A day in Pagsangahan

We've decided to stay in the town proper of San Francisco, Quezon (a.k.a Aurora) to communicate with the other teams on other locations. Wala daw kasi signal sa Brgy na pupuntahan namin for the GPS observation. San Francisco, Quezon is about a 3-hour drive from Lucena City. And from the town proper, we have to travel about an hour and 45 minutes to get to Brgy. Pagsangahan.

RJV Lodging House. The only lodging house in town of San Francisco

We departed from our lodging house @ 5AM.
Getting to Brgy. Pagsangahan (also known by the locals by its former name - Brgy. Pugawan), means one have to travel a rough road which becomes so muddy even after a slight rain. 30 minutes of travel and the phone signals went off.

When we were about to arrive in the area, our vehicle finally was stuck up on the deep mud after its tumultuous battle against the sticky mud. There were no houses around the area, we worried no one would help us push the vehicle out mud. But God is still in control. A man in his motor bike, stopped to help us and so we were able to arrive to the area in time.

There we met Sgt. Angelo Jesus Tanteo; and the First Kagawad of the Brgy who also happen to be a Bisaya. After setting up the instrument, we literally spent the whole morning chatting with these guys.

Sgt. Tanteo, is now on his 4th month in the Barangay. An army with a Bible and a Copy of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines always in hand. He said, you need to know both the law of man and the law of God. From the conversation we had, i learned a number of facts about being an army:

• Paid by the Government Php 3,500 monthly food allowance
  
• Starting basic monthly salary of Php 16,000 for the newly-recruited armies
• Vacation Leave is every after 3 months (equivalent to six working days)
• Spends most of the time in the barracks ( they have more time to read books and to search for possible love interests. =D )
  

After having lunch the military way (nilatag na pagkain sa mesa), I and Kuya Lito strolled around the Barangay to search for phone signal and found some beautiful spots of Brgy. Pugawan.

By the Beach of Brgy. Pagsangahan

From the stroll that we had in search for phone signal, I learned some unbelievable things about the beliefs of other religions as told by Kuya Lito, who happen to have spent bible study discussions with different religions - Iglesia ni Cristo, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Kuya Lito is a Roman Catholic but now being convinced to be baptized to be a Jehovah's witness. Though he now believes in Jehovah's witnesses' teachings, he refused to be baptized as he often says "no religion can save you". A very good alibi or reason indeed to refuse being baptized to a religion. Things I learned about Jehovah's witnesses' teachings include:

• Man has no soul.
  
• Jesus Christ is St. Michae, the archangel sent to earth
• The apparitions of Mother Mary is the work of the devil.
  

Back to FIRST-ORDER (South Luzon)

After being pulled out from the First Order project last April 14, to lead the Ground control Team for the NGCP Flight, ngayon I'm back in the adventure-filled project. Adventure kasi, you'll be spending a day or two either in an island, in a place so remote, sa bundok, or if you'll get lucky, in one of the tourist spots of South Luzon. Di mo expect ang tutulogan mo.

First Stop - Catanauan, Quezon.

The team spent 3days (if I'm not mistaken) in one of the hotels in Catanauan. Now, I'm back in the very same Hotel, only that I'll be spending the night by myself, all alone. The receptionist have even given the same room we used a two months ago. Kaktauwa yung receptionis, galing the memory. hehe.