TRAILS UP NORTH

Saving Kabayan’s Lake and wild plants
GLORIA A. TUAZON

KABAYAN, Benguet – This rustic town, in a bid to promote eco-tourism in the area once again concocted a brew with ingredients that lured "nature-children," brew that made the mountain enthusiasts salivate, notwithstanding the fact that the rains came early and almost ruined the whole experience.

To the curious and inexperienced, the thrill was even greater. Along with the killer trek to Mt. Pulag offered in three packages denoting the three different routes was a fourth one. Although the difficulty level is not much compared to the three other packages, the thrill was nevertheless equally exhilarating.

It proved to be as amusing and enthralling as going inside the mossy forest, and along the way up is the mountain they call "Pulpulag," to mean a little bit like Pulag. The same flora thrives here as the real Mt.Pulag, only in a smaller scale. The berry "ayusip" is everywhere to sate your cravings for something sour, as does other edible plants.

This fourth package took us from viewing the age-old mummies to romping in the sacred inland lakes that Kabayan is so proud of, having gotten yearly awards for Lake Bulalakao alone. The other three lakes,Tabeyo, Detepngepos (or Latepngapo in kalanguya), and lnkulos have magnets of their own, they draw and enchant people.
Mt. Pulag is spectacular even from the distance. Rising above the other mountains, exposing its bald head to meet the coming of each new day and wash itself in the misty embrace of Mother Nature.

The wind takes your soul as you walk along the sea of grass, and lying down staring at the skies is something you cannot do in the urban setting these days. Pulag, a word that would mean "bald" because there are no trees up there near or on the summit.

It is a vast expanse of billowing grass and dwarf bamboos. Rarely do you see a plant to exceed your waistline. They say this is a playground of the spirits, and maybe it is -- the serenity broken only by the occasional laughter of trekkers enjoying up there. ***
And then there was the canao. The last day was a big blast. It gathered the whole town to celebrate the closing of the just concluded eco-tourism tours and to seal the experimental tri-municipality sisterhood of Kabayan-Sagada-Banaue.

This idea came about with Mayor Faustino Aquisan (of Kabayan) visiting the other mayors to do the proposal. These municipalities are adjacent and near each other.

The plan was to promote each other's place when tourists arrive, get a taste of their own place and then send them to the other two destinations, that way they are helping each other rotate the surge of incoming visitors. The last day was a mix of cultural presentations with the Sagada and Banaue delegation headed by no other than their mayors doing a rendition of their own traditional dances.

Lakes here, mummies there, mossy forests up yonder and grand mountains everywhere. A day is not enough to conquer the whole place, and ironically it would be the place conquering you, not the other way around. For the nature children who have come and gone to the place, they always have this longing to keep going back all for the thrill of meeting the sunrise at daybreak. ***

Kabayan residents have started rallying as a town to save a lake from total destruction and mossy forest plant species from disintegration. In another event, employees and residents were recently herded in an open truck to the lakeshore of Tabeyo Swamp and planted trees that Barangay Ballay residents and Kamura National High School students gathered from the nearby forest.

This they did in a gesture of hope and camaraderie. The day was hazy and the rains came early soaking everybody but they said it wass a blessing. Mayor Faustino Aquisan led the rally, first having dialogues weeks ahead with the resident farmers in the area.

A few years ago, this place called Ballay was an oasis of trees over rolling hills, lake Tabeyo shimmering in the middle like an uncanny dead crater. The land was fertile, the flora grows in profusion of oaks and berries and orchids.

The richness of the forest fed the lake with nutrients that it was rumored carps as big as the shins once skimmed the waters. The richness of the land lured people too. One day the heavy machineries rode to the valley and in a few months flattened the land, the trees gone and part of the lake was drained, all for agriculture. Gardens sprouted overnight like mushrooms after the rain. Today tater (potato) gardens extend as far as the eyes can see. Tons are produced in one harvest season, requiring a minimum of capital since the land sustains the plants well enough. And the money is good.

But the land is deteriorating, besides the fact that part of this soil is still within the national park. Although most in the area are private properties now, there should be delineation where commerce and ecological and environmental concern should meet.
With mayor Aquisan's dialogue efforts, everybody had 15 meters each around the lakeshore to rehabilitate. Also earlier in the month Aquisan said about P3 million was funded by the government to rehabilitate Ballay going to Tabeyo and more amount was promised by Rep. Samuel Dangwa and the Dept. of Agrarian Reform for the barangay.

Kabayan's Municipal Tourism Action Officer engineer Berry Sangao Jr. still recalls a few years ago when he could go around and get lost among the trees and marvel at everything that moves and crawls. So sad he said, to have seen what it once was and what it became now. Today he is one of the mayor's forerunners on environmental and ecological rehabilitation in Kabayan. -- email: twilight_glo@yahoo.com