I had just spent a week in Bayawan, the progressive City just 103 or so kilometers south of Dumaguete. It is there that I can make my days uneventful or exciting, where I’m able to decide whether I’d do something or nothing at all. The sparse availability of tourist-grade restaurants and other niceties brings the experience there ever closer to that of exclusivity, when you end up in one of the few establishments that do cater to the adventurous wanderer.
I don’t consider myself an adventurer when I’m there–I know the City and people well enough now–yet, I can’t help but explore it some more each time. Bayawan has an area so large that you can drive north from the City through winding mountain roads, and be quite surprised that after well over an hour, maybe two, you’re still within its boundaries.
My afternoons in Bayawan are spent at the “crossing,” enjoying meriendas of coffee and bread smeared with sweetened margarine, and slices of cheddar cheese. Sometimes, puto fits the bill, along with hot pandesal. Those delights and lengthy conversations with friends and family, about almost anything, I have found to be priceless. Absolutely nothing compares.
Scenes like this is where young people dream of the future, and make bold wishes; and old, retired ones remember the exhilarating and incomparable memories of youth. In the larger cities, such experiences can never be had. They are welcome respites from the demands of busy living, ruled by the toils of everyday struggles.
I feel blessed having arrived at this stage of life when I get to spend my time exactly the way I want to, when I want to, and where I want to. The goal is to do the things I might regret not having done when I was still able to. Life is short. Sometimes, too short.
Recently, Bayawan opened its first mall, one by Puregold. In the few days since it opened, I’ve visited it a few times. Although some tenants’ stores have not opened yet in its relatively large interior, you can tell that the people of Bayawan are immensely glad for it, taking immense pride and delight in “their” mall.
Now, people from nearby towns make it a family trip to visit the mall, and do their shopping there. Yesterday, I was parked on the street between the mall and the church. As soon as the mass was over, churchgoers rushed out of the church, crossed the street to the mall, turning into an army of shoppers as they stormed its doors. It was a sight that can only be seen in Bayawan, on that street, after a mass. At nine in the morning, imagine the scene inside if Jollibee or Mang Inasal were already open in the mall. I’ll revisit the scene when they are.
Bayawan City is moving forward, and there are some things they have absolutely done right. The City’s garbage disposal model, for instance, should serve as a reference standard for the rest of the Province. The City is clean, even at the very spot where its garbage is dumped. The City government should be commended for that alone. I would like to talk about that at length, but my mention of it here is merely peripheral observation as I move around the City.
Two days ago, my sister-in-law’s husband rotated the tires on his truck. He decided to test-drive it afterwards by driving it toward the mountains. It’s a small truck, not having much room in the cab but it had a nice bench in the bed, open to the wind and the noise. I wanted to ride there and enjoy the wind, taking a break from the incessant heat that day. We drove on a highway that cut through rice paddies that went as far as I could see on both sides. The film of sweat on my forehead and arms dried quickly, leaving a comfortable coolness as the truck gathered speed.
In the few minutes that it took to drive through those paddies, my mind began to wander. It started to flood with memories of times a long time ago when Bayawan was still a town (I visited it quite a few times then), and agriculture was the main livelihood for the people. It was comforting to think of those times, allowing me to forget the years in between. There was the familiar mix of smells in the air, and then you see occasional huddles of people in sari-sari stores along the road, enjoying the cordiality of rural life.
It’s easy to envy the simplicity of life in the barrio, where everyone knows everyone else. There, there are no secrets between neighbors, and help is always just there for the asking. While the rest of us talk about Filipino hospitality, it seems to be a forgotten trait in the more developed parts of the country. Not in the rural areas, not where I was, in Bayawan. The Filipino hospitality is very much alive there, a natural consequence of existence.
All this is not to say that urban life in Bayawan is missing some elements. No, not at all, but I have to say that although it is not as brimming as urban life in the much bigger cities, neither is it lacking.
You can socialize and be sated, and yet the place is ever open to more improvements by those who have the ideas and the capital. Every day, Bayawan moves forward, fueled by its people who are willing to embrace new ideas for change, and the associated negatives necessary to achieve it. They move forward as one, defeating obstacles along the way. There never was a more resilient group of people.
Now, as Christmas and their Charter Day are coming, they celebrate as only they can. Their calendar is full, and festivities will go into full grind when Christmas vacation starts for the kids. Their plaza is lit up at night, bright as an uncontrolled brush fire. It is where most Bayawanons converge at night, admiring the lights and the varied entertainment. The kids look at the lights in awe, and selfies are taken by the thousands.
The plaza is not the only place where you can enjoy a night out in Bayawan. There’s also its boulevard, touted as the longest in the Philippines at about three kilometers. It is so long that at times, drag races are held there. It has four lanes, divided by an island complete with palm trees. On the western end of the boulevard, you’ll find a few restaurants with the recent addition of Hayahay Square, a venue provided by the City government for the sole purpose of holding some special events for the entertainment of the townsfolk. It also boasts some open restaurants inside that serve local delicacies and drinks, all to be enjoyed while live bands perform on stage. Even without live bands, your chest will pound with the beat of 5,000 watts of music from various DJs that the City hires for everyone’s enjoyment.
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Bayawan City’s barangays have pooled together their resources to build belens (Nativity scene sets) along the boulevard close to Hayahay Square. Some private groups have also joined in displaying their belens, one of the most iconic symbols of Christmas in the Philippines. As of this writing, there are 12 belens lining a small portion of the boulevard, each a display of local ingenuity, utilizing discarded plastic materials such as plates, cups, bottles, etc., even old bicycles and hub caps, that would have otherwise ended up in the trash pile. Each belen is a unique, one-off rendition by those who created them. They are lit at night but are equally interesting to look at during the day sans the elaborate lighting. They, at once, represent the Filipino’s penchant for pageantry and gaiety.
It is always an effortless and convenient activity for families to drive to and enjoy the City’s various attractions, especially that parking is easy to find, and traffic is a breeze to wade through. The City has so much room for expansion that someday, when its population grows some more, with its vast area and good planning, it will still be able to maintain that convenience without breaking a sweat.
Bayawan may have some things that are not quite up to par, but remember, it is a relatively new City compared to some, and it has already shown an enormous capacity to grow into what could yet be an ideal place to live in the coming years.
It isn’t always easy to find a place where one’s nostalgic bone is unconsciously tickled by just the scenes, the sounds, the smell, even the intensity of sunlight as it hits the tops of the trees, creating familiar shadows underneath, reminiscent of those childhood days spent lazily exploring the nearby fields. In Bayawan, you can still find these kinds of scenes–offering avenues to memory lane. It is one of the last places where urbanity and rurality are still in perfect harmony.
The way it is in Bayawan is the way its people like it.
Hopefully, non-Bayawanons will find the City nice enough to warrant occasional visits. Those who will, will become witnesses to its progress, slow or fast, through the years. That would be a privilege, I think. So I bid Bayawanons a Happy Charter Day and a Merry Christmas!
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Author’s email: [email protected]
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