Laguna de Bai, the lake as Calamba’s Dr. Jose Rizal called it in Noli Me Tangere, has transformed much since the days of Laguna Gov. Juan Cailles of Sta. Cruz. From Cailles to the current governor, Ramil Hernandez, the province has had a long list of governors and administrators. But of course, my generation started with governors Felicisimo San Luis and Dominador Chipeco.
Through the years, the lake gave sustenance for the sparse population of the small town of Paete where I was born, aside from the Humarap mountain which is part of the huge Sierra Madre wall from protects the whole island of Luzon from storms and other tropical cyclones like the recent “Carina.”
Nature gave Paete folks a limited space for “god the creator” perhaps as an afterthought, inserted the town between the lake and the mountain, unlike Caluan and Sta. Cruz, even Siniloan, which are towns with large tracts of agricultural lands.
I remember Laguna de Bay with its numerous varieties of fish and seashells and mollusks that are free sources of food for many people through the years. I also remember—with sadness—that it took a dish of fresh lotus flowers in a restaurant in Beijing for me to reminisce and miss the days when as children, my friends and I used to pick lotus flowers at the shore of Laguna de Bay and eat the seeds. There are no wild lotuses growing in the lake anymore.
In the early 1980s, the first President Ferdinand Marcos ordered the construction of the Napocor Caliraya power plant and built a man-made lake in Lumban. Water from Laguna de Bay was hauled up to Caliraya during the day and brought down at night to run the turbines when Metro Manila needed power most, generating electricity. The amount of power needed to bring the water up is more than the power generated but no matter, Marcos needed the power in Manila. The whole ecology of the Laguna de Bay was disturbed, and numerous varieties of fish disappeared forever (like the “pauton”) or were greatly reduced in number (like the “ayungin,” the “biya,” and the giant “kanduli” called “tabangungo” and the popular “tagunton” shimp.)
The urbanization of Laguna’s western portion started in the 1970s when the South Luzon Expressway was constructed linking Alabang, Muntinlupa with Makati, both towns still in the province of Rizal because there was no Metro Manila yet.
Before this, going to Manila from Paete was a grueling 5-hour journey. There used to be an LTB bus from Laguna’s easternmost town of Sta. Maria which can be boarded in Paete, and upon reaching Alabang, it had to take the Alabang-Zapote road towards Harrison St. in Pasay City, then to Manila. At that time, Dewey (Roxas) Blvd. ended somewhere in San Juan De Dios Hospital, where EDSA would later cross it, creating a vital intersection.
Later, you’ll have to take a jeepney to Sta. Cruz, then take the DLTB bus or Laguna Transit bus to Manila. I don’t know why but as a child, I used to vomit on every trip with the red bus (BLTB) perhaps because of the strong diesel fumes, but I did not vomit when we rode the yellow bus (Laguna Transit) which is less of a polluter.
In the late 60s, the bus stopped in Sta. Cruz where you can buy kesong puti, balot and penoy. In Calauan, the bus stopped again where boys carrying three pineapples each would entice commuters to buy the fruits: three for one peso, or 33 centavos each. Among these boys—I would later know—were the brothers Bert and Joey Lina from nearby Victoria town. Later, Joey would be elected governor of Laguna after a stint as senator.
Next stop for the bus was Calamba, where the delicacies for sale in the bus were native corn, boiled to perfection. Biñan was not a regular bus stop, but sometimes the bus driver slowed down for “puto Biñan” and “Sa Malamig.” From there, it would be a short trip to Alabang, Zapote, Baclaran in Parañaque, then Taft Avenue in Pasay and then Manila.
When Joey Lina was governor in 1995 to 2001, he started the widening of the old highway in Calamba and Los Banos. In 2013, Governor E. R. Ejercito peeved President Noynoy Aquino for coming in late for a meeting in Malacañang on the proposed construction of the Laguna Lakeshore highway.
After decades of suffering the long hours of being stuck in traffic, Laguna folk may now heave a sigh of relief as the decades-old traffic congestion problem in Laguna will soon be solved by the Marcos administration. The Laguna Lakeshore Road Network (LLRN) Project is finally moving.
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