By Suzanne June G. Perante | Photos by Leonardo Perante II
A STUDENT like me who goes to school at the University of the Philippines in Baguio always looks forward to the school break when I go home to Santiago City (Isabela).
On the contrary, people from the lowlands would rather spend their vacation up in the City of Pines to beat the summer heat.
On my trip back home from Baguio City during this summer break, I took an air-conditioned passenger van of Northern Luzon Transport Operators and Drivers Multipurpose Cooperative (Noltransco) at Governor Pack Road opposite Baguio City High School. Noltranco provides transport services to travelers and tourists from Northern Luzon with practically brand-new vehicles. It is the first land transport service operator accredited by the Department of Tourism, the Land Transportation Office, the Land Transportation Franchise Board, PTC and The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System.
The customized van interior was impressive: It had a waste box, extra umbrellas, a first-aid kit and a Coleman icebox. The trip was literally a joy ride. It gave me a chance to view the mountain scape, laden with full-grown pine trees and productive view of hillside farms along the way down.
As the vehicle reached the boundaries of Benguet and Nueva Vizcaya, we experienced a bit of rough pavements and roadsides being repaired from last year’s landslides. After an hour on the upland terrain, the majestic view of the famous Ambuklao Hydroelectric Dam in Bokod, Benguet, came into the picture. It is the major source of power in the Northern Luzon grid. The dam spill gate releases rampaging cascades and the water goes down to Agno River downstream in Pangasinan. This upland town also serves as a gateway to Mount Pulag, the highest peak in Luzon.
After two hours on the upland highway, we crossed the borders of Kayapa, the Summer Capital and Salad Bowl of Nueva Vizvaya. With a semi-temperate climate covering large portions of its rolling terrain, salad-type vegetables, like cabbage, carrots, cauliflowers, broccoli and lettuce, are grown organically year-round.
This upland municipality is also home to strawberries and cut-flowers in enormous volumes. Incidentally, two of my schoolmates in high school Dustine Joy and Marifren love trekking the hilly town to pick-and-pay strawberries and cut-flowers for fun.
We then reached Bambang town, the gateway to the Cagayan Valley Region, known for its natural attractions, like the Salinas Salt Springs that straddles a mountain side. Local and foreign tourists used to troop to the mountain of salt, white as snow, but the devastating quake in 1990 that hit this part of the country has stopped the salty fountain from flowing again.
The town, likewise, hosts the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal (NVAT) that serves as a trade center for the province. From Bambang proper, we turned left northward the Maharlika Highway to the direction of Bayombong, the capital town of Nueva Vizcaya.
A few kilometers before reaching the heart of town in Barangay Busilac is the citrus alley, home of the Perante Oranges, bred and propagated by my late grandfather Leonardo Perante. Indeed, Nueva Vizcaya has earned the title Citrus Capital of the Philippines.
A newly renovated four-lane highway welcomed us to Barangay Magsaysay, also in Bayombong, where our ancestral home is located. A newly established provincial “Pasalubong Center” in our village now caters to motorists. As we entered the capital town, a number of college campuses were on queue, making the municipality the educational center of the province.
After Bayombong, the first-class and highly urbanized town of Solano loomed. The commercial center of the province houses a number of commercial banks and malls that attract investors, as well. The next picture on the road showcased the popular buko pie trade center of Bagabag town. It is, likewise, home to Bagabag Domestic Airport, which serves as a gateway to the eighth Wonder of the World—the Banaue Rice Terraces. Bagabag town is also known for sweet, large pineapples.
Afterwards we traversed the mighty Magat River in Baretbet, Bagabag, said to be the longest river in the country. The province also serves as a watershed that supplies water to the Magat Hydroelectric Dam that energizes thousands of homes with 540 megawatts of electrical power and irrigates 85,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela and Quirino provinces, formerly the biggest multipurpose in Southeast Asia.
Gifted with rich soil and a favorable climate, the province is now home to superior-quality Vizcaya rice produced three cropping seasons a year.
When we encountered ambulant vendors offering steamed sweet glutinous corn and finger-food products, like banana chips, nuts and quail eggs, to passengers, I knew we were already in Diadi town, host to the Magat Ecotourism Park.
As the van crossed the highway boundaries of Isabela, we entered a virtual holy land called Punta Amelita, a mountain resort with a towering image of the rising Jesus on top of a hill at the background. The religious landmark signaled we were in Cordon, the first town of Isabela from the south. After a six-hour ride, we arrived safe and sound in my hometown Santiago City, the first independent component city in the Cagayan Valley region.
I was home.
Image credits: Leonardo Perante II