The Boljoon Blogs

A MOTHER in Boljoon, Cebu was beaten up, tied up at the neck and dragged around inside their house by her son, who is believed to be suffering from a mental illness.

In Mandaue City, a woman died a day after she reported to the police that her husband beat up.

The Mandaue City police released yesterday the man who was picked up by police for questioning over his wife’s death.

Nonilon Tayo, 26, reportedly mauled his common-law wife Marilyn Oma, 24, took her to a local healer and did not do anything when he found that she was no longer breathing.

Tayo brought Oma to a local healer last Thursday, a day after she told police he mauled her. Read the rest of this entry »

THE local Catholic Church isn’t happy with a nativity scene or “belen” posted outside a theater in downtown Cebu City.

The belen, intended by the owner to promote peace, uses photos of President Arroyo to depict Mary and former president Joseph Estrada for Joseph. It is displayed outside the New Cinema Theater in downtown Cebu City.

Msgr. Achilles Dakay, Cebu Archdiocese media liaison officer, criticized creators of the belen, saying Church-related activities or images are sacred and should not be politicized.

“Fiesta is a church activity. Dili angay kabay-an. Didto sa Boljoon, gikabay-an sa mga nag-bikini. Didto sa Lapu-Lapu, gikabay-an og politico,” he said in a dyLA radio interview yesterday.

Dakay was referring to the beauty pageant held early this month during the Boljoon fiesta. The pageant featured scantily-clad contestants on stage.

The incident provoked Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to walk out of the event and cut financial assistance to fiesta celebrations with beauty pageants, unless these follow the practice of Danao City.

Dakay was also referring to Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, who made a political speech inside the church at the start of the feast of Virgen de la Regla. By Nancy R. Cudis,Sun.Star Staff Reporter

By Pachico A. Seares
News Sense

“BIKINI,” word experts tell us, was coined by the French. The paper Le Monde Ilustre used Bikini Atoll, US atom bomb test site in Marshall Islands, to describe the two-piece swimsuit for women.

The name suggests “explosive effect” of a bikini on viewers, mostly unimaginative males whose hormones rage when they see a lot of female anatomy.

The bikini swept French beaches and beauty contests in 1947, the same year their media popularized the term for the “small pair of pants and a brassiere.”

It was not until almost 60 years later that organizers in Cebu exploited the Bikini Open, a beauty contest usually held at a beach resort where judges rate female candidates on how they look and move in skimpy attire.
Read the rest of this entry »

Luha sa usa ka langyaw!

Sa wala pa ako manglangyaw,
ako nang nahimutlogan
nga dili gyud sayon mahilayo,
ug hilabi na mahilayo
sa minahal ko sa kinabuhi!!!

Sa unang mga adlaw nako diri,
wala nalang nako himatikdi,
mga luha midaligdig sa aping!
Hu-ot sa dughan,
gikumot nga kasing-kasing,
mao kini ang mga emosyon
nga natagam-taman ko.

Daw kamingaw sa payag,
Panaghi-usa napayhag!

Nagatangag kanunay ang mga pangutana;
kanus-a kaha ma angkon
ang kinutoban ning tanan?
Ma angkon ko kaha ang ganting hingpit
sa mga pag-antos ko?

ang mga luha,
gihimo kong taming
sa pagkab-ot ko sa himayang hingpit!

ang sapa sa akong kaugatan
nabasa sa akong mga luha
ug nagatuklod/nagapadpad kanako
padulong sa, sa baybayon sa dagat.

hahahahaha! luha,
dili ikaw maka buntog kanako.

ako usa ka sundalo
sa mga ni-aging gyera sa kinabuhi!
mga lamas lamang ka sa akong pagluto
ug magpabukal sa mantikang nahikatulog!

hinuon, daghang salamat
sa pagpukaw ug pagpabangon ko
gikan sa pagkahidugmo!

Lindzey A. Romero
A.K.A. ‘bangsoy ang linupigan’
Hougang, Singapore
15-Aug-07
11: 17: 23 am

Matet Niere

a town of fresh spring water that dries not
in history, legend and song it cries a lot
in this little postcard town of beauty down south
a huge sleping reptile lies at its mouth

the scenic water leaves visitor in awe
of natures’ creation, one would love to draw
the church speaks voluminous memories of old
in friendship and beauty, the people are sold

“when can we go back there”, asks a dear friend
a balikbayan’s heartaches, it tries to mend
the real place to be where simple ghettos are at
a calm mountains and peaceful shores i sat

a pal or a relative at every side
with small bancas to the deep blue sea, one can ride
the enchanted mountain of Elli cascades with green
lots of cool places and faces have i seen

come and visit now befroe time is lost
a warm tour from locals wouldn’t matter the cost
i love this countryside town where my heart belongs
sceneries, peoples, each has its own song

Cebu Daily News
Last updated 08:48am (Mla time) 11/11/2007

CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia walked out of a beauty pageant on the eve of the fiesta celebration of Boljoon town last Friday.

Garcia was invited to watch the contest after she attended a procession of the town’s patron saint, Nostra Señora de Patrocinio de Maria (Virgin Mary).

She was to receive a plaque of appreciation at the program.

The province had given P3 million in assistance to help renovate Boljoon church, the fourth oldest church in the country.

She was told that the beauty pageant would showcase “old, traditional Filipino costumes” but she saw instead a woman in a bikini gyrating on stage.

The performance, the governor said, was witnessed by many children.

“That was cheap and immoral. That was totally disgusting and I am very, very angry,” she said.

Everybody, including Mayor Deogenes De Rama, was surprised when the governor stood up to leave.

Garcia said that when she saw the dancing woman in a white bikini, there was no other choice but to walk out of the venue.

“Either I go up the stage and deliver a lecture or I walk out. I was scandalized beyond belief. What utter lack of good taste,” the governor fumed.

The governor was also angry that her name and picture were included in the video presentation which preceded the parade of candidates in bikinis.

“How presumptuous! Di uroy ko mag-apil apil nang ilang vulgar, bastos, cheap, og totally out of tune with our direction for presentations,” she said.

Garcia said she had to leave immediately because otherwise, the children who were around might think that what was happening was okay.

“ What example are we giving the children with this - that this is proper and beautiful? I had to walk out. I want this to be a message to all government officials, to all of us who are tasked to uphold what is good and what is right. What are our Cebuano and Filipino values?” she said.

“Are we so corrupted that we cannot tell what is vulgar and what is good taste, what is proper and what is scandalous, what is right and what is wrong?”

Garcia also ordered officials in Boljoon to remove a banner showing her face which was hanging outside the sports complex.

She refused to accept the mayor’s explanation that he did not know about the presentation.

“As the highest official of the town he should know. That’s his command responsibility. Dili pwede manudlo ta sa uban, kung naay mahitabo atong angkunon. That was a desecration of womanhood and as Cebu governor I strongly objected to this,” she said. Reporter Suzzane Salva-Alueta

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday expressed disgust over what she labeled as a “tasteless, scandalous and totally disrespectful” fashion show in Boljoon town last Friday night.

Garcia and Boljoon Mayor Deogenes de Rama were invited to grace the staging of what was called a fashion show of indigenous attire as one of the highlights of the town’s annual fiesta yesterday.

Just as the show was about to start, Garcia said she was shocked when the lights turned on and a woman came out from the stage wearing a bikini.

“I was totally scandalized beyond belief,” Garcia told reporters.

Garcia said the fashion show was “out of theme” as she was expecting to see the indigenous attire of the town.

Another thing that irked her was that there were many minors watching the show.

“That was totally immoral, cheap and disrespectful to the significance of their fiesta. I was very angry with what happened,” said Garcia.

The show was held at the Boljoon Municipal Complex, only few meters away from the church. The governor also lambasted the municipal officials for allowing such a show in their town and having “corrupt minds” that could not determine right from wrong.

The governor also ordered the removal of the tarpaulin bearing her name and photo as the presenter of the show posted outside the complex.

Before the show, a procession was held in the afternoon around the municipality. — Gerome M. Dalipe/BRP

The Freeman