Team Phl to sail on balangay to China

Seven years after their first expedition, Art Valdez will again lead a 40-member team to complete the voyage of the balangay and travel to China.

Valdez, now an undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said they expect to begin their journey on the third week of April by using three balangay boats. Almost all of the 40 original crew would be in the second voyage, he said. Ten Philippine Coast Guard personnel will complement the crew.

The journey will start from Sulu-Manila-Poro Point in La Union to Hong Kong, Dezhou City in Shandong province before going to Beijing, some 320 kilometers away from Dezhou.

Valdez said that this would be more of a cultural undertaking and to mark the 600th year of the journey of Sultan Paduka Batara, the ruler of Sulu, to see the Emperor Yong Le.

“Our forefathers used this as a mode of transport because the water unified the people, it never divided them,” he said.

In 1417, the sultan, along with his family and 300 of his noble followers, went on a tribute mission to the Ming Dynasty to seek preferential trade agreements. On his way home, he fell ill and died.

Upon learning of the tragic news, the Ming emperor ordered a royal funeral in his honor and his wife and two sons remained behind to tend to his tomb. They were later given lands and citizenship.

During their first expedition, from 2009 to 2011, Team Philippines had planned to visit several countries in their journey such as Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and reached the territorial waters of Vietnam. It took them 17 months to complete the trip.

Unfortunately, they failed to reach their final destination – China – due to adverse weather conditions. Many of the crewmen also wanted to return home to spend Christmas with their families.

For the upcoming trip, Valdez said they have already made an informal communication with the Chinese embassy that they would be visiting in May. He is leaving it to the foreign affairs officials to formally advise China of their arrival.

During that time, President Duterte is also expected to visit China. The expedition leader is hoping that they would be able to meet Duterte in China and make an arrangement for him to ride one of their boats and make a symbolic arrival as the “modern Sultan (Duterte) would meet the modern Ming (a Chinese leader).”

Another purpose of their sea travel is to remind the people that the sea has been an essential part of being Filipino.

“The purpose is to teach the young that our greatest wealth lies in our maritime domain and that we have to enhance our maritime capability because there lies the wealth of our nation,” Valdez sad.

Valdez, however, lamented the shabby treatment of the Diwata ng Lahi, one of the balangays loaned to the National Museum in January 2011.

Valdez said he is emotional whenever he sees the dilapidated state of the Diwata.

“The one in the National Museum, I have not visited the boat because when I brought it there I think it was in good condition but now it is about to break up. I don’t like to go there because this boat took care of us for 17 months, went through 12 typhoons and low-pressure areas, and when it landed I turned it over to the government. (But) It looks like the government has a problem in maintaining it,” Valdez said.