Bapa's Notes

AS USUAL

Following this old trail that connects Brgy.San Nicolas to Sitio San Isidro of Barangay Mabunao. I have decided to leave my 2stroke motorcycle at the river bank, I figure out it would be more difficult to maneuver a climb through an uphill, unpaved trail using it. I took a hike. I am comfortable with my 57 kg weight on a continuous ascent through this old trail.

It’s nice to reach the top, overlooking the expanse of coconut plantations, only interrupted by the shore of Davao Gulf. Up here, I could see the silos of Holcim Cement Manufacturing Plant located at Ilang Tibungco with its towering chimneys, puffing up white sulfuric smoke. I also observed down from here the shallow zig zagging path of the old Tagactac river.

Barriotic life is still predominant here. However, the luxury of having electricity, enjoying the convenience brought by electrical appliances such as TV, refrigerator and other amenities which long before have been enjoyed by people in the urban areas are beginning to change rural living, if not gradually fading barrio life. It’s no longer a lonely planet as somebody quips.

Tagum's Airspace: A Public Safety Concern

 

A tragic accident happened; an aircraft plummeted towards a populated residential place of Tagum. Perhaps many have forgotten that incidence. I was in grade school at that time, we attended public school together with my siblings and neighbors and we witnessed that unforgettable disaster caused by a machine failure on air. It was a traumatic sight for us kids, seeing that single engine aircraft roaming above Tagum on its usual early morning flight and suddenly its engine exploded above air and crashes to a nearby residential area in Gamao. I can clearly remember that site where that aircraft fell; it was at the back of that old Filipinas Theatre then (the place is now occupied by a well known fastfood franchise), the spot where the parking space of the new Mall is now in place, it used to be a nook with cluster of shanties and small stores thrive. Gamao used to have a public market building and a bus terminal at that time.

    During those days, there were only two banana plantations that surrounded Tagum: the Soriano Fruits in Pagaran,  Apokon Road and the DFC of the JVA Group, its plantation area used to be situated right where the New City Hall of Tagum now is located. Since then, Tagum City is unprecedentedly rising to become a premier city in the South and is becoming less dependent on agriculture as its main source revenues; however the neighboring municipalities are still the home of exportable, dollar earning Cavendish banana and still highly dependent on revenues coming from agriculture.

    Today, there are still plantation aircraft hovering above Tagum City every morning, loaded with 300 to 1,000 liters of chemicals, ready for unloading through extensive aerial spraying on banana plantations that surrounded Tagum City. On the safety of its residents and her city dwellers, there are questions that merit an answer. And these answers could perhaps guarantee the safety and protection of Tagumeños against such similar tragic accident which took place 3 decades ago. Do pilots have their flight plans every time they fly their aircrafts? They are professional pilots and they know about that. Do these pilots seriously follow their flight plans? What are the risks if these pilots do not follow their flight plans? Are the local authorities of the city aware about these flight plans? I think they must be aware about these flight plans because the safety of the general public is at stake. Are these aircrafts still safe for flying? I hope they are, even though some of these had undergone engine repairs and an overhaul because it’s 10 times more expensive to buy a new one than to repair the old. Can these aircrafts still perform 100% efficiency? I hope it can, because any margin of inefficiency on its flying performance could be equivalent to the number of lives and limbs that are constantly endangered in areas where these aircrafts routinely passed by.

    What about those aircrafts that took off from the airstrips in the neighboring places like Carmen, Kapalong, Sto. Tomas and Panabo City, do they get clearance from our local authorities each time they cross over the airspace above Tagum City? These are well thought questions by a person who bore the trauma of that air accident that happened 30 years ago- an aircraft fell at the residential area and it destroyed houses, fortunately there were no fatalities on that day and the aircraft’s fuel never caught fire maybe because the whole rotary transmission engine and along its fuel tank were all literally buried deeper on the ground when the aircraft coincidentally plunged and dismembered into a toilet hut (it was not like the water sealed toilet that we know today).

    God forbid that a similar accident will ever happen again these days, but it needs the awareness of the whole community to be vigilant and cautious always. Whenever the safety and welfare of the general public is under threat, the force of the law should be used to protect and maintain public safety and order. What if some fundamentalist terrorists attack and took over the hangars (these are located at the heart of some remote plantations within the province) and maneuver those aircrafts for a suicidal mission? It happened before and it took place not on a less advance country like the Philippines, it unthinkably happened in the United States of America, a country known throughout the world to be the most sophisticated and most well equipped in terms of national defense program.  Far be it from us, to be ignorant and unaware about any ugly eventualities. It helps to be moderately skeptic at times in order to awaken some sleepy heads. I think it's time for Tagum City to be declared  a  no -fly -zone (NFZ) area.

 

 

REVISIT LAGDIK

I picked up some pebbles from the river bed under this old Bailey bridge. It was originally called Log Deck but the town folks eventually misspelled it into Lagdik. This bridge was constructed way back in the late 70’s by the logging company that operated here. I used to play with my cousins on this spot during boyhood days. The place was a refuge of many exotic reptiles, such as turtles, the Monitor Lizards or locally known as Halo and Ibid. During those days, hunters from nearby villages came here, disturbing its sanctuary and scaring other species by the shots of their .22 cal. Long barrel airguns along with their pack of dogs that fetched their catch. They indiscriminately hunted those reptiles with meat known to be an aphrodisiac.  I think I was 6 or 7 years old then.

 

From the river bed, we walked back to the graveled road that leads to the newly established village of homesteaders. This place used to be barren where Cogon grass abundantly grow but now it is pack with innumerable small huts of villagers. People from the town proper moved up here after they learned that the landowner was a Filipino turned American citizen and died in the US without any heirs pursuing rights over the property. Just adjacent to this place was the settlement of my grandparents which was awarded to them through the Homestead Act of 1960.

 

A walk further, we came to an uphill road. In the late 60’s the place was wooded as shown by countless large driftwoods that cluttered along the way and could be observe also in the nearby rice fields. These rice fields are dependent on the running water that come from small aquifers and seepage that accumulates into streams and eventually flowed into the river named San Jose. I muse to recall those days of fishing adventure together with my cousins down on a creek connected to this river. I remember Lola punished us after learning that we used her mosquito net during one of our unforgettable fishing adventures back then. Fresh water fishing during those days was usually done by  3 ways: by using a fishing hook, or by fishnet or by the fun filled limas. The third way was a tedious one but it was always compensating, we built temporary small dam made from mud and banana trunks, obstructing the flow of water from up the creek while allowing the water to subside at the opposite end of the creek where large number of fish occupied. After the water subsided, all sorts of fish were helplessly flipping on the mud, unable to swim, it was all for the taking. It was a great catch of variety of fish with odd local names like: Gurami, Puyo, Halwan, Pantat, Karpa , Tilapia, Kasili and Bulanbulan also known as Tambasakan.

Then we reached the uncommon marsh land here in San Jose, water weeds largely grow here, in local term it is called Tikog, used for weaving huts and mats. The small hills bounded the marshy area; impounded water accumulates here, without any outlet and it caused many fluvial plants to grow. The landowner took advantage and developed the place into a fishcage. However, I think it was in the late 80’s during a long draught, this swampy area was so dry that cracks appeared above the ground but a strange phenomenon took place as we stepped onto it. Walking over the marsh turned dry land; we experienced bouncing up and down like walking over a water bed. It was known locally as Hoyong-hoyong. However, the soil experts called it “Pig Soil.” Above the ground you would see a cracked parched land, however underneath deep mud still prevail. It was a perfect place for hibernating mud fish, the Halwan and Pantat. They can survive long draught because they comfortably thrive in mud eventhough creeks and streams were all dried up.

 

The rain started to pour down, together with my son we hurried back to my parents place. Unknowingly we have hiked almost 40 minutes and we did not notice that we reached a distance of nearly 4 kilometers. All in all, we hiked 8 kilometers this day. I wonder how much sugar was burned after such adventure filled hiking, it was also a sort of mental calisthenics, trying to recall my boyhood farm adventures on many spots within the old trail from my grandparents' place, which also now becomes my parents place.