Carlos P. Garcia Monument and Park

Overview

Carlos P. Garcia Monument and Park — formally the President Carlos P. Garcia Ancestral Park — stands in Sitio Loy-a, Barangay San Agustin, Talibon, Bohol, at the site local tradition holds as Garcia’s actual birthplace. It is listed in the provincial tourist-attraction inventory under the Sports and Recreational category (Parks) and carries a National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) historical marker.

Carlos P. Garcia was born in Talibon on November 4, 1896, and died June 14, 1971. He worked as a public school teacher before entering politics: representative of Bohol’s 3rd district in the 7th and 8th Philippine Legislature (1925–1931), delegate to the 1934–1935 Constitutional Convention, Governor of Bohol (1934–1941), Senator (1941–1953), Vice President and concurrent Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1953–1957), and 8th President of the Philippines (1957–1961). He is remembered for the “Filipino First Policy” promoting Filipino-owned enterprise. The park and its monument mark him as Talibon’s most prominent historical figure.

The original monument at the site was damaged by Typhoon Odette in 2021; a new CPG monument was unveiled at Sitio Loy-a in November 2024.

Location

Sitio Loy-a, Barangay San Agustin, Talibon, Bohol. Talibon is a second-class municipality on the northeastern coast of Bohol, approximately 84 km from Tagbilaran City by road. [FACT NEEDED: precise coordinates of Sitio Loy-a distinct from the wider San Agustin barangay — the barangay center itself is recorded at approximately 10.1014, 124.3169 (PhilAtlas), which may not match the exact ancestral-park site.]

Getting There

From Tagbilaran City, take a bus or van bound for Talibon via the Bohol Circumferential Road — travel time is approximately 2.5 to 3 hours. From Talibon town center, the park is accessible by tricycle or on foot.

[TO ENRICH: exact distance from Talibon port / town plaza.]

Practical Info

• Gateway: Talibon
• Municipality: Talibon
• Barangay: San Agustin, Sitio Loy-a
• Tourism type: Sports and Recreational — Parks
• Every November 4 (Garcia’s birthday), the park hosts a commemorative celebration including a “Babayeng Pilipinhon” poem contest, a “Kuratsa” folk-dance contest (Garcia’s favorite dance), a school band showdown, and singing/oration presentations.
• Contact: Talibon Tourism Office — Rachel Sayson, 09997686109, mtotalibon@gmail.com

[TO ENRICH: admission fee, daily operating hours outside the annual commemoration.]

What to Expect

Outside the annual commemoration, the park functions as Talibon’s community gathering space at the site local tradition holds as Garcia’s birthplace.

[TO ENRICH: monument scale, landscaping, visitor facilities, foot traffic patterns outside the annual celebration.]

Notes

• Listed in the BPTO Table 11 Inventory of Tourist Attractions (2025).
• Nearby attractions in Talibon include Bat-awan Peak, Cataban Fish Sanctuary, and Ipil River.
• Do not confuse with the “Carlos P. Garcia Heritage Museum” / “President Carlos P. Garcia Park,” a separate site in Cogon Village, Tagbilaran City — that is a different location honoring the same person.
• Research attempt, 2026-07-28: searched (Exa web search + direct page fetches) for the four remaining [TO ENRICH]/[FACT NEEDED] items using fresh angles — LGU Talibon official site (talibon.gov.ph/tourist-spot/, page renders empty/JS-only, no usable content), Bohol Provincial Tourism (tourism.bohol.gov.ph), Bohol Island News, Bohol Tribune, NHCP registry pages, Facebook-referencing LGU posts, TripAdvisor-style aggregators, Plus Code business directories (lookph.com), and Cebuano-language LGU posts (talibon.gov.ph “128th Carlos P. Garcia Day” article). None yielded the precise coordinates of Sitio Loy-a distinct from the San Agustin barangay center, an exact distance figure from Talibon port/town plaza to the park, an admission fee or daily operating hours specific to this Talibon site, or details on monument scale/landscaping/visitor facilities at this site. All four tags left in place.
  • False lead flagged: a RichestPH.com article (“Exploring the Carlos P Garcia Park in beautiful Bohol”) and a 2013 “What Michael Likes” blog post both describe a differently-located “Carlos P. Garcia Park”/“Ancestral House” — actually the Cogon Village, Tagbilaran City site (see note above), not the Talibon/Sitio Loy-a site. Their admission-fee, hours, and facilities details do NOT apply here and were deliberately not used.
  • False lead flagged: lookph.com/talibon-bohol/parks/ lists a Google Plus Code (“583H+76C, Talibon”) against “Carlos P. Garcia Park,” but the same code is also shown against the unrelated “Baywalk Poblacion Talibon” listing on the same page — the directory data is internally inconsistent, so this was not used as a coordinate source.

Sources:

• National Registry of Historic Sites and Structures in the Philippines: Carlos P. Garcia (1896–1971), accessed 2026-07-17.
• Aris on CPG: ‘Truly is Bohol’s favorite son’ – Bohol Island News, accessed 2026-07-17.
• Talibon - Behold Bohol (Bohol Provincial Tourism Office), accessed 2026-07-17.
• Carlos P. Garcia - Wikipedia, accessed 2026-07-17.
• San Agustin, Talibon, Bohol Profile – PhilAtlas, accessed 2026-07-17.