As we celebrate our country's independence, it brings me great joy to celebrate our cashew treasures from Coron! Believe it or not, most cashews available here are imported from Vietnam, known for its large-scale production and lower prices. That's why I am happy to discover the Palawan Cashew Company, the first and sole semi-automated cashew processing facility in the Philippines.
Raw cahsew for sun drying
This pioneering company is dedicated to crafting high-quality, all-natural cashew products that proudly bear the "Made in Coron, Palawan" label. What sets them apart is their commitment to sourcing cashews directly from Coron's wild forest, where locals hand-picked them. This approach not only ensures the highest quality but also helps revive the cashew industry in the country while bolstering local livelihoods.
Gone with the Wynns interview with the founder, Raul Bulaong on May 12, 2024
If you love cashews like I do, I highly recommend trying Palawan Cashew Company's products. Under the brand name Pedro, they offer whole cashew kernels and a range of bottled cashew butter products. These products are available at Real Food Rockwell and will soon be at Healthy Options.
The Palawan Cashew Company'sbottled cashew butter products under the brand name "Pedro"
By choosing the Palawan Cashew Company, you not only savor a delectable and sustainable treat but also support a homegrown business that is fostering positive change within the community. Happy Independence Day!
Over Sunday lunch on July 8, my sister Roca who will soon be migrating abroad, declared that she wants to explore the Philippines before she goes. Top on her list was Palawan. I told her that I've been to St. Paul's Underground River several times before and would love to join if Tabon Cave is included in her itinerary. So lo and behold, the very next day, she made plans and that following weekend, we were off to Puerto Princesa - my aunt (Tita Flor), Roca and niece flew a day earlier to visit the Underground River.
I have never been to Tabon Cave and learned about it in history class in grade school. The site is where the skull of the earliest man in the Philippines was discovered in May 1962 by an american anthropologist Dr. Robert Fox. The fossils date back between 22,000 and 20,000 B.C. Actually, the site is a cave complex in a 138-hectare island in Lipuun Point in Quezon municipality about 145 kilometers southwest of Puerto Princesa.
It is not easy to get to Tabon. My sister found only one travel agent that services the site. And it is a whole-day trip, a three-hour ride from Puerto Princesa to Quezon and mind you, some portions are quite bumpy. Then, another 30-min ride by banca (outrigger boat).
The ride is quite scenic going through vast rice fields including that of the Iwahig Penal Colony or prison without walls. It was built by the Americans in 1904 to serve as a source of food supply for prisoners and now, it is known as a source for finely made handcrafted bags and souvenirs.
At the National Museum in Quezon
The first stop in Quezon was the National Museum. Here we registered, toured the museum featuring some of the excavated artefacts and watched the required educational video about the island. Since it was past noon, we decided to abort the planned picnic on the island and eat in the museum.
After lunch, it was a short drive to the pier to get on the banca. Note: wear trekking sandals! We had to walk through rocks in the pier and upon reaching the island, we had to carefully tread our way through urchin-laden water to shore.
Entrance to the cave
According to our guide, the Tabon Cave complex has 218 caves, only 22 have been explored and only seven are accessible to the public. Unfortunately, 'accessible' doesn't mean you can enter the caves. We were allowed up to the mouth of each cave. If you want to enter the caves, you must ask permission from the National Museum before going.
The place is not a popular tourist destination at all. We were the only ones on the island. The last tourists who came, logged in two weeks before us. So you can imagine how pristine the place is. It was so quiet that we could hear the birds chirping, the wind rustling the leaves and hear our heart beat from climbing steep steps and that's a total of 1,054 steps! Our guide said that often times, he would spot snakes, wild boars and even bear cats.
White sand beach of Tabon Cave
The tour is a good trek - an hour or two depending on your stamina. The path will cut through rainforest. If your knees are weak, I would suggest to climb the steps slowly - - or go for a swim, walk the white sand beach or tan.
For those who wish to visit Tabon Cave, you can do it yourself - hire a van, bring packed lunch and drinks and text Jay of the National Museum in Quezon at (0948) 159-0955 to inform him of your date of arrival and number of tourists. This is much cheaper than the P4,500 per person we were charged by the Tour operator. The cost though included everything - the van and driver, a licensed tour guide, entrance fees, packed lunch and drinks.
Birthday celebrant Pinky with Pi and Camille behind
I just spent the weekend in Bahay Kalipay (BK) in Puerto Princesa, Palawan to celebrate Pinky's birthday detoxing (diet consisted of all raw food and coconuts) and doing some inner dance.
BK-owner, Maia EarthVillage-founder and inner dance lead Pi Villaraza was busy preparing for the Maian Planet 2012 Festival, a gathering of inner dance practitioners from all over the world. He's expecting over 50 participants. I met the ladies from Hawaii - Petronella (who gave us a traditional Lomi massage), her sister, Amaya and raw food expert Elle; Americans Mary and Shannon; the Brits UFC fighter Tom, DJ Vicky; Singaporeans, French and Filipinos. There are more coming before the festival begins on March 21.
Maia Earth Village in Palawan
I asked him if he timed the event during the March 22 warning and he said that March 21 is the date of the spring equinox when the day is equal to night. The word is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). Also, the date falls on a new moon.
The festival's venue is in the Maia Earth Village, the first intentional community in the Philippines. It is now mushrooming with almost built structures - a yoga shala, a healing space, an indigo school and an inner dance center. The last time I was there, the main building (left) photo was under construction.
Quoting from his post, the festival's venue is "within Maia Conscious Community grounds, an eco-village that rests on the principles of inner dance process. Maia is not a geographical place on earth, it is rather an ongoing visioning of applying inner dance ascension principles to practical life." He said that the purpose of the gathering is for the practitioners to interact with othr cultures and "experience each other with heightened inner dance, inner languge, inner world and conscious community levels."
Pi welcoming the Singaporeans (who are not in the photo)
Pinky helping UFC fighter Tom
Camille, Ellie and Shannon (who's happy her tumor's gone after 10-days on raw food)
After this weekend's experience, it is quite uncanny that I chanced upon this video uploaded in November 2010 of Keisha Crowther, a Shaman referred to as the Little Grandmother who prophesied to expect a pole shift in 2012 (well, this year) and to prepare ourselves. She said that
"we literally have two years to change the way we are... That which you give your energy or emotion to becomes your reality.. In the next couple of years, many things are going to change... if you stay in your heart and are excited for what is coming then you will live in joy.. If we do not change and stay in the mind and ego, we will be removed. All we are asked to do is be love."
"In this country, for some reason, what moves and makes it happen is People Power" Gina Lopez declared at the 20th anniversary of Maalala Mo Kaya's (MMK) premiere of "Palawan". Gina is referring to the 10-million signature campaign that she has launched in February this year that would convince the Philippine government to finally say no to mining in Palawan.
Gina claimed that she is not against the mining industry per se and instead wants to set up No Go Zones. Meaning, there are key biodiversity areas in the country that shouldn't and must never be mined. She cited specifically the islands.
The islands are defined as [quoting Gina] "where you have a mountain, forest, coral reefs, mangroves and farmlands. It's not large tracts of land like Canada or Australia where, if you have an accident when you mine, no one will suffer. In islands like Palawan, Rapu Rapu, Manikanin and all these other islands.. if you have one accident, it goes to the ricefields [destroys farmlands], goes to the sea and kills the coral reef .. what we want is to have certain areas in the country as No Go Zones, please don't mine there because tourism and agriculture [option] is much better. The way it is now, you can mine everywhere."
The No2MininginPalawan Movement is a multi-sectoral alliance of different concerned civic groups to raise awareness and to stop current and upcoming mining activities in Palawan and in other key biodiversity areas in the Philippines.
Todate, the campaign has acquired over 2 million signatures and has 8 million to go. She urged everyone "if each and everyone here takes it on and realizes deep in your heart like Bogs [referring to the MMK episode], what future do we give our kids? Do we have to travel overseas to experience nature? Why can't we protect what we have here? So mining I feel is a real threat , they have a track record of suffering and destruction and in the meantime, we have economic alternatives that show there is another way."
Palawan directed by Brillante Mendoza
"Palawan" is the first television project of 2009 Cannes Film Festival best director awardee Brillante Mendoza. The story is about Bogs Villanueva, a mother who fought her way to stop nickel mining in her hometown in Calatigas, Narra, Palawan and in the process, lost her sight and almost lost her family. As of this writing, the government has stopped the nickel mining in Calatigas.
My birthday is coming up in a few days and this year, I want to do something different. Instead of the usual fanfare celebrating, I've decided to help others and give back to the community.
Since I am passionate about diving, I've decided to help the people of Culion through the "I dive Culion" project that my diver friend Memey is leading together with Father Xavier Alpasa, SJ.
Culion is an island situated at the northernmost part of Palawan in the Phlippines, about an hour away by boat from Coron (Busuanga). Some of you may remember that Culion used to be a leper colony.
In 1904, during the American period, the then Civil Governor Luke E. Wright signed the transfer of jurisdiction and control of Culion from the Municipality of Coron; and hence, the island has been established as a leper colony. In 1988, the administrative control of the island was transferred from the Department of health to the Municipality of Culion, ending nearly one century of administrative control by the health department.
In 2006, the World Health Organization declared the island free of the disease.
Please note that the "I dive Culion" project is only one of the components of the Isla Culion, Hotel Maya social entreprenurship program of Fr. Alpasa. His vision is to make the once shunned leper colony, self-sufficient through ecotourism.
As a diver, I want to help create and make the planned dive facility sustainable and income generating. The target is to open a dive center on the island on December 8, 2011. At present, most of the dive centers are located in Coron.
The first step is to train a local as a divemaster. Memey has identified a local "Renli" to undergo dive training from open water to divemaster in Coron. He needs support as follows:
1. Transportation allowance to Coron for training (P120 one-way x 24 trips) = P2,880
2. Open Water course to start on July 21 - P15,000
3. Advance Open Water course to start on August 21 - P12,000
4. Rescue Course to start on September 21 - P12,000
5. Payment for EFR - P5,000
6. Dive Master Course to start on October 2011 - P31,000
The total cash support to cover Renli's training amounts to P77,800. By the way, he also needs a buoyancy compensator (BC) and regulator to complete his gear. A kind soul already gave him mask and fins.
Of course, aside from training Renli to become a divemaster, the following are also needed:
- dive equipment (in good condition) for the dive shop
- and support for the coral reef protection program
The next step is to educate the residents of Culion (at a later date) on how to protect their environment and preserve their reefs so that eventually, it will be an ecotourism area that will give them employment opportunities.
I do hope I can appeal to your kind hearts to help the "I dive Culion" project. This is either in cash or in kind. I will be visiting and diving there next month - during the four day weekend, and if you want to join, please do drop me a note.
I've always believed that life is short, opportunities are few and I have only so much energy.. So I'm taking this opportunity and focusing my energy on "I dive Culion" as my personal social responsibility this year. I will for sure see it through the d-day on December 8, 2011.
Let me end by sharing what Martin Luther King Jr. said "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?" Thank you and God bless.
"I am not a guru or a healer; I am just a mirror to allow you to see things as they truly are” says Pi Villaraza when asked what he does.
I joined Pi’s detox, healing and energy training program in Bahay Kalipay in Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan last Labor Day weekend. He said that "Bahay Kalipay is our home. Because of the nature of our work in healing and detoxification, people naturally come to us to visit, heal, train and to center themselves. Thus, we decided to open up our home… to accommodate others while retaining as much of the basic simplicity we find as effective conditions for the work that we do." This includes hand pumping water that apparently most foreigners find charming.
I first met Pi when Rosanna Escudero invited me to do “Inner Dance” last March. He struck me as someone stripped off Ego –very simple in a t-shirt, jeans and sandals and extremely articulate while making all these “crackling” sounds.
Pi learned the ancient Filipino healing modality of the Babaylans after undergoing a vision quest that took him to the States in 2002 where he met powerful teachers and spirit guides that eventually led him back to the Philippines to do a walking pilgrimage around Mindanao like a hermit without money or contacts; and ended holing up for two-years on a deserted beach in Palawan subsisting on coconuts. He said “I felt a powerful urge to detach myself from all external sources of energy – family, money, friends and the many distractions of the world.”
He later coined it “inner dance” because of the dance-like movement generated from the internal energy. After a powerful session that night at Rosanna’s which was cathartic, my left side - the piriformis and ITB injury from the marathon- that has been bothering me for the last six months somehow felt better.
Pi describes inner dance as “Those who undergo the experience will soon find that it is not a dance, really, but more of an inner work that unifies mind, body, and spirit. It is a meditation that allows one to access powerful forces that simultaneously silences the mind.” Anna, who neither dances or practice yoga, was trance-like, gracefully twirling her hands and arms, moving with the music even doing back bends! She kept going for almost two hours. Short clip here:
The program consists of raw food live enzyme diet with a one day coconut flush, eco-tourism (visit to the Hot Springs or if the weather is good, sailing), organic gardening, handicraft (how to make a dream catcher), and healing and energy workshops which included daily Inner Dance, massage, Inner Yoga, Meditation, and self-processing spirituality. The workshops are experiential and interactive. He said “At the end of the stay, the goal is to have made a healing difference in specific physical, emotional and spiritual blockages the participant wants to focus his release work on. The secondary goal is to teach self-healing and simultaneously how to heal others.”
His organic garden set-up is in a way similar to Peter Caddy's, the founder of Findhorn Community in Scotland. There is a compost heap, potash (lime) and some guidance with the garden deva (through Daniw) who introduced mulch from the coconut husks to insulate the soil and protect the seedling. I planted my first organic tomato plant (left photo) in a terrain of mostly rock and coral and mixed with compost and all the essentials.
The experience was worthwhile and to me, downright full of integrity --from the simplicity of the place down to the simplicity of our food intake.
I learned a lot from just being simple. Inner dance is really a journey inward. The raw food diet, inner dance exercises, quieting of the mind are all tools to release mind/body/spirit from so-called blockages. With this release, I have more energy and am now more mindful and aware---ready to listen and see the signs that will help me toward a healthy, happy life…filled with peace from within.
Pi has helped others with medical conditions such as glaucoma, cysts, migraines, psoriasis, depression etc. Perhaps with this new found learning and practice, I can start by healing myself (treat simple aches and pains) and maybe in the future, advance to helping others mirror themselves.
Pi and Danui will be traveling to Singapore and will be in Manila on May 20 for a one-day workshop. To find out more about inner dance visit http://innerdance.multiply.com/
Also, to watch Pi in action, check out Epi Quizon's video "The Dancer Within":
