Thrive Argao!

CEBU, Philippines - Burst forth, Argao, and never stop the rush to break out of the box.

Your children - yes, your very beautiful children - have risen up to the occasion and have filled in the shortcomings of their forebears who, for most of their lives, have never come to understand fully how tangible heritage makes them all the richer. Good thing you have your brilliant, passionate children of this age - cultural revolutionaries - to teach you, educate you, that there's more to farming and fishing, giving you a new life.

There is cultural heritage that must be nurtured. Only those who understand their past can fathom the richness of their being, their identity, their spirit, their birthright.

Burst forth, Argao, and never give up re-blooming the "Sali-argao" - that mangrove variety that has given your home a verdant, perceivable identity. There's only one tree left though, like the last warrior standing, at the Cabecera (the navel of what used to be a pueblo). From where its life struggles, its flowers blossom to give you the idea that it is no lesser than you in its desire to thrive despite your claim it is "endangered," thus hard to cultivate. It hungers to live on, and it only takes a communal hand, so your children won't picture this plant only in their minds or based on book illustrations.

Leap forth, Argao, and never stop believing in the potential of your coastal forests. Your humongous danggits (rabbit fish), army of hermit crabs; school of angelfish, smack of jellyfish; your bed of oysters and all of your marine bounties are living testimonies that we do need to reclaim - or that which calls for the claiming back - of a lost world, a time when we give in faithfully to where nature's course takes us. Not against it, for we have already seen how man's technology has fed in its frenzy to introduce the inconceivable and create things we don't exactly want - only to fail us in terms of long-term providence and sustenance.

Argao, you made the right decision to simplify. Your people need your Taloot Marine Sanctuary, side by side with your eco-tourism packages, so both can exist in symbiosis.

You have always been known for your torta - those oversized cupcakes made yummier by pork lard and tuba (coconut toddy). It is symbolic of the patience to keep up with the fermenting period of four hours before the tasty cakes can be baked to a golden brown finish, sprinkled with sugar for toppings, and packed. Now, look at you, you have quite a reputation as strong, intense and penetrating as your tuba. Nothing can snatch away from you that authority when it comes to torta making.

You have embraced the teachings of the Augustinians, yet you haven't forgotten about the colorful tales of Maria Cacao and Mangao. That was always my question about other towns. When we come to visit them, they would always take pride of these talebearers of colonialism as a heritage to cherish. Certainly, there is more to coral churches and convents. There was a beautiful, awesome civilization that flourished before that, more orderly, and with a perfect writing system. Or what's Kudlit Kabadlit for? I think that should have preceded our knowledge of Spanish influence: Something that is of us, somehow about us.

Argao, you brought us to the snaking trail of brackish water, where nipa palms overpower taut muscles of the Sombria River. First, we saw how Talisay Spring provided a sense of community for your gentle and genteel people. And then the Taloot-Liki Cold Spring painted plain truth that water is freely given, so we must freely give! There is public bath open even to strangers. There is a real playground for children to enjoy the cold on a searing summer. I just wonder, somewhere, if further developments would suffocate the bais (eels) that go by their nature to cleanse the waterway for obstruction. Freely we have been given, so freely we have to give: nature's way of demonstrating how we are to live in order and harmony. So please allow the waters to keep gushing!

You, Argao, will be the country's next prime destination. The network of people, enticed by every visitor, to come to your Cabecera, to check your Balay sa Agta, your Nature's Park, your Sutukil, will multiply by seventy times seven fold. And your people will never ever regret having anchored your toil on heritage preservation initiatives. (FREEMAN)