BUANOY

Buanoy is a barangay that is located along the south coast of Balamban. It has a total land area of 1,050 hectares. It is bounded by Arpili, Gaas, Duangan, Cantibas, Abucayan, and the Tañon Strait.

Buanoy, which has a population of more or less 9000 people, is politically subdivided into thirteen (13) sitios, namely: Looc, To-ong, Punta, Kalagitan, Alang-alang, Buanoy Proper, Sigra, Sacsac, Laray, Kamangahan, Sulip, Buhing Tubig, and Butong.

NAME ORIGIN OF THE BARANGAY

Buanoy was named after a basil, or sweet basil, which is locally known as “balanoy”, “bawanoy”, “bulanoy”, “buwanoy”, and “sangig”. ¹

Basil is a culinary herb Ocimum basilicum, of the family Lamiaceae (mints), sometimes known as Saint Joseph's Wort in some English-speaking countries. Basil is originally native to India and other tropical regions of Asia, having been cultivated in the said regions for more than 5,000 years. It is prominently featured in Italian cuisine, and also plays a major role in the Northeast Asian cuisine of Taiwan and the Southeast Asian cuisines of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines. Depending on the species and cultivar, the leaves may taste somewhat like anise, with a strong, pungent, often sweet smell.

There are many varieties of Ocimum basilicum, as well as several related species or species hybrids also called basil. The type used in Italian food is typically called sweet basil as opposed to Thai basil (O. basilicum var. thyrsiflora), lemon basil (O. citriodorum) and holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) which are used in Asia. While most common varieties of basil are treated as annuals, some are perennial in warm, tropical climates, including holy basil and a cultivar known as 'African Blue'.

The word basil comes from the Greek βασιλεύς (basileus), meaning "king", as it is believed to have grown above the spot where St. Constantine and Helen discovered the Holy Cross. The Oxford English Dictionary quotes speculations that basil may have been used in "some royal unguent, bath, or medicine". Basil is still considered the "king of herbs" by many cookery authors.²

Basil is an herbal remedy for a lot of common ailments. The juice of its leaves can be used to bring down fever. It is also an important constituent of many Ayurvedic cough syrups and expectorants. It helps to mobilize mucus in bronchitis and asthma. Chewing its leaves relieves cold and flu. For earache a few drops of its extract, if instilled, relieves the symptoms promptly. The juice of fresh leaves, flower tops and slender roots is a very good antidote for snake and scorpion bite. Its oil is rich in vitamin C, carotene, calcium and phosphorus. Besides, it has antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties. Ayurvedic basil preparations have significantly reduced the symptoms of viral hepatitis. In diabetics it helps in lowering the blood sugar level. Its anti-spasmodic property can be utilized to relieve abdominal colics. The extracts are also helpful in digestive disorders. Its leaves have properties similar to the currently available anti-TB drugs like Streptomycin and Isoniazide. Its oil has been used as a potent anti-malarial drug. It also has mosquito repellent properties. It raises the human body immunity by increasing the antibody production. Experimental studies on animals have shown anti-stress activity with its extract. It has anti-fertility effect by reducing the estrogen hormone levels in females and decreasing the sperm count in men. It is also used to treat ringworm of the skin. Basil oil can be applied directly for acne treatment.³

There are many rituals and beliefs associated with basil. The French sometimes call basil "l'herbe royale"; while in Welsh it has the synonymous name "brenhinllys". Jewish folklore suggests it adds strength while fasting. In Portugal, dwarf bush basil is traditionally presented in a pot, together with a poem and a pom-pon, to a sweetheart, on the religious holidays of Saint John and Saint Anthony. However, basil represented hatred in ancient Greece, and European lore sometimes claims that basil is a symbol of Satan. African legend claims that basil protects against scorpions, while the English botanist Culpeper cites one "Hilarius, a French physician" as affirming it as common knowledge that smelling basil too much would breed scorpions in the brain.

Holy basil, also called tulsi, is highly revered in Hinduism and also has religious significance in the Greek Orthodox Church, where it is used to prepare holy water. It is said to have been found around Christ's tomb after his resurrection. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox Church and Romanian Orthodox Church use basil (Bulgarian and Macedonian: босилек; Romanian: busuioc, Serbian: босиљак) to prepare holy water and pots of basil are often placed below church altars.

In Europe, basil is placed in the hands of the dead to ensure a safe journey. In India, they place it in the mouth of the dying to ensure they reach God. The ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks believed it would open the gates of heaven for a person passing on.

It is believed that basil protects from evil and negativity, and aids in attracting and keeping love. It is used for purification baths, and in wealth and prosperity rituals. Carrying a basil leaf in a pocket is said to bring wealth and if powdered and sprinkled over a mate while he sleeps it is supposed to eliminate infidelity from his marriage.

Boccaccio's Decameron, a memorably morbid tale (novella V), tells of Lisabetta, whose brothers slay her lover. Her lover appears to her in a dream and shows her where he is buried. She secretly disinters the head, and sets it in a pot of basil, which she waters with her daily tears. The pot being taken from her by her brothers, she dies of her grief not long after. Boccaccio's tale is the source of John Keats' poem Isabella or The Pot of Basil - which in turn inspired the paintings Isabella (Millais painting) and Isabella and the Pot of Basil. A similar story is told of the Longobard queen, Rosalind.⁴

Until now, basil is still cultivated and abounds in every backyard vegetable garden of the local populace. It is still the most sought after not for the preparation in making holy water to cast away demons but in cooking “nilat-ang manok” (vegetable chicken soup), which is the most favorite cuisine of the locale since most of them either raised poultry & fighting cocks or “sabongero”, who returned home most of the times with a “bihag” after winning in a cock derby. Basil (together with a lemon grass, onion, garlic, pepper, and ginger) is used to sauté a vegetable chicken soup.  It makes the flavor of the soup mild and gives a magical Asian aroma in the whole flat.

ESTABLISHMENT AS A BARANGAY

There is no definite time as to the creation of the barangay. But there is a hint to that in relation to the creation of its parish. There are two existing parishes in Balamban, the Saint Francis of Assisi Parish, which is located in the town proper; and the San Vicente Ferrer Parish, a daughter parish of the first mentioned. San Vicente Ferrer Parish was created on October 13, 1966. The said parish has seven (7) barangays as constituents, namely: Arpili, Buanoy, Cansomoroy, Cantibas, Duangan, & Gaas. Its first parish priest, Rev. Fr. Christian Vicente Noel was installed by Msgr. Luis Ybañez on October 13, 1966. The priests that followed him were: Rev. Fr. Aquino Padilla, Rev. Fr. Isidro Ullamot, Rev. Fr. Angelito Cabañes, Rev. Fr. Vocales, Rev. Fr. Jovencio Rabusa, and Rev. Fr. Manuel Tan.

From a common assumption in Philippine history that most of the barangays and towns were established after an establishment of a parish, it could be very probable that the barangay was either established in 1967 or in 1968.

Based on the barangay profile of Buanoy the following had become its political leaders from 1968 to 2010:

• Hon. Domingo Seblos (1968-1978). He was a native of Buanoy who was married to Antonia Playda of Abucayan. They had 11 children – 4 girls & 7 boys.

• Hon. Rafael Concepcion (1978-1988). He was a native of Nangka. He was married to Mrs. Enriqueta Concepcion of Buanoy. They had two children, both girls.

• Hon. Arturo Milan (1988-1991). He was a native of Buanoy. He was married to Florida Narsico of Buanoy. They had four children – two girls & two boys.

• Hon. Lorenzo Noval (1991-1994). He was a native of Hingatmonan. He was married to Lagring Timoteo of Buanoy. They had three children – a boy & two girls.

• Hon. Amado Postrano (1994-1997). He was a native of Buanoy. He was married to Gloria Ponteras. They had six children.

• Hon. Soledad Milan (1997-2010). She was a native of Buanoy. She served as a public school teacher for 41 years and retired as a public school district supervisor in 1996. She was elected as barangay captain in 1997 and served as the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) President for one term.

The current barangay captain of Buanoy is Hon. Pedro Agustines Jr.

PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE BARANGAY

There is one public elementary school in the barangay which is Buanoy Central School. The school had been established during the time of Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos. And it had been the center of Balamban District II.

There is also one public secondary school which is Buanoy National High School. It had been established in 1979 as a barangay high school which later on became a national high school. It has nine (9) extension campuses located in different barangays which are now autonomous. Buanoy National High School has adopted three curricula: the Basic Education Curriculum, SSTC, & DOST. It is also one of the pilot schools in the country for the Tech-Voc Program. And it is assigned as the lead secondary school in Balamban by the DepEd – Cebu Province Division.

THE SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY IN THE BARANGAY

The people of Buanoy before basically lived only in fishing and farming.¹ But as Buanoy progressed into an industrialized urban barangay, due to its assimilation to West Cebu Industrial Park Special Economic Zone pursuant to Republic Act No. 7916 as amended by Republic Act No. 8748, majority of its constituents are now working in the shipbuilding industry which occupied a very large portion of its coastal area, more or less 147 hectares. This shipbuilding industry is owned and managed by the Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu Inc. (THICI).

Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu Inc. (THICI), a partner of Tsuneishi Group of Japan and the Aboitiz Group, is the biggest investment by the Tsuneishi Group outside Japan with a total investment of P17.5 billion. The company was established in 1994 and its main facilities are located in Buanoy. It has the capability of building ships of up to 80,000 DWT. By late 2010 11,700 workers were employed at the shipyard.

Due to this economic progress, Balamban became the home base of a world-class ship building facility of the Aboitizes -- the fast craft manufacturing company of the FBMA Marine Inc.; the bulk-building Tsuneishi Heavy Industries - Cebu, a joint venture between the Aboitiz group of companies and the Tsuneishi group of Japan; and another Aboitiz owned company, Metaphil. All these companies are located in the West Cebu Industrial Park (WCIP), an economic-industrial zone established in Balamban sometime in 1996.

According to the then Mayor Alex S. Binghay, Balamban could still accommodate medium to heavy industries inside the WCIP, a special economic zone that grants incentives to new locators and pioneering ventures such as metal fabrication for industrial purposes, production of construction materials, cement manufacturing, agro-processing, assembly of machinery or consumer products, power generation and the like. 

By 2007, the Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu Inc. (THICI) had already built more than 46 bulk ship carriers in Buanoy. Bulk carriers are ships that carry heavy materials such as copper, gold, coal, iron and cement. Tsuneishi and Metaphil are locators of the West Cebu Industrial Park in Balamban.

In that same year, the Aboitiz Group stated that they were mulling on a $200M shipyard expansion which would make it more competitive in the international market that would put Cebu and the Philippines on the world's shipbuilding map. According to the Aboitiz Group, the expansion of the Balamban shipyard would create an additional estimated employment of 3000 workers such as welders, fitters among others in the western part of Cebu. As of 2007 THICI employed about 4000 people that made Balamban one of the booming towns in Cebu, if not in the region.

The then Mayor Alex S. Binghay, in a media interview said, its local government unit has required large companies such as THICI and FBMA Marine Inc. that 70% of their employment are locals from the Balamban area. He noted that many of Cebu's 3rd district residents have come back to their hometown because of the employment opportunities the shipbuilding industry had created.

Hoegh Autoliners, a subsidiary of Leif Hoegh & Co. had commissioned THICI to build four (4) pure care and Track Carriers (PCTCs) with a capacity of about 5,200 cars vessel. Two of the 4 PCTCs, Hoegh Brasilla and Hoegh Sydney were completed and delivered on March 2007 and August 20, 2007 respectively. The 3rd vessel, Hoegh Manila that was christened by President Arroyo, was also completed in that year while the 4th ship, Hoegh Oslo was launched in November 2007.

The arrival of foreign shipbuilders in the Philippines has introduced the country’s shipbuilding industry in the international market. Philippine shipyards are now building more ships for export than for domestic use. Majority of these ships are of large tonnage capacities like bulk carriers, container ships and big passenger ferries. By 2009 the export market, which is dominated by three foreign shipbuilders, accounted for more than 98% of the total turnover and the number was expected to further increase.

The Tsuneishi Cebu shipyard, operated by Japan’s Tsuneishi Holdings Corp., in partnership with Cebu’s Aboitiz Group had produced about 77 ships by the end of 2007. Starting in 1997 with the 23,407-DWT M/V Sea Amelita, a log/bulk carrier named after then-First Lady Amelita Ramos, the company proceeded to make history in the local shipbuilding industry.⁵

President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III led the naming and delivery ceremony of the ship Tenshu Maru at the shipyard of Tsuneishi Heavy Industries (Cebu), Inc. The Tenshu Maru was an 180,000 deadweight metric ton type cape size bulker, which was the first of its kind and the biggest to be constructed in the country. Tsuneishi Heavy Industries (Cebu), Inc. was commissioned to build the ship which was started on July 2010. 

 

The President was accompanied by Finance Secretary Cezar Purisima, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn F. Garcia, Balamban Mayor Ace Stefan V. Binghay, Aboitiz Group of Companies President and CEO Erramon Aboitiz, & THICI President Shinji Watadani.

The shipbuilding industry at the West Cebu Industrial Park Special Economic Zone in Buanoy and Arpili had made a significant impact on putting the country on top of the list of world’s shipbuilding industries. In fact, the Philippines overtook European countries and became the world’s fourth largest shipbuilding nation in 2010, following South Korea, China and Japan, in terms of new building completion volume. This was attributable to the expanded construction volume of the Tsuneishi Heavy industries (Cebu) Inc. (THICI) in Balamban, Cebu operated by Tsuneishi Holding Corp. and the other two major shipyards in the country. This significant development led to the naming of Balamban as “the shipbuilding capital of the Philippines and of Southeast Asia”.⁶