Philippine Travel Notes

Just passing by from our Carcar and Sibonga visit, San Fernando’s church and municipal hall attracted us so we got off and roamed the area a bit. The church looks beautifully ancient with a spacious frontage garden. Sunday afternoon service was in progress but we still went in – and in the process attended mass too! See?! We were just by the main entrance as the church was very full (all Sunday afternoon masses in this country are, right?) and we were admiring things of and around the church. Suddenly a voice whispered unto my left ear saying “ang kapal mo coming here in shorts and naka-tsinelas”. That was a familiar voice so I immediately turned. OMG, a long lost friend, an ex-workmate. I was about to exclaim my surprise loudly but he placed his forefinger on his lips to tell me keep quiet hehe. We went a bit farther out of the entrance to talk more and reconnect. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? That was first the question. My reply: how would I, I didn’t know you come from t...

This is that town in the province of Cebu where the poblacion or center is a virtual unknown having been overshadowed by one of its barrios made famous (or infamous, whichever way you wanna look at it) by monks up in the hills. And I have gone twice to that monastery but never even seen center of town. Going to Sibonga, me and the friend were waiting for a bus along Carcar City’s main road across the market. However, we heard habal-habal and tricycle drivers calling out for passengers to Simala. We looked at each other and deduced that if vehicles were getting passengers to Simala, then they must also be taking people going just to Sibonga – nearer and center of town. So we hailed a trike and went off with our P30 ride (P15 each)! Of course we headed to the Sibonga church first, the Nuestra Senora Del Pilar Parish. Oh my, that church is really old, even almost ugly. But its very rustic look makes it more interesting. And if the ceiling of Carcar’s church mesmerized me, this one in Sib...

“Sorry I can’t go with you today, there’s an urgent errand in Carcar that I have to attend to”. So said my friend one Sunday morning. When it comes to roaming around, I consider myself a very fast-thinker and very flexible… so I replied, “can I go with you?”… and in no time, we met at south bus terminal! I was off to Carcar City! Yey! Though I have been passing by this place many times going southeast or southwest of the island, I never really got to step on it and have even just a quick look around. Ah during the bus ride, the friend told me I can go around while he attended to the errand and we set a time and place to meet again. He gave me pointers on what to see and we even discussed its plight to become a city! Ah yes, many of us know that Carcar (together with Naga and Bogo) is part of the 16 municipalities that were converted by congress into cities, then stripped of it, then reinstated. I know though Carcar is a big town just judging from the bustle in its market and the activi...

This is a pretty archetype on how to degrade public service by playing, listening to politics instead of the riding public! Let me describe what it was (good) and what it is now (getting bad). Then 01. Your car/cab enters a clean and orderly compound 02. You pay P10 for vehicle entry and get a receipt (doc stamp) 03. You get off at a designated entrance with a turnstile 04. You drop a five-peso coin to pass thru 05. An attendant gives you a documentary stamp as receipt 06. You walk up to your bus company’s counter 07. You choose a time of departure 09. You choose a seat 10. You are given a boarding pass 11. You wait in the airconditioned waiting lounge 12. While waiting you watch TV or eat at the food stalls 13. Someone announces boarding to your bus and on what gate 14. You line up at a glass door (gate) where a guard checks 15. You pile in and look for your seat 16. Bus departs (announcer hollers if its time to go and bus won’t) Remember these? That was then! Now 01. Your car/cab ent...

Now now... since we mentioned this airport in the previous post , let us say something about it a bit more! Just so we have a benchmark hehe! The Borongan Airport was so ceremoniously celebrated when it received its first commercial flight in the first September morn of 2008. I heard the governor was beaming with pride as the airport was touted to help boost business and tourism in the province. No it was not Asian Spirit as they all have been singing about. It was SeaAir that the governor or the president was finally able to coerce hehe! In fairness, the destination appeared at the airline's booking website for some time. I even checked that out and the cheapest I could see was something like P4,000++ one way. Yes, ONE WAY! In March of 2009, attempting for an April trip to Borongan, the airline did not anymore have any flights to said destination. Called them up to ask why. The reservations girl said they were not told of any reason but flights to said destination were suspend...

Yey! I went to Calicoan, yeah! And OMG did I learn a lot! An Island that is not Technically and officially, Calicoan (pronounced ka-li-ko-an more like “kuh-lee-ko-un”) is an island but you will never easily feel or observe that indeed it is. Composed of four barangays, its still part of the town of Guiuan as anything else southwards. The proximity with mainland has long ago prompted folks to build a bridge/causeway over at Barangay Pagnamitan. Looking down both sides of this bridge, you will already see people having picnics either by the mangroves, islets or in their little boats. The shiny clear emerald waters are most inviting. But no, that is not (yet) what made this island famous! Then, over at the southern end in Barangay Sulangan is another bridge that connects to yet another island. As you would realize, going Calicoan even further to Sulangan is a straight landside ride even if those are really islands. Oh nope, its not Homonhon yet. While it is also part of Guiuan, Homonhon i...

No visit to Guiuan should omit the Sulangan Church, so said my driver! Thus, I went for a visit, even if this was not on my "to see" list. Tutal, the more I see things, the better, right?! Plus, he told me, this is a 'miraculous' shrine of St. Anthony De Padua. All the more that I said okay, therefore let's visit that. Go! It is 'officially' called The Diocesan Shrine of St. Anthony De Padua, someone told me. Others call it the St. Anthony De Padua Church of Sulangan, Guiuan Eastern Samar. But there is nothing wrong if, like me, you prefer to call it "Sulangan Church" - wala naman ibang church (yata) sa Sulangan anyway! This is the 'entrance' to Sulangan "main" island... the "Sulangan Bridge". Nice views here! Actually, where this picture was taken (before crossing the bridge) is already Barangay Sulangan, and after the bridge is still the same barangay! In fact, most of their homes are located across this bridge....

Airport? Does Guiuan have an airport? Well, if you asked me yesterday, I would have told you “not really an airport – but runway there is. All that is different now and I have better update my lowly memory. There is an airport! I just found about it on my way to Calicoan and Sulangan. And OMG was I surprised. Let’s talk a bit of history first. We are/were not from Guiuan but my family had many friends there. So the few times that they brought me along, I have known that there was this big runway where we kids were allowed to bike around (motorbikes) and the bigger kids were allowed to drive around (cars). All of us were then under the allowable age limit of whatever it was we were driving hehe! Mi abuela would usually tell us then, that that runway was historic in that it was one of the first in this country; that it was part of MacArthur’s big (biggest at that time) US Naval Base in the Pacific; that the plane that bombed Hiroshima took off from the same runway – then all the itokos w...

Yep, that is the parish of the Immaculate Conception at center of town. Ah everyone knows this church and compound is historic. While most folks would say the church has at least retained most of what it is, my lowly soul says everything’s a changing. It is beautiful outside and inside yes, but there are some changes that make me wish did not happen. Example: painting the walls white. It modernizes the look and brightens the church but it hides the material our forebears used. The big wooden doors with carvings are still there though and painting or varnishing it for me does not hide anything but probably helps preserve the material. Hey am not sure if the ceiling of that church has already been so in the olden days when I visited it. Is it made of tin sheets? The new floor tiles and even the newly repainted pews make the church bright and beautiful these days. But I don’t know, maybe am just longing for that certain eeriness that I felt inside that church when I was a child hehe!

Ah the Pamahalaang Bayan Ng Guiuan? Its ugly hehe! Not that its loathsome or something, but having been around the many towns of this country, this one is not at all attractive. Aside from it has no artistic nor cultural nor architectural significance, it needs some scrubbing or perhaps a repaint job on some parts. The grime and moss is very obvious on that yellow paint. But, facing the municipal hall, look to your left. See that old wooden house (if it has not crumbled yet, anyway)? Beautiful, right?! Well, was beautiful! That was their municipal hall of the past. Looks like a Spanish-era house. My trike driver says, it is even still more attractive than the recent munisipyo. Then again, it is already too small for a municipal organization with hundreds of casual employees. And I think, that’d be very expensive to maintain. I have yet to know if that old house has any historical or sentimental significance to the residents of Guiuan. If so, they should endeavor to rebuild or refurbis...

Folks pay attention to this… there are not so many eateries in Guiuan that at 730PM, I almost missed dinner! Hotel Khaishra serves only pre-ordered breakfast while most everywhere are barbecues and beer with KTV croaking. Tanghay View is a bit far. There is a bakeshop across Mercury Drug that serves a good variety of lunch/dinner food and the last few scraps was what I caught hehe! Mind you, they were about to close! As for night entertainment, I commandeered a tricycle (pedicab a.k.a. padyak) to whisk me around and see the Guiuan nightlife. At the gas station beside Khaishra, you can turn left (that’s the way to Calicoan) and a few meters away is a big KTV bar. Across it is another bar purportedly with nightly live bands but at the time of my visit, it was closed. Trike driver attempted to bring me to one popular Disco/KTV with girls but it was rather far… the farther onwards we went for it, the scarier the folks I saw on the side streets. Duuu! Well, Guiuan is a safe and quiet town,...

I did not reserve for anything and was confident I could get accommodations in this town as I know it is still off the beaten tourist tracks. On arrival of the van, I asked driver where might be a good place to stay. He pointed up the two-level building in front of which where we stopped. Hmm, it read Guiuan Pension House. I judged the book by its cover, it looked like a cramped fire hazard of a place since it’s in a busy commercial area (center of town). No can do! Asked him where else might be fine, one that has a restaurant. He said that would be a trike ride away to Lupok (or is it Lupuk?) at a place called Tanghay View Lodge. I hesitated since it is not center of town, and before I could answer, he pointed to the highway where we entered town and said Kaisra. Oh alright, I went for it. Hotel Khaishra Walking back from where the van stopped, I passed via a bakery, a Mercury Drug, some BBQ stands, KTV bars, sari-sari stores, a gas station where buses to/from Manila are parked and vo...

That is pronounced “gi-wan” where the “gi” is like how you say it in the word “giggle”. Well, if you listen well, most folks pronounce the second syllable as the English word “one” instead of “wan”. So its “gi-one”! This is the southernmost town of the province of Eastern Samar and the land mass narrows to a peninsular tip such that Guiuan greets the morning sun from the pacific and enjoys fantastic sunsets over at the Leyte Gulf side of town! There are islands and islets dotting its shores and these are what’s making waves to travelers of late. These days, the easier approach to Guiuan is via the South Samar Coastal Road from Tacloban than the usual route of yesteryears via Taft and Borongan which is about double the distance. I have been in this town ages ago, though I barely remember anything. Fondest memory was every time my grandfather went out for a walk, he would return with big fish or bigger fish. My grandmother told me of stories about how old the church was and how General D...

It was not all beautiful… but there was fun too! At least, I got to experience another facet of life in these islands. Alrightie, still happy from the Caluwayan experience, though partly seething at that “don’t touch the fish” admonition from the owner, I went outside of Caluwayan’s gate and waited for a ride to Guiuan. No no no, it was not his comment that made me go. As I said in the previous entry, it was the thought of being alone in a big resort with no one and nothing for the night. There came a bus. Silently I said oh thanks, since it was a big one so I was sure it wouldn’t be cramped inside. It was a white and orange bus named Eagle Star. Oops, not air-conditioned! But I already flagged it and slowing down to get me. So I hopped in. Nge, I did not even look at the signboard as to where it was headed! Then again, I knew that anything going south should take me to or near to Guiuan. Ah, there was something I immediately noticed inside that bus. The passengers looked disheveled. A...