A thought to ponder: Will Zamboanga City’s Power Supply Last?

Part 1 here

Part 2 here

In connection with my previous posts, one should think about what will happen to our beloved city when it comes to the shortage of energy supply. Cee will be featuring another writer's idea on the predicament:

Life isn’t normal without electricity.  Whether for home, school, hospital, commercial, or industrial purposes, electricity is their common lifeblood. Cut it and there will be widespread darkness. Remove it and you will lose refrigeration to keep our food fresh and our drinks cool. Deprive vital establishments like medical centers and they wouldn’t be able to give the life-giving care our ailing citizens need. 

The presence of electricity in a community signifies progress. Ironically, power outages have become common in Zamboanga City. The absence of electricity causes disruption in our daily activities and affects the city’s economy.  Without electric lights, it would be difficult for us to read anything, especially at night. While power generators augment for the lack of electricity, especially in business and tourist establishments, they can only do so much. By the way, not everyone can afford a power generator. 

With the intense summer heat scorching our beloved hometown, how can you expect us to keep our heads cool when our electric fans are useless? Take note also that Zamboanga is one of the key cities in the Philippines closest to the equator – one of the hottest places on Earth. 

The power outages stem from the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative’s (ZAMCELCO) outstanding debts with Western Mindanao Power Corporation (WMPC).
Following an investment management contract bidding, ZAMCELCO was recently brought into management under CROWN-DESCO Investment Holdings, Inc. After weeks of negotiations, CROWN-DESCO finally agreed to pay around half of ZAMCELCO’s Php467 million-debt to WMPC (around Php220 million). This restored power to the city for the next 60 days beginning last April 29. 

 “We are glad to restore power and normalcy to Zamboanga City,” WMPC and Alsons Power Group vice president for business development Joseph Nocos previously said.
Now that power has been restored in the city, we all are hoping that this would truly last. We, therefore, ask CROWN-DESCO to make good of its commitment to provide uninterrupted power by paying WMPC the remainder of its dues.  This way, the power crisis in the city would truly come to an end and normalcy would be restored to the city’s electricity supply.

CEEeats: Pungko-Pungko na Zamboanga - a culinary experience~

My mom tagged along during our first visit of the local pungko-pungko.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. No monetary compensation was given to the author in exchange for this write-up.

A different experience...

Hey guys! A new food place in our city peaked my interest due to its unique outward for and simple menu. I was able to read about them thru a Facebook friend's post. Additionally, I am a big fan of street food with rice so I asked my mom to accompany me in checking the place out.

'Pungko-pungko' is a Visayan term referring to the low eating set-up provided by the vendors to their patrons along the street in Cebu, Philippines. Such stalls sell different kinds of fried food such as chicken and hotdogs with rice cooked in a weaved banana wrapping called 'puso'. 

The food that you order is served with a tiny plate of onions. You are given the freedom to create your own sauce with soy sauce, calamansi or ketchup as dipping.

The food

The following are the food served this new restaurant with its corresponding prices as of today (all in Philippine Pesos):

Chicken neck  - 10

Chicken thigh  - 10

Chicken Wings - 20

Chicken legs - 12

Rice (puso) - 12

Barbecue - 25

Proven - 10

Hotdogs - 3 pieces for 10

Empanada - 20

Pretty affordable, right?

During my visit, I ordered a piece of thigh, a wrapping of rice, proven and a single empanada.

First impressions

Everything tasted good and it felt like I was cheating the owners of this place. The chicken was well-cooked and its coating was excellently seasoned, the empanada had an abundance of filling and its sauce was scrumptious.

My mom commented liked the rice in particular because it was soft and tasty. She asked for another serving after her first puso!

For those who are craving for finger food without hurting your wallets, I highly recommend this new restaurant. The place is well ventilated and cozy and the staff is very friendly and welcoming. Furthermore, the place is clean so you do not have to worry about any health issues while eating there, unlike when you buy from questionable food carts riddled along the center of town. 

Some recommendations

Despite my favourable opinions, I would like to suggest some changes for the improvement of the diner.

 Firstly, since they do not have any utensils for the customer's use, it would be great if a sink is available for hand washing so that the patrons would have the chance use their hands while eating thus reducing the number of the use of plastic gloves. People do it while eating at major restaurants so why not here, right?

Secondly, it would be nice to use more reusable plates for each serving of the food. This leads to less expenses and less wastes that harms the environment.

How to get there

Pungko-Pungko na Zamboanga is open from 11am to 8pm although sometimes they would change the closing hours due to the limited availability of their dishes (the supply sometimes cannot cope with the demands thus leading them to close up earlier than expected.)

LB Supermarket is the landmark that you should look for when going to the place.

Locating the pungko-pungko is so easy. Its exact address is Bel-Air Subdivision, Atilano Loop, Veterans Avenue Extension Tumaga, Zamboanga City and it is situated on the corner of the subdivision's entrance facing LB Supermarket. 

The bamboo-made structure can be easily spotted once you step in the correct subdivision entrance.

One can take a jeepney going to Tumaga and ask the driver to drop you on LB supermarket. For those who want to go by car, just go along Veterans Avenue until you reach the main Tumaga road and turn to the driveway leading to Bel-Air Subdivision the moment you reach LB supermarket. The place has a spot for relatively small cars for parking.

For more information, do visit their official page at Pungko-Pungko na Zamboanga.

What do you think of this new eating place? If you already visited it, what was your favourite aspect of the overall restaurant? Let me know what you think by commenting down below.



Previous Post:

Cosplay and Black Outs: Who should be responsible for this ongoing predicament?

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Cosplay and Black Outs: Who should be responsible for this ongoing predicament?

World Cosplay Summit - Zamboanga Peninsula Leg held last 2018 - Major events such as this held at night can be ruined with unscheduled power failures.

Part 1 here

                Power outages are a worldwide problem but I firmly believe that Zamboanga City has been experiencing it more frequently than most parts of the country or even the world.  What’s worse is that these electrical failures are unscheduled therefore no citizen of Zamboanga is able to prepare for the loss of energy before it happens. Thus result to disturbances of activities, damaging of appliance and even interruption of happenings. With that, in my opinion we can hold a few groups liable to the current unfavorable circumstance we are in.

CityMall Zamboanga Halloween event - even indoor happenings hosted by malls to increase their foot traffic can get affected by electrical difficulties too.

                Much can be done to alleviate, if not totally eradicate, the lack of energy supply in the area.  Unfortunately, the lack of power supply coupled with the mismanagement by the only source of electricity in the city, the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative, Inc. or ZAMCELCO, has render the consumers, ironically, powerless in demanding for a better service. Moreover, the hope of a better ZAMCELCO that dawned during the taking over of Crown-Desco of the overall operation of the cooperation is slowly going down the drain due to the fact that some of the debts made by the power supplier aren’t being covered by the new management due to apparent problems that they cannot currently solve. Now, the promise of a better service is still on hold and the customers are suffering for it.

                So far, all involved parties who are obligated to resolve the problem have reached a settlement to help reduce the consistent blackouts. However, from the looks of it, it's only a temporary patch-up to the predicament instead of a long-term solution. We can only hope and pray that the heads of this city can man up and find permanent answers to this consistent problem that bothers all of its citizens.


                What problems does the rotational brownouts bring to you and your hobby? Let me know by commenting below:

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post however this did not influence on how it is written. All thoughts are of the author's own.

Previous Post:

CEE Played Mobile Legends LIVE

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CEE Played Mobile Legends LIVE

Hey guys! So I was able to stream a mobile legends properly with the help of my PC. I feel like this method is better because I am able to organise what I want to show on the screen compared to streaming it direct from the app.

For this stream, I used a software called 5KPlayer to mirror my iPhone screen to my PC. Then I used OBS to set up the game, my webcam feed and mic for commentary and all around talking to my viewers while in-game.

Everything went smoothly with both software so I am planning to do it more in the future although I might need to use my webcam's mic rather than the one I am currently utilising as the latter would give off disturbing feedback that sometimes drown my voice over. Additionally, I have to avoid stooping so low so that my face would show on my live video most of the time. LOL

So do you want to get notified whenever I stream games? Like my facebook page below for updates and see you there!

Previous Post:

Cosplay and How it is Affected by Zamboanga’s Infamous Power Outages

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Cosplay and How it is Affected by Zamboanga’s Infamous Power Outages

  Cosplay, a combination of the words costume and play, is a hobby of portraying fictional characters in an event such as a photo shoot or competition. Despite its almost decade existence in Zamboanga City, the hobby is still a budding art that needs to be cultivated to be appreciated by a greater number of people. Some situations such as a slow support to modern hobbies and a recurring crisis hold the bloom of the strange yet interesting activity.

Ambox ZamPen - cosplay event organising team headed by yours truly during the World Cosplay Summit Philippines Zamboanga Peninsula Qualifiers last 2018. This event is the most-awaited cosplay culture happening in the city.

  One of the predicaments that hinder the rising popularity of cosplay in the city is the unpredictable power outages. Undesirable situations are common throughout all hobbies, and these unwanted occurrences strike the hobby in a negative way. Firstly, due to electricity’s importance in powering certain contraptions needed in the making of cosplay items, electrical failures handicap the primary steps in creating costumes and props – the very core essentials in the hobby because most tools, if not all, utilized by people doing the activity is powered by electricity. To illustrate, a cosplayer (a person doing a cosplay) tries to look for tips in an online information source on how to start getting into the hobby however, due to power interruptions, one is not able to start up the modem to connect to the World Wide Web and turn on the computer set to be able to access said information.

Cee as Gogo Yubari during the MCTV Movie Mania 2012, one of the first cosplay events in the city.

  Secondly, electrical failures affect functions relating to cosplay. Because the presentation of the art is usually done in a contest-like manner, requirements powered by electricity such as a stage with lights and sounds, LED projectors and the likes are vital.  Blackouts ruin not only the ongoing affair that uses these items but also the total experience enthusiasts want to gain by attending them. For example, a competing cosplayer who is in the game during one’s performance gets interfered by a failure of power thus leads to a stop in the momentum of performing on stage and in turn wrecks one’s opportunity to fully represent the chosen character.

Cosplay parade during the World Cosplay Summit ZamPen Qualifiers last 2017. The event was held in KCC Mall de Zamboanga, the largest shopping centre in the city which is also one of the establishments that experience frequent power failures.

  Who are responsible for this condition that the citizens of Zamboanga had no choice to be in? What could be done to lessen, if not eradicate, the aggravating situation that not only affect a particular group of people but the entire population? More of these on the next few posts to be published here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post however this did not influence on how it is written. All thoughts are of the author's.

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