Personal « remembrance of things awry

“Bayanihan”!!!

October 11, 2009 at 7:00 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Manila Houses, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, Tristesse)

A priest said it so well in a recent homily: “The Filipino stops being a Disaster Himself… during a Disaster.” Comic, but True.

There were so many instances of True Heroism during the Typhoon “Ondoy” Deluge of 26 September 2009, Saturday. Many people risked their lives to bring others to safety. Indeed, some of them lost their very lives in the process. Many people went out of their way to ensure the safety, not only of immediate family, but also of friends and neighbors. Stranded commuters shared their resources with each other during those endless hours. Many soldiers rose valiantly to the occasion and showed amazing strength and resolve as they undertook rescue operations in very difficult conditions.

No sooner than the Typhoon “Ondoy” floodwaters of 26 September, Saturday, started receding that many, many charitable Filipinos [ ladies, gentlemen, and yes, even children ] looked at their pantries and storage rooms, and in many cases even went to the groceries and supermarkets, to purvey essential goods to share with the flood victims. What was all the more remarkable was that many of these individuals chose to bring and share these essential goods with the flood victims themselves as one-family relief operations. With altruistic resolve they quietly headed to Marikina, Cainta, and other affected areas and generously distributed relief goods to their devastated fellow Filipinos. And they did it without any urging other than their own.

The Filipino expatriates all over the world also rose gallantly to the calamity. Within 24 hours of Typhoon “Ondoy’s” floodwaters, Filipino expatriate communities started gathering relief goods and big packages started arriving in Manila from the four corners of the globe. Through TV, YouTube, and Facebook, Filipinos abroad faithfully kept track of the calamitous developments and responded accordingly.

It was a Disaster. But the unprecedented Concern that Filipinos showed to their affected countrymen made it another proud and great moment for the country. It was something that raised The Filipino to the High Altar of Humanity.

11 Comments

It’s Time

October 4, 2009 at 6:31 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Past, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)

When I was very young and blissfully ignorant, and that was many, many, many years ago, the arrival of a typhoon was a happy development, specially if it reached Signal Number Two, because that meant that classes were suspended. We children could look forward to playing most of the day inside Lola Charing’s big house, which was impervious to floodwaters and strong winds. We liked to “play house,” “cooking-cooking,” Barbie dolls, G.I Joe figures, “Sungka,” “Piko,” “Patintero,” Hide and Seek, Exchange Places [ in the elegant living room, of all places ], ”Old Maid,” “Monopoly,” “Scrabble,” etc.. We could watch our favorite cartoons on TV in the afternoon [ "Superman," "Aquaman," "Mightor," et. al. ], and eat all the sugary delights — today’s “tooth decay specials” — we wanted from Lola Charing’s fully-stocked kitchen, and I mean fully-stocked [ "Selecta" and "Magnolia" ice cream; "Pare" Bito Nuqui's homemade "Mantecado" ice cream of carabao's milk and slivers of "dayap" lime rind { IF there was any left after Brother Andrew and us hungry grandchildren! }; Ate Talia Padilla's homemade cakes, "ensaimadas," "sans rival," traditional pastries like "panaritas," "caramelitos," etc.; "barquillos" and "broas" cookies from Lola Nena Gala, "Panaderia de Molo" cookies from Lola Gely Lopez, "See's" chocolates, etc. ], and from Aling Maring’s and Aling Esa’s nearby sari-sari stores [ "Sarsi" soda, "Mirinda" soda, "Tarzan" and "Texas" bubble gum, "Choc-Nut" peanut chocolates, "Butterball" butterscotch candy, "White Rabbit" candy, etc. ] for “merienda.” Those simple pleasures were what typhoons meant to us grandchildren.

Typhoons then didn’t seem so bad. Yes, we would see helicopter footages of the Central Luzon provinces — Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac — inundated in floodwaters, but everyone was smiling and giggling as they waved to the cameras of RPN Channel 9 [ or did President Marcos or Madame Marcos also order them to do that??? ]. And because we were stuck in the house with Lola Charing and Ate Talia during such days, we grandchildren also saw, to our collective chagrin, more episodes of “Aawitan Kita” starring the irrepressible Armida Siguion-Reyna and other howling singers. I remember “Didang,” a particularly strong typhoon in the early 1970s. Now that one caused a lot of damage! We also had no school for a week! Yippee!

Thirty years later and Everything is so different now…

The coming of a typhoon nowadays in the 2000s means Difficulty, Desperation, Destruction, and yes, even Death.

I had not realized until now that one could actually get killed in a flood. I stupidly thought that it was only a matter of swimming well with all kinds of strokes — doggie-style, backstroke, freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, etc.. Yes, one could get electrocuted by an open electric wire in the water, or, fall into an open manhole [ what with all the steel manhole covers being stolen for sale to steel recyclers! ]. Or contract the dreaded “Leptospirosis” [ infection from rodents' feces ] by open cuts and wounds. But what I didn’t know was that one could just be swept away by the rampaging waters, and be hit, all too helplessly, by all kinds of flotsam and jetsam — floating vehicles, uprooted trees, loosened concrete, wooden beams, G.I sheets, stones, and all — until one is simply… DEAD. Just like the villains in those “Indiana Jones” adventure movies!!!

Last night, I was at Santo Domingo Church for the third day Novena and Mass in honor of the “Santo Rosario,” Our Lady of the Rosary [ an Old World tradition I took from my Lola Charing ] . We lifted our hands and the “Our Father” was sung beautifully by the grand choir and, and oddly enough, rather soulfully by the congregation. I thought of all our fellow, suffering Filipinos and the terrible videos seen on TV and YouTube… and my mind’s eye replayed the horrors over and over, and over again. And I wept… Of course, Social Me kept my composure [ ramrod straight posture! Queen Mary-esque pulchritude ] but the tears just flowed. I was lucky, only a few, unused things got wet… but many other people lost their livelihood, hard-earned possessions, homes… and lives!!! The Sheer Devastation wrought by typhoon “Ondoy’s” floods on Filipino Life was just so awful, wasn’t it?

And now, there’s supertyphoon [ first time I've heard the term!!! ] “Pepeng” whirling towards the Philippines… Ohmygod. What worse devastation can that one bring???

It’s Time… It’s Time to Pray, and Pray Hard, like we never did before.

It turns out that our Old People, who prayed hard and prayed often, really knew what they were doing.

*unfinished*

16 Comments

New policy

October 1, 2009 at 7:21 am (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Past, Tristesse)

From now on, I will no longer accept any comments from amorphous entities in cyberspace. There are far too many stupid and irritating comments coming from nobodies who don’t have the guts to back their comments up with their actual identities. I don’t see why anyone has to hide behind a pseudonym when I myself am laid out all over the place for everyone to see. I don’t have anything to hide and neither should any of my readers.

From now on, comments with no real names, no email addresses that can be confirmed, and no reliable identity checks will no longer be allowed.

I don’t care if it means a lessening of the hits this blog receives per day. Because I never did care about those things in the first place.

34 Comments

Under the Sea

September 26, 2009 at 3:10 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Manila Houses, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)

Manila and environs literally went “Under the Sea” today with the 24 hour nonstop rains of typhoon “Ondoy”…

It would be ideal and so “above it all” for me to say that I wasn’t affected at all by the flooding of typhoon “Ondoy” [ international code name: "Ketsana" ]. OF COURSE I WAS. Although the house is built on high ground, water just came from nowhere at 11:00 a.m. and quickly inundated the basement level, where I had a lot of good things stored for future use. Antique Filipino furniture, paintings, art books, vintage photographs, cushions, antique textiles, silver, china, crystal, impedimenta, etc. all went underwater for many minutes before they were patiently gathered one by one by the industrious and conscientious househelp. Surveying the catastrophe hours later, I was happy enough that the things were not lost; true, several were damaged, but that’s Life! I was actually more concerned with the health of the staff.

I thought I had it bad, at least until I saw the TV coverage hours later. Ohmygod!!! Quel desastre!!!

So where were you???

51 Comments

An afternoon at “Tana Dicang”

September 23, 2009 at 5:34 am (2000s Philippines, Current Events, Design and Decoration, Domestic Travels, Family Traditions, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos)

2 Comments

The Cure

September 22, 2009 at 10:51 am (2000s Philippines, Angst, Domestic Travels, Humor, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, Tristesse)

For a month before I went on a jaunt with Tess Lopez to Negros Oriental, I had been quietly enduring chronic stabbing pains in my right ribcage. It was most painful when I was about to lie down, when lying down, and when rising. But on the eighth day of the trip [ 12 September 2009, Saturday ], I suddenly realized that the pain had finally disappeared!!!

I don’t know what did it, but it must have been one of these three, or all of these three things, that rid me of the chronic stabbing pain…

What Vivian Yuchengco told me two weeks ago [ 21 August 2009, Friday ] over lunch at her sister Connie Yuchengco-Gonzalez’s was right: roads and bridges are being constructed / reconstructed all over the Philippines. Driving from Vallehermoso town to Dumaguete City — passing the towns of Guihulngan, La Libertad, Jimalalud, Tayasan, Ayungon, Bindoy, Manjuyod… — that Monday morning [ 07 September 2009 ], we saw, nay experienced, that 45 kilometers of the national highway from Bais City to Dumaguete City — passing Tanjay City and the towns of Amlan, San Jose, and Sibulan — had been torn up and were being reconstructed. So for all those kilometers, Tess Lopez’s van, and the three of us Goyong the driver, Tess, and I inside, were constantly whipped from left to right, then right to left, shoved forward and backward, backward and forward, and diagonally both ways!!! Good thing Tess and I were engrossed talking about everything under the sun or we would have positively gone bonkers. Wednesday afternoon [ 09 September 2009 ], we drove from Dumaguete City to Bais City for the annual town fiesta [ Saint Nicholas Tolentino, Feast Day 10 September 2009 ], and it was the same story. It was even more fun because Mercey Teves-Goni and other friends were with us so there was more to talk about. Thursday afternoon [ 10 September 2009 ], we drove from Bais City all the way back to Vallehermoso town. Now that was another memorable drive: the national highway from Bais City for many kilometers was also torn up and was being reconstructed. So for an unimaginably bumpy number of kilometers, Goyong the driver, Tess, and I were again whipped from left to right, right to left, shoved forward and backward, backward and forward, and diagonally both ways!!! By the time we got to La Libertad town, I felt that I had had Swedish, Shiatsu, Thai, Hilot, and whathaveyou massages all at the same time!!! It’s called “lamog” [ "all beaten up" ] in colloquial Pilipino.

During the three wonderful days [ 07 - 09 September 2009, Monday to Wednesday ] we spent with the lovely Mercey Teves-Goni at her Dumaguete City residence, there was a steaming pot of ”Chocolate Eh” on the dining table whether it was breakfast, lunch, merienda, or dinner. YUMMY!!! For the first time in my life, I had access to “Chocolate Eh” practically 24 / 7, and I absolutely didn’t mind. True to my delightfully bad manners, I gulped it down instead of sipping it slowly like the ladies, Mercey and Tess. The effects were wonderful: We were happy and giddy all the time. By the third day, I had consumed enough “Chocolate Eh” that I had begun to smell like a candy bar.

We were also constantly laughing about Anything and Everything…!!! After dinners, Mercey, Tess, and I related the darndest stories of our lives, stories which made each other’s jaws drop to the floor, and it was way better than any comedy show on TV because it was all for real, however incredulous some of the episodes were. Some of the stories, all real-life, could have put the world’s best fictionists — Ernest Hemingway, et. al. — to shame.

So the next time I have chronic body pains, I have very good ideas on what to do…

6 Comments

Fruit Batty

September 22, 2009 at 10:34 am (2000s Philippines, Domestic Travels, Humor, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos)

I’m not a fruit lover, unlike my late paternal and maternal grandmothers, my late mother, my sister, and my Korean sister-in-law. But I discovered that I could eat tons of fresh fruits in Negros Oriental…

In Vallehermoso town, We found ourselves in hilly orchards of “lanzones,” “rambutan,” and other fruits. The trees were dripping with fruits!!! Thanks to the generosity of the owners, We were left to our own devices for a little more than an hour… So we just picked at any fruit within arm’s reach. They were sooooo SWEET and SUCCULENT!!! Even the very few sour ones were still delicious. Until then, this city kid had no idea that fruits directly picked from the trees tasted incredibly better than those in refrigerated supermarket shelves!!! I just ate and ate and ate until I ballooned like those horrible, spoiled children in “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”…!!!

Ah, the great pleasures of the Philippine countryside!!! Eat your hearts out, expats!!!

3 Comments

Balay ni Nonoy Tiking

September 22, 2009 at 10:20 am (Domestic Travels, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Manilenos, The Negrenses)

And so, after a convivial, leisurely lunch with Lanibelle Javelosa and her family in Bacolod City, we proceeded with the one and a half hour drive to Vallerhermoso town in Negros Oriental. We passed through verdant mountains, through the beautiful towns of Salvador Benedicto with its pine trees [ which is what Baguio City in Luzon must have looked like in the early 1900s! ] and Prosperidad with its hills. It was such a scenic, beautiful, soothing drive!!! Then we were in the flatlands and in San Carlos City, the domain of the famous Congressman Jules Arenas Ledesma. Before long, we arrived in quiet Vallehermoso, the first town on the border of Negros Oriental coming from Negros Occidental.

It was already 7:30 p.m. when we arrived at the Lopez farm in Vallehermoso town. The “farmhouse” was located in Barangay Bagawines near the sea. It was the beloved, lifelong domain of Tess’ late father, Manong Tiking Lopez [ Vicente Hofilena Lopez Jr. ], which he in turn inherited from his father, Don Vicente “Cente” Lopez y Villanueva of Jaro, Iloilo. Manong Tiking called his farmhouse ”Il Paradiso.” My first view after stepping off the van was of a generous garden with trees and shrubs and of an arbor with flowering vines. The cheerful household staff greeted us and took our bags. The house was on the right and there was a spacious Filipino-style pavilion on the left, designed and constructed by Tess after her father had passed away.

It was a commodious, comfortable, elegant, yet unpretentious 1950s house.

It was affectionately called “Balay ni Nonoy Tiking” by the villagers.

*unfinished*

1 Comment

Update

September 17, 2009 at 3:17 pm (2000s Philippines, Current Events, Domestic Travels, Family Traditions, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Manilenos, The Negrenses)

Dear friends, I apologize for the “inactivity” of twelve days from 05 – 16 September 2009. I was unable to inform you that I would be away on a jaunt through Negros island [ Occidental and Oriental ] in the Visayas on the invitation of a dear friend, Maria Teresa “Tess” Zamora Lopez. The Internet was not always available; and there is something about wordpress.com [ "cookies" perhaps? ] that does not allow me to access this blog from anywhere else but at home.

It was a very interesting trip, quite an eye-opener even for someone jaded like me. So I have several things to share with you, dear friends, in the next few days…