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Rambling in Romblon and other happy accidents


I landed in Romblon by accident. A surprising number of visitors discover the province, which, despite its strategic location between Luzon and Visayas, isn’t part of the tourist trail and is almost-but-not-quite bypassed by the nautical highway. Many foreigners end up in Rombon because they took the wrong boat getting to nearby Boracay. Most of them end up staying. 
 
I was on the island on the spur-of-the-moment invite of a friend, whose family makes it a point to visit the province during fiesta season. 
 
Biniray is perhaps Romblon’s biggest annual festival. It celebrates Sto. Niño, the Child Jesus. Held in early January in the provincial capital of the same name, the fiesta is marked by parades, pageants, and a procession headed by a 400 year-old replica of the Sto. Niño of Cebu, which was commissioned by an Augustinian friar.   
It is an honor to be picked to be part of the Biniray festival.
The story goes that the statue was en route to Madrid from Cebu when the galleon carrying it stopped in Romblon. Sto. Niño must have been charmed by Romblon’s soft-spoken people, clear waters and majestic marble cliffs because when it came time to leave for Spain, a typhoon appeared, forcing the galleon to dock on the island once again. This happened seven times, after which it was taken as a sign that the icon should be housed in the Romblon parish church. 
 
The Biniray festival 
 
To commemorate this miraculous event, one of the highlights of Biniray is the parading of the icon around the Romblon Bay seven times, an honor to whoever is invited to sit in one of the many boats that make up the aquatic procession.
 
We park ourselves in Republika, a restaurant and bar owned by an affable Englishman and his accommodating Filipino wife. It is our favorite hangout in town, and serves cold beer, excellent pizza, and really, really good bread, still warm from the oven. It’s an excellent vantage point from which to view the parade, which is led by the Sto. Niño and is followed by “tribes” of locals celebrating via choreographed dance moves. There doesn’t seem to be a theme to the tribes, which can range from warriors, to giant baby-men, to dancing girls. 
 
We also made our way to the parish church, where people were in line to pay their respects to yet another replica of the Sto. Niño. The two lines extended to the street, with people patiently waiting for their turn to kiss the feet and hands of the Child Jesus. We fell in line, leaving after we had kissed the icon’s shoes, which had been warmed by the morning sun and the heat of a few hundred devoted lips.
 
Just a few meters from Republika is the Marble Mall, a one storey compound devoted to – you guessed it – marble. This is, after all, what Romblon is most known for. Things you can find here include keychains, house and garden accents, and mortar and pestles, all marble, of course. Some of the sculptures are quite modern, such as the giant marble chain links my friend purchased for his coffee table, to the puzzling, such as a garden statue of a little boy happily peeing while standing on two open palms. Leave the town and you will find more marble, the earth practically coughing it up. Huge slabs line the roadside while chips litter dirt paths. Both Republika and the Marble Mall are near the Port of Romblon, which is the easiest way to the island. 
 
Getting there is an adventure 
 
Before I forget, I have to tell you that getting to Romblon is an adventure in itself. There is the hard but fast and fairly comfortable way, which consists of a plane, van, and banca ride, which takes about half a day, or the easy but slow and “adventurous” (not to mention cheaper) way, which is to take the bus to the Batangas pier and ride the overnight ferry straight to Romblon. 
 
We took the ferry to Romblon and back, and though dingy and in need of proper amenities, wasn’t so bad, as long as you spend most of the trip asleep.  
A collection of Sto. Niños reside in the Parish Church.
 
Outside town, we liked hanging out at Totoy’s Place in San Pedro. Affectionately known as the only reggae bar in Romblon, Totoy’s Place is a picture of the island dream. A bamboo and cement hut with a laid-back vibe, Totoy’s Place serves good food (their chicken barbeque, for one, is smoky and tender), reasonably priced drinks (most of them, alcoholic), and offers fan rooms for rent for about P300 a night, all three popular with foreign visitors. Totoy himself can always be seen manning the bar or cooking up some grub. He also makes island-themed jewelry, which are great for pasalubong. 
 
Also in the area is Talipasak Beach Resort (also known as San Pedro Beach Resort), which fronts the beautiful San Pedro Beach. The native-themed, family-friendly resort boasts cottages, hammocks, a sprawling garden area, and a restaurant. Two large, but friendly, dogs roam the premises, barking at new arrivals, then later sidling up to be petted. 
 
Though we stayed at my friend’s guesthouse, we made sure to visit the resort, where we spent an entire afternoon swimming, napping, and in my case snacking, as I tucked into the resort’s banana pancakes and brewed coffee. 
 
Lechon and more lechon  
A gorgeous Romblon sunset 
Back home, we treated ourselves to a whole lechon bought in the local market. The pig is roasted Cebu style, but without the innards, the shiny brown skin crisp, covering soft, juicy flesh whose flavor doesn’t need to be enhanced by sauce. What wasn’t consumed that night became leftovers -- paksiw of course, but also sinigang na lechon and pulled pork sandwich (basically lechon flavored with barbecue sauce stuffed between a mini-monay), all ingredients also bought at the local market.  
There are other things to do in Romblon, such as hike its mountainous terrain (Mt. Guiting-Guiting in Romblon’s Sibuyan Island is especially popular) and hire a banca and hop to the other six islands that make up the province. 
 
Even though my Romblon vacation lasted more than a week, there’s still a lot that I have to discover. It is easy to imagine why visitors end up staying in this sleepy little laid-back town. I may have landed here by accident the first time, borne on a spur-of-the-moment decision, but next time, my visit will be intentional. – KDM/KG, GMA News Photos by Yvette Tan
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