By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
THE ENTIRE day of July 13 I covered a series of groundbreaking activities for housing and road projects in La Castellana town in central Negros Occidental.
I have to admit that groundbreakings are just good for press release. In journalists’ parlance, Developmental Communications (DevCom).
But one struck my attention – the one in Sitio Buraguac, Barangay Manghanoy, La Castellana. First, the name of the sitio is quite odd. Really, it sounds “barriotic”. Worse, if you syllabicate in Hiligaynon, it’s “bu-rag-wak”.
When I heard the name of the place, I laughed. “What!?” was my first reaction. But when we arrived in the area amid a downpour, there was a story worthy to be told and retold.
Picture-perfect place of hardship/poverty
Buraguac is a very remote sitio. Located in the midst of sugarcane and rice plantations with a bit of forest cover on the other side at the foot of the majestic Mt. Kanlaon, Buraguac is a picture-perfect place of hardship-slash-poverty.
Seeing some residents, especially women, shedding tears in the middle of the groundbreaking ceremony was “heart-wrenching”. I saw myself in them.
I grew up in a hacienda in Cudangdang, EB Magalona town. Buraguac and Cudangdang had almost the same “features”. The road was muddy (when raining). Traveling was a struggle.
Just a bit of backgrounder, I graduated from high school by walking a total 16 kilometers every day (back and forth) from Cudangdang to EB Magalona town proper. I sensed the same struggle among the youth in Buraguac.
Face of the story
When La Castellana’s Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan declared, “Buraguac, this it!” it struck my heart. There’s “it” in it. A “dream come true” for Buraguac natives.
Having this P7-M road project, Nanay Mila said, “Pinaka-the best ini nga regalo sa amon.” It’ll ease the transport of their farm produce – rice, vegetables, and animals. Too, during health emergency cases, especially women about give birth.
Beyond self-satisfaction
Concreting the Buraguac road will forever be imprinted in the minds and hearts of the residents – a “great realization” of their “elusive dream”.
I remember what American Baptist Minister Martin Luther King Jr, had said: “You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
‘Beauty from chaos’
Yes, road construction, especially in this remotest sitio, could be a “big pain” or a “nightmare” for a contactor. Mayor Mangilimutan, therefore, asked the Buraguacanons to “sacrifice” by not letting someone become a “tulisan” or instant robber of construction materials.
“Buligay kita. Let’s work together. Para ini sa inyo,” the mayor stressed.
‘Justice’
The road project in Buraguac is a sort of “justice” that Mayor Mangilimutan gifted to Buraguacanons. Justice in the sense it’ll finally liberate them from the “agony” of bad road since time immemorial. And agony is synonymous to injustice. And while there’s injustice, no one can truly rest.
In sum, I love the Buraguac road story more than anything else. Relatable. Meaningful. Praisable./PN
