Boracay Island
The place had been advertised enough and does not
really need a lot of introduction if you ask me. But anyway, it’s been
described as having the second best beach in the world (White Beach that is), a
backpacker’s haven and a heaven for water sports aficionados. It also boasts of
having a really great night life, and for those who prefer the quiet there are
establishments up in the hills of the island and some isolated resorts where you
can experience what the island was before the ‘advertisement boom’.
But anyway, I do not want to repeat what is already in
a lot of websites, brochures, invitations and all kinds of media. Also, I
myself had been in the island already during these years: 1989, 1990, 1991,
1997, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and of course 2014
(June 3-7).
So… seeing from how frequent I had been there you may
now think what some acquaintances of mine had misconstrued over the years… Ang yaman mo naman pare!! This is
because of the island’s reputation for having expensive travel fares (to and
fro) and of course, accommodation. So it is safe to assume that our family has ‘what
it takes’ to travel so frequently to the island. But it’s not the case. We
never had to pay for accommodations… only the travel fares which sometimes we
avail through ‘promos’ anyway. Because you see… whenever we go there it is not
to just experience this really great island… it’s to go home to our province
from time to time…
Yes, you read it right. Province. My mother’s family,
the Sacapanos, had lived in the island for generations. It all started when my
great-great-great-grandfather Angel Sacapano and his wife Vicentica Coching
(and maybe some relatives and their already born children) migrated from
Ibajay, Aklan in the island of Panay in the 1850s or 60s. Maybe they were
searching for new lands to farm, but we can’t be so sure but the sure thing is
that they were awed as their boats approached the then lush palm tree forests
and of course, the pure white (then) sands… (Also, since they came from Aklan,
it maybe not White Beach that they first saw but Bulabog Beach, in the other
side). Then, landing on the island they surely saw such an opportunity in the island
and of course, transfixed by the beauty when they already saw the White Beach.
Then, the island was sparsely inhabited by the native Atis (related to the Aetas)
and some other families already living there. And thus, they settled.
Generations followed and more people from Aklan came, forming some sort of alliance within the families, effective enough that inter-marriages followed, blooming into the Boracay natives (aside from the Atis – which we still are probably related) we know today. And for more than a hundred years they lived almost in isolation except for the relatives they have in Aklan. Although, after World War II, my grandfather, Ernesto Sacapano, Sr. went to work as crew of a fishing boat and came to Isla Verde (island again hehehe) in Batangas as a result and met my grandmother. Anyway, those in Boracay had the island for themselves for a long time and started legally (with paperwork) owning parcels of land in the ‘lowlands’ near the beaches and in the ‘highlands’ well… up the hills. They had also began to be established enough to be the leaders of the island.
Generations followed and more people from Aklan came, forming some sort of alliance within the families, effective enough that inter-marriages followed, blooming into the Boracay natives (aside from the Atis – which we still are probably related) we know today. And for more than a hundred years they lived almost in isolation except for the relatives they have in Aklan. Although, after World War II, my grandfather, Ernesto Sacapano, Sr. went to work as crew of a fishing boat and came to Isla Verde (island again hehehe) in Batangas as a result and met my grandmother. Anyway, those in Boracay had the island for themselves for a long time and started legally (with paperwork) owning parcels of land in the ‘lowlands’ near the beaches and in the ‘highlands’ well… up the hills. They had also began to be established enough to be the leaders of the island.
However, in the early 70s, some Europeans (probably
Germans as my elder relatives said), saw the island… and loved it too much that
they advertised it on the way home and for the next two decades, many
foreigners (mainly Western during this time) starting coming in droves… and
even settling there (I have three Swiss aunts that I know – wives of three of
my mother’s cousins). Still, it was not enough to destroy the tranquillity of
the island. When I first came there in 1989 (I was six), I can still remember
it as an island paradise with a lot of open spaces along with lots of trees
along White Beach. There was also no electricity back then and everything was
as rustic as you can imagine. Resorts were made of cottages of native materials
and there was only one disco at that time. The name was Basura as I can
remember. But anyway, even though my first visit in Boracay was fun as a kid, I
had the misfortune of breaking my right arm in an accident. And so I had the
experience of being treated in the native way by a grandfather which thankfully
was effective… as there were no doctors in the island at that time!
More visits followed and as time passed, I saw how the
island transformed. It may have increased in fame and prestige… but the peace
and tranquillity it once had is already slowly disappearing. Seeing it from the
plane in my most recent visit, I saw large tracts of brown soil amongst the
green, meaning that many trees had been felled again. And in the hills, a
prestige hotel was built on a chunk of land that was quarried. The white sands
that made the island so famous is slowly turning… well, dirty white. Let there
not be a time when the natural balance of the island be completely ignored for
the sake of progress.
Thankfully, there are still places in Boracay that
reminds us what the island used to be. For the first time in my many visits
there I came to the southernmost part of the White Beach. It was so quiet, and
it was already almost midday by then. I also had been to the highest point of
the island (Luho) and the view of the whole island and the surrounding sea is
spectacular… except for the tracts of land being quarried that is… That is why
whenever I come to the island, it’s not to be part of the thrill of going
through what many young (and not so young) people normally go to the island
for. I often walk alone to the isolated spots thankfully still untouched.
“Progress is good, son… but I fear of what would
happen to this island… the natural balance here in the island is slowly
diminishing… and I predict that in the coming decades… the island would become
too cluttered”, says a minor character from a novel I wrote. A character based
on a grandfather (still) living in Boracay. That scene in the story was set in
1996… but yes, what he said had happened.
So… let’s preserve what could still be preserved there… before it’s too late…
