iBOONDOCK

The BIBAK group in Switzerland perform during the Philippine Independence day. Video courtesy of igorotland.

I got tired just watching this. Kasla ka met lang nag-exercise no buya-em gamin. Does the guy resemble Jimmy Smits?

Video credit: Igorot27.

We keep “stealing” from the Inquirer but we can’t help it, it’s in our naycha. Or that seems to be the nature of blogging. Anyways, here’s a report from Vincent Cabreza about a study which found out that OFWs are a new power bloc in their communities. I’m sure you kinda know that already but it’s good to have your anecdotal evidence established by members of the academe. From the Inquirer:

Ngoddo’s study looked at how indigenous communities in Sadanga, Mt. Province, coped with modern life and a cash economy that “eroded” traditional community partnerships.

Villagers often cooperated in the annual cleaning of communal irrigation canals, but have been hiring contractors to do the task because money, some traced back to OFWs, was available, she said.

Ngoddo said OFWs were being counted among the villages’ more influential people to whom residents turn to solve community problems.

So is it a sad development when people no longer work together as a community because there’s money to pay contractors who’ll do the work anyway? We think it is. Maybe Marcos, for all his faults, had a good idea when he organized those Sanggunian this, Sanggunian that, community patrols, barangay brigades, etc. etc. ano?

Here’s a story about a kailiyan from Sablan who is making money by selling used clothes (a.k.a. wagwag a.k.a ukay ukay) on e-bay. Maybe I should open an account with e-bay and start selling things through the internets, eh? Hmm, since I now have a paypal account, I just might do that. Pero ano kaya, mabenta? The world famous Sagada marijuana? Or sayote kaya?

‘Ukay’ fashion goes e-Bay
By Vincent Cabreza/Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY—“Where in this country can you sell a whole wardrobe reconstituted from ukay-ukay (secondhand bargain clothes) fabrics for under $400 (P16,000)?”

Check out the online trading over at eBay. For the last six years, a stylist from Sablan town in Benguet has used the Internet to market Baguio’s underground wagwag (a local term for ukay-ukay) and the Benguet weaving fabrics popularized in the 1970s and 1980s by businesswoman Narda Capuyan.

Hilson Busoy, 36, says women and gay men from the United States have found a taste for the Baguio-bred fashion, and have tried to outbid one another for such simple things as blouses put together from discarded Versace fabrics and lined with woven ikat.

Busoy grew up in a town that has yet to find its identity. Sablan is only an hour’s drive from the summer capital, but unlike other Baguio neighbors like the vegetable-trading town of La Trinidad or the mining town of Itogon, the community’s primary trade is banana.

“I am a businessman. I know what sells,” Busoy says. This real-world acumen is what drew him to eBay.
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Here’s a story written by a kailiyan which pretty much reflects the experience of thousands of Igorots/iCordilleras and millions of Filipinos who, despite their misgivings, end up working abroad. Our best wishes, Rolly.

Originally published in the Inquirer’s Youngblood section:

Patriotic doubts
By Rolly Allan Matinek

Little did I know that one day I would join the ranks of Filipinos dispersed around the world, who now make up more than 10 percent of the Philippine population. While it is no secret that most Filipinos harbor the desire to get out of the country in the hope of improving themselves and upgrading their socio-economic status and living standards (as well as that of their families), it was not really my “cup of tea”—as they say here in England—to work abroad.

On board an international flight with a one-way ticket, my priced laptop and my passport stamped with a foreign visa, I still could not believe that I had turned my back on my idealism. I love my country, especially my little town of Sagada in northern Philippines; and I consider myself a patriot. If I try giving this as a reason for not leaving the country to someone I meet on the street, I’d be met with rolling eyes and be called crazy. Every time a colleague or a friend left Philippine shores for the same job but with a much better compensation abroad, I wished him all the best, yet at the same time felt not a pang of envy, only sadness for the loss of one more talent.
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From the Calgary Herald:

A fund set up by former co-workers to help homicide victim Arcelie Laoagan’s family has raised more than $100,000.

The money will be used to set up a monthly income for family in the Philippines left without support after she was killed in Calgary on Jan. 18.

Laoagan left behind five children, from elementary-school age to young adults, and husband Gregorio Laoagan.

“We’re just overwhelmed and so appreciative of all the donations,” said Jane Mugford, the vice-president of technology at West Canadian, a graphics company where Laoagan worked. “We’ve had people walk in off the street and donate.”

Donations have come from all over Calgary, across Canada and even Australia, she said.
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We’re a fan of Minnie Bulong. You’ll also become a fan if you watch the video above as well as her other Youtube videos: Usapang Tsismis and Eigen Uitspraak. Fun and entertaining, no?

According to her Youtube profile, Minnie is from Ifugao who currently lives in the Netherlands. She has a blog here, for those who understand Dutch. Thanks Minnie. We heart your videos.