It arrived like an avalanche in the early to mid-90s, inundating their hometowns with factories, business parks, brand-new highways and subdivisions that brought in the great mass of people who now live and work in the new suburbs that were once abundant farmlands and sleepy salt beds.
Today, the thin line that divides the province from Metro Manila cuts through a 6.6-kilometer coastal road, which, on a sunny summer weekend, is just minutes of leisurely driving.
Yet, Cavite remains a distinct place. Sure, it has malls, industrial estates, colleges and universities and all the accouterments of urbanity. But it has history, heritage and havens that are unique even in the spaces re-mapped by industrialization.
In historic Bacoor and Kawit, for example, the first two towns after the coastal road, the old provincial highway is still lined with streetside vendors peddling tahong (mussels), talaba (oysters) and alimango (mud crabs) which help one remember that in the old days, these were primarily seaside-industry towns.
The salt beds may be fewer now, but the sea is still a living, vital presence, even among the townsfolk who are now mostly store, office or factory workers, entrepre-neurs and city employees.
Kawit, too, has a jewel right in its midst, which draws a regular pool of visitors to the town. This is the hometown of the country’s first president and the birthplace of the first Philippine Republic. The Emilio Aguinaldo mansion, now a museum and heritage park, is probably the strongest reminder of what Cavite once was – the land of heroes and feisty Katipuneros who gave this country its first taste of freedom and independence from foreign rule.
These intertwined themes of sea and history are what probably made Kawit a natural choice as a destination for Metro Manilans weary of urban concrete.
In 1998, a few months before the celebration of the centennial of Philippine Independence, a resort and leisure park opened in Barangay Binakayan in Kawit to accommodate the growing influx of visitors to the town and the fast growing tourism market in Cavite’s boomtowns.
It was a huge success.
People came in droves from Metro Manila, the neighboring towns in Cavite and the nearby provinces of Batangas and Laguna – domestic and foreign tourists looking for rest and recreation, corporate executives in search of peace and quiet for their team-building sessions, families and friends willing to try out alternative weekend entertainment away from the crowded getaways in the city, yet unwilling to drive or sail long hours out of town to say, Subic, Clark, Baguio, Batangas or Corregidor.
Eight years later, people are still coming to Island Cove Resort and Leisure Park to discover Cavite and its place in history, to dine in its fishing village, to swim in its Olympic-sized pools, to play sports in its huge, open spaces, to spend an afternoon by the bay, to sing in its KTV rooms, to party with friends in its bars and hold banquets in its multi-purpose halls, and for a whole lot of other reasons. .
First, the fast-evolving tourist market that is redefining the concept of recreation for today’s Filipinos. And second, the need for Island Cove to transform from a mere recreational facility into a suitable landmark that offers the best of what Cavite offers.
"There are so much options now to spend one’s leisure hours. You don’t even have to go out of your own home to beat the stresses that come from meeting the demands of daily life. What we strive to offer is for our guests to rediscover life in our premises," Buhay says.
This means new concepts of entertainment, new avenues for rest and recreation that do not necessarily turn away from traditional hotel and resort services but definitely enhance people’s experiences while spending their leisure time.
"Passion for life, focus, intimacy with loved ones, a different brand of entertainment. These are the things we seek to give people who come to Island Cove," says Buhay. Thus, the resort’s catchphrase for years – "Rediscover Life."
This summer may be the perfect time to visit Island Cove again as the resort has just packed in a new set of amenities and services, including a massage by the poolside. Its Island Songs KTV has been expanded and now has more than 30 rooms. The Fisherman’s Deck, the bar fronting the Fisherman’s Village, was also renovated for patrons coming in on hot summer nights to chill out by the bay.
Nature nurture. By life, Island Cove’s lady manager means not only human life but also that which directly enhances it. Situated on a 12-hectare island off the main road leading to the Kawit town proper, Island Cove is a natural habitat. It is for this reason that the management adopted a different tack in its approach to rest and recreation a few years back and decided to build a wildlife sanctuary in its environs, the first in Cavite.
Albeit still in their early stages of development, the Island Cove farms are attracting school children who are arriving by the busloads on packaged tours. The resort boasts a butterfly garden, a crocodile farm, a monkey island, a rabbit country, a turtle tribe, a python village, thousands of exotic birds, chicken and fowls, peacocks and ostriches, geese and macaw cockatoos, turkeys and lizards.
This rapidly evolving animal sanctuary, however, will never become a zoo and management refuses to call it one. The animals in the facility, says Buhay, are not meant to be merely kept in cages and ogled at by visitors. The ultimate goal is to simulate a natural habitat and allow them to breed and their offspring sold to interested parties or to families interested, in say, having pet rabbits, ducks, birds, iguanas or even a 15-month-old male ostrich.
In the months to come, a horseback riding facility will also be fully open to the public as an added attraction.
It’s a long walk or a long drive to complete the tour inside the animal farm and it’s best done early in the morning before the sun gets too hot for comfort or late in the afternoon.
Fundamentally Filipino. Perhaps, the tendency of resorts that have sprouted in boomtowns across the country is that when they turn big-time and world-class the local flavor is lost, thus alienating the local crowd.
Not so with Island Cove. Buhay says Island Cove is for everybody and it will be primarily for Filipinos as well as for foreigners in search of a true Filipino recreational experience.
At the resort’s fishing village, authentic Filipino seafood cuisine is served. And you can catch your own fish and have it cooked.
In the bamboo huts on stilts, one can have lunch or dinner surrounded by the sea, with a full view of passing boats and fishermen tending their tahong and fish farms.
If Chinese cuisine is your fancy for the day, there is Xiang Li, which serves lunch and dinner. Incidentally, this restaurant’s name was taken from the group of Chinese merchants who peddled their wares during the Spanish era in a peninsula across Manila Bay that is now called Sangley Point in Cavite City.
You don’t have to be a guest of the resort though to enjoy the food and its facilities.
If you are driving from Manila or neighboring towns you can go straight to the spa, the swimming pool, the sports cove or the animal farm. It can also be the KTV or the bar at the Fisherman’s Deck. And this, for roughly the same price of a mall outing or a regular bar hop in Manila’s nightspots.
Bring the barkada on a Friday night or a Saturday afternoon or the family on a Sunday morning and you’ll have a different experience for the weekend.
But if you have a few days to spend or an entire weekend, you can choose between the regular hotel rooms or the two- and four-bedroom island cottages. Then you’ll see more of Island Cove, notably its jogging trail which is best traversed before sunrise, and the unique Filipino service and hospitality that the resort offers.
Special and outdoor activities for groups can also be arranged for stay-in guests.
Going global. Early on, Island Cove has realized that an expansive vision is needed for the resort’s future plans. And the first step toward this vision is an ISO9001:2000 certification that puts the resort’s quality management systems (QMS) at par with the world’s best. For customers, this means quality service that is consistent and in line with international standards, and for its employees, a work system that entrenches the ethos of continuous innovation and improvement in all levels of service.
Recently, Island Cove was also accredited by the Department of Tourism as a triple A resort.
These pursuits, says Buhay, are to bring home the idea that Filipino establishments can go global and to assure foreign guests that they can have the same experience here as in any resort abroad.
So, pack those bags and head for Island Cove. And by the way, on your way back to Manila, don’t forget to take home tahong chips. A lone store is selling this rare pasalubong at an intersection near the boundary of Bacoor and Kawit. It’s a bit salty and a tad fishy but would make for a nice accompaniment to a bottle of beer while watching something on DVD.
That is, if you do not want to take home a seven-foot baby ostrich that your little children would love to show off to the neighbors and maybe scare away some pesky thieves.