Rey Anthony H. Chiu
BOHOL, May 20 (PIA) --From the crevices of this uninhabited isle
off Badiang Anda, rise supplications to the gods offerings to appease the
bad spirits and thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest, fish catch and productive
hunting.
This is Lamanoc Island a place avoided by most locals who
fear the graveyards and the spirits homing in this karst cliffs and its
numerous mystical crevices.
Here too are countless bones, shards of broken jar, wooden dug-out
coffins, remnants of offerings: empty wine bottles, human bones, wild boar jaws
and a pile of white chicken feathers lie somewhere, awaiting for the breeze to
blow them off.
Lamanoc Island has been pinned in the region's healers and quack
doctors map as a sacred place, its numerous caves a testament of the countless
rituals these medicine men have to perform to tap the powers of nature to
continue with their healing.
An annual visit to this island promontory in Bohol then is for
them, an imperative one can't simply forego.
For everyone also, Lamanoc allows every Boholano that rare chance
to be reconnected to the past, one that could be far advanced compared to other
settlements in those times.
The Graveyard Rock Shelter
The Lamanoc graveyard, is technically not a yard. It is a rock
ledge facing the seas of the island's south east side. Elevated at about 20
meters from the sea level, the ledge can be accessed by following a trail
carved in the cliff's rocky face, leading to a cleared rock shelter.
At the rock shelter, the air is humid, perhaps it had something to
do with the climb.
The graveyard features clay jar shards with traces of
pre-hispanic designs, bones now encased in a glass topped cement box after
they lay scattered for decades and wooden dug-out coffins placed in the
nooks of the ledge.
These wooden coffins, points out Lamanoc caretaker and tour guide
Fortunato Simbajon are either primary (the dead were placed inside),
secondary (after the flesh has eroded, the bones are collected and replaced
inside) or multiple tertiary, (bones collected from relatives graves are placed
inside).
Boholano natives in the tradition of the people in the
western pacific islands bury their dead in the same manner: in huge clay
jars or wooden coffins and placed facing the east, where the spirits rise,
Simbajon said.
Archeologists said a human bone can last for about a 100 years
after which they decompose, Simbajon added, hinting that the oldest bone in the
ledge could be less than a 100 years.
Spanish period Bohol however started burying their dead in
cemeteries making the assumption that some of the bones here could be over
a 100 years already. The wooden dug-out coffins of molave are possibly about
over a century too.
With the musty place littered with bone fragments, pausing and
whispering a prayer or too could be prim.
Ka Iska Cave
On the trek to another part of the small island one passes by
a rock shelter that shows traces of vandalism. A fairly level cave floor
is now clearly dug the stalactites and stalagmites show these telltale
signs.
Here, fishermen forced to the island by storms wait it out here,
says the hunched tourguide as he weaves his way to rock columns in the shelter
to Ka Iska Cave.
It was said that a healer from the nearby barangay was mobbed by
residents who believed she was a witch.
Curing her patients suffering from mystifying illnesses through
herbal medicines and rituals, Francisca became popular until the village turned
on her and drove her off to Lamanoc, certain that no one would follow
her.
Settling on a cave, Francisca lived a peaceful life until the
people in the village mustered the courage to pursue her in the cave moss-lined
multi-chamber cave featuring arches and passageways too narrow for a group to
venture into.
Many believe Iska has died. Some people professed they still see
her in the cave, Simbajon said.
Titanic Rock and Bil-aton Pass
Another moderate trek down the trail and it leads to a few meters
above sea level on the eastern side of Lamanoc. From the waterline, an
islet floats a couple of hundred meters from Lamanoc-- Titanic Island,
because when you view it from the south, it looks like a ship.
Largely limestone with sharp rocky foundation, like any of the
numerous karst bases, the island has your tropical green trees and study
shrubs as crown, the limestone whites of the cliff sides forming stark contrast
with the white and grey boulders upon which exude the aura worthy of awe.
A small rock lays anchored on its left side and the space in
between these two is just narrow enough for a paddleboat to slip
through. This isle is also called Bil-aton, according to the over 60 years
old guide.
At night fall, if it's no man's land at Lamanoc that
unwritten code is revered even more in Bil-aton. Simbajon, who has had
over ten year of sallying back and forth the island hints something even more
mystifying there.
Shaman's Cave and Diwatas
On the northeastern side of the island just a little above
the seas edge is the ritual cave of the shamans who frequent the place.
Outside the cave at its mouth empty bottles of cheap gin
and occasional pile of chicken feathers remnants of ritual offerings
performed in the cave or at its mouth, when the cave is occupied by offering
healers, Nong Forting said.
Accessible through a tricky navigation over sharp rocks carved by
the thunderous waves below, Shaman's cave features a hall which hides a ritual
altar behind a rock wall which can be scaled. The hidden platform now contains
personal effects of healers who died without somebody picking up the healing
tradition.
The right niche of the cave shows a National Museum inventory tag,
and way below it is a low rock curtain that hides another opening: this one
accordingly goes to the ten altars for the healers who come to the
island.
Nobody in the nearby area has ventured deep into the caves where
healers speak to the spirits and beg for the healing of patients who may have
angered them.
Fossilized Clam
Another wonder in the island is a fossilized giant clam, stuck in
a rock wall a meter above sea level.
This fossil proves Lamanoc island is but among the older islands
in the archipelago, maybe in the countr. The giant clam can well be over a
foot in diameter. Perhaps a proper carbon dating can help us determine
the age of the fossil giant clam.
The island ritual sites also show numerous giant clam shells, one
of the biggest is at the graveyard. But most of these giant clams shells are
separated from where they may have stuck while still alive.
This proof or the giant clam provenance in the area was enough
reason for the local leaders to seed new giant clams in the nearby marine
sanctuary, to help re-propagate one of the most potent agents for
biodiversity.
Tangob Cave
Resident tour guide Fortunato "Forting" Simbajon would
get you to Tangob Cave, a huge rock shelter covered by mangroves on the island
facing the south east.
Tangob, according to Nong Forting is a place where the Muslim
traders hid their stash of goods which they would sell to the coastal trading
communities in the Visayas and Luzon.
There was never an animosity between Boholanos and the Muslims,
until the coming of the Spaniards, he said.
When the Spaniards came, they convinced the Boholanos that the
Muslims were the enemy, the guide said.
Well, with the historic pangayaw as tradition of the southern
islands , Muslim raids were regular occurrences during the pre Spanish period
and the details of a local lore of the exploits of a legendary fighter name
Kabel, comfortably resembles the Christain exploits of the moro-moro when
Muslims are defeated by the locals who fight beside a man who could fly.
The story of Kabel, as Nong Forting narrates, fit with the stories
of San Miguel Arkanghel in defending the shores of Jagna as told in their
Sinuog Estokada) and the Christain Community of Karaang Dungguan, where the men
of Punta Cruz, fight intruders with the help of San Vicente Ferrer.
Hematite hand prints and oak cross
On the southern side of the island that
faces Mindanao is another rock shelter which feature blots of red
pigment.
A close scrutiny would reveal that these are hand prints, probably
the oldest traces of printed mark in the island, marks using hematite.
Hematite is a ferric oxide dark red pigment that is used in the
hand prints.
As to where the printers sourced out the ferrous oxide, the guide
didn't tell but it should be one good story if the provenance could be
established as local.
Another anomaly in the rock shelter is the presence an oak log
which, according to Simbajon was soon fashioned into a cross erected
overlooking the sea.
The oak, an alien in the tropics, could have been brought by
Spanish authorities to Lamanoc where it was abandoned at the Shaman's cave,
according to Simbajon.
The oak provenance could possibly date the hematite, which, if
found to be absent in the island, could only be brought by some strangers
visiting the island.
The treks in between
If visiting the site in Lamanoc island is interesting so does
the treks. Lamanok is basically your rocky island of porous crevices where
trees and shrubs reach out their roots to gather the nutrient it needs to
survive. This also makes trekking across the island trickily delicate one false
step and you could get hurt.
The trek up and down can be burdensome to those who are
indisposed, but would pose a challenge to those who come unprepared.
Depending on the tides, the treks may take you wading the shallows
to the fossilized clam or Tangob Cave, but that too can be a nice test of
balance and footwork.
Lamanoc Mystical Island Tour
Upon arrival at the Tourist Center situated on top of a buff
overlooking the mangrove forests and the towering cliffs of Lamanoc, one needs
to maneuver down the carved steps to a board walk which leads to a jump-off
point where one can get a paddle boat to the island.
The board walk, made from bamboo stakes and mangroves are lined
with bamboo slats. The walkway cuts across a mangrove forest which could also
be perfect for educating tourists on the diverse world of mangroves and tide
flats: the spawning grounds for countless fish and crustaceans.
Over 20 species of mangroves can be seen in a short walk way span
but the most common species are bakauan, bungalon and pagatpat, all bearing
propagules this time of summer.
The boatman's quarter is a decent native shed with a spacious hall
where guests can linger and take breathers, breeze here, owing to the mangrove
forests is delightfully cool.
Next off is a paddling feat: one must step into a paddle boat and
make sure one doesn't fall off. A paddler would guide you to the 20 minutes of
cruise to the island.
Lamanoc, the mystical island s now open for tourists, just contact
Anda Municipal Tourism Office on their website. (mbcn/rahc/PIA7-Bohol)