Beautiful Bohol

Imagine visiting places in our beautiful country for free. With HSBC Mabuhay Miles Visa, traveling for free is easy. For every P45 you spend, you get one mile. Just charge all your groceries, gas and other expenses, the more miles you earn.

Babsie Aragon and Ria Domingo of Philippine Airlines (PAL) Mabuhay Miles and Laine Santana and Claire Yap of HSBC organized a tour of Bohol, one of the country’s booming tourist destinations to showcase what we Filipinos don’t get to even see as some of us would rather go abroad. Metropolitan Museum director Ino Manalo was our expert tour guide around Bohol, one of the destinations PAL flies to.

Bohol is known for its Chocolate Hills which are actually limestone formations now covered with grass. Our group also had fun seeing and feeding the Philippine Tarsier. Though sometimes referred to as the world’s smallest primate, the tarsier is not a monkey. Scientists say the tarsier falls somewhere between the lemurs and the monkeys on the evolutionary scale.

Of course, shopping for antiques, baskets and other native handicrafts were also on our agenda. 

Ino said there are several churches to see but we only had time for two. After taking the Loboc River cruise, we visited Baclayon Church. Baclayon or the Roman Catholic Parish Church of Immaculada Concepcion was built before 1727. In 1768, Baclayon was ceded to the Recollects, who re-built the altar and constructed a new convent wing in 1872. The church has a museum that showcases antique religious articles. 

We then headed to the Loboc Church where we listened to the world famous Loboc Children’s Choir, fresh from winning a choir competition in Spain. Loboc or the Roman Catholic Church of San Pedro was completed in 1734 and founded in 1596 by Jesuit de Torres. Just like Baclayon, this church was also ceded to the Recollects on the same year. An interesting feature of this church is its ceiling painstakingly painted by Cebuano painter Canuto Avila in the 1930s. We had a delicious dinner at the Loboc Convento prepared by Vicky Wallace of the Bohol Bee Farm. Vicky’s excellent honey and squash muffins are a must. Before heading back to Panglao Island Nature Resort, we stopped by for Bohol sweets such as broas, baked polvoron, and ube tarts to take home to Manila.

It came as a surprise that from our group of about 30, more than 20 had never been to Bohol before. Our country is beautiful and there still is so much more to see. Traveling around the country is something I do more often now.

Apply for the card now, call 878-7878 or visit www.hsbc.com.ph and for only 4,000 accumulated miles, you have your free round-trip ticket to Bohol via PAL. Of course, for those who have their eyes set beyond Bohol, the miles are applicable to any PAL destination around the country and the world. Start charging, as they say, sayang ang miles.

Showjumping classic

Olympian Toni Leviste, Asian Games gold medalist Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski and Manila Polo Club Rider of the Year and designer Vittorio Barba are familiar names when one thinks of equestrians. Sony Ericsson introduced even more riders to watch out for in the recently-concluded Sony Ericsson Showjumping Classic at the Alabang Country Club.

Riding enthusiasts have their eyes on wonder riders such as 16-year-old Joker Arroyo, Alexis Cortes, high school senior Danni Virata, brothers Mateo and Diego Lorenzo, Gaby Herbosa, Natalie Zani and Bea Rocha.

These young riders stood out during the 2005 Sony Ericsson Showjumping Classic, the event that served as the first qualifying competition for the Philippine Equestrian Team to the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.

It was a fun day for the audience primarily composed of family and friends. There were games, a raffle, pony riding and trampoline jumping courtesy of Equisport Concepts. Sony Ericsson gave out prizes as families used the unique swivel-designed Sony Ericsson S700i for a photo contest of all showjumping related subjects. The new S700i features a 1.2 megapixel camera for brighter and sharper mobile imaging. The team of Ixi Mapua, Mikeli Mapua-O’Leary and Jake Roxas got the top prize. 

With emerging young talents like what were seen that day, showjumping has a bright future in Philippine sports.

What’s up?

Two things come to mind when this brand is mentioned. First is that very popular Irish band, then the very popular clothing brand: U2. I grew up knowing and using this line of apparel. The company’s clothes designs have evolved since its inception for they have become more hip and chic now. On April 13, the U2 VIP Card, a lifetime discount card, will be launched at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall’s Atrium.