Here comes the new wave of PBA teams reworked by a nature loving designer

The Philippine’s own brand of basketball is officially known as the PBA, but it can more accurately be called as the corporate sponsor’s ultimate wet dream.

You see, instead of cheering for their city’s team, fans shout out brands.

Forget about watching primal battles of Raptors vs Grizzlies or of heated club rivalries of Barcelona vs Real Madrid.

Instead, you’ll get to witness the epic battle between a bottle of gin and a bucket of paint.

Because nothing scares an opponent more than the threat of alcoholism

I know what you’re thinking, “Well, what about us fans who don’t really want to cheer for liquid containers?”

Good news!

The 7 things you do while traveling that end up devastating nature

J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote a poem whose single line has become the mantra of backpackers, nomads, and adventurers around the world.

Chances are, you’ve heard it more than once in one way or another. It goes:

Tumblr’s specialty: text on random Instagramized photos

They may not be lost, but, as I’ve learned the hard way, traveling without thinking about what you’re doing can lead to some undesirable consequences.

With the rising popularity of piso sales, groupons, and adventure groups, more people are being struck with wanderlust, and that’s good.

After all, getting people to explore and appreciate nature makes convincing them to help protect it that much easier, right?

It does, except when what you’re doing promotes the opposite.

If you dare: The 12 most haunting quotes from Haiyan survivors that will put you in the middle of the storm

If you don’t get why Ruby (or Hagupit) has been receiving so much attention the past few days, here’s a reminder of what happened the last time.

On the morning of November 8th, 2013, Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) set the record for being the strongest typhoon to strike land in the age of satellites.

Which would’ve been cool if it didn’t involve laying waste to a country.

A full year filled with news reports has passed so you probably already know what happened when it made landfall in Samar, Leyte, and the rest of the Visayas in the Philippines.

I thought I did too.

The 5 ways you don’t notice killing wildlife is ruining the Philippines

When you were a kid, did you ever own a pellet gun, an airgun, or even a tirador?

If you did, then you probably tried using it on some helpless bird in your backyard. And if you were as good as I am, you probably missed every shot.

Thankfully, my incompetence in accuracy is paying off because I wouldn’t have only shot birds down,  I would’ve sabotaged the country in more ways than one.

Here’s why.

You might’ve seen this picture of a dead Black Bittern inside the UP Diliman campus going around Facebook since the start of November.

Rare photo tells story of a Philippine Eagle who snatched up a monkey by its ass

It’s not everyday you encounter a species close to extinction.

But, when I first saw the shot below, I didn’t know what I was looking at exactly.

What do you think?

Someone’s having a bad day

In case you’re unsure of what you’re seeing like I was, that’s a monkey being carried away on its ass by a bird.

More specifically, it shows the critically endangered Philippine Eagle returning from a hunt with a Long Tailed Macaque securely (and awkwardly) in its talons. The photo was taken by conservation biologist Kahlil Panopio from the Haribon Foundation during a research expedition in Nueva Ecija last May 2014.

When I asked Kahlil how he felt after that moment he said:

“I was shaking with excitement when I saw what I had taken a picture of. No one has ever seen it here in over 36 years.”

I found out later that Kahlil had even more reason to have a celebratory shiver because…

Why your tree planting isn’t helping the Philippine environment

Planning to join a tree planting event?

Hold up, you might be doing more harm than good.

Do the trees you plant actually help nature? It depends.

As far as helping nature goes, “Plant a tree” probably rules the Top 10 list of things you can do for nature, beating out “Recycle” and “Don’t litter.”

And for good reason.

I’ve been taught since I was a kid, and you probably were too, that trees create oxygen, store water, house wildlife, and that planting a tree does a whole lot of good in the world.

It does, but too bad they never taught us how to do it the right way.

The secret side of Manila Bay that’s disappearing before you even knew it existed

That awkward moment when you think you know something then realizing that you weren’t even close.

Take away the sunset and what becomes the most visible landmark of Manila Bay?

I would answer the trash on its shores and floating on its chunky exhaust-colored water, just because of the scene I encounter everytime I pass by the area.

You won’t see this beach on any Top 10 travel lists anytime soon. Photo by Kahlil Panopio.

Sadly, because I was born in the 21st century, this is what’s left of it.

This sad state is the sole image of Manila Bay that me, and maybe everyone else, has.

Or is it?

Even after centuries of being a prime location for naval battles between colonizers, a dumpsite for the city’s factories, and for thousands of hectares of reclamation to build Asia’s largest mall, Manila Bay still keeps a part of itself secret.

And I stumbled upon it a year ago.