Kutawato Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Don Teodoro V Juliano Ave, Cotabato City, Maguindanao. (7.2199567, 124.2420758)
Open:	no restrictions. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Kutawato Cave, Don Teodoro V Juliano Ave, Cotabato City, Maguindanao, Tel: +63-.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

19-SEP-1996

cave opened to the public.

Description

Kutawato Cave is said to be a tourist cave, and actually it has a staircase to the cave entrance with railing. Nevertheless, it is a semi-wild cave, and you should prepare with good shoes, helmet and headlight. At least this cave neither requires hours of hiking, nor is it hard to find: it is located in the middle of Cotabato City.

Kutawato Caves or Kutang Bato Cave is named after kuta (fort) and wato (stone), which give fort of stone, obviously a euphemism for cave. The name of the city Cotabato actually has the same origin, it was named after the cave, but over time it was modified. The cave is located at the foot of Pedro Colina Hill (P.C. Hill), also known as Tantawan, accessible through a small park at the Don Teodoro V Juliano Ave. Actually it has four entrances which all have their own name, Provincial Capitol Cave, Bagua Cave, Caverna Español and the Kuweba ni Satur.

The Provincial Capitol Cave is located at the back of the historic Old Provincial Capitol building. A staircase leads down to the cave entrance. Bagua Cave is located in San Vicente Street, and has a brackish lake at the entrance and long the main passage. The spacious passage is used for art and photo exhibitions, and also for events. There are some legends that this cave was used by the retreating Japanese forces to hide valuable they could not take with them. Caverna Español has inscriptions, torch holders and iron grills. Those installations are, according to local lore, the remains of Spanish Dungeons, hence the name. The cave was also used as a jail by the Japanese Army in the height of war. Kuweba ni Satur or Kweba ni Satur (Satur's Cave, Snake cave) is located in the middle of the hill and consists of an L-shaped main passage with two entrances. It was believed to be full of dangerous snakes, hence the name.

The cave is said to have an underground connection to Tamontaka Church, the oldest church in Cotabato City. If this is actually true or just a legend is unclear. It’s quite unlikely as the church is 4.5 km to the south and there is a river crossing halfway. So this is most likely a far connection legend.

The cave has a long history as a hideout, first for the natives when the Spaniards tried to convert them to Catholicism. Then the Filipino guerillas hid here when they fought the invading Japanese Imperial army during World War II. The cave was used as an armory and even a garrison. The trails and stairs were installed in 1996 when the cave was opened as a tourist site. However, being freely accessible and without a warden the site has obviously degraded. Nevertheless, its one of the more interesting semi-wild caves. Why so many sites refer to this visit on paved paths as spelunking, while they call caves where you have to crawl, wade through water and hike for 2 hours to get there tourist attractions, is beyond us.

It is unclear why Jane Dacumos wrote a detailed article on a blog in 2012, but this seems to be the only source of information on the cave. All other pages including the wikipedia page contain only excerpts from her article. At a closer look we found that her article is also a plagiate of a much older text by the municipality which is long gone. This text is the origin of such weird statements like "the Spaniards tried to convert them into the castillan faith". Obviously, there is no Castilian religion, the Spaniards where Christian and what we today call Catholic, so it is actually the Catholic faith. It is quite annoying when there is only one source of information which is quite unreliable.