Farmville in Balete

When Panay Telecommunication Company (Pantelco) finally set foot in Balete on October of last year (2009), it brought along with it a virtual reality called "Farmville". Those Baleten-ons with access to the internet and who happened to have a Facebook account know what it is--or at least those who were innocently enticed by the gifts received from some "friends" or by those who invited them to be "neighbors".

The game, I supposed, was developed for the city-dwellers who dreamed of the idyllic life in the farm, who are exhausted with the hustle and bustle of the urban setting, oppressed by the monstrous traffic and the indifference of crowd to the affairs of each person. A form of escapism actually; something to entertain or distract boredom and angst out of one's psyche.

But the Farmville mania has invaded Balete, a rural/agricultural community which is regarded by those who visited it, both local and foreign as "paradise", "a beautiful place to retire", "simply beautiful". Why is this so could perhaps be attributed to its familiarity to these "farmers". While for those passersby, Balete's beauty maybe is a treat, to them, it is just ordinary--something they got to endure everyday, just like traffic.

Yet if that is so, why Farmville when they could choose some other virtual realities far different from the rural setting of Balete? Could it be that by their playing it they unconsciously satisfy their innate desire to have lands to till and call their own? (Some sort of transference, so to speak.) Could it be taken then as a social indicators for policymakers to consider?

I was amused to receive a note in my homepage from the Municipal Treasurer commenting concerning Farmville. His comment will surely elicit a lot of reactions.

The Gift of Jal-o to the Tinagong Dagat

Msgr. Frac paid me a "brief" (by the Msgr's standards) visit this morning. He was asking if I can help him and his parish in documenting his catechetical program (this one is a good story by itself) which he believe to be the first in the Diocese of Kalibo, if not in the ecclesiastical region of Panay. As we conversed, Vice Mayor Ric joined us and an animated exchange of ideas ensued comprising of a varied topics. One interesting story concerns the volume of oysters being harvested out of the Tinagong Dagat by oyster farm growers.

The topic reminded me of a documentary shown on a government-owned TV network about Oyster Forest. When I saw the schedule on the screen, I was thinking of an oyster forest underneath the sea. I later realized that oyster farmers in the Kesennuma Bay of Japan's Miyagi Prefecture have committed themselves to planting trees up in the Kitakami Highland as a means of preserving the gifts of the seas. The trees up in Mt. Murone was thus called Oyster Forest as they found out that broadleaf tree leaves that decay on the forest floor of the highlands make for a good humus. During rainy season, these humus are washed into the Okawa River down to the Kesennuma Bay. Oyster farmers in that area believed that humus plays a vital role in oyster farming. Hence, these oyster growers committed themselves to planting trees as well.

As I was explaining this point of view to my parish priest, he responded with so much interest. He noted that this technology would be very beneficial to his parishioners in Batan. He thus, requested me to surf the net about the matter as he believe that it could be replicated not only in Batan but within the Jal-o River watershed.

I was just glad to oblige as I subscribed to its beneficence. It took me several attempt however to find this link: http://www.epfnetwork.org/gifts.htm

Vita, Vida et Vera

People from all over called them, "tres marias"; my three daughters by my wife. Vita's full name is Vita Aurora. She was born at dawn on May of 2000 in our nipa hut. Her mother labored for more than 12 hours and was so weak when she finally decided to say hi to life at daybreak. Life at dawn, that's the literal meaning of her name.

My second child is named Alia Vida--the other life, in our lives. She got out from her mother's womb in a matter of a few minutes thus catching me off-guard. I supposed that Mae would labor long just as when she did with Vita. So when she was brought to the Labor Room of the hospital, I walked the corridors down to a store to buy some candies. The setting sun was kissing the Kalibo horizon when I ventured out of the hospital door. I was worried to see no familiar faces waiting by the Labor Room upon my return. The worries vanished though when somebody informed me that my unconscious wife and her baby girl were already brought to her room and the nursery respectively.

The third is Aurea Vera, Golden Truth, in Latin. She got her name as a reaction to the issue of the elusiveness in ferreting out the truths about so many controversies affecting the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

My tres Marias! My Life's saving grace! God's gift and signs along life's road.

A 40-Day Intramural Against the Devil at his Homecourt

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Quaresma, i.e., the forty days of Lent in the Liturgical Calendar. Basing on tradition, it is the season of asceticism, of mastering the flesh by practicing puasa (fasting) and paumod (abstinence) and of recognizing one's sinfulness and making amend for them through the practice of penitencia (penance through flagellation).

My daughter, Vita, reported that she had her forehead marked with ashes by her Public Schools District Supervisor. She's 9 and claimed that she can't eat meat today as she had the ashes on her forehead. She further explained that through it, her sins will be washed away.

Now, I am tempted to put the blame on bad catechism by ill-informed catechists. My sophisticated faith is too proud to bring me to my knees to admit that I was failing in my duties as the father to my daughters. The truth of the matter is that I am guilty of failing to teach my children the ways of following Christ.

I remember making a solemn vow of teaching my children the rudiments of Christianity. I've initiated the step, but always, I wander into the bush and failed to sustain the instructions. Thus, my daughter claimed that the ashes in her head will wash away her sins.

So I am renewing my vow today as we begin our forty-day intramural against the devil right at his homecourt. A good start would be an elementary exegesis into Mark's account of the baptism of Jesus by John at the River Jordan (Mark 1: 9-11); of Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert where he will wrestle with Satan for forty days (Mark 1:12-13) and his eventual victory and proclamation of his mission (Mark 1:14-15).

Hence, I pray, call me again, Oh Lord, and in my paths in the world, make me for my daughters a channel of your peace. Amen.

A Mountain Crab Called Oeangkas

Oeangkas is a minuscule land crab which thrives in mountainous region of Balete, particularly in Benitinan. In dense forested areas, perceptive eyes could notice reddish pebble-like moving objects scavenging underneath fallen leaves. At a closer inspection, one would be surprised to note that said pebble-like reddish moving objects are small mountain crabs. Residents claimed that they are not edible one reason being they are too small for one to pay attention to.

Excerpts from My Journal of 1994

You say you want to meet your God. Alas, what you are after is not an easy task! It's a dangerous one as a matter of fact. Meeting God is a dangerous event.

But if by chance you meet him, don't let go of him. Hold him tight; wrestle with your God--until daybreak. For it is likely that you'll meet him at the twilight of your life. So let go of him only when it is already dawn, when the first streak of the sun awakens your sleeping heart.

A Stranger Named Aina

She came without a warning.

I was taking a break from what I called an alienating work in Ayala sometime in 1994. A few months back, I left the seminary with a bitter mind, a rationalizing heart and an agnostic spirit.
I thought that making myself busy in the Philippine prime financial district will distract me from the growing indifference--I used to call it my forlorn existence in an otherwise meaningless world. But I was mistaken. I found the wealth of Paseo de Roxas nauseating. Makati, while I was within its bosom for seven years was now strange and overwhelming. I just need to get out from her. At least for a while.

So I decided to take a break and went home to Balete. A vacation of two months would do, so I thought. I need her freshness and silence to sort out things. I need her shade as I rethink my perspectives and values in life. I while the days and they became months. Fr. Tito (my parish priest and mentor) was concerned and so he suggested that I volunteer myself in some people's organization. I heeded his advice and found myself in Our Lady of Providence, a community of women in an isolated Sitio Anao, Aranas. As they were into handmade paper making, I brought with me my watercolor and some old Chinese brushes. Just in case. It turned out that they proved to be handy.

For some ten months, I was their resident artist. What I failed to notice though was that gently, the Spirit of God exorcised that existentialist pretense out of my mind. Quietly, I found myself leading the community's Panimbahon (quasi-mass) on Sundays and teaching catechisms to children on Saturdays. The thought of going back to Manila was now remote. I was planning to take on another route.

Then she came. She belonged to a peer group of Assumptionistas on immersion program. I learned that she and her friends had just concluded their month long immersion in some depressed communities in Luzon (or was it in Iloilo?). They came to cap their experience with a week of spiritual retreat in Anao. In themselves, they were joy to behold. Their smiles and animated interactions attracted me most. I wonder what they got that they exuded an aura of freshness and hope. But of them, she stood out the most. There was something in her that made her special. She was such a special lady that I was inspired to sketch her enamoring smile in one of the pages of my journal. As I got to know her better (from third party), I scribbled atop my drawing my impressions of her. To me, her existence is indeed a miracle of God.

Who is Aina by the way? Why is she special?

For a start, Aina had a cancer. One of her limbs was ravaged by skin cancer. Every now and then she would undergo chemotherapy. I learned too that her parents got separated and that she and her younger brother had to schedule their time with them especially during vacations.

Amidst these defined evil, Aina affirms life and goodness. Not a trace of bitterness in her pretty face or a hint of it in her laughter I did notice during our brief encounters. She considered going back in Anao to help the women raise the quality of their produce. She got talents too in drawing--and she made use of it to advance the cause of others, the poor and the marginalized sectors most especially. But she failed to come back.

I later learned that she was doing cartoons in the Lifestyle section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I heard too that she was a cancer survivor and continued to affirm life by doing volunteer works with cancer victims in Migi's Corner and other centers.

I'd left Anao more than ten years ago. Much of the personal events that took place in that solitary place (the Frenchmen who visited it called it paradise) were hidden from my conscious mind and are kept in several notebooks which either now attracting silverfishes or gaining dusts in my attic. What lingers though in my heart is the memory of that stranger named Aina whom God so love unconditionally and whom he has made into his instrument of love for others to meet.

Happy Valentine's Day, Aina, wherever you may be!

Ro Akong Amiga nga Agnostic

Ro agnostic suno kay Webster hay isaeang ka tawo nga nagakabig nga ro Dios o ro pinakarason it tanan hay indi makilaea o masayuran. Basi man, basi owa. Makara ro panan-aw ko akon nga amiga.

Sa akon nga panan-aw, tanan kita, tumueo-o ka man o bukon, agnostic ka man o atheist, hay may ginakilaea nga dios. Ro tawo nga atheist hay nagakabig sa Dios nga patay o tawohanon eamang nga concepto. Bisan pa, imaw ron hay may ginaprioridad sa anang kabuhi--pwede nga kwarta, gahum, poder, bugae, do a kaugalingon, do a familia, gugma, trabaho, eugta ag iba pa. Rong bagay nga mahaega sa anang kabuhi hay imaw rong nagatao kana it inspirasyon ag kahueogan, kabakod ag direksyon.

Sa akon nga amiga, rong bagay nga nagatao kana it kasiguruhan hay rong sciencia. Kana, rong science eamang do may kapas nga makatao it explinasyon sa tanan nga butang nga ma-abot it aton nga mga senses. Kana, rong observable hay imaw rong matuod.

Sa akon nga panan-aw, ro science rong dios it akon nga amiga. Sa akon nga logic, imaw man hay tumueo-o. Sumueonod imaw it sciencia. Ngani nga bukon imaw it agnostic.

The Revised Municipal Seal of Balete

Above is the revised Municipal Seal of Balete, Aklan. Hon. Cipriano Lachica, with the technical help of his son, Patrick, recomposed his previous design minus the canon which once was the center piece of the composition. The Sangguniang Bayan has subsequently enacted Ord. No. 016-09, an ordinance adopting such revision, during its regular session last September 10, 2009.

I tried to interpret Hon. Lachica's composition as follows, which the Sanggunian likewise adopted:

• a meandering Jal-o River flows into the heart of a vast field, to symbolize the historicity for which every Baleten-on takes an active part;
• on the foreground are batches of pineapple (of Spanish Red variety, popularly known as native piña)--they stand to encapsulate the tradition as well as the future of the Baleten-on community;
• the backdrop is the Agtawagon Hill which is met on the horizon by a vast ricefield cut by a winding body of water. They represent the varying topographies and the resources of our town. Taken as a whole, it connotes the ways of life of our people;
• amidst the field rises the Balete tree; sturdy and reaching out in to the sky. It epitomizes everything that is Baleten-on. Its roots penetrating deeply into the earth, its shade sheltering us from the elements, its lush leaves nurturing our hopes and dreams for a better Balete than yesterdays. The Balete tree stands as the source of our identity;
• the rays (in white) shining through behind the representations are the ten constituent barangays of Balete. They also symbolizes the history of the Baleten-on people which ought to be brought to light for all to apprehend;
• The label which encompasses and envelops all of these representations asserts the Baleten-on identity while it reaffirms the commitment and the role of the Baleten-on community as part of the Aklan province in its quest of approximating its vision and mission for the Aklanon people.

It may help to see the light behind these symbolism if we take them in the context of the vision-mission statement of the Municipality of Balete encompassing its social, political, economic, cultural, spiritual and environmental dimensions.

Remembering Apdo ni San Rafael

Several people I've met these past few weeks had been asking why Apdo ni San Rafael is no longer circulating in the Diocese. My consistent reaction to this questioning was flashing a sad grin and a simple explanation that the current administrator has different priorities, that's why. Deep inside, I hide that sense of wonder upon learning that an ordinary parish-based publication had such a Diocesan-wide readership. What surprises me most was that there was this one laity from outside of Balete who prided me her complete compilation of Apdo. She said that she'd kept them not only as memorabilia. She elaborated that from time to time, she would go over them and reflect on the meaning and the challenges set forth in them. So I sigh. For what can one man do about it? "By the rivers of Babylon, there I sat and wept..."

Rainless Days Ahead

The signs are all set up: no more rains to shower our lawns from this day forward. Summer days are now come. Hear John the Baptist calling down by the river: Repent and make straight the highways for the Lord!

Spartan in Balete

Before the Havaianas, there were the Spartans.

A Ceres bus from Cubao stopped by the Calizo's ancestral home and unloaded several sacks of Spartan slippers. They were gifts from Mayor's husband and children for her birthday. Yes, sacks of slippers as their birthday presents for their beloved mom!

Don't get me wrong. Ng Bubut is far from being Imeldefic. She preferred slippers as a gift not because she loves to collect them. She's happy that her family has given her such present during her birthday as she finds them necessary and practical. Her experience with the barefoot couple from the mountains of Guanko was catalytic. She discouraged her daughter from giving her expensive gifts and in turn urged her to use her budget to buy slippers for the barefoot ones in Balete. Thus upon learning of her preference, her other sons joined in and did their share in buying more flip-flops for the indigents of her town.

Those who queued last Friday (January 29) for their pair of slippers were happy to get one, not caring if theirs was a Havaianas or a Beachwalk or an Islander. For them, all slippers are spartan and spartans are slippers. And they were grateful to be given such a gift especially during the birthday of their mayor.

Barefoot in Balete

Punong Barangay Colango of Guanko came to see the Mayor some few weeks past. He asked permission if she would allow a couple of his constituents to come to her office barefooted. Taken aback by such an unusual request, Mayor Bubut wondered out loud why they would elect to come barefoot when it is that easy and practical to wear shoes or slippers. The explanation of the Kapitan was an eye opener: The couple came from a remote sitio of Ganzon, a village situated in the rugged mountain ranges bounding the municipalities of Jamindan, Capiz and Balete. All their lives, they never had the chance to visit the lowland nor had they learned to wear slippers. Their feet were muscular, deformed and spread out like gingers, used to making their way in the slippery slopes of the area. This time, they were forced to go down from their mountain abode to legalize their bond as husband and wife. Personally, they are assured that their union is solidified by their faithfulness to one another, however, their children had informed them that they would not be admitted to school if they could not produce the married contract of their parents as well as furnish their teachers photocopies of their Certificate of Live Births.

And so they brave the storm and came down to the hills and presented themselves to their Kapitan, imploring: please help us secure the documents needed so that our sons and daughters could continue in their schooling. Please accompany us downstream into the plains and help us out deal with the lowlanders.

The village chieftain was having second thoughts. He learned from experience that Mayor Cordero has given instruction to all Punong Barangays to be in their business suits whenever they conduct business with the local government. Precisely that he went out to see the mayor first and asked her permission to let the seekers come into her office barefooted. He did not want to embarrass his people nor wish to offend the sensibility of the chief executive officer. For Kapitan Nono, he was treading on an untrodden path. So before approaching the lady mayor about the matter, he went to see the gatekeepers, soliciting their opinions; will Mayor allow those uncivilized people come into her office? Will she solemnize their marriage if they elected to remain barefoot?

What do you think was Mayor Bubut's response to the request?