Mission to Coron, Palawan

I first went to Coron in Palawan when I was still a seminarian in the early 1990’s. We have a family of benefactors in the seminary who owns a property on the island of Busuanga. They have a family vacation house on stilts made of wood and nipa roof built on rocks situated in the middle of a cove. The house was solar powered and water for bathing and washing has to be transported from the nearest sitio about 20 minutes by boat. At night, when the sea is calm, it is very peaceful in that rest house which they came to call as “Kubo sa Dagat.”

From my first visit to Coron, I have since spent a few days of vacation every summer to this place that has become my favorite. My mother has a cousin who is from Coron, and I have spent several vacations at his house with family members and friends. The Calamian group of islands, to which the municipality of Coron belongs, is blessed with beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear waters. Aside from Maquinit Hot Spring, they have Kayangan Lake in Coron Island, which for a time was declared as the cleanest lake in Region IV. They also have several sunken Japanese warships scattered off Coron Island, which makes Coron one of the top ten best scuba diving sites in the world. In 2006, I took up a 3 day scuba diving course in one of the dive resorts in Coron.

When Super Typhoon Yolanda hit the central islands of the Philippines, I came to know from the news and social media what devastation the municipality of Coron suffered. I also found out that our friends’ rest house that was fondly called “Kubo sa Dagat” was literally wiped out from the sea. I immediately thought of sending help for Coron by raising funds through selling of t-shirts. I thought that since there are barangays in Coron that still does not enjoy the benefits of electricity, solar power can be useful for its residents. These solar set ups can help the residents to at least charge their cellular phones or rechargeable lamps. From the proceeds of the sale of about 800 t-shirts through the fundraising project, together with donations from friends who also wanted to send help for Coron, we were able to buy 10 sets of 100 watts solar panels and batteries with solar controllers. We also included 2 light bulbs for each set of solar panel and battery. With a group of 3 volunteers from Manila who accompanied me, we travelled for 14 hours to Coron on December 28, 2013 on board 2GO Ferry Boat. Our contact person in Coron was Vice Mayor Jim Gerald Pe, who was a graduate of Letran in Intramuros.

As soon as we arrived in Coron, after a quick brunch, we took a boat, accompanied by the vice mayor to one of the island barangays known as Banuang Daan. Its residents are indigenous natives known as Tagbanwas. We delivered a set of solar panel, battery and lights and entrusted it to the captain of the barangay. We also helped the vice mayor distribute stuffed toys that were sent for the children of Coron by the 1000 Bear Hugs Project. The smiles on the faces of the children who were devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda were indeed priceless.

The following day, we took a land trip to Barangay Bintuan, about 20 kilometers from the town proper of Coron and delivered several solar panels and batteries to Sitio Malbato. When we got back to town, another barangay captain from Barangay Lajala came over to receive our donation of solar panel, battery and lights. The barangay captain and one of his barangay councilors offered to bring us around the islands on their boat. Before the day was over, it was time for us to board the ferry back to Manila. We entrusted the distribution of the remaining solar set ups to the vice mayor and promised to send the cellular phone chargers which were still being fabricated by engineering students of UST at the time we went to Coron.