Calubian-Tolosa-Sogod via Biliran

CEBU, Philippines - There is no education quite like the lessons of travel.

This Albert Barnard wisdom espoused in his 1932 work entitled "The Lessons of Travel" proved to have transcended our excessive readings and acquired information overload.

After traveling from Ormoc City heading north to Calubian via Capoocan and Leyte, Leyte passing by the Biliran Bridge and the Nasunogan Causeway to take a 15-minute motorboat ride to the St. Therese of the Child Jesus Shrine in Barangay Obispo, one becomes "more broadminded, until at least, a stage of mental flexibility is reached where one realizes how much he has learned about the world but how little he has exactly known."

In my case, for example, I have been to quite a number of places in the Philippines and have embarked on extensive reading of travel materials to support my written works. But when the St. Therese Diocesan Shrine Association invited me to Calubian, I harbored tons of questions as to why we had to cross over to Biliran Island first when Calubian is at the northern tip of the western side of Leyte.

"Wait till we get there, and you will be so surprised you still have much to learn," this note gnawed at the back of my mind.

M/V Wonderful Stars departed Cebu City at 10 p.m. of March 4 and anchored at Ormoc port at 4 a.m. the following day. The troop hurriedly disembarked to catch the 7 a.m. breakfast scheduled at the house of Antero "Tanting" Junia, Jr. (son of a revered Boy Scout active during WWII in Tolosa, Leyte). Mano Tanting is the association's treasurer.

We negotiated sharp bends and curves on our three-hour trip to Biliran. I refrained from dozing off so as to take mental notes of the places we've been passing by in that particular journey. Then, the soft shafts of the early morning sun burst beyond the languid shoulders of mostly grass-covered hills and mountains. And lo! There it was: Biliran Bridge a.k.a. Bridge of the River Kwai!

My companions, alternately, explained our position on the map. They pointed out we were taking the tip-most of northern Leyte which is connected to Biliran by the said bridge and causeway. "Alternative route ni namo kay the road to Calubian is a 'free-massage road', otherwise known as the 'abortion road'," this explanation was underscored by roaring laughter.

The half-day side-trip to the Diocesan Shrine began with a hearty breakfast at the home of Mano Tanting and his wife, Cecilia. It was there that I further learned I am going to take the bad road in the afternoon being a first-time visitor of Calubian. "So you can experience both ways. After understanding the alternative route via Biliran, you will join the group taking the Lemon route to Tacloban City, and then to Tolosa where the request for the enthronement of the image of St. Therese will take place," this was the direction I received.

For an initiation, I was told to take the 94 concrete steps to the shrine in homage to the "Patron of Missions and acclaimed Greatest Saint of our Modern Times." Atop a hill, there is this sweeping view of Biliran Bay, a full view of Tres Marias - every mountaineer's delight in Biliran Island; the feel of "trade winds" drumming up as if a marching band had rolled out the red carpet in salutation.

There was the chapel constructed by Theresian devotees in Obispo. It used to accommodate 30 churchgoers (seating capacity), but recent expansion works ensured it is now capable of holding over 200 people. This is very good news for pilgrims who would be drawn to the area in the observance of the Holy Week.

Aside from feeding us, the association made sure we would not leave the area sans the offering of a Holy Mass to bless our March 6 mission in Tolosa. So, Fr. Pops Dolina went up there to celebrate the Mass. I was in charge of the First Reading, and I was taken aback lately by that passage lifted from the Book of Deuteronomy in concordance with the Gospel: "the building of one's house either on solid rock or on sand."

The Mass was in Cebuano, but the homily was in mixed Cebuano and Waray for the sake of us who only speak very little of northern Leyte's dialect. Less than a week after that reading, a Magnitude 9 temblor hit Japan. That warning in the reading horrified me more than the intensity of the quake because God's Word, in its being living and active, constantly reminds us never to challenge nature no matter how technologically advance we are. After all that's been done and achieved, it's our faith that will truly stand the tests of this lifetime.

Anyway, I had my share of suffering taking the 'abortion road'. It was so bad, the trip annoyed me. I couldn't help from entertaining a nightmarish thought as to what kind of leaders Calubian has. On what heart they have for their people - their fishermen, their traders, their farmers, their students, their professionals - drivers of Leyte's countryside economy.

The slow, bumpy ride challenged the gauge of my patience, my hideous mood swings. There were points I regretted not turning back using the Biliran Bridge. Never mind if I have to cross the bay again via outrigger. However, I was nerving myself with the thought of "seeing more of Leyte to better understand it."

We began the trip too late in the afternoon of March 5, so arrival in Tolosa at 9 p.m. was already a relief. "Whew! I thought I had to wait another day," I grumbled to release all the exasperation.

Later on, I learned "Kamalig ni Terong" where we were received is not a commercial resort facing the historic Leyte Gulf. It was constructed by the Junia family for kin in and out of the country and for those close friends of their family. "Ay, salamat, feeling close diay ko ani," I blurted out, grabbing the videoke mic to, sort of, de-stress.

By 6:30 a.m. of Mar. 6, we were all up for the enthronement at the Catholic Church of St. Peter the Apostle in Tolosa. At noontime, we sped for Bato, Leyte as it was already impossible to catch the trip back to Cebu via Ormoc. However, our arrival at Bato was also too early for the 9 p.m. trip, so we went to check "Disneyland" (the moniker of the house owned by Hilongos Mayor Jose Emery "Joy" Roble, Jr. who sits as vice chairman of the association). We also shopped for "sweet ideas" in a nearby bakeshop - cookies, salbaro, moron, broas, macaroons, etcetera.

On our way to Bato, there is this pretty interesting infrastructure development in Barangay Kahupian, Sogod, Southern Leyte. Because of frequent landslides in the event of a downpour, thereby declaring an old road impassable, a350-m.–long span was constructed to connect two cliffs that serve as new route to Sogod. The structure, inaugurated in 2009, is called the Agas-Agas Bridge which costs over P1billion.

In a brief stop, we enjoyed the greens from up 246 feet on a viewing deck which residents described to be the next interesting site in Sogod town with a plunge or a bungee station in the offing.

There is also the promise of a zipline/suislide (estimated to be about 880 feet long) to be established some steps up the roadside fronting the engineering office in Kahupian.

These and more to realize in the next chapters of our mission --- teaching us there is no place too remote to reach out in spreading the devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux. Likewise, there certainly will be more of those chuckholes, along the way, to test how the human spirit survives it all.