FROM THE MAILBAG...

A LETTER FROM CHINA.

For the last week, I've been on the line with some international publications (a few in China, some from the US and Mideast) who were asking for my take on the bus hostage situation, its reasons and ramifications. This morning, I received a letter from one of the many journalists I was dealing with in Mainland China. It really put things in perspective for me. And as I hope, for the many Filipinos and Chinese nationals out there who have access to blogspot.com.

Of course, unlike us, Mainland China doesn't have this tricky thing called democracy and freedom of press, so please forgive me for not including her/his name.

Dear Mr Carlos Celdran,

Thank you for your kindness help last week. I think it really helped our readers to understand more about the situation fillippinos are facing, rather than conspiracy and hysteria.

Unfortunately I'm a Chinese Citizen, which means even though our country are now claimed to be the second largest economy I still have to obtain a visa to your country, Even I tried really hard to secure a visa last week, I can't manage to get one on time.

Once again I have to base in China to report international affairs.

I read this blog about this incident on Philippine Online Chronicle today.

http://thepoc.net/commentaries/9522-hostage-crisis-and-a-broken-nation.html

which made me to think the problems our two nation facing are amazingly similar. Inept and corruption also the biggest problems of our administration, and it's also the ordinary people are paying for the price.

I've been reading your blogs these days, and fall in love with the dynamic manila. Through this blog I can see your love of your nation. I've been to XXXX in XXX last year, and only spend X hours at the manila international airport.Maybe next time I will pay a visit to the capital.

If you have time, I would love to have a more in-depth talk to you on phone about Philippine the nation and this incident, hopefully I can bring more sympathy to my readers.

Your's Faithful
XXX XXXX XX

I invited him out for a San Miguel Beer should he come back to visit Manila. But at the end of it all, we must realize that many Chinese out there acknowledge that we have to much in common to throw our relationship away.

Just like us, even they know that this too, shall pass.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

Thank you Kate Bartlett of www.mysinchew.com for the shout out in your article, "Manila Seeks To Tempt Tourists". It's a really great and balanced article on what Manila has to offer and is currently about. Click on this link for the article.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

WHY I DO WHAT I DO
Thanks a bunch to the guys from Commune and WYDMNL. I have to say that this is my favorite feature on myself so far. I look chubby but not too chubby and I don't seem like such a spaz.

Follow them on their twitter account: @WYDMNL and log onto their site http://www.wydmnl.com/ and check out their other features on folks like Quark Henares, Team Manila, Christian San Jose, Christina Dy, and Amina Aranaz Alunan. WYDMNL hope to inspire folks to follow their own path. Nice.

Watch the feature here: CLICK ON THIS

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

Some "behind the scenes" shots and commentary about "Placing the Transition", the talk and slide show I will present at Silverlens Gallery on July 1, 2010 at 6pm. I will juxtapose Teodulo Protomartir's photographs of Manila's destroyed state in 1946 with current photographs of the city today.

Hope to see you guys there.

Read the gma.tv online feature here:

Thanks a gazillion gmanews.tv, TJ Dimacali, Pia Faustino, Paolo Ferrer, Analyn Perez, Geric Cruz, and Wayne Manuel.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

LIVING LA VIDA RIZAL...
Thanks Rome for the awesome article in The Sunday Manila Times. And just in time for Rizal day on the 30th of December. Keep Rizal alive, everyone. Don't let the Damasos get you down.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

There is a great article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about my performance in Toronto for Kapisanan last May. Just came out this morning. Thanks a million, Harriet. Thanks a million, Kapisanan.

And on an not so similar but artistic note, WOW. Check out Andres Amador's work.

I'm all over art like that.

I'M PHONING IT IN...

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

I am totally tickled yellow to be quoted in The Huffington Post. Maraming Salamat Virginia. Maraming Salamat Tita Cory. Log on here for the whole article. I hope I made sense.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

BANGKOK CALLING...
Thank you Andrew Bond and The Bangkok Post for the lovely feature on yours truly. Check out the article here. Log onto Andrew's new website on travelling around the Philippines too. Thanks for the nice mention there as well.

Log onto his site here:

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

Thanks a bunch to The Italian newspaper "La Repubblica" for the super minor mention of my Imelda tour in the final paragraph of an article that appeared last week. My kingdom for a translator.

Imelda Marcos Danzando con la Storia su scarpe rosa shocking
RAIMONDO BULTRINI
04-07-09, pagina 39 sezione POLITICA ESTERA
Stampa questo articolo

MANILA Le Rolls Royce scaricano signore ingioiellate davanti al Sofitel di Manila Bay, dopo scrupolosi controlli anti-bomba. Tra due ali di hostess filippine in abiti tradizionali, frotte di ospiti in sete fruscianti, smoking e livree fanno il loro ingresso nella grande sala addobbata di candelieri e strisce di stoffa bianche che scendono da ogni angolo del soffitto.

Read the rest of it here: LA REPUBBLICA.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

Kapisanan presents: If these Walls Could Talk by Carlos Celdran from rj leveriza on Vimeo.

Thanks Kapisanan and RJ Leveriza for the great feature 

on the performance of "If These Walls Could Talk" in Toronto.

May 22 - 23, 2009.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

I can't complain. I have been here in Toronto for less than a month and already I was able to swing an interview on CBC 99.1 (Here and Now) to talk about my work and about Manila. It was a short, sweet, but primetime interview @ four pm (Thanks Tori Allen once again). I actually got a few people to come to the show just because they heard the broadcast.

And now I find out that my picture (along with my super friend and Tesa's BFF, Lee (Poch) Chapman) came out in the website of Spacings Toronto Magazine. We were at the Toronto the Good party at The Distillery and our photo was taken by Filipino-Canadian snapster Rannie Turingan. See the article here and the full photo set here. I also had the pleasure of meeting Sean Micallef, (below) the man behind Spacing Toronto Magazine, Toronto the Good Party, and Murmur. I find his interests in creating a spirit for Toronto and using cellphones to tell stories about historical spots rather inspiring. Manila could use someone like him.

And on the more localized front, a couple of nights ago, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Brian Gorrell of the Pure Advocacy blog. Now we didn't talk about anyone bitchily let it be known (or at least not loudly). We just had a great time chatting & hanging out at the closing of Mateo Guez's show at Stephen Bulger Gallery on Queen Street. Brian and I have a lot in common it seems. We have tons of common friends, we both are very hyperactive and we both have an unexplainable passion for the Philippines. Watch the trailer of Mateo's soon to be released movie, "Off World" here.

Me trying to do my cool cat look with Brian. If I look thinner, it's only because I just finished biking 25 kilometers around all of Toronto that day. Oh, and my show, "If These Walls Could Talk" was also on the listings of BlogTO.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

MUCHAS GRACIAS, SENOR CONDE...

Thanks so much, Carlos Conde for the great article in the "Global Post". I'm stoked that he saw the tour for what it really was. He immediately detected that I am, in fact, NOT a tour guide nor historian, but just a flamboyant performance artist/jerk who talks way too much for his own good. 

And that's a peg I prefer. It eases the tension between me and "real" tour guides and "real" historians.  

Read Carlos Conde's article in The Global Post here:  Muchas gracias otra vez.

WHEE! WHEE! AND UGH! UGH!

Today, while on my way to the shooting of an-as-of-now-undisclosed product endorsement in the Batangas area, I received a really great text from one of my peeps over at the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network. Apparently, this March 3, Tuesday, at 3:00PM, Reproductive Health Bill HB5043 will be introduced to Philippine Senate for the first time ever! And with the backing of Senator Biazon no less. Things are moving really fast. Let's hope the momentum keeps! Happy Advanced International Women's Day, everyone!

But on a more somber note. Au Revoir! to the location of many happy 1970's memories with my grandfather and cousins. The chunky Locsin Magnolia Dairy plant (now Nestle), where I once scarfed down Merry Widows and Strawberry Parfaits, is going to be torn down by Robinson's Land Corporation for a - gasp! Gated Community. Jeez, Really, like Manila needs another one. I can only hope that the Gokongwei family does a good job in making the architecture of this new development enhance or improve the area. But judging by the "designed-by-a-team-of-chimpanzees" monstrosities that are Robinson's Galleria, Robinson's Place Malate, and Robinson's Pioneer/Cybergate, I wouldn't place good money on it.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

THANK YOU GAZILLIONS Forbes Magazine (www.forbes.com) and Straits Times (www.straitstimes.com) for featuring the battle currently raging in Congress about the Reproductive Health Bill (HB 5043).  And how sweet of you to give me the closing remarks.

Log onto the article here and here.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

From: Sunday Inquirer Magazine, July 27, 2008

Philippines: A Tour of Poverty

Women’s Feature Service

By Ross Harper Alonso

Photos Tammy David (Click here for more pictures)

Manila (WFS) -- Carlos Celdran is called the Pied Piper of Manila because of the number of people who queue to join his revolutionary tours around Intramuros and Binondo. He regales guests with historical trivia imparted with tons of humor and style as he leads them through the narrow streets of this historical city. 

He admits it is impossible to hide the poverty. “My guests see the poverty throughout the tour,” Celdran explains. “This is why it can’t just be about tourism. I had to squeeze in a social development angle somewhere since I stare at poverty in the face daily. I decided to do my bit to advocate family planning by distributing free condoms and birth control pills whenever we walked past squatter communities. I’ve been doing this since 2003.” 

In the beginning, this amused the people living in the countless shanties. The flamboyant Spanish mestizo in a barong Tagalog, wearing a black top hat or a salakot had become a common sight around the walled city and provided the residents with either a bit of entertainment or just something to be curious about.

“Who do you think eventually walks boldly up to me after I’ve shouted long and loud enough that I was giving out free birth control pills and condoms?” he challenges. “No, it’s not the shirtless, unemployed men sitting around, not tattooed teenage boys with blonde mohawks and their girlfriends or the prostitutes. It’s the mothers carrying half naked babies with malnourished toddlers at their heels who ask for any of the contraceptives.” 

Interacting with Urban Poor Women 

“Ang gusto ko pills, Kuya. Pwede makahingi ng apat na box?” (I like pills. May I ask for 4 boxes?) asks Evelyn, 26. “Ayaw kasi ng asawa ko ng condom.” (My husband doesn’t like to use condoms.) She looks older than her actual age and roughly introduces her five children, born barely a year apart. Her husband has been jobless for years but occasionally works at the pier to buy food that lasts for a few days. “It is impossible to use natural methods because my husband beats me when I refuse to have sex with him especially if he’s been drinking. This is the way of life of many wives here,” Evelyn admits in Filipino grasping the boxes tightly. “I can’t feed any more children since I’ve become too weak to accept laundry jobs. My children are hungry, naked and have never gone to school.” she adds bitterly. 

By now a small crowd of noisy children, women and a few men have gathered around Celdran but he stops himself from handing a box of pills to a pretty and petite girl. “Naku Miss, you’re too young to be using things like this. You should be in school,” he chides. “I’m 17 and I already have two children,” giggles the girl. “I can’t afford to buy contraceptives but I don’t want to give birth again because it’s very painful,” she says then gestures to an adolescent boy grinning from a stack of rusted drums. “My partner is embarrassed and doesn’t want his friends to know I force him to use a condom now.” 

Before Celdran could reply, an excited woman taps him on the arm, “Thank you for all of these,” she smiles holding up an assortment of condoms and pills. “I just got married but I don’t want to get pregnant and stop working. My husband doesn’t make much so I have to help him save. This is a big help to us.” 

Special Request

Dinlay, 37, stood out one day in a crowd. Oblivious to the noise and shoving going on around her, she continued to read the literature on the box and study the birth control pills. Despite her small frame, she manages to carry a baby with one arm and still stand sturdy while several young children pulled relentlessly at her t-shirt. She lives in a dark shack deep inside a squatter community one street away from the San Agustin Church with her husband and their 10 children ages 14 to six months. 

Dinlay laughs as close to a dozen children gather quickly around her. “My husband refuses to wear a condom and use the withdrawal method even if his job as a tricycle driver barely feeds us all,” she shares. “After my sixth child, I tried to take the birth control pills a health worker gave me but it made me nauseous. I am afraid of the pill’s side effects but I want to take them even if I have no money to buy food because I don’t want any more children. ” In her desperation, Dinlay pleads for Celdran to give her money for a ligation. “A few of the women here have had ligations done for P500 in a small hospital,” she explains. “They said it was painless and fast. It’s also much easier than asking our husbands to have vasectomies.” 

Women Wanting Control 

The women Celdran comes across are aware artificial contraceptives are not allowed by the Catholic Church but they insist it is not only impossible for them to practice natural methods of birth control but also to ask help from the church to feed their growing families. “The previous mayor of Manila stopped the health centers from giving free ligations and contraceptives,” laments Evelyn. “Most of the husbands in our squatter community don’t care if their wives give birth yearly as long as they have sex when they want. They don’t involve themselves with child rearing or family planning. All these are left to the women.” 

These are some of the people Celdran has learned to deal with on his tours. “They are people without the means and education or maybe even too lazy to improve their lives but men and women come out for contraceptives. They understand these prevent pregnancies and it’s their decision. I don’t force anyone to take them,” he clarifies. “The tourists who see what I do are happy and relieved someone is taking the initiative to address the city’s overpopulation problem. Some even make a special donation to support my humble campaign, which of course is very encouraging.” 

Celdran uses his personal funds to buy the contraceptives to give away. On an average he spends more than Php 15,000 a year on Php 30.00 birth control pills and Php 10.00 per box of condoms.

“Believe it or not, no one has given me any problems or criticized me about any of this,” he points out. “I take it as a good sign that I’ve somehow succeeded in raising the level of awareness about sexual responsibility in this part of the city at least.” WFS 

Side Bar Story

In celebration of World Population Day on July 11, 2008, the Reproduction Health Advocacy Network (RHAN ), a coalition of 35 non-government and people’s organizations championing reproductive health and reproductive rights held a Family Planning Fair in coordination with the Manila City Health Office in Tondo. Not only did hundreds of women troop to the fair for free artificial contraceptives, family planning services and referrals for ligations but men willingly underwent vasectomies. 

OH WOW. REALLY? COOL.

Did you know this about the Manila Pen?  I didn't.  How cool.  

Thanks Sandra Scott for the shout out.  Read her article here on chocolateatlas.com.

Thanks tikpaklong for the photo.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

As featured in the Philippine Star, read Gino dela Paz's article called "Slummer Holidays". It's a feature about this new trend in leisure travel called "Poorism", (a term that mixes "poverty" and "tourism") which is apparently all the rage now in India and Brazil.  But is "poorism" really helping the poor or objectifying them?  One wonders.  Either way, perhaps that's the word I should've used for my former "All the Way Down to Chinatown" tour, the one where I would take unsuspecting folks into the House on Madrid Street where we would hand out free birth control and discuss social issues. Good thing I never really charged people money for that tour (I only accepted anonymous donations) - lest ANYONE OUT THERE think that I make money off the less fortunate.  Thank you Barefootincowshit for the photo.

Oh, and thanks a million to Jenna Castro of Guidon Magazine for the great article!  

WHEE...WHEE...WHEE...

JETSET PARTY PUTS MANILA ON THE MAP!

Manila, Once Overlooked by the Jetset, Gets Groovy
(PRESS RELEASE)

MANILA - Manila is back on the fast track as a travel destination, with the Saturday 14 June launch in Cubao of the Groovy Manila Map'n'Guide, the latest publication from one of South East Asia's hippest publishers, Groovy Map, who have achieved a cult following amongst business and weekend city travelers for their laminated, pocked-size map-guides offering “Fun Mapped Out” in witty prose and simplified mapping.

The disco-themed party started with a tour led by one of Manila’s best known cultural tourism hosts, Carlos Celdran, the irreverent walking tour guide whose “Living La Vida Imelda” tour earned him gold-plated credentials to manage the launch party for the Bangkok-based company.

The party started when a private train carriage scooped up revelers at Ayala Station and whisked the thumping party, playing disco-themed Filipino music, to a former shoe market in Cubao, renamed Cubao Expo. Lined with performance and street artists, the area was converted to a beatnik zone, with revelers consuming complimentary drinks till long after midnight at destination venue Mogwai Cinema and Bar.

The Groovy Manila Map 'n' Guide Cover

Since its first publication of the ever-popular “Groovy Bangkok Map’n’ Guide” back in 1996, this Bangkok-based publisher has expanded titles to cover major cities as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney and beach destinations such as Bali and Phuket. It is now Manila’s turn to hit the Groovy Map radar.

Aaron Frankel, Founder of Groovy Map, celebrates with Carlos Celdran, famous walking tour guide and organizer of the event, the successful launch of their latest travel product, the Groovy Manila Map'n'Guide, aimed at business and weekend city travelers.

Said Aaron Frankel, MD and Founder of Groovy Map, who flew in for the launch, "Manila is a booming city, so it's time to put it ‘on the map’ and show travelers why it really is groovy."

Adds, Carlos Celdran, “the Philippines started Asia on the travel wish list by hosting the Miss Universe Pageant in 1974 and building Asia’s first Convention Center, but we stumbled soon after, and are only now starting to pick up where we left off, twenty years ago.”

Groovy Manila Map 'n' Guide Detail.

Groovy Map aims to change the perception of Manila too.

The city offers plenty of things to do and see, many of which are covered by the new Groovy Manila Map’n’ Guide. From where to go for a pampering massage to how to order a merienda, from dining in a Dickensian mansion to drinking in art-houses with dotcom savvy beatniks, Groovy Manila has it covered. “Finally this city is getting the attention it deserves as a groovy hot- spot” says Frankel “There’s a lot more to Manila than meets the eye.”

The bestselling Groovy Maps are marketed as an executive brief to a city, and are an attractive pocket-sized folded map, with one side offering witty and insightful tips on the best dining, bars, clubs, and shopping areas to hit, and the other, simplified and color-coded maps to the city. The slick, laminated product promises “everything you need to get the most of a city in a short time,” and if reviews are anything to go by, the map seems to deliver with an average 5-star rating on Amazon.com and plenty of fan mail on its own website, www.groovymap.com.

Frankel expects brisk sales in the Philippines and predicts the map will soon outsell the home market in Thailand due to the penetration rate of English amongst the population, and the boom in tourism.

Travel is on an upsurge in the Philippines, with visitor arrivals for January to April 2008 jumping 7.5% over last year’s volume, with visitors from the USA, Korea, Japan, and Australia accounting respectively for 18.5%, 17.9%. 11.5% and 5% of the foreign visitor market, and arrivals from many European countries jumping by double digit rates. Adding to the domestic equation, an estimated 33 million Filipinos make 2 or more domestic trips, and 2.7* million Filipinos travel overseas, nearly equal to the 3 million inbound visitors.

This is clearly a growth market in a country with a mixed cultural heritage, interesting historical roots and an abundance of natural attractions Often overlooked by other rival SE Asian cities, Manila is an inexpensive travel destination where almost 80% of the 67 million Filipinos are English speakers, making it a user-friendly market for Western visitors.

Positioning the Philippines as an adventure destination has begun to bear fruits, showing the ability of the Philippines to attract tourists for second and third trips, a crucial element to build upon inter-regional visitors. For instance, Thailand, which is pushing 14.5 million visitors per year is the envy of other nations for achieving a return rate of 51%, meaning 1 of 2 visitors will make another trip to Thailand in the future. However, with growth only 4.65% last year, Thailand is stumbling and the Philippines might pick up the slack with lower priced accommodation and more value-for-money beach destinations.

Good things lie ahead for Philippines tourism, and getting recognized by the jet-set only foreshadows groovy growth ahead.

The maps are being distributed by United Tourism Promotions, the publishers, of the E-Z brand of maps and atlas’, and the maps are already available in National Bookstores and soon will be distributed nationwide. Carlos Celdran said he will offer them to those taking his tours as well.

Contacts For Press/Interested Parties:
Niki Thongborisute at niki@groovymap.com or mobile +668-1649-6684
Aaron Frankel at aaron.f@groovymap.com or mobile +668-1612-9663
Any Groovy Maps gladly sent for review
Larger photographs available on request –300dpi and up to A4 size
Carlos Celdran: +63 (2) 484 4945, Mobile +63 (917) 8861080

UTP Distributors: Contact Lorena, UTP, Angeles City Headquarters: 16-14 Marlim Avenue, Diamond Subdivision, Balibago, Angeles City, Pampanga, 2009, Tel: (+63)(045) 322-8767 , +63045625-7708; Tel/Fax: (+63)(045) 625-7708