Governor Vilma Santos of Batangas is thinking of putting a huge Batangas signage on Binintiang Malaki in Taal? The remote northern town of Taytay in Palawan did it first.

I just miss this place. Flower Island, a beautiful resort place a few hours from the coastal town of Taytay in northern Palawan was just unforgettable despite the rough seas and huge waves that seemed to test our mettle.

The brief stay in Flower Island with its short trails, white sand beaches, good food, great company with other visitors including two Japanese friends was just unforgettable!

A downloadable PDF photo e-magazine focusing on the quaint town of Cuyo, a remote municipality in Palawan in the north Sulu Sea. Thirty three pages, thirty one colored image spreads.

My Busuanga aerials that I featured before will be in a unique exhibition. Entitled Earth & Art, this is Net 25′s Tribe offering for the environment. As one of the featured artist/photographer, I will be showing my work, “Busuanga: From Forests to Farmlands.”

The weather was not promising at all when I came to Culion and I was more worried of just having overcast skies. As the church is facing westward, I was hoping that the sun would at least shine, even for a brief moment in the afternoon. With my schedule rather tight, I needed all the luck I need to better photograph the church of Culion as my return flight to Manila will be the next day.

I have been looking forward to see for myself the fortress-church of Agutaya ever since I learned about it while I was in Cuyo. In no time, I’ve set out to go to this place even if the trip was rather scary. Come to think of it, these very remote islands harbor architectural gems that is historically and culturally significant. A monument to the struggles and determination to defend these people from the scourge of slave raiders and pirates.

I have seen photos of the fortress-church of Cuyo in books but the first time I saw it, cara y cara, and I was struck speechless. The photos don’t give you an idea of size and immensity unless you have a reference like a person within the image to provide scale. But looking at it, wow, its surreal. This was what I have come for in this remote island and its hard to imagine that in such a place, a very solid, massive and impressive structure was built here.

Culion, for a time was nicknamed, unfortunately, The Island of the Living Dead. Not that creatures of the underworld roamed the streets at night or scared its inhabitants but it was an act of government that made it compulsory for lepers in the country, from Luzon to Mindanao, to be segregated into this forlorn of places. Leprosy is an ancient scourge and before the medical breakthroughs in the later part of the 20th century, there were no known cures. Sufferers were treated like pariahs and left deformed for life.

This is the second time that I’ve been to this old settlement that was originally inhabited by the Tagbanuas. During the 17th century, the Augustinian Recollects arrived and evangelized here and in the mid-18th century, this was part of an important network of a defensive system against Muslim piratical raids. In 1906, the island was established as a leper colony. One unique trait of the island is its very heterogeneous population that can be attributed to the forced segregation policy of the country during the American period where lepers from all parts of the country were put.

One of the best things to see here in Coron is the approach to the island while passing through the spectacular karst limestone cliffs that comprise the islands of the Calamianes group of North Palawan. And the best time is early in the morning as the sun is still a few degrees from the horizon. Its golden rays striking the greenery and yellow to gray walls of rock. Only a boat ride can give you this pleasure.

I was already set to sail for Puerto Princesa: my ticket has already been paid, I already boarded the ship bound for the Palawan capital and my things were already at my assigned cot. On 10 June 07, 8 months after my Cuyo trip, M/V Catalyn D sunk off Mindoro As it was still in the afternoon, a few hours before the night trip schedule, I ventured out. Directly infront of the ship was M/V Catalyn D. Walking along the street just outside of the pier, I saw the smaller ship’s ticket office and out of curiosity, I asked about their schedule.

Agutaya town is a small place. Within less than an hour, you would have toured around the town center. After taking photos of the fortress church that dominates the town, I just went around. Typical provincial area: an elementary school with bright welcoming gates, a large clearing serving as softball field with grandstand at one side, a basketball court and at one end is the concrete town hall.

What was a sunny afternoon across the open sea turned out to be a scary trip. Despite this, I arrived from Cuyo in one piece.

Having a free afternoon in the town proper, I hailed a tricycle and went to the next municipality of Magsaysay. I was looking for other old churches but found none*. While walking around, I found this wooden house. It was beautiful. While abodes like this are common in the rural areas in the provinces, this one was a lot bigger than what I have seen, say in Oslob or Boljoon in Cebu.

Typical of its construction, it is elevated with wooden posts.