I arrive at the Market Market, The Mob at the exact time of 2:05 PM. At first I thought that I’m not going to make because the café was closed. There are a lot of gamers outside waiting for the guard to let them in. I decided to look for loading system first for me to call “Modtup” so I called up and he answered back “just wait me outside.” We went inside and I register, fill up some raffle coupons before I entered. Before the event started, everyone was given the chance to introduce themselves to the community. So far, this is the best and well organized Filipino IT organization meet up. This is because of the support of the community and some sponsor such as:

1. Allan Joseph Batac : PHPUGPH.COM Founder
2. Robert Locke : CEO-Mobius, VENUE + 5K
3. Zend Technologies, Zend Studio Pro 3 Licenses
4. Terence Pua : eskwela.com, 2K + 4 Shirts
5. Paul Hidalgo : hostking.ph, 3.5K worth of 2 Hosting Plan with Domain Name Reg.
6. Sergio Arroyo : President/COO – ascendant.com.ph, 2K Cash

Ubuntu 7.0.4 was introduced by Jerome Gotangco and he compared it to the previous releases. Developers of Eskwela.com encouraged the community to support the Filipino-owned IT products. TDD or Test Driven Development was discussed by Andre John Cruz, PHPUGPH.COM Administrator.

Food was served well, thanks to Kenny Rogers and some juice. During the event, a raffle draw was announced and some winners. Luckily I won 200 pesos. I shared the half of my price to my co-member of Joomla-PH namely Audienceone and Ericb. The event was ended up with picture taking and a promise by one of the sponsor that all of us in the community will be given a “PHP5 T-shirt” by Root in the next EB when AJ Batac will get back to the Philippines.

That’s all folks see yah in the next EB !!

Last April 15, 2007 me and my gf went to Laiya Beach. The place is nestled behind the peaks of Mt. Daguldol and home to several hiking destinations, such as Naambon falls and Mainit Pulang Bato. Because of its proximity to cities of Manila, Batangas and Quezon, this beach called Laiya became a popular destination for weekend retreats and corporate excursions.

About 8.5km from Lipa, there will be a junction that leads to Padre Garcia. From Padre Garcia, Turn left towards Rosario. From the town center of Rosario, Turn left (where South Star Drug Store is) then follow this road until San Juan. Once in san Juan, turn right at the street where municipal hall is (just accross basketall court), and upon entering the road, you will see billboards indicating beach resorts of Laiya. Follow this road until you reach the unconcreted part. This means you are in the vicinity. From this point and the succeeding distance, you will see a lot of resort signboards along the road. All of them lead to resorts along the beaches of Aplaya, Laiya, and Hugom.