Maria Cristina Falls

Once upon a time, somebody suggested visiting Pagsanjan falls. But going there was a bit tricky. So this someone suggested visiting the infamous Maria Cristina falls instead. During that time, I was not aware where it was located. And since I learned about it in some classroom lessons during elementary, it strikes me and I ended up researching about this waterfall. I learned that it is located in Iligan City, so going there would be harder than going to Pagsanjan which is just in Laguna. Just then, somebody asked me to tour Camiguin. To get to Camiguin, I need to get to CDO first… and Iligan is 1 hour bus ride from CDO… and so voila! I now have a chance to visit this majestic waterfall.

Iligan city is not a major tourist attraction of our country. But for the benefit of everyone, it is known as a City of Majestic Waterfalls as there are about 20 waterfalls in the area. The most famous of these is the Maria Cristina falls which is also used as a hydroelectric plant. It is the primary power source of the entire Mindanao. The name Maria Cristina falls is taken from a legend wherein 2 sisters Maria and Cristina jumped down the falls because of some unrequited love. They both loved an unnamed sultan, who loved the 2 sisters as well. Since he cannot chose between the 2, and because the 2 sisters loved each other to the point of selflessly giving anything to the other, Maria jumped to the falls. When Cristina learned about this, she followed and jumped to the falls as well. When the sultan found about this unhappy incident, guess what happened? He isn’t foolish enough to jump and commit suicide.hehe. Instead, he buried the 2 sisters under the falls. As a tribute, he named the falls, Maria Cristina. The story ends wherein he was unable to marry until he died. If that’s because of guilt, we’ll never know.

I’ve read this legend in the tourist hall of Maria Cristina falls. During the Marcos era, it was known as a twin falls because of its 2 drops. I assume that these two drops are Maria and Cristina. Nowadays, the waterfall only has a single drop. But since it’s standing at 320 ft tall, I’d say that having only a single drop doesn’t matter. It is still magnificent. It is the tallest waterfall I’ve seen so far.

For those who would like to visit Maria Cristina Falls, it is located in Agus VI Hydroelectic plant located in Fuentes, Iligan City. As I recall, the waterfalls is only viewable by the public on weekends. If my memory serves me right, every Saturdays at around 8Am, the plant operators open the dam/gate so that the waterfall would flow and be viewed by the public.