Agoho and Bulusan Volcano

"The mountain agoho (Casuarina rumphiana), which is known to have a very limited distribution in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, inhabits this protected area," reads part of the assessment report re BVNP of the team of Errol Gatumbato a noted environmentalist in the Philippines.  By protected area, this refers to  BVNP, Bulusan Volcano Natural Park located in the composite mountains of Bulusan Volcano (above and below photos). 
Some of these trees found its way in the lower areas of Bulusan comprising the residential areas. I have seen one big agoho at the churchyard and several at the cottage  grounds of Dancalan beach where this photo was taken.  The dangling leaves that fringe the upper  frame of the above photo are from an old agoho tree standing beside the open cottages in Dancalan beach. The electric wires along the road  run across the photo from this vantage point.

Bulusan Volcano (composite mountains) as it appears on a cloudless day, May 26, 2013.

Photos: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Summer Play Station

Some things never change in my hometown. Even the entry of the internet and cable  tv can't change this. Local boys just want to have fun in their innate ways. This time, I witness a new generation of local boys enjoying the age old summer fun in the river. Surprisingly, they are not flocking to the nearest internet computer game station! They rather spend the summer at the original playstation - the river underneath Sabang bridge. 

Simply referred to as 'tulay' by the locals meaning bridge.

As usual, wherever I go, kids just love to pose for the camera.

Bystanders sit by the river wall while the others show off their diving and swimming skills.

The swimming station also doubles as parking lot for the local banca (wooden boats).

Swimming with their own free style. No tutor needed.

Jump frog style.

Having a swell day for sure with or without the camera.

Enchanted and enchanting Miligabiga

Miligabiga beach of Bulusan, Sorsogon. Prepare yourself to be enchanted literally.

Miligabiga is a photographer's delight not only because its beauty is magnetic but because you can only savor this breathtaking seascape after passing through a series of beaches with varied traits of its own. Traversing this seemingly long stretch of kaleidoscope beaches is like undergoing a mini fairy tale story of finding the coveted treasure at the end of the journey.

Getting there (to Miligabiga beach) one will pass through to a long stretch of around four kinds of beaches : black sand, pebble beach, rock beach and finally the cream grey hue of the fine sand of Miligabiga. The boundaries of the beaches are delineated by the kind of beach description it has. For example the rock and pebbled beach is Riroan beach, the black sand beach is Katorse Puno while the final beach at the far end is Miligabiga.

Miligabiga is a seascape that will hold you by the edge of your senses. It is a visual feast alright but the sound of the ocean also vies for attention. The acoustic ecology here is just awesome. You can feel that the ocean is alive and intense even on a calm day with its oceanic wailings and breathing that reverberates infinitely in the entire seascape. The waves too are always dancing passionately inviting the most adventurous of surfers. The fear factor though of not going back safely to shore was on my mind. Not for beginners I said to myself while observing the series of waves with full bodied crest crashing on the edge of the beach and back again to the deep blue.

Miligabiga is at the far end of the sea coast of Barangay Mabuhay bordering Barangay San Bernardo of the Municipality of Bulusan. The vast Pacific Ocean provides an awesome backdrop to the picturesque seascape.

Photo and Video by Alma P. Gamil

Bulusan, Sorsogon 

Philippines

Allegory for the Geothermal Question in Mt. Bulusan

A forest in a mountain village in Bulusan.

The Wind, One Brilliant Day

The wind, one brilliant day, called

to my soul with an odor of jasmine.

'In return for the odor of my jasmine,

I'd like all the odor of your roses.'

'I have no roses; all the flowers

in my garden are dead.'

'Well then, I'll take the withered petals

and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain.'

the wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself:

'What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?'

~ Antonio Machado

Photo by Alma P. Gamil

Santa Barbara, Bulusan, Sorsogon

Philippines

What saved the abaca of Odikin?

Recent photos (above and below) of healthy abaca plants almost as big as the average banana thriving disease-free in the mountain village of Odikin (Santa Barbara) along the slopes of Mount Bulusan.

While researches and government funded programs are still on-going as of this writing in a bid to rehabilitate the abaca industry which was almost wiped out in the Bicol Region because of the dreaded bunchy top virus (scientific researches already include cloning of abaca accessions resistant to the disease to searching for a local variety that can be proven immune to the bunchy top virus), here comes these well, very healthy looking abaca crops (photos) greeting me in my mountain stroll early week of April.

I was expecting an almost annihilated abaca population based on my several readings on the subject. So this comes as a surprise! Is the abaca 'variety'of Odikin and neighboring mountain villages resistant to the virus? Is the local accession growing here has the genetic make-up to ward off the disease?

My main guess is that these abaca crops were shielded by the ecosystem itself. Odikin's rich biodiversity  creates a natural form of protection not unlike to a healthy body that wards off diseases and infections. Observing the assorted crops and wild flora growing side by side where these abaca also thrive one could safely conclude that the seemingly forested farms provide a natural check and balance of pests and diseases. The long held principle being espoused by the natural farming system that nature has a built-in healing and protection mechanism that controls and prevents the spread of pests and diseases among plants seems to work here. Nature heals itself as long as the ecosystem remains healthy.

This observation however calls on abaca research institutions to check on these local 'resistant' abaca crops in the village of Odikin. A thorough study on why they were saved from the destructive abaca disease perhaps will contribute much to update abaca cultivation practices. A scientific documentation will be most helpful.

Abaca in the form of Manila hemp locally referred to as 'bandala'  was one of the major agricultural products of Bulusan next only to coconut. The state of abaca farming in Bulusan were discussed in several posts in Pamughaton, a Bulusanon web site as follows: Industriya sa bakilid, Halayhayan and Namandala. These posts echo the sad reality of Bulusan's abaca farmers and the parahag-ot i.e. abaca strippers.

FIDA (Fiber Industry Development Authority of the Department of Agriculture) released information on  abaca's agricultural history reads: "The abaca plant is indigenous to the Philippines whose warm, wet climate and volcanic soils are particularly suited to its cultivation. It has been grown in the Philippines for centuries, long before the Spanish occupation.  When Magellan and his companions arrived in Cebu in 1521, they noticed that the natives were wearing clothes made from the fiber of abaca plant, noting further that the weaving of the fiber was already widespread in the island."

Photos by Alma P. Gamil
in Santa Barbara, Bulusan, Sorsogon
Philippines