If you're in Tacloban and would like to have a quick tour to historical, religious and man-made places of interest in the city and its environs, just hop in into the "Icot-Icot" vehicle.
The "Icot-Icot" weekend tour, which now also operates even on weekdays due to public demand, will provide you a 3-hour guided tour of Tacloban and a couple of nearby towns at very affordable prices.
This tour will, of course, include a brief stopover at some famous sites - the Sto. Niño Shrine and Museum and San Juanico Bridge in Tacloban City and the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in nearby Palo town.
The tour fee is P100 for the morning trip and P150 for the afternoon trip because this would include a visit to the Rafael Farm in Babatngon. The amount paid already includes a free ride with a tour guide and the entrance fees at the Sto. Niño Shrine and at the farm resort.
The "Icot-Icot" vehicle, actually a multi-cab that can accommodate around 10 persons, leaves the RTR Plaza in Tacloban City at 9 o'clock for the morning trip and 2 o'clock for the afternoon tour.
From the plaza, the vehicle goes straight along Justice Romualdez street, passing through the CAP building, formerly the Price Mansion, where Gen. Douglas MacArthur resided and put up his headquarters shortly after the landing of the Allied Liberation Forces that he led at Red Beach, Palo, Leyte on October 20, 1944.
At the corner of Senator Enage street, the car turns right passing through the Redoña Residence, a two-storey wooden house along T. Caludio street, where President Sergio OsMeña resided at the early part of the Liberation campaign during the Second World War.
Going straight ahead, the vehicle also passes the Provincial Capitol, which is also a historical building because it was here where, three days after the famous Landing, General MacArthur and President Osmeña announced that Tacloban was the temporary seat of the Commonwealth Government until the country would finally be liberated.
Turning right to Magsaysay Boulevard, the car passes several government buildings such as the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, the Bulwagan ng Katarungan and the University of the Philippines in the Visayas, Tacloban campus.
Also along the boulevard are places of interest such as the Family Park; the statue of the Image of the Crucified Christ; the statue of Maria Kannon, an Asian madonna that symbolizes peace; the Philippine-Japan Peace Park; and the Balyu-an Tower.
Further ahead in Real street is the Sto. Niño Church, the main Catholic church in the city, and then the People's Center and Library and the Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum. The last two buildings were built by former First Lady Imelda Marcos.
The first stopover of the tour is at the Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum, where tourists can take a glimpse of the shrine and the different priceless art objects that are said to be gifts to the first lady during her trips abroad.
The building also has 13 guest rooms of different motifs, a wide ball room, a 20-seater and 30-seater dining tables, and rooms reserved for the First Family in the upper floor.
From the shrine and museum, the tour car speeds away to nearby Palo town for the next stopover at the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park. On the way, it passes the city's new Astrodome and the Boy Scout Monument, said to be the first monument of a boy scout in human form that was erected here in 1941, among other places.
At the MacArthur Park, the group can have a brief sightseeing and take some pictures in the historic place. Then the tour proceeds to the San Juanico Bridge, located more than 20 kilometers away, for the last brief stopover.
Then the car goes back to the city proper where the tour ends.
By the way, the tour got its name from the Filipino word "ikot-ikot," which means "to go around," and from the nickname of the governor, which is "Icot."
LEYTE WEEKEND
ICOT-ICOT TOUR Saturdays and Sundays
Assembly Area: RTR Plaza, Tacloban city
"A project of the Provincial Government of Leyte thru Carlos Jericho L. Petilla"
AM TOUR (9:00am - 12:00 noon) P100.00/head Student Rate: P70.00
Itinerary: • Provincial Capitol • Leyte Park Hotel • Madonna Shrine • Sto. Niño Church • Price Mansion • Downtown Area • Sto. Niño Shrine • MacArthur Memorial
Shrine
Palo, Leyte • San Juanico Bridge,
Cabalawan
Tacloban City
PM TOUR (2:00pm - 5:00pm) P150.00/head Student Rate: P100.00
Itinerary: • Provincial Capitol • Leyte Park Hotel • Madonna Shrine • Sto. Niño Church • Price Mansion • Downtown Area • Sto. Niño Shrine • MacArthur Memorial
Shrine
Palo, Leyte • San Juanico Bridge,
Cabalawan
Tacloban City • Rafael Farm,
Babatngon, Leyte
INCLUSIONS
Tour includes: Transportation, Tour Guide, Entrance Fees
RESERVATION
For reservations and inquiries,
please call
Jescyn N. Ramos
0063.910.5297635 or Ruben S. Tamayo
0063.920.5643183
OR SEND US AN EMAIL: ltipc@leyte.org.ph
ADDRESS LEYTE TOURISM AND INVESTMENT
PROMOTION CENTER (LTIPC)
Leyte Information and Communication Technology Park
Leyte Academic Center, Pawing, Palo, Leyte Philippines Tel. Nos.
0063.53.321.6484
or 0063.53.523.9635
