Alluring Riverside, California with True Blue-Blooded Epsies

29 & 30 Oct. 2009 - I, wife Rose and daughter Dang were supposed to fly from San Francisco to San Diego airport at 3 PM flight via Virgin America, but we were get stocked at the long queue at the Xray-check area due to too many passengers. Hence, we missed the flight by few seconds after the aircraft closed, and have to wait for the next 6 PM flight instead. It took only an hour flying to San Diego. We were fetched in SD airport by Dang's friend and brought us to my frat/soro sister Mitzo Tolosa at Hemet City where we, together with Bro. Jerry and Sis Joann Corrales, took our sumptuous (Filipino) dinner while recollecting our good old days in UPLB.

After dinner fellowship at the Tolosa's mansion (yes, that's no exaggeration, it's a mansion), we proceeded to another mansion-like residence of Bro. Jerry Corrales at the Moreno Valley, Riverside CA where we stay for the next 3 days. And this weekend (Saturday-Sunday), our hosts will tour us to Las Vegas where we shall stay overnight in Excalibur Hotel.

At Riverside on Oct. 30, we just tour around downtown with Bro. Jerry as our tour guide starting at the Chinese Buffet Lunch enjoying Asian cuisine and exchanging pleasantries with Chinese waiters speaking little Tagalog (!) From the sumptuous lunch, our brother-tcomputersour guide brought us to the campus and botanical garden of the University of California Riverside (UCR) and then to the famous century-old Mission Inn.

We capped the day through a dinner-cocktail at the house of the Corraleses ala 5-star hotel with all those aminities like bar, pool game table, table tennis, music room, wide-screen monitor for video/tv, and what have you. Some bonus points for this night's happening were the arrival of Sis Mitzo and family (son and 2 grandchildren) and a long-lost brother Brod Jun Parfale whom I last met in UPLB back in the mid 70's. As expected, we talk nothing but the goood old days on the Gamma Epsilon, with some brethren (like Brods Noel Nagnot of LA and Rene Tolosa of Korea) joining us via communication gadgets like phone and internet system.

Above are some photos taken today (Oct. 30) at Riverside, California. (JF Blogs)

Monterey: Another Case of Agri/Fishery-Tourism (Travelogue)

Dr. Santi Obien, senior adviser of the Phil Dept of Agriculture advised me to take note of lessons learned whenever I go on foreign travel. Thus, here's sharing a case of fishery-tourism where productivity and liesure/entertainment combined.

The case of Monterey as the center of cannery turned into tourists' attraction is not new to me. China, where I also worked with through the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology, is a typical agro-tourism concept, where the Chinese farmers developed their farms into some kind of tourist attraction, how? Simple. For instance, in hectares of lotus plants with colorful flowers in bloom growing along lakes, they put foot bridges surrounding the area where tourists can enjoy the sight of different colors of flowers. In the case of Monterey, the Fisherman's Wharf becomes the center of fish trading from fish catch on to processed products. The huge aquarium of marine life becomes the destination of children's educational tour as we observed. Commercial shops abound in the area.

The so-called 17-Mile Drive is a perfect place to unwind while enjoying the various sea-inspired spots like pebbled beach, school of sea seals, rocky mountains along the beach, century old cyprus trees, and what have you. That's Monterey, around 2-hour drive from San Francisco, where we spend our Wednesday.

Finally, we call it a day through a dinner with another family friend Mrs. Aileen Logan-Chan at the Elephant Restaurant somewhere in Newark, and crossed the (alternate) long San Mateo Bridge (as Bay Bridged was then closed) on to our base in Marriott. (JSF Blogs)

We Left Our Hearts in San Francisco ?

Today, 27 October, I, wife Rose and daughter Danna were toured by a close family friend Ms. Marilyn Logan, to the tourist spots of the city such as the famous Golden Gate, the Palace of Fine Arts, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 (where we took our lunch at Bubba Gump) on to downtown of San Francisco.

With rolling terrain, San Francisco is very impressive, where I can observe that city developers had simply strike the balance between nature and man-made infrastructures. Birds and fowls in the parks, and a school of sea lion playing around San Francisco Bay, seemed domesticated to the pleasure of sight-seers and park-goers. How I wish we can conserve and develop our Manila Bay like this one.

As San Francisco is our first destination here in mainland USA, I could not conclude whether this is a typical American city. If it is, then now I know why every Filipino seems to dream of coming to USA, a modern promise land ala Canaan of the Old Testament dubbed as the land of milk and honey. Perhaps not only among Filipinos, as San Francisco is observed to be highly cosmopolitan city. (JSF Blogs)

Gold for Kyle in Milo Little Olympics Cebu

25 October 2009, Cebu City, Phils. - Child Taekwondo player Kyle Daniel F. Taruc earned another Gold medal as he enjoyed victory in the Milo Little Olympics held in this city from Oct. 24 - 26. He emerged as the national champion (Gold) in his category, while their team (National Capital Region, NCR) ranked second (Silver) in the overall category.

Kyle, who was supposed to be with this blogger in the tour of California, was choosen by his school (Ateneo Grade School) as its official representative to this year's Milo Little Olympics, an annual sports competition sponsored by this drink company Milo.

Kyle's official coach in the Ateneo team is Sir Joebit, but in this event (Milo Games), he was coached by a lady named Coach Gina. He was managed by his dad Louie Taruc. (JSF blogs)

Our 2009 Sojourn to California

As they say, first time is always exciting. This is, as a couple, our first time to set foot in the mainland USA, the so-called land of the free. Thanks God, our daughter Danna got a job in a carehome facility, a reason for us to visit America.

For low-income couple like us, a sojourn abroad like this is already a luxury; thanks God again for friends like Dory Graham (a former colleague at the postharvest bureau) who accorded us a 5-star hotel accommodation at Marriott Hotel, a rare opportunity for us to live like the rich and famous.

As of this posting, we are still in San Francisco area enjoying the serenity of San Francisco Bay, and the well-organized suburbs of San Mateo and Daly cities where daughter Danna works characterized by well-planned residential, commercial and even church zonification.

To enjoy the tour, we rented-a-car equipped with GPS technology telling us the righ way to a pre-selected destination, amazing technology indeed. Cost here is around $40 per day, competitive enough with our local rate in the Philippines of around P3K- P5K per day.

We spent our Sunday celebration in a Filipino-American congregation here, the Alta Vista Church of Christ, with Bro. Oscar Cruz as one of the elders and Bro. John as the minister (see one of the posted photos). After worship, we went to a nearby popular mall named Toforan. So nice to see and mingle with Filipinos around.

In a couple of days, we will proceed to Riverside for another visit with a fraternity brother while seeing the tourists' spots in the area. Here are some pictures we took in selected areas. (JSF blogs)

Poverty and Politics

Commentator in the 2nd pix

Alleviating poverty in the Philippines is an elusive dream. Researchers and development workers on poverty alleviation have already gone rich, yet their subjects remain in that destitute state.

Former (ousted) president Erap was so popular because of his pro-poor stance as captured in his slogan, Erap para sa mahihirap. But if only Erap succeeds in his anti-poverty program, he could very well replace Dr. Jose Rizal as the next national hero.

Nobody in this world chooses to be poor, as being born poor is purely an accident. If only our leaders believe this premise, they have then that moral obligation to radically address the issue.

The vicious cycle revisited. How would poverty be really alleviated? Some said, it's through education, others said, through health services, agriculture, housing, population management, and what have you. Remember the vicious cycle, one is poor because he has no good education; he can not go to school because he is sickly; he is sickly because he lacks food and nutrition, and he lacks these things because he is poor.

Erap is coming back to the political arena. With the extent and magnitude of poverty in the Philippines, other presidentiables have indeed a good reason to be afraid of Erap. As Erap insisted he is not seeking re-election as president (because he admits he was unable to complete his term), he could still conveniently use poverty as his winning strategy. (JSF Blogs)

All Systems Go for BPRE Rationalization?

VIEWS & OPINIONS : Few weeks after returning to his mother unit at the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE), this blogger (who was detailed to PhilSCAT for 6 years from 2003 to 2009) now observes that the organization seems all set for the implementation of the government's streamlining program more popularly known as Rationalization. Necessary adjustments and new systems seem working efficiently, and the proposed structure is observed to be highly feasible.

With this observation, some pioneering staff of this research organization who decided to retire under the Rationalization program can exit with confidence and sense of fulfillment, as they were able to institutionalize an efficient R & D system worthy to emulate.

BPRE, under this re-structuring program, shall cover additional commodity or scope termed as Bio-Process Engineering which include among others R & D on postharvest biotechnology, food safety and mechanization -- the modern trends in food and agriculture industry in this new millennium.

BPRE, formerly the National Postharvest Institute for Research and Extension (NAPHIRE), was created on May 24, 1978 through Presidential Decree (PD) 1380. It was tasked to spearhead the development of the country's postharvest industry. As then subsidiary of the National Grains Authority (NGA in 1980), BPRE's power and functions were expanded in line with the conversion of NGA into the National Food Authority (NFA). In 1986, BPRE became an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture through Executive Order (EO) 116. After six years, it was transformed into a Bureau through EO 494. And now, with the Republic Act 8435 the Agriculture and Fishery Modernization Act (AFMA), BPRE takes the lead in providing more postharvest interventions to empower the agriculture, fishery and livestock sectors. (30)

Month-long TCTP Training for Cambodians Smoothly Going On

15 October 2009, BPRE, Munoz Science City, Nueva Ecija, PHILIPPINES - The 3rd batch of the Third Country Training Program (TCTP) on Rice Postharvest Technology and Extension Methodologies now on half-way is smoothly going on as this blogger (Dr. J. Falla) presented yesterday his assigned topic on Indicators for the Adoption of Rice Postharvest Technology. In his presentation, Dr. Falla defined at least 35 postharvest technology characteristics as adoption indicators. These 35 indicators were classified into technical, economic, social, educational, ecological and indigenous attitudinal orientation indicators. As technology adoption is an interplay of these different factors, the developer of this model used a multi-variate analytical tool called factor analysis which simplified these 35 into 2 or 3 constructs. The detailed presentation of Dr. Falla was published in the chapter 12 of the Training Reference Guide prepared for the 3 batches of the class.

The course which was inaugurated last September 30, 2009 at Bayview Hotel, Manila is a collaborative undertaking of BPRE and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). It runs for one month to last on October 29. It is managed by BPRE with Director Arnel Apaga and Dr. Ed Cayabyab as chair and co-chair, respectively. Ms. Helen Calica serves as the Project Officer. (JSF Blogs)

Logan Sisters To Host Our Newark (California) Visit

As Bro. Willy and Sis. Ana Logan of Newark, California will be in the Philippines at the time (Oct. 23 - Nov. 12) of our family trip to USA, their daughters Marilyn and Aileen shall be our surrogate hosts instead. This was arranged by our daughter Dang as Marilyn is also working in San Francisco, just a few minutes drive from Dang's place.

We are expected to be with the Logans place in Newark for 3 days before flying to Riverside.

Marilyn and Aileen grew with our kids in CLSU (Central Luzon State University) in Nueva Ecija, and together they studied in CLSU elementary and science high schools. They also then attended the same church in Munoz Church of Christ where I (Josue) served as elder. (Josue & Rose Blog)

Gamma Epsilon Fraternity/Sorority Join UPLB 91st Loyalty Day

10 October 2009 @ UP Los Banos - The Gamma Epsilon Fraternity and the Gamma Lambda Epsilon Sorority together with other student organizations in UP at Los Banos join the entire University constituency in celebrating the 91st Loyalty Day which coincides with the UPLB Centennial Year (1909-2009).

The celebration was composed of 3 big activities namely, the grand salu-salo (lunch fellowship), the traditional Loyalty Day parade where UPLB friends outside the campus (like the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension) may participate, and the grand centennial concert, all in one day, Oct. 10, 2009.

GE alumni can be found in many professional organizations like the DA-BPRE where Brods Josh Falla and Jojie Tolentino are. (Participants in yellow gold shirts).

During this UPLB Centennial Year (1909-2009) old and new generations of the Gamma Epsilon join forces as a show of unity and cohesiveness of this fraternity/sorority. Old genre in photo include the Labios brothers (Rolly and Romy), Brod Jojie Tolentino, Sis Elah Lanceta, Brod Josh and Brod Greg Villegas, among others.

The Gamma Epsilon Fraternity and the Gamma Lambda Epsilon Sorority belong to the Greek-lettered fraternal organizations based in selected colleges and universities in the Philippines. It was founded at the University of Sto. Tomas, Espana, Manila on August 25, 1963. Today, there are three known living founders of this fraternity – Bro. Syd Vasquez (Abra), Bro. Albert Martinez (Candon City) and Bro. Amor Gaborno (Canada). The Gamma Epsilon is more popularly known in the fraternity/sorority circle for the following : “Group of Young Executives” as English equivalent name; “Two-headed eagle” as its icon; “Two heads are better than one” as its slogan; “Pax et bonum” as its greetings-expression, and has adopted The Beatle’s “All My Loving” as its theme song. (30)