Magsaysay, Palawan : Lucbuan Republic

Magsaysay is the second municipality in the Island of Cuyo. this municipality is home to the well known “Latung Cuyo” (Cuyo Seaweeds).

Going to Magsaysay, I ride a tricycle plying the Cuyo town Proper to Magsaysay and ask the driver to tour me around. The people on this Island are very nice and helpful. He was very kind. Our first stop is Magsaysay Municipal Hall, fronting this building is a monument dedicated to President Magsaysay who the town was named after. The Whole area is dotted of Municipal Building. only few  houses can be seen around the area.

After 20 minutes we went to Lucbuan, a barangay but for me its more of a small town, The barangay has a wide grassy open space fronting the Church of Saint Michael Archangel around the open space are the Barangay Hall and two monument, the first monument fronting the barangay hall is for Andres Bonifacio and the other one is dedicated to the President of Lucbuan Republic.

The Lucbuan Republic is a short lived Government established by Don Paciano Padon of Lucbuan after the fall of Spanish Power in the Philippines but ended after the arrival of Americans in Cuyo Island. My first knowledge of Lucbuan is after reading a book about Palawan that also tacked about this event. But unluckily I wasn’t able to find a marker commemorating the 100 anniversary of the establishment of this government.

After the Church and Plaza of Lucbuan we went to a beach but in my great surprise, I saw a ruins of an old fort. I just know from a reading about this fort which describes as:

” At Lucbuan there is another quadrilateral fortification. Details about its construction are unknown, it might be a 19th century structure. The fort is greatly degraded and its walls are much reduced in height.”

At the back side of the Cota is a path leading to a small beach that has a stanning Panorama of the nearby Mountain Island and a vast rocky coast of Lucbuan. The last stop for this trip is the Seaweed Farm in Barangay Rizal, which is just minutes ride from Lucbuan. The way leading to the Farm is a small but cemented pathway in the middle of lush mangroves and in the end of the pathway is a big expanse of Seaweed Farms. The Guy said before their is a bridge that connects each farm to another but unluckily a storm destroy everything. Now the only way to go is to ride a “balsa” (Bamboo Raft).

We went back early in the town proper so I can still stroll around and buy some food for Cuyo to Iloilo, Then have lunch outside the pier then went back to the ship early to bath.