Boracay Island, Philippines

Geographically speaking, Boracay is part of the municipality of Malay in the province of Aklan, which is located in Panay, one of a cluster of islands that constitute the central section of the Philippine archipelago.

Boracay can be reached from Manila by daily flights on Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Air Philippines, Asian Spirit, Seair and Pacific Air. Caticlan is nearer the island, but the airstrip is short and narrow, and only the smaller planes of Asian Spirit, Seair and Pacific Air can land on it. The larger aircraft of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines fly to Kalibo, the capital of Aklan. From Caticlan it takes about 15 minutes by boat to Boracay; from Kalibo, an hour and a half by bus plus the 15-minute boat ride.

Once on the island, you will find out that getting around is simple and easy. There are three categories of transport: pedicabs and motorized tricycles shared with other passengers; individually rented bicycles and motorbikes; and the shuttle service offered by some hotels. Taxis are not available. However, since everything is more or less within walking distance, you will most likely join the majority of visitors in moving around the island on foot.

Boracay is seven kilometers long and divided into three barangays, or communities. Yapak lies in the north, Balabag in the center and Manoc-Manoc in the south. Within these barangays are smaller villages such as Angol, Manggayad and Bolabog.

Yapak is spread out over hilly terrain situated some distance away from the main tourist beat, but the shoreline is dotted with beautiful, uncrowded beaches and coves such as Puka Beach and Balinghai Beach. The island's only golf club, the 18-hole par-72 course at Fairways & Bluewater, is also located in Yapak. The Bat Caves, a popular destination for nature lovers, can be found at the barangay's northeastern tip.

White Beach, Boracay's biggest tourist attraction, stretches some four kilometers on the western side of the island, mostly within the barangay of Balabag. It is largely because of the pristine, white powdery sand of White Beach and the crystal-clear blue water of the surrounding sea that Boracay is often called "the world's most beautiful tropical island."

While White Beach takes up most of the western shoreline, Bolabog Beach dominates the eastern coast. Bolabog (sometimes spelled "Bulabog" or "Bulabug") belongs to the barangay of Balabag (with very little difference in spelling, Bolabog is often confused with Balabag by newcomers to the island). Normally the boat trip from Caticlan terminates at White Beach, but during the monsoon season when the western side of the island is lashed by strong winds, visitors are brought to a docking area in Bolabog. The waters here are also considered to offer ideal conditions for windsurfing. A small dirt road takes you from Bolabog to the foot of Mount Luho, the highest point on the island.

Understandably hotels on White Beach attract the most guests. The northern end of the beach is "lorded over" by Fridays, the southern end by Lorenzo South. In between you will find all kinds of accommodation, from native bamboo-and-nipa bungalows to Western-style concrete buildings.

White Beach extends into Manoc-Manoc, but the barangay features its own share of beaches worth visiting and exploring, including one named Manoc-Manoc Beach. The barangay also encompasses the Boracay Beach & Yacht Club and Crocodile Island, a popular destination for picnics, diving expeditions and marine excursions. The Dead Forest, a scenic spot believed to be populated by elemental spirits, is likewise located within the boundaries of Manoc-Manoc. White Beach Path runs along White Beach but is set back from the shore by rows of coconut trees. Hotels, eateries, bars, stores and dive shops line the entire length of the meandering footpath. This is where visitors to the island come to see and be seen.

You will find hotels like the longstanding Red Coconut Resort and more recently constructed Boracay Regency Beach Resort on White Beach Path, and likewise the Tourist Center, a handy one-stop shop for all kinds of travel needs (airline reservations, postcards, stamps, film, souvenirs and so forth). Thai Castles, True Food, Steakhouse Boracay, Gorio's, La Reserve Restaurant, Banza and La Capannina are among the better known eateries. Bars include Bom Bom and Summer Place Bar & Restaurant. Victory Divers and Aquarius Diving are just two of the many dive shops (there are more than 20 such outlets on the island) scattered along the path. Retail stores range from Paulo Collection Body Wear to Lonely Planet. The Talipapa Market, which burnt down in early 2005, has now been rebuilt in several locations between White Beach Path and Boracay Main Road.

Tricycles ply Boracay Main Road and a handful of side streets but are not allowed on White Beach Path. Except for Jony's Beach Resort, the town square (where the church and DOT Office are located), Beachcomber Bar & Disco, Moondog Shooter Bar, Pink Patio Resort and a few other establishments, there are not many places geared toward tourists on the main road. You may, however, ride a tricycle on the road to get to a hotel or an eatery on White Beach Path; just get off at the nearest stop and walk the rest of the way.

To facilitate locating an establishment on the island, the nearest boat station is often specified in its address. Here a word on these stations is in order: Numbered 1, 2 and 3, they are used as stopping-off points by boats ferrying new arrivals from Caticlan. Do not, however, expect some well-constructed structure with a welcoming jetty for you to conveniently step on. To disembark, you can go for one of two options: Jump into the water and wade ashore or allow yourself the luxury of being borne aloft on the shoulders of some hapless porter. Happy landing!

Apple COO: We'll Do Whatever It Takes to Sell 10 Million iPhones

Apple's stock received a 4 percent boost in after hours trading on Wednesday thanks to a talk last night by Apple COO Tim Cook (pictured right).

During the Goldman Sachs Technology Symposium, a calm and level-headed Cook rehashed a lot of what he told investors during the company's Q1 earnings report. But he also dropped in a few interesting details about Apple's stance on unlocked iPhones, working with multiple carriers in one country and that whole 10 million iPhone sales goal.

"We're not married to any business model," Cook said, referring to the present iPhone carrier exclusively deals Apple has forged.

Cook said Apple is actually open to doing whatever it takes to sell those 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008, even if it means doing away with that carrier exclusivity model. He also described those unlocked iPhones floating around the world as "a good problem to have" -- a verification that demand for the device remains high.

Here are some highlights from the Wednesday night chat:

Economic decline
"I'm not saying Apple's immune to the economy. But if you look at last quarter as an example … last quarter in the U.S., the GDP growth was less than one percent. It was miserable by anybody's calculation. Apple, in the U.S., grew 27 percent.

For us, we're focused on what we can control. And what we can control is how much we innovate, what products we do, the experience in our stores, the experience in our channel -- all of those things. I think Apple's success depends on how we do on those things versus whether the GDP is slightly above one (percent) or slightly below zero or whatever."

IPod Touch cannibalizing iPhone sales
"I'd rather Apple cannibalize Apple than somebody else cannibalize Apple. It was very key for the iPod line to go in this direction."

The iPhone SDK and platforms vs. products

"First of all, I think it's really important to realize that very few companies in the world know how to build a platform. You can count them on a few fingers. Apple is one of them. We've had the Mac platform for years and really understand this.

When we started with the phone, we started by getting developers to focus on web 2.0 apps. And there's over a thousand of these today. There are probably many people in this room that use them. But people also want to do more than that. And as we got into the phone more and more, it became clear to us that we should release an SDK and we're going to talk more about that next week at our event. But in essence what it does is it will make the product even more compelling. This is a product that has the highest customer satisfaction (rate) of any Apple product ever shipped, which is a very, very high bar. We're super excited about where this can take us."

The real iPhone controversy (aka the missing iPhones)

"The real controversy, if you will, from some people's point of view is the difference between phones that are activated on Apple-chosen carriers, and the total number of phone sales. So people want to know where are the iPhones? Here's my short version of this: We have a situation where we've purposefully rolled out iPhone in four markets (the U.S., the U.K., Germany and France). We did this at this chosen speed so we would learn, and could apply those learnings to future rollouts, etc. And we are right on track where we want to be. The four million units that we've sold over the first 200 days gives us confidence that we can achieve 10 million units in 2008.

So where are the iPhones? Here's the privilege, so to speak, of this problem. The demand for the iPhone is so intense in the markets where we aren't offering it that people are exporting it out of the U.S. in many different ways and then running it on local carriers ... The thing that I like about that is it shows there's a lot of worldwide demand. And I think the most important thing for Apple by far in this first 8-10 months of selling in the iPhone world is to deliver a product that would delight customers.

Of all the problems we face, this is the one I face looking at with a little bit of a smile. Because it means there's great demand for the phone. And to have people stepping over each other to have the phone isn't a bad thing."

The one carrier model vs. multiple carriers for the iPhone

"In the U.S., our fundamental choice was do we want to develop two phones: a CDMA phone and a GSM phone. We didn't. We wanted to do the simplest approach in the beginning because that's the fastest way to learn. We wanted GSM. GSM is a worldwide standard and AT&T is the largest carrier. The business relationship that we could work with AT&T allowed Apple to be Apple and AT&T to be AT&T. This is the power of this relationship. We feel very good about that. We went into Europe and picked the top carriers in three countries and got going in those countries. Now, are we married to his model? Will we do this everywhere? We're not married to any business model. What we're married to is shipping the best phone in the world and continuing everyday to innovate to make (the iPhone) better and turn it from a device into a platform. We are married to that."

At the time of writing Apple's stock is up 4.9 percent at $128.9.


By Bryan Gardiner February 28, 2008 | 1:21:19 PM

Physicians Licensure Examination Results for February 2008

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announces that 1,054 out of 1,985 passed the Physician (Complete, Prelims and Finals with Prelims) Licensure Examination given by the Board of Medicine in the cities of Manila and Cebu this February 2008.

The members of the Board of Medicine who gave the licensure examinations are Dr. Florentino C. Doble, Chairman; Dr. Edgardo T. Fernando, Dr. Ricardo D. Fulgencio II, Dr. Miguel L. Noche Jr., Dr. Restituto C. De Ocampo, Members.
Registration for the issuance of Professional Identification Card (ID) and Certificate of Registration will start on February 29, 2008 but not later than March 7, 2008. Those who will register are required to bring the following: duly accomplished Oath Form or Panunumpa ng Propesyonal, current Community Tax Certificate (cedula), 2 pieces passport size picture (colored with white background and complete nametag), 1 piece 1″ x 1″ picture (colored with white background and complete nametag), 2 sets of metered documentary stamps, and 1 short brown envelope with name and profession; and to pay the Initial Registration Fee of P600 and Annual Registration Fee of P450 for 2008-2011. Successful examinees should personally register and sign in the Roster of Registered Professionals.