Regarded as perhaps the greatest Boholano, Carlos P. Garcia served as a great leader and an inspiration to his people, and his many contributions to his home province and country are commemorated in the President Carlos P. Garcia Memorial Park in Tagbilaran City.
Carlos Polistico García was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist and guerrilla leader. He became the fourth President of the Republic of the Philippines and the first President of the 1971 Constitutional Convention.
García grew up with politics, with his father serving as a municipal mayor for four terms. He acquired his primary education in his native Talibon and then took his secondary education in Cebu Provincial High School. Initially, he pursued his college education at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, and later studied at the Philippine Law School (now Philippine College of Criminology) where he earned his law degree in 1923. He was among the top ten in the bar examination.
Rather than practice law right away, he worked as a teacher for two years at Bohol Provincial High School. He became famous for his poetry in Bohol, where he earned the nickname "Prince of Visayan Poets" and the "Bard from Bohol".
President Carlos P. Garcia Memorial Park
President Carlos P. Garcia Memorial Park is established to commemorate the loving memory of the greatest Boholano, Carlos Polistico Garcia. The park is located at Tagbilaran City; it sits on a rolling site with an area of 11 hectares, chosen by the late president himself in 1939 when he was governor of Bohol. On the park are an exquisite monument of marble base and a life-size bronze statue of Garcia that was created by Bohol’s famous sculptor, National Artist Napoleon Abueva.
How to get there
A connecting flight to Tagbilaran is available every day and takes an hour or so. By boat it would take an entire day.
Accommodations in Tagbilaran:
• The Peacock Garden - Upper Laya, Baclayon, Bohol, Philippines 6301
• Amorita Resort - Easter A. Lim Drive, Brgy. Tawala, Barangay Tawala - Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines 6340
• Panglao Blue Water Beach Resort - Panglao Island, Danao Beach - Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines
• Amun Ini Beach Resort & Spa - Bas Dako, Candabong, Anda, Bohol, Philippines 6311
• Eskaya Beach Resort and Spa - Barangay Tawala, Panglao, Bolod Beach - Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines