Warrior Pilgrimage

Featured in www.pinoyapache.blogspot.com on June 1, 2009

“...Bring home the bacon!”, Dr. Abe Manlawe seemed to scream through a text message in my cell phone screen on the morning of June 5, 2008 goading us to bring the Cebu Mountaineering Society (CeMS) banner to the crowns of Dulangdulang and Kitanglad in a span of three days, a feat unprecedented yet in CeMS history. Officially named The CeMS Memorial Climb and Trek; which is held every June of each year to honor the memories of Sir Joe Avellanosa, Roy Tabanao, Penpen Mitchell, Dodong Polancos and Tio Paeng Tura; the planned activity will traverse the second and fourth highest Philippine mountains and then camp on each of their peaks.


Despite the uncertainties and anxieties that hound our preparations since Day 1 of our training where, in what was originally a 14-climber team composition, it was decimated by injuries and other commitments that left only eight determined souls: Lilibeth Initan, Boy Olmedo, Jon Consunji, Julienne Rosales, Sam Lim, Loklok Caumeran, Aldrich Paypon and Jing de Egurrola.


And so, on the night of June 5, at exactly 8:00 PM, these eight “bacon hunters” in commemorative brown t-shirts left Cebu Harbor for the Port of Cagayan de Oro on board M/V Doña Rita to take on that challenging task... READ MORE (Press CTRL + mouse click)