considered the best horror-shooter game so far. After logging in at the person in charge, I found out that the game was already in the middle of the story and I suffered badly because it was already hard since it was my first hands-on for Dead Space 2. The perspective of the player is in 3^rd person view. What makes it difficult for me is that I need to get used to the camera movements of which the player changes view but it was very smooth but violently graphic. Most of the time, I would rather use my player’s fists than use the weapon. Since it was in story mode and there were only one game pad, there was no multiplayer mode. I never got to try it in Xbox yet.

Dead Space 2 in Playstion 3

After Dead Space 2, the next game I tried was NBA Jam in Nintendo Wii. It was my first time to play in Wii. It was new to me that you have to swing the controls to shoot the ball. But I enjoyed it better than Dead Space 2. The last game I tried was Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. It’s also like a racing game but in a police chase. You get to choose whether you’re police or a fugitive. You get to play using your keyboard or game pad but it was easier using the game pad than the keyboard.

NBA Jam in Wii

As a gamer, I like EA Games because I play Command and Conquer series. Although it was more of strategy game, I still like to broaden my gaming interests in other games as well and this is a good start. As for Dead Space 2, it was launched earlier this month and it is now available here in Xbox and Playstation 3. Dead Space 2 is now available at Datablitz outlets for only P1895.00

The New Meralco Appliance Calculator Web Application (M.A.C)

This maybe helpful to us since almost al consumes electricity.

Background

Since 2003, MERALCO has activated the MERALCO Appliance Calculator (M.A.C) in response to our customers’ information needs.

The MAC is envisioned to serve MERALCO customers, in that it allows them to estimate their consumption and aids them in purchasing energy-efficient appliances.

Benefits

The Meralco Appliance Calculator is designed

to become the electricity bill management tool

of Meralco residential customers to help them:

1.Better manage their electric consumption and their electric bill

2.Make wiser decisions in buying home appliances

3.Get home energy efficiency tips that are customized to their home electricity consumption

 With the new Meralco Appliance Calculator (M.A.C), users can now have the option of using either “My Appliance Calculator” or “My Bill Manager”. 

–“My Appliance Calculator” allows the user to calculate the estimated consumption cost of appliances - one at a time.

–“My Bill Manager” allows the user to calculate the estimated consumption cost of appliances in a table format. It allows the user to get an estimate of the household’s total electric consumption cost and see which appliances consume more electricity. 

Other features of “My Bill Manager” menu include:

–CONSUMPTION MANAGER – allows the user to see the corresponding electric consumption pie chart and some text description of the chart based on the information provided by the user

–ENERGY EFFICIENCY ADVISER – allows user to see some energy efficiency tips based on the information provided by the user

–TARGET BILL AMOUNT ESTIMATOR – allows the user to see an estimate of his  “monthly target kWh consumption” and “estimated price per kWh” by just  inputting the “ target electric bill amount".

Other new features of the M.A.C include:

Emailing of the M.A.C web link to friends through the “email” button

Sharing the M.A.C web link to Facebook and Twitter accounts through the “share” button

Sending feedback to Meralco regarding the new M.A.C through the “feedback” button

Getting tips on how to use the M.A.C through the “help” button

Printing the computation results of “My Bill Manager” through the “print” button 

Viewing the end-user license agreement for using the M.A.C application through the “agreement” button

Viewing the basis for computing the estimated electricity consumption of home appliances for the M.A.C application through the “formula” button

Using the “M.A.C Welcome Page”

1.Launch the Appliance Calculator by clicking on the M.A.C icon

2.Click on the “Agreement” button to view the end-user license agreement for using the Meralco Appliance Calculator (M.A.C) software

3.Click on the “Formula” button to view the basis for computing the estimated electricity consumption of home appliances for the Meralco Appliance Calculator (M.A.C)

Using “My Appliance Calculator”

1.Click on the “My Appliance Calculator” icon.

2.Type in your average monthly electric bill amount in the “Monthly Bill Amount” field (e.g. 1500).

3.Click on an “appliance category icon” (e.g., Aircon).

4.Select a specific appliance from the “Type of appliance” list by clicking on the drop down menu and clicking on the specific type of appliance (e.g. Air conditioner 0.5 HP).

5.Select how many hours per day, days per week, and weeks per month you use the appliance using the drop down menu.

6.Click on “Calculate” button to see the estimated operating costs of your appliance.

7.Repeat steps 3 to 6 to compute other appliances.

Using “My Bill Manager”

1.Click on the “My Bill Manager” icon.

2.Type in your average monthly electric bill amount in the “Monthly Bill Amount” field (e.g. 1500).

3.Select a specific appliance from the “Appliance Type” column by clicking on the drop down menu and clicking on the specific type of appliance (e.g. Air conditioner 0.5 HP).

4.Type in the number of appliances on the corresponding field under the “Quantity” column

5.Change the values under the “Wattage” if you have more accurate information about the wattage ratings of your appliances

6.Select how many hours per day, days per week, and weeks per month you use the appliance using the drop down menu.

7.After providing the required information per appliance, you will automatically see the “estimated cost” and “estimated kWh consumption” of your individual appliances.

Repeat steps 3 to 6 for other appliances and complete the table to see the total “estimated costs” and “estimated kWh consumption” of your household.

Using “My Bill Manager’s New Features”

1.Click on the “Consumption Manger” button to view a pie chart of your household’s estimated electricity consumption to see which appliances contribute most to your electric bill

2.Click on the “Energy Efficiency Adviser” to get energy efficiency tips based on your electric consumption pattern

3.Click on the “Target Bill Amount Estimator” to know the estimated kilowatt-hour consumption at a certain bill amount to better manage your household consumption in order to stick to your budget

Other helpful tips

To compute for appliances not found or listed:

Follow the same steps above. For “Type of Appliance”, select “Others” at the bottom of the list. For “Wattage”, type in the wattage rating found in the operator’s manual or on the body of the appliance (usually in watts or w). NOTE: Select the GENERAL APPLIANCES category if you are not sure of the appliance category.

To compute using specific wattages:

Follow the same steps above. Change the wattage that appears after selecting the type of appliance by typing in the specific wattage in the “Wattage” field. 

Important reminders

•The M.A.C computation is based on MERALCO residential electricity rates which are being updated on a monthly basis.

•This computation is an estimate based on assumed data.

•The computation results of the M.A.C may slightly vary from the actual consumption reflected in the MERALCO customer’s monthly electric bill and therefore, the M.A.C computation results should not be used in any way for billing purposes, complaints, claims, or suits against MERALCO, its officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers and other partners.

•The M.A.C should not be used by any person to estimate electric consumption of appliances and/or equipment used for non-residential or business or commercial purposes.

Destination: Camarines Norte

Gov. Egay Tallado

and the People of Camarines Norte

cordially invite you to discover the

spiritual, cultural and natural gems

of the province as we celebrate the

Quadricentennial of the Diocese of Daet’s First Parishes

Marvel at the Spanish era churches of Paracale, Vinzons and Daet.

Rediscover the age-old mining practice of Paracale

Jam with the “pabirik” festival street parade

Go island-hopping and beach combing

Take a trip back in time to the historic spots

Feast on our sweet pineapple and luscious seafood

February 2-4,2011