Fuga Island's Treasure Tales

They got 3 gold bars here.

They got this rock out of this hill and claim that they got the gold bars hidden in this rock.

When some other folks learned about this, people went to the hills and dug to the ground. Not small-time digging, but I mean, big time. No one knew if they got what they were looking for. So don’t ask me. I don’t know too. Was there oil here? I don’t know too.

I heard that there were some century-old jars here kept by the Japanese soldiers. Remember that I mentioned in my other post that there is a cave or a tunnel, where I rode that horse freely? This is where most of the jars where found. And I was even stepping on broken jars while I was appreciating the gorges. The jars were made of… oh I really do not know. But I know someone who owns one of the jars. I think so.

I just saw some rocks scattered all over. A result of the digging.

They told me that there is a golden bell in this church. Where is it now? It disappeared. This place gave me magic and how magical it was that the bell that can only be carried by 4 strong men was made to disappear in illusion. Magic! Abracadabra! Don’t ask me, I don’t know where it is now.

There was also a jar filled with century old coins found under the ground, of this church. Where is it now? Don’t ask me. I do not know. What I know is where exactly the jar was recovered.

This church is huge. I do not know when it was burned. But people were in here when it was blazed to its ruins. I was warned not to ask or interface with the people of where this church was located, Sitio Naguilian. They said I might get bewitched. Is it a myth? Oh, I think it’s true, so, I left immediately.

Aside from coins, jars and gold bars, I was told that this island used to have a lot of deer roaming around. They were just there, in the hills, all around. Then what happened to them? Did they become endangered? Extinct? Or was there danger that arrive the hills of Fuga that made all the deer disappear? I was told where these deer are now, where their antlers are displayed. I believe the narration that when some of the deer did not fit in the big boat, they were all slaughtered. But why? I really cannot comprehend. I do not know. Don’t ask me.

The beach shore used to be so clean, I was told. Aside from the waters now getting so close to the land, where the folks live, there were a lot of broken corals. I was told that this was caused by the dynamite fishing and all the illegal means of getting the great resource of the ocean.

I am glad I did not witness those little sharks that were eaten for lunch a week before I arrived there. I just saw the photos. How about the pawikan (marine turtle) that was eaten for dinner? They also got some eels. Sometimes, I would like to wish that I captured it with my eyes. I hope they did not notice that I was not at all excited to know that they had eaten all these. There was even dried shark flakes.

Those fishermen did not even have permits, I surmised. As they feared the marine coast guards. Am glad I can understand a little bit of the dialect that they speak. I pretended not to know. It’s good to pretend and sound stupid sometimes. I was trying to charm them for them to show me their harvest. They denied that they got fish. They said that there was not much. I said I will buy. They just gave me the lobster. They just know. I had a camera. One said to the other in a mixed dialect, “If you pose in her camera, it will be the end of your life, you will definitely get in jail.”  

I am just happy that the coral reefs near the chasms are untouched. The waves kill there. Oh can the fishermen just go there then? I don’t want to be bad.  But how can you be so nice when you hear how people destroy the resource they get their lives from!

I was prevented to go to the other Sitio. I only went to two. There were four more. I rented a three-engine boat so badly but they all have the reasons for me not to go. They said I cannot go to where they plant their crops.

I had difficulty getting a ride going back. They thought that I was a reporter. I had a camera. I was taking photos all around. When I was in Mabag, I was also prevented to go to Barit. They told me a lie, which I realized that it was when I was sent to Barit, because I was pretending to be crying that I had to go back to the mainland and willing to pay to rent another boat. The boat that I can rent was in the Islet of Barit. A big boat was there. I witnessed the quarrying of pebbles and broken corals. And they did not know who owns it. Weh. I am even sad to write it now. And I want to stop writing.

Even SBL did not want the digging of these pebbles under the sea. The water is now getting closer to Mabag. Only half meter of sand can be seen. These people were selling so cheaply that part of nature that be left unscathed. What they do is not only affecting these islets but it extends to the mainland. And the entire system of the ocean. They were even telling me that some years back, there were more fishes in the sea. Now, it was scarce. The fishermen that I saw, were using compressor to dive and fish.

I was offered two eggs of the Tabon bird. They were telling me that these species of bird is disappearing too. My heart was crying. I just mentioned, “Oh bakit nyo sila kinukuha, dapat maging ibon sila.”

I know a person who told me that she was teaching people then on how to use the great resources of the abundant ocean near them. She was even called for by a big foreign country to save and preserve this great marine sanctuary. I am hopeful they try to get in touch with her again.

These people know how they are treating the ocean. They just know that what they do is illegal and simply bad for them, in the future. They have seen the effects now.  They experience it. But they would not stop. Now that they have no fish to sell, they sell the sands, the pebbles, and the broken corals.  

I am just happy that there were remaining bonsai in the island. I was told that some foreigner boats used to get them for free. Am just happy to know that it was prohibited to pull out these beautiful bonsai plants from their origins. I am also happy to see the plants that are used for mat-weaving are abundant.

When I went to Fuga, I did not know what to see. I left with so much concern and care. And exactly as I end this, on television, are children diving to get those little fish for the aquarium, sell and make money out of it. What a coincidence.

I travel with a happy heart. But the reality that I see in my travels is enough to break my heart.

What a beautiful island I have been to. And it is true that I want to go back and stay behind. Not for the gorges, not for the free coconut juice, not for the great view of the islets, not for the red rice, not for the horse ride, not for the gold bars.

But I would like to make a stand. If the officials collaborate with those fishermen, without permits to fish, and just get all the little sharks out of the water and devour them, or if they even make money out of it, then I will tell the children in that elementary school what should be, to preserve the treasure. So that their children will tell wonderful tales.

You cannot teach the old dogs the new tricks. I will let them fish freely around those reefs with killer waves and let them be swallowed by the nature that they kill consciously. That’s not so bad. I think that will be fair enough.