This article below was sent to our yahoo email address and I am posting this for every Borbonanons to read. I think this is the author’s intention in the first place. Enjoy!
~Start of Email~
Thursday, March 11, 2010 7:29 AM
From: “BORJ MACALINTAL – BORBONANON”
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To: tagaborbon
A CHALLENGE TO OUR LOCAL POLITICIANS
Long and forgotten, far barrios and sitios are most often forgotten. Some can even associate the remote sitios in the mountain areas as history. It’s as if, some barrios in our municipality are just nothing but milked cows. Wala koy gipasabot ha!
Battlecry of the poor… WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS!
Now that election is coming, I just want to share my sentiments and I advised every reader not to unravel my expressions as politically motivated — kay dili ra ba gyud! Ganahan lang ko mohatag sa akong opinion diri sa borbon website (free expression) hoping that our future leaders ‘if they happen to read my blog’ will consider and include these in their agendas.
And I want to discuss mainly the forgotten remote barrios of the Municipality of Borbon. This I want to share to our future leaders…“Yet, some of the mountain barrios in our municipality explodes with so much natural beauty, natural resources, it’s been a while that we ignore its potentials which, if we develop, with respect to the environment – it will create enormous local economic activity to help our barrio folks”.
— Borbon Folk—
Looking back to the pictures I saw in this website and to the places I knew… the Nonoc Cave, the Silmugi River, Dao Reforestation, Lunas Mountain View and some unexplored scenery in Bagacay and going as far as Bili, Clavera & San Jose, etc.
Yeah, I do sound like one politician campaigning for my political agenda this coming May, 2010 Election, but nah? I am just an ordinary citizen who wishes to make amend with our future or incumbent local leaders now that the heat of the election is felt…to please consider giving priorities to our barrio folks para mahatagan sad tawn sila ug gamay nga panginabuhian. Pastilan jud!
Anyway, I am not talking about giving them fish… but to lead them in the fishing ground where fishes are abundant, as an old saying goes… mora ug lahi man siguro to nga panultihon!
Sa atong mga umaabot nga haligi sa lungsod, I am appealing in behalf of the barrio folks to allocate some budget for the development and promotion of our natural beauties para mamahimo kining tourist destinations which would somehow generate livelihood (local jobs) in the process.
To give you a tour of my experiences at the barrio, please allow me to take you back down memory lane.
As an initial contribution to this Taga-Borbon website, let me bring you to my beautiful Barrio Kaligdag Bugon – the land of the kamuting-kahoy and home of the takyong (tree snail)…lol. Enjoy!
To go there, you need to ride all types of public transpo available – from bus to jeep to tricycle. The long journey to my barrio will end with this habal-habal ride……traversing the long and winding hagunoyan barangay road.
In fairness ha, the last time I visited my barrio was that I noticed a “putol-putol” nga construction of cemented road but reaching as far as eskina sa lumboy only… but doesn’t even reach half the stetch of lubak-lubak nga dalan padulong sa among plaza.
In my barrio, there’s plenty of bahay kubo (read: poverty). But God has always spared my place from any calamities. His blessing to my barrio is never-ending. Naks… He blessed us with plenty of coconut trees to make copra…hahaha… and overflowing with the bounty of harvest time, kamunggay, agbate, okra ug uban pa.
BARRIO LIVELIHOOD
Gathering of tuba (coconut wine), coming from the coconut trees are typical jobs in my barrio. Farming and the old-school sabong kada Domingo is also classical… hahaha
THE BARRIOTIC LIFESTYLE
I remember our usual gimikan will be at the ‘bungtod ug kakahuyan’ where your voice will reverberate even as you speak with your barkadas. Our playground was at the katubhan and we play all sorts of games during our youth. And the water system stem from the spring… mag sag-ub lang ug tubig para imnon ug ilung-ag… didn’t even know the more conservative consumption of mineral water coming from France (Evian or Volvic) in my old days. And our typical cocina was the classic clay pot — or we used to call ‘kon’ and we’ll gather dry woods to create fire.
LEISURE AND ACTIVITIES
Beach bumming, picnic, stroll sa kabukiran and sleep under the shades of mammoth mahogany trees.
Patron (fiesta) is the most celebrated event each year. Young and old gather together in the barangay plaza for the disco. Even if we are far from the mainland, we still find time to scout a habal-habal para lang gyud makalugsong. Modern music and classical ballrooms… cha-cha to the tune of GIKUMOT-KUMOT …and watch the annual ms. barangay beauty pageant. Life in the barrio is soo hirap but people there are always happy.
Today, my barrio is still the barrio I used to know 15 years ago. No changes and seem like forgotten by our leaders who had promised for various development in every political campaigns and in every elections ‘to come’.
Each year, there are millions of pesos allocated for municipal projects like road widening, repairs and infrastructures but only to the selected fews. Pastilan jud!
Anyway, I still believe that time will come that our leaders will start to focus their attention sa atong mga taga-barrio. I have reason to believe that Borbon has so much to offer for tourism programs. We’re rich in natural resources… we have unexplored caves, white beaches, subterranean rivers, rock formations, waterfalls and diving sites.
Hellooo DOT (Department of Tourism) where are you? Hellooo local leaders, wake up!
I have high dreams for my barrio (and for every barrio in the Municipality of Borbon too) – conducive school facilities, health care for everyone, stable supply of electricity, access to clean water, computers and access to internet at por Diyos por Santo!!! And a suitable road going to my barrio… para dili na intawon magkalapok akong sapatos pagtungas nako didto sa amoa puhon.
I hope you enjoy a quick trip to my barrio Kaligdag-Bugon, I shall visit the place next summer, if you wish to join, let me know, KKB tayo.
Bottom line: WAKE UP EVERYONE!
Author’s Name: Borj—Barrio Kaligdag-Bugon
~End of Email~
I am writing this comment because of my yaya of 15 years, Yaya Kandida, but I prefer to call her Yaya Candy because it’s more posh sounding. I love my yaya and although she’s a little sushal like me she just can’t forget her roots. You know kasi, Yaya Candy grew up in a little barrio from the south, located in the far flung northeastern municipality of Cebu, the town called “Borbon”, which if I am not mistaken, the same as what I saw from pictures here in this website. She’s like my super duper older sister. She’s a little old na kasi. Like 35. And in the plastic surgery world, that means you’re 80.
Anyway, back to the reason why I wrote this comment. One day, I found Yaya Candy making kulikot my macbook. I just make deadma because sometimes I let her use my macbook so that she can update her friendster or facebook account and do online shopping for me. I noticed that she was laughing, then pausing for a moment, then laughing hard again. I decided to make tabi at her side and look at what she’s laughing at. I was surprised to see it’s your site pala so I make basa with her.
My initial reaction upon reading some photo blogs and posts at http://www.borboncebu.com was OMFG!
I was so horrified, shocked and appalled. I can’t believe that such a beautiful town existed. It’s very sickening though that Yaya Candy told me that until now her town is still very poor, undeveloped fourth-class municipality, notwithstanding the development experienced by other neighboring towns in the province of Cebu. I asked her, what your local leaders had contributed to exploit the natural beauties of your town? Have they not seen all those wonderful sceneries, the tranquility and serenity of your god-forsaken town? At least someone from your town would initiate programs to improve its beauty? As if Yaya Candy could not stand my hurling that’s why I asked her to go to the kitchen and eat cheese, so she can relax. That’s what my mother told me to relax myself and be free of stress.
Lastly, I made this comment in behalf of my Yaya Candy hoping that you could post it here to enable your local leaders to read this. And hopefully, when my beloved Yaya Candy will take her vacation next month to her beloved barrio in Borbon, she can at least gather and bring some beautiful new experiences with her to add with what you have had uploaded and posted in this website (because she said that she love your site and she is willing to contribute more photos of her beautiful barrio). Anyway, I told her to bring my digi-cam and ipad to at least take some pictures with her when she’s there na.
That’s all.
Nice post… tinuod gyud ni! Mga politiko sa Borbon, hinaot nga matagaan ni ninyo ug igong gibug-aton ang mga gipangbatbat sa nagsulat. Keep it up Borj! I nejoy your post.
A CHALLENGE TO OUR LOCAL POLITICIANS.
Just recently i notice that borbon had its website (www.borboncebu.com) am so glad for this so i might send comments any further through this website….
Regarding messages/comments of our brother borbonananos “Mr Borj Macalintal-dated March 11, 2010, yes i do agree with his opinion concerning with our local politician specially the up coming 2010 election is around the corner…I would like to give my opinion also that our local leader here in borbon (the upcoming one) to do something extraordinary hard work that could transform our beloved Borbon from sleeping town into tourist destination of the region.
We believed as brod. Borj macalintal said, that there were plenty of unexplored natural resources at different barrios of borbon,/ to expored this, things to do to for our local leaders concerned in borbon was a comprehensive study for development plan specifically in tourism sector ” to Draft a Master Plan for the tourism development & identified area to develop, ask assistance to provincial government & department of tourism as will, where it is essential & it should be long term.
I therefore hope that our beloved town of borbon where i was raised, should have long term development in terms of tourism, with exerted effort/initiative of the new local leaders, & with hope too that those identified cemented unfinished barangay roads should be given priority to complete from end to end, like for example there in Tabunan,Cadaruhan & others barangays, provide ample water supply to all barangays, among others that barangay folks will be benefited, specifically the lively hood. ” Action is required by our local leaders.”
Thanks a lot with this short opinion…..
Regards,
L.D. Novabos
KJO-Aramco Projects