Our Friends from Montreal, Canada

Marianne and Hung Visiting Manila

This is Marianne and Hung, previously business associates I worked with in Vietnam, they have become good friends. We get excited about similar things, development projects and delicious food from all over the world. When we weren't talking shop, we were contemplating food. I also enjoy listening to their stories growing-up in Vietnam among the elite at the cusp of the communist revolution. Although their respective families lost virtually everything they owned in Vietnam to the communist regime who was particularly zealous in expropriating the assets of the privileged, they were still relatively fortunate as their parents had the means to send them off to study abroad. Then, all hell broke loose in communist Vietnam, forcing them in the prime of their youth to adopt another country as their own, lest they return "home" and suffer the mediocrity of an overwhelmingly plebeian society. In spite of all their tribulations, Marianne and Hung exemplify the virtues of acceptance, perseverance and graciousness. Vive Marianne et Hung!

Selina, Hung, Marianne and Moi at Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros

Some R&R at Planet Dive Resort, Anilao, Batangas

Along the beach at Planet Dive Resort

At our home with Marianne

At Mom's home
(Marianne, Hung, Moi, Paul, Phebe, Maite)

Our House in Rancho Caridad

Driveway to the Entrance Gate

Formerly the front of the house; currently the right side and rear of house

Currently the left side and rear of house

Driveway to front of house

Front of House
The wooden facade is flanked by the entrance staircase
and the ground floor and second floor kitchen.

This house was originally built by my grandfather (Manuel Viola Gallego or Lolo Ego) before World War II, as a "working house" in which to manage the business affairs of the farm. It was spartan at best, made of wood with concrete flooring on the ground floor--a testament to the modest means of the rice land owner. Concrete blocks served as foundation for wooden columns, which is still evident today in about half of the footprint of the house. The house had one bathroom on the ground floor for the help (which is still the same bathroom for the help today) and one bathroom on the second floor for the owner. The ground floor was where the family of the caretaker lived and where the farm employees would wait to be called to report on their work. Perhaps the only luxury of the house was a "torre" or a tower, which I never saw. It was said to have a view of the hacienda at the time the surrounding trees were in their infancy. The tower was removed by my father when he renovated the house after he inherited a portion of Rancho Caridad. (Dad's sister, Thelma Gallego-Villonco, inherited the other portion, which she sold to Vicente "Teng" Puyat.) At this time, land reform had reduced Rancho Caridad to a non-commercial enterprise (i.e., barely earning enough to pay for itself). Fortunately, the mango orchard Dad planted when he returned from his studies in Germany was now bearing fruit (quite literally). It had become and remains the key economic contributor to Rancho Caridad.

Today, we visit Rancho Caridad to enjoy the outdoors and the peace and quiet of a rural setting. Here, we are close to Lolo Ego and Lola Ego, whose remains are in the family chapel.

The resting place of Lolo Ego and Lola Ego

Historical Note
My grandmother (Caridad Ongsiaco Gallego or Lola Ego) inherited a modest hacienda of about 600 hectares, which was a combination of second growth forest and swamp land. It was raw and it needed work. As was the custom of the era, men--not women--managed farms in those days. So, Lola Ego may have owned it but Lolo Ego developed and took care of it.

In light of the hard-working reputation of the Ilocanos (who were hauled by the American's to Hawaii to plant pineapple in the 1900's), Lolo Ego (through his brother-in-law, Isidoro Del Prado, who was hired as the encargado or manager of the hacienda) enticed Ilocanos from the Ilocos region (along the typhoon belt and having stony unfertile soil) to plant rice on the farm, which had far superior climatic and soil conditions. According to Dad, Isidoro would bring trucks to the Ilocos region to haul and settle batches upon batches of Ilocanos in Nampicuan. This transpired over a period of 3 to 4 years.

In the late 1940's, Lolo Ego purchased the only high school in town (L. C. Gonzales Memorial High School), which was owned by then incumbent Mayor of Nampicuan, Dr. Jose Baguisi, and, harnessing his extensive experience in the education sector (having been a Secretary of Public Instruction), reinvigorated the same under the banner of Gallego Institute of Agriculture and Industry or GIAI, which served the community of Nampicuan for over 60 years (from the late 1940's to 2011) until Dad donated the school to the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija.  The school is now known as St. Pius X Institute of Nampicuan.

Not long after Lolo Ego's pioneering development work at the farm began to bear fruit, institutionalized land-grabbing by government known ostensibly as agrarian reform gained momentum. Henceforth, the rice land owner was doomed. Unlike landowners of export crops (i.e., foreign exchange earners) like coconut, sugar and tobacco, who had larger tracts of land, were generally much wealthier and, not surprisingly, politically too powerful to be touched, the rice land owner produced and sold just that--rice, the most basic commodity and staple crop for local consumption. Rice land was not a source of wealth but a source of livelihood for an agricultural middle-class that was systematically destroyed for refraining to exert their political clout.

Leisure Diving at Anilao

This time, I was able to test my back rolling / disembarking skills as well as the proper method of climbing on-board (before climbing the ladder, surrender to the boat men--yes, we're pretty spoiled in the Philippines--your weight belt, BCD and fins, in that order), as I joined a couple of tourist divers on a diving boat. The waves were a bit choppy, so I paid particular attention to NOT hitting my head on any part of the boat while it was bobbing up and down above me with the waves.

Thanks to Victor Warren (and my cousin, Tonyboy, who called Victor to look for me at Planet Dive), I was able to sneek one onshore entry dive at Twin Rocks (Thursday, June 21) to re-familiarize after a couple of months past my check-out dives. Too bad the visibility was poor.  In any case, I was all set for the boat dive the following day (Friday, June 22).

I had the pleasure of diving with my cousin, Tonyboy "TB" Ongsiaco, Master Diver Extraordinaire, who brought us to Beatrice Rock and Sepok Wall--both beautiful spots with great visibility when we dove. TB lent me a dive computer, which I used mainly to check my depth. The regulator I rented only had a pressure gauge for the tank. We could not figure out how to retrieve the dive logs in my dive computer, so I used the  dive specs of TB (my diving buddy for the day) for our Beatrice and Sepok dives. Like any conscientious diving instructor, Alfie Santos called to check if I was still alive. Maraming salamat Pinsan, Victor and Alfie!

My camera trigger-happy Selina is responsible for all the fun photos below:

Picture Perfect Scenery--No Camera Tricks

Who's that stud?

There were still some good snorkeling spots despite the churning sand

With Victor Warren--the one with the sexy "muro ami" haircut

With Master Diver Extraordinaire Tonyboy Ongsiaco--the sexy one

Pre-dive Preparations

Pre-Dive Briefing

Buddha Diving

Off We Go!

2nd Set of Dive Logs

Here's the best for last.  An underwater video crafted by Victor Warren. Very entertaining!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMmYOqSVnr0&feature=BFa&list=UUHwZdCTm4xVPujfuCTBD2Ww

3rd Set of Dive Logs

Airborne Again and Visiting My Usual Haunts

My new gasoline tanks were recently completed by a fabricator who knew how to do it right (Thanks Mr. Mata!). At around the same time, the construction and renovation works at Mom's building are winding down. So, I've been on a roll with my trike, flying three consecutive mornings on June 7, 8 and 9 and the following week on June 14, 15 and 16. The rainy season has begun as scheduled this June but the water table has not yet reached its peak (i.e., the airstrip is not yet muddy).  Hence, take-off and landings are not accompanied by swaths of cow dung . . . but not for long. The good news is, because of the regular rainfall brought about by the rainy season, the earth is a bit cooler. This means nearly ideal flying conditions when I fly in the mornings. There is also the matter of low altitude clouds, which I usually like--except when they form a thick and massive blanket over my flying area.

Low Altitude Clouds
(when they are fun)

Low Altitude Clouds
(when they are starting to get nasty)

The locations below are all just a hop and a skip away from Rancho Caridad:

Lake Paitan Early in the Rainy Season

SM Rosales--a shopping mall in the middle of rice fields

WWII Vintage Rosales Airstrip Taken from the East

Rosales Airstrip Taken from the North

Rosales Airstrip Taken from the West
(not exactly landable with all that tall grass)

Vast Farm of Someone Powerful and Untouchable
(mostly sugarcane, a beautiful mango orchard and a pond)

Here's the Mango Orchard

Green rasberrys anyone?

Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) Beside Mount Cuyapo
(one of my landing strips today)

Landed on TPLEX; Mount Cuyapo on the Left Background

Rancho Caridad Taken from the West
(boundary in yellow, airstrip in green, TPLEX in blue)

Paniqui Airstrip of Danding Cojuangco
(this one could accommodate twin-prop planes)

Paniqui Airstrip Taken from the South

Paniqui Airstrip Taken from the West
(note the mothballed sugar mill on the right of the airstrip)

Landed on Paniqui Airstrip
(secured the permission of Gibo Teodoro years ago)

Private Compound (with mango orchard)
and Residential Subdivision (with cement roads)
of Miguel "Dors" C. Rivilla (Mayor of Paniqui)

Private Compound (with mango orchard)
and Residential Subdivision (with cement roads)
of Miguel "Dors" C. Rivilla (Mayor of Paniqui)

Anao, Tarlac Interchange (Exit) of TPLEX
(about 3.5 km from Rancho Caridad)

Location of Above Photos

Wild Fresh Water Fish

Ho Hum . . .

With Gusto!

I have lamented the apparent absence of large fresh water fish growing naturally out of our rivers and streams, even in the rural areas. Particularly in Central Luzon, where the dry and rainy seasons are quite distinct, the rivers and estuaries typically dry-up completely at the end of the summer months. So, from a practical standpoint, rural communities would harvest fish once a year before their local estuary or water embankment dries-up. The implication of this annual fish harvest is that virtually no fish is allowed to grow to a ripe old age or, for that matter, to develop into an interesting size. Recently, I came across a little known town (not far from Rancho Caridad, which will remain a secret for the time being) that also practices an annual fish harvest. However, it happens to have an estuary that is naturally deep and apparently does not dry-up even at the height of summer, thereby enabling at least some fish to grow continuously over several years (i.e., those that are not caught during the annual fish harvest). The results are delightful as the above pictures illustrate--wild fresh water carp that's at least a couple of kilos each.