History has it that the municipality of Claveria was named after the Spanish
Governor General, Narciso Claveria, who drove the raiding pirates away from the
then village called Kabikungan. Kabikungan was renamed Claveria in honor of
Governor General Claveria as soon as the place was converted into a town.
The town of Claveria
in the province of Cagayan is a modest and peaceful place, about 600
kilometers away from Manila,
a favourable place for people looking for solitude, away from the tiring
metropolis. Branded as one of the cleanest municipality in the country,
Claveria, Cagayan can be reached by enduring the approximately 15 hours of land
travel, or (5 hours) about less than an hour by air to either Tuguegarao or
Laoag and an additional 3 to 4 hours of land journey.
The town of Claveria is represented with such fantastic
milieu. The air is fresh and always breezy due to its proximity to the ocean.
Existing not just in dream, Claveria is an incomparable place at the north tip
of mainland Luzon in the Philippines
because of its unfussiness. A really admirable location for non-luxury looking
individuals. Its populace, just like the rest of the Filipino, are welcoming
and are approachable. The foods are all right, a very Ilocano approach in
living life. The town offers a comforting and perhaps one of the finest places
suitable for retiring, whether of old age or just withdrawing from active life,
seeking retreat, far and away from the noise of the urban living. Life is
indeed simple but the convenience of living modern are presented. Everything
seems uncomplicated in this town, the waterfalls and the beach is just there
somewhere.
The village of Taggat
is where the lagoon can be found, situated at the right area of the inlet, a
favoured swimming destination especially for the children. The place is
shielded from the immense waves by natural boulders of rock, trapping the
composed sea water in a basin-like enclosure, calling it a lagoon. During the
dry months, this particular spot on the coast of Taggat
are filled with people immersing themselves in the lagoon to beat the summer
heat. With adults supervision, the kids can play safely in the lagoon without
worrying to a great extent that they might be carried by the waves away in the
open sea. On the pebbly side of the beach, opposite the lagoon, is the
waterfalls.
Aside from the lagoon, Taggat is
where the renowned rock formations can be witnessed and was even made distinct
and illustrious by its legend, the Lakay-Lakay and Baket-Baket. “Lakay” and
“Baket” is a term of endearment in Ilocano language. Lakay means “an old man”
or “a husband”, and literally intended only for the grown ups of male gender
while Baket is the feminine equivalent of such expression. Moving on, the
legend says that once upon a time, a well-to-do family who made fortune by
fishing, was asked by an elderly tramp for food, but Lakay-Lakay acted high and
mighty and so is his wife, Baket-Baket, they pay no attention to the lament of
the pitiful, old beggar. Swollen with greed the couple were, the strange, old
tramp foredoomed their family. As the elderly tramp vanished into thin air, the
couple became uneasy and hurriedly looked for their child who happened to be
playing on the other side of the coast. Little by little, their child turned to
rock, Baket-Baket gradually turned to rock as well, and before Lakay-Lakay
realized he’s sorry, he
himself was turned. This is why
Lakay-Lakay and Baket-Baket stood beside each other at Taggat, while their
progeny, Ubing-Ubing, was on Sentinela Cove in Camalaggoan / D. Leano.
Another cloaked paradise in the
town of Claveria
is the Sentinela Cove, home to the Ubing-Ubing. Ubing means “ a child” in the
Ilocano language. Sentinela Cove is enthroned with fine sand and the current is
more tender compared to Claveria beach at the boulevard, near the “ili”or the
town proper. Rubing-Ubing as told
in the legend is the offspring of Lakay-Lakay
and Baket-Baket, who in their greediness was turned to rocks. On dazzling
account, the Cove is perfect for beach bumming and swimming. A cave for a shade
and a hill for the bird’s eye view of the bay completed the representation of
this piece of paradise. By day’s end, the cove is a spectacle to stare at.
Gazing at the sun going down on the horizon as the blue breaks open in
beautiful hues, was more than the seeing of sights.
Those natural rock stunners of
Claveria are dubbed as the sentinel of the fisherfolks of the town. Try to
connect with the story of Lakay-Lakay and Baket-Baket, though given an
insensitive anecdote, their tale stands for the great morals of sharing and
compassion. It is not how the story ended, but how the story inspired one’s
self to do unpretentious and encouraging act that in some way brought gladness
to the underprivileged members of the society and consequently making the world
better.
The rock formations in the town
of Claveria are
wonders of the natural world. They must be safeguarded too from harebrained
individual. Dreaming that those rock creations would be marvellously standing
on the shore until the waves got weary of humming their melody, awaiting the
ultimate twilight, for those legendary rock formations kept their silence for
hundreds of years, they’re an eyewitness to the transformation of the environment,
survivor all along these years. Those rock formations- monuments shaped by
nature, fashioned and made perfect by time.
Written by Miguel Voyager:
I am identified in the travel
blogging world as “Palos”. My friends call me Miguel, and I have a burning
passion in traveling and landscape photography. An occasional travel blogger, a
bartender and a narrator for ads, who makes real living in the field of public
service.Read my short articles on http://biyahengpalos.blogspot.com as I walk around the picturesque Philippines.
This article was published in HKLife Newspaper for the month of May 2014
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