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Thursday, October 13, 2005
Sienes: Progress in 'hallowed' grounds
By Cris G. Sienes
Different Strokes
ALL of us have special places sacredly kept in our minds, places which, at certain stages of our lives, sheltered us, gave us many happy moments, and are therefore hallowed with memories.
One such place for me, aside from my hometown in Negros Oriental, is Barangay Indangan next to Cabantian in Buhangin District. During my high school days, I always spent the summer break at my uncle's farm in Indangan together with my cousins all boys then like me. The reason why the place is so dear to my heart.
Indangan, then, still had thick forest covers and had abundant wildlife. Birds and monkeys frolicked in the trees just in front of my uncle's farmhouse, while in nearby thickets wild pigs grunted and roared.
Daily at noon, the melodious concerts of the winged wayfarers of forest and hill fell like soothing summer rains. And during early evenings, the cheerful cicadas serenaded us with their endless sibilance.
Because of Indangan's abundant wildlife, hunting became one of our favorite summer sports next to basketball. My late uncle owned a shotgun and a .22 caliber rifle, and these made hunting so easy for us.
In Indangan, too, I stumbled upon a startling discovery. The tarsus, the smallest monkey in the world, is supposed to be found only in Bohol. But it also thrived in Indangan before. I know because we actually caught one life tarsus. It was so small that it fitted the hollow of my hand. We tried to keep it alive, but it died in captivity several days later. It was probably the last tarsus in Indangan. I never saw one again after that.
Basketball was, of course, our favorite summer sport. We had a good basketball team because there were also young and talented players in Indangan. Often we hiked to places like Cabantian, Communal, Gatungan or Callawa to play basketball. At times, taking the shortcut trail through the old Dizon farm, we would go down to Mandug also to play basketball.
Once we crossed the Davao River from Mandug to a far place the name of which I can no longer remember. The only thing I can remember was taking a very dangerous trail etched on the side of a cliff. Hundreds of feet below, the Davao River snaked its way to the sea like an oversized anaconda. The trail reminded me of the many Tarzan movies I saw.
Yes, my Tom Sawyer days in Indangan were among the happiest in my life. If I could only relive those days, I would. But Indangan is no longer the summer playground that I knew before. Progress has overtaken it. The urban spill has already reached it.
Where the old Dizon farm stood before now lies Sta. Lucia's Realty's sprawling Rancho Palos Verdes golf course, estate and resort. So gone is one landmark of my boyhood--the old Dizon farm and the shortcut trail to Mandug.
Subdivisions and resettlement sites are now sprouting up in Indangan. A mini-city is even being envisioned at the sprawling area adjacent to my cousin's lot. Likewise the concreting of the Indangan road all the way to Tibungco has started. The road, to be linked to Cabantian and Buhangin, will serve as the access road for all northbound buses. I was told that the Bachelor Bus Company is looking for a site in Indangan where it can put up a terminal.
As in the case of Samal Island when the Ekran Berhad Casino and Resort was being built at Kaputian, prices of land in Indangan are starting to soar. But there are still cheaper lands that can be bought. My cousins, for instance are putting up for sale 3.3 hectares that they commonly own. They are willing to part with the area at P800 to P700 per square meter. Other areas in Indangan now cost P1000 per square meter.
If I had the money, I would buy my cousin's 3.3 hectares. It's good investment. A few years from now land in Indangan will cost more than a thousand per square meter, especially after the concreting of the access road from Buhangin all the way to Tibungco is completed, and if the envisioned mini-city in Indangan will come together.
Progress is always a welcomed development, but if it erases the vestiges of your boyhood, it snaps a few strings in the heart.
Point to ponder: "Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendour in the grass/ of glory in the flower;/ We will grieve not, rather find/ Strength in what remains behind/ In the primal sympathy/ which having been must ever be;/ In the soothing thoughts that spring/ Out of human suffering;/ In the faith that looks through death/ in years that brings the philosophic mind." (Words-worth. Ode on Intimations of Immortality)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (October 13, 2005 issue)
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