Many desperate acts of courage and heroism have fallen under my observation on many fields of battle in many parts of the world. I have seen last-ditch stands and innumerable acts of personal heroism that defy description, but for sheer breathtaking and heart-stopping desperation, I have never known the equal of those Igorots. Gentlemen, when you tell that story, stand in tribute to these gallant Igorots.

– Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Sources: Time Magazine article and Scott

Of Igorots and independence : Two essays / William Henry Scott [illustrations by Alex Aguilar]
Baguio City : A-Seven Publishing, 1993

Soon after the election. Jack Kennedy called his closest advisers together in Palm Beach for a session on Cabinetmaking. His instructions were succinct: “I want to get the best men I can for these Cabinet jobs, and I don’t care if they are Democrats, Republicans or Igorots.” Kennedy’s lieutenants thereupon set forth on the great man hunt. It was a long, laborious and tedious process, checking out the past performances and future potentialities of dozens of men. There were grumblings that Kennedy was vacillating and taking a long time with the job.* But when he fed out the last of his Cabinet choices last week, there was widespread agreement that he had assembled some promising advisers and executives.

Source: Time Magazine article

Read Vincent Cabreza’s article on the first Igorot general.

Brig. Gen. Pedro Baban
Philippine Military Academy Class of 1940
La Trinidad Agricultural High School 1935 (now Benguet State University)

Gwen Garci is an Igorot. Her mom is from Besao, Mountain Province.

Read about Gwen Garci’s childhood background and past love affairs here.

Jocelyn Dulnuan, 27, was murdered in a plush neighborhood of Mississauga City last October 1. Police have arrested two Latin American immigrants for the murder.

Arcelie Laoagan, 40, from Sagada, Mountain Province, Naguilian, Isabela and Santa Cruz, Ilocos Sur, Philippines had been found by subway train workers on Friday behind a church in Calgary, Alberta.

Laoagan was reported missing on January 17 when she failed to return home.

Body found near the Grace Baptist Church.

So Laoagan isn’t from Sagada as previously reported. No wonder it looked odd when I was her kids on TV. They didn’t seem to be in Sagada.

Zennia Aguilan, 31, from Sagada, Mountain Province, Philippines was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Verdict?

Ugly.

Why have a .com.ph domain when you can have a .com ? OK somebody else got that first. One year earlier.

And everything else is just plain ugly.

It looks better in the thumbnails, so go see for yourself baguiomidlandcourier.com.ph .

Will eating too much etag (smoked pork) cause lung damage? Well’ I’m not sure about that, but

A study has found that the preservatives in bacon, ham and salami could harm the lungs in the same way as emphysema.

…

Lead researcher Dr Rui Jiang, of Columbia University in New York, said: “Cured meats are high in nitrites, which are added to meat products as a preservative, an anti-microbial agent and a colour fixative. Nitrites may cause damage to the lungs.”

The chemicals are thought to generate reactive molecules that produce structural damage to lung tissue.

The researchers found that high consumers of cured meats were likely to be male, of lower socio-economic status, to smoke and to have a low intakes of fruit, vegetables and vitamins.

Dr Jiang said further studies of the link between dietary nitrite and COPD were needed.

So do alnus (Japanese alder) twigs and leaves have high nitrate content? In Sagada, they usually smoke the pork that becomes etag usually by letting the sweet smell of fresh alnus twigs and leaves permeate the meat and fat the whole day.

The last thing I read was that nitrates or whatever preservatives in hotdogs cause headaches so if you are migraine prone like me, do something with your breakfast choices.