Swinging Thru Tiaong

 

Tiaong, the first town in Quezon past San Pablo City in Laguna, is actually the town-host for Villa Escudero, that high-end week-end get away resort and hacienda.  Jegs and I got a chance to visit some of the potential tourist spots in the town.  Jegs is helping Tiaong develop its tourism program (some kind of advocacy as she’s doing this practically pro bono), while working to complete her PhD in environmental science at UPLB (she just passed her comprehensive exams last week, yehey!).

Just past the boundary arch shared by Tiaong and San Pablo City, is a new facility called “Tagpuan sa Villa Escudero.”  There’s a McDo fast food resto there.  It’s where we met Tiaong’s Tourism Officer, Ms. Sheila Abaña, and her staff who accompanied us on the tour.  We had a quick breakfast, then started our Tiaong tour.

First stop. Bgy. Lalit, to take a look at Mainit Spring.  It’s a hot spring, although the water spouting from inside the earth is not really steaming hot, unlike those hot springs in Los Baños.  This particular spring, small as it is, and located by the river bank, can be developed into a nice pool of hot water where visitors could take a quick dip.  Residents of the place claim that water from the hot spring has medicinal effects on bathers.  Well, don’t most hot springs do?  Other visitors could enjoy either kayaking or river tubing on the river itself.  The hot spring also spouts water directly to the river as evidenced by the many bubbles along the river bank and in the deeper parts of it. 

Getting there now is through a hanging steel bridge, which adventurous visitors would enjoy.  For the less adventurous, like seniors wanting just to take a dip in the hot spring, a concrete bridge running side by side with the steel bridge could be constructed.

From there we passed by the Municiapal Hall and on the way picked up Ms. Lanie Limbo, a DENR personnel, who says her group was temporarily housed in the DA building because their building was being renovated.  She was careful not to say that she’ll be the CENRO (Community Environmental Officer) but she probably will get the post.  She’s a graduate of UPLB (Forestry).

Second stop, Bgy. Ayusan, to have a look at a few areas that have potentials as places of interest.  We visited the Cow Farm there, owned by the Katigbak Family of Lipa City.  According to the Farm Manager of the Cow Farm, Mr. Ronnie Ernie (who used to be with the National Dairy Authority), they have 138 heads of Holstein breeds, which are good producers of milk.  The Cow Farm, we were informed provide milk and yogurt to Starbucks in Lipa City.  Thing is, when we visited the place we almost didn’t see any cow as they were grazing in bushes elsewhere.  Besides, the Cow Farm’s processing plant is in Lipa City, so there’s very little action in this farm.  Not quite exciting as tourist spot.  Jegs took note of the place because if the owner agrees, the Cow Farm could be developed as part of the agri-tourism program of Tiaong.

At Bgy. Ayusan, too, are a few more spots.  For example, we were informed that there was a cave in the place, known as Ayusan Cave.  We didn’t get to it, although we were to a place where we could see the rock formations on the slope of the mountain that was obviously part of the cave.  I inquired from the residents in the area if there were bats or perhaps snakes in the cave but they didn’t know.  They claim, though, that there were many monkeys in the place.  We didn’t visit the cave, and we didn’t see the monkeys.

From Bgy. Ayusan, one can see clearly a grassland patch near the peak of the mountain they call the Malarayat-Malipunyu Mountain.  The portion of the mountain facing Tiaong is called Malipunyu, while that facing Lipa City is called Malarayat.  

 At the Malarayat side, of course, is the Malarayat Golf Club in Lipa City.  I saw a great potential of the Tiaong side of the mountain (Malipunyu) as a mountain trekking area for those who enjoy trekking, or mountain bikers. Lanie says there are bikers who have been frequenting the mountain.

At Bgy. Ayusan, as well, we visited a Gawad Kalinga community where residents have organized themselves into the Kapit Bahayan Producers’ Cooperative.  

Their project is charcoal briquetting, using coconut husk as raw material.  Their charcoal making plant has a capacity of 300 kg/day but currently  producing only 60 Kg/day.  If one is interested to experience making charcoal briquettes, it would take no more than an hour to complete the cycle, from husk burning, grinding, mixing with water a flour, pressing in the briquette molder, and drying.   

 The entire process is fully manual.  Charcoal briquette may be the main product of the manufacturing process, but they do have a by-product that they call “liquid smoke.”  How is this produced?

In a burning cylinder (drum) they load coconut husks of about 20 coconuts.  On a short spout on top of the drum is fitted a bamboo pipe where the smoke escapes.  

As the smoke is hot it also produces steam, which condenses as the smoke is forced all the way to the tip of the bamboo pole.  In the process, the condensed steam flows back down and goes into a container, such as a plastic bottle.  For each loading of the burner (husks from some 20 pieces of coconuts), they’re able to harvest one liter of liquid from the smoke steam, which they call “liquid smoke.”  According to the cooperative members, the “liquid smoke” has interesting uses, like a deodorant that can neutralize the stink from piggeries, organic fertilizer, and the like.  The operators of the charcoal briquetting project claim, too, that dried husk of young coconut produce more “liquid smoke.”  The members of the Kapit Bahayan Cooperative are lucky because they get assistance from three sectors: the GK, the Department of Agriculture, and the Office of the Mayor of Tiaong.

From Bgy. Ayusan, we proceeded to Bgy. San Pedro to have a quick look at Lake Tikub, a small crater lake (about 49 has.).  The lake doesn’t have an outlet, and it doesn’t have  watershed area either.  From the rim of the lake, one could see a steep drop, from about 75-90 degrees.  There are only a few large trees but the steep slope is full of bushes.  The LGU of Tiaong is undertaking a project to develop this lake as a premier tourist attraction of the municipal government.  This place really has great potentials as tourist destination.  My personal bias is to construct a two-lane circumferential road on top of the ridge around the lake (the inner lane could be bikers’ lane, while the outer lane could be for four-wheel vehicles.  Buses, however, shouldn’t be allowed on this circumferential road.  Additionally, when bikers and joggers wish to take a quick deep in the lake, then they should be able to go down the lake, either through stairs, or a sloping road that  undulates through the slopes of Tikub Lake.  For each quarter distance around the lake should be an asphalt road winding down to the lake so that there would be four primary access to the lake itself.  These winding roads should be passable by four wheel vehicles, provided by the Tourism Council of Tiaong.  This means that all vehicles ferrying visitors shall have to park in parking places constructed around the perimeter road on the rim of Lake Tikub.  Big vehicles like buses should not be permitted to go down the lake.

We then proceeded to Bgy. Lumingon to see the facility on top of a hill and what residents call The White House.  It’s a private dwelling comprised of many buildings appropriately arranged and constructed on top of a hill overlooking some 50 hectares of private property, as well as the town of Tiaong.  I understand that the owner wants this property to be further developed as an agri-tourism destination.  For now, there are plans to develop the surrounding slopes for agroforestry purposes.  We had lunch in the White House.  Well, sort of because we had brought with us packed lunch.  However, meals could be served if arrangements are made ahead of time.  The place is windy and all rooms are filled with art pieces executed by the owner of the place.

From The White House, we proceeded to Ugu Bigyan’s pottery plant in Bgy. Lusacan.  That’s my first time to visit Ugu’s pottery plant, and it’s impressive in terms of it being sprawling, comprised, as well, of different buildings with sparse walls and with lots of trees.  I enjoyed interviewing one of the potters there about making clay pots, tempering those pots, drying them and finally glazing them so that they would be glossy.

The last place we visited was the RHB Resort in Bgy. Cabay.  This resort is along the highway leading to Laia Beech in San Juan, Batangas, quite remote but once inside one sees a beautiful garden resort.  It has five buildings each one with two double rooms.  There are also building quarters for families.  It has a decent sized pavilion, a couple of swimming pools for adults and kids.  The house of the owner is on a separate compound adjoining the resort.  This resort appears to be an excellent place for small-group workshops and meetings.

There were still many places to see, but we’ll visit those places another day.