Casaroro Falls

CASARORO FALLS

Our Dumaguete tour was mostly a Plan B itinerary. We never planned to go to the famous Casaroro Falls in Valencia because based on my prior research it was a tough trail going to the main gush and i thought my sickly sister and my wife might not endure the long walk especially the trail includes clambering up to boulders that requires endurance. Due to unfavorable circumstance, our supposed-to-be destination (Forest Camp) was unavailable for visitors because a company rented the entire place for an exclusive party. I know, it was sad, you can't imagine my companion's faces clouded up with the situation.

For all of that, the Casaroro Adventure after we visited Kookoo's Nest, though spontaneous, turned out to be one of the best experiences I had so far. Putting aside the dilemma my sister and the other girls with us went through, everybody enjoyed the trek and the breathtaking view of the Casaroro Falls itself was stunning. With a height of more than 100 feet, Valencia's Casaroro Falls is the tallest in the Visayas region. Located in the town of Valencia, Negros Oriental it is easy to find the Casaroro Falls because it is one of the famous destinations Dumaguete or Negros Oriental boasts. As the province’s most photographed body of water (as per wikipedia) and with its lush, green, breathtaking terrain no doubt our circumstance brought us their.

Because 65% of Valencia’s geography is made up of hilly terrain, the climb uphill and down a steep gorge to Casaroro was actually a tricky feat before the 350-step concrete stairs was constructed in recent years. This staircase is the only access point to the falls. Throughout the trail, dense tropical foliage can be seen and if you’re lucky enough, you may catch sight of a bird or two from some rare breed.

Valencia is less than an hour drive from Dumaguete City downtown area. One may take the trike (which you find everywhere in the city) but this is not advisable of course because it extends the total travel time. A good way is to find a van rental if you are in a group – rates begin at $12 (or P600) – and hire an experienced guide once you get to Valencia. Guides are usually on standby from the point where you begin the trek. Better yet, join a guided and organized group tour especially when you are traveling alone. Many are available and you can ask your HOTEL or travel agency about the options. Still another option would be to take the public mode of transport. Commuters take a multi cab or jeep from Dumaguete City. Fare is less than P20 and the unloading point is in central Valencia. From there, you take another 30 minute ride to a certain spot alongside the mountain. Then the hike begins.

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Hofileña Heritage House

Hofileña Heritage House

The Hofileña Heritage House, the first ancestral house in Silay City, Negros Occidental to open its doors to the publicin 1962, will celebrate its 50th year of service to the people. The celebrations will be on May 3 and June 15.

May 3, 3p.m., will be the open house. It will be sponsored by the Silay City Government under Mayor Jose L. Montelibano, with Silay City Tourism Office assisting. House Owner Ramon H. Hofileña will tour the guests. The Kabataang Silay Rondalla, winner of numerous first prizes abroad, will play musical numbers popular 50 years ago when the house was first opened to the public. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) donated Rizaliana books to be raffled off among the guests. Postcards on the house, which are Silay’s first postcards, will be distributed. The open house will be limited to the first 50 callers.

On June 15, 4p.m., a movie on the house, also with Ramon Hofileña as tour guide, will be shown at Silay’sSen.Jose C. Locsin Cultural & Civic Center for the public. Admission is free.

The Hofileña Heritage House was opened to the public 30 years before the next house did likewise. It is the first house in the area, still inhabited, to be installed by the NHCP with a historical marker as “national treasure for the present and future generations”. It’s also the first house in Silay, still inhabited to be declared by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) as a museum.

Built in 1934 by Manuel Severino Hofileña and his wife Gilda LedesmaHojilla, a former Miss Silay, it is an excellent example of a house style characteristic of its time and area. Its grand staircase came from Gilda’s ancestral house built nearby at the time when automobiles did not yet exist. Its wood is so hard that even terminates cannot eat it, and nails cannot penetrate it that pegs had to be used. The wood is ironwood or balayong.

Its furniture and furnishing are practically all Hofileña heirlooms, all authentic period pieces, some much older than the house itself. The hand carvedkamagong sofa, the narra four-poster bed and chairs are Spanish era. The German- Rachals piano is late 19th century. Among the antiques is a more than 3,000 year old oil juglet (Iron Age 11 900-589 B.C.), the oldest antique in the whole Negros Island. There are also the world’s first pocket books, the world’s smallest dolls which need magnifying glass to be seen, the tektites or meteorite from outer space. The list can go on.

The house displays the Ramon Hofileña Art Collection of more than 1,000 pieces, with works by Filipino masters, including Jose Rizal, and the National Artists. It houses Silay Printmaking Workshop, the first of such workshop outside Manila. Piano and ballet lessons were once given in the house. That’s because all nine Hofileña children are involved with the arts. They are pianists, ballet-Spanish dancers, singers, violinists, stage actor and director. Their involvement to the arts goes all the way down to the youngest generation.

The house played a major role in Silay’s development as a cultural city after the war. It was opened to the public to start Ramon Hofileña’s pioneering art promotions in Negros, and his drive for appreciation and preservation of vintage architecture.

“Then during the Marcos presidency,” Vicente Roman S. Santos wrote in the book EstiloIlonggo, “he dared oppose and succeeded in thwarting the widening of the high way that would have resulted in the destruction of several ancestral houses and buildings in Silay.” 

Today, Silay is listed by the Department of Tourism as one of the major tourist destinations in the Philippines mainly due to its many vintage architecture. 

The Hofileña house was used as setting for the movie interview on Sugarlandia by a Canadian movie company. It was shown in the November 2011 Toronto Film Festival. 

When the BBC Enterprises limited included Ilonggo delicacies in its 1989 BBC TV series to be shown worldwide titled “Far Eatern Cookery,” it used the Hofileña House as venue. 

The first meeting of the VSM-Western (Western Visayas Assn. of Museums) which is under the umbrella of the NCCA, it was held in this house in 2003.  

In World War II, the house was occupied by Japanese soldiers, then the Americans. 

Among the many top artists who have stayed in the Hofileña house were National Artist in Sculpture Napoleon Abueva and Manuel Rodriguez Sr., the Father of Printmaking in the Philippines. 

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Apo Island Marine Reserve

APO ISLAND MARINE RESERVE

Apo Island is one of the main reason divers come to this region.  The12 hectare volcanic island is only 40minutes from Liquid Resort and is one of the world’s best known community-organized marine sanctuaries. With an abundance of healthy soft and hard corals, schools of jacks, trevallies and barracuda, turtles everywhere and the chance encounter with a large pelagic creature such as a whale shark or manta, Apo Island has little to offer all levels of divers, whether you a beginner diver or an experienced divemaster you will not leave disappointed.

At present, the island is home to over 650 documented species of fish and estimated to have over 400 species of corals. Visitors and tourists pay a fee to enter Apo Island and to snorkel or dive in the marine sanctuary. These fees are used to keep the sanctuary clean and in good condition. Consistently listed in the top 10 dive destination in the Philippines this is a must dive day trip for any diver visiting Liquid.

Although the whole island is a sanctuary there is one dive site called ‘the sanctuary’. This site is closed for a number of months each year to help rejuvenate the surrounding fish and coral populations without the interruption of divers and snorkelers.

We offer 2 and 3 dive day trips and snorkel tours to Apo Island on a regular basis.  Our PADI instructors like to take their students to Apo Island during their Open Water dives 3 & 4 or as part of their Advanced course, this gives the student the opportunity to see two very different diving areas.

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