Category Archives: Industries

The Pineapples of Kananga (Leyte)

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The following day, Jandy and I woke up at 7 A.M..  Mr. Roy Perez, a medical representative of Astra Zeneca and an Ormoc resident,  picked us up at 9 A.M. and we traveled on board an open-sided AUV.  First item on our itinerary was a tour of Mr. Sabin Larrazabal’s 60-hectare pineapple plantation in Brgy. Toril in nearby Kananga town. 

Rows of pineapples

Kananga, as well as Ormoc City, is famous for its pineapples, its leading fruit product.  Not just any pineapple, but the distinct queen or formosa variety, acclaimed as the sweetest pineapple in the land and grown only here and the Bicol province of Camarines Norte. Ranging from 0.45 to 1.3 kilograms in weight, it has deep eyes and a yellow to deep yellow flesh color.  The plantation grows one crop in 15 months and our arrival was timely as some of the pineapples were being harvested.

Roy, Jandy and I trying some pineapples
Our driver chose about five pieces for us to sample. After returning to the caretaker’s house, one fruit was pared and divided for me and Roy.  It was indeed sweet and succulent and so crispy that even the core could be eaten.  According to Roy, canning these pineapples is not feasible as less juice can be derived from one fruit unlike the other variety.  It is best eaten in its natural state, without preservatives.  Fruits here are sold around Leyte and Samar as well as shipped to nearby Cebu.

HME Embroidery Store (Taal, Batangas)

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From the Leon Apacible Museum and Library, Jandy and I proceeded to the HME Embroidery Store, one of the town’s pioneers in the now dying art of fine needlework of hand-embroidered, semitransparent pina (made from pineapple fibers) cloth which is usually done by women in their homes and sundried around the market.    

HME Embroidery Store

The store is located within the Art Deco-style ancestral house (also called the “Pink House”) of Ramon and Jovita Estacio, built in 1918 with narra and molave shipped all the way from Mindoro.  We were shown around the second floor by Mrs. Ofelia Estacio, the wife of Honesto Estacio, the current owners, where we appreciated its antique furniture. I bought barong cloth for PhP600 at the ground floor store.

HME Embroidery Store: J.P. Rizal St., Brgy. Poblacion 13, Taal, Batangas

Arrival in Banaue (Ifugao)

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The 47-km. jeepney ride from Bontoc to Banaue, Ifugao province’s main tourism destination, was to take all of 2.5 hrs., the seemingly short distance made while climbing steep mountains via the dusty, narrow and bumpy Halsema Highway.  The discomfort was somehow alleviated by great views of some rice terraces that we passed.  By 4 PM, we arrived at the parking area for buses and jeepneys at the town’s Trade Center.   Banaue is the province’s transportation hub, being traversed by the one major highway leading south to Nueva Vizcaya and Manila and by a less-developed road going to Bontoc (Mountain Province), and from there, to Baguio City (Benguet).

Banaue town

This touristy area is the center of activity in the town and it has handicraft shops selling different kinds of traditional fabric like the woven bark cloth and dyed ikat cloth, wooden objets d’art  such as bowls, trays, oversized spoons and forks, antiques, entirely alien statues of American Indian chiefs and smiling, pot-bellied Chinese gods, and the traditional bul-ols (statues of rice gods).  Curio souvenirs include handwoven wall hangings, crocheted bedroom slippers and pfu-ong (traditional jewelry) representing good luck in hunting or prosperity of children.    At one end of it is the Municipal Hall and Post Office Sub-station.

Hiking along Bontoc Road (Sagada, Mountain Province)

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We spent the whole afternoon hiking along Bontoc Road. On both sides of the road is the 34-hectare Mission Compound.  It includes St. Theodore’s Hospital (established in 1926), the Rectory, the recently restored Doctor’s Residence, the Girl’s Dormitory (established in 1912) and residence  of American historian William Henry Scott. Across St. Theodore’s Hospital  is the DOT accredited and Episcopalian parish-operated St. Joseph’s Resthouse. Further out along Bontoc Road, on the left, is Sagada Weaving & Souvenir Shop.  Established  in 1978, it produces quality products hand-woven on backstrap looms and supervised by Mrs. Andrea Bondad and daughter Rhoda.  Finished products sold at reasonable prices include backpacks, shoulder bags, tapis (Igorot skirts), wallets and blankets.

Masferre Photographs

Further out along Bontoc Road, at the Bagaan Road Junction, is the Masferre Gallery.  Here, Mrs. Nena Masferre, wife of the late photographer Eduardo Masferre, welcomed us.  In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, through his pioneering skill and sensitivity as a photographer, Eduardo took photographs of the vanishing life and culture in the villages of Mountain Province. Mrs. Masferre showed us the black and white photographs taken by her husband and a few maps and artifacts.

Eduardo, a Spanish mestizo, was born on April 18, 1909, the second of eight children.  He was the son of Jaime P. Masferre, a retired Spanish soldier from Cataluna, who settled in Sagada at the turn of the century, became a coffee farmer, married an Kankanai woman (Mercedes Cunyap Langkew), joined the Episcopal Church and became a minister.  From 1914 to 1921, Eduardo first lived with his family in Spain where he began his education.  After completing his schooling in the Philippines, he became a missionary teacher like his father and then a missionary administrator.  In addition, he took up farming.

In the 1920s, he learned photography from U.S. missionaries.  Returning to photography in 1934, his artistic focus were the mountain people of the Cordilleras with whom he shares part of his heritage.  After World War II, he opened a photographic studio in Bontoc.  In 1951, he married Nena Ogues, a nurse from Kapangan.  The union produced six children.

His grainy, high contrast monochrome photos are displayed here and around the world.  His first exhibit was held in Manila in 1982.  After a second Manila exhibit the following year, his work traveled to Copenhagen (1984) and Tokyo (1986).  In 1988, his third Manila exhibit was mounted.  A book of his work, “E. Masferre: People of the Philippine Cordillera” was also produced.  Mobil Philippines funded the work, provided 1,500 copies to Philippine schools, museums and libraries, and funded the touring exhibit of his works to the cities of Baguio, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Bacolod.

In 1989, Masferre exhibited his works at Les Recontres International de la Photographie in Arles (France), the only Filipino to be accorded such an honor.  In 1990, again with Mobil support, the Smithsonian Institute of Washington D.C. purchased 120 of his impressive original photos and exhibited them for six months at the main rotunda of the American National Museum of Natural History.  They are now carefully archived in the same museum.  He died on June 24, 1995 at the age of 86.

Jandy with Ms. Nena Masferre

Plodding on, we reached a bend opposite the Rocky Valley Inn.  Here, a path lead down to the small Matangkib Burial Cave. However, it was closed due to the recent death of a hapless Irish tourist who slipped and broke his head.  Coffins here are carefully stacked. At  the lower end of the path, to the left of Matangkib burial cave, is the unmistakable mouth of the Latang Underground River.  We didn’t bring along a good flashlight and weren’t prepared for a 15-min./500-m. spelunking hike through  cold, knee-deep waters and a scramble over rocks.  It was late in the day and we made our way back to the inn.

Latang Underground River

The night was chilly and foggy.  Tourists from Manila were beginning to arrive, all looking for places to stay and most without any success.  Even St. Theodore’s hospital beds were rented out (barring any emergencies) for PhP45 per head.  Others camped out on the Mission grounds while others just slept in their vehicles.  Poor fellows.  Sagada has a reputation as a meeting place for travelers and I also made a number of friends during my stay.  Many were guests staying at the inn while the others I met were straying in the town’s  different coffee shops.

The Trappist Abbey (Jordan, Guimaras)

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Trappist Monastery chapel

After lunch at the resort, we all availed of an afternoon sightseeing tour by jeepney.  Our first stop (2 PM) was the Trappist Abbey.  It was founded in 1972 and is the first and only one of its kind in the country and in the Orient.  The Trappist (or Cisterians of the Most Strict Observance) monks, who called Guimaras the “Island of a Happy Man,” follow the rules of St. Benedict and all adhere to a vow of silence. They take care of the Aeta community through the Contemplative Outreach Program, grow Philippine lemon (kalamansi) and pioneer fruit processing in the province.   

The Gift Shop

We dropped by the monastery’s Gift Shop where religious items (crucifixes, prayer books, rosaries, etc.) and excellent processed food products such  as jam, chutney, prunes, wines, marmalade, candies, ginger tea, cookies, piyaya and jelly (all made from mango, cashew, kamias, duhat, kalamansi and guava) are sold.  Grace bought a small crucifix.  We also bought some snacks and soft drinks.  Grace, Jandy, Cheska and I also visited its small but quaint chapel.  At the side of the walkway leading to the chapel are an array of 3 small bells.

An array of small bells

Trappist Abbey: Brgy.  San Miguel, Jordan, Guimaras. Fax: (033) 581-3468.