IRONICALLY, it needed two devastating typhoons—Karen and Lawin—for people like us in the media to reach and cover Peñablanca, Cagayan, home of the famous Callao Caves located at the northern Sierra Madre mountain range. It was hardest-hit by Supertyphoon Lawin, since the powerful storm directly hit the riverside town located alongside the Pinacanauan River.
Armed with my reliable Nikon D3S alternately mounted with AF-S Nikkor 14 -24mm f/2.8G ED Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens and Nikkor 28-300 f3.5-5.6 VR lens, I explored the place with my son Nonie.
Peñablanca is 24 kilometers east of the capital city of Tuguegarao and 580 kilometers north of Metro Manila.
The Peñablanca Protected Landscape, formerly the Callao Cave National Park, is the largest protected area in the province of Cagayan, covering 118,781.582 hectares of forest under conservation. But this time, it did not escape nature’s wrath. Lawin’s fury proved to be unfriendly.
The park is well known for its numerous limestone formations found within cave systems. It is traversed by the Pinacanauan River, a major tributary of the Rio Grande de Cagayan. The seven-chamber Callao Cave has a Catholic chapel for visitors who may want to meditate. It is naturally quiet.
Of the 24 villages in Peñablanca, Barangay Sisim was identified by the Cagayan Valley Regional Development Council (CVRDC) and National Economic and Development Authority Director Mary Anne Darauay as badly hit and severely devastated.
“Other villages that suffered the same fate, but are within the bounds of Tuguegarao City are more accessible for immediate assistance unlike Barangay Sisim, which is void of electrical power and geographically isolated by the river, needs more relief support,” Darauay said.
It was in this emergency situation the Regional Statistic Committee (RSC) and OceanaGold (Philippines) Inc. (OGPI) entered the picture—to render relief assistance to the villagers.
Hundreds of food packs were shared by OGPI and RSC, while the RDC provided portable lamps convertible as flashlights, which could be charged through solar power.
“As part of our corporate social responsibility [CSR], we are always there ready to help our brothers and sisters in such times of calamities and disasters,” said Chito Gozar, OGPI senior vice president for communications and external affairs.
As we travel deeper to the village where locals are waiting for their relief goods, we passed by a number of fully defoliated timberland, orchard trees with fruits scattered on the ground and corn crops flooded. Massive destruction to agriculture was beyond retrieval.
At the end of the road is a broken concrete bridge that compelled residents to make an improvised raft made of bamboos toppled by the typhoon just to get to the other side of the river.
Earlier, Cagayan was placed in a state of calamity. Heeding the call of Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Region 2 Director Mario Ancheta and Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba, immediately after Lawin left the town of Enrile with massive devastation to infrastructure, disconnected power lines and uprooted trees along road network, the OGPI Emergency Response Team (OGPI-ERT) came to the rescue and conducted days of clearing operations.
On October 17, a few days before the typhoon, OGPI-ERT was cited for its excellence in disaster risk reduction and management during the 18th Gawad Kalasag Awarding Ceremony from the Office of the Civil Defense in Region 2. It was immediately put to test.