Balincaguin Conservancy Grotto

Tacloban City (May 11) -- More than 300 participants from the different caving clubs and speleological societies from all over the country, and cavers from Australia, United States, New Zealand, Hongkong, Great Britain and Japan have started to arrive in Tacloban ready to troop to the Sohoton Natural Bridge National Park on May 11-15, 2009 for the 9th National Caving Congress, Department of Tourism Region 8 Director Karina Rosa Tiopes informed.

In his effort to stay ahead of the potential upsurge of tourist going to the caves of Mabini, Mayor Carlitos R. Reyes has sent a research team to the LGU-Sagada in Mt. Province to inquire and observe their procedures in controlling its tourism industry. The research team consisted of four members of the Balincaguin Conservancy (BC), Mabini’s local caving group. Fortunately, most of the BC members are also employees of LGU-Mabini.

TACLOBAN CITY - The town of Basey, Samar is poised to host the 2009 National Caving Congress set from May 12 to 16 this year aimed at raising public awareness on cave preservation.

Department of Tourism Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said that around 200 local and foreign cavers are expected to participate the annual event.

On my usual daily routine I’m always looking for photo opportunities, then Ron informed me about a complaint made by Punong Barangay Leonido Nacional of Brgy. De Guzman to the Mayor about water supply often becoming cloudy. So on 7 January 2009, members of Balincaguin Conservancy (BC) organized a team to inspect the cave that contains the water source.

Rawen E. Balmaña – BC member
Rogelio Rubares – BC member
Ryan Amistad – Local guide

We opted to name this caves in respect to the surface owner. Geographical coordinates were observed using a Garmin 12 channel GPS hand held unit on WGS84 datum with +/- 18 meters of accuracy due to the presence of thick vegetation on some part of this karst field.