What was a sunny afternoon across the open sea turned out to be a scary trip. Despite this, I arrived in one piece.

For the past few days, it has been raining in Manila due to typhoon Helen hovering above Batanes with torrential rains dampening one’s dispostion but this didn’t stop me from going home to Cebu. Well, I had to attend to some urgent matters even if this trip was unplanned. Luckily, I was able to get a roundtrip ticket a week before and guess what, it is Philippine Airlines which was offering their Buy One - Take One promo.

Four hours across the north Negros highway and I was reliving memories of more than a decade ago passing this very artery going back and forth Cebu and Bacolod during vacations at my best friends place. I can vividly remember the ancestral houses of Silay with its imposing 1930s church along the road. Or how I am always captivated with the massive Mt. Mandalagan, a pemament fixture in the Negros landscape, lording it over the land.

After three weeks vacation at my home province in Cebu, I was again on the road for the trip back to Makati. I’ve been looking forward to make this trip not only because I will finally be able to visit the provinces beyond Iloilo as well as pass by Mindoro but also to come back, albeit briefly, San Carlos City in Negros.

Armand invited me last week for a slideshow of photographs that will be featured in time for the Holy Week. Spanning a good three summers of documenting the rituals and practices around Quezon, Laguna and Makati City, thirty photos comprise this work. You can view it at pinoycentric.com.