The fireflies of Catigbian, Bohol

When we were kids, my maternal grandmother Encarnacion Rodis Segura would gather all her grandchildren and send us off to the Segura Farms in Candumayao, Catigbian, Bohol. Our month-long vacations in the farm gave me some of the best times of my life, where I learned to see how difficult life in the farm is, but above all, that the farmer’s hard work is always rewarded by a good harvest. Perhaps it’s because Bohol is far away from the typhoon belt... although the summers can also be devastating.

Over the weekend, I went to the family farm (I took my motorcycle on board the Lite Shipping RoRo) and stayed with my cousin, Cathy Segura Tañedo who lives with her husband Popoy at the Villa Salvador Resort Farm that they recently developed. Resort Farms are slowly sprouting around farmlands perhaps because land along nice and white beaches is just too expensive. Also if you saw the recently shown Julia Roberts movie, “Eat, Pray, Love” you will get a glimpse of a Resort Farm that has become the vogue in the resort Island of Bali. We are doing this now in Catigbian, Bohol.

So Popoy and Cathy’s small (it just started with rooms for 20 people) Villa Salvador Resort Farm is probably the first of its kind in Bohol where tourism is growing by leaps and bounds. Catigbian is a mere 35 kilometers of good paved road from the capital city of Tagbilaran or a mere 14 kilometers of good paved road (except for an unfinished two-kilometer stretch) from the port town of Tubigon, which is just an hour’s crossing from Cebu City.

What’s so great about a farm resort? Well, when we arrived, we were greeted by coconut juice fresh from the tree. If we wanted to drink... there’s “tuba”, our homegrown wine that tasted so great. We can walk or trek along the rice paddies and walk inside forested areas, where you might encounter an occasional Civet cat. Yes, we have them in the farm, except that we don’t have the coffee beans to feed them. At night, it is extremely serene... peace and quiet you can’t find by living in a bustling city.

When I was a kid I could never forget those dark nights when the fireflies would come out. There were so many of them, we would grab them with our hands and put them inside a jar and marvel at nature... how a jar full of fireflies could light up a dark room. Well, the fireflies of Catigbian still light up the coconut trees and shrubs and I was told that they are a visible proof that the air in Catigbian is still unpolluted. I don’t know if you can farm fireflies the way you do in a bee farm, but it’s just awesome watching them.

When I got to the farm, Piloy Patoliclic who helps us run the farm (he just won his bid for barangay captain in Candumayao) told me that Catigbian Mayor Roberto Salinas wanted to meet me. Mayor Salinas is a 3rd term mayor, a former Philippine Navy Captain turned businessman under whose administration, Catigbian finally became insurgency-free! Yes, when Bohol had a serious insurgency problem and NPA activity was focused in Catigbian, I didn’t return to the farm for seven years. After all, I’m a target of opportunity for these insurgents because I’ve always been an anti-communist advocate from the time I started writing 24 years ago.

Mayor Salinas welcomed me into his office with Vice-Mayor Reynaldo Lacea and proudly showed me the things he has done for Catigbian. One thing I learned right away was that Mayor Salinas was born in Catigbian on May 29, 1951, which makes me only five days older than him. Also Popoy Tañedo and I share the same birthdates, May 24 so all of us are under Gemini.

Under his watch and with Catigbian now very peaceful, development was brought to this otherwise sleepy town. If you ask, “How did Mayor Salinas do it?” Well, he told me that he addressed the problems that allowed the insurgency to breed. They didn’t have a water system then, so he built a waterworks system. He turned the old Catigbian public market into an awarded market, making it 3rd in Best Pamilihan in Region 7 for the year 2006.

Perhaps the best accomplishment of Mayor Salinas is the Catigbian Livestock Auction Center, which is the biggest in the island of Bohol and has placed Catigbian in the map for the folks in the livestock industry. Every Monday, they come to Catigbian to buy carabaos, goats or cows. I dropped by there without the Mayor knowing it. Also let me say that he had the support then of our Congressman now Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto.

Soon, Tourism will also flourish in Catigbian because of the recently discovered caves and a small waterfall. Near our farm is the Sampilagon River (we used to swim there) that would have been a tourism site because of its wooden covered bridge that the DPWH replaced with a cement bridge. Just a week ago on Oct.18 Catigbian was conferred the Seal of Good Housekeeping for local governments by DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo. Catigbian is proof that good governance can turn an insurgency-infested town into a major area for development. All we need to do is elect really good politicians.

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected] or vsbobita @gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.