PMA's Sinaglahi Class in Tagum City

Call it the irony of ironies: it was the silent drill that was not so silent at all.

For approximately 20 minutes, cadet members of the Philippine Military Academy Sinaglahi Class of 2015 sent girls screaming their hearts out and wowed the general populace of Tagum City last April 20, 2012 in this city's sprawling Freedom Park.

I had already visited Fort Gregorio del Pilar in Baguio City years ago but I haven't really seen cadets in their field doing a fancy drill. And so it turned out to be exciting when our office was informed that they are coming to Tagum City, it was a "lightbulb" moment which led to the production of video montage above that I uploaded in YouTube.

The cadets were here as part of their Southern Cruise which aims to orient and expose the Third-class Cadets to various AFP units, Local Government Units and other stakeholders to provide them a better appreciation of the Government Bureaucracy.

For the record, there were about 83 cadet members of the Sinaglahi Class who went to Davao Region for this cruise. Aside from Tagum, they also went to the City of Davao and the Island Garden City of Samal.

Tagum's Art Scene

Motorcycles pass by these street art in Rotary Park along Pioneer Avenue as two artists brave intermittent rainshowers  just to finish this work of art.

TAGUM CITY, DAVAO DEL NORTE—One could not easily ignore the larger-than-life street art that mushroomed this week in this city’s Rotary Park. Indigenous in nature, the mural paintings painted here resonate the city’s rich indigenous culture.

This is, of course, something worthy to blog since this goes to show that Tagum City has slowly bloomed into a melting pot of artists of different disciplines. But last Holy Week, I remembered how a noted artist here laments how lame the art scene in this bustling capital town of Davao del Norte—a thing they wanted to change. People’s appreciation in the arts is not evident, he said, except for the very few who bleeds art.

Going Crazy in Governor Generoso

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
                                                              -Apple’s “Think Different” advertisement

Over the past two days, the setting has been so different. The sky was blue. The clouds were fat and were scattered on hills and mountains. There were no papers, news and speeches to write and a flickering computer screen. This is what is left: sky, hills, farms, open sea, lonely roads and a middle-aged man in a red short along the shore.

Our four-hour motorcycle ride led us to a place in what could only be described as a perfect gateway: Governor Generoso in the picturesque province of Davao Oriental. Oozing with its small-town appeal, GovGen (famously known as Sigaboy) boasts of the sight of a lighthouse standing tall and proud on top of an almond-shaped island, crystal clear waters, long stretch of white sand and a good spot to enjoy the splendid views of the sun.

Sigaboy Island in high noon

Originally, our plan was to go to the Island of Camiguin but the thought of many people flocking to the island for the Panaad made us drop the idea. Turned out it was a perfect decision as GovGen offered us tranquility and a breath-taking adventure I never imagined of doing — and achieving.

My travel buddy and officemate Leo Timogan of Tagum Exposure — himself a well-travelled blogger and award-winning photographer — said I broke the myth that I could not survive in any trekking or mountain-climbing activity. I really did. Like the lighthouse that stands tall, I am proud that I reached two summits in a single day, literally. But boy, that was really hard!

There’s a new world up there. The sight of fishing vessels docked in the middle of the sea reminded me of a scene in the Pirates of the Caribbean. The breath-taking climb (which I also did on a humid sharp noon in a hill referred to by locals as Kalbaryo) will surely be highlighted by the jaw-dropping scene up above that will, in an instant, make you feel that you are the king of the world.

Since it’s Holy Week, Barrio Tibanban was extremely boring. But I was told that to make your trip memorable, it’s really up to you to create exciting journeys out from nothing. There’s really no place and trip as boring or lame. It’s really up to you to discover or make the multitude of adventures and fun waiting for you. As what I experienced, it’s nice to be crazy sometimes.

It’s now thirty past one when I’m hitting this keyboard, and the ultimate sign that the world I knew before Holy Week was back is in front of me: the computer.

A blue sky with fat clouds, seemingly-manicured hills, vast farms, an open sea and a lonely road was my recollection when we left GovGen. But the most poignant line uttered on my two-day stay here was from the middle-aged man whom we hired to transport us to the island from the mainland the moment we saw him at the shore:

“Balik-balik.”

More than the pristine waters and its warm people enjoying the bounty of the sea, reasons will surely be plenty of why there’s a need to go back.

The Parola standing tall and proud in Sigaboy Island 

Sigaboy Island, Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental

Sunset in Tibanban

On our way to the Parola

Sigaboy Island as viewed from the Calvary Hills. Will write about this hill in a separate blog post.

From Davao City, one may take either public utility buses (PUB’s) or L300 vans to reach Governor Generoso. Public utility buses coming from Davao City travel in and out of the municipality daily at one (1) hour interval from 3:00 o’clock in the morning up to 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon. It takes more or less four (4) hours of travel to reach the municipality for PUBs with terminal at Ecoland, Davao City while two and a half (2 ½ ) hours for L300 vans with terminal at Gaisano Mall and Victoria Plaza, Bajada.