iBOONDOCK

Found this via the BSU Blog. What is it? It is a two day concert scheduled 25-27 April as a tribute to Overseas Filipino Workers. Cool, eh? Proceeds of the concert will be used for the renovation of the San Jose Parish Church in La-Trinidad.

The concert is being organized by the Baguio Market Network in cooperation with The Benguet State University, The Province of Benguet, The Municipality of La Trinidad, and The San Jose Parish Community.

I mistakenly thought that the Baguio Market Network is a network of vendors/stall renters of the Baguio City market but it turns out that it is a company that “deploys wireless infrastructures and provides IT technology”.

Is it me or is that an uncool name (maybe unfortunate even) for an IT company? Really, the image that comes to mind — to me at least — when you say “Baguio Market” is the crowded (and in some parts smelly) Baguio City market. Hehe.

Anyways, this company has a website here. And it promises to do a live broadcast of the Strawberry Woodstock so that OFWs will be able to watch it.

UPDATE: The schedule has been changed from 25-27 April to 29-31 May. It will be held at the same venue. You can read the list of artists who are performing at the Strawberry Woodstock here.

So Gloria is spending time in the Cordilleras again. Today she will be visiting the strawberry farms of La-Trinidad to look into “plight of upland farmers whose produce have been affected by blight due to temperature fluctuations”.

Hah. Truth be told, the weather can be blamed only to a limited extent when it comes to the plight of upland farmers. The greater disaster would be Gloria’s policy of uncritically embracing and advocating for globalization. She opened up the local vegetable market without putting in place any sufficient safety nets that could help our farmers compete against imported vegetables.

In addition, aside from the legal importation going on, there’s a much bigger volume of illegally imported vegetables that is making it impossible for farmers to earn a decent living. Cabbages being sold at P3/kilo? Or carrots at P3.50? This is a scandal. At the center of this scandal would be Gloria’s husband profiting from the illegal importation going on.

Cordillera leaders should be asking Gloria about these things.
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