NEGRENSE Arturo “Art” Valdez expressed great feeling in being in the open sea as he engaged in a voyage on board the special cultural sailboats called “Balangay.”
He brought home the cultural boats Sultan Sin Sulu and Lahi ng Maharlika with some of his Mt. Everest team members, including Dr. Ted Esguerra, in Bacolod City Tuesday, May 16.
They docked at Bredco Port at the Reclamation Area after braving the dangers of travelling by the sea for several days.
Valdez, a former undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, has returned to his passion of traveling the country and the neighboring Asian countries, boarding the “unmotorized Balangay boats.”
Before coming to Bacolod, his team came from Maimbung, Sulu passing Jolo on their way to Basilan and Zamboanga City.
“I smelled and tasted again the salty sea, air, and the seasonal calm waters of Sulu sea, the powerful presence of the Tausugs and the lurking danger that lies in these Southern islands which can keep your spirit and adrenaline up – the blessings and excitements far away from the pressure of word and day-to-day life. It's a great feeling of be free again in the open sea,” Valdez said.
“It’s very hot but the sea is very calm. It would be better to travel that way rather than have a cool temperature but with big waves,” Valdez added.
They will stay in Bacolod City for three days for the boats to get their maintenance works.
He said that they are supported by the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Navy, and the local communities.
“When we cross the South China Sea, we will be traveling on our own northbound and almost near Shanghai, China and that is the most challenging. But I am expecting that we will get there by May 30. I would like to be back by June 12 for the Independence Day in Manila,” he added.
Valdez said the purpose of this voyage is to highlight that Filipinos are a maritime people.
“The Spaniards made us think that we are land-based people because when you take out people from their natural environment, it is easy to subjugate them. Now, there are many Filipinos who have so much fear in water. But I am proving it that, I am not a sailor but I sustained the toll of this voyage," he said.
In 2010, they sailed in the whole Southeast Asia for seven months.
One of the three boats in their voyage is motorized because they are using it when they dock in the port.
Sailboats are maritime hazards during docking, Valdez said.
“The threat to really sail is modernity. Modernity will not allow you to travel the way it was,” Valdez said.
They just make special arrangement when they dock in some international ports, he added.
The Balangay boat is made of Dungon wood which was tested in Japan–carbon tested and dated 320-80.
“We have a shipbuilding industry way before the coming of the Europeans and other colonials. I am just trying to prove that we are an archipelago. We are more water than land. We should focus on developing our waters and our external forces like the Navy and Coastguard,” Valdez added.