ITBUD - Good day to you all, I'm pleased to say that this report will show great improvement in services and some of the sites here. One of the things some have not understood is that I'm not a professional writer, and I'm not one to say that I am. I'm just providing all of you the opportunity to see that your old home grounds are getting better and better everyday. You need to really think hard about coming home for a visit.
To all of you that have sent donations to the building of the church in Itbud, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. God will bless you and keep you in the palm of his hand, and hope that you someday come and see the new church for yourselves. I have enclosed a picture that I took in October of 2006 so you can see the progress.
We are hoping that we will be able to use the church for the large crowds that are expected this year for the town fiesta. But, on the other hand we always have large crowds.
Rumour control! I heard that the old Lorsta was going to be changed into a hotel. Or, I heard that the Japanese were going to make an old age care centre for exclusive patents. What is the truth is the Batanes Historical Society is trying to find out some of the history of the station, and try to do something with the old buildings. Whether it's one building or all is not known at this writing.
Roads are getting a going over. Some sections are being dug up and recovered with a tar and sand mix. The interior road is having extensive work done on the drainage. BELECO has replaced some of the electrical transmission lines between Mahatau and Ivana. This has reduced the number of outages.
Here is something you can mull over in you mind. When I built my home I had it constructed to American standards, including the electrical system. Because of this, I had to buy (at great expense I might add) a step up transformer from BELECO with all of the extra pieces to connect to the house. When I got my monthly bill for what I was using I saw that I was being charged for a transformer that I had paid in full for. The answer for this charge is that I was being charged for electricity I wasn't using. When asked if that was the answer they wanted to give me, they replied in the affirmative, and I now submit it to you as food for thought.
Oh, by the way, everyone that has a transformer is receiving this charge. It's not just me.
The airport is nearing the completion of the terminal and we are entering into a new phases of flying into Batanes; stricter control of the baggage check-in and pick-up. When I flew last time to Manila I returned a week later and was waiting in the terminal with several others from the island, when they announce that our flight was delayed due to the flight from where ever was delayed returning. This happens every time I have flown, so without much thought, I blurted out "So what's new?" and got a laugh from everyone.
It seems to me that if the plane is going to be late all the time that the company would adjust the time table. Everyone here knows that the plane will land in Basco around 11:30 to 12:00 noon and take off about half an hour latter. Flying time is around 2 hours, so around 1:30 or 2:00 you arrive in Manila. Oh, something to keep in mind when checking-in, in Manila. Don't get to the airport early, before 7:00 am. You just end up standing around until someone comes in to open up the check-in counter. - Mike Griffin, November 2006
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