Vote for Chocolate Hills

Bohol's world-famous natural heritage, the Chocolate Hills, has been nominated to the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign. This campaign is organised by the non-profit New7Wonders Foundation after the resounding success of its New 7 Wonders of the World campaign.

As a native Bol-anon I have been to Chocolate Hills many times. In fact, I still have pictures on my first visit as a pre-schooler. My recent visit was last year when me and my family went home for a holiday. It never failed to amaze me just looking at those thousands of hills stretched as far as your eyes can see. I once went to nearby Sagbayan where some of the Hills are also located. On a ride to an interior barangay in a habal-habal, I passed by some miniature Chocolate Hills! Well, it looks like it and with a little imagination it can be made into a miniature tourist attraction.

I have already voted for Chocolate Hills as my first choice and Tubbataha Reef (off Sulu Sea) as my second choice. As a scuba diver who once dabbled in marine conservation I love the coral reefs. Aside from the world-famous hills, Bohol is also famous for its beaches, coral reefs, cave formations and rivers among other natural heritage sites.

Site Description

The New7Wonders website (http://www.new7wonders.com/) describes Chocolate Hills as:

The Chocolate Hills is an unusual geological formation in Bohol, Philippines. It is composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills, all about the same size, spread over an area of more than 50 sq km The hills are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, giving them the name "Chocolate Hills."

A more comprehensive description of the Chocolate Hills can be found in Wikipedia.

Legends

There are two famous legends about the formation of Chocolate Hills: (1) Arogo and Aloya love story, and (2) the two fighting giants.

In the love story, Arogo is a yound giant who fell in love with a mortal girl named Aloya. When Aloya died, Arogo was driven by grief to cry bitterly. His tears turned into hills when they touched the ground as a lasting proof of his grief.

As to the fighting giants, it went on for days and they threw stones and sand at each other. When they were finally exhausted, they reconciled and left the mess they made behind.

These two stories were adapted from the Bohol Chronicle news article about this campaign. I have to admit I am not familiar with the love story legend; however, I did knew about the fighting giants when I was a child.

Vote now

Please add your vote to our beloved Chocolate Hills in order to ensure it is eligible for shortlisting in the second stage. Voting will continue through 31 December 2008. If you want to vote now click here.

Bohol's premier newspaper, The Bohol Chronicle, is spearheading the campaign in Bohol so if you want to know about it click here. I am doing my bit independently as I have read about this campaign elsewhere, weeks before the paper's campaign.

You can help gather more votes by spreading the word. If you have a blog, you can bookmark (I use Digg) this post and blog it so that your friends and subscribers alike will know. On this blog, you will find social bookmark links on the left side just below ClustrMaps and titled Share This. If you have social networking accounts or e-mail groups you can post a shoutout/bulletin or send an e-mail with a link to this post.

Sacred Ubi

The ubi is a staple root crop in Bohol, which is the largest producer of the crop in the Philippines. There are several ubi varieties grown in the province such as the traditional, aromatic kinampay, kabus-ok, iniling, tamisan, baliganhon, binanag, gimnay and binato (BAR Research & Development Digest). The most famous of these varieties is the kinampay, which has marbled purple flesh and is well-known for its aroma. It is behind the colour and flavour of that famous Nestle Magnolia ice cream!

Ubi is also venerated by us Bol-anons as a sacred crop. In fact, we kiss it and utter a humble apology if accidentally dropped. When I was young, my late aunt used to bring some ubi kabus-ok and sometimes, kinampay, when she comes down (molugsong) from Corella. We would later cook it into binignit and ubi jam from the kinampay.

Once, being a child I got careless in handling some ubi she just brought down. I accidentally dropped some of it. Right away I was told off by my aunt! She lectured me about taking care of the crop and treating it with more respect next time. And then she told me to kiss the dropped ubi and carefully replace them in the bukag. It was bizarre! But I did it anyway otherwise I will get a second telling off from my father.

Zeareal had the same experience and even offered an explanation as to why we Bol-anons hold the ubi as sacred. The ubi was said to be brought by Chinese traders to Bohol, particularly in Dauis, Panglao Island, in the 10th century. The root crop thrived well and became an important part of the people there. Incidentally, these people are part of the Dapitan or Bo-ol Kingdom. However, the kingdom was destroyed by Ternateans in 1563. The survivors fled the area and with them their knowledge of the ubi.

The highlanders then settled the place. During a great famine caused by a long drought, many people starved and died. The hungry natives searched for food, asking their God to help them ease their suffering. Then, someone stumbled upon the ubi, which eventually saved the natives from hunger. Because of this, they held ubi as their saviour; for them, kissing it is not enough as their way of saying thanks to God.

My father told me of a similar experience as a child during World War II. They would scavenge for ubi as food. Aside from being delicious it is also highly nutritious so he swore that if not for ubi they would have died of hunger. They were constantly on the run from Japanese occupation forces so looking for food was not easy.

There is an annual Ubi Festival held in Bohol in order to promote the root crop. I understand it is now on its ninth year. I still remember the first festival that was held in Dauis in 2000. I was then a team member of a UP project promoting comprehensive education and community development to the local government of the town. One of the active partners of this project were Bol-anon alumni of UP, which counted among them UP Los Baños agriculture graduates. It was they who thought out the idea for this festival. It was a delight seeing all those different types and products of ubi.

In the second year, I brought along some South Korean university students who came to do volunteer work and engage in cultural immersion in Dauis. Their visit was also connected to UP’s project with the local government.

Today, ubi is tagged as one of the Philippines’ five banner crops for export by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). In the country and abroad, it is being marketed in the forms of puree, power, dried chips, cubes in syrup, ice cream, halaya and many others. The ubi or purple yam is the most expensive tuber crop in the country. Its selling price is much higher than white or Irish potato, sweet potato, cassava and taro (BAR Research and Development Digest).

More Itinerant Bol-anons

An article in the Bohol Chronicle by local historian Jes B Tirol describe some of the places past Bol-anons have settled in. The introduction or proem of the article is found below:

"In Mindanao there is a town called “New Corella” because majority of the residents came from the town of Corella, Bohol.

According to Fr. Francisco Combes, S.J., when the Dapitan Kingdom or Bo-ol Kingdom was destroyed in 1563, most of its residents fled to what is now called Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte. However, some fled to Tanjay, Negros Oriental and Cebu; -- but where in Cebu?"

Read more…

Itinerant Bol-anon

You have heard about the enterprising Bol-anon. There is another equally famous trait Bol-anons are known for; oftentimes, it goes together with their being enterprising. Bol-anons are known for being itinerant. Mention any place in the Philippines, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao, and chances are you will find us there. Where usually? In the town markets doing business selling just about anything.

Let me cite my father’s family as an example of showing both traits of an itinerant and enterprising Bol-anon. He said the Sisicans are originally from the coastal town of Baclayon, Bohol. His father who is an artisanal fisherman is locally famous for his expertise in catching the iito (marine catfish). My grandfather has relatives who are also fishermen who have migrated and settled in the towns of Toboso and Calatrava, Negros Oriental. Some relatives have settled in Davao City and neighbouring towns as well.

I was once a team member in a UP project on municipal development in Lopez Jaena, Misamis Occidental. During the pre-project workshop I was surprised when approached by one of the barangay secretaries who introduced himself as a Sisican whose origin is from the neighbouring barangay of Guiwanon in Baclayon.

Although not closely related to them, imagine my amazement and deep appreciation to their wonderful hospitality when I went to their barangay the next day during one of the assessment workshops we held. Several of them greeted me when I arrived and obviously quite thrilled to find a relative. We exchange few stories about each other’s side of the clan.

After the workshop, as we are readying ourselves back to our quarters in Poblacion my relative (barangay secretary) came up to me and gave me a chicken as a gift. I was thrilled and thanked him profusely for it! Not to be outdone, however, was another team member who is from Dauis, Bohol. He, too, have relatives in Lopez Jaena to which he already knew. But he was still greatly surprised to be given a goat as present!

Going back to my family, one of my uncles was an astute businessman. It was he who started a successful business that led to their family partly relocating in Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur. The whole family was involved which eventually led to some of them permanently settling there. My father used to live there for awhile. There he met my mother and four of us older siblings were born in the city.

I still have lots of close relatives in Pagadian and nearby towns. In fact, my older brother is living in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay after marrying a local lass. They have two young children. Itinerant that we are, my generation have gone international. Some of us are working and living in Europe, USA, Middle East and South Korea.

I always thought that a major reason why the Bol-anon emigrates is economic. Yes, Bohol is idyllically beautiful but it does not really provide a lot of economic opportunities during my father’s time. In my case, I was convinced that if I want to make it in life it has to be outside of Bohol. I went to university in Cebu and then worked for several years in Metro Manila, parts of Mindanao and Palawan. And now I am in the United Kingdom still trying to make it in life. Still, I long for the day I will go back to Bohol and contribute to its development starting by just living there. But that will not be soon, I suspect.