Rediscovering Bantayan Island (Part 1)

For tonight’s special presentation on Straight from the Sky, we have two very special guests who flew in from the United States for a journey of history. They flew into Cebu in the afternoon just to be in this interview and left early morning the next day for Davao. For an armchair historian like me, it is truly a great honor to have on my show, Mr. Jim Zobel, the archivist of the MacArthur Memorial (MACMEM) in Norfolk, Virginia. With him is an old friend, whom we already had on this show, Mr. Louis Jurika, whose family lived in Cebu until they moved to the US during the Martial Law years.

We’ve already written about meeting Mr. Jim Zobel over the Internet when Louis Jurika introduced him to me. Mr. Zobel is not related to the rich Zobels of Ayala Corp. He is an American who took his masters in American Military History and when he graduated, he applied for the job in MACMEM when their archivist was retiring. If there is anything Filipinos want to learn about the Philippines in the days prior to World War II, surely any photo, manuscript or artifact may be found in MACMEM.

After the taping a month ago, Ms. Marisa Fernan (a close friend of Jurika) invited us for a dinner at the Casino Español where the two Americans met Cebuano historians and journalists, including my uncle, Col. Manuel F. Segura whose book “The Koga Papers” and “Tabunan” Mr. Zobel has read. Meeting a real live Cebuano guerrilla was a huge thrill to Mr. Zobel who gave my uncle a MACMEM pin worn only by their directors.

We did this interview at the Fernan Press Center and when we were done, I told Mr. Zobel that this facility was located at the foot of Gochan Hill. He was amazed that he was in the midst of Cebu’s World War II historical site where the first major battle for Cebu City was waged. Watch this very interesting one-of-a-kind interview on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm with two Americans who knows a lot about Cebu’s history.

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We had a good Holy Week in Bantayan Island, the hometown of my wife, Jessica. In the past, we always went for any reason, especially during Holy Week. But since her family moved out and sold the house, we’ve not been coming as often and for the last eight years, we’ve never been back! So it was time to rediscover Bantayan Island, my adopted hometown.

The first signs of change I found in Bantayan Island starts at the Hagnaya Port in San Remigio, where I learned that there is a fierce competition between the Super Shuttle Ferry and the Island Shipping Corp. that serves the island. This competition was so bad, the two shipping companies have tried to run each other to the ground by cutting prices to the point, it is no longer profitable or feasible to operate. Of course, this is a boon to the commuters who paid very low fares.

The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) has to solve this problem, because when shipping companies operate below profit, it would certainly mean cutting costs somewhere. When they do that, it just might endanger the lives of passengers. I’d really like to hear what my friend Marina Regional Director Glenn Cabañez has to say about this.

Last Wednesday, when our Island Ferry LCT barge was about to leave, a Super Shuttle Ferry LCT also arrived quite fast into the RO-RO port that when its landing ramp hit the pier, the rear of the vessel bounced into our LCT. Was that a slight accident or was it deliberate? There was enough room (I took photos of this) or was this a common occurrence?

In fairness to the Island Shipping Corp., they have been in Hagnaya Port for more than 15 years, while Super Shuttle Ferry is a newcomer that is merely trying to “muzzle” its way to operate a ferry service by killing the competition. When the rival company falls, it can become a monopoly, something we want to prevent because you already know what happens when someone monopolizes a ferry service. The fares go up and the service will go down! So let’s cut the bull and fix this problem!

We stayed at the Sta. Fe Beach Resort, where nothing much has changed. They have kept the resort clean and the food is still great and the beach immaculate! I prefer the beaches of Bantayan to Boracay. The beach sand is finer in Bantayan, and best of all, Bantayan doesn’t have the crowded beaches of Boracay, where there’s no privacy.

I brought a car and we drove from Sta. Fe to the town of Bantayan. I’d like point out that at night there are no streetlights or luminous markers along the national road. The DPWH should install them for the safety of motorists. Read our part two of Bantayan tomorrow.

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