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Friday, March 31, 2006
Wenceslao: San Fran’s growth
By Bong O. Wenceslao
Camotes beckons. I said that after Bobby Masamayor visited me at the Sun.Star office a few weeks ago. Bobby is the younger brother of Fe, my classmate in high school in Southwestern U and who is now in the US. I remember Fe because she is from Santiago in San Francisco. My parents are from the neighboring Poro and Tudela.
Bobby is proprietor of Masamayor’s Beach House and Resort in Barangay Santiago. That means I no longer know Camotes. The last time I was in San Fran we sat beneath a coconut palm watching the waves frolic on the white beach. No resorts there, and for folks like us these wasn’t needed. So has change knocked on San Fran’s door?
Of development, I remember Boboi Costas. Was it in the late ‘90s he told me about a facility he built in one of Poro’s beaches, and of the website he set up to promote Camotes? Boboi was the same Boboi who distributed t-shirts with the words “Prehistoric Camotes” printed on it. That was when artifacts dug up there caught national attention.
Actually, it was long-time Poro Vice Mayor Ronald Carcellar who introduced me to Boboi. There were times when talk centered on how to develop this group of islands. We were agog about those artifacts, and the claim that the battle between the troops of Magellan and Lapu-Lapu happened in Maktang, Poro. But that already seemed eons ago.
Of course, there was no doubting San Fran’s potential. The white beaches. Lake Danao. Those dwarfed what the towns of Poro, Tudela and Pilar could offer. (I used to bathe in the cave in Tudela, while Poro has the wharf and Buho Rock Resort.) That Capitol concentrated on San Fran is therefore not surprising.
Days after Bobby showed me photos of the beachfront development in Santiago, I heard Provincial Board Member Agnes Magpale talk about other sites, like Mangudlong Rock Resort. San Fran isn’t Boracay or Sta. Fe yet, but at least some investors are starting to pour in their money. In reality, though, full development of the place would take years.
Capitol has constructed an airstrip, true, but the more affordable sea travel needs to be given attention. There are pumpboats in Danao and bigger vessels in Mandaue and at the Cebu pier. But there are those (like my wife) who prefer, say, fast crafts. But these will come soon, I guess. (For more of my writings, go to cebuano.wordpress.com)
TEXTREAX. Ted Cavan of Mambaling claimed that “in terms of unconstitutional maneuverings, suppression of human rights, etc.” Ferdinand Marcos was an amateur compared to President Arroyo. Ted must not have lived through the Martial Law years, so I’ll pardon the wrong claim. But Marcos was the worst.
(khanwens@yahoo.com/0915-9228651)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 31, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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