Work Type: Trella Romine Diaries

Thursday March 24th 1977
Woke up in middle of night and was up for about 3 hours. Back to bed and slept until noon. Looked through mail.
Finished unpacking. Mary, Rocky and mother out in the evening to see my souvenirs and hear about trip.
To bed about 11. Still tired. I lost 7 pounds on trip. Down to 160.

Wednesday, March 23, 1977
Left San Francisco about midnight with all my luggage checked through and no extra cost. In to Port Columbus at 9:30 and Mary, Rocky, and mother had come to meet me. Glad to see them. In to shop to everyone’s surprise. Home about 1 and unpacked a few things. To bed at to have been up for almost 45 hours.

Return to Leyete Island
Tuesday, March 22

We had been away from Manila for eight days, and while housing was always adequate it had never included a tub bath. It took three bath waters to get me clean!
That evening we attended the meeting of the Haribon Society at Aylaya Museum in Makati also attended by Governor Leviste. This was a farewell party for me since felt I should be back in Marion for the Easter rush at Hemmerly’s Flowers. I regret that decision because I missed the visit to the northern areas.
At Los Angeles there were no flights scheduled to Columbus, Ohio until the next morning. So I slept on bench in the waiting room. I arrived home on March 23, 1977 with the hamper full of souvenirs, undeveloped film, and a head full of memories.

Epilog
January 2010

Not long after this Audubon Workshop Tour Stan Quickmire died of a heart attack. This was the only such ecology tour offered by the National Audubon Society.
Edgar Buensuceso exported several shipments of baskets to Hemmerly’s Flowers. At that time these distinctive baskets were not available in the U.S.A.
Edgar and his wife visited Terradise in 1979. Later he and his family moved to California. We exchanged Christmas cards for years, but in 2006 my letter and card was returned. He, and my “Philippine Adventure,“ are now only memories.

Monday, March 21

I slept late and missed the morning bird hike. But I had a good conversation with Mr. Costillo who told me of the work he is doing with these villagers. Barangay San Pagla-um is an experimental village, a settlement of kaingineros turned lowland farmers. They were formerly located on the hillsides and practices slash and burn farming. One hundred and twenty families are scheduled for resettlement in the basin which has been made suitable for farming by draining and setting up communal irrigation.
. As I had some clothing I was discarding, I asked Mr. Costillo if the villagers could use it. He introduced me to Margarita Sales, the captain of the barangay and I gave the clothes to her. She found it hard to believe that I would be giving away a pair of tennis shoes as these people usually have only one pair of thongs during their lifetime and these are saved to wear on feast days.
Our visit stopped all activity in the Barangay. I gave the children pieces of candy. Soon children appeared from every hut, older ones carrying their younger brothers and sisters. In turn, I was offered cassava cake, wrapped in abaca leaves, and still warm from cooking. It was quite sweet and good. Remembering the singing of the children at Iwahig Penal Colony, I asked the children who had gathered close around me to sing. Even Mr. Costillo could not persuade them to sing, so I sang “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” No opera star ever had a more appreciative audience.
On the way back to Tacloban we stopped at the memorial on the site of McArthur’s landing during World War II where he fulfilled his promise, “I shall return.” The wide marble steps lead toward the sea where more the than life size sculptured figures of the McArthur party seem to stride toward you, their feet in water.
My thoughts were with friends who had participated in this landing, and also with those who gave their lives during the Bataan march and imprisonment on Palawan.

Leyte Island
Sunday, March 20

The Mactan Airport is modern, air conditioned, and fully plumbed. This time we were headed for Tacloban on Leyte–a short flight. At the Bethany Beach House we had a buffet breakfast and met our personal escorts who stayed with us the rest of the day.
We stopped at the white marble Capitol building where there is a bas relief sculpture of McArthur’s landing on the façade. We continued with sirens screaming to the Divine Word University. Here we were led into the crowded auditorium and up to the platform where chairs had been placed for our group. So with our muddy jeans, uncombed hair, sunburned faces, and field boots we looked out upon those eager young faces. They were so clean and well groomed compared to us.
Stan addressed them, explaining the purposed of the National Audubon Society, and calling on them to practice conservation and suggesting that birth control was the basis for all conservation. This was disputed by the Catholic priest present.
Then our caravan headed into the country north of Tacloban to the straits of San Juenico, where the new President Marcos bridge arches gracefully over the blue water. This is an important connection to the island of Samar and we tossed our leis into the strait to insure our return.
Our destination was Saba Basin where the Village of Hope Rest House is on a hill 300 feet above the valley. Mr. Lauro Costillo is the administrator of the Saba Basin project. W found it was a complex of beautiful bamboo buildings, with adequate sleeping rooms, airy porches, a kitchen, bathrooms (without running water, but who would mind with such a view) and a large dining pavilion that had been decorated for our visit with plant material brought from the forest and the villagers’ gardens. We had a demonstration of the age-old preparation of rice.The gracious lady who was in charge told me that when she arrived the day before she did not like the plank seats along the edge of the pavilion and had the villagers cut bamboo to face them.
We never ceased to be amazed at the elaborate meals that were served to us in remote areas. My enjoyment of the food was diminished as I saw the villagers lined up around the dining hall watching us eat. Surely a feast such as this would be a rare treat for them. After we left the area I saw from my window that some of them slipped up to the decorative arrangements and took the fruit.

Saturday, March 19

After early morning birding around the elegant rest house high above the bay, we had breakfast served in the pavilion. Across a marshy area we observed monkeys feeding in the trees. Later we visited the tree nursery where 10,000,000 seedling trees are being produced. We left with a lot of respect for PICOP and its management for its awareness of the need for conservation.

Cebu Island

In Cebu City again we fought traffic to reach the Art Haus Museum, where we met Professor Julian Jumalong, a small, soft spoken, dignified gentleman. His name was familiar to me because my Lepidoptera friend, Don Eff of Boulder, Colorado had corresponded with him for years and had told me of his work in rearing larva. He is world famous for the butterfly mosaics that hung on the walls of the museum. At first glance they appeared to be paintings of exceptional brilliance of color, but when we examined them closely one could see that there they were made up of parts of butterfly wings. One was a portrait of the First Lady, Mrs. Marcos. Others showed Mayan motifs, underwater treasures, a variety of forest leaves and the beauty of a native girl.
From the museum we drove to his home on Macopa Street in the Basak area. The garden was planted with food plants of species he wished to attract. I wished that my late husband, Ray Romine and Don Eff–both lepidopterists—could have shared this time with me.

Friday, March 18

We were billeted on the third floor of the administration building of PICOP that overlooks the production plant. We ate in the company dining room and used the swimming pool for a cooling dip between hikes.
The next morning we left the town and drove out Road 1 into the forest–an area of a dense undergrowth of ferns, vines, shrubs and young trees interspersed with huge trees reaching from 100 to 150 feet high. We saw a falconette, Tarictic hornbills, a Moluccan graybird, a Green Imperial pigeon, a Blue-naped parrot, and a Dollar bird. Several rufous hornbills slowly flew across the road high above us.
Rex Daubenmire, botany professor from Florida, and I hung out together because we were the only ones in the group who were interested in the vegetation–after all, this was a birding trip. Looking at the lush vegetation I said to Daubie, “I don’t know the names of any of these.” And he replied, “Neither do I.” But he did identify some of the plants for me including liverwort, lycopodiums and terrestrial orchids with soft mauve blossoms and the epiphytes that grew along the branches of the trees.
On this trip we were joined by three armed guards of PICOP without any explanation. Each time we left the bus they posted themselves around us. Later Mr. Mendenzona told us that our group of twelve was the size the Moros were apt to ambush and capture for ransom. Because our bus had no protection in case of attack he felt it necessary to supply the guards in this wild, uninhabited area.
As further protection, he was in the airplane that flew over us repeatedly. But it had landed and he was waiting for us near the falls and led us down the steps newly constructed for us. Even the roar of the water didn’t prepare us for the wide cascading waterfall. Viewing it from the bottom of the falls is appeared as a living drapery blocking the river.
Later in the afternoon we toured the pulp and veneer plant across the road from our housing. We watched the logs being graded and cut into lengths by a six foot diameter circular saw that was operating without a shield as we walked by it on a narrow plank. Ships were waiting offshore to load the finished planks and plywood.
That evening we visited the Mendenzona home. Merida’s flower arrangements of cassia and ginger decorated the large living room. In the dining room plates of cookies and cheese and a dish of popcorn was like a bit of home. She loves to garden and orchids grew on a tree. Seedling plants were housed in a bamboo lathe house.

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.

Wednesday, March 16

As we drove back down from the Chocolate Hill I enjoyed the many ferns and orchids growing on the rocky hills. Our drive warned us that this area was noted for the poisonous ground snake that was also the reason the huts were built on stilts.
We continued to the home of Primo Pizarro, amateur naturalist and taxidermist, who was to be our guide in finding a tarsier. He had located one in the jungle earlier that morning and felt that it would still be in its tree as they usually sleep all day. The tiny bit of brown fur is hardly 8 inches long with large ears and bulging eyes and a long tail with a tuft at the end.
As we approached the area we heard dogs barking and excited voices When we came into a small clearing everyone was dejected. When the tarsier heard the dogs it fell to the ground, but was unable to escape among the rocks and the dogs killed it. It would still be sleeping in the tree if we hadn’t disturbed it.
We stopped at the Pizarras home where our lunch baskets were distributed. They were packed in buri palm baskets trimmed with nito, a climbing fern stem. Inside we found crab, prawns, a banana and a green papaya salad. Among Mr. Pizarras’ pets were a Philippine frog mouth, a bird about the size of a small owl, and an iguana.
We checked into the La Roca Hotel in Tagbilaren in late afternoon and some of us walked a few blocks to the market. I had come to photograph baskets but Daubie said I ended up saying, “I’ll take one of each.” But how can anyone resist those beautifully designed and woven mats, hats, and baskets—and at those prices!

Bohol Island
Tuesday, March 15

The shell sellers were already on the beach as we headed for the airpot. As we passed through security there nearly everyone had shells. The attendants asked why we wanted them. We told them, “Beauty is its own excuse for being.”
After a half hour flight we landed in Cebu and transferred to a bus for the trip to the docks. Cebu City is second to Manila in population and has a majestic provincial capitol building. The dock area was alive with activity. As we boarded the “Sweetheart” ferry for Tagbilaran on Bohol Island venders besieged us offering mangos, crackers, ice cream, sandwiches and cold drinks. Elaborate displays of their wares were set up on bicycle “stores” that they folded up and pedaled off with as the ferry pulled out.
We made settled in on the upper deck where cots covered the entire area except for a narrow walkway. Fresh sheets and a pillow were provided along with a lunch box of chicken. We spent the three and one-half hour trip reading, talking, relaxing, writing and watching dolphins. It was here that I started writing this account of our adventures. Others of our group crowded around to see what I had written.
We were joined here by Vero Palermo of Iloilo, a professional photographer who traveled with us for several days taking shots for postcards and travel articles. Croton hedges lined the road. Abaca is an important crop growing under the coconut trees. The road was filled with children walking from school, many carrying bolos that they had used to trim the school-yard grass. All over the Philippines the barrio schools are built in the same style—a long low building with a porch the full length.
We passed a cockfight arena, deserted today as cockfights are usually held on Sunday. Graceful women carried their loads on their heads; boys herded pigs, led caribous and pulled wagons. Little girls walked arm in arm and waved to us as we passed. We had crossed many wooden bridges, so it was a surprise to see an iron bridge right out of Ohio, with a plaque explaining that it has been erected by the U.S. Army.
Our route was along the Leay River where native women were on their knees washing clothes.Their wash basins looked like oversize fluted Jell-O molds.
As we left the coast we started climbing, passing through Loboc. White starflowers dotted the roadsides and we passed through a reforestation area where 625,000 trees had been planted in 1963. The road narrowed to one lane, twisting around the mountain. Our careful driver honked as we approached the curves.
About an hour out of Loboc we arrived at the “Chocolate Hills” that the rise about 500 feet. above the plateau where rice and coconuts grew. We could see that the top of one had been leveled off and buildings erected. Our driver pointed it out as our destination. The road was narrow, steep and winding.
After supper Lolita was interviewing Stan for her film when a bird with dangling legs flew past them into a small garden. They captured the frightened bird and brough it to the light. Its smooth olive brown back and rufous breast helped them to identify it as a ruddy crake. Stan pointed out that this was not only a new life bird for us, but a new record for the Philippines because du Pont’s “Philippine Birds” does not list it for Bohol. We released the bird and then realized that no one had thought to photograph the crake!