Badian winks

Some 98 kilometers southwest of Cebu City is the town of Badian.  It’s about two-and-a-half hours’ ride from the city’s South Bus Terminal, where air-conditioned and ordinary buses pick up passengers. A third-class municipality, Badian offers a lot for visitors.

The original name of the place is said to be Kabadyangan, from the “badyang” plant that used to grow in abundance there. Through time, particularly at the point when places in the country began taking on formal names, the name has become Badyang, and then Badian. The town has since progressed, although not quite as much as the major towns of Cebu province.

Badian’s barangay Poblacion is the town center. It is where the hospital, the bigger elementary and secondary schools, and the main marketplace are located. It is also the most populous of the town’s 29 barangays.

Also in the Poblacion is the church of Santiago Apostol, the town’s patron saint. In time for the annual fiesta of Santiago Apostol, the town holds its Banig Festival on July 25. The festival is a celebration of the “banig” or grass mat, which is considered a major home industry of the town.

Perhaps the thing most associated with Badian today is its Kawasan Falls, a three-layered waterfall that has since become one of the popular tourist destinations in the whole Cebu province. Upstream of Kawasan Falls is the Matutinao River, which is currently gaining popularity among canyoneering enthusiasts. Close to the area where the river is, the Badian mountain range and the popular Osmeña Peak are also drawing in adventure seekers.

Nature lovers will have a field day in Badian. For one, the town’s abundant source of freshwater is a large underground reservoir that emerges to the Kabukalan Springs. The river system, composed of springs, streams and waterfalls, has been awarded several times in the past years as the Cleanest and Greenest River in the Philippines. It has earned, in 2003, the Hall of Fame award for the “rivers” category.

Badian may be considered a pioneering tourist attraction in Cebu, perhaps next only to Mactan. Here, the famous Badian Island Resort has been a favorite tourist destination – mostly among foreign tourists – since the 1980s, long before the heightened tourism initiatives have become a fad everywhere. The lure of this resort islet continues to this day.

The other tourist attractions of Badian include:

•Cebu International Golf and Resort, in barangay Lambug, an 18-hole golf course that attracts golfers to the town;

•Terra Manna Beach and Camping Resort, with its manicured gardens and serene surroundings;

•Lambug Beach, a public beach that welcomes everyone at no cost at all, except for personal provisions;

•The Mangrove Area, where visitors may have fun hunting crabs and relish the exhilarating view of the sunset.

As a custom among local tourists, the Santiago Apostol Church in the Poblacion is an important site to visit. And the town market, also in the Poblacion, is a good place where to immerse in the local community life. The market is a good place, as well, where to find fresh produce from the surrounding crop fields.

Badian winks at potential – and returning – visitors who might want to make a quick trip to the town.  - Orestes Nuez