NEWS ARTICLE >> 2009BB 100 CONQUERS STRONG REPUBLIC NAUTICAL HIGHWAY
By Engr. Erwin L. Dolar
Date Released: April 3, 2009
The black D Max pick-up vehicle navigated slowly through the narrow Hinobaan - Bayawan highway, gingerly avoiding the potholes. The road was unpaved and the vehicle was heavily laden with its precious cargo all the way from Manila. The passengers, all five of us, were quiet, pensive and obviously exhausted, absent mindedly watching the slight drizzle that kept on drumming the windshield while the wiper noisily cleared it away. The driver, Mr. Tata Seno, peered closely at the road ahead. This was the second time that it rained during our trip, first it was in Oriental Mindoro at night while we were driving to Manila. We were elated for we were almost home at last.
A week ago, as we embarked on the journey, every member of our group knew that this trip was going to be significant, or even historic. Perhaps, this is the first attempt by an LGU vehicle, powered by 100% bio-diesel, to navigate more than a thousand kilometers (from Bayawan to Manila and back) of the renowned Strong Republic Nautical Highway. The prospect of mechanical trouble bugged us to and from our destination due to our heavy load. However everything was forgotten as we passed scenic open fields, towering mountains, blue seas and the infinite skies. We knew the trip would be exhausting, but we were all excited.
It had been a coincidence that the journey commenced on the Friday the 13th of March. We were tasked to inspect, test and fetch the granulator and coconut oil expeller machines purchased from a Manila based supplier. As part of our quest to produce our own bio-diesel from our own sources, there was no better way to do it other than using the vehicle fuelled by the locally produced bio-diesel. Being fuelled with bio diesel since six months ago, City Mayor Saraña’s D Max was the vehicle of choice for the long distance road test that covered a total of 1,600 kilometers.
Our mapped out route started from Bayawan to Bacolod, Bacolod to Dumangas via RoRo, Ilo-Ilo to Caticlan by land, Caticlan, Aklan to Roxas, Mindoro using Ro-Ro, Roxas to Calapan by land, Calapan to Batangas by RORO and by land from Batangas to Manila via Tagaytay and back. Cauayan, Negros Occidental was our first stop over to take our lunch of puso, pork adobo and alimasag. Intrigued by the sticker pasted on the rear of the our vehicle proclaiming, “Powered by 100% bio diesel,” a Ceres conductor out of curiosity opened up a conversation to know more about BB 100. We obliged and convinced him that it is about time we break our subservience to commercial fossil fuel, which is also instrumental for the global warming phenomenon.
Our arrival at the Bacolod RORO port proved too early that we had to wait until 4:00 PM before we embarked the ship. It was already dark when we arrived at Dumangas Port and spent our first sleep-over at Ilo-ilo. We woke up at dawn and hit the road before daybreak to catch up the 10:00AM RORO trip from Caticlan, Aklan to Roxas, Oriental Mindoro. The changing landscape made the trip dramatic as we watched the transition from dawn to day break. The urban scenery was slowly replaced by sprawling rice lands and beautiful hills as we went deeper inland. A change of dialect was observed as Tata scouted for stations airing good music, we were amused how the DJ’s started to speak in unfamiliar tongue. Despite arriving in Caticlan before10:00 AM, much to our dismay, the 10 AM RORO trip was cancelled and had to wait for the afternoon trip. Lunch proved expensive. We spent our spare time hanging in the tourist transit area; a building where tourists going to Boracay were inspected and booked.
Tourists of different color and nationality mostly baring skin came and went. We spotted an American ambassador traveling incognito, who folded hundred peso bills and carefully dropped them to the donation box where a senior citizens’ Rondalla group, clothed in loose Hawaiian shirts, provided music endlessly to welcome tourists.
By 3 PM we were at sea and when we docked, our vehicle had its second refueling. Our team leader, Sir Alain Alojado decided to travel by night. The extended travel time began to sap our energy. In Calapan, we had a hard time looking for a restaurant to eat supper since we arrived late at night. Sir Alain tried to order “goto,” thinking that it was lugaw, but turned out to be a boiled goatskin. He ate little that night. Again we started early the next day and passed by a narrow channel flanked by two small islands. One was the Isla Verde National Park, which is rich in bio-diversity and endemic species. Power plants and presumably oil refineries dotted the coast of Batangas. High tension transmission and cellphone towers stood like giant sentinels guarding the coast. We finally arrived at mainland Luzon at 10 AM and started our way to Manila, avoiding the much longer Batangas-Laguna expressway.
By lunch time we were in Tagaytay area overlooking the lake. It was 26 degrees Celsius at 12PM. Our altitude indicated by the GPS was 680 meters above the sea level that explained the cooler air. We ordered lunch by talking with waiters in halting Tagalog, sometimes slipping back to Cebuano, resulting in an endless round of jokes afterwards. As we descended from the Tagaytay to Cavite City, we felt the excitement as the metropolis draws near. Gigantic Transco posts pierced the sky and huge billboards that could be seen a mile away in full color, subliminally seducing us. We finally arrived, effortlessly flowing into the hustle and bustle of big city traffic. Tata, following the direction given by Eng. Hamor, navigated our way to Caloocan City, to the hotel we stayed.
Right after, we unpacked our bags and went directly to the supplier. Finding him was not a hard job since the location was familiar to Eng. Hamor. Also, Tata proved to be an accomplished driver and immensely enjoyed his job of going through the busy city streets. Even if it was Sunday Mr. Vergara, the supplier, accommodated us and tested the expeller machine with the 59.5 kg dried copra we brought along, accomplishing the task of producing raw coconut oil in less than an hour. The following day, orientation and operation of the expeller was conducted.
Based on three trials, the input and output capacities are 61.55 kg per hour and 38.52 liters per hour, respectively. In the afternoon, we canvassed for the Lathe and Milling machines and on Tuesday wrapped up our remaining errands: a visit to the BSWM and ACEF. In the afternoon we proceeded to UPLB, our last stop. By then, the vehicle was so heavily loaded with the granulator and expeller machines that its front tilted upward. 
We arrived at UPLB campus shortly before 5:00 PM and had a discussion with Eng. Belen B. Bisana, in- charge of the briquetting machine fabrication, who is connected with the DOST. She showed us her manually operated briquetting machine and other designs still on the drawing board. Seeing the miniature model of hydro-distilling machine, the discussion shifted to the essential oil processing.
We asked questions about the process, oil yield, quality and the distilling time. Meanwhile, Sir Alain and Tata looked for a doctor of microbiology to solicit relevant information about water treatment. Later, Eng. Hamor and Sir Alain decided that we spend the night at UPLB. The following day, we hit the road early, homeward bound. Despite the heavy load and with maximum speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour, there was no observed decrease in power (we were on bio-diesel remember?). By 10:00 AM, we were already aboard the M/V Ma. Luisa. We had our lunch in Roxas City and had some souvenir hunting, Collector items like amulets, talismans and love potion or lumay draw our attention. I bought a pair of reading glasses, which succeeded less in enlarging the letters, but more in making me dizzy and cross-eyed.
The trip home was uneventful, because we were weary to the bones. We overcame the boredom of long travel by making fun of each other. At last, the drizzle had stopped and the sky cleared again. We realized we were home, after taking intermittent catnaps along the way, when we noticed the familiar landscape and bucolic scenery of the City we call our own. The trip that covered more than a thousand kilometers was yet another milestone for locally produced BB100. And with LGU’s continued research efforts, it seems that was just the beginning of another journey towards self reliance in the City’s energy needs in just a couple of years from now.
(Editing by Raul V. Abejuela)
