The light that keeps on giving

MANILA, Philippines – Outside his wooden beachside shack in Brgy. Canaoay, San Fernando City, La Union, 77-year-old fisherman Rodrigo Flores’ greying hair, wrinkled face, dark complexion and sculpted figure reveal a lifetime of fishing.

Born in 1939, Flores grew into his father’s trade and has been into fishing since first grade. Three of his six children also took after him and are now fishermen.

Every night, Flores would set out into the West Philippine Sea in his outrigger named Sea Master. His net would yield a catch of bisugo, dalagang bukid, danggit, balaki and he would spear octopus and squid.

“When we go out to sea, we reach as far as Bolinao in Pangasinan, and sometimes even as far north as the boundary with Taiwan,” Flores said in Filipino.

Life is hard at sea; one can tell that from Flores’ glassy eyes and nostalgic stare into the ocean. A fishing expedition would earn him P200 to P500 once expenses for gasoline, ice and food have been deducted. His wife, Rosario, would sell the fish in the public market.

Thrice in his life as a fisherman, he and his men got caught in bad weather in the middle of the sea at night.

“We only had our compass with us and the distant light from the lighthouse, which served as our guide going home,” he recalls.

That flicker of hope is the Poro Point Lighthouse, situated within the Wallace Air Station, a former US military base in Poro Point, San Fernando City. With the closure of the US base in 1992, the Poro Point Lighthouse has been part of the Poro Point Freeport Zone.

Even before Flores was born, the Poro Point Lighthouse has been guiding fishermen like him out in the sea at night. The original lighthouse was one of 17 luces locales or local lights built by the Spanish in 1885. It consisted of a 20-foot round cylindrical steel tourelle which was built in France and transported to the Philippines. A crumbling lightkeeper’s house, built during the American colonial period, stands beside it.

The original lighthouse no longer functions, but stands as a derelict reminder of Poro Point’s history. It was replaced in 1979 by a modern, concrete lighthouse some 20 meters from it. The modern lighthouse is taller at 76 feet and has a solar-powered lamp that flashes two white lights every five seconds. The light it emits can be seen by fishermen and ships as far as 10 nautical miles.

“Lighthouses serve as an alternative lifeline for maritime vessels in case their global positioning system or radar breaks down. These also serve as a guide for many of our fishermen who do not have navigational equipment,” said SN1 Ryan Ferolino, who was assigned to the BRP Pampanga, a Coast Guard vessel docked at Poro Point Harbor.

According to Ferolino, lighthouses can help avert maritime disasters and loss of life at sea in the event of navigational equipment failure in a ship. Such is the importance of lighthouses that the Coast Guard has made it a duty to maintain all 565 lighthouses in the country, including the Poro Point Lighthouse.

But in recent years, the Poro Point Lighthouse has been more than just a beacon of light to maritime vessels in the area. It has also become a celebrated symbol of hope and progress for the city of San Fernando after Poro Point Management Corporation, the government-owned and controlled corporation that manages the Poro Point Freeport Zone, began its annual celebration of Sillag Festival in 2012.

The lighthouse figures prominently in the festival’s logo as well as in the festival venue at the new Sillag Village, where a small replica of the lighthouse was erected. While the name of the festival was derived from the Ilocano word sellag meaning “moonbeam” or “illumination from the moon”, the lighthouse fits the description as well, as it provides a beacon of light to maritime vessels.

“The Poro Point Lighthouse serves as an inspiration for this festival because it represents the role of the Poro Point Freeport Zone as a beacon of development in Northern Luzon,” explained Poro Point Management Corp. chairman Ives Nisce.

He added that ever since the former US military base was transformed into a freeport zone, it has enjoyed spectacular growth as an ecotourism and agro-industrial hub for the region. It has also employed thousands of locals from the city in the various companies that operate within the zone. PPMC envisions the freeport zone to become a major tourism and retirement destination in the region in the coming years, as laid out in its masterplan.

The Sillag Festival started as a way to realize this vision. The three-day festival, which was held last Apr. 8 to 10, attracts visitors and merchants from all over La Union and surrounding provinces to witness the spectacle of lights and light-themed performances at the Sillag Village.

Along the village, a new Poro Point Baywalk has been inaugurated. With its scenic views of San Fernando Bay and the city, the baywalk is touted as an ideal hangout for locals and their families or friends.

The festival culminated with the release of more than a thousand hope lanterns – LED-lighted balloons carrying messages of hope from festival participants – and a magnificent fireworks display.

Indeed, while lighthouses seemed to have been rendered passé by modern technology, lighthouses can still keep on giving light and hope, not just to vessels at sea, but to humanity.