The principal method of communicating events here in Puerto Princesa, are large hand painted banners that decorate every corner of the city. Although, occasionally the banners are printed vinyl, they are banners none the less. Many signs here in town, including those for businesses are hand painted, which, as I have mentioned before, have a very nice local quality that we rarely see at home. And once again, the professionally printed signs here are usually a collage of terrible font combinations that are exquisitely chosen from the prestigious collection of standard fonts that come with every copy of Microsoft Windows. Even during the local barangay elections where leaders were chosen for the 66 city component neighbourhoods of Puerto
Princesa, the electoral signs were mostly hand made, makeshift, photocopied or constructed by every other method you could inexpensively imagine.
The Mayor's birthday was celebrated here on October the 12th, and although I apparently missed the morning's festivities where there was supposedly free food. I did stop by the Colleseum in the afternoon to see what the fuss was about. The Colleseum is a public arena here in Puerto where everything from basketball games, to singing contests, to official events take place. There is seating for several thousand. On this occassion, Mayor Hagedorn's birthday, which is a local holiday, the Colleseum was about one third full when I arrived around 1:30. It had been quite full in the morning I have been told. The event includes entertainment, which for the part I saw included break dancing, as well as dedications, speeches and the like. The most amazing part to me, were the hundreds of banners wishing the mayor a happy birthday from what must have been every organization in Puerto Princesa. I had noticed several of these strung around the city in various places, usually dangled across main roads, for the better part of the previous week. Normally this would be exceptional, only there are images of the mayor plastered from one end of the city to the other, usually in support of some project or bylaw. In the Colleseum, however, there were literally hundreds of these things, again with the usual assortment of desktop publishing features and fonts, but also many carefully hand painted versions as well.
Aside from Mayor Hagedorn, there are road signs, banners, and billboards everywhere you go here that specify various infrastructure projects as the initiative of the mayor, the governor, the president, or some other politician. Imagine seeing bus stops at home with a smiling portrait attached reading, "Project of Sam Sullivan", or highway construction hovered over by a billboard stating, "A Proud Initiative of Stephen Harper". Philippine politics seems to lack a sense of irony. (see more photos)
Princesa, the electoral signs were mostly hand made, makeshift, photocopied or constructed by every other method you could inexpensively imagine.
The Mayor's birthday was celebrated here on October the 12th, and although I apparently missed the morning's festivities where there was supposedly free food. I did stop by the Colleseum in the afternoon to see what the fuss was about. The Colleseum is a public arena here in Puerto where everything from basketball games, to singing contests, to official events take place. There is seating for several thousand. On this occassion, Mayor Hagedorn's birthday, which is a local holiday, the Colleseum was about one third full when I arrived around 1:30. It had been quite full in the morning I have been told. The event includes entertainment, which for the part I saw included break dancing, as well as dedications, speeches and the like. The most amazing part to me, were the hundreds of banners wishing the mayor a happy birthday from what must have been every organization in Puerto Princesa. I had noticed several of these strung around the city in various places, usually dangled across main roads, for the better part of the previous week. Normally this would be exceptional, only there are images of the mayor plastered from one end of the city to the other, usually in support of some project or bylaw. In the Colleseum, however, there were literally hundreds of these things, again with the usual assortment of desktop publishing features and fonts, but also many carefully hand painted versions as well.
Aside from Mayor Hagedorn, there are road signs, banners, and billboards everywhere you go here that specify various infrastructure projects as the initiative of the mayor, the governor, the president, or some other politician. Imagine seeing bus stops at home with a smiling portrait attached reading, "Project of Sam Sullivan", or highway construction hovered over by a billboard stating, "A Proud Initiative of Stephen Harper". Philippine politics seems to lack a sense of irony. (see more photos)
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