Sunday, June 24, 2007 On a Heritage Tour By Jenara Regis Newman
HERITAGE, even when we ignore it, will always be with us for we have been shaped by our past. It’s a part of our present, in the way we speak, in the faith we have inherited, in the way our settlements have come to be, in the institutions that have been with us even before we were born, in the art and lifestyle we tend to ignore.
To go on a heritage tour is a conscious effort to look at our surroundings and recognize what has remained of our past, what is still tangible today. We had the privilege of doing so as a culminating activity on heritage reporting courtesy of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. Our destination? Boljoon and Argao.
It is always a joy to go to Boljoon, to come upon it from a rise of the road: the view of sea and land is spectacular. A few meters away from this entry point is the Boljoon church, dedicated to the Patricinio de Maria, looking somber and solid in the brilliant sunlight. We had breakfast at the convent rectory, a large dining room fit for visiting church dignitaries with its ceiling painted with several seaside scenes.
Then it was time to explore the church and its surroundings. The church, built in 1762, is one of the south’s church-forts; meaning it served as a lookout point for pirates that may come to maraud the place. It is precious in that it has not been “renovated,” even if some of its precious artifacts have been stolen, including its silver altar rail. Currently it is undergoing repairs and reconstruction.
From Boljoon we backtracked to Argao where we had lunch at Alex Kafe.
Owner Alex Gonzales gave us a video presentation of the charms of Argao: waterfalls, caves, lakes, its beaches, church and rice terraces. Our target in Argao was to see the church, even if the altar has been so gilded over that one needs dark glasses so as not to be blinded by the glitter, according to a priest visitor (an exaggeration, of course)! There was a funeral Mass going on so we skipped the church and went to its compact church museum crammed full of church artifacts: santoses, chalices, song books, vestments, among them. No picture taking here, though.
Argao is an example of how most town centers were planned in the Spanish era, with the church, the municipio and other government buildings within the complex. Fronting the church is a fenced area that is called Passus, with the Sations of the Cross carved on its low wall. Beyond it lies the municipal building and the town’s newly renovated Palace of Justice.
Heritage is not all churches and buildings. It is also livelihood. So off we were to see a traditional weaving (hablon) establishment, using old-fashioned, foot-powered looms. From there we went up the hills of Argao to a tuba-gathering place for a lesson on how tuba is made and for a sip of the native brew, a brew Filipinos enjoyed long before Magellan came to our shores, as well as for the refreshing taste of young coconut from its shell.
All in all it was a day of rediscovery, of meeting a past that is somehow still so much past of today. And surely, also of tomorrow.
