Taong Putik (Mud People) Festival 2017

Every 24^th of June is the feast of St. John the Baptist and unlike other towns where celebration is dousing each other with water, in this small village in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija it will be muddy.

Barangay Bibiclat is a sleepy village whose most of its residents are farmers, they celebrate in a different way, covering themselves with mud and bundles of dried banana leaves as their cloak, it’s time for the “Taong Putik Festival”.

Locally known as ‘pagsa-san juan’ or ‘doing a St. John’ devotees starts the celebration at dawn by going to the muddied rice fields and starts covering themselves with packs of mud.

They then put on their bundled of banana leaves and wear them overhead at cloaks then walk towards the parish church at the center of the village.

Along the way, they collect candles to households for prayer offering and lit in a grotto in front the church before the a celebration of mass.

These decades an old tradition is considered a ‘miracle’ among the townsfolk.

During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, Japanese soldiers rounded up a group of male residents and about to be executed.

Just about to be killed, the good heaven rained hard. At that time, It is a belief by some Japanese officers that this is a ‘divine intervention’, as they believe in sun god - Amaterasu, they consider this as a bad omen. And so the town’s men are freed and spared of their lives.

Today, the parish of St. John the Baptist has put sculptured images of these men at the façade of the church as a reminder of the God’s grace upon this town.

This merciful day believe to start the town’s celebration of the feast of St. John the Baptist and the ‘Taong putik’.

Birdland - A place For Love and Nature in Bolinao

Bolinao, Pangasinan – “Birdland!” This is what couple Michael Parayno and Joanna Ledesma described their charming place along the shores of Bolinao fronting the West Philippine Sea.

Literally and figuratively, it’s a bird’s paradise and sanctuary for lovers and nature lovers as well.

Michael “Birdman Mike” and Joanna, transformed their two-hectare beachfront land in Barangay Arnedo into a coastal paradise. As wild birds of various species are frequent visitors, they decided to name it “Birdland Beach Club”.

“Birds’ chirping early in the morning as the sun rises coupled with the cool breeze from the sea relaxes your stressed mind,” remarks a guest couple from Manila.

Michael was born in the Philippines, but was uprooted during his formative years when his parents – his father is a doctor and his mother is a nurse, migrated to the US. His love for history led him to take up Asian and American history at University of Berkeley, California, where he became a professor for a little over two decades up until his retirement in 2015.

After several years of being away, Michael came home. In one occasion, he met Joanna, 20 years his junior. There was a connection, a thunderbolt!  And, luck has it; he finally gave up his single blessedness and decided to permanent stay in the country.

As both believed that this quaint town away from the city noise is a good place to start a family, the couple decided to buy a parcel of beachfront property with a breathtaking view and transform it into their own little hidden paradise.

On April 2016, the couple opened Birdland to public.

“Unlike other resorts with complete amenities, we can only offer the beauty of nature at its best,” says Michael.

“We are not into big profit. We just need to get enough income to sustain our staffs and us so that we can maintain the environmental pureness of our place,” adds Joanna, who definitely know the business having worked in well known resort South of Luzon as sales and marketing agent.

  

Nature tripping is the main attraction of this resort – situated near a fish sanctuary in Bolinao, guests have choice – go snorkeling and/or diving; visit the enchanted Cave, or take a dip at the Bolinao Falls.

Or go around the town on a unique bamboo tricycle handmade by Michael.

 

“Who wants an infinity pool when you have infinity beach,” says Joanna.

“We don’t expect all people to appreciate our place. This place is for those people who understand and love nature, we want our guest to appreciate nature as is, not through man-made aesthetics but through real works of nature, we wanted them to be preserver of nature and not consumer of it,” quips Michael, an environmentalist.

“This is our home and we just wanted to share this piece of paradise to all those nature-loving people.”

Pangasinan releases 300 Thousand Tilapia Fingerlings at Agno River

Tilapia seeding - Pangasinan Governor Amado I. Espino, III (right) led the seeding of 300,000 tilapia fingerlings at the mouth of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) re-regulating pond in San Roque, San Manuel town on Friday. The releasing of fingerlings is intended to increase tilapia population for fish capture of marginalized fisherfolk in the lower streams of Agno River Irrigation System. February 11, 2017. Jojo Riñoza/MB

Lingayen – Governor Amado I. Espino, III on February 10 led the seeding of about 300,000 tilapia fingerlings at the mouth of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) re-regulating pond in San Roque, San Manuel town.

​            Governor Espino, along with executives of NIA – Region 1 led by Engr. Frida Nidoy, San Roque Power Corp.  vice president for corporate affairs Tom Valdez, Pangasinan Federation of Irrigators’ Associations (PFIA) president Oftociano Manalo and other leaders of the Agno River Irrigation System (ARIS) led the dispersal of fresh water tilapia fingerlings which were sourced out from the fish hatcheries of the provincial government and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Tilapia seeding - Pangasinan Governor Amado I. Espino, III (middle) led the seeding of 300,000 tilapia fingerlings at the mouth of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) re-regulating pond in San Roque, San Manuel town on Friday. The releasing of fingerlings is intended to increase tilapia population for fish capture of marginalized fisherfolk in the lower streams of Agno River Irrigation System. February 11, 2017. Jojo Riñoza/MB 

​            The fingerlings dispersal, which was launched during the administration of former Pangasinan governor and now 5^th district Representative Amado T. Espino, Jr., is sustained by the present provincial administration to increase tilapia population for fish capture of marginalized fisherfolk in the lower streams of ARIS.

         From 2007 - 2016, under the watch of the former governor, the provincial government was able to produce about 11 million tilapia fingerlings and dispersed 19 million fingerlings to 751 communal rivers in Pangasinan. The 9 million fingerlings were sourced from BFAR-Munoz.

        Provincial Agriculturist OIC Dalisay Moya said that the massive dispersal program since 2007 have "relatively contributed to the increase of about 850 metric tons of harvested tilapia valued at P42.5 million."

​            “Aside from the aggressive efforts undertaken by the provincial government for the protection and preservation of the rivers systems in the province, we also vow to sustain the enrichment of resources for the benefit of marginalized fisherfolk,” Governor Espino emphasized during the fish dispersal activity.

​            “Monitoring activities of the Task Force Kalikasan along our rivers will also be tightened to safeguard our natural resources from harm and degradation,” he added.    

​            Governor Espino said that mass dispersal of tilapia fingerlings will also be conducted in central and western parts of the province.

​            Assuring all-out support to farmers in the province, Governor Espino said that the province has allocated Php15-M intended for the construction of irrigation projects and support facilities. A Php5-M supplemental budget will be lobbied to the provincial board for the same allocation.

​            It can be recalled that last week, the governor awarded shallow tube wells and farming aids worth P8 million to farmers associations in the province.  

​            The Agno River Irrigation Project (ARIP) of NIA has already covered 11,202 hectares of planted/irrigated areas in Agno system (9,102 hectares) which include San Manuel, Asingan, Binalonan, Villasis, Urdaneta City, Laoac, Manaoag, Mangaldan, Mapandan, Sta. Barbara and Malasiqui); and Sinocalan system (2,100 hectares) covering Sta. Barbara, Calasiao, Mangaldan and Dagupan City.

​            Out of the 181,261 hectares total potential irrigable area, the NIA ARIP already renders irrigation services in 109,227 hectares. 

NIA officials led a briefing on their irrigation projects right after the tilapia fingerlings dispersal. (***RELEASE)