Iligan City - A Place Worth Visiting

A small and not-so-known city in the Philippines named as Iligan City with tourist spots and diverse culture exists!

Iligan City. The City of Majestic Waterfalls as they say. This city is indeed a city full of waterfalls as it has twenty-three (23) waterfalls in all. These waterfalls are not the only tourist spots in Iligan. The most famous of them all is the Maria Cristina Falls. It is source of water systems not only in its own city, but also to the different places in Mindanao. The hydroelectric power that Maria Cristina Falls produces provided many cities and municipalities a lot of benefits.

(c) http://ph.news.yahoo.com/iligan--the-city-of-magnificent-waterfalls.html

Waterfalls are not the only wonderful things about Iligan. One of the most anticipated and most awaited events of Iligan City is the festival. Festivals are also practiced and are present in the city. Its famous “Diyandi Festival” can be witnessed live on the days of the feast of its patron saint, Senior San Miguel or better known as Saint Michael the Archangel particularly on the 27^th, 28^th and 29^th days of the month September. Street dancing is one of the activities during the feast day. Also, a competition wherein folk stage plays portraying the battle of Saint Michael and the devil is presented during the festival. Tourist population increases during those days just to witness the festive Diyandi Festival. I can say that Diyandi Festival is one of a kind.

Photo taken by Francis Ted A. Seguerra, RN

Photo taken by Francis Ted Seguerra, RN

Want some place to chill out with your friends? Iligan has it! The city has this place called Timoga Springs, where there are five spring resorts. The spring resorts have swimming pools with cool and refreshing water. A stay in Timoga Springs is BEST during the summer season. It is quite far from the city proper, but you don`t have to worry, because a ride from the city proper with a cheap fare will already do.  There`s also Maze Park aside from Timoga Springsthat has swimming pools to cool yourselves. It`s located near Timoga Springs.

When it comes to education, Iligan City is quite competitive. It has one of the most prestigious universities in the entire Philippines. This university is named as Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology or MSU-IIT for short. MSU-IIT offers a lot of courses. In fact, IIT’s College of Engineering, College of Science and Technology and many other colleges are already labelled as the Center of Excellence. Also, IIT is one of the many universities in the country with the cheapest tuition fees. But this does not mean its quality of education reflects on its tuition fee rate. Mind you, when it comes to the top ten best universities in the Philippines, MSU-IIT is on the list.

Being able to learn the culture and witness significant events in Iligan City are things that I will surely treasure. Not all people in the country or in the whole world are able to know more about the hospitable Iliganons and Iligan itself. They let a chance pass and miss their chance of discovering such a wonderful city. Of my 16 years of stay here in Iligan, I am proud to say that I am an Iliganon. What more could you ask for? Come and visit Iligan City, it`s worth it!

"An official entry to the Iligan Blogging Contest 2012"

#6 There's Always a Way

Happy Feet 2 is an animated movie with penguins as the main characters voiced over by famous actors.

The penguins Mumble and Gloria, the main characters from the first movie, had a son named Erik. Erik was trying hard to discover his talents because as everyone noticed, he was far different from the others. The Emperor Land was so peaceful and the Emperor penguins were cheerful, not until a big trouble hit their area. All the penguins in the Emperor Land were trapped below the walls of the large iceberg, except for Mumble, Erik and his bestfriends. After discovering the threat, the Erik and his friends went to ask help from the penguins of the Adelie Land. Bundles of fish were delivered to the penguins trapped in the below the iceberg. When Erik was delivering food to his mother, Gloria, Mumble told Erik that no one would be able to escape and survive. Humans saw the penguins trapped, but when they were about to help, a huge blizzard came by them and so they retreated. Erik could not accept what his father just said so he went to search for solutions. Because of his determination, he went to see his elephant seal friends to ask for help. But when they were hesitant to give their help, Erik beseeched in front of them and sincerely asked for everyone`s help. Fortunately, Erik succeeded in convincing the elephant seals.

When they arrived in the Emperor Land (my favourite part in the movie), Mumble and Erik did a tap dance so the large ice would weaken and break into pieces. Each and everyone cooperated and followed Mumble, Erik and his friends who were on the top of the iceberg tap dancing. The non-penguins did the same. The elephant seals smashed the ice and followed the penguins on the beat.

Thankfully, the iceberg broke down and penguins were able to climb out of the fissure and went to their families.

Not only because it has a cute storyline, has the movie also given us moral values that we can use in our everyday lives.  Also, inspiring lines said by the main characters caught me up. :)

"If you want it, you must will it. If you will it, it will be yours."

"When things go wrong, running is not the answer."

"There's always  way."

Erik: "But there's a lot of dangers out there."

Gloria (Erik's mom): "Not dangers. But challengers."