The Boracaynon

By: Gil delos Santos "They call it paradise" - this used to be the tagline for Boracay back in time until later becomes "The 24/7 island" to the "BoracayBetterThanEver" (BBTE). This campaign was launched during the pandemic. BBTE was originally intended to get launched right after the six months rehabilitation closure in 2018. I have been part of the BoracayBetterThanEver campaign in 2020 during the height of the pandemic being the secretariat for the Private-Public Alliance for Boracay (PPAB), a group of people from the government and the private sector formed to be the technical working group to craft safety protocols to open Boracay for tourist during the covid 19 era. Alongside the crafting of the safety policies, a new marketing plan (BBTE) was introduced then later approved by the PPAB. I was then the Tourism Information Officer of Malay.  The BoracayBetterThanEver marketing plan was mainly structurized by Chroma Hospitality, a hospitality management...

What are the chances? By: Gil delos Santos The Bukidnon Indigenous Cultural Communities of Boracay (Bukidnon ICCs) - is a group of Tumandoks seeking recognition as Indigenous Peoples in the island - in which, celebrated its 5th founding anniversary today, February 10, 2024 held at "what they call" Pinaungon Tribal Hall in Barangay Balabag.  In attendance is the highest authority from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Secretary Jennifer Pia Sibug-las herself. Tagged along are the various NCIP commissioners and Engineer Edgar Labordo, who represented the Western Visayas Regional Director, Ana P. Burgos. It was my first formal appearance to join a gathering of this sort in Boracay. It has always been my desire to hear, observe, and understand the whole story of the movement.  Coming to the event, I brought no expectations. I was there only to comply an insistent invitation from relatives whom some happen to hold a position in the organization. The program of ...

Visions get to happen when we mean it to happen. Wishes, hopes, plans remain as it is until we initiate something to happen.  Vietnam is (almost) a beggar-free country especially on tourist destination sites and cities. By specific, Da Nang is zero beggar. Begging is prohibited. Beggars get caught by authorities and send them to technical schools to learn skills so they could get jobs after. I've been able to see how diligent Vietnamese people are. Walang tamad, walang tambay. Resulta, walang bahay na barong-barong, walang nanglilimos. I couldn't see, I couldn't feel poverty in every place I've been to: from ancient towns, to remote communities in the countryside, to modern cities. Agriculture is excellent too. Quality fresh produce is available everywhere at low price. There's heaps of inspiring stories that linger in my head how the country thrives to be in the position where they're at now (at least for tourism...which is the main bread and butter of its peop...

Be free Self-betrayal is imprisoning ourself in the cells of envy believing that we are hell special to deserve the world's importance by seeking validation from recruited flying monkeys than be accountable to our misery brought by wrong decisions.  Be our own source of happiness. No one's responsible for it but ourselves. Give no scapegoats. No one is perfect but we can be perfect with intentions to let go and let be with no ssshht. Public proud appearances could  be a reverse happy projection by a sad inner self. Seeking validation is an abyss for an unreachable self discontent. Be truthful with our own truth and give no blame to others for our own missed target.  Rest restless souls. Don't let our silence speak misery. Hope we find peace in our quiet solace.

I am grateful to past people in my life who have been insensitive and tough - who've PLANTED strength for teaching me to take accountability and responsibility on my decisions and actions.  That strength taught me to give no scapegoats. That strength taught me to detest the idea of recruiting flying monkeys in order to make me feel better when a decision fail. I am responsible for my own happiness, not anyone else's.  Thought I CAN'T save the world, but I CAN always make a difference. There is only so much that I can do. When I decide to do something, I make it a choice to give at will what I can, NOT what they want. There are specific roles people are responsible for. But again, my HAPPINESS is not anyone's responsibility but MINE.  PLANT that in our heart using our head and mind it using our heart.

By Gil delos Santos Even at early age, the mind has determination which path to take as the child in me unleashes life chain of dependency for the first time.  The parents taught the first words, the child spelled out the first alphabets, the life language comprehension was on me. Childhood is vital part of a person's development. Parents play a role. Their influence, teachings, and motivation shape the child's will for ambition. If they teach them become ambitious, the children will strive to learn to read and comprehend life without the parents' help after.  On my own, I have figured how to approach the universe for my own favor as I face life day by day.  The life responses are always based on the result of keen observation matched against the back experiences and ground realities.  If there's something this mind can share, it is a product of both learnings and triumphs.   On "success". I define success as an achievement or positive result to the set goa...

By: Gil delos Santos I am glad to see these kids (on the photo) when I visited my boat at Tulubhan Beach yesterday. They remind me of how we were, back in time during my childhood in the island. We used to make a foot deep sand holes, install twigs as screen with tree leaves on top then cover with sand. It's like a trap we intend for other friends that when they step on it, their foot get caught. That is a source of amusement for us, island kids, during the old time.  We might have gotten the idea from Japanese war exposure when traps became popular, with our grandparents passing it to our generation. Fast forward today, it feels great to get reminded by this Tulubhan Kids do the stuff we used to do during our childhood in Boracay. This is one of my island frustrations. How I wish we could keep our tradition and cultural system. This is the reason why I fight hard to go against the chinese operated casino in Boracay. Introduction of strong chinese and international gamb...