. . . is what its name implies: a beautiful place, and that it is because the people have made it that

A sleepy, little town in the southern portion of coastal Antique, Belison exemplifies rural Visayan life.  A small population set easily across 20 square kilometers participates in the rolling landscape through mostly agricultural activity, but Belison is not simply a community of farmers.  A vibrant and progressive civic administration has made this tiny town into a model, growth-oriented community.

Belison, in its short, 45-year history has planted the seeds of stability and sustainable growth in a once impoverished economic climate.  Where mostly hand-to-mouth subsistence level livelihood activity represented the entirety of household income, opportunities have now diversified to incorporate highly-skilled, professional sources of revenue.  This has given the community a more sophisticated and promising path of development, which is reflected in so many town attributes.

Indeed, when you come across the town from the road you are first impressed by the fresh, bright appearance of the municipal offices set amid manicured lawns and framed by hundred-year old acacia trees.  This care and attention to beautification is no accident, and is notably different from most other towns you see in the province, and across the region as well.  You recognize rapidly that Belison is a community that cares about its past, its present and its future.

And when you smell the fresh, clean air coming off the ocean and greet the people who warmly welcome you and show you about town, you sense a feeling of pride and contentment in their manner.  That Belison is what it’s name implies:  A beautiful place, and that it is so because the people have made it that way.

A “bedroom community” for the larger commercial centers of San Jose, and Iloilo City perhaps, but Belison is developing into a town that delivers a higher standard of living for its inhabitants and greater quality of life for anyone who comes to stay.