WARNING!
TO MOUNTAINEERS PLANNING TO HIKE
IN MAJAYJAY, LAGUNA
(2005)







Subject: WARNING! Mountaineers planning to hike in Laguna



This frightful night took place at Majayjay, Laguna.

If you're familiar with Taytay falls, the famous setting for the
"Tabing-ilog" show.. please warn your friends & loved ones to
call off any plans of going to this place for the meantime.

My friends & I have long been sourcing out places where we can unwind &
just spend time together... most of us were into nature
trips so one of us organized a trip to the famous waterfalls found in
Laguna. We were lucky to be joined by friends who have been
mountaineers for 5 to 10 years already. They have joined the Echo
Challenge & several mountains trips across the Philippines.
Equipped with all the mountaineering gears & utensils, we worried less
about surviving the night & the mountain climb that was
bound before us.

It was a 2-hour trip from Manila & we just had to walk accross the
mountain trail to reach the campsite... as you enter the
mountain tracks, the air becomes crisp as you hear the gush of water
coming from the mountain as it goes its way down to the
river. There was a flowing riverbed beside the trail that was so clear you
would feel like walking through the waters instead of
the pebbly track. There were already several campers as we reached the
campsite a few hours before lunchtime last Saturday. We
chose a campsite that was a little farther from the crowd that was
building up surrounding the waterfalls. We know there would be
a lot of party & drinking around the vicinity of the falls during the
night and so we chose to camp a few feet away so that we
could enjoy a peaceful quality time among ourselves.

Being surrounded by mountains & lying a few steps away from the
riverbanks, the chill of the night called for drinking session
among friends who gathered around for a night of bonfire & storytelling.
After dinner, we had a few rounds of vodka & gin to warm
us up for the night. We had to hike a few meters to get to the falls &
back to our camp so it was quite a tiring day for most of us.
Some of us went to bed, or tent rather, early & i was one of those.

At around midnight, one of my friends came to our tent waking us up...
She whispered, "kumuha kayo ng bato, hawakan nyo lang... may nangyayare.."
she seemed calm but knowing her, I knew she was already
very nervous. There were three of us in our tent that she woke up... she
instructed us to turn off our cellphones coz we were
being robbed... that the robber was holding one of our friends, sticking a
knife at her. I could hear shouting voices & somebody
crying hysterically outside. Our tent was a few yards away from where the
crime has been happening. We can only imagine the horror
of the night that was befalling us from outside our tent. We immediately
ruffled into our bags, turned off our phones & held on to
our valuables. Somebody outside our tent immediately warned us, "patayin
niyo yang mga cellphones na yan! Pag yan nakita nila..".
We recognized the voice as one of our friends hiding behind our tent
outside. We tried to minimize our voices as we tried to
figure out whether we should lock up our tent or run to the next camp
outside. I can only peek a little & noticed how the full
moon was the only light that illuminated the commotion at our campsite. I
tried with all my might to be calm & maintain my
presence of mind.. I grabbed some money from my wallet & so did my
friends.. we reached it out to my other friend that had also
appeared in front of our tent.. we told him to give it to the robber so
that no one would get hurt.. they said he was asking for
P5000, which we didn't really have at that time... he tried to bargain
down to P2500.. we said we really didn't have the money...
our mountaineer friends offered their cook sets & other stuff that could
be acceptable by the robber.. we just wanted him to take
off & leave nobody hurt.. he said he had a gun and that we were being
surrounded by his other companions.. he asked for a watch
that he said he saw being worn by Kyle, our mountaineer friend.. kyle ran
to our tent giving us her watch while crying..."itago
niyo 'to please!".. We heard our victim friend shout, "Kyle, come back..
he's gonna kill me!! Please come back!" Kyle was then
crying desperately, "bakit ako?!". We told her to calm down & just give
the watch to get this over with... so no one would get
hurt.. crying frantically, she gave up her watch to John, the one who came
to reach out the money & watch to the robber. Kyle had
already disappeared from behind our tent even as we were toning down our
voices calling her back.. We then zipped down our tent &
made no extra movements inside so that we would not catch any more
attention in case there were still other robbers watching us
from the mountains.. we kept silent, held on to each other & prayed
together as our mountaineer friend continued to negotiate with
the robber, as we heard from inside the tent.

A little later, to our surprise, somebody unzipped our tent! it was Kuya
Mac, the one negotiating with the robber. He searched for
Kyle inside our tent.. "Kyle! Nasan si Kyle?" He told us to calm down &
that everything would be settled soon.. he kept asking for
Kyle but we told him that she took off..

Our other friend, the one hiding outside our tent, suddenly whispered..
"ayan na, may paparating na mga lalaki... papunta sila
dito.. ang dami nila...ayan na pababa na sila!" I held on tight to my
rosary.. we all cuddled in each other's arms trying to calm
down one another.. suddenly, there were shouting & somebody had already
hit kuya mac from behind.. there were several armed men..
they kept shouting, "lumabas kayo jan!" I told myself then, this was it
for all of us.. may God be with us... as the men tried to
rummage through our tent, yelling at us.. we noticed that they weren't
really trying to rob us.. they were trying to rescue us.. &
they thought that kuya mac was one of the robbers that's why they hit
him.. the real robber had already gone away.. this was our
rescue team.. our friends from the other campsite.

We then went outside & checked if everybody was ok.. still Kyle was
missing.. the rescuers came from the other campsite.. the ones
surrounding the waterfalls. Most of them were still up partying that's why
they didn't notice that something bad has already
happened on the nearby camp. A stony riverbed separated their camp from us
& we were out of sight once the lights are out due to
the shade of the trees. Kyle had ran to them to ask for help. She was so
brave! We gathered only the important things that we
could carry & came with the men to the other camp.

What had happened was that the robber had appeared from behind while our
friends were still drinking outside, gathered around a
small lamplight. The brightness of the lamp blinded them from seeing
through the dark parts of the surroudings. One of our friends
was already saying while they were still drinking na "kanina pa may daan
ng daan.." but they thought that she was only mocking the
rest, trying to scare them. The man had grabbed our victim friend, & let
out a plastic saying that he needs P5000 & we could all
chip in & put it in the plastic... & that's when time had suddenly stopped
for all of us.

Please, if you have friends who are into hiking, send this mail or advise
them to avoid the areas of Laguna for we believe that
our robber is only a resident of the area. We suspected that he could also
be a visitor from Lucban or Batangas or other nearby
provinces because of his accent/"punto".

I had no regrets of visiting the Taytay falls... it was a once in a
lifetime experience to be in one with nature & see how a
rainbow forms when the water hits the river after the rain.. to be able to
drink water straight from the mountain's spring & not having to
worry about the safety of drinking it. Just be aware that when you are in
these places where you can be nostalgic because of some
scene that you've watched on screen, never forget that you still live in
the real world & life is not always like the shows that
you see on TV & movies.


By:
Jorj Soriano
Citibank, N.A.

Submitted by: Patrich Bonaobra  

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