The last time my friends and I went to the different places of the provinces of the region, I realized how nationalistic our brothers and sisters in the area are. Most places in all the Provinces of Region VI have many barangays named in honor of one or more heroes. Their birthplace? No. It must be because the folks here admire the hero as a brave man who fought for Filipino freedom. That is either through the pen like Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez- Jaena, Marcelo del Pilar, and Apolinario Mabini, et al or the bolo and gun with the caliber of Andres Bonifacio, Gen. Miguel Malvar, and Gen. Martin Delgado; through their brilliance in leadership like the kinds of Roxas, Quezon,Aguinaldo and Magsaysay; their deep faith to walk towards martyrdom as was shown by Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora; or whatever good societal changes they may have made in the past that made them heroes in their own right.
Great! Out of the four thousand and fifty one (4,051) barangays of our region, it was noted that four barangays have names outstandingly different. They are named after the places mentioned in the Christian Bible – holy and historic. What more? Only one barangay of these four bears a name equated with pain and selfless sacrifices that are synonymous with the profound love of the Divine and selflessness of heroes. Common to the Provinces of Guimaras, Aklan and Antique is the name “Barangay Nazareth” found in Buenavista, Guimaras; Buruanga, Aklan and Sibalom, Antique. Why this barangay is named such in these towns is something only ‘they’ can tell us.
Iloilo has one unique name for one of the barangays of the municipality of Janiuay. Right at the poblacion, they have “Barangay Golgotha.” Why the name? We’ve gone to the place itself and discovered that it is on top of the very high place of the town. The rise is a bit steep and like the hill named Golgotha mentioned in the new testament of the Holy Bible needs more effort to climb… for a newcomer to the place.
Lest we forget, Golgotha was where the Lord and redeemer, Jesus Christ was crucified. Here, they don’t crucify anyone, I bet.
Picture on top is from iloiloonline.blogspot.com
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