3 years ago, my
friends and I went to this used-to-be-neglected place. We did an advocacy with
the hash tags #preservePAWUD and #savePAWUD. I personally wrote a blog about it
and we also made a vlog to promote awareness and to get the attention of the
government. At that time, its beauty was
undeniable and its magnificence stands out considering it’s just beside a
national high way. However, those were the days that it was struggling to
survive – styros floating on its waters, plastics were hanging on the bushes
surrounding it and some occasional display of filth(if you know what I mean).
Though I have to be honest, the blog and vlog that we made didn’t went viral
and no action has been taken afterwards to a point of forgetting about my
advocacy and it took me 3 years before I notice the changes of PAWUD.
You can read the first blog here:
You can watch the vlog here:
As I was going
home from work, I happen to pass the place and saw that there were alterations
done. There were signages, fence and decent bamboo benches and tables. So, my
friends and I decided to check and see its development. To our surprise, Pawud
looks different as what we have witnessed 3 years ago. We even found out that
there are caretakers roving from time to time to check if visitors are throwing
their garbage to proper disposal areas. And to complete our ocular
inspection(as if we were from DENR) we went to the cave and SMELLED IT. As we
were approaching to the cave, to our surprise, it smelled EARTH AND WATER! As
what we have remembered, it used to smell like filth(no exaggeration). Then
with its inviting deep cold blue water, we decided to get into our wetsuits and
dive. 
During our dive,
we were happy not until we discovered that there are still few people who left their “valuables” there. We got an earring, a
PVC pipe, some plastic packages, a broken glass of KULAFO and a CREDIT CARD!
Nevertheless, we are still grateful to the people of Sitio Malinao and Barangay
Agus in general who committed in saving this place. For I’ve been really fascinated
by its beauty since childhood. Those were the days that Mama won’t allow me to
swim for it is “Taw-an” or enchanted. Now I am very grateful for I was able to
not even swim but dive its waters and I if this will be constantly maintained,
I am pretty confident that the next generations will be able to enjoy its
radiance.
