Iligan City is known as the City of Majestic Waterfalls. It’s not a claim based on air. This city south of the Philippines boasts a total of 23 waterfalls in its vicinity, making it one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Mindanao, both for backpackers and tourists alike.

Located in the province of Lanao del Norte, it is the industrial center of the south. Its name is derived from the Higaonon word Ilijan. The name of the city originally means fortress of defense, being the site of frequent pirate and Muslim attacks during bygone eras. The area was initially settled by sea dwellers before being invaded by Visayan migrants from the island of Panglao in the 16th century, making Iligan one of the earliest Christian settlements in Mindanao.

Iligan’s Waterfalling Adventure Tour 1.0 ended the day before but the group still hasn’t gotten enough of those cascading watery things. For the past three days, we checked a total of six out of the twenty three accessible waterfalls in Iligan City—the Maria Cristina Falls, Tinago Falls, Mimbalot Falls, Dodiongan Falls, Pampam Falls, and Kalubihon Falls.

With most of the group still in Iligan, we decided to visit one more waterfall before calling it a day. The waterfall nominated for our visit, the eponymously named Dalipuga Falls.

Dalipuga Falls is part of the three waterfalls that benefit from a stream running across barangay of the same name. It is the lowermost waterfall of the series, with Pampam Falls in the middle and Kalubihon Falls rising above the three. I won’t be surprised if there are more waterfalls running along this watercourse that’s still undiscovered.

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Lining the coastal highway of Barangay Buruun in Iligan City are several cold spring resorts. Dubbed as the Timoga Springs, it’s a popular weekend getaway for Iliganons looking for an affordable way to cool down, especially during the hot summer season.

To be exact, there are five cold spring resorts along the Timoga highway; the Maravillas Swimming Pools, Mimay Spring Way Resort, Dela Mar Resort, Timoga Spring Pool, and El Laurentio Swimming Pools. Each one having clean spring waters gushing in varying sizes of natural and artificial pools.

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Everyone of course knows who GMA is. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo—former Senator of the Philippines, former Vice President, twice President of the country, and now Pampanga Congresswoman. Her political stint had left a bitter aftertaste to the Filipino people which led to her confinement to the wheelchair, neck braces and all.

But before all those political controversies, Gloria also used to be a kid—probably not as ordinary as you and me, but perhaps like the rich kid around the block. And during Iligan City’s Waterfalling Adventure Tour 1.0, I got to see a little bit of that side from the place she once played around in, the Macapagal-Macaraeg Ancestral House.

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I swam through the darkness. The water was freezing and we can hardly see anything but the faint greenish light gleaming at the far end of the cave. Gingerly, a few of us crept on the side walls of the cave where the water only reaches up to chest-deep in height. Eventually, I arrived at the far end. My eyes adjusted to the midday brightness of the sun and saw Iligan City’s secret waterfall, Kalubihon Falls.

Coming from the relaxing dip at Pampam Falls, a part of the three waterfalls that make up a stream in Barangay Dalipuga, we continued our hike uphill. It was not an easy trek, especially for someone as unfit as yours truly. The climb to Kalubihon Falls only took fifteen minutes but it was a punishing quarter of an hour—especially its final leg.

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A kid ran, hurling himself into air. Arms and legs outstretched, he floated and seemed to stop twenty feet in midair before torpedoing down, headfirst into the clear blue-green waters of Iligan City’s Pampam Falls. Diving perfectly, he glides beneath the crystalline waters of the falls and hurriedly went back up to the jumping edge once more—ready for another jump.

Pampam Falls at Sitio Kalubihon in Iligan City’s Barangay Dalipuga is not as readily accessible as say, the Mimbalot Falls we visited a few days ago. The hike took as long as that of the trail to Dodiongan Falls, which is about 20 to 30 minutes long, but harder.

The dirt path to Pampam slopes down and moves up in relatively steep angles. It would’ve been easier if I’m not hauling a ton of camera gear with me, but that’s a price one pays for photography’s sake.

It was the third day of Iligan City’s Waterfalling Adventure Tour 1.0 and even though we only visited a single waterfall today, the angel-winged Dodiongan Falls, we are definitely feeling the effects of visiting the waterfalls throughout the city.

To be fair, we literally spent the previous afternoon simply shooting the breeze along the tree-lined shore of the Iligan Centennial Park to witness the sunset. A relatively relaxed day on the tour—still, our stomach called to us come evening.
We roamed the streets of Iligan and found ourselves seated on a dimly lit restaurant on one of Iligan’s corner streets. Our dinner’s gonna be at the El Canto Grill & Seafood House.

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The sea breeze gently ruffled the leafy talisay trees lining the shoreline of Iligan City’s Centennial Park in Barangay Dalipuga. Our group has just finished the hike from the nearby Dodiongan Falls and we were looking for a place to relax and while the afternoon away.

The Dalipuga Centennial Park is a favorite among the Iliganons for picnics and quiet afternoon respite. Facing the western sea, it provides a breezy place where locals just generally hang out and spend time doing nothing. Small sari-sari stores line the road parallel to the park, but if you’re not in the mood to walk, vendors selling Filipino snacks like balut and chicharon also frequent the area.

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