If there’s one person who can write the history of Mangagoy, Bislig both in words and images, it would be ‘Nong Tony.  It was he who immortalized the smiles, the stories and the lives of every family I know in Mangagoy the way Gabriel Garcia Marquez immortalized his stories.  It was he who brings color and beauty to otherwise drab pictures of smiling kids with no front teeth.  My graduation pictures, class pictures and glamshots (yes, those even the ones where you hold that tiny piece of leaf or perhaps beside a white sedan at the parking lot of the parish church) – all taken by him.

And after 84 years of living a well-lived fruitful life, ‘Nong Tony peacefully passed away in his sleep.  He left a legacy.  A legacy of history captured in images.  A legacy of love for your roots and your hometown.  His pictures have immortalized our memories, as our memories immortalize his.

Shiela , a kababata, relates the experience with a fervor of that of a daughter.  And Joey , his grandson who inherited his love for photography, wrote a short memoir for him.

And for those whose childhood has been immortalized by him, let us offer a prayer fit for ‘Nong Tony.

Mangagoy, Bislig recently survived a devastating flash flood as heavy rains battered Visayas and Mindanao in the early weeks of the year 2009.  This appalling news came as Luzon, especially Baguio (9 degrees!), enjoyed a rare cold wintery weather over the holiday season.

According to Radio Mindanao Network (published January 16, 2009):

"Umabot na sa 7 katao ang nasawi sa flashflood at landslide sa Camiguin Island at Bislig City, Surigao del Sur.
Nasa advance state of decomposition na ang ilan sa mga biktima nang matagpuan ang mga ito.
Isa rin sa mga biktima ang narekober na nakasakay pa ng motorsiklo matapos matabunan ng gumuhong lupa at mga bato.
Marami ring kalsada sa mga nabanggit na lugar ang hindi madaanan ng mga sasakyan."

Special thanks to www.mangagoy.com for the pictures.  Continue reading for more pictures.

by Rex Lor

If there’s anything that I am very proud of my rustic hometown, Mangagoy, Bislig City, it’s that even when it is right in the middle of a great jungle in Mindanao, it has never failed to produce some of the best and the brightest in the Philippines. And what I am prouder is that my kababata, JUDE THADDEUS GITAMONDOC, who hails from John Bosco District has managed to do what most of us music lovers would dream of — compose music and write lyrics for the biggest stars in the Philippine Music industry. And not once nor twice did he earn a laurel for his songs, but THRICE!