Clean Living

Keeping your house clean without comprising your health sounds like a paradox. The truth is, many household products contain chemicals that may prove harmful to you and your family in the long term. Just taking out dirt and grime is no longer enough, especially if the cleansing materials used are toxic. Siblings Troy Bernardo, Candy Reyes and Krie Lopez started out looking for a project that would help in the rehabilitation of people in need, patterning their ideas after the Delancey Street Foundation which is a self-sustainable rehabilitation program. “I began researching on self-sustained programs, or termed recently as “social entrepreneurship,” and I particularly liked Delancey explains Krie “they took in the bottom 2 percent of the society—drug addicts, excons, homeless, etc.—and they provided them with jobs that educated and empowered them and later on placed them back into mainstream society. The income from the businesses they worked for in turn sustained the whole program. I actually went to visit the foundation two years ago, and this prompted me to start something here.”

What was started was Messy Bessy an earth friendly, non-toxic and biodegradable line of household cleaning products. They are manufactured in one of the homes of the Virlanie Foundation. Specifically Elizabeth home—which is the home of formerly abused girls. “Messy Bessy is a private corporation, but it’s actually run like a non-profit. The primary objective of the company is to personally develop the disadvantaged young adults who are trained and employed by the company. Secondary is to help create safer and “greener” homes” continues Krie.

Earth and human friendly are the strong points of the products and there are even refills available as well as returned bottle discounts so recycling is also encouraged. The most popular products are the Eucalyptus All Purpose Scrub, Orange Blossom Surface Cleaner and the Disinfectant Aroma Spray. The siblings also promote a shift in consciousness so people become more sensitive to their environment. “It would be best to get people out of the old, conventional way of doing things such as buying things regardless of how these products harm them or the environment. We can do our part by bringing Messy Bessy to major retailers, giving people the option. In the meantime, though, while that hasn’t happened yet, people may want to explore other ways to do their groceries. For example, visit outdoor markets, patronize small businesses, support organic growers, bring your own shopping bags, choose to buy products from local companies that contribute to society,” adds Troy.

All in all, earth friendly is not just about where you live, it’s about how you live and how you affect those who live around you.

Messy Bessy is part of a project called HOUSE: Helping Ourselves through Sustainable Enterprises. For orders and inquiries: messybessycleaners@gmail.com or call 0917-8303003 or visit www.messybessy.multiply.com

Interiority Complex 

By Katrina A. Holigores
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Last updated 17:15:00 04/25/2008

More Than Durian in Davao

The last time I was in Davao all I saw was the airport and my hotel. This time around, I was going to see a hotel on my way to the airport, but wow, what a hotel. When you think of the name Kublai (depending on your age) you may think of Kublai Khan, the last emperor of the Mongol 

Empire and founder of the Yuan Dynasty. If you were partying out in the 80’s, you think of the hotspot Kublai’s (like I do) where anything and everything was legal—but thankfully without the digital image evidence (Phew, many of you may be saying). In this part of the world though, Kublai was the name of an artist who is giving expressive art a whole new dimension. I arrived at the Ponce Suites Hotel and all I could say as I took in the entrance was “Wow, size matters.” Huge sculptures greeted my companion and I, and even if they looked like they weighed more than a ton, some of them seemed to be suspended like they were as light as air.

Inside the hotel I was in for a rather explosive set of textures, colors and images. Every single space of this four-story hotel is covered in an artwork. Yes, if France has Versailles in terms of decadence, Davao has Ponce Suites in terms of expressionism. Each floor greets you with a different theme. You look up, down, around, upside down and there is always something to look at. I even had my share of giant spiders, comical bat sculptures and a huge gecko staircase. Wow, who needs Walt Disney on acid when you have the artist who made all of this—Kublai Ponce

 Millan.

Upon meeting Kublai, I couldn’t help but think “Oh my god, he looks Mongolian!” what with the long hair the slanted eyes, the goatee and moustache. But of course I bit my tongue. He was

 the most charming and humble of hosts as he brought us up and down his hotel/gallery. Yes, you don’t have to check in to take a tour, but if you do, a regular room will cost about P800 a night—not bad and another incentive to come back. He told me that after a long stint of living in Manila, he decided to return to Davao and just do what he loved for fun and hoped that other people would have fun with it too. In fact, he doesn’t sell any of his artwork, he keeps everything and just finds more and more places to put them.

Those who, like me, have only been as far as the airport can get their dose of Kublai’s art by looking at the sculpture of a giant durian with women coming out of it.

My friend and I had a late flight to catch so we decided to chase the sunset and go to another one of Kublai’s projects, the People’s Park right smack in the heart of the city. It is actually Kublai’s dream to just build public places for children. (He has a son and daughter and his wife is pregnant with his third). So he envisions areas where they can play and families can go to enjoy themselves without having to spend a lot of money.

The People’s Park is a statement of integration. The sculptures of larger than life children represent different looks of Fiipinos from their dress to the fruits or products of a particular region. The entire park is family-friendly—children run and climb on everything, adults sit around and walk around and there is an educational component for everyone as the different trees come with “labels” so you can even get a lesson in tree-ology.

What’s even more amazing about this park is that it is litter-free. “The people take pride in this as their personal space even if it’s public,” shares Kublai, “so there is a certain reverence with how they treat it, they don’t leave anything and throw their trash in the respective trash bins.” The park is also free of charge, like his hotel turned gallery (where we capped the night off having vegetarian pizza) Kublai has created (and continues to create—as he is in the process of building another park in another province) a sanctuary for the senses.

Ponce Suites is located on Roads 3 and 2 Doña Vicenta Village II, Bajada Davao City. Contact No. (092) 778-8808 or (802) 227-9070 www.poncesuites.com

Text and photos by Katrina A. Holigores
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Last updated 04:34pm (Mla time) 04/18/2008

An Earth Hour Passes

Illustration by Jason Moss
(Printed in the Philippine Daily Inquirer 04/05/08)

An Earth Hour Passes

by Katrina A. Holigores

Give the Earth a break from Global Warming the text messages said. For one full hour, all were requested to shut off their lights, aircons, radios, tv sets...basically almost every electrical powered device in their households. Seemed simple enough, 8pm to 9pm would see the world unite in the dark. At 7pm I made my way to a friend's condo in San Juan. There was a small gathering planned of about 7-8 people that night and we were excited to see from the vantage point of the 9th floor parts of the city "black out". We prepared candles, incense and a light dinner that was pre-cooked so we could enjoy a real candlelight dinner.

Five minutes to the 20th hour of the day and we settled in a circle as our host went around switching off lights, the electric fan and even the telephone. Some took advantage of the silence and lack of light to meditate, some prayed, some played light, rhythmic beats on a skin drum while I went out and stood over the balcony in anticipation for a vast neverending stretch of darkness.

No such luck. Fifteen minutes into 8 o' clock and the houses closest to the apartment building seemed to have every light turned on. The streets should have just been lit by passing cars but were illuminated instead by every abode within sight. Half an hour and still no change, I looked to my left and saw buildings, I imagine commercial ones lit from top to bottom, some even looked like they were under construction and I doubt anyone was working on them on a Saturday night. By 8:45 it was glaringly obvious that at least this portion of the Philippines were I had chosen to spend my Earth Hour had not bothered to deduct even 60 mins worth of usage from their Meralco bill.

I returned to the circle with mixed feelings. Another companion rang a bell fifteen minutes later and gently said "One Earth Hour is over". I couldn't help but think as the lights were switched back on and the room started to get brighter and brighter..was it really just an hour that was over? Or a general consciousness to make a change? I hope not.