PATERNO CAVE | Also known as Ambongdolan Caves, Tublay, Benguet

I CANNOT LIE IN TUBLAY
27th Cave:
THE BEAUTIFUL PATERNO CAVE
📌 Ambongdolan ,Tublay, Benguet
Tublay lives up to its monicker as the "Land of Fascinating Caves". There are actually no lesser than 8 caves in Tublay but only two is open for tourism as the others are yet to be assessed for public safety.
Nevertheless, with the rich history and charismatic formations inside the alluring Paterno Cave, one will be justified to use the word "fascinating".
DESCRIPTION
Mineral deposit formations: Abundant.
Underground river: Yes but only during rainy season.
Bat population: Few.
Multichamber: Yes.
Human artifacts: None discovered yet.
Cave floor fill (aside from stone formations): It is commonly stone. Other than that, there are soil, mud, and pebbles.
DENR Cave Classification: Not yet assessed or result not yet published.
While Tublay is practically near Baguio City, going to the cave itself by public transport is a bit pricey as there are no regular vehicles that ply the very narrow, one-way winding roads carved along the cliffs of the Cordilleras. But if you have the luxury of a private vehicle, you must alight to Ambongdolan Barangay Hall for records and a trained tour guide as spelunking alone could be dangerous.
The entrance is very narrow, and reaching it from the road requires a short hike from the sides of a high cliff where the entrance is located. You should be careful as many people lost their stuffs, including their cellphones when they accidentally dropped them below the very steep cliffside.
Paterno Cave is one of the steepest caves in the country by vertical descent of 90 degrees sheer height. While Sumaguing Cave in Sagada is deeper, Paterno, however is more precipitous but thanks to the man-made safety railings; spelunking is not that perilous.
Upon reaching the entrance, you'll be greeted by curtains of draperies and flowstones like an icing on a cake with contrasting hues of white and brown to greenish smears as a result of lichens and fungi growing near the entrance.
As you make your way deeper, some of the most notable speleothems or formations become more apparent such as the crocodile's snout, a parrot, fishes, genitalia, the Holy Family, an elephant or a mammoth, twin waterfalls, cauliflower, Casper the friendly ghost, cat's paws and vegetables many to mention.
On the upper chamber, a massive cavern was adorned by white flows of gypsum on the entrance. A formation of Mama Mary and Infant Jesus can be found here, and thus, a holy mass was once held inside this cave. On a corner another speleothem of the Thee Kings (Belen) can be clearly recognized.
On a perfectly-domed smooth chamber devoid of any stalagmites and stalactites was purportedly the "office" or hiding place of the escaping Pedro Paterno, Emilio Aguinaldo's highest ranking cabinet member. He was later captured by the American Forces on April 1900; Aguinaldo was then seized in Palanan, Isabela the following year.
I cannot lie in Tublay. The photographs are justice when I say the word "enticing". I have been into numerous caves in the Philippines, most of them in the Sierra Madre and the Cordilleras, two of the greatest mountain ranges in the country harbouring the grandest, longest and most extensive cave systems; an international spelunkers haven.
While the Cordilleras is a juxtaposition of mixed cultures, tribes and people, it's the mountains that brought them into a cohesive whole that illustrates unity in ethnicity, still, since time immemorial, far from impregnation of outside colonialism.
To lie in Tublay is a sin because Tublay is one of a kind that I struggle so hard to put its charms into words the way they could entice people. If I haven't described it the way people please, I appeal your pardons.
I hope readers and travelers will likely to find all my stories of great value whether they're looking for a better understanding of a particular place or simply would like to have a mental glimpse of what it would like to be into the wild and into the great outdoors in this case, of Tublay, Benguet, Cordilleras.
Ambongdolan-Kitong Falls/Lagoon:
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