Category Archives: Caves

Calbiga Caves System (Western Samar)

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I have heard a lot about this relatively unknown, 900 sq. km. Calbiga Cave System in Western Samar, said to be the largest cave system in Asia, and Jandy and I opted to do some cave exploring there. Jandy and I woke up early, had a hearty breakfast, brought my camera, videocam, flashlight, spare batteries and a pack lunch (prepared by my sister-in-law, Paula) of corned beef sandwiches and bottled water, donned our media jackets (with its many convenient pockets) and proceeded, by jeepney, to the Tacloban City bus terminal by the pier.

The low cave entrance

We made the 59-km. (1 hr.) trip from the city to Calbiga via the 7:30 AM regular bus to Catbalogan, passing the same deplorable road conditions we encountered the day before. Upon our arrival at the town, we immediately registered our names at the municipal hall so that a mayor’s permit could be processed and secured.  A group of 9 had registered even earlier, having been in town since 7 AM.  Before we were issued permits, Municipal Administrator Mr. Mario Cabujat gave us a short talk on the past history of the caves and the dos & dont’s in exploring the cave.  After the briefing, we were all given our respective mayor’s permits.   The other group was kind enough to let us hitch with them in their AUV.

The initial 4-km. road going to Brgy. Panayuran was concrete-paved  up to a kilometer, becoming rough the remaining distance.  Our AUV arrived at the jump-off point by 10 PM and parked our vehicle.  We then negotiated with the residents for some guides and working Petromax lamps, settling on PhP250 per guide and PhP50 per Petromax lamp.  I got one guide and lamp while the others got another lamp and guide.  For additional lighting, some brought along some “Molotov cocktails” (actually kerosene-filled bottles with lighted rags as wicks).

A phallus-like stalagmite

Soon after, our group, now enlarged to 14 (another resident tagged along), started our trek along a well-marked trail passing through tall, 10-ft. high cogon grass.  Midway, the trek became steep and rocky as we entered a light forest.  We made a number of rest stops and the trail became narrower as we neared the cave. After an hour’s hike, we reached the dark, low cave opening, located below a limestone cliff studded with weathered stalactites. Going down from the main entrance (there are actually 5) was easy but going about this cave was a struggle as one had to hop from one rock to another with hardly any flat area.  Deciding on which rock to step on wasn’t easy as a lot were sharp and some were loose.  The cave floor was also littered with detached stalactites from previous illegal mining operations.  Some passageways were also narrow and low and one has to watch his (or her) head negotiating these areas.

Vakul

The first chamber, 5-km. long, 40-m. wide  Langun Cave, was huge.  Our flashlights could barely penetrate the darkness, much less reach the over 50-m. high ceiling.  Surprisingly, bats do not inhabit the caves.  The only flying things about are swallows (balinsasayaw).  We rested by a beautiful calcite formation with a small, clear reservoir of mineral water and refilled our water bottles and ate our packed corned beef sandwiches here, sharing some with the two guides.  Water was occasionally dripping from the ceiling, reminding me that it was seeping water that hollowed out these caves by dissolving the limestone and combining to precipitate  calcite over millions of years.  Also, the evaporation of water in places, leaves minute deposits of calcium carbonate that hang hollowly from the cave’s roof (stalactites) or rise solidly and more stumpily from the floor (stalagmites).  It is said that it takes a hundred years to make 1 cm. of pure white stalactite or stalagmite.

“Lady with the Lamp”

After our half-hour lunch, we resumed our exploration, taking my camera and videocam but leaving behind my backpack with my rubbish inside.  Every now and then we would come across beautiful, stalagmites of glittering snow-white calcium carbonate crystal, without a trace of other minerals, carved and combined to form beautiful shapes.  Unlike Sohoton Caves, none of them have yet been named. I therefore dubbed one with helictites (an occasional twisted, twiglike growth) as “The Lady with the Lamp” (in honor of Florence Nightingale, God bless her soul!), a beautiful, bullet-like,  snow-white stalagmite I dubbed as “The White Phallus” (I could think of no other description), another I dubbed  “The Inverted Shoe” (or bakya) and a huge calcite waterfall imbedded with tiny calcite crystals which glittered when lighted by our lamps, I dubbed as “Vakul,” because it reminded me of the Batanes headwear worn by Ivatan women.

“Casper the Friendly Ghost”

Our entry into 270 m. long, 160 m. wide Gobingob Hall, the second chamber, was no less easy and quite unglamorous.  We had to pass through a floor of soft and moist muck.  Our shoes sunk with every step and efforts to raise them was an ordeal.  Oftentimes they remained stuck in the mud.  One member of our party broke her slipper while others just took them off and walked barefoot.  After what seemed an eternity, we were ushered into a huge cathedral-like chamber with huge stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Unlike the previous chamber, the floor here was level, albeit muddy, with long-legged crickets, faded to a pale and sickly hue, hopping around. Inside, too, was an underground stream.  Italian spelunkers have found blind cavefish (the first in the country), crabs and other small shellfish here, true troglodytes wholly adapted to sightless existence in caves.  Try as I must, even with my flashlight, I could not espy a blind cave fish in the still waters.  Other members of the party were able to see one.  I was, however, able to observe, up close, a colorless blind crab caught by one of the group.  It was later released, unharmed.

“The Inverted Shoe”

Our visit to this chamber ended our cave tour. We retraced our steps back to where we left our backpack, proceeded on the cave entrance and emerged, dead tired, at 2:30 PM after 3 hrs. of exploration.  The thought of hiking the 3-km. uphill/downhill trail back to the village daunted me and after a few minutes hike, I asked my guide to carry my backpack the rest of the way.  We reached the village by 4 PM. After washing up, paying the guides (I paid my guide an extra PhP50 for carrying my backpack) and signing the required guestbook, we left the village at 4:30 PM for the trip back to Tacloban.  After 2 or 3 stops due to overheating plus a detour to Basey to drop off some passengers, we reached Tacloban by 8 PM.

Sohoton Natural Bridge National Park – Sohoton Caves (Basey, Samar)

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The “Guardian Angel”

On April 16, Palm Sunday, Jandy and I made plans to visit the 840-hectare Sohoton Natural Bridge National Parkin Basey, Samar, established as such by American Gov. Frank Murphy on July 19, 1935 by virtue of Proclamation No. 831.  Joining us as guide was Mr. Victor Macasera, a medical representative from Astra Zeneca.  We woke up early and I packed my camera, videocam and other essentials for this day trip. Victor soon arrived and joined us for a hearty breakfast.  We left Tacloban in Victor’s car by 9 AM, bringing with us a picnic basket with packed lunch prepared for us by my sister-in-law Paula.   The 26-km. trip from Tacloban City to Basey took us a mere 20 mins., passing through the 2.16-km. longSan Juanico Bridge, Southeast Asia’s longest bridge, which connects Leyte Island with Samar Island.  There was still a break in the bridge’s railing, where, on February 11, 6 drunk Army men, coming from a fiesta in V&G Subdivision, crashed their vehicle through the railing, into the San Juanico Strait, and all drowned.

San Juanico Bridge

Upon our arrival at Basey’s port, Victor parked his car at the pier and arranged for a small pumpboat, Petromax lamp, permit and guide, all for PhP600.  He chose a small boat for two reasons.  First, we were just a small party and second, its shallow draft will enable us to negotiate the shallow portion of the Basey River.  The guide assigned to us was Mr. Francisco “Sidong” Corales, a 45-year old park ranger and certified spelunker.  The trip up the winding Basey (or Cadacan) River was engrossing.  From the wharf, it is an 11-km. (1.5 hr.) boat ride up along the 50 to sometimes 200 m. wide, golden brown Basey River.

Basey River

The initial portion was along evergreen banks lined with coconut trees, swamp plants and nipa palm (Nypa fruticans).   We had an intimate glimpse of small villages with river dwellers going about heartwarming daily activities like washing clothes and bathing children.  We also passed a colorful assortment of small native outriggers loaded with produce and passengers.  As we went further down the river, it started to narrow dramatically and the scenery began to change to eerie jungle, with massive and very rugged limestone outcrops gradually towering on both sides of the river.  We also passed bizarre, weather-sculpted limestone rock formations.  Huge trees, with interlaced roots and thick branches, hug the river’s edge and large, ancient-looking boulders also jutted out the water.

Bizarre rock formations along river

Occasionally, there were shallow portions along the river and Sidong and the boatmen had to alight to push the boat.  Pretty soon, we reached a junction where the Basey River branches out into the Bugasan and Sohoton Rivers and just before that was the unprepossessing entrance to the Panhulugan I Cave, the largest (546 sq. m.) and most spectacular endogenic cave in the park.   Directly across is towering Panhulugan Cliff, a high and steep rock formation, and cutting into the face of this cliff is  the 3.5-m. high and 50-m. long scar of Panhulugan Cave II. During the Philippine-American War, Filipino insurgents dropped rocks and logs down on U.S. troops coming up the narrow curve of the river.

Panhulugan Cave I entrance

We moored our boat at the entrance of Panhulugan Cave I, climbed a series of steps, crossed a bridge and stopped at a resting area with concrete tables and benches.  Here, Sidong showed us a map of the park and briefed us on what to expect inside the cave.  Upon entering and squeezing our way through narrow and sometimes low openings, we were ushered into a mystical and magical world of beautiful, glittering and exotically shaped and patterned stone unseen except with our Petromax lamps.  There were some walls of sparkling, pure white crystal and chambers replete with stalactites and stalagmites.  Geologically active, water constantly drips from stalactites and there are also large accumulations of materials beneath the chimney holes.

With their wild and vivid imagination, locals have christened many of the beautiful and breathtaking formations after religious icons, animals, plants, parts of the human anatomy and domestic as well as foreign tourist destinations.  Only nature can create and preserve such wonders.  One formation resembled a “three-legged elephant” complete with trunk (above).  Others were appropriately named the “Chair of Alexander the Great,” the “Ice Cream Cone,” the “Guardian Angel,” “Anaconda,” “Statue of Liberty” and beside it, the “Holy Family.” A fenced off portion has a flow area similar to the famed “Banaue Rice Terraces”.  A miniature horizontal ribbon-like formation is aptly named the “Great Wall of China” and beside it the “Chocolate Hills” of Bohol.

The Breast Room

Sidong also tried his hand in music, tapping on some seemingly hollow formations like organ pipes to create musical notes. He also ushered us into the Love Room where the ceiling was covered with the so-called European, American and Filipino versions of the female breast as well as the male sex organ.  One chamber has 15-m. high ceiling which exudes the solemn atmosphere of a high-domed cathedral.  Its eerie silence sent a tingling feeling down my spine.  Before exiting, Sidong showed us what appeared to be ancient animal bone fragments embedded in one of the cave walls.

Hiking along Bontoc Road (Sagada, Mountain Province)

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We spent the whole afternoon hiking along Bontoc Road. On both sides of the road is the 34-hectare Mission Compound.  It includes St. Theodore’s Hospital (established in 1926), the Rectory, the recently restored Doctor’s Residence, the Girl’s Dormitory (established in 1912) and residence  of American historian William Henry Scott. Across St. Theodore’s Hospital  is the DOT accredited and Episcopalian parish-operated St. Joseph’s Resthouse. Further out along Bontoc Road, on the left, is Sagada Weaving & Souvenir Shop.  Established  in 1978, it produces quality products hand-woven on backstrap looms and supervised by Mrs. Andrea Bondad and daughter Rhoda.  Finished products sold at reasonable prices include backpacks, shoulder bags, tapis (Igorot skirts), wallets and blankets.

Masferre Photographs

Further out along Bontoc Road, at the Bagaan Road Junction, is the Masferre Gallery.  Here, Mrs. Nena Masferre, wife of the late photographer Eduardo Masferre, welcomed us.  In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, through his pioneering skill and sensitivity as a photographer, Eduardo took photographs of the vanishing life and culture in the villages of Mountain Province. Mrs. Masferre showed us the black and white photographs taken by her husband and a few maps and artifacts.

Eduardo, a Spanish mestizo, was born on April 18, 1909, the second of eight children.  He was the son of Jaime P. Masferre, a retired Spanish soldier from Cataluna, who settled in Sagada at the turn of the century, became a coffee farmer, married an Kankanai woman (Mercedes Cunyap Langkew), joined the Episcopal Church and became a minister.  From 1914 to 1921, Eduardo first lived with his family in Spain where he began his education.  After completing his schooling in the Philippines, he became a missionary teacher like his father and then a missionary administrator.  In addition, he took up farming.

In the 1920s, he learned photography from U.S. missionaries.  Returning to photography in 1934, his artistic focus were the mountain people of the Cordilleras with whom he shares part of his heritage.  After World War II, he opened a photographic studio in Bontoc.  In 1951, he married Nena Ogues, a nurse from Kapangan.  The union produced six children.

His grainy, high contrast monochrome photos are displayed here and around the world.  His first exhibit was held in Manila in 1982.  After a second Manila exhibit the following year, his work traveled to Copenhagen (1984) and Tokyo (1986).  In 1988, his third Manila exhibit was mounted.  A book of his work, “E. Masferre: People of the Philippine Cordillera” was also produced.  Mobil Philippines funded the work, provided 1,500 copies to Philippine schools, museums and libraries, and funded the touring exhibit of his works to the cities of Baguio, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Bacolod.

In 1989, Masferre exhibited his works at Les Recontres International de la Photographie in Arles (France), the only Filipino to be accorded such an honor.  In 1990, again with Mobil support, the Smithsonian Institute of Washington D.C. purchased 120 of his impressive original photos and exhibited them for six months at the main rotunda of the American National Museum of Natural History.  They are now carefully archived in the same museum.  He died on June 24, 1995 at the age of 86.

Jandy with Ms. Nena Masferre

Plodding on, we reached a bend opposite the Rocky Valley Inn.  Here, a path lead down to the small Matangkib Burial Cave. However, it was closed due to the recent death of a hapless Irish tourist who slipped and broke his head.  Coffins here are carefully stacked. At  the lower end of the path, to the left of Matangkib burial cave, is the unmistakable mouth of the Latang Underground River.  We didn’t bring along a good flashlight and weren’t prepared for a 15-min./500-m. spelunking hike through  cold, knee-deep waters and a scramble over rocks.  It was late in the day and we made our way back to the inn.

Latang Underground River

The night was chilly and foggy.  Tourists from Manila were beginning to arrive, all looking for places to stay and most without any success.  Even St. Theodore’s hospital beds were rented out (barring any emergencies) for PhP45 per head.  Others camped out on the Mission grounds while others just slept in their vehicles.  Poor fellows.  Sagada has a reputation as a meeting place for travelers and I also made a number of friends during my stay.  Many were guests staying at the inn while the others I met were straying in the town’s  different coffee shops.

The Caves of Sagada (Mountain Province)

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The next day, Wednesday, we decided to go spelunking at Sumaging Cave.   Holy Week was around the corner and we wanted to go there before the onrush of tourists made it a first come-first served affair. Armed with my trusty video camera and point and shoot camera, we proceeded to the municipal hall where the Sagada Environmental Guides Association (SEGA) offers detailed information and guides with ropes and Petromax lamps.  They also keep the caves safe for and from tourists.  We hired a Kankanai lady guide for PhP300. It is always advisable to go spelunking with an accredited guide.  For one thing, they know the way to, from and around  the caves and secondly, if accidents happen inside a cave they now where to go for help.  Sagada sits on a limestone valley riddled with a total of 20 caves, some short, some  interconnected in huge underground mazes.  Eleven are burial caves, 6 of which are  accessible by foot from the highway. The burial caves have hollow-log “hanging coffins” or kuongs and should be treated with respect.

Rice terraces along the road to the caves

With our guide in tow, we made a 40-min. downhill hike, along Soyu Rd., to the cave. Along the way, we passed many of Sagada’s coffee shops (try Shamrock Café beside the municipal hall) and guesthouses: Country Inn (up the stairs opposite the municipal hall), Masferre’s Inn and Café (displays old Masferre prints), Olahbinan Resthouse & Restaurant and the Greenhouse.  Next is the town’s first hotel, the 16-room Sagada Prime Hotel, opened in March 1997.  Here, we found a large, unsightly and quite out of place satellite dish.  Further out along Soyu Road, on the right, is Demang Village. This old village still holds traditional rituals at dap-ays (used by men of the village for meetings and ceremonies).  On the left, we saw some hanging coffins on a rock face.     Also along the way we passed some beautiful rice terraces.  Further down, to the left, we entered a path leading to Sumaging Cave’s (also called Big Cave, Marcos or Latipan Cave) big yawning entrance. Entering the cave doesn’t require special training or equipment but the first 100 m. entailed a steep and slippery descent.  At a certain point, we were required to take off our shoes.  Our guide pointed out the cave’s many unusual and grotesque limestone formations including “Pig Pen,” “Rice Granary,” “Giant’s Foot,” “Dap-ay,” “Pregnant Woman” and the impressive “Dancing Hall” and “King’s Curtain.”   We didn’t go beyond “King’s Curtain” as Jandy had difficulty going down.  The guide said that beyond was a cold, knee-deep underground stream which accumulates into  a large, 15-ft. diameter and 6-ft. deep vaulted pool 250 ft. down.  Its waters swirl through a funnel at the side of the mountain.   After about 2 hrs., we made our way back and out of the cave.

Jandy inside Sumaguing Cave

The tourist route takes about 3 hrs. but a full exploration of the cave entails at least 6 hrs. and some areas at its deepest levels can only be traversed by serious spelunkers with cave climbing equipment.  The cave also has other exits but most are difficult to reach by land. On our uphill trek back along Soyu Road, past the junction, is  a path on the right with a fence.  Here, steps going down the path leads to Lumiang Cave.  We stopped just at the large cave entrance where  many old and a few newer coffins were stacked. A portion of the cave’s mouth had collapsed and broken bones and coffin fragments litter the floor.  We felt no need to go inside.  The guide told us that this cave is connected to Sumaging Cave but reaching it would entail 6 hrs. of spelunking.   There are other caves that could be explored farther out but we were just too tired to explore them.    We returned to our inn for lunch and a much needed bath.  I opted for a noontime bath thinking the water would be warmer.  Boy was I wrong! Brrrr…..!

Crystal Caves (Baguio City, Benguet)

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During the Holy Week break, I decided to bring Jandy to Sagada and Banaue.  However, to get to Sagada, we had to go via Baguio City as there is no direct route there, by public transportation, from Manila.  That being the case, I decided to stay 2 nights in the city before leaving for Sagada. We took the very early 7 AM Victory Liner bus for Baguio City and arrived there by 1:30 PM.  From the bus terminal, we took a taxi to the city proper and booked ourselves at the AJ Pension House.  Once settled in, we had a late lunch at a Chowking outlet.  As it was already late in the afternoon, I decided to just bring Jandy to the Crystal Caves,   located 5 kms. from the city center, off the Palispis-Aspiras Highway.  We got there via jeepney.  
 
Inside Crystal Cave
I remembered visiting Crystal Caves with my Dad and brother Frank when I was still young. Back then, I was impressed by the firefly-like, crystalline rock the cave was named for.  These interconnected caverns, found on the northern foot of Mt. Sto. Tomas, are believed to be an old Igorot burial site just like the nearby Timbac Caves.  At the cave entrance, we were swamped by natives offering their services as guides.  I got a couple of guides with some torches and flashlights.
 
Traversing the cave from end to end wasn’t difficult as it was horizontal all the way.  I was quite disappointed with what I saw inside.  The cave has now been stripped by robbers of its stalactites, stalagmites and precious crystals which were sold to tourists.  The cave survived World War II bombings and the 1990 earthquake but it is slowly dying or irretrievably dead from all  this looting.  The high cave ceiling, blackened from the soot of torches, only had a couple of resident bats.  Worst, there seems to no conservation effort to save what’s left of the cave.
 
Disappointed at this turn of events, we returned to the city proper, had dinner at Star Cafe and returned to our inn.
 
Crystal Caves: Crystal Cave Rd., Baguio City, Benguet.  
 
How to Get There:  Take a jeepney at the cor. of Otek and Chanum Sts. to Palispis-Aspiras Highway.  Visit only during the dry season (May to November).  

Daliran Cave and Roca Encantada (Buenavista, Guimaras)

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Daliran Cave and Spring

Our next stopover (3:30 PM) was at the Villa Fe Summer Resort, in Brgy. Old Poblacion, Buenavista, a 5-min. hike from the wharf.  Frank and his family, together with a local guide, decided to go spelunking and explore the resort’s  Daliran Cave, the most accessible cave in Guimaras, and its cold fresh water spring and stalactites.  The rest, including me and my family, just waited outside.  Inside, they got down and dirty with guano (bat droppings) as they communed with its denizens of the dark.   Yuck!

Posing outside Roca Encantada

Our final sightseeing stop (5 PM) was Roca Encantada (Enchanted Rock), the summer vacation home of the Lopez family, one of the oldest grand clans of Iloilo and Guimaras. Emily Relucio Lopez was Guimaras’ first governor. We were allowed entry by the caretaker.

The grand balcony of Roca Encantada

The mansion, accessed by a long flight of stairs, was built in 1910 by Presentacion Hofilena-Lopez on a promontory on one of 7 picturesque rock islets of the Siete Pecados (Seven Sins) Islands, in Brgy. Getulio. From its grand, spacious and airy balcony, we got a panoramic view of the beachfront, the Iloilo Strait and the 6 remaining islands. A lighthouse is situated on the largest islet.

Presenting the Siete Pecados