Taza Mia Opens 2nd Branch in Lipa City

Taza Mia Coffee or my cup of coffee in English opens its 2nd branch in Lipa City at SM City Lipa annex. Taza Mia is aggressive in expanding their branches in Southern Luzon which started in San Pablo City. By the end of the year they will open 3 more branches for a total of 10 with plan to branch out in Metro Manila and Southeast Asian countries.

Present in the occasion is the very accommodating Mr Rodel Lacorte, President and CEO of Taza Mia. Mr Lacorte is a true blooded Lipeño and certified coffee lover. His beans for Taza Mia are from Lipa which guarantee freshness and world class quality. As we all know, Lipa is noted for coffee industry and once became the world's largest producer of coffee beans.

Taza Mia in SM City Lipa will be operating 24 hours to cater Business Process and Outsourcing employees of Lipa and for those who are looking for a relaxing place to hang out with friends after late night. They also have al fresco which is far from the busy street to dine in or sip your cup of coffee.

What makes Taza Mia different from the other coffee shop available in Lipa is that they are serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and limited serving of alcoholic products. According to Mr Lacorte, a must try in Taza Mia are roasted caramel and cafe Italiano which are also his favorites.

Lady Christine's Baby Back Ribs Revisited

Originally from Kawit in Cavite, Lady Christine's Baby Back Ribs is now more than a year existing in their branch at SM City Lipa. They are the first restaurant to open in the annex building of the mall located at the 2nd floor.

I have been in this restaurant several times and their meat is absolutely different and highly tempting because of its tenderness and quality taste. No doubt, they have been awarded as the Philippine's Best Baby Back Rib Specialty Restaurant for 2015 by the Philippines' Best Awards and conferred them the Gold Seal of Excellence and World Class quality status.

This country style themed specialty restaurant offers menu from 99 to 1400 pesos per order. Their menu includes pasta, burgers, smoothies, desserts, salad, tuna, sausages and of course baby back ribs. I also got interested with their hamburger because instead of meat patty they are using pulled pork and it was served with iced tea and sweet fried potato for only 175 pesos. I love their dip for the sweet potato and dressing used in hamburger for it blends well with the pulled pork.

Angelica Sesbreño, Lady Christine SM Lipa OIC, is inviting their customers to watch out for their brand new menus that is expected to be available by November of this year. If you are looking for a cozy restaurant with world class quality food to eat with your love ones at reasonable price, please visit them today at 2nd floor of SM Lipa annex.

LCP Oct Poll for President

The second series of LCP Poll for President suggests that Miriam Defensor Santiago will be the run away winner in Lipa City with 83% total votes. Last Aug poll, Santiago was 3rd with only 8% votes while Duterte led that Aug poll with 61%.

It seems that Lipeños in general has chosen Santiago as replacement for Duterte who did not file his certificate of candidacy between Oct 12-16 as expected by many Filipinos. Far second is still Roxas with only 12% votes as compared to Aug with 16% votes. Poe and Binay remained behind Santiago and Roxas.

LCP Poll for President is a random & voluntary survey between Oct 17 and 18 participated by 1% of Lipa City Philippines group members with over 35,000 legitimate members. Official list of candidates from COMELEC will be released on Dec 10 2015.

DLSL's New CPA Top Notchers

De La Salle Lipa did it again and produced new topnotchers in the most recent CPA Board Exam. The new topnotchers are Hannah Faye A Reyes from neighborhood town of Malvar at #6 and Keren Kristell M Dimaculangan from Lipa at #9.

To date, DLSL's most successful CPA board passers are Roma Carpio who placed #1 and Reginald Laco who ranked 2nd overall both in 2009 and then Laco placed 4th in Bar examinations last year also bearing DLSL flag.

Congratulations to all Oct 2015 CPA Board exam passers!

::photo from De La Salle Lipa's school website

Barakoland 2.0

Barakoland is staging once more at the open area of Fiesta World Mall this Oct 30 [Friday]. The anticipated and biggest rave party in Batangas will feature the best DJs of Batangas and Manila together with invited performers to pump up the night.

Barakoland 2.0 will be bigger and better this year as promised by the organizers. Other than DJs and performers, there will be Halloween Cosplay contest. General admission is 300 pesos while VIP is only 3,500 good for 5 persons with a bottle of spirit. Tickets can be availed in Corner Route bar from 6pm to 3am or you may contact 09175743888 and 09174874447.

This is the party in Batangas you and your group shouldn't miss before finally spending your weekend with your family for the holiday season. For more information, you may visit their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/barakoland2

Top Ten Reasons Why Lipa is a Better Investment and Housing Location

Lipa has been acknowledged as an emerging city in the south of Luzon in 2004 and has become a favorite location for investors and immigrants for the following reasons:

1. High Elevation - Lipa is elevated at approximately 1,025 feet above sea level which is believed to be the 3rd highest among the cities at least in Luzon.
2. Lower Weather Temperature - temperature in Lipa City is generally lower than the average Philippine temperature by approximately 3-5 degrees Celsius. Weather in Lipa is best to enjoy during the months of Novembers until February and sometimes extend to March to as low as 14 degrees Celsius. You will find here a lot of farms for breeding and poultry.
3. Protected by Two Mountains - Lipa is nestled between Mount Malarayat and Mount Maculot which makes it a low-risk area for natural disasters. These two mountains serve as a windbreak during typhoons. Mount Makulot, in the west, also served as shield during eruptions of the Taal Volcano.
4. Strategic Location - Lipa is in the heart of CALABARZON region and is only approximately 45 minutes drive from Makati via STAR Tollway without traffic.
5. Less Risk to Flood - with its high elevation, Lipa remains to be a flood free area in general but with climate change and torrential rains there's no more location anywhere that can be considered as 100% flood free. As for Lipa's case, there's always catchment areas all over the city but once the rains stopped the flood will subside almost immediately.
6. Low Susceptibility to Landslide - at least approximately 90% of Lipa's land area has low susceptibility to landslide except for mountainous and near Taal lake areas.
7. Religious and Family Centered People - Lipeños are generally faithful to their religion and has solid family relationship which make them a worry free neighbors.
8. Competitive Workforce - Lipa has a wide human resource for competitive and skilled workers which made the city among the Top Ten Next Wave Cities of the Philippines.
9. Little Rome of the Philippines - the attribute that is only for Lipa by Department of Tourism for its multiple number of religious houses, convents, and churches.
10. Highly Commercialized - Lipa is Batangas' most commercialized area with the existence of prominent stores and restaurants in the Philippines. It also houses world class golf courses and health spa.

Lipa City Government should create a long term & solid plan to protect the city from environmental, peace and order issues. On the other hand, people of Lipa should be diligent in following the city ordinances.

sources: wikipedia, dost, pia, lcp, skyscrapercity

IN THE NEWS: Super Mega Manila Project

It was discussed in today's edition of TV Patrol [Oct 7 2015] by Atom Araullo the submitted plan of Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA to Philippine government last year for transport development of Metro Manila but has never been started.

In the plan, Lipa City is included along with the cities of Batangas and Lucena as regional growth centers in the south of Metro Manila. If this project will materialize, Lipa City will be included in the Super Mega Manila concept but will be developed independently from Metro Manila. Lipa will be strengthened as domestic gateway of Mega Manila and will serve as the leading center of the various activities in the region.

At present, Lipa City is projected to be the most populated city and highly commercialized center of Batangas. Buildings are sprouting like mushrooms in city proper and uptown of Lipa and commercialization has expanded to Tambo, Marawoy, Inosloban, Antipolo and Sabang.

Whether Super Mega Manila project will push through or not, Lipa City is on its way of becoming a highly dense population with more economic activities coming in. The city should be planning way ahead of what is most likely to happen in terms of housing, traffic, environmental issues, peace and order which is now all visible.

Mr & Ms DepEd Lipa Kicked Off

In celebration of World Teacher's Day 2015, Department of Education or DepEd kicked off its pageant for teachers in Lipa City last night [Oct 5 Monday] at Lipa City Youth and Cultural Center.

It was DepEd's culminating activity to showcase their smart and stunning teachers representing their respective schools in Lipa City. There were 12 pairs of teachers who competed in production number, school uniform, creative costume, talent, formal wear and question & answer. In between the program there were special numbers and songwriting competition about teaching as a noble profession. It was attended by DepEd regional and local officials, teachers, students, city officials and selected judges from different industries.

The program which run for almost 6 hours was filled with excitement & entertainment as the main program started. It was an hour late and could have shortened to 2 hours. The air was filled with loud cheers and applause from supporters of each contestants specific to Q&A and creative costume category where pair #12 won representing the month of December which is a creation of Romar Reyes Ada. Over all, the production numbers were good & entertaining. The teacher contestants gave their best to compete like a pro in pageants.

At the close of the crowning night, male candidate #3, Benny Hiwatig from Stonyhurst representing secondary school and female candidate #9, Lean Loyola, Ed.D. from Rafael Lojo Memorial School swept the majority of the special awards and clinched the title as the first ever Mr and Ms DepEd Lipa 2015.

A Lipeno Paiting in World Art Exhibit & Competition

Teodorico Cumagun Jr.'s "He Went About Doing Good" oil on canvas is the lone entry from the Philippines who made it to the final cut of the 10th International Art Competition. It is currently exhibited at LDS Church Museum of Art in Salt Lake City, Utah in USA. Other entries which made it to the final cut are from USA, Italy, Japan, UK, Argentina, Taiwan, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Australia in different materials like textile, oil on canvas, stained glass, bronze, oil on linen, graphite on paper and others.

Mr Cumagun's art depicts Christ’s ability to love and heal the downtrodden and oppressed which is a consistent theme in the New Testament. Like him, his children are all artists and joined in different national and international arts competition. His family moved to Lipa City in 1972 and his children and grandchildren were born in Lipa. He is father to Lipa's favorite Dulcissima Cakes and Pastries owner. They are from Baranggay Camias.

To support and vote for Mr Cumagun's work of art please copy and paste this link in your browser: https://history.lds.org/exhibit/iac-2015-tell-me-the-stories-of-jesus?lang=eng#mv23