Writers and Poets from Bais City Negros Oriental

Simon Anton Diego G. Baena

Penn Tulabing Larena

Rolin Migyuel Cadallo Obina

Fr. Rudy E. Villanueva

Give thanks, my soul

By Poet Rolin Migyuel Cadallo Obina

Give thanks, my soul, for the food on our table,
For the dried fish that’ve been served,
And for the bread the children shared.

Shout your praise, my weary soul,
And sing with gladness and joy,
For the bed you rest upon, and the roof above your head.

Leave your doubts behind for God will provide,
The sun will rise, the children will play,
Surely rain will pour on this summer’s day.

Throw your fears away, set it all aside,
Like the birds that flip its wings, playing with the fishermen,
A piece of fish when shared, becomes food for many and one.

The world is colorful, not just red nor blue,
There’s green and purple and all the colors of the rainbow,
When you’re happy and you’re grateful, the world will smile with you.

Soon this will be over, this fear of hunger,
Our questions of where to go after will soon be answered,
Never lose hope, my soul, for nothing is impossible, for God, the King of all.

Lift your worries to God for He will never abandon us,
Learn to share your gifts, even the little ones,
A bread divided can feed a multitude of men.

The Room

The COVID -19 Poem of Prof. Penn T. Larena March 2020


A dirty white covers the whole space
Feeling so sad, lonely, and broken-hearted
It feels my mind  of  things to do
The sound of the drama, dancing night and day

People are dying of the virus
Here we are praying day and night
Always thinking about money
and life within the day
How would you spend it and the world will stop for nothing
Thinking of our loved one
and Frontlines saving lives every day

Naked in the room
That feel the heart and soul
Looking at the calendar every day
For the days wasted
Your minds were savage

Touching your body with desire in mind
Looking the time to kill
Praying for everyone to stay healthy
Thinking about the next month's things to do

Only God will help
In a tiny room, you are so afraid
Thankful for the blessing you received
Just in the corner bare naked
Holding to yourself, what world the future brings

The River 1973

The river is a human being of pleasure
From the valley to the lowlands showing clear water
Carefree that she turns out at her best
And swans that cover her love’s measure
Flowing under the bridges showing her life of Free
Surrounding the trees seen its day and night
Hang around her naked to hear the sound of music and dance to please her self
Toughing the water so kisses her pleasure



The River is like spring the source of life on earth
Flashing in the wide green glade,
Hidden worlds kept from human being watchful eyes
Disaster to Sunshine appear with Grace and Beauty
Tempered with the lightning’s aid and charity,
To  touch the crystal clear water and endless connection
Witness to my endless love to the man I love
For life, I hope to see you end again flowing
From the mountain to show his precious treasures



A 1973  Poem by Baisanon Poet Leonaga H.Tulabing Larena a lover of World Literature and a member of Dumaguete Reading Club from 1971 to 1985. In  Summer of 1965 and 1966  she was sent to Manila thru a government scholarship to study Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo at the University of the Philippines Diliman. 

Simon Anton Niño Diego G. Baena

In the Field of International literary arts

Simon Anton Niño Diego Baena currently lives in the Philippines. He spends most of his time on the road with his wife, Xandy. Some of his works have already been published in The James Franco Review, The Bitter Oleander, After the Pauseand its forthcoming Anthology, The Blue Hour Magazine, Mascara Literary Review, Shot Glass Journal, Off the Coast, Red River Review, Eastlit, The East Bay Review, Philippines Free Press,and Philippines Graphic Magazine. Catamaran Literary Reader, Osiris, UCity Review, Off the Coast, Off the Coast, and are forthcoming in Caliban Online, Cider Press Review, Saltfront, and Skidrow Penthouse.

Simon Anton Niño Diego Baena's work has recently appeared in The Cortland Review, Santa Ana River Review, Osiris, Chiron Review, Construction Literary Magazine, and Saltfront.

If This Might Be Heaven

By :  . Mercedes Teves Goñi   Poet 

To all I loved and to those I could have loved some

More,

Farewell. I go to a place much written off, but never seen before.

If you can’t see me for the last time now, -don’t fret-I’ll understand somehow

If you never told me you loved me then,

Tell me, I’m still listening now.

The music here is endless, so poignant it leaves me breathless

Iridescence I always loved surrounds me everywhere,

Joyous laughter, happy tears here and there.

I need not wear my slippers anymore

Lilies-of-the valley carpet all the fields I explore.

Fireflies I used to look for when darkness would fall

Now come dancing all around me at my every beck and call.

And with each early evening’s shade of blue that I always loved so

I’ll be kissing all of you,

So you need not miss me so.

If this might be heaven, don’t hinder me anymore

Willingly, I go towards HIS dome

Because it looks like a place I can happily call Home. 

                                CAB Chapel Tanjay City Photographer Kenzo G. Laxina 

Negros Oriental Sugar History

Negros Oriental's economy was far from progressive and its rich soil was not utilized to its full capacity. That was in the 1850s. During those years, people in Negros depict a life of content for they tend to produce goods enough only to meet their daily needs. Even before the sugar boom of the 1850s, Negros Oriental was already producing sugar. The transport of most of its products was mainly done in the ports of Iloilo, which will explain the fast-moving pace of development of the sugar industry in Negros Occidental, primarily due to its proximity to Iloilo. This situation was a disadvantage in the movement of sugar from the Oriental plantations. 

CAB -Bais City Sugar Central 

A wide array of difficulties barred the development of the sugar industry in the Oriental part of the island. The pioneer sugar traders and adventurers include José Rodrigo Camilo Rubio, Diego García-Baena & Agustín de Sandes (from Mexico), Aniceto Villanueva (from Amoy Province, China), Don Bruno Gomez ( from Salamanca Spain ) and Vicente-Anunciación Te (later on adapted the surname Teves, from Amoy Province, China). After hearing about the fertility of the flatlands of Bais, these individuals carved the virgin forests of the eastern side of the island. Many came and settled in the area and planted sugarcane, thus producing muscovado sugar (invented by Vicente-Anunciación Teves) from their mills which was then exported to Spain via Iloilo, the principal shipping point in the Visayas. This was loaded in large sailboats called lurchas or Batel built by Aniceto Villanueva and Joaquín Montenegro (Bais Historian Penn T.Villanueva Larena CPS MPA). 

                                        CAB Steel bridges Photo by Nich Port 

Bais City credits much of its progress to the Central Azucarera de Bais, the largest producer of raw sugar in Negros Oriental. Established by the Real Compañía-General de Tabacos de Filipinas, S.A. of Spain in the early 1900s, it is also the pioneer in the sugar industry in the Philippines. This industry reached its peak in the 1930s bringing affluence to the Negrenses and enabling them to build stately homes and to acquire properties all over the province.

Driving through the city's main national highway, sugar plantations can immediately be seen on both sides of the road. These areas are characterized by expansive lowlands that stretch as far as the eyes can see and are ideal for sugar planting because of the city's naturally fertile soil. It is no wonder why 73% of the city's total land area is devoted primarily to agriculture.

The Central Azucarera itself is an old foreboding structure of metal and hardwood. The offices may have seen better days, the dank smell of nostalgia hangs heavy in the air, but are still functional. Nearby is the Casa Grande, an equally old residential compound surrounded by tall acacia trees, which was built for the use of the employees of the Azucarera. The two-story wooden houses are greatly influenced by old Spanish design and architecture. Much of the houses have undergone restoration and continue to be used as homes of the representatives of the executives of the new management.

Further on are the stately plantation houses owned by sugar planters, mostly standing on one of the lots in the family hacienda. Inside the haciendas are chapels whose altar and icons dating back to 1917. Educational visits to these places may be arranged at the Bais City Tourism Office. What is most interesting is you get to tour via the old railroad trams used by the milling companies to hasten sugarcane transport ( Bais Historian Mr. Penn T. Villanueva Larena,CPS MPA). 

Pioneer People  

Early Europeans and Latin American settlers in Dumaguete and around Oriental Negros were Don Joaquin Montenegro y Mascato, Tomasa( Baena, Burgos,Abilla, Gonzales Hermanos ), Brigida ( Baena, Burgos,Abilla, Gonzales Hermanos) & Nicolasa Elena Gomez (Vicente Hermanos) of Avila Spain the pioneer Haciendera in the place, Don Diego-Garcia-Baena, Don Agustin de Sandes of Mexico, Ramon Telesforo Belloso of Extremadura Spain, Don Anecito Villianueva (Chinese merchant) Don Pedro Gustavo Furbeyre ( Frenchman),Camilo Rodrigo Antonio Rubio ( Italian merchant) Don Demetrio Larena and Don Juan Saavedra who would subsequently lead the Negros Oriental Republic in 1898 (Bais Historian Penn T.Villanueva Larena CPS, MPA).