Negros island is only 30 minutes by ferry from Bato, Samboan, but until two years ago, I can count with the fingers the number of times that I have crossed Tañon Strait to the other side.
Last week we were on our fourth visit to the island in two years and it is my sad lot to report that their roads are still in a much better shape than ours. Otherwise stated, their thoroughfares are good; ours is bad.
Remember that section of the highway connecting Sibonga and Argao? The good news is that it is now rid of the ubiquitous roadblocks warning the motorist of ongoing road construction or repair. The bad one is that the road remains in bad need of repair.
We stayed in Dumaguete for two days, billeted in a small hotel that has a unique sign at the front desk. “Were sorry instant spouses not allowed,” it read. I was in near panic when I first spotted it. I thought it said “ancient,” not “instant.”
Ownership, not local culture, has something to do with the rule of conduct that at first glance seemed to border on prudishness. The hotel is operated by a religious sect; beside it is their church. It is definitely not a place for quick fixes or for fantasizing about Anne Curtis and blabbing about it. The Suntays of the world are fairly warned.
Unlike the past visits which took us around the island via smooth highways, this trip involved climbing up a winding road to Canlaon City where doctors belonging to Class ‘75 of the old SWU-MHAM (Southwestern University-Matias H. Aznar Memorial College of Medicine, Inc.) had their reunion. I was a “plus one” to one of them.
Mount Kanlaon had erupted three days before we arrived and I was excited (and scared) that it would act up again during our stay. It did not. What we saw was a meek creature that most of the time hid behind the clouds.
The threat of eruption doesn’t seem to bother the locals, probably because they have become used to it and it has not affected their lives significantly.
Typhoon Tino was scarier, they shuddered. Torrential rains caused rivers to overflow just as they did in Cebu. But their situation was more dangerous because the rampaging floodwaters carried not just mud but huge boulders.
I saw three of the monstrous rocks in the front yard of Dr. Bebot Cardenas, the Canlaon City vice mayor, lying where a concrete fence once stood.
About 20 died from the floods, the highest in Negros Oriental. If Canlaon had been as thickly populated as Metro Cebu, the death toll would have been enormous.
The people are slowly rebuilding their lives even as the government continues to replace the infrastructure that Tino destroyed. We attempted to drive to La Castellana and La Carlota but turned back because we were not certain if the roads were passable.
We hope to do that on our next trip, our fifth to Negros in recent years. Hopefully, our own roads shall have already become as good as on the other coast of the strait by then.