“YOU just know when somewhere feels like home,” the American Roy Meyer – patriarch of the “The Wingin’ It Family” – says as he describes his experience in Iloilo City.
“It’s the culture, friendliness and warmth of the amazing people,” explains Roy, an internationally recognized marketing-outsource expert. “We were welcomed with open arms by nearly everyone we met, and we quickly made so many new friends and connections.”
Roy and his family – wife Carrie and children Cody, 12, and Samantha, 10 – have been in the city for more than six months already.
In November 2017 “The Wingin’ It Family” uprooted themselves from their happy life in California, took a leap of faith and grabbed the chance to travel the world untethered to earthly possessions – selling everything they had except for what fit inside five suitcases.
Roy and his family have since backpacked around India and the Maldives but many things about the Philippines – particularly Iloilo – make them never want to leave.
“We love the laidback nature and the incredible charm of [Iloilo],” he tells Panay News. “Living in California can be such a rat race, where life can pass you by in a flash, but here in Iloilo, not only did life seem to slow down – our stress levels significantly decreased as well.”
Before their family trip, Roy says, he had been visiting Iloilo for five years already, invited by a member of his digital team who is an Ilongga.
“As we continued working together I decided it would be a great experience to visit Iloilo and meet her in person as well,” he says.
“While my family and I immediately fell in love with the people, the area, the culture, and of course the food, we did not foresee at the time that we would eventually move here just a few years later.”
The Meyers hold outreach activities alongside the Awana-Iloilo ministry team, especially at the Lanit relocation center, a community in Jaro district that houses informal settlers, and among underprivileged families in Pavia town.
“Supporting, helping and being very active in the local community is something our entire family is extremely passionate about,” says the American digital nomad. “Working with the children in these areas [Lanit and Pavia] is by far our favorite thing to do.”
‘three months became six years’
Marc Belloni notices that “Ilonggos are very friendly to a friendly foreigner.” The 51-year-old Frenchman says “this hospitality is a defining trait that is noticed first.”
A martial arts enthusiast, Marc has unwittingly become an action star for an independent Ilonggo film and a strong supporter of the local art and music community.
Marc first moved to Iloilo City in January 2012, seeking to train in Filipino martial arts under the tutelage of eskrima (arnis) instructor grandmaster Frank Sobrino. What Marc planned as a three-month sojourn became a six-year stay.
“Considering my little knowledge in [Filipino martial arts] I decided to stay a bit longer in Iloilo. [Those] three months became six years,” he tells Panay News.
“In France I lived in a village near a provincial town, stuck to the Fontainebleau forest, so my ecology changed from oaks to rice fields, more or less,” Marc says.
Befriending Iloilo’s close-knit community of artists and filmmakers, Marc joined the web magazine Project Iloilo in 2015, writing pieces about Iloilo’s vibrant music and art scenes.
He eventually became a member of the film crew of “Buang Bulawan” by TM Malones – part of the 2016 Cinema One Originals Film Festival, Short Film Category – before landing a starring role in “Dungol” by Reymundo Salao, part of the CineKasimanwa 4 Film Festival in 2017.
In his first two months in the city Marc met his first Filipino friends during the Dinagyang Festival, was healed by a manoghilot for a grave arm injury he sustained during training, and ate his first bowl of KBL (kadyos, baboy, langka).
“It’s the provincial mindset, the polite and relaxed interactions, the proximity of the fields, forest and seaside” that made him fall in love with Iloilo but points out that his llonggo friends endeared him to the city.
Marc observes that, perhaps owing to numerous universities around, Ilonggos are “educated and committed to cultural and socioeconomic activities … from poetry-reading to organic permaculture and high-tech development.”
He also notices that Ilonggos are innately – and admirably – industrious, as shown by “the hardworking farmer in the fields, the woman managing her tiangge in the subdivision, the call center agent on graveyard shift.”
ILONGGO CHARM
While Roy and Marc are excited about what is in store for the city as it continues to develop, they hope the City of Love doesn’t lose its signature charm.
“My hope is that there will always be a good balance between new development [and] the unique and special charm this place has been known for,” Roy says.
Marc hopes for a “harmonious urban development so the city can avoid the crippling ills encountered by Manila or Cebu.”
“I hope Iloilo conserves its natural environment because it’s crucial to be a self-sufficient city,” he says, adding that development should go hand in hand with the “rediscovery and upkeep of history and traditions of indigenous peoples … the customs and culture kept alive by the Bukidnon and Ati people.”/PN
