Travelling the back roads of Iloilo

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Travelling the Back Roads of Iloilo just to see what can be found.:

April 10, 2023 ©HISTORICPHILIPPINES.COM 2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1

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Every now and then you just want to get out of the house and go somewhere. Nowhere in particular, just anywhere to see what you can see.

We had one of those days, after having dropped brother-in-law Rommel Legaspi and the airport for his trip to Hong Kong and his new position with the very large Australian construction company.

Now these explorations are nothing fancy or well planned. They’re simply spur of the moment, let’s jump into the Wreck of the Road and see where the spirit leads us.

You’ve likely had days like that, where nothing is planned and you just want to “hit to road” just to go somewhere, anywhere just to see what you can find.

These excursions of discovery can last an hour or less or even the full day or even anything in between depending on what you discover along the way.


So after an early lunch at the “Homestead” we piled into the “Wreck of the Road”; and headed for the open roads, the back country roads in the area.

Soon enough, we found what we had hoped to find. Just a few things of interest.

Nothing fantastic, but interesting none the less.

The road we were initially following was largely under construction.


In fact what we found was that most of the back roads in our area are now under construction with the rainy season coming to an end, there’s a major construction push on.

Not only that but there must be elections in the air, there’s just so much of it going on it’s just amazing! Makes you wonder where they’re getting the money to pay for all that work all of a sudden. Oh well…

You have to wonder though. When they’re building new roads like this one, where they are rehabilitating it and ‘concreting’ the old dirt road that has served the people of the area for ages.

But why don’t they build them wider? You have to wonder the existing road is barely wide enough for two small passenger cars to pass each other and traffic is building every year, so why not make the road wider and


safer for everyone. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m just asking the questions? Maybe someone can help enlighten me, ‘cause I’m new here as most of you already know…


The other thing I’ve noticed about the construction of roads and highways here is that fact that rarely if ever are there any shoulders incorporated into the design of the roads and highways. Why is that? Now, that’s really dangerous. If

you make just one slight misjudgement you’re flying off the travelled portion of the road and into the ditch or the gully or the river or whatever is there…That’s of course assumes that you can fly off the road when the fastest you can travel is 40 kph or less on most roads out here in the provinces, unless you’re a real kamikaze and have a death wish!

You can’t see it clearly in the photo, but the light coloured portion on the right of the picture is the concrete roadway. There is a fall off of over 14’ to 16’ if you drop off the road at this point you’re done, because there is no space for you to ‘run-off’ the road if something bad happens.


No need for this gentleman and his spouse to have a baby-sitter, he just brings the child to work with him on the bulldozer.

You have to forgive me for the fuzzy photos ocassionally; I’m getting old and I have a tremor in my hands…


Just a couple of hundred yards down the road from the stockpiles and the road construction we come upon a compound that has intrigued me for at least the past three years since I first saw it.

It’s a place that I would surely like to visit if I could only discover who owns it and get permission to visit the grounds and the homes in the compound.

There appears to be at least three, perhaps four rather large homes within the walls of this place. The property is huge and runs for several hundred yards down the adjacent side road on the west and as you will see, in a few moments it also faces the river that flows on the east side of the property.

The entrance pictured in the photos that follow is located in the north side of the compound.


Immediately to the east of the compound is a river that appears to have a considerable flow, during the rainy season and especially in times of very heavy rains. Why would I say that. Look at the ‘retaining walls’ caving-in…


Obviously there is repair and replacement work being done on the retaining walls between the property line and the river. The wall is obviously to prevent the land being washed away during times of high and rising rushing waters at or above the high water mark (on the south side of the bridge).


The view of the river in the photo above and the one below also show existing and potential future problems with high volumes of water flowing through this system. Pre-cautions on this north side of the bridge should also be taken to prevent massive erosional problems in future.


An interesting stop. But let’s move on, there has to be more to see.


There is some nice scenery with the mountains of Bucari in the background. you have to see our story on the exploration of Bucari we made a few weeks ago. [click on this link ]


With rice fields as for as the eye can see.


As we schlepp on down the road, just as we arrive in the neighbourhood of Santa Barbara we come upon this fabulous home, that is just now being completed.It was well under construction the last time we passed here about 8 months ago. Looks like it’s finished or having the finishing touches added.


I might add that this is a magnificent home, and it’s the first time in Philippines that I see the name of the owner of the home so prominently displayed on the property. I wonder why someone would do that? Especially in Philippines.


Well finished a complete circle tour in Santa Barbara and it was getting later on in the afternoon and everyone was looking for their merienda. So we started to head towards the ‘Homestead’ but made a brief stop at:

in Oton, and then headed straight home for a well deserved siesta.


She Who Must be Obeyed,my spouse, facilitator and translator.

Wikipedia, the on-line-free encyclopedia.

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Travelling the back roads of Iloilo

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