Calayan Island is not only all Sand and Beaches

CALAYAN ISLAND IS NOT ALL SAND AND BEACHES. In fact, we have more clay than sandy beaches. That being the case, we should have more clay pots than seashells. We cannot however compete with the gargantuan sea shell manufacturers – The Pacific Ocean and the West Philippine Sea. These bodies of water nurture our reefs and corrals with a variety of bivalves, marine plants and animals including dolphins and Humpback whales. I was told that a giant clam shell is embedded in the mountainous region of Barangay Magsidel surrounded by clay soil. Everyone believes that no human muscle put it there. Could it be giants or kapres? The answer could only be a supposition similar to the phenomenon that put the Atlantis City beneath the sea. 

Others think we don’t have rice fields. The Tans, Dicans and some Llopises are rice exporters but their produce no longer reach the Americas because Filipinos consume them before crossing the high seas or that witty buyers had already kept them in their bodegas waiting for a better price.  Camiguin island, composed of three barangays - Balatubat, Minabel and Naguilian - is a rice and banana producer too. It is more famous for its wild honey but exporting this forest product stands no chance due to high demand in the locality and nearby Tuguegarao City.

Babuyan Claro (aka Kurug), an island barangay of Calayan has a volcano – active or not, I’ve yet to know. The people here are kind and peace-loving. They grow sweet watermelons. My friend Jo Ann who now lives in Japan could attest to the big sweet potatoes from this island barangay – thanks to its volcanic soil. Giant bamboo groves were found here although they are not necessarily endemic to the place. They have edible coconut crabs from the wild and capture is regulated by a barangay ordinance. The sidai of Kurug looks like a longan but its tree trunks are more huge and the fruits much sweeter. Their mound birds have the biggest eggs among the birds of fowl in Calayan. One piece equals two orange chicken eggs or still a little longer. Let us not compare it with the ostrich’s because that’s not a bird; it’s a giant. Okay, a giant bird. 

Others think we don’t have forests. That should change now because we would have no wild chickens, eagles, wild doves, wild pigs, and Galliralus Calayanesis aka Piding - the newly discovered rail (bird) of Calayan by Mr. Carl Olivares and his team in 2003 – if we have no thick forest. Our round tables and other wooden furniture mostly of narra hardwood were extracted from Calayan forest. However, felling narra and other hardwood species nowadays are under total log ban.  DENR conducted a seminar workshop in Calayan last April 2018 with the end of identifying the boundaries of the barangays and embarking on a Forest Land use Plan (FLUP) but is not yet complete. In conjunction with the seminar, the Barangay captains met that they may identify their respective forest parks – where they are not supposed to cut trees and where they may be tolerated to cut trees subject to further study and approval by the DENR. As of this writing though, no FLUP had been submitted to Calayan to serve as guide. With most of the barangay captains who attended the meeting no longer in the political scenario, the continuation of what the former had left behind leaves another question “When?”

What else grows in Calayan. Pictures in clockwise direction. Starting from top right is the Bannayuyo. Benefits: The plant can be trimmed for decorative purposes. One agriculture magazine mentioned of a rice farmer in the mountain provinces who converted his rice field into a Bannayuyo plantation (they have a variety different from ours though) because he found the Bannayuyo more lucrative than rice when he learned to make wine out of its ripe berries. In Calayan, a local Bannayuyo wine maker’s berries are harvested from the wild for no one had ever seriously planted Bannayuyo for commercial purposes. These are so easy to grow. Just roll the ripe blue or purple berries in your mouth, sip the juice and spew the seeds. If you spit 10 seeds on moist and fertile ground, twenty will grow divided by two – more or less.

There are claims of anti-cancer properties of the Bannayuyo which I am inclined to believe is true because black or blue or red berries have their own medicinal values. You can check the internet for berries’ properties. An architect of NAPOCOR from Metro Manila who visited Calayan last year heard of my Bannayuyo plants. He asked for some leaves that his mother may make a concoction of it and drink it as tea for medicine. Wow, that’s new. Bannayuyo tea, anyone? If you have this plant and value it, don’t get it near a goat. It’s a goat’s favorite. So if you intend to put up a Bannayuyo plantation for goats or sheep, for wine-making or for garden decoration, I leave it all up to you.

I have some seedlings at home to spare for free if you can dig the soil yourself. It's located in our residential lot in Poblacion, Calayan. A plus factor about the Bannayuyo is its resilience to being transplanted. While most plants wither at the moment you disturb their roots when transplanting seedlings, THE BANNAYUYO SEEMS TO LOVE BEING TOUCHED, (OR SHOULD I SAY MASSAGED) AND TRANSPLANTED. I have not seen any Bannayuyo wither when I transferred or transplanted them.

The next inset is the potted Japanese Malunggay. I grew it from cuttings. I won’t explain the virtues of the Malunggay for they are too long but let me include that this VARIETY IS SMOOTHER AND DOESN’T HAVE THE BITTER TASTE THAT OUR ORIGINAL MALUNGGAY HAVE, says our cook. You can find a lot of this veggie in Poblacion but honestly I haven’t tasted it yet.

The Third Inset is the potted Sidai from Babuyan Claro. I have described it earlier.

The Last inset is a Talipnongen tree from Barangay Dilam. I have no idea if it bears edible fruits. All I know is that this tree whose trunk seems to grow at a slow pace have awesome shade with less leaf debris and no invasive worms like that of the umbrella tree. Good for small gardens.

I could post more members of the plant kingdom with respect to what grows in Calayan. But my point is: Calayan is not all sand and beaches. It is an island with exotic wildlife of both plants and animals and people of mild - starting with letter 'm' not 'w' manners. Invaders and intruders had come and gone before. Thank God they didn’t last and harm our souls. God has a watchful and protective eye on those who obey His Word. He won’t let any place fall into the hands of would-be perpetrators or matadors, abusive pescadores or tiradors – for as long as He can count a significant number of people who still believe in Him and do His will in that place. More and more religious groups are becoming active in this island.