FIRST TIME TO VISIT: SILAY AND ITS SECRETS

Negros Occidental is like an enchanted place. So near yet so far. I heard so many stories about the place. Some tall tales. Some, grandpa promised, real and true. Grandpa would tell us of sugarcane views as far as one can see and haciendas and hacienderos and the joke, I would like to believe, about uncut men of Negros. These childhood stories made me long to visit that place and kept a promised to myself to kiss the ground when I go there like it’s the holiest of places.

That dream was realized just recently.

First stop- Silay

Everything has a story in Silay. Stories of lovelorn couples. Stories of forbidden love because of social disparity. Stories of why that house was built, or that cafe. Some were whispered, some were whispered loudly and some remained an open secret. From the decrepit house in a corner to the dulce gatas being stirred in the kitchen, Silay never ran out of stories.

My story will become a part of the huge library Silay already has.

Silay City is like an old, quaint town in Negros Occidental. Despite the addition of a new airport (the old one is located in Bacolod, Negros Occidental’s capital), the city’s aura of progressive development was drowned by the old houses and buildings. The heritage houses were actually a contrast to a new city life.

Unlike most cities, Silay has kept its culture (including her heritage) intact.

Kapehan sa Silay

Our tour organizers-cum-hosts Lee Santiago and Lynell Gaston brought us to this old building to have coffee and some breakfast goodies, my first taste of Negros. The Kapehan sa Silay was a good example of well-kept heritage site and reminded me of Cuban movies where folks while the time away, drinking dark coffee, talking about cockfights. The old musty smell of the place combined with good coffee wanted me to linger and know the place more. Personally.

But there were so many things to discover in Silay that lounging in the Kapehan is not a good start.

photo by Lynell Gaston

Next stop- 1925 Cafe

Mayor Montelibano of Silay

The smell at 1925 was intoxicating! Whatever the kitchen was cooking wafted back inside with a delicious guess of what the next plate would be when it comes in. No! I was not in the year 1925! The aroma of food was never this old but I believed all that has been cooked here stayed in the tiniest crevices of the walls of 1925, the café.

The smallness of the place made dining there really intimate and personalized. We chanced on the mayor of Silay, Mayor Montelibano, eating there and we were introduced like we used to be friends with him.

The Locsin ancestral home

The Locsin house was a home, that I am very sure. Despite its antiquity, the Locsin Home was still functional and without doubt being lived upon. The special edition literature pieces written in Spanish were intact. So were the gynaecology books, still in Spanish, in good condition. The old-style toilet, the handed-down china, kitchen paraphernalia, the lamps, the well-polished floors, the luggage bags in the attic, everything in the Lacson household were well-preserved and well-kept.

This was where I tasted my first Dulce Gatas sang Silay.

photo by Lynell Gaston

Emma Lacson’s

Emma Lacson’s house was like a fortress to those who were not familiar with Silay. But if you were privileged enough to get in the premises early in the morning, a gustatory wealth awaited for every welcomed visitor upstairs. Lacson makes the best of Silay’s delicacies involving pili nuts, the rest being lumpia and hopia.

It was here I saw a real pili individually pounded by hand just to get the nut. Sure it was nuts cracking them like that.

Mambag-id, Silay

One of the most exciting part of my Silay travel was the trip to Mambag-id. This place used to be a big sugarcane plantation with special railroads for transporting harvested sugarcane to waiting ships at the Mambag-id dock. Nowadays, with the decline of the sugar industry in the country and the imposition of the Agrarian Reform Law, the railroads have become obsolete.

But some enterprising residents made innovative ways of transportation to make use of the tracks. It was then that the Bagoneta came (some called it Karito), an improvised version of a kariton, pedal-powered ride using train wheels and slabs of wood formed like a platform where commuters 10 persons up hopped in and ride towards the now non-existent docks.

photo by Lynell Gaston

At the end of the ride where a community lived there, we were treated to a confusing array of Silay’s favorite kakanin: baye-baye, puto lanson, ibos mais, lumpia, siomai, and fresh piaya of Silay.

I dozed off in an airy nipa hut beside the river.

Balaring, Silay

As if the gustatory offering in Mambag-id were not enough, our hosts brought us to barangay Balaring and stuffed us again with fresh seafood the city can offer. It was at Ken’s, a cozy nipa hut close to the sea where the lapping waves would remind you that you were in the territory of the things you were eating. 

Being a person born in the hinterlands of Bohol, I am ignorant of the names of the seafood species. But my host said we were eating: tinola nga lison, fried tilapia, grilled pork chops, grilled squid, alimusan with gata, kinilaw nga tangigue, talaba, with ripe mango slices as dessert.

THE Charlie Co

My stay in Silay was made complete when we were invited by Ann Legaspi-Co to taste her frozen brazos and sans rival in their residence. The brazos and sans rival were honestly without rival until we met Ann’s husband, my idol artist from Negros - Charlie Co!

photo by Lee Santiago

The Negrense’s way of saying goodbye

Each moment of my stay in Silay was worth the trip. Our goodbyes were made more memorable when one of our hosts, Lynell Gaston, made a sendoff lunch for all of us.

Maybe this was the Negrense way of saying goodbye - stuffing guests until they could no longer move with ecstatic joy.

How about coffee to top it off?

photo by Lynell Gaston

 Addendum

We were actually the guinea pigs of Lee Santiago when he thought of a Negros Food Tour. With the help of Lynell Gaston, they cooked up an interesting combo of food tasting and having a beautiful experience in Silay, Bacolod and nearby towns of Negros Occidental.

There are no specific rates to the tour. Wherever we go, we share the van rentals. Whatever we decide to eat, we share them with the group and divide the payments per person. We pay our own accommodation.

Since Lee is outside of the country as of this time, I could not be sure if this kind of trip is still going on.

I fly in and out of Silay City with free tickets courtesy of my sister who works for Cebu Pacific. Cebu Pacific flies from Cebu to Silay City/Bacolod twice a day.

Anda is Bohol's next destination

If you are in Bohol and you find Panglao Island getting noisier with the influx of tourists and resorts of every kind, there is another destination worth visiting- Anda. Still pristine in every way and with a few tourists around, Anda brags a natural beach with powdery white sands still  pollution-free and open to the public.

About a hundred kilometers from Tagbilaran (almost 3 hours by van for hire), Anda's distance may be a boon, a blessing, to that town. Although resorts have already began sprouting everywhere, still the town is very provincial, a place where people know each other and welcomes you if you are a visitor.

Last year, I made an article about Anda that won me a Lonely Planet Magazine. This was what I've written-

Off the beaten path, somewhere in Anda in the province of Bohol are remnants of a long forgotten history- hanging coffins. Not just your ordinary hanging coffins, I believe.

Several hematite paintings could be seen on the wall of the cave where the remnants are. Facing the Mindanao Sea, could they be ritual symbols for the long voyage? Or some gory acts the details we don't want to know?

Around these islets that is now connected with abundant tropical plants and mangroves good for the next Jurassic Park set, you can visit out of this world coves. A wide cave-like natural structure is now even used for council meetings of hilots and tambalans.

Shhhh, every year, unknown to many, a congregation of herbal doctors and their likes converge at this place in Anda. Go ask your guide about it and they would compare their rituals with that of Siquijor counterparts.

But the excitement starts right when you arrived at the place. You go up to a hilly village before you would be engulfed in a forest full of mangroves and got to taste local cuisine at a station.

Just lovely.

USEFUL INFO:

Bus and V-Hire for Anda are available at Integrated Bus Terminal in Tagbilaran City. Bus fare is 100 pesos while v-hire is 120 pesos. Please note that trip schedules are limited. However, you can take any bus/v-hire to  Ubay via eastern part of Bohol and drop at Guindulman Public Market where habal-habal, tricycles and mini buses are available until 5pm for Anda. Haggling is best advised.

Resorts offer room accommodations. Pension houses are also available in the town proper. Some resorts have Wi-Fi available but some parts of the town have limited access to mobile connection. Globe, Smart and Sun signals however, are strong in the town proper.

For more info, contact Anda Tourist Information Center at telephone (038) 510-8094 or mobile 0948-371-0836, 0999-581-3336, 0917-324-5917. Email them thru their mayor (sosyal!) at asimacio_lguanda@yahoo.com.

Anda's website is andabohol.gov.ph.

Related post: A Rare Experience to Try in Bohol

The God-makers of Jakosalem

These people at Jakosalem Street in Cebu City do wonders with just a piece of wood. For a short time, they would make an amazing sculpture of saints and gods in their image and likeness. And they always amazed me to no end. I wish I have their patience and creativity.

Our culture and heritage provide us wisdom, not our cell phones

(Note: This article is posted at CNN.com and I copied it as is. It is written by Elizabeth Lindsey, Ph.D. Ms Lindsey is an anthropologist. The article struck a chord in my soul because of the truth that we human beings have the innate want for company of other humans. No man is an island, the adage says. We need to reach out to them, physically should I say, so that we can feel them, and be one with them. Our culture and heritage should be passed down because in the end we would be called what we are. This is an eye-opener to all of us.)

(CNN)-- In an era of technological advancement, we're bloated with information yet starved for wisdom.

From the boardroom to the bedroom we're connected 24/7, yet loneliness is at an all-time high.

More people are reaching for mobile devices than for the hand of someone in need. Where did our humanity go?

Our current crises are a reflection of our internal turbulence, our own private torments.

The truth is we're trying to find our way. But where do we turn for answers?

For centuries, cultures throughout the world have used indigenous technologies to navigate life's complexities. From navigator-priests in Micronesia to mystics in India, vast sums of knowledge are available if we but recognize it.

We are living an illusion that calls itself reality. We track the every move of city dwellers in New York as if it's breaking news while forsaking those with valuable insight. An African elder said, "You worship the jester, while the king stands in plain clothes."

In a society that celebrates youth, we have forsaken the wisdom of age.

As a child I was raised by three old Hawaiian elders who planted and fished according to lunar cycles, who knew the names of the winds and rains, and who relished their intimate relationship with the natural world. They remain among the greatest environmentalists I've ever known.

Today such insight is marginalized if not altogether dismissed. I believe that when an elder dies, a library is burned, vast sums of wisdom and knowledge are lost. Throughout the world libraries are ablaze with scant attention.

My work is as an ethnographic rescuer, a conduit between past and future generations. The urgency of this effort cannot be overstated.

Two years ago, a 108-year-old Chi Kung grandmaster died in a cave where she'd gone into hiding when the Maoist regime came into power. Like many others, Master Wen's knowledge, the sum total of generations before her, was lost.

My doctoral work in ethnonavigation led me to study with Pius "Mau" Piailug, a Micronesian Palu, navigator-priest, who was considered the greatest wayfinder in the world. Wayfinding is the native science of noninstrument navigation.

Mau, who passed away six months ago, was descended from a lineage of navigators who sailed over 3 million square miles of open ocean without the use of instruments or maps.

They synthesized their data from patterns in nature such as the rising and setting of the stars, the sequence and direction of waves, even the slightest color of the underbelly of clouds and the flight patterns of certain birds. This was quite an accomplishment considering that it was during a time when most European thinkers believed the world was flat.

Fortunately, Mau's life and wisdom were well-documented. Future generations now have access to a man whose intellectual and scientific achievements in their own way rival that of putting a man on the moon -- his sea, our space; his canoe, our capsule.

As I write this, I am in India, where I have had the privilege to study with a mystic and a Brahmin priest, the descendant of 14 generations of the greatest classical musical artists in this country. And I am heading for Bhutan where I will travel to the rural countryside to be with sages.

For me, this is much more than a flirtation with adventure. It is a life-long love affair with humanity's story.

Pic grabbed from tx.english-ch.com

A rare find in Colon Street

Somewhere along the Philippines' oldest street, an old mailbox stayed stuck and forgotten. I was tempted to open it up and see if somewhere in its deep recesses a forgotten letter might have been left undelivered. But I could not and did not.

I also posted this one at-

 

Looking up

Here are some shots I took at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral while under its shade at high noon. When I saw the results, I was imagining Alexandria or Rome. Photos taken by my good old Sony Ericsson K800i mobile phone.

A rare experience to try in Bohol

Off the beaten path, somewhere in Anda in the province of Bohol are remnants of a long forgotten history- hanging coffins. Not just your ordinary hanging coffins, I believe.

Several hematite paintings could be seen on the wall of the cave where the remnants are. Facing the Mindanao Sea, could they be ritual symbols for the long voyage? Or some gory acts the details we don't want to know?

Around these islets that is now connected with abundant tropical plants and mangroves good for the next Jurassic Park set, you can visit out of this world coves. A wide cave-like natural structure is now even used for council meetings of hilots and tambalans.

Shhhh, every year, unknown to many, a congregation of herbal doctors and their likes converge at this place in Anda. Go ask your guide about it and they would compare their rituals with that of Siquijor counterparts.

But the excitement starts right when you arrived at the place. You go up to a hilly village before you would be engulfed in a forest full of mangroves and got to taste local cuisine at a station.

Just lovely.

***
For tour details or bookings please call up Ms Myttee Palo, in-charge of the Bangon Eco-Cultural Tours at telephones (63)(38) 5019516 or 4113431 or email her at bangonecotours@yahoo.com.

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YEHEYYYYY!

This article won me the latest Lonely Planet Magazine from the contest What you think i should experience this year in the Philippines? 

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What happened before and in-between?

When Ninoy Aquino was assassinated and the subsequent People Power that followed, we proudly declared to the world that we are proud to be Filipinos. We wear shirts declaring that or some sort.

That declaration suddenly died down.

When Manny Pacquiao took all the boxing crowns, the emergence of pride in the form of slogans came again.

After that- nothing.

Now that Cory Aquino died, another onslaught of those proud Filipino slogans is seen in Facebook.

What happened in between? Are we not a proud Filipino when we had a dictator? When a Filipino film director slayed the more stable and established directors at Cannes? When we are poor as ever? When we were considered as inventors of yoyo? When rampant graft and corruption has become a way of life of President Arroyo? When some unknown child become an ice skating champion somewhere even if we don't have snow here?

But what about you? When have you become a proud Filipino?

(Pic from anton.blogs.com)

"Ang di marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan..."

I adore Cesar Montano. Not because he is now a star, but because he is the type of guy who knows where he came from and never deny that fact just because of his present status. Montano has done many good things for Bohol and he is a proud Boholano. Way to go Cesar Montano!

This is also a note of million thanks to the Ayalas, specifically Bea Zobel Jr and the Ayala Foundation for the great things they have done to make Bohol even prouder of its cultural heritage. We salute you Ma'am for being a Boholano by heart.

Montano, Ayalas toast Bohol heritage

By Pablo Tariman

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 02:39:00 12/15/2008

THREE years ago in Bohol, actor Cesar Montano showed me the interiors of the Baclayon town church, built in 1727 by the Jesuits using coral-stone blocks from the sea and egg white and plaster to glue the blocks together.

With it gilded altars, Baroque and Classical inner façade and its retablos highlighted by images of saints, I told the award-winning actor, “What a beautiful venue for concert!” Later, I would test the acoustics and found it excellent.

Earlier, I learned that film scorer Nonong Buencamino recorded the choir music used in the Marilou Diaz-Abaya film “Muro-Ami” in this church and the award-winning film was actually shot on Bohol Bay.

Later, Montano also told me about the church’s historic pipe organ, which was installed in the choir loft in 1824 and years later found itself in a state of disrepair.

Experts say the Baclayon pipe organ has the character of Spanish Baroque organs and its parts could mimic the sound of birds through the little pajarillo pipes. It can also enhance melodies with the tinkling of the cascabeles, an ornamental stop with bells on a wheel drum and campanillas.

Through the assistance of Patricia Zobel de Ayala and the Ayala Foundation Inc., the organ’s pipes, wind chests, manual keyboard, pedal and other accessories were repaired extensively and restored to their original form.

Saturday morning last week, I saw Montano at the Tagbilaran airport and told him about the Baclayon concert, which would officially herald the coming to life of the newly restored Baclayon pipe organ.

In the evening, I found myself on the church choir loft with Montano and wife Sunshine Cruz, watching a concert featuring composer-conductor Cristobal Halffter and pianist Maria Manuela Caro on the pipe organ.

In the audience were Jaime Augusto Zobel, Sofia Zobel, Patricia Zobel and Bea Zobel Jr., who is 

behind a renewed restoration program involving Bohol’s cultural heritage.

So fragile

Pianist Maria Manuela Caro opened the concert with Antonio de Cabezon’s (1510-1566) Tiento del Primer Tono, followed by a Handel largo solo arranged by AR Parsons.

As the first two numbers unfolded, one realized the musical instrument was so fragile. It needed a focused assistant to keep it in tune and go through its complicated parts, like its ornamental stop and its tambor (big wood pipes) used to create rumbling sound similar to a drum.

Bach’s Aria and the 7th Variation of the Goldberg Variation had a fairly good reading, and I suppose this piece is better off played on the piano to preserve its original nuances.

One got to finally hear the uses of the big wood pipes and the reed stops with Juan Bautista Cabanilles’s “Batalla Imperial.”

The piece is a musical replica of a military battle and was properly the most virtuosic piece played on the program.

The evening was highlighted with Halffter playing Christmas carols from different countries. He concluded with a contemporary piece that ended with the use of the organ’s pajarillo pipes echoing the sound of birds, and we thought that was the most charming and compelling number from the concert.

The significance of this concert is that the Zobel family helped bring back to life the remaining musical symbol of the town’s cultural heritage while also assisting the town embark on a massive restoration campaign to preserve its historical, cultural and natural sites, including local traditions in craftsmanship.

Late in the night after the concert, Lani Schoof (wife of Hans Schoof, owner of Baclayon’s Peacock Garden Resort and Spa) treated Montano and company to a late-night cap.

Schoof, who is German but very Boholano (and Filipino) at heart, earlier showed us his Rizal collections in his cigar room, including furniture from Heidelberg where Rizal stayed in Germany.

It was an uncanny coincidence Montano had played Rizal in Abaya’s “Rizal.”

Montano remarked before the night cap ended: “It would be nice to hear Cecile Licad play in Bohol next year after this historic pipe organ concert in our historic town.”

Pic of Montano and fellow Boholano Rebecca Lusterio (Panaghoy sa Suba) grabbed from getinvolved.wordpress.com