Seeing the countryside on a big bike!

On board the Super Ferry 16: It was a long, hectic and very hot, but unforgettable 10-day motorcycle trip, with our big bike group, the Easyriders Motorcycle Club, and the Recycle Motorcycle Club of Cebu to attend the 12th Annual Convention of the National Federation of Motorcycle Clubs of the Philippines in Laoag and Vigan.

We started from Cebu City last April 22, traveling through the Transcentral Highway. We took the two-hour ferry in Toledo City to cross the Tañon Strait to the Port of San Carlos City, riding through the new shortcut to Bacolod (only 80 kilometers), passing through the town of Salvador Benedicto and crossing to Iloilo where we stayed overnight.

The following day, we cruised the nearly 200 kilometers from Iloilo to Kalibo and the next day, we took the short 60-kilometer run to the Port of Caticlan to cross to the Island of Mindoro. This was a first for all of us as this is a new route dubbed the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH). In the past, we used to cross to Leyte, ride to Allen, Samar, then cross the San Bernardino Strait to Matnog, Sorsogon and ride all the way to Laoag.

The SRNH makes this run shorter in terms of mileage; however, you only take two ferry rides to reach Luzon: one from Cebu to Ormoc, and another from Allen, Samar to Matnog, Sorsogon. Taking the SRNH from Cebu means four ferry crossings… Cebu to Negros to Panay to Mindoro and then to the Luzon mainland. The difference is, despite the few bad roads we experienced in Panay and Mindoro, at least these roads are better than those in Calbiga, Samar.

With the 13th Annual Convention of the National Federation of Motorcycle Clubs of the Philippines slated to be held in Tacloban City in March 2007, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should exert an extra effort to fix the Pan Philippine Highway, which is in a very sorry state. They have a yearlong headstart before we start cursing the DPWH again in this corner! Perhaps the Arroyo administration ought to ponder this question… why is it that our national road network is so damn politicized? If only we can get the dirty hands of politicians away from our national road network, then we would certainly have good roads!

No doubt, few people from the Visayas and Mindanao ever experienced driving through the good roads of Luzon, especially the South Luzon Expressway or the North Luzon Expressway, on a car, much less on a motorcycle. With the way Cebuanos drive, I’m sure a lot of them would get killed driving at freeway speeds because a freeway is something we don’t have in Cebu.

From Lipa, it is a mere two-hour drive to Metro Manila and another two-hour drive to Subic Freeport, which is around 255 kilometers. The only hitch is the bad traffic in Metro Manila. Subic was a bit of a disappointment today. It no longer has the luster it used to have. Perhaps it is because its attractions like duty-free shopping isn’t what it used to be or the products can be bought for the same prices in Manila shops anyway.

The next day, from Subic, we took our longest ride in one day all the way to Baguio City via Iba, Zambales and Alaminos, Dagupan for a total of 390 kilometers. But since the roads were great and the traffic minimal, we could speed up without any dangers, taking less time.

Arriving in Baguio City, most of us anticipated the cool smell of pine trees; after all, you could still see them along the Marcos Highway. Somehow, something’s wrong because we could not smell the trees anymore, but the stank smell of diesel fumes from trucks and buses crawling their way up the City of Pines. I walked from SM down Session Road all the way to the City Market and last Sunday, you’d think you were in Quiapo! Session Road was teeming with people from all over… shoulder to shoulder like sardines!

Now who was it who said that the economy was down? A week before Holy Week, I was in Boracay and the beaches were overcrowded! On this ride, you could see a vibrant people… making a living in the small economies of their respective towns. The corn was ripe for harvest in Asingan, the hometown of former President Fidel V. Ramos. In the next town of Moncado, the watermelons were on display on the side of the road… and so with the singkamas in Paniqui or the garlic and peanuts in Laoag City. Domestic tourism was flourishing all over!

It seems that the opposition in Manila wants the Philippine economy to go down the drain so that the people would remove President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) and they could grab power again. That was exactly what happened during the Marcos Dictatorship. But this was not what we saw on this motorcycle trip where we encountered a vibrant and thriving local economy. Indeed, riding on a motorcycle, you could see a lot, especially when we stopped to "take a leak" or gas up, the townsfolk would come out and greet us and they were amazed that we came from faraway Cebu on board our motorcycles!

At the height of the bike convention in Laoag, BMW Owners Society and Safety Riders (BOSS) president Francis Rivera announced that some 131 motorcycle clubs attended the convention. Thunderbugs of Bacolod president Manolete Lamata also announced that finally, the "jinx" of Luzon has been broken. That’s because, whenever a bike convention is held in Luzon, someone always makes money like in a few occasions in the past… and motorcycle enthusiasts who attend always seem to get the bad end of the bargain. But not in Laoag, under Bonito Singson and Mayor Michael Farinas. No doubt, the Luzon Motorcycle Federation has learned their bitter lessons of the past.

All told, we traveled a total of 2,283 kilometers (not including the ferry rides) and my BMW R110R consumed a total of 99.28 liters, which should come close to 23 liters per kilometer. At the end of this ride, we got ourselves a treat, taking the spanking new SuperFerry 16 back to Cebu. This is the only vessel I know that has an escalator! If you checked its state rooms, you’d think you’re in a five-star hotel! Riding the SuperFerry gives you an impression that we’re no longer a Third World country.

I guess the Aboitiz Transport System (ATS), which operates this vessel, has upped the once low Philippine standards for ship travel. Another pleasant surprise was the Eva Macapagal Terminal operated by the Asian Terminals Inc., which looks like an airport terminal. With this ship terminal, all passengers are screened the way they do in our airports. In fact, the Eva Macapagal Terminal even puts one over our international airports — the passengers’ photos are taken before they board the ship. High-tech, but it’s for the safety of all ship passengers.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns in The Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine STAR website. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.