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