bantayan in my mind

8/9/2019 Bantayan in My Mind

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BANTAYAN IN MY MIND

(By: Celedonio L. Layon, Jr.)

It has been several decades that I have been away from the

Islands. Though decades have passed, the mere mention of theIslands always tugs at my heart lagi nang my kurot sa puso, ika

nga. The memories of our minds may sometime fade but the

memories of our hearts linger beyond time. The Islands has this

special place in my being. It leaves an indelible mark that forever

makes me a unique person a Bantayanon!

The Religiosity of the Bantayanons

In the mist of time, my heart still recalls the days when life in

the Islands was simple and uncomplicated. Its simplicity,

however, was always ornately adorned with the religiosity of the

people, specially highlighted during the annual Lenten

celebration. We started young in learning our prayers in

preparation for our first communions. Lola Minyang, a venerable

old lady, opened her home for all of us would-be first

communicants to spend the eve of our communion. On the

glorious day we, in our white lacy dresses and sharkskin pantsparaded around the town on our way to the church for our

communion. After the mass, we were all feted with anoks,

sumans, sikwate, ibus, and other delicacies in Lola Minyangs

place. It was a day for merriment for girls and us young boys who

enjoyed running, jumping and romping around.

The chimes of the church bells always called us to hear mass

ands say a prayer during the angelus. The old kampanaryo was

already razed to the ground by a strong typhoon that also blownaway the tisa roofing of the church in the 1950s. At that time,

the big bells were either hung at the trusses of a low-lying shed or

on tugas or batikuling logs on the ground. Probably because the

bells were just a few feet above the ground, its ringing could no

longer be heard in Doong, Butigues, Kampingganon and other

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farther barrios. This, however, did not faze the enthusiasm and

religiosity of the Bantayanons. They continued to revere the Sr.

San Pedro and eagerly anticipated the onset of summer since it

ushered in the Lenten season.

The religiosity of the Bantayanons is also highlighted by the

numerous kapilyas that were erected in almost all iskinitas to

venerate a particular santo or santa. In Binaobao, we had the

kapilyas for Sr. San Jose and Sr. San Rafael Archangel. Bantigue

had been honoring San Damaso while Ticadhad Sta. Cruz. The

novenas for these patron saints were always eagerly anticipated.

After the nightly novena prayers, we were regaled with the

thespian talents of our fellow Bantayanons in their stage play or

drama about love, loyalty, betrayal, the unceasing strugglebetween Christians and Muslims and other comic relief. Although

very amateurish, these plays awakened our imagination about

life. If stage plays were not on schedule, we were entertained by

the dancing jousts. Usually the joust centered on local folk

dances as well as the so-called modern dances. We enjoyed

the cachucha, the curadang,the daling-dalingand others.

The procession of the santas and santos never failed to

evoke religious fervor among the faithful. Every window alongthe procession route would always be aglow with the reverent

candlelight. People on the street knelt before lit candles while

saying their prayers of thanks. The route would blossomed with

paper roses and tinsels tied at the twigs of the pagatgat trees

during the procession of the image of Christ the King. These

street decorations, however, never dampen the religiosity of the

Bantayanons.

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My Early Education

Early in the 1950s I started my elementary grades. There

was only one elementary school in the Poblacion of Bantayan, the

Bantayan Elementary School. There was also only one high

school, the Southern College, an affiliate of the University of

Southern Philippines of Cebu City. At that time there was also only

one other secondary school in the Islands, a government

vocational school in Lawis (Madridejos). There was none in the

Municipality of Santa Fe. Bantayan, then as it is now, was the

educational center of the Islands where the high school students

spoke the native Bantayanon dialect and the languid inflection of

the kinaylon dialect of Santa Fe. For college education the

Bantayanons, the Lawisnon and the Santa Fehanon had to crossthe seas to either Cebu or Negros for their studies.

As a young boy of seven in grade one I had to hike daily

from Bantigue to Ticadto attend classes. I had to do this until I

finished the elementary grades. There were no sikad-sikad,

tricycles, motorcycles, jeepneys or other mode of transport

available then. We had to walk the distance four times a day on

our shoes, bakya or bare feet. We did not mine the distance and

the scorching sun, the banters with friends and classmates alongthe way more than compensated our tired selves.

On the way, to or from school, we often passed via Bontoy, a

short cut from Ticad to Bantigue. When we passed through the

usual route we often spent some times scaling theparel, a wall of

adobe and coral joined together by apog kag itlog, lime and egg

that shielded the churchyard from the kalsada pa-Ticad. We were

told by our lolos and lolas that this parel used to enclose the

church cemetery, thus, we were always on the look out for graves

and the menacing kyag. This is where we also looked for tisa

shards, from the destroyed church roof, to be powdered and used

to glisten our fingernails. We also looked for the multi-hued

glasses that came from the shattered church windowpanes, to

filter the sunshine into multi-colored spectrum.

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From school, especially during the height of summer, we

often took a dip or a dive into the imburnal. This may sound like

a polluted body of water not fit for bathing. Actually the imburnal

was a bridge over an inlet of seawater coming in from Suba to

Bontoy passing along the katunggan of Binabao. The moreadventurous among us used the bridge handrail as diving

platform in plunging into the strong current of the murky

seawater. Of course, not all mothers approved of our delectation

of bathing in this katunggan; thus, many went home prepared for

ear pinching or a motherly whipping.

The Town Plaza

The luxuriant kulo, breadfruit, standing tall and proudaround the perimeter of the town plaza never failed to give us

young pupils refuge from the scorching sun. These stately trees

were planted equidistant to each other ringing the whole plaza. A

little over a dozen of them provided us with fleshy fruit that young

boys surreptitiously harvested to serve their main fare for their

instant dip in the sea or to the well-planned bakasyon to

Panangatan dyutt, Panangatan daku, Mambo and other nearby

islets where the wasay-wasay, sikad-sikad, baliad and other

seashells teemed. The kulo and these delicious shells made ourdays. On several occasions these majestic trees assuaged hunger

fangs from among the less fortunate.

The environ of the town plaza was a quintessential example

of a Spanish administration town planning. Just like any other old

Poblacion it was dominated in one side by the church and the

presidencia across it. Framing the plaza were the antique

Spanish houses with their intricately designed/carved kapiz

windows, ornate vintanillas, thick adobe walls, shinyyakal, tugas,

siyaw, kamagong or barayong floor and red brick roof. These

buildings were huge, spacious and airy-ideal for a humid town like

Bantayan. Most prominent of these casas were those of Don

Pedro Lozadas and the Don Manolo Rubios. Both are still

standing, albeit, the latter is now in a very dilapidated condition

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that it may collapse anytime soon. Still standing are the old

houses constructed in the early decadesof the twentieth century.

These are the houses of the Manzanareses, the Escarios (Pedro

and Isidro) and the Suykos. Although of simpler lines their

architecture evokes a nostalgic longing of the past. At theopposite end, there used to be the antique Spanish houses of

Laysans, Nemesio Acains, Ansao Mercados, and the Dus. These

majestic buildings were burned to the round by the conflagration

that happened in the 1980s. Eaten by the same fire were the old

casas in Suba. This fire brought great changes to the face of

Suba and the town plaza. We can only pine for what it used to be

even as we take the first bold steps toward a transition to the new

and modern Bantayan.

The Nascent Hometown Industries

Bantayanons are fun-loving people. There is no better way

to express their fun than to celebrate it over a glass of spirit.

Some statistics show that its beer consumption is much bigger

than that of the whole province of Bohol, given anytime. It

consumes all kinds of spirits, even the local concoction out of

coco sapthe tuba. Tuba is produced from the fermented sap of

the coconut. The manyanguiti gathers the fermented sap everymorning for delivery to his suki.

In the past, every morning, rain or shine, you could see a

caravan of bicycles coming from the barrios of Sulangan, Oboob,

Tingtingon, Marikaban and Sillon bringing along their days tuba

harvest to the market. The intrepid young men, and sometimes

young ladies, steered their bicycles laden with the kundingan,

hollowed bamboo poles, oftuba. Some even carried as many as

eight tuba-laden poles to the designated areas behind the old

presidencia or near the post office. But still the biggest tuba

businessman was Nemesio Acain, who owned vast coco lands in

Oboob, Marikaban and Tingtingon. He had a small truck rigged

for the purpose of bringing his daily dawatto the market. Before

noon all their tuba were bought mostly by the tindera sang

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tubaan. These tubaans were small stalls in the market selling

tuba, sopas, fruits of the season, and grilled agumaa.These stalls

were patronized mostly by men, of all ages, especially when the

kubkub and the basnig had good catch. It was said that many

love affairs started, blossomed, and ended in these stalls. Thesea took care of the basic needs of the Bantayanons. It seemed

every man was a fisherman in Bantayan. If not actually out in the

sea, he was into fish processing and/or marketing. It was just as

well since the other agricultural endeavors in the Islands could

not sustain body and spirit. Its corn production was so meager

that its produce could not even support its farmers. Vegetable

and fruit growing were not substantial. They were mostly of the

backyard type. The poultry industry was still in its nascent stage

in the sixties. There were only two commercial-size poultryestablishments in the islands. These were those of Per Fuas and

that of the Montemayors. Bantayan was blessed to have a very

fertile sea that could provide its needs when other source of living

was not yet developed.

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Trips to Cebu City

As a little boy, I looked forward always for the coming of

summer since it signaled my annual trip to Cebu City. My mother,

who was a classroom teacher and graduated with the Elementary

Teacher Certificate (ETC), had to take courses to finish her

bachelors degree in teaching in Cebu City since there was no

tertiary school in the Islands in the fifties. Travel to Cebu City,

then, was an ordeal for a small boy. We had to wake up at four in

the morning to take the only bus plying the route from Bantayan

to Santa Fe. Although the waves were not really big, they

seemed huge to a little boy since we rode in a small wooden

lance, either the Lunaco or Sta. Filomena, owned by Angel

Cabatingans. Even on calm seas these boats rode rough thatmany young riders would have mal de mer. Arrival in Hagnaya

was chaos in motion, where everyone jostled for a seat in the two

buses. After harrowing motion sickness the tik-taks of the

caruajes the sights, smells and tastes of the cities drove any

discomforts away.

Some Lingering Memories

I have been home in Bantayan for the past three semanasantas. The Island has changed. The usual sights are no longer

there. Some old friends and acquaintances are no longer around.

Yet their faces are still vivid in my mind. I could still vividly

picture the personages of my early years in the 50s and 60s.

Don Pedro Lozada with his cane and colonial hard-hat strolling

around the town even in his septuagenarian age. Man Pantoy,

the old blind beggar, tick-tacking with his baston begging for his

sustenance. Man Idrong Kimpang, a kargador, burdened with the

reels of films to be shown in D.C. Abello Theater. Man Digoy, an

entrepreneur and healer, massaging my sprain or fracture. The

bent figure of Man Binoy Carabao working on his latest sculpture

of santos. Man Kado Rivera lugging around his daguerreotype

camera. The katekistas, my teachers, the dramaturgos, the

musikeros and many others plying their trade, They colored my

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young days. They are no longer there to greet me anytime I am

back in the Islands. But the old friends and classmates who are

still active always make my visit memorable ones.

These are the memories of my heart of the beautiful

Bantayan in my mind.

CELEDONIO L. LAYON, JR.

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bantayan in my mind

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