ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 15 April) – What to do on a Good Friday? Pre-pandemic times, there’s usually a procession first hour in the morning. But the past two years, the Catholic church had temporarily stopped the ritual, fearing it would become a super spreader event. The St. Michael’s Cathedral here announced there will be no procession again as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year.
So I did what I’d usually do in the early morning during weekends or holidays – a slow long run, 21 kilometers in all.
While many photo hobbyists go out in groups to do a “photowalk,” that is, taking pictures of anything that interest them during a walk, with sophisticated cameras and lenses hanging on their necks and shoulders, I love to do a “photorun.” Since the pandemic, I’ve been running solo to avoid a crowd. And I love the challenge of using the simplest of equipment – “the best camera in the world,” the one that’s always with me, my phone.
I started around 6 o’clock when it was cool, the temperature in the mid-20s, and finished the run almost 9:00, when my weather app said it was 30 Celsius but “feels like 35.” On my running belt are three bottles of water and half a peanut butter sandwich.
A little past one kilometer from my door, someone greeted me from the back. A biker friend, on his way to meet friends for their ride to Cagayan de Oro, whizzed by. I ran to take Gary’s picture, but I can’t overtake him. Bikers love wearing bright colors so they’d be visible on the road and avoid accidents. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAAlthough the St. Michael’s Cathedral announced there will be no procession today, people still pushed through with the Good Friday ritual, like this group that I passed by Barangay Hinaplanon. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERASome roads in Iligan are so quiet on Good Friday, like the Mandulog Bridge I in Barangay Hinaplanon. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAThe old Mandulog Bridge I, which was damaged by rampaging flood waters and illegally cut logs from the mountains during Typhoon “Sendong” in December 2011. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERANo procession at the St. Michael’s Cathedral downtown. There was a Mass, though, when I passed by around 7 o’clock. The pigeons came, too. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAMotorcycle vs bicycle at the junction of the national highway and Quezon Ave., Iligan’s busiest intersection. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAWhile most are at the comfort of their homes for the long holidays, this man is gathering sand from the Tubod River. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAIn the far background is Mt. Agad-agad (the mountain most visible from downtown), Tubod River in the foreground and sand quarried from the river. Agad-agad’s peak is less than 500 meters high, but it’s the only mountain accessible to Iliganons for short climbs. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAMother and daughter struggle to cross the damaged bridge at Merila, which collapsed during a series of heavy rains that battered Mindanao in early March. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAA man dries firewood below a bridge crossing the Tubod River. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERANo work today for the camineros building a riprap to strengthen a landslide-prone portion of Iligan’s circumferential road. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAThis road in front of the Bureau of Internal Revenue is supposed to be closed for repair, but there’s no stopping a motorcycle to pass through roads in whatever condition. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAA boy tries his bike around the city’s newly built Wet Park despite the mid-morning sun. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERAOn Holy Thursday, I read about a friend’s rant on Facebook why workers dug the subdivision entrance Wednesday afternoon to install culverts, but did not finish the work, forcibly sending homeowners on a four-day quarantine for the long weekend. Someone haphazardly remedied the situation, but I’m not sure if I’d dare drive through that mound of gravel. MindaNews photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
