Memory lane

Ric Maulion

HOME is where your heart is. And where your heart is, there’s your happiness also. You’ve been probably into this. Note that there are 18 national holidays and 10 long weekends for 2018.  You can start your travel either big or small. But, of course, it’s better to start it small by visiting familiar places. Never mind the distance.

Save for some places especially in the north, I’ve been actually to almost all places from Luzon to Visayas since my seminary days in mid-seventies. With a  motorcycle, I actually went nearly all of Mindanao, except Zamboanga, attending conferences and seminars when I was still active in government service.  I was about to proceed to Zamboanga but decided not to after a co-employee in the DAR was shot dead while he was leaving his office and was about to go to his hometown in Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental, on a motorcycle. Yes, travelling is sometimes risky. You just don’t know what’s in store for you in the road.

Why on bike?  Well, I like fresh air, and it is easy to maneuver. It also allows a full view of splendid sceneries. It lights up my travel.

Cebu Pacific is offering roughly 36 national destinations and 27 international flights. It’s the start of the year, and it’s better to plan ahead and grab the opportunity by booking early for cheaper fares.

I’m glad to learn that some of my fellow retirees from DAR have been going around the US, Europe, Middle East, Canada, etc., because they have children there.

I was in Taiwan myself on a two-month grant for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development in 1991. It was an experience — and awakening — as I went around from Taipei to Kaohsiung to learn. If Mindanao would  like to succeed  in its economic development through optimal use of the land, land consolidation alongside urban development, then Taiwan is the country to emulate.

Have you heard of pigs walking upstage as if these are models for businessmen to buy? Or ricefields along bridges and greening of cities? It’s all over in Taiwan.

Back to our shores. It’s good to remember the past and rekindle old beautiful  recollections  among family, friends, batchmates and relatives back home.

That’s what I did recently and would gladly redo it. My vacation was top heavy with twists and turns  of events beyond expectations.

First, it was the end of the year and the weather was bad. I remember in Romblon when residents armed themselves with hammers to fix windows, doors, rooftops each time typhoon passes by. Like Aladdin’s carpet, galvanized iron sheets were mercilessly tossed away. I recall there were makeshift toilets that were built in one day and then uprooted by a typhoon.  Urduja’s landfall was different. It was like a scene in the movie “Independence Day.”

I also remember the fury of “Sendong.” Cagayan de Oro was flooded when an abnormal volume of rainwater flowed from Bukidnon down to the Macajalar Bay. Many died along riverbanks and sandbars in the wee hours of Dec. 17, 2011.

Now, back to my travel. I proceeded to Batangas all the way to Metro Manila. But I was sad to learn that St. Andrew’s Theological Seminary in Quezon City where my spiritual journey begun  in mid-seventies is up for demolition because of a hospital extension project. “We are mere lessee here Ric and the term already expires. That’s why all of us would all be housed in an apartment nearby,” said Fr. Tom Maddela, my classmate who is now the registrar.

So be it. Thanks anyway for the lovely memories.