Category Archives: ACTIVITIES

A Tour Around Sabtang (Batanes)

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Church of St. Vincent Ferrer

Once through with the blessing, Mayor Caballero allowed me the use of the municipality’s Toyota Revo plus the services of driver Rolando Fidel, to tour the island’s many sights.  Before leaving, I dropped by the St. Vincent Ferrer Church, a relic of the island’s tumultuous Spanish past. Started in 1844, this church was built in the espadana style (having two round arches at the roof level for the bells).

The Savigug idjang

Along the road to Savidug, Mr. Fidel pointed out, from a distance, a picturesque idjang, a pre-Hispanic mountain fortress where the natives sought refuge during tribal conflicts.  This idjang is distinctly different from all the others in the province because its sides were carved to make entry more difficult.

Chavayan village

Upon reaching the showcase barangay of Savidug, our Revo had to negotiate a narrow road between rows of traditional lime and stone cogon thatched houses.  Alighting here, I explored the village on foot, espying one of the barangay’s two (there are only three left throughout Batanes) animal-driven sugar mills that churn out a native wine called palek.

A carabao-driven sugar squeezer

A scenic, winding road next leads us to the equally rustic village of Chavayan and its landmark Chapel of Sta. Rosa de Lima, the only house of worship on the islands that is still in its traditional form.   The southernmost community in the province, Chavayan faces the northern tip of Luzon Island. Here, I observed, on another walking tour, the traditional detached Ivatan kitchen as well as glimpses of the Ivatan way of life including the making of the vakul or canayi.  

An Ivatan woman wearing a vakul

Serving as protection from the scorching heat of the sun or the wind and rain, these are woven by the womenfolk from carefully stripped and dried banana or voyavoy leaves. I also observed, up close, 99-year old Ireneo Hornedo weave an alogong, a men’s headgear that normally goes along with the canayi.  Before leaving, we were requested to looking up into the cliff and make out Mother Nature’s most perfect sculpture; the phallic-looking Monument of Satisfaction.

Irineo Hornedo (left)

A Sabtang Welcome (Batanes)

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The third day of my 5-day stay in Batanes was reserved for a visit to the 40.67 sq. km., beautiful, mountainous and extremely rugged Sabtang Island.  According to a coffee table book published by the DOT in 1994, Sabtang Island was chosen as one of the 12 best destinations in the country.  I wondered why.  Having left Mama Lily’s Inn very early in the morning, I was able to hitch a ride, via Batanes Gov. Vicente Gato’s van, to Radiwan Port in Ivana, the gateway to the island.   I was to travel with distinguished company.  Joining me in the falowa (a round-bottomed boat) for the nearly 1-hr., 5-km. and fairly rough crossing across the Ivana Channel was Gov. Gato himself and Congresswoman Henedina Razon-Abad (wife or former Education Secretary and Congressman Florencio “Butch” Abad), both inaugurating a school library on the island, plus guests Ms. Carol Pobre and Ms. Bing Talla, both of DOT Region II, and Ms. Margarita Garcia, a Fil-American Fullbright scholar teaching art to Ivatan schoolchildren (I later found out she was living at the lighthouse at Naidi Hills in Basco).

The scenic, winding road to Chavayan

Sabtang’s beautiful shoreline is similar to Batan Island, having intermittent white sand beaches, deep canyons, sand dunes that rise up to a hundred feet and steep, 200 to 350-m. high mountains that run down the island’s spine, making the island slope outward to the coast.  Small level areas are sporadically found along the northeast coastline and mountains have to be terraced to accommodate communities.   The only town, the picturesque Sabtang (also called Centro or San Vicente), is located on the island’s eastern seaboard.  The waters around the islands are said to have one of the richest fishing grounds in all of Batanes.

Church of St. Vincent Ferrer

It seems one half of the island’s 1,678 Isabtang population came out to greet our party upon our arrival.  I, however, mistook the town’s parish priest for the mayor but soon corrected myself and paid my respects to the boyish-looking Mayor Juan “Johnny Caballero, smartly attired in a Hawaiian-style polo shirt. The blessing soon got underway.  

Uyugan and Back (Batanes)

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Songsong Ruins
Old LORAN Station

Entering Uyugan, we passed by the old LORAN (Long Range Aid to Navigation) Station, in Alapad Point in Brgy. Imnajbu and the ruins of Songsong, a cluster of roofless old stone houses of a once thriving community of fishermen that was abandoned in 1955 after the inhabitants experienced severe famine as a consequence of the strong typhoons and tsunami in 1953 and 1954. The villagers resettled to Maramag, Bukidnon. Some of the ruins are now being restored while others are already inhabited.

Entry to Dipnaysujuan Tunnels

Along the Vajangshin Road, we passed by one of the 5 openings of the the Dipnaysujuan Tunnels, an abandoned Japanese-built World War II network of 8-ft. high and 6-ft. wide bat-filled tunnels. Too bad, we didn’t have kerosene lamps or flashlights to explore the dark tunnels.  Finally, on the way back to Basco, we also passed by an idjang (one of 17 throughout the province), a rocky castle-like natural fortress where pre-Hispanic Ivatans lived.

Basco idjang

Tour of Batan Island: Ivana (Batanes)

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Church of St. Joseph the Carpenter

The next town we visited was Ivana.  In front of the town port is the Church of St. Joseph the Carpenter, built in 1785 and renovated in 1844. It has 3-m. thick walls and is the only church not built in the espadana style. Its separate fortress-like campanile, the only one in the province, has a crenellated top.  Here, Filipino revolutionaries hoisted their flag after renouncing their loyalty to Spain on September 1898. Due to its elevation, the church offers a panoramic view of the sea and the surrounding countryside.

Honesty Coffee Shop

Near the church is the Honesty Coffee Shop, opened in 1995 and owned by retired public school teacher Ms. Elena Gabilo.  Perhaps the only one of its kind in the country, Elena still believes that people are generally honest and therefore leaves nobody to tend to her store, concentrating, instead, on farming and cane vinegar production. A plaque inside is inscribed with the words “The Lord is my Security Guard.” The store sells snacks, candies, soft drinks, bottled water, souvenir items (vakuls) and Batanes T-shirts.  Here, we picked out soft drinks and snacks from the shelf, listed them in a logbook and dropped our payment into a drop box.  

Radar Tukon
The hilltop Radar Tukon, about 300 m. above sea level and 2.75 kms. from Basco, was formerly a pre-war U.S. weather station that presently houses the PAGASA Radar Station (the last weather station in the north) where typhoons (Basco is a reference point for all typhoons that enter and leave the country’s area of responsibility) are monitored. Its huge satellite disk was ripped off by gale-force winds even before it was put to effective use.  The hill offers a magnificent view of Batan Island, the South China Sea, Mount Iraya and the magnificent pastoral beauty of hedgerows and fields on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. Also nearby is the beautiful house cum gallery-museum of the late great Ivatan artist Pacita Abad.

Tour of Batan Island: Mahatao (Batanes)

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Batan Island circuit road

On my second day in Batanes, I paid a courtesy call and asked for assistance from Gov. Vicente S. Gato and Tourism Officer Elmo Merin at the Provincial Capitol (built from 1794 to 1798 as the Casa Real or Spanish Governor’s residence) in Basco.  The Capitol fronts the grassy plaza leading down to Kanyuyan Port and Beach in Baluarte Bay.  Gov. Gato, a keen promoter of Batanes’ tourism potential, gladly allowed me the use of a Toyota Revo to be driven by Mr. Luciano “Anong” de Guzman.  He also assigned Ms. Joy Gabaldon and Mr. Jose “Boging” Astudillo as my guides.

The Provincial Capitol

Our route around the 35.5-sq. km., generally mountainous Batan Island skirted the west coast through Mahatao and Ivana to Uyugan. The winding circuit around the island took nearly 1.5 hrs. This included stopovers for photo ops and a longer wait to replace a flat tire.  All throughout, I was rewarded with a vista of sheer limestone cliffs alternating with gently rolling hills, great boulder beaches and some black and white sand beaches hemmed in by a broad fringing reef.  

Reliving the “Sound of Music” at Payaman

The wind-swept, vast and sprawling Racuh a Payaman, at Mahatao’s outskirts, is a huge track of communal pastureland preserved by the villagers.  Popularly called the “Marlboro Country of Batanes,” cattle, carabao and horses grazed at its endless array of rolling hills.  A photographer’s and nature lover’s delight, the hills have a breathtaking view of Mt. Iraya, the Pacific Ocean, the Mahatao Lighthouse and nearby fields hedged with trees that break the wind’s full fury, allowing root crops to grow.   They say this the place to catch a breathtaking Batanes sunrise.  Here, I can’t help but do a “Sound of Music  pose. 

Church of San Carlos Borromeo
At Mahatao town proper is the venerable San Carlos Borromeo Church, in Mahatao, one of 26 churches listed as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum.  First built by Dominican friars in 1789, the present church dates to 1873.  It has an espadana-style façade (with two round arches at roof levels for the bells) and massive buttresses at the outer walls (which serve as stairways for servicing its then cogon-covered roof).    At the church courtyard and at the elementary school grounds are Spanish-era stone lampposts used as guiding lights to guide fishermen and early mariners safely to the anchorage just beyond the town’s seaport.   The town’s Spanish-era bridge also retains its centuries-old features.  

Naidi Hills (Basco, Batanes)

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Come late afternoon, I decided to hike up the nearby Naidi Hills, northwest of Basco proper.  Here, I had a unique view of Baluarte Bay, Basco, mist-shrouded, 1,009-m. high  Mt. Iraya (Batanes’ highest mountain), the sunset and the rolling hills.  The hills used to be the site of the Philippine’s tallest wireless communications facility, bombed by the Japanese planes on December 8, 1941.  Only the base remains.  Also on the hill are the damaged buildings and bunkers that used to house the communications facilities. 

The bucolic Naidi Hills

The hill is now home to the new 6-storey, 66-ft. high conical Basco Lighthouse (also called Naidi Lighthouse), one of 3 lighthouses proposed by former Congressman Florencio “Butch” Abad.  Built in 2003, it is located a few meters away from Radyo ng Bayan station  and standing on the same site of Basco’s first lighthouse.  It has a view deck on the fifth floor.  Beside it is an Ivatan stone house constructed of native materials and essentially of vernacular architecture.  The hill is also home to grazing cattle.  On one occasion, one bull gently prodded me to vacate the grass I was sitting on. 

One of Naidi Hills resident cattle

Naidi Hills: Sitio Diajang, Brgy. San Antonio, Basco, Batanes.

Batanes: A Dream Fulfilled

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Postcard-pretty Basco

Even for a seasoned traveler like me, getting to remote Batanes has always remained a dream.  However, winning a round trip Asian Spirit plane ticket, via a raffle draw during my college’s Golden Anniversary celebration, made that dream a reality as I could choose from any of its destinations served.  I chose the farthest – Batanes.  After reserving and paying the other charges for the ticket (around PhP1,700), I wasted no time in making plans, summer having just ended and the rainy season just about to begin.  This would be my first local trip alone, without family or friends to accompany me.  I left Manila for Basco the morning (9:40 AM) of June 1, Thursday.  The trip took all of 2 hrs., Basco being 483 air kms. from Manila.  The plane also made a 30-min. stopover at Tuguegarao (Cagayan) Airport.  It was just about lunchtime when I arrived in Basco Airport, tired, hungry and with a queasy stomach, the result of a very bumpy flight (now I know why the stewardess gave us mint candies prior to the flight).   

Asian Spirit plane at Basco Airport

From the airport, I took a tricycle to the town center and checked in at one of Mama Lily Inn’s 3 fan-cooled rooms with common bath.  This was to be my home for the 5 days I was to stay in this beautiful province. Basco, the lovely provincial capital and the center of commerce, is the  biggest and most urbanized among the 6 towns of the province. It houses the provincial offices of most national government agencies as well as the larger business establishments and collegiate institutions.  Formerly called Vasay, the town was renamed after Spanish Gov.-Gen. Jose Basco y Vargas. 

Agnaga Falls and Cold Spring (Malay, Aklan)

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During one of our family visits to Malay (Aklan), I decided, for a change, to veer outside our normal routine of visiting Boracay Island by visiting one of the town’s little-known tourist attractions – Agnaga Falls.  Though listed as one of Malay’s 7 natural wonders (Boracay is No. 1 of course), not many people, aside from the locals, know about or visit the place.

L-R: Cheska, John Paul, Ningning and Jandy

Joining me were my kids Jandy and Cheska plus their third cousin John Paul and John Paul’s mom, Ningning.  After lunch, we all boarded the Mitsubishi L-200 pickup and were driven my Naciang, Ningning’s husband and my wife Grace’s second cousin, along the road to Buruanga up to the jump-off point.  This was as far as the pickup could go.  Naciang stayed behind with the pickup to await our return.

Agnaga Falls

From here, it was to be all footwork through a dirt trail within a light forest. After about 20 mins. of leisure hiking, the sound of the fall’s flowing waters told us we have finally reached our destination.  The falls wasn’t high, just about twice my height, but the cool turquoise waters at its small, shallow pool were inviting. Besides, we were the only visitors around and we had the falls all to ourselves.   Simply heaven.

Agnaga Falls: Brgy. Kabulihan, Malay, Aklan.

Ocean Adventure Marine Park (Subic Freeport Zone, Zambales)

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After dropping off our luggage and freshening up at the Subic International Hotel, Jandy and I then returned to our Toyota Revo and hied off to Ocean Adventure Park, nestled at Camayan Wharf in the West Ilanin Forest area inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.  Once in, we first had to satisfy our growling stomachs, doing just that with much-needed lunch at the park’s 240-sq. m., 70-pax Ilanin Bay Cafe.

Bottlenose dolphins

The world-class Ocean Adventure, managed by the Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium Inc. (SBME), is the first and most astounding nautical sanctuary in the country and the first and only open-water marine park facility in Southeast Asia.  Opened on September 15, 2001, this 20,000-sq. m. (12,000 sq. m. on land and 8,000 sq. m. on water) park showcases some of the world’s most amazing sea mammals and is home to 8 South American sea lions (Otaria byronia), 6 false killer whales (Pseudorca Crassidens), 4 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus gili) from Japan, and porpoises, all moving about in their inherent, natural habitat (not man-made as in similar parks abroad), fenced off only on one side of the shore.

Park trainers

The park aims to provide guests with what they call “edutainment” (educational entertainment), educating the people on marine life and the rich resources people should learn to value and conserve.  It thus gives the Filipinos an opportunity to truly appreciate the value of marine mammals as partners of humanity in the enormous task of saving our oceans.  The park is currently managed by a team of highly trained professionals, all formerly involved with internationally recognized theme parks such as the Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, Walt Disney World and Florida’s Animal Kingdom. In its effort to protect, preserve and develop wildlife and the forestland, Ocean Adventure also corroborates with the Wildlife in Needs (WIN) Foundation and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Ecology Center, putting up a rescue center within the compound for sick, injured and confiscated wildlife in the Subic Bay area.  About 50 injured animals are presently under the care of experts and veterinarians in the facility.  The WIN Rescue Center is open for public viewing.  Here, visitors can get a peak on how the animals are being cared for and treated.

The Sea Lion Show

The Animal Care Clinic, a behind-the-scene look at how the animals are cared for, offers visitors a chance to view the actual lab work evaluating individual health parameters of the mammals.  The Animal Nutrition Center, on the other hand, is a behind-the-scene look at the kitchen support extended to the animals. Visitors can see how animal food and dietary programs are prepared.   The Sea Lion Show, at the 350-seat Nautilus Theater, starred the adorable and amusing showgirls Brandy, Simba and Thalia.  They amused us, as well as the audience, with their funny antics.

Ocean Discovery Aquarium

Next on my itinerary was the Whale Show at the 700-seat El Capitan Stadium. In between shows, we visited the 280-sq. m. Ocean Discovery Aquarium.  Its arrangement of fresh water and seawater (marine) habitats hosts different species of corals and fishes of the Philippine marine ecosystem, recreating Subic’s marine life at different levels.  The Ocean Discovery Aquarium aims to inspire understanding and help promote conservation of the natural environment by providing the public an entertaining and educational facility that serves as base for protective and educational activities, extending into the surrounding forest watershed and bay area. The 50-pax Learning Center, a classroom and library, offers educational materials and information on marine mammals and marine conservation.  We also visited the 180-sq. m. Ocean Treasures, the gift shop located by the Entry/Exit gate.

The Whale Show

The Whale Show, the main attraction, featured the three awesome false killer whales Cook, Founder and Tonka plus some dolphins. After the show, Jandy and I opted to have our pictures taken, petting a dolphin. For the more “adventurous,” the park also offers a “Whale Encounter Program” at the Encounter Cove where guests get to join in and swim with the whales in the water, pet and feed them and have souvenir photos taken with the gentle creatures.  It also offers a “Dive with the Whales Program” and dive courses.

Ocean Adventure: Camayan Wharf, West Ilanin Forest Area, Subic Bay Freeport Zone.  Tel: (047) 252-9000.  Fax: (047) 252-5883. Manila tel: (632) 706-3344 to 46.  Fax: (632) 706-0808.  E-mail: info@oceanadventure.com.ph. Website: www.oceanadventure.com.

Majestic Mayon Volcano (Albay)

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The Cagsawa Ruins and cloud-shrouded Mayon

Our Roll-On Roll Off (RORO) ferry from Allen (Northern Samar) finally arrived at Matnog (Sorsogon) by 12:15 PM and as soon as the ferry ramp was down, Charlie and I were soon on our way to Naga City (Camarines Sur), hoping to make it there by evening.  At Legaspi City, we had a late lunch at Waway Restaurant along Penaranda St., famous for its Bicolano fare such as laing, Bicol Express and chicharon bulaklak. This done, it was back to our Ford Explorer but, just out of the city, we just could resist making a stopover at the Cagsawa Ruins in nearby Daraga town, with its panoramic backdrop of Mayon Volcano, one of the Bicol Region’s 2 great landmarks (the other is Naga City’s Penafrancia Shrine, home of the Virgin of Penafrancia).

The swirling clouds around Mayon Volcano

Though we can not see its cloud-shrouded perfect cone, the view wasn’t quite disappointing as the swirling clouds covering the volcano halfway up the cone were a spectacle in itself.   Most pictures of Mayon Volcano (including ours) are taken with the Cagsawa Ruins in the foreground.  Many people doing so within the ruins do not know that they are standing on a mass grave.   

Ruin’s of priest’s house

During that dreadful morning (8 AM) of February 1, 1814, the volcano erupted, forming giant cauliflower-shaped gray clouds and spewing red-hot boulders and a river of boiling lava  from the volcano’s crater. It became dangerous for people living around the volcano to stay at home as the huge, hot rocks fell on their roofs and spread fires.   About 1,200 people fled their homes for the seeming safety of the church.  Here, they were buried alive when 40 m. of mud and ash engulfed them.  By 10 AM, the large stones had stop falling, raining sand instead, and by 1:30 PM, the skies began to clear and only clouds of smoke and ash spewed out of the volcano.  Mayon’s short-lived, 6-hr. eruption was over but so were the lives of the people trapped in the church.  

Today, only the blackened top section of the church steeple and some walls of the priests’ house and the municipal building remain.  Stores within the area are now doing brisk business selling souvenirs (T-shirts, postcards and actual photos of the latest eruption) and foodstuff (pili nuts, etc.).  Only the ruins and a historical marker installed in 1940 tell the story of that dreadful day nearly 2 centuries ago.