Gamu is a town of Isabela. A suburb of the provincial capital Ilagan, it is the pilgrimage center of Isabela, hosting a cathedral, a Marian shrine, and a monastery.
Understand
[edit]Gamu was established by the Spanish in 1678. Its name derives from the Irraya word gamut (root).
Gamu is primarily an agricultural town, with additional income coming from Roman Catholic pilgrims who visit the town's multiple religious sites, namely Saint Rose parish, a Spanish era church, Guibang Shrine, which is dedicated to a local apparition of the Virgin Mary, Gamu Cathedral, the actual seat of the Diocese of Ilagan, and Poor Clare Monastery. It is also the site of Camp Melchor F. dela Cruz, a sprawling military garrison. Gamu's northernmost regions are slowly being consumed by urbanization from neighboring Ilagan.
Get in
[edit]
Gamu is along the Maharlika Highway to Tuguegarao, and there are buses passing here generally every hour all day. As the highway bypasses downtown Gamu, the main bus stop is at Upi junction, where Gamu-Roxas Road leads to downtown Gamu and the neighboring towns of Burgos and Roxas. A bypass road has been built in Guibang to avoid traffic congestion along Maharlika Highway during the feast day of Our Lady of Guibang on July 2.
Gamu is also serviced by passenger vans plying the Tuguegarao-Santiago route. It is also along the Ilagan-Cauayan jeepney route. Both modes of transport pass through Maharlika Highway.
Get around
[edit]Tricycles are the main form of transportation within town.
See
[edit]- 1 National Shrine of Our Lady of the Visitation of Guibang (Guibang Shrine), Maharlika Highway, Guibang. A Roman Catholic shrine dedicated to a venerated image of the Virgin Mary found in the barrio in 1905 and believed to be miraculous.
- 2 Cathedral of Saint Michael (Upi Cathedral). The seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ilagan, built in 2000. It formally replaced a Spanish-era building in neighboring Ilagan that reverted to being Ilagan's parish church in 2003. Formerly dedicated to Saint Ferdinand, its patron saint was changed to Saint Michael the Archangel in 2013.
- 3 Saint Rose of Lima Parish Church (Gamu Church), Real Street, Barangay District III. Gamu's Roman Catholic parish church, built in the Baroque style during the Spanish era in the 18th century.
- 4 Poor Clare Monastery, Maharlika Highway, Guibang. A nunnery that opens to pilgrims seeking to fulfill vows to pray in seven to 14 churches as part of the Visita Iglesia ritual during Holy Week.
Do
[edit]Buy
[edit]Stores selling military hardware and related items can be found on the stretch of Maharlika Highway lining Camp Melchor dela Cruz.
- 1 Xentro Square Gamu, Upi Junction, Upi.
Eat
[edit]Drink
[edit]Sleep
[edit]- 1 Piazza Zicarelli, Maharlika Highway, Upi (in front of Shell gas station). Hotel with restaurant and bakeshop.
- 2 Hotel Vercida, Maharlika Highway, Guibang (in front of Camp Melchor dela Cruz).
- 3 Montañosa Hotel, Maharlika Highway, Upi (in front of Camp Melchor dela Cruz).
Connect
[edit]Go next
[edit]| Routes through Gamu |
| Tuguegarao ← Ilagan ← | N  S
|
→ Naguilian → Cauayan |