Tessa! Zipping all over the islands By Tessa Prieto-Valdes Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 04:52:00 05/11/2008
MANILA, Philippines - Of the 7,107 islands of the Philippines, my personal favorite is the cluster of pristine islets forming the Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea. No other marine park in the world can boast of the diversity of fishes and marine life there.
Today, I’m in the midst of a weeklong holiday among the corals and sharks of Tubbataha, on board the Ocean Hunter II, a luxurious, Palau-based, live-aboard dive boat that was outfitted in Cebu and is cruising here for the first time. My coolest aunt, Mary de Leon, was kind enough to invite me on the trip.
If there is one place that can convince me to go incommunicado for a week, ditching my Nokia and swapping my iMac for a Suunto dive computer, it is Tubbataha. This underwater nirvana is in contention to be one of the New 7 Wonders of the Nature, but it is currently ranked No. 8, so do a good deed and cast a vote for Tubbataha at www.new7wonders.com.
Getting here is so relaxing as I’ve been pin-balling around the country for the past week. My whirlwind week started off in a different paradise in Palawan, El Nido’s Lagen Island Resort.
El Nido is absolute heaven on earth. The breath-taking scenery, luxurious accommodations and first-rate service make the holiday experience so memorable. I was there, thanks to the Smart Infinity Loyalty Rewards Program, which offers an all-expenses-paid vacation for signing up or renewing.
From the ocean, I went to the mountains of Baguio. I was invited to be part of the show “QTV Hired,” a reality-based TV show about job hunting. And after just a few hours up north, I jetted south to Roxas City, to fulfill a donation our Assumption Batch ’81 made to the community of Balijuagan.
All these travels make for many stories to tell, so let me start with my trip to Baguio, which gave me the chance to sample the newly opened and very impressive Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).
It’s not yet fully open, but once it is, I can imagine what a relief it will be for Manileńos. Once again, Baguio is within weekend driving range.
Family biz
“QTV Hired” is the brainchild of GMA and the Hotel Elizabeth’s sales and marketing director, Jean Fernando. Fresh from her studies in the United States, Jean has joined the family biz. Their idea was to use the reality show to find the perfect general manager for the hotel.
I was invited to be the VIP hotel guest with a challenge for the applicants. “QTV Hired” airs today and next week on QTV, so do catch the show to see if I get to say those words made famous by Donald Trump on The Apprentice, “You’re fired!”
Hotel Elizabeth (tel. 074-619-0367 or 9128000 in Manila; visit www.hotelelizabeth.com.ph) is a Mediterranean-style boutique hotel in the heart of Baguio City. With 55 guest rooms, penthouse suites, in-house restaurants and a newly opened, Grecian-inspired Santorini Ballroom, the hotel is a great alternative resort destination.
Owners Jet and Beth Fernando have spent years investing in the property and now what they’ve created is a first-class experience for all Baguio holidaymakers.
From Baguio to Balijuagan is quite a trip; rewarding in a different sense of the word. The community is a town beside Roxas City on the island of Panay. When I was competing in “Celebrity Duets” last year, the nuns there wrote asking for a donation. They were some of the first people convinced that I would win the contest.
So my Assumption batchmates and I decided to fund a new water tank for the community. Previously, the villagers had to literally climb up the mountain to “fetch a pail of water.” My classmates and I went there to inaugurate their newly built tank and sample the sweet mineral water stored in it.
With an endless supply of clean water flowing from their taps, the villagers have now started an organic vegetable patch. We were so happy to note the community’s environmentally friendly gardening practices. They make use of earthworms and composting for their fertilizer needs. No wonder the greens were really robust and growing very quickly.
A little cash goes a long way in Balijuagan. Our donation also provided for the refurbishing of their bakery. We sent them plastic delivery crates, sealers, electric fans, screened aluminum doors.
The entire community depends on this bakery for their livelihood. With the stuff we sent, they now efficiently bake and pack their tasty breads, ensaymadas and raisin bread to sell in the next town. You know a community has meager resources when the raisin bread has no raisins because that is too expensive.
Homey resort
In Panay, we stayed at the Ortiz family-owned Casa Felisa (tel. 036-6216638 and 0920-9180696, resort manager Emee Corro), a homey resort right across the beach. The rooms are super clean and comfy and the family is planning a spa and fishing pond to add to the resort’s amenities soon.
My special thanks go to Tony and Cora Ortiz, who so graciously hosted us and gave us a special tour of Roxas City.
We stopped by the Cathedral and paid a courtesy call on Mayor Vic Bermejo to congratulate him for having probably the cleanest city in the Philippines. Nowhere else have I seen a river flowing through the city lined with fuchsia-and-white bougainvilleas!
That night, the Ortiz family feasted the Assumptionistas with the most succulent oysters and melt-in-your-mouth white marlin, cooked Japanese-style at their home. Now I know why Roxas City is known as the Seafood Capital of the Philippines!
The next morning, we made a quick stop at the City Jail to share the bread we bought in Balijuagan with the inmates.
On the way to the airport, we zipped by the market for crabs, prawns and more white marlin - the perfect pasalubong for our families.
All that seafood is, of course, the perfect segue back to those twin paradises I started this article about, Lagen and Tubbataha. But now I seem to have run out of space, so those tales will have to wait for next Sunday!
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