The Lonely Watchtower of Luna

The Lonely Watchtower of Luna 09/10/2011

Luna's weathered baluarte

I was recently at La Union's Poro Point with some friends and I was not ready to leave the province just yet. Boarding a jeepney at the town center of San Fernando was the start of a side trip to the town of Luna, a couple of towns away. It was there where me and my friends found the town's watchtower or whatever's left of it as blogged by Estan of Langyaw.com.

Baluarte in Spanish, the seaside bastion served as a lookout point by the Spaniards for pirate attacks. The jeepney ride cost us P50 per head and it took 30 to 45 minutes from San Fernando to the plaza of Luna where the Shrine of Our Lady of Namacpacan awaited us. We approached a tricycle driver at the plaza to take us to the baluarte for a few minutes and afterwards drop us off at the nearest highway boarding point for buses going back to Manila.

Arriving at the watchtower site, I felt a distinct sadness. It was noon, but the sunshine was not all over. The sea was temperamental and the wind was getting stronger by the minute. It was almost drizzling when our tricycle driver informed us that the watchtower is no longer in good shape and recently got in a worse condition because more and more local kids are peddling beach stones that used to support the area where the bastion is standing. And I did see a kid carrying two bottle-filled stones posing with the watchtower behind her. I felt a sudden disconnect and failed to take a picture. I guess if the site was not given more attention by the local government, the structure would disappear under the waves of the South China Sea.

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