"Around the Philippine Archipelago in 6 months" Personal Page by crisgastardo

I was invited in August 2011 to lecture on community financial management system, particularly on operation and maintenance for KaLaHi Projects. This was also my first exposure to project's training, and hence my orientation.

With it, I was privileged to experience once again the marvels of Camiguin White Island. It is actually a sand bar, so prestine, that shift positions depending on currents and tides. If you chance to visit Philippines, spare a time to check on Camiguin Island. It has lots to offer other than the White Island, the hot and cold springs, the sunken cemetery and church ruins, the lansones - we call this buwahan which means gold or blest.

Miag-ao Church

I was sent by the Project Office to grace another training workshop in Iloilo City as one of the resource person in October 2011.

Along came the opportunity to make a personal tour around churches in Iloilo Province. There are amazing lot, from Jaro to Molo within the downtown, to nearby municipalities Tigbauan and Guimbal. And most marvelous of all is the baroque church of Miag-ao. You will surely find it amazingly beautiful and superbly intricate. If you chance to set foot in Panay Island, find you way to Miag-ao, Iloilo.

Puerto Princesa Underground River

I was invited by MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) Field Office to lecture on community finance during the orientation of new KaLaHi municipalities in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan this November 2011. I was so excited to visit again the island; my first visit was in 2008. I thought of really spending however much just to reach the Underground River this time around. Last visit, I did only the city tour and the Honda Bay island hopping. Fortunately, the training organizer has arranged a tour for all participants to the Underground River. Well, this is no free tour though but at least it much much cheaper than doing a personal tour. So there I went and proved that the PPUR (Puerto Princesa Underground River) is matter-of-factly one of the 7 wonders of nature.

Visitors, residents and foreign alike, must not waste time to check on this wonderful naturally-made (I mean God-created) cave.