Alecks pabico as a pulag spirit..

 (reposted from my facebook notes january 2010)

The plan to bring the ashes of my dear friend Alecks Pabico to Mt. Pulag almost did not push through due to several side issues. For one, we were a small group which became smaller as two backed out on the day of departure from manila. Second, I was not feeling well ( a flu-like condition) for the past days perhaps due to heavy partying during the holidays.

Nevertheless, I made a decision: We have to fulfill our promise to family of Alecks that we will bring his ashes to Mt.Pulag, the second highest mountain in the Philippines. Mira, the wife of alecks, delivered to us the package containing his ashes five minutes before our departure from manila last December 27, 2009. Speaking of photo finish, wheeewww….

My dear friend Alecks Pabico passed away due to liver cancer on Wednesday, 7 October 2009, 4:36 p.m. at the St. Luke’s Medical Center. He was 42 years old. Pabico was the editor-in-chief of the University of the Philippines-Diliman’s campus newspaper, the Philippine Collegian, from 1991 to 1992. I had the opportunity to work with him as photo editor during the earlier two terms.

 Until his last hours as a full person ( before he became ashes after his cremation), Alecks Pabico still brings smile and awe to other persons.  Imagine a funeral procession october 2009  from UP Chapel to the crematorium in Antipolo with Bob Marley's music being played instead of the traditional sad funeral songs. As we tailed the funeral car ( mira and the kids inside my car), I guess the people asked "Seryoso ba ito na patay ang nasa loob ng funeral car?" And when mira and I heard the fave song of Alecks (Three Little Birds), i recalled some of his last words to Mira as lifted from the song "Dont worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right"

The eight member team composed of me, Pinky Serafica ( a CEGP alumni), Dr.Wes Dulawan, Rex Barrer (UP Mountaineer), my cousin Perla Parreno-Datiles and husband triathlete Mao Datiles, and fellow mountaineers Del and Gaudi.

I thought my hiking days was over as I already refrained from engaging in this activity for health reasons. Due to my eye condition (retinal detachment risk) doctors have advised that I avoid stressful physical activities that in the end may cause my blindness. The remedy: to hire a porter at P250.00per day..

Pulag, which means “bald,” is the highest peak of the mountain, which is predominantly grassland. With an elevation of 2,930 meters (9,612 feet) above sea level, its 11,500-hectare area is within the Gran Cordillera Forest Reserve. The borders between the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, and Nueva Vizcaya meet at the mountain's peak.

We arrived at our campsite shortly before 5:00 p.m. after almost three hours of hiking from the Ranger station. As we will wake up very early the next morning, we slept at around 7:30 p.m. To help me sleep, I stargazed for a while reminiscing my other pulag trips, this being my fifth climb. The last one was in 2004, which was a “disaster” since it was very wet and cold. No sunrise for us that time.

Wake up call at 3:30 a.m. Then we started our assault at 4:20 a.m. with our headlamps. We reached the summit after an hour, just on time for the sunrise. The weather was perfect as if it cooperated with our endeavor. It was not wet or raining, and not windy. I was later informed that for the past three or four years, many mountaineers suffered the same fate I had in 2004: wet pulag trek with no sunrise.

The ashes were then scattered by three persons close to Alecks: me, pinky and rex.

Historian William Henry Scott (whom i had the privilege to meet in Sagada in the early 90s when he was still alive) said that when a person dies, his soul does not die but becomes a spirit (anito) that then lives in the village, especially in the caves or rocky places where its former body is entombed. Nature spirits, he said, inhabit stones, water courses and trees, and are generally beneficial or neutral, doing misfortune only to those who do physical violence to their dwelling places.The Ibalois believed that pulag is a sacred mountain where the gods dwelled and where the soul will finally meet Kabunian, Supreme Being of the Cordilleras. As such, even such normal human activities as shouting, defecating, picking wild plants, and even kissing are prohibited in the area, lest these anger the gods.

On my way down, I met a family from Baguio who incidentally scattered the ashes of their 22-year old brother who died last July.I joked that what if their ashes mixed while being scattered? They will be perpetual playmates :)

With Alecks’ ashes now united with the flora and fauna of magnificent Mt.Pulag, he can now be identified, to some extent, as one of the “nature spirits.”