Very far away

That’s what the name Tawi Tawi means (it comes from the Malay word "jaui" which means far; early travelers would say the islands were "jaui jaui" or very far from the Asian mainland, and the term stuck)–and it really is very far away. A very early morning PAL flight from Manila to Zamboanga gave us just enough time for breakfast at the Lantaka Hotel by the sea, one of the first in Zamboanga, before hopping on a 19-seater SEAir twin propeller for the hour-long flight to Bongao, the capital of Tawi Tawi.

My family and friends are getting used to my going off to "strange" places (the city jail of Puerto Princesa, for example), but to many of them Tawi Tawi was almost beyond the ends of the earth, almost where "there be dragons". Even before the latest military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf in nearby Sulu hit the headlines, visions of hooded gunmen and M16s rattling off at all hours of day and night were what was imagined to be in store for me. But I was confident I would be perfectly safe; this trip to inaugurate the Knowledge Channel hook-up for the BASULTA (Basilan, Sulu, Tawi Tawi) area was very well planned, and if US Embassy chargé Paul Jones felt it was safe enough to bring visiting USAID assistant administrator James Kunder from Washington (despite initial reports out of Manila that they weren’t going) there, who am I to back out? I just thought it prudent to stay away from the Americans, who are infinitely more "kidnappable" and "ambushable" than me.

Tawi Tawi is at the southern end of the Sulu archipelago; in fact, it is the southernmost tip of the Philippines. The province is very close to Malaysia (Turtle Islands is just 20 kilometers from Sabah), such that they receive Malaysian radio and much of the economy consists of trade–barter and otherwise–with Malaysia.

The province consists of 307 little islands, grouped into ten towns with such exotic names as Bongao, Languyan, Mapun (or, confusingly, Cagayan de Tawi Tawi), Panglima Sugala (or Balimbing), Sapa Sapa, Simunul, Sitangkai, South Ubian, Tandubas and the Turtle Islands. The people, mostly Sama or Badjao but also including Tausug and Jama Mapun, are expert seamen and boat builders who live in houseboats or houses built over water and connected by wooden bridges, the stuff postcards and travel photos are made of. From the air the islands literally look like emeralds strewn into the sea, many of them surrounded by slips of white sandy beaches and reefs, and the greenest waters I’ve seen in a long time. The reefs make most of the islands accessible only to smaller vessels, but in Bongao the harbor is deep and very calm. The "Chinese Pier" in Bongao is where outriggers, motorized bancas and other forms of water transport dock to load and unload passengers and all sorts of cargo. Batu Batu in Panglima Sugala also has a deep port, and the Philippine Navy has its station there, as does the military’s Task Force 62, part of the Western Command (Wescom)..

Obviously, the mode of transport in Tawi Tawi is water-based. There
is the "commercial" boat which plies the sea trails around the is-
lands, and we were told it is quite an experience that can take anywhere from an hour to six hours between islands, depending on the number of passengers and amount of cargo on board, and on whether the boat’s engine manages the trip without conking out.

We were "favored guests" and privileged to have use of a couple of speedboats, a fiberglass one and another flat-hulled and made of plywood, both with twin V6 engines. Riding the waves in these speedboats, the sea air and salt spray caressing, sometimes slapping, our faces is quite a thrill. On our first afternoon we took an hour’s ride–our pilot expertly maneuvering between the waves and the currents–from Bongao to Simunul, site of the introduction of Islam in the country.

It was in 1380 in Simunul island that Arab missionary Sheik Karimul Makdum first landed and introduced Islam. Many other Arab missionaries followed, settling in the area and integrating into the community, inter-marrying with local women. Thus, we were told, the people of Simunul have distinctly Arab features. Sheik Makdum’s simple grave next to the mosque is a revered site, and visitors are told to place a coin on the grave and make a wish.

From Simunul it was a shorter but no less exhilarating ride to Tango island, where Governor Sadikul Sahali has a resthouse. The water surrounding Tango was so pristine it was a stretch not to plunge in, but official duties in the capitol awaited.

Governor Sahali wants us to remember that it should be "from Batanes to Tawi Tawi" and not "from Aparri to Jolo" when one describes the length of the Philippines.

He also wants us to remember that the people of Tawi Tawi are a peaceful and peace-loving people, a fact that we ascertained for ourselves during our two-day stay. And because the island communities are pretty close-knit, the presence of intruders or strangers who might be fugitives from nearby provinces, rebels or terrorists evading the law and seeking refuge among the scattered islands of the province, is easily detected. Residents are encouraged to report to authorities the presence of such "strangers" in their communities.

The governor’s sentiments are echoed by many of the ordinary folk we talked to in Bongao, all of whom readily disclaim any similarity or affinity with the Abu Sayyaf or extremists espousing terror. "Doon sa Sulu ’yun," was the oft-repeated answer when we asked about the presence of rebels and suspected terrorists.

On the day of the Knowledge Channel launch in Languyan, there was a major downpour just before dawn. Consequently, the seas were rougher than usual, and we were advised against traveling by speedboat. Languyan was at least an hour away by speedboat, and part of the trip would be in open sea.

Alternatively, we were accommodated on the Philippine Navy patrol escort craft BRP Magat Salamat, captained by Lt. Cmdr. Emmanuel Manuel, a most genial host who patiently and kindly took on a dozen unseaworthy civilians. His main task was actually to transport 21 Marines tasked to secure Languyan for the day’s event; we were extra cargo. The captain gave us free run of the boat, even allowed us use of the officers’ lounge (I cannot recall the proper term for the room) and let us watch DVDs (among the selection on board: a Keanu Reeves collection that included the Matrix movies, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all four Harry Potter movies and the Fantastic 4).

At a maximum of 13 knots, the trip to Languyan took all of four hours. When we got to Languyan it took another half hour to dock, a very difficult task considering that what passed as pier facilities were certainly not meant to handle a vessel like this and it was totally unfamiliar territory, so the depths of the water had to constantly be checked. But LCDR Manuel and his crew did a marvelous job, and though it was a steep descent from boat to pier they got us safely on land, and we must commend the entire crew for their skill and ingenuity under such unusual circumstances.

Hopping onto a dump truck, the preferred mode of transport on Languyan, we made it to the launch site in time for the end of the ceremonies. The VIPs had come in on choppers and a fleet of speedboats, but we did get our chance at "ambush" interviews and photo ops–and leftovers from a sumptuous feast of lobsters, crabs, fried chicken and a lot more.

The Tawi Tawi launch marked the second year of Knowledge Channel’s project in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Called "Television Education for the Advancement of Muslim Mindanao" or TEAM-Mindanao, the project is funded by a grant from USAID and partners with another USAID-funded program, the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy or AMORE, which provides solar energy to the far-flung communities so that the public schools there can have the ETV set-up.

Knowledge Channel Foundation president, the diminutive but indefatigable Rina Lopez-Bautista, noted the choice of difficult-to-reach Languyan for the launch: "...first, to showcase nature’s unspoiled beauty that still abounds in this southernmost part of the country, and secondly, to demonstrate the length and breadth the Knowledge Channel Foundation goes through just to reach the remotest and most isolated areas of this country so that more children can gain from this gift of knowledge".

Indeed, for the team led by project director Doris Nuval–the formerly controversial activist who has relocated to Cotabato to implement TEAM-Mindanao full time–there was literally no mountain high enough or sea rough enough to keep them from laying the groundwork for this launch. Just as they did with the project‘s first year in Maguindanao and Lanao, they scouted out countless barangays and public schools to identify those that had conditions suitable for the setting up of the ETV package, which includes a satellite dish, television sets and supplementary materials.

To date, Knowledge Channel Foundation has set up in 1,550 schools nationwide, 42 of them in ARMM. By December 2005, 14 more schools in Tawi Tawi and 12 in Basilan will be connected to the Knowledge Channel. Next year, the project will focus on schools in Sulu, Sultan Kudarat and Saranggani.

Beyond giving school children access to additional educational materials through television, adults and out-of-school youth in communities near Knowledge Channel connected schools will also be able to use the classrooms as learning centers for literacy and even livelihood enhancement, via video courses on business skills and livelihood that the Knowledge Channel has produced.

The unspoiled beauty of Tawi Tawi, the richness and diversity of its natural bounty, the exoticism and air of mystery that shrouds this little known province make a trip to Tawi Tawi a unique and treasured experience. True, it is very far away, and getting there is not an easy task, nor is getting around once you’re there. We took a big plane and a small plane, a big boat and a small boat, a fast boat and a slow boat, we rode on a dump truck and an open flat-bed truck, a police jeep and a vehicle that passed as a jeep, and a tricycle that took four of us plus our bags that ran on a half-liter Coke bottle filled with diesel.

It was definitely a memorable and enriching experience, making us realize once again how rich, how diverse our country is.