Philippine Travel Notes

Lakeside View of Marawi Ground Zero after the siege Let's start with that last picture  I posted in the previous blog entry . That was as we crossed this bridge to enter Lanao Del Sur. Seconds prior to that though, I already took a pic of the river, even if carelessly. I did that to remind me later, that that's Pantar Bridge over the Agus River in Saguiaran , Lanao Del Sur. This river was/is a vital component of the history/story of Marawi . As an only outlet, Agus River flows from Lanao Lake to Balo-i Lake , to Tinago Falls , to Maria Cristina Falls , until it reaches the Iligan Bay . The start-point of this river, is in fact the very same place that we are not being allowed to cross today, because of the announcement, that something exploded at a canal in the city, early this morning. Sus! I wished we could just float on that river all the way to Marawi so as to avoid the checkpoints hahaha! Since our driver saw me taking that photo above, he educated me that wh

Talking about the weird confusing location of Cotabato (City), people naturally also talk about ARMM. Why? Because said ‘region’ is part of the confusion that is Cotabato! Just an addition, in fact. And, as promised in the previous story, let’s talk about what I’ve learned about Cotabato and ARMM so far… Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Again, as said in a previous blog, its “IN Muslim Mindanao” not “OF Muslim Mindanao” as many I know would mis-describe it. You will agree that those two little words (in and of) matter a lot especially to the learned folks I asked about ARMM and Mindanao. One professor tells me that “in Muslim Mindanao” says there is an autonomous region amongst places where majority of residents are Muslims. On the other hand, she says that “of Muslim Mindanao” seems to construe that the autonomous region is the only Muslim-populated area in Mindanao – which is not. If you didn’t get that (I had a hard time), we can always say… “whadeveeer” hehe! But if Cotaba

Kuta–Wato, Kutang–Bato, ah, we already know that, right? It is when someone starts asking “WHERE” is Cotabato that things start to get muddled in terms of area references. More than a puzzle actually. Here’s what I know so far… and these could be changing now or will change a bit more later! There was once the Moro Province created in 1903 during the American occupation. It consisted of five districts - Cotabato, Davao, Lanao, Sulu, and Zamboanga. Simple, right? But we are talking Cotabato, so let’s leave all other districts aside… First there was the town named Cotabato. Then the district was named in its sake. When the Moro Province was chunked into provinces instead of districts, there became the province of Cotabato with the capital town also named Cotabato. Just like Tarlac, Tarlac, Iloilo, Iloilo or Cebu, Cebu. In 1959 the town became Cotabato City. Simple, wasn’t it? However, in 1966 the province was chunked into two when south Cotabato was created, that later was even als

So, Cotabato City visit came to an end and I had to get myself back to the airport for a noontime flight to Manila. Good that I was already staying at Estosan Hotel since they have a shuttle service. Actually, an airport limousine as many would call it! It’s an old “Mercedes”!. Vintage if you may. And I liked the spacious seats! But that is not my topic here. There is something that travelers have to watch out for, and watch their mouths for hehe. It happened to me, it may happen to you. Don’t do what I did if you are not that crazy stupid and stupid crazy like I was! I am serious… hehe, yes, really! Here’s the story, so you’ll know what to do and what NOT to do… Black Mercedes as Estosan Hotel’s Airport Limousine departed with, of course, just me beside the driver and my backpack regally seated at the spacious “backseat”. Whatever the vehicle, when I’m not home (Metro Manila), I take every effort to get me seated at front seat beside the driver, so I could see things around, so I