This is where it all began

Back in November of 2009, I wrote about our office's annual Christmas outreach program called Lights for Hope. The 2010 event did not have as many children; we were a few tens shy of a thousand. Mr. Octopus the inflatable bouncer wasn't inflated on time—which is why he's still lopsided here—and soon after I took this picture, it started raining, which forced everyone to move to the alternate venue. But I have to hand it to the college kids who spent time with the public school children and the local child actors who came to spread some Christmas joy: they adjusted to their sheltered but cramped space, everyone gamely continued with the program, and I saw nothing but smiles on the young children's faces.

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I would like to apologize for disappearing without a word for two whole months. Even early in November, my schedule and work load were getting progressively worse and it was soon after this event that I had to decide to let go of something, and it just had to be my blog. I don't want to bother anyone with the details since it isn't what My Manila is for; suffice it to say that it was the first time in a decade that I had to go to work during the Christmas break and that I hardly felt the past two months go by. To everyone who worried, visited, and left messages and sent me email: thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish I could give each one of you a real hug.

Let me say one final thing: I'm baaaaack! :)

Rising from the ashes

For my last post about the Ateneo School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) Program, I am featuring a product that is very different from everything else that I've posted this past week. Envirobloxx are concrete masonry units (better known as cinder blocks in the U.S. and hollow blocks here in the Philippines) made of cement, lahar (volcanic ash flow—we still have lots from the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption) and rice hull ash. The result is a cheaper, lighter block that does not compromise on strength. I also like Envirobloxx's interlocking design, which should make wall construction easier. This is a product which I hope construction companies, architects, civil engineers and hardware stores will pick up fast. My husband and I have no need for hollow blocks right now, but you can be sure that I'm keeping their brochure and business card for the day when we do need them.



Envirobuilders Construction Supplies Inc. developed and markets Envirobloxx. They can be emailed at envirobuildersinc@gmail.com.

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The AY 2010–2011 SOMBA Program has more groups than the seven that I was able to feature. The complete list of companies established this academic year can be found at jgsomba.tk. And to all the students in the program: you have such fantastic ideas and products, and I love that you all care about the environment and the less privileged of our countrymen so much. I wish your companies much success and I hope that all your products fly off the shelves!

Starchy food

Before I continue with my series on the Ateneo School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) Program fair, I think I need to clarify one point. These students are Management majors; they are not food technologists or materials scientists. Therefore, the products that they develop are not necessarily new; in fact, they have to use existing technologies if they wish to finish their project within the stipulated year. Their mandate is to develop commercially-viable products for a specified target market. The environmental and social enterprise focus are additional, in the hope that these young men and women will mature into socially-responsible adults and entrepreneurs. That said, let's go on to the next company (just two more since I wasn't able to take photos of all the products at the fair). We all know how disposable, plastic tableware is bad for the environment; but no one can deny that they are very convenient—for parties, take-out (take-away, to-go or however you call it in your country) food, picnics, and such. A solution: disposable, starch-based eating utensils. They're not just biodegradable; they can actually be added to compost heaps. The stuff in the bowl are the starch pellets which the spoons and forks are made of. This particular product is made by a Gawad Kalinga community; this and its environmental focus defines Bioware as a social enterprise. I forgot to ask the kids though: won't the spoon melt if it's used for stirring hot drinks or eating hot soup?



Me bad. I wasn't able to get their business card so I don't have Bioware's contact information, but the SOMBA Program office should have it. Their number is (63-2) 426-6001 extension 5532.

3:20PM UPDATE: Thanks to Joey Oliver, I can now direct you to Bioware's Facebook page. Bioware is the brand and the company is called Greenature Cycle Incorporated.

Urban ethnicity

Of all the projects at the Ateneo School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) Program fair last week, Ethnu was the one that made me weak in the knees, with their neo-ethnic jewelry. The materials—stone and shell beads, brass bells—are sourced from the tribes that inspired the jewelry, but the designs, created by fashion designer Louis Claparols, are very modern. They currently have three beautifully-named collections which showcase the intricate work of three Philippine ethnic tribes. On the left is Brass Dreamweavers, from the T'boli of Southern Mindanao. On the higher table at the right is People of the Earth, from the Ifugao. On the lower table is Peacock Warriors, from the Kalinga. The Ifugao and the Kalinga are two of several ethnic groups in the mountainous Cordillera region of Luzon which are known collectively as Igorot. If only for purely selfish reasons (I want those necklaces!), I want this company to succeed, but of course, it's much more than that. Any company that can bring Philippine ethnic accessories and fabrics to the world stage has my support, especially if that company applies fair trade principles in their dealings with these usually marginalized and exploited ethnic groups.



Ethnu is the brand of Ethnocentricity Incorporated. They are on Facebook and can also be emailed at ethnuaccessories@gmail.com.

High fashion

Most Manileños know pandan only as a food flavoring and these young students of the Ateneo School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) Program are on a mission to re-educate us. P. Nouvelle, with the help of Filipino fashion designer Arnold Galang and two partners from the Department of Trade and Industry, produces gorgeous bags made out of pandan leaves. Sustainable, ethical, green fashion—any takers, ladies?



P. Nouvelle Developers Inc. can be found in Facebook and their email address is pnouvellebags@gmail.com.

Paper bags

Many of the student groups in the Ateneo School of Management Business Accelerator (SOMBA) Program are concerned with the environment, sustainability and social enterprise. Like yesterday's shoes, the bags of Papelle use recycled materials. In this case, what looks like traditional basketry is actually made of handwoven paper from old newspapers and telephone directories. Don't they look fantastic? The paper bags are laminated so they're water resistant. The design on the left, which is reinforced around the body, is strong enough to carry five kilos of weight. What's more, Papelle (a French-ified play on the Tagalog word "papel" which means paper) bags now provide a livelihood to previously jobless residents of the barangay of Natipuan in Nasugbu, Batangas.



Papelle is manufactured by The Twillery, Inc. They have a website and can be emailed at papellebags@gmail.com or TheTwillery@gmail.com.

If they can stop a plane…

Continuing with the entrepreneurial fair of the Ateneo John Gokongwei School of Management: This product was a big hit among the students: casual shoes made of recycled materials. Named "Soule," the uppers are chosen from used clothing or excess fabrics, and the soles are made out of used airplane tires. It would have been interesting to find out where the kids got the tires, but they were busy with their stock when I passed their stall. According to their brochure, the soles are lightweight and durable, and I was thinking: the tires may be worn out, but only for the standard of airplanes. For people, the traction must still be quite awesome.



Soule is made by Cultura Verde Footwear, Inc. They have a website and their email address is culturaverdefootwear@gmail.com.

Moo!

The Ateneo John Gokongwei School of Management has a one-year program specifically focused on students with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. It is called the School of Management Business Accelerator Program, or SOMBA for short. At the end of the program, students must have developed a product, created a business plan which has been approved by a panel made up of recognized Filipino businessmen, established their company legally, and generated their projected revenue within a specified selling period. The SOMBA students held a two-day fair in the campus last week and I have to say that I was truly impressed with some of them. I'll be featuring some of their companies and products this week, beginning with one food product which I thought makes best use of a Filipino produce. Tropical Cow Mix & Dip tastes exactly like sweetened condensed milk but is made not of dairy milk but of coconut milk. Called gata in Tagalog, coconut milk comes from the meat of mature coconuts which is grated and squeezed through cheesecloth, and is a common cooking ingredient in the Philippines and in other Southeast Asian countries. For lactose-intolerant people like me, Tropical Cow's Mix & Dip is the perfect condensed milk substitute, and I hope that they can develop other milk substitute products out of coconut milk. I think Tropical Cow's logo (on the screen and on top of the refrigerator)—a typical image of a tropical drink served in a half coconut shell but with an udder—is hilarious, and isn't their mascot (on their t-shirts) just so cute?



Tropical Cow Manufacturing, Inc. can be reached by emailing tropicalcow@gmail.com. The Vice President for Operations is Joey Nocom and his email address is joeynocom@gmail.com. They have a website and can also be found in Facebook.

All fired up

Ateneo de Manila University AY 2010–2011 first semester sports championships:
• Blue Eagles (men's college basketball), 3-peat
• Blue Eaglets (high school basketball), 3-peat
• High School Swimming Team, 6-peat
• Grade School Small Basketeers, 4-peat




At the "Three for History" bonfire last night.

Carillon

The bells of the Ateneo Church of the Gesù, housed in a tower separate from the church, were a gift to the university from the alumni class of High School 1960 / College 1964. Six years after the bell tower was constructed, the class has raised funds to add more bells, which I think have already been cast because the discussion now is which saints will have their names inscribed on the bells. It would be interesting to see where and how the new bells will be added to the tower.

Cloudzilla

Seen while walking out of the Ateneo de Manila University campus on our way home at 6:00 in the evening a few days ago.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Almost opaque

I posted a similar photo of the Rizal Library of the Ateneo de Manila University back in May, but one taken in the early evening when the windows look completely transparent. I just find the difference in the opacity of the windows—depending on the light and the time of day—absolutely fascinating.

Black, white and red

The Ricardo and Dr. Rosita Leong Hall, named after the husband and wife who gifted the Ateneo de Manila University with the building, is the home of the School of Social Sciences.

A modern folk tale

I am loving the theater group Entablado's musicals of seeming children's stories. Last year, it was Rene O. Villanueva's "Ang Unang Baboy sa Langit" (The First Pig in Heaven) with its environmental message; this year, it is Christine Bellen's "Si Pilandok at ang Bayan ng Bulawan" (Pilandok and the Country of Bulawan), a folkloric retelling of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. Bulawan is a country named after its sun whose population is divided into two factions that can't get along with each other. The corrupt leader and his evil henchmen steal the Bulawan so they can start selling its light and heat to the people and make lots of money.




Pilandok is the resident trickster with a good heart who decides to steal it back. He asks help from the nation's five gods (Faith, Strength, Wealth, Beauty and Wisdom) but their very natures work against them in their rescue efforts. So Pilandok tries it on his own but he is caught, and it is only when the two factions decide to work together—with their gods—that they manage to rescue both Pilandok and the Bulawan.




I'm sorry that I don't have a picture of Pilandok but his character was moving around so much I couldn't get a clear shot. We watched the play at the Rizal Mini Theater of the Ateneo de Manila University but it is also going to be shown at the Meralco Theater on September 11. More information about it on Oliver Oliveros' blog.

Pink behemoth

For ten months back in 2008, Filipino artist Impy Pilapil's large, outdoor sculptures for the exhibit titled "Interactive: The 12 Senses" were on display in the gardens of the Ateneo de Manila University. Many of us were very sad when they were dismantled because they added such bright spots of color to the campus. Happily however, two pieces were retained. The bamboo Chime Halo was reinstalled when the new Rizal Library was finished last year and this one, Surge, was never removed. One of the Ateneo Art Gallery curators told me that it weighs a ton, which is probably why the artist decided to keep it in the university.




I'm glad. I think it looks great in the rock garden beside the Manuel V. Pangilinan Center for Student Leadership along my favorite brick path.

Did you see me reflected on the glass window of the first photo? :)
See what's reflecting what at James' Weekend Reflections.

Everything has a price

ZeKaf opened in the basement of the new dormitories of the Ateneo de Manila University late last year. With flowers on the tables, warm light, earth colors and a photo mural in sepia tones, it looks pretty good for a school cafeteria. I'd call it a café rather than a cafeteria if it weren't for the fact that their food counter still looks like those found in any school cafeteria anywhere in the world. The food's good too but, compared to the other cafeterias on campus, their prices are higher and the serving sizes are smaller. I guess ambiance doesn't come cheap.

So it begins

The first typhoon of the season lashed the northern and eastern part of the Philippines Tuesday night. As I write this, 21 people are known to have been killed and sixty are missing. Basyang (international code name Conson) didn't bring much rain in our part of Quezon City, though I hear that it caused floods in other parts of Luzon. The worst of it in our area was at 4:00PM and it let up just in time to let office workers go home relatively dry. I really ought to have something done about the pathway to our office building—because of the slope of the terrain, it always gets inundated when rains are strong and becomes quite useless as a path.




The winds of Basyang were another matter altogether, however: sustained winds of 120 kph (74 mph) and gusts of up to 150 kph (93 mph). We lost power at home at 11:00PM of Tuesday and I wasn't the only one who had a tough time sleeping that night, not only because of the noise of the howling wind, but because of the fear that I might hear a part of the roof being torn away or a tree falling on the house. This was the scene that greeted me when I got to the office yesterday morning, off to one side of the path above. Power at our house was restored yesterday at 3:00PM, and we are one of the lucky ones. Metro Manila's power distributor, Meralco, estimates that it needs two to three more days to restore power to its entire grid, which also covers much of the island of Luzon. As the colleague of a friend tweeted, "Blackouts, howling winds, heavy rains, falling trees and flying billboards. Welcome to typhoon country, Philippine-style!"

Campus jungle

Yesterday's building might have been a disappointment, but its location is something that the Ateneo de Manila University can be proud of. Despite the growth of the student population and the increase in facilities, the school has still managed to keep several relatively large stands of woods in the campus. The Biological Research House is within one of them, which has been left alone to grow wild. This is what the mini-forest looks like from the street. The bridge is off the frame to the right.




Our little office building sits at one edge of the woods, and this is part of what I see from the fire exit just outside my room. The green is soothing to eyes tired of staring at a computer monitor, but there is one particular disadvantage: you won't believe the bugs and other creatures that sometimes get inside our building. The worst we've had so far is a baby python sleeping just outside 'my' fire exit (I'm proud to say that I didn't freak out when I saw it). Thank goodness it was still young—it was less than two feet long and a maintenance staff just picked it up with one hand. Seven-foot pythons have been caught in the campus several times. When they're that big, the school turns them over to the Ninoy Aquino Parks & Wildlife Center.

Over the bridge

So what's beyond yesterday's little blue and white bridge? The greenhouse that I remember from my youth is gone and has been replaced by this pretentiously named Biological Research House. (I warned you it was a disappointment.) Whatever the students have in there, it seems that they have to be protected from too much sun; those are black garbage bags tied over the windows. I couldn't take a peek inside because the structure is completely surrounded by a chain link fence with padlocked gates. I guess their projects have to be protected from vandals too.

Finally!

I first posted a photo of this tiny blue and white bridge in the Loyola Heights campus of the Ateneo de Manila University for my 100th post way back in 2008. After two years, I finally took the time to cross it and find out if the greenhouse from my college days is still there. Though I've always remembered this bridge as being blue and white, I seem to remember that it had wooden floorboards back then. The sheet of metal that serves as its current flooring is so rusty that I almost didn't want to walk over it, for fear that it wouldn't be able to bear my weight. Curiosity won over safety. You'll have to come back tomorrow to find out what's on the other side, but I guess that it's only right to warn you that I was mighty disappointed. Oh well. At least the itch has been scratched and I also finally have a bridge for Louis' Sunday Bridges. Yay!

Bridges around the world: Sunday Bridges

I've blue and white, and Louis' Golden Gate Bridge is red—perfect for today. Happy 4th of July to all my American friends! Here, we celebrate it as Filipino-American Friendship Day.