Tara na sa mga Tulips sa Magdalena, Laguna!

Christmas is coming and marami sa ating mga Pilipino ang mahilig mamasyal sa mga lugar kung saan maraming mga kumukuti-kutitap na Christmas decorations. Marami rin sa atin ang nagagalak sa mga makukulay at maliliwanag na palamuti. Tila ba may kakaibang sayang naidudulot ito sa tuwing namamasdan. Tunay nga namang napakasarap sa pakiramdam kapag dumarating na ang kapaskuhan.

Sa biyahe kong ito, samahan niyo akong muli sa isang bayan sa Laguna, ang Magdalena, Laguna na tinagurian ding “The Little Hollywood of Laguna” at siya ring tinatawag na Poblacion Ardiente sa Wildflower TV Series ng ABS-CBN.

Kung may 10,000 roses sa Cebu, may hundred tulips naman dito. Tunghayan natin ang mga larawan.

 

The Pink tulips

 

The yellow tulips

Close up view

Hundred tulips (night and day version) (Photo grabbed from Mayor David Aventurado, Jr. FB on Oct.31, 2017)

Paalala lamang mula kay Mayor Aventurado:

Bukod sa nag-gagandahang mga tulips, masasabi kong isa ang Magdalena Plaza sa may pinakamaganda at pinakamalinis na parke sa ating bansa. Marami ring instagrammable spots dito. 

Feeling Maja Salvador (Ivy Aguas ng Wildflower)

Saint Magdalene Parish Church

Sa bayang ito, maaari mo ring maexperience ang White Water Rafting na dati ko na ring naibahagi sa inyo taong 2015. Please see http://biyahenisanty03.blogspot.com/2015/08/white-water-rafting-in-magdalena-laguna.html for details. 

Our groupie before rafting (Photo taken Aug.31, 2015)

Isa pa ring dinadayo dito ang Silogan at Bulaluhan ni Puchuy sa Corvite Street na tunay nga namang napakalinamnam ng mga pagkain. For more details, please see http://biyahenisanty03.blogspot.com/2017/07/silog-at-bulalo-kay-putchuy-tayo.html

"Kung may isang lugar kang pupuntahan ngayong pasko or sa mahabang holiday ngayong Nobyembre, mga lodi, idamay mo na ang Magdalena, Laguna sa iyong travel bucket list."

How to get there:

Private vehicle:


Take the National Highway from Sta. Cruz and turn right to San Luis Road/Pagsanjan-Magdalena Road (Sambat)

Public Transport:

Ride a bus from Cubao(HM or DLTB Bus Terminal) or Buendia-Taft (DLTB Co/Greenstar/Jac Liner Terminal) going to Sta. Cruz, Laguna and then take the jeepney to Magdalena.

Fare: Cubao to Sta.Cruz is PhP 148/head
Sta.Cruz to Magdalena is PhP18/head

Manila Express

Manila Express has been connecting overseas Filipinos in Canada to home since 1985. Top management team thru the leadership of Regina Victoria Y. De Ocampo and Emmanuel De Ocampo has prioritized the value of long years of relationship with their frequent customers built on trust and reliability, offering money transfer deliveries to the Philippines nationwide. Manila Express is the pioneer and one of the major players for 32 years now in the remittance business from Canada going to the Philippines with a network of 11 branches nationwide. Its strongest hold, British Columbia has 5 branches in West Broadway, Mainstreet, Richmond, Surrey and West Vancouver and have three branches in Calgary, one in Edmonton, one in Scarborough and another one in Winnipeg with an exclusive agent in Montreal, and other agents in Whitehorse, Regina, Saskatoon, Camrose and Fort McMurray.

Manila Cargo Express (Photo credit: http://www.manilaexpress-online.com)

Services:

• Bank Deposit
• Cash Pickup
• Door to Door Cash Delivery
• Manila Express VISA Cash Card
• Gift Delivery
• Government and other bills payment
• Multi-Currency and reverse Remittance
• Foreign Exchange

It also operates with another subsidiary called Manila Cargo Express.

It has full service branches across Canada, offering sea cargo shipment from Canada and to any part of the Philippines. It is one of the largest balikbayan box businesses in Canada with the fastest lead time in sending sea cargo to the Philippines. Manila Cargo Express upholds high quality from double ply corrugated balikbayan box to barcoding system for accuracy and tracking efficiency. They have an online tracking system and a set of efficient customer service representatives.

Full service branches are staffed during office hours with employees who are prepared to provide our clients with superior personal service."

For more information. Check the website at http://www.manilaexpress-online.com/index.php

"Kahit saan man kayo, nakasisigurong malapit kami sa inyo. Tumawag lang po and we'll be happy to assist you!"

1-844-239-PESO (7376)

‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ PRRC and TESDA to team up for a vision for ISF’s

The Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC), has been resettling informal settler families (ISFs) living along the banks of the Pasig River and its tributaries considered danger zones to safe, decent, and socialized housing units provided by the PRRC, National Housing Authority (NHA) and concerned local government units (LGUs).

Since its creation in 1999 to present, the commission was able to resettle a total of 17,561 ISFs in resettlement sites established and/or managed by PRRC, NHA, and the City Government of Mandaluyong.

Job referrals and placement were vital components of the commission’s action plan as it ensured that the relocated households were not economically displaced. The beneficiaries of the resettlement program were provided with livelihood developments that were meant to hone the skills of the relocatees so they could use these for their own economic development. The skills they would have honed through the training should have helped them generate income.

Inasmuch as numerous training programs had already been implemented, it seems that only a few had benefited from these in terms of improving the economic status of the relocated families. Even with the skills the beneficiaries have learned from the training and seminars, some have reported of having difficulties securing start-up capital to put up businesses. Moreover, the beneficiaries needed skills training that would be able to help them realize sufficient income to address their daily needs.

As of end of December 2008, a total of 2,516 families have participated in skills training provided by PRRC. The training included building wiring, welding, dressmaking, bakeshop operations, food processing, horticulture and others.

Through the collaboration with TESDA, PRRC will embark on a project titled Pagsasanay Panghanapbuhay Tungo sa Riwasang Danay [Training for Work for Progressive Suburbs] Project to provide the families an access to adequate and appropriate technical education and skills development trainings and seminars.

Last October 5, 2017, the PRRC, led by Executive Director Jose Antonio E. Goitia, had exploratory talks with TESDA’s Director-General Hon. Guiling “Gene” A. Mamondiong and Deputy Director-General Rebecca Calzado to address the issues on post-resettlement economic conditions of the resettled families due to unemployment and lack of entrepreneurial opportunities in the relocation sites.

Both PRRC and TESDA recognize the urgent need to reduce poverty in the rural areas where most government-established and -managed resettlement sites are situated the project. The team up of PRRC with TESDA would intend to evaluate the skills training needs of the ISFs, recommend the training courses and methodologies as appropriate and providing the training through TESDA’s accredited training institutions.

Executive Director Goitia excitedly said that “PRRD Project aims to empower and build the capacity of the ISF’s to improve their lives through technical-vocational training” He also added that this, “[PRRD Project] is also to provide the unskilled, low-skilled, out-of-school youth, and women members of the ISFs with skills that would qualify them for entry-level wage employment, and that they could use to pursue self-employment in the services sector, or even in home-based, income-earning entrepreneurship activities."

Executive Director Goitia remarkably said that the collaboration of PRRC with TESDA is indeed a start of something new for all of us. He also added, “There is a Chinese proverb that goes, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’, I am envisioning a life full of hope and dreams for these families, hence, the project”.