Putong for Outgoing Governor of Marinduque-Bong Carrion

Mass for the Bong Carrion at the Capitol on his 62th Birthday, June 19, 2010
In a couple of days a new governor will be in power in the province of Marinduque. . Bong Carrion term ends on June 30. I believe his administration made a lot of progress for Marinduque to be known all over the world via the government blog and website manage by a group of industrious capitol employees and blog master Eli Obligacion. I salute you all and wish you all good fortunes and luck in the new administration of Governor Carmencita Reyes. Incidentally, Bong Carrion is Macrine's first cousin and the late husband of Carmencita Reyes, Toting Reyes, is Macrine's second cousin.

This video was "THE PUTONG" celebrating Bong's Carrion 62th birthday last June 19, 2010. If you have not heard of the word "Putong", a detailed discussion of this celebration was posted on my blog http://marinduquemyislandparadise.blogspot.com dated November 2, 2008. I enjoyed the music in this video as well as the snap shots of the various places, events, festivals, people and tourist attractions in the beautiful and peaceful island of Marinduque. Chateau Du Mer Hall is in the video during the STTC tourism meeting last year.

My Orchids Collection in Chateau Du Mer Gardens

One of the many reasons why I love Marinduque is that the climate is conducive to growing orchids outside all year round. Most of my orchids bloom almost every four months except during the hot summer months. My gardener waters the orchids every day only in the morning. It takes her at least 25 minutes to water ( spray) the orchids every day( no rain that day). We fertilized every three months. There are aphids and insects ( ants) in some varieties that had to be hand pick and killed, since I am not in favor using insecticides. Here's some of my orchids for your viewing pleasure:





In 1996, when we first built the main house at Chateau Du Mer in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines, I started planting about a dozen orchids in front of the house. Today, I have a collection of more than fifty varieties of dendrobium, phalaenopsis and vandas. The dendrobiums and phalaenopsis cost around 100 to 200 pesos today(about $4 to $8 US dollars),still very cheap compared to US prices here in California. The vandas cost from 250 to 500 pesos depending on the variety and its rarity. My favorite orchid is the Princess Mikasa, a blue orchid(see top photo above). This was a gift from my first cousin from Iloilo about five years ago. I had to hand carry this on the plane to Marinduque. My cousin's primary business is growing orchids. She has more than a thousand plants in her home in Pototan, Iloilo. She attends to all the orchids Shows and Fairs in the Philippines and exhibits her orchids for sale and competes for awards. My other orchids, I purchased them from orchid gardens in Lucena, Quezon as well as locally during agricultural Fairs and at the Flea markets in Gasan and Boac. The other orchids in the photos are dark pink and yellow vandas as well as the purple dendrobium. I also have three cattleyas in my garden.