Just as typhoon “Frank” was moving towards Luzon, I was able to catch up with the Philippine Airlines (PAL) Express fam tour for the Cebu Media escorted no less than by Mr. Rollie Estabilio, head of PAL’s Corporate Communications and by PAL Cebu’s Sales & Services manager Simoun Canton Jr. and Mr. Rey Salvatierra PAL’s Puerto Princesa general manager. Actually, I joined the tail end of the tour and missed the terrific Subterranean River National Park, the world’s longest underground river, which gives me a reason to make another visit to Palawan with my family.
There is no question that Palawan’s tourism is getting the right boost with daily flights by PAL Express using the Q300 from Cebu. In the past, only a few Cebuanos could come to Palawan because it was too inaccessible because you had to fly to Manila from Cebu then take a Manila-Puerto Princesa flight, on the plane fare alone, it was prohibitive. But now things would surely change. Palaweños can go to Cebu so easily and study Hotel and Tourism here, while Cebuanos can go to Palawan to appreciate its natural beauty.
I walked around the main street Jose Rizal Ave. and I couldn’t help but notice the absence of jeepneys. Yes, Puerto Princesa is probably the only major city in the Philippines that doesn’t have a jeepney! There are no taxicabs or big Tour buses. The venerable tricycle is the principal mode of transportation there. I gathered from the group who met with Mayor Edward Hagedorn that he is planning to put up electric tricycles to change the very polluting tricycles in Puerto Princesa. Instead of tricycles, Mayor Hagedorn should give a good look at the electric jeepney.
PAL hosted dinner for us at the Badjao Seafront Restaurant, a very unique restaurant in the middle of a thick mangrove forest. They proudly displayed the photos of Prince Andrew who ate in the restaurant on May 19, 2001. What I did not expect was that after dinner, we went to a place dubbed Kinabuchs Grill & Resto Bar, which turned out to be owned by Butch Chase. The bigger surprise was that, Butch was there with Congressman Abraham “Baham” Mitra, the youngest son of the late Sen. Ramon “Monching” Mitra.
Butch Chase and I go a long way back during our motocross years in the 70’s where he was the best motocross racer in the country and at a time when I was just a fledging novice. Later through the years, I loaned Butch my YZX 125 Motocrosser during the 1st Danao Motocross where he won the Expert Class, while I won the Novice Open Class race… that was eons ago!
It was really good to see an old friend, turned restaurateur. Kinabuchs Grill has a unique décor, a Honda CB 250 on the wall and a 1955 CZ 150cc (made in Czechoslovakia, a country that no longer exist today) motorcycle in mint condition. Even the drinks he serve is unique, you should try the Vodka based “Orgasm on the wall” served on a fire to light up your exotic taste. I’m just happy that Butch found his niche in Puerto Princesa.
That Rep. Baham Mitra was in Kinabuchs last Saturday evening meant that he was not among the 59 Congressmen who went with Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) on that Mother of all Junket tours to the US. When we got back to Hotel Flueris (I gathered that this is owned by another friend Mr. Archie Po) Rep. Mitra came late to join us for a nightcap. It was good timing to talk with him especially on my advocacies, like the Comprehensive Land Reform Program (CARP) and the need for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to give the Filipino people an accounting of CARP.
That on Sunday morning, we toured the Iwahig Penal Colony gives us an idea that not all the prisons being run in this country are hopeless. The dancing inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention & Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) showed that prisoners can really be rehabilitated. In Iwahig Penal Colony, they showed to us that prisoners could be made to work in the production of rice and corn. Given our serious problems of food security, perhaps we should look at the example of the Iwahig Penal Colony for the thousands of prisoners to be tapped for rice and corn production using idle gov’t lands.
We were supposed to fly back to Cebu last Sunday afternoon, but the PAL Express flight was cancelled due to inclement weather. Hence, we got an extended stay in Palawan. Thankfully, Hotel Fleuris is a very comfortable hotel, with a great bed and Wi-Fi facilities. So that’s what we did the whole day of Sunday, checking the news reports on TV and the Internet.
Yes, we learned about the unfortunate sinking of the Sulpicio Lines Vessel “Princess of the Stars” in the Sibuyan Sea, with some 700 passengers on board. This vessel now joins its sister ships, the Doña Paz and the Doña Marilyn and the Japanese Super Battleship the “Mushashi”ˆ into the bottom of the Sibuyan Sea because of that unexpected Typhoon “Frank.”
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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow entitled, “Straight from the Sky” shown every Monday only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 on SkyCable at 8 in the evening.