Biyaheng Dagat SULU ISLANDS: PARADISE IN THE SEA OF CONFLIC

By Manny Piñol

Yesterday, I and four other workers of the Department of Agriculture (DA) flew to Jolo, Sulu on an important assignment given by no less than President Rody Dtuerte himself.

It was actually on Thursday night last week, when I received the instructions from the President to go to Jolo and find out what could be done to lift the province up from its poverty level which in the last Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) survey was 61%.

I knew the risks and the dangers of the trip and just like everybody else, there was a gnawing anxiety deep inside me on what would happen to us in Jolo, a land made notorious by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

But like a good soldier, I had to go where the President wanted me to go to serve the people.

Leaving Manila at 4 a.m., we took two old reliable Huey helicopters from the Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City for a one and a half hour flight to Jolo.

Flying over the Sulu Seas, however, relieved me of whatever misgivings I had about the security of the trip.

From above flying at 2,000 meters above the water, I saw the beauty of islands between Basilan and Sulu which made me thank God and the President for sending me on this trip.

Dotting the seas from the tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula to Sulu mainland were small and beautiful islands which would make Boracay look like a second class beach resort.

In one island belonging to Panamao town, I saw a lake in the middle of the island separated from the blue waters of the sea only by a white sand bar.

From above I only saw about three or four houses in the island.

I wondered how peaceful life would be in that island if only groups like the Abu Sayyaf do not kidnap and behead people.

All the other islands were surrounded with white sand beaches and blue waters and the water was so clear that I thought I saw some big fish begging to be caught and just dying of boredom.

These beautiful islands could be the adventurers’ dreamed paradise.

But how do you enjoy this beauty when it is located in the sea of conflict?

This was what President Duterte wanted to be do – find a solution to bring peace to these beautiful islands so that not only would the people of Sulu live in tranquility but people who love nature would be able to see the beauty of God’s creation.

“We cannot just go on running after the Abu Sayyaf. We have to change the lives of the people for us to have true and lasting peace,” President Duterte said.

Tomorrow, I will submit my report to President Duterte on what I saw in Sulu and what I and the people I talked with agreed should be done to bring about the peace and prosperity that people of the islands have been dreaming of.

(Photos from my Samsung Edge while lying over Sulu Sea en route to Jolo for the most daring and maybe dangerous Biyaheng Bukid

with Dir Roy Abaya, HEA Bong Piñol, U Manalo, Fletch Pido and Gian Carlo Luage on board two Huey choppers of the Philippine Air Force.)