This school year has been a challenging, yet fun one as the Aklan State University campuses formally started the face-to-face classes— ending almost 3 years of flexible learning. Students from all year levels and different departments had the chance to experience campus classes just like the old traditional ones.
However, going back to school means having to face the responsibilities embarked with it. This includes managing your financial budget throughout the week while making sure that you’re having enough food and sustaining school expenses. This is an actual setup that is common to students residing in places that are a bit too far from ASU campuses such as Nabas and Malay.
Students like them resort to finding and staying in boarding houses or apartments that are a lot more convenient for them every day. This means that businesses within and around the school do not go empty and will always have customers whatever weather it may have. And when talking about this, one very familiar place to all ASU Banga students can be brought up— the “Buho” or when translated in Hiligaynon means “hole”.
Buho is a place beside the campus’ grounds that are located at the back of the school clinic. It is an area where 6-7 carinderias (and still expanding) that offers student-friendly meals are found. To get there, people should pass the ‘old door gate’ that is nearly a half meter wide and approximately 6 feet tall. Upon stepping outside, you will be fascinated by how the area is busy, especially at its peak hours; lunchtime.
The carinderias here offers a variety of meal or foods that are sold throughout the day until the stalls are emptied and considered as ‘sold out’. Lumpiang Shanghai, spaghetti, toron, banana cue, and even the typical snacks like biscuits together with soft drinks are sold here.
But it is not just the homemade snacks that make Buho a must-go place on campus, it is the rice and ulam combos that are offered here for the most affordable prices you can name. Sisig, beef steak, pinakbet, adobo, chicken curry, sweet and sour, and many more. You can never go wrong in spending your lunchtime and money here as Carinderias here has comfortable spaces to eat in with your clique.
Furthermore, the sellers and their helpers are nice and are much more approachable. One can confirm this while requesting a free bowl of hot soup, which is anticipated by everyone eating here.
Ma’am Wilenor Ascaño Rebustes is one of the criteria owners that rent a place in Buho for more than 10 years. Just like the usual business time, they operate every weekday which makes it from Monday to Friday. After preparations, they start to sell their lunch meals starting as earliest as 10 am which will run until noon—the busiest hour of the day for them. The criteria offer about 6 different recipes for students and teachers every day like sisig and beef steak. Meals range from 25 pesos to 50 pesos including the rice.
Long before the pandemic, people had already coined the place as ‘Buho’ probably because of the door gate (like a hole) that is always passed by different people, back and forth; every day. According to her, it was teachers who they’ve heard of using this term that popularized it as it is now but no one declared that the place is called ‘Buho’. It is as if it was like an agreement— an unspoken one, that this place will be called the 'The Hole'.
Wherever may it started, it is undeniable that this place is indeed one of the students’ (and teachers’) budget savers. It has witnessed students’ lived stories, fed hungry stomachs, and even became a part of ASU’s wonders and journey as an institution.
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