Ilocos Norte: Save the Laoag Central Elementary School!

Another heritage school could soon become a victim of misplaced priorities if nothing is done to stop the rampage. The City Government of Laoag and the Diocese of Laoag have both agreed to demolish the Laoag Central Elementary School (LCES), a Gabaldon school building built in the 1924, to give way to a shopping mall! In fact, there are two Gabaldon buildings in LCES, the other being the Home Economics Building.

The bishop is so excited about relocating the school to a different location because of the income the mall lease would generate for his diocese. And so is the mayor for reasons only he knows. But the parents and teachers of the LCES, and a majority of the Laoag business community expressed strong opposition to the move in published manifestos printed in The Ilocos Times in November and December respectively.

In their manifesto, the parents and teachers of LCES said, "The Laoag Central Elementary School (LCES), for its more than eighty (80) years of existence, has become a historical landmark of the City of Laoag as a "Bastion of Education."

They said further, "Education should never be sacrificed for commercialization, no matter the perceived increase in income that the Roman Catholic Church and the City of Laoag will realize from the conversion."

The business community, in its manifesto, gave fifteen points, among them the negative economic effects on small business establishments and stalls in the Laoag City public market, the displacement of pupils considering they live within striking distance of the school, the worsening of traffic in the central business district, and the destruction of the historical fabric of Laoag since the mall will obscure vital historical, cultural and religious landmarks, particularly the bell tower which is right beside the property. They also said that if the mall was constructed in the outskirts of Laoag, it will be a catalyst for development there and will lead to an expansion of business opportunities.

It's time to put a stop to this foolishness and greed! No to the demolition of a heritage school house! No to a shopping mall in Laoag's already-congested historic core! Save the Laoag Central Elementary School!

Update: The Philippine Daily Inquirer came out with two articles: Death of a Laoag heritage school and Laoag exec defends school transfer

In the second article, the statements of Raul D. Umengan just show us how shallow and uninformed a good number of our government officials are. True heritage advocates know that our country's heritage extends beyond the list of the National Historical Institute (NHI). He should read the definition of heritage before he makes these flimsy statements again. Heritage need not be declared by the NHI for it to be considered heritage. Many LGUs know this and have a lot of heritage sites not in the NHI list but which they value and safeguard. It is sad that Umengan and company do not know what heritage is! And to think I looked up to you as a teacher in grade school. Didn't you teach Araling Panlipunan?

Related entry
Statement of the Heritage Conservation Society on the Laoag Central Elementary School

Ilocos Norte & Ilocos Sur: More great stopovers in Ilocos

It was time for our drive down south to Baguio City. It was a leisurely drive from Pagudpud to Laoag since there were just a few vehicles on the road.

We would have stopped by Bacarra to check out their church, a national cultural treasure, which is known for its gargantuan bell tower. But since we had a long list of churches to visit today, and since I been there already, we decided to skip it and head straight to San Nicolas, just a few kilometers from Laoag.

But before that, we stopped over at the Museo Ilocos Norte so that Jiajin could take a look. At the same time, I needed to take a photo of it for the 2008 HCS Calendar which will feature examples of adaptive reuse. The museum, housed in what was formerly the Tabacalera Building, won the Gawad Alab ng Haraya for Outstanding Cultural Conservation Program (Adaptive Reuse) in 2002.

The San Nicolas town proper has a good collection of colonial buildings including the church and convento, municipal hall and elementary school. We stopped by the church to check it out. Our next stop was Batac to check out the Marcos Mausoleum again. This time it was open and we were able to view the body of President Ferdinand Marcos preserved with wax.

In Batac, we also passed by the General Artemio Ricarte Shrine as well as the Gregorio Aglipay Shrine. The town is very lucky since it got a lot of attention when Marcos was president. So there are several monuments, parks and shrines around town. These open spaces are in the town center and provide breathing spaces for Batac residents. Of course, we ate again at the empanadahan. This time i had a "double double" which is a double serving of egg and longganiza inside the empanada.

Another town I had always wanted to check out was Badoc since the reconstructed house of Juan Luna, another national shrine, could be found there. They also have this quaint church, the San Juan Bautista Church, which houses the image La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc. So we stopped over for a few minutes to check them out.

Next on our list was the town of Sinait which is home to a darkened image of the crucified Christ or Cristo del Perdon that has a sizeable following. I was happy to see that the interior of the church was very much intact. Is it something about the priests in the Ilocos Region (Pangasinan not included) since they seem to understand the historical fabric and cultural value of the churches under their stewardship. I hope it stays that way.

From Sinait, passed by Cabugao, then went straight to San Vicente, another town beside Vigan. Just like San Nicolas, it had a nice collection of heritage buildings in the town center. The church still has its original fence. While the school and municipio are of Spanish colonial vintage. The municipio even has a coat of arms embossed on its facade.

Another impressive (but abandoned) structure is the Asilo de San Vicente. An edifice which was once uses as the vacation home of the governor, it became the home of the Community of St. Paul of Chartes Sisters of Asilo de San Vicente when it was turned-over to the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia. Being a home for old women and orphans as well, it house a school as well which the sisters managed until 1946, the year they left San Vicente. It was managed by lay administrators until it closed in 2001.

We made a brief stopover in Vigan to buy woven blankets at the city market. But before that, we made a quick drive along Quirino Boulevard to check out the old houses such as the Quema House and Syquia Mansion.

Another stop was the Church of Sta. Maria de la Asuncion, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But we didn't go down anymore since we were a bit tired and I wanted to rush to one last church in that of Luna, La Union, which is a national cultural treasure. I had wanted to check out the one in Bangar since from photos of the interior, I could say that it's one worth stopping over too. But since it was getting dark, we rushed to Luna.

I was a bit disappointed when I entered the Santa Catalina de Alexandria Church in Luna since although the interior was intact, I noticed the santos were quite new for it to be considered a national cultural treasure. In fact, Bangar has ceiling murals which would make it a better choice. But I would later find out from Archt. Richard Bautista of the NCCA that two ivory santos were stolen from the altar which may explain why the santos are new (they must have kept the old ones). At the same time, the built environment it was located in was another factor with a well-preserved colonial town center around it. But sadly, as Richard puts it, the local government "Agoo-fied" (if you notice Agoo, La Union is full of all these fake colonial buildings, while they renovated the facades of their old buildings such as the basilica with this horrible unpainted cement finish) the place.

Anyway, we took Naguilan Road up to Baguio City. It was my first time to use this route and sadly, it was to dark to see the scenery. There are five roads that lead to Baguio namely Kennon Road, Marcos Highway, Naguilan Road, Halsema Highway and a road which connects Baguio to Nueva Vizcaya via Ambuklao Dam, one which I have yet to use. I think we arrived in Baguio at about 8 p.m. and went straight to Villa Cordillera where we had booked our stay.

For dinner, we met up with Doc Ryan at the 50's Diner which I really enjoyed since it was value for money as well. Imagine a plate of chicken, spaghetti and garlic bread, a slice of pizza, french fries and pork chop all for PHP100. I don't think Shakey's bunch-of-lunch can beat that!

La Union, Ilocos Sur & Ilocos Norte: Driving up north to Pagudpud

Our long drive up north began yesterday afternoon. We left San Fernando, Pampanga at about 2 p.m. (it was my grandmother's birthday celebration so we had lunch there) and reached San Fernando, La Union at about 6 p.m. We passed by the Ma-cho Temple so that Jiajin could see a local Taoist temple. It was closed when we got there so we were only able to go around the grounds and enjoy the San Fernando Bay sunset from the place which was high on top of a hill.

From San Fernando, it was another long drive to Candon, Ilocos Sur where we had dinner. It is a popular stopover because of its local calamay, which are flat like pancakes and covered with a clear celophane. There are two kinds, one made with brown sugar and the other with white sugar. Another product sold there is the Ilocos chichacorn.

It took another 45 minutes or so before we finally arrived in Vigan where we decided to stay for the night. Hotels in the heritage area are quite pricey. But after walking around, we found the Vigan Hotel which offered air-conditioned rooms for PHP795 a night, breakfast for two included. The only hitch though was that it was a common bathroom (they have rooms with private bathrooms just like the other hotels but it was in the same price range of over PHP1000). But since it was a Sunday, most tourists had gone back to Manila. So it seemed we had the hotel all to ourselves.

The next day, we got up early to walk around Vigan, the best-preserved Spanish town in Asia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was my third visit here so I just accompanied Jiajin around, from the St. Paul Cathedral to Plaza Salcedo, Plaza Burgos, and Crisologo Street which is the most intact of all Vigan's streets.

There are actually better houses in the other streets such as Quirino Boulevard where you can find the Syquia Mansion and the Quema House. But unlike Crisologo Street, they cannot be pedestrianized since they are major routes. From Vigan, we drove a few meters out to Bantay to check out its bell tower.

Our next stop was the town of Magsingal. It's church, the San Guillermo Church, is a national cutlural treasure. It has a very intricately-carved gold and green retablo. Outside, you could see the ruins of an older church whose bell tower is still standing. This explains why the church belfry is a bit far from the current church since they din't bother to construct a new one. Beside the belfry is a small chapel that was converted into a branch of the National Museum. There was a blackout that day in the Ilocos area so we didn't get to see what was inside.

Batac was next on our list of stopovers so we could check out the Marcos Mausoleum among other things. But since there was no power, it was locked today. But that was not a problem since the other attraction of the town was its empanada. It turns out that the empanadahan has a new home beside the elementary school. So after finding it, it was time for another binge. I have an older post on my previous empanada binge since I just adore these crispy fritters. For today, I had a jumbo special, the one with hotdog in it, aside from longganiza and egg of course.

We then went to Paoay to check out the San Agustin Church, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. A few kilometers drive between Paoay and Laoag is Lake Paoay. There is a viewing area constructed by the Kiwanis Club which is worth stopping over.

One thing I had not seen yet were the Ilocos Norte Sand Dunes, one of the national geological monuments of the Philippines. We had already visited the Taal Volcano which is also a national geological monument.

According to the National Committee on Geological Sciences (NCGS) which makes the declarations, "Though common in desert environments in the higher latitudes, the sand dunes of Ilocos Norte stands out as a unique land form in the Philippine setting. The dunes cover an area of about 85 sq kms, and stretch for at least 40 kms. Along the coast, sparse vegetation consisting mainly of grasses and shrubs blanket the low-relief area which is believed to have been formed a few thousand years ago through the combined action of wind, waves and shore currents."

A good place to view them are in the Suba Beach area. But the marker installed by the NCGS can be found near Fort Ilocandia in Laoag City. In some places, it really feels like you are in a desert. It would have been fun if we had some off-road bikes to explore the sand dunes. Maybe next time.

We made a brief stopover in Laoag to have my car tuned-up and then we were off to Pagudpud. Since we wanted to get there before dark, we had skipped several great stopvers today and reserved them for our trip back. But we made sure to pass by the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos, another national cultural treasure, and the viewing area for the Bangui Bay Wind Power Project.

The wind farm project in Bangui Bay, composed of 15 towers, is the first in the Philippines and the largest energy-generating set of wind turbines in Southeast Asia.

It was close to 5 p.m. when we arrived in Pagudpud. To make sure we got value for money, we stopped by the municipal hall to ask the tourism officer to recommend a place. He sent us to the Polaris Beach House which was right beside the Municipal Beach Park or White Beach.

Although the published rate was PHP1500 a room, since there were just two of us, we got the air-conditioned room just for PHP800. I was told that during the peak season, a room for two in the said resort could go as high as PHP2000. So I could imagine how much it would cost in other resorts. It was a good choice since the facilities were good and I personally liked the place relative to the amount we paid for it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach watching the sunset. It was a bit chilly for a swim but not too cold for us to avoid the water. Dinner was at the resort as well. We got a big plate of adobo good for 2 to 3 persons for PHP200. A bit pricey but what do you expect?

We're off to Baguio City tomorrow. The plan is to leave early since we'll be stopping over at some of the places we missed on the way up.

Ilocos Norte: More notes on empanada central

Sorry it took quite a while for the second part of my empanada binge. School work just piled up. Lucky for me, I'm on a six day weekend! I don't have classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. Classes were suspended by the administration last Thursday for President Roman's investiture and were suspended again on Monday due to the closure of Commonwealth Avenue. But it's a declared non-working holiday as well making it a double whammy on my professors' class schedules... hehe!

I could not believe my craving for Ilocos' sumptuous fritters is still alive since I really made it a point to buy an empanada at Ilocos Empanada in Katipunan last night.

Anyway, back to the Ilocos trip...

DAY 2. After breakfast, our first stop for the day was the third UNESCO World Heritage site in the Ilocos provinces, the Church of San Agustin in Paoay. On Paoay, Toti Villalon writes, "Built in 1710 under the direction of the Agustinian order, the ensemble of the church and detached bell towers are truly majestic in scale when viewed from the edge of the plaza that faces the ensemble. Detached from the church façade the bell tower tapers as it rises from the ground in a fashion reminiscent of a pagoda. The stone façade is plain at the bottom. Light, elegant decorative carving is applied close to the top of the pediment. A row of feathery stone finials that seem to gently brush the sky with delicate Oriental strokes accentuate the triangular top of the pediment. The earthquake protection system in this structure is probably its most dramatic feature. Exaggeratedly thick buttresses protrude quite a distance from the ground to be countered by a smaller volute near roof level topped by a stone finial. Swirling upwards to the sky, the massive stone buttresses take on a magical lightness."

I not only went around the church but took a quick walk around the vicinity. I did not want to take photos of the Spanish-period municipio since they were currently constructing an annex on one of its two azoteas/balconajes or whatever those are called. Sigh!

Beside it was the Gabaldon school building of Paoay. One thing I noticed about Ilocos towns is that they have small houses but massive churches and belltowers detached from the main church. Whereas in Pampanga, there are magnificent and elaborate mansions but smaller churches. Jojo Mata later explained that in Ilocos, most churches also doubled as forts, serving as protection against Chinese or Moro pirates. The massive belltowers were built at a distance to protect the church from damage in case the tower collapsed during an earthquake.

Since we didn't have that much time, I wasn't able to visit the other side of the church where one could find the ruins of the church convento. Maybe next time.

Next on the itinerary was the "imperial birthblace" of the Marcos clan back in Batac. Reinventing family heritage is what has been done in Batac, a result of the dillusions of royalty of my fraternity brod, President Ferdinand E. Marcos and First Lady Imelda R. Marcos. Since the Marcos Mausoleum is in Batac, people often mistake the town for his birthplace when he was actually born in Sarrat. The museum of another fraternity brod, Marcos' chief rival Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, finds itself in a similar situation being located on the Cojuanco property of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac City rather than the Aquino hometown of Concepcion, Tarlac.

Batac underwent a sort of metamorphosis during the Marcos administration to make it appeal to the fantasies and edifice complex of the former first family. And the Marcos Mausoleum is the pinnacle of that folly with the mortal remains of the late dictator preserved and enshrined there. The advanced wax preservation technique used to keep his body intact was employed in the hope of pushing the Marcos legend beyond Philippine shores, putting him side by side with other powerful leaders such as Vlademir I. Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh whose embalmed bodies have been preserved for future generations.

After paying homage to the Apo, it was off to the provincial capital, Laoag City to visit the Museo Iloko, the obra mata, I mean maestra of Archt. Jojo Mata. The award winning project, the adaptive reuse of an old Tabacalera building, gives visitors a glimpse of the culture of Ilocos Norte. After that brief tour, we were given time to loiter around Laoag. So it was off to the plaza for photos.

One sad thing about Laoag is the new symbol that welcomes you. Before, it was only the massive sinking belltower which one saw while traversing the bridge that brought you to the town proper. Now you have golden arches as well. The local government should be hanged to dry from the big yellow "M" for allowing such an incident to happen. They should follow the lead of UPLB officials who raised hell and ordered the removal of the large golden arches which were installed near the entrance of the UPLB campus.

After taking photos, it was back to the dap-ayan where the bus was waiting. And another two servings of empanada! With my stomach filled, I had to skip the picnic lunch we were going to have in Sarrat, the birthplace of Marcos, which was put on the social map as a result of the elaborate and costly wedding of Irene Marcos to Greggy Araneta.

The facade of the Sarrat Church actually collapsed together with the belltower during an earthquake in the early 1980s. It was repaired just in time for the Marcos-Araneta nuptial. Beside it is a huge convento and a complex of brick ruins that used to house government offices such as a courthouse and jail. Labels to rooms read "Torture Chamber" and "Garrote Room" reminding visitors of the grim happenings that used to occur in the place. After lunch, it was off to Pagudpud with a brief but important stopover in Burgos.

A UNESCO World Heritage hopeful under the listing "Lighthouses of the Philippines" and if those proposing their inclusion get their act right, the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos is simply stunning, a solitary masterpiece majestically perched on the foothills at the northern tip of Luzon. As people well-versed in UNESCO selections would say, it's a matter of packaging if you want to get listed. Believe it or not, the city of Rome was rejected when it applied the first time mainly because they submitted the whole city which had a lot of alterations already. But the current listing shows that they selected important sites in the city now listed as the Historic Centre of Rome.

Some people are proposing to have all the lighthouses declared. But part of application is proof that a site can and will be preserved. Some lighthouses are already in bad shape. And these rotten eggs may become the reason for the rejection of the whole lot. It would thus be better to pick say three or five of the best examples of Philippine lighthouses for submission to the UNESCO list. That way, the pitch would be more managable with lesser opportunities for scrutiny from the UNESCO experts.

Batanes had to learn the hard way with their rejection last year. In fact, the islands were a shoe in for listing. But the provincial government played know it all, or in the vernacular, nagmarunong! They felt they could do it on their own and purposely did not contact the Philippine experts who had been hard at work preparing the application for Batanes. To make the long story short and to put it bluntly, they fucked up the application requirements.

Nothing was to stop us from a dip in Pagudpud after Burgos. Nothing except the windmills of Bangui which led to a five minute stop. And a storm brewing which brought waves lashing along the shoreline! But despite the intermitent downpour and gray skies, a swim in the beach was a fun finish to the Ilocos tour.

It was now time to begin the trip down. But not without a stop in Laoag's dap-ayan for more empanadas! Hehe! The stopover was actually for those who wanted to buy bagnet but I had something else on my food list, two empanadas for dinner. After a brief stop in our dorm in Batac, it was back to Manila and straight to class. We arrived 9 a.m. Monday, just in time for me to cram a paper and attend my 10 a.m. class.

More Ilocos Norte photos at my Yahoo! Photos. Thanks to Karlo de Leon for photos of myself and the empanadas... hehehe! You can check out his photos at http://www.photonski.com/keinite

Ilocos Norte & Ilocos Sur: Empanada binge!

Yup, I had not one... not two... but seven of those empanadas which Ilocos is most famous for! For urban denizens like myself who rarely make that long trek up north, I might as well savor as much of the local flavors as my stomach could handle.

I left for Ilocos 9 p.m. last Friday together with an Arch 17 (Philippine architecture) class I was sitting-in with. Good thing the heritage conscious professors are friends of mine - Jojo Mata, Paolo Alcazaren and Nonoy Ozaeta. So to make the long story short, I got to tag along.

The schedule was quite tight. We intended to leave the night before but since most of the students had a physics lab class they couldn't miss on Friday, we had to cut the trip short by a day. Our first leg on the itinerary was a 3 a.m. stop at La Union's Oasis Resort Hotel to continue our brief sojourns in dreamland while the bus was stopped. Our tour organizer Tracy explained that sleeping while the bus was in a complete halt had a different effect. Breakfast was at the same place. So we all got up at 5 a.m. for the usual 'silog morning meal.

The first real stop was just a few kilometers away. Popularly known as the Pindangan ruins, these are remnants of the first church of San Fernando, built of coral stones in 1674. The area was actually the old center of a settlement that was to become today's San Fernando, La Union.

Upon seeing the ruins, we quipped, had these been in the City of Manila, Lito Atienza would have had it demolished under his so called "Buhayin ang MayniLA" program, maybe turned into another park & ride facility or another school building he could actually place elsewhere. For more on Atienza's infamous heritage destruction movement, you can visit the Heritage Conservation Society (HCS) blog.

The Pindangan ruins are themselves an example of heritage issues between players such as the church, state and concerned groups. The ruins are owned by a Catholic organization, as they are within the grounds of a convent. The issue here is how the local goverment could manage the ruins from a heritage conservation point of view given that the ruins are on private property, belonging to a private religious institution.

Right beside the ruins is Balay ni Atong, residence, studio and home gallery of Ilocano artist Al Valenciano. After college in Manila's De La Salle University, Al had already "started working on his desk as an auditor at the Philippine Commercial International Bank in Metro Manila’s Wall Street District, [when] his past tugged at him incessantly that to ignore it would have been impolite."

His write-up continues, "By this time his family maintained a second residence in La Union south of Laoag City and still four hours away from Manila. The La Union home is at the corner of the rice field. Adjacent to it is the ruins of a church built by the Spanish friars in the 1700s. What are left are ramparts overgrown by tall weeds, some of its sections, the favorite nesting place of expectant sparrows. The church has been a marker of many symbols. This is where Atong resolved to go back to his interest in painting."

With this done, it was back to the bus, back to sleep and back to lala-land

An hour or so away was our next destination, Sabangan Cove in Ilocos Sur, known for its abel Iloco loom-weaving industry. What greeted us at this once beautiful beach was an Atienzic local government project! Atienzic is a term which heritage advocates quip when they see projects with the Atienza penchant for destroying spectacular views and heritage sites. The sorry sight was a concrete boardwalk with numerous hideous concrete commercial huts lining the beach.

A few minutes north was a UNESCO World Heritage site. As Toti Villalon puts it, "The uniqueness of Filipino church architecture was honored by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee by inscribing four churches in the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Baroque Churches of the Philippines." And for Ilocos Sur, it is the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion in Sta. Maria. The National Historical Institute also declared the church, used as a fortress during the Philippine Revolution of 1896, a National Landmark.

According to Villalon, "Built in 1765 under the direction of the Agustinian order, the ensemble resembles a citadel sited on the crest of a solitary hill rising above one side of the Santa Maria town plaza. The architectural ensemble presents its side and detached pagoda-like bell tower rather than its façade to the town. Thick contrafuetes (buttresses) are attached to the walls, reinforcing the structure against earthquake damage. The bell tower is constructed a distance away, protecting the main church structure from possible earthquake damage. Approached on foot by ascending a long, wide flight of piedra china, steps that rising from the edge of the town plaza, the small, cramped plaza at the top of the steps is bounded by the church façade that faces the convento, enclosed by an arcaded bridge that connects both structures."

Most people don't know that the UNESCO site stretches to the other side of the hill, where the ruins of a hidden cemetery could be found. Trekking to the place was a blast from tomb raiders since we had to brave the tall weeds and foliage that covered most of the path. But we weren't disappointed with what we saw.

What disappointed us was that several large trees were cut, allegedly on orders of the vice-mayor. In front of the stripped part of the hill were a group of men with shotguns. We let the authorities in the NCCA know about it since this is a UNESCO declared site.

That was up the hill to the church, and down the hill to the cemetery. And then back up the hill and down to the bus... pant, pant, pant! We were off to another UNESCO World Heritage site, the Historic Town of Vigan.

The photos from Vigan could speak for themselves. But let me point out that this beatiful heritage city is not without faults. And McDonald's, Jollibee and Chowking are among the culprits. The ruins of a magnificent seminary were demolished to give way to these "signs" of progress. If you were to ask me, the solemnity and elegance of Plaza Salcedo should have been preserved. Now, these three fastfood chains stand side-by-side with the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Paul, the Arzopispado de Nueva Segovia, the Ilocos Sur Capitol, the City Hall of Vigan, and other important heritage structures in the vicinity. The people responsible for this desecration of heritage should be burned at the stake!

While the students enjoyed (or despised) the "amazing race" planned for them in Vigan - they had to look for a painting of the Basi Revolt in the Burgos Museum, mold a clay pot the traditional Ilocano way, have a photo taken at the Quema House, measure the perimiter of Plaza Salcedo using a one-foot wooden ruler, draw the retablo of the Vigan Cathedral and identify all the santos, and eat five Vigan empanadas and a bag of chichacorn among others... hehehe! - I went straight to the market to buy woven blankets.

Back to the bus, back to sleep, and off to Batac where we were to spend the night. Batac is said to produce the best Ilocos empanada. So after dinner, we went to downtown Batac to savor the fried delight Batac is proud of. Heaven indeed!

Time to disect the famous fritters with empanada anatomy 101... the shell is made of rice flour with orange food color to make it "attractive." The bright orange color makes it look artificial though and coupled with the oil, can turn-off any health-conscious individual. But together with a filling of grated green papaya, mongo sprouts, garlic, longganiza and an egg, this delicacy fried to a crisp is scrumptuous and irresistable! And don't forget to eat it with the vinegar-chili dip made from pure sukang Iloco.

After having two that night and taking a short walk around the plaza, I realized that there was an empanada variety unique to one of the shops. We all know about the double special - that's two servings of egg and longganiza in one empanada. But one shop had a jumbo - the usual ingredients plus crushed hotdog! So I just had to try it, which raised my empanada tally for the night to three! Simply superb!

Lot's of school work. To be continued...

For the meantime, you can visit my photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/ivanhenares