Adventures of Isabel

So, as promised I put up more photos from the SONA counter-rally. But I’m feeling thin on thoughts, or at least coherent ones.
A full-text of Arroyo’s speech can be found here. There’s some debate about whether or not she actually believes the rosy statistics she quotes. I’ll leave that to the psychoanalysts.

I’d love [...]

While President Arroyo gave her annual State of the Nation Address, and estimated 13,000 protesters held a march and counter-rally, denouncing low wages, the risingcost of living, and denouncing Arroyo’s record on human rights and civil liberties.
Additional images here, and more photos and thoughts tomorrow.

The Philippine government just released its report on school attendance for 2006-2007, revealing that 17% of primary-school-aged children — which is to say 2.2 million of them — are not in school.
In 1999-2000, before current President Arroyo, the corresponding number was 3%.
Numbers have plummeted under Arroyo, as has real per-capita spending on education, making [...]

Kicking it old-school with Dr. Cullinane in the VIP lounge at Cebu-Mactan airport.
Sadly, here in Manila, where I’m waiting for my flight to Jakarta, the accommodations are a bit more basic. But I can’t win every time.
It’s been a short & sweet visit to Manila. Catching up with friends, visiting archives and libraries here, [...]

Breakdancers, rocking it for the camera on Dipolog beach.
I’m leaving again for the mountains early tomorrow morning. This time, I’ll be well and truly off the grid — 12 km hike in, no cellphone signal — so I’ll be out of touch for at least the next 2 days.
Geeky digression: the only Tagalog [...]

Barangay Miatan, Katipunan Municipality, Zamboanga del Norte.
(The picture I wish I had was me, wading through waist-deep water, holding my camera bag above my head. But, for obvious reasons, no such picture exists. I am playing with my lens cap in this one, though)
UPDATE: ha! how’s this for a diptych:
(14 years ago, Yellowstone [...]

I’m back in the city again (Dipolog) after visiting communities up in the mountains. I’m a bit worn out, especially after the trip down.I tagged along with people from 2 local NGOs working on implementing livelihood programs as part of the GRP-RPMM peace process. On the way back, we caught a ride down [...]

Del Monte is one of the biggest landowners in the area around Cagayan de Oro. This particular field was once used to grow corn. Like much of the land on Mindanao that was once planted with staple foods, it is now used to grow fruit for export.
Once the rice basket of the Philippines, Mindanao now [...]

Barangay Kalawitan, Misamis Oriental
This is classic Filipino style, in a way that’s almost impossible to explain. As in: “Yeah, I’m hanging out drinking in a shack, but it has the damn finest videoke machine money can buy.”
Or maybe: “I’m thinking of opening a bar, but I only have limited capital. What should I [...]

This is a quick-and-dirty little slideshow of Lorena Navarro, at Bankerohan Market in Davao City. She used to grow corn, but the price of fertilizer got too high, and her earnings were to low, so like many farmers, she had to leave the provinces and come to the city to look for work.
“It’s become [...]