NABUNTURAN, Compostela Valley — Something is cooking in Nabunturan, the capital town of Compostela Valley.

And the provincial government, the municipal government, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the province, the barangay council of host New Sibonga, and the association of bibingka makers are conspiring to put in place the recipe to transform the rice cake industry in New Sibonga into a thriving tourism attraction to spur the economic growth of the village.

Bibingkahan landscape from Davao to Butuan.

The recipe includes the erecting of signages at the entrance to and exit from New Sibonga, a plan to put up a billboard with a giant digital clock, the asphating and landscaping of the site's frontage, lighting, and construction of a tourism information centre among others.

Work on the landscaping project began on March 30 with an initial PhP100 start-up fund pledged by Gov. Arturo T. Uy to develop Bibingka Country into a major tourist destination area.

At the project launching last April 8, Rep. Rommel Amatong pledged to lobby the Department of Public Works and Highways for the asphalting of the site's frontage and committed to shoulder the lighting project from his congressional funds.

Last week, the Sangguniang Bayan of Nabunturan through SB tourism chairman Mario Angelo Sotto endorsed the follow-up letter of Mayor Romeo Clarin to Rep. Amatong for the funding of the lighting project.

"The project is a public-private partnership. The province and the municipality alongside the barangay and the local bibingka association are pitching in their resources to lessen expenses. Our goal is to tap the potentials of Bibingka Country to transform the place into a bustling tourist destination site," provincial tourism officer Christine T. Dompor said.

History of Bibingka Country

In this municipality, 93 kilometres north of Davao City, the steamed rice cake bibingka has proved to be the easiest and surest way to a visitor's heart.

Those who have been lucky enough to stop by the roadside Bibingka Country in New Sibonga can attest to this. Every time they travel either from Davao City or Caraga to and from destinations unknown, they always stop, lured by the body's need for refreshment and rest from a tiring trip and to snack on the succulent, steaming golden-brown cake.

First time bus travelers along the well-paved Maharlika Highway will not fail to miss the landmark of lighted buildings on a dark night or drop by in the early evening because their bus will surely stop so they can fortify themselves with food, coffee, or soft-drinks for the four-hour trip to Butuan City.

The history of Bibingka Country is a common enough story of an ordinary Filipino family's small homemade food daily enterprise. What is uncommon is that that family succeeded at all and transformed its small time enterprise into a large-scale business.

It all began in the 1960's with the Orito family who migrated to Mindanao from Mandaue City in Cebu and settled in New Sibonga in what was then the mammoth Davao province. Nicasio and Marina Orito brought with them the recipe of the delicious bibingka of Mandaue and opened a small household-based business baking and selling the rice cake to their neighbours.

Nick built his own earthen stove and used minced dried young coconut shrivels for fuel. The house-to-house peddling business slowly flourished. Later the Oritos established regular customers from nearby Tagum who helped display the food delicacy to the public. From their earnings, Nick and Mauring, were able to send their children to school until they graduated from college.

The family shared their knowledge of cooking bibingka to their neighbours who then set up their own small enterprises.

By 1998, with the creation of the new province of Compostela Valley, bibingka was selling like the hotcakes they are.

One family, the Solatorios benefited from the generosity of the Oritos and eventually erected stalls on their owned land along the national highway in New Sibonga. The late Florentino Solatorio, Jr. invented his own massive earthen oven and taught the technology to his brothers and sisters. By then the bibingka business was blossoming. Travelers on trucks, buses, motorcycles, and small vehicles stop by to taste or buy the still-hot, steaming rice cakes for "pasalubong" to their friends or families.

The descendants of the original Solatorios dominate the rice cake industry of Bibingka country. (JPA/PGO-Tourism ComVal)