The Marines have Landed, and other local news

yesterday evening, we had a bunch of helicopters go over: Some were transport types but others were the dual engine types that carry equipment...as if the training was for disaster relief.

Yup, it's Balikatan time at Fort Magsaysay...although the report is that the training will be up north, not here.

Training will take place at locations in the Ilocos Sur region of Luzon, the northern main island of the Philippines.

It will be the 26th year the two countries have held Balikatan, which includes military operations along with civil and humanitarian operations.

Related exercises to test crisis response and disaster relief will run simultaneously, the joint public affairs office reported.

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Right now, the main problem is the drought from ElNino...really bad in Baguio and the rice terraces of Banaue...

there is worry that there will be forest fires...and the hydroelectric plants may have to shut down...
it's so bad that they are discussing if they should build some nuclear plants. (Or even reopen the one in Bataan, that is on an earthquake fault).

Mindanao is the worst area affected by the drought

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The courts have denied a writ of habeus corpus for the Morong 43...this is either a major terrorist win for the government, or a major example of human rights abuse (maybe both).

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and in local news: Our new two story Palenke has opened on Sunday, with the mayor giving away money to the crowds (maybe they will vote for his wife, and he will stay rich enough to stay out of jail..it's not for nothing that they are assigning an extra 1ooo cops to the region for the elections).

It even has an escalator:


Photos from the NuevaEcija Journal:

This means the streets near our house will be cleared of kiosks, and that the traffic that detoured around our house will decrease.