Socorro Bayanihan: Commune or cult?

We were a mile off the coast of a remote Philippine island when I realized the boat was sinking.

That's the opening line of a memoir I published in 2015. The island in question was Bucas Grande, off the Northern Mindanao coast. Eventually, a sympathetic octopus fisherman, noting our panicked bailing, gave us a tow. And that was the first time I ever set foot in Socorro; a charming coastal town that has recently achieved infamy for reasons you probably know.