Cape Santiago


Cape Santiago is the southwestern point of the island of Luzon located within the municipality of Calatagan in Batangas, Philippines. It is a cape at the southern tip of Calatagan Peninsula which faces the South China Sea to the west and Pagapas Bay, an arm of Balayan Bay, to the east. The cape has been the site of a navigational aid since the 1890s.
Cape Santiago is located about southwest of Manila. It is administratively part of the barangay of Bagong Silang.

Geography

Cape Santiago is located about southeast of the Port of Calatagan where ferries bound for Lubang Island operate. It is high, wooded, and fringed by a drying reef extending offshore. There are depths of at the edge of the reef, increasing steeply to more than deep about offshore.
A dangerous coral rock lies southeast of the cape in the Verde Island Passage known as Minerva Rock, named after an Australian ship that struck on it in 1834.
A lighthouse marks a low rocky promontory about west-northwest of the south extremity of the cape. A conspicuous windmill stands about 0.4 mile east-southeast of the lighthouse.

Cape Santiago Lighthouse

The lighthouse at Cape Santiago is the oldest structure in Calatagan built in the 1890s during the Spanish colonial period. Made of brick and lime cement, this red round structure is tall modeled after the medieval castles in Europe. It is currently in a deteriorated condition with its original light source missing, replaced by an automatic light bulb donated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency that is no longer being used due to lack of funding.