178. ITBAYAT

ITBAYAT

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

09 July 2023

The island-municipality of Itbayat was the last town in the Province of Batanes I was able to visit. The Island of Batan where the capital-town of Basco is situated, together with the municipalities of Mahatao, Ivana and Uyugan and the island-town of Sabtang, were my official destinations from March 16 to 21, 2023. There are only six municipalities in Batanes province. We had to schedule our visit to Itbayat on another date since we had to secure another flight to get into the island. Travelling by sea takes hours and sometimes very uncertain depending always on the weather. The date of my visit was the last day of May but unfortunately northern Philippines was struck by typhoon during that week. At long last, July 6, Thursday, the weather permitted us to land at the country’s northernmost municipality.

Itbayat is the home of incumbent Governor Marilou Horlina Cayco, Vice Governor Ignacio Castro Villa and Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Juliet N. Ponce-Cataluña who is the chair on the Committee on Tourism. The Representative of the Lone District of Batanes, Congressman Ciriaco Bayaras Gato, Jr. is also from Itbayat. Top leaders of Batanes hails from this paradise of the North.

Itbayat is a 5th class municipality, located 156 kilometers from the southernmost tip of Taiwan, has a population of 3,128 people (2020 census). The main island of Itbayat is the largest in Batanes province. The entire municipality constitutes several islands, islets, atolls and outcrops: (1) Itbayat Island, the largest of the group is where the administrative center is located; (2) Di'nem Island, located southeast of Itbayat Island; (3) Mavulis Island, located between Y'Ami and Itbayat Islands; (4) Maysanga Islet lies next and south of Mavulis Island and north of Siayan Island; (5) Siayan Island, located south of Mavulis Island; (6) North Island lies nearby Y'ami Island, at least two outcrops can be found nearby; and (7) Y'Ami Island, the northernmost of the Itbayat group - the northernmost point of the Philippines and the last territorial island bordering Taiwan.

Itbayat, home of the Itbayat people, was established as a mission by the Dominicans in 1855, became a municipal district in 1909 and eventually became a municipality in 1935. It is also interesting to note that the five barangays of the town, originally had Itbayat names, now bear Christian nomenclature. They are: Idiang, now San Rafael; Marapuy, now Santa Maria; Kayñatuan, now Santa Rosa; Kauhauhasan, now Santa Lucia; and Raele, now San Jose. Barangay San Jose; however, retained its old name among the locals.

Ms. Abegail Manzo Gonzales-Gutierrez, Tourism Officer of Itbayat, Batanes welcomed us as we disembarked on a 6-seater plane run by Aerospeed at the Jorge Abad Airport. It took us around ten minutes to fly from Basco Airport. The community airport located in Barangay Raele, is named after Jorge Abela Abad (1912-1979), the first Ivatan cabinet member appointed in 1964 as Secretary of Public Works, Transportation and Communications by President Diosdado Macapagal. Abad, a civil engineer, was Representative of the Lone District of Batanes in the 2nd (1949-1953), 3rd (1953-1957), 5th (1961-1964) and 7th (1969-1972) Congress. His son, Florencio, was instrumental in sourcing the funds for the airport construction during his time as congressional representative for Batanes (1987-1989 & 1995-2004). Atty. Florencio or “Butch” Barsana Abad also served in the national level as Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (1989-1990), Department of Education (2004-2005) and the Department of Budget and Management (2010-2016). Butch Abad is my father’s fraternal brother at the Ateneo Law School.

My team had our lunch at Tin’s Canteen at Barangay Santa Rosa. The small resto became our official restaurant during our three-day stay in the island. We then paid courtesy to Mayor Sabas Castillo De Sagon at the Municipal Hall also in Barangay Santa Rosa. The mayor was my former colleague in the Philippine Councilors League for a number of terms. Mayor De Sagon shared the plight of the people of Itbayat right after the earthquake on July 27, 2019. The series of destructive earthquakes, largest of them measured 5.9 in the Richter scale, caused severe damage in the town where nine people died and sixty were injured. Then a Sangguniang Bayan Member, he narrated his sacrifices when he was assigned by the former late mayor to attend to the needs of their constituents at the town plaza. Furthermore, the mayor also imparted many interesting facts, anecdotes and folklore of the island-municipality. Moreover, he encouraged us to roam around the island and savor the beauty of Itbayat. We visited the Itbayat Tourism Office before we headed to our site tours.

The team first destination was the Viewdeck at Mount Carobooban in Barangay Santa Rosa located at the center uppermost part of the island overlooking Di’nem and Batan Islands in the east and Siayan, Mavudis, North and Y'Ami Islands in the north facing Taiwan. I made my first 360⁰ human drone video and posted immediately at Facebook.

Mauyen Cliff at Barangay Raele was our next stop. The main island of Itbayat has no beaches and the whole circumference is surrounded by towering cliffs making the island unique from others that normally has a strip of beach in its territory. I made my second 360 human drone video.

Roaming the island will never be complete without visiting the famous leaning arius tree at Tachimus Port located at the center eastern part in Barangay Santa Lucia. I made my third 360⁰ human drone video. The plant (Podocarpus costalis) is an endemic in Batanes. It serves as an excellent ornamental tree often used by the Ivatans as Christmas tree during the Yuletide season. Arius bears fruits during the months of July to October. One can buy an arius plant at the Basco Airport and bring it home in mainland Luzon.

Along the highway, in Pasto Nawkut, Santa Lucia, we had a picture with a carabao horn displayed on a pedestal. I named the site as “Urong” since the site has no name yet. “Urong” is the local term for “animal horn”. Itbayat and Batanes as a whole is known for its cattle and goat industry.

The DOT team visited an old abandoned Itbayat stone house built by Mr. Claudio Salamagos and now owned by Mr. Jose Bata at Vaga, Yawran in Barangay San Rafael after that we dropped by the Old Pagasa Building, famous for its stone and coral facade at Barangay Raele, on our way home.

The team stayed at the only DOT accredited homestay establishment in the municipality, the Levinda Lodge at Barangay San Rafael owned by Mr. Daniel & Mrs. Levina De Guzman. I took this chance to personally award their DOT Certificate of Accreditation. The lodge was our home for three days.

Our second day, July 7, Friday, was the most important of my schedules in the island. Aside from my routinary visit of different tourism sites and destinations to assess the training interventions necessary to enhance its tourism products and services, our stay is centered on the conduct of training on Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) for the Itbayat tourism stakeholders held at the HRTC Hall in Barangay San Rafael. This one-day activity was participated in by 45 tourism industry workers which includes the tour guides, tour drivers, homestay operators, barangay officials, food handlers, handicraft makers and sellers. The conduct of the FBSE Training was envisioned to capacitate the Itbayat tourism stakeholders as they have gradually opened doors to domestic and foreign tourists.

Mayor De Sagon delightedly welcomed the training team with high hopes that the tourism industry would prosper through the support of the DOT. In his message, the mayor expressed his gratitude for bringing the training activity closer to the Itbayat community. I addressed the participants and shared that the priority of DOT is to build close collaboration with the local government units and community people as this is an effective key towards tourism progress and development.

After the training, I visited the ruins of the Spanish-era Itbayat Church destroyed by the earthquake of 2019 at Barangay Santa Maria. A third of the belfry tower lies on the ground together with its twin bells. The National Historical Institute marker installed in 2008 reads: SIMBAHAN NG ITBAYAT. TINAYO ANG UNANG SIMBAHAN AT KUMBENTO NA GAWA SA KAHOY NI P. VICENTE ARAUJO, 1853-1858 SA PATRONAHE NI SANTA MARIA DE MAYAN. ITINATAG ANG PUNDASYON NG BAGONG SIMBAHAN NI P. MANUEL BLASCO, O.P. 1872. IPINAGPATULOY NI P. CRESENCIO POLO, O.P.; NATAPOS AT BINASBASAN NI P. MANUEL BLASCO, O.P. 1888. PINALAMUTIAN NOONG MGA TAONG 1980 NI P. DOMINGO DENIZ, O.P.

Our day culminated with a dinner hosted by Mayor De Sagon at their abode in Barangay Santa Rosa. His wife, Emma, prepared all the food including a tatus or coconut crab (Birgus latro). This kind of crab is now not allowed to commercially harvest and sell but the locals can still eat this arthropod as long as it is in small numbers and consumed in the island. The mayor was thankful that we were able to visit since it is very rare for a regional director to drop by the island. In our conversations, I learned that Itbayat has its own dialect different from Ivatan - the dialect of majority of Batanes (Batan and Sabtang Islands).

Our last day, July 8, Saturday, started at 4:00 AM and we travelled 30 minutes by motorcycle from the poblasyon and hiked almost an hour at Barangay Santa Maria amidst darkness. At 5:15 AM, we witnessed the famous sunrise at Rapang Cliff. The cliff, the most famous tourism destination in Itbayat, is reached by traversing rolling pasture lands and narrow steep rock formations dotted by fossilized coral rocks. I started my 360⁰ human drone video with the Islands of Di’nem and Batan, and the towering Mount Iraya (1,009 meters), Batanes highest peak, at the background. The Island-Municipality of Sabtang and the Islets of Diquey and Vohas can also be seen at the far right.

The Rapang experience cannot be complete without hearing the pleasing sound of the famous flat Stone Bell that produces different musical notes. This gem of mother nature is one of the few known natural wonders of its kind. By practice, only the tourist guides can perform the striking of the flat rock to avoid the damage of this precious boulder. The LGU is drafting an ordinance regulating and preserving the use of the Itbayat Stone Bell.

Our Rapang adventure ended with our “buwis buhay” climb on one of the highest point of the rolling hills. The two guides made sure to secure each one of us by extending their bodies as human net with one hand clinging on the rough rocks while the other holding our backs. Atop the rock formation, one can see all the major islands of Batanes province including the majestic Mount Iraya. Here, I made my last 360⁰ human drone video for Itbayat and I was teary eyed seeing not only the beauty of “Breathtaking Batanes” but the beauty of our beloved Philippines. The Rapang Cliff is one of the two priority tourism development site of Governor Cayco.

The team headed back to the town proper and we had our “chartered” flight back to the capital bringing with us an awesome feeling of accomplishing another item in our bucket list. Dios Mamaxes Itbayat for the wonderful experience!