Cordilleran Bodybuilder wins Gold, Bronze Medal in International Body Building Competition

Photo Courtesy || Leejan Raphael G. Nacnac

Cordillera - A young Cordilleran from Baguio city emerged as champion in an  International Body Building Competition held at Tayabas, Quezon City last September 27, 2022.

Leejan Raphael G. Nacnac who was born and raised in Baguio took home two gold medals in the Men's Physique Juniors - Medium Category and one bronze medal in the Men's Physique Open - Medium Category during the fifth staging of the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation (WNBF) - Philippines. 

WBNF Philippines is an affiliate of the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation that promotes natural way of getting fit and healthy. It also advocates drug-free sports.

Leejan hopes that his success in the competition would help promote natural bodybuilding and healthy competition in the city.

“Natural bodybuilding refers to a bodybuilding practice that prohibits the use of performance enhancing drugs such as but are not limited to: anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, stimulants and diuretics; all of which have detrimental effects on human health and in some cases, life threatening consequences,” Leejan stated via Baguio - PIO.

READ ALSO: Igorota bookseller from Mt.Province is PH's top woman bodybuilder

Leejan took to social media to thanked those who supported him throughout his journey.

"My foundation, my main support system, my loves, my everything. I love you guys. Everything I have achieved, I owe them all to you," he wrote.

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Baguio boy is new commander of Philippine Marine Corps

Photo Courtesy || AFP

Cordillera - Major General Charlton Sean Gaerlan has assumed leadership of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) during a command ceremony at the Philippine Navy Headquarters in Naval Station Jose Andrada, Manila on Monday, August 15.

Major Gen. Gaerlan hails from Baguio City and a member of the Philippine Military Academy "Makatao" Class of 1989.

Prior to his new assignment, MGen. Gaerlan was the head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Education, Training and Doctrine Command (AFPETDC) – the military’s premier education and training institution.

He also served as Commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade Western Command where he was recognized as Best PMC Brigade from 2018 to 2022.

MGen Gaerlan also held several key positions in the AFP: Flag Officer’s Aide-de-Camp ken Senior Military Assistant to the Speaker of the House of Representatives; Deputy, Marine Corps Staff for Personnel, MC1; Marine Corps Staff for Operations, MC3; Inspector General of the Philippine Marine Corps; Deputy Assistant Chief of Naval Staff for Operations, N3; Director of the Naval Operations Center, Philippine Navy; ken Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, J2, GHQ, AFP. as the Marine Corps inspector general, deputy commander of Naval Forces Western Mindanao, and deputy brigade commander of 2nd Marine Brigade.

MGen. Gaerlan took Masters Degree in Military Studies from the US Marine Corps Univesity of Quantico, Virginia and studied Senior Executive Course on National Security from the National Defense College of the Philippines.

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Proud Cordilleran General appointed Undersecretary of the Office of the President

Photo Courtesy || PIA-CAR

Cordillera - President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed retired Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan as undersecretary at the Chief executive's office, Malacanang said on Wednesday. 

In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced Duterte signed Cascolan appointment letter as Undersecretary of the Office of the President last Monday. 

Kinukumpirma po natin na napirmahan na noong Lunes, Feb. 22, ang appointment paper ni dating PNP Chief Camilo Cascolan bilang Undersecretary sa Office of the President (We confirm that the appointment paper of former PNP Chief Camilo Cascolan as Undersecretary of the President was signed last Monday). Welcome aboard, Usec. Cascolan," he said.

Cascolan stepped down from his 2-month stint as chief of the PNP chief when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 56  last November. 

Cascolan who crafted the Oplan Double Barrel, the police force's flagship campaign against illegal drugs was succeeded by current PNP chief Debold Sinas.

Oplan Double Barrel involves the Oplan Tokhang aimed at encouraging the surrender of small-time drug pushers and the Oplan High-Value Target which goes after big-time drug peddlers.

Meanwhile Cascolan thanked the President for his appointment.

In a separate interview Cascolan said, “Of course, it’s an honor for me to serve the President. I just hope I could keep step with his standards and I will do my best,” he said.

He said he has yet to report at the OP since he received his appointment on Tuesday but “accordingly, I will be with the office of special concerns.”

“With my current position, whatever the President tells me, I will do my best of course,” he added.

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SLU-Laboratory High School grad among NASA's engineers who worked on Mars rover 'Perseverance'

Photo Courtesy || Earth Shaker & NASA

Cordillera - National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s largest and most advance Mars rovers 'Perseverance' has landed on Mars surface on Thursday. 

One of the NASA's engineers who worked on the the successful mission of the "Perseverance is a Filipino-American - Gregory Villar III. 

Villar happens to be a graduate of  Saint Louis University - Laboratory High School in Baguio City where his parents came from. 

He took up bachelor's degree in Physics at California State Polytechnic University, and a doctoral degree in Astronomical Engineering at the University of Southern California. 

READ ALSO: Gwendolyn Pascua - First-ever Cordilleran mission controller for astronauts in Europe

Villar has been working at NASA for 12 years and worked as the operation system engineers who is responsible for the Entry, Descent and Landing of the Perseverance on the Martial soil. 

Watch the landing of Perseverance on Mars below:

The Mars Rover 'Perseverance' was designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission. 

It was launched on 30 July 2020, at 11:50 UTC and landed on Mars on 18 February 2021 at 20:55 UTC.

The rover carries seven new scientific instruments and has a total of 19 cameras and two microphones. 

The rover is carrying the mini-helicopter Ingenuity, an experimental aircraft that will attempt the first powered flight on another planet.

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