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TOURISM
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The Forsaken Edif ice Buds Anew Conversion of a Once-proud Institution, Now an Attraction with a Sea of Petals PHOTOS AND WRITTEN BY MDPN. JAN CHRISTIAN CATILO
A
magnificent structure sits regally atop a hill, imposing its uncanny resemblance with the National Diet Building in Tokyo, Japan – Yamato International School is a private school that once devoted its walls for nurturing young learners located in the town of Lambunao, Iloilo. But it’s all now a part of the past as the main building is now part of the picturesque field budding with the colorful beauty of the diverse blooming flora planted with sweat and passion for people to enjoy. A Backstory…
New Beginnings
Uncovering Terrains
When I was young, whenever I go to school at 7 in the morning, I would always sit in front of the tricycle right beside the driver, and as soon as we exit the subdivision before the main highway, a loud engine of a blue fat bus with a label that says “Yamato International School” would have its striking appearance as it bolted hastily to pick up its pupils all around town. It is quite eye-catching because to be one of those pupils, who to be picked up for school and be accompanied back to your home by a big blue bus means that you are quite well off and can afford to go in an international school. But, time seems to not favor the fate of the proud institution as it closed doors after a few years of operation – money problems perhaps, or may be due to the problem of trying to run an international school where there are, umm, no international students.
After a few months after the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a piece of news flashed around the town about a certain “Yamato Flower Farm” made a buzz among the locals and social media. The first thing that comes into mind is that a flower farm may have been developed near the ghosted Yamato International School but a Facebook post of a friend shows that it’s even better! The fields of the school itself are the flower farm, making it quite a scenery to unfold. I and my group of friends rushed ourselves to experience the transition of the once unmanned place subject to ghost stories told by elders. There was even a hypothesis of gold and diamonds buried underneath the large structure along the hill where it was erected. Yamato has been the subject of hearsays and creative minds of our fellow kasimanwa (townspeople) years after its closure.
To reach Barangay Cayan, Oeste, where the two-hectare Yamato Flower Farm is situated, it takes a six-minute ride. You can ask the local tricycle or habal-habal drivers to lead the way with a twenty to thirty peso fare depending on the number of passengers that accompanies you to the location. On the way to the entrance, you know you are near the school when you are passing through rows of marigold flowers along the concrete path up the hill. Meters before entering the field grounds, you need to pay a thirty-peso entrance fee at a small kubo (bamboo house) with a big arc made of wood in front, adorned with carved flowers, hand-painted signs, and a large welcome sign. After few seconds of strolling downhill, you will be greeted with the dazzling iridescent glow of the sun-struck flowers of the farm.
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The DOLPHIN | NOVEMBER 2021
