Shortly before COVID-19 was declared a National Emergency and lockdowns were enforced, I travelled to the farthest town of the Philippines in the South, the Turtle Islands, to discover how Filipinos there live and whether they feel cared for by government at all.
We broke into two teams. The MinDA Beauty and Bounty Team composed of three regular staff and Job Order photographers, videographers and drone operators took the Philippine Coast Guard vessel from Zamboanga City reaching Taganak Island after 15 hours.
I and two other staff members flew from Manila to Sandakan and then took a 45-minute rough ride on a speedboat powered by two 300-HP outboard engines to Taganak.
Taganak is the main island of the six-island municipality known all over the world as one of the 11 breeding areas of the endangered Green Sea Turtles.
The trip to Taganak was a jolting experience especially when I learned that the trip to Zamboanga City where the community buys most of its supplies is only once a month.
The people could cross the narrow strait between Taganak and Sandakan in less than one hour in a speedboat but 3 to 4 hours to reach the provincial capital of Tawitawi, Bongao.
There is no communications facility and the other way they could communicate with the outside world is to go a vantage area and catch the faint signal of Sabah’s cellular companies.
There is no main source of electric power and almost every house has a small generator used only at night for lighting.
Young kids do not even know what Facebook, Twitter or Google are.
People are not bothered though. In fact, they proudly proclaim that in their little paradise, there is very little difference between the rich and the poor.
“Dito, walang mahirap at walang mayaman kasi maski may pera ka di ka naman makabili ng kotse o makapag-shopping,” said Jimmy Glongah, the town’s municipal register of deeds.
I spent the night in the uninhabited island of Baguan to catch a glimpse of the Green Sea Turtle and left the following day with so many lessons in life.
One, we have to take care of the environment and preserve its beauty for the next generation. Abandoning this responsibility would be a crime to humanity.
Two, people could be happy with the simplest things in life.
I have fallen in love with the Turtle Islands and its people and I promised to come back in May for the installation of a satellite communications facility which would allow people of the islands to communicate with the outside world.
Under this administration, there will be no Filipinos who will not feel the care and attention of government. That is a commitment made by President Rody Duterte which I will fulfill as his point person for Mindanao.
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