Guinzadan’s hidden gems / Tadian’s Layog organic farm

ECO TOURISM 

By Francis B. Degay

BAUKO, Mountain Province -- After more than an hour of trekking through stone walled rice paddies and vegetable gardens, concrete foot bridges, and rugged mountain trail  roofed by shrubs, giant pine and forest trees is the grandiose  Pengsaan Falls.

The cascading water is part of Guinzadan Norte, one of the barangays of this vegetable-producing town.   

We were not able to beat the time of 30-45 minute walk because we took photos along the way and walked lick ducks because the soiled pathway was slippery due to drizzle.

My millennial companions enjoyed hiking under the cold drizzle  and crawled the slippery path amid intertwining branches of trees and shrubs.

We thought of going back due to continuous rain and thick fogs, but the resonating sounds of various species of insects and birds and the fragrance of a mountain orchid encourages us to move on.

At one instance, we contemplated of withdrawing because the creek we were trailing was murky. As we moved up, we saw interesting but puzzling two creeks, the right side was clear and the opposite side was murky.

We decided to follow the right side.   

At a far distance, the waterfalls was dazzling. It was like a giant crystal curtain being unfurled in a huge arena for a live music festival or a championship football game.

The sound of the plummeting water was producing a soft and reverberating sound which could rock a tired man to slumber. 

It had a shallow pool at the base, where one can sit or lie flat to soak a hiker’s hardened muscles.

Two deeper pools were found a few meters below the base of the waterfalls. 

There were added attractions such as typical Iguinzadan house, stone graves, sacduan (spring) used to supply potable water of the community, rice terraces, forest and watershed sustained through the indigenous ways. 

According to an old woman in the barangay, the cogon roof of the traditional house was changed to GI sheets because cogon is rarely found nowadays. 

In an interview with a male elder from Guinzadan, he bared that Bauko Mayor Abraham Akilit was instrumental in documenting and promoting the tourist spots in Bauko.

He did it before he was elected town mayor in 2013.

In 2011, the newly retired National Irrigation Authority Cordillera director Abraham Akilit brought some UP college students to the office of the late Gov. Leonard Mayaen and the Provincial Tourism Office.

He said after he retired from the NIA, he started documentation and preparation of brochures of Bauko tourist attractions.

He also organized and introduced organic farming in vast vegetable gardens of the town. 

In the 2012 Begnas Festival,  Akilit, an engineer, facilitated launching of the municipal tourism brochures and framed photographs of Bauko that were documented, photographed and printed by the UP students and the sale of organic products of Bauko.

As present day mayor, Akilit is an environmentalist who is promoting tourism to boost Bauko’s economy.

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In nearby Tadian town, farmers visited the acclaimed Layog Farm located here at Kayan West as part of a 2-day activity of the Agribusiness Support for Promotion and Investment in Regional Exposition (ASPIRE) road show on Sept. 5-6 in this tourist destination.

The activity was organized by the Dept. of Cordillera Administrative Region-Cordillera Administrative Region.

Before the farm tour, farmers were given an orientation of the programs and activities and management of the farm by the farm caretaker Jeremy Kurt Layog.  

The farm is a 27-hectare mountainous terrain. When the late  Alfonso Layog Sr. (married to Julia Kia-ong of Bontoc) died, the operation of the farm was abandoned.

However, Flor de Lina Layog and her siblings decided to revive the management of the farm. According to her, this would give due respect to the old Layog who once told them, “Take care of the land and the land will take care of you.”

Due to its contribution to the field of traditional agriculture and forestry and learning through unique method of learning, the farm was cited as: first in Cordillera as an agro-tourism farm by Dept. of Tourism Cordillera, farm school and assessment center by TESDA-Mt. Province and training center for organic agriculture by Agriculture Technical Institute-DA-CAR.

It also received citations from the provincial government of Mountain Province for the promotion of sustainable development in agriculture and tourism using Igorot cultural principles, knowledge and skills, and first agro-tourism farm in the Cordillera Administrative Region given by the DA.

Tourists, domestic and foreign, pay certain fees depending on the number of days they will stay in the farm.

The money is used for their food and lodging.

Some foreign volunteers taught local guests preparation of organic fertilizers, painting, landscaping, and other knowledge and skills.

In cases where there were festivals or cultural affairs in nearby communities, volunteers were allowed to interact with people through dancing, playing gongs, exchanging pleasantries, eating traditional food and drinking native wine.

Amenities found inside the farm are conference hall that serves as chapel during Sunday, lodging houses, view deck and rest areas made of traditional materials, permaculture park,   and a “farmacy” or café shop that offers herbal pancakes, lemon grass tea, malunggay/dragon fruit cakes cum store for and organic vegetables  and fruits.