IT IS without regret that my wife and I pushed through with our Dipolog travel for a scheduled weekend wedding of our foster son despite the news of possible flight delays due to the stalled Chinese Plane at the NAIA air field. Our travel was like repetition to an earlier wedding of another foster son who is also a junior officer of the Philippine Coast Guard but the recent one happened islands away down south.
This time around, I really wanted to see places in the country particularly those that are part of the country’s historic past. We went to Talisay, Dapitan which is about thirty minutes drive from Dipolog City to see the Rizal Shrine. There is much to admire about the heroism, life story and creativity of Dr. Jose Rizal and the preserved site and museum allows you to trace and relate with the past. So evident is the artistry of the exiled national hero that he even sketched a simple plan that followed the natural contour of the place likened to modern environment-friendly architecture. Equally impressive is the majestic municipal town hall of Dapitan that faces the sea and allows natural light from its wide tempered glass windows that are almost part of its walls.
Known as the "Gateway to Western Mindanao", Dipolog is situated in the Northwestern part of the Province of Zamboanga del Norte. A popular destination that we passed through is the Dipolog Boulevard which is a nook for strollers and leisure seekers. It is also the site for various celebrations and festivals in the city. As an economic hub of Western Mindanao, Dipolog is also the referred to as the "Bottled Sardines Capital of the Philippines” made popular by the Montaño brand.
Before the mid afternoon wedding, I was reunited with my college buddy and Dipolog based artist Leo Marquiala over lunch and he invited me to his home studio to see his works. He even showed me two of my student work that he collected when we were students at UST College of Architecture and Fine Arts. Since we initiated an exchange program for Mindanao and Cordillera artists in 2017 with Daryl Descallar, also a Tomasino, Leo will now be part of our #CorMinArtExchange alliance.
The formal wedding that followed became our main event for the day and both Helen and I dressed up for the occasion. Among our fellow sponsors are the governor of the province, the commodore of the Philippine Coast Guard and others who were not able to join us due to cancelled flights. As active member of the Philippine Military Academy Foster Parents Association Exe-com, Helen has been in the frontline in convincing Baguio families to adopt cadets especially those coming from the Visayas and Mindanao.
Though our flight the next day was cancelled due to the NAIA incident that also reached worldwide news including social media, our travel was also worth the time spent as we get to explore more about Dipolog. According to the tricycle driver whom we flagged to bring us to a department store, the place is probably one of the safest places in the country assuring us that crimes seldom happens there.
Since we were not able to fly that Sunday, we visited the Dipolog cathedral to pray that we finally get to travel back home and as of this writing, we finally boarded a plane and reached Manila at Monday mid-morning. Other passengers that we encountered and heard of were delayed for two to three days we had only additional day that we considered part of our vacation but an emergency leave as a government employee.