Living it up in Laguna

It could have been a scene straight out of Julie Andrews’ classic musical Sound of Music. Except that this time, the audience is not the hills that echo and re-echo the sound of music. The audience is an appreciative group who came all the way from the lowlands to see Kuh Ledesma and daughter Isabella render songs about nature all around them and things Filipino at the National Arts Center, Mt. Makiling, Laguna.

The ambiance – an open-air auditorium with a cool, soothing gently wafting mountain breeze – makes the prolonged trip to the venue worth one’s while.

Look ma, no pollution! No mindless traffic getting into one’s nerves and turning you into a mental wreck before you even jostle for precious parking space!

Isabella said it all when she told a huddle of reporters after the concert: "All it took for me to feel inspired was one look at all the beauty around me!"

She added, "I want to live here (Laguna)! If I were four years younger (she’s 18 and about to graduate from high school), I’d enroll at the National High School for the Arts. I’ve surveyed the facilities in the US (where she plans to enroll in college) and there’s nothing like this!"

As always, mother knows best. Kuh gushed and extolled "the fertile soil that makes beautiful flowers bloom" in Laguna through Bulaklak, a Tagalog translation of a French song.

Like Julie Andrews, she sang of music – not just any kind of music, but the kind that springs from Filipino talent – in Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika. She did the hitherto unthinkable for her staid, formal image: rap to the beat of the immortal Dahil Sa ’Yo.

And, while everybody partook of the sweet, overflowing lanzones served on the dinner table, Kuh brought her audience back to the basics – family and love of country – by singing Anak as video screens flashed clips of national heroes and the Banaue Rice Terraces.

Raw talent shone as teenaged students of the National High School for the Arts showed ‘em what they’ve got. No, this was not the CCP, where one takes a respite from all that mindless gyrations on national TV. This was Laguna, where high school scholars can do a mean fusion of old and modern Christian worship songs on stage. Where the age-old Ifugao dance fuses with modern trance music. Douglas Nierras would have been proud and happy.

Proud and happy is what Laguna Gov. Teresita "Ningning" Lazaro feels about her picturesque province.

"Peace and order is under control," she said after watching the concert, dubbed as Laguna Noon, Ngayon at Bukas. So confident is the lady governor about this that she herself took the lead in organizing the concert, not just for her province mates, but for those outside Laguna to see.

Why invite guests to travel through a long winding road leading up to the mountains, with centuries-old trees flanking you and not a soul in sight, at night (the concert started 7 p.m.), if you can assure their safety?

I admit holding my breath and murmuring a little prayer for safety as we passed Magnetic Hill and negotiated the road bordered by trees and thick foliage to the concert venue. But my worst fears were baseless. At the end of the road, a group of security officers checked our vehicle and its passengers, making us feel safe and secure despite ourselves.

The governor was right. Laguna takes care of its visitors. And because it does, the province can dream big. Lazaro plans to build a bypass road for easier access to neighboring places sans the traffic, a ferry that will bring more visitors to the province, and a giant animal park with exotic creatures greedy poachers cannot hunt down, thanks to the sanctuary Laguna plans to put up.

Proud and happy is also how Raymond Lauchengco (remember him from his Bagets days?) feels about the TV special he is co-directing (with Rich Ilustre) on Laguna – Kuh and Isabella’s Makiling concert included. The two-hour special (airing date: Saturday, Nov. 9, 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., RPN 9) is a virtual travelogue around the scenic province, as seen through the eyes of Karylle, Ciara Sotto and Isabella.

The Power Network, an umbrella organization of youth groups formed five years ago, recently baptized the trio as Youth Ambassadors. Not a bad idea, considering that these showbiz offsprings lead clean-as-a-whistle lives.

Karylle, Zsa Zsa Padilla’s daughter by estranged husband Dr. Modesto Tatlonghari, is a mainstay of SOP and graduated from Communication Technology at the Ateneo. Ciara, Sen. Tito Sotto and Helen Gamboa’s daughter, is taking up voice at UST. Isabella, like her mom Kuh, is a born-again Christian.

No wonder the girls clicked right away when they first met at Rockwell, and when they shot the Laguna special, a project of eMap (Events, Music, Adventure, Places), for Power Network. Karylle swam in the cool, crystal-clear pool at Hidden Valley Springs, Alaminos. Ciara refreshed her memory about Jose Rizal via a visit to his ancestral home in Calamba, and a look-see at his shrine.

Isabella, to this day, can’t stop gushing about Hidden Valley.

Oh, but they soon found out Laguna had much, much more to offer. They shot an MTV at Wonder Island, a gem of a hideaway where Dolphy taped an episode of Home Along Da Riles and where Celeste Legaspi enjoyed a clear view of vast Laguna de Bay. Who knows, they might even have taken a dip in any of its six swimming pools whose water is so pure, you can even drink it!

The island owner discovered what he calls his "miracle water" 1,000 feet below the surface of the ground and sent it to his brother in California, where it passed the US standard for drinking water.

Then there’s La Vista Pansol, a resort complex in Calamba which houses a mini-zoo with Macau parrots, an Indian python, and deer. The giant water slide cascades down two swimming pools. A treehouse perches near a restaurant. All these have been lovingly maintained by the family of resort general manager Nilcar Donato.

In the end, it’s all about coming home, returning to one’s roots. As Raymond Lauchengco, co-director (with Rich Ilustre) of the TV special says, "Our is a beautiful country." 

Oh yes, it is, despite, and inspite of the threat of terrorism, the sagging economy, and all other ills. There’s still is no place like home.