In order to continue my studies in H.S., I had to work and earn my money for matriculation and tuition fees. Father’s slipper making business slowed down following my mother’s death. I joined the Public Works Road Gang earning P0.45 or less than $0.25, a quarter of a dollar a day. I was the only one riding a bike to work from Bangued to Palau.
We worked from six to six with an hour’s break for lunch between 12 PM – 1 PM. There was no 8 hour labor law then. It was a back-breaking job with pick and shovel and steel-wheeled wheel barrow. We were widening the road at a mountain or hillside opposite the property belonging to Don Juan Valera. I worked all throughout summer vacation. With my earnings, I was able to save money for my H.S. enrollment with extra money to buy an alarm clock and a leather belt. Father helped me with the rental of my books in 4th year H.S. To save time in going to school, I enrolled in the nearby CSC, Catholic High School for Boys. There I used my new name, Jose, for the first time in Bangued, although everybody called me Siniong.
When I needed money to buy my shoes, clothes, and a suit, I sold my bike. I had extra money to buy a second-hand tennis racket and a pair of old balding tennis balls from Judge Rivas. It was a Spalding racket with a slot in its handle.
It was in Bayombong that I learned tennis. My uncle, who played it, used me as his sparring partner. There we used rackets of steel frame and steel strings. Our net was also made of steel wires. Hence, our tennis balls lasted very fast, also, considering the fact that at that time the “slice” stroke was in vogue, every backhand and forehand was a chop. We call this way of playing, “araw ni Bonifacio.” My beautiful cousin, Manang Susing Bravo, also used me as her sparring tennis player in Bayombong. She played well.
In Bangued, I continued playing tennis with my friend, David Barza, during summer vacation at noon time when nobody was using the tennis courts at the east side of the Provincial Building. Our tennis balls were bald without felt coating and were so light, like racket balls! It is because we could not afford to buy our own balls, first or second-hand from anybody.
When I played tennis, nobody told me how to hold the racket properly, how to look at the ball until it hits the racket, how to first go into position before hitting the ball, and how to hold the top of the racket above the level of the elbow when hitting the ball by going down on bent knees. It was the late General Alfonso Arellano who gave me these basics when he taught me “better tennis” in Camp Olivas in 1951.
And so my tennis ability remained mediocre even though how much I played or practiced tennis. I made up with my running ability what I lacked in skill. But I continued to enjoy playing tennis until now. Those who played power tennis, like my idols, Felicisimo Ampor and Cesar Carmona, who are about my age, quit playing ahead of me. Carmona developed arthritis, while Ampor had a triple heart bypass, according to his son, Mel Ampor. They brought tennis to its highest point in Philippines history!
My last school year and residence in Bangues as 4th year H.S. student in 1934-1935 is replete of many nice memories that I can vividly recall. It was the first time in my school life that we were all boys in our class and all our teachers were male, including a priest, Fr. Lawrence Leisring, our Principal Teacher. Having female classmates seemed to be more thrilling than a class devoid of “inspiration,” especially at age 16. One can argue that it is also devoid of “distractions.”
We always prayed as a part of our school ritual, at the start of our school hours. There was a state of holiness in our school demeanor to the extent that I even considered becoming a priest, only that I did not know how to go about it. I presumed that only exceptionally intelligent and rich students are acceptable to enter the Seminary. But on second thought, I guess that God’s plan for me was to raise seven beautiful, wonderful children for His glory. No regrets!
I used to go to the Valera Pharmacy at night to read the Manila Times, especially the Comics Section. It had Jack Swift (like Buck Rogers), Hairbreath Harry, Tarzan, and Mutt & Jeff. Nita (Juanita Valera) was then 2nd year H.S. and had difficulties solving her Geometry homework. She asked me to help her, which I did every day. I inserted little love notes in her Geometry book, but she never responded. I had no chance to ask her response because we had an understanding that I just pick up her book in the Farmacia and then return it with solutions to her homework. In 1949 we took the Bar Exams to become lawyers. When the results were published in 1950 I failed to see her name. She never took it again I guess. After the exams she expressed much hope of passing compared to my doubt about passing. She failed, I passed!
Two events happened when I returned to Bangued. My stepmother gave birth to a baby boy who was baptized Vicente (Inty). I loved carrying him in my arms. He was a very cute kid who looked more like his mother than his father. The other event was the marriage of Manang Conchang Valera to Manong Pacoy and later on the birth of their first child baptized Josefina (Fina). I used to carry her in my arms too. She is now my daughter-in-law, Josefina V. Sibayan.
After my graduation, I was at the dead-end of my progress in life, because there was no way I could continue my studies in college like my rich friends and classmates. My uncle, Remigio Bravo, asked me to join him to a trip to Manila, which revived my spirit, because I could realize the dream of my late mother which never came true. She used to say, “No laketoi nakitc ti Manila uray mataya con.” “If I could only see Manila, I am ready to die.”
We rode a passenger truck that traveled day and night on dusty roads. I climbed to the roof of the truck, which served as baggage container and spent the night wedged with the luggage, watching the moon and the stars. We stayed in a house which had its ground floor rented by a Chinese grocery owner selling sari-sari items. Our food morning, noon and evening consisted of rice and eggs.
One day I walked all the way from Plaza Goiti up to the Philippine General Hospital where Mg. Trining was enrolled as “pensionado” in the Nursing School. Fortunately, she was permitted to see me and she was so excited and surprised to see me, asking me how I got there.
It was then that I saw a radio set consisting of just a piece of quartz stone, a needle and a headphone. It was there in Manila where I saw for the first time a TRAMVIA or streetcar. It was there too where I rode for the first time an elevator in the Post Office building. Tata Equio and I stayed for around a week in Manila before we returned. I was so excited and impressed by what I saw, especially the tall buildings and crowded streets. How I wished my mother to be able to see what I saw before she died. Then I considered myself more fortunate than her! And I also more fortunate than my father, who has only heard about Manila, but has never seen it at all. I was so grateful to my uncle, who was so kind enough to take me along with him to the Capital of the Philippines – Manila. I recall my childhood ambition of seeing Manila, America, then Heaven. Those were my dreams. Now I’ve realized the first two and I am ready to see the third and last ambition of my life, Heaven! Praise the lord.
Showing posts with label Bangued. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bangued. Show all posts
Friday, February 4, 2011
Monday, April 12, 2010
History of My Life - Part G: 1 - Pensionados
Before I totally leave Bangued from the Story of My Life, I would like to share some personal experiences that I can't forget.
1. One of them is my conversation with my brother, Elix, while walking to buy "lomo-lomo" in Pagpartian. I was about seven and he was about five years of age more or less. I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up. He also asked me what I wanted to be. We mentioned various professions as: teacher, doctor, priest, lawyer, engineer or officer. We didn't mention our father's profession.
Finally we decided that we will become PENSIONADOS! I guess we were impressed by our neighbor, Mr Gerson, a pensionado. Whenever he passed by our house to get his pension we heard our father saying, "NAIMBAGKA PAY GIEM TA AGAOAWATCA TI PENSIONADO BINOLAN." When we were eating, our father explained that a PENSIONADO gets money without working.
Elix became a "pensionado" but his pension was given to our stepmother as his survivor following his death as a Prisoner of War during World War II. I became a "pensionado" in 1965 after my 30 years of service in the Army. Then I also became a "pensionado" in 1981 when I retired at age 63 from the Social Security System of the U.S.A. I was then a Senior Paralegal of the Bay Area Legal Services. Now I am getting two pensions! Praise the Lord!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
History of My Life - Part F: Detour to 1970 – Miss Red Feather Part A
It was there in 1970 when my daughter, Jocelyn, was being honored for winning the beauty contest as Miss Red Feather Philippines as Abra’s representative that I got an accolade from a beautiful daughter of our late neighbor, Ex-Governor Bienvenido Valera, saying: “Magpintas laketdin ta anacyon, Momon Siniong!”
It was the late Tata Benid, her father, who said to me in 1950, upon meeting me in Manila, “Ken abogado ka payen aya? Ania laketdin nga ragsak ni Insiongen no ada a biag itan!” “And so you are now a Captain and a lawyer. How happy would Insiong (my father) be if he were alive now!” That was the best compliment I ever received, especially considering the fact that when I was playing with his daughters as a child he told them not to play with my brother and I. He would drive us away from his yard because we belonged to a poor family, the sons of a slipper-maker while he was the “Presidente” or Mayor. Or maybe it was because we were quite dirty compared to his immaculately clean children who had maids to take care of them.
Ironically, he never knew that my late father wanted me to become a lawyer to recover property from him. Over the years his fence encroached closer and closer to our house posts until eventually a common boundary tree was beyond our reach from the fence. The same was also true of our back fence which was already several yards from a common well and an Acacia tree that, according to my mother, used to be a part of our fence. The owner of the property behind our house was the common-law wife of Tata Benid. I could have easily reclaimed our original boundary because I saw that when my grandfather sold the property to my parents, he was one of the witnesses to the Deed of Sale that contained the lot measurements. Instead of going to court, I just sold that property to avoid trouble with the neighbors.
I was very fortunate to be in Bangued during the opening ceremonies of Victoria Park and hear the speeches of prominent politicians mentioning the Forestry Director, Mr. Viado; Tobacco Director, Mr. Aquino; Don Quintin Paredes and others who contributed to the completion of the project. To me it was a dream come true, but it marked the turning point of the Paredes Political Dynasty for honoring a person instead of dedicating it in honor of the Virgin Mary or St James (Santiago), the Patron Saint of Bangued. From that point on the Barbero Political mill started grinding down the Paredes Political faction.
It was in the house of the late Congressman Carmelo Barbero where my daughter, Jocelyn, was brought to meet the prominent Abranians from Manila, headed by Professor Procopio Boromeo. The house on the side of Casamat Hill overlooks the town of Bangued and commands a good view of the entire community. There, Congressman Barbero asked Jojo to sing, Professor Boromeo, the foremost Pilipino guitarist, tried to accompany her, but could not get the right music because it was a new song entitled “I’ll never fall in love again.” So my daughter, who knew how to play the guitar, took the guitar from Professor Boromeo saying “Siac langen Tata,” and accompanied herself.
I was thinking of Ham Tuazon when Jojo was singing because he was madly in love with a Josephina Abaoag, our classmate. When she married another man, he never fell in love again. Ham was there and he told me that he would help with the candidacy of Jojo as the representative of Abra for Miss Red Feather Philippines. He didn’t know that Jojo’s baptismal name was Josefina.
Pat and I were Congressman Barbero’s honored guests and he placed us closest to him facing all the other guests that included all the prominent Abranians having a reunion in Bangued. We were met by the Treasurer of Abra Province at Tangadan who placed a lei of flowers around Jojo’s neck and escorted her to the High School building where the reunion was being held. From there we were brought to the house of Manong Meling (Carmelo Barbero) at the foot of the Casamata Hill. Pat and I were bursting with pride and joy as we never expected such a thing to happen in our humble lives at all.
The following day we had a picnic with all the famous Abranians in Borobor, the source of the water system of Bangued at the Alzate Park. We swam in the cool swimming pool where I alone used skin diving gear, to the amazement of all the guests, who, I guess, had never seen one before. Jojo was also an eye-opener and a great attraction in her swimsuit, especially in the pool on top of the Casamata Hill. The people of Bangued gathered to see the Miss Abra who was a candidate for Miss Red Feather Philippines. She was highly publicized in the papers and on the radio of Manila and Bangued, where she sang and delivered speeches. Those were glorious days for Pat and I, beyond our wildest dreams, being mentioned as the parents of Jojo, the most famous beauty of Abra Province, who united all political parties, clubs and people. Governor Patroning Seares predicted, “The first and only Jocelyn of Abra will win!” He was right.
When Jojo won the contest, Vice-Governor Aquino offered us the Victoria Park Guest House where the beds and mattresses I gave him were readied for our use as VIP’s. But we preferred to stay with Manang Salome and Dariang and Attorney Balleras who always welcomed us during our visits to Bangued.
One early morning we were awakened by the loud conversation of merchants boarding a bus about the parentage and ancestors of Miss Red Feather. We heard the names of ISIANG, INSIONG, SINIONG and PATRING mentioned. So we concluded that we were the talk of the town! Pat and I were both tickled to death. Everyone claimed that we were their relatives or friends, notwithstanding the fact that Pat and I were practically nobodies and unknown when we left Bangued years ago. When we returned with Miss Red Feather, we were greeted by school children and teachers from Tangadan, Pidigan, Palao and Bangued waving small flags and shouting “Welcome Miss Red Feather!” Then we heard the bells ringing, rockets bursting and sirens blowing as we entered the town. It was a triumphant return to Bangued!
Governor Seares asked everybody to pay respects to Jocelyn the First saying, “Agrobab tayo amin ken Reyna Jocelyn!” I saw the Congressman, the Governor, the Mayors and everybody bowing towards my daughter, Jojo, inside the Provincial Building! That was the highest point of recognition one could get. I guess nobody else ever received such an honor in Bangued ever. Jojo was wearing her crown and scepter as Queen Jocelyn the 1st with her tall trophy from the President of the Philippines.
Similar honors were shown in the towns of Abra where Jojo was presented to the public by their respective mayors.
It was the late Tata Benid, her father, who said to me in 1950, upon meeting me in Manila, “Ken abogado ka payen aya? Ania laketdin nga ragsak ni Insiongen no ada a biag itan!” “And so you are now a Captain and a lawyer. How happy would Insiong (my father) be if he were alive now!” That was the best compliment I ever received, especially considering the fact that when I was playing with his daughters as a child he told them not to play with my brother and I. He would drive us away from his yard because we belonged to a poor family, the sons of a slipper-maker while he was the “Presidente” or Mayor. Or maybe it was because we were quite dirty compared to his immaculately clean children who had maids to take care of them.
Ironically, he never knew that my late father wanted me to become a lawyer to recover property from him. Over the years his fence encroached closer and closer to our house posts until eventually a common boundary tree was beyond our reach from the fence. The same was also true of our back fence which was already several yards from a common well and an Acacia tree that, according to my mother, used to be a part of our fence. The owner of the property behind our house was the common-law wife of Tata Benid. I could have easily reclaimed our original boundary because I saw that when my grandfather sold the property to my parents, he was one of the witnesses to the Deed of Sale that contained the lot measurements. Instead of going to court, I just sold that property to avoid trouble with the neighbors.
I was very fortunate to be in Bangued during the opening ceremonies of Victoria Park and hear the speeches of prominent politicians mentioning the Forestry Director, Mr. Viado; Tobacco Director, Mr. Aquino; Don Quintin Paredes and others who contributed to the completion of the project. To me it was a dream come true, but it marked the turning point of the Paredes Political Dynasty for honoring a person instead of dedicating it in honor of the Virgin Mary or St James (Santiago), the Patron Saint of Bangued. From that point on the Barbero Political mill started grinding down the Paredes Political faction.
It was in the house of the late Congressman Carmelo Barbero where my daughter, Jocelyn, was brought to meet the prominent Abranians from Manila, headed by Professor Procopio Boromeo. The house on the side of Casamat Hill overlooks the town of Bangued and commands a good view of the entire community. There, Congressman Barbero asked Jojo to sing, Professor Boromeo, the foremost Pilipino guitarist, tried to accompany her, but could not get the right music because it was a new song entitled “I’ll never fall in love again.” So my daughter, who knew how to play the guitar, took the guitar from Professor Boromeo saying “Siac langen Tata,” and accompanied herself.
I was thinking of Ham Tuazon when Jojo was singing because he was madly in love with a Josephina Abaoag, our classmate. When she married another man, he never fell in love again. Ham was there and he told me that he would help with the candidacy of Jojo as the representative of Abra for Miss Red Feather Philippines. He didn’t know that Jojo’s baptismal name was Josefina.
Pat and I were Congressman Barbero’s honored guests and he placed us closest to him facing all the other guests that included all the prominent Abranians having a reunion in Bangued. We were met by the Treasurer of Abra Province at Tangadan who placed a lei of flowers around Jojo’s neck and escorted her to the High School building where the reunion was being held. From there we were brought to the house of Manong Meling (Carmelo Barbero) at the foot of the Casamata Hill. Pat and I were bursting with pride and joy as we never expected such a thing to happen in our humble lives at all.
The following day we had a picnic with all the famous Abranians in Borobor, the source of the water system of Bangued at the Alzate Park. We swam in the cool swimming pool where I alone used skin diving gear, to the amazement of all the guests, who, I guess, had never seen one before. Jojo was also an eye-opener and a great attraction in her swimsuit, especially in the pool on top of the Casamata Hill. The people of Bangued gathered to see the Miss Abra who was a candidate for Miss Red Feather Philippines. She was highly publicized in the papers and on the radio of Manila and Bangued, where she sang and delivered speeches. Those were glorious days for Pat and I, beyond our wildest dreams, being mentioned as the parents of Jojo, the most famous beauty of Abra Province, who united all political parties, clubs and people. Governor Patroning Seares predicted, “The first and only Jocelyn of Abra will win!” He was right.
When Jojo won the contest, Vice-Governor Aquino offered us the Victoria Park Guest House where the beds and mattresses I gave him were readied for our use as VIP’s. But we preferred to stay with Manang Salome and Dariang and Attorney Balleras who always welcomed us during our visits to Bangued.
One early morning we were awakened by the loud conversation of merchants boarding a bus about the parentage and ancestors of Miss Red Feather. We heard the names of ISIANG, INSIONG, SINIONG and PATRING mentioned. So we concluded that we were the talk of the town! Pat and I were both tickled to death. Everyone claimed that we were their relatives or friends, notwithstanding the fact that Pat and I were practically nobodies and unknown when we left Bangued years ago. When we returned with Miss Red Feather, we were greeted by school children and teachers from Tangadan, Pidigan, Palao and Bangued waving small flags and shouting “Welcome Miss Red Feather!” Then we heard the bells ringing, rockets bursting and sirens blowing as we entered the town. It was a triumphant return to Bangued!
Governor Seares asked everybody to pay respects to Jocelyn the First saying, “Agrobab tayo amin ken Reyna Jocelyn!” I saw the Congressman, the Governor, the Mayors and everybody bowing towards my daughter, Jojo, inside the Provincial Building! That was the highest point of recognition one could get. I guess nobody else ever received such an honor in Bangued ever. Jojo was wearing her crown and scepter as Queen Jocelyn the 1st with her tall trophy from the President of the Philippines.
Similar honors were shown in the towns of Abra where Jojo was presented to the public by their respective mayors.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
History of My Life - Part E: Bangued Part 2
“History of My Life”
By Jose (Patrocinio) B. Sibayan
1990
E. Bangued, Part 2
The Provincial Governor, Don Virgilio Valera, always wore a white suit, white shoes and white PANAMA or straw hat from Panama. He also wore white hair as there was no dying of hair then. The same is also true with the Presidente (Mayor) Don Bienvenido Valera who was of Spanish ancestry, hence, had white skin like Don Virgilio. Don Quinten Paredes, the Congressman of Abra also wore all white clothes and was also white-skinned like the Valeras. They were taller than the ordinary Abranian and heavier in size. People adored and admired them.
The Police Chief wore khaki uniform with leggings and brass buttons like a P.C. officer. At that time he was my Tiong (Uncle) Binnong Benedito. He looked dignified and imposing. He had his own car. At night he blew his whistle at a certain hour and I heard whistles responding all around the town to show that his policemen were not sleeping. They were posted in the corner streets or strategic places patrolling the town.
The Justice of the Peace, Judge Rivas, was a thin person from another province who also loved to wear white suits and shoes and played tennis. When I sold my bicycle, I bought his tennis racket. I used to shine his shoes and the shoes of other members of his family in their house. He paid me very well.
The Provincial Fiscal, Fiscal Tomeldan, was a very short fat man who also played tennis. He was the father of my tennis partner in PMA, Captain Santiago Tomeldan. He was a very jolly person.
The Provincial Health Officer, Mr. Abecilla, enjoyed eating a lot. He was a very fat person. His son, Manong Gondino, who taught me chess, became a national chess champion.
The Provincial Treasurer, Mr. Chaves, lived in the house of Don Juan Valera, our neighbor across the street. Like the other officials, he also wore a white suit, white shoes, white necktie and used a white handkerchief. He used to arrive wet with sweat every afternoon after playing tennis in long white pants and white shirt and white rubber shoes. He had two sons, Johnny and Willie, of my age. Willie became a Captain like me and was also a radio announcer with his baritone voice. They had a green Dodge car that was kept well polished. Mr. Chaves was tall and lanky. His wife was beautiful.
I guess the reason the officials wore white attire is because of the Americans in the government service who wore all-white apparel and became the models. And so, even the High School teachers like Mr. Silverio Gutierrez and Mr. Honesto Brinyas were all in white.
High school students used a uniform of white shirts and khaki pants for boys and white blouse and khaki skirts for girls during my days in the early Thirties when I was 1st year and 2nd year in the Abra High School.
In my 3rd year in High School I left Bangued and studied in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. It was there where I changed my name from Patrocinio to Jose. I returned to Bangued with a new name in 1934 and graduated as an Honor Student in 1935 from the Colegio del Sagrado Corazon High School of the Catholic Church.
After my graduation I left Bangued for Kiangan, Ifugao, Mountain Province where I worked as a Public Works Laborer and later on enlisted as a Private in the P.C. there. I visited Bangued when I became a Corporal, P.C. in 1937 during Holy Week. That was the last time I saw my birthplace before World War II. When I visited Bangued in 1945 I saw how badly devastated my home town was.
When I went up the Casamata Hill I could see the Abra River in Calaba across the barren town. Only a few structures like the church tower and municipal buildings did not get leveled to the ground. Not a single tall tree was left standing that I could see. It was caused by the carpet bombing by American planes during the Liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation.
When I was assigned as Instructor in the PMA in Baguio City in 1957 I had several chances to visit Bangued. Caimito trees took the place of the tamarind (salomagi), “sanguelas,” and “kamantiris” in our neighborhood. The roads were gradually paved with asphalt. Houses made of wood replaced the once bamboo and silag walls. More GI roofing glistened from house tops when I went up the Victoria Park in 1970. Bangued hads been transformed.
The Victoria Park is one of the most significant improvements in Bangued. I used to run up to the Casamata Hill with Felix Brillantes very early every morning and take a bath with the cool overflow of the tank which is now the swimming pool. When I was there the last time in 1970, I drove up the hill to take a dip in the swimming pool recalling my childhood days as I floated on the cool clear water from Borabor Stream. Then I watched the sun rise from the east with all its beauty and splendor as I used to do in my younger days when life was in its rising stage.
By Jose (Patrocinio) B. Sibayan
1990
E. Bangued, Part 2
The Provincial Governor, Don Virgilio Valera, always wore a white suit, white shoes and white PANAMA or straw hat from Panama. He also wore white hair as there was no dying of hair then. The same is also true with the Presidente (Mayor) Don Bienvenido Valera who was of Spanish ancestry, hence, had white skin like Don Virgilio. Don Quinten Paredes, the Congressman of Abra also wore all white clothes and was also white-skinned like the Valeras. They were taller than the ordinary Abranian and heavier in size. People adored and admired them.
The Police Chief wore khaki uniform with leggings and brass buttons like a P.C. officer. At that time he was my Tiong (Uncle) Binnong Benedito. He looked dignified and imposing. He had his own car. At night he blew his whistle at a certain hour and I heard whistles responding all around the town to show that his policemen were not sleeping. They were posted in the corner streets or strategic places patrolling the town.
The Justice of the Peace, Judge Rivas, was a thin person from another province who also loved to wear white suits and shoes and played tennis. When I sold my bicycle, I bought his tennis racket. I used to shine his shoes and the shoes of other members of his family in their house. He paid me very well.
The Provincial Fiscal, Fiscal Tomeldan, was a very short fat man who also played tennis. He was the father of my tennis partner in PMA, Captain Santiago Tomeldan. He was a very jolly person.
The Provincial Health Officer, Mr. Abecilla, enjoyed eating a lot. He was a very fat person. His son, Manong Gondino, who taught me chess, became a national chess champion.
The Provincial Treasurer, Mr. Chaves, lived in the house of Don Juan Valera, our neighbor across the street. Like the other officials, he also wore a white suit, white shoes, white necktie and used a white handkerchief. He used to arrive wet with sweat every afternoon after playing tennis in long white pants and white shirt and white rubber shoes. He had two sons, Johnny and Willie, of my age. Willie became a Captain like me and was also a radio announcer with his baritone voice. They had a green Dodge car that was kept well polished. Mr. Chaves was tall and lanky. His wife was beautiful.
I guess the reason the officials wore white attire is because of the Americans in the government service who wore all-white apparel and became the models. And so, even the High School teachers like Mr. Silverio Gutierrez and Mr. Honesto Brinyas were all in white.
High school students used a uniform of white shirts and khaki pants for boys and white blouse and khaki skirts for girls during my days in the early Thirties when I was 1st year and 2nd year in the Abra High School.
In my 3rd year in High School I left Bangued and studied in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. It was there where I changed my name from Patrocinio to Jose. I returned to Bangued with a new name in 1934 and graduated as an Honor Student in 1935 from the Colegio del Sagrado Corazon High School of the Catholic Church.
After my graduation I left Bangued for Kiangan, Ifugao, Mountain Province where I worked as a Public Works Laborer and later on enlisted as a Private in the P.C. there. I visited Bangued when I became a Corporal, P.C. in 1937 during Holy Week. That was the last time I saw my birthplace before World War II. When I visited Bangued in 1945 I saw how badly devastated my home town was.
When I went up the Casamata Hill I could see the Abra River in Calaba across the barren town. Only a few structures like the church tower and municipal buildings did not get leveled to the ground. Not a single tall tree was left standing that I could see. It was caused by the carpet bombing by American planes during the Liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation.
When I was assigned as Instructor in the PMA in Baguio City in 1957 I had several chances to visit Bangued. Caimito trees took the place of the tamarind (salomagi), “sanguelas,” and “kamantiris” in our neighborhood. The roads were gradually paved with asphalt. Houses made of wood replaced the once bamboo and silag walls. More GI roofing glistened from house tops when I went up the Victoria Park in 1970. Bangued hads been transformed.
The Victoria Park is one of the most significant improvements in Bangued. I used to run up to the Casamata Hill with Felix Brillantes very early every morning and take a bath with the cool overflow of the tank which is now the swimming pool. When I was there the last time in 1970, I drove up the hill to take a dip in the swimming pool recalling my childhood days as I floated on the cool clear water from Borabor Stream. Then I watched the sun rise from the east with all its beauty and splendor as I used to do in my younger days when life was in its rising stage.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Nanay - Part 1
By Patricia Enrile Sibayan
“Of all the music that reached farthest into Heaven,
It is the beating of a loving heart.”
- Jose B. Sibayan
Pat, my lovely darling, sublimated her personal ambitions into the caring of her family. She sacrificed her life for the love of her children and her husband. “Nanay” is truly a saint!
- Jose B. Sibayan
This story of my life was written by Nanay – Patricia Enrile Sibayan by hand. I just typed what she wrote with no corrections, word for word. This book is being sent to Tatay, Jose B. Sibayan Sr. and to all my brothers and sisters with lots of love in memory of our loving and dearest Nanay.
- Jojo Sibayan Lontok, December 10, 1985
I have just given birth to my sixth child, a bouncing baby boy at the “Clinica Lopez” and the urge to write the story of my life is so strong that I had to begin doing just that. My husband and I have named the new baby “Roberto” which was suggested by our oldest son, Tony, and we have nicknamed him “Bobby.”
Six children: Antonio 10, Liberty 8, Arsenia 6, Josefina 4, Ernesto 2, and Bobby, the new arrival. Watching our children has been instrumental in inspiring whatever dormant writing ability has been left in me and forced me to look back through the years to see myself just a child again and as carefree as any other child in the neighborhood.
I was born in the small town of Bangued, province of Abra, in northern Luzon. About my birth, I could not say much except that I came into this world, the youngest, among three love-children. I never knew the loving care of a father because he left us just a little after I was born, to marry another woman. I was too young then but relatives tell me how heart-broken my mother was and how she almost died. What made it most painful for her was maybe because our father didn’t bother to go to another town but married a neighbor who was supposed to be rich, and stayed right there in Bangued where my mother could meet them often times. It must have been terrible for my mother, but she had a stout heart and after a year or so, she began to forget him. Our oldest, a boy, died before I was born, that left two girls for my mother to take care of. My sister was four years my senior.
After what I call my mother’s tragedy, she became sickly and, added to her poor health; she still had to earn money for our upkeep. She was a seamstress and catered to the more solidly founded families of the locality. During months when her sewing was not so lucrative, she went from one barrio another, selling all sorts of household necessities. When I was about a year old an aunt of mine, the oldest, took me in tow because she took pity on my mother who was over burdened by the heavy responsibility of earning a living and raising two daughters. Good for me, it proved to be because my aunt did not have children, although she had been married for quite a time then.
My childhood days were just like any other girl’s. The only difference was my lack of some things that other children had because, although my aunt and uncle gave me all they could, they could not seem to give me enough, because they too were poor. Even my uncle tried to give me a father’s loving care and for that I am forever thankful. The only shadow that blighted my childhood days in their care was the fact that theirs was not a happy marriage. Individually, they were very good to me, but lucky was a day that would pass without a quarrel between them. There were nights when I would lie whimpering in our bamboo “papag” where I slept while I listened to their quarrels. Sometimes they would become so violent in their language that I would wish to run away and hide myself somewhere. One such time, I really did run away, to sit under our big guava tree which was quite a distance from the house. It was raining cats and dogs that night and very windy too. I was just preparing to go to sleep when all of a sudden I sensed that my uncle and aunt were quarreling. They were in the porch of the house. As the rain grew stronger so their voices rose higher until they were so furious with one another. When I could bear it no longer, I silently crept out of the house and proceeded to the back of our spacious backyard and sat under the guava tree.
I must have fallen asleep because I was roughly awakened by someone shaking my shoulder. When I opened my eyes I saw my aunt with a lantern in her hand. I stiffly got up and didn’t say a word. Neither did she, but I saw that she had been crying. The next morning I was down with a very high fever which lasted for four days. Most of the time I didn’t know what was happening around me and I had all sorts of dreadful dreams. When I got better, I was very thankful that my uncle and aunt seemed to be at peace with each other and no one could imagine how much I prayed to God that their peace would last.
I was thirteen years old when I finished the seventh grade as “First Honorable Mention.” I had been a candidate for valedictorian but I got sick for more than a month before the final exams and that proved to my disadvantage. My rating was 89%; the valedictorian and salutatorian rated 91% and 90% respectively. At the opening of the next school year my aunt refused to let me enter high school. I was disappointed beyond words. I convinced her in my own childish ways, but she would not give in. My mother heard about it and she approached my aunt about it and even promised that she would pay all my expenses. My aunt did not consent either and they quarreled. The only reason my aunt didn’t want me to go to high school was because she didn’t want me to have a chance to be followed by boys. To her way of thinking, I was just at the age when things like love-affairs were most dangerous. And she opined that going to high school was a means of making boys and girls meet and fall in love. I was dumb-founded, then, by her opinion, at that time I didn’t even know yet that such a thing as love existed between strangers. But no amount of persuasion would budge her.
I had to give up school that year and the next. I was morose and sad, especially when my former classmates would drop in to say hello. My heart was broken, I wanted to go to high school so much that after the second year of my non-schooling, I again began to convince my aunt to let me go back to school. Like the previous years, she refused. Then I made my own plans. I consulted mother and she suggested that since they were not in good terms with my aunt, we better move to another province. She planned to sell our house and all belongings then move to Bayombong, N. Vizcaya where a younger sister and her family were residing. I wrote to that aunt of mine and did not spare any details. I told her that I wanted very much to go to school and that I intended to leave my older aunt because she didn’t want us to go to their place and live with them and they even assured me that they’ll help mother see me through high school. My morale rose to a new high but was marred only by the thought of leaving my aunt. She was short-minded and old-fashioned in a lot of things, but I loved her too, like a mother.
So it came to pass that on August 1936, after spending a restless and tearful day, I sneaked from my aunt’s house and hid in a relative’s house to wait for the morning so I could take the first bus out of Bangued. My mother and sister were supposed to be on the bus and we would then proceed to Bayombong. Our plans were carried out smoothly but I could not sleep that night and was always thinking of my aunt. Several people came to the house where I was hiding and told the owners how I disappeared and how furious my aunt was. She also asked the help of the municipal police to locate me, but a cousin of mine, who was a member of the police force, knew of my plans. Instead of helping them locate me, he led them off to another section of town. I am not going to elaborate on my escape from the place of my birth because I don’t want to open old wounds. Suffice it to say that my mother, sister and I made it with not so much trouble and as the truck rumbled through the dusty roads to Bayombong, I was thanking my lucky stars for giving me a chance once more to go back to school.
I spent two years (first and second years) in the Nueva Vizcaya High School. My cousin-in-law, Dr. Sotero Torralba, was the one who enrolled me and with no difficulty. Right from the start, I seemed to strike a neat friendship with both my teachers and class mates. In no time, I was already a student leader. I grew to like my English 1 teacher (Miss Remedious Vergara) so much and after a while we were good friends. Our intimacy was such that she trusted me so much that she even made me correct themes (formal and informal) of her Second year students and left the grading of same at my discretion. I participated in all kinds of extra-curricular activities and was president of our class and also class representative to the Student Council. I took the Home Economics course and I made our department popular in the campus by my obtaining the highest ratings in departmental tests. That year I was also voted the sponsor of Company C of the NVHS Cadet Corps.
Summer vacation of that year, my mother took my sister and me for a sojourn to Manila. My sister had finished high school the previous year and had an eye on entering the Philippine Normal School. She made good, too, in the entrance exams, but through some twist of fate, she was not able to enter said school. That summer she intended to take up a secretarial course. We stayed in the house of Prof. Procopio Borromeo and his mother, who was my mother’s cousin, but later on we moved to Nana Sayon’s on Zobel Street. She was also a cousin of my mother’s and her husbnd, Tata Dolfo, was then a 1st Lt. in the Army.
That summer vacation was sort of memorable to me because it was during that time that I danced for the first time. It happened this way. Not far from Zobel Street was a boarding house which was managed by a childhood friend of my mother’s. All her boarders were male students and it happened that a friend of ours from Bayombong, (Asterio Saquing) was one of them. We were surprised when one afternoon, he visited us and brought along (Manong) Siniong (I called him that then.) He was the son of my mother’s best friend and second cousin in Bangued and my mother was so overjoyed at seeing him. When he left Bangued I was still a small tot and when I came out, he didn’t recognize me. We asked them to come again, which they did quite often, and on Siniong’s birthday (May 8th) he invited my sister and me to join him to a pilgrimage to Antipolo. To make a foursome, he asked Asterio to come along. It was there in Antipolo that I danced for the first time – with Asterio as instructor.
History of My Life - Part C: Sanitation
Editor's Warning!
If you're uncomfortable hearing about sanitary conditions in a Third World country in the 1920's do not continue reading! My grandfather goes into pretty graphic detail here: disease, parasites, toilet habits, the whole 9 yards. I would not recommend reading this anywhere around mealtime. It does get better towards the end when running water, culverts, and sanitary methods are introduced.
“History of My Life”
by Jose (Patrocinio) B. Sibayan
1990
C. Sanitation
Health conditions during the early Twenties were very poor and unhealthy. Toilet was not a usual part of a house, much less bathrooms. A house was usually elevated several feet above the ground to accommodate the pigs, dogs and chickens to scratch and pick up the scrap food dropped down between the bamboo-slat floors. We moved our bowels under the trees or along the road into the canal. We used bamboo sticks or corn cobs to wipe our anus. Pigs were always around ready to gobble up the human waste.
1. Toilet and Bath
At the time we went to fetch water from the nearest water well, we also had the urge to move our bowels first before taking a bath. While taking a bath, we also washed our clothes and dried them under the sun.
Later on, during the late Twenties an ANTIPOLO system of toilets was compulsory for every home. It consisted of digging a deep pit to be covered at all times when not in use. An ordinance was passed warning pig or animal owners to tie up or keep their animals from roaming around the streets. When the water system of Bangued was installed, homes had a part of the home called BANGSAL where you could take a bath. The Antipolo was dug at the furthest corner of the property, connected with a bamboo bridge or a pathway in the yard. Flies usually swarmed around as the toilet pit got filled with worms or maggots. Homes had no screens, and so the flies crawled and swarmed everywhere.
2. Sickness – Dysentery
Intestinal diseases were prevalent and caused a lot of deaths, especially in infants and children. I was in Lagangilang one day watching a procession of coffins brought to the cemetery. They had a dysentery epidemic there. The source of drinking water was the Abra River. We had a houseboy around my age, Valentin by name, who suffered stomach ache one night and suddenly died.
3. PTB - Pulmonary Tuberculosis
I saw people sick of PTB spitting out of their window while the flies swarmed around and chickens picking up the bloody mucous. But we did not know any better. I had not seen germs through a microscope at that time. Education later brought about better sanitation in town.
4. Mosquitoes and Bed Bugs
We slept as a family under a large mosquito net. When we woke up, we would kill the blood-filled mosquitoes trapped inside the net. We also had a lot of bed us that hide inside the pillows, blankets and mosquito net ends. And so every waking day was a bloody day!
5. Mites
Inside the yard were lots of fleas and ants. There was even a belief that red ants going inside the house is a sign of good luck. Inside the chicken coop under the house were tiny white mites called OLMOG. They also sucked blood and caused a lot of itch!
6. Lice
During my childhood days everyone, especially women, had lice. The common pastime of women was to sit on the ladder and remove each other’s lice while they chatted or gossiped or told old housewives tales!
7. Panateng - Colds & Coughs
Around the month of December or during the rainy season, colds were an ordinary experience for everybody. The already greenish mucous of some kids could be seen slowly coming down their nose until they inhale it back again instead of wiping it away. That is why we have a riddle that says: “NO OMOLOG AGALALADOD, NO OMOLI GOLPE! And we have a joke: INTAN AGNATNATENG; - ALIS PANTENG. Nobody covered their mouth wile coughing then or even sneezing. We induced sneezing by pricking the nose to relieve the congestion. I used to locate my father in the plaza among the crowd by tracing his successive SAY-A or short coughs.
8. Kamata – Sore Eyes
During summer we developed sore eyes as a matter of course, like a part of life. We have a joke: INTAN IDIAY CASAMATTA; - ALIS KAMATA. The flies helped the spread of sore eyes too as they flew from one person’s eye to another like bees from flower to flower. The only remedy we had was fresh milk from a mother’s breast or AGUA BORICADA. Sometimes a whole class of school children had sore eyes because no isolation was enforced. Kids who had sore eyes even chased others to touch their fingers on their classmate’s eyes to infect them too.
9. Daringu – Ngo – Nosebleed
Nose bleeds were common during dry season. Our remedy was to raise the opposite arm and press the bleeding nose, or soak our head with water. It was a general belief that anybody getting sick was because of bad air hitting them, called DAKES NGA ANGIN. There was some truth to it because of the polluted air full of viruses and germs.
10. Gadnil – Skin Diseases
Skin diseases were very common on account of the fleas, mosquitoes, bed bugs, ants, mites, etc. that caused infections. Scratching with dirty finger nails was common among uneducated children and people like us then. Hence our legs, arms and other parts of our body were afflicted with sores. We had no medicine available so we resorted to having our sores, especially on our legs, licked by our dogs until the scabs were removed, thereby leaving scars or PIGLAT on our legs. We just took it for granted that those sores or skin diseases would eventually dry up or heal without putting any medicine on them because we did not know any better. We had no dispensary to go to and our schools had no nurse or anybody to look after our diseases. I had a sad experience of being unkindly whipped by my Grade Two teacher on my leg because I could not go by the beat of the music when we were being taught to dance for a program. She hit one of my leg sores and it started bleeding. I cried, ran home and didn’t want to go back to school anymore. I went back to school, but I no longer wanted to be a participant in the dances.
11. Sakit Ti Chan – Stomach Aches
Stomach aches were experienced frequently by children because of eating fly-ridden food or eating with dirty hands or drinking polluted water. The common remedies were placing hot ashes wrapped with a piece of cloth on the stomach. We had no hot-water bags then. If that didn’t work, they roasted either santol, guava, or “sarguelas,” whatever is the suspected “culprit” until it is burned black into charcoal. Then it was placed into a cup of water to be used as “aqua-tiempo” or a drinking potion. It worked!
12. Pokga & Labatiba – Fever
Fever or “GORIGOR” occurred now and then due to overexposure to rain, or heat, or infection, or contagious disease. The usual remedy is purgative with ACETE DE CASTOR in the morning; sweating with lots of blankets the whole day and an enema or LABATIBA in the late afternoon. Usually the fever is gone the following day. On the third day good food consisting of chicken soup and soft-boiled rice (LUGAO) is served to the recuperating patient. Then a chicken is roasted wrapped with banana leaves served with rice.
13. Agas – Cuts
Cuts or “SUGAT” are usually infected because of the unsanitary conditions and ignorance in treating wounds properly. I cut my left thumb almost in half when I was about five years old. The only remedy was petroleum or GAS from our oil pump and the wound was wrapped with a piece of cloth taken from our dish towel or NISNIS that remained unwashed for several days. The infected wound lasted many months and I still have the scar up to this date. Sometimes, if we get hurt while playing we ran to a nearby fence to get a leaf of TAWATAWA to let its sap drop into our wound. If the blood is flowing we would wash it with our saliva by sucking the blood. If the wound is on our foot or leg, we washed the blood by urinating on it. If there is a “mabungay” tree, we got its leaves, pounded them into a poultice and applied it on the wound.
14. Bollo – Sprains or Disclocations
Sprains and dislocations were usually treated by a local MANGILOT or masseur like Tata Kinio Busuego, our neighbor. He had coconut oil for massaging the part of the body affected. If a splint is needed, he would get a branch of TAWATAWA, skin it and use the bark to wrap around the elbow or leg after giving the broken limb a good massage accompanied by the anguish and shouts of pain by the patient. I saw how my brother was treated following his fall from a fence he climbed and broke his left elbow. His arm was never restored to its original shape and he had a crooked arm called in Ilocano “Singkol” or KUMANG in Tagalog.
15. Ngipen – Toothaches
Toothaches usually ended up with a pulled tooth by means of a string or pliers without anesthesia. If the tooth had a hole in it, salt or tobacco was inserted to deaden the pain. I had an aching molar with a swollen gum and could no longer stand the pain when I was about 11 years old. My cousin, T-Sgt. Crisanto Bravo, a PRACTICANTE of the Dental Service, P.C., extracted it without anesthesia and I almost collapsed with pain. I had a tooth that had a hole in it and a local dentist, Tata Sidong, drilled it without anesthesia and I was yelling and struggling with pain! Thanks to anesthesia!
16. Sakit Ti Olo – Headaches
Headaches were treated, before aspirin became available, by hand massage or soaking it with cold water. Banana leaf was wrapped around the head to absorb the heat. Handkerchiefs were tied around the head to deaden the pain. Tender leaf of TAWATAWA or ACHLETE also served the purpose if tender leaves of banana were not available. A friend of my grandfather who used to read the PASSION with him died of swallowing a bottle of CAFIASPIRINA just because he thought that relief from headache can be done instantly – and it did! People then were ignorant about medicine. Maybe that is why GAMOT or Ilocano for poison is the Tagalog word for medicine? The Tagalogs were closer to civilization than the Ilocanos in the north of the Philippines far from Manila.
17. Sakit Ti Karabokob – Tonsilitis
Tonsilitis was treated by gargling with salt water or strong vinegar or both. These were the only available remedies for tonsillitis when I was a child. I had to endure the pain as a “part of growing” and prayed that it would soon be over. It was accompanied by high fever and swelling and the inability to swallow anything. Sometimes a hot towel compress was applied to the throat to relieve the pain and reduce the swelling.
18. Dogol – Boil
Boils caused an ugly scar and was a very painful disease. My uncle, Antonio Bravo (Lt. P.C.) had a boil scar as big as a 50 cent coin on his right temple and so did the cousin of Pat, Manong Picoy. I had mine on my right upper leg joint, or groin, and what a throbbing pain it gave me. The scar is still there. It was made to burst with an application of Malunggay leaves pounded into a paste and applied on top of the boil. I was immobilized for the duration of my Christmas vacation. My mother sat at my bedside comforting my while I agonized.
19. Bobon – Water
Water was either from the rain or ground well during my childhood days. We gathered rain water for drinking and hauled by means of bamboo called BAYENGYEN water from the well for cooking and washing purposes. During the time we were at the well, we would wash our clothes and take a bath. The water well we drew our water from was near the stream that passed near the PAGPARTIAN down a trail strewn with “camachili” thorns and bamboo thorns that pricked our bare feet. Infection eventually followed and so I had to walk on my hell or on my toe, limping until the infection is healed by itself after a long time.
20. Casamata Water Reservoir – Gripo
The greatest thing that happened in Bangued during my childhood days was the digging of the reservoir in Casamata hill. After school hours I was there picking up pieces of limestone to be polished into marbles. Then the clean fresh water was piped into the houses and brought better health, comfort, and cleanliness to us. Taking a bath directly under the faucet was a very enjoyable experience. Drinking with cupped hands directly from the faucet was a very refreshing treat. Gone were the pricked feet, the swollen shoulders, the BAYENGYENG and the laborious drawing of water from the well. What a relief! Gone too were the frequent stomach disorders and loose bowel movements and infections and bad body odor and unsanitary kitchen and toilet!
21. Kalsada – Canals and Culverts
Canals and culverts were unknown until the streets were paved with Abra River stones followed by canals for drainage purposes. Culverts or IMBORNAL were also built on road intersections. The water puddles on the roads were dried up easily and dumping of garbage in the road holes stopped. The “Imbornal” became a place for meetings of neighbors and young boys to sit down to tell stories or gossip about others or to brag about one’s adventures or watch girls walking home from school. Pigs were no longer allowed to roam on the streets. Men played SIPA on road intersections and children played hide and seek by going inside the culverts or “Imbornal.” The town looked better after those muddy road holes were covered by stones. But a ride in a Caromata over those stony roads was just a terribly earth-shaking experience! Walking on those fist-sized stones to school during hot summer days was like hell! But everything was a part of life and we did not know any better.
22. Electricidad
Electricity was another improvement in the sleepy valley of Bangued. Previous to the Banez Electric Plant, only the Church Convent had electric lights. The priests and nuns enjoyed all the comforts of a modern life with their electric generator. With the electrification of Bangued around the early Thirties, we could study and read our lessons at home better instead of using the flickering gas lamps. We only used the current for lighting purposes because it was only available at night time. But my classmate and best friend, Tony Banez and his family, had all the comforts of a refrigerator, electric range and even movies at home. He used to give me apples and grapes from their refrigerator. With electric lights at road intersections, the men played SIPA and had cock-fighting even at night. Children did not have to wait for the moon-light to play at night.
I remember when there was no street light and we had to carry a PAROL or kerosene lamp to walk in the streets at night. Then big kerosene lamps were installed on lamp posts at street corners. I remember when I short circuited our line by putting a coin inside our electric bulb socket. It caused a big commotion because people were busy preparing for the procession of Holy Friday. They never traced who did it. With the Electric Plant we no longer bought ice from Vigan because an Ice Plant was built also. Ice cream and halo halo became cheaper. Thanks to Don Urbano Banez.
23. Kanen – Food
Food consisted of daily rice, fish sauce or caviar called “patis” or “bag-goong”, “dinaguan” or blood pudding, “chicharon” or fried crispy pig skin and “dineng-deng” or soup consisting of vegetables with a bit of fish or meat. In the morning people who had money went to the PAGPARTIAN or slaughterhouse near SINAPINGAN to buy LUMO-LUMO consisting of pig entrails with a piece of coagulated blood and a small piece of meat called LUMO or tender loin. This is cooked with a spice called KUTCHAY that makes the soup smell appetizing. The richer people can buy cow’s meat and more expensive pieces of meat in the PAGPARTIAN before the vendors transferred their meat to the TINDAAN or market east of the Catholic Church.
During the town fiesta or on weddings or birthdays we had INASAR or LECHON or roasted pig. The piglets were usually roasted inside the oven of the Bayabas Bakery in the eastern part of the town.
On Sundays, when a cow is butchered, people who can afford it usually cooked PUCHERO, a soup with potatoes, bananas, cabbage, and cow’s meat with fat on it.
We had “adobo” or fried pork with a lot of spices, and LONGANISA or sausage, homemade. But during my childhood days we had a neighbor who had three children and their food consisted of only rice and “bagong” or BAGGOONG in which they dipped the rice molded into a ball with their hands. One of them sat in front of their yard along the street asking alms from passersby. The other went about town asking alms with the help of one of our neighbor’s children. The father’s name was Gorio, and his wife was Ineza.
If you're uncomfortable hearing about sanitary conditions in a Third World country in the 1920's do not continue reading! My grandfather goes into pretty graphic detail here: disease, parasites, toilet habits, the whole 9 yards. I would not recommend reading this anywhere around mealtime. It does get better towards the end when running water, culverts, and sanitary methods are introduced.
“History of My Life”
by Jose (Patrocinio) B. Sibayan
1990
C. Sanitation
Health conditions during the early Twenties were very poor and unhealthy. Toilet was not a usual part of a house, much less bathrooms. A house was usually elevated several feet above the ground to accommodate the pigs, dogs and chickens to scratch and pick up the scrap food dropped down between the bamboo-slat floors. We moved our bowels under the trees or along the road into the canal. We used bamboo sticks or corn cobs to wipe our anus. Pigs were always around ready to gobble up the human waste.
1. Toilet and Bath
At the time we went to fetch water from the nearest water well, we also had the urge to move our bowels first before taking a bath. While taking a bath, we also washed our clothes and dried them under the sun.
Later on, during the late Twenties an ANTIPOLO system of toilets was compulsory for every home. It consisted of digging a deep pit to be covered at all times when not in use. An ordinance was passed warning pig or animal owners to tie up or keep their animals from roaming around the streets. When the water system of Bangued was installed, homes had a part of the home called BANGSAL where you could take a bath. The Antipolo was dug at the furthest corner of the property, connected with a bamboo bridge or a pathway in the yard. Flies usually swarmed around as the toilet pit got filled with worms or maggots. Homes had no screens, and so the flies crawled and swarmed everywhere.
2. Sickness – Dysentery
Intestinal diseases were prevalent and caused a lot of deaths, especially in infants and children. I was in Lagangilang one day watching a procession of coffins brought to the cemetery. They had a dysentery epidemic there. The source of drinking water was the Abra River. We had a houseboy around my age, Valentin by name, who suffered stomach ache one night and suddenly died.
3. PTB - Pulmonary Tuberculosis
I saw people sick of PTB spitting out of their window while the flies swarmed around and chickens picking up the bloody mucous. But we did not know any better. I had not seen germs through a microscope at that time. Education later brought about better sanitation in town.
4. Mosquitoes and Bed Bugs
We slept as a family under a large mosquito net. When we woke up, we would kill the blood-filled mosquitoes trapped inside the net. We also had a lot of bed us that hide inside the pillows, blankets and mosquito net ends. And so every waking day was a bloody day!
5. Mites
Inside the yard were lots of fleas and ants. There was even a belief that red ants going inside the house is a sign of good luck. Inside the chicken coop under the house were tiny white mites called OLMOG. They also sucked blood and caused a lot of itch!
6. Lice
During my childhood days everyone, especially women, had lice. The common pastime of women was to sit on the ladder and remove each other’s lice while they chatted or gossiped or told old housewives tales!
7. Panateng - Colds & Coughs
Around the month of December or during the rainy season, colds were an ordinary experience for everybody. The already greenish mucous of some kids could be seen slowly coming down their nose until they inhale it back again instead of wiping it away. That is why we have a riddle that says: “NO OMOLOG AGALALADOD, NO OMOLI GOLPE! And we have a joke: INTAN AGNATNATENG; - ALIS PANTENG. Nobody covered their mouth wile coughing then or even sneezing. We induced sneezing by pricking the nose to relieve the congestion. I used to locate my father in the plaza among the crowd by tracing his successive SAY-A or short coughs.
8. Kamata – Sore Eyes
During summer we developed sore eyes as a matter of course, like a part of life. We have a joke: INTAN IDIAY CASAMATTA; - ALIS KAMATA. The flies helped the spread of sore eyes too as they flew from one person’s eye to another like bees from flower to flower. The only remedy we had was fresh milk from a mother’s breast or AGUA BORICADA. Sometimes a whole class of school children had sore eyes because no isolation was enforced. Kids who had sore eyes even chased others to touch their fingers on their classmate’s eyes to infect them too.
9. Daringu – Ngo – Nosebleed
Nose bleeds were common during dry season. Our remedy was to raise the opposite arm and press the bleeding nose, or soak our head with water. It was a general belief that anybody getting sick was because of bad air hitting them, called DAKES NGA ANGIN. There was some truth to it because of the polluted air full of viruses and germs.
10. Gadnil – Skin Diseases
Skin diseases were very common on account of the fleas, mosquitoes, bed bugs, ants, mites, etc. that caused infections. Scratching with dirty finger nails was common among uneducated children and people like us then. Hence our legs, arms and other parts of our body were afflicted with sores. We had no medicine available so we resorted to having our sores, especially on our legs, licked by our dogs until the scabs were removed, thereby leaving scars or PIGLAT on our legs. We just took it for granted that those sores or skin diseases would eventually dry up or heal without putting any medicine on them because we did not know any better. We had no dispensary to go to and our schools had no nurse or anybody to look after our diseases. I had a sad experience of being unkindly whipped by my Grade Two teacher on my leg because I could not go by the beat of the music when we were being taught to dance for a program. She hit one of my leg sores and it started bleeding. I cried, ran home and didn’t want to go back to school anymore. I went back to school, but I no longer wanted to be a participant in the dances.
11. Sakit Ti Chan – Stomach Aches
Stomach aches were experienced frequently by children because of eating fly-ridden food or eating with dirty hands or drinking polluted water. The common remedies were placing hot ashes wrapped with a piece of cloth on the stomach. We had no hot-water bags then. If that didn’t work, they roasted either santol, guava, or “sarguelas,” whatever is the suspected “culprit” until it is burned black into charcoal. Then it was placed into a cup of water to be used as “aqua-tiempo” or a drinking potion. It worked!
12. Pokga & Labatiba – Fever
Fever or “GORIGOR” occurred now and then due to overexposure to rain, or heat, or infection, or contagious disease. The usual remedy is purgative with ACETE DE CASTOR in the morning; sweating with lots of blankets the whole day and an enema or LABATIBA in the late afternoon. Usually the fever is gone the following day. On the third day good food consisting of chicken soup and soft-boiled rice (LUGAO) is served to the recuperating patient. Then a chicken is roasted wrapped with banana leaves served with rice.
13. Agas – Cuts
Cuts or “SUGAT” are usually infected because of the unsanitary conditions and ignorance in treating wounds properly. I cut my left thumb almost in half when I was about five years old. The only remedy was petroleum or GAS from our oil pump and the wound was wrapped with a piece of cloth taken from our dish towel or NISNIS that remained unwashed for several days. The infected wound lasted many months and I still have the scar up to this date. Sometimes, if we get hurt while playing we ran to a nearby fence to get a leaf of TAWATAWA to let its sap drop into our wound. If the blood is flowing we would wash it with our saliva by sucking the blood. If the wound is on our foot or leg, we washed the blood by urinating on it. If there is a “mabungay” tree, we got its leaves, pounded them into a poultice and applied it on the wound.
14. Bollo – Sprains or Disclocations
Sprains and dislocations were usually treated by a local MANGILOT or masseur like Tata Kinio Busuego, our neighbor. He had coconut oil for massaging the part of the body affected. If a splint is needed, he would get a branch of TAWATAWA, skin it and use the bark to wrap around the elbow or leg after giving the broken limb a good massage accompanied by the anguish and shouts of pain by the patient. I saw how my brother was treated following his fall from a fence he climbed and broke his left elbow. His arm was never restored to its original shape and he had a crooked arm called in Ilocano “Singkol” or KUMANG in Tagalog.
15. Ngipen – Toothaches
Toothaches usually ended up with a pulled tooth by means of a string or pliers without anesthesia. If the tooth had a hole in it, salt or tobacco was inserted to deaden the pain. I had an aching molar with a swollen gum and could no longer stand the pain when I was about 11 years old. My cousin, T-Sgt. Crisanto Bravo, a PRACTICANTE of the Dental Service, P.C., extracted it without anesthesia and I almost collapsed with pain. I had a tooth that had a hole in it and a local dentist, Tata Sidong, drilled it without anesthesia and I was yelling and struggling with pain! Thanks to anesthesia!
16. Sakit Ti Olo – Headaches
Headaches were treated, before aspirin became available, by hand massage or soaking it with cold water. Banana leaf was wrapped around the head to absorb the heat. Handkerchiefs were tied around the head to deaden the pain. Tender leaf of TAWATAWA or ACHLETE also served the purpose if tender leaves of banana were not available. A friend of my grandfather who used to read the PASSION with him died of swallowing a bottle of CAFIASPIRINA just because he thought that relief from headache can be done instantly – and it did! People then were ignorant about medicine. Maybe that is why GAMOT or Ilocano for poison is the Tagalog word for medicine? The Tagalogs were closer to civilization than the Ilocanos in the north of the Philippines far from Manila.
17. Sakit Ti Karabokob – Tonsilitis
Tonsilitis was treated by gargling with salt water or strong vinegar or both. These were the only available remedies for tonsillitis when I was a child. I had to endure the pain as a “part of growing” and prayed that it would soon be over. It was accompanied by high fever and swelling and the inability to swallow anything. Sometimes a hot towel compress was applied to the throat to relieve the pain and reduce the swelling.
18. Dogol – Boil
Boils caused an ugly scar and was a very painful disease. My uncle, Antonio Bravo (Lt. P.C.) had a boil scar as big as a 50 cent coin on his right temple and so did the cousin of Pat, Manong Picoy. I had mine on my right upper leg joint, or groin, and what a throbbing pain it gave me. The scar is still there. It was made to burst with an application of Malunggay leaves pounded into a paste and applied on top of the boil. I was immobilized for the duration of my Christmas vacation. My mother sat at my bedside comforting my while I agonized.
19. Bobon – Water
Water was either from the rain or ground well during my childhood days. We gathered rain water for drinking and hauled by means of bamboo called BAYENGYEN water from the well for cooking and washing purposes. During the time we were at the well, we would wash our clothes and take a bath. The water well we drew our water from was near the stream that passed near the PAGPARTIAN down a trail strewn with “camachili” thorns and bamboo thorns that pricked our bare feet. Infection eventually followed and so I had to walk on my hell or on my toe, limping until the infection is healed by itself after a long time.
20. Casamata Water Reservoir – Gripo
The greatest thing that happened in Bangued during my childhood days was the digging of the reservoir in Casamata hill. After school hours I was there picking up pieces of limestone to be polished into marbles. Then the clean fresh water was piped into the houses and brought better health, comfort, and cleanliness to us. Taking a bath directly under the faucet was a very enjoyable experience. Drinking with cupped hands directly from the faucet was a very refreshing treat. Gone were the pricked feet, the swollen shoulders, the BAYENGYENG and the laborious drawing of water from the well. What a relief! Gone too were the frequent stomach disorders and loose bowel movements and infections and bad body odor and unsanitary kitchen and toilet!
21. Kalsada – Canals and Culverts
Canals and culverts were unknown until the streets were paved with Abra River stones followed by canals for drainage purposes. Culverts or IMBORNAL were also built on road intersections. The water puddles on the roads were dried up easily and dumping of garbage in the road holes stopped. The “Imbornal” became a place for meetings of neighbors and young boys to sit down to tell stories or gossip about others or to brag about one’s adventures or watch girls walking home from school. Pigs were no longer allowed to roam on the streets. Men played SIPA on road intersections and children played hide and seek by going inside the culverts or “Imbornal.” The town looked better after those muddy road holes were covered by stones. But a ride in a Caromata over those stony roads was just a terribly earth-shaking experience! Walking on those fist-sized stones to school during hot summer days was like hell! But everything was a part of life and we did not know any better.
22. Electricidad
Electricity was another improvement in the sleepy valley of Bangued. Previous to the Banez Electric Plant, only the Church Convent had electric lights. The priests and nuns enjoyed all the comforts of a modern life with their electric generator. With the electrification of Bangued around the early Thirties, we could study and read our lessons at home better instead of using the flickering gas lamps. We only used the current for lighting purposes because it was only available at night time. But my classmate and best friend, Tony Banez and his family, had all the comforts of a refrigerator, electric range and even movies at home. He used to give me apples and grapes from their refrigerator. With electric lights at road intersections, the men played SIPA and had cock-fighting even at night. Children did not have to wait for the moon-light to play at night.
I remember when there was no street light and we had to carry a PAROL or kerosene lamp to walk in the streets at night. Then big kerosene lamps were installed on lamp posts at street corners. I remember when I short circuited our line by putting a coin inside our electric bulb socket. It caused a big commotion because people were busy preparing for the procession of Holy Friday. They never traced who did it. With the Electric Plant we no longer bought ice from Vigan because an Ice Plant was built also. Ice cream and halo halo became cheaper. Thanks to Don Urbano Banez.
23. Kanen – Food
Food consisted of daily rice, fish sauce or caviar called “patis” or “bag-goong”, “dinaguan” or blood pudding, “chicharon” or fried crispy pig skin and “dineng-deng” or soup consisting of vegetables with a bit of fish or meat. In the morning people who had money went to the PAGPARTIAN or slaughterhouse near SINAPINGAN to buy LUMO-LUMO consisting of pig entrails with a piece of coagulated blood and a small piece of meat called LUMO or tender loin. This is cooked with a spice called KUTCHAY that makes the soup smell appetizing. The richer people can buy cow’s meat and more expensive pieces of meat in the PAGPARTIAN before the vendors transferred their meat to the TINDAAN or market east of the Catholic Church.
During the town fiesta or on weddings or birthdays we had INASAR or LECHON or roasted pig. The piglets were usually roasted inside the oven of the Bayabas Bakery in the eastern part of the town.
On Sundays, when a cow is butchered, people who can afford it usually cooked PUCHERO, a soup with potatoes, bananas, cabbage, and cow’s meat with fat on it.
We had “adobo” or fried pork with a lot of spices, and LONGANISA or sausage, homemade. But during my childhood days we had a neighbor who had three children and their food consisted of only rice and “bagong” or BAGGOONG in which they dipped the rice molded into a ball with their hands. One of them sat in front of their yard along the street asking alms from passersby. The other went about town asking alms with the help of one of our neighbor’s children. The father’s name was Gorio, and his wife was Ineza.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
History of My Life - Part B: Social Life
“History of My Life”
by Jose (Patrocinio) B. Sibayan
1990
B. Social
1. KOMEDIA
Komedia or “moro-moro” was then the BIG town entertainment. It took several weeks to prepare the actors, the stage, the PALCOs (grandstands), the clothes and props before the show went public. Most “comediantes” (actors) and “comedianteas” (actresses) were from the East side (TAGA DAYDAYA) of the town. Fina’s grandpa, Don Juan Valera (Angcuan Bai) was a script writer. Nana Maria Bosuego was the PONTADOR or prompter, Tata Lucas was the BOLBOLAGAO or clown, Tata Elias as the “emperador,” Tata Herman was the “Ari,” Manong Selmo was the “principe,” Manang Iyang was the princesa and young boys, including Isus Karasua and Gambal Tayab were soldiers. The show lasted three nights, usually held during Christmas vacation. We brought blankets to wrap ourselves in the cold open plaza. Our throats were hoarse with shouting or laughing. It was a colorful show.
2. Washington Day
Washington Day was the Town Fiesta on February 22nd of each year. The plaza was converted into a Provincial or Agricultural Fair where all sorts of local agricultural products were displayed and sold. Each town had a booth. There was a parade of school students and town representatives with beauty queens riding decorated floats. Kids, including myself, used home-made MASKARA or masks and threw confetti (KOMPITIS) on ladies’ hair. The best exhibits were awarded prizes. Lots of gambling tables were scattered around the plaza brought by out-of-town operators where dice, cards, etc were played. Athletic competitions such as volley ball, indoor baseball, tennis, horse racing, bicycle racing and Juego de Anilio. A game where you picked a hanging ring with a prize marked on an attached string with a pointed stick while riding a horse or a bicycle.
In the kiosks of the plaza were dances or programs for the entertainment of the crowd. This was the occasion to meet and see people from other towns like San Jose, Lagangilang, Villavisiosa, Dolores, San Juan, Bucay, etc wearing their native costumes. At that time, when I was a young boy, many people from distant towns were still non-Christians. They were almost naked, dressed with just g-strings and tapis, barefooted and all chewing MAMA.
The town fair lasted several days until all the exhibits were sold, given away, or exchanged for lack of money. People dressed their very best. We dressed in SEDA WASHINGTON, or Washington silk. Nana Alli, Pat’s mother, sewed our clothes for the town fiesta.
3. Cine
As early as 1923, when I was about five years old, we already had moving pictures called CINE HAWAII in Bangued. I used to ride the truck carrying the placards around the town beating a drum to attract the people. Small kids tried to clamber inside the truck but were shocked by electric current which ran in the metal parts of the truck. The movies were shown inside the store of Don Ciano Barcena just across from the convent. The movies were intended to attract attention to enlist workers for the sugar plantations in Hawaii.
Some silent movie scenes depicted the terrible earthquake in Japan. The movie crews were from Vigan. They boarded in our houses during their stay in Bangued. Later on, because of the big crowds, the show was held in the town plaza. Only ticketed movies were shown in the Store of Don Ciano. Later, movies were shown in the CINE TUAZON, a GI warehouse-like building near the creek on the road down to west side of the plaza.
The rooms in the store were rented to the FARMACIA VALERA and to a Chinese family that sold groceries from Vigan. The pharmacy was run by Manang Conchang Valera, later on Mrs. Purruganan. The Chinese store was run by the Chua family.
4. Store
The Store of Don Ciano was the meeting place of kids for playing games like TOUCHING, PIKO, KARA y KROS, rope jumping, etc. on it’s cemented sidewalk. All kinds of bets like TARKAS, BITTAOG, LASTIKO, coins, pictures of movie stars, etc. were used in the gambling games. It was the only cement playground where small children can play without soiling themselves. I just loved to read the comics in the Manila Tribune of the pharmacy instead of gambling or playing.
5. Kalsada
Roads were dusty and muddy. Only carabao sleds or cow-drawn carts could use them. Later on, during the administration of town mayor PRESIDENTE Bienvenido Valera, some streets became paved with stones from the Abra River. Then the road in front of the church down to the Caramanta Hill was paved with asphalt. During the road construction we loved to ride on the back of the steam roller, notwithstanding stepping on live coals falling down from the roller burner. Our feet got burned as we were all barefoot.
As late as 1932-33, when I was 2nd year H.S., I walked on the stone-paved road to the Abra High School near the cemetery. Roads connecting Bangued and Vigan via Narvacan were stony and dusty. As the trucks and buses tried to race against each other, passengers cheered the driver to run faster out of excitement from covering their faces with handkerchiefs as they all got covered with dust. At the Tangadan, especially that part which abruptly inclines toward Narvacan, everybody, except women with kids, had to get down to help push the truck up the stony, dusty road until it reached the top of the mountain. It took half a day to negotiate the trip between Vigan and Bangued because of the ferry at the site where the Quirino Bridge was later built across the Abra River.
Passengers had to bring BALON covered with banana leaves to be eaten on the way at the water fountain in Tangadan. At that water spot, outgoing and incoming vehicles stopped to put water in their radiators and refill their water cans while the passengers ate their BALON or meals and drank the cool refreshing water from the forest spring.
6. Balsa
Transportation in the early Twenties was by means of horseback, animal-drawn sled or cart, and bamboo raft down the Abra River. It took one day, from 6 to 6, to negotiate the distance between Bangued and Vigan. At daybreak, carts ferried passengers from Bangued to Nagtalabongan, where the passenger bamboo rafts were waiting. At the mouth of the Abra River in Vigan, cow-drawn carts and KILES (horse-drawn carriages) were waiting for passengers from the rafts. I saw the Quirino Bridge and the roads from both sides under construction. The people up there, seen from the Abra River, were as tiny as flies on the top-side of the high mountain. Later on, after the road between Bangued and Vigan was paved with asphalt, it took only a one hour trip, minus dust and rattled bones!
The trip by cart to Tagangilang from Bangued took more than a half-day’s time, from 6 to 12. After the bumpy ride, although the bamboo floor had hay matting, one’s body seemed like “longboy” shaken between two plates!
Those who had cars in the early days were Don Juan Valera, a dodge sedan driven by Manong Isong Bolante. Tata Binnong Benedito, Chief of Police, had a STUTZ, and later on had a Fargo bus. Tata Pepe Lizardo, foreman, had a STAR. Don Quentin Paredes had a BUICK. Don Julio Barbon, Don Virgilio Valera and Bernardino Torrijos had a Ford with a STARTER instead of a MANIKETA or crank to start the engine running. Tata Binnong also had a KILES or horse-drawn carriage driven by Alip for ferrying school teachers.
Manang Conchang Valera (mother of Fina) had a DURANT sports car with a rumble seat in the back in place of a baggage compartment. She was the only woman driver in Abra at that time in the early Thirties. I was her chaperon everywhere she went. At that time, ladies going out without a chaperone wee eyed with suspicion and out of place. Several “crazy,” “sick,” and envious people intentionally placed nails to puncture tires! To patch up and replace a tire then was a very hard job, taking almost half a day’s work!
The profession of a DRIVER then was an envied job as they drew good salaries and went places. The earliest bus drivers of Bangued were Angel Benas, Alip Benas, Milis Benes, Tata Castor Balobar and Meno Favorito of DARDAYA and SINAPANGAN. When they arrived from far away places like Manila, they had lots of unusual tales to tell eager youngsters who just loved to hear their unending, exciting experiences. I was one of them. I loved adventure!
Those who owned passenger buses were considered rich and were popular. They were the Beneditos, the Valeras, and the Favoritos. Their family names were painted in BIG letters on the sides of their buses.
A regular daily trip to Manila was made by the NORLUTRAN bus company. It’s arrival at night was met with lots of kids trying to help the passengers with their baggage or get their newspapers at the post office.
7. First Radio
Communication was by means of telephone, telegraph and mail. The telephones connected only to the Municipal town buildings. The telegraphs connected only to Provincial and City Post Offices. Mail, in the early days outside of Bangued, was delivered by horse back or by bamboo rafts to Pidigan, San Quentin and Vigan. Later on, when roads were opened, mail was carried by passenger buses.
The first one to own a radio receiving set in Bangued for public display was the P.C. Barracks, which was then west of the Plaza. Every night we went to hear the Ilocano Night Program. Then the Torrijo’s store near the church also had a radio for public hearing. The sound was distorted by lots of static!
8. Social Organizations
Clubs were organized for social and recreational purposes, such as the ANARAAR and the BARANGAY clubs. The former was organized by the men while the latter was organized by the ladies of Bangued. Most social activities, like dances, were held in the house of Don Juan Valera because it had a large dance hall, elegant dining room, good toilet and bath facilities, and a TOWER for entertainment purposes overlooking a large part of the town. The Bayguen Band provided the music. Ice for ice cream making came from Vigan. VIPs from Manila were always entertained with a dance party in the house of Tata Ancuan Bai (Don Juan Valera.)
The prominent ladies were Conchang Valera (Fina’s mother and only daughter of Don Juan), Alice Landeta Belisario, Nena and Lita Banes, the Vasquez sisters, Mg. Demi Colet, Mg. Trining Bravo, Mg. Soledad and Lourdes Valera, the de Leon Sisters (white cover) and later on the Valera Sisters (Mary and Pitang). The prominent men were the Valera brothers: Meling, Pacoy, Teling and Roding. Also well known were the Baula Brothers, Leocadio Talin, the Paredeses, Purugganans, Banes family, and the Torrijos brothers. Often times we had LINOBIAN parties too. Our favorite drink was SARSPARILLA.
9. Social Status Symbols
Social status symbols then were a PIANO, a CAR, a lot of servants, a BIG HOUSE and, of course, owning land. Government employees who received salaries belonged to the upper classes, together with large land owners. The middle classes were the artisans like carpenters, black smiths, shoe makers, merchants and tailors. The lower classes were the farmers, servants and beggars. The influence of Spanish culture was very strong. The priests and white people were looked upon with reverence, respect and adoration.
10. School Teachers
School teachers were looked upon with respect by the parents and with fear by their students. It was a part of their anatomy to hold a stick while teaching as a symbol of authority. They didn’t hesitate to apply it on the “seat” of learning for minor mischief or mistakes. Miss Ana Valera, our music teacher, related to us the story of one of her pupils who dumped the bamboo water carrier on the road and ran away as they were about to meet on the street. But a good and kind school teacher, Miss Fe Benito, at noon sang a lullaby for her students to take a nap in school.
In the market the vendors addressed every respectable person by the name of MESTRO or MESTRA. But the same words were also used with a different intonation and meaning for persons interfering in somebody’s business, especially their children or friends. Teachers were very well dressed; using high heels on dusty, stony roads and coat and tie in very hot weather, imitating the Americans.
11. School Children
School children from the West, South, East and North got integrated in the LONG BUILDING during the Primary grades and in the GABALDON BUILDING during the Elementary grades. Thus the sectionalism was more or less minimized. During my primary grades, most school children went to school barefooted, using KALSONCILLO, or drawers, and a KAMISETA, or underwear of cotton clothing. Girls didn’t wear panties then, including school teachers. Many young boys urinated or sheted in their drawers because often times the strings around the waistline got entangled and could not be untied in time before the personal necessity explodes!
by Jose (Patrocinio) B. Sibayan
1990
B. Social
1. KOMEDIA
Komedia or “moro-moro” was then the BIG town entertainment. It took several weeks to prepare the actors, the stage, the PALCOs (grandstands), the clothes and props before the show went public. Most “comediantes” (actors) and “comedianteas” (actresses) were from the East side (TAGA DAYDAYA) of the town. Fina’s grandpa, Don Juan Valera (Angcuan Bai) was a script writer. Nana Maria Bosuego was the PONTADOR or prompter, Tata Lucas was the BOLBOLAGAO or clown, Tata Elias as the “emperador,” Tata Herman was the “Ari,” Manong Selmo was the “principe,” Manang Iyang was the princesa and young boys, including Isus Karasua and Gambal Tayab were soldiers. The show lasted three nights, usually held during Christmas vacation. We brought blankets to wrap ourselves in the cold open plaza. Our throats were hoarse with shouting or laughing. It was a colorful show.
2. Washington Day
Washington Day was the Town Fiesta on February 22nd of each year. The plaza was converted into a Provincial or Agricultural Fair where all sorts of local agricultural products were displayed and sold. Each town had a booth. There was a parade of school students and town representatives with beauty queens riding decorated floats. Kids, including myself, used home-made MASKARA or masks and threw confetti (KOMPITIS) on ladies’ hair. The best exhibits were awarded prizes. Lots of gambling tables were scattered around the plaza brought by out-of-town operators where dice, cards, etc were played. Athletic competitions such as volley ball, indoor baseball, tennis, horse racing, bicycle racing and Juego de Anilio. A game where you picked a hanging ring with a prize marked on an attached string with a pointed stick while riding a horse or a bicycle.
In the kiosks of the plaza were dances or programs for the entertainment of the crowd. This was the occasion to meet and see people from other towns like San Jose, Lagangilang, Villavisiosa, Dolores, San Juan, Bucay, etc wearing their native costumes. At that time, when I was a young boy, many people from distant towns were still non-Christians. They were almost naked, dressed with just g-strings and tapis, barefooted and all chewing MAMA.
The town fair lasted several days until all the exhibits were sold, given away, or exchanged for lack of money. People dressed their very best. We dressed in SEDA WASHINGTON, or Washington silk. Nana Alli, Pat’s mother, sewed our clothes for the town fiesta.
3. Cine
As early as 1923, when I was about five years old, we already had moving pictures called CINE HAWAII in Bangued. I used to ride the truck carrying the placards around the town beating a drum to attract the people. Small kids tried to clamber inside the truck but were shocked by electric current which ran in the metal parts of the truck. The movies were shown inside the store of Don Ciano Barcena just across from the convent. The movies were intended to attract attention to enlist workers for the sugar plantations in Hawaii.
Some silent movie scenes depicted the terrible earthquake in Japan. The movie crews were from Vigan. They boarded in our houses during their stay in Bangued. Later on, because of the big crowds, the show was held in the town plaza. Only ticketed movies were shown in the Store of Don Ciano. Later, movies were shown in the CINE TUAZON, a GI warehouse-like building near the creek on the road down to west side of the plaza.
The rooms in the store were rented to the FARMACIA VALERA and to a Chinese family that sold groceries from Vigan. The pharmacy was run by Manang Conchang Valera, later on Mrs. Purruganan. The Chinese store was run by the Chua family.
4. Store
The Store of Don Ciano was the meeting place of kids for playing games like TOUCHING, PIKO, KARA y KROS, rope jumping, etc. on it’s cemented sidewalk. All kinds of bets like TARKAS, BITTAOG, LASTIKO, coins, pictures of movie stars, etc. were used in the gambling games. It was the only cement playground where small children can play without soiling themselves. I just loved to read the comics in the Manila Tribune of the pharmacy instead of gambling or playing.
5. Kalsada
Roads were dusty and muddy. Only carabao sleds or cow-drawn carts could use them. Later on, during the administration of town mayor PRESIDENTE Bienvenido Valera, some streets became paved with stones from the Abra River. Then the road in front of the church down to the Caramanta Hill was paved with asphalt. During the road construction we loved to ride on the back of the steam roller, notwithstanding stepping on live coals falling down from the roller burner. Our feet got burned as we were all barefoot.
As late as 1932-33, when I was 2nd year H.S., I walked on the stone-paved road to the Abra High School near the cemetery. Roads connecting Bangued and Vigan via Narvacan were stony and dusty. As the trucks and buses tried to race against each other, passengers cheered the driver to run faster out of excitement from covering their faces with handkerchiefs as they all got covered with dust. At the Tangadan, especially that part which abruptly inclines toward Narvacan, everybody, except women with kids, had to get down to help push the truck up the stony, dusty road until it reached the top of the mountain. It took half a day to negotiate the trip between Vigan and Bangued because of the ferry at the site where the Quirino Bridge was later built across the Abra River.
Passengers had to bring BALON covered with banana leaves to be eaten on the way at the water fountain in Tangadan. At that water spot, outgoing and incoming vehicles stopped to put water in their radiators and refill their water cans while the passengers ate their BALON or meals and drank the cool refreshing water from the forest spring.
6. Balsa
Transportation in the early Twenties was by means of horseback, animal-drawn sled or cart, and bamboo raft down the Abra River. It took one day, from 6 to 6, to negotiate the distance between Bangued and Vigan. At daybreak, carts ferried passengers from Bangued to Nagtalabongan, where the passenger bamboo rafts were waiting. At the mouth of the Abra River in Vigan, cow-drawn carts and KILES (horse-drawn carriages) were waiting for passengers from the rafts. I saw the Quirino Bridge and the roads from both sides under construction. The people up there, seen from the Abra River, were as tiny as flies on the top-side of the high mountain. Later on, after the road between Bangued and Vigan was paved with asphalt, it took only a one hour trip, minus dust and rattled bones!
The trip by cart to Tagangilang from Bangued took more than a half-day’s time, from 6 to 12. After the bumpy ride, although the bamboo floor had hay matting, one’s body seemed like “longboy” shaken between two plates!
Those who had cars in the early days were Don Juan Valera, a dodge sedan driven by Manong Isong Bolante. Tata Binnong Benedito, Chief of Police, had a STUTZ, and later on had a Fargo bus. Tata Pepe Lizardo, foreman, had a STAR. Don Quentin Paredes had a BUICK. Don Julio Barbon, Don Virgilio Valera and Bernardino Torrijos had a Ford with a STARTER instead of a MANIKETA or crank to start the engine running. Tata Binnong also had a KILES or horse-drawn carriage driven by Alip for ferrying school teachers.
Manang Conchang Valera (mother of Fina) had a DURANT sports car with a rumble seat in the back in place of a baggage compartment. She was the only woman driver in Abra at that time in the early Thirties. I was her chaperon everywhere she went. At that time, ladies going out without a chaperone wee eyed with suspicion and out of place. Several “crazy,” “sick,” and envious people intentionally placed nails to puncture tires! To patch up and replace a tire then was a very hard job, taking almost half a day’s work!
The profession of a DRIVER then was an envied job as they drew good salaries and went places. The earliest bus drivers of Bangued were Angel Benas, Alip Benas, Milis Benes, Tata Castor Balobar and Meno Favorito of DARDAYA and SINAPANGAN. When they arrived from far away places like Manila, they had lots of unusual tales to tell eager youngsters who just loved to hear their unending, exciting experiences. I was one of them. I loved adventure!
Those who owned passenger buses were considered rich and were popular. They were the Beneditos, the Valeras, and the Favoritos. Their family names were painted in BIG letters on the sides of their buses.
A regular daily trip to Manila was made by the NORLUTRAN bus company. It’s arrival at night was met with lots of kids trying to help the passengers with their baggage or get their newspapers at the post office.
7. First Radio
Communication was by means of telephone, telegraph and mail. The telephones connected only to the Municipal town buildings. The telegraphs connected only to Provincial and City Post Offices. Mail, in the early days outside of Bangued, was delivered by horse back or by bamboo rafts to Pidigan, San Quentin and Vigan. Later on, when roads were opened, mail was carried by passenger buses.
The first one to own a radio receiving set in Bangued for public display was the P.C. Barracks, which was then west of the Plaza. Every night we went to hear the Ilocano Night Program. Then the Torrijo’s store near the church also had a radio for public hearing. The sound was distorted by lots of static!
8. Social Organizations
Clubs were organized for social and recreational purposes, such as the ANARAAR and the BARANGAY clubs. The former was organized by the men while the latter was organized by the ladies of Bangued. Most social activities, like dances, were held in the house of Don Juan Valera because it had a large dance hall, elegant dining room, good toilet and bath facilities, and a TOWER for entertainment purposes overlooking a large part of the town. The Bayguen Band provided the music. Ice for ice cream making came from Vigan. VIPs from Manila were always entertained with a dance party in the house of Tata Ancuan Bai (Don Juan Valera.)
The prominent ladies were Conchang Valera (Fina’s mother and only daughter of Don Juan), Alice Landeta Belisario, Nena and Lita Banes, the Vasquez sisters, Mg. Demi Colet, Mg. Trining Bravo, Mg. Soledad and Lourdes Valera, the de Leon Sisters (white cover) and later on the Valera Sisters (Mary and Pitang). The prominent men were the Valera brothers: Meling, Pacoy, Teling and Roding. Also well known were the Baula Brothers, Leocadio Talin, the Paredeses, Purugganans, Banes family, and the Torrijos brothers. Often times we had LINOBIAN parties too. Our favorite drink was SARSPARILLA.
9. Social Status Symbols
Social status symbols then were a PIANO, a CAR, a lot of servants, a BIG HOUSE and, of course, owning land. Government employees who received salaries belonged to the upper classes, together with large land owners. The middle classes were the artisans like carpenters, black smiths, shoe makers, merchants and tailors. The lower classes were the farmers, servants and beggars. The influence of Spanish culture was very strong. The priests and white people were looked upon with reverence, respect and adoration.
10. School Teachers
School teachers were looked upon with respect by the parents and with fear by their students. It was a part of their anatomy to hold a stick while teaching as a symbol of authority. They didn’t hesitate to apply it on the “seat” of learning for minor mischief or mistakes. Miss Ana Valera, our music teacher, related to us the story of one of her pupils who dumped the bamboo water carrier on the road and ran away as they were about to meet on the street. But a good and kind school teacher, Miss Fe Benito, at noon sang a lullaby for her students to take a nap in school.
In the market the vendors addressed every respectable person by the name of MESTRO or MESTRA. But the same words were also used with a different intonation and meaning for persons interfering in somebody’s business, especially their children or friends. Teachers were very well dressed; using high heels on dusty, stony roads and coat and tie in very hot weather, imitating the Americans.
11. School Children
School children from the West, South, East and North got integrated in the LONG BUILDING during the Primary grades and in the GABALDON BUILDING during the Elementary grades. Thus the sectionalism was more or less minimized. During my primary grades, most school children went to school barefooted, using KALSONCILLO, or drawers, and a KAMISETA, or underwear of cotton clothing. Girls didn’t wear panties then, including school teachers. Many young boys urinated or sheted in their drawers because often times the strings around the waistline got entangled and could not be untied in time before the personal necessity explodes!
Monday, June 16, 2008
History of My Life - Part A: Family and Religion
“History of My Life”
by Jose (Patrocinio) B. Sibayan
1990
A. Family & Religion
1. Birth
Bangued, Abra is my birthplace. My parents were Florencio Sibayan and Victoriana Bravo. I was baptized Patrocinio in an Aglipayan Church in 1918 and again baptized Jose in a Catholic Church in 1920 when my brother, Felix, was born. We were baptized together. My godmother was Nana Titing Lizardo and my brother’s godfather was Quirino Lizardo, son of Nana Titing.
2. Name
I used the name Patrocinio (Siniong) from grade 1 up to 2nd year high school in Bangued. When I enrolled in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya for 3rd year H.S., I changed my name to Jose. Patrocinio is a girl’s name.
3. Priest
The priest who baptized me was Padre Doro, the founder of the Christ the King Seminary. He was killed by the Japanese in Kamuning, Quezon City while defending his nuns from being abused by soldiers. I remember him saying in the pulpit, “Agbabawi cayo iti basbasolyo!” Father Lawrence Leisring was Principal Teacher, CSC.
4. Church
The church bells served as the clock of the town, rang at different hours to rouse us from bed; to take our noon meals, and recite Angelus Prayers before taking our supper. It was the only place where to meet other people on Sundays or Fiestas regularly. In short, it was the focal point of town activity then. (1918+)
5. Parents
My mother taught me how to pray and my father taught me how to read the CARTILLA or Spanish alphabet. They took us to religious services.
6. Relatives
My father’s parents are Eleuterio and Dominga of Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Mother’s parents are Gavino Bravo and Lucretia Bandayrel of Bangued.
7. Neighbors
Don Ciano Barcena, Don Benito Valera, Don Juan Valera, Tata Tomas Balleras and Anicito Lozo (Photographer)
8. Church Yard as Cemetery
As a little boy I was scared to go to the church alone because the church yard was a burial ground with the tombstones sticking outside of the ground. Later on another burial place was located outside of town and the church yard was converted into playgrounds. The bones of the dead were dug up and placed inside the walls of the church or buried under the floors. That of my grandma, Lucretia Bandayrel Bravo, was at the front row of benches under a marble slab.
9. Statues of Saints
The statues inside the church were all white except the devil under the foot of the angel whose hand was upraised with a spear directed towards the black-winged devil that had a horn. The statues were paraded around town during the procession on Holy Week. The most beautiful and expressive looking statue was that of St. Magdalene, owned by Fina’s family, Don Juan Valera y familia. All of the statues were wearing sad faces except that of Jesus on his resurrection. At first the statues were lighted with candles, then with carbide lamps, then by electric bulbs. All of them were owned by rich families or church-owned.
10. Procession or Libot
The religious processions during Holy Weeks are always looked up to as great occasions for displaying fervent belief in God and for venerating Jesus Christ and the Saints. It was a very colorful display of everybody’s best. The houses are brushed up, the roads are sprinkled, and arches (ARCO) are built with lots of fruits hanging and with an altar for saying the LECCIO. These arcos are erected by neighborhood efforts and are all around the procession routes. Eats and drinks and snacks are available for everyone in these arcos. When I was a kid the snacks consisted of rolled tobacco, MAMA and BASI. The roads were then dusty and paved with stones from the Abra River. Everybody had a candle and sang religious songs or recited the rosary along the way. Houses were lighted along the way. The hardest part of the procession was when we went up the CALVARY at PAGPARTIAN after passing SINAPANGAN. The APO ANGOSTIA of TATA BENID consisting of a big cross with Virgin’s rosary and Jesus Christ was mounted on a CARRO or carriage drawn by men. It was the heaviest set of statues. We kids were underneath trying to push the carriage uphill. It was our sort of PENITENCIA during Holy Friday.
11. Easter Sunday
DOMINGO SABET or Easter Sunday was an occasion for great rejoicing after a week long of abstinence and religious mourning. We woke up early before sunrise to go to church and then proceed to the place where the SON and MOTHER were scheduled to meet at dawn. A small girl dressed like an angel was placed inside a GALONG GALONG or baby swing and hoisted by pulleys up an ARCO waiting for the statue of the Virgin to pass for her to pull up the black veil to reveal the presence of Jesus resurrected In front of her. This event was held either in front of the BAULA family with Manang Ines singing the RESURECSIT song. ALLELUIA!
12. Priests & Nuns
The Catholic priests and nuns in Bangued were mostly Americans and Europeans. Father Teodoro Batenburch, the founder of Christ the King Seminary, was the CURA who baptized me and my brother. He was a German. Father Lawrence Leissing, a Priest of the Pink Sisters Convent in Baguio, was our Principal Teacher of the Colegio del Sagrado Corazon, H.S. He was American. I learned that most nuns then were Belgians. They spoke English and learned to speak Ilocano and preach in Ilocano. I still remember them saying in the pulpit, “AGPAPAWI KAYO TI PAS-PASOLYO.” They should be honored as pioneers in civilizing and educating the people of Abra as missionaries of LOVE. The head nun was Madre Lagondisa. They cooked and laundered and fixed the altar for the priests.
13. Catechism
During summer vacation, we attended a school for children held by volunteer teachers like Manang Ipang Bayabos and Manang Tacion Bayabos for “cathetismo.” We were taught about good behaviors, how to pray, prepare for communion, and how to go to confession. Every time we attended the course we were given “estampita” or religious cards. At the end of the course, we took our first communion followed by a sort of party at the church premise where program were held and food and drinks served. We can exchange our collection of estampitas for some toys. The two Bayobos teachers later on became nuns. We, their students, became “sacristans” or acolytes.
14. Daton
The month of May is a month of DATON or offering flowers in church for the Virgin Mary done by girls during the mass, and also by small boys. We went around the town asking for flowers to be offered to the Virgin Mother. There were lots of flower-growers in Bangued, including my mother who grew roses, camia, sosal, and kayanga. The flowers were arranged into beautiful bouquets and placed in flower baskets or vases. They were received at the communion rails by the nuns who arranged them at the foot of the statue of the Virgin.
15. Church Ceremonies
Weddings, baptisms and burials were the subject of rituals depending on the affluence of the parties concerned. The richer or bigger offerings, the more elaborate the ceremonies including the ringing of bells, etc. Our lives were church-oriented from birth to death. Praise the Lord. Everyone passing in front of the church building bowed, made the sign of the cross, and removed their hats or anything on their heads like LABBA (baskets) for men and women respectively before bowing. People then were religiously conscious and spiritual. Their ambition was to ENTER HEAVEN when they die. (I saw my mother get up from bed, face the crucifix, make the sign of the cross, get up from her kneeling position, get back in bed, and die. She was sick of PTB and was bed-ridden for several months when she suddenly got up unassisted.) PRAISE THE LORD! During Christmas the statue of baby Jesus was displayed for kissing and offerings. On All Souls Day, the priest was asked to bless the graves and sprinkle holy water for a fee.
by Jose (Patrocinio) B. Sibayan
1990
A. Family & Religion
1. Birth
Bangued, Abra is my birthplace. My parents were Florencio Sibayan and Victoriana Bravo. I was baptized Patrocinio in an Aglipayan Church in 1918 and again baptized Jose in a Catholic Church in 1920 when my brother, Felix, was born. We were baptized together. My godmother was Nana Titing Lizardo and my brother’s godfather was Quirino Lizardo, son of Nana Titing.
2. Name
I used the name Patrocinio (Siniong) from grade 1 up to 2nd year high school in Bangued. When I enrolled in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya for 3rd year H.S., I changed my name to Jose. Patrocinio is a girl’s name.
3. Priest
The priest who baptized me was Padre Doro, the founder of the Christ the King Seminary. He was killed by the Japanese in Kamuning, Quezon City while defending his nuns from being abused by soldiers. I remember him saying in the pulpit, “Agbabawi cayo iti basbasolyo!” Father Lawrence Leisring was Principal Teacher, CSC.
4. Church
The church bells served as the clock of the town, rang at different hours to rouse us from bed; to take our noon meals, and recite Angelus Prayers before taking our supper. It was the only place where to meet other people on Sundays or Fiestas regularly. In short, it was the focal point of town activity then. (1918+)
5. Parents
My mother taught me how to pray and my father taught me how to read the CARTILLA or Spanish alphabet. They took us to religious services.
6. Relatives
My father’s parents are Eleuterio and Dominga of Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Mother’s parents are Gavino Bravo and Lucretia Bandayrel of Bangued.
7. Neighbors
Don Ciano Barcena, Don Benito Valera, Don Juan Valera, Tata Tomas Balleras and Anicito Lozo (Photographer)
8. Church Yard as Cemetery
As a little boy I was scared to go to the church alone because the church yard was a burial ground with the tombstones sticking outside of the ground. Later on another burial place was located outside of town and the church yard was converted into playgrounds. The bones of the dead were dug up and placed inside the walls of the church or buried under the floors. That of my grandma, Lucretia Bandayrel Bravo, was at the front row of benches under a marble slab.
9. Statues of Saints
The statues inside the church were all white except the devil under the foot of the angel whose hand was upraised with a spear directed towards the black-winged devil that had a horn. The statues were paraded around town during the procession on Holy Week. The most beautiful and expressive looking statue was that of St. Magdalene, owned by Fina’s family, Don Juan Valera y familia. All of the statues were wearing sad faces except that of Jesus on his resurrection. At first the statues were lighted with candles, then with carbide lamps, then by electric bulbs. All of them were owned by rich families or church-owned.
10. Procession or Libot
The religious processions during Holy Weeks are always looked up to as great occasions for displaying fervent belief in God and for venerating Jesus Christ and the Saints. It was a very colorful display of everybody’s best. The houses are brushed up, the roads are sprinkled, and arches (ARCO) are built with lots of fruits hanging and with an altar for saying the LECCIO. These arcos are erected by neighborhood efforts and are all around the procession routes. Eats and drinks and snacks are available for everyone in these arcos. When I was a kid the snacks consisted of rolled tobacco, MAMA and BASI. The roads were then dusty and paved with stones from the Abra River. Everybody had a candle and sang religious songs or recited the rosary along the way. Houses were lighted along the way. The hardest part of the procession was when we went up the CALVARY at PAGPARTIAN after passing SINAPANGAN. The APO ANGOSTIA of TATA BENID consisting of a big cross with Virgin’s rosary and Jesus Christ was mounted on a CARRO or carriage drawn by men. It was the heaviest set of statues. We kids were underneath trying to push the carriage uphill. It was our sort of PENITENCIA during Holy Friday.
11. Easter Sunday
DOMINGO SABET or Easter Sunday was an occasion for great rejoicing after a week long of abstinence and religious mourning. We woke up early before sunrise to go to church and then proceed to the place where the SON and MOTHER were scheduled to meet at dawn. A small girl dressed like an angel was placed inside a GALONG GALONG or baby swing and hoisted by pulleys up an ARCO waiting for the statue of the Virgin to pass for her to pull up the black veil to reveal the presence of Jesus resurrected In front of her. This event was held either in front of the BAULA family with Manang Ines singing the RESURECSIT song. ALLELUIA!
12. Priests & Nuns
The Catholic priests and nuns in Bangued were mostly Americans and Europeans. Father Teodoro Batenburch, the founder of Christ the King Seminary, was the CURA who baptized me and my brother. He was a German. Father Lawrence Leissing, a Priest of the Pink Sisters Convent in Baguio, was our Principal Teacher of the Colegio del Sagrado Corazon, H.S. He was American. I learned that most nuns then were Belgians. They spoke English and learned to speak Ilocano and preach in Ilocano. I still remember them saying in the pulpit, “AGPAPAWI KAYO TI PAS-PASOLYO.” They should be honored as pioneers in civilizing and educating the people of Abra as missionaries of LOVE. The head nun was Madre Lagondisa. They cooked and laundered and fixed the altar for the priests.
13. Catechism
During summer vacation, we attended a school for children held by volunteer teachers like Manang Ipang Bayabos and Manang Tacion Bayabos for “cathetismo.” We were taught about good behaviors, how to pray, prepare for communion, and how to go to confession. Every time we attended the course we were given “estampita” or religious cards. At the end of the course, we took our first communion followed by a sort of party at the church premise where program were held and food and drinks served. We can exchange our collection of estampitas for some toys. The two Bayobos teachers later on became nuns. We, their students, became “sacristans” or acolytes.
14. Daton
The month of May is a month of DATON or offering flowers in church for the Virgin Mary done by girls during the mass, and also by small boys. We went around the town asking for flowers to be offered to the Virgin Mother. There were lots of flower-growers in Bangued, including my mother who grew roses, camia, sosal, and kayanga. The flowers were arranged into beautiful bouquets and placed in flower baskets or vases. They were received at the communion rails by the nuns who arranged them at the foot of the statue of the Virgin.
15. Church Ceremonies
Weddings, baptisms and burials were the subject of rituals depending on the affluence of the parties concerned. The richer or bigger offerings, the more elaborate the ceremonies including the ringing of bells, etc. Our lives were church-oriented from birth to death. Praise the Lord. Everyone passing in front of the church building bowed, made the sign of the cross, and removed their hats or anything on their heads like LABBA (baskets) for men and women respectively before bowing. People then were religiously conscious and spiritual. Their ambition was to ENTER HEAVEN when they die. (I saw my mother get up from bed, face the crucifix, make the sign of the cross, get up from her kneeling position, get back in bed, and die. She was sick of PTB and was bed-ridden for several months when she suddenly got up unassisted.) PRAISE THE LORD! During Christmas the statue of baby Jesus was displayed for kissing and offerings. On All Souls Day, the priest was asked to bless the graves and sprinkle holy water for a fee.
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