ONE WEEKEND IN BOLJOON

By Buddy Rigs
Saturday, January 26, 2002 , Cebu Daily News

Last April, under the cuaresma heat, my office friends and I headed down south for a weekend in Boljoon upon the invitation of our out-going IT Chief Leah Figuera. We stayed in their 1920s ancestral home, a simple yet elegantly styled two-storey hose reflecting rural ascendancy in the American period. It's a house of typical hardwood tabla for floors and walls and Tugas-Molave wood for posts.

We left at 6 a.m. The bus ride was smooth except for a part in Naga. As we sped down the backwaters of Cebu , the city and its cosmopolitan life littered away behind us. After two hours or so, we glided through a winding coastal road to Boljoon. Lime stone cliffs forming huge rock walls on the edges of white sandy beaches roll higher into hills and mountain slopes.

We have entered Boljoon, a town named after water springing from the earth �Ebul-jo.

Walking towards the house of our host, the aroma of breakfast greeted us. At this time, folks serve breakfast to visiting friends or relatives from the city. In Boljoon, the abuhan is very much in use.

After a heavy meal, we embarked on a tour of the town. The first stop was the Patrocinio de Maria Parish, its Baroque-Rococo architecture now subject of restoration. Its massive construction began in the late 1700s and took decades to finish. The façade is a huge assemblage of cut stone with relief of the Augustinian emblem, the biblical bird Ibis, the snake and the forbidden fruit. Rising more than four stories high, it remains the biggest structure in town.

In the vaulted ceiling are paintings depicting the major turning points of Christianity. Another masterful handiwork is the choir loft. Perched two storeys high, its elaborate carving is praised by art historians. The main altar is another awesome sight.

We wandered around the church complex composed of a church, a rectory and inner courtyard. The other enclosed structures are the bell tower, an 18 th -century cemetery, a towering blockhouse, and the 1920s Casa Real. Except for Casa Real, the structures are still built in their original blocks of stones. For more than a century, the walled complex was the refuge and foremost line of defense against aggression and piracy. Invasions of slave traders and World War II are some of the great upheavals that too place here in the last three centuries. Those encounters now part of the towns folklore.

The other famous landmark of this town is the Ele rock, nature's own handiwork. The rock, towering a hundred feet, catches the admiration of many sailors and travelers of Boljoon for centuries. It is the alluring bend of landmass enclosing the entire settlement of Boljoon. We climbed the almost vertical elevation for half an hour. Oral history has it that a river flowed through it to the Bohol Sea .

The calmness of the coastal waters of Boljoon decried the many battles fought long ago in its shores.

Today there are 19 stone balaurtes or watchtowers dotting the rugged southern Cebu coast. From Carcar to Santander , the baluartes are on the verge of destruction.

We found the ruins of one of two baluartes at the top of the Ele rock. The smaller one, folks say, was a lookout. The big one was the warning tower. And the third watchtower is in the mouth of the river, in the poblacion.

We trekked the river on the second day. It is never dry, local folks say. True enough, under the sweltering summer, freshwater streams down from the valleys of Becceril, the watershed region of Boljoon. Deep into the river are pockets of vegetation and forest canopy. There, we found kids taking a bath in the knee-deep pool of a river bend. Women were washing clothes in the nearby atabays .

The river has its share of history, Heri Quintana, a member of the Boljoon Heritage Foundation told me once that according to old folks the river was diverted more than once. A series of walls were constructed in the Spanish and later the American time to protect the settlement from the river. Quintana added that natural stream underneath the surface couldn't be diverted. The last time water rose higher than the retaining walls in 1991. The river flowed back to its original path, flooding the elementary school, wet markets and residences.

Our last moments in Boljoon were spent in a cottage inside a reforestation. Leah, our ever-courteous, accommodating hostess prepared lunch there. The cottage is about 20 minutes walk from their house. There the cool breeze filled the air. From our Vantage view is the Ele rock domineering in the distance. It is remarkable how nature and manmade wonderful attractions for this town. I hope they could keep it this way.