I really didn’t plan to go off and cross the three main islands of the Philippines. It just so happened that I got an invite for a Mindanao festival and my other travel plans for the month of June 2012 just seamlessly volted in together. In the end, I ventured from one of the northernmost province of Luzon, visited the heart of Visayas and landed on the upper lands of Mindanao. Everything-everything in sixteen awesome days without boarding a single airplane.
 

It seemed we never have enough time. We roared through the road as the sun was setting. Palm trees bent as we sped, bleeding the golden afternoon light between its green leaves. We were leaving Dapitan City too soon, we were saying goodbye to Mindanao.

A ferry was silently waiting at the port of Dapitan City. The sun had set and left magenta embers across the sky. It started to fade as our vessel departed from the shores of the city. The lumbering ship sorrowfully howled across the open sea and darkness soon welcomed us.

The ride to Cebu City would take a total of ten hours and we should’ve been more prepared. With no dinner food for the night, we were forced to eat unawesome food at the canteen at a very unawesome price. Our stomachs filled with bland chow, we bunked down for the night and imagined Cebu in our dreams.

The faithful of Dapitan City stood up and bowed as their priest showered them with blessings in the vernacular tongue. It was a Sunday and the cavernous hall of St. James Church is filled with locals attending mass. The choir started their last praise, an altar boy rang his bell and the people solemnly chorused along. It was a quiet afternoon in Dapitan City. Kids were out chasing each other at the larger than life map that Rizal had made across the church but the streets were devoid of people. It seemed everyone has gathered inside the towering Dapitan Church.

Half a kilometer away from the Rizal Landing Site in Sta. Cruz beach is another set of landmarks worthy of a visit when in Dapitan City. Towering over the town of Dapitan is the Baroque-styled St. James Church and along its perimeter, the relief map of Mindanao made by none other than Jose Rizal.

The map is made of grassy mounds in rough scale of the Mindanao Islands. It was based from a scientific one made in 1734 by a University of Manila professor, French Jesuit Fr. Murilio Velarde, for the then Governor Valdes Tamón.

On the night of the 17th of July 1892, our National Hero, Jose Rizal landed on the beach of Sta. Cruz in Dapitan. Escorted by artillery men and Captain Delgras, they trod the dark roads of the town, lamps in hand, and presented him to the district’s Military Governor to live life in exile.

With the publication of his first book Noli Me Tangere, the Spanish government branded Rizal as an enemy of the state. Further implications in a July 1892 rebellion sealed his fate to exile.

The streets of Mindanao were empty, everyone was tuned to the tube as Pacquiao and Bradley smashed each other senseless. We planned to head to Dapitan City the day after the Hudyaka ZaNorte Festival but delays were inevitable as we found ourselves drawn to the TV like the rest of the country.

As the fight ended, life moved forward again. We boarded a non-aircon bus and looked for lunch. L of PinayTravelista who went ahead hours before us recommended that we try Erlinda’s Food House when we asked her where we can eat in Dapitan. She said that her tricycle driver cum guide suggested it and added that one should never argue with a tricycle driver’s nose for good food.

Squeezing in one more church into our Iloilo side trip proved fatal.

The blue hour greeted us as we alighted at the sleepy town of Guimbal in Iloilo to shoot another of the province’s iconic stone edifice, the 400-year old San Nicholas of Tolentino Church. The church however was closed, due probably to the relative lateness of the hour. It was almost seven in the evening and the streets were almost deserted and the shops almost ready to close. I guess the practice of going to bed early in small towns still hold true at Guimbal.

We contented ourselves in shooting the church façade. Guimbal Church’s yellow-tinted stone walls perfectly contrasted with the electric hues of the early evening. And as I was contemplating on shooting the cemetery right beside the church, the rain fell.

We were debating where to head next now that ZaNorte’s Hudyaka Festival is already over. The choices ranged all the way from Davao, to Iligan and Cebu. The final consensus was to head out to Cebu, but before that, we’re gonna max our stay at Zamboanga del Norte and check out Rizal’s trail in Dapitan City first.