Good news: Baler 400 has a website. The infos especially the Schedule of Activities are pretty helpful. Thanks to the Office of SEDJA for putting the site online. The address is baler400.ph.
Bad news: the official Baler, Aurora website is still not updated six months after it was launched. It’s a stillbirth.
These stamps were issued yesterday (June 30) during the celebration of the 7th Filipino-Spanish Friendship Fay to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the evangelization of the town of Baler. The stamps features the old and the new Baler church. An official first day cover envelope was also issued with the stamps. The envelopes with 2 stamps were sold yesterday for 22 pesos each. I bought 2 pieces for souvenir.
A closer scrutiny of the stamp showing the new Baler church reveals some errors in the illustrations. The bell tower is too small and the walls of the recessed baptistry on the front right side of the church is missing and replaced by a window.
A news about the stamps appeared on the Philippine Star courtesy of Manny Galvez
from senate.gov.ph:
As the country celebrates Phil-Spanish Friendship Day, Senator Edgardo J. Angara today recognized and lauded the continued support of the three adopted sons of Baler in fostering good country interrelationship between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Spain.
“The continuous respect and support for historical connection of these adopted sons of Baler shows the incessant friendship between our country and Spain. The mutual friendship and affection between these two countries symbolizes cultural and historical tie between our madre patria and its previous colonizer,” informed Angara who chairs the Philippine-Spanish Parliamentary Friendship Group.
The deal is sealed. Mutya ng Pilipinas 2009 will definitely be held in Aurora Province. On June 26, the grand launch of Mutya ng Pilipinas 2009 was held at the Annex of SM North EDSA. It was attended by Mutya ng Pilipinas, Inc. President Roberto de Venecia, Aurora province Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo and Congressman Juan Edgardo Angara. There was also a mini fashion show by former winners of the pageant.
(photo by: Ferdie Delos Reyes, Office of the Governor)
The official website of the pageant now shows the venue of the event as Aurora Province:
from Manila Bulletin and Yahoo News Philippines: Unveiling Aurora via Mutya ng Pilipinas 2009:
The Mutya ng Pilipinas 2009 National Pageant will be utilizing Aurora’s tourist sites, destinations and attractions as the venue of major segments of the pre-pageant activities and the holding of the grand coronation night. (Read the complete news)
from the Senate website: AURORA PROVINCE AND MUTYA NG PILIPINAS 2009 SEALED THE DEAL, ANNOUNCES ANGARA
“Two beauties - the Filipina beauty and the beauty of the environment and nature - in one event showcase their distinct similarities as each symbolizes elegance and vitality. Aurora as a green province, in this event, will boast its proud gift from nature. Aside from a potential eco-tourism center, Aurora prides its rich history and culture,” said Angara, a proud son of Baler, Aurora. (read the complete news)
More pictures from the launching at the SM City North (courtesy of Mr. Ferdie Delos Reyes of the Provincial Capitol):
BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.
Will there be a candidate from Aurora? A source told me that a committee is now in the process of selecting a candidate from a short list of 10 potential Aurora beauties. Do you have someone in mind?
The celebration of the 7th Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day is currently ongoing here in Baler. This morning, there was a program at the Rice Processing Complex in Reserva on the launching of the e-Village Project, which will connect different government offices in Aurora to a single province-wide broadband network. Also happening today is a historical symposium called Baler and Beyond, being held at the ASCOT gymnasium. Tonight, there will be a cultural presentation at the Baler Sports Complex.
Tomorrow, there will be a mass and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Baler church. Then a program will be held at the Quezon park. Guest of Honor for the occasion will be Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile.
Stay tuned for pictures of the celebrations.
Hard rocking ninja metal band Pentavia from Manila will be the special guest band tonight, the second night of the 3-day music fest at the Quezon Memorial Park. The event is titled Filipino-Español dia dela Amistad: Expulsar el Beredeman Way, produced by Beredeman, the local band coop of Baler and sponsored by Sen. Edgardo J. Angara. This event was staged to showcase the musical talents of the youth of Aurora. Pentavia’s drummer is Boyet de Guzman, from Baler.
The opening night yesterday was a showcase of different bands highlighted by performances by Blue Island, The Bottles, Intensity 7, Tanukaobra, Kwak Kwak and other bands.
To all 3 batangbaler readers who uses the @batangbaler.net email address, the service is working again. You can receive emails in your mailbox again. The mail settings was changed when the website was transfered to a different server. I forgot to reconfigure it. Sorry for that.
This is the link to batangbaler email –> http://mail.google.com/a/batangbaler.net
To those who want to have their own batangbaler email address, just holler in my direction and i will gladly make one for you. Or you can email me at batangbaler at gmail dot com.
The King of Pop lives!
Baler on the net:
Baler is 400 Years Old. from Bilingual Pen.com. About the different events of the Baler 400 Years Celebration. Here’s more we should look out for:
Ongoing from March to December is a playwriting competition for radio and film. In June, there will be a sabutan fashion show. Also upcoming is the Juana La Loca production.
Slated for August are the airing of the “Tabak at Sampaguita” series over DZRH, and the staging of the zarzuela “Baler ng Puso Ko,” “Gabi ng Musikang Filipino,” and “Balagtasan Para sa Paglinis at Paglunti ng Baler.”
In September, the “Green the World” clean up project in Baler will be launched; and in October, the UN Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty campaign will take place.
Planned for November and December is the Hispanic heritage-linked studies with participants from Union Latina in cooperation with UNESCO, Spain, Casa Asia/Instituto Cervantes leading to “Baguio to Baler Arts Caravan.” Also planned for December is the setting up of the Baler Arts Academy.
More activities are lined up for the Baler 400th anniversary celebration including those of under the National Historical Institute and the National Museum.
By the way, Baler is actually more than 400 years old. It’s already here when the Spanish landed in 1609.
Little Paradise. From Raneil Antonio Ibay’s Multiply Page:
Merely describing Baler would not suffice. You’d have to be there to know what I mean. Experiencing this little paradise for yourself is the only way you’ll see the true essence of Baler.
Another ANSHS website/blog spotted on the web. This one looks promising.
The Baler Adventure from Philippines Travel Blog:
If you are a wannabe surfer however and you want to hone or discover your as yet undeveloped surfing skills far from the prying eyes of surfing pros, then this is the place to be. As a beach it has a really long shoreline and a wide beach front but be sure to take note that if you dislike anything that’s un-white, this is not the place for you.
Great Photos of Baler by Manny Rosario. Check out the macro shots.
Baler Buena Vista Photo Contest Winners:
Upon the invitation of National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCCA) Chairman Cecille Guidote – Alvarez and Aurora Province Governor Bella Flor Angara – Castillo, a group of photographers from the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation (FPPF) went to Baler, Aurora to shoot the scenic sites there. With about 25 photographers from the FPPF, a mini photo contest was held and the winners’ photos are now displayed in an exhibit at the Senate second floor lobby along with
The Virgins of Baler noticed the junks littering Sabang Beach.
The short video outputs of the Media Arts Workshop held in Baler last Month as part of NCCA’s Kalahi Summer Arts Workshop. Before donning in your critic’s hat and firing your unsolicited comments, please bear in mind that these are made by high school kids.
This is Baler movie inspired short titled - Tromba Marina:
This one is another love story titled Aurora.
And lastly, Amnesia:
This is an account of the weeklong celebration of the 400 years Anniversary of Casiguran. From yehey.com by Maritoni Alvarez:
Situated in the northern part of the Aurora Province and approximately 120 kms. from the historic town of Baler, Casiguran, dubbed as the “Enchanting Paradise in the North,” just celebrated its 400 years in history through a week-long festivity that showcased the town’s products, talents and beauty. The Quadricentennial of Casiguran, Aurora kicked off last June 7, 2009 with loads of activities to laud the town’s 400th year Anniversary.
Today is the start of the Central Luzon exhibit at the Wow Philippines Expo at Intamuros Manila. The tourism and trade fair will run for three weeks until July 5. Aurora Province will have it’s own booth at the exhibit. And on June 19, there will be a special Aurora Day event at the venue. This will be a whole day of presentations, fashion show, and cultural programs all about Aurora.
For those Aurorans who haven’t been to the province for a long time, this is your chance. You can’t go to Aurora, so Aurora will come to you.
from inquirer.net:
Traveling to Aurora from Manila takes less time than it takes to go to Baguio, but the trip can be more taxing. When I mention the roads to Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, she protests: “But notice that the bad sections are mostly those in Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya. We have only about a kilometer of unpaved roads inside our boundary!”
Never miss a Batangbaler update. Subscribe to the feeds and receive an email every time there's a new post:
Kidlat Gonzales's Profile
Create Your Badge
All contents of this work, unless properly noted or attributed are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Philippines License.
