“It is the dirtiest place [we] have ever trained or competed in.”
This was the response of several Olympic sailors after practicing at the sailing venue in Rio de Janeiro, where the 2016 Olympic Games will take place
According to a report by the Daily Mail, athletes in swimming and sailing events, who were practicing at their respective venues in the city, complained about the stench.
The report also added that the untreated sewage in the city can be estimated at around 60%, which the waters will also flow to swimming, rowing, and sailing venues at the Olympics, one of which is the iconic Guanabara Bay, which is still a concern because of illegal dumpings.
It said that nearly 80-100 tons of garbage are washed into the bay every single day, but the government is only able to remove nearly 400 tons a month.
Even Mario Andrada, the Rio 2016 Olympics Director of Communcations said that “[t]here is a huge problem with garbage,” and added that even though “the water is not fully clean, it will be safe for the Olympics.”
The Olympics will commence on the 5th of August the following year, while the Paralympics will commence on the 7th of September the following year as well.
‘Super bacteria’ also causes threat
In December, a dry-resistant ‘super bacteria,’ that can normally be found in hospital institutions, was discovered in the water around the Guanabara Bay, according to reports from The Forbes.
The Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, of the Brazil Health ministry), found based on their water quality tests that along with the bay and river, several sites, including Flamengo beach, where tourists can watch the event, is contaminated with these organisms that carry carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia enzyme, or also known as KPC, the report added.
Filipinos eye for Olympics
Despite these issues, Filipino athletes still pursue to make it through the 2016 Rio Olympics, one is BMX race Daniel Caluag, who won the country’s first gold medal in the 17th Asian Games.
Caluag said in a report with The Philippine Star that he “and [his] coach has already set [their] goal, that is the Rio Olympics.”
Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin, too, wants to put the Philippine team to the Olympics next year.
“I wanna see Gilas Pilipinas in Rio in the Olympics. I wanna see us have gold medals in our next FIBA Asia qualifications,” said Baldwin in a report from GMA News.
A special multimedia report by Chantal Nabong, Jedd De Luna, Oliver Palileo, and Karla Jiao
What churches want the people to understand about Holy Week.
As a Christian nation, Holy Week reminds us about what happened to Jesus, why He had to suffer and die, and that He rose after three days and why this is important. And for us to remember His love, we do different traditions to celebrate the week with our family.
Visita Iglesia in the Philippines
In preserving the tradition of Catholics, it has been both a tradition for Filipino devotees to do rounds of churches during Holy Week to honour the death, passion, and undying love of Christ.
The Visita Iglesia (Church Visit) is a Holy Week practice by devotees where they visit and pray in at least 7 churches.
Many devotees believe that seven is the number of divine perfection. Different theories exist as to the significance of number seven; seven scripture passages of Christ’s arrest and trial, Jesus’ seven last words, seven holy wounds ,seven first Christian holy sites in Israel, seven deacons of the twelve apostles, seven ancient basilicas of Rome, and the historical seven deacons of Rome, responsible for ministering to the poor.
Stations of the Cross is held during Maundy Thursday on their church visits. Devotees either do one station per church, which completes 14 rounds of churches, or divide the stations on all respective churches that they will visit.
Marked as the home to majority of people being of the Christian faith (80%), Filipino devotees never run out of churches to visit. Here are some of the churches that Catholics may visit during Visita Iglesia:
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Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday is declared as a regular holiday and Special Non-working Holiday on the Philippines.
Not your ordinary ‘Stations of the Cross’
The entrance to the start of the Walkway 2015
In Bonifacio Global City along with Bonifacio High Street in Taguig is an exhibit for people who would like to reflect on the stations of the cross and apply them by doing acts that are shown in the standees.
Now on its seventh year, “Walkway: Reflections on the Stations of the Cross” is back again to showcase an exhibit by Church Simplified that takes place in the High Street grounds from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.
The exhibit included a cross where you can nail your sins, doubts, and problems that you wrote on a red slip, carry a 20 or 40-kilo cross, and even partake of the ‘last supper,’ where you break the bread and drink the wine.
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According to Adam Walker, an Australian missionary who has been volunteering for four years with his wife, that for the previous year, an estimate of 25,000 to 40,000 people came to the Walkway.
“I think the purpose of Walkway, really, is to give people who, throughout the holy week, looking to kind of experience and understand what holy week is about,” said Walker.
Adam Walker of Church Simplified
He added that “this art installation is meant to really just take people through a journey and help them kind of think about things, perhaps if they’re not thinking about [it] regularly.”
“So our goal, really, is to kind of help people slow down over Holy Week, help people understand, I guess, what happened in Holy Week, you know, from the Christian message side as well. But also to kind of give people that space to reflect, to pause, and you know, wherever they are in that journey to kind of take the next step in their faith wherever that may be,” Walker said.
Melinda Romulo, who went back for her third year of doing ‘Walkway,’ told On The Lookout that the reason why she came back with her husband is that “this year, as Simon helped Jesus on the cross, we also want to be a Simon in someone else’s life – reaching them for Jesus.”
Carmen Rivero, a mother of one, said that “the Walkway is the best place to go and reflect if you’re within the city,” while waiting for her son and husband to meet her there.
‘Walkway’ started because of Bebo Bharwani, the head pastor of Church Simplified, and their leadership team where, according to Walker, they “wanted to do it in a way that is a little more interactive and a little bit different in terms of how we connect with people. So, it largely came out of church, kind of, wanting to do something, you know, taking the opportunity in Holy Week to give that people the space to think about their sins in life.”
They hope to have an eighth ‘Walkway’ next holy week that would be “bigger and better.”
Walkway also had free concerts; MuteMath played on a Tuesday while Kye Kye sang on Easter Sunday, wherein last year they brought out Jars of Clay and Gungor.
Church Simplified means every Sunday at the 2nd’s Restaurant in The Fort and meets at around 4:30PM.
Families frolic to Eco Park this Holy Week
While most of us escape the city and went to the provinces to have a break from work or to reflect, many of our countrymen are satisfied have their vacation within the city.
During the Holy Week, many people spent their whole day at the La Mesa Watershed and Eco Park in Fairview, Quezon City.
It consists of the La Mesa Dam, an earth dam which it can hold up to 50.5 cubic meters of water and it is supplies most of the water supply of Metro Manila, and it has a nature ecological park within the facility.
Hundreds of families went to the park to bond with their love ones.
Within the park, there are many beautiful attractions you can see. There is an uphill that is decorated with flowers and other ornaments, and you can see the whole park as well as the dam when you reach the top.
And as you enjoy the beautiful view, there are many things you can do. Aside from swimming, you can also do bungee jumping, zip line, riding in a kalesa or horseback riding.
“Staycation”
The time to reflect is upon us once again. Since the start of the 30th day of March, the Lenten Season has begun. Students, workers, and families look forward to the holy occasion in hopes of a well deserved break.
As ritual practitioners commemorate their Holy Week break through flagellating or through devoted acts of Visita Iglesias, others prefer to have a vacation – either out of the city or simply taking a load off at home.
“Noong panahon, Thursday palang sarado na mga mall. Pagdating ng Friday mahihirapan ka ng maghanap ng mga kainan sa labas kasi lahat talaga sarado na. Lahat nasa mga kanya kanyang mga pamilya,” recalled Ernesto, a 64-year-old retired employee, remembering the days when everything was still simple.
Recollecting that he was among those who was excited when the Lenten Season was just around the corner, during his younger years, he sighs on how the changes have became so quickly and so vastly.
After the most celebrated Christmas Holiday, the next most awaited season would be summer. As early as the start of the year, the young generations of today readily plan their most awaited fun under the sun recoiling on the activities and destinations opted.
These years, armed with a fast developing society, everybody has their choice of entertainment to kill time – this meaning the substitution of the “supposed” meditation time, to an activity-filled week set for the Lenten Season explained GMA Network Lifestyle News on a Holy Week ‘Staycation’ special.
According to a number of people who spent their Holy Week ‘staycationing’: spending quality time with the family or close friends nearby, such as watching movies together or simply catching up on each other took 58% of the population; checking in hotels had 21%; and the remaining 21% maximized the time for their hobbies.
While time killers contemplate on which activities to partake in, under the Cebu Daily News, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma is requesting the Catholic people to partake in religious festivities instead.
He said the Holy Week is supposed to be the most somber period of the liturgical calendar leading up to the joy of Easter Sunday.
“There are 52 weeks in a year, and only one week when we are called to commemorate the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. If you intend to go on vacation, please do it after the Holy Week.”
Wars. Terrorism. Famine. In today’s time, we are experiencing as what people would call it as “the worst of the worst” when it comes to natural disasters, unexplained phenomena, civil wars, beheadings, quickly spreading diseases and discrimination around us.
Another issue today is that “Christianity is under attack more than ever.” As a proud Evangelical Christian, or known by many by the term ‘Born-Again Christian,’ I have experienced being ridiculed, teased, cursed at, and the like. It’s as if when you use the Bible as your defense, it can be considered as a null defense. But that’s just a small breeze compared to the “super typhoon” that Christians experience in other countries, an example of that is the wide persecution of Christians in countries like North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and China, to name a few countries where if you declare your faith, you can be tortured, ridiculed, imprisoned, or worse, you can be put to death.
The movie ‘God’s Not Dead’ is the first inspirational Christian movie that also tackles with Apologetics, where Merrian-Webster defines it as “the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity,” in their story board. When I saw the trailer last January 2014, my friends and I were excited because of the intensity of the content that we saw. For us, it sparked a sign of the rise of Christian awareness and a movement for a change for Christ in a global perspective. And finally, on one glorious day, I was about to watch the movie through an online streaming from the internet.
Based on my reaction, it’s a very feel-good inspirational movie for believers, and somewhat a good grounded movie for non-believers. My only issue with the movie is that they gave minimal time for the debate between the Christian freshman college student Josh Wheaton (played by Shane Harper, who also plays ‘Spencer,’ a recurring role in the Disney Channel series Good Luck Charlie) versus his Atheist Philosophy Professor, Dr. Jeffery Radisson (played by Kevin Sorbo who is popularly known for his role on the television show Hercules). Instead of giving ample time for the little stories “that will tug the hearts of believers” and more time for the debate, they added more tear-jerking moments, where I have to applaud them for this, because many people will be able to relate.
But other than that, the movie was superb when it comes to its acting, compared to some other films. The way the debate was also presented was nice because not only did they include famous theists like Dr. John Lennox, C.S. Lewis, and Rice Broocks to name a few, they also settled with powerful statements from atheists like Stephen Hawking. The argument along with Josh’s visual aids are very astonishing (I want to know how to do that using Powerpoint!) as it can be a good eye-catcher to the audience. With the heart-quenching, tear-jerking, love-strucking moments that was shown in the movie, it can indeed “inspire and move Christians in a positive way, maybe encouraging them to risk their comfort for the sake of standing up for Jesus in their own life.”
You might think that everyone in the movie got “saved,” but that’s not true. In today’s society, many people, even if they see your claims and evidence, will still continue to reject God. After Josh’s third and final argument regarding God’s existence, when the jury (his classmates) was asked if God was real, there were a handful of students who did not stand up and speak the words: “God’s not dead” which is a good way to portray reality: not everyone you share the Gospel with will become equipped with saying “yes” to committing their lives for God. But as Christians, we strive harder to win hearts for Jesus.
So would I recommend this movie? Yes I would. This is a movie unlike any other inspirational Christian movie. This movie can be a start to non-believer’s curiosity about the existence of God and all His splendour.
RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars, five being the highest.
I’ve read a lot of books. Some were dull, some were exciting. Some were too realistic, some were too illogical. But only a few are grand and well-written. I can say that Reev Robledo’s “Gitarista” is an excellent historical fiction. For those who do not know, a ‘historical fiction’ novel is a fictional story that takes place in the past couple of years, decades, or centuries, whether the history may be true or not.
Gitarista voices the guitar virtuoso Alejandro Sebastian, a freshman of the Conservatory of Music in the Country’s State University and his story throughout the novel. Despite martial law and many other events that happened within 1975 in Manila, Alejandro was on a mission – to master his skill and to choose between the strings of his guitar or the strings of his heart.
With a high hope, Alejandro sets foot in Manila from Dumaguete hoping to perfect his art. With a single mother, a father whom he does not know where, a conflict with his mother and his grandparents, Alejandro finds Dani, a sweet violinist, who slowly caught his heart. But will it really be beyond friendship or a fatal catastrophe of the young virtuoso’s life?
Here is the trailer:
What sets Gitarista apart from the many others is the playful use of words that enables the reader to paint a picture of the scenes in their heads. It also gives a good cinematographic view; it’s as if it was meant to be a screenplay. With appearances of maestro Ryan Cayabyab, former first lady Imelda Marcos, and Hotdog band vocalist Rene Garcia, Gitarista will surely take you back to nostalgia Manila.
The book is highly enticing when you listen to the classical pieces and/or the hit songs from the decade; from Isaac Albéniz’s “Asturias (Leyenda)” to the Hotdog Band’s “Manila.” The most important factor in the novel is music itself. It is the root of the novel’s fruit. It is not surprising that Robledo would create this kind of a novel, considering his work as a songwriter, instructor, and musical score composer for various networks, including the top networks in the Philippines.
The only thing that I would like to negate regarding the novel is the way it was written. I noticed in the end that the sequencing of the story is a feeling of being rushed. I can sense the way the last few chapters and the prelude were very quick to details unlike the first few chapters. Also, the novel had a withholding action or as we know it as “bitin.”
I’ve known Robledo since I was in elementary and learning about his novel made me respect him even more, not just as his student, but as a poet and as a singer-songwriter. He made the novel as if it’s his newest addition to the masterful musical scores and songs that he has wonderfully made.
Robledo’s book recently won the 2014 Filipino Reader’s Choice Awards in the category ‘Fiction in English.’
Would I recommend you to read it? Yes. Gitarista is a page-turner with an intelligently designed plot and synopsis.
MY RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 5 being the highest
“Gitarista,” whether it may be in hardcopies or softcopies, is still available! For orders and more details, go to the author’s website at www.reevrobledo.com.
This is the term that the bus drivers and conductors of the “Express Connect” buses – a one-month test project of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), along with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) – used to describe the operation days after its launch last March 23.
Even though the buses were promoted to be faster in means of transportation which would reduce travel time by around 30 minutes, according to the MMDA, bus transport workers seem to doubt whether the operation would also benefit them.
“The biggest number of passengers we had today was during the noontime rush hour. We only has 20 passengers on the way to Ayala, then just one way back,” said Express bus conductor Jay Parisan, in a report from Jaymee Gamil of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Parisan added in the article that he usually makes P500 to P1000 daily, but now his income per day won’t even reach P300 because of fewer passengers that ride on board.
A bus driver from a different express bus said that he only got a tenth of his regular income compared to when he was driving a regular city bus, in a report from GMA.
The report added that because of this, many bus drivers are requesting to add more stops, especially in crowded areas.
The pilot test will run for a month and will operate with 50 buses – recognizable through the “E” stickers posted on their windshields – on a daily basis from 4AM to 10PM and will run on three different routes: Route E1 will be from Fairview-Ortigas-Ayala Avenue-Roxas Boulevard (in the Cultural Center of the Philippines parking area) with six stops in between with 20 bus units), Route E2 will be from Fairview-Ayala Avenue-Roxas Boulevard (in the Cultural Center of the Philippines parking area) with 4 stops in between with 10 bus units, and Route E3 will be from Fairview-Ayala MRT Station-SM Mall of Asia (MOA) with 3 stops in between with 20 bus units.
According to MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino, the “express connect” buses will be allowed to use flyovers and underpasses as well as the traffic lanes, and LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez added that the buses will also be installed with GPS, CCTV cameras for monitoring, and free wi-fi on-board.
The fares for the buses will be the same as ones charged by the regular air conditioned buses in the metro.
LTFRB plans to scrap some stopovers
LTFRB on the other hand is currently debating whether the Mall of Asia pick-up and drop-off point should be scrapped due to only a few passengers board the bus at that location, according to LTFRB Chairman Ginez in a report from The Philippine Star.
He said that the LTFRB wanted to make sure that both passengers and drivers & operators will benefit the project because at present, the project only benefits the passengers.
Netizens spark its pros and cons for “express connect” services
Days even before the “express connect” service launched, netizens on Twitter already expressed their reactions on this latest DOTC project.
Here are some of the positive remarks about the project:
And here are the not-so positive remarks about it:
WE think of stress as a good motivator for us to excel and improve on our work or our task. But to some, stress can be considered as one big distraction and it often leads to frustration. But do we look at it as tension or do we see it as a big opening to a better solution?
Ever since I was a kid, I often get ‘good’ marks on my card, seldom got ‘great’ marks, and rarely got ‘excellent’ marks on it. My mom told me not to fear stress, especially in the tasks at school. She told me to take it as a challenge just like when she did back in her school to university days as a student. I always try but I’m not sure that my self-esteem was really that high to hold on to that saying to take stress – that man-eating monster whom I despise very much to just say “hey, come and get some,” and knock the stress off of me.
As the years go by, I always feel inferior to people. I’m more of a visionary, so to speak, which is why I tend to slack off. It’s because I’m too busy planning for the future that I often forget that I need to do something in the present so that I will be able to achieve it in the future. I’ve always considered myself to just leave it all to God: all my problems, stress, frustrations, but at some point, I seem to lack the ease to release the stress in me.
Someone once told me that with God, there is a two-way connection: You talk to Him through prayer, while He talks to you through His Word: the Bible. And for half a year when I was in second year college, I doubted that. I was anxious about Him and His existence, which is why I didn’t bother to really “communicate” with Him. In my mind I thought that was there really a point where things will be easier? I mean, surrender? And then what, do I get my problems solved? They don’t, do they?
NO, they don’t.
Talking to God, telling Him all your problems, and reading His Word won’t make any difference if first – you don’t do your part, and second – if you always think that when you put your faith in Christ, your life will never face any kind of storms at all. But that’s not how that goes. When we pray to God and ask Him to help us achieve a great score in our examination, we don’t just say ‘Amen’ and start playing games or slacking off. What do we do? We do our part. We study. We practice. We learn. We do anything that will help us in answering the exam. But why?
Steve Murrell said in his book, WikiChurch, that “Christianity does not promise a storm-free life. However, if we build our lives on biblical foundations, the storms of life will not destroy us. We cannot have lives that are storm-free, but we can become storm-proof.” Imagine that: a storm-proof life! I mean, yes, we will still face different problems, we will still commit different mistakes…the difference? How we handle these situations and how we face it.
Whenever I get frustrated, I usually pray. Prayer should always be our first priority, not our last-minute necessity. When we pray, it means that we’re strong. We are strong enough to admit that we can’t do this alone, that we need guidance from someone who can understand us, appreciate us, and make us strong.
Don’t forget to thank God for the frustration and stress! You might ask yourself, “Wait, what? Why?” Hold your horses and let me explain:
Living the Christian life is not difficult, it is IMPOSSIBLE. But do you know what’s amazing? I learned once more the real meaning of love and sacrifice, where in Jesus died for my sins, your sins, and everyone’s sins so that we may be free from bondage and hell. His relentless love for us is what makes this, for me, one great love story. Imagine that: God sent His only Son down here on earth to die for our past, our present, and our future sins. He corrected our errors, he fixed our faults, and he loved us (and still does) even when we feel that no one is there who is loving us.
And it is through our stress that we hold on to him more. But we should always remember that God should never be our last resort when it comes to problems. He should be the first one that we go to whether or not we’re in trouble. Before you eat? Praise Him; after you got an A+ in your midterms but got a C+ in your finals? Praise Him; lost a swimming match and placed last? Praise Him!
I realized what my problem was during months of doubt, anxiety, and depression: I never communicated with Him ever again. I was like the prodigal son in the book of Luke, wherein I ran away not knowing that what my Father was saying to me was right all along, but I dare not listen to Him. The LORD said in Joshua 1:5b (NIV) that “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and added in Joshua 1:9 (NIV) “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
God commands us to be strong and courageous, He didn’t pleaded it to us. He promised us that He will be with us wherever we go and that He will never leave us, neither will He forsake us. And to show it to us, He gave His only son, Jesus, to die on the cross in Calvary for us to be cleansed of our sins, and three days later rose.
My anxiety is gone because God showed me His relentless love and now, I serve Him and share His love to others as well. Now, whenever I get stressed or frustrated with problems, I pray and communicate with God. He knows that I can’t fight this battle on my own and that I need His help.
So death, where’s your sting? Stress, where’s your sting? Frustration, where’s your sting?
For comments and suggestions, you may contact the author at jeddfrancis21@gmail.com
ON THE LOOKOUT 