on habal-habals, bangkas and bulldozers

Have you tried crossing a river riding a habal-habal (motorcycle)? I have.

This is a picture of the river that we crossed using a habal-habal.

Have you tried riding a habal-habal with four other people on it? I have.

This is another picture of me riding a habal-habal with four other people. It is a good thing that I am petite. Haha.

Have you tried riding a jeepney that was being pulled by a bulldozer because the road was not a road? I have. (I ended up being chased by the bulldozer up the mountains.)

This is the picture when we hitched with a jeepney going to one of our field destination.

Have you tried being stranded, not on land, but on sea, because there is a low tide and riding a motorized bangka (boat) is the only way to reach a town? I have.

This is a picture when we had to wait for a couple of hours for the tide to get high so we could cross the sea going to another fieldwork destination.

These are just some of the things I had to do for the work that I love. Don't get me wrong, I love doing these things. I love new adventures. It's just that, I can imagine the people living in the areas that I have visited using these modes of transportation. I am so lucky that I just had to do these things once in a while. But how about those people I visited. How do they manage to get around?

I have seen several isolated areas in the country. I have been to areas where it was easier to go to Malaysia that to go to other parts of the Philippines.However, what makes it more depressing is that because they are isolated physically, they also do not get much of what people in the Poblacion (central barangay) get. For instance, access to water is very different between an island barangay and the poblacion. Several other social services rarely get to these far-flung areas. Infrastructures are rarely build for them. Their voice and opinion are seldom heard.

So the next time you had a chance to ride a habal-habal, a motorized bangka, and a bulldozer, take that chance. Try to reach the far-flung areas and meet the people there. Hear their voices and hopefully you can make these voices be heard. In turn, let's hope that development projects reach them to improve their quality of life.

Yun na! Pak!