By Manny Piñol
The quick visit to the landlocked province of Apayao, listed as one of the poorest in the country, did not give me much opportunity to venture outside of the town of Luna.
Basing on what I was able to see, however, I am convinced there is so much in this little paradise to explore.
Shortly before the dialogue with the local leaders ended, young Apayao Gov. Elias Bulut, Jr., son and namesake of the former Governor who passed away December 2015, gave me a memento which he said was picked up from one of the rivers of the province flowing from the over 260,000-hectares of virgin forests.
“It’s a simple token of our appreciation for your visit,” Gov. Bulut told me.
It was an 18-karat gold nugget which he said could be found in the rivers of the province by those who are lucky and blessed by the gods.
The province, however, has not openly allowed mining although I would assume that there are gold panners operating in the rivers of the province.
(Honestly, I don’t know the rules governing officials like me receiving gifts from fellow officials but just to be safe, I will not own the gold nugget. Instead, I will pass it on to my grandson, who will be turning 2-years-old today. So, effectively, it is a gift given by Gov. Bulut to a 2-year-old child.)
But it was not the gold nugget that made me very interested about the province. Rather it was the tale of Apayao’s bounties which made me conclude that so much opportunities have been lost over the years of government’s neglect of this idyllic paradise of forests and rivers teeming with fish.
Gov. Bulut told me that Apayao also has a considerable population of the Philippine Eagle, an endangered specie which has been very much identified with Davao, Cotabato and Bukidnon areas.
In many towns of the provinces, there are waterfalls, caves and small lakes which could be very important components in Apayao’s vision of turning the place into an agro-tourism destination.
Apayao, one of the six provinces belonging to the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), is the home of the Isnag Tribe, one of the many mountain tribes who for centuries now have practiced indigenous farming methods especially in the famed rice terraces.
Indigenous upland rice is also being grown organically in the mountain areas of the province.
Of the six CAR provinces, it is Apayao which is rice self-sufficient because of its many rivers and creeks which flow to the wide open fields in the lowlands where most of the Ilocano inhabitants are involved in modern rice farming.
What captured my imagination was actually the potentials of Apayao to produce a high-value product – the Black Eel – which Gov. Bulut said is found aplenty in the big rivers of the province.
The province’s rivers also have their share of the highly-priced “Ludong,” a fish which spawns in the mouths of the Apayao River which flows out to the ocean in Cagayan Valley.
Apayao River flow about five kilometers further from the boundary with Cagayan Valley Province where freshwater meets seawater. Both the Black Eel and Ludong spawn the the brackish water but swim upstream and stay there for the rest of the year.
One of the seven towns of the province, Conner, is now gaining the reputation as the fruit basket of the north as farmers have successfully grown fruit trees which were known to thrive only in Mindanao – Rambutan, Durian, Lanzones and even Mangosteen.
The only problem that stands in the way of Apayao’s development as an Agro-Tourism destination is its isolation.
To reach Apayao from Manila by land, one would have to be prepared for a 15 to 16-hour torturous drive by car.
The other options would be to fly to Laoag City and take a 4-hour land trip to the province or fly to Tuguegarao from Manila which is about 3 hours away from Apayao.
At the end of the consultation, I convinced the local officials of Apayao, including Congresswoman Eleanor Bulut-Begtang, to work for the establishment of a small airport not only to facilitate the travel of tourists to the province but to allow the shipment of its high-value crops, especially Black Eel and Ludong, to the market.
With the mere mention of an airport, the faces of the local officials lighted up. It was as if they saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
I promised Apayao officials that I would endorse the construction of the airport to Secretary Art Tugade of the Dept. of Transportation, Sec. Mark Villa of the Dept. of Public Works and Highways for the construction of the access roads, Sec. Wanda Tulfo-Teo for the tourism facilities and even involve Sec. Gina Lopez of the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources.
The long sleep is over for this paradise in the Cordillera.
Now the Isnags and the Ilocanos of Apayao will be waking up to a bright new day in their lives.
(Photos of the natural beauty of Apayao provided by the Provincial Tourism Office. Other photos downloaded from Google.)
More Stories
Breeding Season Starts!
Practical Tips On Cattle Feeding!
Bamboo Goat House Model Now Ready For Occupancy!