We missed the police/protesters clash in Iloilo. My asawa and I were shopping for plants and flowers at Robinsons Mall in Iloilo City this past Friday and Sunday. Anti-riot police officers clashed with some 800 marchers protesting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting here yesterday.
(Photo Source: Panay News)
My asawa and I had visited Bacolod City as I treated my wife to a shopping trip in the “City of Smiles.” We had already visited SM City, and the new Ayala Mall and were headed on a jeepney to Robinsons Place. That’s my sparkling spouse posing in front of the shopping mall before we entered to hunt for more bargains. I was ready to find some lunch but the mall was crowded that Sunday afternoon. It seems that people on Bacolod like to shop just like the residents of Iloilo City, whose major shopping venues are also jam-packed on the weekends.
To celebrate my asawa’s upcoming birthday, I had decided we should take a trip and visit some of the best shopping malls in Bacolod City, the Philippines. Now, other than working in our yard and tenderly caring for her beloved plants and flowers, my spouse also loves to shop. What better way for my beloved wife to celebrate than to go bargain hunting and picking up a new pair of shoes…or two.
While traveling on the banca boat to Panay Island the other day to do our monthly grocery shopping, visiting the local PhilHealth office was on our agenda. But what happened to PhilHealth in Iloilo City? After a visit to the local Bureau of Immigration, my asawa and I had time to renew our subscription with the the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation which had expired at the end of last year but my wife couldn’t find the office.
The bolo, or machete, is the essential Filipino tool and probably can be found in the majority of Philippine households. I doubt if you could go to any residence on the mango island of Guimaras, where we dwell, and not find this useful tool.
Sunday in San Miguel, Jordan municipality, in the mango province of Guimaras in Western Visayas, is the busiest market day on the whole island. Residents from all over this rural island gather at the “New Site” Market to take advantage of great bargains from everything to cigarette lighters (3 for 20 pesos) to fresh pork tenderloin from newly slaughtered pigs (P170 a kilo.) 