I.
Meeting Da Simp
The sun in its
purplish -pink haze had just started to rise. I was on my way to the
beach - carefully walking so that my bare feet would not graze the
sharp edges of the seashells on the sand. The slight morning breeze
brushing against my cheek was a refreshing change to the dusty humid
air of the city. I stopped underneath a coconut tree and began to
inhale the salty-scent of the ocean.
"You think
this is a good day to hunt some octopus?", said a voice that
came from atop the coconut tree.
I looked up, momentarily
startled by the sudden intrusion. But then I smiled when I saw my
friend perched amidst the young green coconuts. "It is good as
any other day", I replied, "perhaps you could hunt for some
squid or stone fish too."
It was the summer
of 1996 when I met Dr. Simp. I was bored and homesick. The Sacramento
thermometers registered a scorching 105°F, the beaches were too
far away - the only sane thing to do was stay indoors. In between
my summer classes and sometimes in the evenings, I would turn to the
Internet to pass time. I was particularly intrigued by the mailing
list I had joined, which was simply called Pinoy-l. It was a Filipino
mailing list open to all those who wished to comment on matter pertaining
to the Filipino culture. Soon my email inbox was crammed with everything
from recipes and jokes to poetry and prose. It was an effective way
to vent our frustrations about being in a familiar yet strange country.
It was a means to reminisce the endearing complexities of our culture.
I've met the most
interesting characters through Pinoy-l. I have never seen any of them
in person - yet through email we exchange the most profound and enlightening
conversations. Dr. Simp is a member of this esteemed cast of characters.
Dr. Simp's full
name is Simplicio Balimbing. He has been residing in Illinois since
1965. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in education, major in
history. He taught in a provincial high school in the Philippines
and then in a parochial school in Chicago. He took graduate course
in education for two years but says he never finished because he always
fell asleep in class. Dr. Simp is married to a registered nurse; has
two daughters, 22 and 18 and a son, 16. He currently works in card
management for the corporate office of a grocery chain in the Chicago
area.
He is Filipino,
like myself. He was born and raised in an island, just like me. We
both eat rice, are brown-skinned and dark haired. But although we
share the same memory of the coconut trees and ocean waves crashing
on the shore…Dr. Simp comes from a different island. He is from
an island called Banton, which he describes as a teardrop in the middle
of the Philippines. Dr. Simp has many fond recollections of his island.
He was able to experience nature in a way that I have not experienced
- such as having skin dived among the coral reefs and hunted octopus
and squid.
I once told Dr.
Simp I wanted to visit Banton Island someday. He emailed me back and
said, "Let me know when you plan to visit, and I'll inform my
relatives there…my parents left us some coconut property and
perhaps our tenants can climb the youngest coconut fruit for you and
your boyfriend. I have to warn you though - there is no running water
there. However the town is blessed with more than half a dozen artesian
wells and most houses have good CRs (short for "comfort rooms"
which is how Filipinos refer to restrooms)."
I told him that
absence of running water was not a problem for me. In Cagayan de Oro
(the city I come from), our house is up on a hill and the water pipes
cannot handle the water pressure. So we don't get running water 24
hours a day. When I visit my grandmother in Guihulngan (in yet another
island), we had to get water from a "poso" (deep-well pump)
outside her house.
I soon convinced
Dr. Simp that I was brave enough to "rough it up" for the
sake of savoring the wonders of Banton. He then agreed to take me
on a personal "tour of his island.
II.
My Journey to Banton
Dr. Simp climbed
down the coconut tree with amazing agility. Even the young boys nowadays
are too afraid or too busy to climb coconut trees, I thought to myself.
He stood beside
me, chewing his wad of buyo leaf and stared off into the horizon as
if searching for something. I followed his gaze and saw that the pink
sun had turned to almost a bright yellow-orange. The fishermen had
begun their daily routine by taking their boats out to sea. It was
another morning, another day in the island of Banton.
There are many
ways to get to Banton Island. You can take either a car or bus from
Manila to Batangas; catch a ferryboat to Calapan, Mindoro; a car or
jeep to Pinamalayan then an outrigger motorboat to Banton Island.
Or you can go by plane, from Manila to Gasan, Marinduque; take a jeep
or car to Buenavista; an outrigger motorboat to Banton. Or fly to
Tugdan airport in Tablas island; take a car or jeep to Calatrava;
an outrigger motorboat to Banton. These trips take almost a day from
point of origin to destination. You can also travel from Manila by
the big outrigger boats that occasionally go to Banton. But the trip
might still cost you from 18 to 24 hours! For the wealthier or those
with military connections - you can always hire a helicopter and it
takes only an hour and fifteen minutes from the Manila domestic airport.
The route I took was the fastest and perhaps the one that left the
most to imagination. I traveled to Banton via the vivid stories and
eloquent memoirs of Dr. Simp.
I am an island, cajoled,
misunderstood and loved. My wisdom is buried deep in the hills nourished
for centuries by pagan libido and teased by Book and Empire. Battle
scarred, I rose from the ashes of war and have learned to mock the
follies of man…"
-
Dr. Simp
"Song
of an Island"
The name Banton
is believed to have been derived from "batoon", which means
rocky or stony. It is one in a group of islands that form Romblon
province, an area that is well known for its marble. As Dr. Simp had
warned, Banton has no running water, no movie theaters, no public
library (Ed's note: but it now has a private library, the Fabella
library, open to the public), no museums (Ed's note: currently,
Banton has the Cornelio Faigao museum where cultural, historical and
traditional artifacts and a small book collection can be found)
, no restaurants, no cars nor jeepneys, etc. etc. The island has electricity,
over two dozen motorbikes, beautiful secluded coves within a few meters
of sandy beaches, coconuts, betel nuts, buyo leaves, coconut crab
and coral reefs. A local poet once noted that Banton has three principal
products: stone, coconuts and children.
When he has about
seven years old, Dr. Simp learned to swim his dad literally threw
him into the sea a few yards from the beach line. He skin-dived in
the coral reefs where he learned the names of the tropical fishes.
He hunted octopus, squid, and stone fish, gathered seashells and fished
with a line made of "abaca" (a fiber commonly found in the
Philippines). At the age of eleven, he was sent to another island
for his second year high school - the local high school had closed
shop due to a typhoon that wrought havoc to the island. Young Doc
Simp got his first pair of rubber shoes when he was around ten years
old and also tasted ice cream at about that age. He saw his first
movie in Cebu City probably at the age nine and a half. The movie
"Samson and Delilah" was playing then. (Doc Simp dreamed
of becoming Samson - a strong macho guy). He also learned to paddle
the local baroto (a canoe-like boat) at about 8 years old.
Dr. Simp never learned how to play the guitar though.
Dr. Simp's nickname
in Banton is "Simpling". (As most Filipino nicknames end
with and "-ing".) He's called "Dr." because while
growing up in Banton island, he became the errand boy of an herbolario
(medicine man) whose favorite medicinal plant was the buyo leaf. Young
Simplicio was responsible for distributing the leaves to people inflicted
with sores. And because he was always around when they needed him,
the town folks called him "Doctor." The name stuck with
him ever since.
"The
island has its people - a people rich in stories." - Dr. Simp
The Bantoanons
(as the people of the island were called) sung their legends to each
generation and the next. Dr. Simp narrated such stories of giants,
lovers, mythical fish and the island's numerous spirits. The Bantoanons
also held many ceremonies in favor of their indigenous beliefs. These
pagan rituals were practiced before they learned to recite rosaries
and novenas and revere the icons of saints in the old church. Most
of the ones Dr. Simp had described were rituals to cure the sick,
such as the toob, itlog, buga, bawi and
parugo. In the itlog ritual for example, the herbolario
breaks an egg into a bowl or plate of water accompanied by prayer.
While in prayer, the egg membrane slowly images the place of object
where the person committed a transgression against the agta.
To cure the affliction, the herbolario and his patient go to
the agta's domain to pay homage and forgiveness.
The islanders
of Banton also celebrate their own version of Thanksgiving - which
is called the pangupong. This is still practiced in Banton
island and probably other islands in the Philippines. The pangupong
ceremony is a feast held in honor of the agtas and encantos
(local spirits). Its purpose is to give thanks to the underworld gods
for giving a man and his family a peaceful existence on earth. A medicine
man or an herbolario conducts the ceremony over the offering
of food - the central dishes of course are the internal organs of
chicken, pig and cow. These organs are considered a delicacy of the
agtas and encantos and are placed on the altar during
the ceremony. No mortal is allowed to eat the food.
Dr. Simp recounted that his aunt held a pangupong when he was
about eleven. After the ceremony, the herbolario and the guests
went to the sala (living room) for the usual exchange of pleasantries.
He sneaked in the ceremonial room and ate some of the food intended
for the agtas and encantos. After all, Dr. Simp loves
roasted liver! Every Thanksgiving, when Dr. Simp eats turkey, his
thoughts recollect the time he ate the food of the gods. And honestly,
he thinks the liver tastes so much better.
Being born in
my generation and having been raised in a Catholic family, it never
occurred to me that long before the Spanish came the Filipinos had
worshipped the spirits of their land. I did remember being taught
some odd superstitions, like having to say "tabi apo"
as you pass by a big tree. (Or even more importantly, before you use
the tree as a "restroom".) But I dismissed that as merely
being another superstition. Only after talking to Dr. Simp did I realize
that saying "tabi apo" was indeed a remnant of our
old beliefs - that Filipinos, like other Southeast Asians, once acknowledged
that they had to please and respect the local spirits.
When asked which
trait the Bantoanons were most known for, Dr. Simp answered "frugality".
Ironically, being frugal was no excuse to stop practicing sanrokan,
which is yet another interesting cultural practice in Banton. It comes
from the root word sanrok, which means to share or sharing.
This is still common in Banton or in any other island in Romblon province.
For example: if your prepared inaslom (a vegetable stew), it
is expected that you share a bowl of that dish to your neighbor. On
the contrary, it is not considered rude to ask your neighbor and say
mapasanrok and vice versa.
The concept of
sanrokan reflects the communal spirit between neighbors and
friends. This practice is not unheard of in other islands of the Philippines…but
it is more clearly defined as a social law in the islands of Romblon.
Some feel that sanrokan is not practiced enough nowadays, perhaps
only during big occasions. However, the underlying value of this practice
remains, that the more sanrokan observed in the community,
the stronger the community relationship.
My short voyage
to Banton answered many of my questions and yet left me with even
more questions to ask. I now understand a bit more why Dr. Simp writes
such poignant poetry and prose. If you came from an island as magical
as his - wouldn't you have a multitude of stories to write? Through
his tales I remember and miss my own childhood. My parents had taught
my siblings and I how to savor the sunrise, how to gaze at stars.
Our vacations were mostly spent along beaches and mountains. And yet
my daydreams always end with the sting of reality - then I realize
that urban living in the United States confines us inside tall, concrete
buildings that shield both sunset and sunrise.
Though I know
this doesn't seem to hinder Dr. Simp. I can picture him waking up
early in the morning and looking out the window to relish the mangnifence
of the different seasons.
As I pondered
about Dr. Simp's past - I am reminded of my unanswered questions.
Why did Dr. Simp leave his island? Was he searching for something
that Banton's coral reefs and mysterious caves did not hold? Was he
able to find it in the vast jungle that is America?
"I am
never lonely. My bosom heaves the thousand joys tempered by the cries
of little children lost in the dark - my sleep of peace a gift of
the cicadas pregnant with moonlit serenades. My shoulders are coconut
trees robust and blessed with good tidings of the mountain gods. You
have leaned on them to while away your pains. Then, when the novelty
wore off, you packed your bags and went your way."
-
Dr. Simp
"Song
of an Island"
