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Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Kadaclan: Shangri-la on the edge
KADACLAN, Barlig, Mt. Province -- Isolated and virtually unknown due to its remoteness, this town is achingly beautiful (though) it is probably a sin to tell the world when one consider how long he or she can hold out from the pressures of the outside world.
But its people who had long been isolated, "is hungry for news and information" and very eager to share their "shangri-la on the edge" as how they describe their place.
The neglect of the government in the past in opening and providing for an all-weather-road to this poor and isolated town probably saved its beauty and rich natural resources from the ever hungry appetite of the outside world in the past.
But after decades, the Department of Tourism, always searching for fresh sites in connection with their eco-tourism thrust for the Cordilleras is eyeing this town as an addition if not an even better alternative to the world-famous Banawe rice terraces of Ifugao and Sagada, also in Mt. Province.
In this far-flung town of Mt. Province, God was in a very good and generous mood when he distributed the goodies of Mother Nature.
In Barlig, nature is at its best - unspoiled, and waiting to share its bounty not to the faint hearted, but to those who appreciate nature and adventurous enough to enjoy the 147 kilometer trip (7.5 hours) from Baguio to Bontoc and another 36 kilometers (2.5 hours) from Bontoc to Barlig proper. To reach Kadaclan will take another one and a half hour ride.
Its lush blue-green mountains of mossy forest still abound with game, wild deer, wild cats, wild pigs, and monkeys, exotic orchids clinging to the trees wrapped with thick moss making them look like jackets to ward off the cold.
In Kadaclan, in particular, hunting is still a way of life. Experts from local colleges and universities of the Philippines have yet to discover and document the flora and fauna of Barlig's mossy forests.
Barlig is also home to the endangered Philippine Hawk Eagle recently discovered by wildlife experts from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
In fact, last March 7, two young eagles the locals named "Changyasan" the older of the two, and "Fialica," were released to the wilds after being raised in captivity when they were caught by local hunters, according to Roger Sacyaten, a liaise officer of Gov. Maximo Dalog.
Changyasan, 11 months old then was caught in Lias, a neighboring barangay of Kadaclan, while Fialica slightly younger was named after the barangay of Fiangtin where she was caught.
Prior to the release, a couple of eagles believed to be the parents, were seen swooping near the cage of Changyasan every time it cries. But due to the increasing need for meat to feed the endangered birds, the caretakers opted to release the bird in the wild where they belong.
A testament of the balance of nature where it can still sustain itself, Barlig is two hours from Banawe via the Bontoc-Banawe road, though lesser in magnitude in terms of the number of rice terraces.
Barlig also has its own rice terraces. Unlike in Ifugao where they are increasingly being abandoned, the terraces of Kadaclan are very much in use and "alive" with the farmers still using their centuries-old way of planting rice ordinary. There is also an abundance of the rare red and violet rice, which is a premium, and which is being used by the locals to brew their rice wine or "tapuey" offered to visitors for free when they pass by their houses on their way to view the 14 waterfalls, seven rice terraces sites, one sacred burial cave, and numerous fishing grounds from Mt. Amoyao whose watershed feed the Siffu river that flows all the way to Natonin, Paracelis to Isabela in Region 2.
Mt. Amoyao is the 3rd highest mountain in the Philippines, next to Mt. Apo in Mindanao and Mt. Pulog in Benguet.
With its sparse population of only 7,000 spread out to its 36 thousand hectare land area, Barlig's quaint villages nestled between its stonewalled terraces and very lush forests may consider themselves" poor yet self-sufficient". (Laarni Sibayan)
(June 7, 2005 issue)
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