The "Sleepy Town" of Ilocos: San Ildefonso

 

The town of San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur, is known as the home of Basi Wine, 

a traditional wine made from distilled or fermented sugarcane. This is the town’s most famous product, symbolizing not only the richness of its agriculture but also its deep Ilocano heritage. Making Basi is a tradition passed down through generations, serving as a testament to the hard work and creativity of the people of San Ildefonso.

The history of Basi is closely linked to the Basi Revolution of 1807, 

a historic uprising of the Ilocanos against the Spanish government after it banned the production and sale of basi. This event symbolizes the people’s strong desire for freedom and the right to their own products. To this day, San Ildefonso’s Basi Wine remains an important part of Ilocos culture and continues to be proudly showcased both within and beyond the region.

Aside from Basi, San Ildefonso also offers a variety of tourist attractions. One of these is Mango Haven, 

a well-loved tourist spot that gives visitors a fun experience at a local mango plantation. Here, tourists can relax, enjoy local cuisine, and experience the simple beauty of provincial life.

Another unique attraction in the town is the Airplane, 

a former personal plane of the Sultan of Brunei that was nearly scrapped. It was given to his friend, former Mayor Mark Purisima, who brought it to the Philippines, hoping it would attract visitors to the so-called “Sleepy Town.” It was originally planned to be converted into an airplane café, but the project was halted due to the prioritization of agriculture over tourism during the time of former Mayor Basi Purisima. Today, the airplane remains beside “Lolong” and continues to draw tourists who stop for photos because of its uniqueness, even inspiring memes due to its location near the highway.

The crocodile “Lolong”, also found in San Ildefonso, 

is another popular attraction brought by former Mayor Mark Purisima from the southern part of the country. It was named after the famous giant crocodile of Agusan del Sur, once hailed as the largest crocodile ever caught in the world. The San Ildefonso version of Lolong serves as a reminder of the citizens’ interest in nature and has become a favorite photo spot for visitors.

Products like Basi Wine and attractions such as Mango Haven, the Airplane, and “Lolong” showcase the hard work, creativity, and rich history of the people of San Ildefonso. In every product and view, the Ilocano spirit lives on—resilient, resourceful, and proud.

How Coding Enlightened Me (A reflection of 2nd quarter)

This quarter, I have discovered the art of basic coding through my ICT subject. At first, I thought coding was just about typing random words and symbols, but as I learned more, I realized it’s a logical language that tells computers exactly what to do. With this knowledge, I now partially understand why and how my favorite games like Genshin Impact or Roblox work. 

Even though I know those games use much more complex programming languages and systems, learning the basics helped me appreciate the effort and creativity that game developers put into making them. It also made me realize that coding is not only about games, it’s about problem-solving, patience, and critical thinking, which are skills I can use in many other subjects and real-life situations.

One of the problems that I encountered during these lessons was that the tags and codes were hard to see whenever I tried to fix them, especially when the lines became long and complicated. Sometimes, I’d spend several minutes just trying to find a single missing symbol. On top of that, my assigned computer, number 34, would suddenly turn off or restart on its own, which made me lose my progress. It was frustrating to repeat the same steps or rush to finish an activity before the computer shut down again. There were even times I couldn’t complete the activity on time because of these interruptions, which made me feel discouraged and behind my classmates.

To solve this, I decided to take the initiative and work on my unfinished activities at home. After class, I would open my notes app on my laptop and re-enter the codes that I remembered from school. 

I also started double-checking my tags carefully and saving copies of my work more often to avoid losing progress. Sometimes, I even searched for short tutorials online to better understand the errors I encountered. These small adjustments helped me not only keep up with the lessons but also understand the code more deeply because I was practicing them independently. Over time, I became more confident in handling my work and managing my time efficiently.

Moving on, I will definitely aim to finish my activities at a faster pace and with better focus so that I won’t get held back by unfinished work. I also plan to keep improving my coding skills by practicing during my free time and exploring beginner-friendly programming languages like Python or JavaScript. I want to build a strong foundation so that when we tackle more complex topics in ICT, I can follow along more easily. Most importantly, I will maintain a positive attitude whenever I face errors or technical issues, because I’ve learned that patience and perseverance are key traits of a good coder.

Teachers Aren't Simply Just Teachers

Teachers don’t simply impart knowledge. They help foster character, build confidence, and shape the future. Research shows that teachers are more than just instructors of academic content: they model social and emotional skills, and support students’ holistic development, just like what my advisor, Ma'am Remedios, does. University of the People+3Psychology Today+3Teachers of Tomorrow+3

In recognizing my teacher as a hero, I reflect on how their hard work, patience, and genuine care have guided me on a journey beyond textbooks. 

The late nights of lesson preparation, the encouragement after mistakes, and the continuous showing of belief in my potential make me appreciate them very much. Teachers today are also entrusted with nurturing students’ emotional and social well-being, which means that their role involves adapting to challenges and supporting learners more broadly. Psychology Today+1 A hero in the classroom is someone who not only teaches us what to learn, but also how to learn, when to believe in ourselves, and why our growth matters. A great example is one of my teachers in research, ma'am Regina.

I express my gratitude and respect in both words and actions. Beyond heartfelt thank-you notes or verbal appreciation during the celebration, I make an active effort to live out the values my teachers have instilled in me: showing kindness to peers, striving to learn continuously, participating actively in class, and carrying forward the lessons with integrity. When teachers see their investment pay off in a student’s growth, that too becomes a meaningful expression of respect. 

Furthermore, acknowledging that teachers themselves deserve care and support, especially when they carry emotional as well as physical burdens, reminds me that appreciating them means understanding their sacrifices, which is why I am in awe of teachers every time.

Mice Yaoi, Now Possible?

In my whole 15 years of my life, I never thought there would come a day when I would live to see mpreg become possible. But now, my wishes are slowly coming true due to a successful experiment of scientists from China and Japan, my favorite source for danmeis and BLs aside from Thailand. In an article from TheGuardian.com, “This is the first case of making robust mammal oocytes from male cells,” said Katsuhiko Hayashi, who led the work at Kyushu University in Japan and is internationally renowned as a pioneer in the field of lab-grown eggs and sperm. 

In addition, Yanchang Wei at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China achieved the feat by putting two sperm cells together in an egg whose nucleus had been removed. The team then used a method called epigenome editing to reprogram seven sites in the sperm DNA, which was needed to allow the embryo to develop. 

This is a very big breakthrough, as we can now slowly solve the declining population of some species who are near extinction, as well as the population of countries like Korea who are slowly losing its populous. This breakthrough can also enable same sex couples who wants a children of their own.

Our Mother Earth Needs Help

 One of the main causes of climate change is us humans. Pollutions were created by us in order to get what we want. Cheaper goods. The production of these kinds of products are usually made from silicone like polyester. Like Conan Gray said, "it's just polyester" 

meaning its not that high quality of a product, however, people buy it because it is cheap and still closely functionable to other fabrics. However, buying things like these increases the pollution due to how these polyester fabrics are made since they are created with the use of fossil fuels, 

and it also sheds microplastics that pollute oceans and land according to 4tify. Pollution, of course, contributes to our climate change. It may be a natural occurence, however, it is not on a normal cycle where it slowly changes. It is rapidly changing, and we can link that to global warming. Since climate change is rapidly occuring, icebergs in the Antarctica have also started melting 

and rains and storms have been more frequent in some places like our country. This is why we need to change our bad habits in order to reduce the pollution we have created in our mother Earth, so that it can heal.

A Mind Blowing Entertainment of Sports

 On the first day of intramurals, I didn't really have anything else to do, so I wandered around the school for a bit with my friend to see what kind of sports were being played at that time. We had also visited the SMC building, and I ended up thirdwheeling. I then decided to support my classmate who participated in dance sports to get away from them.

When I started watching my classmate, I also noticed a competitor of theirs that was too good I knew they would end up winning instead. However, I never stopped supporting her because I knew she was doing her best to dance with her partner. That same afternoon, I also watched basketball and realized how fun it was to actually watch it, because this time, I actually understood the rules of basketball due to what I learned back in 9th grade.

On the 2nd day of intramurals, I still didn't have anything to do so I remained in the classroom. However, I realized that my phone was running out of batter, and it was out of data too. So for entertainment, I decided to teach my remaining classmates in the classroom the different concepts of yaoi which is omegaverse, guideverse, and cakeverse. 

I had also told them the story of TGCF, wherein a ghost king waits for his beloved, Xie Lian, for 800 years, and other more stories. Afterwards, my friend had also taught us the plot of Ragnorok.

I also volunteered to accompany my friend who is an officer for the Red Cross youth at Burgos West, and saw people who had very flexible bodies. I saw them do many tricks, and even flipping themselves over.

I had really enjoyed watching them because the whole time I was here for the afternoon, no accidents occurred. I am assuming that its because they have very flexible bodies that hardly anyone got injured at all, and I was relieved. 

These intramurals, I'm really glad I didn't join a sport this time like tennis, or else I wouldn't see these mind blowing entertainments.

The Cleanup of our Community

This month, my classmate Johvan and I decided to do a clean up together because we both lived in the same town, which is Poblacion West, San Ildefonso 

We ended up doing it in the middle of the day since we woke up later than expected and completely missed the scheduled cleanup drive in the morning. At first, we were a little disappointed for not being able to join everyone else on time, but instead of letting that ruin our day, we decided to go ahead with our own activity. Even though we weren’t exactly sure what we were supposed to do, we laughed a lot along the way, trying to figure things out as we went. Surprisingly, the uncertainty made the experience even more enjoyable, and we ended up having fun simply because we didn’t know what we were doing.