On the sidelines of last week's fiesta in Cavite City, we chanced upon this scene along Dra Salamanca St.
Can you make it out? Let me know what you see in the picture, and please post a comment so we'll know if we're all seeing things correctly.
Clue: Years ago, this would have been a total no-no. But not now, in the age of American Idol, Philippine Idol and Pinoy Dream Academy.
Kapag nababanggit ang piyesta ng Cavite City, ang unang pumapasok sa isip ng mga Kabitenyo ay ang Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga. Ang imahen ay matatagpuan sa simbahan ng San Roque.
Punung puno ang paligid ng simbahan kapag ganitong piyesta. Dumarating ang mga debotong Kabitenyo at pati na rin yung mga galing sa malalayong lugar. Sabi nga ng nanay ko na nasa Amerika na ngayon, nami-miss niya daw ang kanyang novena sa Reina ng Kabite.
Tradisyun na para sa mga Kabitenyo ang dumalo sa concelebrated mass na nagsisimula ng 9:30 am. Maraming pari ang nagmimisa at minsan pa ay kasama ang Arsobispo ng Diocese of Imus na sumasakop sa Cavite City. Pagkatapos ng misa, pumipila ang mga tao sa imahen ng Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga, nananalangin, humihingi ng pabor o dispensa, o simpleng tumutupad sa panata.
Napakahirap lumabas-masok sa simbahan kapag piyesta. 
Bukod sa pagdagsa ng tao, marami ding vendors na nagtitinda ng kung anu-ano sa harap ng simbahan. Idagdag pa yung mga jeep na nag-aabang ng pasahero. Talagang parang standstill ang harapan ng simbahan kapag piyesta.
(Nang kunan ni Karla ang mga litratong ito, matagal nang tapos ang misa. Maluwag na ang kalye sa lagay na yan).
Dati-rati, naghahanda ang nanay ko tuwing piyesta. Hindi ko na maalala ang mga putaheng hinahanda niya, pero sigurado akong laging may ube at leche flan. Minsan may macapuno at fruit salad. Minsan magdadala pa ng pagkain ang mga bisitang namimiyesta.
Pagkatapos kumain, mag-aayaya ang lola ko na dumalaw sa iba pang mga kamag-anak. Kakain na naman doon. Bawat bahay na pupuntahan kapag piyesta ay magpapakain kaya dapat mag-iwan ng lugar sa tiyan para sa lahat ng kakainan.
Ngayon, nakikipiyesta na lang kami kasi karamihan ng mga malalapit naming kamag-anak ay nagsipag-abroad na, pati na ang nanay ko na dating punong abala tuwing piyesta. Ang pinuntahan namin ngayon ay si Auntie Linda na aming kapitbahay. May handa silang hipon, friend chicken, dinuguan, mixed veggies, tahong na may salsa (adobo kaya yon?), atsara, potato salad, macaroni salad, fruit salad, at ube. Pinagsaluhan namin ang masarap nilang handa, at pati na rin ang kwentuhan at balitaan tungkol sa mga anak niyang nasa Amerika na rin.
Lights are ablaze in Cavite City as it celebrates the feast of Nuestra Senora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga, which falls on the second Sunday of November.
When we were kids, and even when we had kids of our own, one of the highlights of fiesta celebration would be the trip to the
chubibo or the karnabal on the eve of the actual fiesta. The rides and games used to located in the land where the new San Sebastian Campus now stands, and going there was a b
ig deal. Our cousins and later nieces even came to spend the night in Cavite just for that.
These past years, the chubibo has made a home out of the space fronting the market. There are three chubibos (a term which I think really refers to the ferris wheel) , plus the usual caterpillar, a mini-roller c
oaster, and merry-go-round.
"Take me down memory lane," my daughter said, so we went around the karnabal area and even rode on the Horror Train (after which w
e could only say, "Harang!" but I will leave that story for later).
Meantime, there was a strong police presence all around the chubibo area which made for safe and secure carnival riding.
These last two months of the year are the most festive times in Cavite City. "Alegreng alegre alla" (Very happy there!) is what people would say.
That's because after All Saints' Day comes the feast of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga, patroness of Cavite City. For Caviteño families, these are occasions for bonding and for returning to the hometown, especially with the Christmas spirit hanging in the air.
As I've written before, Ñora Soledad holds a special place in the lives of Cavite families like ours.
For devout followers of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad who are far away, you might want to visit a site put up in her honor here.
Seeing all those reminders of a family's past, like Filipinos do every All Saints' Day, gets people thinking about their forefathers and foremothers, who were they, what were they like in life, and all those things.
Darth Amelie had those kinds of musings when she visited her grandfather's grave in Noveleta, Cavite. Read her entry here.
In Cavite City, this is one occasion when you still hear a lot of Chabacano spoken. No masyao mucho el genti, some people said. (Yes, it seemed like there weren't as many people as in previous years). There was still a throng of course, but other signs of an overflow crowd were not evident. Not too many policemen, marshalls or tanods, and no provisions even for portalets.
Used to be, going to the panchong on All Saints' Day was a big production. Family members bought lots of flowers and
candles, packed tons of food and drinks, thought of things with which to occupy kids' attention, and once there, chit-chatted with an assortment of friends, relatives and acquaintances.
There was only a handful of us this year, and no little children. The kids have grown and somehow found ways to keep themselves busy. No one packed food or drinks because those could easily be bought at the stalls.
Some friends and relatives passed by our space in the cemetery, the kinds of people you see only once a year, most likely only during All Saints' Day. We rarely see them so we lose track of what has happened to them over the months.
Take this conversation between my uncle and his second (or third?) cousin.
Bobby: Hi Danny, Quetal? Donde esta tu mujer? (Hi Danny. How are you? Where is your wife?)
Danny (with big grin): Talla, muerto ya. Ya bisita nga yo eh. (She's there. I visited her in her gravesite. She passed away already).
Bobby: Cuando lang? (Just recently?)
Danny: Esti June lang. (Just last June).
Some people even forget how we look. Norma, the recently-widowed part-time masseuse/part-time the memorial plan agent, was talking to my uncle who was next to me, and saying, "Bobby, pag nakita mo yung pamangkin mo, sabihin mo nasa akin ang resibo ng St Peter niya." (Bobby, when you see your niece, tell her I have her St Peter receipt). She didn't realize I was right there. Or have I become so unrecognizable after gaining weight? Seeing people from way back makes you think about these things.
There may not have been a big Todos Los Santos crowd as in previous years, but the Libingan Panglusod ng Kabite (Cavite City Cemetery) where we go every year would still remind visitors of a tiangge, a flea market. That's what crossed my daughter's mind when she saw the crowd as well as the stalls set up at the center of the cemetery road.
By nightfall, the stalls were doing brisk business, thanks to the light provided by the city government. So if you happened to be sitting on the bench in our space at the panchong, you'd be seeing this view of the road and the stalls:
and then this view of the tombs of my grandfather and other relatives:
Empty benches now are where we used to squeeze ourselves in in years past. There used to be no place at all to sit and family members had to bring their own plastic or foldable chairs. So nuay masyao mucho genti (not too many people) because people move, migrate and have other gravesites to visit, or maybe because of the rising price of gasoline. I wonder what it will be like next year? Same old, same old?
(photos by Karla)
Todos Los Santos ya naman!
A week from now people will be traveling to hometowns to visit the resting places of departed loved ones, so let me just avoid the Undas rush by making my own annual observation of Todos Los Santos in cyberspace. Besides, nuay ma yo gana anda alla porcasa nuay ma mi nana y tata, mga hermana y hermano. Otro kasi si nuay ilo y niso-niso lang. (I've lost the urge to go since my parents and siblings aren't around anyway. It's different without them).
Around this time, the number of flower vendors will start increasing along the area near the market. That part of P. Burgos street in Cavite City will be abloom.
On normal days, however, there will be only a sprinkling of vendors, as when I visited Cavite City one Saturday some time ago and saw this woman selling flowers at the corner across Carlos Drug. Her blood-red roses looked particularly enticing.
I asked Boyette to buy some, not for me, but for my grandfather whose grave we visited that day.
Lolo Angco is buried at the Cavite City Municipal Cemetery which we have always called panchong. This is not to be mistaken for that other cemetery less than a kilometer away which, if memory serves, is called panchong Romano. As far as I know, that's because it was the Roman Catholic cemetery.
Where my grandfather, Marcos Valentin Jr, is buried is a small cemetery with a T-shaped road running through it. His nicho is a few paces from the main gate. He shares the plot of land he is buried in with his brother Marcial, son-in-law John Floresca and De la Cruz cousins.
(I asked my daughter if it would be too morbid for me to be writing about this and she said no.)
For years, the back of the cemetery was the city's garbage dump and the wind carried the stench several streets away. You could just imagine the smell inside the cemetery. But there's a sign in the panchong saying the dumpsite has been closed and that the coast is clear for Caviteños driven away by the foul odor to come back to visit. 
The cemetery has unofficial caretakers. And the one who attends to the Valentin-De la Cruz nichos is Aling Carmen who, like a ghost, pops up every time any family member visits. Without fail. It's eerie because visits from family members are always unannounced. But whether you stay for one minute or one hour, she will show up, ready to report on the latest happenings in the cemetery (as if!).
Aling Carmen mainly reports on the disappearances of flowers, who stole which and how long did the flowers last before being removed by thieves (flowers left by family members don't last two hours). And then she'll make a litany of what she's done since y
ou last visited---swept the calachuchi flowers away, removed weeds, kept watch, etc. etc. This of course means you have to pay her.
That's Aling Carmen in the picture at left, and she appeared again when we visited on my grandfather's 36th death anniversary two weeks ago. My mom, who was in town recently, happened to be with us then and I saw Aling Carmen corner her to make a listing of the things that have kept her busy in that part of the cemetery.
I don't think Aling Carmen lives in the cemetery like the late Moody Diaz did. Moody Diaz was that comedienne/character actress in Filipino movies who made the news same time each year, around November 1st, because she lived inside a cemetery in Manila (was it La Lom
a or North Cemetery?). Moody Diaz has passed away herself.
But no, it's highly unlikely Aling Carmen is a panchong resident. More likely she lives some place near, some place with a clear vantage point, a house with a line of sight to all the nichos she is in charge of, and when she sees family members visit, she probably immediately picks up her mode of transport, her broomstick, and flies to the nicho in a flash. (Peace, Aling Carmen).
To the unfamiliar, Chabacano sounds the same whether it is spoken in Zamboanga or in Cavite City. But its speakers can easily spot the differences, as did blogger Jerome Herrera of Zamboanga who happened to visit this blog earlier this week.
He used entries in HablaChabacano to analyze the differences, and I'm so glad he did so. Bueno naman ya pudi eli haci aquel. I haven't seen anyone in the blogosphere do that, until now.
Here's a sampler:
Chabacano de Zamboanga: Cosa ta hace si Gina?
Chabacano de Cavite: Cosa ta haci Gina?
Spanish: ¿Qué Gina está haciendo?
As you can observe, the Chabacano de Cavite comes closer to Spanish in terms of grammar. In Chabacano de Zamboanga, you would utilize the word si which comes from Tagalog added to the subject if it's a person. Meanwhile the Chabacano de Cavite uses only the name of the person (without the si) for subjects which are persons.
Jerome, whose blog is called Smorgasboard, hopes Chabacano will live on in the tongues of people from Cavite and Zamboanga. We agree, wholeheartedly!
I've been meaning to write about this but didn't find the time, till now.
Below is an image of Aviso, the monthly newsletter of the Cavite City Museum and Library headed by Ms Joy Picache dela Rosa. She has been sending them to me and others in her mailing list, urging everyone to distribute them to friends, family and acquaintances from Cavite City: Esta aqui el Aviso para el mes del Julio 2007. Haci manda lliva ustedes cun otro genti qui ta na lista di ustedes. Muchisimas Gracias. 
The two-page newsletter has news about Cavite City, plus columns written by Caviteñas. In the July issue, there's a column in Chabacano written by Ms Flora del Rosario, and the piece is titled "Memorable Viaje." It is intended to encourage Caviteños to read, speak and write Chabacano, and ends with a vocabulary list of Chabacano words and their meanings.
Here's an excerpt:
Mes de Julio cuando ya hace yo mi ultimo paseo na tierra extranjero – y es muy memorable.If you want to get a copy of Aviso, you can write directly to Ms Joy Picache dela Rosa at joypdelarosa@yahoo.ca or you can also email me at luzrim@gmail.com and I'll pass a copy on to you.
Primera vez ya llega yo alla, el clima es frio y el ambiente encantado. Ta refleja este na frescura del pradera donde hay cuantos animales que esta rozando. De lejos ta mira yo el mga pintoresco chalet na colina, cuesta masqui na llanura.
Talda ya yo no ta oi el vianda calandracas. Ora ya lang ulit. Gracias con Ige Ramos. Na su blog, Bayang Magiliw, ta insiña Ige quilaya ta cusi calandracas. Si quiere buso pruba o prindi cusi calandracas, bisita lang con Ige, llama con eli na cell phone, o kaya escribi via email. Talla todo el detalye na su blog.
Ya culda yo di na ve otro mga vianda ta comi mga Caviteño como bacalao, croquetas, almondigas, etc.
(I haven't heard the word or dish calandracas mentioned until now, thanks to Ige Ramos. In his blog, Bayang Magiliw, he tells us how to cook calandracas. So if you want to taste or learn how to cook it, just visit Ige, call him on his cell phone, or send him an email. His contact details are in his blog.
It brings to mind other dishes Caviteños eat, such as bacalao, croquetas, almondigas, etc.)
Cavite City is my family's hometown, but like many of us who have moved and moved on, I view it with a mixture of fondness and dread.
Fondness because it's where our roots lie, where my maternal grandparents and all their children were born, where my parents first met and fell and in love, where they have a home, and where many memories (good and bad) are stored. But dread because each time I think of Cavite, I think of the obligations that I i
nherited from parents and siblings who have left and actually left me behind, some of which require me to visit the city every so often.
Part of the dread of visiting Cavite is the fear of traffic which I have written about a lot in this blog. On a recent Sunday visit, lo and behold, there was traffic no more (yeah, right)!
Perhaps it was because we left Metro Manila at the crack of dawn that travel was a breeze. I saw that the construction of the coastal road extension was in full swing and that a strip of reclaimed 
land was already jutting out from Coastal Road as it bends toward Bacoor. (A reality check from my son: he says construction has been in full swing for ages).
We were in the Covelandia area by six a.m. and that's where we hit a traffic snag, a minor one at that time of day. Road repairs were ongoing and traffic was one-way, which means vehicles on one side of the road had to stop while those on the other side were let through because the highway had turned into a one-lane affair.
Still, because it was an early morning travel, the air was cool and there weren't too many cars on the road. But the Binakayan mini-traffic was enough to remind me not to linger in Cavite if
I wanted to be back in Manila by sundown with time and energy left to prepare for the week ahead and the pressures of earning a living.
And once I reach Cavite City market, the realization never fails to hit me: Change is slow in coming to Cavite City. It looks the same way it did years ago, with the exception of the old market having been demolished and the new one pushed back away from the main road.
Carlos Drug is still there, the baby buses are still there (they haven't grown up!) and some of the old stores we remember from long ago still stand. Copena's, Zelcor's, 96 Bazaar.
Time must have stopped in Cavite, probably around the 1960s when Sangley Point the American Base was nearing shutdown and about to be turned over to the Philippine government as Sangley Point the Philippine Naval Base.
In fact, I have this nagging feeling Cavite City looks like Havana, Cuba. No, I haven't been there but I've seen images of it in movies, specifically from the documentary about the Buena Vista Social Club, the band of world-acclaimed aging Cuban musicians. In that documentary, I saw old buildings made of wood and cement, their pillars touching the streets, storefronts on the ground floor pushed back in. Exactly like those of the 1960s. Like those in Cavite.
I have no problems with time stopping in Cavite. At least I don't get disoriented when I visit. Its appearance reinforces Cavite's role in my memory as a thing of the past. I just sometimes wish Cavite had wifi and DSL connections so that maybe next time I can take my work home with me to Cavite and not feel the need to rush back.
At right is the front page of Cavite City's local newspaper, Operation Exposé, which I picked up last Sunday. This edition is for the week of July 8 to 14, 2007, and is No. 52 of Vol. 4.
I must admit I hadn't seen this paper before and neither was I aware that it existed, until I went to a Cavite City newsstand to buy a copy of a national daily. It was then that I saw the Exposé laid out alongside the Manila tabloids.
The staff box of the paper says that its publisher is Regidor A. Nava Jr, its editor-in-chief is Rommel Sanchez, its managing editor is Dann Q. Fabros, news editor Sherryl Atalia, chief of reporters Rey Morales and legal counsel Atty. Dante Filoteo.
The paper says it's circulation manager is Rizaldy Abaño and that it has its office on Capt. Villareal cor Capt. Novales Streets in Caridad, Cavite City. It also has an extension office in San Pablo City.
Anyway, it's eye-catching headline is also depressing news: the fact that Cavite City has a shabu queen, and (horrors!) that she has been set free after being jailed for two months, case dismissed for lack of evidence. I wonder what the queen's subjects are doing now and how many they are in her majesty's little queendom called Cavite City.
Shabu is what Filipinos call metamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as the poor man's cocaine. Crimes being committed all over the country are being blamed on shabu users. The news is scary but not entirely new. Police and church authorities have long warned of the dangers and the damage shabu is wreaking on the youth and on Philippine society in general.
Anyway, today's blog post was really meant to draw attention to the fact that Cavite City has its own tabloid, Operation Exposé. There's not much news inside on Cavite City itself, though, apart from the shabu queen story. The story on dysentery talks about an outbreak in Trece Martires City.
But the paper does have news about Calabarzon, the acronym for the Southern Tagalog area composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon. Considering the high cost of newsprint and the dearth of advertising, it's a wonder how Operation Exposé manages to survive.
Incidentally, the scanned image of the tabloid got cropped. This is what the bottom looks like. I don't want it said that I took out a portion of the paper that helps it survive.
It's a long shot, but this is what Fr Rene Javellana of the Ateneo de Manila University hopes will come out of his efforts: the declaration by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) of Philippine Spanish and pre-Spanish era forts as heritage sites.
For years, Fr Javellana, director of the Ateneo's Fine Arts Program, has been going around the country documenting these fortifications. Originally intended as military installations, these stone structures also served as cultural routes, the prime examples being Fort del Pilar in Zamboanga City and Fort San Felipe Neri in Cavite City. These two cities became bastions of Spanish influence and cradles of the Philippine creole language, Chabacano.
There are hundreds of such forts scattered all over the archipelago and sadly, most of them are in various stages of deterioration. In the case of Cavite City, for instance, Fr Javellana notes that Fort San Felipe used to be protected by a wall that looked like Intramuros in Manila, but this was demolished when the Americans occupied the country in the early 1900s.
"When you map them, you will see that they form a ring. There was a system to these forts and each fort was part of a system," said Fr Javellana when he talked about his work at a forum at the Ortigas Foundation Library and Philippine Studies Center recently. He believes that each town in the Philippines may have had its own fort, borne out of what he said was human nature to build walls around themselves so that they can feel safe and secure.
Fr Javellana has travelled to the remotest islands of the country taking pictures of these forts, and encouraging local communities to take part in their preservation. "If you don't document it, it continues to be invisible," he states.
These structures are silent witnesses to the colorful past not just of the Philippines as a whole but more importantly of the individual towns and 
cities where they stand. This is why Fr Javellana is seeking the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in his documentation work. He is planning to nominate these Spanish fortifications as UNESCO heritage sites. He is citing as among the priorities those forts that are still intact: those in Manila (Intramuros), Zamboanga and Cebu.
There's a lot of promise in Fr Javellana's work. For Cavitenos, it means there are ways to transform the city, given its historical significance and role, without resorting to choices that may destroy our the physical heritage. In fact, Cavite City officials don't need to wait for Fr Javellana to include San Felipe in his list, but can already take steps to beautify the city, turn it into a must-see historic destination for local tourists, given its proximity to Manila.
I took the Blog Addiction Test offered by one of my favorite blogs, Yugatech, and I fared poorly (which is good, actually). This means I'm not too addicted to blogging, which also explains the long periods between postings in this blog. I (sometimes) have a life outside this computer.
I'm passing on Yuga's link, so if any of you want to find out how addicted you are to blogs and blogging, click here.
57%
Mingle2 - Online Dating
There was an item in the Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday that could give a clue to the future of Cavite City.
The news article was titled "Chinese Shipping Firm to Build $3-B Complex in Sangley." It talked about how a giant Chinese company plans to transform Sangley into a transshipment point.
Here's part of that story:
A Chinese shipping giant will build a $3-billion shipping complex at Sangley Point in Cavite City, outside Manila, to serve as its main hub in Southeast Asia, Malacañang announced Monday.
China Ocean Shipping Group Co. (Cosco) chief executive officer Wei Jia Fu informed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the investment plan during a courtesy call Monday.
Ambassador Francis Chua, special Philippine envoy on China trade and investments, said the Cosco investment would generate 100,000 jobs, particularly for Filipino seamen.
Sangley Point is being developed as an international transshipment point through the creation of a special economic zone.
A Malacañang statement described Cosco, founded in 1961 as the pioneer international shipping carrier in China, as a $17-billion global company that operates 600 types of ships that call at 1,300 ports in more than 160 countries.
I wonder how this ties in with earlier reports that Arroyo had "given" Sangley point to former Senator Ramon Revilla as a birthday gift , for building into a major port. How many Sangley Points are there for her to give away? When I last checked, there was only one Sangley point, currently the home of the Philippine Naval Base in Cavite City.
Obviously, Sangley is a much sought-after piece of real estate and one strategically located in terms of shipping and transport. In the early 1990s, there were plans by the country's biggest taipans to build the International Airport in Sangley as well, but the plan was shot down by former President Fidel Ramos.
But I couldn't help notice in the story how this company comes into the picture with apparent absolute certainty that it will get Sangley. Have they consulted the people of Cavite City at all in this, and have they conducted studies regarding the environmental effects of such a project?
I can almost imagine Sangley as a container port, maybe something like the North and South Harbors in Manila, container vans crowding narrow streets, dark fumes filling the skies, stevedores and their families squatting in narrow alleys, crime and poverty infesting the city. Is it the End of Days for Cavite City?
Daly City, California--The San Francisco Giants are playing the Oakland Athletics on TV as I pack my bags for my trip back home to Manila tomorrow. A long drawn out game that started before sundown, it went into an extra inning, with the Giants eventually losing out to the A's.
I am not a baseball fan in the same way my friend Wella is a follower of the Oakland A's. But I practically got treated to a despedida of baseball because, as usual, I had tons of stuff to squeeze into my two maletas and my carry-on bags and I had to do it in my parents' living room. Chocolates, T-shirts, books are scattered and cluttered in front of the TV set which was tuned in to my parents' favorite TV sport, baseball.
While I was packing and while Giants star player Barry Bonds was getting TV mileage, my aunt Gigi called my mom from her home in Milpitas.
Aunt: Ya llama Ruby. Di ritira ya rin pala eli ora (Ruby called. Turns out she's going home today).
Mom: Ha? No eli ya talda aqui (What? She didn' t stay long)?
Aunt: No, five weeks lang eli aqui. Ora daw di ritira (No, she stayed only five weeks. She's leaving today).
Mom: Sana mañana ya lang para junto ilo di Gina (She could have gone home with Gina tomorrow).
Aunt: Cosa ta haci Gina (What is Gina doing)?
Mom: Ta qui. Ta ci empake aquel dos maleta (She's here. She's packing her luggage).
Aunt: Pirmi ya lang ansina, ta ci siksik todo (It happens everytime, her squeezing her stuff into her luggage).
Mom: Alli lang buso mañana (Are you staying home tomorrow)?
Aunt: Di ci babysit Dale mañana cun Marcos kasi tiene fundraising sana Leslee y Alyssa. Ta cumbida comigo kasi tiene daw silent auction. No ma niso di pudi anda na airport ha, kasi di pinta casa esti mi marido (Dale's babysitting Marcos because Leslee and Alyssa have a fundraising event. They invited me to this silent auction. We won't be able go to the airport because my husband has to paint the hou
se).
By the time the Giants-A's game ends at 11 pm, I am packed (at least that's what it looks like). There are little bits and pieces of pasalubong and personal things lying around which I'm sure I will forget. I'd like to take everything home, but that's not always possible.
Anyway, the game ends with the sportscaster's farewell, "From San Francisco, goodbye!" My own farewell: "San Francisco, till next time!"
Concord, California--I am hearing Chabacano spoken again in, of all places, California, where some members of our family are based.
Over lunch at the newly renovated home of my cousin Leni in Concord, we partook of a typical Filipino lunch, which meant an overloading of food to eat and to take home.
We were celebrating the birthday of my cousin's wife Leslee, and noodles for long life were a must. The pancit was homemade, even if the rest of the food was ordered out, and it became the subject of a conversation between my mother and aunt, snippets of which went this way:
- Tu ya cusi este pancit (You cooked the pancit)?
- Si, yo ya cusi esi (Yes, I cooked it).
- Sabroso (It's delicious)!
- Saca pa tu (Get some more)!
You'd have to be alert to catch the Chabacano conversation which came in bits and pieces, as when my aunt said, "Ta duli ya mi ditras (my back is hurting)," or "Quiereng quiere esi con su lolo (He lov
es his grandfather so much), referring to her grandson. It came naturally for my mother and aunt to speak the language and, sad to say, I failed to take mental notes, because it seemed like the most natural thing for them to do, I forgot to listen intently.
Anyway, this is my way of resuming blog posts, which I have been remiss in writing since leaving Manila two weeks ago. Apologies for the long break, but I am with native Chabacano speakers, which means more blog entries, hopefully.
Events in the Philippines, including Cavite City, seem so distant to me at this point, now that I'm out of the country for a short trip (to Canada and the U.S.).
At any rate, just before I left, it seems that Caviteños were talking about the Dino Chua debacle. Chua lost the vice mayoralty race to opponent Romeo Ramos in the May 14 elections.
My uncle said it was the topic of conversation at a family gathering last Sunday, and talk had it that "nagtipid daw (si Chua). Nagalit ang mga watchers. Bumaligtad. (Chua scrimped on funds. The watchers got angry and turned against him).
Another version from family friend Bong has it that Chua may have been too complacent and sure of himself. It seems there were allegations of vote buying as well, and the military had to step in.
The real story behind this issue may never surface, because it could mean exposing not just the candidate but also poll watchers, who are supposed to be paid for giving t
heir undivided attention in elections.
But I wonder. Pera pera lang ba talaga ang eleksyon sa Pilipinas (Are Philippine elections just a matter of money)? Can Philippine elections ever reflect popular will if this is the case?
(Photo at right shows ballot boxes stacked inside the Cavite City Hall in the aftermath of the elections. Photo by Kris).
The elections in Cavite were not as uneventful as I thought they would be.
While Bernardo "Totie" Paredes managed to win re-election, voters junked his vice-mayoralty candidate Dino Chua and opted to elect Chua's opponent, Romeo Ramos. Paredes and party, the pro-administration Kampi-Magdalo, would have swept the elections, except for Chua and one other councilor.
Chua's loss seemed to take Caviteños by surprise since he was visible enough during the campaign and actually garnered the most number of votes when he ran for councilor in the 2004 elections. Because he was the # 1 councilor, he was in line to assume the vice mayoralty post when then vice mayor Tony Nazareno passed away.
Chua's family owns the Cavite City branch of Padi's Point restaurant, and he himself made national news as a member of the party list group Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA), which also didn't do well in the party-list voting, at least based on the tally so far of both Namfrel and the Commission on Elections.
More on the Cavite election results in a later post. Meantime, for other election updates, visit Philippine Eleksyon 2007.
Here's an aerial view of a part of Cavite City from Google Earth, a satellite picture which shows some landmarks of Cavite: Fort San Felipe, Philippine Naval Base, Cavite City Hall, Samonte Park and Marcos Valentin Jr. St.
I searched for Fort San Felipe in Google Earth after attending the lecture of Fr. Rene Javellana, SJ, who is documenting Spanish fortifications all over the archipelago. More on that later. For now, here's (part of ) Cavite City from the sky.
Reelectionist Bernardo "Totie" Paredes has been proclaimed winner in the mayoralty race in Cavite City. There's mention of him in the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Election Page where there's a link to local tallies but you'd have to download the results in pdf format.
As of this writing, the canvassing of votes is still underway at the Cavite City Hall but it seems that it's a foregone conclusion that the Kampi-Magdalo Party, headed by incumbent mayor Totie Paredes and vice-mayor Dino Chua, is headed for a return.
The electoral contest in Cavite City wasn't really a very hot one, and unlike in other towns and cities in the province and throughout the country, was mostly uneventful.
Anyway, we were at the Garita Elementary School in Cavite City when voting centers closed at 3 pm on election day. Garita is near where our family used to live when we were kids. It was also near where my maternal grandmother grew up.
Posted near the Garita gate was the table of the volunteers from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voters.
There were not as many people as there were in the morning, but there was evidence of an earlier crowd, pamphlets and sample ballots strewn all over the school grounds.
Candidates and their supporters were warned against posting campaign materials within the school premises and it looked like candidates did heed the warning.
We saw election posters near the house of our old neighor, Ñora Lily, on Zulueta street, as well as on the wall in front of what used to be Cine Perla. These images are now a memory, what with a clean up surely underway in Cavite City.
My grandmother has always voted in Cavite City, even if she no longer lives there. Each election day, she wakes up early to be among the first to cast her vote at the Garita Elementary School (photo at right) in what is known as Cavite's Rosario district.
She makes the effort although she is 94 going on 95, and her arthritic hands can barely fill in all the blanks.
I asked her how election day was for her, and of course, her replies were mostly in Chabacano:
My Grandmother (MG): Temprano yo ya anda na Cavite. Ya kumbida Lauring con niso alla ya lang daw almusa. Al llegando alla, que mucho genti. Mucho ya atraca comigo, hija daw de si quien. No ma yo ta conoci. Muchong mucho genti, kalat na kalat, ta lluvi de papel. Pobre naman ilo si no gana (I went to Cavite early. Lauring [my niece] invited me to have breakfast at her place. There were so many people approaching me, children of whoever, I don't know them anymore. There were so many people, so much trash everywhere, it rained paper. What a waste if they didn't win).
Me: Ya escribi tu plojo (You wrote slowly)?
MG: Plojong plojo yo. Ya haci yo claro para pudi ilo le (Very slowly. I tried to make it clear so they could read it).
Me: Con quien tu ya vota (Whom did you vote for)?
MG: Con Aquino siyempre Diyes nombre lang. No hay kasi ta habla comigo si quien pa (For Aquino, of course. Just ten names. No one told me who else to vote for).
Me: Con quien pa tu ya vota (Who else did you vote for)?
MG: Con Lacson din. De Imus aquel. El tata no se de Imus. Paredes pa rin di gana. Recio pa rin no se eli alla. Pero bueno kaya quel? (For Lacson also. He's from Imus. I think his father is from Imus. Paredes [mayoralty candidate] will win. He's still strong. Is he a good mayor?)
Me: Ewan ko (I don't know).
Again, I'm interrupting regular Chabacano blogging to give way to election stories.
There are three first-time voters in our family, and they took this duty very seriously. Last night, on the even of elections, they sat down and carefully read the official list of candidates mailed to them by the Commission 
on Elections.
Then they highlighted the names of their chosen candidates, discussing with each other the pros and cons of every candidate on their list. They did not impose their candidates on others and made it a point to say they respected each others' choices. They consulted me on some of their choices and I must say they had names on their list that weren't on mine.
They looked forward to today with eager anticipation. After all, it was a feat just to have been able to register last December, when they braved the heat, the crowds and the notorious inefficiency of the Commission on Election just to get their names on the voters' list.
Today's exercise was supposed to have been, in their eyes, something like an exam, something they prepared for and mulled over for weeks, if not months. Before they went to bed, they had their stack of pens and Comelec list ready for the big day.
And so I imagine it must have come as a shock to them that the solemn duty they were to fulfill was to take place in an area that like this:
And all along the street leading to the public school where they were to vote, campaigners for various candidates were handing out sample ballots and leaflets, causing a veritable carpet of campaign materials around the voting areas that looked like this: 
But then again, these scenes are not surprising considering that this place happens to be one of Quezon City's most densely populated districts.
I know my three first time voters must have had some mild shock at the voting scenes they witnesses, but then again, the atmosphere was festive, the teachers and volunteers were all working hard at it, and somehow everyone connected with each other and with the bigger citizenry as a whole, which made the experience fulfilling enough for them.
