Masbate

[BrettGC]

Hi guys,

 

Anyone have any have any "on-the-ground" experience of Masbate, particularly the Cawayan municipality?  

 

Any info other than that that's already published on the web would be good.

[MikeB]

My wife is from Masbate City, I spent a week there in May 2012, stayed in the MG hotel which is the best in the city. But the area you're referring to is on the other side of the island, a long way from there. Not many foreigners in Masbate it's one of the poorest areas. Bad roads and hot as hell is what I most remember.

[the_whipster]

I know somebody in Manila who is a member of one of Masbate's top families. As such she was able to go to Manila and get a good education from a young age and where she has been living for over 20 years, only very occasionally going back home. She did not talk the place up, at all when we discussed it.  She said it is very poor with very limited employment, educational and health facilities, even for the Philippines. She also said it has a rather volatile political history, with a record of violence and assassination among its sometimes warring elite.

 

despite that, I seriously entertained visiting la couple of years ago and did some planning for it. I realized that it is not so far, at all, from Cebu and the northern Visayas, like northern Leyte and Biliran - although it is classed as being in the Bicol region, the main dialect spoken there, and the mother tongue of my friend, Masbateno, is a Visayan language. There were places to stay that looked alright, and at that time you could also reach it easily by using it as a 'stepping stone', by flying there from Manila and then on to Cebu by plane or ferry. But in the end I thought I might have trouble getting hold of a rented motorbike, which can be enough for me to dissuade me from visiting somewhere. I am sure you would need a motor to be able to look around Masbate properly.

 

in retrospect that time could have been the best time to visit as it looks as if the Cebu flight that existed then has been axed and there is now just a single solitary daily service to Manila.

[BrettGC]

Pretty much what I read.  Thanks for the replies guys.  SAO has a bee in her bonnet about investing in the beef industry there.  Being a hands on sort of guy I'm not overly keen doing something like that in absentia and given what I've read, and what you guys said I think we'll be having a long discussion.  The main concern is that it appears to be a bit of a "wild west"/cattle baron scenario in some parts of the province.  At the end of the day, it's her money though.  

Edited May 24, 2014 by BrettGC

[Jake]

Pretty much what I read.  Thanks for the replies guys.  SAO has a bee in her bonnet about investing in the beef industry there.  Being a hands on sort of guy I'm not overly keen doing something like that in absentia and given what I've read, and what you guys said I think we'll be having a long discussion.  The main concern is that it appears to be a bit of a "wild west"/cattle baron scenario in some parts of the province.  At the end of the day, it's her money though.  

I don't know anything about Masbate but you and I know a couple things about human behavior.  Indeed you

will have a long discussion and at the end of the day, it's her money though.  I can readily see a wild west cattle 

scenario with the hustlers having a bolo knife instead.

 

After your long absentia, you fly, walk, creep and crawl to your final destination.  Perhaps you will see someone

brandishing an armalite along the way -- a govt soldier or a soldier of fortune (in pesos).  Anyway, you give him

a pack of imported smokes and you're allow to enter their territory.  It's called revolutionary tax.....he, he.

 

But wait a minute (here's the kicker).....to your pleasant surprise, you're wonderful and sweet SAO is packing

an AK-47 instead.  And now she's back in town -- the head MoFo with an attitude!

 

Isn't life grand........ 

[the_whipster]

I would have thought Masbate would be a pretty safe place for most foreigners, but perhaps not if you happen to be the Mayor, or share a bed with the Mayor. At least three of them have been shot dead in the past 20 years or so.

[MikeB]

I didn't go near the area Brett is asking about but I found Masbate City hotel rates surprisingly high, about the same as Cebu City despite obviously lower tourist numbers. There was one mall in town when I was there, an older typically run-down place. They opened a new one about 6 months ago and people came from all over to see the newest attraction - an escalator. Many had never seen one. My in-laws said the people rode it up and down, over and over like a free amusement park ride. 

[BrettGC]

But wait a minute (here's the kicker).....to your pleasant surprise, you're wonderful and sweet SAO is packing an AK-47 instead.  And now she's back in town -- the head MoFo with an attitude!   Isn't life grand........ 

 

Funny thing is Master Chief, you're not too far from the reality!  She keeps me in line after all  :bash:

[the_whipster]

They opened a new one about 6 months ago and people came from all over to see the newest attraction - an escalator. Many had never seen one. My in-laws said the people rode it up and down, over and over like a free amusement park ride. 

once I was in Cebu city with this girl and her brother came to visit. It was during Sinulog. I'd met him before, when I'd been to her place in Leyte. He was maybe mid 20s and it wasn't the first time he'd been to Cebu city. But going up to the hotel room, and it was not an expensive hotel room, that we shared in Fuente, it turned out that it was the first time he had ever been in an elevator. But I don't think he was quite hick enough to ride it over and over again.

[afathertobe]

The mother of my son is also from Masbate, and we're considering a visit over Christmas/NY. She hasn't been back for ages, but still has family there we might be able to stay with, or rent a room nearby.

 

She's from Balud, a small town to the South-West, but I would probably stay in Masbate City for 2-3 nighs (sandbar and all that) and then head there for a visit, less than a week in total. But since we'd be doing this with our son (1.5 year old) this might be more tricky. He loves travelling, and will not cause any trouble when on the road at all, but still makes things a little bit more difficult than I'm used to.

 

Any ideas, suggestions?