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Coming Home to Oquendo

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The final approach to the ridge that hides Benitinan: the concluding heights to scale after a punishing one-hour accent from the valley of Mayubay to the boundary of Libacao and Balete. Oquendo is regarded as the last frontier of Balete. It is a place far off from the urban poblacion and ergo still rich in natural resources. One gets there either through hiking or through a boat ride upstream which are both punishing. Originally called Matanat, it is one of the 11 barrios of Balete, Capiz in 1893. A hidden valley called Benitinan Today, it has seven sitios (villages) spread over its 1,368 hectares of land mostly of  mountainous terrain: Agbaeogo, Benitinan, Dayas, Panarga, Panukduka, Proper and Tagubaea. It is bounded on the north by Barangay Morales and on the east by Barangay Guanko, both of Balete. On the south, it meets Barangay Ganzon of Jamindan, Capiz and on the west, Barangays Ogsip, Guadalupe and Mayubay, all of Libacao, Aklan. Sitio Proper is about 15 ki...
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Something About Tumbo (Cara y Cruz): A Hypothesis

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They say that mahjong is just a diversion, a recreation of some sort of the bored and the retired. But they say that cara y cruz is a different case. However you look at it--in both sides of the coin (pun intended), it is gambling and therefore those who indulged in it (read, the poor ones) are playing in conflict with law. And so, since yesteryears, people accepted those facts. Mahjong is recreational while cara y cruz or tumbo is gambling and illegal at that. An Alfonso showing its head and tail or if your prefer its "hari" & "corona" But I was amused at the scene of a group of individuals by an "island" at corner T.M. Kalaw and Taft Avenue I happened to pass by while doing research at the National Archives of the Philippines sometime in August 2010. I just alighted from the Light Rail Transit (LRT) at UN Station and was finding my way to cross T.M. Kalaw when I noticed a bunch of lot playing cara y cruz on the elevated concrete "isla...
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Balete Community College's Humble Beginnings

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Balete Community College earns the title as the first and foremost tertiary institution in rural Balete. It stands as one of the only four community colleges in the Province of Aklan. Its becoming is a story worth telling.   Its Humble Beginning While it is not mandated of a 4 th class municipality like Balete, Aklan to operate and afford tertiary education for its people, the circumstances it finds itself in are indicative that it carries the load towards its desired end despite its poverty and capacity gaps. These circumstances were offshoots of an extension program introduced in 1998 by then Roxas Memorial College of Arts and Trade (RMCAT) that paved the way for the birth of the community college in 2004. Late in 1998, officials of RMCAT in their attempt of preserving the college’s independence from the impending integration with Aklan State College of Agriculture parleyed with Mayor Teodoro V. Calizo, Jr. to allow it to utilize makeshift huts (remnants of an agri...
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