The Ambongdolan Caves of Tublay, Benguet: Paterno Cave

November has come and gone, and it’s the last month of the year. Surprisingly, except for a couple of weekend getaways, my November was slightly “quiet”. Still, I would like to dedicate this, and the next couple of posts, to several spots of Benguet, in belated celebration of her founding anniversary, the Adivay, which was celebrated for the entire month of November. The focus of this post: the caves of Ambongdolan, in the municipality of Tublay, my dad’s hometown, on his maternal side.

It has been quite a while since this trip took place. Almost a couple of years ago, my friend and her friends planned a day trip to nearby Ambongdolan, and there was a slot open, so I tagged along. This was also a long time coming because (a) Tublay is my dad’s hometown, and most of my relatives from my paternal side are living there still, and many of them in the barangay of Ambongdolan itself; and (b) Tublay is like, the next door neighbor of La Trinidad – where I am currently residing – and Kapangan, which is my mom’s hometown and more often visited by me.

I thought to myself, ‘finally, I’m gonna check out something from my home’. #itsmorefuninthephilippines applies here, but so does #itsmorefuninbenguet !

Tublay is a town that is directly neighboring La Trinidad. It’s a fifth-class municipality whose main draw before was its agricultural resources. In recent years, though, its eco-tourism has advanced little by little. Aside from the Asin Hotspring, which I played around a time or two when I was a kid, it now boasts tourism activities such as caving, rock climbing and mountain climbing. I have yet to visit a mountain in Tublay, which is a shame, really, but I hope that changes when the LGU sponsors more climbs for it in the future.

When we speak of caves in Tublay, we cannot fail to mention the Ambongdolan Caves. It got the name because the caves are located in Ambongdolan, one of the town’s eight municipalities. It’s just around an hour and a half drive from Baguio, depending on which route you take. You can take the route via Alapang, La Trinidad, or through the national highway, going past the Acop Junction.

Supposedly, the Ambongdolan cave system is composed of 8 caves. However, only two are open to the public when we went there. I can’t be entirely sure, but I think a couple others were started to be opened for spelunkers and caving enthusiasts. If I do get the chance to check them out in the future, I wouldn’t say no.

For this post, I will focus on the first of the two caves we explored: the Paterno Cave.

Paterno Cave got its name from the Filipino politician, Pedro Paterno, one of the major players during the revolt against the Spaniards, even being touted as the greatest turncoat in history. Apparently, Pedro Paterno fled to Benguet and hid in these caves during the Philippine-American War in 1900, until he was eventually captured in Antamoc, Itogon – also in Benguet.

We went there without prior reservations or arrangements. It rained the night before, and so the road via the Alapang route was so slippery and our ride can’t handle it. Thus, we turned back and took the other – longer – way around: via the national road.

At around 9am, we arrived at the Barangay Hall…. where there was no one around. We were told that there was a local occasion happening nearby – I think it was a small fiesta or something – and that’s where everyone is. So we couldn’t check in.

Anyway, we left our ride (because a lone local told us the road is muddy and slippery for any ride other than a jeepney to handle it), got our things, and started the walk.

It was mostly a downhill walk down a dirt road, so nothing too difficult about it. It’s the walk back up that was quite tiring. But that’s for a later discussion.

After 20 minutes, you’d come upon this bridge.

Some 15 minutes later, we arrived at the jump-off point for the Caves. It was a stroke of luck that, when we got there, there were a couple of guys walking, and they are cave guides! Legit! They said they just happened to be walking by, contemplating whether to join the preparations for the fiesta. When they saw us, they agreed to guide us through the Caves, they do not have ropes or hard hats, since… well, they weren’t really aware that anyone was coming.
There was a briefing, just some backgrounder (the guy in white is July, our guide who, as I discovered later, was a cousin of my Dad! Small world!!!). As you can see in the sign below, they are particular about having guides when you enter the Paterno Cave.

And we found out why a few minutes later… because it was mostly walking down a cliff face. 🙂 There were some makeshift bamboo rails, but if you’re not careful, you’re looking at an injury, most likely yours.

Since I was moving behind Lorie, she’s the one that is most of the photos I took, haha! So, yes, as you can see below, there’s a lot of crawling and creeping… so if you’re claustrophobic, you better overcome that quick.

Inside the cave, there are parts that you have to slink through and climb down on. The long metal stairs looked rickety – it sounded like it, too – but our guides were more than fairly confident that it could take on our weight, so we just took their word for it.

It was dark inside, by the way… these photos being bright is courtesy of the flash.

It was like a series of cavernous chapels and cathedrals inside, which explains why it’s an ideal hiding place. Plus the mazes too can be confusing if you don’t have a guide to show you the way.

We were told to refrain from touching the walls too much, since the rocks are “alive”, and damaging them would mean waiting for thousands of years for them to “grow back”.

This, I think, was the main hub of Paterno’s hideout. It looked like a room with a low ceiling. So I can imagine anyone huddling there with a low table, some dim light, and a good book. Ok, maybe not a good book, but whatever the revolutionaries and people who are hiding from someone is reading.

The first cave you enter is not the main Paterno Cave. Just to give you a taste. And then you climb down another cliff face to get to the main Cave. From point of entry to exit, exploring Paterno Cave took us an hour and a half. But who’s counting? Time flies when you’re having fun. 🙂 By the time we got out of Paterno Cave and went back up to the road, it was half-past 12 noon already, so we were already feeling hungry. So we proceeded straight to our next destination: Bengaongao Cave. See ya then!