Maribojoc braces for fiesta ‘08
BY FRED C. FUERTES

MARIBOJOC- Residents of sitio San Juan at the wharf area of this coastal town were jolted from their sleep Tuesday night by a strange phenomenon. Seawater rose to an unusual level and flooded the streets leading into the area where the light house stands.

Maribojoc Waterworks Service Management Office Manager Ric Nacorda who lives in the port area, told the Post in an exclusive interview at his office Wednesday afternoon, that he was awaken from his deep sleep at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday by the pounding sound of waves rushing to the dilapidated house of a neighbor.

Jumping out of his bed, he rushed outside residence and discovered to his amazement that the water in the streets were knee deep. The seawater continues to rise until 12 midnight and it was only at two o’clock early dawn of Wednesday that the flooding seawater subsided, Nacorda narrated.

As late as 12 midnight, Councilor Fructuoso Redulla Jr. and Municipal Foreman Demoy Baluma then checked the area.Redulla narrated to Nacorda that upon arriving home at his Sagmonan, Dipatlong residence after attending a sitio fiesta at Saug,Bayacabac when he learned about the incident from a text message he received.

According to Redulla, this might be signs of a dreaded global warming. He then warned the people who came to him that they should not indiscriminately throw plastic containers and wrappers into the sea or elsewhere.

Nacorda, for his part, further told the Post that the 70- years old neightbor, Rosenda Dumandan bewailed that in her lifetime; it was the first time that she witnessed this strange, unusual phenomenon.

It was only during the feast of St. John, when they celebrates sitio fiesta that they expect the seawater to raise to level higher than normal as expect. But never had there been an instance that it over flows to the streets at the port area.

Another neighbor, Benny Dumandan, whose house is fronting the lighthouse, revealed that, wonder of wonders, he saw on that night the waves coming from opposite directions- Manga and Punta Cruz converged at the area where National Power Corp. power barge used to dock.

Bohol Ventures On Religious Tourism
BY: FRED C. FUERTES

Maribojoc and Loboc led the Bohol towns in the development of a religious tourisms project.

For quite a number of years now, the Padhan Shrine in Maribojoc and Kruz nga Dako in Barangay Cambence, Loboc Town have been luring tourists and pilgrims from afar to their hallowed grounds during Holy Week.

In an interview with this writer at their Lindaville (Phase II) residence early Wednesday morning. Loboc Municipal Councilor Glicerio B. Jubac revealed that the gigantic concrete cross in one of 21 tourist spots declared by the municipality. Erected thru the financial assistance of Loboc philanthropist Annie Gaw, owner UNIWIDE. Sangguniang Bayan recently earmarked P100,000 for Cambence for area’s improvement.

Five years after it imposingly stood, it gained journalistic prominence when the family of famous Boholano painter Ric Ramasola met a vehicular accident that claimed the life of his beloved wife Nila in one tragic Good Friday.

Padhan Shrine in Maribojoc, on the other hand, is now a favorite pilgrim’s destination for penitents who join a Station if the Cross prayer every Holy Wednesday . Msgr. Boy Nunag, then perish priest of the Sta. Cruz parish in Maribojoc, facilitated the construction of 14 crosses from the foothill to the top of the mountain peak where a priest who lead the via cruces celebrate a Holy Mass.

Henceforth, pilgrims and tourists from afar made Padhan Shrine their favorite destination during the Lenten Season.(fcf)