Pancit En Su Tinta Choku

Bernie's

This pancit - stir-fried noodles - has been featured countless times in Philippine published media and television programs that I may not have anything more interesting to say about it.

For those who have come across this only now, this is pancit dyed and flavored with squid ink and soft slices of squid, then topped with fried garlic bits, crushed chicharon, spring onions, and sliced kamias as the souring agent instead of kalamansi. The name means stick noodles in squid ink, from the pidgin Spanish spoken in Cavite City by old-timers.

For those who have read about it and/or come across it on TV, I have news. Asiong's Carinderia, the Cavite City eatery which invented and first sold this dish, closed shop several years ago. A new carinderia, however, has opened its doors and serves almost the exact same menu as Asiong's, including pancit choku, which is referred to as pancit pusit in the menu board behind the display counter. The photo above is the pancit pusit at Bernie's Kitchenette, whose staff told me is owned by a chef friend of  Sonny Lua, Asiong's proprietor. The same staff also told me that Sonny now lives in Silang, Cavite, and has set up a new Asiong's Carinderia there, but that the cook/s at Bernie's are the same as the one/s who used to cook for Asiong's. 

The pancit pusit tasted the same as pancit choku, only that instead of kamias the souring agent used is shredded green mangoes. The carinderia had run out of green mangoes when we ordered, so we were given kalamansi, which I supplemented with the very nice spiced vinegar that's also being sold at the store.

The pancit came to mind because as the kids and I were on our annual  Bisita Iglesia, an officemate called  to ask where she could find the black pancit. I was struck by the term as it was then Black Saturday, more so that we had decided to wear black shirts this year on our pilgrimage. After our survey of six churches in the highlands of Cavite, we decided to push the color motif further and went to Bernie's, to eat black pancit. We deemed it appropriate Lent fare, without meat (we chose to ignore the chicharon which wasn't meat, per se), particularly now that my eldest child is of eligible age for fasting and abstinence. 

Photo of Asiong's pancit choku, with chili garlic in oil, taken five years ago.

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Fishing Village at Island Cove

One of the water parks we had ignored since it opened was Island Cove. We became practically neighbors when we moved to Cavite City seven years ago, as it was just a thirty-minute drive from our residence. But its being located amidst Metro Manila’s sewer that is Manila Bay deterred us from enjoying its attractions.

It was the best place to go to, though, during the holidays when we could not get out of town. I had to spend an inordinate amount of time pep-talking the kids to stop the eeeeewwws and the eeeeewwws, but ultimately they relented upon threat of being left in the house with no food and no adult companion.

But by the end of our stay I could hear no more whining, only requests to extend our vacation, and minute-by-minute queries on when we were coming back. 

The resort shows its age – it looks like it hasn’t been refurbished since opening day – but it adds to the rustic feel, which we generally prefer in our vacation choices. And the water attractions were ideal for my kids’ ages – the slides not too sky-scraping that they’re limited to adults, but lofty enough to make my two older children have the time of their lives and leave me cowering in fear. There is a kiddie wading pool for the six-year old with adequate enticing structures to hold the interest of even the kuya and the ate. And the zoo did not have animals cooped up in demeaning cages, but were rather free to roam in farm-sized corrals.

As to the food, well, we were captives in the resort as there were no restaurants near enough outside to go and have a meal. There were two dining options, Sangley Point, where we had our first meal and the complimentary breakfast, and Fishing Village, where we ate three meals. Prices were not scarily expensive, but still with a premium. Service was fine, though, so it was okay if taken in the spirit of being prepared to spend when on vacation.

Sangley Point offers international fare, while Fishing Village caters to the Filipino palate and offers native Cavite dishes. A major reason why we ate mostly at Fishing Village, apart from the fact that the kids liked the food right on our first meal, was because it was adjacent to the fishing area. There was that relaxing vibe, emphasized by the open-air dining pavilion, benches and wooden tables.

sungkaan

Food was good, by resort standards. Nothing mind-blowing, but familiar, homey fare. Enjoyable was the sungkaan, which was sixteen kinds of pica-pica (finger food) served in the saucer-like wooden contraption for the Filipino game sungka. It was more fit as pulutan, and there were a lot of fishballs and their ilk, which made it pricey for its Php380 tag, but the kids had a lot of fun picking out favorites. 

lechon sa buho

We tried the lechon sa buho, trumpeted as an Island Cove specialty, but we didn’t find it any different from lechon kawali offered elsewhere. Tahong (mussels) must not be overlooked when eating in coastal Cavite, and those cooked in Fishing Village were plump, served in a sizzling plate. There was a dish called hiyas ng Kawit, which we failed to order and I forgot to ask what it was, but the name sounds interesting, so next time that’s the first thing I’m ordering. 

The halo-halo is heavenly eaten on a hot afternoon while waiting for tilapia to bite your bait, relaxing in the shimmering of the waters beyond. Just don’t think what flows into those waters, and a day at Fishing Village is a day well-spent. 

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Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park
Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite
WebsiteTel. No. (632) 8107878

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Casa San Pablo - Breakfast

There’s something about Sunday mornings that just begs one to laze around, take it easy, stretch out each activity as if to make it last the day. It’s the last day of the weekend, after all, and the day after it’s back to the reality of tolling for your bread. So you savor each moment, loathe to hurry, wishing to draw out every second and every minute.  

Casa San Pablo is the perfect place to spend a Sunday morning. You wake up to a silent, expansive yet cosseted green space heavy with dew, hammocks below sheltering pine trees a silent invitation to lie down again and just be. Secluded corners are waiting to be claimed. Multi-level grounds encouraging slow walks.

After the unhurried pace, when the sun is high, breakfast beckons. The spread tempts of a leisurely lingering meal, enciting a rambling conversation going nowhere in particular. Perhaps start with a hot cup of native tsokolate, topped with a sprinkling of toasted pinipig There was also a thermos of brewed coffee. The thick pan de sal wanted to be torn to bits and dunked in the bright-colored mugs of hot drinks.

But I sliced the pan de sal, and they became the perfect vessels for the excellent palaman arrayed on the table – kalamay-hati (coco jam), mango jam, kalamansi jam, guava jelly – suitably thick but not overly sweet.  

When appetites are sufficiently whetted, there are platters of breakfast staples on the main dining table. 

Long thin rolls of San Pablo longganisa, garlicky, slightly sweet, and hamonado (smoked).

Butterflied fish that were faultlessly fried, and tasted almost unsalted. Crunchy and flavorful, it provided a counterpoint in texture and taste to the longganisa and the kamatis-itlog-maalat-pulang sibuyas (chopped tomatoes, salted duck eggs, red onions) salad. 

Large picture windows surrounding our assigned dining area provide a picturesque backdrop of the lush environment outside, and it felt like breakfast in the garden. Our focus was on the rambutan trees, whose laden branches must have fallen from the heavy rains the day before, and are now being divested of fruit. About time they were harvested, anyway.

They were so red their sweetness was so obvious. And they were bigger than the fruits being sold every kilometer or so along the highways leading to Quezon. Succulence in the flesh, with small pits that willingly let go of their juicy abundance.

We were very much unwilling to leave Casa San Pablo, ourselves, but friends were waiting in Lucena City, and the bounty of that area is another dimension waiting to be experienced. We were three vehicles in all, and we left with at least  8 kilos of rambutan per vehicle in an attempt to bring a part of an unforgettable weekend experience with us.


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Casa San Pablo - Dinner

Dinner at Casa San Pablo was a grand affair, in the context of a grand meal at home. During fiestas, or perhaps an important guest, or a revered relative, has come to visit.

Providing warmth to the rather chill evening – it rained hard in the afternoon dissipating to a shower – was what I know to be bulalo, but which I also know as a proper Tagalog nilagang baka. Bone-in beef shank boiled til tender with slices of onion and whole peppercorns, the soup sweetened with corn on the cob and cabbage.

Then there was a platter of pako salad, which is indelibly associated with Laguna. The fresh fern  fronds were accompanied by slices of itlog an maalat or salted duck eggs, kesong puti (Laguna fresh white cheese), and chopped onions. The ferns, bland by themselves, were the blank canvas for the intense flavors of their platter-mates, as well as the various pickles and accompaniments arrayed on a side table.

burong saba, inihaw na kamatis sa toyo

burong bawang, burong mustasa, atsara

The chicken curry was mild, but the pork dish, sort of a dry humba, played on salty and sweet, with the latter more prominent due to the smattering of fried cubes of saba.

Dessert was delicate rounds of a milky flan, which paled in texture and lusciousness compared to the ube halaya. The kids were discontented, and wanted cake, so we had to drive downtown to a local cake shop that came with high recommendations by Casa San Pablo’s owners. And that will be covered in the coming posts. 

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Casa San Pablo - Lunch

I never had any second thought about getting the full-board package at Casa San Pablo. I was there for relaxation and rejuvenation, so I didn’t want to be out in the city looking for food during mealtimes. And it’s most economical, too. The overnight charge includes breakfast, but for just an additional P200 per person lunch and dinner will be included. That’s an unbeatable deal, considering a hundred pesos per meal per person when eating out these days will not get you anywhere near something decent.

And it certainly will not get you anywhere near what Casa San Pablo serves for meals. Served family-style, on huge platters and in arrangements that stimulate lively conversation, each meal is a nourishing and soul-comforting experience.  Nothing fancy there – whatever is available and bountiful at the market that day, coaxed to life using time -bound recipes from lola. So it’s not fiesta fare, but home-bound food you grew up eating, that you miss, and crave, when you’re away.

Unlike most hotels and inns, check-in time at the Casa is 11AM, and check out time is 10AM the following day. So when you get the full-board package your three meals start with lunch and end with breakfast the day after.

Refreshments begin with this cool, refreshing, power-booster of a pink drink upon check-in. Danica the receptionist waited until we all finished our glasses – the kids asking for seconds – before telling me what the welcome drink was made of, wrongfully thinking we wouldn’t take it if we knew. Other guests must have balked upon learning, and prospective guests may, too, so I’m not broadcasting it here, so the secret remains with me and with those who have been to the Casa. All I can say is, it’s a common ingredient across these isles, and I can easily replicate it at home.

Our lunch proceeded with warm macaroni soup sporting a green cap of what looked like pesto, but which turned out to be blitzed malunggay leaves. I forgot to ask if it’s fresh, because I’ve cooked enough malunggay leaves in my lifetime to know that the leaves turn dark green with heat, and these are still bright green. I’m thinking maybe they’re the powdered kind. The soup also tasted of chicken cubes.

After the soup, though, and after the minor shortcomings, it was all homey and country-style. There was lemon-grass scented roasted chicken, cooked through but still moist, and almost adobo-like. 

And there were thin slices of tambakol in a thin gata, the banana leaf wrapping perfuming each steak. I don’t buy tambakol  at the market for I rarely find them fresh, and I get queasy with the red flesh. But the steaks we had for lunch tasted like they were freshly caught, with no hint of lansa. I could not detect ginger in the dish, as is common in many ginataan to cut the fishy taste. Here it was not needed, and it was one of the most delicate fish steaks I’ve had. Skill, and home-cooking expertise, was evident in the preparation and execution of this dish.

A side of ensaladang talong – grilled and peeled eggplants that were diced along with some tomato wedges, in a sweet vinaigrette – paired nicely with both chicken and fish.

Rounding the meal off was ginisang kangkong, which tasted differently from the ginisang kangkong we have weekly at home. There was something aromatic in there, without the somewhat acrid, though very subtle, note that I’ve come to associate with kangkong. I was enjoying it so much I forgot to ask Danica what was in it. Perhaps it was just the freshness, and the waters from which they grew are not as polluted as in Cavite, or elsewhere.

The only available drinks were softdrinks, which my family does not consume. I found the kitchen short in this aspect. Don’t people in Laguna drink local fresh fruit juices? Or herbal teas? But a pitcher of the pink drink can be ordered, so I was appeased. And there was free-flowing purified water, too, which was enough.

Dessert was an entire llanera of the smoothest, chewiest ube halaya on earth. I’m not sure if malagkit, maligat properly translates to chewy, so if it does not then it is not the right word. Not sticky, either, though it does stick to your gums and molars. However short my vocabulary is, it does not diminish the qualifications of this halaya. Or perhaps it leaves me speechless. I suspect powdered glutinous rice was mixed in it, to make it so malagkit. We finished it off, and the kids were eyeing the remains of the entire llanera a couple at the next table was not able to finish (it seems one entire llanera is served per room), so I sent them out to ride the bikes. 

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Sikad-Sikad

By the three-step open-air façade of the Cavite City wet market, vendors sit on stools selling fresh catch from around the area on makeshift tables or bilaos. The offerings here are distinct from those who sell further in, in rented tiled stalls, who are resellers of seafood delivered from Metro Manila and elsewhere.

I always go to the local seafood area first when making my rounds. The variety always amazes, and lets me know what’s in season that day, unlike in the interior stalls where the fish are the same week in and week out. This is where I find malabanos, talimusak, lawlaw, local tilapia, alimasag, tuako, fresh dilis.

     

Most of the offerings are guaranteed to be freshly caught, too, still bright and translucent and slimy to the touch.

There was a whole lot of still-breathing medium-sized fat bisugo last weekend, which we had in a tomato-soured broth for Sunday dinner. But the surprise of the day was pails of sikad-sikad, which I’ve only had in Palawan, and which appeared very rarely in Cavite from the time I came to live here more than six years ago.

Shells commonly do not make frequent appearances in Cavite, and when they do it is only for a few days. They do it by species, too. So one day it is the black trumpet-like ones, a day much farther on it is small clams. Bisukol appeared once or twice.

I rarely buy, because I am intimately acquainted with just two species – bisukol and lukan. The one time bisukol appeared I bought a can-full’s worth, mainly for sentimental reasons - I haven’t had bisukol for years and years.

But when I got home I got a scolding from the husband, who litanied about the questionable origin of the shells, etc., etc. We cooked them, but they remained untouched, and I never bought bisukol again.

   

Last weekend my elder daughter tagged along to the market, and on first sight of the sikad-sikad suddenly remembered our Puerto Princesa trip, and so begged me to buy. The vendor, a suki, assured me that the shells came from the sea, and the nearby sea at that. I inwardly cringed at that, for we are surrounded by Manila Bay, and everybody knows what empties into it from all the densely populated cities of Metro Manila.

But caught between my daughter and the vendor, I had no chance. At Php40 a kilo, I thought it won’t be a big loss if the shells do not get eaten at home.

So a kilo went into our bayong, and we promptly cooked them for that day’s lunch. The vendor confirmed what most other people say that the best way to have shells is in gata, but I butt in and asked if it’s possible to have them in a gingered broth. She consented, and that’s how we had the sikad-sikad. Sauteed with garlic, peeled ginger  and a lot of sliced onions, then poured with boiling water and allowed to cook for a few minutes. I brought home some bunches of malunggay as well from the market, so we plucked some wee leaves and put that in the broth.

The soup was terrific, and we were transported back to our Palawan holiday. The Kabitenya sikad-sikad proved to be as difficult to get as the Palawena ones, though they were a bit bigger, and we had to break a lot of toothpicks (the rounded bamboo ones, the flat kind is useless) to get to the meat. But it was as rewarding, the snail flesh sweet and softly gummy, more than making up for the puny size.

I hope sikad-sikad season lasts longer than the other shells’, for I’m hoping to buy again. 

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Paksiw na Labong sa Dilaw

Mirroring other organizations in the metropolis, the staff in the agency I work for is a heterogeneous assemblage representing most regions in the country. This inevitably results to a cornucopia of regional delights for everybody after long holidays. More commonly, though, the regional spread is repeated every day, at lunchtime.

While I used to scoff at the elders for bringing home-cooked lunch during my early years, I have joined the fray, so to speak, ever since I gained access to a home kitchen. I realize now how much I missed during those years of eating out every single meal every single day. For lunches at the office prove to be a veritable tour of the home kitchens scattered across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The variety of the food that I encounter is as multifarious as the 7,000 islands of the Philippines. I bring my own lunch from home not just for the economic and health-wise benefits of it, but also for the chance to eat it with others. The moment someone opens his lunch box I am all eyes, and ready to ask ever so many things. What is that? What is it made of? Is that a regular feature in your home in the province? Who cooked it now? How does it taste?

The last question always elicits a generous offer of a portion, which I have been leading to all along, of course. After the tastings, conversation naturally revolves around what we ate during our childhoods, provincial favorites, comfort food, so that I learn so many things as well as get ideas on how to introduce more diversity into my own home-cooked meals.

This is a result of one of those lunches. Labong or bamboo shoot is definitely a conspicuous ingredient of rainy season meals, but I only know three ways of cooking it – sinagsagan with saluyot, boiled with chicken or pork, and atsara/adobo, all rainy season staple dishes in Pangasinan. This one, brought on several occasions for lunch by a colleague who hails from Majayjay, an elevated municipality lying at the foot of Mt. Banahaw in the province of Laguna, is a variation of the atsara/adobong labong.

But while atsarang labong is eaten as a side, this one is main course. It is called paksiw precisely because it is such – julienned bamboo shoot stewed in previously boiled vinegar spiced with garlic, ginger, fresh turmeric, black peppercorns, sliced onions, siling haba. The sahog is either tilapia – bangus is probably good, too, though I haven’t tried it yet – or pork. The lemony hue from the dilaw makes it look very appealing.

It tastes familiar – like atsarang labong or adobong labong, but it has that unmistakable earthy, curried flavor of the luyang dilaw, and the richness of the sahog. It is not cooked dry as the atsara, but a little pickling broth is left over, begging to be spooned over rice. The sourness requires a sprinkling of salt. Or fried tuyo. As I didn’t have tuyo when I made this, I just had a saucer of salt on the table, but substantiated it with tortang talong – eggplants charred over open fire, peeled, mashed, dipped in beaten eggs, then fried with chopped garlic and onions.

So now my rainy season labong repertoire has been enriched. There are other ways of cooking labong elsewhere, I know, but I’d like to hear about, and taste, it from my lunchmates first.
          _______________________________________________________________________

Mix half a cup or less vinegar with 1-2 cups of water, peeled and sliced thumb of ginger, sliced onion, smashed three cloves garlic, peeled and sliced turmeric rhizomes (about three pieces), a pinch of whole black peppercorns. Put this in a cooking pan (preferably a kaldero) and bring to a fast simmer for 5 minutes. If using pork, mix in and bring to a boil until tender, adding water if it is starting to dry up. When the pork is almost cooked mix in a cup of parboiled labong.* Cook until the labong is soft. Season with rock salt to taste and put in the siling haba. If using fish, put in at this point, and cook until the flesh has turned opaque. Serve hot.

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* Bamboo shoots are usually sold at markets julienned and parboiled, for longer shelf-life. If the labong is fresh, boil first before storing in the ref.


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Kipil

I go to the market every weekend, stocking up on fish and vegetables for the next seven days as I work during weekdays. I buy what is in season and what is abundant during my market days. Sometimes a variety of fish overflows all the bins that it sells so cheap, and I am prevailed upon to bring home kilos of it. This is why my husband buys me large two-door refrigerators with huge freezers (we've moved residence from one city to another a total of four times ever since we got married, leaving each ref each time to buy a new one).   

When a fish is  at a particularly give-away price and my suki fishmonger tells me to buy two kilos, I roll my eyes and ask what will I do with all those fish shivering rock-hard in my freezer? And each time, I extricate a precious nugget of information on the stand-bys of local cooking.

One that's repeated itself is this - buy kipil, and make pangat. I've had this advice for those pretty in pink dalagang-bukid, and for small round scad, allegedly the "real" galunggong, called galunggong lalaki in Cavite City.

And what is kipil? It is pronounced maragsa, accent on the second syllable. I've only seen kipil in Cavite City and nowhere else, but I'm sure every Filipino and most Southeast Asians are familiar with it. For it is not known by that name, and is not used like this.

For kipil is the flesh of peeled ripe tamarind, or sampalok, lumped into a stony, sticky, gooey bronze mound that survives in open air throughout the year. This is the same ripe fruit made into those stony rolls of sweetened tamarind sporting cubed crystals of salt. Green, unripe tamarind is also sold when in season, but for sinigang. The kipil is more common, and is for pangat.

When I was new in Cavite City I was curious, but wasn't baffled, thinking Tagalogs like slightly sweetened dishes, having tasted their nilaga with corn or saba, or adobo with caramelized sugar. I was thinking, of course, about those sweet tamarind rolls.

Two fish vendors had two methods of using kipil - the one selling dalagang-bukid said to wash the handful of kipil, and top it on fish boiling in water seasoned with soy sauce, onions and peppercorns. The galunggong vendor instructed me to manually dissolve the kipil in a pot of water and strain it into the fish, adding the soy sauce, onions and peppercorns and boiling like in adobo.

I am a Pangasinense, so I had to add a thumb of ginger peeled and diced, like we do with all dishes we cook. I tried both methods, and found that the dalagang-bukid version is tailored for that delicate fish. 

I prefer the galunggong way, though, as it imbues the fish, and the sauce, with the sourness of the tamarind that wakes up that collective national liking for tart dishes. But both kinds of fish do not lend very well to long cooking, disintegrating into spiny bones.

So I went out of my way and tried kipil with tulingan, which is ever-present in the public market at stable prices. Tulingan, after all, is famous in that Batanguena dish that stews seven hours in a pangat using dried kamias. Its firm flesh and thick bones are ideal for long stewing, absorbing flavors like sponge.

So I am now partly indoctrinated into Cavite cooking, but like most cuisines, my kipil dish is an inter-marriage of regional methods and ingredients. What I can't get over, though, is the intense sourness of the kipil. I grew up eating sweetened sampalok, after all, and I am psyched to expect that if it is dyed bronze it must be sweet. So while I was stewing the kipil and found it to be not a tad sweet I had to add a spoonful of sugar. It didn't really turn out to be a sweetened pangat, but it cut the sourness somewhat. And I found that I can be a Tagalog, too. 

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Bisita Iglesia - Coastal Cavite: Noveleta

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Holy Cross Parish Church
Noveleta, Cavite

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The Catholic church in Noveleta is the newest among all the seven churches in this series, being only about 75 years old. It is relatively small, its size and cozy, homey, modernist feel more apt for a village chapel than the impersonal detachment of a parish church.

Historical Significance

About ten meters back from the Noveleta church, in front of the public market, is the former Noveleta tribunal, preserved from the 19th century. It is historically significant for the entire province, for this was where Gen. Pascual Alvarez of the Sangguniang Magdiwang killed the captain and adjutant of the town's Guardia Civil. Their soldiers were taken as prisoners by the Magdiwang rebels. This event jump-started the indio rebellion in  Cavite,  responsible for making the province eternally shining on the Philippine flag as one of the sun's eight rays. 

Pit Stop

About 250 meters before the town proper, right at the foot of Noveleta Bridge and just before km.post 27 is a restaurant that was built to pay homage to historic Cavite and the Philippine Revolution. Various historical knick-knacks repose on its walls, and its signature dishes were named after the major personalities in the fight for freedom. A large patio hosting landscaped gardens is an inviting  place to take a breather before the next leg of the journey.

The menu, though, is mostly European, the local country only scantily represented. But the few Pinoy  dishes are all worth checking out, particularly the tuka turmeric, thinly sliced stingray in a thick stew dyed with luyang dilaw and liberally sprinkled with chopped red sili.

Directions

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From the last Bisita Iglesia church - Kawit

About 4.2 kilometers south-southwest

By Private Vehicle

- Turn right from the church and go along the highway. After the Noveleta town hall turn left at the corner where GSIS Family Bank is, into the alley going to the public market and the two-storey former Noveleta tribunal, then turn right. The church will be a few meters on.  

By Public Transportation

- At the waiting shed in front of the Kawit church along the Tirona Highway flag a baby bus whatever its signboard is. Get off at the junction after the Noveleta town hall and cross the road into the alley at the right side of the town hall, at the corner of which is the GSIS Family Bank. Walk on, turning right after the tribunal museum. The church is at the right side.   

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From Manila

By Private Vehicle

- Noveleta is about 27 kms. out of Manila, traversing Coastal Road (Pasay City & Las Pinas), Cavitex (Manila Cavite Expressway), and the Tirona and Magdiwang Highways. At the junction just out of Cavitex turn right onto Tirona Highway, skirting the Aguinaldo House, right then left then right again onto Magdiwang Highway and on to Noveleta. After the Noveleta town hall turn left at the corner where the GSIS Family Bank is, passing through the public market and the tribunal museum. Turn right and watch out for the church a few meters on, on the right side. 

By Public Transportation

- Air-conditioned buses with the signboard Cavite City get passengers starting from Plaza Lawton (Liwasang Bonifacio) in Manila, traversing Taft Avenue, turning  to Quirino Avenue, then left onto Roxas Boulevard and then on to the Coastal Road,  Cavitex, and the Tirona and Magdiwang Highways. Get off in front of Mercury drug store/Shell gas station, when the bus conductor shouts "Noveleta!" Walk a few meters on towards the Noveleta town hall on the left, passing by Jollibee then 7-11 to the right. Cross the road towards the right side of the town hall onto the alley where GSIS Family Bank sits in the corner. Turn right after the tribunal museum and walk on a few meters towards the church, which is on the right side. 

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The Other Churches in the Coastal Cavite Bisita Iglesia

St. Michael the Archangel Church, Bacoor
St. Mary Magdalene Church, Kawit
San Roque Church (Shrine of the Nuestra Senora Soledad de Porta Vaga), Cavite City
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Rosario
Santa Cruz Church, Tanza

Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Church, Naic

Bisita Iglesia - Coastal Cavite: Naic

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Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

P. Poblete Street, Naic, Cavite

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The parish church in the municipality of Naic is the largest church in the province of Cavite, and the only one built in the Neo-Gothic style. It was one of the jubilee churches in Cavite during the last Jubilee Year (2000).

It was unfortunate that when we got there the facade was undergoing a facelift, covered in a spiderweb tangle of scaffoldings. But the convent, to the church's right side, and its maginificent courtyard more than made up for our disappointment.  

The convent, or at least the dining and receiving areas, had large capiz windows that were opened to let in the brisk breeze. Looking inside and seeing the waxed hardwood floors and the heavy narra furniture I felt transported to the time of panuelos and karitelas drawn over cobblestone streets.

In this convent was written the  morally instructive book Urbana at Felisa (p. 1864) by the former parish priest Modesto De Castro. The book was celebrated in its time, and affords present readers with a look into nineteenth century societal structures.

The colossal stone blocks making up the outer walls belie the church's age, having been built by the Dominicans in 1796. A patio is lined with meditation benches, and surrounded by bas reliefs of all the mysteries of the holy rosary. All around flowering ornamentals explode in a riot of vibrant colors, growing lush in an arbor shading a walkway. Mayas dive and lunge from the roof, unmindful and unafraid, their ceaseless chattering joining the pigeons and hens with their broods in a rupture of joyful clamor.  

Inside the church beautiful stained glass windows adorning the walls all around let in light, highlighting the elegantly carved wooden altars in the sanctuary and both sides of the transept.  The reason why this is a piligrimage church need not be explained to me - I would make the journey to experience again the serenity I felt inside the church and in the convent patio.

*With a clean public CR at the convent patio.

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Historical Significance

Casa Hacienda de Naic (beside the church)
- where Andres Bonifacio was tried and imprisoned
- where Emilio Aguinaldo designed his flag "Sun of Liberty," and when he became the first president this is where he established the four departments of his cabinet.

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Pit Stop

Across the covered court are refreshment carts selling Naic's muche, neon orange-hued thick discs of fried rice dough filled with sweetened mashed mung beans (monggo). Nice afternoon crispy treat newly fried, but the dough tends to harden after a few hours.

Directions

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From the last Bisita Iglesia church - Tanza

About 13 kilometers south-southwest.

By Private Vehicle

- From the gate of the Tanza church turn right onto San Agustin Street to go back to Antero Soriano Highway, passing by Felipe Calderon Elementary School and the Tanza National Comprehensive High School, and an Iglesia ni Cristo church.Turn right at the junction where Mc Donalds is across the street, then go straight along the highway, and onto the Naic-Ternate Road. The church is beside a covered auditorium/basketball court.

- By Public Transportation

Walk to the town plaza in front of the Tanza church and flag a jeep with the signboard Bacao-Binakayan, or a baby bus with the signboard SM Rosario/Cavite City, or tell a tricycle driver to take you to where you can catch a ride to Naic. Get off at Antero Soriano Highway (on the same side as Jollibee/Lots'a Pizza/Puregold, across the road from McDonalds), and flag a bus with the signboard Naic/Ternate/Maragondon. Towards Naic buses turn left at the junction by a Petron gas station. Get off at Petron, then board a tricycle for Naic church.

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From Manila

By Private Vehicle

- Naic is 47 kms. out of Manila, traversing Coastal Road (Pasay City & Las Pinas), Cavitex (Manila Cavite Expressway), Centennial Road (EPZA Diversion Road), and the Antero Soriano Highway.

By Public Transportation

- Air-conditioned buses with signboards Naic/Ternate/Maragondon get passengers starting from Plaza Lawton (Liwasang Bonifacio), traversing Taft Avenue, turning to Quirino Avenue, then left onto Roxas Boulevard and then on to the Coastal Road,  Cavitex and the Antero Soriano Highway. Get off at the fork to the Naic poblacion by a Petron gas station, then board a tricycle for the church. 

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The Other Churches in the Coastal Cavite Bisita Iglesia
St. Michael the Archangel Church, Bacoor
St. Mary Magdalene Church, Kawit
Holy Cross Church, Noveleta
San Roque Church (Nuestra Senora Soledad de Porta Vaga Shrine), Cavite City
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Church, Rosario
Holy Cross Church, Tanza