Celebrating & Maximixing potentials: for the youth, by the youth

SK Basketball Fiesta League Awards Night
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11/06/2011 – 9:00 PM – Boljoon Sports Complex

Cebu’s Best Trival Band
Prabhata Samgiita

and Tanjay City’s
Tribu Havanas

on Nov. 5, 2011
Saturday 9:00 pm
Boljoon Sports Complex

Arita, Japan—About 361 years ago, a ship sailed out of Nagasaki, Japan, loaded with ceramics from the kilns or ovens of Arita and Yoshida towns. The ship was most probably headed for Manila, where it unloaded its cargo to middlemen, probably native Visayan traders or even Muslim merchants from Mindanao, who then brought these to provincial trading ports in the then-young Spanish colony called Filipinas.

Three of those ceramic wares—two from Arita and one from Yoshida—eventually found their way to Boljoon town, southeastern Cebu, in the hands of natives there. By some stroke of luck, these three were later interred together with two individual burials that were eventually excavated by my team from the University of San Carlos and the National Museum in 2009. After initial analysis through an e-mail sent to Dr. Takenori “Ken” Nogami of the Arita Folk and History Museum (AFHM), it was confirmed that these were not Chinese ceramics, although they had been buried with a few pieces from the Anxi kilns in China.

Today I have come full circle, as it were, coming to Arita and Yoshida as well as the adjacent trading port of Imari where these wares began their journey to Nagasaki. With me is a team from the University of San Carlos composed of Fr. Generoso Rebayla, SVD, the vice president for finance; Prof. Malou Samson, the university curator; and Dr. Hope Yu, the new director of the Cebuano Studies Center. We are here as guests of Dr. Ken and the AFHM. This is our fourth day in Japan and we have been shuttling from one museum to another and the remains of 17th-century kilns and production centers in Arita, Imari and Yoshida.

Yesterday was especially sentimental and emotionally fulfilling as I was able to touch with my own hands the ceramic sherds recovered from Yoshida dating to 1650-60 that resemble the large and complete green enamel overglazed charger or bowl that we recovered from Burial 47, a probable adolescent male. This large ceramic ware, now on display at the Boljoon Parish Museum, covered the individual’s face. The sherds were shown to me at the storage room of the Kyushu Ceramic Museum that the curator graciously allowed us to enter. Earlier we had been to the Okawashiyama village in Arita, a mountain settlement full of ceramic-producing families that have never stopped their craft since they began in the 1600s with Korean mentors.

Arita is known as the pottery capital of Japan. It was here exactly 400 years ago that the legendary Korean potter Ri Sampei literally found a mountain of “kaolin,” Mount Izumi, which is now nothing more than a flat ground behind AFHM. Kaolin is the most important ingredient for the production of blue and white porcelain, which eluded Japan until then. Kaolin clay, named after a mountain of white clay called Kao-ling in China, is what made the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) an unforgettable period for ceramics in China. Its discovery during that period started the production of blue-and-white porcelain wares, which would reach artistic heights during the tumultuous years of the Ming Dynasty (1386-1648).
Japan has had a long tradition of ceramic production but only in unglazed high-fired types. When the daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered Korea in 1597, he brought home the following year a large number of Korean potters to transfer their technology to the Japanese. Today their descendants, who have since intermarried with local Japanese, continue the tradition in many settlements in and around Arita.

Arita’s primal position is expressed in almost everything that one sees in this town as well as those of nearby cities: signages, heritage markers, store names, even wash basins in public toilets are all made of beautifully designed blue-and-white porcelain. Even a lightbulb was protected from rain and snow by a blue-and-white dish in one of the old houses lining Arita’s main street. Bridges are also decorated with mosaics made of porcelain on one side and artistic tiles, also of blue and white porcelain, decorating the other side with dragons, phoenixes and other legendary animals or plants. Here and there one finds ceramic pieces, some of them huge jars, decorating the street corners. On the day we arrived (which was last Monday) there was even a Ceramics Festival in Arita.

The journey for me here in Japan has just begun—a trip that is not my first but that is definitely different from those few times I had been here. Next week we proceed to the port of Nagasaki, and for bringing me here to Japan, I wish to thank the Sumitomo Foundation for providing me with the financial support and also USC for providing a modest allowance to me and my team here.

* * *
Watch out for our upcoming “Kabilin” episode on this journey to trace the Japanese ceramics found in Boljoon, to be shown on Channel 14 SugboTV.

THE bill proposing to divide Cebu’s 2nd district into two will be approved before the year ends, Rep. Pablo Garcia said yesterday.

Garcia, who represents the 2nd district, said House Bill 3865 was approved in the Lower House with the House committee on local government set to submit its report to the Senate.

The bill filed in 2008 seeks to divide the province’s largest congressional district, which consists of 15 towns. If approved, the towns of Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, Santander and Samboan will remain in the 2nd district.
The towns of Ginatilan, Malabuyoc, Alegria, Badian, Moalboal, Alcantara, Ronda and Dumanjug will be delegated to the 7th district.

Each district is entitled to about P70 million in pork barrel funds under the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of each congressman.

Garcia said it was “unfair” to have the PDAF spent for projects in a very large district while other congressmen have districts with fewer localities.

The P70 million is divided into “hard” projects or infrastructure worth P40 million while P30 million can be identified for “soft” projects like social services.

Cebu’s 2nd district in the southern part of the province occupies almost one-third of the island’s total land area and has 284 barangays, the longest coastline and longest span of national roads.

The bill was filed following a deadlock among Cebu lawmakers on how to rearrange the province’s districts. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus

Photos of the ongoing restoration of el gran baluarte done by local workers of Boljoon with just P140,000.00 seed money given by the province of Cebu. The estimate of our municipal engineer ranges the cost of restoration to about P 600,000 to P 700,000 Pesos we need your financial support.

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Gould suffered an infected wound caused by a mosquito bite on his left leg last Monday and had to undergo surgery to remove the infection.

“It’s kind of annoying. It’s quite big and pretty bad,” Gould said.

He took antibiotics immediately when he noticed the mosquito bite slowly getting infected. The medication didn’t work and the condition got worse.

As advised by the doctors, Gould underwent surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital last Thursday to remove the infection on his left leg.

Gould’s recovery period will last from two to three weeks and requires him to be in full rest from strenuous activities. Because of that, he had to leave the three-week training camp of the Azkals and return to Cebu.

The coaching staff of the team also told the former Azkal to focus on recovering first as it will be dangerous if he’ll continue.

However, there is no final say yet from the team whether he would be missing the home-and-away match for the World Cup qualifiers against Sri Lanka but the Fil-Britton said he would love to rejoin the squad.

“It’s my dream to play for the World Cup. I want this more than anything but it’s quite a dangerous injury,” Gould said.

Gould had given up the chance to play with the England National Beach Soccer team to be reunited with the Azkals.

He arrived in the Philippines last May 8 to try out for the national team along with five other hopefuls from Australia and America.

Chad is staying in Boljoon, Cebu and spending time with his parents. He will reschedule his flight back to London Thursday next week, cutting what was supposed to be a three-month stay here in the Philippines.

He will be meeting the team next week when the Azkals are in Cebu for a series of activities.

Gould was a member of the Philippine team, along with Chris Greatwich, that played in the 2004 Tiger Cup, when the Philippines earned its first win in international football, 2-1, against Timor Leste. Gould, who has six goals in 11 caps, also played in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, where the Philippines also had its first SEAG win since 1991.

Boljoon—Our joint University of San Carlos (USC) and National Museum team of archaeologists arrived here yesterday to begin the sixth phase of excavations.

We are back, this time with funding from the Sumitomo Foundation of Japan, which has provided a generous facility to look for more Japanese ceramics dating to the 1600s and publish the results in both scholarly and popular format. In 2009, you see, the fifth round of excavations recovered for the first time in Philippine history not one but three intact and complete ceramics that were clearly made in the Hizen kilns in what is now Saga prefecture in Japan.

How these ceramics reached Boljoon, south Cebu, when they would have been destined for the lucrative markets in Mexico and the New World during the Manila Galleon Trade, needs to be explained fully. For now, archaeologists are here to look for more evidence of these ceramics because before Boljoon, only a few broken fragments were recovered in the Philippines, on a site in Intramuros where such ceramic wares were loaded onto galleons bound for Acapulco, Mexico.
Those very ceramics we unearthed in 2009 here in Boljoon are now on display at the Boljoon Parish Museum. And next week an expert from Arita Folklore and History Museum, Dr. Takenori Nogami, who identified these ceramics himself, will join the dig. It was Dr. Ken, as he is fondly called, who also identified the shards from Intramuros (recovered during an excavation conducted by the National Museum).

Today, we begin opening a unit we closed off in 2009 because we ran out of time and funds. We unearthed only the feet of the burial. We hope that during this current dig, the entire burial will be fully exposed as a good beginning to what we hope will be another promising first for Boljoon. More on this next week.

* * *
Cognratulations to my professor and dissertation adviser, Dr. John Peterson, on the successful conduct of underwater excavations in Mactan. This is the first-ever underwater dig in the country to be funded by National Geographic and Cebu is doubly proud that this was carried out here.

Dr. Peterson is head of the Micronesia Area Research Center (MARC), University of Guam (UOG) and is the new editor of the Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, the social science journal published by the University of San Carlos Press since 1970. He is also married to a Carcaranon. John has written a lot about the archaeology of Cebu but this excavation is the most ambitious yet not just for him but also for Philippine archaeology. We therefore await with bated breath the results of this seminal work.

We also await with excitement the upcoming joint excavations of NM, USC, UOG and UP in San Remigio. So much is going on in Cebu archaeology right now that this province is surely the envy of others. Kudos to all!

THE PHILIPPINE national football team, better known as the Azkals, is looking to fortify its roster for its World Cup qualifiers campaign with the return of Cebuano-British Chad Alesna Gould to the team’s training pool.

His mother, Antoniette “Baby” Alesna Gould, confirmed that her son left London yesterday midnight and is scheduled to arrive in Manila today. He will immediately hit the pitch for the Azkals’ training camp tomorrow.

Gould was a member of the Philippine team since 2004 and is best noted for scoring the winning goal in the Azkals’ 1-0 triumph over Bhutan in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup in 2009.

He has also been actively supporting the grassroot programs in football in his mother’s hometown in Boljoon town, southern Cebu.

Gould left the team last year because of his commitment as a professional beach soccer player of the England Club.

In an email, Gould said that he had wanted to re-join the Azkals when he got an invite from former PFF president Mari Martinez for the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup last year. But he was not able to do so because of matters that were out of his control.

This year, Gould was once again invited for the AFC Challenge Cup by Azkals team manager Dan Palami. But since they still had to secure permission from his current club, he was not able to make it.

Gould wrote that it has been a dream of his to play for the Philippines at an international level, most especially in the World Cup.

Gould’s return to the Philippine team comes with a high price as he was supposed to leave with the England beach football team for Mauritius on May 10 for the All-England Beach Soccer Tour.

According to his mother, Gould was extremely excited when he got an invite to join the Azkals in preparation for the World Cup qualifiers. But he also felt sad because joining the Azkals meant he would miss out on the tour.

Gould stated that his England manager understood his desire to play with the Azkals and that the door would always be open for him when he returns to England.

As part of the Philippine football team, Gould scored six international goals in 13 games before he left the team last year.

/CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON

THE staff and sisters of Perpetual Succour Hospital (PSH) trooped to Boljoon town in southern Cebu last April 8 to plant fruit trees.

The planting of jackfruit, mango, guyabano, rambutan, chico, macopa, avocado and tambis was the second made by PSH. The first one was in Compostela town in northern Cebu.

The activity is also part of the group’s advocacy for a clean, green and safe environment.

“It was a fun one for everyone. Aside from helping the environment, the value of teamwork was being applied by the group,” said the PSH in its press statement.