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Post by EXO on Sept 13, 2023 10:11:14 GMT 8
Well, I finally came across the wreck salvage info that I'd been looking for Snake, That sure is upsetting news. Looks like the "Powers That Be" decided to have at the wreck of the SS Corregidor very much on the quiet. Given that the age of the iron predates 1945, that would have earned a pretty peso. They hid it in plain sight. Stuff war graves, stuff the relatives is the attitude in Manila. Stuff the earnings in our own pockets, more like. EXO
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Post by EXO on Aug 17, 2023 7:30:06 GMT 8
OPEN DISCUSSION Perhaps I am sailing the doldrums again, in the sense of traversing those regions of the ocean near the equator, characterized by calms, light winds, or squalls. Except of the website kind. I am become of the view that websites are a product of their times - which is to say, a product of ten, maybe twenty years ago. Like the old gramophone - sure it works still, but its role and purpose, even its utility has been eclipsed. New technologies have been developed, and the nature and purpose of the use of the web has been changing. Here's something that caught my eye: Corregidor.Org started very much in the Web 1.0 pattern. It was a read-only compendium of knowledge and experience, with a strong History bent. Some of it progressed to Web 2.0 ( such as via this forum's sharing content). None of it has made it into Web 3.0. Behind the scenes, I am embarking upon discussing the terms upon which I am going to more closely associate BattleofManila.Org with MacArthur Memorial. The website has much information which i want to be preserved. If this works out satisfactorily, I will consider preserving Concretebattleship.Org in a similar vein. Rinse and repeat, I suppose. I recall that several years ago, perhaps a decade, I had been contemplating a closer relationship with a sub-library of the Ayala Museum. It was in the context of gathering together a collection of images (much like an on-line photo library) of the WWII In The Philippines. The concept collapsed, for reasons I need not go into. But I have not given up on the concept that there has to be a community focus for this knowledge we've collected.
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Post by EXO on Aug 8, 2023 14:58:18 GMT 8
Kathryna, That's a really nice rendering. We have a fascination with the SS Corregidor here, and I have created a book which gathers the facts - and some speculation - about it in one place. Have a look here: paulwhitman.com/details/ssCorregidor/ssCorregidor.htmlI do not wish to nitpick your drawings (for they are a work of artistry), the night view perhaps has too many lights showing on the coast and on Corregidor itself. indeed, I might envisage the scene as being reversed, with the vessel travelling from left to right. I might be able to find a photo of Corregidor taken from that direction. Write me at paul at whitman dot com dot au
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Post by EXO on Jul 12, 2023 12:41:14 GMT 8
TEN DISCUSSION POINTS THAT NEED TO BE DISCUSSED IN PUBLIC, AND NOT BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 1. There are six stages in the life cycle of a tourism destination. Tourism is not a static process, it evolves and declines. Courtesy of Covid, Corregidor has stagnated. (2020 is considered by the UNWTO as the worst year in history for tourism.) Courtesy of the natural passing of the WWII generation, there is insufficient tourist traffic to fulfil its cost of maintenance. The number of foreign tourists is down. It needs to be rejuvenated – but as to what? 2. Corregidor is not a National Park. Isn’t, never was. This allows deals to be negotiated in accordance with private arrangements, and by appointees of friends of the powerful. The motive is money, not nature. Short term deals are entered into, and long term ecological policies can be ignored. The preservation of the natural environment, the purposes of public recreation and enjoyment, either because of historical or scientific interest, has become subsidiary to the profit of sectional interests. It’s not a National Park because powerful interests do not want it to be a National Park. It should be. 3. Return on Investment is not evil. 4. Corregidor’s very purpose, used to be controlled by a Presidential Decree. The Decree was never repealed. It is just ignored, as if it never was. Management presently varies by the length of the manager’s foot. Interpretations are negotiated behind closed doors. 5. The development of Corregidor for remunerative Tourism is not inconsistent with generally accepted National Park criteria. Except that, presently, it is. Ecological and sustainable tourism need to be the driving force of Corregidor’s redevelopment. In that order. 6. Corregidor should not be subject to the whims of profit-taking real estate redevelopment, except for ecological and tourism accommodation purposes. There is already a commercial zone at bottomside. If you want to build a golf course at topside, then you can build the clubhouse that used to be there. Exactly the way it was, because we know exactly what it used to look like. 7. Short term arrangements with a concessionaire prevent development, they do not enhance it. Concessionaires need long term arrangements to obtain Return of Investment. See Rule 3. 8. Tourism on Corregidor has deteriorated because of the lack of skill and educational training of its governors. Corregidor as a tourism destination has suffered because of the amateurish approach to protecting its resources. It stood by when barrels were moved to Manila for a bogus tourist geejaw. If any government or tourism department is intending to make Corregidor a serious destination again, they need to look to develop policy and expertise in the following areas: 9. An association with a strident environmental group is not necessarily a bad thing. Find someone controversial - offer Greenpeace docking facilities, maybe? Get involved with the ecology of the island, support it, don't destroy it. 10. Corregidor needs to become involved in the health of Manila Bay. It is a stakeholder. It should be involving itself in raising public awareness and participation, protecting human welfare, ecological, historical, cultural and economic features, mitigating environmental risks, implementing effective policies and environment management and governance, and developing areas and opportunities in a sustainable manner. Saying nothing, and not being controversial has got Corregidor nothing. If CFI are not making themselves heard, they are not being effective.
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Post by EXO on Jul 11, 2023 19:11:10 GMT 8
Today, I received an bulk-mail (no-reply) request from a 3rd year Tourism Management student from the University of Perpetual Help System Dalta Molino Campus to allow the publishing of a link on the Corregidor Historic Society facebook page to their survey.
It reads:
"Currently, we are conducting a study entitled “Factors Affecting Revisit Intention of Tourists to Corregidor Island”. In this regard, we are asking for your precious time and effort to accomplish the online survey questionnaire, which is an important and helpful tool for the completion of the study. Rest assured that we will maintain the strictest level of confidentiality for all information we collect from you. Your positive response in this request will be a valuable contribution for the success of the study. Thank you very much for your cooperation! "
Firstly, let me praise the students of the University of Perpetual Help System Dalta Molino Campus, whoever they are, wherever they are. At least they are starting a conversation.
The students names are:
Almenar, Jan Maureen B., Libunao, Aliah Kirsten, Nacionales, Ryanne Nicole Villados, Ralf Matthew A.
At one point in the 1970's, Corregidor was the second-most popular family tourism destination in the Philippines. Now it is not in the running at all. We don't have to blame certain people, because it was truly the government's lockdown for Covid 19 / Wuhan Flu that crippled Corregidor. The issue is, how can Corregidor get up from its knees.
So, I listed ten points in response to the message, and put them on Facebook. They are, in no particular order, as follows:
1. The presence of cats on the island destroys the prospect of the island becoming a genuine eco tourism destination.
2. The number of monkeys, and that they are not safe for tourists, creates a risk to naive tourists who might think them tame. They are wild and aggressive. Monkeys do not automatically mean eco tourism credentials.
3. There should be a person responsible for Eco Tourism, which should include the proper presentation of the landscape.
4. I bet you didn't know there are sea turtles using Corregidor for nesting and laying eggs. 6. A return ticket should have an "OPEN" return at no extra cost - when the Corregidor Inn opens again, this will enable Corregidor to advertise a "CORREGIDOR - YOU'LL WANT TO STAY LONGER" approach.
7. Presently, there is NIL facility for persons interested in studying the island's history and geography in depth. Our Corregidor Historic Society group was formed around members who had each visited Corregidor more than fifty times, fifty overnights. Each of us has studied the books, become familiar with all the trails, become familiar with the ecology, and even spelunked all the known tunnels. How can a new generation of experts be trained?
8. A tour guide is not necessarily an expert. An expert needs to have published an academic paper on an aspect of Corregidor's history.
9. Tourism on Corregidor was murdered by Covid and the Department of Tourism's poor attitude to protection of the island's assets. Corregidor as a tourism destination has suffered because of the amateurish approach to arranging its resources. If any government or tourism department is intending to make Corregidor a serious destination again, they need to look into obtaining employees with appropriate skill or educational training in at least three of the following areas:
Tourism Management National Park and recreation management Environmental studies - pollution management Environmental science Environmental management Wildlife and Forestry Wildlife management Horticulture Natural resources management Biological sciences Fisheries and wildlife law enforcement
10. There should be closer associations with existing groups, even environmental groups, and any university offering courses.
Lets consider these as 'discussion points', and if you desire to add more, start your count at #11.
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Post by EXO on Jun 16, 2023 13:56:41 GMT 8
Arrangements are presently being made for Battle of Manila.Org to become more closely associated with the MacArthur Memorial of Norfolk VA. It will maintain its present "look and feel". Visit us at battleofmanila.org/
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Post by EXO on Jun 8, 2023 15:35:13 GMT 8
Not connected with any prior posts, this is just me letting off some steam about one of the exasperations of running a website. Jonathan Ott, has generously provided me with a copy of his two volume history of the 34th Infantry Regiment 1940-1945. It is a remarkable journal account of the 34th Infantry Regiment with an emphasis on "B" Company, 1st Battalion of the 34th. His work runs to about 1,480pages. He is selling it on Amazon for $9.99 for the pdf files and $60 for the printed versions. They are worth the price for the research on Corregidor alone. Jonathan's book has an exquisitely detailed history of the unit on Corregidor. For those of you who are not otherwise aware, the 34th invaded Corregidor amphibiously, taking Bottomside and Malinta Hill. But that's not why I've made this posting. In the back of my mind, I recalled that I had created a listing of the men of the 34th Infantry Regiment who were killed on Corregidor. So I went looking for it on my site, and found that it was inoperable. Dead! Demised! Passed on. Resting in peace! It's technological processes are now history! Off the twig, kicked the bucket, shuffled off it;s mortal coil, run down the curtain, joined the bleedin' choir invisible. (It was originally created using the Adobe Flash coding, which Adobe killed a few years ago, rendering hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of pages across the internet unable to run. This included over a hundred small features on our Corregidor.Org family of websites. It took me years to redo many of them. It is one of my many and various exasperations (one might say it pisses me off big-time) that no one noticed the dead features, none of them. Years passed and no one notices. So few pass this way, I wonder why I bother. Is it that (a) I am not reaching the people who care about such things, or (b) that there aren't people who care about such things?
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Post by EXO on Jun 8, 2023 15:15:12 GMT 8
8 June 2023 Welcome to bgps, who writes us:- I'm retired and have moved from the U.S. to the Philippines and am currently residing in Pilar, Bataan. I've been researching Philippine WWII battles, prison camps and atrocities since the early 1980s. I wish to be in touch with others that have similar interests. (Dear BGPS - have you been linked up with Bob Hudson yet? Your name might help.) Welcome also to n12f90g who writes:- Among many of the informative anecdotes in my father's WW II memoir, he devotes much description of his two weeks aboard the Oryoku Maru prior to the vessels' later destruction. - www.valleyoftheshadowpow.com
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Post by EXO on May 31, 2023 13:42:52 GMT 8
31 May 2023
Welcome to Patricia (pab540) whose father was one of the codebreakers that escaped from Corregidor. She is interested in finding out more information.
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Post by EXO on May 26, 2023 7:57:27 GMT 8
THE DENR'S FAKING EYESORE!It is not just economists and environmentalists who think that dumping P390 million of dolomite sand along the edge of Manila Bay is a bad idea. Aside from failing to hurdle proper environmental impact assessments, it also did not benefit from public consultations and is said to have violated at least 5 laws. The project also doesn’t fit the master plan laid down by the National Economic and Development Authority. One environmental group claims that the white sand can spill over to nearby infrastructure in the event of coastal flooding, to say nothing of siltation and damage to nearby marine conservation areas. My take on it was different - after claiming that they were taking two barrels from Ft. Drum, the DENR stole two barrels from Corregidor's gun batteries. Corregidor is under the protection of a Presidential Decree, which is one of the laws the DENR violated. And what did we get for all this? (Other than the DENR's institutional pilferage from Corregidor, and proof of the inability of the Corregidor Foundation Inc to maintain and protect the assets and welfare of the island against the depredations of more powerful government departments, that is.) I went down to the so-called Dolomite Beach, and took a few photos of it. The beach was closed to the public. It sure was a faking eyesore! Is there no one with the guts to call this Battery Eyesore a failure? Is there no one with the balls to order the return of the barrels to Battery Hearn and Battery Crockett? Is there no one who can't make a pair of fiberglass barrels? Apparently not.
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