The Search for Titay’s Tagbilat Falls | Zamboanga Sibugay

June 13, 2020July 25, 2021 Rex Lim Lim BLOG, falls, ipil, ITINERARY, tagbilat, titay, TRANSIT PINAS, TRAVEL GUIDE, WATERFALLS, zamboanga sibugay

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In this adventure, we tried to find Tagbilat Falls, a quirkily named waterfall in Zamboanga Sibugay.

From Pagadian, it was a rather long trip going to Ipil, the capital of Zamboanga Sibugay. It took around 2.5 hours aboard a cramped van. I immediately left my stuff at the travel lodge in Ipil, and met my guide, Kuya Robert. We then 16 kilometers north to the town of Titay aboard his motorbike.

Deeper into the interior roads after the national highway, we happen to pass by some trail runners and bikers who came from Tagbilat Falls during that high noon. The CPMC or Malagandis Road is only paved halfway that we had to venture through dirt roads to reach the waterfall.

Where’s the Bilat?

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Several Rubber Trees were lined up from where we parked. There’s only a small hut and several bamboo benches around which serves as resting areas for tourists coming in here. Then Tagbilat Falls, covered around in dense foliage, unraveled herself right before my eyes.

Tagbilat Falls is a wide curtain waterfall flowing from a dark rocky cavern down into a deep green colored catch basin. This is a two level cascade with the second one higher than the first. The water then flows from Tagbilat River down to Bacalan River that eventually empties out into Sibuguey Bay. The water comes from the mountainous area called the Central Subanen Ancestral Domain.

It may not be as grand as Tinuy-an Falls in Bislig, Surigao Del Sur or Campawan Falls in Baganga, Davao Oriental; but this surely has a character that is uniquely Sibugaynon.

So What’s with The Name?

The catch basin of this wide waterfall measures only until the crotch area as I have tried to wade into its deep green colored water. It was coined from the word “Taga-bilat” or at the place whose river is just deep until a woman’s private part.

I only spent half an hour here and pushed forward to my next destination, the SItubo Falls of Zamboanga Del Norte.

But if there’s the Tagbilat, there’s also the Bilat falls of Suyo, Ilocos Sur. It surely looks like one from afar! Check out Vagina Falls. Click HERE!

How to Get There

Tagbilat/ Malagandis Falls is located in the municipality of Titay, Zamboanga Sibugay. This town borders the town of Tampilisan in Zamboanga Del Norte.
My staging point was from Pagadian City:
- Pagadian City (145 kilometers away from Titay) I took a van at the Pagadian Terminal going to Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay. Travel time is 2.5hrs, 200php/pax.
- From Ipil, you can meet your guide to take you to Situbo and Tagbilat Falls.
- Or you can also take a bus bound for Dipolog and alight in Titay (15-20php). From there, charter a habal-habal to take you to Tagbilat Falls. Haggle with the roundtrip price, but 250-300php for the trip is reasonable enough.
If coming from Zamboanga City (150 kilometers away from Titay), take any Pagadian or Ipil (travel time is 2hrs), alight at Ipil Bus Terminal then transfer to another bus bound for Dipolog or Dapitan then alight at Titay.
If coming from Dipolog City or Dapitan City (200 kilometers away from Titay). Take a bus bound for Ipil or Zamboanga City and alight at the town of Titay. (travel time is around 1.5hrs.
You can contact Robert Manuel (0935 787 0829) my habal-habal guide for Tagbilat Falls in Titay and Situbo Falls in Tampilisan, Zamboanga Del Norte