THE PALE PINK SANDS OF CALINTAAN ISLAND

Feature

Dárlán Páléncìá Bárcélón 

www.philexaminer.com

Luzon Gateway
Luzon Gateway

Matnog is a 4th class municipality in the province of Sorsogon, situated in the southernmost tip of the island of Luzon. The town earned its name from the adjective “matunog” [very audible] which describes the loud sound of the waves of the San Bernardino Strait where the wild currents of the Pacific Ocean and the West Philippine Sea meet. Olive Gumba admitted during the interview.

“La Playa Rosa” is being planned by the local legislative council as the most appropriate name to describe the pink sands of Calintaan Island in due time, Gumba added.

Its pale pink sands of Calintaan Island can be traced to the dead pink corals belonging to the genus Pocillopora under phylum Cnidaria. They are commonly called cauliflower corals and brush corals. This type of coral abounds in the San Bernardino Strait.

Coral sand is sand of particles originating in tropical and subtropical marine environments from bio-erosion of the limestone skeletal material of marine organisms. One example of this process is that of parrot fishes which bite off pieces of coral, digest the living tissue, and excrete the inorganic components such as silt and sand.

Aside from the pale pink sands, Calintaan, whose name was derived from the local word “calantas” which means rocks, also boasts unexplored caves and underground river channels.

According to Gumba, this village is so unique from the rest of Matnog.

The Pacific Ocean and the Western Philippine Sea meet along the San Bernardino Strait; thereby making the waters off Calintaan somehow perilous to navigation because of strong currents that run wild, particularly during the monsoon season.

Although isolated from the mainland municipality, its geographical location is a gift to the residents of Calintaan. Its remoteness from the Poblacion and rural scenery is its natural beauty.

That is why the pale pink sands are remarkably preserved.  Every tourist setting foot on Subic Beach will always agree that isolation sometimes, is a blessing to this pristine island.

Pale Pink Sand: Subic na Sabay Beach front
Pale Pink Sand: Subic na Sabay Beachfront

Calintaan Island is considered one of the most peaceful barangays [village] of Matnog, This island village faces the neighboring Capul Island in Northern Samar. The fishing village sits along the eastern seaboard where the famous San Bernardino Strait is located.

Subic Beach is the pride of Calintaan Island with its unsullied sands; it is now the latest addition to the long list of potential tourist destinations in Sorsogon.

Calintaan is one of the unique places, where one can commune with nature. Its rustic environment is another plus factor. This is probably one of the province’s emerging tourist destinations, particularly the beach fronts of Sorsogon, facing the Pacific.

The stretch of captivating pale pink sands can be found only in Subic na Saday and Subic na Daku. Subic na Saday, according to Pedro Almocera, 57 years tenant, Subic na Saday is a privately-owned resort owned by Mila Estrelon, While Subic na Daku has multiple claimants Matnog’s Tourism Officer,

Calintaan can be reached via motorized banca. Travel time is more or less thirty minutes from Matnog town proper. A chartered banca ride would only cost PhP1,500 for a whole-day island tour.

A guided tour package includes a trek to the underground river, island-hopping, and a trip to the municipal fish sanctuary in the lagoon of nearby Juag Island is included in the tour package that is being offered to visiting tourists.

A fish-feeding experience with groupers and other fish species inside the lagoon is undeniably a thrilling Juag lagoon experience.

The lagoon was a declared local fish sanctuary by the Matnog Municipal Fishery Council managed by its members.

A MALE MEGAMOUTH SHARK FOUND IN PIO DURAN, ALBAY

Aga D. Eduarte

 www.philexaminer.com

A male megamouth shark caught off the waters of Panganiran Bay by local fishermen in Marigondon, Pio Duran, Albay.
A male megamouth shark was caught off the waters of Panganiran Bay by local fishermen in Marigondon, Pio Duran, Albay.

Legazpi City, [01.29.15] – One lifeless male Megamouth Shark [Megachasma Peligios] measuring 4.6 meters was found beached in a fishing Village of Marigondon, Pio Duran, Albay in the morning on January 28, 2015.

Residents of Barangay Marigondon, Pio Duran first saw the creature lying dead along the shoreline of their village early morning with its tail cut, they documented the huge marine creature and reported it immediately to the local authorities of Pio Duran.

BFAR personnel were notified by the Municipal Agriculture Office of Pio Duran and rushed to the site where the big fish got aground to take action on how it can be preserved and conducted a study on the cause of death of the rare shark species. 

The male shark weighs one ton with a length of 4.6 meters long was brought by the authorities to a private Ice plant in Cullat, Daraga, Albay Wednesday afternoon, BFAR officials said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Enolva, spokesperson of BFAR appealed to Albay Governor Joey Salceda to preserve the big sea mammal through taxidermy and have it displayed in a museum in Albay so that Albayanos and other people will be able to see what a megamouth shark looks like.

Preservation through taxidermy, the generations to come will still be able to see the creature’s appearance without going out to the deep sea or elsewhere.

Megamouth shark has only 99 sightings worldwide, 10 sightings in the Philippines, and is considered an endangered species.

Three years back, a megamouth shark was also found in Donsol town in the province of Sorsogon.

The towns of Pio Duran and Donsol are adjoining municipalities of Albay and Sorsogon and share the same shoreline facing Burias Pass where the famous whale sharks, dolphins, and other rare marine species abound.

There are only 66 documented specimens of megamouth sharks in the world, 15 of these cases were in the Philippines and two were in the Bicol region.

SEARCHING THE DEAD IN TACLOBAN CITY

 

    

www.philexaminer.com

 

Dárlán Páléncìá Bárcélón  

 

“It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done” – Samuel Johnson

Lifting the Dead. Rescuers of Team Albay doing retrieval operation in Tacloban City.
Lifting the Dead. Rescuers of Team Albay doing retrieval operation in Tacloban City.

Tacloban City -The Search and Rescue team of the humanitarian mission from the province of Albay has emerged as one of the champions in the on-going retrieval operations in Tacloban City.

Their feat was borne out of cataclysm, by conquering their primal fears collectively as a team by slowly acclimatizing to the situation as part of their call of duty.

Holding and pulling out decomposing cadavers from tons of debris including water search and rescue is not an easy task.

Kindly follow this link to watch this video Yolanda Aftermath: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-2nKPKCg8g&t=185s

“Picking the dead is a dirty job, we must be honest about it, but we were able to adjust promptly in order to accomplish our daily objectives to retrieve bodies under our safety standards, the group admitted.

The hardship on our part is enormous, but we have to do our job because of its part of the mission. The only solace we feel,  we patiently retrieved them and have them buried. Wherever they are now, perhaps, we made their souls happy”, one of the members of the Search and Rescue team quipped.

No matter how heavy the task is, the entire rescue team from Albay, they showed their big hearts and broad shoulders to carry on the task as the first responder to the disaster zone.

Carrying the Dead.Search and Rescue team is composed of seasoned rescuers from BFP-SRU, NAVFORSOL Disaster Response Unit, TOG-5 Search and Rescue Unit, and the 9th Infantry Division Disaster Response Team under the Team Albay Humanitarian mission.
Carrying the Dead. Search and Rescue team is composed of seasoned rescuers from BFP-SRU, NAVFORSOL Disaster Response Unit, TOG-5 Search and Rescue Unit, and the 9th Infantry Division Disaster Response Team under the Team Albay Humanitarian mission.

The Search and Rescue team is composed of seasoned rescuers from BFP-SRU, NAVFORSOL Disaster Response Unit, TOG-5 Search and Rescue Unit, and the 9th Infantry Division Disaster Response Team under the Team Albay humanitarian mission.

Rebuilding Tacloban City will take some time and will depend on the collective will of every Taclobanon to rise again.

Tindog Taclobanon” is now their battle cry on how they will going to rebuild an empowered and resilient community and rise again, rests on their collective will to make a turnaround, however they should honor their dead, by burying them first.

The destructions brought by Typhoon Yolanda [international name Haiyan] in this “Highly Urbanized City” of Region XIII [Eastern Visayas] is now both a threat and opportunity. Resiliency will be the benchmark on how to rebuild Tacloban City out from its present state of  “valley of death and destruction”, the team stressed.

Team Albay and the entire Search and Rescue team is always willing to extend humanitarian mission as the need arises. We are somehow privileged to be a part of this mission in searching the dead in Tacloban City to ease their pains of those who lost their loved ones and properties under the doctrine of kindness, brotherhood, and humanitarianism.

Continue reading SEARCHING THE DEAD IN TACLOBAN CITY

Queen of the Royal Imperial Lupah Sūg Islamic United Kingdom of Sulu and North Borneo warns AFP to leave Liguasan marsh

Mohammad Yusoph bin Abdullah    

 

The Philippine Examiner

 

www.philexaminer.com

Zamboanga City, [02.27.15] – The Queen of the Royal Imperial Lupah Sūg Islamic United Kingdom of Sulu and North Borneo has warnedMalacañan Palace on Friday not to invade the territories of Liguasan Marsh in the guise of an all-out offensive against the members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters [BIFF] in Maguindanao or face charges of treason and rebellion.

Her Royal Highness Queen [Baginda] Helen Fatima Nasaria  Panolino Abdurajak,  spoke to The Philippine Examiner by phone from Sulu Friday morning.

“Enough with war and stop the killings in Mindanao, if they will not leave the marsh, I will be forced to led  the thousand mujahedins that are intact all over Mindanao just to drive them away, it’s the territory owned by the Royal Imperial Lupah Sūg Islamic United Kingdom of Sulu and North Borneo, not the government, the Queen said.

They are the rebels and terrorists of Mindanao, not the BIFF  and MNLF as we had already issued a Royal Decree 103 granting clemency to the mujahedins under the leadership of Ombra Kato and the MNLF troops of Nur P. Misuari in the entire Mindanao.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] is in conspiracy with the President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III  in their all-out war declaration, this  is an act of rebellion and treason. In the same manner, the Queen also said that the government, through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process [OPAPP] is using this ploy to penetrate the oil field, in using Muslim integrate, the Queen lamented.

The strong statement made by Her Majesty Helen Fatima Nasaria  Panolino Abdurajak  came after the government declaration of all-out war against the Muslim rebel faction under Ombra Kato, who bolted out from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

BIFF strongholds are within the territories of the provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao where the marsh is located.

The area is the centerpiece of the big foreign business interests of unnamed Canadian corporation, San Miguel Corporation, Petronas of Malaysia and Japan who are eyeing the myriad potentials like power, mining, natural gas and oil explorations,.

The so called  “Eye of  the Oil” is situated in the marsh and the legendary wet lands is located at the tri-boundary of the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat in southwest Mindanao.

 

EDITORIAL BOARD

The Philippine Examiner holds its office address at Purok 7, Barangay 3, EM’s Barrio East, Sagpon Old Albay District, Legazpi City, Philippines.

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This propels our growth as an alternative regional publication – to devote and contribute to the call of the time and consecrate our collective efforts and skills where they rightfully belong.

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