Ayungon

My Negros Oriental Tour: Municipality of Ayungon

I got to visit this town after Tayasan and that makes Ayungon the last and final town I have visited in my “full stretch” Negros Oriental Tour! Ironic (even absurd) that it had to be a town in the middle of the north-south spread of the province, right?! Well, yeah… but that was because I had to make quick decisions when the skies were not that cooperative hehe. Let’s see if I stumbled into anything at Ayungon…

Got off at a corner before the town’s municipal hall and walked towards it. The municipal hall sits in a whole big block of land at center of town fronted by a nice park. A semi-circular road though was cut through the park to provide entrance and exit to their munisipyo, thus, decreasing the park area space. Its still big though, and one of the most beautiful, I think. Every space beside the municipal hall is used for other municipal structures like an open tennis court and a sports center that is in-the-making. The park is unlike Tayasan or La Libertad that is just plain grassy green. Here, it is manicured, well maintained and has everything from promenades, play areas, resting areas and ‘lovers’ lanes’ interspersed amidst trees and flowering plants. Lovely!

Ayungon’s municipal hall is a simple but clean looking white block of concrete. There’s a certain tastefulness to how it looks even if you’d immediately realize it’s nothing new. Probably the color white? It makes the place more dignified, I think. In fact, these days, this can be considered unique, since most municipal or city buildings come out two-toned or even multi-colored. Or probably it’s the linear simplicity? Look at the picture, you hardly see any criss-crossing, curved or rounded lines. Its simple really, but you immediately discern that the building, small as it is, commands authority. “mala-capitolyo ba”! Another thing unique is the fore ground of the building. Yes, it probably also serves as a basketball court, but look closely, It is slightly elevated from ground level. Thus, there are no vehicles in the immediate vicinity of the building. Grand!

On the way to the town’s church, I passed by that big unfinished building that is going to be their sports center. While it is way far from being 'done', I saw that it is already usable as the basic structure already stands complete with concrete bleachers. And when I peeped in, there was some “event” in progress. Ah it was a rather small gathering and did not even take half of the floor space. But it invited my curiosity… a Christmas Party! For old folks, that is. First time I saw something like it and I thought I felt something inside me watching the simple event. I could see the small banner that said it was some ‘event’ sponsored by SSS (social security system) for their pensioners in Ayungon. Yeah, touching in fact. How many times do you see or even hear about such a party for the dear lolos and lolas sponsored by SSS? They had games, some dancing, a lot of singing and gift-giving. One lady I briefly talked to said they started with prayers, because every time they have this event, it is surely minus one or two or more pensioners from last year. Ah…

Hmm, small as it already is, Ayungon’s church, cramped by the side of a street amidst residential houses and other structures, is even made to look all the more tiny as it is just across one side of big sports center. Can’t even make a full frontal view of the church façade, lest probably if I clambered up the scaffolding under the sports center’s bleachers hehe! How small? Well, you can point hundreds of barangay or village chapels in this country that will definitely be bigger than this ‘church’ hehe. Not the ugliest, but darkest (esp in the mornings). It is sandwiched by the convent/parish office and other structures so that only that front portion (see picture) gets sunlight in the afternoon. Anyway, I liked what I saw inside. There were three pairs of soon to be married folks having a rehearsal on how to do their walk in the aisle. Yeah, a practice. One couple, even have the bride’s parents around to also ‘practice’ their walk. Interesting hehe! Then again, there were three pairs in one wedding, so I thought it was but proper for the coordinator to rehearse them lest they mix partners, parents and entourages during their big day hahaha!

Okay, I walked over to front of the municipal park to wait for a ride back to San Carlos. But I saw something else posted by the fence of that beautifully clean and orderly elementary school just across. I was in BATMAN Territory! Wheh, so where would be robin or Catwoman or Mr. Penguin?! Hehe, a closer look at the singage and I learned that it means ‘Bindoy-Ayungon-Tayasan-MANjuyod (BATMan) MPA Network. Just by looking at the pictures, I deduced that MPA means ‘marine protected area’. Well well, nice to hear that this part of the province has also gotten to protecting their seas. I hope they’re serious about it. We should all be anyway, right?

Ah, there came an air conditioned Ceres bus bound for Bacolod via San Carlos, so I hopped in. The conductor and driver both smiling almost chimed in a chorus saying “sir, ikaw na sad?” hahaha. This was actually the same bus I took from Bindoy to San Carlos a few days ago! Am getting popular - with bus drivers and conductors of Negros, that is) hehe! Cuz I already am at Cebu hahaha!

Let’s go, but, am not quite done yet, promise!


If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
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