Bulacan: Discovering What Is There To See In Bustos

Early last year, I was fortunate to be part of the production of the music video of  Skabeche’s song for the Minasa Festival of Bustos, Bulacan.

Before hand I really didn’t knew so much about this place so I was really curious about the locations for the video shoot.

The town is rich with culture and history as the old houses scatter around the town would tell you that Bustos had a fare share of rich and famous people.

One of the few old houses that is maintained and still in use.

And yes it comes with a vintage car in the garage! cool ey!?

The town hall of Bustos gives a 1970’s vibe with its slim columns and vintage windows.

One of the hall ways

The town has a good number of old historic houses. However, they lack maintenance of the properties though some are being fully restored. I just wish that they put them into other uses such as making them boutique hotels with amenities as most if not all of them have good sized lots.

Aside from these houses Bustos also has a fare share of Resort type swimming pools where one can enjoy a a cool dip. Entrance fees ranges from 100 – 200 and you would have to rent a cottage or a table where you could stay at a separate fee.

As a child growing up in this province, one of the fondest memories that I have is our instant access to water ways. Our house in Bulacan was situated near an irrigation canal maintained by the National Irrigation Authority to water the surrounding rice fields. The water back then was really clean and you wont find any trash on the water way. Sadly this is not the situation any longer.

I was surprised when the production manager told us that our location would be the Ivatan houses. I was like, Ivatan what???

As we arrived at the location, I found out that the Ivatan houses are actually shelters for less fortunate and abused children. Here they are cared for and taught how to be responsible citizens.

The compound is being run by priests and has  a small church that you can visit. I was about to step in when one of the children informed me to take off my shoes before I go in. They do this as a sign of respect for the house of worship, that is truly admirable.

The best part of our trip was the last location for our shoot at the Bustos Dam. We shot a mini concert at huge gates of the dam while people were partying.  The whole structure was amazing and vastness of the land was breath taking. I could not help but imagine holding a nice photo shoot there.

With that I am grateful to the municipal government of Bustos, Bulacan for giving me the chance to discover the hidden treasures of the city. I am sure there are so much more that can be discovered there.

How To Get To Bustos, Bulacan

• Take a Baliwag bus and get off at the terminal. Make sure that the bus is Baliwag bound and not just passing by because it wont take you to the city center. From Baliwag take a tricycle or jeep bound to Bustos, Bulacan. I prefer taking a tricycle.