CATARMAN, CAMIGUIN ISLAND

OLD HOUSES, SUNSETS, AND MEMORIES

 

 

Staying overnight at this old town of Camiguin Island is an experience with the past as the town has remained idyllic without necessarily being backward. It is rural but has most of the basic facilities for day-to-day living - accommodations, bank, and basic transportation to and from the Capital and to Cagayan de Oro City in mainland Mindanao. 

 

The town provides an opportunity to re-live one's childhood, like an afternoon stroll at the beach, or to contest with kids for a few aratilis (Muntingia calabura) fruits picked from a roadside tree being felled. 

 

Catarman, as called by the Visayans which means a point or cape, finds parallelism with the town of Daraga in Albay which also was the new site of what was once Cagsaua, founded in 1587, which was destroyed by Mayon volcano's eruption in 1814. 

Formerly in what is now known as Bgy. Bonbon, where the old Spanish church ruins and Sunken Cemetery are, the town of Catarman, was transferred to its present site, at what was then Bgy. Guiob, when lava, hot rocks, and volcanic ashes due to the eruption of Mt. Vulcan on October 10, 1870, destroyed the town. 

 

Founded in 1662, it is the oldest town in Camiguin, under the patronage of San Roque.  
 
According to local folks, Magellan set foot to get water at the site where Catarman was established, which might be true as the place is abundant in springs, rivers, and waterfalls, including the spring with soda-flavored waters. (With notes from the Catarman LGU Website)

 

A quiet place... clean and peaceful, which is better left that way as a sanctuary for tired souls

SUGBO MERCADO @ CEBU IT PARK

Cebu na pud … 

Butirik ta ani sa pagka lami ng foods.

Piktyuri! Piktyuri!

Food galore that may be summarized as “SUTUKIL” for Sugba (grilled), Tua (as in Tinola), and KILAW (usually sea foods eaten raw). 

 

It will take at least 3 dinners to have a taste of everything Cebuano. Highly recommended is kinilaw na talaba with that smooth dreamy taste. Of course, don’t forget the famous Lechon Cebu or the original Lechon belly.

Larsian Food Park near Fuente Osmeña used to be the favorite of visitors and locals, but the latest night market at IT Park in Lahug is an improved version and nearer to hotels and other establishments. The Cebu IT Park was the former site of Lahug (Cebu) Airport and was said to be a vast private vineyard but expropriated to give way to the old airport.

        

Puso - rice cooked in leaf strips and kinilaw na tahong (mussels

      

ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER PARISH CHURCH

 

Barcelona, Sorsogon

The coral rocks church was built by the Franciscans in 1874 in a place then called Danlog on the Eastern Coast of Sorsogon. Later the place was named Barcelona in honor of the capital town of Cataluña, Spain, while some say the name was recommended by a Spanish official who saw some similarities with Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain).

The church has undergone a long process of restoration, starting in 1919 and recently completed after the pandemic.

Now, the coral rocks glisten after the night rain, like the similarly restored coral rock St. John the Baptist Church in Bato, Catanduanes.

PRE-RESTORATION PHOTOS

 

RESTORATION WORKS

THE OLD AND THE NEW

El Presidencia Ruins and Municipal Hall Building

Poblacion Sur, Barcelona, Sorsogon

--- Jaime E. Masagca

Across the newly restored St. Joseph the Worker Parish Church, one of the oldest Roman Catholic Churches in the Bicol Region, is the ruins of El Presidencia, once a fort and seat of Spanish local government in the town.  The ruins complex has been converted into a park.

 

Today, the old "Residencia" has been replaced some meters away by a "European styled domicile with an asymmetrical façade, rounded arches, and rich decorative details in both exterior and interior (DPWH, October 2020)".

 

To further portray the Spanish Christened town and history, a model galleon ornaments the front of the building.

CAMIGUIN - "THE ISLAND BORN OF FIRE"

Camiguin Island has seven (7) major volcanoes and more than 20 cinder cones; Mt. Hibok Hibok, Mt. Vulcan, Mt. Mambajao, Mt. Guinsiliban, Mt. Timpoong, Mt. Vulcan, Mt. Uhay and Mt. Tres Marias. It has the most number of volcanoes per square kilometers in the Philippines.

But the local Tourism Office says local officials have now identified 14 volcanoes and counting within the island.

 

Thus, with the constant volcanic upheaval, particularly Mt. Hibok-Hibok and the destructive "birth" of Mt. Vulcan which caused the sinking of a portion of Catarman, the island was indeed "born of fire".

 

Mt. Hibok-Hibok

"The name Camiguin is derived from the native word Kamagong, a species of ebony tree that thrives near Lake Mainit in the province of Surigao del Norte, the region from which the earlier inhabitants of the islands, the Manobos, came. Kinamigin, the local language of Camiguin, is closely related to the Manobo language.

 

'Earlier Spanish geography book spells the island as Camiguing. There is reason to suppose the Spaniards dropped the final "g". Today it is rendered as Camiguín (LGU Camiguin on Google)".

 

Mt. Tres Marias

The black and white photographs of the havoc caused by the 1953 eruption of Mt. Hibok-Hibok I've seen on exhibit in the late 1950s are forever itched in my mind. 

 

I thought it was just one awe-inspiring volcano in Camiguing, that is Mt. Hibok-Hibok. Only on my last visit did I know and understand

 

Stairways to Mt. Vulcan

In contrast, the Bicol Region has but seven volcanoes, two of which are active - Mt. Mayon (2,463 meters) in Albay, and Mount Bulusan (1,565 meters) in Sorsogon. Five (5) others are inactive. They're Mount Iriga or Mt. Asog (1,196) and Mt. Isarog (2,000 m) in Camarines Sur, Mt. Labo (1,544 m) in Camarines Norte, and Mount Malinao (1,548 m), and Mount Masaraga (1,328 m) in Albay.

Camiguin, The Island Born of Fire

 

SUNKEN CEMETERY

Perhaps the most famous and most visited landmark of Camiguin Island is the "sunken cemetery" located in the capital town of Catarman. Actually, it was not just the cemetery that sank, but a substantial portion of the old town of Catarman, which led to the transfer of the town to its present site then known as Bgy. Guiob. 

According to its Local Government Unit's web page, "Catarman, as called by the Visayans, means a point or cape. It is the oldest town in Camiguin and was founded in 1622 under the patronage of San Roque having Fray Francisco de la Concepcion, Recollect as its first priest. It had 357 tributes and a population of 1,625 with Sagay and Mambajao as stations or visitas. 

'Chronicles has it that the first parish that was established on this island was that of Guinsiliban (1596 or 1599), with station or visitas in Catarman and Sagay. 

'Vicente Elio wrote that, Magellan came to discover Camiguin where he set foot in April 1521. Local folks also claim that Magellan stopped over to get water at the site where Catarman was established. For more than two centuries, only the parishes of Guinsiliban and Catarman existed." 

Magellan may have come to the island from Butuan, without the argument of whether the navigator and company has celebrated the first mass in the Masao. 

On a clear day, the island of Camiguin, with its distinct Mt. Mambajao peak is visible from as far as Cabadbaran City in Agusan del Norte to the East. 

Camiguin Island

                                                               

In the 1870s, Mt. Vulcan, a volcano near Catarman erupted and caused the cemetery along with the capital city surrounding it to sink below sea level." Subsequent eruptions have caused it to sink further below the sea. 

At present, the old part of the town on Google Earth is discernible as a shallow portion along the province's western coastal road. From the observation deck on the shore, the seashore is several meters below, and the cemetery is still deep below the sea. Nothing is there to see beneath the waves, except for a barnacle-encrusted old concrete cross and a figure of a saint or angel as natives say. 

A memorial cross was built to remember those who were long lost in Mt. Vulcan's birth, then both the living and the dead. One may rent a banca to be at the marker, to contemplate, to satisfy curiosity, or have a selfie just to let everyone know that he'd been there. 

My first visit was on All Saints Day and on the following All Souls Day. With the cross against the blue waters and the setting sun, one is filled with sadness and attachment to those who perished, though they are unknown nor unrelated to us, we felt the oneness as we have also compatriots who likewise have died in the volcanic upheavals of Mt. Mayon. The feeling of despondency is brought about by the thought of them who now lay in deep slumber, with nothing but the cool blue waves to "warm and comfort them", sans the green sod, flowers, or tombstones. 

"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."

Depth of the cemetery and sinking, from the
main road level to the sea level, and even a few meters 
down to the sea bed.

CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD

BUKIDNON, BukidWOW! #1 

CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD, at the Monastery of the Transfiguration, Bgy. San Jose, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.

The Monastery was founded by Fr. Abbot Eduardo Africa, OSB and is run by the Benedictine Monks. Opened in 1885 by Spanish Benedictine monks for missionary work, but the mission was aborted when the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War broke out. 

It was re-established by the abbey, and the Monastery of the Transfiguration was inaugurated in 1986.

THE CHURCH'S INTERIORS

    The pyramid-like structure was designed by the late National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin and was one of his last.

OUR LADY OF MONSERRAT ICON

SOLID CORAL ROCK ALTAR