In the solemn days of the Holy Week, the town of Palo in Leyte brims with the faithful, devotees, pilgrims, and tourists, squeezing through throngs of people, and jostling for space in crowded areas to witness the “Senakulo.”
In the heart of this deeply religious observance lies a culinary gem known to locals simply as molabola—a humble yet beloved delicacy that has become a symbol of faith, community, and tradition.
Molabola is a rice-based delicacy traditionally prepared in Palo, Leyte during Holy Week, particularly on Good Friday. The name may connote a dish made from meat, molabola is actually meatless. It’s like a cousin to other region’s bilo-bilo or other glutinous rice treats but it’s made in its own local flair.
After being ground to make a dough, the glutinous rice is shaped into balls, then tossed into a boiling coconut milk and continuously stirred, added with sugar and sunk with crushed or shredded ginger wrapped in a cloth for that unique kick.
According to Palo Municipal Tourism Officer Nariza Marasigan, what makes molabola distinct isn’t just its ingredients but the way it’s lovingly prepared.
Before Good Friday comes, family members get involved in the full process of creating this dish from grinding the glutinous rice, to shaping it into bite-sized balls, and all the while stories are bantered around, and family rituals are shared, unconsciously passing down a tradition to the next generation.
The preparation, on its own, is a form of penitence and offering, from the backbreaking shaping of the glutinous rice into hundreds of bit-sized rice balls to the sweat-pouring continuous stirring of boiling coconut milk in a large cauldron.
“Over time molabola has become more than just food for many of our people; its preparation has become a sacred act of preservation of memory, culture, and faith,” Marasigan said.
Holy Week in Palo is deeply solemn, with the town being a historical center of Catholicism in Leyte. People observe fasting and abstinence, and molabola—being a meatless, simple dish—has become the perfect dish for the occasion in every home.
It is served after the “pabasa” and following long processions or silent moments of prayer inside the Palo Metropolitan Cathedral. It is served to the “Penitentes” after walking on foot during Good Friday and it is freely given to visitors and families alike during this sacred season.
The local government of Palo features during the Holy Week observance this year the Ultimate Molabola Festival Cooking Competition that would elevate and innovate this molabola dish. The LGU is pushing for its culinary heritage to be preserved, including the molabola, to ensure the original recipe and flavors will be handed down to the generations to come.
Camella Urbina, 80, one of the surviving cooks of this local culinary heritage, said she still would like to witness the younger generation of the town continuing the tradition and in the process preserve it from obscurity.
“I am in my twilight years. And there only remain a number of us who prepare molabola. This tradition should be taught and shared to ensure that it will be preserved for the coming generation,” Urbina said in the local dialect.
Molabola isn’t just a Holy Week delicacy—it symbolizes soft strength passed down through generations, shaped in the palm of one’s hand.
In a time when most traditional dishes are slowly fading, molabola endures—not because it’s trendy or extravagant, but because it is deeply meaningful. It symbolizes the kind of quiet resilience that thrives in Filipino culture: a story told in every bite, shaped by the hands of family members who believe, remember, and love. (ACR/PIA Leyte)
