MORE OF PHILIPPINES THE BEAUTIFUL

I know. It looks like a scene out of the Swiss Alps or the Italian Dolomites. Mount Apo is considered sacred by timeless tradition. It has a cosmic force and energy which is felt by most everyone who comes in contact with it. The breathtaking orchid, Waling Waling - known by its biological name as Vanda Sanderiana grows best on Mount Apo. It is 35 cm. in diameter, its colors are cinnamon tinged with blue and red and a shocking pink. Observe the pine trees on your left. Usually pine trees grow on temperate or mild zones. It can get cold in the high slopes of Mount Apo.

Mount Apo in Davao, Mindanao

Boracay in Aklan province in the region of the Visayas.

There are thousands of beaches like these. It came as a surprise to me and to my sister that most of the beaches in the United States, Europe and Northern Africa are tatty, compared to our gorgeous ones in the Philippines. Uncle Rudy, Aunt Dahlia's husband , Lucrezia's favorite uncle and one on Fray Paco's favorite "hoomans" came from Capiz, close to Boracay Beach.
Pagsanjan Falls, Batangas, Luzon Province

The falls are near Taal Volcano and lake. The Ortigas - Nieto clan used to go on excursions to the falls. It was a real undertaking. The Sikh bodyguards and a private army of 50 men, up to their necks in daggers, bolos, guns, machine guns and hand grenades. A dozen pygmies armed with blowguns. Fray Paco with his two attendants ( twin dwarves) The Chinese Amahs, the Filipino yayas or ayahs looking after more than two dozen children, the uncles, aunts, cousins, the armed lookouts who perched on the rocks adjacent to the falls. That took meticulous organization and preparation. Dona Esperanza, the Matriarch, oversaw everything. After the massacre at Montalban,( which was less than 30 minutes away on foot) wherein 41 members and friends of the Ortigas-Nieto clan perished, the members of the clan when traveling en masse took great pains against attacks or ambushes by the Communist guerillas or mercenaries working for X governments. Only Lucrezia and the Mayor of Montalban survived the slaughter at Montalban, although the Mayor lost an arm. It is difficult to conceive that such beautiful natural scenery could conceal so much bloodshed and death.

"Beauty can be a terrifying thing, " Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky tells us.

An aerial view of part of the Hundred Islands of Pangasinan

The island closest to the camera with a piece of pearly white beach jutting out is Punta. It means point in Spanish. The islands are mostly uninhabited and are now used for recreational

visit and excursions by boat, banca - prau or yacht. Some have airports for small aircraft and helicopters. During the War in the Pacific, the Ortigas -Nieto clan riding on sturdy bancas/praus sought refuge in Punta, the 6th of December 1945, just before a vicious typhoon struck.
This jewel of a beach is in Gubat, Sorsogon, Bicol Province in the southern part of Luzon. White beach, Aquamarine water and a turquoise sky with royal blue thrown in. The photograph hardly does justice to this gems. The powerful warlord Tung Lok, dropped anchor further up. Whales, dolphins and Orcas came to these waters; they still do. The fish, plankton and other marine creatures seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of food for them. Lord Tung Lok's sailors hunted for coral in the waters and gold in the caves which abounded in Sorsogon. "Sugar gold " they called it because they could just scrape them off the walls, so thick and profuse was the gold. Hemp and abaca grew effortlessly. Sometimes the plantations had four or five harvests. The famous Manila Rope is a by=product of the abaca plantations. The "Katala" the pirate ship of Don Pedro de Freitas often came to Sorsogon for rest and recreation.

"It is said that the most beautiful women in the Philippine Islands, no, in Asia, are to be found in Bicol province. That strange amalgam of Spanish, Malay, Chinese,and Polynesian make for unique looking women," he informed his men.

Fray Paco loved journeys to Sorsogon. He could crack Pili nuts till his stomach almost burst. Pili nuts are considered the non plus ultra of nuts. They are rich in vitamin B,C, D, E, potassium, magnesium and strontium. They grow exclusively in Bicol province which means that onlythe rich can afford to eat them. Poor farmers in Sorsogon have endeavored to plant them, often with disastrous results because their upkeep is costly.

Lucrezia's father Edmund was born in Sorsogon of wealthy landowning Spanish - Chinese and Malay on his paternal side of the family. German - Spanish Jews made up his maternal side.

Some Photos of the Philippines

MOUNT MAYON - The Perfect coned volcano

It is in the Bicol Province of Albay. On the graceful skirts of Mayon Volcano you can see the green tropical forests. It is by no means a benign volcano. Throughout the centuries, including the 20th, it has erupted ferociously.

The warlord Tung Lok, pays 10,000 pounds gold sterling for the priceless cockatoo Fray Paco, then called Katala ( sold to him by the infamous pirate Don Pedro de Freitas; Tung Lok encounters a volcanic eruption of Mayon Volcano while on a buying expedition with his 70 Chinese junks.

At one time, my father's clan used to have a 30 thousand acre hemp and abaca plantation at the foot of Mayon. I remember holding my breath at the beauty of it as a young girl.

TAAL LAKE ON TAAL VOLCANO

We used to picnic by its shores and swim in the warm waters of the lake.Fray Paco would fly and glide high above us, showering us with his choicest quotations from his mangled Horace and Marcus Aurelius.

The lake is quite close to Manila, an hour's drive so we often went there. Few tourists of any nationality visited the Philippines then, except movie stars, politicians and billionaires like the Rockefellers.

Now, thankfully the mass of Filipinos have discovered their own treasures after having spent time abroad as domestics, workers, professionals and just plain RICH Filipinos.

They have come to realize that in many ways the Philippines is a far more beautiful country than many of the countries they visited and or worked in. Beyond a doubt. EVVIVA!!!

EL NIDO RESORT - MINDORO ISLAND

Mindoro is an immense island with superb international airports for the boring, thieving and thuggish Billionaires who often park their private jets in their own hangers while they party with the cookies/chicks of the moment.

After the wonders of Mindoro; Nice, Monte Carlo and Portofino leaves me frigid. But its Location, location, location, as they say.

Now the European, American and Arab billionaires with more money than taste are staying closer to home. Chinese billionaires are now coming to El Nido - which means the nest in Spanish.

When Fray Paco is kidnapped by a Colonel in General Yamashita's army during the Liberation of the Philippines in 1945/1946, he is taken aboard the destroyer Sakura Maru and the Japanese replenish their supplies in Mindoro.

This forms part of the hundred island chain of Pangasinan Province, in Northern Luzon. The Ortigas-Nieto clan nearly 100 plus souls in more than 15 large praus/bancas sought refuge deep in the jungles of these islands, Punta, Hala=Hala,Kawayan, Puti to name just a few. This was in order to escape the Japanese onslaught. Everyone, Filipino and foreign who crossed their paths ended up slaughtered and mutilated to pieces by their bayonets, hand grenades and firing squads.

In addition to Fray Paco, the clan carried Teddy bears, dolls, pet hens, champion fighting cocks, cats and dogs. The Cosmic Forces and the right hand of God must have protected them. All of the two-legged and four=legged creatures remained undiscovered and unharmed. God is great. The Philippines is great. MABUHAY!!!

THE IFUGAO RICE TERRACES

Built a thousand years ago by the warlike and imaginative engineers the Ifugao tribe of Benguet province in Northern Luzon. It is one of the wonders of the Modern world. The Ifugao and Igorot tribes still use it today. I have flown over them and they fill you with as much awe as Mayon Volcano, the chocoate hills of Bohol, Mount Apo in Davao Mindanao ( southern Philippines) or even the pyramids at Gizeh.

The Ortigas-Nieto clan had mountaintop villas and homes in Baguio City. After the Americans took the Philippines all the names in Baguio bore Anglo/American ones. Don Cesar built a retreat made of stone and narra wood in the foothills of the Cordillera mountain range. This was later inherited by Dona Esperanza who made important additions such as a verandah and 10 more bedrooms en suite.

Almost all the members of the clan played golf at the exclusive Camp John Hay. All the glitter litter,snobs, the marriageables, sauntered and showed of their beauty at Burnham Park in the late afternoon just before the extravagant meriendas.Philippine pine trees are a sight to behold. They do not have the umbrella, mushroom cloud look of the Mediterranean pines, instead they are majestic and almost triangular. Burnham Park was a forest of these pines.

Lucrezia and her cousins used to sit in the verandah and count the eagles and hawks circling below in the valley. Then dozens whirled and glided before them. Now, the Philippine eagle, a majestic golden raptor is almost extinct.

This was a trying time for Fray Paco. Eagles, hawks and falcons remain to this day, the natural enemies of cockatoos. He would perch on Lucrezia's shoulders and tremble or growl.