Speaking of Araw ng Kagitingan, April 10 of every year, we are reminded of those honor guards, the men we see guarding the statue of Dr. Jose Rizal at Rizal Park.
The men are from Philippine Marine Corps’ Marine Security and Escort Group. They are in charge of looking after the statue of our national hero. They make sure that respect is accorded the hero at all times.
In an episode on our Sunday TV show, Matanglawin over Channel 2, the honor guards answered frequently asked questions like, “what happens if it rains?”, what happens if you get tired?”, “what happens if you need to attend to personal necessities?”.
Each honor guard has a two-hour shift. Before their shift, they have to prepare themselves. They need to attend to personal necessities like drinking lots of water and going to the comfort room. When on duty, they have to be very formal and firm.
For Matanglawin, I once tried being an honor guard. I found it challenging and tiring. I commend our honor guards for their dedication to service.
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TRIVIA PA MORE (Various Sources): The largest dinosaur ever discovered was Seismosaurus who was over 100 feet long and weighed up to 80 tonnes.
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The African Elephant gestates for 22 months.
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The short-nosed Bandicoot has a gestation period of only 12 days.
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The mortality rate if bitten by a Black Mamba snake is over 95%.
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In the 14th century the Black Death killed 75,000,000 people. It was carried by fleas on the black rat.
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A dog’s sense of smell is 1,000 times more sensitive than a human’s.
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A typical hurricane produces the nergy equivalent to 8,000 one megaton bombs.
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90% of those who die from hurricanes die from drowning.
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To escape the Earth’s gravity a rocket need to travel at 7 miles a second.
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If every star in the Milky Way was a grain of salt they would fill an Olympic sized swimming pool.
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Send your questions on anything and everything to Kuya Kim through my Twitter account @kuyakim_atienza using #AlaminKayKuyaKim.
Ating tuklasin ang mga bagay-bagay na di n’yo pa alam. Walang ’di susuungin, lahat aalamin. Ito po si Kuya Kim, Matanglawin, only here in Tempo. (KIM ATIENZA)