TOURISM: PHILIPPINE DESTINATIONS Baybay beckons: Where farm, faith, and ecotourism converge

The city of Baybay in Leyte may not be a usual destination for recreation and sight-seeing. It’s probably not on the travel bucket list of seasoned wanderlusts. But this quaint city dubbed the “City of Beauty, Serenity, and Discovery” has a couple of attractions up its sleeves.

Baybay is emerging as Eastern Visayas’ hub for faith, farm, and ecotourism which the Department of Tourism is developing because of their growing markets. Declared a component city of Leyte in June 2007, it has been quietly attracting visitors because of the unique convergence of these three tourism sectors.Places of faithBaybay is the home to the Diocesan Shrine of San Antonio de Padua, which draws hordes of pilgrims to venerate the century-old image of the saint which is believed to be miraculous.Located in the coastal barangay of Pomponan, Catholic faithful from all over the country pay tribute to the saint every 13th day of the month, in an act of devotion which starts the day before. A traditional religious dance called “sirong” is performed during the saint’s patronal feast on June 13, which falls two days before Baybay’s cityhood day.

The church, which receives over 300,000 devotees a year, constantly ranks as the top cultural attraction in Region 8. This number is part of the more than 647,045 day visitors who swing by annually in Baybay, the highest in the region based on data from DoT-8.Another religious spot is the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, a classic example of a baroque structure founded in 1852 by Spanish friar Vicente Cronado and continued by Maestro Proceso.Gutted by fire in 1866, except for the Holy Cross Chapel, the church was completed in 1870 as renown sculptor and painter Capitan Mateo Espinoso applied the finishing touches to lend magnificence to the house of worship.The church is in the heart of the “heritage lane” because of the well-preserved Spanish and American-era ancestral houses, which will transport visitors back in time as they visit these living museums.Agricultural gemsBaybay has been showcasing its agriculture potentials, long before Republic Act 10816 (Farm Tourism Development Act 2016) was signed into law.

The Visayas State University has been quietly sowing the seeds of farm tourism for decades in this part of the archipelago with its vast gardens, demo farms, and fertile plots.

Sandwiched by the undulating Pangasugan mountain ranges and the Camotes Sea, this 1,479-hectare resort university houses the National Abaca Research Center, National Coconut Research Center-Visayas, the Philippine Root Crops Research and Training Center, and regional centers of agencies on agriculture and environment sciences.Baybay also boasts a 13,820-hectare coconut plantation, the biggest in Eastern Visayas, luring big agro-industries, SC Global Coco Products, Inc. and SC Global Food Products, Inc., the world’s largest producer of organic coconut oil.The city is also host to Ching Bee Trading Corp., the world’s biggest trader of abaca fiber, and Specialty Pulp Manufacturing, Inc., Asia’s biggest abaca pulp mill.

The city has the longest coastline in Leyte, where it coined its name which literally means “beach.” And it goes without saying that among its top tourist drawers is its cozy coasts, dissected by rivers and streams emanating from the Pangasugan ranges, which has remarkable flora and fauna.Lintaon Peak, the wind-swept highest point, offers a commanding view of the Camotes sea and islands across the channel.As part of 10th cityhood day last year, Baybay opened the 16,000 Blossoms Park adorned with 16,000 LED lights, which brighten the mountain at night. The park is composed of white and red roses embedded in the grassy meadow forming the phrase “I Love Baybay.”The park will be developed into the Lintaon Ecotourism Zone, complete with an information center, view deck, pavilion, picnic areas, and tourist facilities.