Philippines Molocaboc Island - My 1st article

Back in 2008, when I visited my moms tiny island in the Philippines, I took a lot of footage and published my 1st article in a widely distributed travel magazine of that time in Greece, they even featured my photo for the front cover. I provided all the photographs and the story, they did the layout and added a bit of editorial info. I am sharing the article here, the images are actual scans of the magazine, apologies for the medium quality of the scans (didn't have a good scanner back then), the magazine is in Greek but I provide an English translation of my story  below (only what I wrote without any added info from the magazine) plus the photos which were used for the article reposted - there are many more nice relevant photos for the story but since this post is about the actual article, the extra photos will be posted in different posts with more information and the full stories. Finally I want to dedicate this post to my grandfather Victorio who passed away in 2016:











Unknown little islands in the Philippines: Molocaboc

After many hours of traveling, my patience was rewarded when our pump boat reached a small “natural” harbor. Going up the wooden ladder, placed at the surrounding rocks, at the top under the trees two people were waiting for me. It was grandfather Victorio and grandmother Othelia. A bit further was their residence which would be my home for the next two months.  I had finally reached Molocaboc island!
Purple and orange magic during the sunset with a low tide

                Located in the Visayan sea, central Philippines, it belongs to the Negros Occidental province, the island is a place which will be hard to find without the help of the locals. Actually it is not one island but three, situated very close to each other, the Molocaboc Daku (“daku” means big in Tagalog, the official language in the Philippines), the Molocaboc Diut (“diut” means small) and the tiny Matabas. All three islands have an estimated population of around 4000 inhabitants and cover an area of approximately 900 acres. I am staying at Molocaboc Diut with a population of around 800 people. My residence is at the south rocky shore and I can walk to the northern shore in less than ten minutes. On the distant horizon I can see Negros island, it acts as the mainland and the closest port for supplies. The scenery is green with palm trees and lots of vegetation but not as dense as a jungle. The frequent sea winds are a pleasant relief from the heat which is unbearable throughout the day, especially during noon. On many of the big trees, people have placed a wooden floor and a cover for the sun, the perfect place for an afternoon nap!
School homework on a tree branch

                My house is one of the few ones with walls made of cement and a proper roof. Even today, the majority of the houses in the island are constructed in the traditional way, walls and floor made of bamboo and roof of dry palm leaves. These houses are called “nipa”, which means a “hut”. They have a special feature which I witnessed one morning when people were running to wake me up and told me “you have to come and see that!” Fifteen men were carrying by hand a nipa house after they had lifted it from the ground using big bamboo poles.  The process of moving a nipa by hand is called “bayanihan” which carries a double meaning , “bayan” means society and “bayani” means a hero thus bayanihan is a heroic team effort.
A traditional nipa house at the moment of being transported!

Nipa traditional houses - simple life in nature

                Ask anybody in the island what is the most precious thing in Molocaboc  and you will always get the same reply. It is something that people like us who are supposed to be living in the developed world take for granted: the water. Because there is no source of drinking water and no wells either, the people gather the rain water from the roofs of their houses with a tube system which ends up in huge clay jars. They will drink this water when they are thirsty and use it for cooking and washing themselves. Many times it contains soil and tiny worms but it seems that the body of the locals has developed immunity on these, but not my body! I found out being terribly sick for a week and after that I was drinking only boiled water. The Philippines have just two seasons, the dry (from November to May) and the rainy season (from June to October). During the dry season sometimes it might not rain for more than a month. Then the stored water of most of the houses is depleted and then they need to buy water from the few who have bigger water supplies.
                Electricity is available only in the bigger island, Molocabok Daku and only for four hours between 6.00 and 10.00 at night. But even this, for most of the residents is an unfulfilled dream as very few can afford to pay the monthly electricity bill of 400 pesos (around €7 or $8)… The big wooden polls, which don’t have any cables yet, reach very close to my house in Molocabok Diut and it is a sign that electricity will arrive here in the future as well. Some residents who can afford it have already bought a common diesel electricity generator so they can enjoy watching television or listening to music for a few hours at night. When these few generators stop, I always go and sit on the rocks under the starry sky, listening to the symphonic orchestra of the crickets…
Every sunset in the island is uniquely beautiful

                There are no streets, just small paths with the exception of a rudimentary short length street in Molocaboc Daku. But what steals the show is the path of around 1.5km which crosses the sea and connects the two islands, Daku and Diut. It is a quite thin layer of cement placed on a pile of rocks with  a few small huts for resting here and there. During the high tide the whole path disappears under the sea and the sea level might sometimes reach up to your waist. Then during the low tide the sea will completely vanishes from this area transforming the path into an elevated bridge on sand. It was constructed 10 years ago and made the life of the commuting people, especially the students, much easier.  In the times before the path, sometimes during high tide people even had to swim back! In Molocaboc Daku there is a second path through the sea which leads to a small lighthouse watch tower quite far from the shore. This is the place where the pump boats dock during low tide as they can’t go any further.
Curious little faces

Students walking home through the path connecting the two islands

Leading to the small lighthouse, like a dream, a path through the sea...

                The path which connects the islands has small mangrove forests on its both sides. You will see mangrove forests in many of the islands beaches as well. They were intentionally planted there as these provide the only protection against the waves when the sea is rough. The mangrove is one of the few trees that can grow inside the sea, their strong trunk combined with their extensive root system which goes deep in the seabed can absorb a big part of the waves power. Due to that they are considered as very useful although they transform the seabed in a kind of swamp. Many adults proudly recount their time planting the mangroves when they were still elementary students.
Fishing next to the mangroves

                Seafood, fish, squid and shellfish, combined with rice is the main diet in the island. Even the dogs eat the fish bones without any problems. The seafood is always fresh and eaten the same day as there are no fridges. When I asked them if they sometimes eat crab they led me to a family with crab farms next to their house. The farms which are situated under the sea are not visible but you can spot them from a long reed sticking out of the sea. We entered the sea and in one of these places, the father of the family grabbed by hand five big alive crabs which had their claws tied with a thread. “A present from me to you” he told me placing them to my hands… Meat is rarely consumed and it is mostly pork or chicken. They will slaughter a chicken or sometimes a goat during a wedding, a holiday or in special occasions and such as was my coming to the island!
Seafood is the main diet in the island

A hungry baby goat using a family tomb to reach its food

                The majority of the men are fishermen and divers at the same time. They fish all night and come back in the morning, having secured their daily wage and food for the family. The few rich families have created small fishing fleets which provide a job to many of the islands residents. Fishing can be done in different ways as well, for example with the creation of fish traps which are called “amatong”. They dig a hole in the seabed and place rocks collected from coral reefs and tree branches tied with ropes. In a few days, moss and plankton grow attracting many fish. Some of these fish leave during the high tide but always come back during the low tide, thus creating a permanent fish shelter. The first “harvest” is usually done after a month and after that every 2-3 weeks. The fish are being carefully harvested releasing the young ones and the ones small in size for the preservation of the ecosystem. This kind of fishing started around 25 years ago when the state established strict fishing controls in order to eliminate the disastrous fishing with dynamite. Today, in the perimeter of the island there are many of these fish traps, you recognize them from the numerous bamboo poles on the sea surface and the small sea house next to them, used for guarding the fish against thieves.
Fishermen coming back in the early morning

Guarding sea house around amatong fish traps

                There are no shops but only small kiosks which sell all kinds of novelties. For other goods you will need to visit the houses which supply them, fish in the fishermen houses, beer at the few houses which transport and store beer from nearby Negros island. Every morning a guy is going around with his bicycle selling bread and sweets.
                I visited the only two schools in the island, the elementary school in Molocaboc Diut and the high school in Molocaboc Daku. Took part in the classes and noticed that in the elementary school the children are taught practical things as well like tree planting, farming and the milking of animals. The high school headmaster told me that the biggest problem in education here is the language. In the Philippines there are around 160 dialects which sometimes are like completely different languages.  Primary language is always considered the local one, official language is “tagalog” and English is always taught as the 3rd language.  Some of the school books are printed in all three languages which makes schooling costly and complicated. Another problem is that in the Philippines education is not free, even for the elementary school a small amount of tuition money needs to be paid. Even though this fee is small, it is big enough to prevent the children of the poor families from going to school.
Students in one of the two schools of the island

                Life in the island is hard but at the same time simple, pleasant and creative. The kids play with whatever they find in nature like an old tire left back from a boat, the colorful little crabs that appear during the low tide… People during their free time practice something familiar in every small community: gossip! The news spread fast and nothing remains hidden. Most of them are Catholic Christians and they celebrate their saints with holidays (called “fiestas”) which can even last for three days! During Saint Peters holiday, who is supposed to be the guardian of the island and the fishermen, everybody will dress up and gather at the school to have fun, dancing day and night with loud music.
Colorful little crabs take over the seabed during the low tide

This colorful fella was next to my head when I woke up one morning

                Everybody is very superstitious and weird tales come and go often. Like the tiny deserted island next to Matabas is considered to be cursed, whoever decides to reside there will be met with some bad luck. The last person who tried to live there died with the rumors saying from some mysterious sickness. Another one is that you shouldn’t sit on a seat that somebody with a serious illness was sitting before, as the illness spirit will be transmitted to you. So I have to be careful!
                Exploring a few areas further around the island I found myself in Jumabo, a tiny paradise island with a sandy shore, palm trees and a beautiful bungalows complex in which I was the only visitor. Although, the surprise came much further, past the central city of Cebu, in the island of Bohol. There I met the Filippino Tarsier, a tiny creature which can fit in the palm of your hand and looks like a mix of an alien with a monkey. It is one of the smallest and eldest primates in the world, a survivor of a 45 million years family! It can turn its head almost 360 degrees and you will be enchanted by its captivating big eyes. Many people consider it ugly but I found it extremely cute!
Jumabo island, a paradise on earth

Endless green in the rice plantations of Bohol island

The Chocolate Hills of Bohol island

The Manmade Forest of Bohol island

The Filippino Tarsier in Bohol island, can turn its head almost 360 degrees and fits in your palm!

Typhoon “Frank”
                From the early morning we realized that it was not just a simple storm. Nonstop heavy rain, strong winds and grey sky were creating a fierce setting. The radio confirmed our worst thoughts, a typhoon named “Frank” with wind speeds up to 185km/h was devastating the Philippines. Fortunately we were not in the epicenter but close enough to make the situation dangerous. At night the weather worsened, the wind was howling and screaming, you could hear the animals shouting as if they were about to be slaughtered and everywhere things breaking… there were no shelters to hide and somehow I felt really lucky to be inside one of the few steadier houses with cement walls. During these cases there is no time for sleep, you need vigilance and constant inspection of everything and your surroundings. The house was leaking water from everywhere and every now and then we had to go to the family pump boat to empty the water in order not to sink. We tied with rope and bamboo everything that had a chance not to remain on the ground from the ferocity of the wind. Went out to look for our animals (dogs, cats, goats, pigs, chicken), the ones we found we sheltered inside the house. The night passed and the next day in the morning we realized that we had completely ran out of food. But even through the panic of the typhoon, we managed to find a solution to our hunger. We gathered all the unripe bananas from the banana trees which were broken, boiled them in order to become soft and turned them into a sweet mush adding some sugar. This “meal” kept our stomach full until late that night when the typhoon retreated and I managed to go look for food in other houses.
                Walking around the next morning I witnessed the scale of destruction. In some places the scenery looked like a battlefield, broken trees and uprooted plants, destroyed fences, many of the traditional houses (nipa) without roof and some of them completely devastated. And the worst of the news came, many fishing boats shank and a number of fishermen are reported missing…
                “At least we will have plenty of water for a long time”, grandfather Victorio told me with a smile. Even under these circumstances, the people find the power to think something positive for consolation and smile…

A prayer for the victims of typhoon Frank


Building a house and the way to the city
                Even though our house did not sustain serious damage from the typhoon, looking at the rusty metal sheets which comprised our roof, I proposed for their replacement. Eventually we took down a big part of the house to rebuild it from scratch, this time stronger and with new materials. Plus we built a house extension as well. Thus I experienced what hard work in tropical climate means.
                Work starts at the first morning hours after sunrise and finishes during the sunset with a break for lunch. Tools are scarce and digging the ground is performed with a hammer and a chisel. Young girls gather small rocks to be used in the foundation. Everything is being created from scratch and the cement bricks which will be used for the walls are not exception. The “recipe” for the bricks is more sand, less cement (because it is expensive) and a metal cast which forms the newly built cement brick. Two people are working exclusively for this and manage to create around 100 cement bricks per day. You can imagine our surprise the next morning, realizing that many of the cement bricks have been destroyed before they had time to set due to the games of the 15 cats of the house!
Building the house foundation, tools are scarce and basic

                Bacolod is the closest big city in the Negros Occidental province and it is the place we had to go to buy supplies and materials for building the house. From Vito, the closest port in Negros island which is a mere 20 minute boat ride from Molocaboc, it is a three hours bus ride until Bacolod city. Negros Occidental province is the main sugarcane production center in the Philippines. Hundreds of people are working in the endless plantations, the sugarcane is then piled up in crazily overloaded tracks which do not follow any safety guidelines. I really wonder what will happen if the worn out ropes holding the sugarcane on the overloaded trucks break at the moment that my bus is directly behind them.  Clouds of sand dust which reduce the visibility, combined with the bad road conditions and the excessive bus speed during our ride give me a sense that I have to pray in order to arrive safe and sound in my destination. Bacolod is a big noisy city with a lot of pollution and traffic chaos… we finish our shopping and back to calm Molocaboc as fast as possible!
Preparing the pump boat to leave Molocaboc towards the port of Vito

                Until the day of my departure the house was not entirely completed. Many people gathered to greet me farewell and I promised them I will be back so I can stay at the house that we built. Leaving behind me all these smiley faces I was troubling myself with thoughts about the course of our modern society which is seeking more and more material possessions…  But then I smiled because during my two months in the island I realized that there are still people out there who even though they have very few, they are happy with it and willing to share everything!


Grandfather Victorio, sadly passed away in 2016 

Grandmother Othelia



Recipes
One of the gastronomical delights in the Philippines are the traditional sweets which are mostly based on rice and are a pleasant break from seafood.

Traditional Filipino sweets (suman, puto, biko)

Biko (brown color, long, sweet sticky rice)
Ingredients: 2 cups of sticky rice, ¾ cups of black sugar, 3½ cups of diluted coconut milk, 70gr. of butter, 1 egg beaten
For the topping: 1 can of condensed milk, ¾ cup or rich coconut milk, 2-3 table spoons of flour

Boil the sticky rice together with the coconut milk stirring constantly to keep from burning. When the rice is done and almost dry, lower the heat and add the sugar and the butter. Mix well and set aside to cool down, then add the beaten egg. Spread the mixture in a tray and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes in 150°C. While waiting, prepare the topping. Combine all the topping ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low heat stirring constantly until it gets thick, it will take around 15 minutes. Spread the topping on the baked mix, increase the heat up to 180°C and bake until the surface becomes brown in color, around 15 minutes. Your biko is ready to be served!

Puto (white, round, with a small piece of cheese at the center)
Ingredients: 2 cups of rice flour, 1 cup of white sugar, ½ teaspoon of baking powder, 30gr. of butter,  1 teaspoon of salt, 1½ cup of fresh milk, 2 egg whites, cheese cut in stripes, grated coconut

Blend all the ingredients apart of the cheese and the grated coconut, whisk the mix until it becomes smooth. Use individually muffin pans and fill 2/3 of each with the mixture adding one cheese stripe on top. Cook in a steamer for 20 minutes and you are ready! Can be served warm or cold depending on your preference, always adding the grated coconut on top.
Additional information

GPS coordinates for places in this post, click on them to be redirected to the exact point in google maps. Click on the names to be redirected to their official websites (if applicable).

Molocaboc island: 10°57'31.4"N 123°33'36.3"E 

Click below to if you want to read the posts about the Philippines:

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