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| Ma-an-anibut Creek at Colayo |
HAPPY
WEEKEND
Gina
Dizon
(Second
of three parts)
PASIL, Kalinga --
Visiting Colayo was too tempting an invitation not to take. Samuel invited
me, or rather me inviting myself to the Salip Festival
held May 2-5 at the capital barangay of Amdalao here.
This meant
trekking to cool places like Tumuyok waterfalls, wading
through Ma-an-anibut Creek and trekking the
mountain slopes of Pitti mountain, wondering if I could
ever trek the neighboring towering mountains of Sapukoy and
Mosimos which seemed to have 80 degree slopes and above.
I can hear Aklay saying, "stop dreaming" hahaah! This trip was a break from same routine every day.
I had the chance to talk to villagers about what they thought of
the proposed geothermal project of Chevron which covers
11 barangays of Pasil. A topic I would like to reserve for another story
Reaching the
boundary of Colayo and Balatoc, one was treated to fresh air. Even Pasil River as it snaked
through pine nestled slopes smoothly flowed on with its
white and bubby waters washing off the bronze colored sulfur
filled and magma colorated waters that met the sulfuric Balatoc
River. The rotten egg smell was nowhere in the air.
We found
two children with ages around 10 to 13 who
alternately carried a half sack of rice from Batong
Buhay and who stopped for a rest at the waiting shed. The rice so I was told, was for Chevron
personnel staying in Colayo. And how much were they paid
carrying the heavy 25 kilo load all the way from Balatoc junction
to Colayo over hills and rivers? One of the children
told me both of them were paid for something like P230 each.
I was thinking it was
not fair enough. I told them to demand something like 600
pesos because the trek was heavy and for their young ages,
P230 was cheap.
Anyway, I found
out later that porters who carry a load of vegetables from Colayo
to BB junction was 100 pesos.
The walls of the
waiting shed was written with mixed messages. One message
said something about an invitation to the Cordillera Day at
Lower Uma, Lubuagan on April 23-24.
Another said
‘Dina loves Salubot’. The name Salubot sounded one who always
farted hahah! And one who goes from one place to
another. I couldn’t stop laughing. Either
I was laughing the tiring trek away or I was really amused at such a
name. Anyway, both sounded close to the connotation of
what Salubot seemed to mean.
My perception of
such a name was correct. Samuel said Salubot was the name of a guy
who impregnated his wife then left. Whoaah! Then he came back again after
sometime that the baby grew up. Ahuh…. amusing.
The cool breeze
of Colayo’s scented air signaled the place was is just around the corner. Not what I
thought. Trekking was another two-hour hike passing through rolling
hills and cool path ways under the heavy foliaged forests, taking
pictures, and stopping by another waiting shed where I found the same written
invitation to Cordillera Day and the boldly written
‘Dina loves Salubot’!
We walked
through at least two foot bridges. The first footbridge was
familiar with hand rails low enough for me to hold on.
Not that exciting as the footbridge was just
another ordinary footbridge like those4 in Gonogon or some
other parts of the Mountain Province.
The second footbridge
was thrilling and a dreadful experience. The waters
down seemed to measure something like 300 meters from
the bridge I dreaded the sight of looking down. A look down the
waters got me dazed I had to walk straight and held on to the
rails which reached just enough above my head.
I gathered my wits and
called myself into one piece lest I lose control and my hands will go off the
handle. The waters down the river were just as haunting and taunting.
It was a trek up
an 80 degree slope before reaching the village. I took the walk up for another
30 minutes where one could regularly trudge to the village for 15
minutes. It took me time to marvel at the rivers of Pasil –
gurgling and strongly slapping by the rocks to find
the Chico river.
Colayo was
hugged by towering mountains- Mosimos, Patang, Sapukoy, and
Binulawan .
Kalinga’s highest
Mt Sapukoy with an elevation of 2554 meters above sea level borders
Boliney, Abra; Balbalan in Kalinga and Pasil. Mount Mosimos
bordering Tinglayan and Colayo is the second highest
mountain in Kalinga which reaches an elevation of 2310 masl. These
watersheds of life including Pattang source headwaters
flow down Tomyangan to the Chico river and serve
irrigation waters to Isabela and Cagayan.
I reached rice fields
signaling that houses were just a walk away. And so similar with
every village found in the hinterlands in the remote
hinterlands, ricefields signaled that there were houses nearby.
It was nearly 3 p.m.
when we reached the village. We had been trekking from
BatongBuhay since 10:30 a.m.
That meant we took the road for five hours. The
residents took the hike for two and a half
hours!
We stayed at the
house of Samuel’s sister and her family. We found two surveyors from
Lomar Company who were also staying transient in the same house. So this
was the place where the two boys delivered the rice they carried all the
way from BatongBuhay. I came to know Lomar Company was hired by
Chevron to do survey exploration activities.
I was amused by the coincidence
of staying in the same house while I enjoyed a two-day brief stay
in Colayo. A brief chat with them gave information that Chevron planned to
drill 50 trial and error production wells of
geothermal energy potentials in Colayo.
We were supposed
to go to the picnic grounds that afternoon and were
stopped with the pouring of rain for three attempts whenever we set out
to go. The gods must have said, don’t go. Okay, so here we
were stuck in the house. What was there to do? There must
be something good to happen while sitting in the house for
the next three hours before night hits.
Turned out
yes. Village leader and elder Jaime Guyang, the husband of
Samuel’ s older sister Wagay, came after some minutes. We
talked about the names of the mountains and why Paniyew is called
Paniyew and why Mosimos and why Bawac and why Tumuyok Falls were
named that way.
I was curious as
a cat why Paniyew Creek was called such.
I was told of a story of a pregnant woman who passed by Paniyew
creek and to avoid anything bad which could happen to her child,
she collected a small amount of water from the creek and mixed this with
the waters she bathed in when she got home to give back the waters
to Paniyew creek.
It reportedly became a
custom to drop coins or a comb along the creek when passing so nothing bad
would happen to a child or to an unborn child. In Sagada where I come
from, ‘paniyew’ refers to a belief of casting out anything evil that
might happen so one says ‘paniyew’ when one senses danger.
Meanwhile, Mosimos
mountain got its name from mosimos” , meaning embers, where a
motit (civet cat) carried “mosimos” in a pot to the other side of
Binulawan Mountain where people then, after the great flood, used
the embers to cook their food. Kalwitan mountain got its name
referring to the tail of a ‘kalwitan’ (rooster) that the mountain
resembled.
And so on with
elder Guyang’s other views about Chevron, that is another
story for its complicated angles and issues I would like to reserve
for another story.
Nights in Colayo
were super cold that I needed three blankets just like cool
Sagada. Colayo was much more cooler though with profuse pine
trees swooshing around the mountain sides and roaring
waters nearby.
With not many
houses around, Colayo was cool, made much more charming with
the crowing of roosters at dawn.
The mornings were
comfortably soothing. Had to get up early and take a cool bath. The
waters seemed heavenly and functional. A morning chat at the
veranda with Balcito, one of the sons of elder Guyang revealed
he installed a 1.5 kilowatt hydro unit which lighted up
at least 12 houses and some 20 houses when waters came
on strong during the rainy season.
The hydro unit was
installed in 1999 when he was then 20 years old. Remarkable
that the young man did not study formal schooling in either
electrical or mechanical engineering yet was able to set up an improvised hydro
unit using a dynamo of a vehicle to power energy.
Three other men
installed three separate hydro dynamos lighting
up 25 houses more the past five years. At least 40 houses were lighted up
among 72 households in the community. The hydro power
also sent current to a blacksmith shop
where Lorenzo Sumail made bolos and other cutting tools
used in the farm.
It was an inspiring
morning. I wondered why Colayo is the subject of a geothermal energy
project when the people here can set up their own hydro power
units for their energy needs.
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