Bol-anon

Before we had the likes of Cesar Montano, Luke Mijares, Giselle Sanchez, no other Boholano had made such a big name in the entertainment industry than Yoyoy Villame. Who would not have heard and laughed at the songs like Magellan, Butse Kik, Philippine Geography and Mag-exercise Tayo Tuwing Umaga? His music earned him the title as the Philippine's "King of Novelty Songs". Born Roman Tesorio Villame on November 18, 1932, he was a native of Calape, a municipality north of Tagbilaran. It is said that he was at one time a jeepney driver here in Manila, at another time an army draftee, before he went back to Bohol to become a bus driver. In fact, I grew up hearing stories about him from common folks. According to them, Yoyoy used to be a driver of Bohol Land which for a long time was the only bus company operating in the province. Yoyoy never allowed his work to discourage him from his music. Instead, he formed a rondalla combo with his fellow drivers, until his bosses in the...

On my posts about the white beaches in Candabong, Anda, Bohol, someone commented (I think it was Amadeo) that we should not only be writing about the sights and wonders of Bohol, we should also write about its people, the Bol-anons. I could not agree more. Despite some bad incidents that you read in the newspapers once in a while, I truly believe that we, the people in and from the province. are really great friendly people. I'm sure that many people who have visited the province can attest to this. I got all the more convinced of this when I decided to scour YouTube for videos about Bohol and by Bol-anons. I loved what I saw, especially the videos on the famous Loboc Children's Choir which I have yet to see live. Really makes you proud to be Bol-anon. But I was struck by one video posted by Manuel Viloria of viloria.com . Where else do you get such warm welcome like this one by Mang Medik at one of the floating restaurants at the Loboc River in Loboc, Bohol. A familiar song ...

Like almost every Boholano, I grew up to the sound of a radio tuned (by my late father of course) to the most popular local station on the AM band, Station DYRD . Our morning in Bohol then was not complete without listening to their 7 o'clock news anchored by Fred Araneta. We also did not miss listening to their public service program, Inyong Alagad, if only to be updated with the recent developments in the local scene and to hear all those "panawagan" and "reklamo". We lost that when we left home and settled here in Manila. A radio station can only be heard within a certain radius. So, for a while we could only reminisce about Fred Araneta delivering his profound sometimes funny "nuggets of wisdom". He used to say stuff like " Dinhi ning kalibutan, adunay daghang kawatan. Kini si Fred Araneta. " In this world, there are lots of cheats (or robbers). This is Fred Araneta! And he always said something new every morning. :) Things have change...