Hotels in the Philippines
Top Asia Hotels
All hotels WorldwideJust after my Bucari trip, a few hours actually, I’m out on another trip and this time my destination is Bacolod City. My family and other relatives at my father’s side had a reunion and we stayed at my Lola’s house in Bata.
Last time I was in Negros was on September 2007 for an organizational study of Riverside Hospital with side-trip to Patag in Silay. I knew of some new developments in Bacolod and had the chance to see them myself.
Sanparq Square, home of Bacolod Branch of Convergy’s, the largest call center company in the world.
Planta Hotel
Also visited a recreational center in Talisay called Nature’s Village
Planta Hotel
There’s a new mall in Bacolod called 888 Chinatown Square, which is a divisoria-type development. I went inside and saw a lot of shops selling cheap RTW and ukay-ukay clothes, shoes, and electronic products like cellphones and MP3 platers but I noticed most of the spaces are still unoccupied. There was this one shop, which intrigued me because of the Iphone, N95 they had on sale for less than P10,000. I later realized they were just China phones and the same models could be bought in The Atrium Mall back home for a cheaper price.
888 Chinatown Squar
One of my close friends, whom I was with in Bucari, had just returned to her home in Kabankalan City. I told her that I wanted to visit her place and that she would look for a place for me to stay. She agreed and found a boarding house for me to stay near the City Plaza for only P100/night ^_^
Kabankalan City is two hours away from Bacolod and on the way, I got to take pictures of the other towns and cities in Negros Occidental.
Bago City
Bago Gym
Colonial House beside the Plaza (hadn’t had the chance to see the house of Tan Juan)
Gothic-style Roman Catholic Chuch of Bago, loving it!
Bago City Hall
Villadolid
View of Guimaras from Villadolid
Hinigaran
Roman Catholic Church of Hinigaran
In Kabankalan, I was able to tour interesting sights within the City Proper.
Fountain in the City Plaza
“green” highways
Roman Catholic Church
Public Highscool
Public Elementary School
Football field
Public Comfort Room in the City Plaza
Gaisano City Kabankalan
Unitop Kabankalan
Kabankalan is the second largest city in terms of economic-size in Neros Occidental next to Bacolod. It is strategically located in the center of Negros Island and is the transit point of travellers/commuters crossing from Northwestern Negros (Bacolod City area) to Southern Negros (Sipalay area all the way to Dumaguete City) and vice-versa. The city has a sizeable commercial economy and the only City outside Bacolod (that I have been to) that looks like what a city should look like.
I am quite surprised of the grandiose public buildings in Kabankalan but not quite impressed. Kabankalan is a city, which had a total income of P444M in 2006 (No figure for 2007 yet). P386M is from the allocation of the national government called IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) and that means that Kabankalan is 87% dependent on the National Government for its funds. Meanwhile, Kabankalan also generated a local income of P58.0M, which is considerably large but only ranks 11th when compared among other cities in the region despite it having the 3rd largest total income next to the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo. During the same year, Kabankalan only spent 67% of its income or P140M in savings.
This is the breakdown of how the IRA of Kabankalan is computed
Population – P115,209,373.93 (for its pop of 149,769)
Land Area – P221,682,895.01 (for its land area of 726.40 km²)
Equal Sharing of all cities in the Country – P49,745,511.06
——————————
Total – P386,637,780.00
You can see in the information above that Kabankalan gets almost half of its income from the IRA it gets from its expansive land area computed with a predefined formula for all cities. If Kabankalan was a mere municipality the amount of IRA that it would have received would just be decreased to a third. These data only goes to show the disparity of the distribution of IRA to municipalities and small cities because cities get more IRA per square kilometer and per capita, which is theoretically correct because land and people in cities have more economic value that their counterparts in towns but when you have a city with a very large land area like Kabankalan, where only a fraction of its land area is urban/developed and most of it is just farmlands/sugarcane plantations and mountains, a large disparity happens. And this disparity is responsible for Kabankalan to be able to finance such grandiose public infrastructures including a locally-funded airport that gotten the nod of President GMA.
Don’t get me wrong though. I have nothing against Kabankalan, in fact I find it a suitable place to live, with clean, wide roads, well lighted city proper at night, convenient shopping centers nearby, and a peaceful and fun-loving citizenry. I merely want to present my thoughts.
After I was able to contemplate on what was mentioned above while I was touring Kabankalan’s city proper, I took a refreshing break from the deep thinking by visiting Mag-aso Falls. The place was very nice, I would definitely love to come back to Mag-aso and Kabankalan!
After returning from my Bacolod-Kabankalan trip, I decided to take a break from traveling overload I’ve been getting myself into for the past week. I’ll just stay home and try to get my skin to its original color while I share my adventures through my blogs.
My name is Marcos. I'm an off-beat explorer who loves to experience and capture the beauty of the Philippines and Asia. I started making a living online to support myself financially through my university degree. I've been living a location-independent digital lifestyle ever since. 
yes marc… i agree… you need to get your original skin color back… hehehe… and you need to eat a lot… hehehe!
nice photos… great tour… spectacular self-portraits… bravo!
eating a lot will get me gain weight >:( ….
tuod spectacular self-portraits ko? gosh
hi friend u forgot to take pix of Kabankalan City Hall hehehehe
hey marcos!
such breathtaking, magnificent and fantastic pictures you’ve taken of kabankalan! especially of mag-aso falls. my bf is from kabankalan and for a long time i have actually been looking for pictures of his hometown(because he hasn’t provided me even one..hehe) i have seen pictures from kabankalan’s website but yours are much much better to look/stare at. i didn’t know that his city is so progressed man gali, i thought its just like Antique or something..hehe
anyway, you have given me things to look at while i’m at work. i’ll be visiting your blog from now on. you go travel for me. ^_^
btw, i first learned of you and (exploreiloilo and ambot-ah) after reading Forum. it got me curious enough to check you out on the web and it was worth it. keep up the good work!
Nice photos of Bacolod and Kabankalan. Good thing Bacolod is starting to catch up again with the new developments. I was there last May 2008. If by chance you’d be back and I’d be around, let me know and I can show you more of Negros. My hometowns are in Pontevedra and Hinigaran :D
Thanks Jinoe. Yeah, business is bustling in Bacolod. Sure, next time I go there I’ll let you know :)
thank uuuuuu!!!!! for praising kabankalan……..
hi chymera00,
Great job.
Taga -Kabankalan gid ko. And im working here in manila for more than three years already. I never had a time to go home. I miss my hometown a lot.
Thanks for visiting and featuring Kabankalan on your page.
Jay-r: No problem, I had lots of fun in your hometown ;)
ei taga kabankalan man ko…tnx sa pag feature sng amun ciudad..hehehe teh mau man?
ang ganda ng lugar natin pagmalaki natin ang bago city
Thank you for sharing this pictures. You did a wonderful job!
I’m actually from Kabankalan, but I haven’t been to Mag- Aso Falls.
For sure with my next visit to Kabankalan, I would make sure to go and enjoy the day at Mag-Aso.
wow nice picture proud gid ko nga taga kabankalan ko.
Great post as always, thank you for posting all this informative stuff on a regular basis.
very nice! you should visit one of the oldest shops sa kabankalan called best, they sell great finds! also next time you visit try melting pot, the food is great!
The most nerve-racking moments are usually those in which we feel we simply have way too many pieces to focus on
Nice pictures!!! tama si Maryjane. My wife is also from Kabankalan pero dito na sya lumaki sa Makati. First time akong sinanama ng wife ko nagandahan agad ako, malinis sya wala kang makikitang mga basura o balat man lang ng candy sa kalye lalo na sa Plaza iba sa inexpect ko na province. Lalo ko syang nagustuhan ng kumain na kami ng Chicken Inasal (favorite eh).. iba yung lasa!! sabi ko nga sa wife ko dito na tayo tumira, gusto kong dito na tumanda! That’s why right now I’m thinking of opening a business since I’m a graphic artist and I also beginning to like photography baka a photo studio (sana)! Thanks sa pag post mo ng mga pictures ng Kabankalan. God Bless!
hi kuya. im from kabankalan. nice pics. hope next time you come here, we could meet some time. love your blog so much. keep on traveling! <3
Bago city is a nice place. I want to spend my vacation in this place.
Hey
I have powermta nulled for sale.
Good price. I provide full support , installation
em. triggermailing @ gmail.com
,,elow po kuya,, taga kabankalan din po ako..thanks po sa pag post ng photo.. parang feeling ko toloy eh andon parin ako,, tagal ko na rin kasing di nakauwi don,, nakakamizz lalo na makita ko ang mga pic. mo.. nagustuhan ko talaga” thanks po talaga ng marami..gud luck po sa pag travel mo.. god bless..!!!!
Thanks Kenneth!