the place where i belong!

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just would like to share with you my great love of the place i and my family once lived here in the Philippines! La Libertad is a small far flung, rural town in the Oriental Negros province of the Philippines. Being a coastal town, it lies 105 kilometers from the City of Dumaguete- its provincial capital.it has 29 barangays - 13 of which is located within the lowlands while the rest of the 16 are hillylans areas. As of even date, there are atleast 10 to 15 thousand residents in this little place. History has it that this little town was part of the adjacent town of Jimalalud, but then, after years of struggle for independence and liberty, the local folks had to form themselves a revolutionary group known as "Puti-an" and they had to overthrow the then stronghold of Jimalalud. After such long periodic battles, the long awaited liberty and indepence was won --- "la libertad" came into being. i really loved the place not only because of its very hospitable people but also because it was where i was born...made good friends- real friends at that! my parents were both workers- my pa, Mr. "Roy" Quismundo, being a government employee connected with the National Census and Statistics Office (known as NSO now!), while my ma, Mrs. Genevieve Quismundo, workes then as a school teacher/principal. Both are now presently retired from their jobs as they are now in their early sixties (just fyi). i love the place because of its simplicity. people just walk, go to church on sundays, go to beach with their respective families without those extravagances that life has to offer. i was molded practically in La Libertad. my parents and family had me schooled at the la libertad elem school,with modesty aside, attained those academic proficiency even without that material riches. i prefer simple friends- those within our "level" in the community...we play those "low tech" games back then! "luksong tinik" or skipping ropes, we swam in the riverbanks, did our own version of snorkelling... and much much more that normals kids like us would do then! we played baseball, soccer and basketball a lot even without learning the real tricks of the game! yet out local team excelled in baseball especially that we have beaten much taller and bigger kids from the schools in the nearby towns! and modesty aside, i was even one of those baseball MVPs during my youth's prime time. i can still vividly recall how my teammates and my coach, mr. Art Sarmiento, carried me, while my father was gasping for breath as he was so happy then after my being declared as the unit meet's baseball MVP. it was participated in by 13 elementary schools! i could not even believe it myself. i just did my best to play with fun and help my teammates win the championship. i spent my younger years there from grades 1 to 6 with fying honors because we in the family believed that education is one of the great keys where one will be led to a successful life. i had to do this so i could be a good role model for my younger siblings, meggie, dodon and mayette. now we're all grown-ups --- great thanks to my parents, the place - lalibertad - where i belong then and even now that we transferred already in cebu. i am really grateful to all my good friends there--- the character traits and values of goodwill that they taught me are still the values that my wife and i are now teaching our kids too! thanks be to God for the place where i belong! please share your thoughts and inputs so i may add these to my learnings! till then, with my thanks and gladness to share...