Baguio City Alert:: Swine Flu Has Reached The Philippines!!!

The regional Department of Health announced that there are two confirmed swine flu virus cases in the Cordillera from among the 14 persons who sought medical attention after showing signs and symptoms of Influenza A H1N1. But it was confirmed that there was a first person confirmed to have been afflicted with Influenza A H1N1 who is now on stable condition.

Last week, there was also text messages received by my mother and my brother on their cell phones that Swine Flu has already reached Baguio City. The patients were confined at BGH Baguio and Pines Hospital.

What is Influenza A H1N1?
- It is caused by a novel virus that resulted from the re assortment of 4 viruses from pigs, human and birds.
- It is a new virus causing illness to people
- I think it was first detected in Mexico
- The virus is spreading from person to person, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread
- There is no vaccines yet to protect humans from the virus
- There are existing and recommended medicines that are effective in treating these Influenza A H1N1
- Influenza A H1N1 can be fatal to humans

What are the signs and symptoms in humans?
- similar to the symptoms of regular flu such as fever, headache, fatique, muscle or joint pains, lack of appetite, runny nose, sore throat, cough, vomiting or nausea, diarrhea.

What is the mode of transmission of the virus?
- Exposure to droplets from the cough and sneeze of the infected person, or by touching things with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
- It is not transmitted by eating thoroughly cooked pork.

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?
- Cover your nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing. Always wash hands with soap and water. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Avoid close contact with sick people. Increase your body's resistance. Have at least 8 hours of sleep. Be physically active. Manage your stress. Drink plenty of fluids. Eat nutritious food.

What to do if there is a sick person at home?
- Immediately bring the sick person to a doctor. Provide a separate room in the house. If this is not possible, keep the patient at least 1 meter away from the family. Use surgical mask when caring for the sick person. Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after each contact with the sick person. Have proper ventilation where the sick person stays. Keep the environment clean.

BE VIGILANT!

If you have a fever for 2 days, immediately consult a doctor.....

Katrina Halili-Hayden Kho Sex Scandal/Maricar Reyes-Hayden Kho Scandal

Hayden Kho- Model, Cosmetic Surgeon



















I was shocked to know that Kristina Halili, a famous Philippine Actress, has a sex scandal video which was said to be circulating on dvds nationwide. Upon knowing it, I quickly searched the video on the net and at last I think I found the sex video. I saw the man they called Hayden Kho naked and a girl who looks like Katrina Halili. The video was dark and it's hard to recognize the girl properly but I thought she resembles the sexy body of Katrina Halili and her face too whom was shown a bit in the darkness. The video was short maybe 2 or 3 minutes as I remember it.

Kristina Halili





















A while ago, I watched the news and they said authorities have began confiscating the sex video which was sold at different parts of the country. It is not only the sex video of Katrina Halili which was being sold but also a famous brazillian model who had a part in the Abs-cbn series "Betty La Fea" starring Bea Alonzo I think named Maricar Reyes was also sold in the market today. I searched her photos on the net and her sex video and I was really shocked. Maricar Reyes was clearly having sex with the same man named Hayden Kho. The sex video was clear and not dark like Kristina Halili's.

Maricar Reyes- Model and Actress



















When I went to Youtube.com, I searched the sex videos and I was more shocked when I saw a clear photo of Katrina Halili and Hayden Kho naked. It was a video poster's photo. I think it was taken from a clear sex video that is not dark. I can remember exactly their position on the dark video and the clear photo posted on . It was really Katrina! Now I understand why Katrina Halili was really crying infront of the media.





















I am dismayed. Katrina Halili was the favorite actress of my sister. I hope it will not affect how my sister thinks or in anyway and also the thousands of fans of Katrina Halili. I hope they will not follow her example. Anyway, "nobody is perfect". Everyone commits a mistake. So I think she deserves a second chance. I hope nothing wrong will happen and she still have the courage to or can still do a movie but not a sex video.

Ms. Candy Pangilinan's Racial Discrimination Remark

Ms. Candy Pangilinan
















Mother's Day 2009

Comedienne and TV actress Candy Pangilinan has been declared “personal non grata" in Baguio City for unsavory remarks she made during last week’s celebration of Mother’s Day at a show in SM-Baguio.A resolution approved by the city council said the declaration was intended to “educate Ms. Candy Pangilinan and others like her" who are “racist, unmindful, insensitive, sarcastic, careless and irresponsible" in issuing such offensive remarks.The resolution was supported by a letter from Sheryl Phoebe Comiles Duque, who said she witnessed the comedienne yell during the show, “akala nyo Igorot ako, hindi ako Igorot, tao po ako! (Do you think I’m an Igorot, I’m not an Igorot, I’m human.") It was said that she repeated and yelled this twice.

An Igorot wearing an Igorot Costume riding a home-made wooden bike.
(I think they have a yearly event on wooden bicycle contest somewhere in the Cordillera which became a culture to the people in these particular place.)



















Why is it that an artist came all the way up to a city mostly dominated by igorots and is located inside the igorot region just to shout infront of the igorot people a negative remark about them twice. She is saying in her remark that igorots are not human. Why? What is she thinking? This will definitely cause pain in the hearts of igorot people. This TV actress is discriminating the igorots. So government officials in Baguio City mostly igorots is banning Ms. Candy Pangilinan from setting foot in the city ever again. I think that's what "personal non grata" means- to ban.
She is a disgrace to the Filipino people. I am thankful she is not that famous or else it would become a very big issue and may attract fellow filipino people to be discriminate the igorot filipino.

It's Unlawful To Discriminate...





















What I can only say is that, personally I hate people who discriminates people who has done nothing wrong. We may have different cultures and color of skin but it is proven that we are just human beings. We are all the same. We think, eat, talk and sleep. Try watching movies from different countries that is translated in English or your lanuage and you can see or understand that regardless of skin color or culture, we are all thesame as human beings and that I guarantee you will not be an ignorant anymore. Well, I have watched korean, japanese, indian, french, english, spanish, latin, german, russian, chinese, etc. movies and I can say that we are all the same.

Look at USA today, they elected a black as their president. Formerly, blacks are being discriminated by the white people or seen as a low race. But now, having a black won the presidential election, it shows that many Americans have forgotten racial discrimination. This will be a good sign to the world to show that regardless of race-American, Asian, Australian, African, Middle East or European, we are all equal as human beings and have equal rights. USA President Barack Hussein Obama I think is Indonesian and Kenyan but he is an American citizen. What if you are a chinese, middle east, russian, indian, german, australian, filipino, etc. and you became an American citizen. You can run for president and win- this is what America today shows. Everyone is welcome regardless of race. I hope that racial discrimination will be gone forever.



























We can be anyone we want....





















I think there are famous igorot actors today. They are Marky Cielo who passed away in December 2008 and Paulo Lingbanan Avelino. They are both from mountain province. They have many fans from all over Philippines. Marky Cielo was the only winner of the GMA Star Struck survivor contest on which it was a contest to choose who will become a Philippine actor/actress. Paulo on the next GMA Star Struck contest I think was 6th or 7th placer but GMA channel still hires him to act in many TV shows.

Goodbye Marky Cielo




































Handsome Igorot





























Paulo Lingbanan Avelino













































So Candy's lack of knowledge and ignorance or negative thoughts must be the reason why she is now banned from entering Baguio City. A famous Filipino saying, "Maraming namamatay sa maling akala- There are many who die because of the wrong thought".

Baguio City, Cordillera, Philippines

Like Manny Paquiao, I am a Filipino but I think I am much better in English than him hehehe... I was born in Baguio City, Philippines. The Philippines is an archipelago country located in South-East Asia. It is made up of 7,107 islands. It is the 12th most populous country. It is a former colony of Spain and the United States. There are many languages used by the people but the primary language used is Tagalog. I speak 3 languages- Tagalog, Ilokano and English. Spanish language was also the language used and taught to the people here in the past but it was abolished and instead the English language was chosen to be taught as another language to the people. Baguio City is located in Benguet and Benguet is a part of Cordillera Administrative Region or CAR. CAR is a mountainous region. It is composed of five states namely Benguet, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Abra and Kalinga formerly called BIBAK. They changed Bontoc to Mt. Province.

















































































Baguio City is originally built by the Americans. It was declared the Summer Capital of the country. The weather here is cool and cold. I don't know but when I was a kid, they say it has won the "cleanest and greenest" title among the cities of the country. There are many tourist spots that you can go here. You can find the "Banaue Rice Terraces" in Ifugao which when I was young, I think it was considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

















The "Ifugao Rice Terraces" was originally hand-made by intelligent people called "Igorots". During the Spanish regime, almost all of Philippines was colonized except the Cordillera which was home to the Igorot people. Igorots have big and muscular bodies. They are strong and ferocious at war which made them hard to be colonized by the Spaniards.





















The Igorot people of Cordillera is composed of many tribes. I know some of their cultures like the "Caniao, Fegnas, Dono and tribal wars. In Caniao, Fegnas and Dono, they butcher animals and prepare for a feast for the people and they perform the sagni or their cultural dance with the sounds and beats of their gongs. Igorots are rich in culture. I know because I'm an Igorot myself. Once, I went to Sadanga, Mt. Province in a place called Betwagan. They are having a Dono. They invited people from different tribes and they butcher carabao's, cows, chicken, pigs and some native dogs but not foreigner dogs. They let the people feast and let them drink rice wine or basi- it is dark in color and makes you drunk when drinked heavily. There were many people in Betwagan that day. We went house to house even if we don't know who the residents were and in each house we were welcomed and they served us food and drinks. I was very full that day. My teeth was aching because of eating too much meat. It was a great day but the only thing that is different which caught my attention is that I saw that the heads of the animals they butcher were left hanging in posts beside their house. I think if a house has many animal horn or hunger pang bones like the carabao, pig, native dog or a cow, it shows their status in the community.













What I know about the tribal war culture is that it is a war between two tribes because a people or a person from another tribe killed someone from another tribe or a tribe is claiming a part of a land which is not theirs but they insist that the land is their land so the tribe that owns the land declares war. I think they call tribal war between two different tribes as "bodong" and if it is a war amongst the people of the tribe because of a misunderstanding, it is called "peden or pechen". Tribal war will be over when there is what we called "peace pact" where both tribes who were at war gather in peace and feast and they declare a peace pact between the two warring tribe. I think some parts of the Cordillera still have tribal wars but the local government is trying their best to stop this culture and instead promote peace to the region.
































One of the famous tourist spot here in the Cordillera is the Hanging Coffins located in Sagada, Mt. Province.




















Another tourist destination is Mt. Pulag in Benguet. You can see the top of the mountain here on this pic.


















What I know is that there are many hot springs here in Cordillera. I have been in "maatong" in Sadanga. Their are many caves and waterfalls also that many tourists visit. Their are also well preserved mummies that can be seen on ancient burial sites. I think there is a Cordilleran Museum in Baguio City where you can study and watch about the Igorot culture.

Aside from tourist destinations, there are also many festivals done in the Cordillera. One is the famous Flower Festival named "Panagbenga" done in the month of february in Baguio City. They have many programs done in february in Baguio City. One is beauty pageant contest, body building contest, battle of the bands, selling of different things, street parade, flower parade, etc.