Dangerous Paradise Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, Mindanao -- by Shane Pulmano, September 2009
As of 2009, no one in his or her right mind would call south Mindanao a 'great holiday destination'. With the December 2008 bombings in Sultan Kudarat, the January 2009 attacks, the June bombs in Cortobato and Lanao del Sur, no embassy lifts their ban of the province. And yet with a successful NGO as a contact point - its good to know that local MILF respectfully leave their guns outside the technical center - perfect waves crash against my 1.50 meter frame. Where is a surfboard when you need one?
Palimbang in Sultan Kuldarat is a forgotten fishing village. Enter Dutch-Filipino organisation PASALI. From the start in 2005 the NGO built a technical workshop, introduced anticyanide fishing and netting techniques, organic rice with System Integrated Rice farming (SRI) and is currently developing a diversified farming system. I stroll around the neighbourhood at night with a PASALI member. Little street lamps at every bend and the sound of pounding waves give the place ambience. We linger at a sari sari food store. A dozen little plastic bags containing liquids in various colors hang neatly in a row above the store opening. Next door, the local cinema owner beckons me: "There’s a movie at eight o'clock. It is a Steven Seagal. Will you come?'' My guide quietly explains that the cinema is a TV in their living room. "PASALI generators provide this baranguy with electricity between 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.,'' says my guide. "Now kids can study longer in the evenings. We can supply two more baranguys but there's no government funding for the wiring.'' The simple luxury of electricity certainly has a visible impact. Youth stroll leisurely by. Families enjoy the evening breeze outside their homes. A videoke bar bangs out song after song. Its a stark contrast with before when sundown meant bedtime.
---Palimbang, Mindanao
Hike up the mountain to visit the Manobos Its several hours hike up the mountain to visit the Manobo tribe, a pleasure we had to leave for another time since the rainy season makes trails too muddy for motorcycles. But we did not miss this treat in General Santos, South Cortobato. The Gensan volunteers, or mudriders as they called themselves at the end of the day, took me high up the mountain to San Jose. There we met the B'laan tribe in several villages who participate in PASALI's literacy and numeracy program. The view from the back of a motorcycle is breathtaking. The beauty of the hill country is ---Enjoy the local produce
a piercing contrast to the undignified living situations of its inhabitants. We ride the bumpy muddy roads back just in time for a snack. PASALI founder orders from street vendors a portion of bibinka, baked rice cakes while family members prepare pastilles or suman, aromatic sticky rice steamed in banana leaves. Its a small treat before the next day's trip to Gumasa, a beach paradise south of Gensan.
A Night by the Beach Newly built resorts line up along Gumasa‘s coastline. I am told many are owned by Europeans. I trade a bed in a clean air-conditioned hostel room with good toilet facilities for a night in a tent close to the water. The morning crashes my survivor attempts as PASALI companions crawl out of their sand humps. They dug themselves beds in the sand. Paddling along the coast on a banka boat is a consolation. It makes me wonder why I live in cities. Out on the water, a patch of white sand ground proves an irresistible swim. Simply slip off and you are in azure cool water. Back in Bakung, Palimbang, visitors sleep in bahay cubo, wooden stilt houses, a stone's throw away from the water. Some friends and I enjoy awesome waves while owners of the land inspect their pond turned aquaculture site. Local women prepare a feast on the grand roofed table. They lay home grown pink rice and grilled fish in beautiful piles on banana leaves. I join the guests. The sight of tri-people Christian, Muslim, and Indigenous farmers and their families - eating gracefully with their hands adorned by a dainty mosque in the distance, is enough to make my Filipino heart throb with content. ♌ ---Paradise totally for yourself