Food, Negros Food!

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Visitors to Negros Occidental always take away happy memories about their gastronomic discoveries. From iconic pastries to Bacolod City’s branded chicken inasal, to hearty, steaming, extraordinarily rich bowls of kansi, Negros has become the new food destination. In the last decade alone we’ve earned the moniker “Organic Food Capital”. We’ve also taken a seat among seafood farmers, Negros being the leading prawn producer in the country. We’re graduating a record number of culinary arts professionals from our colleges and universities. Our chefs are second to none. And most recently, Negros Occidental has become the bedrock of the slow food movement in the Philippines. No wonder then, Negros Season of Culture celebrates Negrense Food. That’s how we’re rooted. And that’s how we’ll take on the world.



Popular Lumpia Ubod Versions: Can You Tell the Difference?

First on the table is Lumpia Ubod. To be clear, our version is different. Our wrapper is not made from eggs, but ground rice. We don’t put sauce outside. We put it inside where it can suffuse well the filling of palm heart and choice meat. The lumpia ubod (or, as Tagalogs would say, lumpiang ubod) is a traditional snack hereabouts. It even lists among the esteemed “mahjong merienda” fare. Families known for special cuisines take pride in their version of the lumpia ubod. In ages past home kitchens used special ingredients, like the tahure paste made with tofu, sugar, and ginger, spread inside the lumpia wrapper to give every bite heat. But with time, the lumpia ubod has evolved to delight modern palates. In Lumpia Ubod, Negros Season of Culture spent a day with Chef Richard Ynayan of the Institute of the Culinary Arts of the University of St. La Salle for a chat about these innovated offerings.




Negros Seafood

In addition to being a big player in the country’s prawn and fish pond industry, Negros Occidental has many fish ports throughout the province. Outside the capital, three easily come to mind, the Tagda Fish Port in Hinigaran, the Tabao Fish Port in Valladolid, and the Sagay Fish Port in Sagay City, each one fetching over five tons of harvest daily. Seafood has always been a major food group in the Negrense’s daily menu. In Negros Seafood, we set up kitchen at a private resort in Silay City to create the perfect setting for Chef Gabriel “Gab” Melocoton and Chaela Ruth Mirano to take us on a seafood cooking show that re-issues three popular delicacies into five-star dishes. Beyond steaming, beyond smothering them with chili garlic sauce, Chef Gab tweaks the lukon, diwal, and litog to surprise you.



Peanut Gang

Peanuts Gang is a story of MSME success, one of many uplifting entrepreneurial stories in Negros Occidental. At the recent Negros Trade Fair in Manila, Negros Season of Culture met Shiena Becaro Pobleto, a young mother who has pushed the peanut business started by her parents beyond what they ever dreamed of. There in Glorietta, within her two-by-three booth, she wooed the world with her branded peanuts. Now we know, it’s not all about selling. One of her siblings has integrated farming into the picture to ensure the supply chain. This is not so “MSME” anymore, it seems, but that’s exactly what happens when MSME turns big.

While in the subject of food, the Negros Season of Culture looks forward to celebrating an upcoming event at the Power Plant Mall in Rockwell Center, Makati City. Happening from November 4-6 is Namit Namit Food Festival, Best of Negrense Favorites. Negros Season of Culture ambassador, actor Joel Torre, is the man behind JT’s Manukan. Fancy meeting him and savoring his famous chicken inasal at the Power Plant. Mark your calendars.

Wazzup Pilipinas and Puno Sagip Buhay form "Farmacy" partnership with the municipality of Montalban

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Wazzup Pilipinas and Puno Sagip Buhay in Montalban for #LagingHanda #HealthyNation Philippines!!

Forming Montalban Farmacy with Mayor Gen. Ronnie Evangelista 

Mr. Patrick D. Roquel and Dra. Elinor Tee Roquel of  RICHCORP and BinhiBiofarm, together with Ross Flores Del Rosario of Wazzup Pilipinas has formed an alliance with Montalban Mayor General Ronnie Evangelista by way of the Puno Sagip Buhay advocacy.

During the visit, they have also donated several lagundi and citronella-powered products for the benefit of the Montalbenos.

RICHCORP President Mr. Patrick Roquel and his wife, Vice President Dr. Elinor Roquel has partnered with Wazzup Pilipinas founder and Montalban-based influencer Mr. Ross Del Rosario, to discuss with Montalban Mayor Gen. Ronnie Evangelista, the many possibilities of lagundi, as well as other medicinal plants, and how they could help the municipality in exploring medicinal plants as among the crops the municipality could cultivate, process and distribute as among their main products.

Lagundi is the primary source of raw materials for making RICHCORP's products like HappyCha lagundi tea and Immune Advance capsules. These FDA-approved natural, non-synthetic and non-chemical based products does not only help in strengthening our immune system, their formulation were also scientifically proven as an effective defense against viruses like the dreaded Covid or Coronavirus.

Mr. Roquel's ROQS International Consumer Health Corporation or RICHCORP is the maker of HappyCha 100% dried Lagundi Tea Beverage, Immune Advance Lagundi Food supplement capsules, and other products like Citronella Andas spray, lotion, hand sanitizer, and scented candles, among many others. They are the biggest processor and supplier of lagundi and other well studied DOH-listed medicinal plants like Citronella used as raw materials by the many popular herbal brands that we know. Mr. Roquel is also the founder of "Puno Sagip Buhay" and "I plant, I share, I save Communities" that reaches out to communities to encourage communities to cultivate medicinal plants as alternative yet potentially profitable crops. These companies often gives out donations of their products as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, especially during the height of the pandemic, and since the fight against Covid should be continuous, the group have also donated several boxes of their products to the municipality of Montalban so Montalbenos, especially senior citizens and those with comorbidities, will have stronger immune systems against Covid and other illnesses.

The group also plans to donate lagundi seedlings and provide training programs to the people of Montalban so Montalbenos could learn more on how lagundi can help in improving both their health and source of livelihood.

. They have also invited everyone to freely come visit their farms in Tanauan, Batangas and other locations.

" Sa Lagundi, Tiwala Ako"

#WazzupPilipinas #RICHCORP #BinhiBiofarm #PunoSagipBuhay #Lagundi #Citronella #SaLagundiTiwalaAko #LagingHanda #HealthyNationPhilippines

Critically-endangered Irrawaddy dolphin subpopulation exists in San Miguel Bay

Wazzup Pilipinas!?



A joint team of researchers from the UPD-CS IESM and BFAR5 conduct a boat survey of the Bicol River as part of a reconnaissance trip in search of the rare and endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. (Photo credit: IESM/BFAR5)

Scientists from the University of the Philippines - Diliman College of Science (UPD-CS) are hot on the trail of a subpopulation of rare and endangered dolphins in the San Miguel Bay area in Bicol. Key Informant Interviews with local fisherfolk indicate that the dolphins may have been thriving there for decades, even while so far eluding capture and official documentation.

Previous sightings of Irrawaddy dolphins

Last August 16, an Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) was found accidentally entangled and drowned in a fisherman’s net in San Miguel Bay off Calabanga, Camarines Sur. This was the first time that this species — considered critically endangered by the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) — had been found in the Eastern part (Pacific side) of the country.

Apart from other Irrawaddy dolphin populations scattered in South and Southeast Asia, all previous sightings in the Philippines were exclusively in the Western part of the archipelago: in Malampaya Sound, Palawan, and in the Iloilo-Guimaras-Negros Occidental area.

The new discovery prompted Dr. Lemnuel Aragones, a professor at the UPD-CS Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (IESM) and president of the Philippine Marine Mammals Stranding Network (PMMSN), to organize a reconnaissance trip in the hopes of finding more of these dolphins in the area.

Careful interviews reveal telltale clues

From October 21 to 24, a joint team of researchers from the IESM and BFAR Regional Office 5 conducted opportunistic boat surveys and key informant interviews with local fisherfolk in areas surrounding the location of the initial Irrawaddy dolphin sighting and beyond (see map below).

From October 21 to 24, 2022, a joint reconnaissance team from the UPD-CS IESM and BFAR5 traversed the Bicol River from Camaligan to its mouth, which splits into Cabusao and Calabanga. The Tambang River was also surveyed by navigating through San Miguel Bay north of Calabanga, then eastward towards Tinambac, passing through Siruma, Camarines Sur, by boat. The team also made land trips to the areas of Mercedes and Vinzon’s-Talisay in Camarines Norte. (Photo credit: IESM)

The team carefully crafted open-ended questions for the interviewees, allowing the latter to describe the features of the dolphins that they saw, or still see, in their areas. The responses helped the researchers validate the species of the creatures in these sightings. Some of the informants noted telltale features that point to these being Irrawaddy dolphins — such as their small size (2-2.5 meters long); the absence of a beak; and a small rounded dorsal fin. Afterwards, the interviewees were shown pictures of Irrawaddy dolphins so they could confirm the actual appearance of the creatures they had seen. As an added step, the researchers also prudently documented the interviewees’ fishing gounds, gear, and catch.

A thriving subpopulation

Based on some local key informants’ long-term recollections, it seems that a subpopulation of Irrawaddy dolphins may be thriving in San Miguel Bay and seasonally visiting specific areas for several decades now.

“Some preliminary but important information derived from this recon trip includes the possible seasonal movement of the dolphins in response to prey abundance, and some localities have confirmed sighting these animals in their areas,” Aragones said.

“Our key informant interviewees provided preliminary information which showed that these animals may have been in the area since the 1960s, and are usually sighted in small groups of three to seven individuals. There’s even an exceptional sighting in 2021 of a group of over ten dolphins by a key informant from Tinambac, Camarines Sur,” he added.

Also, Aragones said that "the locals just referred to them as dolphins, and this might have been the reason why they all along thought that they were just the usual ordinary ones often sighted offshore.”

Researchers from the UPD-CS IESM and BFAR5 listen to one of their key informant interviewees describe his sighting of what experts believe to be rare and endangered Irrawaddy dolphins. (Photo credit: IESM/BFAR5)

Moreover, careful measurements of the temperature, salinity, and depth of the waters surrounding Tinambac point to an environment that is conducive to attracting Irrawaddy dolphins.

“The combination of the shallow depth of the Bay; nearby islands; isolated embayment; the wide range of available possible prey items such as small fish and crustaceans; and the wide range of salinities in San Miguel Bay, are some of the features that enable the Irrawaddy dolphins to thrive in this area,” Aragones explained.

The reconnaissance trip was part of the IESM’s Assessment and Mobilization of Research Initiatives on Philippine Marine Mammals (PHLMarMams) Project funded by the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD).

A full-blown survey to possibly quantify the relative abundance and range of distribution of Irrawaddy dolphins in San Miguel Bay and adjacent areas is scheduled for early 2023.

For interviews and further information, you may contact IESM Professor and PMMSN President Dr. Lemnuel Aragones via mobile no. (0928)5018226 or email laragones@iesm.upd.edu.ph; and BFAR5 Resource Management Section Chief Nonie Enolva at mobile no. (0915)9316884.