Flashback: Ilocos Sur - Quirino Bridge

A friend stumbled upon a treasure trove of photos from 2004 when we were implementing a project that took us across the island of Luzon mainly along the Manila North Road/McArthur Highway/Maharlika Highway corridor. In the Ilocos Region, we set up stations in La Union and Ilocos Sur. But as they say, it is not only the destinations that are the attractions but the journeys as well. Nothing could be further from the truth as along the way, we were treated to so many sights that one could only appreciate if you were on a road trip, and with the advantage of daylight so as to be able to take in the roadside attractions.

The following photos were taken on our return trip from Vigan when we passed the Quirino Bridge that spans the Abra River. We were not able to appreciate the bridge on our way to Vigan as it was already night time when we reached Ilocos Sur. I remember that our staff Glenn and I linked up with our staff Alorna and Roy in Bauang, La Union so we could go together to Vigan. Glenn and I took a Partas bus from Cubao and arrived in Bauang around 2PM to meet up with Alorna and Roy, who had just completed their surveys along the highway in that town. Karl, who headed that team, had to go back to UP to attend to his lectures, and it was my turn to go in the field at the time after also fulfilling my responsibilities at the university in between postings in Bagiuo and then Vigan. During our return trip, we made sure we were able to at least make some stopovers to be able to take some souvenir photos.

Quirino Bridge as seen from the north end

At the north end of the bridge with Glenn Latonero

At a view deck along the national highway after crossing the Quirino Bridge with Roy Velasco and Glenn

At the view deck with Glenn Latonero and Alorna Abao

Posing with the vehicle with Glenn and Alorna

Kidding around with Glenn and Alorna

Approach to the bridge from the north end

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Flashback: Bantay, Ilocos Sur

In Ilocos Sur doing field work for a project our Center was implementing for JICA and DOTC, we had some time between inspections and surveys to go around the town of Bantay and the City of Vigan. Bantay was located along the national highway and so was very accessible from our station at the Bulag Elementary School. Following are a few scanned photos of the San Agustin Parish Church in Bantay, Ilocos Sur, which is also the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity (Nuestra Señora de la Caridad). The dates on the photos are erroneous as I was not able to set the date and time of my old Pentax camera. The photos were taken sometime in August 2004, during our series of surveys to the north that included setting up stations in Pulilan (Bulacan), Lubao (Pampanga), Tarlac (Tarlac), Urdaneta (Pangasinan), Baguio (Benguet), Bauang (La Union), and Vigan/Bantay (Ilocos Sur).

The San Agustin Parish Church (also the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity) in Bantay, Ilocos Sur 

Posing with Glenn Latonero in front of San Agustin/Shrine of Our Lady of Charity

Old bell tower on top of a small hill near San Agustin that was used as an observation post during the Spanish and American periods

Posing with the bell tower in the background (From L-R: Karl Vergel, Alorna Abao, Regin Regidor, Roy Velasco)

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Flashback: Field Surveys in Urdaneta, Pangasinan

A friend found some old photos from field surveys we undertook for a nationwide study on inter-regional passenger and freight flow. The photos bring back a lot of memories about those challenging surveys that required us to stop vehicles and interview drivers and passengers. Though we were assisted by the PNP, we had mixed experiences during the surveys. There were some who were rude but most were kind enough to indulge us in our data gathering. The following photos were taken on July 29, 2004 at roadside in Urdaneta, Pangasinan as I and our staff Alorna Abao was heading to Baguio City with Mang Dulo (Odo) as our driver. I stopped by the station along McArthur Highway to pick up Alorna who was on my good friend Karl Vergel's team. I was coming from my own station in Capas, Tarlac and we had to do recon in Baguio. I remember our strategy was to do "city hopping" all the way to Ilocos for our surveys.

From L-R: Ernie Abaya, Roy Velasco, Regin Regidor, Karl Vergel, Alorna Abao and Dulo Odo

From L-R: Leo Luangco, Roy Velasco, Regin Regidor, Karl Vergel, Alorna Abao, Dulo Odo

I will be posting more photos from our surveys in 2004 in the succeeding days.
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