my short stay in lake sebu was another amazing journey to familiarizing myself with the beauty of the philippines (char). lake sebu is a municipality located 1,000mts above sealevel in south cotabato. it is home to 19 barangays (18 of which is governed by the T’bolis and the Ubos) and sports three mountain lakes, including the enchanting lake sebu itself. having acquainted myself to natives i have been educated yet again on life’s hardships and glorious moments. the documentary im working on in the area allows me to get in touch with many of them, hearing about their movements and noting down their sentiments, recording their cries of injustice and sharing in their stories of determination and triumph.

arrived in lake sebu early monday morning and was briefed by sir jorge on the taxi about the project in cotabato. was led to a single-room cottage with a balcony and a great view of the lake. i immediately rounded up the NGO people in the office and asked what the main issues of the area were. after half an hour we got to a general idea of how the docu should come out but still unclear about details and how to get it. eventually through interviews with datus and farmers, we were able to flesh out a working outline of the video. however the real cut of the film would only be finalized after i got it cleared with the big bosses in zamboanga.

first meal in lake sebu was tilapia, fished fresh out of the lake. dinner, apparently was also with tilapia. oh and could you guess what we had for breakfast? im not gonna tell you.

oh yeah, made a couple of booboos that irked an educated t’boli with a lot of hangups. ok, i should be more understanding. but hey, if i was forewarned i wouldnt have started shooting the nak’d lady by the public well! ok i was kidding.

had a great time when t’boli children surrounded me and my cam in a circle and while singing a native song. and i was serenaded by an old t’boli in full regalla– on her knees! then we hiked up traankini to get shots of the waterfalls where i accidently slipped and got the cam wet. oops, did i just give myself away?

more later when i can gather my thoughts better. right now im in cagayan de oro for a break but i will be going back to lake sebu after the all-saint’s day holiday. cheers y’all!