Bohol Region VII
Love for Bohol, my Second time around!
PANGLAO, BOHOL
PANGLAO, BOHOL
JULY 16-18, 2011
I went to CEBU many times since 1997.
Bohol Province is just a few hours away from CEBU via fast boat and
about more than an hour via plane from Manila.
But I never had the chance to visit Bohol when in fact I was already in
the Visayan Region. Since then, I dreamt
of seeing the place. I said to myself,
“my next stop will be in the province of Bohol”.
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| Dolly Alegarbes, Jess Villamor, Atty. Alex Villaviza, Espie Ocampo, Cedric Bagtas (Left to Right) |
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| Mildred Yamzon, Me, Sr. Badet Guzman, Fe Nicodemus, Jess Villamor, Geraldine Espinosa (Left to Right) |
Thank you God, my prayer has been granted!
August 2009 was my first trip to Bohol – and I fell in love immediately
with Bohol province. We stayed at the
Dao Diamond Hotel and Restaurant in Tagbilaran City for 3 days and 2
nights. It is a job-related visit and Sister
Bernadette Guzman (a nun, 8th from the left – see photo below), who
is one of my 25 Council Members, patiently guided our very short day tour.
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| 12 out of 25 Council Members holding the banner |
Boholanos are really friendly.
Those who visited the place can attest.
Oh yes, despite the disability of the workers, who are mostly deaf and mute, we were showed
heartwarming greetings as we reached Dao Diamond Hotel.
During the 3-day meeting, we
invited Mr. Boy Pernia, Consultant from the Office of the Governor, to talk
about the Success Story in Bohol.
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| (Left to Right) Boy Arpafo, Gem deGuzman, Dan Laserna, Jose Suan, Boy Pernia, Jess Villamor |
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| (Left to Right) Espie Ocampo, Raffy Mapalo, Jessie Elacan, Atty. Villaviza, Cedric Bagtas |
He mentioned that Bohol used to have five (5) fronts
of insurgencies, including the NPA (New Peoples Army); and proudly said “currently, there is none”. He also said Bohol government has never been
involved with the military in the fight against insurgency. If there are sightings of conflicts in the
area, it is only the management of the Bohol Poverty Reduction Management
Office (BPRMO) and the civilians who worked hard for peace, unity, and poverty
in the whole province of Bohol. The
BPRMO’s men go directly to the area where conflicts and poverty lie. The Bohol government conducted community
development, such as social development and livelihood trainings, based on what
the poor people in the area felt they needed to survive. It is a “bottom-up” type of management that they injected in the system
to capacitate the barangay folks.
YES. Bohol used
to be the 56th poorest province in the
Philippines way back in 2001. In 2009, they claimed they climbed up to 7th
poorest province.
It has a slogan, “10 in 2010.” This is Bohol’s
10-Point Development Agenda until 2010 which focused on:
1)
Agriculture – food production for the locals;
2)
Tourism – creating a job chain;
3)
Infrastructure – Basic and Strategic by
completing the roads and bridges;
4) Managing Population Growth;
5) Improving Health and Social Well-Being – by
enhancing and improving the quality of education;
6) Attaining Environmental Sustainability – use of
comprehensive land use;
7) Expanding Economic Opportunities - Conversion of the Tagbilaran
Airport (once the Panglao Airport is operational) into a Special Economic
Zone/Business Park;
8)
Fostering Creativity – harping on
strengthening the cultural heritage of the Boholanos;
9) Peace and Stability in Communities – by addressing the root causes
of insurgency, especially poverty, and to improve delivery of basic services,
and lastly;
10)
Better Governance – in the whole
province by emphasizing on performance and results rather than
activities and outputs.
They really did it! And I am so proud of the Boholanos.
My first visit was
just as fun as my second. I encourage
all to visit the museum, help Bohol to preserve whatever is left centuries
ago! It has very minimal entrance fee.
All the well-known tourist
spots can be easily arranged for visit, with the assistance of your hotel
managers or employees. Again, I was so
delighted with the hospitality of the Boholanos. I am so comfortable with them.
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| A happy toast for everyone! |
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| Singing session beside the pool. |
During my
first visit to Bohol, our time was so precious.
We only have few hours for the so-called R&R (Rest and Recreation),
a common lingo or what we call “cultural appreciation” if it is just a
side trip from work-related travels. Being
the technical officer, I have not seen so much of Bohol because time demanded me
to work and make sure to finish our meeting agenda, aside from taking care of
my members’ personal demands.
I am pleased
with my colleague, Jessie who helped me out, cheered me up and assisted me well
enough during the 3-day meeting. I
cannot stand alone if it wasn’t for his support.
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| Jessie Elacan |
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The Chocolate Hills is really brownish in color during hot
season.
|
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Month of May
this year, I was emailed by a close friend, whom I considered as one of my
sisters. She asked me if I have seen
Bohol. I told her, YES and I enjoyed my
short stay there. She lived in
California for eight (8) years and I don’t know she had plans of going back
home until I was asked to book for a trip in Bohol, mid of July 2012. In short,
I again traveled to Bohol.
Tess, 2nd from left is my friend and sponsored my travel, paid all the trip expenses, together with Jo, her
former office mate here in the Philippines, her sister Cora and her twin
daughters – Meng and Teng.
We stayed at the Bohol
Plaza Resort and Restaurant which is located in Panglao.
The place is
marvelous. The people are so
friendly. Another two thumbs up for
Bohol. I encourage Pinoys (Filipinos) to
visit the place on their next trip back to Pinas (Philippines).
As amazed by the
heritage of Bohol, I am also amazed how Boholanos created their own forest... a
man-made forest! If Bohol can do this
why others can't? It makes me wonder how
other politicians from some provinces cut trees instead of helping them grow.
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This is a man-made forest.
If the Boholanos can plant trees like these, why others can’t? If the Boholanos can make greens… I hope
others will follow.
|
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| Blood Compact Monument for photo op |
The day is too hot and we still have lots of places to visit, everybody got hungry. We have to stopover at the butterfly farm and ate the usual dish, the usual filler… Pansit, Adobo and Chopsuey.
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While waiting for food to be served, we had photo
opportunity… looks like we have butterfly wings.
|
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| A cozy hammock in the butterfly garden |
According to the
National Geological Monument, these hills are scattered throughout the towns of
Carmen, Batuan, and Sagbayan, and consists of 1,268 mounds of the same general
shape.
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| The Hills are greens during rainy season |
Our last stop was the
hanging bridge. My friends are too tired
for the whole day tour, but we have covered almost all of the tourist’s
destinations except the Bee Farm and the Zip Line.
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| The Hanging Bridge. |
Our Day 2 – seem like
everybody wants to stay in bed. Sleep in
the cozy and air-conditioned room. I have
to get up early because I want to enjoy the morning breeze… I want to see the
dawn breaks! I want to capture the
moment as the sun smiles on me… and as the moon waives goodbye.
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| waiting for the sunrise... moon is still up! One... |
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| Two... |
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| Three... |
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| Four... |
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| Oh YES! What a nice sunrise.... |
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| I can see greens... |
After pleasing myself to crave and to take pleasure of the sunlight, I believe there’s more to visit in Panglao town. Therefore, I grabbed my new bloggie sony underwater cam (which was a gift to me by another generous friend, three months ago) and ask Jo to come with me along the beach side of Bohol.
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| Starfish |
We ride on a motorcycle called
“habal-habal”. The name of the driver is
Romeo… another amiable Boholano. He brings
us and waited us patiently as we enjoy the nice white sand in Panglao Beach.
Who is not
going to fall in love with the white and unexploited beach sand? Oh the feeling is great! It’s really like we are in a Paradise Island…
with fresh air, warm water, smiling people around, and a very serene
surrounding.
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| White sand in Panglao |
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| Jo in Panglao Beach |
I silently utter, “Thanks God, for the nice weather you provided us in this trip, this is really a satisfying vacation! Another momentous event of my life.”
We all ended our day
with a night swimming at the pool side with sizzling “sisig” on the side! I
sigh with a smile on my face and said “Oh, what a life!”
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| Tess and daughter Meng |
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| Hmmmn! want some hot SISIG? |
I hope the
beauty of this province will remain unexploited from the hands of scrupulous
people… so that our next generation will have the chance to get pleasure from
their own journey to BOHOL.
I thank my
friend Tess, for giving me another chance to enjoy this 3-day tour, Ngot for my
bloggie cam, my Kuya Don for pushing me to write. Next year’s plan? I guess I will be in Surigao to join my friend Mayette.
But my subsequent vision is really to go back again to island of Palawan, I enjoyed Puerto Princesa, but next time I want to be in – Coron... and probably stays a bit longer in Batanes.
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