IN July 1977 Doña Juliana de la Rama, her husband Don Julio Gonzaga and their house help were brutally murdered, as their home was robbed by three assailants who took with them a P100 wristwatch and a P60 transistor radio.
In October 1986 highly popular celebrity and television host Elvira Manahan was brutally murdered using a dumbbell after writing a check for an undisclosed amount to a lone assailant, who also happened to be a family friend. Along the way, Manahan’s house help and cook were also murdered.
The two incidents have a couple of things in common. They both happened inside the luxurious and exclusive Forbes Park in Makati City. Another thing they have in common is that both Doña Juliana and Elvira came from the same province—Negros Occidental.
A few days ago, I was part of the Department of Tourism familiarization tour of Negros Occidental, and the
first thing that hit me was the enormous number of prominent families that came from the province.
It was literally a list of who’s who in the Philippines. It seems that every alta sociedad in the country can trace his or her roots in the province.
Check out these family names, and tell me if you are not getting wide eyed in amazement. Aside from the Gonzagas and the Manahans, the Alunans, Aranetas, Lacsons, Ledesmas, Lopezes, Montinolas, Montelibanos, Villanuevas and the Yulos are just some of the families that can trace their roots in the province.
Oh, and throw in the Arroyos, as in Mike Arroyo, Fritz Ynfante, Maurice Arcache, Jose Marie Chan, Rio Diaz and even Fernando Poe Jr.’s wife Susan Roces of the Sonora clan for good measure.
Yup, welcome to Negros Occidental, a province, which is just 375 kilometers in length but filled with hacienderos who own at least 50 hectares of land.
Man, I cannot even imagine, let alone visualize, how a 50-hectare property would look like. The one thing that comes to mind is probably a father on top of a mountain telling his son that everything as far as his eyes can see is their family’s property.
But if you are thinking along certain stereotype movies, where the hacienderos take advantage of their tenants by working them 24 hours daily while humiliating them and spitting in their faces at every instance, you are sadly mistaken.
From what I was told, in Negros Occidental, the hacienderos are beloved by their people, and all for the right reasons. It is not about kissing the butts of their bosses, like what a lot of those working in offices seem to do these days.
Here is the thing with hacienderos. Aside from providing their workers with salaries, they also pay for the education of the children of their workers and provide housing for free.
It even goes beyond that, as it is not just their tenants who benefit from the hacienderos, especially during the peak season, for sugarcane farming.
You see, I learned from the familiarization trip that from October to May, there is a good chance that hacienderos would look for additional help in the farm. These are people whom they call as the pangayaws and soccoros. If that is not enough, they would look for sacadas, or migrant workers.
And during the dead season, from June to September, which they call as tiempos muertos, the hacienderos provide their tenants with alternative work for them to continue earning a decent living.
It is a situation that allowed the tenants to raise families decently, even for those who have four children.
But, apparently, the goodwill coming from hacienderos does not end there. On the second day of our familiarization tour, we went to Dajugan Island. It is a place where the ecosystem is being conserved and nurtured by a team of dedicated environmentalists.
What initially stood out for me was the fact that Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc. (PRRCFI) President Gerry Ledesma led a group, which included the World Land Trust, in the purchase of the island. They were also probably the first group to take an environmental loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines.
If you look at the list of names I listed up there, the Ledesmas are one of the prominent clans in the province.
Anyway, during the stay on Dajugan Island, PRRCFI Executive Director Dave Albao said the 43-hectare island, which only sources its electricity from a few solar panels that can only power a very limited number of household items, will appeal to those who love nature.
Albao added that Danjugan Island, which also does not have Wi-Fi connectivity or any television or radio sets and only has very limited mobile-network signal in just one part of the island, is not after crowds or droves of tourists.
In his presentation, Albao said their priority is conservation, and not the convenience and entertainment of guests.
He then added that all tourism activities they offer are designed for guests to better understand and value the country’s ecosystem and wildlife, with the hope that they will carry with them everything they learned from their stay.
Located 3 kilometers from the shore of Bulata in Cauayan, the island is sanctuary to 572 fish species, 244 hard-coral species and 74 bird species, including one beach thick knee that somehow found its way to the island.
The island has seven viable ecosystems, including a beach forest, mangroves, lagoons, bat caves, coral reefs, seagrass beds and the open sea, which they teach to all of their guests.
And, trust me, it is so much fun on the island, despite its serious approach to conservation. Over there, guests can do snorkeling, trekking, bird watching and kayaking.
And the food, which they largely source from what is available on the island, is sumptuous and healthy. If you are looking to get your fill of burgers and pizzas, Danjugan Island is not the place for you.
Here is the thing for me. Imagine yourself chilling on the island with a good book in hand while bathing in the sunrise and watching the sun set in the afternoon. That is paradise, guys.
I was nodding my head when Albao said that we have a birthright to see the sunrise while also seeing green and blue. Unfortunately, these days we all wake up to alarm clocks and with the morning welcoming us up to constant gridlocks on the road and having our day filled with stress at work.
On the island, their message to visitors is to take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints, and kill nothing but time. That is so perfect.
Oh, and before I forget, Albao told me they are looking for an island manager. Give me a heads-up if you are interested, and I will let him know of your interest. Edison!
Image credits: Rodel Alzona