ariellalisan.org – Homeward Bound

PEOPLE DOWN South of Mindanao anticipate every February the Kalilangan Festival, grand celebration of the natural, cultural, and economic wealth of the Philippine?s Tuna Capital?the city of General Santos.

Kalilang is the Maguindanaon term for celebration, thus, February 16-29 is no less a time for fun and festivity.

General Santos City takes pride in its Tuna Industry that supplies the world with 2.4 million metric tons of high quality tuna each year. Because of that, the Philippines ranks 7th among the top tuna producing countries in the world, both in terms of fresh/frozen tuna and canned tuna. (from http://www.GenSantos.gov.ph)

BECAUSE I love music, I recently started a blog called Musika Central.

Musika Central contains bits of info about the Philippine Music Scene that interest me. Foreign music will also be featured because, whether we like it or not, it has a big influence in the local music industry and it sometimes tells us what is good music and what is not.

It is also an attempt to feature local gigs to show that in Mindanao music is very alive–we also know the sound of music, not just of bombs and gunshots. Kidding. I have not actually witnessed bombings and crossfires here, I swear.

The Blogging Seminar in Marbel called Blog, is one successful start in spreading the word about blogging and the many possibilities it offers. The event did not only introduce blogging to non-bloggers, it also?highlighted the?many ways by which blogging can be used to promote a good cause.

The Computer Science and Information Technology Student Coucil, which Aethen heads was able to invite a good number of participants. There were about a hundred and sixty participants composed of students from three schools, some teachers, and professionals interested in blogging.

WE WOKE up to a beautiful morning in Sofan. Beautiful because it was the kind of morning we wished to have that day. The sun was clothed with gray clouds so that it would not scorch our skin as we follow the trek to Kiangkos.

We had one worry, though the horses set to fetch the goods have not arrived yet. How were we supposed to bring those 11 sacks of Christmas packages knowing that the trek would be difficult and that there were only nine of us?

A decision was made. We started walking at 8:25 am hoping we would meet along the way those who were contacted to haul the goods. Anyway, the horses walk faster than we do; it would not take long before they catch up on us.

There were two routes we chose from: the one passing by Canaan and the one through Amlitus. The former is about an hour and a half longer, the latter is steeper. With all the reasons considered, we chose the second one.

We were so filled with excitement as we began walking. There was a question that we only laughed at, Could our two older companions or the only woman in the pack make it to the end of the trek?

Sir Robert Mendoza, who teaches at the school in Sofan was asked to come with us and without hesitations, he became part of the pack.

In that journey, we were nobody but simply Sir Boy, Sir Dading, Sir de Paz, Sir Simon, Sir Rimar, Sir Nilo, Sir Robert, Ma’am Judith, and Sir Ariel, who would do our best to survive the trek.

Soon after crossing the river, we arrived at Sitio Calonlama, which is already part of the Municipality of Malapatan. The river divides the Malapatan and Alabel, so for the whole length of the journey, we were walking on the soils of two municipalities.

Every village we passed by had a name, which I found difficult to remember both because they are difficult to say and to spell.

The rock formations and shape of hills were spellbinding but the fact that cogon grows where trees should be was saddening. Those hills I believe were once forests but they were now turned into grasslands due maybe to kaingin. On the sides of the mountains were patches of land used for cultivating corn, the major product of the place. We could not imagine how the locals toiled to plant their crops on very steep mountainsides.

Several springs occurred at some points along the way. Some were simply moisture dripping from rocks on the, others were breathtaking waterfalls. If we had the luxury of time, we could have soaked ourselves in the cool water. So, we just made do with looking at the refreshing sights.

ON MONDAY until Wednesday, I will be scaling the heights of the mountains in my town for the post Christmas gift-giving dubbed as Tuloy and Pasko ng mga Bata.

I will go with the team composed of DepEd officials of Sarangani to distribute goods and to conduct?a fun day for the kids at Sitio Kiangkos, Brgy. Pag-Asa, Alabel, Sarangani Province.

The area is a mountainous place that is beyond the reach of vehicles. As I’ve heard, we have to walk about 5 hours on a steep trek to get to the place. So we actually set one day for the trip to the area and another one for the journey back home.