Daguitan River

 When I was a child, my parents weren’t usually home. My dad was aboard a ship somewhere in the Mediterranean and my mother, who was still in the middle of her PHD’s, was either in Western Visayas or somewhere in Southeast Asia. My brother and I stayed with our aunt and grandmother.

During weekdays my brother and I, together with our aunt would stay at a house we rented, close to our school in the main town of Dulag, which was a few miles from our home. During weekends we’d travel back home to be with our grandmother.



A "kubo" by the river.



 We always looked forward to the weekend. It was a couple worry-free days of just playing and bathing in the river or frolicking by the beach. Our permanent hangout place was Daguitan river.

Daguitan river was a few minutes walk from our home. The walk going to the river was quick and easy, because of the excitement. And when we got there, we swam and jumped off a cliff to the river again and again. My grandmother was always at a close watch, as she did the laundry.

We would usually leave home late in the morning, since the water would be really cold if we went there early, so getting sun burns were inevitable, since we stayed there until late in the afternoon.

Now the most tiring part was the walk home. It seemed to take ten times longer than it should. And when we finally got home, my brother and I would fall asleep from exhaustion. I remember lying down, still feeling the water current all over my body and that feeling went on until my grandmother woke us up for dinner.

The road to the river.

When I turned ten, my mother earned her PHD’s and stayed home to look after us. And then we began to live differently. We had someone else do the laundry for us, instead of my grandmother, which meant that we wouldn’t have the chance to go to the river anymore. And when I turned twelve, we started going places, and we were rarely home.

But even after fifteen years, I can still remember the river’s current on my body and the sun’s burning rays on my skin as I bathed. I have somehow come to realize that Daguitan’s waters have made it’s way to my bloodstream and have stayed ever since.

Best photo of the trip.

Just yesterday, I decided to go back to the river, where I spent the happiest days of my childhood. The river has changed its course. The cliff we used to jump off from, as a child was no longer in sight. The old edges of the river were still visible but the river has moved about thirty meters away.


As I neared the water, I felt the rush of excitement that I felt as a child. I took off my rubber boots and ran into the water. As the water hugged my feet, I felt like I did years ago. I felt rejuvenated. I felt that the child in me was always waiting for this feeling.

More Than Just A Road Trip

When I was born my dad said he was the happiest father in the world. He always wanted a baby girl since the death of his little sister whom he loved so dearly. 

Rice fields in Abuyog, Leyte.

It always broke his heart when he had to leave home for work overseas, which would take him six months before he comes home again. But when he was around he made sure that he spent quality time with us.

Bil-at, on the border between Dulag and Tolosa, Leyte.

We grew farther apart while growing up. He still worked abroad while I was in high school and his time home became less and less. On my fourteenth birthday, I remembered him saying, "I wish you never grew up. I miss you as a little girl. Because I can't kiss you and carry you around like I used to." It broke my heart when he said that. But like any teenager, I, sort of, suffered a certain level of "emotional constipation". I totally just shrugged it off, despite the urge to reciprocate the emotion. And it went on until I finished high school.  

San Juanico Bridge, the longest bridge in Asia.

Until one day, we received bad news. He was no longer allowed by his agency to work because of health problems. He was devastated. He loved his job so much but he had to come home. Let alone stay home to recover. This may have been bad news but we never realized it would be for the good.

The Leyte Landing Monument in Palo, Leyte.

He stayed home but he was able to do all the things he had always wanted to do, like, do house repairs, look after mom's garden, take care of dogs, travel, cook, eat, play his guitar and sing his heart out!

Horse along the highway in MacArthur, Leyte.

When I turned twenty and lived away from my parent's house, he always sent me messages and called me to check how things were doing. And it's just then that I said "I love you" to him and mom again after about twenty years. But what's so sweet about it is, I mean it now more than I used to.

Santo Nino Shrine in Tacloban City, Leyte.

The last time I was home to celebrate my birthday, dad and I went on a road trip. Which was more than a road trip but a recollection of the times we spent together since I was born.

Dad's dirt bike.

It was a spontaneous decision as we rode his dirt bike and went places he always wanted me to see. And along the way we talked about me as a child and the funny stuff we did that upset mom.

It felt good to be with dad again and feeling like a child again.

Loneliness: An Artistic Fuel

Loneliness is defined in many ways. It is entirely subjective, although most of the time it is viewed negatively. It is something people do not talk about. Most would even create a facade of the opposite so that other people will not think they are lonely. But this is the brainchild of the most creative things. 

Loneliness is the strongest emotion, even stronger than hatred or love. It has the power to paint beautiful pictures, sing the most beautiful songs and write the best poems. 

Have you asked yourself, why the most beautiful and most popular songs ever written are those that have an air of loneliness to it? It's because, loneliness is what everyone can relate to.

Have you asked yourself, what the most beautiful scenery you could imagine? I'm sure you would say, just like the rest of the world, that the sunset is the most beautiful scenery ever imaginable. It is it's utter loneliness that makes it beautiful. 

No one wants to be lonely. Neither do I. But it is in occasional loneliness that I find myself creating the most beautiful things. 

The Walled City

If photography is your passion, travelling should go with it. So one of the first places I visited was Intramuros. I visited this old city for two reasons; one, because it's within the Metro and second, it's very photogenic.

Wall from behind San Agustin Church.

According to Wiki --Intramuros, located along the southern bank of the Pasig River, was built by the Spaniards in the 16th century and is the oldest district of the city of Manila. Its name, in Latin, intramuros, literally "within the walls", meaning within the wall enclosure of the city/fortress, also describes its structure as it is surrounded by thick, high walls and moats. During the Spanish colonial period, Intramuros was considered Manila itself.

Establishments are within old buildings and the guards are still fashioned in the colonial times.

I have been to this place long ago but sad to say, I don't remember my parents taking photos of the place. Now that photography is my new-found passion, I can’t just leave without capturing the beauty and the rich history of the place.

My parents and I went on a Sunday in June and I was ecstatic to find out that we were the only ones touring the walled city. I am happy to see that most of it is preserved but at the same time sad to see that the urban poor of manila has found a way to settle some parts of the walled city.

It being a Sunday, my parents and I decided to attend mass at San Agustin church. San Agustin church is a significant monument to the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, being the first religious structure built in the island of Luzon in 1570, after the Spanish relocated from Cebu in the south. It boasts the best Spanish Church architecture of it's time. No wonder, from the facade to the interiors, the site was just astounding.

San Agustin Church's facade.

We trudged the cobblestone paved roads in the city and made our way to the Manila Cathedral. Manila Cathedral was built in the 1580's just a few years after San Agustin church was completed. The building, has since been destroyed five times, which makes the interiors look a lot more modern than San Agustin Church, due to the renovations that took place.

The Manila Cathedral's facade.

I was happy with my photos and I couldn’t wait to get home to see them, so we made our way out of the walled city. On the way I saw this really old unlabeled building. I wonder what this is, but I was able to take one of my best photos out of it.

This is what I consider the best photo of the entire tour.

As any traveler would say, “If these walls could talk…”. The old stone walls of this city has stood witness to the most noteworthy events in history and I hope that these photos have given it justice.

If these walls could talk…

Dulag, Leyte: The Place Where My Heart Belongs

I have traveled a lot in twenty-seven years and have settled in many different places but nothing will ever be called home other than Dulag, Leyte.

Tricycle loaded with milled rice grains traversing the Maharlika Road in Dulag.

I spent only a few years of my life in Dulag. I was born in Leyte but a few hours away from Dulag, in Leyte's capital, Tacloban City but most, if not my entire childhood was spent in Dulag. 

My cousin Christina, frolicking at the beach in Dulag.

I went to primary school in Special Education Center in Dulag. Although I left Dulag to study High School, my family and I still made it a point to go to Dulag on the weekends. And during summers when school is at a temporary halt, I spend it running around in the farm, bathing at the nearby river, or the beach which was just a few minutes from our home. I enjoyed every minute of it!

My feet in the sand at the beach.

I have left Dulag many times, but still I long for the "Tabo" (Market Day) on Thursdays where my grandmother and I would buy the freshest fruits, vegetables and meat at the market, plus a few local pastries that would last me until the next Thursday. I still long for the rainy days when my mother would make "Tsokolate" (native hot chocolate), made from pure roasted and ground cocoa seeds, which my grandmother makes. And the fact that this drink is mixed with coconut milk, makes it taste creamier and more special. These simple things make me want to go back to Dulag. 

Dulag marketplace during "Tabo"

Most of my relatives also live and work in other places, but we'd usually go to Dulag on National Holidays, which makes home-coming the highlight of the entire year for the whole family. And then we all relive the times we were there.

The sign that meets everyone who enters the town.

So no matter where I am and will be in the future. I will always find my way back to the place I call home --Dulag Leyte. 




Please visit the official Facebook page of Dulag, Leyte at:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dulag-Leyte-Philippines/115536155152548

Thanksgiving

What is Thanksgiving to Filipinos? Nothing really. This celebration is far-fetched for the Filipino culture. But because most young Filipinos are starting to open up to Western culture, they (we) have somehow adapted the celebration. 

To me, Thanksgiving is not about thanking God for the good harvest of the summer season as the native American Indians and the first Caucasian settlers of the Americas would look at it, I look at Thanksgiving as a celebration of the blessings from God's generous hands. 


This year, what I am thankful for are the people who are very special in my life, my friends. 

I have found four people who have made a difference in my life. I am not sure why our friendship deepened. We have contrasting personalities, that people who would look at us from a distance, wouldn't say we get along. But we do get along and have been for more than a year now. We constantly meet every other weekend, sometimes more often, and do nothing but talk about things. 

Our friendship started when we entered the same industry. I did not expect that even if, one by one, we started parting ways to explore other opportunities we still find time to meet. And we never run out of things to talk and laugh about. 

Since we started spending time together, there haven't been any dark days in my life. They are the prefect outlet. They don't show outright support nor do they give you the good-old pat in the back and the "I-cry-you-cry" kind of companionship but they are sure to cheer you up in their own little way, which is certainly the way I like it.

Thank God for such wonderful people!

Metro Manila's Lungs: La Mesa Ecopark

I have long heard that this place is fantastic. But it was quite a surprise finding out that it was more than that.

About five years ago, my colleagues and I went to the La Mesa Watershed for a tree-planting project. We were by the hundreds and we all planted at least two to three trees each. I planted five trees in what seemed to be nothing but plains covered in bushes.

Giant Acacia Tree

The La Mesa Watershed in Quezon City is the primary source of drinking water of about 12 million Metro Manila residents. The property is owned by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), a government agency. La Mesa Watershed is 2700 hectares, 700 hectares of which is the reservoir and 2000 hectares of which is the surrounding forest. This forest is the last  remaining one of its size in Metro Manila and serves as its carbon dioxide sink. La Mesa Watershed, therefore, is vital to the city, not only because it is a primary source of drinking water, but also because its forest functions as the lungs of Metro Manila, providing it with clean air.

In 1999, ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc. created Bantay Kalikasan (Nature Watch) and, in partnership with the MWSS, undertook the Save La Mesa Watershed Project. The project aimed to rehabilitate, reforest, preserve and protect La Mesa Watershed. 

Beautiful wilderness

And so we visited the park on a Tuesday morning. The blogs I read said that we should not go on a weekend since the place would be packed. And so when we did, it was just us and a few other people. The park was located along Commonwealth avenue in the Fairview area so it was about half an hour drive from my place in Marikina. 

The Entrance

When you see a huge green building, which I think is Parco Supermart to your left and across it, you see KFC the next right is the way to the park. You will be greeted by a guard since you'll be entering a Subdivision. Then take your first left and then just go straight until you see a large gate that opens into a forested area --and that's the park.

It was nothing but wilderness…and it was good. It was a break out of the buzzling city within the city. I was able to take one of my best photos.

The view by the lake --an oriental paradise.

I was ecstatic to find out I was a part of the project and planted my share of trees to absorb the CO2 that I and 12 million other individuals emit. The park was breath-taking. What I saw before when we started the project is nothing to the beauty of this place now.

Happy to have planted some of the trees in this paradise.

And so if you come across this story, please go to the La Mesa Ecopark and plant your share of trees to absorb the city's CO2. I myself plan to go back and plant a few more trees. This is, after all, the lungs at the heart of the city.

My Photography

I have always liked photography, although we all know there's a huge difference between liking photography and being a photographer. I am but very passionate with photography that my little point-and-shoot digital camera has been a slave to my shutter-happy fingers and my little notebook has sacrificed too much from my never-ending use of Photoshop.

I take pictures of everything whether it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to regular events like hanging out at a cafe.

"Bangka" -fishing boat 

I think it will take a while and more practice before I finally consider myself a Photographer. For now, I am satisfied with people telling me how great my photos are.

The first time I got to use a camera was when I was about ten. My father, who I think also loved Photography, bought a Yashica SLR. Usually, my mother would ask me not to play around with it, because I might damage the lens. And I really couldn't take photos as much as I wanted to, since there was no way for me to pre-view the image. I had to have it printed before I could see how bad the pictures were! So for a while I forgot about photography until a good friend gave me a digital camera as a Christmas present. And then I became unstoppable!

Since I was a child, I have always loved Arts. My mother said that I learned how to draw long before I learned how to write or read. My mother always left boxes of used paper from her office so that I would have plenty to sketch on, otherwise the walls would serve better space for practice. When my mother irresponsibly forgets to leave papers, she pays it off by spending her entire weekend scrubbing the walls from crayon marks or even worse, re-plastering.

I think my passion for art, in general, gave me a good eye for capturing stills.  I know my eye for art could only go so far, either way, I will still consider photography as a perfect avenue for self-expression.