Lino Photography

The Loboc River (also Loay River) is a river on Bohol Island, the Philippines. It is one of the major tourist destinations of Bohol, local and foreigners alike. The winding river plays host to cruises on board of small bancas or floating restaurants. Visitors are treated to a vista of lush tropical vegetation such as nipa palms, coconut trees, banana groves, and bushes.

cruising the loboc river

A cruise along the river starts either from the Loay Bridge (in Loay) or at the Poblacion of Loboc. The Loay Bridge is 20 kilometers (12 mi) from Tagbilaran City while the Poblacion is about 25 kilometers (16 mi) away. Small motorized bancas can be chartered for a minimal fee. For those who want to eat while cruising, floating restaurants are available offering Filipino cuisine buffet and local delicacies.

inside with buffet lunch

With the tourism fever, the floating restaurants were envisioned providing tourists with a first class dining experience on board floating restaurants. The floating vessels are made up of a covered platform on top of two large outrigger boats which are joined together. The boats can accommodate up to 50 people.

view along the river

Most of the floating restaurants treat their guests with Boholano songs played by in-boat bands during the cruise. The trip winds up the river and ends at the Busay Falls which is only one and a half meter at most. Here, the guests are treated to rondalla music by a local rondalla group housed under a floating cottage.

a delightful performance by the dwellers of the river

with accompanying acoustic music

Local folks usually take a dip in the waters and enjoy bathing under the falls. Guests who have brought with them extra clothes are welcome to swim and bathe and experience the heady feeling of a refreshing swim in the river’s unpolluted waters.

swimming at the lazy river

another view I saw

The river plays a significant role in the history of Loboc before the Spaniards established the town in 1602. The early inhabitants made homes along the river.

It was in early 1980s that the idea to promote the Loboc River as a tourist destination started. -from wiki

The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Baclayon is considered to be one of the oldest churches in the Philippines. It is one of the best presevered Jesuit build churches in the region, although in the 19th century, the Augustinian Recollects added a modern facade and a number of stone buildings that now surround the church.

front of the church

Despite claims that the present stone church in Baclayon is the oldest in the Philippines, evidence places the construction of the church to 1727. The belief that the church was built in 1595 may have come because of a 19th century report by the Recollects that the mission was founded in 1595; but the same report lists two other dates 1593 and 1594. The date 1595 inscribed on the church façade is a later addition.

The adjoining but separate tower may have been started by the Jesuits, but it was completed during the administration of the Recollects, ca. 1777 as a stone inscription on the tower indicates. The inscription was recently defaced. The church complex was fortified with a wall built by the Jesuits. The walls’ coral stones were used by the Recollects when they built a new wing of the convento in 1872.

the church’s bell tower

Heritage Features: The church has two facades: an inner one which is Classical in inspiration, and outer one built in the 19th century by the Recollects is a portico decorated by three arches. The addition of porticoes to the façade seems to have been a style prevalent in Bohol and Cebu during the 19th century. Porticoes are found in Loay, Loboc, Cortes churches in Bohol, and Talisay, Recolletos, in Cebu.

The green and gilded altars are the focal point of the interior. They are exuberant versions of Baroque popular during the 18th century. Although the main retablo displays saints of Recollect devotion, the retablo itself traces to the Jesuits whose emblem and motto “Ad majorem Dei gloriam” surmounts the main altar. In the nave are found two benches carved in low relief. One features genre scenes: a goat tied to a tree, a coconut, nipa grove, and a man in stocks. A painting of the Ascension, Church Fathers and San Vicente Ferrer are found in the nave. These date to the 19th century.

the altar

The mission of Baclayon was established by two Jesuits Juan de Torres and Gabriel Sanchez who arrived in Bohol on 17 November 1596. They came from Cebu. Torres reports that he could not find a decent place to celebrate Mass, there wasn’t even a serviceable table in the dwelling they stayed in. The Jesuit convinced the inhabitants to build a church, which they accomplished in no time. This was most likely a bamboo and thatch church. Baclayon served at one time as the residentia or center of the Bohol missions, where the superior resided. Baclayon was one of two towns that did not join the Diwata revolt (1621), remaining steadfast in the Christian faith.

meditation inside the church

Next to the church is the old convent, which also houses a small museum with centuries-old religious relics, artifacts and other antiquities, dating back to the 16th century. Included in the collection are an ivory statue of the crucified Christ looking towards heaven; a statue of the Blessed Virgin, said to be presented by Queen Catherine of Aragon; relics of St. Ignatius of Loyola, old gold embroidered ecclesiastical vestments, books with carabao skin covers, and librettos of church music written in Latin on sheep skins. Here you can also find the cuadro paintings made by the Filipino painter Liberato Gatchalian in 1859.

Baclayon started the trend in Bohol of establishing parish museums. The amount of liturgical material preserved in Baclayon is impressive. The church inventory books have helped in dating some pieces. In Baclayon cantorals (large handwritten music books) was found the Misa Baclayana, a musical setting for the Mass which has been revived and is part of the repertoire of the Loboc Children’s choir.  The museum prohibits the taking of pictures inside, so I just took a picture of the window near the entrance of the museum. -from wiki.

the window near the entrance going upstairs to the museum