Boljoon - Cebu Philippines

The scenic winding highway hewing to the flank of soaring cliffs overlooking the Bohol Strait abruptly descends to Ele Boulevard and rounding a bend opens to an astonishing vista of Boljoon, with its old church facing the sea, lying breathless and serene in the surreal haze of the azure sky and sea. For a moment you feel you are transported to a Mediterranean coastal village. It’s a feeling that lingers long after you've set foot on this postcard-pretty town.

Its most famous landmark, the church is home to Nuestra Señora Patrocinio de Maria, declared in 1999 as a pilgrim church, and is built like a fortress. But inside where it is dark and sooty the finest carvings and bas reliefs are still very much in evidence in the retablos and pulpit and religious images, but as the church has been famously burglarized in recent years the venerable icons, the antique vestments and silver vessels, the baptismal records dating back to 1700 bound in goatskin, the decorative flowers made of the chambered nautilus shell are locked in a room in the convento adjoining the church.

A Cebuano historian wrote that of all Cebu's churches, Boljoon best conveys a sense of the country's colonial past. This is further deepened by the church's rectangular belfry, built in 1701, which used to be a fortification against Muslim raiders and slavers coming in from the sea. Its windows are constructed to fit canons and the walls of coral blocks are a meter thick. It had a great silver bell whose clear sound carried all the way to Alcoy and Oslob; it was stolen by the Moro pirates but because of its heavy weight it sank their prahu into the depths of the sea.

No other town in Cebu is closely linked to the history and legend of the 100 years of Moro slave-raiding (1770-1870). The Augustinian Fray Julian Bermejo, affectionately called "Padre Kapitan,” who built the church also masterminded the construction of a defensive string of baluartes, or watchtowers, and fortifications stretching 96 kms. from Carcar in the north and Santander in the south. They were all named after saints associated with warfare, including archangels Michael and Gabriel and a little-known 4th century martyr named Saint Cugat. One is visible from one baluarte to the next.

If you're adventurous you may climb a steep path to the watchtower on top of Ele Rock, described as "God's jutting out to sea” and you will be rewarded with a panoramic view of the network of baluartes in Alcoy and Oslob.

Otherwise there's little much else to see or do in Boljoon There are potential tourist attractions, like mountain climbing and camping in Kansanghel Hill, the remaining wildlife around the Boljoon River, pottery in Pondohan- all accessible by bus, jeepney, or the popular habal-habal, a passenger motorcycle oufitted for five. There are a few small beach resorts in town, but visitors to Boljoon, mostly pilgrims of the Patrocinio de Maria, seldom stay overnight.

Boljoon actually makes only for a great day tour, if only for the ineffable experience of breathing in the peace and serenity of the place while you are seated on a stone bench in the churchyard facing the sea, and being amazed that the air is so clean and crystal-clear you can hear the distant conversation of the fisher folk standing in their boats moored at the edge of the water.