Growing up in the Philippines

Philippines
Republic of the Philippines
Philippines comprises more than 7,100 islands. The country includes three main island groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippine coastline has many excellent bays and harbors. In many places, especially in the central and southern Philippines, coral reefs make the harbors dangerous for ships. Rushing rivers rise in the mountains of the chief islands and flow to the sea. These rivers often flood the surrounding countryside during the rainy season. Few Philippine rivers can be navigated by anything larger than rafts or small riverboats. Forests grow throughout the Philippines: tropical trees, thick groves of bamboo and about 10,000 kinds of flowering plants. The Philippines has a warm, humid climate and wet and dry seasons. Most Filipinos belong to a race called Filipino-Malaysian. Chinese, Indonesians, Negritos, Americans, some Europeans make up part of the Philippine population. The national language, Pilipino, is based mainly on the Tagalog language. English, Pilipino, and Spanish are taught in the schools. Family life in the Philippines is more like that of in the United States or Canada than that of other Asian. In many Asian countries, the man is the absolute head of the household and makes all important family decisions. But the Filipino husband treats his wife as an equal. She usually has charge of the family's money. We eat rice with almost every meal, either alone or mixed with other foods. We eat fish, pork, beef, chicken, corn, vegetables, and fruits. Most of the people, especially those in cities and towns, wear clothing similar to that worn in the United States and Canada. The tibesmen may wear other types of clothing. Almost every community holds a yearly celebration in honor of its patron saint. We celebrate the holiday with feasts, games, plays fireworks and a religoius procession. Our country has complete religious freedom: Roman Catholicism, Islam, Christianity, and Paganism...

Old Cabalan
the home of my birth

From the hi-way, there's a road going down passing through a bridge. Lots of trees along the side of the paved street, and houses scattered along the way... A cement wall and opened gate lie waiting... A torn block house on the right, a two-story cement and wooden house on the left gives a sign of years that have gone by. It seemed like every square feet of land has a life growing in it. In the front yard grows starapples, guyabano and shrubs I don't know... In the middle, a very tall tree whose elongated shells has round black seeds and silky cotton inside that my mom uses in stuffing pillows... going down the side of the property, walking down cement steps on the dirt, more trees... camatsile with its canopy shade, bamboos, sugar canes, tall grass, etc... Slipping down the dirt pathway, a flowing river awaits... crystal clear rushing water where school of fish swimming and green algaes floating, some caught in the river banks, some covers the rocks below... What a sight! I want to go back there again...

But the sad news is, according to a friend, that place has been abandoned due to the ashes from Mt Pinatubo that covered that little village... I still can't believe it... I know, underneath the ashes a new life will begin... I still want to go back there again...

Olongapo City
the city of my youth

Olongapo (Ulo ng Apo - Head of the Chief), also known as Sin City... nightclubs, bars, prostitution, drug- dealing abounds in the infamous Magsaysay Drive... But in the midst of this city lies the Lighthouse proclaiming the Word of God...

Leyte
my father's birthplace

Leyte (Ley-te), one of the Philippines' chief islands, became famous in World War II. It was the scene of the first landing of United States troops when they liberated the Philippines from the Japanese in 1944 and 1945.

San Narciso, Zambales
my mother's birth home

Zambales lies on the west coast of Luzon (northern and the largest island). San Narciso is one of its provinces.

I remember riding a bus and stopping in front of my grandma's house. There was a row of gardenias before the cement wall. Its sweet scent and beautiful white flowers welcoming us as we cross the bridge covered with drying chicken manure over a canal towards our destination. They were getting their fertilizer ready! Mango tree on the left filled with still green fruits (good to eat with salt or bagoong!) and suha (native grapefruit) on the other side as well as sugar canes which we usually use as snack. My cousin will get his bolo (huge cutting knife) and cut a foot-length of sugar cane and give them to us. We peel the skin and bite off a piece, chew it and suck all the juice. When all the fibers are left and the sweet juice are gone, we spit it out (sounds gross, huh!--but its good!) and take another bite till there's no more to chew!

There was the house in front of us where my aunt, cousins, and grandparents live. A house made with wood with long legs. As you climb the stairs, the porch awaits where we usually sit and relax, the living room and bedrooms inside. Beyond that was the dining room and the kitchen. There was a pump for getting water near the sink. On the other side was a huge clay stove where we put wood and sticks to cook our food in clay pots. The place where I remember my aunt fried peanuts in hot oil, garlic and a little bit of salt, (Mmmmm, mmmmm good!) made cassava cake, cooked our native dishes: pinakbet, dinengdeng, dilis (dried anchovies), tuyo (dried fish), tinapa (smoked fish), daing (dried fish), sotanghon..... I am really getting hungry!

Beyond the kitchen was the storage area where a huge wooden box for rice and other grains were stored. Another stair, but this one is smaller. Underneath the house were wood for cooking, a pen of pigs and piglets, and chickens roaming around... Behind the house was the bathroom and on the other side was a deep well. More trees and shrubs around: santol, cherries, aratilis, guava, coconut, pineapples. We were never hungry. We always have something to eat and they were usually fruits, fresh from the tree... and I surely miss them! My cousin will climb the very tall coconut tree with his bare hands and feet and he'll tell us to move away as he loosen the coconut and let it fall to the ground... Very impressive and how refreshing those coconuts were! ahhhhh! I want some coconuts!