ONE BLACKED-OUT SATURDAY IN TARLAC

Once upon a time in 1945, the returning Americans with Filipino guerillas and Aeta warriors pounded the Japanese invaders into submission at the Battle of Bamban Hills to secure Clark Airfield and push the Tiger of Malaya deep into Northern Luzon, into Balete Pass, into his operations center that culminated in the Battle of Bambang and his eventual surrender in Kiangan.

"The first 4 Filipinos killed by the Japanese in Bamban are from San Jose in Nueva Ecija," revealed the curator of war relics.

"My ancestors avenged them in Bambang where the retreating Japanese were anihilated and burried in the mass graves of Almaguer," said the Phantom Biker who wondered if the boxcars that used to ply PNR's Tarlac-San Jose Line were the same as those that transported POWs to what is now the Capas Death March Monument for interment at Camp O'Donnell, a tragedy now marked with a 73-meter obelisk of peace at the Capas National Shrine. 

The Phantom Biker --- he chased a parade with a flat tire at 56 kilometers/hour to nudge an agenda and a procurement in the name of the Manila Trinity (Visit, Meeting, Convening) that also got a contract amendment signed finally despite a continuing platform glitch and the ensuing barrage of virtual meetings to initiate a midyear interim report preparation.

The Ironman --- he got a consultancy recruitment live at a cost of chicken done two ways: sinampalukan and litson with aged pinikpikan and popcorn on the side. 

Prayer to the Peacemaker and 

Patron of the Holy Souls

"Lord, you worked miracles of healing and comfort at the hands of St. Nicholas: hear all who cry to you in distress, in sickness and in every danger of soul and body, and save them in your mercy.

Almighty God, your glory shone upon the Church through the holiness and miracles of St. Nicholas of Tolentino. In answer to his prayers, keep your holy people in peace and unity. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen."

SLEEPLESS (almost) AT 56

56 is a plea heard and a covenant with the Great Architect of the Universe.

56 is the angel who encouraged adaption to changes, staying positive, and heeding spiritual signs and guidance.

56 is a Korean-inspired sinadag in Angeles City, a breakfast of kiniing done 2-ways (dinakdakan and pinikpikan) along the dacquel nga carayan in Almaguer, and a watwat lunch of boiled and grilled pork in the mountains of Itogon.

56 is the number of pinuneg slices served with both birthday meals.  

56 is when sleep descends before 9 PM in Bakal 2 and leaves between 1-2 AM long after the din of a garage modification has faded, and escapes early still despite trapping it with beer-infused litson manok and fried luncheon meat.  

56 is when the Phantom Biker rode his bike in gratitude and supplication to the saints, wide awake and loaded with trimmings for the Manila Meeting and Convening, notes from the usual weekly meetings, and a requested ASEAN briefing; haunted by a partners' platform glitch, and chased by a branding requisition, the Global Programs Hub, and a system approval from another project.

56 is a chimaek combo for starters, a full gogigui for the entree, and a dessert of Aling Lucing's sisig and buro just after the gateposts of Fort Stotsenburg.

56 is passing through Balete Pass to pay homage to Almaguer where it all began, to curtsy at the church in Bambang where maidens danced with the Sto. Nino to summon the memories of old Hogwarts --- the gateway to Barat and Salinas that was breached for the first time.  

56 is an abrupt trip to Kayapa to partially scratch an itch, a pit stop in Ambuklao Dam in remembrance of a social studies teacher who a long time ago spoke about a traditional watwat in Itogon, and passing through Baguio where the Phantom Biker, still sleepless in Bakal 2, was conceived in 1969.

THE MONUMENTS MEN (AND WOMAN) OF BIAK-NA-BATO

On the day before the Baptism of the Lord, an all-Bakal 2 squad of the MFAA Section was inserted where the Balaong River broke through a boulder.    

They are not soldiers but neigbors, curious why a bolo got stuck in a Tagalog historical marker instead of the nearby Spanish stone anvil where Carlos "Botong" Francisco probably forged a mural depicting the establishment of the Republic of Bak-na-Bato in 1897.  

These monuments obviously needs polishing at the scale of a floor tile replacement and a roof repaint as initiated in Bakal 2 during the first Monday catch-ups of 2026 to nudge the Manila Meeting and Convening, with a prayer of round grapes enabling a Mariwasa year that will exceed Boysen's prosperity in the Philippines and the crispiness of a hurriedly fried tilapia.

Aguinaldo had Bonifacio killed and would lose the 1935 presidential election to Quezon who declared Biak-na-Bato as a national park in 1937.

Quezon City and Bonifacio Global City are hosts to St. Luke's, no relation to Aguinaldo but the nodes that delivered a monumental relief so welcome it made impact story gathering, branding, and a policy toolkit handover look, smell, and taste like crunchy boneless chicken feet.

The Phantom Biker crashed while submitting the first claim for 2026 but his happiness is such that he qualified for a picnic of broiled pork ribs and steamed tilapia in Maligaya.

Buliran was something else, for a night at least, aside from being a gateway to the Aguinaldo Cave, to "La Mesa de Aguinaldo"where Mi Presidente signed the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, now sealed by a buhay na bato and submerged in water...

...while at the Hospital Cave, the spectre of Trinidad Tecson, the "Mother of Biak-na-Bato", tended to the ghosts of the sick and wounded who were immortalized in the modern day graffiti of a film crew who stored their equipment at the Imbakan Cave...

...the arsenal that armed new recruits after their initiation into the Katipunan at the Tanggapan Cave, and were subsequently trained to determine and attack the enemy in the darkness of the Ambush Cave by the sound of their boots.

The Monuments Men of Bakal 2, they were a happy lot and opened beer cans to toast the relics of Biak-na-Bato and salute the memory of Gen. Mariano Llanera who joined Aguinaldo's exile in Hong Kong.  

Llanera is from Cabiao but he may have owned a house in Lumang Gapan, might have been a devotee of La Virgen Divina Pastora, and perhaps had a snack of halo-halo and palabok at Luz Kitchenette afer attending church.