Come to my birth town, it’s Argao’s fiesta today

It's fiesta season in the southern Cebu. I just finished celebrating the Ronda town fiesta. It’s the town in the southwest, where I grew up. But I was born in the southeastern part of Cebu, in Argao, the original town of the Birondos, my mother's hometown. And today is the celebration of the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, protector of the Christian and Jewish faiths, conqueror of Satan, and guardian of Moses' tomb. Let’s eat the famous Chitang's torta and Guilang's much-preferred tableya. On October 3 and 4, it’s the feast of St. Francis of Assisi in my father's hometown, Dumanjug. We are invited by Atty. Edgar Gica and his sons Gungun and Wado, mayor and vice mayor, respectively.

We weren’t invited by Mayor Allan Sesaldo and Vice Mayor Jessa Flores, but do we need an invitation to go home to the land of our birth? Anyway, the good congressman, Willy Caminero, and the amiable vice governor, Hilario Davide III, reminded us to come home today. And so, I will visit my aunt, Inday Agring Canada Birondo, and my cousins in Suba. I used to study in St. Michael Academy when its high school campus was still in Looc. My classmates were bright boys and girls in the ‘60s with family names like Kintanar, Lucero, Semilla, Plaza, Ortega, Escalante, Cagigas, Carillo, Fuentes, and Bacaltos (from Taloot), and Gomez (from Sumaguan), and others.

Argao is only 68 kilometers southeast of Cebu City. Traffic allowing, it will take just an hour, passing through the South Coastal Road through Talisay City, Minglanilla, Naga, San Fernando, Carcar City, and Sibonga. It is bound in the west by the Ronda, Alcantara, and Moalboal, in the east by the Cebu Strait, in the north by Sibonga, and in the south by another first-class municipality, Dalaguete. Argao is famous for its many prominent families, like the Kintanars, Luceros, Albarracins, and Alcazarens. Its most famous son, of course, is chief justice Hilario Gelbolingo Davide Jr., and his son the vice governor, formerly governor and soon to be congressman, when Cong. Willy graduates and runs for governor.

Argao is a first-class municipality with no less than 72,366 registered residents as of 2015. By this time, 75,000 is a conservative estimate. The town has grown economically, it has progressed a lot under Willy Caminero's mayorship, with the support of then Governor Junjun Davide. Its biggest barangays in terms of population are: Poblacion, 5,414 people; Taloot, 3,990; Bulasa, 3,648; Bogo, 3,557; Talaga, 3,510; Binlod, 3,386; and Langtad, 3,145. The smallest are Conalum, 585; Panadtaran, 586; Catang, 614; Lapay, 683; and Apo, 692. The barangay where chief justice Davide grew up, Colawin (population, 961), is far away into the west just about 45 minutes from Ronda via an excellent provincial highway constructed by Congressman Willy and Governor Davide, finishing the original project of then Congressman Sim Kintanar, Governor Pabling, and later Gwen Garcia.

Come to Argao and let's go skim boarding in the beautiful Mahayahay Beach. Let's visit the fabled Bugasok Falls and the giant's cave called “Balay sa Agta”. The municipal hall of Argao, called Casa Real, is the oldest in Cebu and the Church of St. Michael, built in 1783, is one of the oldest, and the most regal, in baroque and rococo architectural design. I was baptized inside that church 69 years ago, in a town founded in 1608, or 411 years ago, one of the oldest in the whole country.