MikeLigalig.com

Unprecedented "Panaghiusa"
held in Carmen
By Bohol Sunday Post: July 16, 2000
       CARMEN -- This mayor is making one unprecedented brainchild. Regardless of any political color and station in life, Mayor Pedro Budiongan Jr. assembled everybody -- whether he is a nobody or is now somebody -- to be part of Panaghiusa sa Carmen 2000.

        Panaghiusa is an ambitious project designed to gather all Carmenanons whether they are at home or abroad for a common endeavor to help the place of their birth in whatever form and substance.

         The five-day gathering kicked off right Sunday morning with a thanksgiving mass for all Carmenanons, followed by a parade going to the Carmen Sports Complex.

        Band majorettes added color to the parade as the participants marched to the music provided by the drum and bugle corps of the Katipunan High School and the Carmen Central Elementary School.

        The participants included the members of the Carmen Bohol International Foundation, Inc. (CBIFI) led by its president Romeo Jabonillo, municipal officials and employees and barangay officials and athletes.

        By 10:30 a.m., residents and visitors alike were treated to a Sinulog presentation topped with exhibition numbers from the drum and bugle corps, followed by the opening of the agro-exhibits.

       For lunch barrio fiesta style, the CBIFI members and visitors had their choice of the "bahug-bahug sa Carmen", the boodlefight or the buffet table. Being based in barangay Katipunan, soldiers of the 801st Infantry Brigade under Col. Eusebio Ramos, the commanding officer, had a field day "roughing it up" with civilians.

          On the serious side, however, the brigade later "contributed" its medical and dental teams to help the visiting doctors and medics attend to Carmenanon and non-Carmenanon patients.

         After lunch, the athletes played friendly games of basketball, volleyball, lawn tennis, chess and athletics, indigenous games like "bakya sa Carmen", modified sack race, pole climbing and tug-of-war among others. 
 
         Meanwhile, the farmers among the crowd pitted skills in "binuntanay sa lubi" or dehusking coconuts, carabao racing and horse racing. Carmen is one of the few remaining Bohol towns that still use horses for transportation in the hinterlands.

        The medical, dental and surgical mission volunteers started arriving by 3 p.m. Their sheer number could not be accommodated at the Chocolate Hills resort complex so that they were assigned to houses for home stays. The "working guests" also included doctors, medics and paramedics from the Home Reach Foundation headed by Drs. Pepe Recitas and Ramie Cadag as well as the Confederation of Boholanos in the United States and Canada (Conbusac). 

         Day 2, Monday, started with a short program at the Cong. Simeon G. Toribio Memorial Hospital (CSGTMH) recognizing the volunteers. Clinical and surgical procedures and distribution of vitamin packs started until late in the afternoon, with the volunteers breaking only for snacks and lunch.

         The third day scenario was practically the same, except that the volunteers were allowed time to unwind that night with disco and ballroom dancing sponsored by the local Department of Education, Culture and Sports (Decs) district and the municipal officials. Winners of the Agro-Fair 2000 were also awarded prizes that night.

        Consultations, surgical, medical and dental services continued on Wednesday morning. A recognition program followed after lunch, considering that part of the crew were to leave for Loon town that afternoon to conduct similar activities.

         But the remaining volunteers continued clinical activities that afternoon and the following day.

        Also on Thursday afternoon, children of the volunteers and local counterparts shared and learned "basics" in a two-way educational workshop.

        The computer wizards shared their expertise while those who grew up or even born in the USA were treated to a field trip to the Galang Farm in barangay Buenavista. They were shown how a farmer plows his field, plants rice, weeds his farm, pound and winnow rice, gather firewood, and how a fisherman catches freshwater fish using the hook and line.

        The Thursday activities were capped with cocktails and dinner.

        The Carmenanons' participation was not limited to the drum and bugle corps or the band majorettes. The panaghiusa or unity which Mayor Pedro Budiongan Jr. always emphasizes that they practice and weave into their everyday lives -- came in unquantifiable form -- organizing and coordinating the five-day affair on top of regular duties.

        For starters, the municipal government had also been preparing for the clean and green evaluation and personnel audit in addition to the officials' and employees' regular and routinary functions.

        The barangay officials have their duties, too, which they relegated to the background for the moment just so the medical mission and sportsfest, etc. will succeed.

        The CBIFI members have their own lives to live, which they voluntarily interrupted just so they can be a part of the medical mission. They could have come home for pure and simple rest and recreation, but they set leisure and pleasure aside -- for the love of Carmen and the Carmenanons.

         At the end of the mission, a partial list of patients attended to showed tooth extractions on 784 patients, harelip repair on 30 patients, myomas removed from eight patients, hernias repaired on six patients and two patients operated on for obstructions in the kidneys. Over 5,000 patients received prescriptions, medicines and vitamins.

        To top it all, the medical mission also left medical equipment and supplies for use of the CSGTMH.

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