Bantayan Island Pictorial
The following Photos of Bantayan Island were taken by Rob Robinson. This photo slideshow will be updated periodically, so check back often for the latest additions.
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A Warning to All Foreigners in the Philippines
After selling our home in the United States, and moving to the Philippines with all our hopes and dreams of living a peaceful life with fun loving and welcoming Filipinos, our dreams have been dashed to pieces.
Just two days ago, the Barangay Captain and a mob of local residents told us that we were “Foreigners, Aliens”, and “we have no rights here in the Philippines”.
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Weather update: Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Today’s weather on Bantayan Island will be cloudy with some rain, as a band of clouds near Cebu will make their way onto Bantayan by lunchtime.
It should be cooler today and a very nice day. Good day to work in the yard outside.
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Something for Filipino’s to Think About
During “Holy Week” here on Bantayan Island, it is really more like “Hell Week”, as many Filipino tourists come to the island to drink, party and make a lot of noise. We had to ask a few young people to quiet down as they were making so much noise they were disturbing others. One of the people that we spoke to told me “You are an alien and not a part of us, you can’t tell us what to do…” The ironic thing is that both my Father and Grandfather fought in wars to defend the Philippines. If it had not been for my family and many other Americans, there would not even be a “Philippines”, it would be under Japanese or other nations domination. I am as much a part of the Philippines as any filipino. This my country and all Filipino’s are my “Kababayan”. I think that all Filipino’s should think about this and realize that Americans who live here love this country, and WE ARE a part of it….
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Big Hearts, Beware of Requests for Money
A common ploy by those who manipulate the emotions of Americans and other foreigners, is the use of email with language that describes desperate situations, requiring money to make their lives better.
We hear of stories often in which someone in the U.S. receives a letter of desperation that describes a Filipno family being removed from their home by an angry landlord. A plea for money to build a home for the displaced family is seasoned with other desperate needs sprinkled throughout the letter. Often these letters are designed to work on the conscience and guilt of those who live in countries where prosperity is a way of life.
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Blackout on Bantayan Island, Thursday, January 12, 2012
Today Bantayan Island will experience a total “Blackout” of all electrical power on the entire island, due to a power plant upgrade.
From 5 am to 12 noon, there will be no electricity on the island.
Banelco has promised to begin electrical service again shortly after 12 noon.
It is not necessary to call Banelco to inform them of no power at you home or business.
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D.E.N.R. and Philippine Congress Debate Fate of Bantayan Island
A new proposal by Attorney Oposa in his continuing effort to restrict building on Bantayan Island, may actually have the effect of robbing residents of this tiny island of their personal property and homes.
Beginning over two years ago, all building on the shoreline of Bantayan Island has been restricted from obtaining a building permit, even for private citizens who own the land and wish to build a home on their own property.
The effects of the proposal before Philippine Congress would be to pass a law that would make the boundary for the shoreline on Bantayan Island, 40 Meters. For more than 40 years the boundary has been recognized as being 20 meters, with all homes and businesses being permitted to build within the 20 meter boundary. Now Oposa wants to take an additional 20 meters from those who own property on the island.
For many property owners on Bantayan Island who own small parcels along the shore of Bantayan Island of 100-400 square meters, this new law will rob them of more than 200 square meters of their personal property. All land of less than 200 square meters will be completely lost. Land of 400 square meters will be cut in half. In many cases, this land was previously deeded to the land owners by the Philippine government and has been held in ownership for more than 40 years.
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The Christmas Story, Part 1 “He Shall Turn Our Hearts”
This is the first of a four part series on the Christmas Story. I wanted to take a brief reprise to focus myself on what this time of year is truly about, instead of those things where advertisers and merchants seek to direct my life. If you are like me, even during the joy and celebration of the Christmas season, I can find a reason to complain about most anything. I suppose that it is a byproduct of growing older that I find myself being more picky about more things than I should. I am an American living in the Philippines and seem to make constant comments about what is wrong with the people and culture that I find myself a part of. In reality, this is a beautiful country full of warm and friendly people who love life for it’s very essence. Although Filipino’s have much less materially than what I see Americans accustomed to, they have greater joy than anyone I have ever known living in the U.S.
Christmas takes us back to a simpler time in all of our lives when we were children and the only things that we concerned ourselves with were play and our friends. I think that this year God would like it very much if we could all just forget about all of the complexities of our life and take a few days to just play and enjoy the many wonderful blessings we have already have in our life, like family and friends, a warm fire, good food and the remembrance of what God has done for all of us in Christmas.
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Typhoon “Sendong” Kills More Than 600 in the Philippines
As a storm that killed more than 650 in the southern Philippines raged outside the store where she works, Amor Limbago worriedly called home to check on her parents, but their cellphones just kept ringing and later went dead.
Limbago, 21, rushed home as soon as the flash floods receded and confirmed her worst fear: Her parents and seven other relatives were gone, swept away from their hut by the river. They had eagerly planned a small Christmas dinner in that hut just days earlier.
“I returned and saw that our house was completely gone,” a weeping Limbago told The Associated Press from Cagayan de Oro city. “There was nothing but mud all over and knee-deep floodwaters.”
Tropical Storm Washi blew away Sunday after devastating a wide swath of the mountainous region on Mindanao island, which is unaccustomed to major storms.
Most of the victims were asleep Friday night when flash floods cascaded down mountain slopes with logs and uprooted trees, swelling rivers and killing at least 652 people. The late-season tropical storm turned the worst-hit coastal cities of Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan into muddy wastelands filled with overturned cars and broken trees.
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Typhoon “Sendong”, Signal 1 For Cebu and Bantayan Island
The National Weather Service has advised that Tropical Storm “Sendong” has developed into a Typhoon. Over Mindanao, Leyte and Bohol, Typhoon Sendong will increase in strength to a Signal Number 2 Typhoon. Cebu and Bantayan Island will experience Signal Number 1 conditions for the next 36 hours.
Wind and waves around Bantayan Island today will increase as Typhoon Sendong passes lower Cebu. The outlying band of clouds carrying moisture will effect Bantayan Island with heavy rainfall at times over the next 36 hours.
It is advisable that you check the ferry schedule in Hagnaya and Santa Fe before attempting a crossing to or from Bantayan Island. Ferry service was concealed all day for Bantayan Island today, Friday, December 16, 2011. It appears highly likely that there will also be no ferry service to or from Bantayan Island tomorrow, Saturday December 17, 2011.
At 4:30 pm, a large band of rain clouds entered the Santa Fe Municipality area of Bantayan Island with strong rain, wind and minor flooding. It appears that this heavy rain will continue throughout the night and into Saturday morning.
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Tropical Storm “Sendong” Changes Course
Tropical Storm “Sendong”, which was forecast to track across Cebu City and Bantayan Island by Friday, has changed course and is not predicted to miss Cebu City and Bantayan Island.
The following is the updated PAGASA storm track that is predicted as of today, for “Sendong”
Effected areas of Eastern Samar, Western Samar, Leyte Provinces, Camotes Island, and Bohol will experience “Signal Number 1″ winds of 45-60 kph, and storm surge waves.
Bantayan Island will experience wind, rain and rough seas for Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday.
In the event that Sendong changes course again, we will update this web site with additional information.
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New Typhoon Forming Near Cebu
A tropical Depression called 27W, is increasing in strength and moving towards the area of Cebu. The latest satellite imagery shows a large formation of rain and wind, south-east of Mindanao, moving westerly towards Cebu, and Bantayan Island.
Last night, we experienced strong winds and rain on the shores of Santa Fe, with calm winds and cloudy skies this Thursday morning.
If you are planning a trip to Bantayan Island for the next few days, you may want to consider putting it on hold until this Tropical system passes. It is likely that by Tomorrow morning ferry service will be halted as seas will be very rough and dangerous.
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Tropical Depression 27W To Strike Bantayan on Friday-Saturday
We are tracking a Tropical Depression with sustained winds over 35 mph, that is due to arrive in Cebu City and Bantayan Island by This coming Friday, December 16, 2011, and last Through Saturday, December 17, 2011.
The following is the graphic we are using to track this storm. As more update become available, we will keep you posted.
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Weather Update: Monday October 31, 2011
A strong low pressure system is forming off the coast of Mindanao that will undoubtably bring high winds and rain to Bantayan Island next week. There is a possibility of this low pressure system forming a tropical depression and becoming a Typhoon within the next 5 days. Currently Bantayan Island is experiencing high winds estimated [...]
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Sunrise on Bantayan Island, October 22, 2011
The Morning Sunrise over Bantayan Island in the Philippines is one of the most stunning and beautiful in the world. From time to time I will post photo’s that I take when I make it up early enough to catch the morning display.
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The Subtle Danger of Halloween and All Saints Day
The Pagan Origin of Halloween
The name “Halloween” comes from the All Saints Day celebration of the early Christian church, a day set aside for the solemn remembrance of the martyrs. All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints Day, began the time of remembrance. “All Hallows Eve” was eventually contracted to “Hallow-e’en,” which became “Halloween.”
As Christianity moved through Europe it collided with indigenous pagan cultures and confronted established customs. Pagan holidays and festivals were so entrenched that new converts found them to be a stumbling block to their faith. To deal with the problem, the organized church would commonly move a distinctively Christian holiday to a spot on the calendar that would directly challenge a pagan holiday. The intent was to counter pagan influences and provide a Christian alternative. But most often the church only succeeded in “Christianizing” a pagan ritual–the ritual was still pagan, but mixed with Christian symbolism. That’s what happened to All Saints Eve–it was the original Halloween alternative!
The Celtic people of Europe and Britain were pagan Druids whose major celebrations were marked by the seasons. At the end of the year in northern Europe, people made preparations to ensure winter survival by harvesting the crops and culling the herds, slaughtering animals that wouldn’t make it. Life slowed down as winter brought darkness (shortened days and longer nights), fallow ground, and death. The imagery of death, symbolized by skeletons, skulls, and the color black, remains prominent in today’s Halloween celebrations.
The pagan Samhain festival (pronounced “sow” “en”) celebrated the final harvest, death, and the onset of winter, for three days–October 31 to November 2. The Celts believed the curtain dividing the living and the dead lifted during Samhain to allow the spirits of the dead to walk among the living–ghosts haunting the earth.
Some embraced the season of haunting by engaging in occult practices such as divination and communication with the dead. They sought “divine” spirits (demons) and the spirits of their ancestors regarding weather forecasts for the coming year, crop expectations, and even romantic prospects. Bobbing for apples was one practice the pagans used to divine the spiritual world’s “blessings” on a couple’s romance.
For others the focus on death, occultism, divination, and the thought of spirits returning to haunt the living, fueled ignorant superstitions and fears. They believed spirits were earthbound until they received a proper sendoff with treats–possessions, wealth, food, and drink. Spirits who were not suitably “treated” would “trick” those who had neglected them. The fear of haunting only multiplied if that spirit had been offended during its natural lifetime.
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Weather Update: Friday October 28, 2011
Weather on Bantayan Island should be mainly clear and sunny this weekend with occasional afternoon showers and gusty winds from the North East. The onshore breezes are bringing a lot of sea weed, and other debris to the white sand shores making for a rather messy view of our otherwise beautiful shores.
Low tide prevails throughout much of the day making the water level on Santa Fe about 150 yards farther that at High tide. It is during these period of low time that the beaches are also not as attractive.
Ferry service is running daily, but expect rougher seas due to the increased winds.
Other than the shore debris and lower tides during the day, Bantayan is still a great place to make your weekend getaway.
Hope to see you on the beach. Magkita-kita na lang ta diri sa isla…
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Weather Update: Thursday October 20, 2011
Weather on Bantayan Island has been clear and beautiful this past week. With the onset of “Habagat”, the winds have changed to onshore, bringing much debris to the white sand beaches.
The upside of this change in wind direction is that the nights are cool and refreshing and perfect for a great night’s rest if you are near the coast. Last night we enjoyed a wonderful cool breeze until about 3 am when the winds became calm.
Weather for this weekend should be near perfect, with the coming of any future tropical storm far off from the coast of the Philippines. There are two weather systems developing in the pacific that we are watching that could become tropical storms systems in the next week. Both these systems look to move north of Bantayan Island, should they further develop into a tropical depression.
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The Problem with PAGASA: You Are Too Late…
During the recent approach to Cebu and Bantayan Island by Tropical Typhoon “Ramon” a few days ago, it became quickly apparent that PAGASA is not doing a sufficient Job in closely monitoring the weather in the Philippines.
From my vantage point, it was clear that when Ramon changed direction before making landfall with Cebu, that no one was aware of the change in course, because PAGASA does not conduct rapid enough assessments of approaching storms. Instead of an every six hour or twelve hour assessments, perhaps it would be advisable to give updates every fifteen minutes or so when a storm is on final approach to a populated landmass.
Unless PAGASA changes their present approach to predicting approaching Typhoon’s in the Philippines, I predict that many will be looking for new jobs.
As inhabitants of the Philippine islands, we need faster and more frequent updates on the status of approaching Typhoon’s or tropical storms, so that we might be better prepared. How many lives have been lost because the weather updates are too late for citizens to get out of the way before disaster strikes?
If you agree that PAGASA needs to do a better job, write or call your local government official and let them know a change is needed.
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