BY YOLANDA Z. SOTELO

LAST week, I went on a “trek” to San Nicolas town – to some barangays I’ve never been before. The trip was on invitation of the Provincial Population Office which is in charge of the provincial government’s livelihood projects and entrepreneurship program.
The “wonders” started when we started on the road to Camangaan, which if I recall rightly, was the barangay where peasant leader Jose Doton was killed last year. It was a dirt road all right. Another “lost” car was in front of us, so dust was flying all over us who were riding in an open vehicle. We told the driver to let the car go by a kilometer or two so we will not eat dust all the way to our destination.

The air was dry, but it was a bit overcast so it was not too hot. Our companions wondered why our guides, who were aboard motorcycles, led us through the road when there was an alternative paved road. The explanation was it was a shorter route.
Then we passed by a “pond” right smack in the middle of the road. Can the vehicle pass through? Yes, it did, so we had a free car wash.
Some meters away, there was a river that crossed the road. Or perhaps it was the road that crossed the river. The river, its bed full of stones, has very clear, sparkling, murmuring, flowing water coming from the mountains. It was a beautiful sight! If it were located somewhere near the cities, it would have been full of people either taking a bath or washing their clothes. Maybe, but I hope not, it won’t take long before population growth takes it toll on that river by the road.
Our next stop, Salingcob village, I can call a woman’s world. It is a new community, I was told, formed when an area was submerged by a river or something like that. The people relocated there and it has become a bustling community.
I call it a woman’s world because the women there, formed into an organization by the provincial population office, seemingly are propelling the village’s economy. They started really small, but now they can take a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines (with cash backing from the provincial government) up to 1.5 million pesos. The women were able to accumulate enough funds by contributing a small amount monthly which they use to lend to themselves at less than 5 percent monthly. But the bigger amount – the loan from Land Bank – they use to lend to their husbands for agricultural inputs and even equipment.
The organization has kept the women – some 30 of them – closely-knit. And if you think it’s the women in the city who think that husbands have a definite role in bringing up the children and in keeping the house, think again. These women have found their worth in their households. “They (husbands) take care of the children whenever we are busy with the organization’s activities,” they said. And the husbands do not complain.
The women, too, are a force to reckon with in the village. They help in the village’s cleanliness and beautification projects and other projects of the local officials.
Really, the village atop rolling hills has well-paved roads decorated with painted stones and plants on each sides. We traveled through dirt roads and found this village really refreshing, especially the women are very warm in their welcome. I remember that song in the elementary grades titled Welcome Song. It was about somebody who came to a place and the people there “tempted” her with meat, ripe fruits of the land where they live, dainty sweets or honey of the bees newly taken from the hive.
“But the sweetest of all sweets, is the welcome that you give.”
I feel like that somebody, being welcomed into the fold of women I never met, and treated like a long lost friend.