Saturday, February 6, 2010 was an extraordinary day for me, since I will be traveling away from my usual work and station. This day, I will be joining my former co-employees at the Bureau of Customs, Sub-Port of Isabel, Leyte to Catbalogan City, Western Samar to attend the burial/internment of a colleague who is from the said place.
The agreed time of departure from Palompon is between 6:30am and 7:00am, but again because of the so-called "Filipino Time" habit, we were able to leave my place only at about 8:00am, in a Nissan Urvan van owned by our Sub-Port Collector, considering that we have to travel for about more or less 5 hours. Included, are the stops for peeing and lunch in Tacloban City. The van is filled to the brim "ika nga", because there are also civilian friends who joined the trip to Catbalogan City, W. Samar.
Our first official stop is at Andok's, a local eatery in Tacloban City where we took our early lunch while waiting for the other Kia car with some Phil. Phosphate Corp. employees headed by Mr. Dan Tentativa and our Acting Deputy Collector, Mr. Dodo Aranas.
Along the way we have to stop for the usual checkpoints i.e. Comelec and PNP for gun bans, LTO for registration papers and out of line for public utility vehicles. As usual at the start of the trip, when many are still wide awake, you can still hear the laughter and happy disposition of everybody. But the ambiance and cool air coming not from the natural air outside, but from the air-conditioned van was enough to make one sleepy. So one by one they became silent............until we arrived safe and sound.
Though travel is quite far, we still arrived on time for the internment scheduled at 2:00pm of the same day. Through the cellphone, we were instructed to proceed to the Roman Catholic Church, as they were already on the way. Upon arrival we immediately proceeded to the church where we saw the body of the late Charlie Go, just inside the main door, still awaiting instruction from the priest. Since cases like this (suicide) were treated differently on a case to case basis.
Luckily, the local priest allowed the remains to be brought near the altar, and he even celebrated Mass to the eternal repose of his soul as requested by the family and friends of the late Customs employee. After the Mass, a simple eulogy was given by Mr. Sevellino Tomol, the immediate superior of the late Mr. Go, and his mother and daughter, after which the body was brought to the city cemetery for internment. Then after bidding goodbyes to the family, we started our long trip back home.
By seven o'clock in the evening we were already in Tacloban were food (after early reservation) from OCHO restaurant, a native eatery in Tacloban City were people who are crazy about native foods can be found. If you will try to look at their faces and attire,you will think that many who are eating in the said place are the who's who in Tacloban City and vicinity.
We took a hearty meal of grilled pork, grilled fish, grilled scallops, squid calamares, lato salad, kangkong cooked in coco milk, and some other viands which escapes my mind as of now. We also took a bottle of the world famous San Miguel Lite and Dark pale pilsen to push the hearty and sumptuous meal right to where it should belong. After which, we started our trek to home base.
While others tried to take a nap and some were forced to sleep by the prevailing atmosphere, I decided to start a conversation with the driver of the van so that he would be forced to pay attention to what he is doing.
It did not take long to reach my destination, which is Palompon..........and after disembarking from the van, off they to go the their final destination.........of Isabel, Leyte.
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