South Cotabato is beautiful!

Before, my image of South Cotabato was this guerrilla warfare zone; brown, dusty, scary. I was surprised to find that it is actually quite beautiful. More than half the population is Ilonggo (my roots). There is a sweetness and genuine hospitality that prevails wherever I go. In fact, I personally find Manila much more dangerous than South Cotabato.

Driving from General Santos to South Cotabato, I was impressed by the road! I was told it was built by an American contractor. Wide and well built, I found it better than any of the highways in Manila. The air is crisp and clean. I saw hectares and hectares of agricultural land. In fact I was told South Cotabato is the rice granary of the south. I loved the greenery that outlined the roads. South Cotabato is beautiful. And I had barely scratched the surface.

I first went to Koronadal, the capital. My goodness, their city hall is beautiful, shiny and clean. The mayor was not there but I got to talk to the employees. Then I went to Surallah — also clean and beautiful. Surallah is made unique by the gorgeous sculpture done by Kublai Ponce Millan that decorates the town center. The man is amazing! Huge works of art, colorful and very Filipino. I credit Mayor Romulo “Mulong” Solivio who has an inclination towards the arts. He is also a Galing Pook awardee for organic agriculture. Outside the City Hall in the evening there were rows of eateries offering delicious sweet corn, chicken, eel and various other foods. It reminded me of Bangkok street food except the place is cleaner. One of his executives assured me that all the vendors follow a strict code of hygiene. I talked to one of the women and she said she earns about P10,000 a month and that’s all she does! That’s really good, especially since it’s just the local market.

We ate in different restaurants, and at every stop I marveled, “Is this South Cotabato?” While I was at meetings, I brought a camera crew to take shots and they came back to me and said, “Ma’am, it’s just like Palawan.” They showed me footage of beautiful waterfalls. My biggest impression is that the place is peaceful and the people are so nice.

I stayed in the resort of Mayor Mulong. His family has owned the resort for the past 15 years. It was dark when I went there so I couldn’t get a good view, but it’s in Lake Sebu. I was very impressed by the hotel itself. The rates are so reasonable. And they had 50 different tilapia menus! There was a Tiboli group that entertained. The lead performer even spoke English very well.

When I met the provincial governor, he told me, “Gina, you know the mangosteen here is P40 a kilo?” Wow, in Manila it is P250 a kilo! And I love mangosteen! Papaya is P2 per piece.  He fed me really sweet lanzones. Because of my elation, the mayor’s wife gave me a bag of very sweet mangosteen which my staff and I demolished in the car in a matter of minutes.

The guide tells that there was one Japanese guest who came to South Cotabato and said, “Give me Mindanao and I will feed the world.” Wow! And another man said South Cotabato can feed the Philippines! Given Department of Agriculture Secretary Procy Alcala’s determination for food self-sufficiency, I can understand his discomfort with the digging of any toxic holes in this area.

It’s not just digging of holes but also aerial spraying of big plantations, which is not good for the people’s health and adversely affects their rivers.

The high point of my trip was when I boarded Manny Pacquiao’s chopper to see Tampakan. I was accompanied by the parish priest of the area. Going there I saw vast agricultural lands: rice, corn, mangoes, bananas, palm nut, pineapple. It’s interesting how different the crops look from the air. The agricultural land seemed to spread 360 degrees around me. Later I was shown the diagram of their groundwater network. It’s everywhere. That’s why South Cotabato is so fertile because there is water everywhere!  Almost the whole of South Cotabato is irrigated; that is why in terms of food security, it must be kept safe. I was later told that South Cotabato is the fourth largest food producer in the Philippines — and during typhoon season it becomes number one because there are no typhoons here. Wow, that seems like paradise!

South Cotabato is mountainous, and mostly agricultural land. When I approached the mountains I saw streams of water.  Then the priest pointed to their Sacred Mountains. He says the moss here is so deep and special that if one walks in it, one’s feet sink in deeply. However, as one walks forward, the moss springs back again. Sounds like a scene from Avatar.

The water catchment area covers four provinces: Sultan Kudarat, Saranggani, South Cotabato and Davao del Sur. In fact, last year the representatives of 31,000 farmers in Davao del Sur came to my office, very much agitated. They were worried because they feared their agriculture would be put at risk. So now the people of South Cotabato must come forward and protect their future.

There is hope. I met really good local government officials. The place is beautiful and peaceful. Lake Sebu has the highest zipline ride in Asia. They have great fruits, vegetables and really tasty fish. The place is great for ecotourism.

In my years of doing development work, this is my experience. Difficulties are there to make us strong. The Filipino is sweet by nature. We can keep that sweetness, but we also need to wake up as a people and say in no uncertain terms that our environment, which is a gift from God, must be protected.

Call 410-9670 or e-mail anaterrese_junio@abs-cbn.com to learn how.

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I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.