Coastal Village part 4: Barangay Tubajon

Tubajon from higher land

Barangay Tubajon located in Laguindingan,  Misamis Oriental, Cagayan de Oro. One can take bus from Cagayan to Laguindingan then take the habal-habal to Tubajon. The Capitain Lady was super cool, she welcomes you with warm-hearted.

Tubajon is like a hidden gem. This place has beautiful beaches and great view. Here's the view from the fisherman boat :

This is near the Fish Sanctuary, as you can see the water is crystal clear you can see all the corals from there. The place has a relaxing beach also where you can just sit and have  a little picnic. 

Relaxing beach

Enough about its wonderful view, how about the community there? Sadly enough, the community live is not as wonderful as the panoramic scene. The community there have to struggle with uncertainty day to day. I life with a family who catch the fish using compressor. It broke my heart when Ate Gagang (the wife) explained, they don't have boat and they don't want to use the net because it means that they need to buy the gasoline for petramax and they dont have the money. The money that they have mostly spend for buying corn (they dont eat rice also since it's expensive) and to send their children to school. 

The greatest fear for this family is when the child or the husband got sick. It will costs them 3000 php just to get the ambulance come to their place. Thus, she said if one of the family member got serious illness she does not know what to do, 'seguro patay' (maybe he/she will die)

Seashell gleening

Sea urchin catchers

Ate Gagang contributes to the household income by working as a washing-labour but this is depends if there is fiesta or ceremony happened in the barangay. Besides, she also do shell gleaning or catch small fishes that hey sell 10 php in one plastic. They used to have tobacco and corn field but they don't have the money to maintain it so it's now idle. They got the land from the government. 

Relocation site Laguindingan

Soon Laguindingan will be famous in the Philippines since they plan to move the airport in Cagayan to Laguindingan. The social aspect from this is minimum 200 household has been relocated. Most of them work as a fisherman or in corn field. Some of them got better access to their work field some of them don't. Life is a mistery for all of us, but for coastal communities this mistery becomes their everyday life. They will not know tomorrow whether they will have good catch or maybe not at all. The house that they stayed does not have paper because they build it in government land. Not to mention they built it from the wood that they found in the sea thus government an come anytime and took their so-called house. They can be totally healthy and working but might be exhausted in few years beacuse of the risk that they go through every time they inhale the compressor. When you think about luxury, it does not always means fancy car or bling bling. Most of the times, it simply means you have something in your plate when you're hungry, being healthy and able to catch some fishes, and for Ate Gagang happiness is when she can serve her family and see that they are happy.

Happiness only real when shared - ITW