Whenever people asked me how I fell in love with traveling, I always told them I was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” novel—an autobiographical narrative of Kerouac’s post-war road trip across the United States amidst the background of poetry, jazz, and the emerging beat culture. Thinking back now, I realized the birth of my wanderlust actually occurred during my college years. That was a time when my friends and I journeyed to the province of Marinduque every Holy Week to partake in the island’s iconic revelry: the Moriones Festival.
Revisiting Marinduque
After witnessing the street parade of masked Romans and penitents culminating in the ceremonial ‘beheading’ of Longinus, we would cap Easter Sunday with a picnic at Ulong Beach in the town of Mogpog.
Years before I first read the pages of Kerouac’s novel, the wanderlust bug had already bitten me on the island of Marinduque. Since then, I had been to many places and had overlooked the idea of returning to the province—until recently.
Cebu Pacific Air Launches Manila – Marinduque Flights
As luck would have it, I was invited to join the maiden Cebu Pacific Air flight to Marinduque on April 1, 2019. Through CebPac's subsidiary Cebgo, the inaugural flight signaled the return of commercial flights to the province after a six-year absence.
"This is the first time that CEB is offering this route," spokesperson Charo Lagamon told the Philippine News Agency at the time. Aside from boosting commerce and tourism, travel time to the island was significantly lessened to an hour at the most. "It would take passengers at least eight hours to travel to Marinduque by land and ferry," Lagamon added.
The Marinduque Loop
The entirety of our media trip was short and sweet. For two days, we simply rode a van and circled the island, stopping at various fascinating places of interest. The experience was more than enough to remind me of the distinctive lure of Marinduque.
On the night of our arrival, I was formally introduced to a cultural practice indigenous to the province: the “putong” ceremony. “Putong” translates to "to crown," and the ritual—performed by elderly women—is composed of a song of hope climaxing in a crescendo and a thanksgiving prayer for a blessed life. The rite ends with the performers tossing coins and flower petals to the guests before crowning them with a handcrafted headpiece made from nito (a local vine).
The next day, we started our roundabout at the heritage town of Boac. Despite a fire that ravaged several heritage houses in recent years, a number of old homes still remain in Boac. These include decades-old family-run restaurants that serve some of the island's known regional cuisines, such as the local kari-kari.
The main road of Marinduque, which almost circles the entirety of this heart-shaped island, took us through a series of picturesque landscapes: The Tres Islands of Baltazar, Gaspar, and Melchor, whose surrounding sandbars radiate with a golden sheen from afar. We also passed by the popular high-end Bellaroca Island resort. It ceased operations around the same time commercial flights stopped flying to Marinduque in 2013. However, with the brief return of flight access, the property had begun attracting investors interested in reopening it.
Other places we visited during our day-long road trip included the white beach of Poctoy, the heritage churches in Sta. Cruz, Boac, and Gasan, the Marl Butterfly Garden, the Malbog Sulfuric Resort, and a charming roadside spot where we viewed Mount Malindig. Towering one thousand one hundred fifty-seven meters above sea level, Malindig is a potentially active stratovolcano that gushes sulfuric spring waters into nearby towns like Malbog in Buenavista.
We concluded our eventful Marinduque loop at the summit of 'Mataas na Bundok'—a two-hundred-twenty-meter peak where the 'Luzon Datum of 1911' is located. Established by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1911 as the center of Philippine geodetic triangulations, the Luzon Datum represents the zero-point-zero reference point of any mapping done in the country.
Because we only spent a couple of days exploring, we missed out on the other mesmerizing sets of nature Marinduque has to offer. From my earlier memories of this island, I recall numerous cave systems, the splendid Maniwaya Island and Palad Sandbar, countless waterfalls, the Ungab Rock formation, and the list goes on. All the more reason for me to hasten my next return to Marinduque.
Where to Stay In Marinduque
A few new hotels, like the one we stayed at, Balar Hotel and Spa, have been built in the province in recent years. Old favorites, such as the heritage house turned Boac Hotel (the first on the island), still remain. Find good deals at Agoda for your Marinduque accommodation needs.
This article first appeared on the pages of the Daily Tribune on June 1, 2019.
