Philippine Travel Notes

After entering town , having visited the church and the municipal hall of Saint Bernard, it was time for me to move on with my joy ride ! It was getting late, and the day's final stop was still some 50kms away. But first, I made a fly-by at their downtown commercial area. Just for nostalgia's sake really. I was last here about nine years ago, and those were grim times. This here is the busiest street of Saint Bernard - actually originally four lanes, the opposite direction is supposed to be the other side of this tree-lined island on the left. This place now looks new to me. They have converted that other side of the road into some kind of a 'tiangge' or 'ukay-ukay' row of temporary stalls (I hope they really are temporary). Beyond that is their transport terminal, then there is a park, then another big commercial building. Their municipal building of yesteryears was located in this place. By the way, in these articles I wrote about Saint Bernard (this is...

I said "let's go up to the municipal hall" in the previous story , because this munisipyo is literally up an elevated portion (kind of a hill or promontory) above the rest of the town. This street from the church meets that circular driveway going up (one-way to the right). And that is their Jose Rizal Monument right at front. We'll go there for a closer look later. As the driveway goes up, this is what you see next, the town's police office... Ang layo ba from the center of town? No worries, they have detachment offices where the action is, like at the market. And some officers rove around town - supposedly hehe! And we reached the level top of this inclined driveway... This corner on the left (before the building, and almost covered by our car's dashboard), goes to main entrance. But this is just a narrow pathwalk (not for vehicles). So, we moved forward to find a parking space out there on that next corner (in front of that blue truck). And this is ...

The title of this story had to be that long (without a choice and for clarity), because, the town's name also starts with "saint"! Ano ba yan hehe! In fact, it could even be longer! St. Isidore the Worker (San Isidro Labrador) Parish Church of Saint Bernard ... Nice-looking with those big stained glass murals. Curiously though, you can look up now hehe, there is no real bell on the belfry! There are instead 4 loudspeakers facing in 4 directions. And it looks like there hasn't been any bell up there ever since! Was there? Ah, malihis lang ng konti, did you know those loudspeakers are lately getting to be an issue in many places on earth? Noise pollution daw. And did you know that the first religion to have used them was Islam? Yes, in their 'calls-to-prayer', naki-gaya lang ang Catholics! And did you know too the first such use was 1936 in Singapore? Go find out! I entered, and this is what I saw... a not so big but airy house of prayer... Even from the out...

Saint Bernard (sometimes also written as St. Bernard) is not far from Cabalian, just about 4 kilometers or so. A few breaths away really. And literally deep breaths as I entered the first barangay - memories of February 2006, the killer landslides. This was that town... After Minoyho Bridge (San Juan - Saint Bernard boundary) is that welcome arch on the right side of the road. This is not where the deadly landslides occurred. It is way far from here actually. In this village (I mean a few meters walk going in there) is where the few that remains of them, the residents of the original Barangay Guinsaugon, were relocated. This arch is just across the national highway from the beach facing Cabalian Bay - the southeastern-most area of Saint Bernard. The landslides happened way very far north in the boondocks of Mt. Cantabang, below which is/was the original Barangay Guinsaugon. Now the cute thing.., this relocation site is/was actually part of Brgy. Magbagacay. But, since it's a w...