by Jims Vincent Capuno
If Palawan is the last frontier of the Philippines, it’s Mati in Davao Oriental. That’s according to municipal administrator Richard L. Villacorte. “We don’t want to experience what happened to other tourist destinations in the country,” he explained. “Most of them have lost their natural appeal because of the influx of people. Here, we want to protect the natural treasures God has given us.”
Mati is known for its pristine beaches. Some 15-minute ride from the heart of the town is the famous Dahican Beach . It is noted for its clear waters and a 7-kilometer pure and fine white sand shore. “You don’t have to go to Boracay to experience white sand,” said Michael Rabat, the town mayor’s brother. “We have it here.”
Now, if you happen to visit Dahican Beach, don’t fail to meet George B. Plaza, Jun to his family and friends. He is the man behind the Amihan Surf and Skim Team, a group of young boys who teach surfing and skimboarding to visitors or anyone else who is interested.
The word “amihan” refers to the northeasterly winds that blow through the country from November to March. “These winds create powerful waves which are perfect for skimboarding and surfing,” Jun claims.
Although Jun grew up near the shores of Dahican which faces the Pacific Ocean, he never had the inclination to ride the big waves. But it all changed when some Davao City skimboarders came to his barangay and ‘toyed’ with the waves near the shore in 2002. Amazed by the way they ran and dropped their simple wooden boards onto the thin wash of passing waves, he copied the design of their skimboards using plywood, that was supposed to be made into a table, and practiced with it.
His interest was further whetted when surfers from Davao City arrived the following year and glided with ease on the huge waves that reached as high as 10 feet. Jun, along with other local children, was mesmerized by what the surfers were doing.
Like the skimboarders before them, the surfers also left one of their boards to the local boys. “Whenever surfers come here and play, they usually leave one of their boards,” said the 38-year-old Jun. “Maybe in exchange for the hospitality we show them. Or, maybe because they saw that the children here also have potential skills.”
As months went by, children performed skimboarding and surfing. Jun, who was in his early 30s then, learned some tricks like swimming with the surfboard attached to his body and riding the waves. But he learned them the hard way: he had almost dislocated his left foot and at another time he had his wrist twisted.
But he was determined. “No pain can stop me from doing what I had started,” he admits. “Why have all those people from other places enjoy what we have right in our shores?”
Jun saw the local children were having fun also. From that, he thought of forming a group that would train kids (whose ages range from nine to 16) to skimboard and surf because he saw these as a way of steering them away from smoking and drinking. Some of them had stolen valuables from neighbors or fish caught by fishermen.
Jun did not want these kids to experience what he had gone through. He grew up in abject poverty and was only 15 when his father died. Being the eldest of 12 children, he had to feed his family to the extent of going into dynamite fishing. He was caught three times by government enforcers but for lack of evidence they invariably released him.
It was this kind of life that caught the attention of Fr. Patricio Allo, an Italian bishop, who hired Plaza as a utility staff. Since he was not able to finish high school, he did menial jobs like driving an ambulance for a private hospital.
“I really didn’t want to be a fisherman like my father,” Jun explains. “So, when Father Allo provided work for me, it was a big chance.”
His new found work was also a chance to meet his future wife with whom he has two daughters. Although his wife is now working abroad, he works as a tenant on a coconut farm.
Despite the hardships he has encountered in life, he still has this urge of helping children since he knows how it is to grow up in poverty. This was the reason why founded the Amihan Surf and Skim Team in 2004.
Jun is the team leader and also acts as the guardian of the skimboarders and surfers, known as Amihan Boys. He started with four protégés, but today it has 20 members. He himself recruited the boys (aged of 9-16) around the area and trained them. Part of the training requires jogging everyday at 5:00 in the morning. Skimboard and/or surfing lessons are done on weekends or after school.
In addition, Jun also instills among the Amihan Boys adherence to a “no smoking, no drugs, and no drinking policy”. “All these vices tend to offset the boys’ focus and weaken their stamina,” he says. “Whoever violates the rule we have set is either punished or kicked out of the team.”
The determination of the team finally paid off. Today, some of the Amihan Boys have already won in several competitions held in Cebu, Davao, Malita, and Sarangani. They have been featured on television and featured in various in-flight magazines. He said he doesn’t want copies of the publications where the team is featured so that the Amihan Boys will remain humble.
You can find the team at the Tourist Assistant Center which he and the Amihan Boys maintain in Dahican. Jun says he requested the local government to convert about 100 hectares of the Dahican waters into a marine sanctuary so that they can better manage and protect the waters as well as the beach of Dahican — not just for them as locals but for tourists as well. As a result of his request, a resolution was passed declaring the area a marine sanctuary.
To think that Jun is doing all these voluntarily – he is not receiving any remuneration from the government or any funding agency. In some instances, he gives some of the Amihan Boys pocket money for school. Just like a father, he also worries about their school enrollment and other fees and, above all, what they will eat next.
“The prizes we get from competitions are what we use to meet our daily needs,” Plaza admitted. “People who come to the place would sometimes give us something. Sometimes we also earn from selling copra (the dried meat of the coconut) during harvest season. We also go out to the sea to fish.”
To be able to augment their daily needs while at the same time sharing their skills with others, the Amihan Boys also offer skimboarding and surfing lessons. Skimboarding lessons costs P250 (including the P100 rent for a skimboard) while surfing costs P600 per hour (P200 of it for board rental).
Recently, Jun came up with this brilliant idea of selling skimboards. He allows each of the boys to design skimboards which are sold at P1,000 to P1,500 each. Once sold, P250 to P500 go to the designer’s school needs, the rest for the boy who designed the skimboard.
“In helping the children to learn skimboarding and surfing,” observed tourism officer Dashiel Indelible Jr., “this reformed man has shown us that poverty and lack of education is not a hindrance to helping others. He has indeed a good heart.”
During our visit, Jun was not helping kids only – but the endangered marine turtles as well. In fact, he released the pawikan caught in a fisherman’s net and turned it over to him.
“Mati is one of the nesting areas of marine turtles,” Villacorte said. “Jun is one of those who help us in saving the endangered species.”
