Aliwan Fiesta is the annual "mother of festivals" in the Philippines, which is usually organized in mid-April in Manila. In this incredibly colourful event take part champions - the best contingents of the best Filipino festivals, fabulous not only on the scene, but also in the backstage, where it's possible to admire their extraordinary outfits. Tribu Panayanon, the winner of Dinagyang festival in Iloilo (for their photos check my Dinagyang gallery) was also the champion of the Aliwan Fiesta.

Every January Filipino and foreign tourist come to the town of Iloilo (the Philippines, Panay Island) to attend Dinagyang, one of the most amazing festivals in the country and to admire the fabulous attires of the participants, colorful parades and breathtaking dances.

The flagellation in the Philippines starts to be widely popular around Easter and it's the sacrafice making in certain intention particularly known in the island of Luzon. Philippines, Quezon Province.

Night days and nights of continued heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon caused serious floods to many parts of Manila, the capital of the Philippines and its surrounding provinces. Officials said that more than a million people were affected by the floods and sixty percent of Metro Manila remained under water. Recent floods are compared to typhoon Ondoy, the worst disaster in recent years.

Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte are the Filipino provinces situated on Luzon Island and famous for heritage town of Vigan, windmills of Bangui, white sand beach of Pagudpud not to mention former president Marcos, who was born there.

93-years old Fang-od is the last of Kalinga artists making traditional tribal tattoos (batok) using an orange thorn needle attached to a bamboo stick. She learnt this difficult art from her father, when she was 25-years old girl and then she decided to dedicate her life to the old art of tattooing believed to be almost one thousand years old. Nowadays not many Kalinga people decide to have their body tattooed, but Fang-od is very famous anyway, because many Filipinos and foreigners visit Buscalan, a small village in the Cordiliera in the Northern Luzon, to have a glimpse at tattoo patterns or to have done one of them. Anthony, my Filipino friend, decided to have a tattoo of a centipede, which is one of the most popular Kalinga patterns.

MassKara Festival, one of the biggest and most colorful Filipino festivals, is held every year in October in Bacolod on Negros Island. The tradition of the festival started during the crisis in the 80s, when it was somehow a declaration, that no matter how harsh the reality is, the Bacolod and its people are going to survive and smile.