Travel Experience to Palawan

My dream of traveling to Palawan has just been realized. I was luckily chosen by Mr. Stradivary Caro, the Dean of the Institute of Computer Science of Ifugao State College of Agriculture and Forestry (ISCAF) and the project manager for the iSchools project in the area to represent the College for the “Online Writing Techniques Training.” The training was sponsored by Western Philippines University (WPU), one of the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in the country chosen by the Commission on Information and Communications Technolgy (CICT) as implementers for the iSchools project. The primary aim of the training is to strengthen the capability of SUCs for faster and updated documentation of all the roll-outs (community mobilization, trainings, evaluation, and other workshops) concerning the project.

Actually, the training was first set on the second week of October; however, the very hectic schedule of all the project managers hindered the activity. It was again rescheduled on the last week of the month but cancelled due to weather condition. Finally, a call to be set on November 14-17, 2007 opened chances for the participants to learn many techniques in online writing.

Prior to the training proper, I experienced difficulty in claiming my plane ticket because of financial concerns. I also have to interview Mr. Caro because I lack knowledge for the project. In fact, the project started on August and I have no idea on what they were doing for the past months. Fortunately, he oriented me about the project, gave documents for me to read and pictures to view on. I also borrowed his laptop as one of the requirements for the training. “All you need to do is to be active during the training because as you come back at ISCAF, you will be part of the succeeding activities for the project as a documenter until its culmination.” Mr. Caro said.

On November 12, I prepared my things for the trip. At 7 in the evening, I boarded the KMJ trans for Cubao, Quezon City, Metro Manila. I was in Cubao at 3 in the morning of Nov. 13. At 5, I hired a taxi leading to the domestic airport and arrived at 6:30. I arranged everything in the airport: showing my plane ticket for checking, removing my jacket and shoes, placing my baggage under electronic check and, paying P200 as terminal fee. I boarded the Cebu Pacific airplane with flight number 5J637 at exactly 8:55 A.M.

After an hour and ten minutes, I arrived in Puerto Princesa Airport. In front of the terminal, I hired a tricycle leading me to Hillside Resort, the venue for the training. Upon arrival at around 11:45, the resort personnel confirmed my participation and gave me my room assignment afterwards. I rest for 30 minutes then had my lunch. In the afternoon, the iSchools project manager of WPU, Mr. Nilo instructed all the participants to have an outside photo class tour around the city. Furthermore, “captured pictures for the city tour will be used for the photojournalism workshop,” Mr. Nilo said. Sincerely, the city of Puerto Princesa is really a place for the tourists, it’s superb.

On the next day, the training formally opened. The speakers are: Ms. Yvonne Chua of the University of the Philippines and Ms. Luz Rimban of Ateneo University. There were 26 participants from selected SUCs nationwide. Three came from the Cordillera Administrative Region: Apayao State College (ASC), Benguet State University (BSU), and Ifugao State College of Agriculture and Forestry (ISCAF). I can see in the face of my co-participants the eagerness to learn for the workshop, the same thing I felt prior to the opening of the training.

The first topic was on online environment discussed by Ms. Rimban. Online environment is all about the Internet or the world wide web (www). Then next by Ms. Chua who discussed about newswriting. A workshop on newswriting immediately followed. Each participant should select a fresh topic from their area of responsibility then write news about it. On the next day, the topics covered are: headline writing, photojournalism, and feature writing. As usual, workshop output is expected to each session. On the third day, the topics were opinion writing and creating a blog. The two speakers discussed each topic alternately. The training ended with the awarding of certificates and group pictures.

On Nov. 17, some of my co-participants were scheduled to go home. However, I remained to the venue because my scheduled trip was on Sunday. I made myself busy by improving my blog output. Blogging is just like a website but the scope is limited. It is free of charge and Internet users can easily access it.

On the early morning of Nov. 18, I prepared my baggage for the one and a half day trip to the Superferry (OLAV-GO) from Puerto Princesa to Metro Manila. I hired a tricycle leading to the harbor of Puerto Princesa at 7 in the morning. At exactly 9:15, the long trip started. While I was on board the ship, I felt great happiness because at last, I experienced riding in a ship. I made myself busy by enjoying the scenic view of the bay passing through small islands and even waves. At 8 P.M., I started writing this article however, the laptop battery emptied. At 11P.M., we stopped at Coron harbor, still part of Palawan. At 12:30A.M., we resumed our voyage via Manila South harbor. I went to sleep but while sleeping, I felt dizziness due to the impact of strong waves and the aura inside the ship which looks like I am confined in a hospital with double deck beds. I recovered when I transferred to a more comfortable place upon claiming permission to a crew.

In the morning after breakfast, I continued writing this article. I was about to be true when I heard an announcement that the ship is nearly reaching the Manila South harbor.## J. B. Nangpuhan II