Coming home for the Argao fiesta
All roads lead to Argao today and tomorrow for a great weekend of fiesta celebration in honor of our patron, Saint Michael, the Archangel. Argao is a first class municipality, with a population of more than 85,000. Our parish is one of the oldest established parishes under the old diocese, now archdiocese of Cebu. Organized by the Agustinians in 1608, with only about 1,732 Catholic faithfuls, today Argao is one of the top three parishes in the entire Cebu. We, Argawanons are devout Catholics and we always celebrate our fiesta in great solemnity and jubilation. A good number of Argawanons who are now residing all over the world always make it a point to come home for the fiesta.
Argao, which is 68 kilometers from Cebu City, located in the southeastern part of the province, is bounded by the Bohol Strait to the east. It is one of the biggest in area, bounded in the west by no less than the five towns of Dumanjug, Ronda, Alcantara, Moalboal, and Badian. Argao is the hometown of the famous Kinatanar clans, the Albarracins, Alcazarens, and Luceros. It is also the homeland of our beloved Chief Justice Hilario Gilbolingo Davide Jr. and the incumbent Governor of Cebu, Hilario P. Davide III and our second district representative, Willy Caminero. Argao is the home of highly educated personalities, many of whom are lawyers, doctors, religious leaders, businessmen, and educators.
We go home to Argao to attend our famous fiesta and also to renew old ties with our families, to visit the graves of our departed folks and to have reunions with families, classmates, and old friends. Many of our town folks also come home to receive the accolades and honor bestowed by a grateful town and its good people. This year, Argao is going to bestow the Lifetime Achievement Award to former congressman Simeon Kintanar, or Sim K. Chief Justice Davide Jr. has been conferred such award many years ago. The same is true to the late Serge Remonde, former Press Secretary under PGMA.
Argao is famous for many other things like its beautiful beaches, its caves, and mountain ranges. We have the Bugasok Falls, Mount Lantoy with its fabled tale of Maria Cacao, the Argao Nature Park, the Balay sa Agta, the Stone Castle, the beautiful Argao San Miguel Church, with its ceiling that is painted like Vatican's Sistine Chapel (I was baptized inside this Church in 1950). the century old Watchtower, the Argao Hall of Justice, and of course, some old ancestral houses of the old families of the Kintanars, the Albercas, Almirante, Bajentings, Birondos ( to whom I belong) and the Camellos, Camarillos, Camineros, Escalantes, Fuenteses, Fortunas, Galleoses, Mirandas, Ortegas, Sarmagos and of course, the alcarezes, alcazarens and Albarracins ( to whom I also belong).
I was born in the Argao Maternity House on March 19, 1950. My ancestral roots come from the Birondos of Tulic and Looc (who married into the Albarracins) but our old house in Suba was in the first corner to the right from the church. It now belongs to the widow of my late uncle, Inday Agring Canada Birondo. Since we relocated to Dumanjug and Ronda, when I was just a kid, not too many know me in Argao. But I studied in St Michael Academy in the sixties, and my great, great grandparents were buried in Argao and we always come home to Argao for the fiesta, for the torta, for the tuba, tableya, and for nostalgia.
I will be in Argao tomorrow and Sunday to join the Pitlagong Festival and to celebrate with Mayor Edsel Galeos, Cong Willy, Chief Justice Davide, Governor Junjun and Cong Sim K. And I will see my friends and classmates. It will be a great weekend indeed.
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