Cavite: Maligayang ika-113 na Araw ng Kalayaan! Happy Independence Day!

President Benigno S. Aquino III presided over his first Araw ng Kalayaan or Independence Day ceremonies at the Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, Cavite this morning. I found myself driving to Kawit at 4 a.m. to make sure I arrived there before the PSG closed the streets.



After arrival honors and a 21-gun salute, the president proceeded to the grave of Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo behind the shrine for a ceremonial wreath-laying. This was followed by the raising of the flag at the balcony of the shrine (which had to be delayed a bit for the nationwide simultaneous flag-raising at 7 a.m.) and the speech of the president.

Before the speech, former Prime Minister Cesar Virata, a descendant of President Aguinaldo, read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence. The program is not over and I'm off to the Quirino Grandstand later in the afternoon for the Independence Day Parade. For photos of the event, check out Ivan About Town on Facebook.

Cavite: Visita iglesia to the heritage churches of Cavite

Cavite has a good number of intact heritage churches. Despite its proximity to Metro Manila, it was the first time I visited several of the churches. So here are some churches to visit if you want to do a visita iglesia in Cavite.



Our first stop was Kawit Church. According to the marker in front of the church, it became a Jesuit mission in 1624, with the first church of wood built in 1638 and placed under the patronage of Santa Maria Magdalena. The cornerstone of the current church was laid in 1737. It was transferred to the care of secular priests in 1768, and the Recollects in 1849. In 1869, President Emilio Aguinaldo was baptized in this church.


From Kawit, we drove all the way to the Maragondon Church, a National Cultural Treasure. It was first constructed by the Jesuits in 1618 under the patronage of the Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. A new church was constructed from 1630 to 1633, but was demolished between 1646 to 1649 to prevent it from becoming a Dutch fortress. The current stone church was constructed in 1714.

In 1768, it was transferred to the care of secular priests, and the Recollects in 1860. It became a base of the Philippine Revolutionary Army when Maragondon became the headquarters of the forces of Gen. Aguinaldo in 1897. It became a National Cultural Treasure in 2001.


On our way back to Manila, we passed by three more churches namely Naic, Tanza and Gen. Trias.


The convent of the Tanza Church played a significant role in Philippine history. It was where Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and Gen. Mariano Trias took their oaths as president and vice president of the Philippine Revolutionary Government on March 23, 1897 after their election at the Tejeros Convention the day before.


Gen. Trias Church was first constructed by the Franciscans in 1611 as a visita of Kawit. It was turned over to the Jesuit mission of Cavite Puerto in 1624. In 1753, the Church of San Francisco Malabon (the old name of Gen. Trias) became a separate parish.


The current stone church was constructed under the leadership of Dona Maria Josepha Yrizzari y Ursula, Condesa de Lizarraga in 1769. Her gravestone is still prominently seen by the main door of the church. It was in this church that the Banda Matanda practiced the Marcha Filipina before it was played during the June 12, 1898 declaration of Philippine independence.

Although we weren't able to visit the Silang Church, it's another interesting church which you should visit if you're in Cavite.

Cavite: Around historic Cavite

Cavite has always held an important place in our history books, having been a hotbed of the Philippine Revolution. And a really good way to understand this history is by visiting the sites mentioned in our textbooks.


Together with several followers of Ivan About Town, I visited the different historical sites in Cavite. The first on our list was the Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine and the Site of the Declaration of Philippine Independence in Kawit.


This historical site is managed by the National Historical Institute. Entrance is free. But do take note that it's closed on Mondays like most government museums. At the Aguinaldo Shrine, you get to see memorabilia and personal items of the former president, artifacts related to the Philippine Revolution such as several of the first Philippine flags, as well as the palatial residence of President Emilio F. Aguinaldo from which balcony, Philippine independence was declared.


Behind the house is the final resting place of Aguinaldo. From his house, we drove over to the Kawit Church which has a really intricate main altar retablo.

Our next stop was supposed to be Fort San Felipe in Cavite City. Unfortunately, it's inside a Philippine Navy-controlled area. And according to the guard at the gate, you'll need to get approval from the higher-ups to enter. I was quite irritated since that is part of our history and people deserve the right to see it sans the bureaucracy. The Cavite Provincial Government should take Fort San Felipe off its list of tourism attractions if it cannot negotiate access for tourists from the Philippine Navy. Can't they simply ask visitors to present government-issued IDs to enter?

Anyway, we stopped by the Trece Martires Monument near the fort area before proceeding to lunch at Malen's Restaurant in Noveleta.



After lunch, we drove all the way to Maragondon to visit the Bonifiacio Trial House, Maragondon Church and the Bonifacio Execution Site with the newly-erected Bonifacio Shrine done by sculptor Toym Imao which I really liked. More details on this in another post about Maragondon.




We made our way to Naic Church, Tanza Church (where Aguinaldo took his oath as president of the Philippine Revolutionary Government in 1897) and Gen. Trias Church.

We were supposed to visit the Site of the Battle of Alapan in Imus where the Philippine flag first saw action. But even people in Brgy. Alapan didn't know where it was and sadly, we couldn't find it. It's quite disconcerting that this site was part of the Philippine Centennial Trail and years after the celebration, even the local community was oblivious to its existence. Before Imus continues to parade itself as the Flag Capital of the Philippines, it should first educate the local community why it should be called such and install proper brown tourism road directional signs pointing towards the site.


Our last stop for the day was the very popular Digman Halo-Halo in Bacoor. A lot of people were raving about it and it's been featured in a lot of national dailies and magazines. But to me, it was like any other halo-halo. I guess for someone used to the rich and flavorful versions of halo-halo in Pampanga, this did not wow me that much. It's funny that there was some confusion when we got there because there were two stores claiming to the the original Digman Halo-Halo.

More posts on Cavite coming up. I'll also be posting photos soon in the Ivan About Town Facebook page. So do check them out.

Cavite: Around historic Cavite

Yesterday, I went around the historic province of Cavite. Our first stop was the Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit.

The ancestral home of Aguinaldo, the first president of the Philippines, it was the site of the proclamation of Philippine independence on June 12, 1898. On that day, the declaration of independence from Spain was read from a balcony of the house and the Philippine flag formally unfurled by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista (and not Aguinaldo as is erroneously depicted in the old five peso bill). The Philippine National Anthem was also played for the first time by the Banda Malabon (of San Francisco de Malabon, now Gen. Trias, Cavite).

Sadly, the museum was closed. I find this government practice of closing historical sites on Sundays stupid since it robs Philippine citizens the chance to visit these places when they’re off from work. I’ve been in the museum several times before so it wasn’t really a loss. But it would have been nice to see it again. If you want to find out what you could see inside, click here.

From there, it was a forty-minute drive south to Maragondon where we visited the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady which was declared a national cultural treasure, and the Bonifacio Trial House, a national historical landmark, which like the Aguinaldo Shrine, was closed on Sundays.

According to the NCCA, “The church was built in the early 18th century by the Jesuits, with later additions by the seculars and the Augustinian Recollects. Much of the church and belltower, and the lower portion of the convento is made of irregular river stones, indicative of the early level of technology operating at that time. The intricately-carved retablos, pulpit and church doors (with galleons and floral designs) date from Jesuit times, while the hugely carved beams crossing the nave were installed by the seculars-- one of the beams even carries the name of the indio priest who commissioned them. The unusual horseshoe-shaped communion rail, with a flooring of inlaid wood of various colors, recalls that of San Sebastian Church, Manila, another Recollect construction.”

The house of Teodorico Reyes, now known as the Bonifacio Trial House, was where Andres Bonifacio and his brother Procopio were court-martialed. It was a kangaroo court as many historians put it. And their conviction for sedition and conspiracy and subsequent execution in the mountains of Maragondon haunts whatever legacy Aguinaldo was able to leave. In the end, it was Bonifacio whom the nation recognized with a public holiday and grand monuments in Metro Manila.

After this quick detour, we had to rush to Silang since we were in Cavite to help our brods campaign. It was actually fun going house to house giving out flyers of Congressman Boying Remulla whom we met earlier in the morning for coffee at his house. Another group was helping out Congressman Gilbert Remulla in Imus. We also campaigned for Senators Joker Arroyo and Kiko Pangilinan. Silang is the largest municipality in Cavite in terms of land area. And the barangays we visited seemed to be on opposite ends. It was sad I wasn't able to check out their church since we had a lot of work to do.

With our mission completed. We passed by neighboring Tagaytay City to check out Taal Volcano before motoring to Indang to go night swimming at one of the natural spring resorts which are a plenty in the town.

By the time we arrived in Indang, it was getting dark. So we skipped the church and headed to Barangay Tambo Kulit where most of the resorts could be found. We were pointed to the Rio Villa Nuevo Resort which many say is the best one in town. When we saw the small waterfalls in the compound, we said this was it! It was PHP12o per head for night swimming. There are several pools of spring water if you do not fancy walking on rocks and streams. We went straight to the waterfalls and enjoyed the rush of cold water.

After an hour, we rushed back to Tagaytay for a late dinner in Teriyaki Boy. We were supposed to go back to Manila. But the group enjoyed the trip so much that we decided to stay overnight. So we checked-in at the three-room inn under the Mile-Hi Diner which is located in the same restaurant compound. The standard room is PHP2,250. Good thing it was a Sunday and weekend vacationers had already left for Manila; so rooms were available. It was a cold night, a welcome respite from Manila's heat. Check out the photos in Multiply. I'm sure Bikoy Villanueva should have his account of our trip anytime soon.

Jose Abad Santos Day
Today, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos of San Fernando, Pampanga (one of the three people in the 1000-peso bill), is a non-working holiday in the Province of Pampanga. Happy Jose Abad Santos Day to all!

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