Laguna Provinces
PAGSANJAN & PAGSANJAN FALLS
Pagsanjan, 100km (62mi) southeast of Manila, 11km (7mi) east of Sta. Cruz (15 min by jeepney), on the Magdapio River. The place was organized into a municipality in 1668 and capital of Laguna from 1688 to 1858.
Pagsanjan is noted for its river rapids and waterfalls. Boatmen skillfully paddle visitors in wooden canoes upstream through a beautiful gorge with a number of waterfalls cascading from cliffs 30m (98ft) high. At the last major fall one can ride a bamboo raft under the falls or swim in the refreshing water. Dress for wetting and have valuables and cameras in plastic. Charges are set by the Department of Tourism at 85 pesos per person or 170 pesos for a lone passenger. Boatmen expect refreshment at a rest stop and solicit tips at the end of the trip. Very crowded on weekends.
The area is also known as site for domestic and foreign movie productions; Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now was partly shot here.
Near Lumbang, east of Pagsanjan Falls, the Nayong Kalikasan Resort is located at Lake Caliraya; it is a good site for bass fishing and shooting enthusiasts.
In February 1988, Pagsanjan became well known not for it's landscape beauty but for the raids the Philippine immigration authorities conducted in the town to catch alleged foreign pedophiles. Under lots of media coverage, more than 20 foreigners, mostly elderly men, were thereafter jailed for several weeks and finally deported. (Details about legal cases that arouse from the raid are discussed in this book in the paragraphs on Law and Order in the Insight chapter.)
Pagsanjan & Pagsanjan Falls
Pagsanjan is a small town 100km (62mi) southeast of Manila, 11km (7mi) east of Sta. Cruz, Laguna, on the Magdapio River. The place was organized into a municipality in 1668 and capital of Laguna from 1688 to 1858. It was once a prosperous market town and boats came there from Manila across Laguna Bay. During WW II US bombers destroyed many of the houses and the market. Many ruins of what must have been fine homes remain. With the improvement in the road to Sta. Cruz the main market shifted there.
For a self guided trip take a bus with signboard Sta. Cruz from Lawton or along Taft Ave, but not ones for Sta. Cruz Manila. It's about a two hour trip from Manila to Sta. Cruz and then dismounting just after the bus makes a left turn entering the municipality after the bridge one boards a jeepney with signboard "Pagsanjan" for the 15 min trip.
Almost all travel agencies have (or had) a package tour combining a visit to the bamboo organ at Las Pinas with a boat trip at Pagsanjan and a lunch.
Pagsanjan is noted for its river rapids and waterfalls. Boatmen (two bangkeros for each boat) skillfully paddle or lift locally made hardwood canoes upstream through numerous rapids. Visitors behold a beautiful gorge with a number of waterfalls cascading from cliffs 30m (98ft) high. For this writer, the trip and view along the way was more memorable than the last major fall where one can ride a bamboo raft under the falls or swim in the refreshing water.
The best time for the trip, if you don't like crowds, is just after dawn before tour buses arrive. If the water level is too high or too low the boatman may not go to the last falls or decline the trip. Dress for a wetting and have valuables and cameras in plastic. Boatmen expect refreshment at a rest stop and solicit tips at the end of the trip.
Rates are set by the Department of Tourism and according to Ivy Lisa F. Mendoza who had the experience and wrote (Manila Bulletin, June 15, 1991) that of the 150 pesos she paid, the boatmen get 133 pesos, the hotel, which provides the dock and lockers (the locker is an extra fee) is paid 10 pesos, 2.50 pesos each to the province and the municiality and 2 pesos to the boatman's association.
There are some 2,000 boatmen, Mendoza wrote who rely on tourism for their livelyhood and who have been angered by the Department of Tourism's (DOT) circular of 1990 which scratched Pagsanjan from its tourist destination list because of "' . . .undesirable activities which continues unabated . . .'" The DOT cited theft, extortion, paedophilia, vending and forced tipping as reasons for their ban.
The issue is really one of conflict between the central government, operating from an urban environment, many of whose leaders have been educated abroad and have adapted or at least are sensitive to western media on questions of morals, and local government which is more attuned to a rural area and the mores of its people.
Pagsanjan had already been hard hit economically when the then Commission on Immigration and Deportation, headed by Miriam Defensor Santiago, reacting to western books, articles and TV specials critical of the Philippine's tolerance of paedophilia sent a team of 25 agents to the resort town February 27, 1988 and arrested, without a warrent, every male foreigner they could find.
It was alleged that about 22 foreign males were ponographers, pushing or taking drugs, or having sexual relationships with male minors. They were taken to Manila and given the choice of selfdeportation or remaining indefinitly in detention for investigation and eventual deportation proceedings. Given the conditions of their confinment most elected to leave without a hearing. Three of the accused (including Andrew Harvey, an American) filed a petition of habeas corpus. They questioned the legality of their arrest and detention as they were arrested without any warrant. They also demanded to be allowed to post bail. Lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General said the CID raiders had mission orders during the raid, and that this was sufficient to make the arrests legal.
The Supreme Court came up with its decision July 14, 1988, which upheld the legality of the arrest, detention and the filing of deportation proceedings. The high court dismissed the habeas corpus petition and ruled that CID Commissioner Miriam Defensor Santiago "acted in the interests of the state" (Philippine Daily Globe, July 15, 1988). The Philippine Supreme Court reasoned: "The power to deport aliens is a police measure against undesirable aliens whose continued presence in The Country is found to be injurious to the public good and the domestic tranquility of the people." (Philippine Daily Globe, July 15, 1988)
It remained a moot question, however, as to what consitutes an "undesirable alien" since specific charges were not made against most of those arrested.
Harvey, earlier, had been cited for his philanthropy. He was known to be a generous donor to Pagsanjan community projects and sponsored two elementary school boys. (Philippine Daily Globe, March 13, 1988). This was not an unusual case. An Australian had provided a family in Pagsanjan with capital to set up poultry and piggery businesses, plus a vegetable plantation. The Australian also donated cash to elementary school activities, basketball leagues and fiestas. These generous and philanthropic acts were believed to be one reason why paedophilia was tolerated by parents in Pagsanjan. (Philippine Daily Globe, March 13, 1988)
But Harvey's reputation soon took a turn for the worse, and he became the single foreigner most infamous in the Philippines in matters of sex. The reason was that he had allegedly kept files on all the youngsters he had sexual relations with. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, in its issue of August 15, 1989 claimed that Harvey had on his list 590 Pagsanjan youths. In this "catalog", Harvey had allegedly described in detail the sensitive body parts of boys and girls and what sexual acts he preformed with them. "It also listed the dates when they received 'gifts' from him in exchange for sex. Like a P8,000 loan for their parents, a house or a tricycle... " The Inquirer was shown ". . . Harvey's documents, including several albums of nude boys and girls aged 7 to 17, playing with sensitive parts of their body. Several photos believed to be taken by Harvey's pimp showed him 'molesting' the children in a group." (Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 15, 1989).
The local and foreign press had a field day with the story. There was a change of attitude toward "tourists" who became "aliens" and it was implied that they had imported paedophilia. (For more details about the raid see Insight)
"Almost all cases of rape or sexual abuse on children are perpetrated by their relatives," ...according to Philippine Senate youth and sports development committee chairman Senator Jose Lina Jr.
"Lina said about seven out of 10 cases of rape or abuse are committed by the father, grandfather, brother, collateral relative within the third civil degree, the stepfather or someone close to the family and is treated like a member of the family.
Only two of 10 cases is perpetrated by a stranger, he said.
Conservative estimates place the incidence of child abuse at one percent of the child population. This means that at the least, the victims number about 300,000 children below the age of 18 and 170,000 children below the age of 10." (by Tess Bedico in April 2, 1991 People's Journal)
Residents and especially mothers of Pagsanjan, were outraged that the state should interfere with what, for many years, had been the chief source of income for numerous families and what had enabled many boys to have an education. They asked pointedly if the government would support their families and educate their children. They saw nothing wrong or immoral in long standing mores and decried dictates from Manila.
The Pagsanjan area is also known as a site for domestic film shooting and formerly was a location for foreign movie productions; Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now was partly shot here. The current government (1991) has done little to encourage foreign film making.
Near Lumbang, east of Pagsanjan Falls, the Nayong Kalikasan Resort is located at Lake Caliraya (an artificial lake); it is a good site for bass fishing and shooting enthusiasts.
New addition for Pagsanjan
Nine men were "arrested" by immigration authorities in Pagsanjan, Laguana in Feb, 1991, according to Carmen Navarro Pedrosa in her column From a Distance, Philippine Star, Nov 16, 1991. They were accused of being "pedophiles" (sic). There were several curious facts about the case: it was not given coverage at the time in the media, and they were in a tour group with their wives. Eventually they were given their freedom but after having an experience with "Philippine justice". The columnist concludes that possibly blackmail and politics underlay the action.
Accommodation
Pagsanjan Village Hotel Garcia St
Tel 2116, entry way on Rizal St
dbl 200 (tb), 350 (ac,tb)
Pagsanjan Falls Lodge Tel 1251
dbl 250 (tb), 350 (ac,tb); boat house 750 natural dammed stream swimming pool
Casa Camino Real Hotel 39 Rizal St
Tel 2086; dbl 150 (tb), 300 (ac,tb)
Magdapio Hotel Tel 2821, 1215
dbl 225 (tb), 320 (ac,tb)
Rio Vista Hotel Tel 1949
dbl 300 (tb)
Tropical Resort Sampaloc, Tel 1267
dbl 180 (tb), 250 (ac, tb); bun 350 (ac,tb)
Youth Hostel 237 General Luna St, Tel 2124
dbl 5070, dorm 25/28 pp
Restaurants
Plaza and Dura Fe near church and city square
More on Laguna Provinces:
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/english/philippines/philippines_islands_cavite_batangas15.htm
| 
