Bol-anon

Before anything else, allow me to be defensive. This list need not suit everybody else's tastes and necessarily comes from a particular standpoint. The list is that of one who claims ancestral roots in Bohol (as his mother is a Boholana), grew up in Mindanao, went to university in Bohol, worked for some time somewhere else, but went back to Bohol to claim a Boholana bride. Having said that caveat, let me also add one more. This list comes from a not-so-athletic person, whose idea of sports is to play basketball with a two-year old son, or to enjoy paragliding in front of a PC. Nevertheless, this list also comes from the standpoint of one who enjoys the simple things in life (in other words, doesn't have enough money to splurge in expensive getaways). 1. Get wet . Conquer the beach or the river. Swim. Forget the swimming pool. It is a great insult to the island's waters - Panglao's or Anda's beaches, or Loboc's river, or Antequera's falls - if you spend your ...

I am always asked by officemates and friends how best to go to Bohol. After telling them how beautiful Bohol is - with plenty of exaggeration - and showing them nice pics of our province, I feel obliged to provide them the information. Of course, there are so many ways to go there. I will try to tell you all about them. From Manila, one option is to take a plane to Tagbilaran at either the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 (the Centennial Terminal) or the Manila Domestic Airport. You may read the profiles of these terminals/airports here . Cebu Pacific flies to Tagbilaran twice daily. Flight 5J-617 departs from the Manila Domestic Airport at 6:50 and arrives at the Tagbilaran Airport at 8:10 am. Flight 5J-619 departs at 11:45 am and arrives at 1:05 pm. For both flights, Cebu Pacific uses their A319 planes. You may see their complete schedule here . Philippine Airlines also flies to Tagbilaran twice daily. Flight PR175 departs from the NAIA Terminal 2 (Centennial A...

With some luck, I was able to convince two distinguished lawyers to join us in this Bol-anon blog. Atty. Handel Lagunay is a former editor of the University of Bohol's official student paper, the Varsitarian, and a graduate of Silliman University's school of law. He has agreed to join the group and to try to post once in while subject to his very busy schedule. :) Atty. Yvanne Cloma-Lucero , on the other hand, is a former colleage of ours at the Word, the official student publication of the Divine Word College of Tagbilaran, now Holy Name University, where she also finished her law studies. She too has expressed willingness to share her thoughts once in while in this blog. A warm welcome to both of them. With more and more people, we hope to see a better and more encompassing view of our province, its "real" beauty, and the goodness of its people. (Note: Added the qualifyer "real" after reading Miko's new Bohol Analysis blog.)

I am sure this will sound like a high school report but am sure not too many people are aware of these facts, even Boholanos. I got these from the official website of the Province of Bohol and I would assume reliable, except of course that some of the data are not quite up-to-date. Bohol is located at 803 km. south of Manila and 79 km. southeast of Cebu . It is part Region VII or the Central Visayas Region. Its capital is Tagbilaran City , its lone city. It has 47 municipalities and 1,109 barangays. The province has a population of 1,139,130 (as of 2000) occupying a land area of 4,117.26 sq. kilometers. Its population speak a Boholano variant of the Cebuano language and most, with 93 percent literacy rate, can understand English and Tagalog. The province has an estimated labor force of 404,000 (as of 1996). The province’s climate is generally fair with average temperature at 29 degrees Celsius. It has estimated 256,400 hectares of arable land. Based on Departmen...