A journalist’s memories of idyllic Guimaras

Until the disastrous oil spill that contaminated its once pristine waters, Guimaras was an "idyllic paradise."

From a distance, it looks like an impregnable natural fortress seemingly guarded jealously by the sea gods. Fact is, this "gentle island" is rich in folklore and legend.

For instance, Guimaras was named after Guima and Aras, two impetuous lovers who defied tradition to pursue their forbidden love. The gods, according to folklore, punished them by turning them into stone on the island.

Guimaras is one of the country’s youngest provinces, having been converted from a sub-province of Iloilo into a provincial unit on May 22, 1992, with Emily Lopez as its first governor.

The 60,465-hectare (six-square-kilometer) island is a 45-minute plane ride from Manila and a 15-minute boat ride from the Port of Iloilo in Iloilo City.

It is situated southeast of Iloilo province and northwest of Negros in the Western Visayan region.

Guimaras is "mango country," with mango trees as many as its inhabitants (about 170,000).

Encouragingly, too, it is now in the international map of commerce, it being the only place in the Philippines whose luscious mango fruits can enter the United States market.

Reason is, government scientists and researchers have solved Guimaras’ fruit fly problem, which had for years stood as a roadblock to the local mango’s penetration into the huge US market.

Credit goes to research projects implemented by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry-National Mango Research and Development Center based in the Guimaras town of Jordan; the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute in Diliman, Quezon City; and the Los Baños-based DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development.

Among the projects implemented were the Male Annihilation Technique (MAT) and Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

MAT made use of an attractant (methyl alcohol) and insecticide (malathion) to kill a large population of fruit flies in Guimaras.

Under SIT, a follow-up process after MAT, millions of fruit flies were reared under laboratory condition using artificial diet.

These insects were made sterile by exposing the pupae (third stage of an insect’s life, after eggs and larvae) to gamma radiation and then released in target areas to mate with the wild fly population.

This resulted in the production of non-viable eggs so that the continued release of sterile flies would finally eradicate the population of the area.

Guimaras mango is said to be the sweetest in the country, although this is contested by other provinces, among them Iloilo, Zambales, Pangasinan, and Ilocos Norte.

Recently, former Guimaras Gov. Emily Lopez, who once anointed this writer as a "friend of Guimaras" for visiting and writing about the enchanting island-province in the past, was reported to have gifted Pope Benedict XVI with carabao mangoes from the island.

Tourism-wise, pre-oil spill Guimaras was a "fantasy island" with refreshingly cool and invigorating climate.

To Nature lovers, time stops on the island. Gifts of Nature present themselves in abundance – virgin coral beds, rock sculptures, stalactites and stalagmites in caves, and natural coves.

Guimaras has long stretches of fine and white sand beaches, awe-inspiring underwater seascape, and clean waters suited for swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving.

It has many tourist attractions. Isla Naburot, for one, is a coral island with a perfect ecological balance. Its spots of interest include the sandbar, a tiny cove where one can laze the day away in privacy; the Ave Maria Coral Islet, which offers rich marine life; Isla Platito, a white saucer of an island; and Smuggler’s Cave where one can swim or row.

At the southern tip of Guimaras is Hagarao, a small tropical island. A good part of Hagarao is surrounded by a sandy beach and corals like most islands in the Indo-Pacific region.

One can enjoy wind-surfing, swimming, skin-diving, skiing, snorkeling, and raft-fishing at Puerto del Mar.

To science-inclined people, two places can excite their interest — the research station of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC AQB) and the University of the Philippines Visayas’ (UPV) Research Center on Taklong Island.

Over the years, SEAFDEC AQB and UPV have been conducting research on marine life in those scientific facilities.

Taklong Island is also ideal for boating, fishing, swimming, and picnicking. Here, one can find multi-colored marine life.

To the religious, Guimaras can offer them places that suit their piety.

Now internationally known is Ang Pagtaltal sa Guimaras, a dramatic Lenten presentation of the crucifixion of Jesus and laying him in the arms of His sorrowful mother.

Pagtaltal, a spectacle in Jordan town, is a veritable common folk’s creation — from the design of the costumes to the staging of the show. It is also a theater-on-the-move, with the re-enactment starting at the municipal hall grounds moving all the way to a hill representing the Golgotha for the crucifixion.

Organized in 1976, it has been attracting countless foreign and local tourists, including dignitaries from some countries in Asia, North America, South America, Europe, and Africa.

Other religious places on the island include the Trappist Monastery in Barangay San Miguel, Jordan; Shrine of Our Lady of Peace Montpelliar in Buenavista town; the more than a century-old parish church of St. Isidore, the province’s oldest church; and the Marian Park atop a hill overlooking the Jordan town proper.

Now, Guimaras is in the news because an oil tanker sank off the island, spilling voluminous oil into its once pristine waters.

Can the island-province ever regain its idyllic beauty?

Only time can tell.