2021-006 | PURE SURVIVAL CHRONICLES: THE LANIGUID INCIDENT

IN THE COURSE OF MY life’s journey, I have met many people who were survivors of different mishaps and catastrophes, circumstances and deprivations, wars and conflicts, and they lived to tell their experiences, predicaments and fortunes. While others I came across to, are witnesses of, or have been recipient of tales from these survivors, it still are stories worth telling. I am an eager listener and I always remember the stories very well and added these pieces of information into my “library of self-preservation”. This blog is, in itself, a repository of pure survival tales.

One of the saddest misfortunes that befell during conflicts are the wanton killings of non-combatants, especially the civilian population, almost always attributed to both sides without discrimination. It so happened so many times in the past that it is not that rare anymore. One of these massacres happened on a hinterland community of the Municipality of Liloan during the last stages of World War II which was inflicted by units of the Imperial Japanese Army when they made their retreat to northern Cebu.

After Cebu City was cleared of Japanese resistance by the US Eighth Army on April 14, 1945, the Japanese-held lines between the coastal plains and the heights of the Babag Mountain Range were abandoned by their defenders, who escaped over the mountains, hoping to reach Bogo where a Japanese troop ship was supposed to be steaming towards it. It was at this time, a platoon-sized IJA that strayed at Laniguid on a bright full moon. The Japanese soldiers summoned all the civilians they could find and begun killing them.

 

According to the last living witness, GREGORIA LANCA-AG GEPEGA, female, married, now 94 years old, and a resident of Barangay Mulao, Liloan; a younger brother of hers accidentally discovered the Japanese troops. He was immediately detained and everyone were roused out of their homes, to include evacuees coming from the lowlands of Liloan, who seek refuge here, to stay away from the fierce battles waged on the coastal highway and shorelines. 

“I was born on September 28, 1927, here in Mulao, which was then known as Sak-on. I lived with my parents, my eight brothers and a sister. I finished Grade 2 at Sak-on Elementary School and I enjoyed my teen years by watching a ‘comparza’, a form of entertainment, with neighbors. We know there was a war going on but we did not know what it was like because we were living peacefully here… 

“I do not even know what a Japanese soldier looked like because, despite all the fearful stories we heard about them, it seemed so distant to us. One day, people from the lowlands, led by a certain Mr. Buhay, arrived. There was an open market fair and they took rest under the makeshift huts and benches. We were so disturbed at the news they brought and it left us wondering what would become of us if the war should come here… 

“Like most nights, we retired early. There was a full moon and my younger brother went out to check on his cow. It was quite strange that he took so long to be out. In fact, he never came back at all. We hit our sleeping mats and began dozing off when we were awakened by angry noises muttering strange dialects. Loud bangs pounded our door and the cool breeze of the night entered as we opened it and it sent a chill upon our spines.” 

Laniguid is a hilly part of Liloan town and is popular with hikers who spend overnight or just a day. Its peak reaches 500 meters above sea level and a small community still lives on its foothills. It is part of the village of Mulao. There is a cross on the site of the massacre where there used to be mass graves. All the remains of the dead victims were exhumed and given proper burials after the war.

It was on this massacre site where the villagers and the unlucky visitors from the lowlands were dragged and lined. The men, young and old, were separated from the women, the girls, and the nursing infants and small children. The soldiers were talking to the men but nobody could understand them. Under the ghostly light of a full moon, it would cast an impression of a grim ending for all. 

“My father and the rest of my brothers were taken away from me by force while another group of soldiers herded me, my mother and my sister, along with all the women and their children some distance away. It was the last time I saw my father and three of my brothers alive and almost everybody that I knew for so long… 

“There was this concubine of a Japanese soldier, named Lourdes, who was from the lowlands, and who tried to talk the soldiers out from harming us all. She was with her half-Japanese infant, but the leader grabbed instead her child and thrust the bayonet through, killing the child. Then she was also stabbed to death by the same murderer… 

“From afar, I heard cries of pain and shouting for help. Then the Japanese in our own group began killing us with their bayonets thrusting the tips to whomever was nearest them. In the half-light, all of us tried to run or shielded those whom dear to us. I felt a sharp hard object punching painfully on my lower back and in my armpit. I fell down and the same object is thrust again on my upper back and I lost consciousness.” 

The indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians took the lives of more than 250 men, women and children. This was the biggest massacre inflicted by the Japanese in Cebu and it is not well-publicized. It took the lives of her father, her mother, her only sister and three of his brothers. By this time of the interview, Gregoria Gepega was in tears, sobbing, and releasing her painful memories away.

 

Killing without provocation could have been attributed to the fear of discovery by the Americans or by Filipino guerrillas on the routed Japanese troopers. They would probably be suffering from hunger, thirst, great stress, shock, low morale, frustration, anger and fear. The least they could do is being discovered by its enemies or even by innocent locals and that is why they travelled by night during their retreat. 

“I regained consciousness when I felt light through my eyelids. Morning had arrived. I was alive and I was left for dead, not only by the Japanese, but also of the surviving villagers. My dead mother was above me. She could have shielded me while I was going down and that is why I was alive. She has saved me! I pushed my dear mother gently aside and I crawled out to seek help… 

“The wounds I got were very painful yet I did not have difficulty in breathing. Immediately, first aid treatment was applied on my wounds when they found me, all of it folk remedies since our barrio was very far from the town center. I remembered I took a decoction made from boiling water and a 6-inch nail. Then I passed out again…

“When I regained consciousness once more, I was recuperating from my wounds in an American army field hospital in Jagobiao, Mandaue. I did not have any recollection of when and who brought me here? A local nurse told me that I slept for three straight days. I would go on to stay for another month before they would release me.” 

Gregoria would go on to marry her neighbor and suitor, Benito Gepega, now 94 years old. During the incident in Laniguid, he was in Balamban with his family, looking after their farm. All told, there were less than ten survivors and most of them are now dead of old age. One of the survivors is MIGUEL MALABON, male, married, 76 years old and the current village chairman of Mulao. He is the nephew of Gregoria Gepega.

 

He has no recollection whatsoever of the incident since he was three months old at that time. He was allegedly cradled by his mother when they were separated from the men. He survived the massacre when his mother shielded him from the Japanese but his father was not so lucky. He has a twin brother, which also survived and is now living in Davao. 

Days after the massacre, the surviving neighborhood created a search party led by Perio Goc-ong when they discovered that there were three Japanese stragglers sighted in their barrio. All three decided to fight it out to the last man than be taken prisoner. Most of the IJA forces reached Tabogon, harassed on the rear by guerrilla forces and could go no further as the Americans blocked their route. 

They surrendered to Major General William H. Arnold of the US Eighth Army, all 9,867 officers, the rank-and-file and their civilian auxiliaries, to include, perhaps, those responsible for that massacre in Laniguid. All were transported immediately back to Cebu City and repatriated under guard to Japan.

 

Photo Nr 1 credits to Wikipedia

Photo Nr 5 credits to Pacificwrecks.com

PINOYAPACHE MENTORS LILOAN PEACEKEEPERS

THE MUNICIPALITY OF LILOAN, Province of Cebu, celebrates the National Peace Consciousness Month every year as mandated in Proclamation 675 of 2004, by initiating a 4-day Revitalization Program and Training for the Barangay Peace Action Team (BPAT) on September 20 to 23, 2017. This will be participated by the BPATs of Cabadiangan, Calero, Catarman, Cotcot, Jubay, Lataban, Mulao, Poblacion, San Roque, San Vicente, Santa Cruz, Tabla, Tayud and Yati.

This is to instill greater consciousness and understanding among the citizenry on the comprehensive peace process to strengthen and sustain institutional and popular support for and participation in this effort; and to promote a Culture of Peace based on non-violence, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, tolerance, understanding and solidarity. This year’s theme is “Puso para sa Kapayapaan, Magkaisa para sa Bayan”.

This event attended by BPAT is held at Dulce & Edwin Catering Services in Tayud, where all topics are to be discussed, such as: Orientation on Barangay Policing, Police Community Relations, RA 9262, RA 9208, Improvised Explosive Devices, Barangay Blotter System, RA 9165 and Relevant DDB Regulations, BADAC, MASAMASID, Report Writing, First Aid/BLS, Incident Command System, Katarungang Pambarangay and General Welfare Ordinances. 

My participation is anchored on the invitation of the Municipality of Liloan, through their municipal administrator and MDRRMO designate, Mr. Hammurabi G. Bugtai. My topics are Batas Pambansa Bilang 6 (BP No. 6), RA 10591, and Role of a First Responder to the different BPATs on September 21. The participants filled a large room full and I have the whole afternoon and their wholehearted attention to myself. 

A BPAT member, whom we knew before as a barangay tanod, is the village peacekeeper. Although, they serve the public on volunteer basis, they are not law enforcers. They simply do not have the training and the capacity to carry out the job of a regular public servant tasked to enforce laws and go after armed criminals. They cannot be issued government firearms either and so could never defend themselves.

They do not receive salaries. What they get is a monthly honorarium, which is so minuscule that it could not support themselves for a week, much less to those who has a family to feed. They simply do not have the motivation to expose their life to danger in the service of their community. They are reliable if you need information but you cannot compel them to fight street wars for you.

I understood the obstacles why a village peacekeeper would not gamble their lives to suppress crime. I am a former law enforcer myself and their brethren aided me when things get complicated. They can be helpful in many ways and it is these kind of help where you would want the most. But, first, you have to train them. Teach them the finer ways of peacekeeping and that is where I appreciate the initiative of the Municipality of Liloan.

During my years with the force, I developed that street smartness which helped me survive the streets and crime-prone areas, enforcing laws in the dead of night where chances diminished by a slim thread. Yes I was armed but it does not make me bullet proof. It is those instances that would guide my empathy towards the BPAT and they should be taught urban survival.

My first topic is about the law on gun possession and ownership. I gave them an overview of PD 1866 and RA 8294 so they could see and distinguish for themselves how our gun laws evolved before I would discuss RA 10591. I wrote on the whiteboard, the state agencies tasked to enforce this new law and the only government office given the authority to process and issue firearms licenses.

In much the same way, I let them know the persons who are authorized, by law, to possess, keep, own and use firearms; the type of firearms that can be legally issued or registered to; and the different types of licenses that can be issued to any private individual. Ownership of firearms in the Philippines is not a right but a privilege only and the state has the right to remove that privilege anytime when it sees need.

On this topic, the BPATs understood very well the obstacles why they cannot be issued any government firearm, much less, use it in the performance of their duties. They may own a firearm as a private citizen though, provided they have complied with the requirements and, using that as basis, can even be authorized to carry it outside residence. It becomes complicated only when its use is beyond what it is intended for.

The next topic is BP No. 6. This law is the amendment of PD 9 and it reduced the penalty in the possession of bladed, pointed and blunt instruments to imprisonment of less than one year or fine of less than P2,000. BP No. 6 is used to regulate the carrying of knives outside residences and in public places unless used as instruments to earn a livelihood or in pursuit of a lawful activity.

It is important to impart to them that fishermen, farmers, butchers, foresters, cooks, outdoor guides, electricians, gardeners, knife collectors, vendors, tailors and any person who happen to use knives to earn a livelihood are considered lawful calling. Lawful activities may be cooking, fishing, farming, hiking, bushcraft, mountaineering, camping, knife shows, film-making, vending, etc. Going in transit to fulfill an occupation or a lawful activity is considered legal.  

Bladed weapons, despite its obvious appearance as instruments of harm, has its lawful users like the military, law enforcement officers, houses of royalty, traditional martial artists and the indigenous people. Its activities include tactical and peacekeeping operations, cultural ceremonies, martial arts demonstrations, hunting, film-making, etc. Like bladed tools, it is legal to transit it in the fulfillment of a lawful calling and activities.

Role of a First Responder is the last topic. I am retrieving my many years of experience as a law enforcement officer and share it with the BPATs. What should be the role of a BPAT when responding to an incident? What should he or she do when arriving first at the scene? And what thereafter? There are many scenarios and I discussed to them the best possible way to act in consideration of the limited resources at their disposal.

First Scenario: Low-Risk Incidents. These are reports of domestic violence, drunk persons and petty crimes. You can pacify on the spot the people involved and, if that could not be helped, call for back-up and let things settle down in your barangay hall. No unnecessary force needed. It is a social problem which only the community could help solve.

Second Scenario: High-Risk Incidents. These are reports of suspicious person(s), armed individual(s) or a crime in progress. You have no firearm and you are not allowed by law to carry one. There is nothing you can do by yourself there or you will be exposed to harm. You immediately call for back-up and the police. Describe the person(s) involved and the place(s) where you last seen the suspect(s).

Third Scenario: Crime Scenes. This is crime that had already been consummated. What you have there is the body of the crime and the evidences. Preserve the crime scene by cordoning it off from bystanders to prevent adulterating and tampering, accidental or not. If you happen to posses an evidence with you, do the necessary documentation and preserve the custody chain to as few people as possible.    

Fourth Scenario: Medical in Nature. These are subdivided into three classes: Minor Emergencies, Less-Grave Emergencies and Grave Emergencies. Minor Emergencies are cuts on non-vital organs, sprains or a case of malnutrition. Less-Grave Emergencies are pregnancies, animal bites, dislocations, minor burns or slight hypothermia. 

Grave Emergencies are stab and gunshot wounds, snakebites, head injuries, drowning, unconscious person, severe burns, bone fractures, severe bleeding, traumatic amputations, heat stroke or severe hypothermia. If you are trained in BLS/CPR, you may proceed in reviving victim or treat victim of injury, wound or shock and then transport it to the nearest hospital. If you are not, call immediately for back-up and EMS, Fire or Police.

Fifth Scenario: Disasters and Calamities: These are bigger incidents caused by man or by nature like Conflagrations, Severe Floods, Landslides, Capsized Boats or Armed Encounters. Evacuate immediately all residents to safety, except for capsized boats, and immediately alarm DRRMO, EMS, Police, Fire and all available civic rescue units. Initiate early ICS. For sea disasters, utilize any available rescue crafts and give an alarm.    

 

On September 23, I am invited to be one of the judges for the showdown among the BPATs based on what they learned for the past three days from different resource speakers. The venue is the Liloan National High School. They would be graded according to their performance on Arrest Procedures and Report Writing. In the final tabulations, the Poblacion BPAT came out the winner, followed by Calero BPAT and San Vicente BPAT.

The opportunity to share my knowledge with the BPATs of Liloan, along with the other resource speakers, gave them the understanding of their limitations, enhanced their policing skills and further boosted their knowledge that would result to a better system in maintaining the peace and order situation in their respective communities. On my part, it had also tapped knowledge which need to be shared to prevent waste of lives.

Furthermore, the learning processes which were tested on the last day exposed their weaknesses and it is recommended that the Revitalization Program be held yearly, concentrating more on where they are most wanting by providing them better instructions. It is also recommended that relevant topics be taught and remove those which are not necessary anymore.

Finally, this writer salutes the initiative of the Municipality of Liloan and may their program be replicated by other local government units. Congratulations then to the Hon. Mayor Ma. Esperanza Christina G. Codilla-Frasco for her vision, leadership and in initiating this program. Congratulations also for her council for their unwavering support and to Mr. Bugtai for implementing this and the invitation.

Document done in LibreOffice 5.3 Writer

Some photos courtesy of Hammurabi Bugtai

COMPLEAT BUSHCRAFT XXIV: Flashflood!

IT CAME UNEXPECTEDLY! An ugly-looking wall of water coming from upstream rushed and approached our spot in Cotcot River. There was no time to do except extract ourselves immediately from there and run to the nearest high ground. It happened on the night of October 29, 2016 in Mulao, Lilo-an, Cebu. We just have had our supper and we were enjoying relaxing time on our favorite place on the river which we called as the “Jacuzzi”.

The river was already swollen when we came there and was colored brown. Even then it was safe to take a bath. Aljew Frasco and Bona Canga were in the river up to their torso while I, Jhurds Neo, Mark Lepon, Richie Quijano and our local friend named Epang were sitting on the boulders enjoying the night with good conversations fueled by Primero Brandy. My Cherry Mobile U2 phone powered a small booster speaker with bluetooth to liven up the company.

Early in the day, there was a fiesta celebration in the village of Mulao. The former village head invited us to lunch. We did have a good meal and left Mulao for our old camp beside the banks of the Cotcot River. This camp hosted two episodes of the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp in 2015 and just last June. Besides that, we used to do day activities there many times and I did not saw the river at its fiercest appearance yet.

The “Jacuzzi” is the favorite spot of guys from the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild and it is a “gossip forum” of sort and is usually the place where “malevolent tales” make its way in Facebook. The “Jacuzzi” is like a tub with swirling currents in it that could accommodate five people on the water and double that along its periphery which are the boulders. It is a natural place for outdoor socials and relaxations.

We arrived at the campsite at 16:00 and immediately set up our shelters. Mark and Richie tied their hammocks with canopies under a mango tree. Jhurds set up his simple shelter of a single laminated nylon sheet with a tripod. Aljew did likewise with Bona. Because it had been raining for the whole three days in Cebu City, I decided to bring my red Silangan Rev 20 tent. Epang has his crude shelter of buri palm leaves which we passed by a few minutes ago.

It rained but we deserved another meal, which was dinner, and we cooked it under difficult conditions. A small tarpaulin sheet covered our cooking area which doubled as our dining area later. Despite the rain we were able to forage dry firewood and made a fire from which we cooked our food. I taught these guys the skills and the mindset and the resilience in different PIBCs. I am with the best of them. The “precious jewels”.

The rain fell on our heads and shoulders and we were all wet. It is annoying and cold but we need to have that meal first before changing into dry clothes. Actually we can do something about that by retreating into our shelters and never come out but we are not spoiled brats. We act and behaved as grown-up men ought to be and you could not hear anyone cursing the heaven, the rain and the day. In fact, we made light of it with frequent jokes.

Me and Jhurds fetched water to a natural spring two hundred meters downstream. We would have to cross the river and be on the other side. I walked on bare feet on pebbly ground and on boulders, the water up to our crotches. A tail, which I thought as a snake, turned out to be that of a catfish as it slithered over grassy ground from roiling river to another part that is calm. It was getting dark and we navigated back and forth by the meager lights of our phones.

After dinner, we decide to visit the “Jacuzzi”. We have four unopened bottles of Primero. The rain stopped and what a coincidence! Everything was silent except our voices and laughter and the incessant noise of the now-swift river. I never trust streams and I know its tantrums, so I sat facing upstream. I was holding my stainless-steel cup with the boom box and an opened bottle of brandy beside me. “Ocean Deep” was the song playing on bluetooth.

There was a different sound mixing with the river’s existing noise and it was like a rushing sound of a wall of rain coming to you at a fast pace. I stiffened in my seat and my senses peaked. Epang looked backwards and stood on the boulder. Both Epang and I shouted above the din. Automatically, I picked up bottle and speaker and moved a few steps to the river bank. Mark and Richie did likewise and we created a corridor for Aljew, Bona, Epang and Jhurds to pass unhindered.

Bona slipped but Jhurds and Aljew helped her recover. Already, the rising water swirled around them but they made it to where I stood and we ran quickly to safety. The river overflowed from its seams and ran over the bouldery beach lining it. I still have my cup with brandy still in it but Jhurds’ pair of flip-flops and Mark’s cup got lost during the rush. We talked it over since the only opened bottle still had a half-full and there was no rain.

We opened another bottle and after it was empty, we decided to rest. Everything on me was wet and that includes the shoes and socks. I went into the dry womb of my tent naked and changed into dry clothes inside. The river is at its worst and I just hope it would not overflow the riverbank and flood the campsite. If that would happen, I would abandon what things I could not bring in one scoop. The rushing sound of its current sent shivers on everyone except me. I slept!

At dawn, I heard voices. It was Jhurds calling me that the river had risen. I tried to compare today’s sound to that of last night. Almost the same except that it had rained in the middle of the night until this hour. It would rise with that amount of rainfall. Cotcot River is part of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape. Its watershed is located upstream in the villages of Paril and Lusaran, Cebu City and in Cabasiangan and Ginatilan, Balamban.

When I do rise from my tent, the place where Jhurds and Aljew camped were already abandoned while Mark and Richie had just finished packing their bags. In the clear daylight, the river is a sight to behold. It is like a roaring beast whose power is endless. Returning into my chilly wet pants, t-shirt, socks and shoes, I begun to decamp. In the early morning cold, devoid of even a slurp of hot coffee, I surrendered to the will of the weather without complaint.

The river had claimed the part where Jhurds and Aljew camped last night. Both have not had a good night’s sleep and that includes Bona. Both Richie and Mark may have had a sleepless night also considering they were nearer to them. Epang, may not have also considering that we were all his guests. I slept because I was in the best place. It was warm inside the tent and this was the bestselling tent of Silangan Outdoor Equipment that had taken the outdoor community by storm five years ago. This was my second time to use this.

Anyway, we retraced the path that we made yesterday, now up a hill and under the pouring rain. We came upon a cleared field and it was utterly foolish to walk on there for the ground gave way to our weight and so slippery. We reached Mulao nevertheless and Jhurds, Aljew and Bona made the most of time to reclaim the sleep that was denied them last night by being there earlier. Food from yesterday’s fiesta are served and it is good to eat a hot meal.

Last night was really a close call. We were able to come out of it because me and Epang have considerable knowledge of how streams behaved. He lives here all his life and visits the river to forage food and to fish. I have grown up, played and lived beside a creek in all my life. We treat it with respect.

Document done LibreOffice 5.2 Writer

COMPLEAT BUSHCRAFT XXIII: Flashes of Steel and a Fire Piston

AFTER A ROWDY DIRT time at the Babag Mountain Range last September 20, 2015, the Expedition Philippines camaraderie transfer to the Municipality of Lilo-an, which is north of Cebu City, today, October 4, 2015. The place will be by the banks of the Cotcot River, the same place where the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp was held last June, and on almost the same place where I trained the municipal government’s emergency responders in the art of bushcraft in August.

There will be more of the dear Col. Thomas Moore and, of course, more dirt time. Unfortunately, Wil Davies and Ernie Salomon could not come but they will be with us in spirit.  Also, this time, there will be less than the last time, which is okay since it can now be easily managed. It had rained very hard early in the morning and, for sure, the trails will be muddy and the river swollen.

I believe blades will be thrown, not on the river, but on makeshift target boards. First, we must have to go to the campsite and that is all we did by meeting up together near the San Miguel Brewery in Mandaue City and then taking a public utility midget to Lilo-an.  Inside the tiny multicab are Tom, me, Jhurds, Glenn, Eli, Jonathan, Justin, Faith, Bogs, Richie and Dominik. Aljew and Bona join us as we transfer to the hilly village of Mulao.

From the school, we utilize the services of a helpful local, Epang, who led us down to the campsite.  There are spots on the trail where it is soft and there are stretches where it is uncomfortably steep.  All made it, including the bulkier guys. Folding trivets are set and the fires roared to life. Dirty pots gets balanced over the fires and the first order of the day is coffee!

Firewood are split and blades get to work with the hands.  Even the ladies are into it with Faith shaving a bamboo featherstick with her Seseblade NCO. Dominik tried to make up for the absence of Ernie by cooking pork adobao without the usual cooking oil but oil seeped instead from its fat on a heated dry pot.  That was the easy part.  Now, how do you make your pork adobao palatable if you happen to have forgotten an important ingredient like garlic?

Tom and Glenn are in a serious talk.  Could it be that Glenn is scheming of another mismatched trade or the other way around?  But I eavesdrop on them and they were talking about this unpopular guy on Dual Survival. It so happened that I was not the only one who has a discrete listening post. Jhurds and the rest joined in the conversation and it navigated from Dual Survival to Dude You’re Screwed to Snake Blocker to food when it is unacceptable for a tummy to go on empty forever.

The sky is dour but we were optimistic that it would not rain even as the stream is swollen and brown.  We did have that lunch of pork adobao sans garlic but it is as if it had it or thought to be with it. Anyway, it is sumptuous beyond our expectations. It is laid on green banana leaves with two chunks of rice formed by the very shape of the pots that held it during cooking and the appetite is coaxed further by a generous serving of raw sea urchin meat, still warm from its origins in the waters off Mactan Island.

The meal had ended the way it should be: a wipeout!  Me and Bogs goes to the edge of the stream and wash all the blackened pots with fine sand and water for the lack of soap.  It is a time-tested method which had been practiced long before when laundry soap and Scotchbrites became available. Anyway, the water from the stream is light brown and I may have to re-wash mine with tap water once I reach home.

I got back in time to see Jhurds pass on to Glenn a fire piston.  Wow! A fire piston! Glenn pushed hard the plunger once with his palm and everybody waited with baited breath to see the result.  The plunger is removed and on its tip is a glowing ember of what used to be tinder.  I never saw an actual fire piston much less of how it worked.  It is a very useful gadget for bushcraft which every bushman should have to add to his preoccupation of redundancies of fire tools.

It is said that the fire piston has its origins from the tribal peoples in the Philippines and was copied by the Westerners to make quick fire just a short time before the safety match was invented.  I doubt that.  If ever that would be true, we would have made another festival of the fire piston just like a thousand other festivals ranging from masks to witches. An opened bottle of Matador brandy retrieved from its special earthly cask becomes the stimulus of more conversations.

People wanted to let fly their blades and have requested for this dirt-time. Knife throwing is a skill that I learned so many years ago and which I used later with considerable proficiency during my warrior pilgrimage years, with which the last days of it waned some twelve years ago. I had not practiced it anymore and this skill is rusting.  My throws are not that crisp anymore nor it is consistent.

Since it is a “black art”, more likely, the other side of me would not be comfortable with an audience. Mine is an older method which is difficult to master. I will try but I cannot assure of a perfect throw.  As always, I would miss. Like three of my throws. I let Glenn do the honors of demonstrating the throwing of a knife.  The technique he is using is the more popular one which is very easy to do and can be seen in many video tutorials.

The thud of the blunt point of the pommel is disconcerting to the ears as well as to the eyes at first but people adjust their reflex and their distance to the target board made of a piece of an abandoned coconut trunk. Slowly the result becomes better as the flash of steel flies through air and a more agreeable thud elicits a smile from Glenn, Eli, Bogs, Justin and Dom. The afternoon is punctuated by either affirmative shouts of a true and loud jeers of a fail.

When everyone got tired of punching the target board with slit holes, we begin packing our things. Rain is imminent! I am the last to leave the camp to see to it that there are no more glowing embers nor garbage left behind. I put on my knife belt and stared hard at the target board for the last time.  Why not throw my big AJF Gahum? Aljew would not mind if it finds the target true. TSAAK!

The spin was perfect this time without anybody watching.  The thud of a true throw is ominous in the silence and every head craned back to see the heavy blade embedded on the target board.  I could see the biggest smile on Aljew’s face for he gifted the AJF Gahum tailored-fit for me and throwing it was not on his mind when he made that on his forge.

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LILOAN (CEBU) RESPONDERS GOES BUSHCRAFT

A WEEK AFTER THE first search and rescue summit of Cebu Province, I began to receive requests from local government units to have their emergency responders undergo training in bushcraft and survival. This training is quite expensive if you look it at from an international perspective since the skills acquired are highly-valued by Europeans and Americans. We have one survival school in Subic but it only showcases the primitive-living ways of the Aeta. What I teach is entirely different.

Disasters are now more intense and unpredictable, aggravated by climate change and by man. More people now visit places, as in adventure tourism, where, a decade ago, nobody would and vulnerability to accidents increase as well. Against these conditions, LGUs need to be well prepared, as defined and mandated by Republic Act 102020. The recent SAR summit initiated by the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office provided the stimulus for LGUs to provide their respective DRRMOs with great importance and provide them equipment, funding and training.

The Municipality of Lilo-an requested that I teach their emergency responders in bushcraft and survival on August 28-30, 2015. I recently had taught volunteer responders of the Capiz Archdiocese Disaster Action Center last month at Ivisan, Capiz and, before that, in June, to nineteen individuals during the Philippine Independence Bushcraft Camp which was hosted by Lilo-an. The PIBC is an alternative learning medium created solely to answer the needs for more education of outdoorsmen and active individuals.

I arrived at the Lilo-an Municipal Hall at 05:00 of August 28, 2015. Joining me soon to assist me are five members from the Camp Red Bushcraft and Survival Guild: Jhurds Neo, Ernie Salomon, Dominik Sepe, Mark Lepon and Nelson Tan. I would be expecting the full force of the Lilo-an Public Safety and Emergency Management Office lead by its chief, Hammurabi Bugtai. Thirteen are available and a skeleton crew remained to man the post in their absence.

From the municipal hall we were whisked towards the village of Mulao by the town's workhorse called the “Dukevan”. After touching base with village officials, we proceed to the Mulao Elementary School before proceeding down for Cotcot River. I am leading the party and follow a trail, whose unfamiliarity will be lessened with Ernie's knowledge of having taken this same trail during the PIBC. Ernie failed to remember the exact route but we reach the Cotcot River on a different campsite.

Nevertheless, it is a good camping site which we used in our earlier dirt times. It has a wide open ground good for eight tents and some trees to prop hammocks. It is beside a stream and limitless firewood. Immediately, improvised shelters are erected by the participants using laminated nylon sheets, used advertisement tarp sheets, wooden poles, bamboos, ropes, natural cordage and buri palm leaves.

When all have settled down, I start the training at 13:00 tackling first about Introduction to Bushcraft. Except for a few, the term bushcraft is so alien to them but they could relate it better instead with the use of the closest Cebuano equivalent available - “panikaysikay”. It would also good to note that bushcraft is not totally synonymous with the word survival, since the latter is immediate while the former is the practice of skills in a day-to-day basis or the preparation hereof in survival situations.

One of the new topics that I have introduced lately is Ethical Bushcraft. It is taken as an excerpt from my future e-book which bears the same title. Considering that bushcraft is beginning to unfold as a leisure weekend activity, thanks to survival TV, the unabated enjoyment of it would take a toll on the forest resources like those happening in Western countries where many private lands and parks are now off-limits to bushcraft activities.

In Ethical Bushcraft, the participants are taught to be part of the landscape, judiciously use forest resources, even firewood, and to increase safety, particularly the management of campfires. It is a lengthy topic which takes most of the afternoon and, should be, for educating individuals into responsible outdoorsmen is what this is all about, especially when everybody are now interested in bushcraft and survival.

The last topic for the day is Knife Care and Safety. It aims to correct the usual ways we carry and use the knife and to change the common notion of the knife as a mere weapon into a very useful tool. In bushcraft, the knife lay supreme for, without it, tasks would be downright difficult to accomplish. As every tool, you have to spend considerable attention that it functions well by maintaining its sharpness and keep it from rust.

Bushcraft is a lawful activity and it easily fits in that description under Batas Pambansa Bilang Anim (BP 6), the only law in the Philippines governing the carrying and possession of knives. This topic increases your responsibility in the use of blades and its carrying, including travelling. It also teaches you the different shapes of blades, knowing the different parts of a knife and how to sharpen these.

When dusk begins to be felt, the participants disperse to prepare their dinner. They cook their food and rice in large pots which they brought along. Ernie prepared for the camp staff. Campfire Yarns and Storytelling unfolds when supper had been taken and everyone take their respective spots around a small campfire, just like the Boy Scout days. The campfire is the social center of early camp life since time immemorial. Taps at 22:00 is extended by two hours.

The second day – August 29 – begins with a light breakfast for, today, everyone would be fasting, including the camp staff. The participants would feel being miserable in an environment where they have almost no control of and then fighting off hunger and drowsiness in the middle of the lectures. When responding to calamitous situations, you are almost in this state and you have to stretch yourself for a few more mileage to be effective.

First topic for the day is Survival Tool-Making. When you lack gears or what you have is inadequate, you have to improvise by making tools. Tool-making is simply extending your existence during a survival situation. You make different tools for different situations like cordage, for foraging, for trapping and hunting, for dining and cooking, and for other special uses. What they learned yesterday in knife-handling safety would be applied on this topic.

Essentially, knives and tool-making go together. Making a tool exercises your dexterity with a knife. I demonstrate to them how to make a foraging stick and then a bamboo cooking pot employing the Trailhawk System. I designate them into three groups of four and require them to make a spoon, a drinking jug and a cooking pot. Those that do not have knives with them, choose the knives that me and my camp staff put on display.

The morning progresses into something positive for the participants and the training staff when a strong rain came. It stayed for 30 minutes and unleashes again another torrent after an hour but it stayed longer. In the dry comforts of their shelters, the participants persevered and continue on the making of their dining tools as well as the pot that would be used later for cooking and all three groups showed me their results thereafter.

Second topic would have been Firecraft but we just had a downpour and so not conducive to discuss about fire or heat. I jump to the next, instead, which is about Shelters. Before setting up a shelter, you should choose a good campsite. It should not be on the stream banks. It should not be on flat terrain. It should not be along trails. It should not be near a water source. It should not be under a forest of pines, cedar, pulpwood, eucalyptus and rubber trees.

The campsite should be away from all of these and do not alter the aesthetic of the place just so it could suit your tastes. Keep it as it is and then blend your man-made shelter with it. If you cannot make one, use a small cave or a rock overhang and make yourself comfortable by building a small fire. Use the rocks as reflector of heat. Simple shelters can be made from natural materials or a combination of man-made ones. Some shelters employ this setup in this bushcraft camp which is not difficult to explain.

Then I proceed to the topic about Foraging and Plant ID. Foraging works better with good bushcraft ethics unless there is a need where your existence would be at stake. I discourage the use of rifles when hunting for food and resort instead to trapping. I demonstrate how a simple trap looks like and how it is placed. Likewise, I show a snare employed to catch monkeys and big lizards and another one that closes a loop when moved. Not to be outdone, the participants made a trap made to catch fowls and birds.

Part of foraging is identifying plants. It could be edible, herbal or harmful. Just as long you suspect each plant that you do not know, it would never be a problem. To guide them how harmful plants look like, I showed them pictures of these plants, starting from the thorny ones to one that is so toxic that there is no antidote to cure people affected by this.

The last lecture for the day is about Outdoor Cooking. This topic also includes how you preserve meat, fish, vegetables and fruits. The processes are discussed thoroughly as possible given the light of day beginning to go dim. Then there are ways how you cook your food: open hearth, semi-closed and the closed style; and where you cook: campsite, trailside and bushcraft.

The open style is very popular as it is very simple. Semi-closed works like you would with a clay hearth where there is a hole to feed the fire with wood and another hole where the pot is placed or where the food is cooked. A good example would be the Dakota fire hole. The closed type is a different kind as it does not use direct fire in cooking your food but would use that fire instead to heat the stones to cook your food instead like a crude oven.

The three groups are now ready with their bamboo cooking vessels. The Trailhawk System of cooking is not complete without employing the unusual way of how it cooks rice, which is quite different from a standpoint of conventional cooking of rice. It is now almost dark and the guys are hungry because of the whole day without food. Whoever cooks his rice first, can start immediately their Nocturnal Hunting.

One by one, group after another group, leave in search of their own food. For me, it is time to relax by taking a bath in the middle of Cotcot River where the current is swift. The water is warm yet refreshing to a warmed up body that have not had rest for two days and a bath for a day. I never felt so better after that, given that the night is warm and humid. I can see lights that walk up on one hill and another group on a hill across it.

Ernie starts his own cooking, ably helped by Jhurds while Nelson makes another fire to smoke the mosquitoes away. The first group arrive and they caught five edible tree snails (Local: taklong), just enough for the four of them. A second group arrive to show a more miserable result – a heart of a young coconut tree (ubod). The last group whose lights glowed at the farthest hill returned with a live chicken and some horse radish. Very well, so far so good. All cook their food. Those with less, supplement it with canned goods.

The second night begets a second dinner found the hard way. When all had their fill, another Campfire Yarns and Storytelling turned up. Since I do not have enough time for tomorrow, I decide to talk about the Everyday Carry around the campfire circle. The night went on after that but I am tired and I hit the deck of my shelter early.

The third day – August 30 – is reserved for Firecraft. It is a very warm morning. After a good breakfast, I start the topic immediately. Firecraft is not just about making fire by modern conveniences or by primitive means, but it is understanding how a fire would work and how it may be used. Elementary understanding of a fire should start from the so-called fire triangle, which is now substituted with the tetrahedron. (A tongue twister. Why not a diamond?)

Then you have to identify good fire tinder. Tinder absorb heat which makes fire possible and it could also absorb moisture quickly to test your patience in making fire. Tinder are natural dry material which are so light and, sometimes, so fluffy but you could manufacture your own tinder like I did with cotton jeans which result to charred clothe. Charclothe could catch the flimsiest of sparks and can be used as medium to receive heat from concentrated light passing by water inside a bottle.

There are four ways to make fire. First is by the conventional manner which could be done with a lighter, a box of matches or by a ferro rod. Second is by solar magnification which can be created with a magnifying lens or other material which could imitate the lens like bottled water or even ice. The third is by pressure which is only possible with an internal combustion engine and by the fire piston.

The last is the most popular, which is by friction. The whole idea of survival is anchored on this. Actually, it is not. Friction methods are many and it is done with wood or by bamboo or the combination of both. Most popular here is the bamboo-saw method because it is considered our own and is extensively used in Boy Scout activities. Beginning to get attention in local bushcraft is the bowdrill method. Other methods like the hand drill, the fire plow and the fire thong are as good as the others. It takes a good amount of practice and the right conditions to make fire with these.

After successfully making fire in some methods, I believed I have taught all what is needed to be taught and decide that the training has ran its course. Then it rained heavily. We pack our things back inside our bags under this deluge and break camp. I fear that the river would rise. As I had feared, a tributary has risen and we have to cross it three times under a strong current. We take another route back to Mulao and found refuge under their covered basketball court.

While waiting for the rain to subside, Jhurds decide to raffle off the free giveaways: ten pieces paracord of 10 meters length each, two Seseblades NCO Straight knife and a modified Seseblades Sinalung. All these courtesy of Jhurds, who have been very supportive of my endeavours. A Hyundai Starex of the Municipality of Lilo-an arrive to pick us all, down to the new seaside store of Titay's Rosquillos and Native Delicacies.

Upon arriving, I distribute the training certificates to the participants, after which Aljew Frasco whisk us off to his farm and treated me, Jhurds, Ernie, Mark, Doms and Nelson to a well-cooked mixed-vegetable stew. Gone are the fatigue and the bone weariness that have hounded me for as long as I can remember. The soup is just superb and would have been perfect if paired with cold beer but we all need an early rest. There would be a next time, I am sure.

The Municipality of Lilo-an have taken extraordinary steps to professionalize their emergency responders with the addition of this training. They are the first municipality to extend their DRRM operators to learn bushcraft and, likewise, it equipped them in their work, especially when responding to places where they have no total control of the environment. This training taught them how to adapt, blend and improvise in any given situation where resources are limited and pursue their goals without impediments.

As for me, I have now come to the conclusion that I will focus my attention on sharing what I know about bushcraft and wilderness survival. I have been in private employment for sometime now and I think I may have to choose the best master: the corporate owners or my passion. I will arrive at that bridge and when I do I will cross the river and burn the bridge behind.

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