FORGETTING GAT ANDRES AND LOLO JOSE: AN ESSAY ON VICTORIAS CITY'S POOR MEMORY AND ITS NEGLECT OF THE REAL HEROES

On November 30, 2025, Bonifacio Day, while the rest of the country was celebrating the hero, Victorias City was just busy trimming its Christmas tree at the public plaza, ignoring to honor Andres Bonifacio, whose statue, standing a few meters from the tree, was sadly ignored, bereft of any semblance of any celebration of his heroism.

Then came today, December 30, 2025, Rizal Day.

Again, while the rest of the country was celebrating the most famous and the most honored hero of them all, Lolo Jose's statue in the Victorias City public plaza stood somber and alone even with the festive Christmas atmosphere around the city.

This is how the local government of Victorias City leads in honoring the country's national heroes - with a poor memory.

Just two weeks ago, the local government spent taxpayers' money on the Kalamayan Festival which included performances, DJs, and games. And yet, it could not even remember to spend for a bunch of flowers for the national heroes.

Over the years, I observed that the public servants of the City have worshipped the wrong heroes: themselves.

They have put up a monument that was bigger and more expensive than those of Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio, and even creating a 'day' for a fake hero with parties and expensive wreaths just to push their agenda of using a dead man for their political propaganda. Unfortunately for them, I was able to prove their so-called history to be fake after all. (Read blog here).

And while I understand that the emcees who have hosted the programs at the public plaza are either hired or city hall employees themselves, they always feel the need to kiss up to their 'bosses' because they have to enumerate the names of the city officials on every other sentence. Although I thought they might have been ignorant of the fact that those programs and festivities are funded by the people's money because they always neglect to thank us, the Victoriahanon, for paying for the sound system, the lights, the decorations, the cash prizes, and of course, for their catered dinner after, which may involve some 'balutin mo ako take-out' for all we know.

The real character of a people is manifested on how it honors its past and its present. Sadly, the leadership of Victorias City these past years has failed to do just that.

It failed to honor our national heroes who have been standing gallantly in the Victorias public plaza for decades as a reminder of who we are as a people. Au contraire, the city government conjured up a fake hero whom they use for their political propaganda.

These elected public servants also neglect to honor the heroes of the present, the ones who keep the City afloat, the ones who contribute to the economy adn those who have put Victorias City on the map: the business owners, the tricycle drivers, the delivery people, the sales clerks and cashiers, the so-called 'riders', the restaurant and cafe owners, the fish, meat, vegetable and fruit vendors, the workers in teh fields, the fisherfolks, the students and athletes, the elderly, and the rest of the Victoriahanon who quietly contribute to the economy but are ignored by the City anyway. And if you are saying that the local government has some welfare programs for some of them, think again.

You can always see that they are just being used for politics: the upload photographs in the social media for their so-called distribution of scholarships, medicines, rice, and noodles that were bought by taxpayers' money. On top of that, the local government imposes the closure of the streets to give the tricycle drivers, students, business owners and the commuting public a hard time roaming around the City.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines's theme for Rizal Day is "Rizal: As Our People Rise, Your Teachings and Wisdom Guide Our Way."

How I really wish that Rizal's teachings and wisdom trickle down to our local government.

But it seems that we may have to wait for another Bonifacio Day or Rizal Day for that to happen.😭

#RizalDay #JoseRizal #Rizal #AndresBonifacio #BonifacioDay #history #hero #heroes #VictoriasCity #NegrosOccidental #Philippines #essay

The Breadfruit: A Superfruit and So Much More

My essay about the breadfruit won the 3rd Prize at the 2022 Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award.

Here's the link to the winners' list:

https://philstarlife.com/geeky/635622-award-winning-literature-dining-table?page=3

                      * * * * * 

The Breadfruit: A Superfruit and So Much More

It’s Saturday morning and I make my weekend trip to the fruit and vegetable market at Bangga Daan in Victorias City. This is where the vendors from the northern part of the Negros island bring their produce to sell during weekends.

Along with the other vendors, Ining, my sukî from Toboso, promised me a week ago that she would bring me kolo today, and she did. Of the half a sack of kolo that she brought to sell, I bought two. At P20 each, a price for her loyal customer, the two pieces of kolo made my eco-bag heavier by a few kilos that morning.

When I was kid, I remember my lola treating the family with a sweet delicacy made from kolo. Kolo, round-shaped and called breadfruit in English, originated from the islands in the South Pacific and its seeds must have reached the Philippine archipelago through the traders and colonizers of the past centuries. In other parts of the Philippines, it is called rimas. According to TIME magazine, breadfruit is a superfood, meaning, it is packed with vitamins and nutrients that are good for one’s health. The ones I bought from Ining were almost the size of a football. And beneath its yellow- green skin that’s full of prickles, it looks like a plain white bread that’s bland to the taste. It is, however, loaded with calcium, fiber, phosphorous, copper, potassium, and other nutrients.

The reason I asked Ining to bring me some kolo was a memory from childhood of enjoying kolo – cooked, sweetened and yummy. My grandmother, who had long passed, introduced me to breadfruit as a dessert, and I want to relish that memory again – through my palate.

The recipe for sweetened kolo is simple: it is skinned and the good parts are cut into bite-sizes, washed and soaked in water for a few minutes, moved into a pan, bathed in coconut milk and brown sugar, and carefully stirred with a few drops of vanilla until it dries up and softened. Compared to more complicated recipes that churn out less nutritional desserts, this recipe is easy to do, requires cheap ingredients, but promises a lot of enjoyment and health benefits.

My cooked kolo, now golden brown, and sticky and creamy from the coconut milk, is warm and ready to eat. I transferred a few chunks into a plate, forked one and took a bite. Its texture is pulpy with the sweet syrup now flooding my palate alongside the dancing grains of the brown sugar. As the delicacy’s fragrance fills the air, so do my memories of the days when my grandmother used to prepare this dish herself. The breadfruit, grown and harvested from the northern mountains of the Negros island,

found its way into my lola’s old kitchen and was transformed into a beloved delicacy whose aroma, texture, and sweetness helped me celebrate my beloved grandmother.

According to the Department of Agriculture, kolo, or rimas, can be cultivated as “a staple crop which can help alleviate poverty and malnutrition.” Breadfruit can also be an alternative for rice. But compared to rice, breadfruit has a moderate glycemic index, which means it is good for diabetics if cooked and eaten plainly. It is so versatile that it can be used to make pastillas, chips, crackers, and even ice cream.

In the Hawaiian culture, a breadfruit tree, a symbolic tree of life, is planted and gifted to a newborn. Well, my lola never gifted me a breadfruit tree but through its fruit, she showed me her unconditional love and affection like all our grandparents did for us when we were young. Although our grandparents may no longer be around to once again make us enjoy their homegrown recipes, we can always revisit those fun memories through the dishes they once prepared for us.

The recipe that transforms a raw breadfruit into a sweet delicacy is very simple, and there are a lot of dishes from our childhood that are easy to prepare. But when these dishes are once again enjoyed, they become conversations with our past, celebrating the people whose hands prepared them for us to enjoy.

And as I finish the last chunks of the sweetened kolo on my plate, each bite is a conversation about my childhood memories with my lola. But with these mouthfuls of kolo, I also benefit from all those nutrients. And if I enjoyed a cupful, my potassium intake is equivalent to three bananas.

Breadfruit has other names: Ukwa, ulu, panapén or pana in other countries, and kolo, kolu or rimas, locally. Its scientific name of Artocarpus antilis may be difficult to pronounce, but all we need to remember is that it is not just a fruit, it is a superfruit.

#kolo #breadfruit #rimas #foodwriter #DoreenGamboaFernandez #foodwriting #comnpetition #food