A runner early in the morning but he has been on the road for more than 6 hours already Scorching heat at the roadside along the highway in Bataan near the border with Pampanga. Last Sunday, I was part of the support crew of my friend, Blas, who took part in the 2nd Bataan Death March Ultramarathon or the BDM102. And it was one very long run at 102 kilometers starting in Mariveles, Bataan to San Fernando City, Pampanga to commemorate the infamous 159KM long Death March during April of 1942. This long stretch of road turned red as thousands of prisoners of war, American and mostly Filipinos died under the Japanese enroute to Tarlac. Of the more than 140 runners who took part, around 104 finished this brutal race and really, it’s a very demanding marathon that is only reserved for the well prepared. Like in the other races I went to, I took images of the runners. More at fitandrun.info. Similar Posts:

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Undescribed Pachyrrhynchus sp., female, model Undescribed Pachyrrhynchus sp., male, model A few years ago, I was able to do a beetle entomological collection at the northeastern part of the Zamboanga Peninsula and, while the collection wasn’t too great, there were some species that are not only new to my collection but, most likely, and I’m pretty sure about it, new to Science. First is a beautiful Pachyrrhynchus sp. that at first glance the spots looks like those of P. erichsonni WATERHOUSE 1841 but heavily punctured and colored reddish purple. But what delighted me more was the presence of a mimic! Undescribed Metapocyrtus sp., male, mimic Undescribed Metapocyrtus sp., female, mimic Like many Pachyrrhynchus species, present also was a smaller Metapocyrtus species that was found on the same plant where I collected the former. Other than it’s size, the elytral pattern isn’t as faithful but it does have an iridescent color that is almost the same as with it’s model.

Just made me wonder, are Cebu Pacific employees on drugs? It was infuriating, downright stupid, mindless and just made me wonder. If anyone can tell me, please, I want to know: Are Cebu Pacific employees on drugs? Just when I was looking forward to coming back home in Cebu turned out to be a nightmare. Due in part to robots, nay, some Cebu Pacific employees who are just plain incompetent or are probably on drugs and are manning some vital parts of their company. Last Thursday afternoon, 4 March, I booked a flight via cebupacificair.com using Bancnet Online so that payments can be done via my Metrobank ATM account. Unfortunately, just when it was about to process the payment, a runtime error occured. Bad. This is bad. I can see trouble ahead. I immediately called their hotline number, which, shockingly, just took me a few minutes to connect to a live operator and was told that it wasn’t charged. Good heavens, I heaved a sigh of relief. Later that night, probably around 2200H – 2300H, I booked again, thinking that the afternoon incident was a fluke. To my chagrin, the same error occurred. When I later checked my ATM balance, it was deducted. YES. D-E-D-U-C-T-E-D. CHARGED. And TWICE. Tried calling Metrobank and Cebu Pacific’s hotlines but no one picked up. The next day, I reported the incident to Metrobank who referred me to Bancnet Online. At their side it was a good transaction but the operator told me that she’ll coordinate with the airline. Saturday, I called up Cebu Pacific and reported the incident because I can’t just connect the previous day. They told me they had their system upgraded. Okay, I can deal with this. I used to be a telecoms engineer and knows stuff like this happens. Come Monday, I followed up Bancnet and was told that a Cebu Pacific employee will call me to ask which of the transactions will be a go. No call came. When I checked my email, lo and behold, both transactions, two flights on the same day, on the same route were mindlessly approved. MINDLESSLY. Who of sane mind will do that? Unless they’re robots or high on drugs. After that system error, I now have to deal with calling their hotline which is never a joy. A pain is more appropriate to describe it. No one picked up for quite a number of minutes. And I was using my mobile phone. Two, three attempts, no live operator. Hellooo, tawn, naay tao diha? If I didn’t visit their ticketing office in Robinsons Ermita, I wouldn’t have known that they have a customer service hotline number and email! Wow, I never found this information at their website! But calling the number is another time waster as no one picks up. Aren’t they ashamed? Can’t they not improve this? I emailed my request 2AM of 10 March instead that the afternoon flight be canceled and reimbursed. No answer. Anyway, with these already taken cared of, I thought, I’m just focused on packing my things for the evening flight. When I arrived at the check in counter at Terminal 3, I was told point blank that the ticket is already invalid since it was canceled for refund! What? A shocker! There I was, seeing red. What is this madness? Have the heavens conspired against me? Should I devote my Holy Week to some flagellation in Infanta? At the ticket office, I have to fire up my laptop, connect to the internet and show them my email which basically told the addict at customer service: Cancel and reimburse me the afternoon flight. Unfortunately, due to the hazy smoke swirling at the addict’s cubicle, the evening flight was canceled and marked for reimbursement. Unless they’re robots or high on drugs. This is just unacceptable. They ought to fire the addicts in their ranks and not just greedily cram passengers into their planes by dangling low fares while their service sucks. Big time. NOW, ANYONE KNOW THEIR BIG BOSS, LANCE GOKONGWEI’S EMAIL ADDRESS? Note: They booked me on the last flight of the day instead. But still, I’m not happy with them. It’s a terrible experience. While the technical glitch was understandable, two human errors aren’t. Unless they’re robots or high on drugs.

What about you? Do you have any stories courtesy of Cebu Pacific fit for Halloween?

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