Banaue Rice Terraces: Visit It as Part of Your Bucket List

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Whenever one mentions Banaue, it is automatically associated with the rice terrace - the iconic image that perpetuates in everyone's mind because of the majestic landscape it offers. The sight is just too wondrous to miss within your lifetime that everyone should put a visit to Banaue Rice Terraces as part of their bucket list.

They say this stunning view, and considered as the "Eighth Wonder of the World," is viewed even better during the months between May and June, when the rice fields are at their greenest. But that would also depend on the very unpredictable weather of the Philippines. Our country is blessed but we still could not properly predict when the storm and flood would wipe out a portion of our country. Sadly, we still couldn't prevent nature from destroying lives and properties, including the rice field terraces of Benguet. Though the terraces are strategically arranged in such a way that water will be distributed the best way possible, too much rain, also causing flood waters, would still drown and cause damage to most plantation.

Banaue is a town on the Cordillera mountain range in the north of the island of Luzon, and is one of the nine towns of the Ifugao Province. It is the gateway to the rice terraces which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We should be very proud of this recognition and thus every Filipino should visit the site to appreciate this man-made wonder accentuated by the splendor of nature.

It has earned the title of the most photographed and picturesque sight  that you could see at postcards. It is also recognized as a National Cultural Treasure of the Philippines. They are awe inspiring to say the least.

Upgrading of 5 Regional Airports to be Pursued Through GAA or ODA

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) yesterday announced that the Regional Airport Projects [Airport Development, Operations and Maintenance for the Bacolod-Silay, Davao, Iloilo, Laguindingan and New Bohol (Panglao) Projects] will be pursued through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) or General Appropriations Act (GAA) funding instead of through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) procurement process as originally planned.

“The expansion and upgrading of the airports via the GAA make the projects cheaper as cost of money is lower, thus more beneficial to the public,” says DOTr OIC Undersecretary for Aviation Manuel Antonio Tamayo.

Usec. Tamayo further emphasized that the change in the procurement mode will not necessarily delay the implementation of the Projects.

“Through this decision, we expect project completion to be faster and more efficient. Further, this would help avoid legal issues with concessionaires that may cause regrettable delays," Usec. Tamayo added.

The DOTr underscored that this decision was brought about through collegial discussions, including the economic clusters and congressional leaders.

In a Memorandum dated 16 May 2017, DOTr assured that payments for the Invitation Documents shall be refunded to both previously pre-qualified (for the bundled projects) and new (for the unbundled projects) bidders at the soonest possible time.

The Regional Airport PPP Projects were originally approved under a bundled PPP structure by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) and the NEDA Board. The NEDA Board approved the unbundling of the five airport projects in November 2016.

Snap, List, Sell in 30 Seconds: It's Time to De-Clutter with Carousell

Wazzup Pilipinas!

I have lots of items that I no longer use, especially the similar items that I get as complimentary gifts, souvenirs or  tokens from events that I attend. Sometimes, the brands would send me stuff that are not that useful at the moment since I'm already using something similar. This could be power banks, jackets, shirts, notebooks, mugs, tumblers and all sorts of USBs that they use to put in the press releases.

However, I try my best to organize and store them neatly in labelled boxes and pile them up at a portion of my room. I have to confess that I am a hoarder since I do not like to throw stuff away. While my wife wants to clean up my haul by giving them away to her friends, relatives and colleagues, I am more of the entrepreneur type that wants to earn something out of everything. 

But don't get me wrong, I sell items at more than half of its regular or retail price. I usually Google for the price, and sell my items at half of what was indicated on most sites. But usually, the buyer also ask for further discount so I end up selling the item at only the quarter of the retail price.

My additional challenge, aside from agreeing with the most convenient meet-up or pick-up point (if buyer refuses to pay for the courier cost), is finding the best way to sell them. Putting up the item on social media like Facebook is not that convenient, and a bit of a hassle if I put them at other online sites especially if I want to sell pre-loved items. There are just so much negative stories to tell that I could devote an entire blog post for it.

This is why eventhough I had several choices of events at a particular time of the day, I decided to attend the event that may finally solve my selling problems.