Sunday, July 14, 2019

Memories of the old Cogon Public Market


Seventy-one-year-old Flora Espejo was weeping as she looked  as the fire engulfed the whole building of a portion of the Cogon Public Market last Wednesday afternoon, July 10.

She wanted to save her vegetables, but to no avail.


Flora Espejo, a popular figure
at Cogon Public Market. Photo by Leo Udtohan
Cogon public market is considered a landmark in the city and a popular place for its tabo (market day) every Tuesday and Friday.

I felt sad for the occupants here as I watched the fire spreading quickly and devoured the building.  I regularly buy vegetables  and fish here aside visiting my favorite Plaza Marcela. Most vegetable and fish vendors here are my distant relatives and friends. They are Gaspara Pojas, 81, who sells native products since 1976, Maria Porlaris who sells rice, Wilma Bangalao and her daughter Juvy who sell “panakot” and Daday who sells the best sikwate in town.

But Flora is the most popular figure here.  Why? She is just one of the heiresses of the lot occupied by Cogon public market before it was donated to the local government.  Original owners of the lots were my grandfather Pantaleon Udtohan and his cousins, the Espejos and Ingkings.

If why occupants and some residents cried when the fire reduced the market, many of them grew up here to make a decent living. As a saying goes, some things will give way to something new.

As vendors and kibitzers were busy at the market, something strange happened at the Cogon High School Evening Session that night.

At past 7 p.m., classes were disrupted when at least 17 students were “possessed” by “evil spirits” and began to experience chest pains, difficulty breathing, cold sweat, body spasms and stiffening.

It all started when Grades 9 and 10 students complained of chest pains, and difficulty breathing, all of whom were female complained of the same symptoms. After a group of students started hysterical, students in the next classroom followed suit.

I am not an expert on spirit possession but I have had witnessed demonic possessions in the past.  Two of our female neighbors were possessed by evil spirits on different occasions.  As the priests began to pray, the woman slipped into a trance. She spoke in multiple voices-deep, guttural and masculine. When someone secretly sprinkled ordinary water on her, she didn't react. But when holy water was used, she screamed in pain. It took weeks for these women to be completely delivered from evil spirits.

Before and after: The Cogon Public Market is a
 popular landmark in Bohol province.
 Photos by Leo Udtohan
Last Friday, July 12, I had witnessed less than 10 students who were experiencing seizures alongside their horrifying hallucinations. They were taken to the principal’s office to calm down and wait for their parents to come to bring them home.

When students were “attacked”, I asked them what they saw. At first, they were silent for a second. When they regained consciousness, they answered they saw strange eyes and a black child with red eyes in the building.

The students looked liked they were afraid of something. It’s not really that they were rowdy, they just cried.  They started to show wild behavior which led us to think that maybe they were possessed by evil spirits.

In our Jewish and Christian faith, we believe demons are real. They do possess someone which serves as their “medium” that often elicits a response of fear.

In the case of Cogon High School Night, in my humble opinion, they were not possessed. Only one was genuinely “possessed” who served as the “medium” of the spirit world.  Other students just have contagious vision of the evil spirit. 

Anyone even faintly familiar with mental illnesses knows that individuals who think they are being attacked by malign spirits are generally experiencing nothing of the sort.

I spoke with psychologist Tina Agnes Bagaipo-Dumas and some teachers who found out that most of the students were depressed, stressed and skipped meals before going to school.

At 9 p.m., I got a call from our cousins to help a student who reportedly fainted after school. What was alarming she tried to cut her wrist because the spirit child at school told her.

At least 80 stalls were razed by fire last July 10. Photo by Leo Udtohan

To appease the worried parents, I accompanied the frightened student who was brought to the church for “deliverance” but the priest told us to see a doctor because the student showed no sign of “possession.”

I just told the young girl to pray before going to bed, eat on time and minimize watching horror and K-pop movies and using the mobile phone. 

Belief in possession exists in many religious traditions. Some people believe that possession is rare, but real. However, only a trained exorcist could tell if someone is possessed.

Doctors used to be widely skeptical and they argued that there's no empirical evidence that proves possession is real even though many cultures still believe that seemingly unprovoked acts of hysteria are caused by spirit possession.

Apart from spiritual modes of therapy, those exhibiting odd behavior should seek medical help.  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks to the importance of knowing the difference between mental illness and demonic actions.

 “The exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church,” it said.

“Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness,” it added.

 As of yet, there has been no rational or official explanation for the strange phenomenon.

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Thanks for your letters, all will be answered. Comments welcome at leoudtohan@yahoo.com, follow leoudtohanINQ at Twitter /Facebook.


Power outage plunges Manhattan in New York into darkness



The Upper West Side of the Manhattan borough of New York is dark after a transformer fire caused a power outage and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled.

 Billboards in New York's famous Times Square
were without power during Saturday's outage. Photo: AP
The outage comes on the anniversary of the 1977 New York City outage that left most of the city without power.

ABC News reported on Saturday that subway stations plunged into darkness and the billboards of Times Square suddenly flicked off as New York’s Manhattan was hit by a power outage.

Authorities say a transformer fire caused the power outage and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled.

About 42,000 customers lost electricity in the early evening, according to the Con Edison utility.

On social media, dozens of users posted photos of subway stations bathed in darkness.

“While Con Edison works to restore power in Manhattan, we encourage everyone to avoid below-ground subway stations,” New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Twitter.

Firefighters said they were responding to numerous requests for help, particularly from people trapped in elevators.

The cut affected the western chunk of Manhattan, particularly the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood and the theaters of Broadway.

Many Broadway musicals and plays cancelled their Saturday evening shows.

Several cast members from the show put on an impromptu performance in the street outside the theater for disappointed audience members.

Some shows like Frozen were among the Broadway shows to announce it had cancelled performances.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

With just one high note, Mariah Carey wins #BottleCapChallenge


Mariah Carey wins!

Image: Instagram Account of Mariah Carey
Celebrities and fans alike have been taking a stab at the #BottleCapChallenge, a new online fad that prompts social media users to upload a video of themselves attempting to side-kick the cap off a water bottle.

Singer Mariah Carey joined in the fun bottle cap challenge. In an Instagram post, Mariah said she accepted the challenge.

Mariah wowed netizens by singing just one high note, sending the bottle cap flying.

Mariah first did some karate gestures, put a finger to her ear, sang one high long note, then walked away with a big smile after seeing the bottle cap off. Piece of cake!



Fire hits Tagbilaran’s Cogon Public Market

Fire broke out at the Cogon Public Market
 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Wednesday afternoon, July 10. 
Photo by Leo Udtohan

A fire of still unknown origin destroyed several concrete stalls at the Cogon Public Market in Tagbilaran City Wednesday.


Acting City fire marshal Marlyn Macatangay said 80 stalls in the market were reduced to ashes when a fire broke out past 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 10.

Nobody was hurt in the fire that was placed under control an hour later.

Arson investigators have yet to determine the cost of damages in Wednesday’s  fire incident. 


However, vendors said the fire originated at the second floor of a store which sold bananas and jackfruits located in the dry goods section of the market.
Firefighters and volunteers at the Cogon Public Market
 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Wednesday afternoon, July 10.  
Photo by Leo Udtohan


No casualties have been reported.

Authorities have yet to determine the cost and what caused the blaze.

Cogon Public Market is a popular landmark in the province. 



Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Pick-pockets steal tourist’s purse captured on selfie-stick footage


A suspected female pickpocket gang have been caught on camera appearing to swipe a tourist's designer purse with £400 cash in London's West End.

According to Metro Online, tourists Nina Spencer and pal Toi McGurran were walking through Cambridge Circus, filming themselves as they toured through the busy capital.

But after they had crossed the road, Toi looked inside her Louis Vuitton handbag and noticed her designer purse containing £400 in cash and her credit cards was missing.

The footage shows the woman casually grabbing the purse
as they cross the road in London. 
Devastated Toi and Nina, both from Thailand, watched back their video and were shocked to see three females had been walking closely behind them on June 16.

The clip appears to show one woman shielding the other's hand as she allegedly grabs the purse.

The two women are then joined by a third woman in sunglasses - appearing to hand off the purse to her.
All three women then quickly walk away together in a different direction.

The Sun reported that  Nina said she reported the theft to police but said they have not had the wallet returned.

She said: ''We reported this to the police straight away. They asked me for the location where it happened and we sent them the video of it.

"We don’t think it’s possible to have the money back now. But we just want to be helpful and let the police be aware of things going on in the city."

Nina, who is originally from Thailand, has been living in the UK for several years with her British husband. Her friend, Toi, was visiting her for a trip to London.

Nina said the theft has left them both disappointed with their experience in London due to being the victims of crime.

She said: ''It’s sad that this had to spoil our trip. I hope the police can catch them so that it doesn’t happen to other people.''

According to Met Police, "No arrests have been made."




Sunday, July 7, 2019

Are you smarter than a four-year-old? Meet Miggy.


I’ve not seen Czed Miguel “Miggy” Ebojo, the ‘Wonder Kid of Bohol’ for almost three weeks after his story was aired on GMA’s 24 Oras.

It took me three days to finish the story about Miggy because a day was not enough to observe a child   whose intellect and independence of spirit simply aren’t ordinary.

The other day, Clyde, Miggy’s father, told me the genius boy is doing fine.

Miggy has completed tests that show his IQ as very superior– that many people considering him the “Wonder Kid of Bohol.”

“We started to realize he was different at two years old. He learned a lot of things as a two year old far from normal compared to another children at his age group,” said 31 year-old Clyde, also a musician.  

 Czed Miguel “Miggy” Ebojo,
the Wonder Kid of Bohol.  Photo by Leo Udtohan
 
That’s when his parents said Miggy started using words, like the names of shapes, colors and numbers.

Then, Miggy could write and read words at age 2.

At 3 years old, when a typical kid has about a dozen words in their vocabulary, Miggy could sing the ABCs –and well sing it backward, too.

He knows about the solar system, the planets and how many moons does each  planet has. He knows Pluto was the 12th planet until 2006.

When asked who created the universe, Miggy just said, “Jesus! He does. There’s no other God, no god other. Only one.”

Miggy can count in English, Chinese, Japanese and Russian from 1-100. He can multiply in Spanish.  He knows the how many chapters of the books in the Holy Bible.

That's not it.

Miggy also knows on what day your birthday falls from 2019 until the year 2030. Plus, he also knows the composition of a planet and how many moons does each planet has.

According to his parents, no one taught Miggy all these things.

When Miggy turned four, first time parents Clyde and Marjorie worried of their son’s abilities.

“I am worried about Miggy’s abilities as parents. I really don’t have idea how to raise a child like him,” said Marjorie, 28, who began searching for resources to help with his rapid development.

She said she is afraid other people may not understand her son’s ways.

  Czed Miguel “Miggy” Ebojo with his parents Clyde and Marjorie.  Photo by Leo Udtohan
Last June, the couple went to Holy Name University Testing Center and had Miggy’s intelligence tested. The result showed Miggy’s  IQ was very superior.

They also went to see a Bohol-based clinical psychologist Dr. Kit Balane to evaluate Miggy’s sky-high IQ. It turned out that Miggy’s IQ is upper extreme or genius.

“Miggy is fours year old but his IQ is in the upper extreme. It’s safe to say Miggy is a gifted child as far as his IQ is concerned,” said Balane.

“He has the potential to learn fast, to process information quickly, and correctly as far as Miggy’s intelligence concerned,” he added.

Balane encouraged the parents to nurture the learning potential of Miggy.

“ It is very important that Miggy is provided enforcement at home other than what he gets at school. Parents can provide time, creative materials, reading materials but also not forgetting the social emotional needs of the child,” said Balane who established the only clinic in Bohol for a decade.

It is also important that Miggy should be in school that has understood his particular creativity since bright kids process so rapidly that by midday they can be mentally burnt-out and hard to teach.

Miggy started nursery 1 last June.  

Miggy Ebojo. Photo by Leo Udtohan
“As a parent, I’m really proud of my son,” his father said. “I’m super-excited he has this gift.”

But his gifted intelligence doesn’t mean Miggy isn’t still like any other four-year-old kid.

When he grows up, Miggy said he wants to be a doctor.

His favorite day is Saturday because it is his cellphone and TV day. Math is his most favourite subject.

Clyde and Marjorie said they just want their son to have a normal childhood, gifts and all.

“We are proud of our little boy what he is now and what he will become in the future,” said Marjorie.

Clyde said it’s not really intelligence that does matter in this world but how his son will deal with different walks of life.

“We are teaching him how to become a good person. It’s not our priority to make him more intelligent. What we hope for and we  love to see  about him is that he will impact the community and he will grow with so much love as we teach him every day,” Clyde said.

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Thanks for your letters, all will be answered. Comments welcome at leoudtohan@yahoo.com, follow leoudtohanINQ at Twitter /Facebook.

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Sandugo Queen and Miss Bohol candidates shine in media presentation


The beauty queens talk about their beauty essentials and the causes they believe in

After an extensive screenings, the organizers of the first Sandugo Queen, finally revealed its 17 official candidates last Friday, June 28.
The Miss Bohol 2019 candidates. Photo: Leo Udtohan 

The 17 candidates shared a piece of their mind and showed off their striking personalities to the members of the media.

Sandugo Queen is the first provincewide pageant for gay and transsexual members of the LGBTQAI+ community, a society of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual, aromantic, agender, and intersex individuals, with a “+” for those who are in the process of self discovery, or have more complex identities.

According to Khim Ryan Laway Magtagad, Sandugo Queen 2019 pageant chairman, the pageant aims to empower LGBTQAI+  by giving them a platform to express their thoughts and views on inclusion, diversity and equality. It is also a celebration of their unique beauty, wit and talent. 

Sandugo Queen candidates. 
“The pageant is making a big difference and impact of the LGBTQIA+ in the community,” said Magtagad of the LGBT-Tagbilaran community.

She added that the candidates have their own advocacies and the pageant "will be a platform that when they will become part of Sandugo Queen they have the title to touch the lives of other people."

The Sandugo Queen 2019 will crown winners for Sandugo Queen, Sandugo Queen Tourism, Sandugo Queen Youth Ambassadress, Sandugo Queen 1st Princess and Sandugo Queen 2nd Princess.

The swimwear competition is on July 6, at 1 p.m. at the BQ Mall, while the talent competition is on July 17, 1 p.m. at the Island City Mall.

The grand coronation is on July 26, 8 p.m. at the Bohol Cultural Center.

Meanwhile, in their jumpsuit created by Bilar-based couturier Aileen Sendrijas-Pasagad, the 14 candidates Miss Bohol 2019 strutted in front of media, during Friday’s press presentation held at the Ceremonial Hall of the New Provincial Capitol. 

Miss Tagbilaran 1987 Fiel Angeli Araoarao-Gabin
with Mutya ng Pilipinas -Global Beauty Queen 2018
  and Miss Bohol 2017 Pauline  Amelinckx
during the Miss Bohol press presentation on Friday, June 28, 2019.
  
Photo by Leo Udtohan
Iza Gail Latonio. 20, representing Atharra Primeland; Mary Tabada, 19, representing Talibon; Catherine Tabaniag, 20, representing Panglao; and Celina Villoceno, 22, representing Tagbilaran City, wowed the press and visitors. Notably, all the ladies answered the gruelling questions from the press.  

Despite their busy schedule, Mutya ng Pilipinas -Global Beauty Queen 2018  and Miss Bohol 2017 Pauline  Amelinckx  and  Miss Bohol 2018 Raclare Stephan Trigo were able to attend the event. They managed to project a positive aura.

On July 12, the ladies will showcase their talent.

The Miss Bohol Grand Coronation Night is happening on July 20, 7 p.m.  at the Bohol Wisdom Gym.


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Thanks for your letters, all will be answered. Comments welcome at leoudtohan@yahoo.com, follow leoudtohanINQ at Twitter /Facebook.