by Caloy Libosada

It was the concern for the environment that linked me with Doctor Gerry Ortega. Although he had a stint as a politician in the province of Palawan, it was his environmental work where people remember him best. He used to head the Crocodile Farming Institute in Palawan and was involved in a number of other projects that focused on the wildlife and people of Palawan.

Bantay Kalikasan of ABS-CBN Foundation introduced us for a common cause to champion environmental conservation and care for the local communities. I easily sensed his eagerness to learn everything about ecotourism and community-based tourism program. His eyes flickered whenever I shared to him ideas he could use for his projects in Palawan. He was so eager, he was so eager to share not only those ideas but also himself to the communities he would work with.

Every time I met him, he was like a child beaming with accomplishment for the advocacy he continued to live with.

A nice reward came when one ecotourism project he championed became a winner of an international tourism award (Iwahig River – Gold Award for Best Community-based Sustainable Tourism by the Pacific Asia Travel Association) only last year.

Dr. Gerry Ortega (center) in the 2010 PATA Awards held in Macau Resort Hotel, Macau.

I was so happy for him. I was happy for the community he worked with and the environment we both dearly cared for.

And now, I heard the devastating news that he was gunned down in Puerto Princesa City. Being a radio personality made him a target of the evil people he exposed to the public.

My heart is exploding and crying out for justice. They killed not only a man. They killed a friend. They killed an environmental symbol and a promise many Palawenos held dearly to their hearts.

May justice be the end of the journey for the name, Doc. Gerry Ortega. Be with our God, my friend….

Words and photos  by Caloy Libosada

For somebody who have been to Cambodia at least three times, it is really stupid to even admit that I haven’t been to Angkor Wat. Yes, that famed civilization that became an icon for Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider movie.

But I have a fairly good reason not to get lost in the northern part of the kingdom and find my way instead to the southern shores called the province of Sihanoukville.

Ochheauteal (O-tsa-teel or O-sha-teel) is a public beach where you get to meet a lot of local and foreign travelers.
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Words and Photos by Alman Dave Quiboquibo

I began my Saturday at 11AM. After my morning rituals, I put on a pair of shorts, wore a shirt, slung my Lowepro camera bag on my shoulder and stepped out of the house shod in slippers. I was determined to walk for the better part of the afternoon and explore spheres in my own city that are outside the realms of my experiences. I briefly consulted a city map before i stepped out but didn’t bother to take down any notes. I wanted to be lured to indecision by the sheer urgency of my urban adventure.

My first stop was the Salcedo Market. I have been there many times before, but not recently. The market cackled with activity: there were the usual organic produce and exotic cuisine alongside your regular pork barbecues and cotton candy and decadently rich matrons with their coiffed hair drying under the sun inquiring about home-made healthy options to the usual things with store owners who speak in an English that hints either of a high degree of education, breeding, or both. I skipped the stuffed frogs and the fried pigeon for fresh Vietnamese spring rolls and shark’s fin dumplings (only after I confirmed that it was not real shark’s fin).

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