Some Allures of Aloguinsan

CEBU, Philippines -  A couple of weeks ago, my good friend Jenny Franco of Travelvision Travel & Tours (Tel # 234-1282/ 516-7279), invited me to a day excursion to a town along the upland midrib of the tobacco-leaf shaped island of Cebu, Aloguinsan. When she was town mayor, Cynthia Moreno asked me to check out her town when they would be part of Suroy-suroy Midwest. I had not been able to do so until Jenny’s invitation.

We did the scenic route on the way to Aloguinsan (about one & a half to two hours, depending on traffic situation), going up the mostly foggy mountainous areas of Cebu City, towards Babag (where we stopped for some juicy sweet Japanese corncobs sold piping hot from the pot at the roadside), then crossing Cebu’s mountain midrib via the Trans-Central Highway. We came down to Balamban where the Tsuneishi Shipyard is located, Toledo City of the copper & gold mines, Pinamungajan, then Aloguinsan. These midwestern places are partly mountainous and coastal. We traveled along a lovely coastal road — between Toledo and Pinamungajan — that has the seashore at arm’s reach, it seems. On the return trip, we did not backtrack as we took the Naga City to Talisay City route, then through SRP, back to the city.

Augustus Caesar Moreno, Cynthia’s husband, is now the town mayor, while Cynthia has been elected Vice Mayor. VM Cynthia met us at the Aloguinsan Farm House, a showcase of an organic farm where vegetables, hogs and chickens are raised the naturally organic way. Along with VM Cynthia, the town’s tourism consultant Boboi Costas also welcomed us. We toured the medium-sized farm with its okra, tomato, chili, kamunggay, eggplant, alugbate and passion fruit plots. What amazed us were the pristine and odorless piggery barn and chicken coop. How do they maintain cleanliness in the pigsty? They use rice husks to cover the earth flooring and regularly apply an organic bacteria inhibitor, a mixture of moldy stale rice and molasses. Cheap, convenient and amazing! They also culture African night crawlers in their compost – earthworms that aid in decomposition and produce vermicast, a protein rich organic fertilizer for the plants.

Camote tops, tangkong and kamunggay (they have special plots for piggery food) are the main feed for the pigs, along with the commercial feed mix. Hence, the vegetarian pigs have less body fat with more succulent meat as they actually eat more healthy meals than the visitors. The pigs eagerly came to us to feed as we held some kamunggay fronds.

Aloguisan, through the efforts of its eco-conscious leaders, is aggressively pursuing community-based tourism in areas where intervention is necessary for the maintenance or protection of the ecological balance. Like the Bojo River. They are identifying, conserving and nurturing their natural and cultural resources by primarily educating the locals who live in the areas and giving an alternative means of livelihood.

At the Farm House, they demonstrated the traditional way of cooking, the preparation of native dishes and the making of “puso” or hanging rice. The tour guides are local wives of farmers and fishermen. We tried to weave the three shapes of “puso” containers – the “binaki” (like a “baki” or frog), the “tinigib” (or like a “tigib” or chisel) and the more popular “kinasing” (or like a “kasing” or spinning top). I am sure that foreign visitors will be entertained and engaged in the food preparation and the “puso” weaving.

Then followed a lunch of organic meat and veggies – I never tasted fresh radish and carrot salad so fragrant and crunchy! The hearty soup, the pork dish and the veggie empanadas were refreshingly natural in flavors. We drank iced tambis tea, as they serve seasonal fruit drinks. Had the passion fruit been fruit bearing, we could have tasted its tangy juice.

We trekked to Bojo River to digest our delightful lunch and made ready for our river cruise. But first, we were given a lecture on endemic birds, other fauna and flora of the area. It was when I found out that “alimokon” of the balitaw fame and “manatad” as in the phrase “abtik pa’s manatad” are two kinds of wild endangered forest doves. I also found out that we have a woodpecker out there! We peered at some nests along the river banks, as well as viewed the extant “closed entrance to the kingdom” of Maria Tang-an (Fanged Maria), a cousin of Argao’s Maria Cacao and Luzon’s Mariang Makiling. It is a steep cliff wall along the mystically peaceful Bojo River.

Boboi Costas of the Tourism Committee disclosed of the plan to develop a nature-based adventure tourism in Aloguinsan and, according to him, on the drawing board are frameworks to bring about snorkeling, dolphin watching and camping.

Indeed, Aloguinsan is adding its natural allures and Travelvision, the Aloguinsan general sales agent, is ready to bring visitors to this eco-friendly paradise in the Midwest of Cebu. (FREEMAN)