#polangui

The brief was simple. Go to Albay and find its culinary heart. Like the early conquistadores of the New World, we succeeded. What I tasted was beyond spice. It’s a wanderland of a sort.

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In this day and age of tech savviness, digitalization is taking over fast. There are precedented reports of death — by digital — from music to film, from print publications to photography. Even the big names in the auto industry are now delving into a possibility of developing and making self-driving cars using artificial intelligence. And probably anything digitalization can lay its hands with.

But despite this event, there are still who prefers the traditional or an analog way of doing things. Thus, I pay homage to these skilful artisans who prefer the tactile approach over a process that can make their life easier.

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Our road trip to Barangay Balaba in Polangui — a municipality in the province of Albay and roughly 45 to 62 km from Legaspi City — was a bit bitter to my taste. According to its etymology, Balaba was derived from an Albayanon word "balabag a dalan,” meaning steep and crooked road that leads to a settlement. And along the way, we got lost for more than 30mins of driving on that steep and crooked road. But the bitter taste turned into sweet when we finally reached our destination. We arrived in the afternoon at the Sarilla’s Muscovado Milling Facility, a small property with GI roofings and concrete walls, and was welcomed by owners Mary Jean Sarilla and her husband. What we drove for almost two hours was fruitless — we came in late for the day's actual process of muscovado sugar making. Mrs. Sarilla asked us if we want to see the process, we have to return the next day. Given with our tight schedule, the Sarilla couple was kind enough to walk us through the process sans the actual product in making a muscovado sugar.

From harvesting the sugarcane and extracting its juice, from cooking the molasses to packaging the muscovado sugar, we were amazed to what the Sarilla couple have shown us; the whole process of making a muscovado sugar was done manually. And again, there were no support machines to aid them during the process, except an old juice extractor. 

According to the couple, aside from their keen determination, there are foundations like the CARD-BDS, in partnership with Philippine government agencies, who are giving support to entrepreneurs to improve their livelihood — from financial to management, and from technical to small marketing assistance.

The success story of the Sarilla couple can be best described as a journey on the road of Balaba — long, steep and crooked. But when it reached the destination, it'll be a sweet one. 

The Sarilla’s Muscovado Milling Facility is operating on a micro-business model and is a member of CARD-BDS. To know more about the Sarilla couple's humble beginnings, you can read it here.

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