Thursday, March 12, 2009

Road Trip: Surigao Pacific Rim

Another weekend road trip in the long and winding road of the Surigao Pacific Rim.

Surigao del Norte province being located in the Northeastern tip of Mindanao and geographically close to the pacific, with the Philippine Deep being tagged to its name, is connected to the rest of the provinces in the South composed of the Province of Surigao del Sur, Bislig City and part of Davao Oriental through the coastal road which is endowed with a scenic ocean views facing the pacific.

In August 11, 1997, under the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos, a Memorandum of Agreement was entered between and among the Office of the President in Mindanao, the Province of Davao Oriental in Southern Mindanao, the City of Surigao and the Provinces of Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur in Caraga Region, the NEDA Offices, the Mindanao Business Council and the Local CCIs to establish the Mindanao-Pacific Rim Growth Corridor Project, now popularly known as Surigao-Davao Oriental Pacific Rim or SUDOPARIM.

The objective of the project is to promote and expand an effective and mutually beneficial cooperation in the development of the said areas within the bound of their capabilities. Number one priority is the concreting of the coastal roads located in the municipalities of Placer, Bacuag, Gigaquit, and Claver in the Province of Surigao del Norte and the municipalities of Carrascal, Cantilan, Madrid, Carmen, and Lanuza in the Province of Surigao del Sur.

In the past decades, travelers from these provinces experienced the "lukso-rious" trips, with the term implying the uncomfortable bouncing and shaking of transport vehicles plying in the rough and muddy roads along Nubenta, an end point connecting the two Surigao provinces. Silly, a car passsing through that area can be recognized through the color of the mud painting its rears, the rusty light brown color of the soil rich in Chromite.

In a recent development in the SUDOPARIM Project, the Gigaquit-Claver area road concreting is 97% complete. These two municipalities located along the coastline are the last municipalities before the Nubenta. And so after learning about these developments, we agreed to take a look and experience the "lukso-rious" no more.

Taking a left turn at the municipality of Placer junction brought us to the SUDOPARIM route.

Then took a straight path following the major road down south which brought us to the next municipality, Bacuag. We took a turn at its Poblacion and rest for a while in its brown sand shoreline.


Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, Bacuag, Surigao del Norte

And then went on with the ride to the next municipality, Gigaquit.

An attention-catching river of cool emerald waters bordered with green vegetation made us stop along the bridge for a photo ops.


Then headed down to the next municipality, Claver.


Photo ops in the breezy point of Claver, with the Bucas Grande Islands from afar in the background

Along the ongoing road construction project is a good view deck of the Taganito Mining Company's mine site, a huge claim of chromite mines.

Our road trip concluded in Claver. After making the most in there, we immediately went back home. This time very confident that the trip will not cost us so many hours because it was already concreted, much more comfortable and accessible.

12 comments:

pusangkalye said...

talagang hilig nyo mag-joyride no? sa motorcycle---saya nyan---nakak-sunburn nga lang---keke....the inclusion of the word Pacific Rim excited me---

pusangkalye said...

ang berde parin ng Surigao even during this time of the year---me irrigation ba sa area?

The Islander said...

Tonyo, Surigao Province even the city retains its clean and green environment. buti na nga lang konti lang yung flat area dito, mahirap i-develop. Pro-progress naman ako pero i still prefer the provincial life.

Bakit mo natanong ang irrigation? Meron naman yata. pero mostly free flowing lang talga mga rivers dito.

Admin said...

Nice naman...

Hindi pa ako nakakagala ng ganyan ngayon...

pero next week, adventure na ulit!

pusangkalye said...

JP---ay--anu nangyari sa work u po? nakupo--sana iba sa iniisip ko.

Anonymous said...

ninduta jud aning lugara. dugay nako gusto mohimo ani nga trip.

Anonymous said...

i like the 7th pix..kakaiba cja:-)

Jasper said...

surigao is one of those places i wanted to dry and have a road trip. how long do you think will it take to get you from end to end?

Anonymous said...

hehe starring man c john paul..ija asawa iton ija tapad, jp?

Philippines Travel Blog said...

Ganda talaga nang bayan mo pre :D pwede bah mag tanong saan bah yung kagwait? may planu kasi kaming mag bakasyun dyan pwede mo bah akow bigyan nang detalyi tungkol sa lugar na yan :D

JP said...

^my pc detected a worm in your link...

re cagwait... it is a nice place, a nice beach located in surigao del sur. i was planning to revisit it during my birthday in june as they celebrate the same date with a festival.

escape said...

astig roadtrip. pagpunta ko diyan magrent ako ng motor.