Cape Santiago Lighthouse, also known as Faro de Cabo Santiago ( Filipino: ''Parola ng Cabo Santiago''), is a historic lighthouse located about southwest of

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

in Barangay Bagong Silang,

Calatagan Calatagan, officially the Municipality of Calatagan (), is a municipality in the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 58,719 people. Calatagan comprises the Calatagan Peninsula between the ...

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( ), is a first class province of the Philippines located in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Calabarzon region. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,908,494 people, making ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is the oldest working lighthouse in Batangas and one of the oldest working lighthouses in the Philippines. It serves as a guide for ships passing through the

Verde Island Passage The Verde Island Passage is a strait that separates the islands of Luzon and Mindoro in the Philippines, connecting the South China Sea with the Tayabas Bay and the Sibuyan Sea beyond. Traditionally, the sea lane has been one of the busiest ...

and entering

Manila Bay Manila Bay (; ) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the Manila, capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and ...

History

The Cape Santiago Lighthouse was among the lighthouses constructed by the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines from 1846 to 1896 as part of the ''Plan General de Alumbrado de Maritimo de las Costas del Archipelago de Filipino'' (Masterplan for the Lighting of the Maritime Coasts of the Philippine Archipelago), the goal of which was to install 55 lighthouses all over the archipelago, including its remotest corners. In 1887, Spanish engineer Magin Pers y Pers, who also designed the lighthouses at

Cape Bojeador Cape Bojeador () is the northwestern tip of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It is a headland on the South China Sea coast of the municipality of Burgos, Ilocos Norte, Burgos, Ilocos Norte, some north of Laoag. The cape is best known for ...

and Cape Engaño, proposed the construction of a lighthouse in Cape Santiago after conducting a site evaluation.From the inscription on the historical marker installed by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines on the site on March 12, 2018 Don Santiago Zobel, the rich landowner of Hacienda Bigaa in Calatagan, donated the one-hectare property where the lighthouse was constructed. Construction company Aldecoa y Compania constructed the lighthouse based on a design by Spanish engineer Guillermo Brockman. Made of brick and lime cement, the red round structure is tall and was modeled after

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's medieval castles. A lighthouse keeper's house was also built beside the lighthouse tower where the keeper and his or her family can take up residence. The lighthouse was inaugurated and lit on December 15, 1890. After the American annexation of the Philippines in 1898, the management of the Spanish-built lighthouses in the country fell into American hands. From 1900 to 1902 — the height of the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...

— the American gunboat USS ''Villalobos'', a former Spanish gunboat captured after the American annexation of the Philippines, guarded the lighthouse. The gunboat regularly patrolled the area around the lighthouse, Malabrigo Point and

Cabra Island Cabra is a barangay in the Philippines that covers the island of the same name. The island is the north-westernmost of the Lubang Group of Islands in the Verde Island Passage southwest of the country's main island of Luzon and northwest of the is ...

from its base in

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

, maintaining a communication link with the

Marines Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...

guarding lighthouses and keeping a sharp lookout for smuggling and trafficking of supplies to Filipino revolutionaries. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the lighthouse suffered minor damage after American warplanes strafed a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

garrison in the area. Over the succeeding years, the lighthouse deteriorated due to neglect and its original light source went missing. In 1980, the Japanese government, through the

Japan International Cooperation Agency The Japan International Cooperation Agency (), also known as JICA'','' is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social gr ...

, donated a light bulb to replace the missing light source. The bulb has since been replaced with a modern, solar-powered lens that the

Philippine Coast Guard The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG; ) is the third armed uniformed service of the country attached to the Philippines' Department of Transportation, tasked primarily with enforcing laws within Philippine waters, conducting maritime security ope ...

(PCG) has recently installed. In 1990, the PCG renovated the abandoned lighthouse keeper's house and repurposed it as an inn for tourists. It renovated structure was unveiled on December 15, 1990 — the centenary of the lighthouse's inauguration. On April 18, 1995, the PCG, then under Commodore Arturo Capada, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with former Batangas Governor and Resort Association of the Philippines Inc. (RAPI) president Jose Antonio Leviste to develop Cape Santiago into a tourism site. RAPI reclaimed around of sea along the shoreline of the lighthouse, an action that was not part of the MOU, which only authorized the improvement of the existing building and development of the surrounding land area. The development has since been discontinued. In October 2007, the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary proposed to adopt and restore the lighthouse as its headquarters. On March 12, 2018, the

National Historical Commission of the Philippines The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP; ) is a government agency of the Philippines. Its mission is "the promotion of Philippine history and cultural heritage through research, dissemination, conservation, sites management ...

installed a

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

on the site, designating its status a National Historical Landmark.

References

External links

*
Celeste Barile's photo essay on Philippine lighthouses from the April 1996 issue of the ''NAMRIA Infomapper''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Engano Lighthouse Lighthouses completed in 1890 Lighthouses in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Batangas Spanish colonial infrastructure in the Philippines Marked Historical Structures of the Philippines Tourist attractions in Batangas

History

See also

References

External links