Metro MANILA, Philippines - At the start of this year 2020, I was looking forward to making one historic boat ride. It was a journey not just from one island to another but more of a journey in time to half a century ago.
As a child, the first time I left the island of Luzon was on board a boat. It was a vessel carrying the flag of Negros Navigation, Inc. NN as we knew it back then.
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| M/S Don Juan |
Negros Navigation has really been a part of my life. Apart from riding so many boats for vacations, it was partly my mode of transport during my high school years when I would shuttle between Manila and Bacolod for summer breaks (as I was studying in Manila back then). If that was not enough, I even met my wife through a project I was doing for NN in the 1990s.
I have also written so many articles on this blog, El Talonggo, on boat travel. The post I made in 2014 about Reviving The Lost Art Of Riding The Boat To Bacolod remains to be one of the most read articles in this blog.
Given this, it was my intention to visit Bacolod this summer and travel on a ship. As my grade school classmates were planning on a reunion about this week, I even asked my son if he would also like to ride on a ship. And it was not just my son, I also asked my three grade school classmates if they wanted to ride the boat to Bacolod for old time's sake.
It would have been perfectly timed. The vessel, St. Therese of the Child Jesus would be leaving noon April 21, 2020 for Bacolod City.
I had thought of bringing flowers to throw at sea as one last act of homage as we would pass Tablas Strait while the sun was setting. The only requiem that would have ever happened on site. Maybe have our own private ceremony to remember relatives who perished in what would be known as one of the major maritime tragedies of the country. The impact of this tragedy even brought birth to what is now known as Bacolod's famous Masskara Festival.
Alas, this is the boat trip which will not happen. All intentions to board and sail into the night of 40 years ago, have literally sunk. All throughout the month of April 2020 due to the COVID19 quarantine, the vessels at Pier 2 of Manila's North Harbor are quiet.
The hustle of porters and ship crew are absent. Everything is in "silent mode". Perhaps this is how it was meant to be. Forty (40) days of vessel silence for the 40 years from that fateful night of the Don Juan tragedy in 1980.
Rest well now, our dear victims of the Don Juan tragedy. I may not be there in Tablas Strait to lay flowers for you as the sun sets tomorrow on the eve of your passing. Rest assured, you will always be remembered.
-Lloyd Tronco
April 20, 2020
In loving memory of Tito Batchoy, Tita Lin, Bong, Ginny, Mymy, & Lisa Alunan.
In loving memory too of my high school friend, Billy Boy Sanson, who survived the Don Juan tragedy in 1980 but recently passed away due to COVID 19. Rest in Peace, Billy.
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Stay safe and healthy, Bacolod people!
-el Talonggo
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I will never forget the morning of April 23, 1980. My mother got off one of those clunky rotary phones to receive such terrible news. The M/S Don Juan was reported to have sunk on its way back to Bacolod, coming from Manila. My mother let loose a loud wail that filled the house upon knowing that her cousin, Tito Batchoy Alunan .....Read More
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Photo Flashback: Some of my old pics taken at Pier 2, North Harbor, Manila.
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