Mactan and Cebu Islands
Thursday, March 17
Our 20 minute flights to Cebu, as compared to the 3 ½ hour boat trip, made us appreciate Philippine Airlines. The Cebu airport is on the island of Mactan connected by a bridge to Cebu City. The road to the city has been planted with palms and flowering shrubs as one of First Lady Imelda Marco’s beautification projects.
This time we toured Mactan Island, visiting the Magellan-LapuLapu monument near where Magellan was killed by Lapu Lapu. The plaque credits LapuLapu with being the first Filipino to repel European invaders. Who the heroes were depends on your point of view.
Along the streets of Lapu City were many open air guitar “factories,”a cottage industry of this area. With little mechanical aid except a saw, the guitars and ukuleles were made by the men seated on stools. They played an impromptu concert in the showrooms, where expensive guitars, mandolins, and ukuleles were displayed along with ones made of coconuts.
Mindanao Island
As we boarded the plane for Brisling, Surigao del Sur, Mindanao, one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen was in the line ahead of me. After the nearly two hour flight when we landed in Bislig, I saw her again as her family greeted her. Her handsome husband also greeted Alicia and Bill Busser and we were introduced to them–the Mendezona family. Mr. Luis Mendezona is vice-president in charge of forest operations for the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines and took a personal interest in our visit. He invited us to his home that evening.
I learned from him that Bislig is an ancient port, having been used as a supply port during the two hundred-year galleon trade between Manila and Spain via Acapulco, Mexico. But its recent boom-town appearance had come from the PICOP lumber and pulp operations. They employee 11,000 of the 80,000 people living here.
Our destination later in the afternoon was the lake where we saw dozens of glossy starlings and swallows swooped over the lake. In the marshy area along the road we had a good look at a bittern. As we were driving back toward Bislig we spotted fruit bats flying into the trees sheltering some huts. The weight of the bats bent the branches of the huge trees.