Panay Town: Quaint and Charming

Panay town in Capiz is a short 15 minute drive from Roxas City.  In this quaint and charming town, you will find the oldest church in Panay, the Santa Monica Church. This 17th century Church is made of coral stones with the interiors baroque in style. Other attractions are the church bell (which was made from 70 sacks of silver and gold coins donated by the locals), a traditional water well, and the town hall.

Roxas City: Seafood Capital???

The reason why I decided to pass by Roxas City on my way to Boracay was their fresh and reasonably priced seafoods which I have read about.  Afterall, Roxas City prides itself as the seafood capital of the Philippines.

However, I was in for a major disappointment.  Not only were there not a lot of seafood choices but the prices also were not reasonable.  At the Seafood Court in the People's Park Plaza, they were selling steamed small crabs for P100 (US$ 2.32) per piece and  a small slice of blue marlin at P150 (US$3.40). A bit reasonable was the sea shells in a small soup bowl for P80 (US$1.80).  The prices were a lot more expensive than in Manila. No wonder there were very people dining at the place during the lunch hour that I was there. 

For this reason I decided to stay for just a night instead of 2 nights as I originally planned.  The title "Seafood Capital" is undeserved!

Roxas City Shines

If Roxas City is pretty at daytime, at night, it shines.  It is one of the few cities in the Philippines that are beautifully lit at night.  The other one that comes to mind is Laoag City in Ilocos Norte.  Good to know that scions of prominent political families, in this case Roxas family in Roxas and the Marcoses in Laoag have taken very good care of their hometowns.

Roxas City: Jewel in the South

I was glad that I went to the charming and quaint city of  Roxas in Capiz province located in Southern Philippines.  Instead of taking the usual flight either to Caticlan or Kalibo, I decided to instead go to Roxas enroute to Boracay.  The city boasts of well paved streets, beautifully maintained plaza, and generally clean and peaceful environment.  So unlike most towns and cities in the Philippines which are dirty, dusty and crowded. Roxas City also has a huge bus terminal located outside of the city which is probably the best in the country.

Its the hometown of controversial Secretary Mar Roxas and if the condition of Roxas City is  any indication,  then should he become the next President of the Philippines, there's a good chance that the country is destined for better things!