WHEN I bought my Honda XRM-125 last year, I was told that it would be a hot item for carjackers on the road. I did not feel fear then. With the ubiquity of motorcycles on the road, I did not think I would get noticed by these bad elements. When the news broke last week, however, I started to fear for my own life.

Photo Courtesy of Rencalago.com

Last week, a habal-habal (motrcycle-for-hire) driver from my hometown was reportedly killed by an unidentified man, who also stole the driver’s vehicle. When I heard about it, it was already the third case of the same crime that took place in a span of just one week. The crime was carried out in the outskirts of my hometown.

BEING BORN in the late 1980’s, our major form of entertainment as kids was watching TV. After school, I would scour the neighborhood and watch TV with the other kids, who were mostly my cousins. If you were my age, I’m sure, you once got hooked with Power Rangers and you should have pretended you were one of them.

I was Black Ranger. I wanted to be Red Ranger, but because I don’t own the TV where we watched Power Rangers — I used to watch TV in my cousin’s house because theirs is a color TV and it sure wasn’t fun to watch Power Rangers in black-and-white — my cousin got to be the leader, Jason, and I had to be Zack.

I HAVE always loved going places, but I have always believed, too, that traveling is synonymous with spending. An out-of-town holiday then remains an elusive dream for me.

If there’s one person whose travels make me envious, it’s Enrico Dee of Byahilo.com who gets to travel from one tourist destination to another.

SoCCSKSarGen bloggers got the chance to meet him in an event called Byahe Na! A Fireside Forum with Professional Travel Bloggers presented by GenSantos Online Magazine and GandaEverSoMuch.com at Little Dubai Kebab Grills last Wednesday night.

Photo Courtesy of Hector Miñoza

I FIND my professor at the Graduate School funny. There’s just something about her that keeps me uneasy each time we meet in the classroom. I can’t imagine how I am able to endure three hours with her every weekend.

Here is what she is like:

1. She has a fake American accent. I think she’s just trying to sound smart and  to impress us with how she enunciates the words when she speaks, but she just tries too hard and it just doesn’t work. Every time she opens her mouth, I would have to hold on to my seat, else I might fall, and I would have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

JUST BEFORE her term ends, outgoing Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes of South Cotabato finally signed the controversial Environment Code whose provisions include the prohibition of open pit mining in the province.

A bold move, the ordinance passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan is the first local government initiative in the country to ban open pit mining, a method of mineral extraction that the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, a national law, allows.

Image from bworld.com

The Environment Code directly affects the operation of the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), which is set to extract copper and gold in the municipality of Tampakan, South Cotabato.

CONGRESSMAN EMMANUEL Pacquiao has been sworn into office as Representative of the Lone District of Sarangani to the Congress this morning at the Provincial Capitol Park, Alabel, Sarangani Province during the Inauguration Program officiated by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

According to reports Pacquiao personally requested Judge Jaime Y. Infante to be the inducting officer, so the latter assisted Justice Carpio during Pacquiao’s oath taking.

Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez also took his oath for his last term as the province’s governor.

In his speech, he highlighted how Sarangani has improved from being the fourth poorest province in 2004 to being the 14th after his two terms as governor.

I HAVE always been told by people who care about me that I should always take care of myself no matter how busy I get. They say that I should eat a balanced meal on time, sleep regularly, and do some physical activity from time to time. I tried my best to do these but some things really just happen unprecedentedly and my health has been compromised several times.