Philippines: A Rolling Stone . . . .

August/Sept 2010

Just before I'd gone back to the UK I'd moved out of my rented accommodation in Iloilo (and happy to leave the incessant barking dogs) into more temporary (and cheaper) digs, so my whole life was back in boxes again.

Once back from my trip the priority was to find a new place to live near to the new project, although in the interim I did have the chance to visit a conservation project about 2 hours north-west from Iloilo.

Mari-it Conservation Park, linked to the nearby college, concentrates on the conservation of indigenous hornbills, deer and pigs.

Entrance to the Park

It wasn't a bad place either. Plenty to see and being shown around was done on a one-to-one basis with one of the park's volunteers who gave the run-down on the species, reason for their decline (too many people of course) and background to the park. What I found particularly depressing is when I asked about programmes of reintroduction I was told there were none as all the species kept there were either in too smaller numbers to breed successfully, had an acute lack of habitat and the due to the uncontrollable problem of poaching. So the rarest animals were destined to spend the rest of their existence in zoo in a cage. Sad. Terribly sad.

Hornbill

Endangered (Apparently) Warty Pig

Insofar as the relocation of my accommodation and project office were concerned, the initial intention was to go and set up in Manila. With the new project being in Bataan it seemed like the ideal place (dire traffic and high crime not withstanding) with the nearby international and domestic airport, communications and facilities available. Areas such as Makati are relatively safe too. However, the key to this was the fast ferry connection from Manila to Bataan that would allow me to travel across Manila Bay to the project in an hour or so.

Having contacted a few letting agencies I spent a long weekend in Manila looking at apartments to rent. It was during this laborious and tedious process that I learnt that the ferries had been permanently discontinued (they were an on/off event anyway) and so I had to come up with a Plan B.

The obvious choice seemed to be either Angeles City or Subic Bay, both are only 45 minutes drive from the project in Bataan, have good infrastructure (a legacy of the Americans) and generally good security. However, there had been a few fatal shootings in down town Angeles hence I decided that perhaps Subic Bay would be better.

I arranged to spend a week in Subic looking for somewhere more permanent to rent. Not wanting to particularly stay in a hotel I found a home-stay and so arranged to stop there for a couple of weeks. It wasn't what I'd call a home-stay in the true sense of the meaning - i.e. I wasn't living with a family - as they had converted the ground level of their former US military staff home into a separate, self contained unit with its own small kitchen and bathroom. The home-stay was owned by an Australian family and they were friendly and helpful, keen to advise and assist where necessary. The service was good and the atmosphere relaxed. They own a diving school in Subic Bay so I'm already signed up to do my diving course early in the New Year.

The only minor problem with the place was they seemed to have a rat living in the partition wall that made a horrendous sound as it chomped at the timber studwork at night and kept me awake on a couple of occasions. Several times in the night I had to get up and bang the wall which seemed to quieten it down for a while but it was soon back at work, chewing and gnawing away. I reported it to the owners, much to their embarrassment, and I don't know what they did but least they manage to get rid of it by the time I returned. On more upbeat note regarding the wildlife, because the US base had a forestry protection policy and was free from poachers, there seems to be a healthy population of bird life. Monkeys are frequent visitors, pulling over dustbins and generally making mischief. Also, there are hornbills in the canopy so I needn't have gone to the trouble of visiting the Mari-it Park to see them in cages.

Wild Subic Hornbills

Them Cheeky Monkeys

I signed up with a couple of letting agencies and started doing the tour of potential property rentals. It was disappointing. I asked to see furnished and gave them a budget but if it was in budget, it was unfurnished and if it was furnished, it was out of budget. I did see quite a nice apartment in town but when I discovered that there was a 24 hour cafe/bar almost outside the bedroom window I decided not to take it.

As time went by and nothing suitable came along I decided to look at a semi detached house a couple of doors up from the home-stay. It was unfurnished but the price was reasonable so I figured that I could afford to use some of the rental allowance on buying furniture. If it was a short term proposition it wouldn't be worth it but as the intention is to remain and operate from Subic for the next couple of years I convinced myself that it was a viable option. The house has been recently refurbished, is spacious with two bedrooms, lounge and kitchen upstairs and a self contained 2 room unit downstairs. It also has a rather splendid first floor timber verandah at the rear that I could envisage myself lounging on, knocking back G&Ts, so I signed up.

The landlord provided an ancient TV and salsa set (sofa and stool) which has to be the most uncomfortable sofa I've ever sat on. The Aussies from the homestay gave me two single beds, a rather worn out three-piece suite and a dining table with more than enough chairs. This has been enough to keep me going for the time being but I still need to buy a decent sofa and bed.

In addition, I've discovered that a former colleague of mine from my days working on the casino in Singapore lives but 300 yards down the road and another former colleague from my days in Iraq and Taiwan is also renovating a house and planning to move to Subic, so I won't be a Billy-no-mates the whole time I'm here.

During the first weekend here I went to the war memorial at Mt. Samat. Mt. Samat is a the site of some of the fiercest fighting between the Japanese and US/Philippines troops and which culminated in the Bataan Marches atrocity. The memorial is a huge cross so large that you can travel up in an elevator and there is a viewing gallery in the horizontal cross arm. We were rather hoping to go to the very top but we were told we couldn't. We weren't told why we couldn't, we just couldn't. Which rather hacked me off because we weren't told this before we paid to go up. However, I doubt if there is anything more to be seen by going to the very top than can be seen at the cross arms. From there the refinery at our next project was visible. If the weather had been clearer, Manila across the bay would have also been clearly visible as well. And there was a good view of the surrounding Bataan peninsular.