NOV. 4 - NOV. 10, 2018 FEATURE By Atty. Joanna Ruth Utzurrum In search of the perfect cup


coffee. So I was intrigued when this humble joint, Baslay Highland Brew Coffee, started to increasingly appear in my social media feeds.


I


posts came from my coffee-loving friends who either bike or run, or both. The place must be along their training route, I thought to myself. All I knew, really, were these tidbits:


Most, if not all,


am no hard-core coffee connoisseur, but I do love my


basically only offer brewed coffee. No food is sold except for a few packs of baked peanuts and cassava chips.


Playdates: Nov. 15, 16, 18


which is a barangay of Dauin, a municipality around 30 minutes to the south of Dumaguete City. 2. There is an organic coffee plantation there. 3. The organic coffee is


brewed right in front of you per friends’ accounts. The casual shutterbug


in me was also interested in going to Baslay Highland Brew Coffee for another reason: a portion of the road leading there features old trees lining both sides of the road, with full branches that overextend every which way.


It certainly makes for interesting compositions as well as a play of light and shadow, based on what I have been seeing so far. I wanted to take photos of this myself.


It was not until I had a coffee-loving visitor from Manila recently when I had the chance to finally visit this joint in Baslay. L ack of


p e r s o n a l transportation had always been a main reason why I have never been to Baslay before. However, my friend and I had time to kill, and I was racking my brains where to


Public


Market. Once there, we were to ride a habal-habal (customized motorcycle for hire for more than one passenger, built for rough roads) to Baslay.


At that point, I did not even remember


1. The place is in Baslay


I messaged my friend, Dr. Karl James Villarmea, for directions how to reach Baslay using public transport. After all, he is one of those I know who keeps going back to that place. Karl instructed me to ride a multicab or a bus then


off at the Dauin


get


The ride going to Baslay Highland Brew Coffee surprised me for a number of reasons. First: it was a much longer distance from the highway than I expected. It was an uphill ride of more than 10 kilometers from


the


At that time, only Arabica beans were available for brewing but they do grow Robusta and Barako variants, too. I always thought that the Baslay Highland Brew beans were sold locally at least. But the staff manning the counter informed my friend and I that they (the Baslay Farmers’ Association which was organized by the Energy Development Corp.) have stopped supplying beans to a Manila company about a year ago.


get to taste their organic coffee when you take the trouble of going up to Baslay, and ordering a cup over the counter.


Having the coffee brewed right in front of you, and discovering how large their cup is for P50 makes it even more special. It really is one of the best brewed coffee I have tasted, and I am proud that it is locally- sourced.


ride took at least 20 minutes. Second: The road going there was cemented almost all of the way, right up to where the turn is for the Dauin Hot Springs.


highway; in terms of time, our


views were picturesque, including a fairly long section of blooming wild sunflowers on both sides of the road.


take her (she has visited other tourist spots in Negros before). She also was not the pouty, petty kind who hates being inconvenienced


where the terminal for Dauin-bound multicabs was in Dumaguete City! But I knew the trusty tricycle driver would drop us off at the right place, and he did.


by things like heat and sunshine.


“Let’s go to this organic coffee place down in Dauin that is increasingly becoming popular,” I said. “But we have to take public transport all the way.” She was up for the adventure, and so was I. However, I first had to know how to get to Baslay as I had never been there before!


can never be too careful. It is 0915-936-1794. You’re welcome.)


The multicab we rode in dropped us off beside this big roadside acacia tree fronting the Dauin public market. There were a few men on motorcycles beside the tree. I surmised they were habal-habal drivers but I took a picture first of something that caught my attention that was posted on the tree: the hotline number of the Dauin PNP Station! (One


looking man approached my friend and I. A habal- habal driver, he volunteered his services, and his relatively low rate for a “waiting” arrangement surprised us. (He would take us to Baslay, then wait for us so that he could take us back to the town proper.)


A healthy but old-


Fourth: The Baslay coffee place is only 450 meters away from where the paved road ends, but its first hundred meters or so is really rough that my friend and I disembarked from the habal-habal the moment we saw it. We insisted on walking the length of the 450 meters up for our own safety. Anyway, this is also the section of the road that is lined with those beautiful old trees. As


for the Baslay experience itself, I was also surprised to learn that they


Third: The So you can really only


Rolling Pin, mornings only c/o Sharon. Alima, mornings only c/o Marietta. Bethel Guest House, 10am-12 noon; 2-4pm c/o Jessica.


Cuttin Loose Hair & Nails Studio at Portal West, 10am-6pm.


THE EMPEROR’S....FROM P. 4


he can address the challenges confronting his leadership. But Solomon, completely smitten by Almah, is deaf to her pleas and throws all caution to the winds. And the worst fears come when Solomon runs off to be with Almah and abandons the Kingdom. It is no wonder then, that until his redemption as a man and as a king, Solomon gives the impression that, far from being wise and of strong character, he is an immature, indecisive, impulsive ruler who yields only to his personal and selfish desires. He obeys only his own counsel, ignoring the advice of Benjamin and the prophet Nathan. The consequence of this royal recklessness leads to tragic consequences for the Kingdom and especially Almah.


Our Baslay experience was made more memorable by the fact that it rained on our way down, and that we lucked out on a very informative and gregarious habal-habal driver. He claims to be the first ever habal-habal driver in Dauin municipality. Our rides to and from Baslay seemed short because he kept on cracking jokes, and offering us historical tidbits like how/why Dauin was separated from the next municipality of Zamboanguita.


All in all, it was such a fun and inexpensive half- day adventure in search of the perfect cup of joe. Multicab ride to Dauin from Dumaguete (P18 per person) + habal-habal fare for a waiting arrangement (P200 back and forth for two persons) + Baslay brewed coffee (P50 for quite a large cup) + Ceres bus fare back to Dumaguete which my friend paid for but which I am sure is less than P50 per person.


Ahhh...but the photos and the memories are priceless! Will definitely be back in Baslay by hook or by crook!


imprisoned, made to write for scribes, and endures a stoning, accused of adultery and prostitution. She is even subjected to an attempt on her life! Such unbearable sacrifice to bear for the man she loves so dearly.


She is abduct ed,


Almah, runs off with her and leaves the Kingdom without its King! Solomon’s absence, and, incidentally, the neglect of his wives, incites nothing less than a bedroom revolt! Nadia seizes the discontentment of the wives to proselyte to them about her religion and entices them to indulge in sensual pleasures. Nadia’s spiritual seduction of the wives culminates in the installation of the image of Ashtaroth, goddess of fertility, inside the Temple! The moral breakdown which started among the wives, and led to Nadia’s seduction of Benjamin, eventually spread and resulted in the breakdown of the Kingdom. In his absence, Solomon allowed his Kingdom to turn away from the God of their forefathers and the source their strength and faith as a people.


On the reverse coin, we have Nadia, one of Solomon’s wives by political convenience. A foreign princess, Nadia was raised in power and privilege. She didn’t have to work for a living, she was trained to pander to leaders in the palace, to please and pleasure kings and rulers of kingdoms. In those days, the likes of princesses such as Nadia were political tools and weapons negotiated and bargained off for political convenience to gain alliances, win territories and preserve regional stability. When Nadia is married off to Solomon among the many political arrangements brokered by Benjamin, she is relocated to a new and strange place. And although she continues to enjoy the trappings of privilege, power and influence, Nadia suffers from homesickness and culture shock. The Israelites worship and obey a very different God. They follow a different moral code. And Solomon is completely subservient to this God! This newness and strangeness rearrange Nadia’s lifestyle and world-view in Solomon’s court. She becomes completely disoriented, simply trying to fit in and compete for the King’s attention among Solomon’s many other wives. Things come to a head when Solomon, having completely fallen in love with


LGUS....FROM P. 1


the enforcement of the Ordinance in the entire City. Under the Local


Government Code or RA 7160, LGUs are primarily responsible for the implementation and enforcement of solid


FREELANCE....FROM P. 7


agricultural land to residential or commercial land areas, to continue on planting climate- change resistant crops so that Dumaguetnons are guaranteed of sufficient food even in the midst of the detrimental impacts of climate change, to increase initiatives that could develop the farmer field schools, expand on its ‘high-value crops’ program, and promote the plow-now- pay later scheme as this has maximized agricultural area development.


More than anything else, let us emulate what Mr. Quiamco


has done – encourage young people to consider a future in the field of agriculture. At the same time, let us consider the possibility of building learning gardens for our children. Dumaguete has numerous idle lands, why don’t we utilize them? And of course, since the 2019 elections is fast approaching, why don’t we choose a leader who has an understanding of how to arrest food insecurity, and knows what can happen if we do not take care of our environment? Shall we?


waste management in their respective jurisdictions. RDC requested EMB7 to provide a template ordinance for municipalities and cities to adopt. (jct/ PIA7-NegOr)


raised, differently situated, but both strongly affecting the fate of a Kingdom. Both are obviously modelling of strong and independent-minded women who stand by their ideas, and whose actions have great influence on people and events around them. Almah and Nadia may represent extreme ends of the moral fulcrum, but they are the same in character and conviction. This is a lesson from Song


of Solomon: context acts as the gentle softener to judgment. Before we quickly judge another, we need to appreciate their personhood and the context in which they have acted under the circumstances. So do we judge Almah harshly as Benjamin did for being a destructive distraction to the peace and greatness of Israel? Or can we judge her kindly, for tempering Solomon’s heart and laying the basis upon which he eventually ruled with wisdom and kindness?


as a corrupting influence upon the kingdom which led to its fall? Or should we appreciate her as a lost, lonely girl in a strange land, sincerely sharing her beliefs and way of life no different from any colonizer, or even missionary, who preaches a belief system? Should we appreciate Nadia as a divine instrument whom God used to test Israel, bring about its downfall, and provide an opportunity for the redemption of Solomon’s Kingdom? Come, watch the musical and resolve these questions in your imagination!


And must Nadia be judged Two women, differently Ticket outlets for


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