Category Archives: Albay

Bacacay: A Blend of History and Nature (Albay)

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From Sto. Domingo, Bernard and I motored to the nearby town of Bacacay where we paid a courtesy call on, and had lunch with, 72 year old, first term Mayor Tobias B. “Tobing” Betito, the former vice-mayor and schoolteacher, at the newly renovated (last 2008), 2-storey municipal hall.  Mayor Betito granted us the use of an Isuzu Crosswind and the services of a driver so that we can explore Cagraray Island, the home of the 20-hectare, world-class Misibis Resorts, Estate and Spa.

The 2-storey municipal hall

Before leaving for Cagraray Island, we walked over, across the street, to the Church of St. Rose of Lima (a Peruvian saint).

Check out “Church of St. Rose of Lima“

Church of St. Rose of Lima

At the left side of the church are the ruins of the old church and belfry.  My guess is these are the ruins of the church built in 1660.  The present church was probably built in the 1800s.

The old church ruins

We next walked over the hardly discernable remains of Roca Baluarte in Brgy. 3.  Formerly a Spanish-era fort with a lookout tower used to warn against Muslim pirates, it was converted into a beach resort but now lies abandoned, amidst nipa palms and mangroves, after the resort was ruined during super typhoon Reming (international name: Durian) that hit the Bicol Region on November 30, 2006.

Roca Baluarte
Mayor’s Office:  Municipal Hall, Poblacion, Bacacay, Albay. Tel: (052) 588-3243.  Website: www.bacacay.gov.ph.

Sto. Domingo: Birthplace of the Sarung Banggi (Albay)

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The next day, Bernard and I left the Governor’s Mansion in Legaspi City and took a jeep to Quick & Hearty for a buffet Filipino breakfast.  Here, we met up with Mr. Martin A. Calleja, head of Bicol Adventures Philippines and Viento de Mar Beach Resort in Bacacay. After breakfast, we made a short stopover at the DOT Region V office at Rawis where we met up with Regional Director Maria O. Ravanilla.  From here, we made the short 11.5 km. drive to the nearby quaint town of Sto. Domingo.

The author with Bernard and Dir. Maria Ravanilla

Sto. Domingo, formerly called Libog (a corruption of the Bicol term libot meaning “roundabout”), is nestled at the foot of Mayon Volcano. The town is noted for its numerous beach resorts along the jet black sand Kalayukaii Beach in Brgy. Kalayukaii, located 3 kms. east of the town.  At the Spanish-era (the former tribunal and presidencia built in 1832) municipal hall in Plaza Pugad Lawin, we made a courtesy call on Mayor Herbie  B. Aguas.

The municipal hall and fountain at Plaza Pugad Lawin

Also at the plaza, across the fountain and municipal hall is the picturesque Church of St. Dominic Guzman, the town’s most prominent landmark.

Check out “Church of St. Dominic Guzman“

Church of St. Dominic Guzman

The town is also the birthplace of Potenciano V. Gregorio (May 19, 1880-February 12, 1939), the composer of the famous local ditty Sarung Banggi (meaning “one night”), the best known song in the Bicol dialect, on May 10, 1910.  The 8-day (May 18-25) Sarung Banggi Summer Festival, which features a folk song festival, immortalizes this love song and pays tribute to its illustrious local son.   His ancestral house was burned when a fire hit the town in 1961.

Potenciano V. Gregorio Mausoleum

On May 2005, Mayor Aguas, together with then Albay Gov. Fernando and First District Rep. Edcel Lagman, had Gregorio’s remains exhumed in La Loma Cemetery and brought home to Sto. Domingo for a municipal vigil and reinterred at the town’s cemetery with military honors. In 2006, a mausoleum and his bust, also at the town plaza, was erected and his remains transferred there.  In 2010, Gregorio was declared a municipal artist by the Sangguniang Bayan.

Mayor’s Office: Municipal Hall, Plaza Pugad Lawin, St. Domingo, Albay.  Tel: (052) 435-1357.
Department of Tourism Regional Office V: Rawis, Legaspi City.  Tel: (052) 435-0085 and 482-0715.  Fax: (052) 482-0712. E-mail: dot_bicol@yahoo.com. Website: www.wowbicol.com.

Church of St. Dominic of Guzman (Sto. Domingo, Albay)

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Church of St. Dominic Guzman

First built in 1785 with wood and basag (bamboo splits), the second church was built with lava blocks in 1789 and completed in 1832.  Built with forced labor, during its construction, a mixture of lime, egg albumin and tangguli (molasses) was used to bind its massive stone walls. Burned in 1882, the present picturesque Church of St. Dominic Guzman was built with piedras ladradas, chiseled balustrades and twin domes.

The church’s Baroque facade

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

The church’s Baroque façade has a semicircular arched main entrance flanked by rectangular windows and two bell towers with dome-shaped roofs, giving it a graceful symmetry.  On the second level is a centrally located statued niche flanked by two occoli while the triangular pediment’s tympanum also has an occoli.

The church’s modern interior

Church of St. Dominic of Guzman: Tel: (052) 258-7111. Feast of St. Dominic of Guzman: August 4.

How to Get There: Sto. Domingo is located 469 kms. (a 9.25-hour drive) from Manila and 11.5 kms. (a 19-min. drive) northeast of Legaspi City.

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.