Sunny Side Up In Paluan (Part 1)

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same.

Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”

-Don Williams Jr.

March 29, Thursday, at around 10:20pm Ahlie and I boarded the JAM Transit bus at Buendia Terminal bounded to Batangas City Pier. We are set to another trip to Paluan in Occidental Mindoro which is part of our missionary work. Being a tribal missionary one should have a good balance of obedience to God, affection towards people and a strong sense of adventure. In this blog let me take you there. 

The travel via bus from Bunedia to Batnagas Pier normally take two and a half hours at night when traffic is light and around three to three and a half hours on day time depending on traffic condition in the SLEX and along the national highway in Laguna and Batangas. The fare cost on an air-conditioned bus like this is Php166.50. But the travel time can be an hour shorter when riding a private vehicle, it will only take you an hour and a half on a fair speed and light to moderate traffic. 

 

March 30, Friday, 1:00am, upon reaching Batangas Port we proceed to the ticketing booth. Our destination is Abra De Ilog which is via Roro, this trip costs only Php260.00 per passenger. After securing our tickets we proceeded to Terminal 2 where we will be waiting for an hour for our scheduled departure. Before entering the facility we paid the terminal fee of Php30.00 for each of us then we passed through the x-ray scanning machine together with our baggage.

Five minutes before 2:00am the monitor speaker sounded and advised us to proceed to the boarding dock of Montengro Shipping Line's MV Maria Zenaida. This particular ship has been a regular on this route for quite a time already so we are very familiar with it. For safe and orderly boarding the cargo vehicles like trucks, buses and cars normally load first on the ship then the pedestrian passengers follow. Depending on the amount of load and passengers there will be a five to fifteen minutes grace period for late passengers before the ship leaves the dock, after which the late comers will have to board the next ship schedule which will come few hours after the missed trip .

It was the week before the Lenten Season, one of the mostly observed holidays in the country and we really tried to beat the heavy influx of passengers coming home to their provinces. During long holidays the front of the port is landscaped with overcrowded restless passengers coming from all directions, long lines to the ticketing booth and terminal gates stretches all the way to the "Park and Sail" lot. Inside the terminal it will be an SRO like (standing room only) and the temperature will for sure rise. Traveling three days before "Holy Monday" is indeed a big advantage to avoid this stressful condition.  

Inside the ship since there was still light amount of passengers so we were able to enjoy the luxury of free benches where we can sit back, relax and read books, and even take a power nap. With His travelling mercies the sea was very calm that night that we were able to reach Abra De Ilog port in no time.

Immediately we proceeded to the shuttle service terminal outside the port to secure a van that will take us straight to Paluan. The first half of the total travel distance on van is from the Abra De Ilog to Mamburao and is around 32 kilometers on paved and relatively flat road, while the remaining half is  around 30 kilometers from Mamburao to Paluan which will pass through mountains on dirt roads.

Normally the public transportation available in the port area is only to is Mamburao or southbound to places like Sablayan and San Jose in Occidental Mindoro. Praise God there was one van that is headed straight to Paluan and there is no need to stage by the town of Mamburao anymore. There were only two seats left when we found it that seemed to be purposely waiting and has reserved those seats for us, thank you Lord for your awesome provision! We were able to save precious time, money and energy.

Travelling to Mindoro by night is our regular routine and riding through this bumpy and dusty road to Paluan at the break of dawn is a usual thing but we never fail to enjoy the beautiful scenery around as it slowly take its form and colors with the gleam of the rising sun.

Just before 7:00am we reached our mission center with our beloved fellow workers excitedly waiting for us and a breakfast set on the table. It is always a delight for us to be with the great servants of the Lord in this place! Datu (Rolly Zambales), who just turned 64 last March 28 never fails to give me an overflowing joy whenever I see his face, he has been serving God with me in the tribes for the past 13 years. Another delight to us is the presence of ate Marlyn, who herself is indeed a great woman of the Lord, who is also serving as a missionary for 3 years now for the tribes. She is a big blessing to our Mangyan children as she plays the role of a loving mother to them in our mission center.

As soon as we have unloaded our things we headed straight to the dining table for our zesty breakfast. It was fried fish and salted eggs matched with vinegar with garlic plus tomatoes and onion salad.

Immediately after breakfast we just change our clothes to prepare for one of our KKP Scholars' recognition day, Megalyn Robles, is a freshman who by God's grace finished 8th in her class. It is truly a great joy and honor to attend ceremonies like these and witness how these Mangyan kids are being recognized as top achievers. Likewise the faculty and other students were very proud how our KKP Scholars are doing. This is made possible first and foremost because of God, secondly because of the perseverance of our kids, and of course with the steadfast guidance of their house mother.

Job well done kids, job well done ate Marlyn, congratulations and Glory to God!

Right after the ceremony we headed to the town's flea market to celebrate the kids' achievements. Along the way we met two of our mission workers, Pastora Jane and her husband Toto so we invited them to join us for a little refreshment.

When we got back to the mission center some Mangyans were already waiting for me. They came from far places and some even from the opposite side of Mt. Calavite, they traveled because they heard I am coming over and they want to apply for KKP scholarship for the next school year. After the interviews and agreements we have come up with two new scholars for June.

Ahlie and I were able to bring with us some small presents for our staff and kids and we gladly distributed those to them. We are always very happy to see their smile every time we share tokens and gifts like these.

In the afternoon we brought out our service bikes to survey on the condition of the Mangyans of Agdilao. Along the way we met some of them who were on the way back to their village. They came from a days work in an onion farm. We had a few chat with them, handed some food and drinks and asked them to inform the rest of the tribe to expect our visit in a day or two.

Before the first day ended we dropped by the construction site of our mission center to meet Pastor JR Torreliza and make an initial inspection. There we met him and his wife Racquel just before dinner time. It was almost dark yet we were able to see the big developments on the structure and Pastor JR excitedly showed us the work being done. 

March 31, Saturday, it is going to be another big day for all of us. As we will be preparing salaries for the construction workers and buy more building materials needed for the days to come, I will also have to attend to some details of the project and monitor the work personally this time. Afterwards Ahlie, Datu and I will be visiting our brethren in Pamutusin on bike.

Around 9:30am we pedaled away to Sitio Pamutusin in Brgy. Harison, a very remote community in the northern side of the town. Before the only way to get there is by motor boat via China Sea but thank God today a road has connected this small community to the town. Currently it is still a dirt road and it passes through farms lands, rice fields and mountains side, some portions are even along the shore that provides a very scenic travel experience.

Along the way we were glad to be able to pass by some friendly farmers working on their freshly harvested onions, one of the major crops in the place. They were busy cutting off the leaves from the bulbs to prepare it for shipping to the market, but not to busy for some pictorial.

Just to give you an idea this bike ride is from easy cruising to moderate climbing on the mountain, this is a surely "can-do" ride even for newbies. As you have noticed we are just using our surplus bikes which are single speed (meaning no extra gears) and are purely made of steel so it is kind of heavy to pedal specially in the uphill portions. But that has not been a problem for us since pushing our bikes up is just part of the fun and adventure. The breathtaking view of the distant mountains, the farms below and China Sea is just so much refreshing and entertaining that one will hardly noticed the distance.

Now for mountain bikers using sophisticated light weight bikes complete with suspensions and gears the ride is a piece of cake and blissful! Along the road there are also plenty of trails interconnected that can give a biker an "extra" of trail fun and adventure. 

We reached Sitio Pamutusin around 11:00am and we headed straight to Datu's place to meet his wife Nanay Patchie and their family. When we arrived everyone's busy preparing for the upcoming wedding of one of Datu's daughters, Jenelyn. She used to stay with us in Pasig and we have helped her finish highschool and take up few years in college. 

Ate Marlyn, Zyrene and Kim were already there when we arrived. They got ahead of us since they left the mission center earlier and they used our motor boat by the sea which definitely covers a shorter distance than us travelling by land that goes all the way around the mountain.

Riding till almost noon time during summer requires a lot of drink to replenish the body well. We brought one liter of drinking water in this ride and we just consumed every drop just right before we touched down. After a hot morning ride a treat of unlimited fresh and juicy watermelon is truly a paradise!

My missionary work in this town in this northern tip of the island all started here in this small corner of this small community, Pamutusin. This place has been my staging point on my way to Hinugasan Tribe which is a few kilometers up on the mountains. I began as a total stranger but turned out to be a family to these people. Datu and Nanay Patchie, Pastora Jane and Toto, the church and the community has played a very essential role in my ministry here. 

The barangay hall of Harrison is situated here in Sitio Pamutusin because majority of the Tagalog population of the community is settling here. Around the place are small clusters of houses in the mountains and bay area, while the rest of the communities in this barangay are the minorities, they are the Mangyans.

We have our own service motor boat which is being maintained by Datu. It is also used to fish for their families, for our KKP scholars, for the mission workers. It has also been very useful to us specially in transporting people, relief goods and supplies for the mission from the town to Hinugasan Tribe.

Sitio Pamutusin is a remote and tranquil Tagalog community between Mount Calavite and China Sea, the people are mainly farmers and fishermen so it will give anyone an idea the kind of lifestyle they have here. They are simple, peace loving and hard working which is very typical in a place like this. This is one of the places I have tasted the best seafood, they are always fresh from the catch and are cooked naturally over fire. They produce rice during season that is just enough for their families due to limited farmland areas at the base of the mountain so during off season they buy rice or trade fishes for it in the town. Like Datu some of the families got few livestock that help them feed their families or sometimes even help them with their other basic needs and even send their kids to school. 

One thing that affects progress in this community is the lack of power supply. And in our so-called "space age" these community here still doesn't have electricity. They just depend merely on small automotive batteries which are being charged on a solar panel for Php25.00, this is owned and operated by the barangay. The batteries are used to power their energy saver lamps and transistor radios.

Right after we had our lunch together at Pastora Jane's place we then decided to hang around on the fish cage which was being maintained by Toto's brother. The structure is just around a kilometer away from the shore. 

In each "cell" of this cage they have different fish specie and the most common is the salt water bangus or milkfish. The water at this point is already very deep and is very good for breeding fishes. Since the morning ride was too hot I decided to cool down and take a plunge just right outside the cages, and with the use of a divers mask which is I just borrowed from the cage operator I enjoyed viewing those colorful tropical fishes just below me. If only I have an underwater camera then I can share the marvelous sight of them.

The rest of the group took their turn when we returned to the shore, well perhaps they also love the sand in the beach than just plain sea water.

It was rare occasion to have siesta like this in the beach with our mission team. We had an early dinner afterwards and we truly enjoyed our fresh catch, Pastora Jane made them "sinigang" and some were grilled.

Our plan is to get back to town on our bikes within the same day, because it is Sunday the day after and I am invited in the church to exhort on God's Word in the morning and prepare food and medicines for our Agdilao visit on Monday. With no time wasted immediately we packed our things and ride off back to our mission center. We reached the town at around 6:45pm, and it was a super dooper day indeed!

The journey continues on part 2, just click on the link below:

Sunny Side Up In Paluan (part 2)