Tablas Island Mari Sur Barangay

Mari Sur Barangay

San Andres as a Local Municipal Unit or LGU is divided into 13 Barangays or villages.  It is amazing how  each Barangay has such individual character.  The population of the LGU is between 15 and 16000 people. 

Mari Sur Barangay is a short drive from the town of San Andres.  The road to the village narrows as one begins the slight climb.  One experiences tranquility as one approaches.  We are met by  the Barangay Captain Jovita Guro. 
 Our guide points out that                                                            Jovita is presently the only  female captain in San Andres.

This Barangay is an excellent rural community to visit, merging traditional with ingenuity in adapting agro resources to find a product to meet a need.  The community exhibits vibrancy.  The central square is a meeting place for young and old. 

One lady is skillfully winnowing mung beans using a handmade large tray woven from palm fronds.  A fish man is selling fish from the sea from his motorbike.  An elder is making a stiff broom from coconut .  Young boys can practice for the upcoming basketball competition.  Goats nurse their newborns in the shelter. 

Local materials from the surrounding forest:  coconut, palm, mahogany wooden and  bamboo are skillfully crafted  to make the traditional homes.  A unique little stone church beckons.  People have decorated their fence with egg shells to celebrate Easter.  

Rice is farmed on the flat land.  Farmers use the road as a platform to dry rice. Motorcycles, jeepneys and tricycles are used to move the product to market.

A Fish Farm is operated to provide fish when weather does not allow fish to be harvested from the sea.  Copra is harvested by farmers in Mari Sur.  Tiger Grass is drying along the roadside.

We visit a Tiger Grass Broom making family. 

Nito Baskets, another hand crafted family operated business.  Vines are harvested from the forest in very long pieces.  The vines must be straightened and clipped to prepare them for the basket maker to weave.  One basket takes Moses Martinacio many hours to hand weave.

The lumber industry is important to Mari Sur.  Palm and mahogany wood  are sawn in the village mill from trees harvested locally.

An opportunity was recognized.  Left over scrap wood was being discarded.  A chair making industry was developed to meet a need, that of chairs for schools.

John Rey Mordel took over his uncle’s goat farm eight years ago.  His herd numbers 108 momentarily with 80 ewes.  The ram is 8 years old and although gentle, demands respect with his officious curved horns.  John says it is easier to bring goat feed( grass, legume tree, mulberry) to the goats which he chooses to house on the second floor of the family built goat barn.  The floor is slatted allowing the goat manure to drop and be bagged to sold for fertilizer.  The goats are raised to 5 months of age, average weight 13-15 kilos and sold.  He has one female milking so breeding goats for milk is possible.

Untouched by urban development, the intriguing and ingenious close knit Barangay of Mari Sur offers its residents security from the fluctuations of world stock markets!