9/11 Centenarians: Conching (Living) and Ferdie (Dead)

Two families celebrated the centennial of a loved one this year. One subject of celebration was around his grave site. The other subject is still alive and well to have a say on the manner of celebrating her 100th birthday.

The first subject, Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, was born in Batac, Ilocos Norte on 11 September 1917, who became a popular politician especially in the so-called Solid North of the Philippine archipelago, rose to become president of the republic on 30 December 1965, declared martial law on 23 September 1972, ruled the country as dictator until he was overthrown by People Power on 25 February 1986, died in his Hawaiian exile on 28 September 1989, and finally buried 'under protest' at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on 18 November 2016.

There were two Marcos celebrations: one at his resting place where his family, close friends and loyalists gathered to remember, and the other outside the gates of Libingan ng mga Bayani where activists raised placards and voices of protest. There were earlier reports that the widow Imelda wanted a grander celebration but daughter Imee wanted it simple. If there was any consolation to the protesters, President Duterte did not join former Ministers Cesar Virata and Juan Ponce Enrile at the grave site commemoration.

Sergia Favor Rico, 9/11 centenarian. (Photo by the author)

As far as we know, centenarian Sergia Favor Rico planned her birthday party, and listed 400 to be invited to a luncheon at Johneva Beach Resort in her coastal barangay La Paz in San Narciso, Zambales. Her kin in the USA and its territories, Canada came back for the occasion.

She knew that she will receive the centenarian incentive of PhP100,000 as provided by law: RA 10868, which Pres. Benigno Aquino signed on 23 June 2016. She is said to have told her kin that she will spend that cash gift for a grand celebration.

Conching, her popular name, manang/nana/auntie/lola to various people, may not be as strong as before to walk around to greet her well-wishers but she remains very lucid for the usual amiable conversations.

We do not know if Conching and Ferdie ever met in San Narciso during the World War II years. For some time, he stayed with a family in an interior sitio of this town to hide from the Japanese. That barrio though was far from Conching's coastal village. Both were in their late 20's at that time, and still single.

As an aside, centenarian Filipinos were featured in the 08 September 1873 issue of the Madrid weekly La Ilustración española y americana. 

Dona Rosa, 127 years old when she died in 1867.
(Source: La Ilustracion espanola y americans)

The author M.M. Cabellero de Rodas wrote about doña Rosa, la centenaría filipina (doña Rosa, Filipina centenarian) whose family name he forgot to note down. He met her in 1862, she was 123 years old, and he learned she died five years later. She was of mixed blood: Portuguese and Malay, who came to the country when she was four years old.

He also mentioned two other Filipinos with very long lives: 
(a) a pure indio coachman (a carruaje driver) he met in 1863, who reached 119 years; and

(b) a Boholana who was 116 years old in 1857. In her youth she did the laundry for the Jesuits until they were expelled in 1766.

These accounts of longevity came at the end of an article on hygiene in the Philippines, which also touched on the common diseases of the Filipinos at that time.

In this time and age of many affections and afflictions, to become a octogenarian or nonagenarian is already one reason for celebration. According to WHO (2015), the total life expectancy in the Philippines 68.5 years.

Skimboarding in my neighborhood by the beach in Zambales

Lyric Farala, 10, is top of the grom class in barangay La Paz, San Narciso, Zambales.

Almost everyday since November, I have been watching skimboarders riding the waves close to the shore near my bamboo house by the West Philippine Sea in barangay La Paz, San Narciso, Zambales. They can be as young as five years old or in the early '30s.

Skimboarding is the water sport of choice of the young men in the southern part of the coastal barrio. In the northern part, it is surfing: the local boys teach the neophyte surfers from Metro Manila and other parts of the country the rudiments of this sport at the Crystal Beach Resort.

The skimboarders have shorter boards than the surfers, and they ride the waves or swells nearer the shore, Skimboarding is a fast game on shallow waters. The surfers do the waves farther out, and bigger and finned boards allow them longer and more stable rides on the waves surging to break on the shore..

Both are imported sports: surfing from Hawaii and skimboarding from California.

But both have become native to our provincial haven; hence, we're claiming that San Narciso is the 'surfing and skimboarding capital of Zambales.'

These three A players, Angelo Ceneta, Peter Pagar and Jay Agagas competed in Tiwi, Albay last December.

In a local skimboarding competition event this month, there were competing groups: groms, Class B and Class A.

A grom (derived from grommet) is a skimboarder 14 years old or younger. Their seniors are either B or A, the A being the top players.  Veteran A players did not compete in the recent event, they instead judged in the three categories.

Champion in the groms category was Lyric Farala, a 10-yeat old pupil of the barangay elementary school. His father, uncles and cousins are skimboarders too. One of them teaches surfing at Crystal Beach.

Among those who judged in that January event were the three Class A players who represented the town in the skimboarding competition in Tiwi, Albay last December (2016): Angelo Ceneta, Peter Pagar and Jay Agagas.  Pagar won the top price in the individual category. The two others went into the qualifying rounds but did not make it to the cut for the final rounds.

Pagar has joined the labor force in Manila, and he skimboards when he comes home to take a breath. Ceneta may also give up his boards as soon as he is done with his marine transport education. Agagas does construction jobs to earn his keep, but he's still very much around the beach front with other skimboarders.

Typical skimboarding sights.

All these young sportsmen belong to the San Narciso Shorebreakers Skimboarding Group managed by Mia Casal, who takes time out from her potter's wheel and clay to watch their routines on the surging and swelling waves of the nearby sea.

Philippine coral reefs at the California Academy of Sciences

We had to be in San Francisco, CA for a close look at marine life in Philippine coral reefs without donning a diving suit and a breathing apparatus. For the record, we had a camera whose shutter speed and aperture opening we had to adjust to the available light under the Philippine sea in an American setting.

Our 'diving site' was a 212,000-gallon aquarium of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), which replicates some of the diversity found in our coral reefs.  

The coral reefs, says CAS, 'are among the world's most diverse ecosystems. Home to more than 500 coral species and 3,000 fish species of fish, they support entire ocean ecosystems and the people rely on reefs for food, income, and protection from storms.'

The Academy has been doing research in our country for more than a century, and the latest one was the 2014 Philippine Biodiversity Expedition that focused on marine habitats near the apex of the Coral Triangle. It surveyed the Triangle's 'twilight zone', a habitat 40 to 150 meters deep, where no humans had entered before.

The Triangle refers to the triangular area of the marine waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. The Philippines is near its apex.

Hundreds of species have been discovered through the joint efforts of Academy and Filipino scientists but they estimate that 'fewer than half of all reef species have been identified.'  During the cited expedition, at least 300 new species were discovered' such as the deep-water coral Philippine sea fan (Solenocaulon sp.) and the spiny, globular Philippine pencil urchin (Phyllacanthus imperialis), whose specimens are on display at the CAS.

The Academy noted that pollution, coastal development, global climate change, and non-sustainable fishing practices pose severe threats to Philippine diversity. It has 'developed a practice of rapidly translating data collected in the field into effective marine conservation actions.'

'The 2011 Philippine Expedition,' the Academy reported in its webpage, 'resulted in recommendations for better regulation of existing Marine Protected Areas, as well as the establishment of new MPAs. Today, that work—in conjunction with community-based conversation projects—has recently begun to yield reversed degradation in coral reefs. While the threats still far outweigh any recovery, these comprehensive policies and practices have begun to slow the loss of biodiversity in the Philippines. Here [in California], our work in the Philippines enriches and informs Academy exhibits, where it continues to reach millions of visitors, teachers, and students each year.'

Part of the exhibit is a video presentation of 'Filipino Voices' which shows Filipinos 'who are championing marine sanctuaries, changing fishing practices, protecting precious reefs for future generations.'

In its caption on the Philippine pencil urchin, the Academy cited the villagers living near Batalang Bato, a popular dive spot.  'After decades of unsustainable practices,' CAS said, '[they] established one of the first community-initiated marine sanctuaries. Academy researchers worked closely with the community leaders and after six years of protection, a once depleted reef now teems with life that will repopulate other nearby reefs.'

This community action resonates with the marine turtles conservation project of volunteer fisher folks in our coastal village La Paz in the San Narciso town of Zambales province. For the past four years, they have been operating a hatchery during the nesting season to ensure the survival of the endangered Olive ridley turtles for future generations. They know that these creatures feed on sea grass and in so doing, they maintain the balance in the ecosystems in the reefs, the breeding ground of fishes. Fishing is the primary source of livelihood of these volunteers.

The merry month of May in the Philippines

Note.  This photo-essay appeared in 09-15 May 2014 issue of the FilAm Star, 'the newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America' published weekly in San Francisco. This author/blogger is the Special News/Photo Correspondent of the paper in the Philippines. 
 

The “May Day” of international workers is simply Labor Day in the calendar of official holidays in the Philippines. It’s Mayo Uno to the militant labor groups, which, as expected, converged near the  Mendiola Peace Arch to “express disappointment” with the Benigno Aquino III government on various labor-related issues, the state of our economy, and RP-US relations following the state visit of Barack Obama and the signing of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

While there was no fiesta on Mendiola to open the month of May, there were no banners, streamers and a PNoy Aquino effigy to burn in many places around the archipelago celebrating May 1 in honor of their patron saint, St. Joseph the Worker.  It so happened that in 1955, according to Roman Catholic accounts, Pope Pius XII instituted this date as feast day of the saint in response to the “May Day” celebrations of the Communists.

Joseph the Worker is more associated with carpentry; hence, in Notre Dame Village in Cotabato City, his feast day is called Duyog Panday, and in Lonoy, Jagna, Bohol, their celebration is a Pandayan Festival, panday being the local term for carpenter.

The other laborer in the Roman Catholic pantheon of saints is San Isidro Labrador, which translates to San Isidro the Farmer, who is honored on May 15.  He is the patron saint of harvest.

The colorful celebration of the town folks of Lucban, Quezon is popularly known as Pahiyas. As their gesture of thanksgiving for rich harvests, they decorate the facades of their houses with “kiping”, multi-colored rice paste confections shaped like leaves, together with vegetables, fruits, flowers and even handicrafts. Other Quezon towns that celebrate the harvest festival on May 15 are Tayabas, Sariaya, Gumaca and Tiaong. 

In Pulilan, Bulacan, San Isidro is honored with a parade of carabaos decorated with garlands and led to kneel in front of the town church.  In Angono, Rizal, their festival parade has carabaos pulling carts laden with local products. 

Elsewhere in the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, several towns and cities have festivities in May revolving around crop harvests or locally manufactured products.

A roving fiesta goer may have started in Agoo, La Union on May 1 partaking in the Dinengdeng Feastival, dinengdeng being the Ilocano term for the mix of vegetables in a broth seasoned with fish sauce.  From there, he can move around the country for the taste of other products. Marilao, Bulacan celebrates the luyang dilaw (yellow ginger) on May 2, while Sinait, Ilocos Sur gets hot on bawang (garlic) on May 3.  Bountiful harvests of coconut and bangus are reasons for the folks of Pinamungajan, Cebu to host their Pamuhuan Festival on May 4. Naguilian, La Union toasts with their native wine, the basi, on May 7.  It’s saging (banana) in Lazi, Siquijor on May 10, lubi (coconut) in Maria, Siquijor on May 21 and in Gingoog City on May 22.  He can go for higanteng alimango (giant mud crabs) in Calauag, Quezon on May 25 during their Katang Festival, and possibly end the month with helpings of rosquillos, one of Cebu’s primary baked delicacies, in Liloan, Cebu on May 29.  These are just some of the gustatory festivals spread across the country during the month. 

May is also associated with Marian festivities.   There’s the Flores de Mayo that involves floral offerings to Mary during the month.

On May 1, the town folks of Baras, Rizal have their Troamba Festival in honor of the Nuestra Señora de Turumba.  It’s the Pastores Festival in Gapan City, Nueva Ecija for their patron saint, the Nuestra Señora dela Virgen Divina Pastora.

In our coastal barangay of La Paz in San Narciso, Zambales, the first Saturday of the month is the fixed day to honor the Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje.  This year’s religious celebrations included processions of Marian images and that of San Sebastian, the town’s patron saint, borne on bancas or motor boats at sea early in the morning, and on decorated carrozas around the barangay in the early evening. The peryahan at the beach front, boat racing competition in the morning, the civic parade in the afternoon, and whole day feasts were all in the fiesta program for visitors to enjoy.

The Turumba Festival 2014 of Pakil, Laguna in honor of the Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Turumba (Mahal na Birhen ng Hapis) is spread on various dates from April 11 to September 14.  This month, there’s the Fiestang Biyernes of May 9, the Fiesta Pakilena of May 12, the Fiestang Linggo of May 18, the Fiestang Pag-akyat of May 30, and the Ahunan sa Pingas of May 31.  This year is the 226th anniversary of the finding of the picture of Our Lady in Laguna Lake on September 15 , 1788.

One of the most popular religious events during the month is in Obando, Bulacan where three patron saints are celebrated through song and dance:  the Obando Fertility Rites on May 17-19. 

Tradition has the men asking for the help of San Pascual de Baylon in their search for a wife, the girls praying for a life-time partner through Santa Clara, and childless couples praying for the intercession of Our Lady of Salambao to have a child.  The Our Lady is also the patroness of fishermen, hence, her help is sought for Obando’s principal industry, fishing.

The Santacruzan may have started in several parts of the country.  Through the years, this has veered to almost a parade of local town beauties, and gays, in many places nationwide.  There are several Santacruzans marked out for foreign tourists in the More Fun in the Philippines calendar of the Department of Tourism.

It may be hot in May, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from fiesta hopping.