Commune with nature in Northern Samar

SANCTUARY   Canawayon Island in Lapinig, Northern Samar, is popular for its thriving population of baby sharks. The island has been declared a sanctuary for these marine creatures, as conservation efforts have turned Canawayon into a premier destination where visitors can be one with nature. —PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORTHERN SAMAR TOURISM OFFICE

CATARMAN, NORTHERN SAMAR—There is more to see in this province than the rock formation on Biri Island that was used as a backdrop of a 1990s movie.

Northern Samar is so rich in natural wonders that it has a wide variety of tourist spots that cater to all kinds of tourists.

“Name it and we have it,” said Ma. Josette Doctor, the province’s tourism officer.

Northern Samar is bounded by the Pacific Ocean and San Bernardino Strait, which makes the province ideal for swimming and other water-related activities like surfing.

Want to go surfing? There is Araw Beach in Gamay town. Thinking of frolicking on a pink, powdery beach? There is Sila Island in San Vicente town.

The famous rock formation in Biri and its neighboring municipalities, islands and surrounding reefs have been declared a protected landscape/seascape due to its rich biodiversity. The rock formation gained national prominence when it was used as a backdrop in the 1992 movie “Iisa Pa Lamang,” which started Richard Gomez (now representative of Leyte), Dawn Zulueta and Maricel Laxa.

With a land area of 3,498 square kilometers, Northern Samar is one of three provinces on Samar Island (the others being Samar and Eastern Samar) in the Eastern Visayas region. It has 24 municipalities with Catarman serving as its provincial capital.

‘Tagline’

The province, although one of the country’s poorest, is rich in natural attractions that are just waiting to be discovered.

“‘Discover Northern Samar.’ This is our tagline. We are not competing with other provinces although we have so much to offer from ridge to reef, so to speak,” Doctor said.

“We want to complement with other areas. After all, there is no boundaries for tourism. Tourists do not care if they are in Northern Samar or Eastern Samar as long as they are enjoying their visit,” she said.

In Mapanas, for instance, there is a lagoon known for its blue waters from the Pacific Ocean that passes through various natural tunnels.

Locals call the lagoon “Pinusilan,” a Waray term for gunshot, because it was said to be the place where American soldiers brought their enemies for execution during World War II.

There is also the Lagbangan Lake in San Antonio town on the island of Dalupiri, which has become a favorite place of migratory birds due to its vast mangrove forests. Several pristine beach resorts can also be found on the island.

Those who are into heritage and history, there is the town of Palapag, the hometown of Agustin Sumoroy, the leader of the first Philippine rebellion against Spanish forces from 1649 to 1650.

HOMETOWN PRIDE The picture-perfect Pinusilan Lagoon, with its clear waters, is a source of pride for Mapanas town.

According to Doctor, Gamay, Mapanas, San Antonio and Palapag have become emerging tourist spots of the province, thanks to known social media influencers.

One of them was food vlogger and chef Erwan Heusaff who recently visited Araw Beach in Gamay. His team stayed in a small hut and enjoyed the beach.

Heusaff and other vloggers and social media influencers have helped Northern Samar gain traction among tourists.

“We are thankful to them as they help us in promoting our province. Of course, for our part, we also promote Northern Samar, the traditional way,” she said.

Traditional way means coming up with promotional materials and brochures, attending tourism fairs sponsored by the Department of Tourism and joining cultural festivals mainly initiated by local governments.

Infrastructure support

“We are also thankful to Governor Edwin (Ongchuan) for giving priority to our tourism industry. He is very focused on promoting Northern Samar as a tourism haven. He is aware that tourism can bring in not only tourists but also investors,” Doctor said.

She said the needed infrastructure, like roads and bridges, are also being built with the help of the national government and international funding agencies.

Lack of infrastructure was one of the reasons why some tourists were hesitant to visit Northern Samar, located at the northernmost portion of Samar Island.

Doctor said that traveling could be physically taxing, citing the case of Silvino Lubos town, considered to be the “little Baguio” of the province.

“Before, one has to ride on a pump boat just to reach Silvino Lubos which took at least six hours,” she said.

With the construction of a bridge connecting Silvino Lubos to the rest of the province, what used to be a remote town can now be reached in less than an hour from the provincial capital of Catarman.

“We are now accessible. One can now visit any of our Pacific towns, for example, and return to Catarman within the day,” Doctor said.

While Catarman does not have a lot of tourist spots, it is where tourists stay and eat and hire vehicles during their provincial visit since these emerging tourist spots still lack hotels and resorts.

Homestay program

But Doctor said there are several private houses in these towns facing the Pacific Ocean like Gamay, Mapanas, Lapinig, San Vicente and Palapag, that take in tourists through their homestay program.

A house can be qualified as a homestay if it has at last four rooms and the owner also lives in the same house.

At present, there are 20 houses in these areas that offer homestay for tourists.

Governor Ongchuan has also asked the Philippine Airlines, the only airline company that services the Catarman-Manila route, to offer a daily flight instead of the current five times a week.

“The governor is also in talks for telecommunication companies to add more cell towers,” Doctor said, to address the problem of “dead spots” and connectivity in the province.

ROCKS WITH A VIEW The ancient rock formations of Rakit Dakit complement the seascape in Palapag town. Aside from this view, the area has small lagoons where visitors can take a refreshing dip.

Staying bullish

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, the tourism industry in Northern Samar took a nosedive. From 159,100 visitors in 2019, the province received almost zero tourists from 2020 to 2022. But after restrictions had eased as COVID cases waned, the tourism sector had started to recover. Last year, more than 193,000 tourists visited the province.

With the support of the provincial and municipal governments in the province, there is a bright future for the tourism industry in Northern Samar, Doctor said.

“We hope to see more tourists coming to Northern Samar in the next five years or so. Aside from enjoying our natural gems, our people, especially in the tourism industry are also our assets,” she said.

According to Doctor, tourism industry players, like those in the hotel, restaurant and transport business, have been trained on dealing with and treating tourists.

“We can say that slowly, our tourism industry in Northern Samar is booming and we hope to sustain this in the next years to come. We are gaining momentum. And like what our governor hopes, we want to put Northern Samar on the (tourism industry) map,” Doctor said.