ITBUD - Hello and good day to you all! Well, I have just returned from my annual check-in with immigration. My wife Margie and I spent a week in Manila doing the things that older couples do when they are travelling, and that is shopping.
Arriving on Sunday on Asian Spirit Airlines, we checked into our hotel and then went for a very nice dinner at one of the fine restaurants that are close to the hotel. Then on Monday morning we were off to immigration, and I might add it was an eye opening experience for my wife. You see, she and I have reversed roles now that we are living here in Itbud. When we lived in the States, she was a green card holder and I was the sponsor. When we first arrived in the States we filed out the forms and paid our fee and went home and the card was mailed to us. Then when the expiration date was close, we would contact INS close to where we were living and up-date the information; pay a fee and then we would get her new card. This only happened twice during the 34 years we were in the States, and that was because they, INS, changed the card.
50,000 U.S. dollars, not pesos, is required, and it's not for you to access once it's paid. This now is in account that the government has access to and they collect the annual interest that the account brings. There are other benefits to this retired card, but in the long run it's a whole lot cheaper for me to go with a regular immigration card.
Here are my costs: 21,000 pesos for a round trip ticket for two, hotel next to the mall for a week, approximately 18,000 pesos, ground transportation cost total was under 3,000 pesos, and a week of shopping with the wife, a bottle of aspirin. (Ha, Ha, Ha, just in case you do see the joke!)
While in Manila!
We had some excitement while we were in Manila; some lady from Basco was arrested in the city for threatening the governor. The whole affair is sad in a way. She got very drunk on gin, got a gun and was walking down the street yelling that she was from the NPA and going to go and kill the governor of Batanes. Through the fog of gin, she realised that she was surrounded by police with weapons drawn, and she gave up. At the police station, she was asked who the governor of Batanes was and she gave some name but not Governor Gato. As a matter of fact, she had no idea what day it was either. She told someone that since the elections were going so badly that all the Mayors were closing the polls. When asked what elections she was talking about, she replied the ones we are doing today.
Back on the islands!
Back here on the island there was a small traffic problem, but it does point out the big problem of the road not being right. The 50-ton mobile crane from DHPW broke down between Basco and Mahatao in the narrowest, curviest part of the highway, and no one could pass. This caused as much as an hour delay to anyone using the road. I heard words being spoken that I can't put in public print, and it was Ivatan!
heaven and hell trying to do what is right here. The road is a good example of this. Let's just say for this discussion that money isn't a problem. We just can't get the large Cat's tractors out and start cutting a new road, even if it runs along the same route that the old road runs. Even if in a perfect world and they (the government) had the property rights to do the work, they still have to give the environment its consideration. You see this island is what we with Geology degrees call a pyroclastic flow formation. I know to the average person it looks like hard rock, but its not, and it's full of holes and a lot of them are full of water.
After this last tremor, we have had a shift in some of the springs here and some new ones are flowing and some of the old ones have stopped. I can see someone face when they strike an underground river with one of those Cat's and have no where to run.
A travel guide and books on Batanes!
The next time any of you are planning to come to the island for a visit, I suggest that you stop by some of the stores in Basco and pick up your own copy of the new travel guide that has been put out by www.BatanesOnline.com. The title is "Exotic Batanes," and I think the price is about 280 pesos and has a lot of good information and maps. There is a series of books by Dr. Florentino H. Hornedo about the Batanes people and their history that are very interesting and informative.
Visit us in Itbud!
I would like to extend an invitation to you all and say, if you are here, please stop by and see us in Itbud. We aren't hard to find. Until next time good luck and good fortune to you all!
- William M. Griffin, January 2007.
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