The provinces of Apayao and Kalinga were once a single province under the name of Kalinga–Apayao. It was not until 1995, with the passage of Republic Act No. 7878 and the approval of the people in a plebiscite, when the two sub-provinces split to form independent provinces. Moving a bit backward more into history, Kalinga–Apayao used to be part of a bigger province, one that I would call a mega province due to its sheer size: the Mountain Province.

The historical Mountain Province was organized by the Americans in 1908 as a successor territorial entity to what the Spanish used to call La Montañosa. It encompassed the entire Cordillera region with six sub-provinces: Amburayan, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Lepanto-Bontoc.

Republic Act No. 4696 was passed in 1967 which abolished the old Mountain Province, paving way to the creation of four new provinces, namely Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga-Apayao and the former sub-province of Bontoc which took the name of its predecessor province. Amburayan and Lepanto have long been abolished by then with their territories being integrated to neighboring provinces.

Of all the provinces in the Philippines whose names are either from the vernacular or influenced by Hispanic naming convention, Mountain Province is the only one that has retained its English name and is not translated, even in official documents in Filipino.

It did not take long since we left the Buscalan turnaround signage until we reached the grandmother of the Cordilleras. True to its name, the majesty of the mountain ranges impose a sense of mystery on all those who traverse its roads, providing no sight of what lies beyond the mountainous embrace.

Since Ran was the one driving, I was not able to help it and fell asleep. An hour into my sleep, I was awaken as I felt that our car was slowing down. I asked Ran what was going on and he told me that we got a flat tire.

Ran positioned the car on the side of the road before we went down to check what happened. It was not a flat tire; it was a totally busted, dilapidated tire.

I have an experience in changing tires, so no worries on that part. What I was worrying about was that we were literally surrounded by mountains and it was already past 05:00 PM. The surroundings tend to get a lot darker faster when one is on the foot of the mountain, more so if there are mountains in all directions.

I pulled the tire reserve and the tools out of the car’s trunk and was about to position the jack when an SUV stopped before our car. Two men then went out of the vehicle, complete with their own tools, then followed by another man who seemed to be the one driving the SUV. A van also stopped on our location and a woman in the van chatted with the man from the SUV. Yes, apologies for referring to their genders only. To me, as I was to them, everyone were nameless strangers, but there we were, united in camaraderie because of a busted tire.

Everything happened so fast from that point: the two men changed our busted tire that I was not able to do anything but be stunned in amazement on how complete strangers willingly went out of their way just to help. Humanity at its finest.

When they were done, I was not really able to do anything but thank those who changed our tire and those who stayed with us during what would have been an ordeal. After the SUV had left, the woman from the van that stopped to check on us approached me and told me: “S’ya po ang Congressman namin. Sinabihan n’ya mga tao n’ya noong nakita kayo: ‘Baka bisita, tulungan natin. Nakahihiya.’” Turned out, the one driving the SUV was the congressman of Mountain Province, Congressman Maximo Y. Dalog, Jr.! All the more that I was stunned. To meet a Congressman of a far-flung place is a privilege enough, but to have him supervise the fixing of your busted tire without even introducing himself? A complete honor.

I thanked the lady before she and her companion parted, and asked her to kindly extend again my gratitude to our good Samaritans, especially to Congressman Dalog. Looking back to what happened, we experienced a form of hospitality that went beyond definition. That was not mere hospitality. That was humanity in action, and that, to us, is the grand treasure of the Cordilleras.

The sun has started to set, hence we went on with our journey. A quarter before 06:00 PM, we found ourselves somewhere in the town of Bauko, Mountain Province. We saw what seemed to be a market, so we stopped to buy vegetables, something that the mountains are known for.

The vibe of the place gives off some scent of rustic enigma: the sun was low, the climate was cold, the place is somewhat foggy, and despite the place being a marketplace, the earthy scent of pines was all over the place.

After our quick stop in Bauko, we advanced on our trip home. Just before the darkness fully embraces the surrounding, we reached a closed part of the road, hence we took a U-turn and followed the road instructions towards the detour. The detour was a rough road, mountainous terrain with no street lamp posts. It was a good thing though that there were quite a few vehicles when we were passing there, otherwise it would have been quite a scary experience.

More than three hours on the road and we finally reached Baguio City. It was already late and for some reasons, we did not feel like stopping there anymore to grab something to eat. We just decided to stop at a pasalubong store along the road and off we went. Sa expressway na lang kami maghahanap ng makakainan.

We finally got home at 04:21 AM the following day after we left Apayao. That was roughly 22 hours and 21 minutes of being on the road from Apayao back to Bulacan. Add the travel time from Bulacan to Apayao, and that would be a staggering round trip of 40 hours, the longest road trip we have done so far, surpassing that of our Ilocandia trip.

All in all, our northern trip gave us so much leverage in our bid to complete Project82PH, as there is now just one province left for us to visit in Northern Luzon.

You probably have noticed that the tip of the map has already been marked. Yes! On the weekend that followed our epic Cordillera trip, we finished off the Cagayan Valley Region by visiting the last frontier in the north, the tip of the Philippine archipelago.

The next renegade juncture is to the crowning jewel of the Philippines, the Batanes Isles!

Postscript

On the day that followed our Cordillera road trip, I made an appreciation post in Facebook on how Congressman Maxi Dalog and his companions helped us with our tire. Eventually, someone contacted me, introducing himself as as one of the congressman’s companions, Mr. Roy Pitog.

Iyaman, Sir Roy, and here’s to hoping to see you all and the beauty of the Mountain Province again!