Winning Articles

WHERE IN THE PHILIPPINES SHOULD I BE ON DECEMBER 31, 1999?

MIDDLE OF VISAYAN SEA

At about 10:55 PM of December 31, 1999, a motorized boat will take the whole family of five and a few close friends to the middle of the Visayan sea engulfing the seamount village where we humbly live. This would be our ultimate venue to welcome the New Millennium while gracefully embracing the breezy air there.

The 30-minute travel from the shore ultimately brings us to the most peaceful, beautiful and pollution-free place to trigger a big bang for another century. The middle of the sea boasts off nothing but starry night with the air and wave sounds. The fireworks also stir and flare up the silent night.

The site's pacific water seemingly freshens up the people's minds and hearts, and cleanses their souls, so as the grim life is buried when the new millennium comes. It looks like there had not a bad quirk of the preceding centuries. On the sea, whatever history we had culminates. But when we get back ashore, a new chapter for a new beginning unfolds./*

RUSTIC FARM

Our humble, rustic farm will be my right choice of venue to welcome the significant New Millennium. Though it’s far from the modern amenities, the whole family still has to adventure to the village called “Kapispisan” where my conservative parents were born and lovingly raised.

Located some 35 kilometers away from the city proper, “Kapispisan” is ideal venue to observe in Filipino way the turn of a new century. Its scenic beauty literally invites us to frolic with the rustic life that Filipinos had once enjoyed. It is magnificent in nature, with singing birds and cool winds, lush vegetation, blooming flowers, fruit and forest trees, huge sugarcane, rice and corn plantations.

It’s not just to play run in the open grassfield nor to eat there a cooked “kamote kahoy” nor corn seeds, “suman” or “puto tak-tak”, but for us to feel together the real value and spirit of being a Filipino as we wait for the coming of the New Millennium. To start a new life is to trace the past, so that we can rectify the wrongdoings and see to it that they may never be repeated in the next century./*

BUSAK-BUSAK SPRING

Cadiz City has prided itself with the fame and glory the Busak-Busak spring has brought over the years. However, when the New Millennium comes, the spring will not be open for public because it is being tapped as the main source of water for the Denmark-funded Negros Water Supply and Sanitation Project (NWSSP). It will fully operate next year.This is probably the reason why my family and other close friends will trek down there on December 31, 1999 to welcome the New Millennium and do a 19th century’s last picnic on the spring where we used to enjoy.

It is located some 6 kilometers away from the city proper. But it is known that distance does not matter to trekkers. They keep on coming back as long as they preserve the beauty and the natural features revered and enjoyed long before by our ancestors. Sprouting out of the toe of a hill and adorned by surrounding boulders, Busak-Busak spring transforms into an epitome of natural beauty and environmental attraction that draws visitors all year round.

The spring’s drinking water is as clear as crystal and anybody can feel its freshness that continuously flows out from the spring’s sharp, narrow mouth. This lively spring captures and stirs up the human senses so much so that a person is enticed into diving to the cool and refreshing water pool of this nature’s gift to mankind.

At the dawn of the New Millennium, one could significantly imagine how those local folks used to frolic with the spring; and how would they feel should they know about the spring’s changes. Or, just say: “Hello New Millennium” but “Goodbye Busak-Busak Spring”./*

MAMBUCAL SUMMER HEALTH RESORT

I greatly pride myself to declare that the Negros Occidental government-owned Mambucal Summer Health Resort is the country’s best place to greet the New Millennium.

It is strategically located atop of the high mountains in Barangay Minoyan, municipality of Murcia. To get part of the historic welcome, my family and other close friends will certainly journey up to the woodland on December 31, 1999.It will take a matter of one hour from Bacolod City through splendid zigzag roads up to the venue.

This 25-hectare resort is pollution-free millennium hang-out and renowned for its cool and ecologically-megged atmosphere. It is surrounded by forest trees and, wild plants and flowers. Its jungle hotel and, on-land and atree cottages offer modern amenities. A guest could even take a bath at its natural hot spa and body-dip at its three Olympic-size spring swimming pools. While you wait for the New World, you can also boil egg at its hot sulfuric pool (heat stems from adjacent Mt. Canlaon volcano). Egg boiling finishes as the millennium dawn begins.

The Mambucal is also famous for its magnificent seven spring waterfalls. At 10:00 PM, start trekking to the thick but safe forest at the first waterfalls you pass by, until you millenniumly reach the majestic seventh waterfalls on the high mountain peak as the New Millennium dawn appears. You, cleansed, fresh and confident to face the challenges ahead, will witness the phenomenal turn of another century. When the sun rises, sunlight likewise covers the entire resort, enough to feel the New Millennium’s spirit. Besides, on the seventh falls, you can see the aerial view of the entire Bacolod, as if you were on board a helicopter plying above the New World./*