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Bohol the beautiful
summaries. Police State
Posted on August 28, 2004 - 5:27pm :: Good News | Social Intelligence
User login ISD-Philippines | Culture
more
By Bea Zobel Jr.
Username:
Aug 23, 2004 | Inquirer News Service ISD-Philippines

Password: HUMAN :: Sculpting

TF! Editorial Comment: Cultural development
Paper
is one of the seven dimensions of sustainable
Log in ECONOMICS :: Abaca
development. Although often overlooked in
Create new account fiber finds use in the
development plans, culture is an integral
manufacture of cars,
Request new context for building different forms of capital, boats
password including human, social, and ecological. In the
SOCIETY :: Winning
article below, the author extols the cultural and methods to fight
ecological highlights of the island province of corruption
What's New
Bohol which is becoming a model for cultural more
More than 2000 development.
subscribers now
receive Truthforce! ISD-Societal Change
weekly article TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Philippines -- A land
summaries. Thank you of splendid heritage architecture, vibrant crafts, MOVEMENTS :: WSF-
for passing the word! Cameroon: NGOs Long
We welcome your emerald rivers and yes, sparkling beaches.
on Vision, Short on
feedback to improve Detail?
the site.
This last feature is, in some ways, the
MOVEMENTS :: World
province's undoing. Everyone comes for the Social Forum: "What is
beaches. And then they stay there. Very few WSF? Something That
Contributors
Will Bring Me
are aware how much else there is to see.
Medicine?"
Keep It Real
MOVEMENTS :: India
Advent I know I should really talk about the
Social Forum Turns
Rude architecture, but hey, let's skip to the shopping! Focus on New Issues
The crafts are wonderful. There is this adorable
more more
basket market held every Sunday in the interior
town of Antequera. You have to wake up very
Good News ISD-World Affairs
early to get there on time. Otherwise all the
ISD-WORLD AFFAIRS good stuff are gone. ECONOMICS :: Pyramid
| ECONOMICS :: power: An innovative
Pyramid power: An approach to selling
My favorite buys are these large picnic baskets
innovative spectacles to the very
approach to selling with segmented covers. If you are really lucky poorest
spectacles to the you will find some that are made of black nito,
ECONOMICS :: Hot
very poorest which are rare. corporations know how
ISD-WORLD AFFAIRS There is a basket for every size of snake in to swing

http://www.truthforce.info/?q=node/view/465 1/24/2007
TruthForce! | Bohol the beautiful Page 2 of 5

| CULTURE :: Chile: existence. There are trays, chests, mats, Kelly

Enter Salvation,
bags...I am just kidding about the last one, ok? ECONOMICS :: There Is
Stage Right
But they actually have these brilliant woven No Wealth But Life
ISD-WORLD AFFAIRS
handbags with the coolest shapes! more
| SOCIETY :: Never
Too Old to Save the (Congratulate me: I finally got to describe a
Earth craft product as "cool"!) Social Threefolding
more
CONSCIOUS :: Scholars
Of course, you cannot ignore the Chocolate
join in social innovation
Weekly Issues Hills. They are truly a sight at sunset. It is not
DE FACTO :: Civil
just the hills which are so alluring. The whole
- Issue 140 (13) Society Can Be a
- Issue 139 (11)
area is so picturesque-with the rice fields and Superpower to
- Issue 138 (13) the clusters of houses, many with that Influence Government
- Issue 137 (8) characteristic diamond patterned sawali. I Decisions
- Issue 136 (14)
recall how at the Bohol exhibit at the Met, CONSCIOUS :: Going
- Issue 135 (12)
beyond corporate social
- Issue 134 (16) there was a 19th-century painting of the
- Issue 133 (10) responsibility
Crucifixion of Christ that was clearly from the
- Issue 132 (21) more
- Issue 131 (14) island because you could see what looked like
more the Chocolate Hills in the background!
Karangalan
Upcoming Events Just as impressive for me was what they call
the "Man-made Forest," which you drive
The International
through on the way to the Hills. The forest
Conference on the
Environment : cover is so luxurious that once you are in the
Survival and leafy shadows, it suddenly becomes so dark
Sustainability even in the middle of the day. The locals like to
19 Feb 2007 - 24
Feb 2007
relate that this huge stand of trees was planted
by boy scouts and students, hence its name.
Social Enterprise
Conference 2007
4 Mar 2007 Three cheers for political correctness! More Mobilizing Excellence
more than anything, we can see in this forest how a to Create a Visionary
little caring, how a little effort can have such Philippines

grand and lasting results! Conference Archives

Photo Gallery
Recent Updates
- PAG-ASA Aug 6
Well-preserved churches
Event (14)
- PAG-ASA SONA (18) Then there are the churches. By some stroke of
PAG-ASA
luck, Bohol has some of the most beautifully
preserved church interiors in the country. All On PAG-ASA
kinds of theories have been advanced. There is SPECIAL ELECTIONS!
even a lovely story (I don't know if it's true)
Statements and
that the island's churches weren't destroyed Releases
during World War II through the intervention of
R.I.P. Resign
a Japanese officer. He happened to be Catholic. Immediately Peke!
Signature Campaign
What has survived is truly worth seeing. There
Picture Gallery of
is Maribojoc with its splendid mauve retablos, PAG-ASA's August 6
Dimiao with its carved façade (and don't miss Event.
the award-winning Rondalla!), Dauis with its PAG-ASA Related
wide green mall and its convento facing the Articles.
sea.

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TruthForce! | Bohol the beautiful Page 3 of 5

There is Baclayon, which is often described as

the Philippines' oldest church. This is a constant Tindog Pilipinas!
source of irritation for historians who point out
CALL TO ACTION
that this is not true. San Agustin in Intramuros
is older, as are a number of other churches. Of Creating a Visionary
Philippines
course the locals were indignant when informed
that their claim to fame was incorrect. A friend 2004
of mine notes that what is lost in this whole Read More
discussion is the fact that Baclayon doesn't
need the honor of being the oldest to be worth
seeing. It has arguably one of the most
beautiful church interiors in the Philippines. I
wish tour operators would stress this more.

When you enter you cannot but be moved by

the splendor of what you encounter. The
carving is exquisite. I have never seen retablos
like these. Then there are the splashes of green
on the wall and the mellow light coming
through the colored glass windows. There is
even one retablo that is painted with a pattern
that looks like that of a Murano paperweight!
Three churches maintain museums: Baclayon,
Loboc and Maribojoc. These are truly treasure
houses. Baclayon, for example, has these
wonderful silver pieces with that charming
face-in-the-ferns pattern that I also saw in
Tayabas. I am so happy to discover these little
windows into the playful side of our ancestors.
Other highlights include a tabernacle with a
tiny image of the Christ reverse-painted on
glass, multi-colored vestments, and a door with
quaint floral decorations.

Tragically, the museum visitor will also be told

the horror stories about the many thefts. In
Maribojoc, robbers broke in through the ceiling.
They then clambered down to the floor (more
than five meters down!) by rope-shades of
"Mission Impossible"! Sad and silent testimony
to all of this is the little display with the names
of the various santos that had been stolen.

Meanwhile, in Loboc, robbers had almost made

off with a silver bible stand which was later
found abandoned in some bushes. Luckily it
had been dropped in the haste of getaway. This
bible stand is even inscribed not only with the
name of the town but with a date, 1776.
Imagine, such an incredible piece of the town's

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TruthForce! | Bohol the beautiful Page 4 of 5

heritage would have been lost if the theft had

succeeded.

Fabulous river
Loboc is also blessed with a fabulous river on
which one can take a relaxing cruise on
restaurant barges. A friend of mine once told
me that on a trip to Western China, he found it
so funny how all the other tourists were
exclaiming over the magnificent temples and
palaces. In contrast, the Filipinos were so
impressed to see a stream with clear water!

And this is truly what makes Loboc's river

special--it is so clean and fresh. The breezes
that blow off it are so cool and enchanting. One
passes patches of forest and wooded cliffs. And
one ends up in a tiny enclave with a waterfall.
On one level it is quite sad: clean rivers are so
rare in our country! Lunch is served on board
the barges. The food is simple but delicious.

And as if the river were not enough, the town

has another gem-the world-famous Loboc
Children's Choir. The first time I heard the kids,
I couldn't help myself. I cried like a baby. The
voices were so angelic, the faces so innocent.
Hay! You think to yourself, how can we ever be
deserving of such beauty? I have been a fan
ever since.

Recently the kids went on a European concert

tour. They even competed in an international
choir contest in Barcelona, and they won the
grand prize!

Unfortunately, news about the choir's victory

was hardly featured in the media.
Part of the reason for the concert tour was to
raise funds for Loboc's Tuburan project. This is
an ambitious visionary program involving the
Diocese of Tagbilaran, the Met Museum and
local counterparts to transform the town's huge
Spanish colonial convento into a heritage
center. There will be galleries, music facilities,
conference facilities, and there will even be a
bed and breakfast.

Programs are also being designed to study and

revitalize the town's unique and extensive

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musical and crafts traditions. A planning

process is being instituted to ensure that
Loboc's immense cultural resources are
marshaled for community development and the
enhancement of people's lives. This proves that
the arts can really help people. This proves that
the arts really mean jobs. I am happy to note
that the province's governor, Erico Aumentado,
is quite supportive of this initiative.

There is a lot of work to be done to improve

the quality of life in our country. When things
look bleak, it's good to know that there are
places like Bohol that still retain so much in
terms of our cultural resources. This is one of
the greatest sources of wealth for our nation.
After all is said and done, the thing which is so
special about Bohol is that it is a place which
gives us all hope.

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