Its coffee from civet cat droppings once again and this time its from a coffee shop that mainly sells coffee from civet cat droppings, carrying my favorite brand, Coffee Alamid of Arengga Bote Central.
I am not sure if this one fairtrade though, because when I asked the coffee shop manager about fairtrade, she had no idea what it is. So, I would reckon that Arengga Bote Central have ventured into non-Fairtrade products for them to be able to make money, because come to think of it, there is no money in fairtrade, its all about social enterprise.
During our recent meeting with Mr. Jun Perocillo III, resident manager of Sarrosa International Hotel and Residential Suites (F. Cabahug St., Cebu City), Sir Jun proudly offered us to try some rare coffee from one of the hotel's newest concessionaires, Haus of Barako. I've known Sir Jun from way back when I was asked to make a story on Days Hotel's newest food offerings. He was Days Hotel's resident manager then.
To my surprise, Haus of Barako sell blends of Arengga's Coffee Alamid. Well, yes, the price can be expensive at P255 per cup, but for a foreigner its reasonably cheap (around US$6-7 per cup), that is why I was not surprised when the hotel's public relations officer, Ms. Rolette Veloso, said that the coffee is a hit among its foreign guests.
I had the stronger blend made from barako (liberica) beans, but because the beans already went through the digestive tract of the civet cat it is less acidic. Honestly, it was truly an enjoyable cup and I would say that it made the meeting even more productive.
In Cebu there is only one Haus of Barako and apparently the only coffee shop where you can get this wonderful gift of nature, and that is at Sarrosa International Hotel and Residential Suites.
In my talk with Haus of Barako's owner, Mr. Christopher Gonzaga, he said that although beans of Civet Cat coffee can be bought in specialty shops only Haus of Barako sells it as a drink. He said that he already has an agreement with the supplier of the beans.
Definitely, this cup won't be my last. Oh yes, did I mention that the outside of the mug is painted with thermal paint where it turns transparent to reveal the print below it when it is heated. It makes the drinking experience even more fun.
What would it take for you to drink coffee that's been pooped by a wild animal?
Video from Coffee Alamid on YouTube/BBC. Edited October 14, 2012.
The following is a press release from the Jose "Dodong" R. Gullas Halad Museum.
In celebration of this year's National Indigenous Peoples' Month, the Jose R. Gullas Halad Museum presents Huning Lumad, featuring the musical heritage of the Talaandig Indigenous Peoples. From 26 October to 24 November 2012, through a series of exhibitions, workshops, film showings, and performances, Cebuanos can participate in the celebration of the diverse indigenous cultures of our country and participate in the preservation and promotion of the Talaandig culture.
The Talaandig are Indigenous Peoples (IP) primarily living in small communities surrounding the Kitanglad Mountain Ranges in Bukidnon and in other nearby provinces of the Mindanao Region. With a population estimated at 100,000, the Talaandig are one of the few IP communities who have successfully preserved their traditional culture and beliefs amidst the influx of modernity and change.
Proud bearers of the Talaandig tradition are the young artists who transformed their stories into creative expressions, such as songs, paintings, performance, and literary narratives. Using materials found around their community, and using their culture and beliefs as a foundation, these artists reflect on what is relevant - beliefs and practices taught by their elders, incidents experienced and observed, and new learning culled from living the contemporary life.
Talaandig music in its contemporary form owes its current vibrancy toDatu Rodelio Waway Linsahay Saway. After leaving his studies in Xavier University to pursue a musical career and perform all over the country, he realized that a lot of the beats and rhythms from his community are similar to the beats and sounds of World Music, the musical rage those days. This observation made him realize the need to rediscover his own culture, and provide the opportunity for the younger members of the tribe to reconnect to their own traditions and past, something that is slowly becoming difficult as more and more people gravitate towards the city.
Through his efforts, more young Talaandigs are familiar with their old songs and rhythms, plays traditional and experimental Talaandig musical instruments, and are using their musical traditions to voice their thoughts on their modern living, interaction with other indigenous communities, and Philippine society as a whole.
Huning Lumad exhibition is open to the public starting October 27 and will run for a month. The exhibit will be accompanied by an exhibit launch and a 2-day workshop on October 27-28, 2012 including workshops on soil painting, instrument playing and performances.
For workshop fees and other inquiries, please contact us at 268-2579 or email address halad.museum@gmail.com. Please visit www.facebook.com/JRGHaladMuseum for more details. (PR/JRG Halad Museum)
At La Maison Rose (F. Gorordo Ave., Cebu City), lunch was, well, satisfying, at that. The dessert itself is so indulgent, seconds would be considered a sin.
While waiting for the main course they served this:
Truffle, guyere, and caviar
We went straight for the main course, because as Filipinos, well, let's just say that we have the knack to go right to the "meat" of things. La Maison Rose has two French chefs, so one would expect authenticity, although La Maison Rose's concept is basically French Indochina as evidenced by the paintings and posters of Asian ladies. I think it has something to do with the design of the house where the restaurant is located. By the way, aside from the restaurant, this 1930's house is also the home of Alliance Francaise de Cebu and the office of the Honorary Consul of France, Michel Lhuillier, father of the famous designer, Monique Lhuillier.
French Lechon with mashed potato sidings
Fish Papillote with pasta sidings
Beef pepper steak with pasta
Fried mahinlo with potato wedges
For dessert:
Ile Flottante
Coulant au chocolat (my personal fave)
Banana flambee (just the usual candied banana, so not really impressed with this)
At Hukad at the Terraces of Ayala Center Cebu, we had dinner. It was just at the back of Marriott Hotel Cebu where our friend, Rhoda, and my sister and her husband stayed for the night.
Sinugbang (charcoal grilled) pork belly
Beef pochero (stew)
Dinuguan (pork blood stew)
Adobong kangkong (Sauteed kangkong with soy sauce and vinegar)
Kinilaw na tangigue (Raw tangigue in vinegar and coconut milk)
Puso salad (Banana heart salad)
Honestly, I haven't tasted most of these so really don't ask me about the taste But one thing is for sure, the coulant au chocolat is heavenly.
September was truly filled with blessings, spending time with friends and family.
Last week of September, my former flatmate when I was still a university student in Manila, Iadknee, came home after like five years of staying in the US. She came home in time for the fiesta celebration in her hometown, Iligan City. I was so happy to have been able to spend some time with her.
At the hotel where I stayed for the night. It was just several blocks away from her place.
We also visited another former schoolmate in Silliman University, who happened to be a neighbor of Iadknee and also came home from the US with her husband and twins.
On the second day, we got to visit the house of former Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal.
President Macapagal is the father of the infamous Gloria Arroyo, who also served the country as President and now as Congresswoman of Pampanga. She is currently in the middle of some court battles for the crime of graft and corruption, but knowing the Philippines and its politicians, well, I reckon that she'll go scot-free.
The Lanao Kris is the symbol of the City.
Then on October 3, our childhood friend, Rhoda, came home from the UK. She's spending her maternity leave here in the Philippines, wanting to give birth here rather than in the UK, because apparently she can get better hospital service here at a very low price.
Here's Rhoda and me at Hukad Filipino Restaurant where we had dinner.
We had lunch at La Maison Rose, Cebu's newest French restaurant. Also in the picture is my sister, Cherryl, and husband, Richard.
Will be posting the food that we ordered on the next post.
September was also a busy month with events here and there, one of which was the grand launching of Quest Hotel along Archbishop Reyes Ave. in Cebu City.
Me with the beautiful gals of Cebu's media: (L-R) Emma of Amazing Cebu, Leslee of Cebu Daily News, Maureen of Business Mirror, Nida of CDN, Ruth of Philippine Star, and VK, also from The FREEMAN
With Mia Sy, public relations officer of Quest Hotel
A statement of the 15th Graciano Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Fellows on the Cybercrime Law
With the Cybercrime Law in effect, democracy is fast becoming more illusory.
The Republic Act 10175 or the Anti-Cybercrime Law tramples upon our hard-earned freedoms – the right to free speech, the right to free expression, the right to a free press and the right to privacy. Putting restrictions on the internet contravenes our rights guaranteed by the highest law of the land, the Philippine Constitution and violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the Philippine government is a signatory.
It is dangerous. The broad and vague definition of cybercrimes renders all citizens, including journalists who are heavy internet users, vulnerable to being charged of the crime. For one, the mere alteration, damaging, deletion or deterioration of computer data, electronic document or electronic data message may be considered criminal.
The law also strengthens libel that has been used to muzzle the press. As it is, libel as a criminal offense violates our constitutional rights. The powers-that-be file libel cases against our fellow journalists for the mere exercise of our duty to tell the truth. Cybercrime law has made it even worse with minimum punishment for online libel raised twelve-fold. A mere status update on Facebook may be deemed defamatory and all those who would like and share it may be liable for “aiding or abetting the commission of cybercrime.”
Another monstrous provision pertains to the real-time collection of traffic data. It allows authorities to act as Big Brother in the cyberspace, monitoring electronic activities.
Section 19 of the law provides the Department of Justice the unbridled power to block or restrict access to computer data if found prima facie to be in violation of the law. The Justice Secretary, acting as judge and executioner, may order the take down of any website, or even an account to a social networking site without due process.
The passage of the law, coupled with inaction on bills that promote transparency and openness (i.e. Freedom of Information, Decriminalization of Libel), reveals the paranoia of the Aquino administration. If those in government cannot tolerate the slightest criticism from ordinary citizens, democracy would just be sugar-coated authoritarianism.
For all these reasons, we join the widening clamor for the junking of the Anti-Cybercime Law.
This article was written and submitted to The FREEMAN on August 28, 2012, days before the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 was signed into law (September 12, 2012) by Philippine President Noynoy Aquino. This article never saw print. Today, as the law takes effect tomorrow, October 3, the issue continues to remain to be significant especially among Filipino netizens, whose freedom of expression is threatened by this otherwise contemptuous law, made by self-serving politicians to mum critics and disable free speech.
When crime goes digital By Ritche T. Salgado, PTRP
Near midnight mid-June, friends of human rights worker Jose Luis Blanco were alerted when someone posted on his Facebook wall using his account claiming that he died in an encounter between the Maoist Communist New People's Army and the Philippine military.
"Jose Luis Blanco's burial will be on saturday in his hometown. He was killed in an encounter between NPA terrorists and the 79th IB. We request prayers for his misguided soul. – The family," the status declared.
Around 120 kilometers North of Dumaguete City, Blanco boarded an empty bus bound for the city. Minutes later, four men in civilian clothes boarded the bus – a lady who sat beside him, two regular looking men who sat on the seat right behind him, while an older man positioned in the seat opposite his.
"I was puzzled why they had to seat around me when the bus was empty and there were more seats available near the front," Blanco said. He was seated at the back, near the bus's back door.
Eventually, the lady and the old man traded places and the latter initiated small talks with Blanco, calling him JLB.
"That's how the military calls me," Blanco said, "JLB."
The conversation then drifted to his family with the alleged military officer telling him that they were concerned with his welfare because eventually he might disappear considering the dangers of his work.
Although scared, knowing that he will be subject to harassments and threats such as this have prepared him for such a situation. What he was not prepared of was the news waiting for him the next day.
Blanco learned of the Facebook post when worried friends visited him early the next day, concerned that the post might be true.
He admitted that although he was already blanketed in fear during his brief encounter with the people he alleged to be military officers, he said that when he learned of the Facebook post, that's when the reality of the threat overpowered him and he became even more troubled, unable to think and do his tasks.
Harassment and threats, however, is not the only harmful activity that one might experience in the internet.
Jon (not his real name), 22, a student of Foundation University was swindled of his P15,000 when he tried to buy an iPad2 over the internet.
Jon came to know of the seller on the popular internet marketplace eBay.ph. Despite having paid the agreed price in full, the seller kept on asking for more money giving out one reason after the other. Finally, he could no longer give any more money and the seller refused to ship the item, that's when he decided to go to Negros Oriental Representative Jocelyn Sy-Limkaichong to ask for assistance. He was then referred to Silliman University's Dr. Jovito R. Salonga Center for Law and Development.
News of human trafficking over the internet, especially of children, has also become a common staple for news stories. Last year, several cybersex dens in Cebu were raided by authorities, including one in Cordova which exploited minors.
These cases are but some of the many instances when cybercrime can be committed against a person. These are also examples of crimes that the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which was signed into law last September 12 by President Simeon Benigno Aquino III, hopes to address.
In a presentation dubbed Protecting our Cyberspace by Senator Edgardo Angara, the sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, he made mention of statistics that would raise the urgency of a law that would guard our cyberspace from predators.
He said that 2011 data puts the number of internet users at 40 million, 94 percent of which are Facebook users. And in 2009, e-commerce transactions have reached 300-million pesos.
It also made mention of studies done by internet security companies Symantec and Norton, which estimates that around 87 percent of Filipino internet users have been victims of one form of cybercrime or the other like malware invasion, phishing scams, sexual predation, and others; while in a span of 28 days, a 2011 study showed that on average, P12,200 is lost due to undetected cybercrime. Data from the Philippine National Police also revealed that since 2003, 81 government websites had been attacked by hackers.
Last June 5 the Bicameral Conference Committee of the Philippine Congress convened to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the Senate and the House of Representative's versions of the bill. And just this August 15, the consolidated version was transmitted to Malacañan Palace for the President's approval.
However, despite the increasing incidence of cybercrime in the country there are those who continue to express their reservations on the bill, reasoning that the country has enough laws that could be used to prosecute cyber criminals.
In an interview with this writer, Kabataan Partylist (Youth Party) Representative Mong Palatino reiterated his reason for opposing the ratification of the bill.
He particularly pointed out the provisions on cyberthreat and cyberdefamation.
"Halimbawa, anonymous, Blogspot or WordPress or Yahoo!, ang gagawin ba ng government will it compel Google, Yahoo!, (Example, anonymous, Blogspot or WordPress or Yahoo!, will government compel Google, Yahoo!) these software companies to reveal the profile of that anonymous user?" he said.
"Yung online libel, wala yun sa original na cybercrime (bill), dinagdag nila. So instead na ikaw ay gumagamit ng NBI, PNP versus this hacker, these cybercriminals na credit card identity thieves, and mangyayari it would be this individual versus this individual because he defamed me, he attacked my person online (Online libel was not part of the original cybercrime bill, it was just added. So instead of it being NBI or PNP versus this hacker, these credit card identity theives, what will happen is that it would be this individual versus this individual because he defamed me, he attacked my person online)," he said.
For Palatino the solution to cyber defamation is education on the responsible use of the internet.
"I am concerned that ang debate on cybercrime napupunta sa ibang (issue), in fact dabat ituring yung infringement ng state sa internet access as a cybercrime, yo'ong paglagay ng filter to content... So hindi lang dapat yan crimes against the state, kung hindi even crimes committed by the state (I am concerned that the debate on cybercrime will be diverted to a different issue, in fact, the state's infringement to internet access should be considered as a cybercrime... So, it should not be crimes against the state, but even crimes committed by the state)," he said.
Another provision of the cybercrime bill that alarmed Palatino is the provision that would justify the harassment of those suspected of attempting to engage in cybercrime.
"Any person surfing the web, innocently sharing some virus-infected files, can be accused of aiding or attempting to commit cybercrime," he explained during his interpellation speech at the 15th Congress, May of this year before it was finally approved on third reading in the House of Representatives last May 21 with 211 congressmen voting for the bill and zero voting against or abstained from voting.
Palatino believes that the country has enough laws that would address the concerns on cybercrime. He said that what needs to be done is to expand these laws.
"Yung cybersex, halimbawa, marami ng batas tungkol doon e. Meron tayong law against cybersex, meron na tayong law against Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 because of Hayden Kho... meron na nga rin tayong E-Commerce Law e, bawal ang hacking, phishing (On cybersex, we have enough laws for them. We have laws against cybersex, we have a law on Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 because of Hayden Kho... we also have the E-Commerce Law that forbids hacking, phishing)," he said.
Atty. Myrish Antono, director of the Salonga Center, agrees with Palatino.
"We have several laws like the Consumer Act of the Philippines and the E-Commerce Law," Antonio said, referring to laws that could be used to address crimes on commerce committed through the internet.
"It is not that you are left with no remedy, it's just that the proof needed in court should also be based on the transaction, we have to go through the requirement of the E-Commerce Law, which is not too difficult," she added.
"A cybercrime law is needed to protect our internet users," said Palatino, adding that a cybercrime law however should address those crimes with "economic impact at may mga security threats."
"Doon tayo magfocus dapat (We should focus there)," he said.
For the meantime, as we wait the final journey of the law that hopes to address crimes committed through the internet, we can be assured that our existing laws coupled with the awareness on the safe use of the internet is enough to protect our rights and safety over the internet.
Photos taken from the internet. Video courtesy of Right2Net on YouTube.
Its coffee from civet cat droppings once again and this time its from a coffee shop that mainly sells coffee from civet cat droppings, carrying my favorite brand, Coffee Alamid of Arengga Bote Central.
In celebration of this year's 
But one thing is for sure, the coulant au chocolat is heavenly. 
Near midnight mid-June, friends of human rights worker Jose Luis Blanco were alerted when someone posted on his Facebook wall using his account claiming that he died in an encounter between the Maoist Communist New People's Army and the Philippine military.
Harassment and threats, however, is not the only harmful activity that one might experience in the internet.
"Yung online libel, wala yun sa original na cybercrime (bill), dinagdag nila. So instead na ikaw ay gumagamit ng NBI, PNP versus this hacker, these cybercriminals na credit card identity thieves, and mangyayari it would be this individual versus this individual because he defamed me, he attacked my person online (Online libel was not part of the original cybercrime bill, it was just added. So instead of it being NBI or PNP versus this hacker, these credit card identity theives, what will happen is that it would be this individual versus this individual because he defamed me, he attacked my person online)," he said.