Stories of the Road: The Origins of Banaue Rice Terraces

 

Learning from books is one thing, but learning from people who lived and breathe it would be something so much better.

Dubbed as the 8th wonder of the world, the Banaue Rice Terraces remains as one of the things we all marvel at because yes, as it says, it's impressive to know that it was not made with much tools but with just bare hands. The folks from Stories of the Road (a YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Storiesoftheroad ) wanted to find out from locals the actual origins of it. Armed with a drone, a few film cameras, they arrived in Ifugao and got the surprise of their life. The community wasn't just plainly taking it easy that day, they were celebrating and yes, it was an opportune time to get to know more about the culture and its people.

This is the handy work of Eric Gamorot (the Director), Rhett Paul Bolivar (the Producer), John Paul Bolivar (Production Assistant), and Marky Ramone Go (Writer). They were in the quest to find out the origins of the Banaue Rice Terraces. It was a different perspective because it didn't come from historians, but the folks who had their own stories passed on from generation to generation. They feel this was a more accurate narrative. They also got DK Tijam to do the narration for the episodes, so make sure you listen in on their conversation.

Eric talked about this lengthily during the Orange Magazine 14th anniversary event, please watch this:

Here is the first episode:

 Here's the newest episode which includes their experience witnessing a full on festival in Ifugao!

 

Their goal would be to go to other places in the country to do the same. They've gotten really good feedback upon releasing their first episode, and recently released their second one on the channel. If you would like travel content like this, you may subscribe to their channel and follow their social media accounts to get updated about their content.

The Presidential Chopper Crash

I am shocked about this news I heard about premier government officials who was initially reported lost with a chopper off Benguet province but are now being declared dead by the hour since it was reported to have crashed along the mountains yesterday afternoon. The cause was bad weather and initially they were only doing ocular inspection of a project that was meant to be seen the day after by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They were supposed to be the head party but after this particular incident, I guess there would not be anymore flights soon.

Now there are 8 recovered bodies from the crash site. Ifugao Governor Teodoro Baguilat, Jr. said that this is the death toll confirmed and according to Tinoc, Ifugao Mayor Lopez Tugong.

Baguilat said that there are no details where specifically their bodies were found as the Bell 412 wreckage was seen in his municipality. He added that tommorrow they would be able to identify the victims with the help of forensic experts. Search operations will still continue until the last one is found. They are still trying to see if there are going to be survivors but chances seem a little low now since they found the bodies. Because it is already hard to go in that location and it is already night time the priority is to at least get the bodies transported to the municipal and have them examined. Some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. This is just really sad news.

These are high ranking officials from Malacanang and it is sad that this had to happen. It was about 4PM when they left Loakan Airport in Baguio. I have a question though, how air worthy are our aircrafts? What if Arroyo was the one in the chopper? That would just be really dangerous! The last time there was contact with the chopper was around 5 PM where the crew reported zero visibility in their area. Oh my, let's pray for them!