Coming home to Ronda's town fiesta
Tomorrow, the fifteenth of September, is the annual fiesta celebration of Our Lady of Sorrows (Mater Dolorosa) in the far-away, but nice little town of Ronda, some 81 kilometers southwest of Cebu, a small paradise of gentle people, next to Dumanjug and before the town of Alcantara, Moalboal and Badian.
Though we are just a small fifth class municipality, we have produced a governor of Cebu, the late Francisco Emilio Famor Remotigue who in 1966, was appointed by President Marcos as the first secretary of DSWD, formerly called SWA or Social Welfare Administration. Many of us from all over the world are coming home today and tomorrow to pay our homage to our dear patron saint and renew our ties with family, relatives, and friends.
Our undefeated town Mayor, Mariano "Nonie" Blanco III, is a scion of the politically-entrenched Blanco and Yap families which dominated the political landscape of our town since five decades or half a century ago. His late father Don Mariano Alvero Blanco Sr., a retired military officer was one of our original Presidente Municipal, and his mother Victoria Yap Blanco had been elected many times as Mayor and Vice Mayor. The incumbent Vice Mayor is a son of Mayor Blanco's sister, Alma, and he is a successful practicing lawyer, Jonah John Blanco Ungab, also a law professor in SWU. The Blancos are now aligned with Governor JunjunDavide and used to be allies of the Garcias before. In our fiesta however, we forget our politics and embrace each other as brothers and sisters, all Rondahanons.
The prominent families in Ronda include the Villagonzalos, Maribaos, Gimarinos, Gimenas, Villalons, Luceros, Requilmes,Taypins, Sungcads, and many others. The Sia family, the Yap and the Yu clans were migrants who intermarried with locals and became Rondahanons as well.
Of course, not to forget the Blancos and the Famors in a very famous barangay, Langin, the birth place of Governor Remotigue. It is a mountain village near the boundaries with Argao, Sibonga, and Dumanjug. That humble village produced many lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers, marine officers and teachers.
Ronda is a town of hundreds of lawyers, engineers, teachers, priests and nuns. Every town fiesta, we always make sure to come home and renew our ties to our roots. We belong to different parties, religions and groups. What matters most is that we are all Rondahanons.
Mayor Blanco has started a local festival called "Panginabuhi" where Rondahananons showcase our culture, history, music, arts, and livelihood through street dances, with colorful costumes and decors. Today, he is being assisted by the Sangguniang Bayan, and with the technical support of a very dynamic DepEd administrators, Mrs Judy Maribao-Corriente, and a very dynamic Kagawad, HennyLayaguin, who focuses on tourism and socio-cultural advocacies. Every town fiestas, Rondahanons and our guests are being regaled and entertained by contingents from the fourteen barangays who participate in our own version of "Sinulog" festival and a religious and socio-cultural festival. This time we are always looking forward to this festival as one of the climaxes of our fiesta celebration.
The name "Ronda" is taken from the name of a mountain town in Malaga, Spain, some 60 kilometers from Marbella, along the long and winding road at an altitude of 730 meters.
I am a Rondahanon who has been lucky enough to have travelled to Spain and I did visit this town just to see how it resembles our own. Indeed, it is somehow akin in many ways than one. There is a mountain on top of the town, similar to our own Liboo overlooking the Poblacion and from where we view the fantastic sunset. On a clear day, on top of Liboo over the town of Ronda, we can see Kanlaon volcano in our next neighbor Negros.
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