A mother's work is never done

PROVIDENCE IN that old proverb becomes most manifest in Vice Gov. Lilia “Nanay” Pineda with her signature motherhood in governance praxis. Her caring for, indeed nurturing, her Kapampangan constituency untiring, unceasing. 

Her extraordinarily intense service delivery systems – all-too-rare by governmental standards – no more than her routine, energizing rather than enervating. As instanced by the week just past.

Distributing DSWD cash payouts and the Capitol’s counterpart financial assistance to 1,589 marginalized residents of the City of San Fernando.

Early Christmas gift-giving – and commitment of continuing healthcare – to 1,049 cancer patients from the 2nd District of Pampanga. 

Presiding over the briefing on “Empowering Lupon Members, Bantay Bayan and Purok Leaders for Safe and Secured Communities” attended by the security force multipliers from Mexico, San Luis, and Candaba, with the attendant provision of financial and food assistance. 

Monday at the Capitol attending to concerns of hundreds of cabalens, providing P1.4 million for those in dire financial needs. 

Still at the Capitol, conferring with representatives of Korea International Cooperation Agreement Agency for the digitalization of the Philippines’ first Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Service located in Sto. Tomas for enhanced health services.

Priceless is the sheer joy on the faces of one centenarian and five others aged 95 and above, in their engagement with Nanay during the distribution of one-time incentive of P100,000 and certificates of recognition and gratitude from the Capitol. 

Financial subsidy to 1,000 upland farmers from Arayat to increase productivity.

In Lubao, A total of 1,237 purok chairmen and PWDs receiving P3,000 each as DSWD payout with counterpart cash and food assistance from the Capitol. 

Hands-on, as the caring mother that she is, Nanay was present in all the activities not only to hand out assistance but to immerse herself in the concerns, great or small, of her constituents – at times a counsellor for personal problems, even a shoulder to lean on.   

Indeed, a woman’s work is never done. For a mother’s love never stops. There, Providence is. There Nanay is. Photos: Pampanga PIO 

'Training' in Tokyo

NEWFANGLED VERBING there for the railway conveyance. Wordsmithing gone awry, yet – to me – a most fitting vignette of the axis of mobility in the Japanese capital, arguably in all the metropolitan centers of the nation.    

Training – as in traveling by train – makes an incredibly total experience in Tokyo, running the gamut from exhaustion to exhilaration.

The sheer expanse of Shinjuku Station, the world’s busiest train station in terms of passenger volume: some 3.5 million commuters daily, is a daunting challenge to one’s sense of space, patience, and yes, athleticism. What with the ever-flowing never-ebbing waves upon waves of salarymen, foreign and local tourists, ordinary commuters onrushing to multi-level platforms of its dozen train lines; ending up during rush hours verily like packed sardines. A dire need of orienteering skills too, the station being veritably a labyrinth of shopping arcades, cafes and restaurants, even haberdasheries, and whatnots.     

                                                    Commuter rush at Shinjuku Station

There is all truth to that vlog I chanced upon once propounding: How to master navigating Shinjuku Station. And the vlogger himself retorting: “You can’t!”

He is right. The voluminous flow of people passing through it, its complexity further compounded by the seemingly never-ending renovations and new constructions are sure to confound even the station habitues.   

Less packed with commuters than Shinjuku, Tokyo Station is busier, in fact, the busiest in all of Japan, in number of scheduled trains: 4,000 arriving and departing daily, including the Shinkansen, making the station the gateway to the capital.

Tokyo Station evokes a sense of magnificence and grandeur with its red-brick façade and iconic domes blending Western architecture and Japanese aesthetics. Behold the station’s splendor enhanced at various times of the day with its backdrop of glass and concrete skyscrapers alternately shimmering, gleaming, glowing from the sun’s rays.  

For in-city subway operations, there’s Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway which we alternately took to different destinations, almost always the trains SRO.

Koenji for our thrift-shopping – now a must-do activity in every Japan trip.

Harajuku for immersion in kawaii culture, a taste of Japanese crepes – Marion is the best, for shoes, and that new wonder that is Harakado or the Tokyu Plaza Harajuku, a majestic edifice of glass, steel and cement seemingly jaggedly cut on top to reveal a tropical forest. 

Roppongi Hills for the fantastic Christmas illumination along the stretch of Keyakizaka Street with Tokyo Tower at the endpoint. 

Shibuya Scramble, enough to pen a sophomoric haiku: 

nth time crossing – 

still the thrill, that chill

hachiko waiting. 

 

The hustle and bustle of the Metro Tokyo stations quiet down to the relaxed rural atmosphere of the suburban stations on weekdays. Beware though, crowded tourist traps they too become on weekends. 

The Hakone Tozan Railway has the steepest mountain climb in Japan. Scaling the sharp inclines requires zigzagging climb with what they call the “switchback” at three locations with the driver and conductor switching places. Arriving at Gora station, take the cable car to Souzan station then transfer to the ropeway to Owakudani, where you can observe volcanic activity in its sulfur vents and hot springs, whence the delicacy kuro tamago (black eggs) are boiled. 

Descend Owakudani via ropeway anew to Togendai by Lake Ashi. Cruise the placid lake by pirate ship. Disembark at Moto-Hakone, go on a contemplative walk then a steep climb to Hakone Jinja Shrine amid a dense forest. Descend to the Torii of Peace on the very bank of the lake to cap a deep, if brief, sense of mindfulness. 

The day’s extraordinary riding experience on trains, cable car, ropeway, and ship ends with a bus ride to Hakone-Yumoto Station.  

Two hours out of Shinjuku Station is Tubo-Nikko via the JR Limited Express. Dispensed with the bus ride and walked for 8.2 kilometers to the vermillion Shinkyo Bridge by the entrance to the Nikko World Heritage Park where autumn colors are in full glory. The park is home to shrines and temples accessible through stone steps that seemingly get steeper at each succeeding level. Alas, it was too much for our – the wife’s and mine – septuagenarian knees, stopping less than halfway the 207 steps to Toshogu Shrine, the burial place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of his eponymous shogunate. 

Then, there’s Kawagoe, about an hour by the Seibu Line from Shinjuku. Dubbed Little Edo, Kawagoe is walk back in time to the old capital with its well-preserved clay warehouses and merchant homes. The three-storey wood Toki-no-kane (time bell tower) that rings four times daily has become the symbol of the city itself. Taking its niche as Kawagoe’s very own is the Starbucks in an old warehouse a few meters from the bell tower. Brown for the usual green, the branding is inscribed in wood at the main entrance framed by a noren (the slit curtain usually found at the entrance of Japanese restaurants) printed with the mermaid logo in brown too. A pocket garden on the side and a larger one at the back perfect the Japanese makeover of this Starbucks. 

Hakone. Nikko. Kawagoe. It is in these out-of-Tokyo weekday sojourns when there are more seats than passengers, that the journey – training, in this wise – truly becomes as fulfilling as the destinations. 

Train on.  

Distinctively, Bohol

CHOCOLATE HILLS. Loboc River cruises. Tarsiers. Churches. Beaches. Distinctively, Bohol. Then there is Panglao Island, and more.

Now but an hour-and-ten-minute hop from the Clark International Airport – thanks to Cebu Pacific operating daily flights to Tagbilaran starting Oct. 21 – we responded to Bohol’s beckoning, with Panglao for the picking. And here’s what we got, to our hearts’ content, and our guts’ delight.

Oceanica Resort

Betwixt turquoise sea and forest green, coffee-cream sand for a kilometer stretching – Bohol’s ultimate beach resort dazzling.

Amid a profusion of foliage – leafy native botong and talisay, towering mahogany and coconut, swaying bamboo – thatch-roofed villas all looking out to sea. There’s spa al fresco, beach front also. Two swimming pools. Lounge chairs, swings, and hammocks all too plentiful.

Gourmet’s delight – a seafood restaurant that serves only the freshest. (It is the binakol na manok though that shattered my Kapampangan culinary conceit to smithereens.) Cocktails in hand at the pool bar to watch the sunset. Ah, la vida Oceanica!    

 
North Zen Villas    

The serenity of exclusivity in a nature preserve transformed into a haven of wellness – what the marketing and PR collaterals avouch, our stay in this 4-Star resort of 21 rooms and villas affirmed. Rejuvenation in the soothing massages and signature treatments. 

That inner peace at every step on that bamboo boardwalk through a lush emerald forest of mangroves opening to the Nest Bar jutting out to sea for a spectacular view of the sunset. Om Ah Hum…

South Farm 

It can’t get any more rustic than this nine-hectare organic land property “promoting rural, handmade, handcrafted, hand-built tourist destination.” Comprising three villages – Farmers, Fishermen, Artisans – the farm was birthed during the pandemic restrictions when its owners, instead of letting go of their employees in Oceanica Resort and North Zen Villas, decided to keep and engage them in the development of the farm – clearing the area, planting crops, raising animals for food, and craftsmanship including carpentry works.

Hence, the farm has been supplying its sister companies with its freshest produce and has come into its own as a tourist destination where visitors can plant and fish, and join workshops in making pizza and coco candy, and pottery painting.

 

Amarela

The color yellow of its buildings may have given this boutique resort its name – the Portuguese for the more familiar Spanish “amarillo.” Nestled on a sunny slope overlooking the Bohol Sea, sited with a private white sand beach, and blooming bougainvillea of myriad colors – a Mediterranean vibe permeates the place. Which, may be the reason for its being a favorite among European tourists. Aye, there’s a pétanque court to drive that point.

Old World values too are all too visible in the repurposed old hardwood – from old heavy doors, intricate lattices, and balusters to furniture and furnishings – antiques and art all around the place and some more, including old nicho altars, on prominent display at the small art gallery.

Owned by locals, Amarela aims to promote and preserve Bohol’s innate and unique natural beauty, art and culture, and its people’s native warmth and hospitality. 

 
Hinagdanan Cave

A fair warning. Accessed through a veritable hole the XXL can barely fit in, uneven slippery steps descending to a cavern with a lagoon the size of a half-Olympic pool, sunlight filtering through holes in the ceiling of solidified stalactites which with the stalagmites come off like the teeth of a giant dragon of myth – this attraction in the Dauis town is not for the claustrophobic, or the asthmatic with the air thereat hot and thick. But there lies its thrill too. Bathing in the cold waters is invigorating.

 

Bohol Farms

The main attractions of the place gone with the pandemic, “Bee” has to be excised from its nameplate as a matter of course. So, we were told. A beehive of activity the place has remained though, if not more so. An all-organic hub from farming – vegetables and herbs, to ice cream making – the malunggay and dragon fruit flavors are marvelous, to baking artisanal bread. Crafts use organic materials too – raffia weaving, lantern making. There’s even a recycled art corner featuring resident artist Pedro Angco who has earned his fame in turning flotsam and jetsam into works of art.

The organic theme goes to the restaurant too – the food served coming from the farm and the sea at its backyard. Cool, cool sea breeze while you dine, it can’t get any fresher than this.

Visita Iglesia

EDIFICES of Faith primarily, cultural treasures have become the heritage Catholic churches. Hence, a visit there makes as much pilgrimage as a tour. So, it is at the Church of St. Augustine in Panglao, and the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Dauis, both of which are declared as Important Cultural Property by the National Museum of the Philippines.

Murals dominate the ceiling of the Panglao church, the most prominent of which is that of the Holy Trinity surrounded by angels at the hexagonal dome above the altar. The retablo holds the church patron, St. Augustine, at the topmost niche, below it is St. Joseph at the lower left, the Sto, Nino in the middle, and the Blessed Virgin Mary at the right. Both arms of the transept also hold retablos with other saints in their niches.

To the rear of the church, near the seashore, stands a five-storey octagonal bell tower reputed to be the tallest of its kind in the Philippines.

In front of the church stands a tall image of St. Augustine and a few meters to its right the ruins of an older church that still bears “1850” in an escudo de piedra.

Dauis Church, which has also been declared as National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Commission, is a mix of neo-Gothic and neo-Classical architecture. There is likewise a predominance of ceiling murals, with Moses and the stone tablets, the Last Supper, and the Agony in the Garden, framing that of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary between choir of angels above the altar made resplendent by the coral stone wall.

Interesting for advocates of the Tridentine Mass to note that both churches have maintained the comulgatorio or the communion rail that has been removed from many churches after Vatican II.