April 30, 2010

Make Me Understand

Friday, April 30, 2010 Posted by Mary , 5 comments
A lot of people are supporting Noynoy Aquino for Philippine President in the upcoming May 10 elections. Among them are a lot of friends; people I respect and look up to. But for the life of me, I really cannot understand why such intelligent people would want to vote for Noynoy.




Can someone please tell me why? Make me understand why Noynoy would make a good president. I seriously would like to know the answer.

April 27, 2010

Siquijor Once More

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Posted by Mary , , , 2 comments
In 2006, I visited Siquijor for the first time. I fell in love with the place immediately. Last week I was able to visit the isla again, this time for the 6th Regional Convention of PSITE 7, an organization of Information Technology educators in Region 7.

I did not originally plan to join this year's PSITE 7 convention. I attended it last year because it was held in Dumaguete, but I wasn't planning to travel to Siquijor to attend it this year, until we were required to do so for one of our masters classes. The trip, which I honestly was not looking forward to so much at the beginning, turned out to be really fun and fruitful. It was held in Salagdoong Beach Resort (the exact same place I visited in 2006), a government-owned resort tucked away in the town of Maria. Because of the resort's remote location and the lack of things to do in the area (bad cellphone signal, no Internet access), all the participants were able to focus on the convention and on getting to know the people who were in attendance. Research papers and projects were presented, issues in IT education were discussed, and contacts were established. I even got ideas for my project proposal from one of the presentations!

Of course, since we were visitors in Siquijor, we had to go around and visit some of the island's tourist spots.


Cambugahay Falls

Lazi Church

Lazi Convent

One interesting spot in Siquijor for me is Coco Grove Beach Resort, one of the top-notch resorts in the island. It's just amazing, with its beautiful stretch of white sand beach. I swear, I'm making it a goal of mine to go back there--with the right companion, of course!  It's the perfect place to just unwind and enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Coco Grove Beach Resort

And look, I even found honeymooners there! 


I know Siquijor has this reputation of being a "scary" place, with its supposed sorcery rituals and black magic. But let me tell you that there is nothing to be afraid of. Siquijor is just beautiful and is full of lovely people. It is definitely a place worth visiting.