By Joseph Pasalo
I have crossed a lot of seas filming this channel, but I did not expect to find a paradise that people built with their own hands at the far edge of a province most travelers skip.
It sits in the village of Matayum, in the town of Cataingan, Masbate. From a distance it looks like the rest of the coastline. Then you reach the far end of the village and the ground opens into water — a sea pool more than seven hectares wide, dug out of the land on purpose, dotted with small islands and the beginnings of cottages, pools, and walkways. They call it a lagoon, but the truth is plainer than that. It is a piece of the sea that people shaped to share.
I will get to the lagoon. But to understand why a place like this feels like a discovery, you have to take the long way in, the same way I did.
