Libertad – home to scenic dive sites, marble mountain

The cleanest and greenest coastal town in the northernmost tip of Antique boast of its marble mountain. The untapped and unexplored high quality deposits are expected to last for a thousand years.

Located 140 kms away from San Jose de Buenavista, it can be reached by buses, vans and jeepneys plying Libertad to and from its neighboring municipalities and the rest of the provinces in Panay Island.

Tricycles, motorcycles and jeepneys cater to the population needs of its populace. Libertad port is one of the take off points of boats and ferries to the island Municipality of Caluya.

With a land area of 9,700 hectares, and population of about 14,653 it has nineteen (19) barangays and considered a 5th class municipality.

Other than its marble deposits, it is also home to immense fish sanctuaries ideal for marine studies and research especially Barangay Tinigbas.

Recent discoveries show the rich tourism potential of Libertad. Its natural and untouched tourist attractions is suitable for adventure tourism. It has beaches and falls, rivers and caves that could be at par with other tourist attractions not only in Antique but the whole country as well.

Recently, Mr. Bernhard “Bernie” Offenburger, a German and owner of Phaidon Beach Resort led his company of tourist and local divers to a diving activity in the eight (8) protected marine sanctuaries to identify potential diving sites in the town. What they found was fantastic underwater scenes with different amazing coral reefs.

The intact coral reefs of Libertad harbor a diversity of marine life such as manta rays, sea turtles, giant clams, sharks and dolphins. Schools of fish are sighted offshore. Mr. Offenburger and his group named the interesting dive sites according to its classification such as Coral Garden in San Roque and Pajo, Bubble Bay in San Roque, Paradise Garden in Bulanao, Clams Bay in Barusbus, Abyss in Taboc, Turtle Wall in Union and Lion Fish Canyon in Tinigbas.

The scuba diving activity does not only promote tourist attractions, but it can augment the income of the Municipality and Barangay as well. Moreover, it will also promote the bariw-based products as OTOP of Libertad and attract more tourist to invest in the Municipality. It can also help uplift the social and economic condition of the people in the locality. In fact, Mr. Offenburger promised to sell the diving sites of Libertad to all local and foreign tourists.

The Municipal Officials of Libertad headed by Mayor Norberto Raymundo are very supportive of the projects and programs of the town especially on Tourism. They hoped to provide scuba diving as one of the tourist attraction in the Province of Antique.

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