Assemble in Agusan Valley

About the Book

First, I want to begin by showing some of the sights of Agusan Valley and its beauty, wonders and dangers the place was known before as an "unexplored and inhospitable jungle." This was where the central theme of this story hap-pened. Looking at the map below, Agusan is surrounded by Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Davao and Surigao provinces on the island of Mindanao. The valley is in the province of Agusan on the island of Mindanao, the second biggest of the 7,010 islands which comprised the country of the Philippines. The early inhabi-tants of the valley were from different tribes: Manobo, Bagobo, Mamanwa, Banwaon and mainly of Malayan race. The largest area of Agusan province is the rainforest. It has deadly pre-dators such as the killer bees, crocodiles, pythons, scorpions, and leech. The leech is a blood-sucking worm that sticks its head into the exposed parts of the human body and injects a thinning solution; then slowly sucking the blood of a victim up to five times its size and sometimes more. In many cases, the victim is not even aware that it is happening during the attack. Another annoying attack to humans is unleash by buffalo gnats (a two-winged insect which sometimes bites) swarm all around an exposed part of a human body, usually the head, where and when the gnats get into the eye, ear, or nose, a victim tend to panic and an awful consequence could happen. The last, but not least, of the dangers is a suyak which is used as booby trap by natives for hunting wild animals for food using a razor-sharp bamboo poles positioned upright above the ground. And sometimes humans could be victims of this deadly animal trap.

About the Author

Ray L. Burdeos was born in Butuan, Agusan on January 30, 1936. He is the son of Ramon Montilla Atega Burdeos, former Deputy Governor of Agusan from 1932 to 1940 and Manuela Mabasa Legaspi, a school teacher, from Kalibo, Capiz. He went to college at Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila for one year before joining the U.S. Coast Guard in October 10, 1955. He retired from the Coast Guard after serving over 23 years of honorable service. He is a recipient of Coast Guard Achievement Medal, the Commandant Letter of Commenda-tion, the National Defense Medal, Expert Pistol and Rifle Medals, and five Good Conduct Medals. After retirement, he enrolled at University of Texas in Galveston and earned a BS degree in Health Care Sciences, major in Health Care Administration. He worked as manag-er of Department of Defense Outpatient Clinic under con-tract with St. Mary's Hospital in Galveston, Texas. Now, he is into writing and so far four of his books were published by AuthorHouse in Bloomington, Indiana.