Napo, Loon's nucleus community is located some 200 meters below the town proper or sawang, which the residents of this fishing community refer to as moto or hill (divided into Moto Norte and Moto Sur).

To reach the moto, Napoanons climb up a paved road they traditionally call wawog, which means "valley", or scale the four flights of a stairway popularly called Inang-angan.

This imposing structure was constructed from tinableya or coral stones hewn into blocks that were neatly fitted together. The 174 steps or "ang-ang" of this historical monument give it a semblance of a terraced hillside from afar.

Scaling the five flights and 212 steps.

Built during the Spanish period, probably after the completion of the church of the Kasilak in 1855, this inclined structure is virtually a "stairway to heaven" as it connects Napo to the church of the Our Lady of Light, the town's patroness. Each flight of steps starts and ends with a column on each side, which also marks a segment of parapets. An egg-shaped stone sits on the capital or top of each column. The columns vary in height depending on the slope of the hillside.

Shaped like a large loaf of bread, a tinableya on the tiers or steps is 6-12 inches long, 4-6 inches wide and 4-12 inches high. Each tier is more than 20 feet wide and has 18-30 stone pieces fitted side by side.

The old residents of Napo relate that when the church of the Kasilak was built in 33 years, every man, woman or child must bring at least one stone tablet whenever he or she would go to Mass; otherwise, the Spanish friar would see to it that his sin verguenza parishioner would receive a lashing or two from his horse's whip. This has since been controverted by latter-day scholars like Rev. Dr. Aloysius L. Cartagenas, a Loonanon.

The wide variation in the size of the cuts stone may then be attributed to the availability of coral stones and the gender and age of those who brought them to the construction site.

Egg whites' paste.

There is a widespread belief that when Loon's stone structures - - Inang-angan, church, convent, kiosk (funeral building) and old cemetery - - were built, albumins or whites of chicken eggs were used to cement the stones together, and that the friars used the yolks in baking torta, a rich-flavored cake (also according to an amusing tale on why the Spanish friars developed fat bellies).

There is no way the locals could amass large volumes of egg albumins to construct all the imposing stone churches of Bohol because there was no booming poultry industry in the province in those church-building years.

Actually, latex from a tree species called law-at was mixed with apog (lime) and used to glue all the stone tablets together. The rubbery material was tapped from the trunk of the tree and collected in a duwang, a large basin carved from a whole piece of wood.

The Inang-angan's first flight of 30 steps is followed by a level stretch a few strides long. The second flight of 57 steps is followed by another level portion, as well as the third flight of 55 steps.

Just before the last flight of 32 steps begins, there is another set of 38 steps to the right which leads to the old convent of the church which is now the Sacred Heart Academy, founded in 1948 by Msgr. Felix Zafra.

Some Napo residents make their daily climb easier by following an imaginary diagonal path beginning on one side of the first rung and ending on the last rung on the opposite side. Those who want to sweat it out skip some rungs and hop or run up the stairs a la Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky movie series.

Barter trade

The stairs are mute witness to a beautiful age-old tradition which died in the late '70s during the decline of Napo's fishing industry.

Every afternoon, women from some upland barangays would sashay down the steps while balancing on their heads baskets filled with goodies they would barter with the day's catch.

The duma would include boiled sweetpotato; tilaob or boiled young corn; budbud or sticky rice flavored with ginger and coconut milk, steamed and wrapped in banana leaves; and binagol.

Binagol is pronounced binago or binagow, a Boholano deviation from the standard Cebuano language. (A few examples are habow instead of habol for blanket, and kuraw instead of kural for fence.)

Binago is made of cassava dough steamed over a perforated bagol or bagow which is actually half of a coconut shell placed over an earthen pot half-filled with boiling water.
Cassava cake is a favorite rice substitute, especially when relishing fresh kinilaw (spicy fish salad), a daily afternoon fare in Napo during the bountiful years.

A local choreographer reveals a plan to revive the binayluay or barter tradition through music and dance.

The late Procesa Lafuente, a public school teacher who lived near the foot of the heritage structure, reveals that in the past, the teniente del barrio mobilized the residents to tidy up the Inang-angan regularly, which the community still does.

Lafuente also said that several years ago, a tinableya building across her house was demolished and the stone tablets used to renovate the tulay (fish port), which is about 400 meters straight from the lowest rung of the Inang-angan.

Restoration needed

Nick Mejorada, another Napo resident, reveals that the stairway was restored only once, after a strong typhoon hit Loon many years ago and a coconut tree fell on one side of the first flight destroying part of its low wall.

Mejorada stressed the need to renovate the Inang - angan, especially its eroded sides that have weakened the foundation of the parapets.

Structures similar to the Inang-angan are also found in other parts of the country, but this one in Loon stands out as the most beautiful and imposing.

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FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS OPENS LOON FIESTA SEASON

Through the annual celebration of the Kasilak fiesta, especially the holding of SidlaKasilak, we Loonanons symbolically express our response to the call for unity and harmony coming from the Nuestra Señora de la Luz (Our Lady of Light) and, like the rising sun, strive to radiate all the time with the values she has always inspired us with.

The lights festival also raises our spirits and gladdens our hearts as we rise from every failure, tread diverse paths and engage in different endeavors with the aspiration to make life better for us and our loved ones while embracing the true Light of the World.

In 1997, when poet-writer and Sangguniang Bayan Member Clovis L. Nazareno authored an ordinance institutionalizing the lights festival of Loon, he never imagined that the annual festivity in honor of the town's patroness would become a huge event that every Loonanon will look forward to every fiesta time.

Today, SidlaKasilak ushers all devotees of Our Lady to Loon's fiesta celebration that culminates on her birthday on September 8.

A fluvial parade starting from the Mocpoc wharf on Sandingan Island, precedes all activities. It features a convoy of boats with the main boat carrying the image of the Birhen sa Kasilak. This fiberglass replica of the Kasilak was donated by the children of spouses Mary L. Relampagos and the late Zosimo Relampagos, among them current Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos.

The parade of boats is a reenactment of the arrival in Loon of the image of Our Lady from Butuan where it was first enthroned on September 8, 1597, becoming the first patroness of the whole Mindanao area.

Amid fireworks, bamboo-cannon blasts and welcome dance ritual, the image of the Kasilak is unloaded from the boat to the Napo fish port where it is received by church and government leaders. A procession from the wharf (Tulay) ends at the 'Kuta', ruins of a chapel at the foot of the Wawog road where the image was enthroned prior to its installation at the big stone church on the plateau.

After the announcement of the Virgin's arrival, homage groups start dancing on the streets surrounding the present church. They descend on the 174 stone steps of Inang-angan while performing a dance of lights.

Kadugong Loonanon, grand champion in the 2000 Bohol Sandugo Streetdancing Competition and major performer in SidlaKasilak celebration.

The beautifully choreographed homage of the school and barangay groups holding up multicolored lanterns do not fail to draw admiration from the crowd. The rondalla accompaniment of some contingents also evokes nostalgia among the more senior in the audience.

After the last group pays its tribute to Our Lady, a grand procession follows, with the image brought to the church up the Inang-angan where final enthronement rites are held inside the biggest stone church in Bohol. SidlaKasilak is mounted every year by the local government unit of Loon in coordination with the Our Lady of Light Parish and Bahandianong Arte Halad sa Namat-ang Dagang (Bahandi-Loon), a local group of

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MOALONG RIVER SOCIO-HISTORICAL AND ECO-CULTURAL CRUISE AND TREK

Welcome to Moalong! . . . the meandering river that divides the Municipality of Loon into two almost equal parts. Here's a checklist of what you should know, see or experience while you reminisce the past, commune with nature and cruise on Bohol's most pristine river.

Moalong Cliff: vantage point of the guerillas led by Capt. Francisco Salazar who in the early morning of September 27, 1942 mounted Bohol's most successful ambush against the Japanese imperial soldiers during the second world war.

Clap your hands while rowing under the Moalong Bridge to excite the tiny black birds (swifts) as they fly out from their mud nests that cling under the bridge. Make a nest count if you must! Watch out for more bird species upstream!

Check out the pagatpat, bakhaw and bungawong and marvel at their prop roots, as well as the nypa and its fruit.

Count how many bangnanan or mooring nooks you can find and know the difference between the three main types of local boats - - damas, panaktakan and bigiw. Several meters upstream, notice moored under the coconut grove some blue-and-white boats owned by hook-and- ine fishers from an upland village, perhaps color-coded to deter boat theft.

Panas: site of a hanging bridge whose right approach has given away. Today, a bamboo raft ferries people and goods to either bank and serves as diving board for children frolicking on the river. In the past, anyone who would go to school or attend a baile across the river would swim naked with one hand holding up his dry clothes above the water's surface.

Bato: an old marketplace where the fishermen and patinteros or tuba traders from Sandingan and Cabilao islands would barter (cambio) their goods with the duma (rice and root crop delicacies) of the mountainfolk while a sabong (cockfight) would be held nearby. Check out the bato, a rock formation that juts out of the water's surface looking like a woman lying on her side.

Siyam-siyam: a spring protected by nypa fringes that gushes onto the river. On the left bank, notice some holes dug by mud crabs.

Upstream, the rustic yet majestic view inspires painters and photographers alike. Bamboo, the world's tallest grass, grows abundantly on the left bank, while some binuongan (dried halves of the coconut fruit devoid of meat) are strewn under the coconut trees. Note some rock and root formations on either bank of the narrow river.
Po' or Napulo: called so because it is located after Siyam-siyam (the number 9 pronounced twice). It is an ages-old water source for drinking and bathing; does not dry up even during periods of drought. At low tide, rowing may end here.

Row or wade under a canopy of talisay until you reach the next stop. With pure luck you get a glimpse of monkeys dehusking young coconuts. Watch out for the sungay-sungay, a univalve mollusk with thorn-like appendages on its shell.

Cambajog: a shallow and rocky part of the river that serves as point of convergence for villagers from either bank. Here, the locals hold picnics, take a bath or wash their clothes. Hand feed the fish, mostly sugi and ibis, with crumbs of bread or morsels of rice!
Ligating: a boulder that stands in the middle of the river and underneath a banyan tree whose vine or two touch the water's surface, probably willed by the enchanted residents of the area to serve as grip for those wading on waist- or chest-deep water. (Tabi…)

Leap from rock to rock! Carefully, of course. The dahunog (rumbling sound) of the onrushing water suffused between rocks and boulders is audible at this point. Onwards is a long stretch of rocks, stones and pebbles. The rocky bed of the river is covered with green moss that is nowhere found after a big flood. Nearby is a dapdap tree whose red flowers drop on the water.

Let the cascades of water soothe your tired body as you sit or lie on the rocks. Search out for the round bathtub-like rock formation that provides privacy for intimate bathers.

Antaeg: tapped by the LGU as a major source of water for northern Loon and Sandingan island. Dive onto the lagoon in wild abandon or let the small waterfall caress your head and shoulders. Unpack your lunchboxes and choose a cozy nook where you can feast on your bawon. Share it with the rowers and the dili-ingon-nato … Tabi, mangaon ta!

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