Pambujan Town Proper

Pronounce that as pam-bu-han. The letter J is hispanized and pronounced like H.

From the previous town of San Roque to Pambujan is somewhere between 7 to 8 kilometers says the car's odometer. No wonder it took us only about 6 minutes, and on good roads with wonderful views!

Tree-lined roads are always wonderful to look at, right? Especially that the trees here are already grown. That means these were planted years ago. Kudos to the people of San Roque and Pambujan.

Alright.., my excitement grew as we approached this.., the Pambujan Bridge...

If in the previous story I said everything seems to be either new or being repaired in San Roque, it continues all the way here. Just look at this bridge (the old/historical Pambujan Bridge), it's newly spruced up or still being "dressed". Even the electric post is also new!

From the bridge is a nice view of the Pambujan River, made colorful by those boats...

They are called "pambot" (from the English name: "pump boat")! And this is that river I mentioned earlier, where people originally traveled from, going to Silvino Lobos. Some still do today - especially those with heavy cargoes.

At the end of the bridge... chadaaaan... their welcome arch!

Well, I shouldn't have been too excited having reached this bridge, reading that welcome signage. Why so? Because I learned later, this is still 5 to 6 kilometers to center of town. Malayo pa pala, haha!

This is some distance after the bridge and the multitude of commercial houses there...

To the extent that I asked the driver if he may have missed and we were already past the town center!

Especially when we reached this area..!

I mean I love seeing these kinds of sceneries, but where was Pambujan?! (hindi excited 'no?!)

Driver said "relaaax", and soon we reached this Y-junction with some kind of a waiting shed...

They call this place "Uswag Pambujan landmark". Uswag means "forward", but in this context it says something like "grow further" or "hammer on". The structure serves as a waiting shed or "bus stop".

Oh, I got a close-up shot of the landmark, even as we sped through...

Well, it's also a welcome landmark, since the word welcome is written on one of those slanting pillars.

I did see some old wooden houses. Unfortunately, as I was about to take a pic of the first I saw, my contact in this town called me up, so I could not use the phone's camera (the only thing I had). Argh! He was all too worried we might get lost on our way. Sus! I was short of telling him to "just shut up"!

I only got this one... I mean that one in the middle of the photo, not this one on the right

It's an old wooden house in the midst of metamorphosing into a concrete house! Ground floor is already concrete, and you see that white terrace with a pinkish roof? That is part of the same house.

Anyway, we finally reached this centuries-old church... circa the 1750s... OMG, right?!

The St. John the Baptist Parish Church of Pambujan Northern Samar. Like many old churches, this one (of course) already received a lot of patches here and there to its original exterior. It is very obvious from the color of the stones alone. All the more that we can appreciate the people of Pambujan, being able to do such painstaking restoration/preservation job.

I went around looking for a (NHI/NHC) national historical marker. I did not see one. Hmm.

This is how it looks inside as viewed from the main entrance...

A big contrast to its exterior look, right? Everything in here looks modern and I think its a wow factor!

And this is a closer look of the altar. It is clean, simple and bright with natural light...

The altar table is not far from the pews - because why does it have to be far anyway, right? But those steps are cluttered with so many electrical wires. Delikado, let's hope no one has yet tripped on them!

Oh, there is even this cute heart-shaped "something" on the ceiling!

Whatever that is for? Arte lang, I'm sure. But it looks interesting. It even enhances the look of the altar!

For those who don't know yet, or those who don't remember what that thing is/was supposed-to-be, this (usually) artfully constructed part of a building started with "transept ceilings" on cross-shaped (cruciform) structures especially churches. In most cases, that ceiling corner would be designed with stained-glass windows to provide more illumination to the interiors especially of churches like this.

Now you may say this church is not a "cruciform building", why make that ceiling art up there? Oh eh, the easy answer to that would be "bakit, bawal ba?" or "bakit, masama ba?". Walang basagan ng trip!

You can look at the interior picture above again. That thing enhances the total look of the altar!

And this is the "priest's view" of the pews, the main entrance and the choir loft...

Interesting how this 16th century church with thick walls (olden standard) could be such aglow inside!

Hey look at the doors! I know these (may) not be 1500s, but they're old and carved hardwood!

Old and mementos of the past just the same, right? All we could do is wonder until when will they last.

One side of this church is right beside a street (no fence, no nothing), the other side is this...

A big wide grassy garden that is adjacent to a wider garden/park called St. John the Baptist Plaza.

But this thing caught my attention - an old cracked church bell displayed as a historical memento...

Not as old as the church, that I was hoping it to be hehe! But it's 58 years old. That is vintage enough!

From front of the church, this was what I saw across the street. Whoa, another big wide plaza...

This is different from St. John the Baptist plaza. I strolled here, curious to see those three big edifices.

This is called the Pambujan Municipal Auditorium...

It looked just like a stage to me, ultra big though! I'm not sure if there's something below this structure like a basement, or if there is still anything to the back of that stage. Or, maybe I'm just used to seeing that "auditoriums" are enclosed spaces. They can be an open space like this (plaza), right? Big space!

Quarter turn to the left, and I saw this big imposing building, and it looked new...

I was curious to know what this might be, as I thought that the pink building was their municipal hall!

Closer, I finally read those writings above... "Pambujan Executive Building"... So this is munisipyo!

"Executive Building"... sosyalin ah! Not just your very usual "Pamahalaang Bayan" or "Municipal Hall" pero talagang "executive", oh ha?! Bakit ba, di ba?! Nothing is wrong there. Walang basagan ng trip!

This "executive building" btw is really big it occupies a whole town block! The floor-to-ceiling height is also vintage - therefore taller than most new buildings of our time that you see around! Impressive!

Now now... there are two things I noticed in front of that building (foreground of photo), the welcome marker and a monument. I wonder why they face the municipal, aw "executive" building. Not sure whose monument that is, Ninoy? Well, he is probably telling the building occupants "umayos kayo"!

Another quarter turn to the left, and this is the pink building I thought was the municipal hall!

Actually, I was 'partially' correct, because on closer look, I saw that this building has got all the traces that it was a municipal hall. It has the flagpole, Rizal's monument and by the stairs is written "Buhatan San Amay San Bungto" - literally meaning "Office of the Father of the Town" - or "Office of the Mayor"!

The left pink panel says "LIGA Building", so that would be the offices of the "Liga ng mga Barangay", while the right pink panel says "OSCA Building" which is the "Office of the Senior Citizens' Affairs".

LGU staff are amply provided with office space. I hope it means ample service to the people too!

Anyway, I kept looking left and right for some trace or any semblance of a baseball memento, but I did not see any. For those not in the know, this town is (or was?) "supposed to be" the country's pride on Little League Baseball. Well, maybe even that is also "history"! I remember as a kid I would hear news that the Nalucaban Kids were winning baseball tournaments in Taipei, Guam, Los Angeles, San Diego, etc., These days, I'm not even sure if they still win baseball at the Palarong Pambansa or even EVRAA.

Anyway, okay, we continued towards Laoang, exiting Pambujan where we came in..

The "Uswag Pambujan Landmark". We turned left here (to Laoang) as turning right is to San Roque.

Just about a kilometer forward, I was surprised to see that marker again. Naunsa na ni oi?!

I asked a trike driver and learned that this one is the "east", while the one above is the "west" marker!

They have two markers pala! This one on the eastern edge, is another entry/exit to town center. He said we could have exited this way, if we passed via the elementary school. And he incidentally referred to the wide field in that school as "practisan san baseball". Another question answered!

We were rolling towards Laoang, but 300 meters from that eastern marker above, I saw this...

The "Kilometer Zero" of Pambujan, out on a desolate road, about 2kms away from its munisipyo a.k.a Executive Building! Somebody (at DPWH Northern Samar) did not do their homework. Whatta shame!

Thy ought to read and understand this and this!

Can you imagine?! Henceforth, all kilometer markers are therefore misplaced and therefore telling the wrong info from Pambujan all the way east and south like Laoang, Palapag, Mapanas, Catubig, etc. Well, if in this place DPWH doesn't know what it's doing, who knows, it can be in the whole province.

Anyway, Oh My Gino-o ko, let's go to Laoang. In my next story!