Pu' Daku in Silago

Recently, the shortcut road going to Silago, S. Leyte has been opened to the public. It cut the travel time to just forty minutes from the three hour drive before. Silago which is facing the Pacific is the last town in Southern Leyte but sits just next to Abuyog. However, before, in order to reach Silago, one had to travel first to the west of Leyte passing through Mahaplag, Sogod, Libagon and Liloan and then through the pacific towns of St. Bernard, San Juan (formerly and popularly known as Cabalian), Hinundayan and Hinunangan before reaching Silago. In other times when the road in Agas-agas, that earthquake fault between Mahaplag and Sogod would be unpassable, one had to cross all the way to the west to Baybay and from there take the long trip through the western towns of Inopacan, Hindang, Hilongos, Bato and connect to Sogod. This last trip would have taken about five hours since the road then was not yet cemented. But now the newly opened Abuyog - Silago road is only 43 kilometers long. One also gets some spectacular views of virgin forests along the way.

We were excited to have our discovery trip to Silago and to savor the sights that the town could give us. When we visited Silago, it so happened to be the vesperas of their town fiesta. With the parish priest, Fr. Carlo Caracut, a very good friend and a former student of mine in Theology we were sure that we will have a good time there. That early morning before we took that leisure trip, I also ask Fr. Caloy if there is a good beach that we could go we would be very happy indeed. We were not disappointed. After a very hearty lunch of fresh seafoods including some very good sized 'banagan' (lobsters) which is common to the place, we were brought to a rocky island called Pu' Daku which is short for Pulong daku (big rock island). There was no beach front on this rock island but only a small portion of flat stone where one can get off from the boat. If the waves were strong it would have been difficult if not impossible to moor. As the island just seem to jut off from the sea, there was no shallow portion of water to speak of. It was ideal for snorkeling and for fishing using the 'pana'. There were lots of fishes on one side of the island which had calm waters.

The rock island was also the nesting place for seagulls. We saw some eggs lying around at the top of the rocks. It was no wonder then that some of the birds were trying to nosedive near us making threatening sounds at once. Another interesting feature of the island was the presence of sea snakes. In the crevices of the rocks we saw snakes curling inside trying to hide away from the heat.

Posing by Kilometer 1000 which was 35 kilometers away from Abuyog and 12 kilometers away from Silago with Fr. Lito Conejos, (right) and Marlon, our sacristan. About a kilometer and a half further away one reaches the highest elevation of the road. The parish church of Silago.
With Fr. Caloy, the parish priest (middle) and the Vice Mayor of Silago (right).


A recent look of the church and convent of Silago (March 2009)

Large acacia trees line through the perimeter of the parish property.
Silago is famous for its Banagan

The skeleton of a whale that was beached a few years back in Silago is kept near the Municipal Hall

Whale skeleton


The beach in Silago is made of fine brown sand. We helped put out the boat to sea. The small island of Pu' Daku is seen just above my head (left).


The rock island of Pu' Daku. Some would nickname the island as iceberg as it just protrudes out of the sea.

A sea snake could be seen resting in one of the crevices of the rocks. No one has been heard being bitten by these snakes.