Gensan Tuna Experience 2010

The Gensan Tunafest is a must-see, must-go series of events for generals and privates alike. The newly-elected officials of the local government asked for more time to prepare for it, that's why the schedule was moved from the first week of September to the third week instead. And it was the right decision because the events were spread all throughout the month making this year's Tunafest the longest-running series of events. Next year, it will be back to the original schedule.

Below is the press release from the General Santos City Government through Avel Manansala:

GenSan TunaFestival eXperience 2010 is on!  Festival Month of September jampacked with events!

The 2010 Tuna Festival Month of September handled by the General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (GSCCCII) as Festival Organizer with City Mayor Darlene Magnolia Antonino-Custodio as Chairperson started on a high note last week.

Guided by the theme "Go Global GenSan: We Are Ready for the World", the jam packed month-long GTx (GenSan Tunafest experience) kicked off on September 2-4, 2010 with the conduct of the 12th National Tuna Congress which broke records in terms of the  number of attendees and exhibitors at its Tuna Congress Exhibit held at Family Country Convention Center.

On September 3, 2010, former Senator Mar Roxas came in behalf of Keynote Speaker President Noynoy Aquino to inspire the participants consisting of local and international tuna and fishing industry leaders and stakeholders.

The annual Karagatan Awards that honored the year’s outstanding handline fishmermen were given to the awardees at the Appreciation Dinner that same night at the Isla Parilla Resort in Alabel, Sarangani.

Then on Sunday, the whole city commemorated the 42nd Charter Day Anniversary with a mass at the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Parish Church and an Ecumenical Prayer Service and short program at the Gen. Paulino Santos Shrine inside the Plaza Heneral Santos. 

This was attended by the city’s business and socio-civic leaders, government workers and officials led by Congressman Jun Acharon, Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio, Sarangani Vice-Governor Steve Chiongbian-Solon, the city councilors, among other personages.  

Vice-Governor Solon's attendance made the affair more meaningful as it was his grandfather, the former Congressman James Chiongbian who authored the Bill that created General Santos City.

An "Almusal Alay sa Kapwa" spearheaded by the CSWDO followed afterwards which offered free breakfast to the city's less fortunate families.  

For the 2nd weekend of the month, on September 10, 2010,  the much-awaited concert of the ASAP Sessionistas will happen at Mindanao's largest indoor air-conditioned gymnasium, the GenSan Gym in Barangay Lagao.  This is one of the city's biggest gathering of famous performers from Manila and tickets are selling briskly especially now that the concert date is getting near.  

The major highlights of the GTx will occur during the week of September 18-26, 2010.

Expect these crowd-drawing beauty and talent search events to dazzle the generals and visitors alike:

• Search for Ginang Bariles on Sept 22
• Search for Ms. GenSan 2010 on Sept 25
• Search for Mr. GenSan 2010 (new event!) on Sept 25
• Gaisano Mall's Search for Munting Mutya ng GenSan 2010 on Sept 26

Then there are these youth-powered dance and singing competitions:

• Pasiklaban Cheer Dance Competition on Sept 18
• Campus Radio's Sayaw Sa Baybay-Kids Edition on Sept 21
• Search for GenSan Pop Idol Year 6 on Sept 22
• GenSan Pop Star Kids Competiion on Sept 23
• Fishdance Hip-Hop Dance Competition on Sept 24
• Search for GenSan Band Idol on Sept 24

The GTx Month is also filled with exciting sports competitions:

• Tuna Motorbike Competition
• Beach Volleyball Competition
• Robinsons' 1st TunaBodis Body-Building Competition
• National Skim Boarding Competition
• HRM Mini-Skills Competition
• Robinsons' Inter-Tribe Tuna Cookfest
• Bombo Radyo's Bancarera

On its own, the FishFest sa Fishport will also have its own set of events for the fishermen on September 22nd:

• Langoy-Bugsay Marathon Challenge
• 1st Lawihan Street Dancing Competition

To enliven the GTx more, there are the parties and concerts!

• Kapamilya Caravan featuring ABS-CBN stars @ KCC on Sept 18 (new!)
• Kapuso Night featuring GMA stars @ KCC on Sept 24 (new!)
• Robinsons' Praize Xtreme Concert on Sept 19
• Foam Parties @ East Asia Royale Hotel with Eli Buendia & PUPIL on Sept 24-25
• Robinsons' Al Fresco Sashimi Night featuring the Best of GenSan Bands on Sept 25
• SMART Communications Concert @ Oval Plaza Stage on Sept 25
• GLOBE Telecoms Concert @ Oval Plaza Stage on Sept 26
• San Miguel Beer Concert @ the Junction on Sept 26

And not to forget the must-see Major Highlights on Culmination Day (Sept 26, 2010):

• Tuna Float Parade Competition @ 9am
• GTX Mardi-Gras Competition (Street Dancing) @ 9m
• Splash in the Sky Fireworks Display @ 7pm

And for three weeks, these attractions will be featured at the City Oval Plaza, the main activity center:

• Tinda-Tinda sa GTx (Flea Market)
• Tuna Food Plaza
• Tuna Fiesta Carnival
• Plantuna Garden Show
• Coca-Cola's Everyday Kainan Happiness Zone
• San Miguel Beer Barkada Zone

For this year's Tuna Festival Month celebration, a new Tuna Festival Theme song will be launched.  Entitled "WHOA GENSAN!", this catchy and lively festival theme song commissioned by TunaFest Director and GSCCCII VP Orman O. Manansala, is composed by GenSan's very own "Centerpoint Band" who will first perform it LIVE to the public during the "ASAP Sessionistas Live in Concert" on September 10, 2001 where they will serve as the front act.

With all these events, activities and new attractions in store for GTX festival revelers, expect the Tuna Festival Celebration to upgrade its reputation as the 2nd Best Festival in the Philippines, an award given to the Tuna Capital by the the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) in 2009. 

Because for sure, this will be the best GenSan's Tuna Festival Experience for the generals and their visitors ever making the city truly MAGANDANG GENSAN!

Your Royal Gandaness and Me (Close Encounters of the Gandaeversomuch! Kind)

Your Royal Gandaness and me. Pansinin ang kanyang "naughty finger." Heheh

There's simply not just ONE best/unique experience with Orman Manansala 
who is a multi-hyphenated person: 
blogger-banker-dog lover-foodie-brother-uncle-bossing-
bahala na si Batman risk taker-cinemaphile-
friendship-life of the party-kabalen-event organizer-
alumnus par excellence-plurker-benefactor-ninong sa kasal at binyag-
 martir sa ngalan ng love-abo eklabo.


I hope ang sumusunod na close encounters ko with Ormz will do justice 
to the blogger, the man and the friend. 


Ormz and I are still in the getting-to-know-you stage in our friendship. 

It has its share of humps, potholes, and smooth lanes 

as we both cruise around it.

Nagtatrabaho na ako nang gumradweyt si Orman sa hayskul.

(Sa edad, mas malapit si Kuya Avel niya sa akin.)

Ang unang close encounter ko with Ormz was
noong kailangan kong i-defend 

ang aming group business proposal
sa harap niya sa NDDU Graduate School.
Tumatak agad sa akin ang kanyang Taray Factor 
at galing sa pagkilatis ng mga proposal.

Magkakilala na kami pero hindi pa close noon.

Ngayon, happy na ako na close na kami dahil sa
constant plurk at blog events na aming pinagsamahan
at hindi ko pinapangarap na maging closer pa sa kanya

kasi ayon kay Ormz reserved yun sa mga kaaway niya

(Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer).

Heheh.

Your Royal Gandaness and mascot

Hi Gandaness! ang greeting ko sa kanya pag tiniteks ko siya,

otherwise, hindi niya ako tiniteksbak.

Hmmmp!

After siya nagbertdey last year, 

may nakita akong tinitindang napakalaki at napakabigat 

na brown frog cement sculpture na inorder ng iba pero

di na binalikan kaya binarat-barat ko 

para may advance krismas gift ako sa kanya.
Agad niya itong bininyagang Official Mascot of Gandaeversomuch!

Nilagay niya ang brown frog sa kanyang munting balkonahe

para may kasama sila ni Chad habang pinapraktis niya
ang monologue ni Juliet:

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

 Hindi ko lang alam kung hinahalikan ni Ormz ito

para ma-transform at maging Prince Charming niya.

Heheh.

Sa pagkakakilala ko kay Ormz (so far),

bagayeversomuch 

na maging personal anthem niya ang kantang ito:

I am what I am

I am my own special creation.

So, come take a look, give me the hook or the ovation.

It's my world that I want to take a little pride in.

My world and it's not a place I have to hide in.

Life's not worth a damn till you can say, hey world, I am what I am.

I am what I am

I don't want praise, I don't want pity.

I bang my own drum, something gets noise, I think It's pretty.

And so what if I love each feather and each bangle.

Why not try to see things from a different angle

Life's not worth a damn till you can shout out loud, I am what I am.

I am what I am

And what I am needs no excuses.

I deal my own deck, sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces.

There's one life and there's no return and no deposit.

One life, so it's time to open up your closet.

Life's not worth a damn till you can say, hey world, I am what I am.

 

Pag dating kay Ormz,

it's not Take It or Leave It kundi

Take It and Love It!

Heheh.

Your Royal Emoness

Ormz can be Funny, Out, Loud, Brash and 

(Uh oh! eto yung B-word na ayaw banggitin ni Mandi sa sinulat niyang profile ni Ormz)

Bitchy!

(May isa pang B-word na bahala na si Avel ang magkuwento sa inyo
na may kinalaman sa mga sirena at dagat.)

Sa mga hindi pa close sa kanya,

ang pagiging funny, out, loud, brash o bitchy niya lang ang naaaninag nila.

Pero sa kanyang quiet moments,

lalong-lalo na sa emo ones,

nasusulyapan ko ang isang Ormz

na gusto kong yakapin 

at tawaging little brother (little daw o!)

kaya lang leeg niya lang ang masasalikupan ng aking arms.

Heheh.

Lagi niya tayong napapatawa pero

may mga pagkakataon ding napapatawa ko siya,

at bumubukal ang kanyang tawa mula sa sa kaibuturan

ng kanyang umaalog-alog na tummy

 at sasabihin niya sa akin:

Funny ka talaga, Bert!

Hindi ko makakalimutan ang kanyang halakhak (buhakhak),

nang minsan pinaalala ko sa kanya:

Ormz, remember ang luha pag natuyo, nagiging muta.

Heheh.

Your Royal Gandaness's peborit komport fud

Syempre, pag si Ormz ang kasama ko,
mawawala ba ang culinary (kain/habhab) moments?
Pero kahit na ano ang gawin ko,
hindi talaga ako makasabay sa kanya.
Nakakadalawang subo pa lang ako, simot na ang nasa plato niya!
Sabi ko nga sa kanya: Ay, In-inhale mo ang fud!?!#
Pero kahit ano pang disheses ang ihain kay Ormz,
peborit comfort food niya for all-time ang Otin (Odong with Tinapa)
na nakapiktyur sa itaas.
Heheh.

And so, Your Gandaness, Ormz

here's my toast to one year of Gandaeversomuch!

I look forward to more years in our blossoming friendship.

And here's my wish for you!

I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss, but more than this
I wish you love
And in July some lemonade
To cool you in some leafy glade
I wish you health
But more than wealth
I wish you love . . .

Photos courtesy of Avel &  Orman Manansala.

My Fave GESM Blog Post - The Four-Year Itch

(Note: This blog post is my entry to Gandaeversomuch!'s Week #5 Blogversary contest.)

Having read Orman Manansala's 438 blog posts in Gandaeversomuch! over a period of one year, choosing only ONE fave blog post made me feel like Charlie Bucket agonizing over his ONE mind-boggling candy choice in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory! So, I had to narrow down my choices to his Love Love Ever category with 23 posts. Only to find out that nine of them are password-protected (and therefore excluded from said contest) to protect the not-so-innocent (AKA as toot-toot-toot)??? Heheh. And so after rereading the remaining 12 "unprotected" posts, I've chosen The Four-Year Itch as my fave post, so far . . .

This blog post is quintessentially Orman: Funny, In-Your-Face, Naughty, Gay, Erudite, Racy.

I respect him for choosing a wife na kasing-taba ko.

The comic in Orman shows in this blog post. He can make any topic his own by injecting his brand of humor that make reading his posts fun. If you've read his blog posts first before meeting him in person, then you're in for a pleasant surprise that makes you wonder: How can such a heavyweight come up with light reading posts that make you light-hearted every time, all the time?

Ako naman itong naive (naiiba ang ugali?). Ako naman itong si feeling maganda, lumandi.

 His post is so In-Your-Face and WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). He points out to his readers what he and they have in common, warts and all. Kaya nga, ang daming readers niya ang nakaka-relate sa mga post niya. Because of his self-deprecating style of writing, he tells you his shortcomings first so that you can accept yours when you see yourself in his posts. Enaderwords, inookray ka na niya pero natatawa ka (imbes na mainez) kasi alam mong nauna na siyang umokray sa sarili niya.

Gusto nya akong kuning Ninong ng anak nya – ano ako, bakle?  Sakalin ko na lang kaya ang asawa nya.

His post is playful, naughty. If there's one thing Orman learned from his pet toy dog, Chad, it's how Chad pretends to bite him by nipping on his fingers, feet, clothes without really sinking his fangs into them. Orman's posts are naughty, but never nasty. Like Chad, Orman's bark is worse than his bite. He is the bitch that everyone loves to love.

With (toot-toot-toot), sa sobrang haba ng hair ko nasa Japan ang pinakadulo.  Siempre wala namang perfect relationship.  Sabi ko sa sarili ko, fatalist na ako. Kung anong darating tatanggapin ko but for the time being, i’ll enjoy the moment first. Isa pa, malayo pa ang 4th anniversary namin no! Smile na lang ever!

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that Orman is gee-ey-why. His gee-ey-why-ness reeks in every Gandaness post he writes. He is our online Vice Ganda even before the latter became popular in Showtime!. His readers share his roller coaster of a lovelife in this post. Where before, gee-ey-why love was considered a love that dares not speak its name, Gandaeversomuch! makes its readers realize that straight or not, hetero or homo, love is universal and everyone (Orman included) is on a quest for true love. And so when Orman announced to his readers that he got back with toot-toot-toot, they (including me), strapped themselves in their seats, gripped the handlebars and got ready for this roller coaster ride.

Teka bakit nga ba apat na taon lang ang itinatagal ng love affairs ko??? Sa Chinese ang four o apat ay “si” na sounds like death daw. Haler, parang may koneksyon ano?

Reading this post or any other post in Gandaeversomuch!, his readers come away learning something new, thankyoueversomuch to Orman's erudition and learning from his own experiences. You know that his blog posts are not only emotion-driven, but also splashed liberally (parang cologne!) with intelligent tips and advices. His idol, Kris Aquino can learn a lot from reading his blog. If she subscribes to Orman's blog, then maybe I won't call her Crazy Krissy anymore. Crazy na lang! Heheh.

Nasa States ako nang maisipan nyang subukan kung gagana pa ang titi nya sa girl. Eh pinili nya ang puke anong magagawa ko?

Orman writes the way he talks. He tells-it-like-it-is. He calls a spade a spade. This post is peppered with racy, pungent, ribald, risqué (ayan, na-copy and paste ko na dito ang synonyms from Roget's Thesaurus!) words. Not all his posts are like this, so Orman is not trying hard to be the youngest of the foul-mouthed Tulfo pack. Funny lang, kasi I've still to hear/read him use the P***** I** M* expletive. It's either Potek! or Amfotah! or Potah!, but never P***** I** M* (yet!). And if I know Orman, he will eventually write a post with P***** I** M* as a title.


Kung hindi ninyo ito na-gets the first time, do go back to the second paragraph, put together the first letters (in bold print) of the adjectives I used in choosing The Four-Year Itch as my fave GESM blog post and all together now, let's give it to Orman! LOL

Ganda Ever So Much! - Orman Manansala's Lethal Weapon

Being the lurker that I am, I make it a point to read up on what's happening to people I made friends  with online via their social media accounts so that when we (finally) meet, we can talk about what we Facebooked, Friendstered, Twitted, Plurked, Blogged, etc.

And so several years back, I've read Orman Manansala's previous blogposts in a social media site about his relationship with a young man I will call Two Boyfriends Ago (TBFA). Chronicled there in blogposts, pictures (look! we got matching rings!), and music (theme songs galore!) was Orman's emotional roller-coaster ride. That blog later gathered dust and was obscured by virtual cobwebs as Orman moved on to another relationship with another young man, Immediate Past Boyfriend (IPBF).

His brother, Avel, had been nagging him to resume blogging as we organized events for the SoCCSKSargen Bloggers. And when he finally got the gumption to blog, he surprised us with not one but TWO blogposts in his new Ganda Ever So Much! Blog on August 1 last year. Click here to read his first blogpost.

Since then, Orman tried his best to write a blogpost a day. He skipped a day or two, but made up for it by writing two posts the next. From his very claustrophic blogposts about him and TBFA to Ganda Ever So Much!, his roller-coaster ride became OUR roller-coaster ride as he opened his heart and mind to his readers.

His tumultuous relationship with IPBF was blogged for all to read and when it was finally over, you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief online, but almost immediately we hold our collective breath as we accompany the lovestruck Orman on his quest for True Love. When he licks his lips over his favorite food items, our collective stomach starts to growl and rumble at the sight of those eyepopping pictures of delectable dishes in his blogposts. When he goes emo, a collective commiseration floods the comments section of his emo blog - "Shh, shh, don't cry now. Soon your Prince Charming will come along. Just keep wearing the other crystal shoe, Cindylauperella or Keep on dreaming Sleefing Veauty until true love's kiss awakens you or Tandaan mo Ormz, ang luha pag natuyo, nagiging muta (Remember Ormz, tears, when they dry up, become eye boogers)." BUT when he gives tips, oh my Momay!, nobody does it better because he gives it with mega-doses of  wit and humor that readers end up ROFLing (Rolling On The Floor Laughing) while WTFTEing (Wiping Tears From Their Eyes).

Yes, indeed, Orman's Ganda Ever So Much! has become embedded in our collective consciousness as readers who have and haven't met him share the UPS and downs of his life (I tell you, he's the online version of his idol, Kris Aquino). And you must have been hiding under a rock or an alien from another planet not to have partaken from this buffet/smorgasbord of a blog. His blogpost categories has everything for everyone - What Ever, Bugbog Ever, Emo Ever, Contest Ever, Food Ever, Ngarag Ever, Love Love Ever, Movies Ever, Health Ever, Serious Ever, you-name-it's-got it! And his pictures - eye candies galore for heteros and homos, young and old, foodies and anorexics, actual and armchair travelers! He's got the lowdown on what's pop, what's cool, what's worth giving his two-centavos worth of bitchy opinion. I'm predicting that this blog is going to be a book soon and I'll be lining up to buy copies to be given to my bookworm-friends (of course, with matching autographs from the author: Koyah, pautograp puhleazzzzeee)!

It's no wonder then why his faithful blog readers keep coming back for more! He is our online one-man Vice Ganda Showtime! host! He's got us eating out of the palm of his hand! Armed with his Apple laptop and Lumix LX3 digital camera, Orman has made his Ganda Ever So Much! blog a lethal weapon to slay us all online. Everytime, all the time.

Kudos, Ormz, for coming back to blogging! :)