Monday, March 10, 2008 Free wifi in town square gives Argao, at 400, tech-savvy edge By Jujemay G. Awit Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE municipality of Argao celebrates its 400th founding anniversary this year by presenting a forward-looking face.
Argao is the only town in the province equipped with a wireless fidelity (wifi) zone, located in the town square.
Tourism officer Alex Gonzales explained he went to the mayor last year and told him about installing a wifi zone or hotspot for the students.
Mayor Edsel Galeos had just officially began serving as the local chief executive then and was very receptive to the idea.
By July 2007, the town square was already a hotspot with the help of Querubin Momongan, Argao’s consultant on information technology.
Momongan also explained that another main concern for the municipality is to decentralize treasury operations in 11 coastal barangays where the telephone lines pass through.
“Every night, at least five to 10 people come here with their laptops,” Momongan told Sun.Star Cebu, referring to the town square. Free piped-in music makes their surfing more enjoyable.
The park is even busier by day, with foreign tourists joining the locals in enjoying the free wifi service.
But while the wifi zone has become a model for the entire province, it isn’t the only thing Argao takes pride in these days.
Argao wants to celebrate its four centuries of history in a 10-month celebration, dubbed the “Argao 400.”
The first activity to jumpstart the centennial celebration was the Argao 400 Visual Art Competition last February. The next event in the long list of activities is the week-long Sugat. It will dramatize the meeting of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ upon the Resurrection, highlight of the Holy Week.
Organizer Aljin Abaquita promises the Sugat will be bigger than ever because of the 400th anniversary. It will begin with a dramatization of the Gospel on Palm Sunday and end with a bash on Easter, exactly a week after.
Current events
Abaquita said the presentation of the Sugat will incorporate reflections on the current political crisis even as it retraces the highlights of Jesus Christ’s life.
Gonzales expects thousands of Argawanons to come back to the town for any of the activities the Municipal Government planned for the fiesta celebration, which will end in September.
“We want to thrust the town into the limelight,” Mayor Galeos told reporters yesterday, as town officials launched Argao 400.
Galeos promised though that there will be no bikini shows masquerading as beauty pageants.
Instead, the town will host a search for a festival queen, as endorsed by the Capitol.
Argao also plans to publish a coffee-table book that will use the winning photos and artwork during the visual art contest.
Genealogy research was commissioned to trace the roots of the different families in Argao.
On the fiesta days, Sept. 28 and 29, the town will host its Pitlagong Festival. It will showcase the instrument used to clean the locally made containers for tuba or coconut wine.
The Municipal Government will also recognize the most outstanding Argawanons, including former Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., as well as organize a parade on the history of Argao.
City dream
When Galeos was asked what his long-term goal for the city is, it was his constituents who answered, “To become a city.”
Galeos, though, said that doesn’t have to be the case because the town already “feels like a city.”
Argao was founded as a town in 1608 and named by the Spaniards after an abundant plant in the town known as “sali-argaw.”
It lies 68 kilometers south of Cebu City and is one of the biggest towns in the province, with 44 barangays.
Among the town’s most popular tourist spots are Lawis Point, where skimboarding is popular; and Pueblo de Argao, the town square designed in the Spanish fashion, with the seats of government and the church sharing one square.
Argao also has the Riverstone Castle, which is a tourist stop that features a stone castle with a pool and a mini-zoo; the two-century old St. Michael Archangel Parish Church; and the nearby mortuary for the unborn and unbaptized infants.
Galeos said he wants to focus on promoting the tourist spots in the southern town.
