Fact. Bohol has the tastiest, most aromatic purple yam or ube (ubi, to us) variety ever.

Fact. Mama Nena’s Ube Jam is the best ube jam in town ever.

Source: Me.

Of, course, that’s just me. My sister would’ve said, no, my ube jam is the best. Or you, you would probably say: No, mine! My Auntie’s! My mom’s!

Fact is, we got the tastiest ubi (yes, shifting to the ubi with “i” now, lest I get the ire of the ubi goddess) in the country, and it wouldn’t be a stretch if, hereabouts, most everyone’s got the yummiest ubi-infused confection.

That, even Mama Nena, wouldn’t contest.

But really, Mama Nena’s ubi jam glory is not unfounded. And that is not just according to me. Ask Cesar Montano and his showbiz barkadas. Ask the many tourists who especially stop by the “House of Ube” in Baclayon to bring home with them the famous purple pasalubong.

Named after the late Juanita Luza Labad, whose famous son everyone knows, the award-winning creative director Lutgardo “Gardy” Labad, “Mama Nena’s La Boholana Ube Jam”, is as tasty and aromatic as any other mashed ubi kinampay with sweetened milk and butter, but it has that distinct “potion-ish” delectability that you would always, always look for each time you taste someone else’s purple yam jam.

Have “Mama Nena’s Ube Jam” and it’ll become your ubi-jam-taste-index, for sure. It’s become mine.

The family ubi enterprise, now named House of Ube, after expanding to other ubi sweets and now run by Mama Nena’s grandson, Franz Emmanual Labad, started out as a family tradition of making ubi jam during the Christmas holidays. As the family expanded and children left to live and work in other places, they would always bring with them their favorite ubi jam or have them sent to where they are. Sir Gardy Labad, particularly, made it his tradition to give ubi jam to his theater and movie industry friends.

Word of the infamous ubi jam soon got around, and it wasn’t long ‘til they started selling their ubi jam to friends and friends of friends, during Christmastime only, at first, and eventually, to what’s it’s become now, a year-round production of the well-loved purple sweets.

Franz shares that their suki’s buy “Mama Nena’s Ube Jam” not just for their families but also to give away to friends especially around Christmastime. A more culturally-apt tradition than giving away ham and wines!

House of Ube’s other best sellers includes “Ube Barquiron”, a cylinder wafer stuffed with ubi-flavored pulboron, “Ube Pastillas”, a creamy milk treats flavored ubi, and their newest product “Ube Balls”, sweet balled treat flavored with ubi and topped with colorful coconut sprinkles.

House of Ube’s delicacies can be had by visiting them at the Labad ancestral house in Baclayon from 8 in the morning until as late as 9 in the evening. One may also call them at (038) 540-9495, or email at franziboi@yahoo.com.

They’re also on Facebook. Like them at www.facebook.com/houseofube

It’s the second year of the Women’s Month arts initiative – Baji: All-Boholana Visual + Literary Arts Exhibit – and the women artists get fiery and personal.

While, Shakespeare’s King John (1595) stanza: Be stirring as the time/ be fire with fire/ Threaten the threatener and outface the brow/ Of bragging horror/ (where the phrase “fight fire with fire” may have originated) drips more of machismo , women, in the Baji Exhibit, fight fire with fire using both their feminine grace and strength, and celebrates getting through – in Baji: Through the Fire.

The exhibit opened last Sunday, March 4, and runs through the 30th of March at the Foodwalk Extension of the Island City Mall.

Headlined by the Bol-anon arts matriarch Hermogena “Nene” Borja Lungay with an oil painting (Untitled, 2012, 12”x18”) made just for Baji: Through the Fire, the impressionist strokes of the octogenarian artist depicts a composition of womenfolk in the midst of fleeing/ surviving from a tragic event but looking hopeful and ready to take on the challenges rebuilding a new life in greener pastures.

Rowena “Weewee” Cuadra Seloterio, known for her labyrinthine pen & ink obra’s, who last wowed us with her intricate doodle-like works for her solo exhibit WATERDANCE (2006) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, exhibits new creations Soul Derigranation (pen & ink) which she accompanies with these words: We sailed through the course of life rubbing against/ all the odds. We go up, we go down in an endless/ cycle of failings & overcomings./ We look over the horizon, what lies ahead?/ Do we see a hazy mist of uncertainty that shrouds/ our mirth? Do we see the complexity of life that entangles our/ will to move on?/ or do we see a stark of hope that promises/ beautiful days ahead of us./ Whatever we have gone through, we must strive./ In the end we can say with pride “I MADE IT./ I SURVIVED.”

Art stands alone, meaningful in itself, and whose truth may be emanated from the viewer’s own. But knowing the context with which the artwork is created gives it a dimension, gravitas but that which do not rob the beholder the chance for his or her own personal interpretation of the work.

Pooled from the Baji artists, the theme Through the Fire celebrates women’s strength and resilience to overcome challenges of being a woman. Through the Fire celebrates women’s achievements, from surviving the daily struggles, to defeating and pulling through major tragedies and calamities, personal or societal. Through the Fire reverberates the still arising gender-based adversities that continually keep women from becoming their full selves. Through the Fire is about survival, fighting back, regaining lost power, becoming woman.

Only in its second year, the Baji Exhibit hopes to become a yearly Women’s Month tradition. The Baji 2012 gathered about forty-six Boholana visual and literary artists, showcasing a multitude of art disciplines including fine art (painting), photography, sculpture, textile art, fashion, poetry/balak, creative non-fiction (essay), and fictional prose (short story). Though some of the artists from last year’s Baji begged off, most are repeaters, including Vice Mayor Nuevas Tirol Montes with a painted shoe piece (Ruby Wedding Anniversary Shoes, 2011, acrylic) and Lumin Tirol Pamaran with her growing burda creations (embroideries). Additional Boholana artists have come in for this 2012 Baji outing, including, Geneva, Switzerland-based Ani Vi Olivades Tirol (International Labor Organization) with her balak “Hilak”. Akong gihilak / tanang kamingaw, kaguol, kasubo / Akong gihilak ang tanan / Ug sa karon / Ang kahiubos / nahimong kusog / Ang kaguol og kasubo / nahimong lawum / nga atabay sa paglaum / Ang kahadlok / nahimong kaisug / Ug ang hilak / nahimong balak.

Several weeks prior to the Baji opening, 6 young Baji artists, Jhacky Curambao, Irish Glori Galon (who recently outshine the boys in the 2012 National Visual Arts Festival individual painting contest), Bethlehem Bullen, Izabella Petines, Dimpna Cutin and Ma. Bernes Acedo, were each given a 3’x4’ canvas (donated by the Bohol Arts Festival Organizing Committee) for them to paint on and showcase in this exhibit. Though the whole exhibit is themed Through the Fire, the artists were not to limit themselves or be restricted with the theme, but the ladies outdid themselves with their 3’x4’ creations.

The newbie Baji artists also impressed with their fresh offering to the Baji banquet. Maria Paz Oppus Villanueva’s upcycled clothes closet/ installation constantly garners ooh-and-aahs of admiration. She sells her one-of-a-kind wearable art at a workshop she shares with her sons in their Baclayon home. Post Partum Retaso (2002), the textile art by Joy Jakosalem-Balane tells of a young mother, who, striving to balance development work and pregnancy, and dealing with postpartum hypertension, found solace in quilting. Ma. Daisylou Daquipa-Manluza, RN brings in an enormous painting of 4’ x 4.5’ (The Sisters, 2011) whom she dedicates to her sister.

A woman story is always unfolding. The rest of the Baji visual and literary artworks speak volumes.

(Photographs by Jumjum Ouano)

When getting to school takes a kid that many steps one takes to climb up and down the steep stairway at the Chocolate Hills view deck in Carmen, multiplied tenfold or more, minus the concrete steps and the great scenery, you get the sense of his dedication to get the needed education to get through life with more ease than his daily walkathon.

Jake is a sophomore student at the Baclayon High School and has been doing this daily, pretty much his whole schooling life.

Imagine, when one day, from  out of nowhere, Jake receives news from the school principal, that he, along with other students like him, who walk miles daily just to get to and from school, are to become recipients of a free bicycle program – that which brings used and donated bicycles from the USA and loan them for life to deserving individuals – what difference that will make, what huge burden taken off Jake’s back (or feet), what big boost that’ll give to his enthusiasm to attend school, and his self-esteem in general.

This seemingly simple solution but very transformational one, with direct results and endless long-term life-changing possibilities, spurred Joel Uichico, a Bol-anon by heart, whose local development efforts such as the recently turned-over Baclayon Recreational and Aquatic Activities is not unknown to us, to personally push hard for the project.

With the nod and help from the teachers and school heads of the public elementary schools in Baclayon, technical support from Dr. Nes Pestelos, the thumbs-up from Synergeia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to Philippine education, the commitment from the Schoof’s of Baclayon’s Peacock Garden to finance the international freight of the bicycles, etc. , and the support of family and friends,  Mr. Uichico pitched the Bikes for (Baclayon) Education plan to the Bikes for the World leadership in Washington, D.C., USA. Bikes for the World’s (BfW) is a US-based global initiative with the central mission of collecting unwanted bicycles and related material in the United States and deliver it at low cost to community development programs assisting the poor in developing countries or in the Washington DC metropolitan area.  With the BfW’s approval, the students of Baclayon were to become the first recipients of the first BfW bikes deployment in the Philippines and in Asia.

And indeed, after weeks of arranging for the shipment of the BfW bicycles to the Philippines, and a few weeks more, in a Metro Manila warehouse, sorting the bicycles out, repairing them fit for their new owners, with the help of volunteers who worked the shift, the bicycles, in December 4, 2011, were finally turned over to their first recipients, the ALS students of Baclayon, older and more mature students with higher risks of dropping out and are more easily sidetracked by other priorities, are the perfect Batch 1 beneficiaries of the Bikes for Education program.

The deal is simple. Students who meet the criteria (those belonging to a family with the lowest income bracket, and living farthest away from their school) as determined by the school, except for ALS students, who all get to receive the bikes regardless, are given the free bicycles, including a sturdy helmet, a pair of shoes (courtesy of ROX), and an insurance (also paid for by the Peacock Garden) – loaned to them for life – meaning, it’s theirs but they can’t sell them. They must also be used only for getting to and from school (except for ALS students) until they graduate high school. There are also some continuing requirements like staying vice-free, getting okay grades and not lending the bike to others, not even their parents. But before they are given the bicycles, a  pretty comprehensive lecture on bicycling is given (with written and oral exams afterwards), as well, as a hands-on course on the bicycling basics, especially in difficult terrains. Some basic tips on fixing their bikes are also given. All are fairly easy bargains for the huge deal of getting a bike, and espcially bigger deal of getting to and from school easier and faster – and a great shot at getting the coveted education.

With more bicycles arriving, the program hopes to complete their full roll-out this year, giving away more bicycles to public elementary (from 5th to 6th grade) and high school students (freshmen to seniors) of Baclayon.

Whilst more students toil in walking kilometers to go to school, and with the continued enthusiasm of Mr. Uichico and other project partners, Bohol will become bicyclandia, in no time. And we get the promise of a well-educated future to boot.

Now, that’s pedal power!

Lawyer and Holy Name University (HNU) law professor, Rene Paredes, launches his chapbook collection of poems entitled Carousels of Time on Friday, March 24, 2012 at the Metro Centre Hotel.

A large number of the works in the 17-poem collection has been edited by acclaimed Boholana poet Marjorie Evasco.

Copies of the book will be sold at the launch. Carousels of Time may also be purchased in BQ Mall and Central Books in Manila.

There’s a lot to be told about a city or town by looking at its public parks. There’s just something endearing and sophisticated about a place where we see people reading a newspaper or a book on a park bench, kids chasing and jumping after butterflies or doves, picnicking families, youngsters practicing the latest “dougie” variations, or just plain hanging out, playing board games, relaxing under the canopy of trees.

This is Sunday fare – a little tamer, homier and less greener – at our very own little park, of course, Plaza Rizal.

Plaza mayor during the Spanish colonial times, staple in every major administrative unit after the Laws of the Indies, and changed to its current name after the immortalization of Dr. Jose P. Rizal as our National Hero. Now heavily concreted, the welcome pedestrian pathway paved nearly all over it, trees pruned, plants rearranged, structures and what-not’s built, destroyed and reincarnated in some form , markers added here and there, this our dear Plaza Rizal.

Early mornings, we spot a few joggers or walkers strutting their stuff in and around it. Nighttimes, too, the night runners do their cooling-down exercises  here. We quickly walk pass through it, pause at times to enamor at the real kings of the place, the doves. It is our favorite daytime assembly place, particularly, the kiosko, at the Plaza Rizal, where we meet up for out-of-town excursions.

After or before Sunday mass, we converge there at times during the golden hour of the day, kids in tow, letting them feed the doves, only to allow them to chase the doves away. But it’s a beautiful, vibrant sight, perfect for our little digital cameras to capture and post in Facebook.

Alas, times-a-changing have chased away the fabled kodakers of Plaza Rizal, too.  As with the flocks of lansijang whose concierto of chirps and droppings mystified, fascinated and annoyed us all at once, their on-the-dot race to and from their treetop condos at the plaza endeared us, all the same . As with the hordes of us, who now all flock to the nearest air-conditioned comforts of the shopping malls – all but plaza’s in boxes, vibrant, breathable, artificial, costly.

In the end, no elaborate shopping complex can really substitute our need for breathing spaces within this slowly unfolding almost-urban jungle that we have. Public parks, the real kind, with greeneries and trees and flowers, lots of it, are the “lungs” of the city or town. “The foliage of the parks gives out vital air to purify and regenerate the atmosphere, in the same way as the lungs give it to the blood, changing its venous blue to an arterial scarlet.” This “body”, this city, Bohol, are all overgrowing and we need more public parks and spaces that cater to healthy recreation that enhance our overall quality of life.

While, if one’s lucky to still have a backyard grove and could still nestle under their own mansanitas tree, and be lost in the vortex of Nicholas Sparks’ latest melancholic romance, or just ponder upon the vastness of the universe or wait for that red mansanitas to burst from its pod, open spaces have a special air about it, a genius loci, where one could be alone in peace, but at the same time belonging  to a community of citizens taking relief from the strains of their work or school environments and everyday demands of living – walking or running, time spent sitting or reading, watching the birds, people watching even, essentially any time spent in the natural environment the open space offers. It goes without saying that when open spaces are attractive and accessible, people are more likely to engage in physical activity, which has obvious inherent health benefits.

The CPG Park is becoming that alternative. But with recent demise of some trees in the park and the lingering ghosts of prison cells past nearby, it is attracting little park culture that it should carry. Other tree-less (some, semi-public because of the fees) recreation spaces in the city are CPG Sports Complex with the newly rubberized track oval, the K of C promenade, pantalan.

There’s a lot to be told about a city or town by looking at its public parks. That we are wanting of green open spaces, there’s a lot to be told about this city, our towns, Bohol.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, the tragic tale of star-crossed lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, sure is as sweet as it is gripping, wherever it’s set, whatever language it’s told, or whatever medium it’s told with.

Romeo & Juliet has been adapted manyfold, from faithful stage adaptations to unlikely versions like the West Side Story set in the streetgang-ridden1950s New York and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in modern Verona, a coastal California city.

Ateneo de Manila University’s Tanghalang Ateneo reimagines Shakespeare’s tragedy and sets it in an Islamic Mindanao community rife with local color and their fair share of feuding families, and employing uniquely, and quite effectively so, the traditional Sama dance, Igal, as the play’s movement theme.

Tanghalang Ateneo’s Islamic Romeo & Juliet, Ricardo-Abad-directed “Sintang Dalisay”. It’s as emotional, melodramatic. As bittersweet, heartrending. And made our own.

“Sintang Dalisay” is shaped from G.D. Roke’s 1901 awit “Ang Sintang Dalisay ni Julieta at Romeo”, and Rolando Tinio’s William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” translation.

In Friday night’s staging at the Holy Name University (HNU) Gymnasium, presented by the Languages Department of the HNU College of Arts and Sciences, the Tanghalang Ateneo and select HNU student performers and musicians presented an abridged version of Romeo & Juliet, using the same motif as “Sintang Dalisay” but uses William Shakespeare’s original English text, this time. Also, the characters were reduced to six (6): Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, Mercutio, Friar Laurence and Lady Capulet.

The trimmed down Romeo & Juliet works for the not necessarily Shakespeare even Romeo and Juliet erudite college crowd, who hooted and cheered at “swoony” moments in the play, particularly the “balcony courtship” scene, and the passionate and heartbreaking lovemaking number. It was a light, fun watch.

It was great to experience a magical stage production on the HNU stage again. The audience’s glowing smiles after the show were telling.

That’s Shakespeare and love.

(Photograph by Jumjum Ouano)