YOUR FAVORITE HALO-HALO PLACES: Original Digman Halo-Halo and Homemade Siopao

This summer, we asked Youscoopers to name their favorite halo-halo places. We tallied the responses and five establishments—three with headquarters in Pampanga, one in Cavite, and one in Metro Manila—came out on top.

But we weren't content to leave it at that. GMA's own Tonipet Gaba took on the challenge of trying what each of these places has to offer, and now has delivered his verdict.

Presented in no particular order, here is the fourth of your top five halo-halo places.


Original Digman Halo-Halo and Homemade Siopao
H. Rubio street, Barangay Digman, Bacoor, Cavite
(046)434-8135
P75/Special
P65/Regular


I grew up knowing Digman as just a single halo-halo stall inside a mall in Cubao. But Digman is actually a well-known barangay in Bacoor, its streets lined with restaurants, stalls, and carinderias offering their own halo-halo rendition.

Interestingly enough, each and every hub has the Digman name on their signboards and all claim to have served the first and the original.

My hungry tummy led me to this restaurant along Rubio street with a signage that features a vintage photograph of a kind lola, the name that says Original Digman Halo-Halo and Homemade Siopao in proud, bold letters...and a patent registry label.

I knew I had to ask about that patent label soon but first, my task at hand: try their bestseller. So who makes the best Digman halo-halo?

Ma’am Donita Gonzales-Manumbas, granddaughter of the much-disputed "original" Digman halo-Halo inventor, Mrs. Raymunda Ugalde-Toledo, was quick to detail its humble beginnings reaching as far back as the early 1930’s (they could not recall exactly when). Aling Raymunda ventured to sell her cute halo-halo confections in used evap milk cans. It was a huge puzzlement that she was able to fit in them all of those little, edible jewels.

Soon, their famed evap cans received an upgrade in the form of old coffee glasses. Each cooler was sold for 50 centavos by the 1970’s.

Nowadays Ma’am Donita, her brother Edilberto “Kuya Boy” Gonzales and his wife Minda are the ones running this business that has sent all of their children to school. Cooking the ingredients fresh non-stop and churning out about 400 to 500 glasses a day, they say, has now become both a science and an art to them.

According to Kuya Boy, tiny portions of each ingredient are key in keeping them all snug and ice-capped in the tall, prismatic glasses they now use.

This halo-halo sure knows how to bring me back to my childhood. Freshness is indeed key.

The simplicity of the flavors also creates a party in your mouth. How can you not think of it as such when you have this motley crew of white beans, saging na saba, sago, garbanzos, red mung beans, kaong, data de coco, jackfruit, macaroon, ube hale, leche flan, red and white gulaman and ube ice cream all jostling to grab your attention?

I am also now convinced that evap milk is the best kind to use. The sweetness of the fruits beautifully meld with the cold liquid that becomes more of an event as you chuck your spoon and take a healthy swig.

So which one is THE original? Kuya Boy has this to say: “Dumiskarte na sila sa sarili nilang halo-halo business- pakiusap lang naming ay huwag gamitin ang among pangalan. All they have to do is look up at our signage. Kami lang ang may registered patent label.”

He then seals it with a cheeky smile.
— BM, GMA News