ORIGIN OF PAKNAAN

          

           Everything has a history, an origin and an untold stories to be recognized. It might not catch our attention or never believe it at all at least it helps us understand why those or these things exist. One example of this is the place I'm residing now, Pakna-an (a place in Mandaue City) that was called Pana-an before.

        

           Way back 2008, when I was a third year high school our teacher in Filipino shared to us how our barangay got its name. And the story goes like this:

          

          "The nature was the close friend of our dear Aetas. They were always blessed as they lived in the forests with wild beasts around them. Trees were so tall, the air were so fresh, the birds were singing as the Aetas were starting to hunt for their food. The best weapon they always carry during this time were the bows and arrows.It was their daily routine during hunt time."

        

          In fact, there way of hunting teach them to name the place as bows and arrows or in Visayan term "Pana-an". Moreover, educated persons come to this place and renew its name into Paknaan.

        

        

          And now, forests are gone, clear and white sand of bodies of water are nowhere to be found, air is polluted and the worst thing is, Aetas are not residing anymore to the place where bows and arrows are their weapons during hunting their food. We may understand why educators renew the name of the place - in order to keep and hide the memories of our Aetas with their bows and arrows, forever. It may keep yet it will remain fresh in our ancestors mind and hearts.