After a very fruitful and successful engagement with the top guys running the Balik Probinsya Program yesterday, I and the team from the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) took off from Manila at 2 am today for the 2-day land trip back to Mindanao.
The trip home via Bicol, Samar and Leyte will complete more than 3,000-kilometers of travel by land and sea from Mindanao to Metro Manila and back.
It is a tiresome trip, especially for a senior citizen like me, but the outcome of the meetings was more than enough to compensate for the long and rigorous travel.
While modern technology like ZOOM meetings, offer less tiresome and more convenient platform for exchange of ideas, nothing beats face-to-face engagement.
Seated in a table with the decision makers – Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, Exec. Sec. Salvador Medialdea, NHA General Manager Jun Escalada and DSWD Usec Aimee Neri – the meeting produced instant results.
In just three hours, everything was set and the Balik Probinsya in Mindanao is ready for launching.
Today, I had coffee in Tagkawayan, Quezon and lunch of Bulalo, Bopis and Bicol Express in Camalig, Albay.
In between, I had a short roadside chat with goat raising buddy and old friend Dr. Rufus Llorin in Naga city.
Dinner could be in Catbalogan and breakfast tomorrow in Surigao.
Tiresome? Yes but I love this job and the thought that I could be an instrument in touching the lives of poor Filipinos makes me float like a butterfly.
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