Tireless in Tacloban

TACLOBAN CITY — The PAL flight, which left Manila at 3 p.m. on Monday, June 28, touches down at the Tacloban City Airport at a little past 4 p.m. That’s when my Balikbayan journalist-friend (from New York) Raoul Tidalgo and I find out that on the same flight are Karylle, Ronnie Liang and Dominic Ochoa. They are going to Ormoc City upon the invitation of newly-elected Congresswoman Lucy Torres-Gomez while our group (also including Ronald Constantino, Eugene Asis, Jun Lalin, Mario Bautista, Jojo Gabinete, Ian Fariñas and Aster Amoyo, our leader) are invited by second-termer Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez and his wife, second-termer Councilor Cristina “Kring-Kring” Gonzalez, to watch the Sangyaw Festival (June 29) and to attend the city fiesta (June 30) in honor of Señor Sto. Niño.

From the window of the airport reception hall, we catch a glimpse of the MacArthur Leyte Landing Memorial along the coastline. “Where’s Gen. Carlos P. Romulo?,” we ask a staffer of the Mayor’s Office, who is among those who fetch us. “It was high tide when Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s group landed, so he’s not seen.” Actually, the diminutive Gen. Romulo is standing behind the towering MacArthur.

From the airport, we stop at the modest residence (a bungalow within a compound) of Alfred and Kring-Kring who, with their daughters Sofia and Diana, welcome us with a merienda of native delicacies (moron, binagol, etc.).

It’s almost 6 o’clock when we check into Hotel Alejandro. Kring-Kring has reminded us to be ready by 7:30 at the lobby where we will be fetched for the Air Supply concert (produced by my friend Danee Samonte a.k.a. Steve O’Neal) at the Tacloban Astrodome which is packed full with people by the time the show starts at 9 o’clock, one hour behind schedule.

We are seated at the front row, together with Alfred and Kring-Kring with their other guests (including Mega magazine editor Sari Yap). In a while, we are joined by second-termer Leyte Congressman Martin Romualdez, Alfred’s first cousin (Martin’s father is Kokoy Romualdez and Alfred’s is Bejo Romualdez, both former First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos’ brothers).

What a show it is! The Taclobanons, typical of Warays like Aster and me (and Oscar Lluz and his wife Liz Muñoz who drove from Catbalogan City in Western Samar two hours away), are a happily uninhibited audience, much to the delight of Air Supply duo Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock who must be pleasantly surprised that the audience knows all their songs since they...we!...sing along with them, knowing by heart such Air Supply enduring hits as Lost in Love, The One That You Love, Now and Forever, All Out of Love, Here I Am (Just When I Thought I Was Over You), Even The Nights Are Better and Just As I Am.

By the time the perspiration-soaked Graham and Russell are doing Making Love Out of Nothing At All, their encore song, the space between the front row and the stage is throbbing with dancing ladies, Kring-Kring included. There are shouts of “More, more, more!” but the duo has given more than enough.

It’s whole-morning city tour the next day.

Our companions have gone ahead. Raoul and I go to the Sto. Niño Church and join them at the San Juanico Bridge that connects Leyte and the Samar provinces, the same bridge from the top of which Dante Varona jumped in a breathtaking, death-defying stunt for a scene in his movie.

Next stop is the sprawling San Rafael Farm which is ideal for those who want to do some soul-searching. Then we proceed back to the city proper for a quick tour of the PCGG-sequestered Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum which houses domestic and foreign collections of art, furnitures and musical instruments, with thematic bedrooms.

After lunch at the Balyu-an Amphitheater along Magsaysay Boulevard facing Cancabatok Bay (the place is a popular venue for cultural, sporting and religious events), we are driven to Kring-Kring’s spa in front of which a stage has been put up. That’s where we watch the Sangyaw Festival Parade featuring colorful floats (one carrying Kapuso stars Barbie Forteza and First Time co-stars Joshua Dionisio and Mark Castillo; and another one with Kapamilya stars Regine Angeles and Tom Rodriguez). Highlights include a dance competition among groups from the city’s different schools and barangays in elaborate costumes, all of them honoring Señor Sto. Niño. In my native Northern Samar, the equivalent is the sinulog dance in which the performers playfully “tease” the Little Child. Kring-Kring manages to squeeze in a 30-minute interview on her and Alfred’s colorful love story (out on Sunday, July 11, in Conversations with Ricky Lo).

To cap the day, Kring-Kring invites us to try the foot massage at her spa’s branch at the newly-opened Robinsons Mall across from which is the Stephanie Smoke Haus where we are treated to an eat-all-you-can dinner of seafood and other mouth-watering goodies.

Back at Hotel Alejandro, Raoul and I drift into sweet slumber muttering superlatives in Waray — Ay, kaupay hindoro!!!

We fly back to Manila via PAL on Wednesday, June 30, promising to go back to Tacloban to see and enjoy more of what Mayor Alfred calls “The Gateway to Eastern Visayas.”

Makadto gud dayon kami!!!

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