EVIDENCE of pre-Spanish trade and industry in Cebu were found in Boljoon town, right in front of the Nuestra Senora Virgen del Patrocinio Parish Church.

Different kinds of artifacts and nine burials were found at the third archaeological excavation by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the University of San Carlos.

The recent excavation, done over a period of one month, was 60 to 70 centimeters deep.

Among those recovered was a large bent gold earring found at the right ear of a male skeleton. The tube earring is said to date back from the 14th to 16th century.

A skeleton of a presumably female adolescent also had a gold ring on a finger, although only half of it was recovered.

Excavation leader Jojo Bersales said this is the second time in the archaeological history of the Philippines that artifacts were recovered in Boljoon. The first time was during the first phase of excavation last year where a 2.4-meter gold chain was recovered.

The oldest recovery, although still up for debate, is a light olive-colored container placed immediately below the feet of a burial.

Bersales said arguments on the origin of the jar include that of the Yuan Dynasty between 1280 and 1367. Others would say it was from the Ming Dynasty or in 1644.

If the former is to be believed, this is proof that trade and commerce in southern Cebu was already booming before the Spaniards’ first arrived in 1521.

Bersales also noted that what was missing in the recovery was a hint of fisherfolk living in the area, considering that the town is near the beach. There were no net sinkers or shells lining the grave.

This indicates that the skeletons were from people involved in trading or bartering.

“This may have been due to cotton planting and cotton raw material production, an industry which was reported by early 1600 missionaries concerning southern Cebu,” Bersales said.

The USC team also recovered a powder box and some beads, which have a hint of India and China in them.

The excavation was also the first time that a ceramic bowl with Chinese characters on it was recovered in the Philippines.

A bowl with a leaf on it was among the artifacts recovered. It also had some Chinese characters that translate to “a leaf means a new wish.”

Other items recovered were: dishes, with one found to have covered a skull; a spear; a water jar with silver beads; some Spanish period square nails; iron slugs; and some medallions.

The artifacts dug with the burials indicate that those recovered were non-Christian burials. The medallions were not directly connected with the skeletons.

The USC group concluded that the area was a settlement site since between 1550 and 1650, people were believed to bury their dead under their houses.

While the recovered items are property of the State, Bersales said the Archdiocese has jurisdiction over the items recovered in front of the Boljoon church, which has been declared a National Cultural Treasure.

If parish priest Milton Medida had his way, he would want to preserve the burials and the artifacts where they were found, probably through gas casings.
But he said the decision is up to Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

Bersales, though, said that the burials will be covered again while the artifacts will be sent to Manila. Then the Municipality of Boljoon and the Cebu Archdiocese will talk about how to keep the items safe.

Medida said the people of Boljoon want to display the items in the museum, but there were suggestions that only replicas should be displayed for security purposes.

Boljoon Mayor Deogenes Derama was surprised with the treasures in his town.

“Daghan man diay nindot sa ilalom. It could really help our tourism industry and our museum,” he said.

For Bisaya stories from Cebu.

BOLJOON, Cebu – Antique gold jewelry pieces, jars and plates as well as skeletons 500 years old were found in a digging site at the church plaza here which experts claim to be artifacts from the 15th Century.

Mr. Jojo Bersales, consultant on heritage and museum affairs of Cebu province, said details of the historical find underneath the plaza of Boljoon Church, south of Cebu City, will be announced in a press conference today.

Bersales, also chairman of the Socio-Anthro Department of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, said the digging site appears to be a burial ground that dates back before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521.

Last year, a team from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the University of San Carlos and the National Museum also discovered skeletons within the Boljoon church grounds.

Bersales said the relics will be deposited to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for safe keeping.

Jojo Bersales, Cebu Provincial Government consultant on heritage and museum affairs, said several gold jewelries, antique relics, 15th century jars and plates, and 13 centuries old skeletons were found in a digging site at the plaza of Boljoon Church, south of Cebu City.

Although Bersales said the details of the findings will be announced in a press conference today (Tuesday), he said the digging site could be a burial ground for affluent families in the 15th century based on the way the skeletons were dressed and with the jewelries and antiques that surrounded them.

Bersales, who is also the chairman of the Socio / Anthro Department of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, said the practice of including jewelries, jars, and other valuable materials in burial grounds dates back to the early 15th century before the Spaniards arrived in the Cebu.

When the Spaniards introduced Christianity in the country, the said burial practice of placing jewelries in the body of the dead became prohibited, said Bersales.

The details of the discovery, including the reason for the digging, will be revealed in a press conference today.

Last year, a team from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the University of San Carlos and the National Museum also discovered skeletons within the Boljoon church grounds.

Bersales said the gold jewelries will be deposited to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for safe keeping.

More than a week after the 160-year-old Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church in Oslob town, southern Cebu, was destroyed by fire, museums and heritage centers in other towns have focused their programs on fire and disaster preparedness.

“After the (Oslob) fire, we had an emergency meeting in the parish. We discussed when we should have the (Boljoon) church’s electrical wirings checked. This would be our priority,” said Lindzey Romero, curator of the Boljoon Parish Museum.

Romero said the parish is also studying the possibility of creating a parish fire brigade.

Parish officials and the Boljoon Heritage Foundation Inc. will meet with the Filipino-Chinese Volunteer Fire Brigade to discuss the implementation of a disaster preparedness program, which will include frequent drills.

The Patrocinio de Maria Church in Boljoon was established in 1599 and houses centuries-old religious artifacts made of wood, gold and ivory.

The church rectory houses a museum that displays 60 percent of its collection to the public.

Joy Gerra, executive director of the cultural heritage program of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi), said that the Visayas Association of Museums and Groups Inc. (Vamgi) would celebrate this year’s Museum Month in May with the theme, “Heritage and disaster: Is there life after burning?”

“We will have a partnership with other groups, such as the church heritage commission, on disaster preparedness for cultural sites,” Gerra said.

Representatives from the Casa Gorodo Museum, Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral Museum, and the Basilica del Sto. Niño Museum met last Thursday to create an activity lineup for Museum Month.

Among the activities planned is a “Gabii sa Kabilin” (Night of Heritage), wherein museums in Cebu would stay open until midnight in the last week of May.

“We will be calling on the different sectors to help promote heritage conservation,” Gerra added.

Louella Alix, a member of the Archdiocesan Commission on the Cultural Heritage of the Church, said heritage conservation is a concern of everyone, not just conservationists.

“When people heard that the Oslob church was on fire, they felt it was a great loss. That is why we also plan to organize a stakeholders meeting in Oslob,” she said.

“The people (in Oslob) are still stunned and have this feeling of helplessness,” said Alix.

The commission aims to help Oslob parishioners organize a heritage committee and a group that would handle finances for the restoration of the church.

Fire and disaster preparedness seminars and a workshop on documentation of religious artifacts were being organized in the parishes of Carcar, Sibonga, Dalaguete and Barili, among others.

As this developed, a judge and a government prosecutor both explained that the law allows the local government to help pay for a new church.

A dawn fire initially blamed on a short-circuit lost the southern town its 160-year-old Immaculate Conception Parish last Wednesday.

In a meeting yesterday morning with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, the clergy formed a fundraising committee and a technical committee.

The first group will explore approaches to pay for the reconstruction, including second collections during masses, said media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay in a mobile phone interview.

Members of the second group will look for engineers and architects and coordinate with them on the design of the parish, among others.

There is no timeframe yet on how soon the construction can start.

When he visited the ruins last Thursday, Cardinal Vidal asked if the thick walls that survived the fire can still be used.

While he asked the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Val Gemelo, to abide by the normal flow of parish activities, the prelate said the church is also open to donations to help rebuild the parish.

Meanwhile, a judge and a public prosecutor said that government funds can be used to restore the Oslob parish.

Heritage

After all, opined Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Geraldine Faith Econg, that building is more than just a place of worship, it has become part of Cebu’s heritage.

“Not only can it help in the restoration, it (the local government, primarily) has a responsibility to preserve it,” she said.

She cited the general welfare clause of Republic Act 7160, the Local Government Code. “The state shall ensure and support preservation and enrichment of culture,” she said, quoting one provision.

Naga City Prosecutor Aida Sanchez also pointed out in a separate interview that what is being helped isn’t the church, but the people who go there.

The Cebu Provincial Government earlier gave P3.2 million for the rehabilitation of the Boljoon Church, after the National Heritage Council declared it a heritage site.

Historical records show that Oslob was established as a visita of Boljoon in 1690 and became an independent parish in 1848, with the Immaculate Conception as its patroness.

The church, in turn, was built on May 4, 1830 under the direction of Fr. Julian Bermejo.

Survival

Bermejo, according to museum curator Roel Rigor in a previous article, commissioned the building of watchtowers along the coast of southern Cebu for a military purpose: to watch out for and warn against incoming Moro raiders.

The church was made of cut stone and corals and also served as a fortress for the townsfolk during raids.

Oslob town, said Dr. Ned Nepangue and Celestino Macachor in their 2007 book “Cebuano Eskrima: Beyond the Myth”, is one of the hotbeds of the Visayan martial art of eskrima.

Fire gutted the church in 1955 but it was eventually restored.

The entire church complex is surrounded by a stone wall. At the southeastern portion of the complex are the unfinished remains of a military barracks. NRC/KNR

FR. VALENTINO Gemelo, parish priest of the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception parish in Oslob, southern Cebu, promised that the parish church and rectory, which burned down Wednesday, will be rebuilt, but he will not ask for assistance from politicians to do so.

He said laws concerning the separation of church and state prohibits either entity from involving itself in the affairs of the other.

There are, however, avenues of cooperation available.

Gemelo said he welcomed the plan of Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district) to file a bill declaring the site of the church a national heritage site, since this would allow certain government entities, such as the National Heritage Commission (NHC), to help in the church’s restoration.

Gemelo said that even without the bill, he would try to ask the NHC’s help anyway, considering that the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception parish church is one of the oldest churches in the province.

He said he was also confident that his parishioners would do their part to help rebuild the church, much as they did when the 161-year-old building was also gutted by fire in 1955.

Garcia said he was willing to set aside part of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to help rebuild the church in Oslob, which is under his congressional district.

He said, however, that public funds may not be used to fund church activities, including building or rebuilding churches.

On the other hand, the PDF may be used to fund the restoration of structures, including churches, that are of value as national heritage sites, as recognized by the NHC.

Garcia said he would submit a bill to have the remains of the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception church included in the list of national heritage sites.

The congressman, however, said the passage of the bill may take time, since there are procedures that need to be followed and especially since several churches are already in the list, such as the Patrocinio de Santa Maria parish church in the neighboring town of Boljoon.

He encouraged the faithful to donate to the rebuilding of the church as well.

“Dunay uban Catholics nga malumo og kasing-kasing. Angayan siguro sila nga motabang (There are some Catholics who are soft-heared. It’s only proper that they help),” he said.

Senaor Pia Cayetano, who visited Cebu last Thursday, said she was also willing to allocate funds from her PDAF for the restoration of the Oslob church. However, her PDAF and those of other senators are being withheld by Malacañang, she said.

She did not say how much she would donate for the church’s rehabilitation.

The dawn fire that gutted the 160-year-old convent and church in Oslob last Tuesday should serve as an eye-opener to the Catholic hierarchy and the faithful concerning the dangers that lurk behind these old structures that badly need rewiring. This tragic loss of an important heritage of the Augustinian friar-builders, Bishop Santos Gomez Marañon and Fray Julian Bermejo, in southern Cebu will not be the last if nothing is done soon to raise funds to rehabilitate all of these glorious structures built largely by Filipino masons and carpenters during the latter half of the Spanish colonial period in Cebu.

Whatever caused the Oslob fire, which was said to have started in one of the rooms of the rectory, I will venture to suspect that electric wiring may be a factor in the tragedy. The news reached us in the early hours of yesterday as wailing sirens of fire trucks raced across from where we are currently doing the third round of archaeological excavations across the rectory of Boljoon. I cannot help but imagine the tremendous loss that would befall Cebu if Boljoon Church and its rectory, the only National Cultural Treasure in the province to be declared by the National Museum, will go the way of Oslob.

This is not the first fire to visit the church in Oslob. In the late 1950s the entire church was gutted down, leaving only its meter-thick stone walls, when an afternoon fire broke out behind the sacristy due to an electric generator that exploded right after the Mass. Other tragedies followed much later as modernity began to seep into the rectory itself. During my last visit there, sometime in early 2007, I already saw various attempts at renovation that did not adhere to the integrity of the original structure (read: well-intentioned but uninformed tinkering in architecture) doing more damage than if it had been left to age in its glory.

But more than the structure itself is the fact that the rectory is one of only three on record as having been built by the indefatigable Parroco Capitan, Julian Bermejo, who spent time between Boljoon and Oslob as an Augustinian missionary. The old parish records, which would have been a source for Jolly Benitez, the writer assigned to chronicle the history of Oslob in the 55-volume Cebu provincial history project, are all ash now.

Boljoon Church and its convent might, heaven forbid, follow the way of Oslob if nothing is done soon to rewire the entire complex. In the late 1990s, a cost estimate pegged this rewiring at around P2 million. Already the Cebu provincial government and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts are pouring millions into the rehabilitation of the church – a very laudable project. But it is also time for the private sector to do its share and help raise much-needed money to modernize the electrical systems of this national treasure.

There are many other legacies of the past that need to be looked into. Although I am not certain, still I suspect that other churches and convents built by Spanish friars of old all over Cebu are also in need of serious rehabilitation – and soon. Otherwise, Oslob’s loss will not be the last.

A DAWN fire destroyed one of the oldest churches in Cebu in the most destructive blaze to hit the province this Fire Prevention Month. It took firefighters nearly eight hours to put the flames out.

The fire that razed the Immaculate Conception Parish and its convent in the southern town of Oslob also highlighted the need for the government to pay attention to upgrading firefighting equipment.

The church sat about 50 meters away from the Oslob fire station in Barangay Poblacion, but much of the firefighting came from the neighboring towns of Santander, Argao, Dalaguete and Sibonga, because Oslob’s two firetrucks were defective.

Firefighters from Oslob Fire Station led by fire marshal SFO2 Jaime Suycano, together with some residents, had to push one of the trucks to the site.

The first firetruck to arrive, about 30 minutes after the alarm was raised, came from Santander Fire Station.

An initial investigation by Suycano showed the fire began at 1:40 a.m. based on the statement of Feryland Gemelo, 20, nephew of parish priest Fr. Valentino Gemelo and an acolyte of the church, who first saw the flames.

Suycano said an electrical short-circuit may have caused the fire, but that still has to be verified.

Personal loss

Initially, Suycano said the fire started in Fr. Gemelo’s room.

An inventory of the religious icons and items, personal belongings of Fr. Gemelo and his staff and the structure of the church and the convent itself is still being done to find out just how much the fire destroyed.

A crowd gathered around the site, including two women who cried while they gazed at what remained of the church.

Siblings Eusebia Binghit, 62, and Martina Sandoval, 65, told Sun.Star Cebu they were crying because it felt like they had lost their parents.

“Mura mi namatyan og ginikanan. Nalusno ko pagkahibawo (It’s like our parents had died. I was crushed when I found out),” Binghit said.

“Diha mi bunyagi. Diha mi kasla. Mahal gyud kaayo namo ni nga simbahan (We were baptized there, married there. We love this church),” Sandoval lamented.

A nine-year-old girl who was also in the churchyard said, “Luoy kaayo mi kay wa na mi simbahan (You should feel sorry for us, we have no church now).” She said she was looking forward to see “angels” singing at the altar during Flores de Mayo.

8-hour fight

It took firefighters three hours before Suycano declared the flames under control at 4:30 a.m.

But it took until 10 a.m. to extinguish the fire entirely.

When the smoke cleared, the only parts saved were the rock tablets that served as the church wall and the belfry.

The flames destroyed the two-story convent, the altar, all the long chairs, several religious icons, the prayer room, computers, and all the important documents such as marriage contracts, baptismal certificates and archives on the history of the church.

Surprisingly, parishioners found intact the framed wooden image of the Immaculate Conception, which was placed in the altar, secured by a glass case. The glass case bore minor cracks.

Several parishioners including Manuel Iburan, one of those who saw the image after they cleared the altar of its rubble, believed it was a “miracle.”

“Siguro, yes, miracle. Miraculous somehow,” Fr. Gemelo said.

Wiring

The parish priest said that the church was 150 to 160 years old and appeared fourth in the list of Cebu’s heritage churches, together with the churches in Boljoon, Argao and Dalaguete.

Fr. Gemelo was in Cebu City for a medical check-up when the tragedy occurred. Last Tuesday, his day off, he decided to leave Oslob for Cebu City to have his cough checked by a doctor.

He learned about the fire at 5 a.m. from his nephew Feryland.

Feryland, in an interview yesterday, narrated that he woke up to what sounded like electrical sparks or the rustling of a thief.

He saw smoke coming from Fr. Gemelo’s room. The room where Feryland slept, along with Fr. Gemelo’s room and a room reserved for visits of the archbishop, occupied the second level of the convent.

Before running to the nearby police and fire station, Feryland roused four other people in the convent.

Fr. Gemelo said he believes the fire may have started from the “faulty wiring” in the ceiling.

“Akong paminaw kanang karaan na kaayo nga mga wirings. Mga ilaga, iring nga nagtago, nangitkit (That wiring is ancient. Rats and cats have gnawed on it),” he said.

Help

He said that before he left for Cebu City last Tuesday, he made it a point to unplug all the wires from the two airconditioners, a water dispenser and other appliances.

All his appliances also had voltage regulators, he added.

Fr. Valentino appealed to the public to pray for guidance as he and the Parish Pastoral Council plan on where they could possibly hold masses while the church is rebuilt.

Msgr. Carlito Pono of the Archdiocesan commission on cultural heritage said masses will continue.

He told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview that that the Archdiocese of Cebu will be “pooling its resources together” to help the people of Oslob build a makeshift structure, as a temporary area where they can celebrate mass while work on a new parish begins.

Pono said that the members and officials of the parish must initiate these plans with the cooperation of the local government.

He is expecting a meeting with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal the soonest possible time. The prelate left for Manila early yesterday morning and was scheduled to arrive back in Cebu last night.

Priorities

Meanwhile, media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay questioned the lack of equipment, such as functional firetrucks, to address emergencies like what happened to the parish.

In a dyLA radio interview, he said this incident should serve as a lesson to government officials to address the needs of the people.

“Mao na ilang suroy-suroyon, ang kahimtang sa lungsod, dili kanang idalit nga lechon og pagkaon. Dako ni nga tamparos sa mga opisyales (That’s what they should visit and explore, the situation in the towns, not the lechon and other food offered to them. This is a slap on the officials’ faces),” the monsignor said, alluding to a tourism promotion program of the Provincial Government.

The killing of stone craft worker Adelino Pino, 33, followed hours of peace in Cebu, with the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) reporting zero crime rate in the province while coverage of the Pacquiao-Marquez bout was ongoing in the morning until 4 p.m.

Police said Pino, after watching the Pacquiao-Marquez bout, invited his brothers Christopher, 31, Roberto, 28, and Restituto, 21, for drinks at his house in Sitio Hangar Kagudoy, Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City in the evening.

While discussing Pacquiao’s fight, Christopher began to feel the effect of the liquor and started throwing things inside the house, prompting Adelino to call his attention about it.

When Christopher ignored Adelino, the latter picked up a piece of wood and hit his brother with it, resulting in an altercation with Restituto and Roberto rushing to Christopher’s side.

The three then beat up Adelino until one of them picked up a rock and bashed it on his head. He was rushed to the hospital but he died past 10 p.m.

After the incident, the three fled, but barangay tanods and responding policemen caught up with them and arrested Christopher and Roberto. Restituto remains at large.

Police are still finding out who bashed Adelino’s head with the rock.

Other areas in the province, however, remained peaceful, especially during the coverage of the Pacquiao-Marquez fight in Las Vegas.

Alert

Deputy provincial director for operations, Superintendent Erson Digal, told reporters that before the bout, they sent a radio message to all police chiefs to be on alert during the fight.

The CPPO’s command journal showed that no crimes occurred from 8 a.m. to the late afternoon last Sunday.

A suicide incident at dawn and a shooting incident late at night were not counted because these did not happen as the fight took place.

However, a motorcycle driver was killed while six persons were injured in different road accidents in the province over the weekend.

Felix A. Yncierto Jr., 53, died while an ambulance was taking him to a hospital in Cebu City.

He was traveling along the highway of Barangay Baklayan, Boljoon town at 4:20 p.m. Sunday aboard his Yamaha 110 motorcycle when he collided with another motorcycle carrying three passengers.

The Motorstar 125 was driven by Roldan Corpuz of Barangay Simala, Sibonga while Richard Billones, 22, and Leny Marie Lirasan, 20, rode with him.

All four were taken to the Dalaguete District Hospital but doctors decided to transfer Yncierto to Cebu City for further treatment. He died along the way.

Two buses also collided in Sitio Tawig, Barangay Palanes, Alcantara Saturday afternoon.

Ceres bus 8061 driven by Narciso Acrus Gemarangan, 47, left Cebu City and was headed for Bato, Santander.

Ceres bus 8066, on the other hand, came from Bato, Santander and was on its way to Cebu City. It was driven by Ruben Tanoco Jerofo, 40.

An investigation conducted by Inspector Ranulfo Lastimoso, chief of the Alcantara Police Station, stated that Gemarangan’s bus overtook a parked cargo truck loaded with rice and corn.

The truck had been parked at the side of the road, prompting Gemarangan to switch lanes.

As he encroached on the right lane, Jerofo’s bus collided with his bus, causing major damages to both vehicles.

Only Jerofo suffered injuries and was taken to a hospital in Cebu City.

In Tuburan town, two minors were hit by speeding motorcycles.

Alyn Laguna, 5, was hit by a motorcycle driven by a certain Melchor in Barangay Cogon, Tuburan. Melchor reportedly continued to speed off even if Laguna had slumped to the ground.

Laguna was taken to the Tuburan District Hospital but was later released.

Police learned that the motorcycle was owned by a barangay captain.

Last Friday, Anna Rosa Villamor, 7, was walking along Sitio Languyon, Barangay Manga when a motorcycle driven by Kevin Canaresiyo hit her, wounding her in the head and body.

After a check-up at the Tuburan District Hospital, she was released. - Sun.Star

The governors, who went on a “unity walk” to express their support after attending a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang, said they believe she deserves to finish her term until 2010.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia confirmed that the league approved a manifesto of support for President Arroyo during their meeting in Camarines Sur last. Feb. 13.

Garcia gave the confirmation after she was informed that the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) pledged support during a social gathering at Malacañang.

While confirming the manifesto’s approval, Dumanjug Mayor Cesar Baricuatro, president of the LMP-Cebu Chapter, clarified that the President is not conducting a loyalty check among chief executives of the cities, towns and provinces.

Of the 53 mayors in Cebu, Baricuatro and Boljoon Mayor Deogenes Derama were the only ones present during the gathering at the Palace. No political issues were discussed while they dined with the President, Baricuatro added.

“I have always been consistent in my stand. We will always support the duly constituted authority. Any un-constituted means to overthrow the government will not be supported by myself, by the government and by the people,” Garcia said.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña did not get any invitation from Malacañang for the gathering of mayors over the weekend, but the mayor said he would go if he is asked to attend a similar event.

“I have to follow because that’s the President calling. An invitation is not obligatory but if the President says, ‘Report’, then I have to report because that’s the executive department, especially if the invitation is political. If I don’t go, I will be misconstrued as not supporting the President. Samot na that I will go,” he said.

“I’ll go na lang; anyway, they have good coffee there,” Osmeña told reporters during his news conference.

The governors went to Malacañang for a meeting with the Cabinet-National Economic and Development Authority group, where they discussed a forthcoming food summit, the mining operations in the countryside and the Kilos Asenso program.

Antique Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez said that while some sectors are making a lot of noise for the President to step down, the governors want to make “a lot of noise for the President.”

Presidential economic adviser and Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said the governors reiterated their confidence in Arroyo, believing it is in the best interest of the country that she continues with her mandate. (Sunnex/With LCR & GMD)