MISORET Peace & Development Summit

MISORET is an acronym for Misamis Oriental Eastern Towns. MISORET is a development cluster of low income class municipalities composed of the towns of Balingasag, Lagonglong, Salay, Binuangan, Sugbongcogon, and Kinuguitan. MISORET envisions to be an agri-industrial center and an eco-tourism area in the islang of Mindanao in complementation with other growth areas in the Philippines.

Last 25 April 2007, officials of the six municipalities, barangay/village officials, representatives from various national government agencies, representatives from partner NGOs and representatives from funding agencies gathered in the Municipality of Salay and a Manifesto for Peace and Development in MISORET was signed. The manifesto outlined the common beliefs and aspirations of all stakeholders in the development cluster which include the belief that underdevelopment in the cluster is one of the major factor that leads to unpeace in the area.

The Peace & Development Summit served as the concluding activity of the MISORET Barangay Development Planning Project supported by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). NGOs like Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc. (BMFI) and Resource Center for Empowerment and Development (RCED) has been actively assisting the cluster in their various capability-building activities.

A total of 47 barangays/villages were able to complete their respective Barangay Peace and Development Plans through a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). These plans were presented during the Peace and Development Summit and formed the basis for the declaration of the barangays/villages as Peace Zones.

Swimming Lessons

For the past two weeks I accompanied my son Diego, to the Xavier Estates Sports and Country Club for his swimming lessons. These are some of the shots I have taken of him. On the first three days of his classes he was able to swim the front crawl stroke (a.k.a. freestyle). Going into the eighth day of his classes, he was already swimming the breast stroke.

His teacher, who happens to be my swimming coach way back when I was with the swimming varsity in college, observes that he is a fast learner. If given more time, he will start to learn the other strokes (butterfly stroke and back stroke). I feel happy that he showed interest in swimming. For all I know, one day he will follow in my footsteps and even make it to the National Swimming Team :). I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Beating the Summer Heat