New members of this blog

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.)

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White sands of Candabong, Anda, Bohol

No doubt it was the highlight of our vacation in Bohol. Last December 30, we trooped from the mountains of Sudlon, Alicia, Bohol, where my wife hails, to the enchanting white sands of Candabong, Anda, a nearby town, for a cool Rizal Day splash. The beach was public. We paid absolutely nothing to get in. The sand was creamy white and not artificial, unlike those in other private resorts in the province. At the farthest end of the semi-oval stretch of white sand is a small rock/island shaped like a soldier's helmet. Along the shore were lines of boats and huts lying idly, as if time has stopped in that corner of the world. When we arrived (at around 9am) there was nobody there. We had the whole place to ourselves. When my 5-year old son saw the place, he smiled all the way up to his ears. Then he plunged and spent the whole day on the water. A few other groups arrived later, but there was still plenty of space run around. In fact, there was plenty of space to do our barbecue and some...

A pilgrimage to the Baclayon Church

Sometimes, when we are too close to something, we fail to see its beauty. This is probably the reason why there are still many Boholanos, especially those living at the coastal areas, who have yet to visit the viewing deck of the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bohol, or even the new one in Sagbayan, Bohol. Because we know it is just nearby, we sort of miss out on how extraordinary the thing is. It is exactly the same with the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Baclayon, Bohol, the second oldest stone Church in the Philippines. I don't think many really appreciate its place in the history of our country. Baclayon is a municipality which is 6 kilometers east of Tagbilaran City. It is Bohol's oldest municipality and the mother of 3 other municipalities, namely, Alburquerqe, Balilihan and Sikatuna. In Cebuano, "baclayon" means the distance that one needs to walk. This is probably the reason why the town was so named as it is located at the coast of Bohol sever...

Christmas in Bohol

I remember several years back, when my sisters and I were still students at the universities here in Manila, our parents decided to come here from Bohol for the Christmas season. On Christmas eve, just as we always did before, we prepared for noche buena . Then, at around 10pm, our father and mother started dressing up to attend the midnight mass. We were not exactly sure at that time if they did celebrate midnight masses on Christmas at the church a few blocks away. By then, firecrackers were already exploding on the streets one after another. Still, we could not help but really go to church that time. Imagine all the firecrackers exploding, the smoke, tires burning on the streets, and there we were, one big family trying to reach the church. When we got there we learned, the church was closed. The midnight mass on Christmas eve is just one of the things I miss about Christmas in Bohol. In Manga (a district of Tagbilaran City), where I attended many midnight masses as a child, we alwa...

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