Down South Mindanao

If it weren’t for the job i am into I wouldn’t be able to explore the beauty of Butuan City. Bounded by a connecting flight from naga city to manila here I am waiting for my next flight to Butuan City Agusan Del Norte Philippines. I am travelling together with Mayor Yu and Mayor Embot to attend the 7^th South South Academy called by RED CROSS and CARE Nederland. This NGO help our municipality a lot. From them I learned all the things with regards to disaster risk management and survival in times of disaster.

I wake up late today but I was able to catch my flight. I live far from the airport good thing we have a very resourceful and fast driver. He took us to the airport in time for our flight. Since my flight will be an hour for now we will have our lunch first before we boarded for our next flight and who would want to travel with an empty stomach. I will be in Butuan City for the next seven days and it will be long and the flight will last for two hours more. Its so nice to travel with two lovely mayors everybody seems so nice and smiling and we are always in the front row and I love the VVIP treatment but even so I do have to follow strict airport rules from our luggage down to the backpack I am carrying. Its nice to be with them most of the time. By the way mayor embot is the town mayor adjacent to our municipality and mayor yu is her very best friend.  

According to my briefing documents which I get from the organizer mayor yu will present the Calabanga’s Experience on Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation the day after tomorrow but since we are traveling for free and all-expense paid we grab the opportunity to get there ahead of time not to stroll around but to observe since the 7^th South South will be participated by the different Asian nationalities and leaders. It will be fun and I am pretty sure joining in every session will enhance our knowledge more. And we will not get there empty handed I too and mayor yu did prepare all the things we needed for the said presentation. We practiced for two days. It is the expertise and preparedness of our municipality that we are to show case this time and not alone that it is also our chance to invite them and gain partnership as well. And since Mayor Yu is one of the DRR practitioners it is our very big chance to gain for our municipality’s accord and we need to impress them very much.

Off to lunch….

And so here I am inside the plane waiting for it to touch down the city of Butuan Agusan Del Norte Mindanao.

…….

To our surprise we travel along with the CARE Nederland Representative Celso Dulce inside the plane. Tito Oslec as I called him is a very kind, handsome, generous calabangueno. He never misses any chance to give Calabanga anything he can afford. It was him who bring to Calabanga all the blessings a local government cant afford for the partnership and collaboration from an international NGO funded by the European Commission.

We stayed at Hotel Balangay. It’s a beautiful hotel situated in the heart of Butuan. The walls and floors are made up of narra tree. It is very clean, well-polished and smells really good. They also displayed artefacts of the Philippine history way back from our forefathers in their lobby.

 The first thing I get to see is Pam! Pam is there too! Im so happy to see pam because I miss her very much! The hotel staffs take us to the hotel room. I get to change my clothes and freshen up then headed to the conference room. My day 1 ended up listening to all the success stories from the different part of Asia. I feel so tired but it all worth it. I got the chance to meet all the DRR practitioners, shared my stories, exchange emails and make more friends.

Day 2

I was thrilled to visit st. joseph’s church in the city of Butuan. I went along with maam mijares for this early trip because she will catch her flight to Malaysia. We went to the City Park and city hall too. Its so nice and I feel safe the people are all polite.

We spent all day listening to all success stories and visit every kiosk decorated by the participants from the Asian country. Good thing I was an early riser and early riser usually gets plenty of rewards. My boss will surely feel glad bringing this stuff home.

So excited on her very big day mayor yu told me to sleep early so that tomorrow I will have all the energy I needed for the success of our presentation and I obeyed her.

Day 3

Day start the big day and this is it. All I can say is that the amount of clap we received while doing it speaks of how good and successful we are during the presentation. Mayor yu did a very great job. Shes a great speaker and I bow her for that.

We get the chance to visit  mayor yu’s distant relative in the city. They are doctors here. And lucky to have meet their family. They are so kind to us.

On Day 4

Today we are going to explore the hidden beauty and all of Butuan. The convoy take us 3 hours to get to this place.