Batangas: Protect the Taal Volcano!

I've been forwarding articles about the ludicrous project being constructed in Talisay, Batangas since I first heard about it several days ago. It just shows how much brains (or the lack of it) some of our public officials have. Imagine constructing an elevator from the top of the crater down to the crater lake for the lazy tourists! How absurd can the mayor of Talisay get?! Our natural heritage has no price tag!

Here is the column of Gemma Cruz-Araneta (Manila Bulletin, Thursday, 28 July 2007). I'm posting it in full here for the benefit of all since she hit every point right on the dot:

Landscape: No pride of place
By Gemma Cruz Araneta

The bad news is that a Korean “health spa” and a Korean builder, Jung Ang Interventure Corporation are constructing a resort along the crater of the Taal Volcano. What is worse, according to news reports, is that the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) pointed out that although Taal is a protected area, it is not entirely closed to “ecotourism” projects that do not harm the environment. However, a Department of Tourism (DOT) spokesperson was quick to affirm that the Korean project was never endorsed by them simply because the Taal Volcano area is considered a permanent danger zone and the DOT is not in the habit of risking the lives of tourists and investors. Worst of all is the revelation that thirteen mayors of the towns surrounding Taal Lake have no pride of place.

Diffidently, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology could only warn that permanent structures should not be built in permanent danger zones. That is why it was almost exhilarating to see (on television) newly-elected Batangas governor, Vilma Santos Recto denouncing the same Korean project. She said she would not allow it because Taal Lake and volcano are areas protected by law. That was probably her first official declaration after having been sworn in. I do hope she has enough political will to go against the tide of financial enticements, the ineptitude of bureaucratic Pontius Pilates, unscrupulous stationary bandits and assorted piranhas around who a provincial governor has to swim and survive.

I hope that, in these frightful days of killings and disappearances, the PAMALAKAYA and the Samahan ng mga Mamamayan sa Lawa ng Taal (Samataal) do not lose courage nor steam. Already, they are being called “leftist” which, in the Philippine context, is tantamount to destroying the credibility of these advocates. The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), associated with the Left since martial law days are resolutely supporting the Taal Lake farmers in their struggle against the Korean health spa.

Doesn’t this give you a nasty feeling that the country is being sold bit by bit to the highest bidder? One might wake up, on a sunny morning, only to find out that while we were asleep, our national territory had been parceled and fragmented by assorted developers. . I am beginning to think a conspiracy has been going on right under our noses. Could it be mere coincidence that more and more Filipinos have forgotten, or have been conditioned to doubt and question that we ever declared ourselves an independent republic? This year, the nation did not stop to celebrate Independence Day with the usual reverence, pomp and grandeur. On Rizal’s birthday, the Chief Executive merely sent a wreath to the hero’s, monument. Next week, the anniversary of the Katipunan will most probably pass unnoticed. Is there a concerted effort to make us forget what and who we are?

The National Anthem is no longer Marcha Nacional Filipina but soul and blues; advertisement is stamped on the national flag; historical landmarks are demolished to give way to shopping malls. Alarmingly, there was a request to include the Philippines in China’s master plan and an unsolicited bid to reserve millions of hectares of our national territory for Chinese farmers to cultivate rice, corn and whatever else the once Sleeping Giant needs to sustain its robust growth. The USA which has coveted Mindanao since Pershing and Kudarat clashed swords, will finally gets its wish-- MINSUPALA-- with a new Mutual Defense Treaty as an added bonus. Is it true that Sec. Condoleeza Rice is scheduled to come for an ocular inspection? Lamentably, for those who have no sense of nation and no pride of place, everything is for sale.

* * *

Save the Rizal Shrine!
While the spa issue in Taal has been raging, PTA GM Dean Barbers has silently but blatantly continued construction in Intramuros! If the sports complex is completed, it will damage the area around the Rizal Shrine, blocking the view from the walls. Calling all lovers of Rizal and concerned citizens of the Philippines, let's continue our fight to protect the Rizal Shrine and the walls of Intramuros!

Here is an older post about it: Save the walls of Intramuros!

Related articles
Ugly side of Tourism Authority revealedFormer PTA heads want Gen. Mgr. Barbers chargedWhat is behind Barbers’ insistence on this project?Ex-PTA chiefs want Barbers sued for Intramuros projectFormer PTA heads demand Barbers’ resignationIntramuros a warehouse?PTA’s illegal designs on Intramuros
Technorati Tags: talisay, batangas, taal volcano, heritage, conservation, travel, travel blog

Indonesia: Indonesian food trip

Every time I visit a Southeast Asian country, the variety of food choices never fails to amaze me. Indonesia was no exception. And thanks to my SSEAYP friends, I had an unforgettable food adventure that undoubtedly left my palate yearning for more.

On top of that list is the sate ayam or grilled chicken skewers in Jalan Sabang, Jakarta. What makes this dish a winner, given that there are sate or satay is found around the Malay region, is the saos kacang or peanut sauce which tastes like heaven! I also had sate babi or grilled pork skewers in Kelapa Gading, but the accompanying sauce was the regular barbeque sauce we have here in the Philippines.

Of course, there are the nasi or rice dishes. I enjoyed the really sweet nasi gudeg in Yogyakarta. This dish is actually several dishes put together. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got to visit the kitchen to see it being made. The first component dish, duck eggs are first hard-boiled, then shelled, then re-boiled again with different ingredients and spices until it reaches a dark brown color. Another component is the chicken dish. They were also grating coconuts and chopping some young jackfruit at the back for another dish. There was also a tofu and cow skin dish. The last component was white rice. They prepared large servings beginning the night before for sales the next day.

Nasi liwet is boiled rice with sambal goreng labu siam which is fried labu siam or chayote with chili and coconut milk. The dish is also served with chicken also boiled in coconut milk and a hard-boiled egg. I had this dish in Kelapa Gading and it was quite tasty. I also had ayam goreng (fried chicken) with nasi putih (white rice), lalap (vegetables) and sambal (chili) at a warung in Yogyakarta. They say the chicken is marinated in coconut milk.

The most popular rice dish is nasi goreng which is literally fried rice. The rice is fried in kecap manis or soy sauce and is often accompanied by additional items such as a fried egg, fried chicken, sate or krupuk (fried crackers made of shrimp or vegetables).

Then there are the salads. Gado-gado is a vegetable salad served with a peanut sauce dressing. The vegetables, which may include shredded or chopped green vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, green beans, watercress, and bean sprouts; carrots, cucumber, peas and tomatoes, are either served raw or blanched.

Sliced boiled potatoes and boiled eggs are sometimes added. This whole mixture is topped with the peanut sauce and krupuk.

Ketoprak is another Indonesian salad which is noodles, tofu, bean sprouts and vegetables topped with peanut sauce and served with krupuk. Then there is the tahu goreng medan which is tofu, bean sprouts, vegetables, topped with peanuts, fried garlic and a sweet soy and chili sauce.

A favorite fruit salad is the rujak. The typical Indonesian fruit rujak consists of slices of assorted tropical fruits such as jambu air (water apple or macopa), pineapple, raw mangoes, bangkoang (jicama or singkamas), cucumber, kedondong (great hog plum or hevi) and raw red ubi jalar (sweet potato). Sometimes Malang variants of green apple, belimbing (star fruit or balimbing), and jeruk bali (grapefruit) are added.

But what made this fruit salad really tasty was the peanut sauce. The sweet and spicy-hot bumbu rujak (dressing) is usually made up of water, gula jawa (coconut sugar), asem jawa (tamarind), grinded sauted peanuts, terasi (shrimp paste), salt, and cabe rawit (red chilli). But the one we tried at Plaza Indonesia had rumba, an Acehnese fruit, instead of tamarind to make the sauce sour.

Lumpia semarang is like the regular lumpia we have here. It’s filled with bamboo shoots, dried shrimp (ebi in Indonesian) chicken or prawn. It's named after the capital city of Central Java in Indonesia, Semarang where it was created by Chinese immigrants.

Roti cane, which comes from Aceh, is just like roti canai of Malaysia or roti prata of Singapore. It’s the curry sauce which makes it different since its redder than the others mentioned.

I also had martabak telur sapi, which is thin dough filled with minced beef, garlic and onion, and vegetables, and fried on a griddle until it turns golden brown. In Indonesia, it is served with a sauce made of vinegar and palm sugar. It’s similar to the murtabak in Malaysia.

Pempek, a specialty from Palembang, are large fish balls or fish cakes with an egg inside. They are deep fried and served with a spicy vinegar sauce. It was sold with another dish called tekwan which is pempek with soup if I'm not mistaken. This is a tasty snack.

For dessert, I had es campur, which literally means iced mix. In other words, it’s the Indonesian halo-halo. They put in kelapa muda (young coconut), avocado, cincau, jackfruit, kelapa kopyor (kaong), and tape (fermented cassava). It is then topped with shaved ice, condensed milk and pisang ambon (banana) syrup.

In Kota, we bought cincau from one of the street hawkers. It’s a cold drink of cincau (grass jelly) with ice and pandan syrup. Anyway, that was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to Indonesian dishes. But it kept me busy eating the whole time I was there!

Indonesia: Halo-halo Bandung!

I finally arrived in Bandung after an eight hour train ride from Yogyakarta. If Yogya is the cradle of Javanese culture, Bandung is said to be the cradle of Sundanese culture. The weather was a bit cooler since Indonesia's fourth largest city is 2,520 feet above sea level. And because it's closer to the equator, average temperatures don't vary much from a low of 22.9 C in July to a high of 24.2 C in May. The city is known for its large collection of Dutch colonial and tropical Art Deco structures. And thus, I decided to take a walk around Bandung even just for a few hours to check them out.

So from the Bandung Train Station, itself an Art Deco structure, I walked towards Jalan Asia Afrika where many of the buildings could be found. Since it was still early, I waited at the steps of the Gedung Merdeka for the Museum of the Asian-African Conference to open.

The museum chronicles the events of the 1955 conference which has been Bandung's claim to fame. Twenty-nine young (and old) nations from Asia and Africa met in order to build solidarity with the continuous fall of colonialism. I was able to see the hall where the conference was held. There are two rows of flags, the first with those of the 29 countries which participated in the 1955 conference; and the second, the countries of Asia and Africa during the 50th anniversary in 2005, obviously a much larger group since most countries in the region gained their independence after 1955. One thing it chronicled as well was the change in the blue field of the Philippine flag which was much lighter in 1955.

Close to the Gedung Merdeka is another Art Deco gem of Bandung, the Savoy Homann Hotel, its new design completed in 1938.

After about four hours in Bandung, I decided to make my way back to the train station for my trip back to Jakarta. I had been told that the views along the way would be refreshing. And I was not disappointed. They also had rice terraces. And the thing I liked about the rice terraces there was the houses blended well with their surroundings since they all had clay tile roofs. I hope they cover the galvanized iron roofs in Banaue and other Cordillera towns with cogon grass or nipa so that they don't look like eyesores amidst our grander and more majestic rice terraces.

Bandung is also known for its shopping. But I didn't get a chance to shop. Maybe next time. It's best if you shop with friends and many locals say Bandung is a group destination. And if you're wondering about the title, "Halo-halo Bandung" is a popular revolutionary song which was inspired by the 1946 Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung Sea of Fire) where the residents and combatants, as a sign of defiance to the Dutch who demanded the surrender of the Indonesians, deliberately burned the southern part of the city. More photos in Multiply.

Technorati Tags: bandung, west java, indonesia, travel, travel blog, art deco, heritage