Rizal Province:About Morong

Before Rizal Province was named after the National Hero, Morong was a huge territory that once included, the nation’s capital, Manila, the business district of Makati, Rizal Province’s former capital, Pasig, and all the towns currently in the province’s jurisdiction. In the Philippine flag, the eight rays of the sun symbolizes the eight freedom-fighting provinces of the Philippine’s revolt against the Spanish rule – one of them was Manila, which was formerly Morong. The name bears significant historical events the town witnessed in the warring periods. Today let us visit the municipality of the present day Morong, Rizal.


Morong’s mornings are not as quiet as any small provincial town may seem, especially Baranggay San Juan which is the hub of trade and commerce in town. However, as I walked beyond the outskirts of the busy baranggay, one can sense the placid side of town where I’m bound to grab a house specialty for breakfast.

Only a few meters passed the historic Old Municipal Office of Morong was the former site of ERA School in the 1920’s, presently the location of ERA Plaza Restaurant. Running for almost 2 decades, ERA Plaza made itself a Morong landmark which boasts of a house specialty known as “Warek Warek”, an Ilokano dish of deep-fried crispy pig’s ear, garnished with onions and green chilli, mixed in mayonnaise. Eat it with rice, match it with cold beers, or do both, diners will be delighted with a single plate of the must-try Warek Warek.

Muslims once prevailed the town of Morong during the Pre-Hispanic days of the country. Thus, the name Morong came from the word, Moro, a term used by Spanish invaders to describe Muslim natives in the Philippines. Today, the former Muslim-dominated town attracts many Catholics by the Iglesia de San Geronimo, or St. Jerome’s Church, not only as a tourist destination, but a pilgrimage site for Visita Iglesia practitioners.

Notable among the residents of Morong is the famous artist, Rafael Pacheco, utilizing his own hands and fingers as medium to his paintings, thus, being dubbed as the “Father of Finger & Palm Painting of the Philippines”. The world-renown artist conducts workshops in Baranggay Bumbongan’s  U-ugong Park where art practitioners are inspired by luscious greens sprawling in the mountains, and cascading waterfalls. The orchestra of roaring rapids echoing in the gorge branded the park’s name, “u-ugong”, a Tagalog term which means “echoing”.