INOPACAN, LEYTE and the INOPACNONS

A blue whale is spotted in Inopacan

2025-08-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

Screen grabbed from Facebook video posted by Yamel Jay Baleroso (click his name to watch the video).

PYGMY BLUE WHALE was seen approaching Inopacan. A pygmy blue whale was spotted around 7am on August 16, 2025 (Saturday) in the sea near Brgy. Conalum, Inopacan, Leyte.

In general terms, the whale is called AMBUHOTAN in Bisaya (Boholano and Cebuano) or Binisaya. Balyena in Tagalog. Whale in English.

For us Inopacnons, ambuhotan is the name for all whales that are seen in our seas. Ambuhotan comes from the word “buhot”, which means strong blowing of breath or air. Ambuhotan is the name for the whale because it emits a spout of mist from water and air that is blown out through the blowhole on top of its head. That buhot is not purely water; the fact is that it is mostly air. This is the breath expelled from the lungs of the ambuhotan.

Photo grabbed from the website of GRID Magazine

Based on the observed size, stubby dorsal fin on the back, large flippers on the side, ridge on the back, and smoothness of movement, it seems this is BUGHAW, the pygmy blue whale that was seen by marine experts in the waters of Cebu, Bohol, and Leyte areas.

This is not a butanding or dugong, which is called "whale shark" in English. The whale shark does not spout breath.

This is also different from the pilot dolphin, another kind of ambuhotan, which swims swiftly and has a tall dorsal fin on its back.

Save this pygmy blue whale. Do not disturb it. It is an endangered marine species.

Finding the true origin of Inopacan

2023-02-12T03:29:00.004-08:00

The photo is not mine. Photo courtesy of National Geographic. See the original photo and story here. (Disclaimer: This was not taken in Inopacan)

When I read the National Geographics story written by Ed Yong, "Meet the Agta, a tribe where a quarter of men have been attacked by giant snakes," the narrative told us of the frequency of occurrence when natives had an encounter with or were attacked by giant snakes.

The time before the Westerners came and brought metal and more advanced weapons later to fend themselves, natives were already skilled in hunting and killing these reptiles. But I cannot help but wonder so much about how plenty is many and how giant the biggest snake in the olden days was in our locality.

The one in the photo taken by National Geographic somewhere in Luzon was not the biggest but 3rd as recorded by the researcher then. So it is possibly true that the dreaded giant serpentine reptilian creature of the olden era Canamocan was truly so so big.

This supports my story that in olden times snakes were so many and so big. So many that native settlers or hunters would surely find shedded off dead skin of snakes or the hinup-akan. The name Inopacan came from the word "hinup-acan" referring to the skins shed off by snakes, also known as luno in the local vernacular.

Luno must have been found in significant numbers, as giant snakes were so many and so big that they called the place the place of hinup-akan, in fact, we have another story of a snake of Barrio Binitinan (now Barangay Guadalupe) aside from the epic giant snake encounter of Inong.

But because Spaniards would always pronounce silently the letter "h" of any word (e.g., hielo, haber, hora, etc.) that hinup-akan was read and pronounced as Inup-acan, then became Inupacan or now Inopacan.

Related topics:

A French cruise ship visits Cuatro Islas

2018-03-30T06:12:00.006-07:00

A group of tourists coming from L'Austral cruise ship as they come ashore on the cream-white shore of Himokilan island. (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

Look. The islands that I helped promote in this blog (the first blog site ever dedicated to Cuatro Islas and our hometown, Inopacan) is now fast becoming a tourist attraction. What used to be a sleepy and never-heard-before islets are now making waves of tourist visits. My slogan then was:

DALI KAMO! DUAW KAMO!

It seems like the world is listening to it, and here they are now finding the four dots in our map of clean and very clear seas and cream-white sands.

The French cruise ship, L'Austral when it visited Himokilan island of Cuatro islas. (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

An Italian-made French cruise ship L'Austral of Mata Utu, France visited Himokilan island of CUATRO ISLAS on March 28, 2018 where the tourists are welcomed with native foods and entertained by the Hindanganons (people of Hindang) with their presentation of colorfully dressed folk dances. It was, because Himokilan island is under the political territory of Hindang. Only the other 3 islands (Apid, Mahaba, and Digyo) are under the municipality or Inopacan. Combined, these four small islands is called CUATRO ISLAS (four islands).

It was reported in March 31 last year in the Manila Times that according to the Tourism department of Region8, for the first time the historical islands of Leyte and Southern Leyte will be visited by high-end expedition cruise ships four times in a single year—March, May, June and October. So wait for the next visiting cruise ships in our islands. Like the Hidanganons, may the LGU of Inopacan will take its turn to showcase our native delicacies and historical as well as cultural values, to include the legendary Inong pak-an, aside from the factual historical political facts.

Along its route, the cruise ship would also visit other tourist-attracting and historical islands in other parts of Leyte.

A view of Himokilan island from the upper deck of the L'Austral (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

L'Austral is a cruise ship operated by the French cruise line company Compagnie du Ponant. It is the sister vessel of Le Boréal and Le Soléal, being the same weight, length and breadth, along with having 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members like the other two ships. L'Austral was built in 2010 at Fincantieri's Ancona shipyard, Italy. L'Austral was put into service on April 20, 2011 (Wikepedia).

The tourists while being entertained by the Hindanganons. (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

DALI KAMO! DUAW KAMO!

Because summer time is perfect time to visit and explore Cuatro Islas.

I just learned last month from my recent visit to a friend, Dr. Macario Tiu (Doc Mac) of Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City, that after Pigaffeta and Magellan first came to an island in Leyte they then took a route that happened to end in Cuatro Islas where they were served by the islanders with seafood and roasted "kabog" (big fruit bats). Doc Mac could not figure then where exactly the island is situated. It was a timely visit for I was able to help him locate the shoe-shaped island of Cuatro Islas now mistakenly labeled as the Himuquitan in the Google map (Apid is also mislabeled as Apit. Why? This must be corrected). In our discussion, I affirmed to him that the Panaon strait of between the tip of mainland Southern Leyte and Liloan island could serve as cruise passage for a fleet of galleons because that narrow passage is very much navigable. I also found in my research that it was in that spot of Liloan island where expedition cast their anchors before the galleon boarded by Pigafetta proceeded to the western seas of Leyte and made account of their short visit in Cuatro Islas.

A community map of present-day Himokilan island. (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

Historical records showed that Hindang, Leyte was the mother town of what used to be a barrio called Kanamokan (now Inopacan) that was then hard to reach being remote and that folks would have to cross along the way the sitio of Bontok in Brgy. Bulacan, Hindang, Leyte that was then surrounded with a river of deep brackish waters, before you could reach Kanamokan proper. Bontok is known to have many caves that housed too many bats, snakes, monkeys, and other wild animals. In pre-war era, one of the caves was told be occupied by a very kind "diwata" (fairy) who used to lend kitchen wares, cooking implements, and even wedding gown and groom's dress to would be couple. What the folks had to do was to visit the cave and while at the entrance, they have to speak out loud the things they wished to borrow and come back the next day to collect the items. Eventually, the diwata stopped lending things when some of the borrowed items got broken and some failed to return things they borrowed.

Along the coast (bordering the boundary between the present-day Hindang and Inopacan) there is another cave called Bay sa has that is famous to all Inopacnons because it was where a giant snake-like serpent used to live. The name bay sa has (now Baysahas, one word) is from Boholano words, which means the "house of snake." The cave is near the Himokilan island.

There are more to tell in my ongoing writings and research.

Salamat sa pagbisita.

Balik-balik lang.

Inopacan becomes a national model for food security

2017-02-26T04:13:00.003-08:00

Market day at the Taboan of Inopacan.

Small Leyte town to be national model for rural development

This article is a reprint from BusinessMirror.
Photos by Edgie Polistico

INOPACAN, a Leyte town that’s now being aided in planting jackfruit, dipterocarps and tilapia raising may become a national model for being small, but is “food secure”, owing to a “ridge to reef” ecosystem-based rural development.

The socioeconomic development at Inopacan, Leyte, is being approached in a different light by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca). Inopacan is a third-class municipality with a mere 20,000 population.

Instead of identifying development sites based on political classification, a Searca project is developing Inopacan from farm areas to forests and water bodies.

Nangka (jackfruit)

The project will focus more on the agro-ecological systems of a potential project site. It will be delineated based on predetermined ecosystem using the ridge-to-reef approach or landscape continuum.

This ecosystem-based concept follows Searca’s model, called Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (ISARD).

ISARD said projects in poverty-stricken areas should enable “the poorest of the poor” in rural areas to get out of poverty, Searca Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. said.

A sweet and aromatic nangkang hinog (ripe jackfruit)

At the same time, these communities should contribute to conserving the environment.

The ISARD project in Leyte is in partnership with the Visayas State University, Visayas Consortium for Agriculture and Aquatic Resources Program and Inopacan’s local government unit.

The ridge-to-reef model raises the success potential of a poverty-alleviation project, as communities may be easily tapped for partnerships.

Young, unripe nangka (langka in Tagalog, jackfruit in English) is often cooked as vegetable.

Besides, use of all agricultural, rain forest and fishery resources will be maximized with the proximity of each factor of production (labor and raw materials, machines, land and management).

Demonstration farms have just been put up in the last quarter of 2016 at Inopacan. These are a vegetable farm, a tilapia fishpond and two jackfruit farms. The vegetable plot of 1,000 square meters was planted with okra, alugbati and eggplant.

Market day at the Taboan of Inopacan

A technology on low-cost protective cover was applied as developed in an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research-funded project in order to protect the plants from continuous rain, which is prevalent in the areas.

The fishponds should regularly increase the income of Inopacan residents.

“The tilapia fishponds were built in sequence along a stream where crystal-clear water flowed from a nearby spring. Fingerlings were introduced from a hatchery project of the VSU supported by the district representative Rep. Jose Carlos Cari,” reported Prof. Rolando T. Bello, ISARD coordinator.

Since good drainage is needed for the excellent production of jackfruit, the jackfruit-demonstration farms were placed on sloping areas with increased elevation to allow for good drainage.

Also raised are livestock as hogs, native chicken, ducks and goats. Searca looks forward to helping expand the market of Inopacan for jackfruit since there is already an increased demand for processed jackfruit or langka from the nearby Leyte town Baybay.

VSU has earlier entered into agreements that would expand jackfruit markets. Its MOA with Technomart, Baybay City Vacuum Fried Jackfruit Processors (BCV-FJP) and the Green Meadows Dehydrated Jackfruit Processor (GM-DJP) will enable commercialization of jackfruit technology (vacuum fried and dehydrated jackruit).

The MOA allows BCV-FJP and GM-DJP to use VSU’s technologies in processing vacuum fried and dehydrated jackfruit.

Searca’s project is similarly addressing problems that came out based on the Participatory and Rapid Rural Appraisal. These are inadequate irrigation system, lack of arable and fertile open farms as coconut are planted in fertile areas, youth’s disinterest in farming and low farm-gate price.

Banana products are also eyed as an additional income for the community. Banana is a staple in Leyte. Prospects to sell banana outside Leyte is also there as banana is an ingredient for breakfast cereals, which has a growing market.

Inopacan residents are being assisted on processing bananas into fried chips.

Since Leyte has seen destruction due to Supertyphoon Yolanda, the Searca project is applying climate-change mitigation and adaptation strategies in Inopacan. Planting of rain-forest dipterocarp trees and other native tree species have started in order to arrest soil erosion and prevent natural disasters.

“This is part of Searca’s contribution to the post-Yolanda rehabilitation efforts in Leyte. A rain-forestation project will be implemented in the upland grassland areas. Targeted areas are the upland grassland of Barangay Linao for rain forestation, and Barangay Cabulisan for expanded vegetable production.” Several factors have been found to be key to making a development model successful. These must be found in the ISARD model—problem-solving orientation, community-based, presence of committed local institutions and leaders, and links to policy-making.

Tilapia fish

For one, the Inopacan project received assistance in various forms from different institutions. It got seedlings from the Department of Agriculture Abuyog Experiment Station in Abuyog, Leyte. It obtained a loan for these seedlings upon agreement by the growers and cooperators.
Under the ridge-to-reef concept, LGU partners are tapped when these are around a “watershed or micro watershed, lake ecosystem including its tributaries.” The concept also determines choice of beneficiaries based on landscape ecologies of upland, lowland, coastal and marine ecosystems, including ecozones.

SEARCA’s ISARD projects get small grants for technical assistance; institutional development and capacity building; knowledge management; and linkaging and networking support.

Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and Experts Systems developed by ViCAARP will also be deployed to support the project and growers in their decision making processes.

Inopacan establishes demo farms for jackfruits, vegetables, and tiliapia

2016-12-11T08:55:00.002-08:00

Nangka (jackfruit) is among the wonder fruits you can find in the Philippines. Aside from being appetizing it is also considered by dieticians and nutritionists as having great health benefits to humans.

Reprint

Demo farms yield popular jackfruit
This article was originally posted in the Philippine Standard

on October 17, 2016 at 12:01 am by Brenda Jocson

The increasing demand for vacuum-dried and dehydrated jackfruit has led to the establishment of demonstration farms to boost production in Inopacan, Leyte.

The municipality of Inopacan in Leyte has established demonstration farms which include a vegetebake farm, a tiliapia fishpond and two jackfruit farms, Mayor Silvestre Lumarda said.

Lumarda said the farms aim to help the town attain food sufficiency and reduce poverty incidence.

A ceremonial tree planting led by Burgos, Dr. Othello Capuno, VSU vice president for research and development; and representatives from the municipal government Inopacan town marked the launch of the demonstration farms.

Unripe Nangka (jackfruit) is commonly taken as vegetable. It is often boiled in coconut milk to become a tinunoan nga nangka or kinilaw nga nangka usually with dried fish and shrimps as subak.

The activity which was participated in by Inopacan Jackfruit Growers Association members was preceded by a series of farm visits and exposure trips by the growers in established vegetable and jackfruit farms.

“These are part of the exposure to experts and ‘experienced’ scheme of building capacities among the grower cooperators of the Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development pilot project,” Burgos added.

The jackfruit farms are in the higher lands of Inopacan town where there is good drainage.

Seedlings were sourced from the Department of Agriculture’s Abuyog Experiment Station in the town of Abuyog in Leyte and will be reimbursed on a “Plant now, Pay later” scheme as agreed upon by the grower-cooperators.

The various demonstration farms were launched on September 28 under the Piloting and Upscaling Effective Models of the ISARD program.

Ripe nangka (jackfruit) is invitingly fragrant, heavenly sweet and fruity. It is one of the main ingredients in Pinoy halo-halo. Ripe nangka is best eaten fresh and as is.

Spearheaded by the Philippine-hosted Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture, the farms were established with the help of the Visayas State University, the local government of Inopacan and the Visayas Consortium for Agriculture, Aquatic and Resources Program.

Also under the pilot project Strengthening Linkages among Farmers, Government, and Industry Sector through ISARD, the vegetable farm covers a 1,000-square-meter plot and is planted to okra, alugbati and eggplant.

Dr. Bessie Burgos, SEARCA program manager for research and development said the demonstration farm will pilot a low-cost protective cover technology developed through an Australian Center for International Agricultural Research-funded project at VSU, considering the continuous rains experienced in the area.

The tilapia fishponds were built in sequence along a stream where crystal clear water flowed from a nearby spring.

Through the efforts of Rep. Jose Carlos Cari, fingerlings were introduced by batches starting from June 2016 from a hatchery project of the VSU.

“We are expecting to start harvest in November and bring added income to the local farmers,” Burgos said.

See the original post here

Sub-provincial Jail escapee killed by jail guards in Inopacan - Two more escapees still hunted

2016-09-22T18:55:00.002-07:00

The place of a shooting incident in Inopacan, Leyte

The following article is a reprint from Manila Bulletin

2 Leyte jail escapees hunted

by Nestor L. Abrematea
September 2, 2016

Palo, Leyte — The Leyte Provincial Jail in Barangay Kauswagan, Palo, has launched a manhunt for two inmates who bolted the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail in Hilongos, Leyte, last August 23.

Leyte Provincial Jail Warden Homobono U. Bardillon identified the escapees as Sonny Costillas and Marlon Obligado.

Bardillon said Costillas is facing murder charge while Obligado has a pending case of car theft before the Regional Trial Court in Hilongos.

He said Costillas, Obligado and a third inmate, Ronald Merino, took advantage of a heavy downpour to break out.

Merino was killed by jail guards in Inopacan town when he resisted arrest.

He was waiting for a passenger bus bound for Manila when the jail guards, acting on a tip, caught up with him.

Bardillon has asked the Leyte provincial police to help in arresting Costillas and Obligado.

Sub-Provincial Jail Warden Cesar Maraya has been relieved following the escape and was reassigned to the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail in Palompon, Leyte, awaiting charges for infidelity of prisoners, Bardillon said.

Maraya’s assistant, Merly Vertulfo has been named in his place.

See the original post of this news here

Motocross - another more fun in Inopacan and the rest of western Leyte

2016-08-20T22:25:00.001-07:00