Bacoor
Bacoor is a suburban city in Cavite. It is a large, overwhelmingly sprawling community south of Manila, and the gateway to the province from the north.
Understand
Bacoor is large and sprawling, due to the fast pace of suburbanization that turned this quiet fishing and farming municipality into one of the most populous cities in Cavite. It just lies south of Metro Manila, and its suburban character can be seen from aircraft taking off or landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport from the west.
Little is known about Bacoor's history, but it has some bits of history. Mariano Gomez, one of the Filipino secular priests collectively called the Gomburza, served Bacoor's old parish church for 48 years until he was arrested and executed along with Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora at the garrote for alleged involvement in the Cavite Mutiny. Bacoor is one of the first towns to rebel against Spanish rule at the beginning of the Philippine Revolution, and the turning point of the rebellion, the Battle of Zapote Bridge, happened in 1897 near the boundary with the Spanish-era province of Manila, but within the year, the town and Cavite province fell back to the Spaniards. A heritage home, the Cuenca Residence, was a site for meetings by the Filipino revolutionary group Katipunan.
Get in
Bacoor is about 15 minutes from Manila or the airport.
By bus
There are many buses plying Aguinaldo Highway, the city's main street. The city has designated stops for all buses through the city, but the most useful of them is the stop near SM City Bacoor, at the junction of Aguinaldo and Tirona highways. All buses use the Manila-Cavite Expressway to and from Manila.
From the coastal towns, there are "baby buses" to Bacoor; their terminal is just outside SM City Bacoor.
By car
From Manila, the main entry point by car is the toll Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX, or formerly but still called Coastal Road), with an exit at barangay Longos. Other entry points from Metro Manila are:
- Quirino Avenue (from Las Piñas), which intersects with the congested Alabang-Zapote Road and crosses into Bacoor on the historic Zapote Bridge.
- Daang Hari, a east-west multilane road which starts at Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa and ends at Imus. The toll Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway connects Daang Hari with the South Luzon Expressway at Muntinlupa.
Aguinaldo Highway (Route 62 from Zapote Bridge to Tirona Highway; Route 419 afterwards), Cavite's most important and perennially snarled highway, traverses Bacoor north to south.
Bacoor implements an ordinance restricting road travel by license plate number ("number coding"), and the Cavite governments also has a province-wide travel restriction, both during weekdays (except national holidays).
Get around
Bacoor is well served by the common modes of transport, the jeepney and th tricycle, but its car-reliant sprawl from the developments in the 1990s also gave its negative reputation on traffic jams. If you drive, always prepare for rush hour traffic and clogged roads.
By jeepney
Bacoor is well served by jeepney routes, and they ply all the major roads through town. Fares start at ₱8 for the first 4 kilometers, and ₱2 are added for each additional kilometer. But remember that the city has since restricted loading and unloading of jeepneys to a few designated stops, so you cannot just hail a jeepney just anywhere or ask the driver to drop you outside the designated stop.
You might also take a multicab between SM City Bacoor ang SM City Molino, but remember, space inside the vehicle is small (there is limited head room and leg room) and it can carry just the half a jeepney can carry, so expect the ride to be crowded.
By tricycle
By car
Travel by car is far the worst way to get around town. While the malls are best accessed by car, parking rates can be burdensome, and parking space becomes limited during weekend sales. Traffic in Bacoor is nerve-racking, and unless you are used to Filipino driving behavior (or similar behaviors in other countries), it remains best to take the available public transport options when getting around.
See
- 1 Zapote Bridge. A historic arch bridge at the boundary with Las Piñas, where two battles during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War, the 1897 Battle of Zapote Bridge and the 1899 Battle of Zapote River, occurred. The 1897 battle was a Filipino victory, while the 1899 battle was an American victory (as they used gun boats to devastate the Filipino positions). At the middle of the bridge, since bypassed by a modern six-lane one, is a National Historical Marker commemorating the two battles.
- 2 Bacoor Church (Saint Michael the Archangel Parish). Despite this being old, this has an obscure history, but it was part of the Spanish-era town (pueblo), and notably, one of the Gomburza, Mariano Gomez, became one of its parish priests until he was arrested in 1872 for alleged involvement in the Cavite Mutiny and was executed at the garrote in Bagumbayan, Manila. There is a historic marker dedicated to Gomez.
Do
Buy
Eat
Drink
Sleep
- 1 [dead link] Hotel Sogo Bacoor, A. Evangelista Street, Kalinisan, Talaba (4th floor of FRC Mall Bacoor). Branch of motel chain with red and yellow buildings, with rooms primarily cateried to romantic partners. ₱1270 per day.
- Dragonfly Apartments and Transient House, 226 Chico Street, Justinville Subdivision, Panapaan VII. ₱594.
- 2 One Serenata, Tirona Highway, Dulong Bayan, ☏ +63 46 434-5576. Furnished rooms with flat-screen TV. Has free WiFi, breakfast, and parking. Van shuttle service available from Ninoy Aquino International Airport. From ₱1585.
Connect
Go next
Next to Bacoor is Kawit, where the Philippines' declaration of independence is signed in 1898.
Other nearby places are:
- Imus - Another sprawling city, and the de jure capital of Cavite (but there are no provincial government offices there). One of the major battles of the Philippine Revolution, the Battle of Alapan, happened here.
- Dasmariñas — A city of over 660,000, it is a fast-growing economic center, with malls and universities.