Philippine Travel Notes

This was the next stop on the second day of my two-day joyride , Bontoc! Oh, I am still in Southern Leyte, by the way! Not at its more popular namesake way up in the Cordilleras! Bontoc's town center is only about 3kms from Sogod poblacion, via a nice paved road with wonderful Sogod Bay views and the peninsula across where the town of Libagon is. Did I say Libagon? Oh yes, did you know? Bontoc was once part of Libagon  - which is some 7kms or so (by sea) if you go straight across the deep waters of Sogod Bay! But if you travel by land from poblacion to poblacion, it takes some 22kms passing by Sogod, and there's no other way! Ah, the ways of our forebears are sometimes perplexing to our recent version of 'logic' hehehe. Maybe they had a political whatever reason, who knows! Anyway, maybe they realized the distance issue, Bontoc soon became rightfully a barrio of Sogod, until it was declared a separate town in 1950 - so says my friend from Bontoc! And by the way

This topic started with this article Bontoc. There are two! Just to the west of Bato, Leyte, is a little town called Bontoc! Yes, this is the little known (if not the unknown of the two Bontoc’s) and it is in the province of Southern Leyte. Probably because it sits back-to-back with Bato (in the west), this town also has a waterfall that might be worth a visit. But everywhere else is mostly plains for rice, corn and abaca plantations. Well, the more famous Bontoc, as many would know, is the capital town of Mountain Province high up in the heart of the Cordillera Ranges! Don’t miss their village museum managed by nuns. But of course, there’s no saying it any better, the rice terraces of Maligcong are just fantastic!