Zamboanga City: Once a year, I always go on a long big bike ride as touring motorcycles has been one of my passions since the early 70s. One of the longest rides that we can take for a just short period is the ride to Zamboanga City, which is more than 500 kilometers away from Cebu City. It’s almost as far as Cebu City is to Manila. Last Saturday, together with my biker friends, Boging Palacios, John Ruiz, John Yu, my cousin Tony Segura, my brother Archt. Bing and his son-in-law Geo Tan, we rode our bikes to Bato, Santander and crossed to Dumaguete to take the Ferry to Dipolog.
From Dipolog, it is one of the longest (140kms) rides to the halfway mark in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, were we had lunch in Jollibee. Then after gassing up, we rode to Zamboanga City. We were rained out as we entered Ipil (this town was raided by the Abu Sayyaf in the mid-90s, well it has economically recovered and is now a bustling town). It also rained in Zamboanga City, but luckily it stopped as we entered the city limit.
We were the guests of Mrs. Pilar Rojo Tan, mother of Geo in their guest house and offered us a sumptuous cocktail of giant talaba, prawns and king crabs. Food like this makes the ride really worth it, despite the rain. Of course, yesterday was Zamboanga’s Fiesta Hermosa 2010. Coincidentally, it was also Pilar’s birthday, so she brought us to Lantaka’s Roof Garden for a bountiful birthday feast of seafood, especially Curacha that you can only find in Zamboanga. There you have a stunning view of the famous island of Basilan.
There is no doubt that the economy of Zamboanga City is moving forward. Proof of that is the heavy traffic we encountered; it’s not just because of the fiesta. Few people remember that before Cebu became an important tourism destination, Zamboanga was the place for tourists to go. That’s because of the Barter Trade Zone where people go to buy imported goods for a very good price and resell them back home.
When Jessica and I got married, we went to Zamboanga City for our honeymoon so she could also go to the Barter Trade and bring business back home. Incidentally, we dropped by the Barter Trade to see what’s there and it really wasn’t the same Barter Trade zone that we used to know. That’s because of the presence of Price Clubs sprouting in major cities. But if you’re looking for something made in Malaysia or Indonesia, their products are still very inexpensive and worth buying.
Incidentally, last August when I took a weekend retreat with the Opus Dei in Bukidnon, I met a friend, Mr. Edward Chiong, a Filipino-Chinese businessman from Zamboanga City. I texted him and he came for a chat after dinner. It was then that that he told me that when then presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III wanted to discern whether he should run for President or not, he flew to Zamboanga to meet with the Carmelite nuns. I learned that Edward was close to the nuns, so I asked if it was possible to visit the convent. He brought me there in Cawa-Cawa Blvd. just beside the Pilar College yesterday at 10:30am.
I was able to interview one of the nuns of course on the condition that I do not mention her name and she told me that P.Noy stayed for 4 hours in the convent; his mother also would come to visit. I asked the nun what advice did she give P.Noy, but she clearly stated that she never gave him any advice. Rather, she told him the ways to discern and listen to God who speaks to our hearts. Now that P.Noy is President, she still texts him, especially in this time when he has said that he would support the RH Bill.
The nun told me that supposedly, yesterday was the day that P.Noy would have a dialogue with the Catholic clergy on the RH bill. Again I asked her if she gave P.Noy any advice on this, but this very humble contemplative said “Who am I to give advices? P.Noy is a prayerful man and talks to God, so I’m sure that he listens to God.” Of course, we just didn’t talk about P.Noy’s visit to Zamboanga (he has yet to return to Zamboanga now that he is the President) we also talked about deepening our spirituality.
Call it heaven-sent that my trip to Zamboanga included an interview with a Carmelite nun. I gathered that they don’t usually grant interviews to journalists. But somehow, thanks to my friend Edward Chiong, she did not only agree to see me (at the time it wasn’t their visiting hour schedule) we had a very long conversation, about life, about P.Noy and about the love of God that should dwell in each and everyone of us.
Truth to tell, it was the first time that I had a long talk with a contemplative nun. I was amazed by her simplicity and humility and above all, her piety. It was like talking to a true servant of God who treated me like a mother treats her children. It was indeed a blessing for me to meet her.