Travelling to Protected Areas in the Philippines:
Mists, Myths and Mysteries
In 2017, Imagic Productions was given the great privilege of publishing a book (yes a book, not a video) for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Biodiversity Management Bureau. I always thank Him for pouring all these blessings upon us, a video production company that is being entrusted to write a book. But in all things, we must only believe and have faith that everything given your way has a purpose. And with such a big task you have no where to go but deliver…and deliver it the best that you can.
I put together a ‘dream team’ as I call it- my writer Leah Eriguel, who was my classmate and friend in Maryknoll during our high school days and became a batchmate also at the UP College of Mass Communication. She is a prolific writer and (purposely) not very technical in her style but writing with a heart. Whatever she writes, she weaves the words so beautifully! And even a technical story ends up so inspiring. Then another equally important member of the team is our photographer Tina Gamez-Tovar Dias. She is my cousin and I have admired her photographs since I can remember. Not only are we very close to each other but we have the same views of the world, same interests and same outlook in life. She lives in Florida but when I asked her to be my photographer for this book, she came home hurriedly. Many thanks to her dear husband Glenn’s support for his wife’s craft. And of course, not to forget, our great assistant Felix Basa. Without him, everything will be heavier and climbs up the mountains more difficult. He assists us with everything, and in my case as the field production manager, he helps me up when we are climbing mountains or waterfalls. Thank God for young people!
We were tasked (oh boy, what an assignment!) to go to 7 protected areas in the Philippines from North to South. As their name defines, protected areas are categorized by our government and the communities who live around them so that they can be given special care. They are endowed with much beauty and these need to be protected and conserved. I can go on and on to speak about our adventures here but what do I really want to say, that our work is a great blessing because not only are we able to reach the corners of our islands which we may not see otherwise but we are able to bring their stories to people who will be reading this book one day…and perhaps plan a trip to get there. Each journey was an epiphany of sorts, an eye opener, an expansion of our imagination. The stories are priceless and too many to tell, I wish I had blogged each time we came home from a trip.
