Liloan Trippers Speak Out on Stranded Butanding in Southern Cebu

Everyone who has brushed up on news in Cebu have heard about the whale sharks. Though this is located in Oslob, in the southern part of Cebu, certain events have piqued my concern and thus the reason for this post

Whale shark tours are available daily in Oslob, where you get the chance to be up close and personal with the butanding. The fishermen lure the whale shark with a meal of krill, so other bancas or small boats can approach and let the tourists meet the butanding. However, this is done at a distance. I've kinda noticed that people in Oslob are careful about proximity with the whale shark, as per my friends' pictures and mementos of their trip to Oslob and their meeting with the whale shark.

It seems, however, that some people are taking the "up close and personal" too far. Take a look at this picture:

You can see that this is a stranded butanding located in a shallower part of the waters. Nobody even needed a banca to get close this poor thing. Instead of letting the butanding escape into the ocean to live another day to entertain them, these people instead did something different: they tied the tail of the butanding so that it cannot swim to sea and turned it into a form of tourist attraction.

Take note, this is not located in Oslob where the legitimate whale shark watching services are located. This is in Boljoon, a town located right before Oslob. We don't know what's really going on, or if the butanding has been released already, but some people need to be educated about how to properly treat these animals so that this does not happen again.

Liloan Trippers join the call for the local and provincial government to take action on this through local awareness and penalizing those that made the offense. You cannot imagine the amount of stress that this whale shark is experiencing as it is crowded upon by people. It's helpless with the rope around its tail and people preventing it from escaping.

These are gentle giants, but they also feel stress too. You don't treat it as a surfboard. Personally, as an animal lover, I am disgusted by the extent at which these people turned the gentle butanding into a circus animal. Check out a few more pictures of this poor butanding.

~Immortalundead

P.S. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

Fishing at Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon

As promised here is the video that we took of somebody fishing a catch in Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon!

This one was fished off one of "Catch-and-Release" ponds. You couldn't cook the catch you made here. You have to release them back into the water. Good for sport fishing! Fishes are not as big as the game overseas though.

Liloan Trippers Visit Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon!

As we have promised in our previous post, we are going back to Liloan to visit the ziplines that have been constructed in our dear second home. We had two choices, Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon and dPond. Since Papa Kit's is nearer to the center of town where Swerve and I usually meet, we decided to check it out.

Entrance was 100 pesos per person, and consumable in any of the two restaurants that are in the amazingly large property. There were plenty of things that you could do and these would include horseback riding and fishing at the lagoons/ponds. These have corresponding charges, but in my excitement, I forgot to take a picture of the charge schedule found right at the entrance.

There, of course, is the Zipline. As seen from the pictures below, they indeed cross a part of Silot Bay and it's not a simple feat. You have to climb a four-storey structure and once you get to the top, they attach you via a harness to the Zipline and flung you across Silot Bay. For only 200 pesos back and forth, you get to enjoy the beauty of Silot Bay from the sky. Swerver was enthusiastic about trying it, but I wasn't. However, there had been so many people in there as it was a Sunday when we visited so Swerve wasn't able to get his turn.

Oh, about fishing... there are four ponds in which you can fish. Two of these ponds are simply game fishing; when you catch the fish, you'd have to return them back to the pond. Fishing in these waters are no simple feat. The fishes are big! When we arrived, the fishes were right in front but were quick to swim away thus denying me a chance to take their pictures. This guy, however had a lucky catch.

I have a video of him hauling his catch from the pond, and it sure was a fight! I will upload the video to YouTube soon and embed it in a separate blog soon.

To get to Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon, turn right from the Church towards Catarman. The entrance to the property can be easily spotted at the right of the road, just before the road turns slightly left and before you reach the bridge crossing to Catarman. There is also an easily seen sign that indicates the entrance to Papa Kit's.

Don't hesitate to visit Papa Kit's! The experience is certainly worth it! It was for me and Swerve.

~Immortalundead

Support Project: Einstrider!

It's been three years since the Liloan Trippers project had been founded. During the early days of the blog, we were operating with the intent of trying to grab the win for the blogging contest hosted by the provincial government of Cebu through the Mandaue Business Month event.

Swerve and I had been a practically "Johnny come lately" (in Swerver's own words) to the contest, with only two weeks remaining before judging. It was remarkable how many views and visits we were able to generate in just two weeks since joining; we even overtook the leading blog of that time in terms of visits. Read more about Swerver's recounting of the contest here.

All of that was possible through your support dear readers. Despite the fact that we only used Friendster's Bulletin pages and our Multiply pages Immortalundead and Swerver to promote this site, we were still able to garner a phenomenal response from our avid supporters.

Since then, Swerver and I had been involved in various projects both in and outside the blogging world. I had been involved with organizing and participating in a group of anime enthusiasts, while at the same pursuing my photography interests. Swerver had a lot of interesting exploits as well including his short film Sabongero where he plays Boyax, the lead character.

Watch Sabongero through Vimeo, and find more information through its Multiply page.

As for myself, I didn't expect it but I found myself involved in an independent film project as well. Well, not exactly a film project but a video project. Our project is called Project: Einstrider, a series of short films that revolve around a central story. The story revolves around a world where cybernetic implants are prevalent, giving people the ability to do superhuman feats. However, the approach is kind of like Heroes, where people with abilities still look normal people and lead lives the way normal people around us would.

Please support our project! We have released our first video, Project Einstrider: Ignition, where we show the characters that will be featured in the series of videos that we will soon be releasing within this year. Support us by viewing the video through our Youtube channel.

More information about Project: Einstrider can be obtained through our Facebook Fan Page. A blog is in the works, and would be launched as soon as possible.

Ziplines in Liloan?

After a full two years of hiatus, the Liloan Trippers have heard of a new attraction at Liloan: The Zipline!

There are actually two resorts that offer ziplines for visitors of Liloan. One of these would be the dPond in Kawayanan, Yati, Liloan. The other one is the zipline owned by the Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon. Apparently, they are competitors.

Both ziplines were constructed in 2010. According to a report by the Philippine Star, the Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon zipline was sponsored financially by the family of Democrito Mendoza. Total amount invested in the zipline reached 3 million pesos. The article states that work on the zipline took only a month. The zipline was officially opened to the public on December 2010. They even got an assistant priest at the local parish to ride and bless the ziplines on the inauguration.

The Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon zipline is 800 meters in length, and crosses over a part of Silot Bay. The other end terminates on the island named after the ill-fated lady in the Liloan legend in this blog entry by Swerver.

On the other hand, the dPond zipline is only 200 meters in length. Nick Abella writes in his Wordpress blog that the zipline is 5 stories high and crosses over 3 large fishponds. The system also utilizes dual parallel cables. There are three options for those wanting to try dPond's zipline: the Mini ziipline (35 meters), Big zipline (200 meters) or the Superman-style zipline, which is also 200 meters.

Work on the dPond zipline commenced in September 2010 and was completed in December 2010.

For more information about dPond, check out Nick Abella's Wordpress blog. Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon's Facebook fan page should give you all that you need as well including information on rates and open times.

Liloan Trippers: Advanced 1st Year Anniversary Outing

As an advanced 1 year anniversary celebration, the Liloan Trippers organized a second tour of the town courtesy of Archie once again and his uncle last June 17. Unfortunately, Swerver wasn't able to participate as he got problems at the last minute. Work-related so he had to forgo this against his heart. We'll have another one soon.

This time I was with two new recruits: Christian and my friend Don.


We just came back from Mulao and having a late lunch, so please forgive the somber expressions we all had. We were bone tired.

Anyway, the tour started as it did when we first had it with Archie and Rolly way back. In a way, this brings back memories but this time, we have managed to snag our first foreigner (Don) and the third recruit to the town after Roniel in the person of Christian.

The first place we visited, just like last year is Silot Bay. What I found out there was that Silot Bay's waters have been cordoned off from the seafaring public because it is already a marine sanctuary. No one can get in there without the Bantay Dagat peeps firing warning shots at them. Here are some pictures (the place looks the same though).



After that, we went up to the former golf course in Appolo, where I saw the shrubs had grown up around that tree which I took a picture of last year. Check it out here for comparison.

Here are the pictures of the site now, including that tree:




We also were able to visit that wharf Swerver and I had been looking for. We were looking at the wrong direction. It was located just below the Appolo Golf Course, and only a few minutes from it. However, it was weird that we were not allowed in because we had an American with us. Anyway here are some pictures that I managed to take there:






Last but not the least were the rocks of Mulao. I really didn't want to go there, but Archie mentioned it and Don liked it since he saw the pictures. I had a negative experience there, but I won't let that dampen your interests. For merits, Archie found a shorter route to the Stone Boat, but though it was shorter those rocks still make for good obstacles to the destination. I was too tired to remember to take a picture of the Stone Boat. Oh well...




Last but not the least was the Parola. Now, no need to post pictures of these as I have been there a lot of times and took quite a lot in different lighting conditions. In Bagacay Light Point, we had two large Red Horse beers and relaxed after such a tiring trip especially after that experience in Mulao River. The halo-halo was forsaken as well since our American friend wanted beer instead.

There have been several things that we uncovered. Although we didn't visit it, we heard talk about a certain blue stone located forward of the Stone Boat. Like it is named, it is a stone of a blue color. However, since it is located in the same place as the Stone Boat, it seems like the Liloan Trippers might never see it in person unless we spend a lot of time preparing for it: i.e. jogging, stocking up on water, and getting the necessary equipment.

Happy Anniversary, Liloan Trippers!

~Immortalundead

What Happened to the Liloan Trippers?

It's been a month since the Liloan Trippers ever made a post in our beloved Liloan travel blog. Main reason is, we have never been to Liloan in a span of a month. That's because Swerver and I had been too busy attending to our individual jobs. Yes, the pressures of the Mandaue Business Month contest are gone but it doesn't mean we've forgotten about Liloan. We obviously haven't forgotten about our quest to put it on the map along with the other municipalities of Cebu.

As for me, Immortalundead, I have been tasked with so many jobs (thank God) these past few weeks. Right now, I still have Liloan on my mind with all those delicious halo2x and the relaxing breeze from the sea. Personally, I want to go back to Liloan. I'm sure Swerver does. Eyean probably does too. Well, as soon as we straighten out our schedules we'd go back there. Perhaps we might even go to other Cebu municipalities.

The contest may be over, but I still feel flattered with all the support that the people in both of our networks showed us. I still feel flattered each time I read all the comments in this blog about our posts being so informative. The best news I've had from this blog is that a group of students actually found our blog so informative that they included us as part of their references for their cultural mapping project.

This group plans to explore Liloan as soon as they have the time. Swerver, Eyean and I certainly wouldn't let this opportunity pass.

Please hang on, dear loyal readers. It doesn't matter how many you are, but we are very grateful for all your continued support.

~ The Immortal Undead

Sights and Scenes in Liloan

Buddy and photo guy Eyean's masterpieces during one of our trips all over Liloan.

Liloan Trippers:After the Contest

First off, we thank all for the support and enthusiastic responses. Never did we expect such kind and amount of audience for a then virtually unknown town in so short time. Liloan Trippers entered the competition more than a month later than any other participant. Perhaps we were even the most inexperienced bloggers. For instance, we didn’t realize the importance of “strategic tags” at first. We had to learn a lot of stuff super-fast as we went along.



Yet, in just a matter of 15 days, the interest shown by people from all walks of life had been phenomenal. Against the then-leading site, we were behind by almost 400 unique views when we started. (For the first two days, only Swerver and Immortalundead visited the site as we couldn’t even make our Mommas proud for Liloan Trippers’ layout design.) When the blogging competition ended yesterday, we were almost 400 unique views ahead of the closest second. Based on contest rules, the popularity of a site makes up for a whopping total of 70%. We don’t think any other site (save one which was incidentally the eventual winner) was able to really challenge us in the popularity department. We only have you guys to thank for that. By the way, the remaining 30% goes for blog design, aesthetics and perhaps the content. We also don’t think we fared low, by any standard, for the 30%. We can even say with full confidence (and all due respect) that we came up with more and pretty interesting entries, not the normal Wikipedia-like contents from other participants.

Still the same, the hard truth now is that Liloan Trippers lost. This may sound like a sentimental sourgraping but we still couldn’t understand it how come. Why?

Maybe the contest organizers added new criteria late in the game and we didn’t know about it. Maybe the judges did not receive it well that we mainly blogged about one Cebu town, instead of the whole Cebu province. But we made known of our intention from the beginning and they didn’t give a word that it was a wrong move. We stated our decision even in some Liloan Trippers posts that while we focus on Liloan, inevitably, other places in Cebu also get to be featured on the side. You can never separate One Cebu. Liloan is still part of Cebu Province. Hence, a good advertising campaign for Liloan is good for all of Cebu Province. Liloan is in the countryside. Thus, promoting the town's tourism will further the shared goal of blogging organizers and Cebuanos in general to highlight the strong partnerships for development of a bustling industrial metropolis utilizing resources from a vibrant countryside.



“We feel that Liloan is one of the most underrated towns in Cebu. Given enough exposure, Liloan will provide a significant option for potential Cebu tourists.”



We also said in earlier entries that Liloan Trippers (being a Johnny-come-so-lately) didn’t expect to win at all. But the win for top prize unexpectedly and suddenly came as clear as Liloan’s sunrise as the days went along. Maybe they took the former statement too seriously and it was completely okay for them to deny us the win. We hope that the blogging judges actually read all Liloan Trippers’ entries and checked our hits. Why were there winners already on August 30 if the contest culmination was supposedly August 31? Why was Liloan Trippers not included in the official list of participating blog entries? We formally joined the contest and they even asked us, which we did, to include their default and sponsorship widgets. Ultimately, we just wish that we lost for the right reasons.



Despite it all, and in all honesty, the Liloan Trippers are overwhelmed with the turnout. We have checked the other participants’ sites and we couldn’t help in asking ourselves who promoted Cebu more. We are proud to note that foreigners from as far as Arizona, Egypt, New York, U.K., etc, have been keen readers of the site and have shown genuine interest to give Liloan a visit if given the chance. Mainly through the help of friendly networking and linking, we believe we have achieved something great. That is, if being able to make some foreigners to add Filipino words such as “halo-halo,” “lilo” and “habal-habal” in their vocabulary counts. In view of this, Liloan Trippers will stick to its original plan of featuring Liloan and Cebu past the blogging contest. Again, Liloan Trippers is not in any way paid to do so (or not yet anyway). ;-) We are doing this for the sheer fun of being trippers and having to enjoy Liloan’s rosquillos dipped into halo-halo once in awhile.

-- Liloan Trippers (written by Swerver)

p.s. Tomorrow, in fact, we will be in Liloan again to have more pro-level pictures courtesy of Eyean. Do check out for that! Ciao!



p.p.s. I don’t know why but this whole thing makes me miss Serena Dalrymple. Remember that cute girl in old Jollibee commercial who said to Aga Mulach “isa pa, isa pang chicken joy”?

Inside San Fernando Rey Church

By the sweats of forced labor, the church of Liloan was built in 1847. As previously blogged, we asked the parish priest's permission to take pictures of the underground tunnel. The priest couldn't know where the opening of the tunnel is.

It was reported that during the American offensive to liberate the Philippines in WWII, the US Airfoce dropped bombs to destroy the church. It was absolutely an easy target yet there were no hits (only big holes in the ground). It was as if the bombs were like "thrown stones deflected in their flight by a sword."

Was it because Liloan Church's patron saint was a warrior king?

Take a look at the well-designed and highly furnished interiors of the church.