A dream bridge remains a dream in Borongan after half a century

When I was in high school in Borongan in the late 1970s, I would sometimes accompany my classmates when they went home on weekends to Surok, then a small barangay about 3 kilometers from the town proper. I remember we had to cross the wide Borongan river on foot, if the tide was low, or swim if the tide was high. My classmates always told me that it was their dream to have a bridge constructed that would link their barangay to Calingatngan, another small barangay on the river's eastern bank.

Barangay Surok is on the other side of the river.

In all those years that I was away from Borongan, I always thought that my classmates' dream of having a bridge must have already come true considering the progress that many places in Eastern Samar have attained. But I could not believe what I saw when we visited the place (for scientific purposes) in September of 2019. There is still no bridge until now. It was a shocking sight to me. I could not believe it. Low-cost hanging bridges are everywhere in the country nowadays, even in the most remote and poorest municipalities. I cannot help but wonder why our political leaders in Borongan have not included it in their priority programs in the last 50 years or so.

When I asked the old man who was ferrying a small group of people using his banca (a small wooden boat) to the other riverbank, he told me that the government has instead constructed a road that connects their barangay to the city. But it is a much longer and circuitous route of about 6 kilometers. "I do not believe that I will see a bridge over the river in my lifetime" he added. "That is sad" I replied.

It seems the dream bridge will remain a dream after all.

Historical landmarks are neglected and left to decay in Borongan City

Boronganons used to take pride in the landmarks that the pioneering leaders have put up decades ago. The most visible among these include the President C.P. Garcia Arches located on both northern and southern entrances to the City. Years ago, these landmarks were carefully maintained and taken care of by the political leaders. 

 

The weathered and decaying Pres C.P. Garcia Arch near the provincial hospital

Sadly, these structures are now left to decay. It is a shame that nobody seems to care about this. In fairness, the current city administration has done an excellent job in improving many parts of the city and in enhancing local tourism. Fact is, Borongan is now one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities in the Visayas. But why the neglect of these former source of pride?

 

The southern C.P. Garcia Arch at one end of the Loom bridge 

If Boronganons do not notice this because they pass by these arches every day, the visitors on the other hand, notice them right away and are soon disappointed by the neglect. Yada pa gud hit aragian, kawaray gad hin upay.     

ESSU: Samar Island’s leading university

The Eastern SamarState University or ESSU whose main campus is located in Borongan City, Eastern Samar, is widely considered as the leading university in the entire island of Samar. In the 1970s and 1980s, this distinction was accorded to the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) in Catarman, Northern Samar. At the time, countless students from Eastern Samar endured the long, risky, and arduous bus trip to Catarman in order to pursue their dreams of finishing college at the well-known school.

The ESSU Main Campus in Borongan (Photo source:  ww.estnews.org)

Starting in the 1990s, good school management and strong political support have transformed the small and unknown college called Eastern Samar State College into one of the best universities in the Eastern Visayas region today. The improvement of the roads in the province which enhanced its economy has, without doubt, also contributed to the progress of ESSU.

The cover of the 2017 issue of CATALYST, the official student publication of ESSU

At present, high school graduates in the province need not travel to Leyte, Cebu or Manila which is very expensive, to obtain a college degree from a good university. They are very fortunate to have ESSU right at the heart of Eastern Samar. ESSU has made a name for itself not only in academics brought about partly by its board topnotchers, but also in the field of culture and sports. For example, as reported by the ESSU Catalyst magazine (vol. 14, 2017 Second Issue), the ESSU Taekwondo team has dominated the regional SCUAA competition in the last 20 years.

In March 2017, I was invited to the Awards Night of the university as the guest speaker and to receive the Most Illustrious Alumni Award. I have received many awards but this one from my beloved high school Alma Mater was really special. The occasion was a good opportunity for me to share my experiences to the new generation of students.

A feature article about my career published in the 2017 issue of CATALYST

ESSU’s recent achievements are largely due to the outstanding leadership of University President Dr. Ed Campoto who holds a graduate degree from the University of Queensland, Australia, and to the highly qualified faculty many of whom have advanced degrees from prestigious universities in the country and abroad. 

About the COCOFED National Scholars from Eastern Samar

    One of the best human resource development projects in the 1970s and 1980s was the Pres. F.E. Marcos-COCOFED National College Scholarship that enabled thousands of bright but poor high school graduates to pursue college education in top colleges and universities throughout the country. The prestigious and well-funded scholarship produced many of our present scientists, engineers, politicians, managers, and leaders. 

    The selection process was very tough due to the high number of applicants for the limited slots. Our experience in Eastern Samar was like this: First, all high schools in each municipality had to endorse only students who belonged to the top 5 of the graduating class. Then there would be a municipal level screening in the form of examination and panel interview to select the municipal level qualifiers (in Borongan, the applicants came from four high schools). This was followed by the provincial screening wherein all the municipal qualifiers would come to Borongan for the panel interview. Those who were lucky to be selected in the provincial screening would then take the national written examination administered by the COCOFED national office, followed by the final interview. The list of those who passed the national screening was then published in the national newspapers.  

The COCOFED scholars from Eastern Samar posing with Mrs. Maria Clara L. Lobregat, COCOFED President in ViSCA in 1978
 

    The COCOFED scholars from Eastern Samar, which totaled 75 from 1976 to 1986, were sent to the different top schools in the region for their undergraduate education such as ViSCA, Divine Word University (now defunct), and Leyte Institute of Technology (now EVSU) in Tacloban, and University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) in Catarman, Samar. One of those who studied at UEP, Dr. Maximo C. Aljibe, CESO III, is now an outstanding education administrator who has been appointed by four Philippine presidents to several top-level government positions. He has served as CHED regional director in several regions in the country. (Max and I represented our high school, the Eastern Samar National Regional Agricultural School, now ESSU, in various provincial, regional, and national student conferences of the Future Farmers of the Philippines or FFP).

    But the majority of the Eastern Samar scholars were sent to ViSCA (now Visayas State University), one of the best agricultural universities in Asia. To support its scholars, COCOFED built four dormitories, one cafeteria, and a guest house in ViSCA. The picture above shows the scholars from Eastern Samar with Mrs. Maria Clara L. Lobregat, COCOFED President, and other regional federation officials (e.g., Atty. Celestino Sabate) during the inauguration of the COCOFED dormitories in ViSCA. The scholars who belonged to the  2nd, 3rd, and 4th batches were Pedro Corado, Veronica Alconaba, Jacinto Aspa, Joy Castillo, Jovino Padullo, Manuel Chua, Luz Tiu, Edgar Estil, Cornelio Abuda, and myself.

    I was lucky to be among the more than ten fourth-batch scholars from Eastern Samar. For various reasons, some were not able to finish their courses. However, most of those who graduated are now very successful in their profession and are now occupying important positions in their respective institutions. 

Polluted Vigan River in General MacArthur, Eastern Samar

The pictures below show Vigan River in General MacArthur, Eastern Samar, on April 12, 2013. The bright red color of the river sediments, which is unusual and unnatural for rivers in Samar island, is due to iron oxides deposition. The degree of deposition of this iron compound is clearly not of natural origin. It is severe pollution probably due to iron mining activities upstream. It is easy to speculate that not many aquatic

organisms can survive under this polluted environment. 

Upstream from Vigan bridge

Downstream from Vigan bridge

The beautiful white beach of Punta Maria in Borongan

Punta Maria beach is one of the remaining white beaches along the Pacific coast in Borongan, Eastern Samar that has not yet been altered by any resort development. At least for now it has remained serene, natural, and beautiful. I recommend this to any local or foreign tourists.

On June 9-10, 2012 during our field work in Eastern Samar as part of my graduate and undergraduate classes in Soil Science and Geo-ecology, we visited the beach to observe its formation and ecology.

As I already mentioned in an earlier article in this blog, the beach is white because it consists of fragments of the limestone rock. Examination of the fine sand sample using a modern digital microscope (magnified 150 times) at my laboratory at Visayas State University, revealed that the fine white sand is indeed composed of shell and coral fragments (see photo above).

Taft river slowly recovers

In the early 1980s, every time we passed by Taft river on our way to Tacloban City, I always wondered why its banks were practically devoid of plants and why the soils along this river were colored bright red, black or green.
Years later (in the 1990s) we learned that the unusual appearance of the river was due to the fact that it was ecologically dead because of the severe heavy metals pollution as a result of the mining operations in Bagacay (located in the upper part of the river basin)(see photo below). Last December 2010, as I was driving along the winding Wright-Taft highway, I noticed that the nearby Taft river was very much different from what I used to see years ago: the river has started to recover from the severe pollution as indicated by the variety of plants that can be seen growing on its banks. This is a very positive development but I hope Estehanons will not forget what happened to this important river in the past.