Siquijor hasn’t been featured yet here in Vista Pinas, so let’s rectify the situation by visiting the Capilay Spring Park, one of the famous tourist attractions on this mystical island province. This spring park is located in downtown San Juan, on the southwest coast of the island.

Photo from the official Siquijor provincial government website.

Capilay Spring Park is essentially a cold spring that has been converted into a sort-of public pool with a pleasing park surrounding the whole area. The pool is divided into three areas and the water eventually flows out (I think underground) into the sea, which is located nearby. According to some websites, the upper of the three areas is where the spring is located. The second area is the “swimming pool” and the last area is the “laundry” pool.

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

Kutang San Diego (Fort San Diego) is a really small fort built by the Franciscans in in the town proper of Gumaca, Quezon in the latter part of the 18th century. This fort, equipped with at least one canon (shown below), is meant to repel sea pirates from Lamon Bay that often plundered coastal towns in the Philippines during that era. But given the size of the fort, I’m pretty sure that marauders can easily overpower this fort with sheer number.

Photo by Shubert Ciencia (CC)

The fort, built out of adobe and with a tiled roof, was named after St. Didacus of Alcalá (Spanish: San Diego de Alcala), a Franciscan and the town’s patron saint. In fact, Gumaca’s resident church is the Cathedral of San Diego de Alcala. To the west of the fort lies the Gumaca Baywalk.

Anyway, you should check out this WaypointsDotPH narrative by Gerry B. Lontok. It shows you exactly how to get there since there are too many places in Gumaca named San Diego and the Fort has been called a park, a fortress, and a watchtower. The narrative also contains several more pictures of this monument recognized by the National Historical Institute.

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

Our next stop is the really old Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception more popularly known as the Baclayon Church, located in the Bohol town of the same name. There’s a claim that this church is possibly the second-oldest church in the Philippines having been established in 1595, but the present structure was constructed in 1727. Nevertheless, the Baclayon Church is indeed the oldest church in Bohol.

Photo by Pinay06 (CC)

Jesuits were the first order to establish Christianity on this part of Bohol and the inner structure was constructed under their helm. Later on, the Recollects took over the church’s administration and you can therefore see influences of both missionary orders scattered throughout the building. In addition, the Baclayon houses a museum containing lots of church material. Unfortunately, access to the museum is not for the public and requires the permission of the parish.

If you’ll notice, it’s quite interesting that the Baclayon Church is right at the edge of the available high-resolution satellite imagery Google Maps has for Bohol (you can actually see the default Landsat imagery along the left side of the thumbnail). There’s no more hi-res photos along the coast to the west towards Tagbilaran City.

Anyway, if you want to read up quite a lot more about this church, the Baclayon entry on the Wikipedia article Churches in Bohol is a good place to start.

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

Located in the southeastern part of the Visayan Sea, between Bohol and Leyte, is the really fascinating island of Dawahon. This island is actually a barangay of Bato, Leyte and it is the only barangay of the town outside the Leyte mainland. Along with the nearby island of Hingotanan in Bohol, Dawahon is home to a thriving seaweed industry and these two islands together produce about a third of total output of seaweed in the Philippines. Seaweed cultivation is actually quite lucrative that fishing is a far second industry in terms of livelihood for the residents of Dawahon.

Dawahon is home to 2,672 people (2007 census) and estimating from Google Maps, the island seems to have an area of around 5 hectares giving a rough population density of 53,000 people per square kilometer. That’s comparable to the City of Manila! The community on Dawahon is quite large enough that there are actually two sitios: Fatima in the western part and Santo Niño in the east.

If you want to see beautiful pictures of Dawahon and learn more about the island, then the blog of a guy named Farl is the definitive place to go. Check out his Dawahon chronicles: there is a part one and a part two.

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

Photo by my friend Nina Fuentes

Jose “Pitok” V. Blanco, his wife Loreta, and all seven children are all accomplished painters versed in the “Folk Realism” style. What’s quite intriguing is that most of them have had no professional art training, especially the children. This celebrated art family is commemorated in the Blanco Family Museum located in Angono, Rizal, billed as the art capital of the Philippines. The museum houses a collection of paintings by the family members together with other memorabilia and is open 9-11 a.m and 1-5 p.m. everyday.

Just across the street from the museum is the Blanco Family Academy (official website). It is that big blue-roofed building shown in the satellite image thumbnail. The Academy is a private educational institution offering pre-school, elementary, and secondary education. While a normal school in most respects, the Blanco Family Academy places heavy emphasis in the fine and performing arts. (But of course!)

If you want to learn more and see more pictures (especially the paintings), see these other blog posts and web pages:

• Waypoint narrative from WaypointsDotPH
• Travel blog post with some socio-political side commentary by Connie Veneracion
• Short prose by Ivan Henares
• Flickr photos by Nina Fuentes

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

I like interestingly-shaped landforms (for example, Apo Lakay-lakay) and I stumbled into one: a nice thin peninsula jutting out into Davao Gulf from Davao City. This peninsula is called Punta Dumalag and it’s an interesting place as well and not just a nondescript landform.

Punta Dumalag is located in Barangay Matina Aplaya of this progressive city. I guess the most important site on this peninsula is the Pawikan Sanctuary. In 2003, a local resident reported to authorities about the nesting habits of pawikan (Hawksbill turtles), which are endangered, in the area. Since the Aboitiz family owned the land there (which they bought back in the 1960s originally to put up a coal-fired power plant but which was eventually shelved due to environmental concerns), they decided to set up a turtle sanctuary instead and the Davao City goverment pushed to have the surroundings declared as a marine protected area.

Photo by myada97 (CC)

Aside from the turtle sanctuary, Punta Dumalag is also famous for being the setting of the award-winning and controversial indie film Imburnal. Imburnal, by Sherad Anthony Sanchez, depicts the lives of two street urchins spending their childhood in the dirty sewers of Punta Dumalag. The MTRCB thrice gave the film an X rating, which means it cannot be publicly screened. This didn’t stop the movie from getting the Woosuk Award (the top award) and the NETPAC Award from the Korean Jeonju International Film Festival earlier this year.

Well, there is one other attraction of Punta Dumalag and that is the Seagull Beach Resort on the western side of the peninsula. This resort boasts of white sand beaches, and very likely, turtle viewing tours as well (mating season permitting).

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

Ever since I’ve started this blog, I’ve been waiting for Google to obtain high-resolution satellite imagery of Boracay for Google Maps. And that’s because I would then have plenty of new sights to feature here in Vista Pinas, Boracay being the tourist hotspot it is. I’ve actually featured White Beach way, way before since it’s quite visible in the default low-resolution Landsat satellite imagery in Google Maps. Unfortunately, you can’t see much more detail in there.

So if you’re looking for a good online map of Boracay, you can’t rely on Google Maps right now. However, you can with OpenStreetMap! Check it out below, or you can explore it on the main OpenStreetMap website. I believe that OpenStreetMap has the most-detailed, freely-available online map of Boracay anywhere.

I’ve mentioned OpenStreetMap (OSM) a couple of times before (like when I featured People’s Park in the Sky), and it is basically a worldwide crowdsourced mapping project. If you know Google Map Maker, it’s somewhat similar except that the OSM data is free for you to use under share-alike terms. You can build on it, combine it into countless mashups, create Garmin GPS maps with it, and do whatever you want (even sell the data), as long as you attribute the data to OpenStreetMap and tell people that the data is share-alike.

OSM mapping in Boracay has a pretty interesting history. The island’s major roads and many of its POIs (points of interests, like hotels and resorts) have been mapped by Mike Collinson, a British national, back in 2007 when he was in the country. Some other details on the island have been added by Bill Mitchell, an American who retired to Boracay.

Then earlier this year, the guys at Enthropia, who run Boracay.com.ph (which aims to be the premier directory site for Boracay hotels and resorts, bars, and restaurants), decided to sponsor a mapping trip to the island in order to improve their website. The lucky guy was Jim Morgan, a British expat and OpenStreetMapper, whom I’ve met back in March. He flew to the island and basically filled in the details and verified the work started by Mike. He also added some visual aids by approximating the area of each hotel and resort so that the map will not look empty.

To be clear, the Boracay map on OpenStreetMap definitely needs more mapping. There are plenty of walkways, paths, and more detail that could be added and the approximated shapes could use a lot more refinement. In addition, new resorts and hotels need to be added as well. But because this is OpenStreetMap, anyone can do it!

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

Today, November 30, is the 146th birthday of Andres Bonifacio who founded the Katipunan and is considered as one of the Philippines’ greatest heroes. Act No. 2946, which was enacted by the Philippine Legislature in 1921, declared November 30 as Bonifacio Day and a legal holiday. What’s interesting is that the other Filipinos that have holidays, José Rizal on December 30, and Ninoy Aquino on August 21, are commemorated on their day of deaths, while Bonifacio is commemorated on his day of birth. Anybody who knows Philippine history should know why.

Photo by Ramir Borja (CC)

So, let’s now commemorate Bonifacio Day by visiting the famous Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City, popularly known as Monumento. This monument lies at the intersection of EDSA, MacArthur Hghway, Rizal Avenue, and Samson Road. It is a prominent symbol of Caloocan City and is often a site for demonstrations and public rallies. However, the monument is dwarfed all around by various shopping malls. In addition, the LRT-1 line and construction of the MRT extension will enclose this public plaza, further diminishing its perceived importance.

The structure itself is composed of a 45-meter-high pylon topped with a winged statue. An elaborate sculpture of Bonifacio and other Katipuneros are found at the pedestal near the base. Moreover, the three martyred priests, Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora, are depicted on the other side of the monument from Bonifacio. The whole monument is the work of Guillermo Tolentino, one of the country’s National Artists for Visual Arts under the sculpture category (awarded in 1973). His design was chosen in a 1930 contest that called for a fitting tribute to Bonifacio, and the monument was unveiled in 1933.

Read this article by the Filipinas Heritage Library to learn more about the Bonifacio Monument.

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son, Zaldy Ampatuan, current governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, are plastered prominently in the news because they were tagged as the mastermind behind the horrific massacre in Maguindanao. The Vice-mayor of Buluan, Datu Ismail “Toto” Mangudadatu, planned to file his candidacy for the provincial governorship position. The Mangudadatu clan is a political rival of the Ampatuans. On November 23, his wife was en route to the capital to file on his behalf when their entourage, which included several relatives and quite a number of journalists, were ambushed and then killed by around 100 armed men.

This gruesome massacre brought to the national spotlight the problem of warlordism in certain parts of Muslim Mindanao. The Ampatuans have Maguindanao and surrounding areas in their hand and several members of the family hold key positions in the local government.

Thanks to BernieMack, I was made aware that Datu Andal Sr.’s mansion is visible in Google Maps and here I now present it. This sprawling mansion is found in Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao. What’s pretty unique about this residence is that it has a mosque inside the grounds—it’s that white square-ish building that you can see on the satellite image thumbnail. According to Wikimapia, Zaldy’s mansion is found just to the east almost across the other side of the road. The opulence of these two men’s mansions only serve to highlight the fact that Maguindanao is one of the country’s poorest provinces.

If you want to learn more, and to see ground-level pictures of the mansion, check out BernieMack’s blog post of when he traveled through Maguindanao, and this special report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

Download KML file (for Google Earth)

One of the most popular tourist attractions in the Mindanao island of Camiguin is Medano Islet, popularly known as White Island. This island is actually just a sandbar with fine white sand (hence the name) and its shape changes with the constantly-shifting currents. In fact, what you can see in the high-res satellite imagery (and in the thumbnail) are two curves forming a sort of McDo-style ‘M’. Zoom out in Google Maps until you see the default low-resolution Landsat satellite imagery and you can now see a large inverted ‘C’.

White Island is located off the coast of Mambajao, Camiguin. Most online sources say that it is located 2 kilometers away from either Barangay Agoho or Barangay Yumbing, but Google Maps places it at a closer 1.5 kilometers. (Maybe the island has shifted closer to land?) Anyway, the island can be reached via a short boat ride from Yumbing. The suggested itinerary is to go to the island in the morning and during low tide so that more of the sand is exposed. The island does not completely submerge at high tide but it’s more dangerous then.

Photo by Bing Ramos. (CC)

The island is uninhabited and is devoid of vegetation. Travel guides advise that those with sensitive skin avoid going to the island since there is no shade, but I think the boat people can put up temporary shelters as shown by this photo. Well, if you zoom in in Google Maps enough, you can see what appears to be tent structures all over the southern part of the island.

From Camiguin, White Island looks like a white sheet of paper floating on the blue sea. The island is also very picturesque, having the majestic Mount Hibok-Hibok as its backdrop. Interestingly, it appears that White Island is the only place in Camiguin having (off) white sand beaches since the beaches on Camiguin itself have gray volcanic sand.

Download KML file (for Google Earth)