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With
the forthcoming city fiesta, it is just but proper and fitting
that we reminisce the Tagbilaran of old as elucidated by this
latest piece from Rudan Alberto Matig-a through his e-mail
address at danmatiga@hotmail.com.
Read on.
"There
are distinctive characteristics not only of the people of
Tagbilaran and its neighboring communities but I believe all
over Bohol because; while Bohol is only a small province,
ethnically it is sub divided by its multi dialectal peculiarity.
The
accent of all ethnic dialects varies from one place to another.
The accent of the people of Sug-ang and Mansasa is different
to that of Bo-ol. You will be amazed by this ethnic dialectal
peculiarity because the difference is too extreme when in
fact they are only divided by a cliff. Bo-ol has a heavy accent
compared to its neighboring barrios but when you reach the
vicinity of Baclayon the heavy accent is gone. By the way,
Bo-ol has an accent similar to the Irish people in Europe
.
I
believe each and every migrating group of people in Bohol
brought its own traditional customs and belief that triggered
the development of ethnic dialects distinct from one group
to another. If we look history inside the confine of the Spanish
colonization, we cannot reach the bottomline. For example
is Dauis and Panglao, we cannot decipher these words where
it came from unless we associate them to the people living
in that place long time ago. The people living in Dauis and
Panglao were the Chinese.
I
have this intuitive feeling that the natives of the island
were greatly influenced by the Chinese that names of places
like Banat-e, Biking, Sungkulan, Tangnan, Duljo, Kataingan,
Totolan and even Dauis and Panglao itself, originated from
the Chinese. We can have a better perspective if we associate
these names to their Chinese origin rather than delving into
its Bisayan words where there is none. Take the word Panglao.
This
name came from the words "Palao or Palaw". From
these words come the words Palawan or Palau Islands which
is located in the Pacific. The word "Palaw" means
island in the Malay language. I think Panglao is 'Palao' before
but the Chinese people living in Dauis pronounce it Panglao.
Sitio
Ubos is purely a residencial area and there is no place to
develop in what we call in the vernacular as "sawang"
because the place is too small. While the first merkado was
erected near the Remolador's place, almost halfway from the
church and the stone houses of the Rocha family, there was
not much activity in that market because sea foods were sold
by peddling it house to house. [gisuroy] Vegetables were harvested
from your neighbor's backyard garden. It was an easy life
during those times. Foods are shared among the people in the
community. There was nothing to sell in the market during
those times. We were not yet under a capitalist economic system.
Lands were still untitled except the land of the Catholic
Church and those who were awarded land grant by the King of
Spain. It was only at the time that Torrens Titles were awarded
to land claimants after the Americans conducted the first
cadastral survey in 1909.
The
first "sawang" or city in Tagbilaran is located
near the Matig-a Hotel. The Matig-a hotel is the first hotel
in Bohol . The first silent movie theater was built at the
side of the house of former governor Juan C. Pajo. There was
a stone ruin in that place where the "Kolodrome"
is built. The stones from the ruin of the movie house were
reassembled to become the grandstand of the kolodrome. By
the way, this name "Kolodrome" originated
from a kolo tree [breadfruit] that was standing in that place
before the basketball court was erected. The owner of that
silent movie theater was the late Iya Sabel Mendoza. And the
first cockpit was built at the back of the Meridian Hotel
owned by my grand uncle the late Servando Matig-a.
I
think the first commuter line was the Bohol Land Transportation
Company. If my memory serves me right it was established in
1923 by William C. Ogan."
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For comments
and suggestions, just e-mail to the following e-mail addresses:
obiter@boholchronicle.com
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