After a light
breakfast in Talipasak we were off to Villa del Mar to pick up our things. We
hired a boat for our crossing to San Agustin in Tablas island.
The boat that we took was just on stand by near the bishop’s residence. It
took 45 minutes to cross to San Agustin.
We visited the church and met Msgr. Fetalino, the parish priest and Vicar
General, whom I realized, I already met before in pastoral assemblies of the
Visayas. The car of Fr. Nars was already there in the convento. Fr. Nars would
be our driver also in this part of the trip.
From San Agustin, the first stop we had was Bachawan, a Chaplaincy where Fr. Nars was assigned before for six years. The chapel was situated in the compound of the Madrona family who is the benefactor of the chapel. Met the outgoing congressman and his brother the
Mayor of San Agustin who is now running for congress.
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| Approaching San Agustin port in Tablas island. |
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| The boat that we rented in order to cross to Tablas island. |
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| One of the houses that attracted our attention in San Agustin. |
ST. AUGUSTINE PARISH CHURCH
San Agustin, Romblon
Founded: 1871
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| The St. Augustine Parish Church of San Agustin, Romblon in Tablas island. |
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| Church interior. Being a Good Friday, the crucifix was still covered. |
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| Church altar of San Agustin. All the churches that I visited in Romblon had altar tables and candle stands made of marble. |
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| The side wing of the church. |
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| The opposite wing of the church. |
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| This parochial school, Holy Rosary Academy was just beside the church. |
NUESTRA SRA. DE SALVACION CHAPLAINCY
Bachawan, San Agustin, Romblon
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| The Chaplaincy of Bachawan, San Agustin, Romblon dedicated to the Nuestra Sra. de Salvacion. |
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| Church interior of the Bachawan chaplaincy. |
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| The tabernacle adorned with marble and wood stone. |
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| The Baptistery. |
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| Just at the back of the Church is the mouth of the river joining the sea. |
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| The residence of the Madrona's. |
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| The Residence of the Madronas just near the Chapel. |
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| A guest house of the Madronas beside the chapel with a heliport at the back. |
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| The side of the chapel and the convent at the back. |
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| A grotto of the Blessed Virgin at the Madrona Beach. |
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| Madrona Beach near Bachawan, San Agustin. |
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| The beach has pebble stones. |
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| Clear waters with pebbles for the beach. |
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PARISH CHURCH
Sta. Maria, Romblon
Founded: 1982
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| Immaculate Conception Parish Church of Sta. Maria, Romblon. |
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| Altar table and candle stands made of marble. |
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| Church altar with statues of saints still covered for the Holy Week. |
Next stop was the
church of Santa Maria. Then we went to Alcantara where we would be staying for
the night. We had lunch there and later joined the services in commemoration of
the Passion and Death of Our Lord. We did not join anymore the procession as
Fr. Nars, with Joemar an active parishioner brought us to see Aglicay Beach. We
were able to meet the owners, Dr. & Mrs. Martinez who were good friends of
the brother of my former bishop, Msgr. Dean.
ST. THOMAS OF VILLANUEVA PARISH CHURCH
Alcantara, Romblon
Founded: 1973
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| St. Thomas of Villanueva Parish Church, Alcantara, Romblon. |
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| Church altar. |
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| Altar table and candle stands also made of marble. |
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| The parish priest leading the Veneration of the Cross during the Good Friday celebration. |
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| The parish convent of Alcantara. |
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| This old house just in front of the convent belongs to Joemar, an active parishioner of the parish. |
Aglicay is situated
on a cove naturally bounded by the hill surrounding the area about seven
kilometers south of the town of Alcantara. It has several amenities including a
tennis court, beach volley ball area, banquet hall, restaurant by the beach
and accommodations for single and dormitory types and places for campers. They had a wide beach area
of white sand. At the southern end of the cove, we climbed up to the hill where
we saw other coves in the area. Our guide was pointing to the other mountain
called Celatong Hill which is part of the mystical triangle of Romblon
connecting to Talipasak in Romblon and Catingas in Sibuyan. Many stories of “engkantos”
and “golden ships” sailing have reportedly been seen around this area. Ms. Mina of Talipasak kept mentioning this
also. In fact some writers from Manila
came also to Talipasak to write down stories about this enchanted triangle of
Romblon. Where MV Princess of the Star
sunk in San Fernando, Sibuyan is situated within this mystical triangle. Contact number for Aglicay Beach Resort: 0917 531 4067 / 0915 425 6898.
From Aglicay Beach,
we went to the next town of Looc where our first stop was the Bantigue resort
whose main attraction is a well-lighted Eiffel tower made of bamboo. The place also had displays of some expensive bonsai trees. From there we
were brought by Joemar to Grotto de Banloc, a newly constructed grotto just
outside of the town of Looc, on a hilly
side where the statue of the Miraculous Medal is enshrined surrounded by
stations of the cross. The owner,
Jonathan Gaytano was saying that for the holy week there were already a good
number pilgrims who visited. He was asking some guidelines on how this place could
be considered as a pilgrimage site.
After saying goodbye
just to Joemar, as the parish priest was still out on his early morning walk,
we left for the town of Looc where we paid a visit to the church and the parish
priest Fr. Pendon, a UST graduate. A
barangay captain of the poblacion met Fr. Nars and offered to bring some food
to the convento for lunch, sugpo and pusit.
Then we went to the Looc Fish Sanctuary. This sanctuary was a few
minutes away from the town pier and being maintained by the LGU. They had a
floating cottage which could accommodate up to 75 people. Hence, going to the sanctuary is being
monitored as there could only be enough visitors at a given time. We stayed for
about an hour. Went snorkeling to see the giant clams which were being grown
there. They were not that big yet.
ST. JOSEPH, SPOUSE OF MARY PARISH CHURCH
Looc, Romblon
Founded: 1863
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| The St. Joseph, Spouse of Mary Parish Church, Looc, Romblon. |
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| In front of the church they were constructing a structure to be used for the Encuentro / Salubong on Easter morn. |
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Inside the church of Looc.
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LOOC FISH SANCTUARY
Looc, Romblon
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| Fish Sanctuary of Looc. |
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| The floating cottage in the Fish Sancturary. A lighthouse is seen on the left. |
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| The giant clams that they were growing. They are not that big yet. |
We then returned to
the Looc convent for our lunch. Since it was still hot to travel to our next
destination, Fr. Pendon prepared a room at the convento for us to take some siesta.
We left at three in the afternoon and it was still very hot. We passed
by Binucot Sunset Cove which belong to the next town of Ferrol. This was another white beach area. However, at
lowtide the place was not ideal for swimming as it was rocky. Had some snacks there after looking at their
accommodations which range from 1,800 to 3,500.
The resort was owned by a German national.
From Binucot we
passed by the parish church of Ferrol. Then off to Odiongan we went. We first passed
by the church then had a short drive around the town after which we went to the
seminary which was situated about three kilometers away from the poblacion. Met
three of the formators, Fr. Rolly Fabul, the rector, Fr. RJ Noble, the dean and Fr. Ruben Manliguez, the pastoral
director. I joined the seminary
formators and the college seminarians for the Easter vigil at the Seminary
chapel.
ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA PARISH CHURCH
Ferrol, Romblon
Founded: 1982
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| St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Ferrol, Romblon. |
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| They were putting up the structure for the Encuentro in front of the church. |
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| Chruch altar of Ferrol. The marker on the door of the church said that the church was blessed and consecrated on Nov. 28, 1987. |
ST. VINCENT FERRER PARISH CHURCH
Odiongan, Romblon
Founded: 1859
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| Facade of the Church of Odiongan. |
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| Church altar. |
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| Inside the church facing the front door. |
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| Statue of St. Vincent Ferrer by the altar. |
SAN LORENZO RUIZ SEMINARY
Diocese of Romblon
Odiongan, Romblon
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| The chapel of the Seminary is on the second floor. The ground floor serve as classrooms. |
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| Church altar |
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| Stained glass windows on the altar. |
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| The other seminary buildings. |
Fr. Rolly helped us
to get our tickets for the boat back to Batangas. The reservation tickets that were bought for us in Batangas for this trip were not honored in Odiongan. We were given discounted tickets on the Maharlika class issued
for senior citizens. Just had a rest the
whole day until three in the afternoon when we left the seminary. We went back first to the parish church of Odiongan to take
pictures as it was already evening when we first visited the previous night. Josh in the meantime
took the plane back to Manila. So it was Mark and me who were left behind. Fr. Nars took the 2Go boat that 12 noon for
Batangas also as he was to attend the convention for Chancellors in Dumaguete.
It was an eight days travel throughout the islands of
Romblon. We were able to visit ten of the seventeen towns of the province. We were in the three major islands of Tablas,
Romblon and Sibuyan. We also were able to visit the islands of Cresta de Gallo, Cobrador and Alad.
Aside from the visit to the old Cathedral, the highlights for me were the visits to the Bonbon beach, San Pedro
Beach Resort in Talipasak and Cobrador
island. With these three beaches, a visit to Romblon would already be complete and exciting. The travel to Sibuyan though tiring was
also worth it even just to see the old Azagra chapel and the Cresta de Gallo.
When the roads around the island of Sibuyan would already be cemented travel
will have become lighter. There are also outstanding beach resorts in the Tablas island. But they pale in comparison to the beaches of Romblon island. One difficulty in Tablas is that the resorts are not near each other. One will just have to select one or two in
order to fully enjoy the trip. Overall, this trip
to Romblon would have been more difficult if not for Fr. Nars Miñon, the
Chancellor of the diocese and a fellow canon lawyer who not only
facilitated in making our itinerary
possible but went out of his way to accompany us in all the sights that we
visited. That we enjoyed our trip is an understatement for indeed, Romblon is a paradise waiting to be discovered. And we experienced that piece of paradise in the eight days that we were there not just in the sights that we visited but more so in the hospitable and generous people that we met during our journey.
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