Holes in Cave Fish Story

It is highly believed that there’s an opening to underwater cave (or amphibious cave) at the back of Liloan Church’s altar. In the old days (perhaps until the early 1970s), the cave opening was left open for public viewing. If you throw something in the hole, it would send off a hollow sound suggesting a sizable hollow space. Some brave souls even went as far as going down the hole.

The underwater cave could be man-made and used as escape route during the marauding days when Spaniards ruled the town. Or maybe it is just a freak of nature and nothing but a black hole. The actual opening of the “cave in a cove” is some meters from the shore at the back of Liloan Church. It runs underneath towards Suba Channel and back to the altar of the church or elsewhere. In any way, there’s a huge tourism potential for it. The cave could contain past secrets and other unveiled beauties.

Deep inside the underwater cave, as blogged earlier by Immortalundead, there were reports that the inhabitants down under are ancient sea creatures. Giant fish called cogtong? Octopus? Mermaids? We don’t know. And there’s not much available literature about it even in Internet archives of folklores.

So we asked around. The older Liloanons we interviewed failed to provide conclusive answers. Wanting for authoritative take, we went several times to hear words from Church people. A few days ago, we were able to finally “corner” Fr. Eric Jecong, the parish priest of Liloan. He is one cordial priest and appears very animated when he talks. He allowed us to take pictures inside the church but not beyond the altar.

Swerver: “Can we have a look at the hole for a sec, father?”
Father Jecong: Why?
Swerver: We would only take some pictures… very quickly. We won’t go down inside for sure. If the hole is padlocked, we won’t ask anyone to open it…
Father Jecong: Dong, I’m just new to this parish. I don’t really know where’s the hole or if there is really a hole.

I know he’s a good and sincere priest. Father Jecong is. But something tells me there was an apparent “air of discomfort” with Church people whenever we talked about holes. Something fishy?

-Swerver

The Woman Without a Face

If you thought Kris Aquino’s love life is the most colorful one in showbiz, you haven’t heard of Pilar Pilapil. She is perhaps the Marilyn Monroe of the Philippines or the “It” girl. I don’t have to defend that claim much than by enumerating some of the men (when I say some, I mean it) who for one time had gone crazy for Pilar Delilah "Lailing" Veloso Pilapil:

* Fernando Poe, Jr.
* Dolphy
* Former VP Salvador “Doy” Laurel, the father of Pia Pilapil
* Eugenio Lopez Jr.
* Bolivian painter Benjamin Mendoza
* Spanish journalist Michel Ponti

In other words, all the great and powerful men of Pilar’s prime wanted to love her, if not just to bed her.

Pilar Pilapil belongs to a Castillan clan in Liloan, Cebu. Hers is one of the earliest influential families in Liloan. She grew up in Liloan and perhaps used to swim with her nine siblings in the whirlpool-filled waters of Suba. The family compound of the Pilapils is just some steps away from where whirlpools and the Suba Bridge are. A true blue Liloanon, Pilar is.


In 1967, she put pride to her town and the whole Cebu when she won the Binibining Pilipinas title at such young age of 16 (she faked her age to 18 so she could join the pageant). At the age of 17, Pilar entered showbiz and, in the words of Ricky Lo, is one of the loveliest and most visible faces to ever grace the silver screen. She was a fine actress and once won a best actress plum at the Manila Film Festival. While in showbiz, she rocked the house not only because of her classic beauty, intelligence and wit but with her daringness and liberated attitude as well. The seemingly perfect face was not without faults as she was hooked early on with drugs and older men and her long-drawn bouts with depression.

Such a character, Pilar is. Even after her regular showbiz stint, she remains fixated to the limelight. What with her suicide attempt with sleeping pills, failed senatorial bid under nuisance presidentiable Eddie Gil and her turn of affairs with younger men.

And then after some dusts appeared to settle down, and having found her God, Pilar wrote a memoir in 2006. It was oddly titled “The Woman Without a Face”. Written in candid and revealing style, Pilar said that the book is dedicated to young women just starting their lives so “they can learn from what she’s been through.”

On why that title? Pilar wrote in the last chapter of her book:

"Looking back, I tried very hard for many years to look for the love of a father and find happiness by doing what I wanted, and what everyone wanted me to do. I did what my parents wanted. I did what my directors wanted. I did what my fans wanted. I did what my men wanted, but most of all I did what I wanted! I soared to the highest levels of success that this world had to offer, only to find when I got there that I was empty, did not know who I was, and even despaired of life itself. I really did not have a face of my own."

She confessed that after finding her God, Pilar has found herself and she has found peace. She has found love in the person of a younger man named Leo Peñas whom she married in 2002. Pilar and Leo are both Christians and share the mission in life to spread the Word of God. The woman without a face finally has found a face again. And that oh-so pretty face was first seen in Liloan. Perhaps even jumping on the waters of Liloan.

* Copyrighted pic from here.

Liloan Launches Official Site

Last July 3, Liloan has joined the biggest village in the world by launching its official corner: its own Web site. The site, still in its initial stage, aims to provide Liloanons abroad with updates on current events and developments in the town they call their home. The going-ons in each of Liloan’s 14 barangays are as well featured in the site.

“The website will also give a brief history of Liloan, information for potential investors, the profile of the town officials, projects and programs, and financial statements of the town,” Mayor Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco of Liloan said in an interview by Cebu Daily News.


The Web site will also feature various products and sites in Liloan such as the lighthouse that is more than a century old, its industries, and the current programs of the municipal government.
The site can be viewed here.

On Blogging Liloan

Yesterday, in the street of Liloan, a very prominent student from UP-Cebu asked me why we decided Liloan to be our “town for blogging”. He knows for a fact that I don’t live there.

Well, why not Liloan, I initially thought of telling him. But I did give him a short response anyway for which he deserved being a true lover of his hometown.

“It’s in small towns where you feel strongly the warmth of people, the culture and the individual souls coming more into one form of pride for what they have. I think Liloan has that. I think there’s so much more to Liloan than what people actually know. I’d like to contribute a bit to that end. It still makes me wonder about what other stuff Liloan is made of. Liloan is an old town and hearing stories about its places and history is a joy in itself. The fact that an old, intriguing town is very much accessible from the city is a huge plus as well. And, see, you have good air here.”


The prominent UP student later toured us to Silot Bay, where according to one tale was the place it all begun. There will be a good entry and pictures about that later. (Too bad for other pictures as we went there at night.) Meanwhile, the first picture is me at Hanz Refreshment, one of the highly-recommended halo-halo stalls. The second is a picture of habal-habal, a mode of transportation used in more hilly and remote parts of Liloan. Immortalundead previously blogged about Liloan's transportation.

-swerver