Bohol in my mind

Istayed in Bohol for more than a year in the late ‘80s. That was a different time, obviously, much like when I frequented the Camotes islands in my teens. Then again, that was a different time everywhere. Growth both in the economy and in the population must have contributed to the change.

When I was in Tagbilaran, the province’s main urban center, I used to while away my time in Plaza Rizal located between the Bohol Provincial Capitol and St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Plazas like this always have those religious types debating on passages in the Bible on Sundays. (That’s why I also used to frequent Freedom Park in Cebu’s Carbon market in the old days and the plaza in Bacolod when I was there.)

That was the time when the city’s downtown area consisted mainly of the Agora and Altura’s on one side of the Carlos P. Garcia Ave. and Bohol Quality (BQ) on the other side. BQ had a number of newly built (at that time) theaters—airconditioned although a bit cramped. Older moviehouses could be found a bit farther from the downtown area and it was outside one of those that I was arrested.

The Tagbilaran port jutted to the sea and on one side were eateries that offered tasty food. Years later, the government would build a bigger and modern port that fit a city of Tagbilaran’s stature. Near the port was the Cogon Public Market. I used to stay in a house near that market and, when I had time to spend, used to walk from that point to the downtown area, which was not too far away.

Bohol was so peaceful my friends who were from Cebu City would joke that the biggest news in Tagbilaran was about a carabao that managed to get loose. The popular radio stations were dyRD and dyTR although at that time their frequencies were limited to Tagbilaran and its immediate environs. The weekly newspapers were the Bohol Chronicle and Sunday Post.

Okay, the province wasn’t really that peaceful at that time because the insurgency raged especially in the forested areas of Sevilla, Batuan and Bilar. Reports of clashes between government troops and the New People’s Army (NPA) would break out from time to time. But aside from the insurgency, other instances of criminality were few and far between. I remember Boholanos taking pride of the province’s Catholic tradition.

That is why it came as a surprise to me that the biggest news in the region in the past few days would emanate from Bohol. I am referring to the killing of Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Boniel allegedly by her husband Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel. I could not think of a slaying involving high profile politicians of their level in Central Visayas before this.

Interestingly, Gisela’s body, which was wrapped in a fishing net and weighed down with rocks and thrown in the seas near Lapu-Lapu City, is still the subject of a search and retrieval operation by the police and the Philippine Navy. It’s a difficult task even if the boatman involved in the slay is helping in the effort. But we hope the body will be retrieved to be fair to her family.

I must admit I have gotten old. Or why would I pine for the good old days that that have receded too far back in the recesses of our memory?