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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years

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Timothy Snyder [don't miss a word]

When Donald Trump stood before his followers on Jan. 6 and urged them to march on the United States Capitol, he was doing what he had always done. He never took electoral democracy seriously nor accepted the legitimacy of its American version. Even when he won, in 2016, he insisted that the election was fraudulent — that millions of false votes were cast for his opponent. In 2020, in the knowledge that he was trailing Joseph R. Biden in the polls, he spent months claiming that the presidential election would be rigged and signaling that he would not accept the results if they did not favor him. He wrongly claimed on Election Day that he had won and then steadily hardened his rhetoric: With time, his victory became a historic landslide and the various conspiracies that denied it ever more sophisticated and implausible.

People believed him, which is not at all surprising. It takes a tremendous amount of work to educate citizens to resist the powerful pull of believing what they already believe, or what others around them believe, or what would make sense of their own previous choices. Plato noted a particular risk for tyrants: that they would be surrounded in the end by yes-men and enablers. Aristotle worried that, in a democracy, a wealthy and talented demagogue could all too easily master the minds of the populace. Aware of these risks and others, the framers of the Constitution instituted a system of checks and balances. The point was not simply to ensure that no one branch of government dominated the others but also to anchor in institutions different points of view.

In this sense, the responsibility for Trump’s push to overturn an election must be shared by a very large number of Republican members of Congress. Rather than contradict Trump from the beginning, they allowed his electoral fiction to flourish. They had different reasons for doing so. One group of Republicans is concerned above all with gaming the system to maintain power, taking full advantage of constitutional obscurities, gerrymandering and dark money to win elections with a minority of motivated voters. They have no interest in the collapse of the peculiar form of representation that allows their minority party disproportionate control of government. The most important among them, Mitch McConnell, indulged Trump’s lie while making no comment on its consequences.

Yet other Republicans saw the situation differently: They might actually break the system and have power without democracy. The split between these two groups, the gamers and the breakers, became sharply visible on Dec. 30, when Senator Josh Hawley announced that he would support Trump’s challenge by questioning the validity of the electoral votes on Jan. 6. Ted Cruz then promised his own support, joined by about 10 other senators. More than a hundred Republican representatives took the same position. For many, this seemed like nothing more than a show: challenges to states’ electoral votes would force delays and floor votes but would not affect the outcome.

Yet for Congress to traduce its basic functions had a price. An elected institution that opposes elections is inviting its own overthrow. Members of Congress who sustained the president’s lie, despite the available and unambiguous evidence, betrayed their constitutional mission. Making his fictions the basis of congressional action gave them flesh. Now Trump could demand that senators and congressmen bow to his will. He could place personal responsibility upon Mike Pence, in charge of the formal proceedings, to pervert them. And on Jan. 6, he directed his followers to exert pressure on these elected representatives, which they proceeded to do: storming the Capitol building, searching for people to punish, ransacking the place.

Of course this did make a kind of sense: If the election really had been stolen, as senators and congressmen were themselves suggesting, then how could Congress be allowed to move forward? For some Republicans, the invasion of the Capitol must have been a shock, or even a lesson. For the breakers, however, it may have been a taste of the future. Afterward, eight senators and more than 100 representatives voted for the lie that had forced them to flee their chambers.Post-truth is pre-fascism, and Trump has been our post-truth president. When we give up on truth, we concede power to those with the wealth and charisma to create spectacle in its place. Without agreement about some basic facts, citizens cannot form the civil society that would allow them to defend themselves. If we lose the institutions that produce facts that are pertinent to us, then we tend to wallow in attractive abstractions and fictions.

Truth defends itself particularly poorly when there is not very much of it around, and the era of Trump — like the era of Vladimir Putin in Russia — is one of the decline of local news. Social media is no substitute: It supercharges the mental habits by which we seek emotional stimulation and comfort, which means losing the distinction between what feels true and what actually is true.Post-truth wears away the rule of law and invites a regime of myth. These last four years, scholars have discussed the legitimacy and value of invoking fascism in reference to Trumpian propaganda. One comfortable position has been to label any such effort as a direct comparison and then to treat such comparisons as taboo. More productively, the philosopher Jason Stanley has treated fascism as a phenomenon, as a series of patterns that can be observed not only in interwar Europe but beyond it.

My own view is that greater knowledge of the past, fascist or otherwise, allows us to notice and conceptualize elements of the present that we might otherwise disregard and to think more broadly about future possibilities. It was clear to me in October that Trump’s behavior presaged a coup, and I said so in print; this is not because the present repeats the past, but because the past enlightens the present.Like historical fascist leaders, Trump has presented himself as the single source of truth. His use of the term “fake news” echoed the Nazi smear Lügenpresse (“lying press”); like the Nazis, he referred to reporters as “enemies of the people.” Like Adolf Hitler, he came to power at a moment when the conventional press had taken a beating; the financial crisis of 2008 did to American newspapers what the Great Depression did to German ones. The Nazis thought that they could use radio to replace the old pluralism of the newspaper; Trump tried to do the same with Twitter.

Thanks to technological capacity and personal talent, Donald Trump lied at a pace perhaps unmatched by any other leader in history. For the most part these were small lies, and their main effect was cumulative. To believe in all of them was to accept the authority of a single man, because to believe in all of them was to disbelieve everything else. Once such personal authority was established, the president could treat everyone else as the liars; he even had the power to turn someone from a trusted adviser into a dishonest scoundrel with a single tweet. Yet so long as he was unable to enforce some truly big lie, some fantasy that created an alternative reality where people could live and die, his pre-fascism fell short of the thing itself.

Some of his lies were, admittedly, medium-size: that he was a successful businessman; that Russia did not support him in 2016; that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Such medium-size lies were the standard fare of aspiring authoritarians in the 21st century. In Poland the right-wing party built a martyrdom cult around assigning blame to political rivals for an airplane crash that killed the nation’s president. Hungary’s Viktor Orban blames a vanishingly small number of Muslim refugees for his country’s problems. But such claims were not quite big lies; they stretched but did not rend what Hannah Arendt called “the fabric of factuality.”

One historical big lie discussed by Arendt is Joseph Stalin’s explanation of starvation in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-33. The state had collectivized agriculture, then applied a series of punitive measures to Ukraine that ensured millions would die. Yet the official line was that the starving were provocateurs, agents of Western powers who hated socialism so much they were killing themselves. A still grander fiction, in Arendt’s account, is Hitlerian anti-Semitism: the claims that Jews ran the world, Jews were responsible for ideas that poisoned German minds, Jews stabbed Germany in the back during the First World War. Intriguingly, Arendt thought big lies work only in lonely minds; their coherence substitutes for experience and companionship.In November 2020, reaching millions of lonely minds through social media, Trump told a lie that was dangerously ambitious: that he had won an election that in fact he had lost.

This lie was big in every pertinent respect: not as big as “Jews run the world,” but big enough. The significance of the matter at hand was great: the right to rule the most powerful country in the world and the efficacy and trustworthiness of its succession procedures. The level of mendacity was profound. The claim was not only wrong, but it was also made in bad faith, amid unreliable sources. It challenged not just evidence but logic: Just how could (and why would) an election have been rigged against a Republican president but not against Republican senators and representatives? Trump had to speak, absurdly, of a “Rigged (for President) Election.”

The force of a big lie resides in its demand that many other things must be believed or disbelieved. To make sense of a world in which the 2020 presidential election was stolen requires distrust not only of reporters and of experts but also of local, state and federal government institutions, from poll workers to elected officials, Homeland Security and all the way to the Supreme Court. It brings with it, of necessity, a conspiracy theory: Imagine all the people who must have been in on such a plot and all the people who would have had to work on the cover-up.Trump’s electoral fiction floats free of verifiable reality. It is defended not so much by facts as by claims that someone else has made some claims. The sensibility is that something must be wrong because I feel it to be wrong, and I know others feel the same way. When political leaders such as Ted Cruz or Jim Jordan spoke like this, what they meant was: You believe my lies, which compels me to repeat them. Social media provides an infinity of apparent evidence for any conviction, especially one seemingly held by a president.

On the surface, a conspiracy theory makes its victim look strong: It sees Trump as resisting the Democrats, the Republicans, the Deep State, the pedophiles, the Satanists. More profoundly, however, it inverts the position of the strong and the weak. Trump’s focus on alleged “irregularities” and “contested states” comes down to cities where Black people live and vote. At bottom, the fantasy of fraud is that of a crime committed by Black people against white people.It’s not just that electoral fraud by African-Americans against Donald Trump never happened. It is that it is the very opposite of what happened, in 2020 and in every American election. As always, Black people waited longer than others to vote and were more likely to have their votes challenged. They were more likely to be suffering or dying from Covid-19, and less likely to be able to take time away from work. The historical protection of their right to vote has been removed by the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, and states have rushed to pass measures of a kind that historically reduce voting by the poor and communities of color.

The claim that Trump was denied a win by fraud is a big lie not just because it mauls logic, misdescribes the present and demands belief in a conspiracy. It is a big lie, fundamentally, because it reverses the moral field of American politics and the basic structure of American history.

When Senator Ted Cruz announced his intention to challenge the Electoral College vote, he invoked the Compromise of 1877, which resolved the presidential election of 1876. Commentators pointed out that this was no relevant precedent, since back then there really were serious voter irregularities and there really was a stalemate in Congress. For African-Americans, however, the seemingly gratuitous reference led somewhere else. The Compromise of 1877 — in which Rutherford B. Hayes would have the presidency, provided that he withdrew federal power from the South — was the very arrangement whereby African-Americans were driven from voting booths for the better part of a century. It was effectively the end of Reconstruction, the beginning of segregation, legal discrimination and Jim Crow. It is the original sin of American history in the post-slavery era, our closest brush with fascism so far.If the reference seemed distant when Ted Cruz and 10 senatorial colleagues released their statement on Jan. 2, it was brought very close four days later, when Confederate flags were paraded through the Capitol.

Some things have changed since 1877, of course. Back then, it was the Republicans, or many of them, who supported racial equality; it was the Democrats, the party of the South, who wanted apartheid. It was the Democrats, back then, who called African-Americans’ votes fraudulent, and the Republicans who wanted them counted. This is now reversed. In the past half century, since the Civil Rights Act, Republicans have become a predominantly white party interested — as Trump openly declared — in keeping the number of voters, and particularly the number of Black voters, as low as possible. Yet the common thread remains. Watching white supremacists among the people storming the Capitol, it was easy to yield to the feeling that something pure had been violated. It might be better to see the episode as part of a long American argument about who deserves representation.

The Democrats, today, have become a coalition, one that does better than Republicans with female and nonwhite voters and collects votes from both labor unions and the college-educated. Yet it’s not quite right to contrast this coalition with a monolithic Republican Party. Right now, the Republican Party is a coalition of two types of people: those who would game the system (most of the politicians, some of the voters) and those who dream of breaking it (a few of the politicians, many of the voters). In January 2021, this was visible as the difference between those Republicans who defended the present system on the grounds that it favored them and those who tried to upend it.In the four decades since the election of Ronald Reagan, Republicans have overcome the tension between the gamers and the breakers by governing in opposition to government, or by calling elections a revolution (the Tea Party), or by claiming to oppose elites. The breakers, in this arrangement, provide cover for the gamers, putting forth an ideology that distracts from the basic reality that government under Republicans is not made smaller but simply diverted to serve a handful of interests.

At first, Trump seemed like a threat to this balance. His lack of experience in politics and his open racism made him a very uncomfortable figure for the party; his habit of continually telling lies was initially found by prominent Republicans to be uncouth. Yet after he won the presidency, his particular skills as a breaker seemed to create a tremendous opportunity for the gamers. Led by the gamer in chief, McConnell, they secured hundreds of federal judges and tax cuts for the rich.

Trump was unlike other breakers in that he seemed to have no ideology. His objection to institutions was that they might constrain him personally. He intended to break the system to serve himself — and this is partly why he has failed. Trump is a charismatic politician and inspires devotion not only among voters but among a surprising number of lawmakers, but he has no vision that is greater than himself or what his admirers project upon him. In this respect his pre-fascism fell short of fascism: His vision never went further than a mirror. He arrived at a truly big lie not from any view of the world but from the reality that he might lose something.

Yet Trump never prepared a decisive blow. He lacked the support of the military, some of whose leaders he had alienated. (No true fascist would have made the mistake he did there, which was to openly love foreign dictators; supporters convinced that the enemy was at home might not mind, but those sworn to protect from enemies abroad did.) Trump’s secret police force, the men carrying out snatch operations in Portland, was violent but also small and ludicrous. Social media proved to be a blunt weapon: Trump could announce his intentions on Twitter, and white supremacists could plan their invasion of the Capitol on Facebook or Gab.

But the president, for all his lawsuits and entreaties and threats to public officials, could not engineer a situation that ended with the right people doing the wrong thing. Trump could make some voters believe that he had won the 2020 election, but he was unable to bring institutions along with his big lie. And he could bring his supporters to Washington and send them on a rampage in the Capitol, but none appeared to have any very clear idea of how this was to work or what their presence would accomplish. It is hard to think of a comparable insurrectionary moment, when a building of great significance was seized, that involved so much milling around.

The lie outlasts the liar. The idea that Germany lost the First World War in 1918 because of a Jewish “stab in the back” was 15 years old when Hitler came to power. How will Trump’s myth of victimhood function in American life 15 years from now? And to whose benefit?

On Jan. 7, Trump called for a peaceful transition of power, implicitly conceding that his putsch had failed. Even then, though, he repeated and even amplified his electoral fiction: It was now a sacred cause for which people had sacrificed. Trump’s imagined stab in the back will live on chiefly thanks to its endorsement by members of Congress. In November and December 2020, Republicans repeated it, giving it a life it would not otherwise have had. In retrospect, it now seems as though the last shaky compromise between the gamers and the breakers was the idea that Trump should have every chance to prove that wrong had been done to him. That position implicitly endorsed the big lie for Trump supporters who were inclined to believe it. It failed to restrain Trump, whose big lie only grew bigger.

The breakers and the gamers then saw a different world ahead, where the big lie was either a treasure to be had or a danger to be avoided. The breakers had no choice but to rush to be first to claim to believe in it. Because the breakers Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz must compete to claim the brimstone and bile, the gamers were forced to reveal their own hand, and the division within the Republican coalition became visible on Jan. 6. The invasion of the Capitol only reinforced this division. To be sure, a few senators withdrew their objections, but Cruz and Hawley moved forward anyway, along with six other senators. More than 100 representatives doubled down on the big lie. Some, like Matt Gaetz, even added their own flourishes, such as the claim that the mob was led not by Trump’s supporters but by his opponents.Trump is, for now, the martyr in chief, the high priest of the big lie. He is the leader of the breakers, at least in the minds of his supporters. By now, the gamers do not want Trump around. Discredited in his last weeks, he is useless; shorn of the obligations of the presidency, he will become embarrassing again, much as he was in 2015. Unable to provide cover for their gamesmanship, he will be irrelevant to their daily purposes. But the breakers have an even stronger reason to see Trump disappear: It is impossible to inherit from someone who is still around. Seizing Trump’s big lie might appear to be a gesture of support. In fact it expresses a wish for his political death. Transforming the myth from one about Trump to one about the nation will be easier when he is out of the way.

As Cruz and Hawley may learn, to tell the big lie is to be owned by it. Just because you have sold your soul does not mean that you have driven a hard bargain. Hawley shies from no level of hypocrisy; the son of a banker, educated at Stanford University and Yale Law School, he denounces elites. Insofar as Cruz was thought to have a principle, it was that of states’ rights, which Trump’s calls to action brazenly violated. A joint statement Cruz issued about the senators’ challenge to the vote nicely captured the post-truth aspect of the whole: It never alleged that there was fraud, only that there were allegations of fraud. Allegations of allegations, allegations all the way down.The big lie requires commitment. When Republican gamers do not exhibit enough of that, Republican breakers call them “RINOs”: Republicans in name only. This term once suggested a lack of ideological commitment. It now means an unwillingness to throw away an election. The gamers, in response, close ranks around the Constitution and speak of principles and traditions. The breakers must all know (with the possible exception of the Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville) that they are participating in a sham, but they will have an audience of tens of millions who do not.

If Trump remains present in American political life, he will surely repeat his big lie incessantly. Hawley and Cruz and the other breakers share responsibility for where this leads. Cruz and Hawley seem to be running for president. Yet what does it mean to be a candidate for office and denounce voting? If you claim that the other side has cheated, and your supporters believe you, they will expect you to cheat yourself. By defending Trump’s big lie on Jan. 6, they set a precedent: A Republican presidential candidate who loses an election should be appointed anyway by Congress. Republicans in the future, at least breaker candidates for president, will presumably have a Plan A, to win and win, and a Plan B, to lose and win. No fraud is necessary; only allegations that there are allegations of fraud. Truth is to be replaced by spectacle, facts by faith.Trump’s coup attempt of 2020-21, like other failed coup attempts, is a warning for those who care about the rule of law and a lesson for those who do not. His pre-fascism revealed a possibility for American politics. For a coup to work in 2024, the breakers will require something that Trump never quite had: an angry minority, organized for nationwide violence, ready to add intimidation to an election. Four years of amplifying a big lie just might get them this. To claim that the other side stole an election is to promise to steal one yourself. It is also to claim that the other side deserves to be punished.Informed observers inside and outside government agree that right-wing white supremacism is the greatest terrorist threat to the United States.

Gun sales in 2020 hit an astonishing high. History shows that political violence follows when prominent leaders of major political parties openly embrace paranoia.Our big lie is typically American, wrapped in our odd electoral system, depending upon our particular traditions of racism. Yet our big lie is also structurally fascist, with its extreme mendacity, its conspiratorial thinking, its reversal of perpetrators and victims and its implication that the world is divided into us and them. To keep it going for four years courts terrorism and assassination.

When that violence comes, the breakers will have to react. If they embrace it, they become the fascist faction. The Republican Party will be divided, at least for a time. One can of course imagine a dismal reunification: A breaker candidate loses a narrow presidential election in November 2024 and cries fraud, the Republicans win both houses of Congress and rioters in the street, educated by four years of the big lie, demand what they see as justice. Would the gamers stand on principle if those were the circumstances of Jan. 6, 2025?To be sure, this moment is also a chance. It is possible that a divided Republican Party might better serve American democracy; that the gamers, separated from the breakers, might start to think of policy as a way to win elections. It is very likely that the Biden-Harris administration will have an easier first few months than expected; perhaps obstructionism will give way, at least among a few Republicans and for a short time, to a moment of self-questioning.

Politicians who want Trumpism to end have a simple way forward: Tell the truth about the election.America will not survive the big lie just because a liar is separated from power. It will need a thoughtful repluralization of media and a commitment to facts as a public good. The racism structured into every aspect of the coup attempt is a call to heed our own history. Serious attention to the past helps us to see risks but also suggests future possibility. We cannot be a democratic republic if we tell lies about race, big or small.Democracy is not about minimizing the vote nor ignoring it, neither a matter of gaming nor of breaking a system, but of accepting the equality of others, heeding their voices and counting their votes.

#trump #donald j #political #NYTimes #insurrection #January 6 2020 #corrupt GOP #Criminal GOP #analysis #sedition

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wanders-nowhere · 6 years

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Things to Do in Davao

Anon asked me kung anong magandang gawin o puntahan dito sa Davao. Isasali ko na lang din ang mga kalapit na lugar tulad ng Samal Island at BuDa (Bukidnon-Davao) road. Isasali ko na lang lahat from chill lang to adventure type.

Davao City

Eden Nature Park - pwede ka magchill o subukan ang mga recreational activities nila. Must try: skycycling at skyswing.

Museo Dabawenyo

Crocodile Park - try their crocodile dishes and crocodile ice cream!

Jack’s Ridge - city view

San Pedro Cathedral

Malagos Garden Resort

Magsaysay Fruit Stand & Bangkerohan Market - best places to buy fruits. Try durian and marang.

Aldevinco Shopping Center - best place to buy souvenirs.

Roxas Night Market - beside Aldevinco. Foodtrip!!! Nasa Roxas Ave din ang Lyndon’s Worst Ribs which is one of my fave.

Matina Town Square, Tagbuan, Bricklane, Stre3ts, Echelon, Zero82Lokal, Deq - for booze and music. Actually madami pang iba. Also, try Stre3ts’ Caramel Beer. Last order of alcoholic drinks 12am, the bars close at 2am. Tip: Start early! Lol.

Mount Apo - climbing the highest mountain is a must! I suggest to take the Sta Cruz trail.

River Rafting - a must try! Sobrang enjoy especially if you’re with your friends. Pero if solo traveler ka, I think you can join other groups. Click on the link to inquire.

Samal Island

10mins away from the city. 10 pesos lang din ang bayad per person pag sa Sasa Wharf ka. Kung sa Sta Ana Wharf ka naman, nandun yung mga boat for island hopping and exclusive for other resorts.

Island hopping - madaming nag-ooffer nito sa facebook, search nyo na lang.

Scuba diving - worth a try! Actually kasali na din ang island hopping dito. Click nyo na lang yung link.

ATV Adventure - I haven’t tried this one yet pero for sure masaya to.

Climbing Puting Bato - you can also traverse to Canibad and take a dip after a tiring hours of climbing. Good for beginners. Don’t worry, madami nang signs dun for sure di kayo maliligaw. Okay na kahit walang guide.

Cliff Diving - Canibad & Sabang. Best time to dive is early in the morning. This is for the adventure junkies. I never had the courage to try this. Haha. Kaya hanggang snorkeling na lang ako which is nakakaaliw din.

Some Places/Resorts you can visit - Hagimit Falls, Monfort Cave Bats, Secdea, Cavanico El Mari, Villa Amparo, Maxima Aqua Fun, and Isla Reta - to name a few.

BuDa (Bukidnon-Davao) Road

Almost 2hrs away from Davao. Pwede ka sumakay ng bus tapos sakay ka ng habal-habal dun. Pwede ka ding sumali sa group tours (search mo lang sa facebook, madami ding nag-ooffer nito).

Bemwa Farm

Epol Falls

Garden of Gethsemane

Seagull Mountain Resort

Sonnen Berg

Hills View

Highway81

Wild Berry

Bani Falls - best place para i-enjoy ang BuDa sa pamamagitan ng pagtrek/climb at pagligo sa falls. May pang beginner na trail at meron din na medyo advanced. But I suggest to try yung advanced kasi di naman ganun kahirap. Mas okay umakyat pag weekdays para konti lang ang tao.

So yan lang muna lahat. Sana may naitulong ako. Btw, yung mga links ng fb pages na nilagay ko, subok ko na ang mga yan. I suggest na yung adventure-filled na activities ang gawin nyo sa umaga tapos sa gabi foodtrip na. Don’t hesitate to message me if may mga tanong pa kayo.

PS: Sana di kayo ma-annoy sa pag-taglish ko. Hahahahaha

#davao #bukidnon #samal #island #itinerary #travel #adventure #nature #wanderlust

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angelaamnq-blog · 6 years

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Lucban Quezon

TayTay Falls

Beautiful, relaxing and calming sounds of water splashes. This nature welcomes you to enjoy and stay! Taytay Falls has an environmental fee of Php. 20.00 per head for day trippers and Php. 30.00 for overnighters.

From jump-off point to the falls is an easy 15-minute walk in a cemented pathway. You can put up tents in the surrounding spaces, lay a picnic sheet and even make a bonfire!

My experience in the trip to TayTay Falls was memorable as I enjoyed the company of my family, friends and “balikbayan” relatives. It was by far one of the greatest trips and the most entertaining one. I got to socialize with my relatives after the longest time and meet new people in life who were just as nice and hospitable.

If you are commuting from Manila to TayTay Falls, how do you go about it?

First step is get to DLTB or JAC Liner bus terminals in Cubao or Buendia and ride a bus based on the place you want to go to.

Mount Banahaw

Mt. Banahaw de Lucban is one mountain where the challenge does not lie in the steepness or length of the trails, but in the flora and fauna thereof. Its misty forest has an immaculate quality when viewed in pictures, but it is actually a wild jungle: trees and vines grow in an anarchic fashion, obstructing the trails and creating an obstacle course, decked with infinite thorns and spikes. The hike is worth it! Visit Mount Banahaw sometime!

How to get there?

Get to DLTB or JAC Liner bus terminals in Cubao or Buendia and ride a bus based on the place you want to go to.

Kamay ni Hesus

The Kamay ni Hesus Shrine in Lucban Quezon is a sought-after pilgrimage destination known for its miraculous healing masses and the steep hill that leads to a majestic Risen Christ statue. Given the Philippines’ rich Catholic culture, it is no surprise that thousands of people visit this place especially every Holy Week to repent, reflect, and give thanks.

I was around 10 years old when I first got to visit this place. I remember attending mass with my family along with cousins. We also climed the mountain which had a cold mountaintop breeze and fresh air – something I don’t really get a lot in Manila, my hometown.

If you are planning to have a blissful out-of-town escapade, consider driving down south to this holy and peaceful sanctuary.

How to get there?

If you are coming from Manila, you have to prepare yourself for a 4-hour drive to get to Kamay ni Hesus Shrine.

On Private Car (via South Luzon Expressway)

The easiest way to go to Kamay ni Hesus Shrine by car is to take the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and exit at Calamba. Before you reach the town of Lucban, you will have to pass through the numerous towns in Laguna including Los Baños, Bay, Victoria, Pila, Sta. Cruz, Pagsanjan, Cavinti, and Luisiana. The Shrine is one kilometer away from Lucban town proper.

On Public Transportation (via Manila - Sta. Cruz, Lucban)

There are DLTB or JAC Liner bus terminals located in Cubao or Buendia-Taft Avenue that offers daily trips to Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Prepare around PHP 120.00 for the fare. From Sta. Cruz, take a jeep bound for Lucban. Kamay ni Hesus Shrine is about 15 to 20 minutes away from the town proper by tricycle.

Pahiyas Festival

The Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival is the Philippines’ most colourful harvest festival that is celebrated every 15th of May for us not forget that we celebrate the this to thank God for the bountiful harvest and honour the patron saint of farmers, San Isidro de Labrador. The San Isidro Pahiyas Festival is incomplete without the kiping as decoration – a leaf-shaped wafers made of rice (similar to tacos of Spain) in brilliant colors!

Every summer, my family and I visit Lucban to see our relatives and celebrate Pahiyas Festival with them. We usually house hop and eat a variety of Filipino foods also known as “handa”. The houses in town are decorated with freshly harvested fruits and vegetables wherein the house with the most beautiful design will be given a grand prize.

So what are you waiting for? Come on and celebrate with us on May 15th!

Here’s how to get there from Manila:

On Public Transportation (via Manila - Sta. Cruz, Lucban)

Mabuhay Lucban!

#ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines RoadTrip Adventure Nature LucbanQuezon

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redbutterflygirl · 2 years

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A climb to remember (at Mt. Apo Sta Cruz Trail) https://www.instagram.com/p/CaY3dJ7PjDL/?utm_medium=tumblr

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phgq · 3 years

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Volunteers’ cleanup trek nets 200 kilos of trash from Mt. Apo

#PHnews: Volunteers’ cleanup trek nets 200 kilos of trash from Mt. Apo

KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato – Environmentalists and tourism officers, including guides and porters, trekked Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak, and collected almost 200 kilos of garbage over the weekend.

On Monday, Karl Tanaid, Magpet town tourism officer, said about 130 volunteers from mountaineering groups and other organizations climbed Mt. Apo for a cleanup activity.

“We collected mostly emptied plastic bottle water container and other non-biodegradable materials that litter the surroundings of Lake Venado,” he said in an interview.

Lake Venado is an endorheic (interior) body of water located along the Mt. Apo trail in the province.

The cleanup trek from Saturday to Sunday was organized by the Department of Natural Resources-North Cotabato and the Mt. Apo National Park Protected Area Management Board, with the support of the local tourism offices of Magpet town and Kidapawan City.

Aside from trash, Tanaid said climbers also removed spray-painted vandalism on large boulders at the peak.

"Every year we see different vandals on huge rocks, this is not right,” Kidapawan-based photographer King Bacamante, one of the climbers, said.

Both Tanaid and Bacamante said most of the violators of trek protocols were climbers who used the Sta. Cruz, Digos, and Bansalan trails in Davao Del Sur.

They said the trail had been opened since 2020 due to the pandemic and nobody was regulating the trekkers during climbs to the mountain peak.

Also, the DENR-Davao Region team that went up via the Kapatagan trail noticed the non-observance of guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on social distancing.

Both Tanaid and Bacamante have urged climbers to observe both the health and environmental protocols to preserve the mountain forests while preventing the spread of Covid-19. (PNA)

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References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Volunteers’ cleanup trek nets 200 kilos of trash from Mt. Apo." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132880 (accessed March 08, 2021 at 10:10PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Volunteers’ cleanup trek nets 200 kilos of trash from Mt. Apo." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132880 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

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vidadeescritoresvenezolanos · 4 years

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5 Alternative Di Pausa Di Primavera Di Idee

Complimenti, signori – inverno è più che a metà, il che può significare solo una cosa. Beh, oltre a pantaloncini-meteo solo pochi mesi di distanza. Per quelli di una certa età, una delle migliori settimane dell'anno si avvicina. Tutti noi aneliamo, ma è disponibile solo per alcuni. Naturalmente, ci riferiamo a uno dei più grandi americani tradizioni, la Rottura della Molla.

Per quelli di noi che sono passato lungo il nostro high school o college anni, possiamo guardare indietro con affetto alle memorie, molti dei quali probabilmente coinvolto una quantità abbondante di merda birra e un paio di divertenti esperimenti con gas per accendini. Non erano quelli i bei vecchi tempi.

Guarda, sappiamo tutti la tradizionale settimana di festa, il viso può essere divertente, ma sei un beardsman e, diciamocelo, se siete in un college, che non è molto diverso rispetto a qualsiasi altra settimana, tranne forse per la presenza di una spiaggia (e permette di indossare e di essere in giro gli altri indossa molto meno vestiti rispetto al solito). Forse invece di caricare il vostro 2003 Toyota Camry e voce a Daytona o Panama City o di qualsiasi altro bastione del peccato è di solito bastone la tua bandiera in Primavera, forse questo è l'anno di fare qualcosa di diverso. Appena ci sentono fuori, ya? Ecco la nostra guida alternativa della primavera.

Per Il OutdoorsmenAbbiamo Spring Break è di essere al di fuori, piuttosto che bloccato in castigo e oscurità associato con il vostro preferito almeno aula campus. Tuttavia, quello di fare un viaggio in un stato o il parco nazionale invece che in spiaggia? A seconda di quale parte del paese in cui ti trovi, ci sono opzioni a bizzeffe. Lo Smokey Mountains sono sempre una buona chiamata, come sono i Finger Lakes e Catskills. Red River Gorge e Mammoth Parco del Midwest e grandi scommesse per tornare in contatto con la natura e per coloro che in occidente, magari una gita al Ghiacciaio del Parco Nazionale di Yosemite. Guarda, aprire una mappa e cercare di trovare una grande fetta di spazio verde lontano dalla città. Afferrare alcuni amici, si spera, uno dei quali ha un furgone, imballare alcuni refrigeratori e trovare una griglia. Chiedi a qualcuno che conosci con una tenda a venire insieme e boom, è un'avventura che non si dimentica presto.

Per coloro che compiono Buone AzioniSapete cosa c'è di così pazzo suono che si potrebbe effettivamente essere divertente? Volontariato durante le vacanze di Primavera, invece di spendere i vostri giorni cercando di trovare la via di mezzo fra una bevuta e ubriachi. Se sta facendo un viaggio attraverso Habitat Per l'Umanità o la semplice ricerca di un programma settimanale attraverso il vostro locale Parks & Recreation department, ci sono sempre dei grandi organizzazioni alla ricerca di volontari per aiutare. Si potrebbe pensare che suoni atroci, abbandonando una settimana di bagordi per una settimana di costruzione di case o piantare alberi, ma ognuno di noi ha bisogno di una pausa dalla vita del college a volte. Avrete la possibilità di rendere orgogliosi i tuoi genitori, fare un po ' di buona volontà, e dare il vostro fegato di una piacevole pausa, del calibro di che saranno cancellati immediatamente dopo si celebra la fine del volontariato durante la prima notte di nuovo a scuola. College è un grande.

Per Il CittadinoMolti di voi probabilmente andare a scuola in zone più rurali del paese. Voglio dire, non tutti frequentano Hampshire College o l'Università di Santa Cruz o Knox College, ma anche per quelli di voi alla mega-scuole statali, anche con le migliori città universitarie del paese può a volte sento limitato e carente. Se siete stanchi dei grandi spazi aperti, aria fresca, natura e tale, magari impostare le vostre viste sul grande città più vicina e appendere fuori per la settimana. In tutto il paese, una volta dimenticato le città sono in corso imponenti rinascite e potrebbe sorprendere se si spende un paio di giorni ad esplorare le loro strade. Nashville, Cincinnati, Detroit, New Orleans, e Pittsburgh sono un paio che mi vengono in mente sul lato orientale del paese, ma se non fanno per voi, poi andare più grande! Ci sono ostello economico opzioni nella maggior parte delle grandi città, New York, los angeles, e Chicago incluso. O se si dispone di un equipaggio di unirsi a voi, cercare su AirBNB e trovare un giusto appartamento o una casa in affitto per la settimana. Promettiamo, avrai un esplosione di trading di sabbia per calcestruzzo.

Per Le Libagioni EspertoCosì si desidera trascorrere le vacanze di Primavera, sia per bere pesantemente E conoscere il detto di alcol che si sta ingerendo? Bene, sei arrivato circa al picco del tempo per queste cose, in questo meraviglioso paese che è il nostro. Come whiskey? Prendere cinque giorni di viaggio verso il Bourbon Trail in Kentucky e il gusto di tutti loro (con moderazione, ovviamente). Godere di birre a bizzeffe? Che ne dite di un po ' di venture a Asheville, Carolina del Nord, o Portland, nel Maine, o uno di un centinaio di altre città creando un'incredibile birre in tutto gli stati UNITI. Come il gin? Tequila? Il vino? Ci sono opzioni a prezzi accessibili se davvero li. Inferno, si potrebbe anche essere in grado di apprendista per una settimana in uno dei creatori di qualunque bevanda alcolica toots il corno più forte. Questo è ciò che chiamiamo apprendimento bevendo, aka una vittoria.

Per L'Appassionato Di CiboSappiamo, la maggior parte di voi college-età signori non possono permettersi di volare in tutto il paese per un 30-menù degustazione presso La Lavanderia francese o overdose su tutte le cose di maiale al Pubblicano. Siamo stati tutti lì a un certo punto e molti di noi sono ancora. Tuttavia, come camion di cibo a poco a poco hanno iniziato a prendere di tutto il mondo, molte città hanno abbracciato con la furia di un migliaio di peperoncini e ora potete gustarvi il vostro modo intorno ad una città senza spendere molto minimale conto in banca. Ci sono sostenitori del cibo di autotrasporti, il Portland e Austins e simili, ma c'è una buona probabilità che se si paga una visita al vostro stato grande città, si potrebbe trovare solo un po ' di delizioso e cibo di alta qualità a un certo abbastanza a prezzi ragionevoli. Sappiamo che verrà a mancare martellante ramen istantaneo e, in tarda serata di Wendy, ma si può rivivere quelle indulgenze una volta che sei di nuovo nel campus.

È giveaway tempo! Spiaggia o spiaggia, avrete bisogno di una nuova tonalità. 5 fortunati lettori saranno selezionati per vincere un paio di Parkman Occhiali da sole ($165 valore). Ci sono diversi modi per entrare. Buona fortuna!

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iamsalve · 2 years

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Remembering Mt. Apo: Part 3 (Lake Venado + Century-old Tree)

What goes up must come down, they say. So there we were, descending 740 meters from the summit of Mt. Apo to reach the iconic Lake Venado where we would encamp for the night. A short distance for many, but a challenging one nonetheless. The trail to Lake Venado was evidently spoiled by time and people. It was steep and muddy and slippery. But for someone who prefers downhill over uphill terrain…

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#Century Tree Trail #hiking #life #life lessons #mountain climbing #mountains #Mt. Apo #Mt. Apo Sta. Cruz circuit trail #Nature #Nature Photography #outdoors #Philippines #reflections #Travel #travel photography

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harmpaslupa · 4 years

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It’s been 2 long years #MountApo #WhiteSand (at Mt. Apo Sta Cruz Trail) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-bPy3rphOS/?igshid=wzwpc1pg3nde

#mountapo #whitesand

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cdobiking · 2 years

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Mount Apo’s Flora and Fauna

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Despite Sta. Cruz being the most arduous among the three Apo trails we’ve hiked, Sir Joe pulled out all the stops and made it one of the most fun and memorable of our hiking lives. We felt privileged to be able to spend such a fantastic time with him. We valued the opportunity and cannot thank you enough, Sir Joe! IDOL!

Mount Apo Day Hike via Sta. Cruz | May 16, 2022

Guide/coach/environmentalist/all-around person: Joedelmar Ybanez | FB Biyahe Ni Joe

Hike Organizer: Sir Arjay| FB Arjay Estabaya Anak Gubat

#mount apo #philippines

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deept268 · 2 years

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at Mt. Apo Sta Cruz Trail https://www.instagram.com/p/CdMltn2P449/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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ychaired · 5 years

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Standing tall at the Philippines' highest point, Mt. Apo (2,954+ MASL) Sta. Cruz via Tinikaran-Boulder Face Trail #getoutside #climbwithme #ychaiwanders #WowDavao #akyatpinas #pinaypower (at Mt. Apo Summit) https://www.instagram.com/p/B30hFUEJlFY/?igshid=15tlkwyyvq2yv

#getoutside #climbwithme #ychaiwanders #wowdavao #akyatpinas #pinaypower

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saltybaewatch-blog · 6 years

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Marvels of the world

Ø What is it to Me

The Eiffel tower of France is the Crown Regency of Cebu City. It is tall, amazing, and wonderful infrastructure that is wrapped with so many astonishing lights. It is a tourist attraction just like the Eiffel tower of France. I would like to go there, because of its ambiance and wonderful light decors, plus the exiting things you can do inside.

Ø What it is to the people

The Eiffel tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. The Eiffel Tower will glitter for 5 minutes on every hour after sunset. It is a beautiful sight to behold. Many would believe that Paris is the most romantic city in the world and some would even propose for its romantic aura.

Ø Intersections

In both, the Eiffel tower is described as a tourist attraction, a must visit place for tourists and the locals. It is very beautiful and the first experience is remarkable.

Ø What is it to Me

There is a Taj Mahal in the Philippines and it is located in Negros Occidental. As the name of the place implied, this attraction is the remains of the mansion during World War II wherein the family intentionally burned so that the Japanese people won’t use it as their headquarters. It took them weeks to fully burn the house because it was made of hardwood.

Ø What it is to the people

is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre)[5] complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall. The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1631, to be built in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, a Persian princess who died giving birth to their 14th child, Gauhara Begum

Ø Intersections

In both, the Taj Mahal is the remains of a very special thing or person to a person. In Inda, the Taj Mahal is the remains of Mumtaz Mahal and Shan Jahan, and in the Negros, it is the remains of their house filled with memories.

Ø What is it to Me

The Great Wall of China is the Basilica Del Santo Niño of Cebu. Not basing on its structure but based on their history and their relevance to the people. The Basilica Del Santo Niño is a reminder of the Cebuano’s culture, traditions, and history. We are reminded of the Spaniards colonization, the start of our new culture, and the introduction to our very own religion, Christianity.

Ø What it is to the people

The Great Wall is a China icon. It shows us not only China's culture of national pride, grand projects, and determined resistance, but also China's extravagant architecture and creativity.

Ø Intersections

In both, the Great Wall of China is a reminder of their culture, traditions, pride, and many more. The Great wall is also an astonishing view just like the Basilica.

Ø What is it to Me

The Pyramid of Egypt is the Manila North Cemetery of Philippines. The Manila North Cemetery is the oldest and the largest burial monument in the Philippines. The cemetery is owned by the City of Manila, the national capital, and is one of the largest in the metropolis at 54 hectares.

Ø What it is to the people

The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt.As of November 2008, sources cite either 118 or 138 as the number of identified Egyptian pyramids. Most were built as tombs for the country's pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.This pyramid and its surrounding complex were designed by the architect Imhotep, and are generally considered to be the world's oldest monumental structures constructed of dressed masonry.

Ø Intersections

In both, the pyramid is a burial monument for people who matters to someone. The pyramid is the largest burial monument filled with tombs of Pharaohs, so as the Manila North Cemetery, It is the largest burial monument in the Philippines.

Ø What is it to Me

The Roman Coliseum in Italy is the Araneta coliseum in the Philippines. It is the Araneta coliseum of Rome Italy, where people most especially stars, perform, entertain, act, and provide concerts for their fans. It can be used as a multi-purpose hall, sports arena, and it is also one of the largest clear span domes in the world. I would like to visit and tour in the future as I would like to see what is really inside and how will I explore it.

Ø What it is to the people

For the people in Italy, it is located just east of the Roman Forum, the massive stone amphitheater known as the Coliseum was commissioned around A.D. 70-72 by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty as a gift to the Roman people. Though two-thirds of the original Colosseum has been destroyed over time, the amphitheater remains a popular tourist destination, as well as an iconic symbol of Rome and its long, tumultuous history.

Ø Intersections

In both, the roman coliseum is described as a place of entertainment. It is where people gather just to watch their favorite play as a place of fantasy and full of enjoyment.

Ø What is it to Me

Mt. Everest in Nepal is the Mt. Apo in the Philippines. It is the Mt. Apo of Nepal, Considered as the most technical and interesting trail because of its narrow and different type of trail with very lush vegetation and pristine jungle which you can see the canopy ecosystem and different species of Flora & Fauna. Its trail starts at a small village call Baruring, Sibulan, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur which a back packer would pass a farm trail, jungle trail and boulders trail before reaching the summit covering a distance of 13.7 Km with elevaion gain of approximately 2,000 meters from the trail head.

Ø What it is to the people

For the people of Nepal,where Mount Everest attracts experienced mountaineers as well as less-seasoned climbers who typically enlist guides known as sherpas. Climbing more than 8,000 feet is no easy feat. Altitude sickness, weather and wind are the major roadblocks to making the summit for most climbers. More than 5,000 people have climbed Everest and 219 have died trying. About 77 percent of those ascents have been accomplished since 2000. In 2007, a record number of 633 ascents were recorded.

Ø Intersections

In both, the Mt. Everest is describe a long been revered by peoples. Like the Mt. Pinatubo it is high enough that you can see the clouds above it, and it is beautiful to watch the view below it.

Ø What is it to Me

The Northern Lights in Northern region is also located in some part of the Philippines. Northern lights or we called it as “Aurora borealis” can be seen in any part of the Philippines. the most common is located in Albay, Boracay, and Siargao Island.

Ø What it is to the people

The northern lights are the right dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south.

Ø Intersections

In both, The northern lights is very beautiful to watch every summer, during the middle night you can see different colors of light it is very satisfying to watch and you can spend time together with your family and friends

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