Holoprosencephaly: Siquijor: Island of Beauty and Magic

I arrived in Siquijor on Monday, March 29, 2010, the first time I ever set foot on this so called Mystical Island of the Philippines. Many outsiders and tourists avoid Siquijor because of the many eerie stories relating to the island province. They say that the island is enchanted, that it is inhabited by paranormal beings, engkantos, sorcerers, and black magicians.

I myself have been warned by a few friends (who themselves have never been to Siquijor) to change my mind about traveling alone in Siquijor—or if I persist, that I must not spend a night there. Besides, there are many other islands worth visiting, like nearby Bohol or Camiguin. Unbeknownst to my well-meaning friends, I have already set my mind to spending a whole week in Siquijor. That would be five days and four nights in Siquijor.

Indeed, many eerie and paranormal stories abound about the island of Siquijor. These tales have persisted for years, scaring away potential visitors to the island. One story is that some Siquijor folks known as mangkukulam or mambabarang have the supernatural powers to bring bodily harm to other people, that when the visitors return to their homes, they behaved not quite themselves, having been victimized by powerful spells.

A popular tale regarding this is the way some Siquijor people could put a spell on you without your knowledge. Some would just look at you in the eye and try to hypnotize you and cast a spell. And another one, a little scarier, is that they will befriend you and offer you some food containing poison, and then some will just tap you on the shoulder to cast a hex on you.

Other tales are about scary creatures which appear at night. Since Siquijor is an isolated island untouched for many years by modernization, many enchanted beings supposedly inhabit it: these creatures come in many forms like the nuno, the tikbalang, the kapre, the aswang, the manananggal, all contriving to drive away visitors.

These are just some of the generic twice-told tales about Siquijor island that have somehow persisted up to this modern day. Somehow, people believe them so the tales continue to send chills on the spines of prospecting visitors. Many decided not to try their luck.

But no amount of these stories, real or not, can make me decide to stop or delay my sojourn to the island. I am determined to be in Siquijor whether there is a mangkukulam or not. And if he or she exists, I would like to meet him or her personally, and perhaps make an interview. Or force him/her to appear on Youtube.

To tell you the truth, the mangkukulam/mambabarang is the least of my worries in deciding to spend the week in Siquijor. One of my biggest concerns is if I can find a good accommodation with a beach front and a hammock suspended on two coconut trees. That way, I could relax and realize my true purpose: to spend an island getaway from the crowd and noise of Manila.

And so my journey begins.

Stormy Day Arrival in Siquijor

I took a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to Dumaguete (Negros Oriental) and arrived at around eight in the morning in Dumaguete airport. Outside the airport, I hired one of the several motor-cab drivers to get me to the port where a fast craft was scheduled to depart for Siquijor at 9 in the morning. On the way to the port (some ten minutes away), rains suddenly lashed out. The skies became dark and I thought there was suddenly a typhoon.

The sea was very choppy, but the captain decided to continue with the sea crossing. In about an hour, we reached Siquijor island, the rains were still lashing, and low dark clouds hung above the mystical island, like a portent of something ominous that might happen.

Nevertheless, the rains soon stopped, and the rain-drenched pier became slippery. There were many motorcycles called habal-habal in the terminal asking us if they could bring us to a hotel. It was only ten in the morning, and I decided to spend the day touring the island.

I hired a habal-habal, the standard transportation of the island. The habal-habal driver, named Johnson, was very kind and hospitable and was very fluent in Tagalog. He also spoke and understood some English. We agreed on a price of 600 pesos for a whole day tour of the island, or wherever I wished to go, whether to a nearby beach, the hills, or to meet a few mangkukulams. I really like this arrangement with my habal-habal driver. Having been accustomed to the rough taxi drivers in Manila who tell you where they want to go, the habal-habal drivers in Siquijor ask you where you want to go.

I have never ridden in a habal-habal before so I was a bit worried. But Johnson was a very skillful driver, very defensive and cautious, and after only a few minutes, I felt comfortable on the habal-habal.

We first stopped to a nearby hotel in Siquijor town (capital of Siquijor island), and settled my luggage there. There are many lodgings and pension houses in Siquijor, and since I arrived early, I got a chance to choose a cozy lodging room that costs only 650 pesos a day (roughly US$15.00). I thought it was a good bargain for a room that has a double bed, a private bath, an air conditioner, and a cable television.

After settling my things, I met Johnson again, who was waiting for me outside the lodging house, ready to tour me around Siquijor. The habal-habal driver, I soon discovered, not only becomes your personal driver, he also becomes your tourist guide, your assistant, and ultimately, your translator (I have only a very basic knowledge of Visayan, the language of Siquijodnons). Most Siquijodnons, especially the old folks have very little knowledge of Tagalog or English. So in case anyone decides to tour Siquijor, and decides to have some communication with the locals, I must say that hiring a good habal-habal driver with a good knowledge of Tagalog and English would be the best thing to do.

Nature’s Beauty in Siquijor

I have been to many Visayan provinces, but I have never seen any place quite as like as Siquijor. It is simply a majestic place, to say the least. I thought that a place with lush green vegetations and uncrowded white beaches is already a thing of the past. But here it is in Siquijor. Many times, I have to make a request to my habal-habal driver to stop his motorcycle so I could take a good look at the most beautiful sights, structures, landscapes and seascapes. To my driver, who has been to these places many times, these are just natural everyday scenes. But not for me, who grew up in the noise and crowd of Manila. I wanted souvenirs and with that in mind, I took my camera and recorded these images. Again, I am not a professional photographer, and all that I can capture with my camera is what my eyes fancied to capture. Siquijor is the most beautiful idyllic place I have yet been to, and these are the first glimpses I had of its beauty and magic.

This will be the start of my series on Siquijor.

(Please click each image to view the enlarge versions.)