Mahinog National High School to be renamed Sixto A. Abao National High School

Late Mayor Sixto Abao

THE Mahinog Municipal Council has unanimously voted to pass a resolution endorsing the renaming of Mahinog National High School in barangay Hubangon after the late mayor Sixto A. Abao.

This after Camiguin Representative Pedro P. Romualdo filed House Bill No. 6915 known as an "Act Changing the name of Mahinog National High School in barangay Hubangon, Municipality of Mahinog, Province of Camiguin to Sixto A. Abao National High School."

Romualdo said the present Mahinog National High School was established through the efforts of the late mayor Sixto A. Abao who is known for his deep concern and passion in education. 

It is the clamor of the residents of Mahinog that in order to perpetuate the memory of the late Sixto A. Abao,  the Mahinog National High School in barangay Hubangon be renamed in his honor, Romualdo said in the bill’s explanatory note.

During the creation of Mahinog as a town in July 1, 1948 by virtue of Executive Order No. 122 of President Manuel L. Roxas, then mayor Sixto A. Abao had shown us the importance of education in his own barangay when he chose the Mahinog High School, the first secondary public school in the island of Camiguin, to be established in his native barangay of Hubangon instead of the town hall and seat of government of Mahinog to be established in his barangay, the members of the Municipal Council said in their resolution endorsing the bill.

Through the effort of then mayor Sixto A. Abao, the family of Cabeza Celedeno Abao, his close relative, agreed to an exchange of property where the said school was established and that the house made of hardwood owned by the latter became the original structure of the school, the resolution added.

“Firstly, we honor the late Sixto A. Abao for his outstanding achievement and exemplary work as the first Mayor of the town of Mahinog.”

“Secondly, we honor this man for his burning passion for education and commitment to public service that led to the establishment of the first secondary public school in Camiguin now known as Mahinog National High School in barangay Hubangon,” the resolution said.

Once HB No. 6915 becomes a law, the newly established Mahinog National High School II in barangay Poblacion will be automatically renamed Mahinog National High School. (HRJ)

Balangay returns home

THE balangay fleet of three precolonial boats that made a five-day stop over in Benoni port here February 7, 2010 on their way across Southeast Asia finally returned to the Philippines from a 15-month journey around Southeast Asia, Inquirer report says today.

The boat was manned by the same Filipino team that earlier conquered Mt. Everest.

An article on the balangay visit in Mahinog appeared in Mahinog Trumpet on February 8, 2010.

The balangay team which started their voyage on Sept. 1, 2009 at the CCP complex in Manila, had gone to six Southeast Asian countries—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore, through storms and turbulent seas using only wind power.

The three boats—Sama Tawitawi, Masawa Hong Butuan and Diwata ng Lahi—are replicas of the precolonial balangay boats patterned after the one dug up in 1975 in Butuan and carbon dated to 320 AD, an evidence of pre-Hispanic Filipino civilization.

“It was a successful journey. We have made it and we have showed again that the Filipinos can do it with unity and team work,” team leader Art Valdez, a former transport undersecretary, told Inquirer.