The Cave’s Right to Darkness: The Case of Hoyop-Hoyopan Cave

To be in this cave could be any caver’s biggest disappointment. A cave that is supposed to be dark (except for some parts) and natural ( with minimum or no alterations at all) is everything that is not for the Hoyop-hoyopon Cave.

We traveled for more than 16 hours by land from Manila to Legaspi for this cave, that is well promoted by the web and by the locals. The cave located at Brgy. Cotmon, in Camalig, Albay is easy to look for. The road towards the cave is okay and there is even a good parking lot for the tourists, who at times come in large numbers for educational purposes.

The cave is classified asCategory 3 based on DENR’s guide to cave classification, quite intended for ‘public use’ which is said to be safe for inexperienced visitors. The cave according to the locals was very well-known that even the Marcoses before frequent there for parties and gatherings… parties and gatherings? Yes you’ve read it right. 

                                       

                                       

                       

The cave is a good private venue. After all, the large chambers offered to be the dance floor, the whole cave lighted, some portions cemented on the floor, cement staircase are put on many parts and some stalactites and stalagmites removed so as not to be distractions to the walking-in-the-park visitors.

It is very obvious to the point that I shrieked and cringed in pain. Really, you won’t need your helmet and headlamp inside this cave because the whole cave chambers are lighted by incandescent lights with the wires dangling around some the stalactites, some nailed on the cave walls. The bulbs are approximately a dozen.

                                         

To be in this cave is literally like walking in a cathedral complete with lights. You walk up straight since the chambers are huge, and you don’t have to worry if you wear stiletto inside! The cave floor is cemented for you and as for the higher parts, there are staircase that you can use.

Insert the cave opening, lights, stalactites

Then, we reached the second chamber of the cave that features… inhale… a dance floor!

                         

I was so amazed and greatly disappointed. I can’t believe if I’m in cave or not. I just tried to enjoy this trip and not let it in into my head ( after travelling hours and hours on the road and that excitement). So I posed to be dancing like a queen here.

                         

According to the guide, the caves were excavated before it was ‘developed’ and many human skeletons were found inside, on where were those, they don’t know but some artifacts can even be seen on the cave walls, such as this human bone below.
                        

There were no bats that perhaps used to live and thrive there but there were a few spiders and some balinsasayaw birds (swiftlets).

Who did this? Oh, it can be very historical! but they can’t pinpoint but according to them the ‘development’ of the Hoyop Hoyopan cave happened during the Marcos time.

Now, who cares about the past when it’s already done? With 3 families claiming ownership of the caves, (whose privately owned land happened to be where the caves are), the cave according to their standards is well-maintained. Yes, do I agree that it is very well-maintained to be not like a cave, but more of a cathedral showcase. It is overly altered to the point of exaggeration. As spelunker, I cannot, for the life of me will ever appreciate what they have done on the cave!

The entrance fee is P 300.00 for each person that is perhaps to pay for the electric bill to light up the cave. With a guide, you’ll get to be toured on 3 chambers very comfortably. As with most guides, they basically tell you the same things inside, like their imaginations on the speleothems forms which I never really enjoy. I go to caves to know more about its natural history and not for some fancy wild imagining of shapes of the formations from the ceiling. I’m interested more on knowing who dwelled there, what was seen and excavated there during the olden times or if there do any animal species inhabit the cave.

I finished my 2-hour ‘caving’ with a very heavy heart. You can actually finished it in an hour but it took me that long because I was talking and probing the guide the whole time. This cave is a very sad story like the Calinawan Cave on my earlier post.

Hoping that some people from the DENR or EMB would take a look at this. Caves should not be altered that much or should not be altered at all! I do believe that even they have already classified this to Category 3 cave, I wished they had issued a stricter guideline about altering a cave. 

No to cement, no clearing of paths for tourist's convenience and most of all, NO to ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING SYSTEM inside a cave!

Please bring back the natural beauty of Hoyop-hoyopan cave,

Please give the cave, the right to its darkness.