Pamaeaybay ni Ensik (The Poem of Ensik)

I loved the way he did it one Sunday morning. The occasion was solemn as he was addressing a throng of faithful. He was addressing them in English and then all of a sudden, my attention was called when he shifted in perfect Aklanon. Oh, he knows Aklanon! so my mind was being rough at by questions. Who is this man? Sure, he's a popular one, a prominent one at that. But I didn't knew him. I was flattered to hear him use my dialect so perfectly. Oh, dear, he was good. Really good and seemed has the better grasp of my language. He inspired and amused the hearers:

Gin-eangoy ko rong suba

Gintak-ead ro bukid

.....

Leon, tigre akon gin-away

Eamang ro imong nawong

Makita ko, Inday.

.....

I failed to have it memorized perfectly. Ensik's pamaeaybay was quite long and that's all what I can recall. I wonder if somebody has got a copy of the complete poem.

As years went by, I got to know him better. In fact, I was lucky to be one of his pontifical servers during the ordination of now Frs. Jonas Mijares and Adam Bede Lasmarias, all of the Augustinian Order way back in the late 80's or early 90's at the Guadalupe Monastery in Makati. Ensik was the Archbishop of Manila that time and was one of the heroes of the EDSA revolt--that progenitor of all non-violent revolution that are now taking place all over the globe.

But few knew that during his younger years, when he was yet a young priest, he was doing missionary works in Balete. He'd done scaling the rugged hills of Cortes up to Oquendo through Guanko to announce the Good News; he'd forded the Jal-o to reach out to the anawim in Morales and Calizo. Ensik had hiked the paths to Arcangel and Aranas, to Feliciano and Fulgencio, eamang ng Inday ikaw anang mabunyagan.

When the mass was about to close that one Sunday morning in St. John Cathedral early in the 80's and after he gave the final blessings, Ensik intoned his favorite song: No mas amor que el tuyo... As he sung, something glowed in his eyes....
O corazon divino,

El pueblo Filipino,
Te da su corazon.
En templos y en hogares,
Te invoque nuestra lengua,
Tu reinaras sin mengua
De Aparri hasta Jolo.

By the time the faithful came to the chorus, "Ha tiempo que esperamos
Tu imperio en el Oriente", I was certain that Ensik was tearful. Oh, how he loved this people, so I thought.

The Book of Baptismal Records in the Parish of St. Rafael the Archangel would show that Fr. Jaime L. Sin (a.k.a., Ensik) was the priest who administered the Sacrament of Baptism to a number of persons between May 16, 1955 to June 2, 1955. He passed by our place that summer of 1955 and brought with him our stories and perhaps inspired him to coin that Pamaeaybay it Nobyo.

More of Cardinal Jaime L. Sin at the following links:

http://www.catholic-pages.com/hierarchy/cardinal_sin.asp
http://www.cardinalrating.com/cardinal_105.htm
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bsin.html

http://www.cbcponline.org/bishops/cardinals/sin.html