Remembering the Bohol Oktubre Kinse Linog

Exactly one year ago, the island of Bohol snapped from beneath, rocking the very foundations of our faith and fate as a people.

In less than a minute, I saw our stone churches reduced into rubble, homes crumbled and toppled, lives lost, families shattered, dreams interrupted.

While today, I shiver still, as I remember the people we lost – the kids crushed by  a falling wall (the only concrete wall of their house), the farmer pinned down by a falling debris from a chocolate hill, the churchgoers buried under centuries-old rubble , fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, strangers – and I shudder still, as I remember the earthquake, the 7.2 magnitude swaying of the ground, the eerie crackle of breaking earth, the raging groan of the tumbling hillside, the fierce seething of the sea waters, and the uneasy trembling of our hearts – I quiver more in rapture of the spirited humanity that engulfed the whole of Bohol during those most trying of times.

Padayon sa pagbangon, Bohol.

Dalareich and her tableya dreams

Fresh off from her grand prize win in the first Young Women Entrepreneurs Bootcamp (YWEB)  in September 23-25 at the Bayview Park Hotel in Manila, we sat down with Dalareich Polot, the 25-year-old Boholana entrepreneur and namesake of their home-based family-run business venture, Dalareich Food Products, best known for their flagship native chocolate solids, tableya or tablija to us.

YWEB, organized by the Samahan ng mga Pilipina para sa Reporma at Kaunlaran (SPARK!) and the United States Embassy in Manila, is a “leadership and mentoring initiative that aims to help (young) Filipino women entrepreneurs expand their knowledge of business strategies and best business practices. YWEB offers a strategic and innovative approach to empower young women and give them the skills needed to scale up their businesses.

Dramarama: Boholano Drama is Alive!

Dulaang Kalinangan's version of ang Ang Unang Aswang by Palanca-award-winning playwright Rody Vera.

Drama is alive.

And kicking. It’s laughing, scoffing, weeping and wailing, screaming, growling, making jokes, laughing at its own jokes, staggers while doing it. 

Drama is so alive it’s making drama about it -- it is spitting expletives, yelling out superlatives, then stares at you, with piercing, smoldering eyes. 

(Fade light. Cue smoke effect.)

SidlaKasilak 2013: A Vision of Delight

Loon's SidlaKasilak Festival is the only evening street dancing event in Bohol.

Friday evening’s Street Dancing and Dance of Lights Competition in Loon put the light in delight as flickering lights danced in rhythm divine – a tribute to the town’s Nuestra Señora de Luz, whose feast day is celebrated today, the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The highlight of SidlaKasilak, Loon’s 10-day Festival of Lights in Honor of Our Lady of Light, the Street Dancing and Dance of Lights Competition is a nod to the past religious processions in Loon where the faithful would light candles in colorful hand-held lanterns or parow (parol). The Dance of Lights, whose contest criteria revolve solely on the lights (lantern design, lights movement and synchronization, etc.), is the only evening street dancing event in Bohol.

BIM 2013: On A Runner’s High

Days after the first ever international marathon event in Bohol, the finishers are still on a runner’s high.

That “state of euphoria and pure bliss either during or after a run”, you can read them still in the many exclamatory Facebook posts, tweets, blogs of the runners of the Bohol International Marathon (BIM) 2013 on August 25, 2013 in Panglao Island.

Video: Former Bohol solons implicated in the Pork Scam

And there you go. Bohol never fails to take the spotlight. In this GMANews clip, our former Congressmen are implicated in the Pork Scam. They're denying involvement, of course.

Statement: Bohol Alliance Against Pork Barrel

[Boholanos joined the August 24 nationwide #MillionPeople March against the Pork Scam. People came as individuals, families, friends, barkadas and came together to show their indignation on the Pork Scam. Below is their unified statement.]

Ang tanang Pilipino nagbayad og buhis: adunahan ug galisud, nagbayad kitang tanan sa nagkadaiya nga pamaagi. Tungod niini, kami angayan lamang nga mobarog niining mosunod:

The Homecoming of Baby Jane Galinato

[If you happened to watch the heartwarming family reunion/homecoming story of the former 1960s child wonder Baby Jane in GMA 7’s 24 Oras last week, you must know, the coming home of Jane Galinato aka Baby Jane, after 51 long years, is not only the story of a daughter/sister/auntie coming back to the bossom of the Galinato family but also a coming home of a daughter of Bohol, back to the motherland.]

Galinato sisters reunite after 51 years (Jane Galinato in pink)

This story is a stuff of telenovelas. That, or Maalala Mo Kaya. (Or Magpakailanman, if you must.) It’s an ultimate story that will be a staple conversation of many a reunions for the Galinato family. Above all, it is a story of roots, of family, of love.

"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage—to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future."
 ---Alex Haley, Roots

When you flick open the Galinato Book, this famous Alex Haley (Roots: The Saga of an American Family) quote will greet you. The Galinato book contains the family tree, stories and photographs of the clan created by the union of Faustino P. Galinato, Sr. and Teofila Ampong Galinato.

Tabliya Cones

Tabliya cones. What a great idea!

Most families used to make their own tabliya (cocoa tablet), bean-to-bar (or in the traditional Filipino case, bean-to-tablets or coin-like shapes) chocolates.