Ipacdaarmi ditoy ti awis ni Roy S. Padre, mangidaulo iti Banguinians ti Southern California, a makitipon iti Bangui High Reunion 2010 a maangay iti May 2010 segun ti naipablaac nga invitation ken itinerary iti baba, ken casta met a makitipon iti Bangui High Alumni Network, ti sangalubongan a gimong dagiti nagturpos iti dati a Bangui Provincial High School nga isu itan ti Bangui National High School nga addaan campus iti Banban, Poblacion, ken Lanao.
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Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:21 PM
Dear Joe,
Kindly extend my invitation to all Banguinians abroad to the annual Bangui Fiesta during the last week of April. We look forward to have our kababayans all over the world celebrate with us another milestone in our town’s history. To our kababayans, please leave your comment/s here and we promise we will communicate with you personally.
Thank you!
Very truly yours,
MAYOR VACIE CIMATU
Iti panagcunami, nalabit naan-annay met a panangpanunot ken panangamiris ti inaramat ti nangputar iti “Pungpong Ginabbong”. Agsipud ta idi un-unana, no pungpongen (play with a baby by moving about its arms and legs, according to Carl Rubino’s dictionary) da ti ubing, agtalna daytoy wenno mairidep, no la ketdi saan a mabisin, wenno nabasa ti lamping na, wenno awan im-impenna. Ammo met a di maawatan ti ubing a maladaga dagiti sasawen ti cancion, isu nga atapen mi a ti ayug ti addaan bilegna a mangandingay iti ubing.
Pinadasyo cadin a pinungpong ni baket wenno lacay yo cadagiti canito a dudua cayo ken sigurado cayo a nacabalunet diay ridaw ken tawa tapno awan agsirip? Agtalna ngata ti nataengan a mapungpong a cas iti maladaga? Wenno yepyepen santo casla matumba a nambaan a sumuco ken ni turog? Siimenyo no ania ti ibunga daytoy cabayatan panangdengngeg yo a dua iti ayug ti “Pungpong Ginabbong”:
Dennis Posadas
Back in the late 1950’s when Bangui barrio folks like me still used the kingki (kerosene wicker lamp), or if you’re fortunate with some extra money, a Coleman gas lamp, to light the darkness, one of my aunts in Bangui went to Manila for the first time, stayed there for about a week. When she came back home to Bangui where we didn’t have any electricity at the time (except, for instance, that huge lightning volt that killed my brother’s carabao instantly during a wicked thunderstorm one night in late summer), she and a bunch of neighbors were huddled around a bonfire of dried rice stalks one early cold morning when I distinctly heard my aunt, as she sucked one last gasp of smoke from her almost completely burnt out tobacco, ruefully said: “‘Tay la coma silaw a kinulding…” She was, of course, referring to the incandescent electric light bulb she saw in Tata Justo (Jose, Sr.) Padre’s house in Manila which she only had to flick the switch with her finger to turn it on or off.
Well, residents of Bangui eventually got the “silaw a kinulding” sometime in the late 60s and early 70s. And to top it all, Banguinians are the first in the entire Philippines to have windmills along their shoreline to harness the awesome winds blowing in from the South China Sea and converting same into electricity which is pumped into the power grid. And, of course, now the townsfolk can enjoy the benefits of a host of electric appliances and gadgets, such as refrigerators, electric fans, televisions, washing machines, stereos, computers, etc.
Solar Desk Fan
Now, if Dennis Posadas, former Intel engineer/analyst, prolific information technology author, columnist, blogger, and who is currently the Deputy Executive Director of the Philippines’ Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering, had his way, he would also have all those appliances and then some operated for FREE or almost FREE using solar power. In “How the Philippines Can Be a Solar Power“, Posadas writes: “The Philippines semiconductor and electronics industry, working closely with local universities, industries, and investors, can offer significant opportunities for innovation, particularly in solar energy applications development and manufacturing-process reengineering and optimization.”
The website home-solar-systems.com lists some of the most commonly used residential solar power applications. Such technology utilizes the heat coming from the sun for heating spaces and water. It can also be used for cooling spaces, ventilation, desalination, cooking and many other purposes.
The list of uses of solar power includes: calculators with a small solar cell, solar battery chargers to recharge cell phones, Ipods, laptop computers and other small devices, solar panels known also as photovoltaic cells that transform the sun’s energy to electricity. The more common use of solar power is of the residential variety–providing electricity for homes. In the latter case, solar panels are installed on the roof (photo at left) or on the ground and the electricity produced feeds a battery bank and an inverter providing 110 or 220 volts for the home. Other popular solar devices using solar technology are solar lights, solar fountains, solar pumps, solar refrigerators (ama, nalamlamuyot ngata ti ayus tay impalamiis a basi!), solar water heaters and solar fans. These products are now widely available and are a good example on how solar energy can be utilized to cut energy costs.
Ay wen, Ikit, dimo coma masapul ti mangipaburec iti danum a pangpatay ti lamiis diay nacabatia a pagbelnasmo. Wenno adda coma pagpaypaymo a paligpalig (solar fan) cadagiti calgaw a nadagaang. Ken nasaysayaat nga amang ta awan baybayadam nga electric bill no daydiay coma solar light ti usarem a silaw a kinulding.
Photos show Mayor Salvacion S. Cimatu (lady in shades at center behind banner) leading the Municipality of Bangui contingent in royal blue at this year’s 191st Foundation of Ilocos Norte festivities. (Photos, courtesy of Leilanie Adriano, Staff Reporter of The Ilocos Times)
Mayor Cimatu is seen below with a slice of cake in her hand aimed at Ilocos Norte Governor Michael Marcos Keon as the governor gamely gets in position to swallow the proffered slice during his 54th birthday party held at the Ilocos Norte Capitol auditorium on Sept. 22, 2008 (The Ilocos Times):
Açaí (Euterpe oleracea), the wonder palm tree that thrives along the Amazon river in South America and bears these wonderful fruits that look like berries which are made into different food, drink, dietary supplement and medicinal products, is undergoing a phenomenal intro into the international consciousness. As usual, in their the desire to make fast money out of these super berries, the network marketing and multi-level marketing (MLM) people handling the promotion of açaí products tend to hype their myriad food and medicinal uses with as much credibility as the boy who cried “Wolf!” So much so that when one Googles “açaí”, more than half the search results which look promising at first blush are actually redirects to a website selling acai dietary pills.
Just to show you how pervasive the network marketing of açaí has been, just search for “açaí” in YouTube and you will find out that all the major television networks have given varying coverages of Açaí, especially the bottled MonaVie açaí drink that commands a price of more than $40 per 32 ounces of a mixture containing an estimated 20% of pure açaí juice.
But to be fair, açaí has many uses. Some other fruits may have similar uses. But it just happens that the attention is narrowly focused on açaí at the monent, just like a fad. But unlike a fad, the many wonderful uses and perhaps, heretofore undiscovered uses of açaí may burn in the public’s consciousness for much longer still. To me, the wait for the fresh açaí berries from the backyard will be for some time. The 6 two-year old seedlings I ordered today on the Internet will, um, be years away from fruiting…
Cadagitoy napalabas nga aldaw, nakisinnucatac iti email ken ni Dr. Aurelio S. Agcaoili, tubo ti ciudad ti Laoag ken nagturpos iti University of the Philippines, premiado a mannurat, lider ti gunglo ti NAKEM, maysa cadagiti sagat nga adigi ti panangparang-ay iti Ilocano ken agdama a Coordinator ti Programa a Pagsasao ken Kur-itan nga Ilocano, Departamento dagiti Pagsasao ken Kur-itan nga Indo-Pacifica, Universidad ti Hawai’i iti Manoa:
Sunday, January 25, 2009, 11:23AM
Patgec nga Ariel: Annugotec nga akikid ti focus ti blog co, ibangui.wordpress.com, isu ngarud nga umay ca man singaen ken ruroden bareng mapan mo usisaen no ania ti pagcurangan dagiti dua a naudi nga impaskin co sadiay.
Yamanec unay ti ania a criticism nga ipaaymo, Cabsat.
Agraem, —Manong Joe
Monday, January 26, 2009, 4:36PM
Patgek a Manong Joe: Dinardarasko a sinirpat ti blogyo gapu ta ammoc nga adu ti maadal ken maagsaw. Ket agpayso! More, more! —Ariel
Monday, January 26, 2009, 6:45PM
Dear Ariel: Thanks for taking the time to humor me. One thing I was painfully aware of was that the rhetoric was terribly inadequate. I know you have more ammo in your arsenal. By all means, let’s use ’em.
The all too enervating reality in what we are trying to do to save Ilocano is the crippling silence of a lot of our fellow Ilocanos who are in a position to see to it that we don’t witness the eventual, albeit slow demise of our language. —Manong Joe
Monday, January 26, 2009, 7:09PM
Manong Joe: Dayta ngarud, Apo Joe, ti pagsaksakitan ti nakem ti adu kadatayo iti daytoy a tignayan. Dagiti pangnamnamaantayo a makatulong iti daytoy a tignayan, awanda. Ngem ala, aramid daytoy a kultural, aramid a pulitical, ken aramid a kabulig ti ranget ken pannakiranget, iti man bukod a bagi, iti man kailian/kailokanuan, ken/wenno iti sabali pay. Sapay ta agballigitayo.
Maysa a panagsaludar kenca, —Ariel
Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 9:25AM
Patgec nga Ariel: Kinaagpayso na, lacayacon ngem agsipud ta nabayagen a nagtaeng ditoy agdama nga ayanco, nairuamacon a maibilang a cadawyan wenno ordinario laeng (nga isu ti kinaagpaysona) isu nga agalumiimac nga awagam iti “Apo”. Isu a pangngaasim ta isardengmo ti panangawagmo caniac iti “Apo”. Caniac a maysa, ni Apo Dios laeng ti rebbengna a maawagan iti Apo.
I know that the move to invigorate Ilocano, such as envisioned in the Gunigundo Bill, requires funding. However, being this poor rat, I can’t help much in that aspect. So who can we turn to as our patrons who would not be squeamish about unloosing their power, influence and financial resources to keep the fight alive and kicking and focused laser-sharp to getting the desired results and eventually winning the fight for multilingual education? Maybe your NAKEM group could come together and formulate a strategy focused on this Gunigundo Bill in particular and, in general, on placing Tagalog on an equal footing with the other major local languages such as Ilocano, Cebuano, Bicol, etc., CERTAINLY NOT as the favored language which is lording it over the other languages at such a costly sacrifice of losing these non-Tagalog languages forever–maybe not in our lifetime but forever any way such as we have witnessed happen with other languages that died.
In other words, here’s your chance, Ariel, to have your group fashion a formidable Ilocano language movement manifesto that has a backbone and muscle to bring about the needed results in much the same manner as the Tagalistas took advantage of the corridors of power to have Tagalog declared as the pseudo “national language”. As I wrote you earlier, I really don’t mind having English as the national language, as indeed it is now constitutionally, being that it is is also the global lingua franca, and have the other local languages thrive equally with Tagalog in the spirit of the Gunigundo Bill. Earlier in the mid 1900s, we relished the perception that we had the highest percentage of our population who spoke English with a high literacy rate to boot until the Tagalistas, with their hidden agenda of effectively colonizing the country themselves, came along on the coattails of a Tagalog-speaking president and a swath of Tagalog cohorts in high places. The rest of us Ilocanos, Cebuanos, Bicolanos, Pampanguenos Hiligaynons, Pangasinenses, Warays, etc., stood by almost completely mesmerized and scarcely lifted a finger at the coming demise of our respective languages, cultures and unique bodies of literature. WE WERE SO UTTERLY TRUSTING AND DUMB THAT UNTIL NOW NOT VERY MANY AMONG US KNEW AND UNDERSTOOD OR EVEN CARED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HIT US.
History has clearly demonstrated again and again that people with distinctly unique languages/dialects tend to gravitate to the language vigorously propagated by governments as the language of commerce for purely economic or survival reasons. And that, as you and I know, is what’s happening to the non-Tagalog languages in the Philippines. The increasing use of Tagalog and the conversely decreasing use of the others can only spell out a sure consequence, namely, the demise of the non-Tagalog languages.
I was kind of hoping that Bannawag, Tawid NewsMagasin, and other Ilocano publications of note, Ilocano writers and Ilocano bloggers would show some energy to carry the torch. But I believe most of them find no immediacy to the attendant issues. There just seems to be an incredible amount of apathy toward preserving one’s mother tongue simply because the people who dictate policy and who care to influence the Constitution are brainwashed about the imposition of Tagalog (which was not even the language of the majority at the time) as one of our national languages. We seem to fail to see that government is just a bunch of people like the rest of us–with their own sellfish agenda. At this point in time, the Tagalogs just seem to have more energy and determination to assert themselves to colonize the rest of us who, to their undisguised eleation, are mere uncomplaining sacrificial lambs waiting to be butchered and skewered. —Manong Joe
Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 11:11AM
Dear Ariel: Please don’t get tired of the repetitious messages coming from me. I suppose you don’t need them. But what’s important is for you and the rest of us to keep repeating the message until something like the ground beneath our feet shifts in our favor. We’ve got to keep pounding the message:
We are nearing the threshold of inevitability of Ilocano being supplanted entirely by Tagalog/Filipino. We can no longer afford to waste our chances. NOW IS THE TIME TO FIGHT BACK AND ASSERT OUR RIGHTS TO THE USE AND PRESERVATION OF OUR NATIVE TONGUE, OUR CULTURE, OUR LITERATURE, OUR HERITAGE.
If we don’t, the time will come when the agcamcam (the new Tagalog colonizers) among us don’t even need the obligatory or deferential but insulting and despicable “Okinnam, okinnam…” —Manong Joe
Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 11:13AM
Manong Joe: Wen, ngarud: nakakaskas-ang. Adu dagiti Tagalista a maibilang a kabusor daytoy numo ngem diak agalumiim. Kinaagpaysuanna, profesorko pay ti maysa kadakuada. Ngem saan a mabalin daytoy, Manong Joe. Masapul ti nanakman a dangadang–ken masapul ti kinaregget a kankanayon, a no dadduma ket agmawmaw met. Mabannog ti puso, madudog ti kararua nangruna no ti makita ket dagiti pada met a nengneng a dida met ammo ti lablabidenda. Anian! Ngem saan a gasat daytoy: daytoy ket resulta ti saan nga umno a panagsirmata ken kinaawan panagparmata iti masakbayan. Awan pabasolen no di met laeng datayo. Saan a gasat, saan a ti sabali tapno iti kasta ket makasursurotayo a makibalubal iti nagan dagiti fundamental a karbengantayo. —Ariel
Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 11:33AM
Patgec nga Ariel: Idi nagawidac iti daytay napalabas a Marso, dimo ngata patien ngem casla adda pimmusay a parte ti kina-Ilocanoc idi sungbatandac iti Tagalog tunggal nakisaritaac iti Ilocano cadagiti pada nga Ilocano iti amin a nagpasiarac idiay Ilocandia, agraman dagiti cailian idiay Bangui.
Dayta ti dackel a paggiddiatan ti caadduan cadagiti pada nga Ilocano dita Hawaii. Iti daydi naudi a panagpasiarco dita Hawaii, napaliiwco a lumawag ti rupa ken macaisem dagiti Ilocano no casaritam ida iti Ilocano, uray pay no dimo am-ammo ida–sadiay Honolulu wenno Hilo airports, idiay USS Arizona Memorial Park, Ala Moana Center, wenno idiay Waikiki Beach. Nadlawco dagiti pada nga Ilocano nga ibaw-ingda ti panagkitada kenca apaman a mangegda nga ag-Ilocano ca.
Sal-ut a biag! —Manong Joe
Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 12:03PM
Manong Joe: Daytoy, Manong Joe, ti empirikal a datos a mismo a nakitam. Isu nga agung-ungetakon. Ket iti NAKEM Conference idiay Batac idi 2007, diak nagawidan ti ngiwngiwko ket imbagak nga estupido ti pagannurotan ti govierno maipapan iti edukasion, kultura, ken lengguahe–a nengneng a padak dagiti agpatpataray iti sistema ti educasion. Iti tallaong nga imbagak dayta. No dadduma, masapul a kulibagtongem dagitoy pada nga Ilokano a sinalbag.
Ala, makapaunget nga agpayso. Idi agsubli dagiti nagbakasion a fakultimi, kasta met ti imbagada ken nagung-ungetda met ta agin-Tatagalog kano met dagiti mamaestro ken mamaestra. Pwe, kunam man! —Ariel
No dimo naamiris a dagus no apay nga impostec ti “Okinnam, okinnam…” ditoy baba, ti cangrunaan a calicagumac nga ipakita kenca isu ti 
kinabileg ti pagsasao a pangparucma iti cayat a parmeken. Nadlawmo nga iti canito (agarup 94 seconds calpasan panangrugi ti YouTube video) a nag-Ilocano dagiti kumacanta nga agpabuya, nabulosan daytoy iti panagray-aw dagiti caadduan nga Ilocano cadagiti nagtitipon nga agbuya.
No di pay nalawag dita utec ken pamanunotam no apay nga incalicagum dagidi nagturay cas iti daydi Presidente Manuel Quezon, Lope K. Santos ken dagiti naruay a pasurot da cadagiti nangangato a puesto ti govierno manipud idi 1935 agingga ita, ti calicagum da a mangparang-ay iti “nailian a pagsasao” a naibatay iti Tagalog, nalabit mautob mo itan no apay babaen ti mismo nga ejemplo iti “Okinnam, okinnam…” Kinapudnona, masapul dagiti baro nga agcamcam–dagiti Tagalog–a macasursuro ca nga agsao iti Tagalog tapno:
Saan da a ganggannaet. Saan a babaen ti paltog wenno campilan ti panangparmec da kenca tapno sumuco ca ket surotem ti wagas ti biag a calicaguman da a surotem tapno maiturayan da ca ken nalaclaca a sepsepen da ta nagling-etam.
Malagipmo dagiti napaspasamac iti daydi Norman Conquest of England? Malagipmo a daydi William (“William the Conqueror”), duque ti Normandy ti amianan a Frances, ti nangirusat idi 1066 AD iti panangsakup iti England. Segun ti Wikipedia, “The Norman Conquest was a pivotal event in English history for several reasons. It largely removed the native ruling class, replacing it with a foreign, French-speaking monarchy, aristocracy and clerical hierarchy. This in turn brought about a transformation of the English language and the culture of England. By subjecting the country to rulers originating in France it linked England more closely with continental Europe, while lessening Scandinavian influence, and set the stage for a rivalry with France that would continue intermittently for more than eight centuries. It also had important consequences for the rest of the British Isles, paving the way for further Norman invasions in Wales and Ireland, and the extensive penetration of the aristocracy of Scotland by Norman and other French-speaking families… One of the most obvious changes was the introduction of Anglo-Norman, a northern dialect of Old French, as the language of the ruling classes in England, displacing Old English. Even after the decline of Norman, French retained the status of a prestige language for nearly 300 years and has had (with Norman) a significant influence on the language, which is easily visible in Modern English…”
Ilocano: R.I.P.?
No dimo pay la maawatan wenno adda pay la panagduaduam no apay a cayat dagiti Tagalog–dagiti baro nga agcamcam–nga agsursuro ca nga ag-Tagalog, isingasingco nga ulitem a basaen ti Norman Conquest of England.
Malacsid no awan nabati a gagarmo nga agtukkiad nga iturayan dagiti baro nga agcamcam ken awan ti panangilalam iti Ilocano–ti bucod mo a nacayanacan a pagsasao agraman ti cannawidan ken literatura ni Ilocano. Cas pagarigan, pumusay ti Bannawag agsipud ta bumassit a bumassit ti bilang dagiti Ilocano a gumatang iti daytoy a periodico, dimonto ngata iliwen?
Here’s a brief line on each of the members of the above group:
Rey Valera is a singer, songwriter, music director and film scorer from the Philippines. He wrote and produced songs that were recorded by various singers, most notably Sharon Cuneta.
Rico J. Puno is a popular Filipino pop singing artist who is credited as a pioneer-promoter of original Filipino music. He started the trend of incorporating Tagalog lyrics in his rendition of the American song The Way We Were and other foreign songs. Also known as Rico J. and as The Total Entertainer, Puno is a singer who regularly infused his on-stage performance with comedy and jokes.
Marco Sison, an award-winning singer and recording artist; he was a graduate of the popular “Student Canteen” noon time television show in the Philippines where he was undefeated for 14 consecutive weeks in the late 1970s
Nonoy Zuniga, award-winning singer/recording artist with international stints in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China and New Zealand.
“Hajji” Alejandro is a Filipino singer and actor. He’s the father of singerRachel Alejandro. The original Kilabot ng Kolehiyala (College Girls’ Heartthrob), Alejandro is best remembered for such songs as Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika, and Nakapagtataka.
In contrast to the “clean” act and powerful performance of Charice Pempengco as in the videos in the previous blog entry, the comedic antics of these OPM (for Original Pilipino Music) hitmakers, became vulgar slapstick and, like it or not, the Filipino locals somewhere in Hawaii seem to love it. A little over 90 seconds into the video, it’s “Okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam, okinnam,” perhaps upon recognizing that the crowd was predominantly Ilocano. Whoa!
What do you think?
Tucked somewhere in the TESDA complete list of registered programs authorized for the Bangui Institute of Technology is the 100-hour 
English Pronunciation Power Course.
Having resided in these United States for more than 37 years of my adult life, I’ll be the first one to attest to you that 100 hours is utterly inadequate to reach a passable level of pronunciation of the English language, especially if the ones teaching you are not native English speakers, no offense to our Filipino teachers who are trying their best to teach English pronunciation. Believe me I know because I occasionally listen to those English language broadcasts on Philippine TV that are available on DirecTV satellite programming.
You see, I didn’t bother to attend one of those free neighborhood community school courses to “remove” my ethnic accent. Nevertheless, I think I was able to reach a point that I actually can communicate verbally with most Americans who speak the English language AND had at least some elementary education. It’s the unschooled ones or first grade dropouts who persist in their own slangs whom I have a difficulty communicating with. With this latter group, I’m proud to say that our elementary school students of English in the Philippines could speak English with relatively better grammatical construction.
Now, I have a practical proposition for ALL Bangui teachers and students of English pronunciation–whether from the Bangui Institute of Technology or all the elementary and public and private high schools. AND IT’S FOR FREE!
All you folks need to have is a PC system with a compact disk (CD) drive or a DVD drive–and it does NOT need to be connected to the Internet. I’ll provide you with the audio files with matching text files–you could listen to a native English speaker and read the corresponding text at the same time. What’s more, you could learn BOTH pronunciations with the North American accent AND the London accent, using entirely separate audio files and matching text files. Learning both accents could be extremely useful, especially if the student intends to pursue an English major (perhaps to become an English teacher) or work eventually as a customer representative in one of those outsourcing companies, or if the student plans to immigrate to either Canada, the U.S. or Great Britain.
THE OFFER IS FREE. And it’s entirely self-paced. If you need clarification for the pronunciation of a specific word and want to return to that specific word, you could easily do so using the PC navigation tools. You don’t have a physically present teacher looking over your shoulder or correcting/scolding/insulting you for a mispronounced word, etc. You can learn at your own time. You can begin or stop at any point any time you feel like doing so. What’s more, you don’t have to attend a regularly scheduled class. You could be studying these English pronunciation exercises within the comfort of your home, assuming you have a PC or can loan one to bring home.
With an adequate level of immersion in learning English pronunciation through this proposed method, I can almost guarantee that in no time will the interested student be speaking like a Londoner [in perfectly normal sentences laced with the omnipresent “you bloody c…” expression] or a North American. HONEST. Unfortunately, I don’t have the resources for Australian English pronunciation, mate (pronounced like “might”).
I’m inviting all the teachers in Bangui (elementary, high school and Bangui Institute of Technology) who teach English to take advantage of this offer to assist them in teaching English even more effectively. Of course, students are welcome to the offer as well. All you need to do is leave your name and contact means (preferably your email address) in the COMMENT section of this blog entry and I’ll get back to you. If you don’t yet have an email address, the old snail mail will do.
BANGUI: iBangui--A Vantage View 
