Padre Burgos

This was a joyride indeed!

From Malitbog to Padre Burgos proper, is on a picturesque coastal highway of only about 15 or so kilometers - less than half an hour. And yeah, even if this was a gloomy day with intermittent showers, I enjoyed looking at the sea as the car sped through the highway.

Surprisingly though, there was a big change of scenery when it came to the houses that we passed by. Too many seem to have jumped from the 18th to the 21st century! If I was awed by old wooden houses in Malitbog, I was wowed by big new ones in Padre Burgos!

Like this one I caught a shot of as we made a u-turn..

U-turn? Yes u-turn, kasi lumampas kami hehe! My meeting contact (who was waiting at Sogod Bay Scuba Resort) called up to say "nakita ko sasakyan nyo, lampas na kayo"! Awk!

Anyway..,

Here are some nice abodes I saw as we turned back to find Sogod Bay Scuba Resort...

These are not 'simple'. It's as if you're in a posh seaside village somewhere in Batangas!

Okay, we found Sogod Bay Scuba Resort in no time. Oh my my, what a wonderful place! But we better talk about it - the resort I mean, not the meeting hehe - in a separate story.

Thus, moving on after Sogod Bay Scuba Resort..,
More big new houses and resorts that dot the highway all the way to town center...

Some of these big and modern resort-looking houses are "private". I mean private family residences or vacation homes and not offering any services to us the traveling public! Mind you, some of these are 3 or 4 floors tall - which is 'still' uncommon in this region.

Disclaimer: those are only the places that my phone-camera caught. There are others that I wasn't able to capture as we were moving fast, or I was looking elsewhere! And as I said, these are not only on the water's edge. Others are on the other side of the road!

And then I saw this...

So what about it? Well, DPWH dumped earth by the fence of an elementary school, so it can be later 'asphalted' as the road shoulder. At which elementary school you may ask?

At that elementary school at left... the name of which is...

Tagalog speakers, emphasis on the letter "g" at the end please! Why are you smiling?! 😜

Anyway again...

We entered the Padre Burgos town center or poblacion, rain still on and off :(

Driver and I laughed in disbelief at that big green signage at right. Especially that it was rather dark due to thick clouds, that thing was useless to a first timer 'me'. Good that my driver knows this place well. I said "hello DPWH", my driver said "faded glory naman ito"!

We were turning right at this corner, and I "instinctively" needed to take this shot!

At least I saw those two good old wooden houses, though not anymore as attractive as the myriad I saw in Malitbog. Well yes, there were a number of old wooden houses I saw before we reached this point. But the big and new ones seized my undivided attention!

Remember my rural bank topic while in Malitbog earlier?

Ayan sa kaliwa, is one of the 13 padlocked by our central bank last year. 11 months ago! Bakit nga ba, many rural banks go bankrupt every year? Your guess is as good as mine!

Anyway hehe, you see those big trees ahead? We turned left there to find this...

Cathedral of St. James the Apostle. This church faces the town plaza, and is just a few steps to the municipal hall. But I did not dare enter as a funeral service was in progress!

What surprised me though is that, this being the biggest and central church in Padre Burgos, is not the normal catholic church we see in many towns in this country. This is Iglesia Filipina Independiente or Philippine Independent Church a.k.a Aglipayan Church.

I do recall someone told me years ago, that Aglipayans are Catholics too, or somehow related, or something like that hehe. I think they are also "under" the Catholic Diocese. Are they? I would like to know. Ayan another research topic coming. Travel is education!

Oh, this is the municipal hall compound as seen from front of the above church...

That is the monument of Dr. Jose --> Burgos, not Rizal hehe. Oh ha?! Did you know that?

Many of us only remember him as the "BUR" in GOMBURZA but we don't remember their first names, right? Well, I learned later in life (*ashamed* hehe), his first name is Jose!

Kasi, 'P. Burgos' kayo ng 'P. Burgos', eh 'J. Burgos' pala dapat yan, hmp! The 'P', I realized means Padre as in Father as in Fr., jusko! In fact, that monument's epitaph above says "A LA MEMORIA DEL P BURGOS"! Well, parang 'J. Romualdez' lang! The 'J' means Justice as in 'Justice of the Peace' as in Juez (Huwes)! His first name was/is Norberto! Hagiii ini hehe!

Okay, I'm not complaining ha?! I'm learning hehehe, malipung hahaha!

And now, why did I say Dr. Jose Burgos? Ah, am not really sure if he was a MD - di ko natanong, di kami nag-pang-abot eh! But what I heard is: he had 3 Bachelors Degrees, 2 Masteral Degrees and 2 PhDs, (grabe ha)! Eh if you have a PhD you are called Dr., right? So Padre Burgos, aside from being priest, also rightfully deserve the title of Dr.., 2X pa!

Ito tsismis... Alam nyo ba, eto pala si Padre Burgos dabarkads ni Paciano yung elder bro at idol ni Pepe. So parang kuya nya na rin si Burgos. Kaya, nung binigti (gi-hikog ba) ng mga praile ang GomBurZa, affected syempre daw si Pepe - at yun daw naging simula na ni-write-up nya yung El Filibusterismo! Ganun! Yun ang sabi ng reliable sources ko ha?!

Anyway, back to that picture above.., So where is Jose Rizal's monument? Aba, malay ko, baka namasyal doon sa me dalampasigan - or baka pumunta sa elementary school! Basta, I already looked around, he's not in this plaza! At wala akong kinalaman dyan ha?!

Still on the picture above, hindi halatang sa Pilipinas ito 'no?! I counted, there are a total of 13 Philippine Flags! 12 behind the P Burgos monument, and 1 up at the municipal hall! Now that's "nationalism pa rin in the absence of a Rizal monument". Bumawi di ba?!

I went front of course, for a clearer view of the building's façade...

At this point, I was actually torn between walking a few meters back to capture a photo of the whole building or go forward for a clearer shot of the faded building's name.

With this next picture, it is obvious what won in my mind... a close-up shot!

Municipal Government, Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte. Hey I just noticed now that I am posting this picture... those vertical wall strips are actually still made of wood! Oh Wow!

I was enjoying this center of town, I was even about to roam more of their plaza/park, when the driver told me "sir, 11:49 na". Oops, I instantly knew he was reminding me we had lunch reservations 4kms away, at Kuting Reef Resort in the next town, Macrohon.

So, okay, to Kuting Reef Resort and Spa we went. That's my next next story! Abangan...

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