THE STORY OF FIVE MONTHS - A PERSPECTIVE AFTER 31 YEARS (7)

CHAPTER 7

The Beauty Pageant Answer

It was my turn to go to Manila to attend to an examination and interview for my residency training. I was to cross and climb towards Salegseg. Passing through the bridge was a piece of cake. I gave myself a thumbs up. Then the ascent came. Reaching the mango tree near Liglig village, I took a stop and sat down. But as I felt the urge to urinate, I stood up and urinated. I did not know what happened next. I woke up lying down under the tree with my fly open. I realized I had orthostatic hypotension. A sudden loss of blood in my brain occurred when I hurriedly stood up caused the fainting spell. I laughed at the silliness of the situation. I looked around and it was good there was no one. I looked at the ravine and thanked God that I did not fall into that abyss. I might have met death that time.

From the FB page of Mr. Gerry Oribello

I continued my walk towards the town center. Upon reaching the military outpost, I was told the military commander wanted to talk to me. As I met the man face to face near the basketball court where they were playing I sized him up as he sized me up. He was not the commander we met during the town meeting. He was younger, brusque and with an air of arrogance. He looked at me and looked at my backpack. I thought he was going to inspect the bag.  However, with authoritative curiosity asked me, “What are you doing there?” I responded in a fatigued and yet polite manner, “ We were doing community medicine.” He looked at me in a bewildered way and replied rhetorically, “Do you think that will work?” Despite my lingering doubts, I answered, “It will work. As long, as you have commitment and dedication. As long, as you keep your faith in humanity. Everything will work out just fine.” He looked at me in the eyes, then he stretched his arms to shake my hands. I stretched my arms towards his hands and I clasped his strong military hands. 

When I met members of my foster family, they told me that during the encounter and the bombardment of a part of the village, someone told the commander that the doctors were very near the area. Allegedly, he answered, “Let them be bombed!” I don’t know. Despite the brazenness, brusqueness and intimidating attitude of the military commander, I was able to acquit myself exceedingly well because of my beauty pageant answer.

from clipart-library.com

At the town center, Salegseg, while resting at the house of Manong Karyo, I got to meet a lot of people asking me to buy that and buy things not easily procured in Balbalan. Someone even suggested that I buy a lot of personal things and sell them to those who wanted it. They told me to be the capitalist and they will be the seller. Wow, shades of entrepreneurship in Kalinga. I was quite surprised they did not ask Chita to buy those things for them. 

So my Manila stint was not only to attend to professional concerns but a travel to Divisoria where I could buy the cheap and sturdy goods I was requested to. I was back to the grueling travel to Tuguegarao, Tabuk and to Balbalan. Back in Balbalan, at the Balantoy area, there seem to be a lot of activity in the area most especially at the Balbalan Agro-Industrial School. There were hushed tones inside the vehicle but since it was in Salegseg, I did not fully understood what they were saying. Suffice to say, there is an important meeting in that area. As the vehicle approached the town area, I  was requested to go down at the Western Kalinga District Hospital. Chita and Rizel were there waiting for me. I saw Manang Leonor, the hospital cashier who asked me to buy girls' things and I gave her requests. I could the brightness of their smiles as I distributed the goods they have asked for. I learned later on that Dr. Olidan invited us to have lunch in their house, that’s why Chita and Rizel were there waiting. 

Dr. Olidan lived in a hill overlooking valleys and other hills. Her yard is the epitome of a farm - teeming with chicken, goats and she has backyard piggery. Dr. Olidan’s piggery might be the forerunner of the “No Smell Piggery” projects nowadays as very faint odor is emitted from her pig pens. Dr. Olidan lived in Balantoy and is very near the Balbalan Agro-Industrial School (BAIS). While going to Dr. Olidan’s house, we had to pass by the BAIS and my eyes just popped out. I saw a man, about 5’4” in height, unassuming, docile persona who was carrying a gun. It was the same man I saw in the newspaper before I went to Balbalan. We were ask to get down from our vehicle. And here I am, faced to faced with the leading revolutionary of the Cordillera. The handshake and the enigmatic smile were enough. I took a mental picture of the event as we did not have cameras to document the event. Had this occurred in contemporary times, I would have that selfie with the Man of the 80s - Father Conrado Balweg. But my prevailing sentiment during that time was that he was an ordinary man like us. He like us had the capability to dream. And his dream is to emancipate the people of the Cordilleras from extreme poverty. Kalinga-Apayao during that time is the second poorest province in the country.

Our trip to Dr. Olidan’s house was capped with a meal of the quintessential red rice, pinikpikan and the etag. Pinikpikan is a chicken dish in the Cordillera. It is prepared by beating the chicken with a stick prior to cooking. The beating bruises the chicken's flesh, bringing blood to its surface, which is said to improve the flavour after cooking. Etag or itag is salted meat, cured and aged underground in an earthen jar. The flavor is comparable to blue cheese but is much oilier and flavorful after it's cooked. While enjoying our meal, we had a good discussion of what is the local food fare of the Kalingas with regards to chicken and pork meat. We were told that Pinikpikan and etag are Mountain Province in origin. Dr. Olidan’s husband is an Anglican Minister originally from Sagada. According to Dr. Olidan, the Kalingas loved chili-based food. They cook their chicken in “sinilian” (full of chili) fashion. The chicken is shredded, minced with citrus leaves (calamansi, pomelo or orange) and it is fried in boiling coconut or vegetable oil.

 Another way of cooking their chicken is by stewing it. It is sautéed in garlic, onions and ginger. Then they let the stew boil until the meat becomes soft. They place sayote or green papaya and put some available vegetable leaves. To put a sting to their stewed chicken, they put a spoonful of red chilies in it. 

There is also a similar recipe to the “laing” in the Kalinga food fare. They call it pinatan-atang. It is made up of gabi leaves, coconut milk, ginger, garlic and salt. These are boiled into softness and it is again mixed with plentiful chilies. Meat whether in itag form or not, dried fish or broiled or fried fish are included in the mixture.  I have encountered this in Fiji. However, they use the whole gabi leaves to wrap fish , chicken or meat which were mixed with minced garlic, onions and ginger as well as salt. They are cooked in freshly expressed coconut milk known to us Filipinos as “kakang gata.” They call this recipe in Fiji, palusami. 

We can’t forget our foster sister’s cooking of the inandila ( pronounced as inanchila). Manang Adni perfectly cooks this delicacy in which she said, the preparation was a community endeavor. Inandila is a rice cake delicacy made of the famous Kalinga glutinous rice. It is initially pounded to perfection, then cooked in boiling coconut milk. They wait until the coconut milk curdles but not to the point where the “latik” turns brown. It is rolled into sugar which made it the perfect dessert to any meal.

The inandila - a glutinous rice food fare of the Kalingas. It is very reminiscent of the tikoy of the lowlanders with latik on top.

After the food trip, it was time to expend the extra calories we just had. What better way was to walk down to the valley which we call home - Gawaan. 

Note:

If the pictures are not attributed to a website or a person, it is mine. Those who own the pictures I have used and does not want to appear in this blog, please e-mail me at rqmallari60@gmail.com and I would be more than willing to remove them. Thank you.

THE STORY OF FIVE MONTHS - A PERSPECTIVE AFTER 31 YEARS

written by Rolando Quiros Mallari MD

©Mallari,RQ 

Disclaimer: This is a true story. This is based on my experiences when I volunteered as a community health doctor in the then Balbalan, Kalinga-Apayao now Balbalan-Kalinga. The names of the people in the story were changed to protect their anonymity. I may have a different recall of my account on these  experiences and the other protagonists may share their stories too in the comments section or other means. Thirty-one years have passed and the aging mind may not give out the details of what I went through but I need to write this to put a document to this once-in-life experience.

Prologue

This is a true story. I have wanted to write my memoirs on this episode of my life but somehow I have not managed to scribble the words. Probably, it is because of the diary I kept in relation to this experience. But it has been 31 years and so many things have changed. I couldn’t find the diary I kept about my experiences. Our foster mother and foster sister have died. The other members of team that shared this wonderful experience have also gone beyond. The other people we met have become part of history. The children we carried on our backs and even the children we have delivered are now adults and have their own families. The people whom we have shared our lives in the July till December of 1986 may not remember us but we still remember them. Thirty-one years is a long time. It may have changed the topography of the place. It may have changed the total look of the place. But it is good to reminisce the yester-years so that when someone of the present reads this, they can share what is today from what of yesterday. 

This is my story. This is what I remember. I enjoin the others to share their memories as I walk down memory lane. This is my Balbalan, Kalinga sojourn.

CHAPTER I

IN THE MIDST OF THE CLOUDS

It was a good Sunday morning. The sun was up after three days of strong rains. It was the first time I attended the morning mass at the St. Lucy's Parish Church in Aringay, La Union after long years of being away. I went to offer a thanksgiving prayer after taking the board examination for doctors that June. The results will be released on the first week of December that year. I got this funny feeling. It seemed like I only went to church when praying for concessions. Don't get me wrong, deep inside, I am a very spiritual person as compared to being religious. The mass had ended. I took time greeting people I knew and paying respect to older relatives who attended the mass. When the great mass of people thinned out, 

I slowly walked towards the church door. I saw a newspaper boy selling his wares in front of the church. I picked the Sunday edition of the Inquirer and read what was emblazoned as the headline, "Balweg forms CPLA." I walked through the nearby bakery and bought the quintessential Filipino bread -the pandesal. Manong (term of endearment for a make person older than you) Julius, owns the bakery and offered me to have a cup of coffee. I obliged as I was not going to do anything. It was a vacation of some sort after finishing 5 grueling years of medical school. I took a seat at a nearby corner while I savored the brewed coffee prepared by him. Every now and then, he interjected a conversation despite being busy serving his loyal bakery customers. I looked at the newspaper where the headline was. Balweg was a renegade priest. His full name was Fr. Conrado Balweg. He joined the New People's Army in the hope of emancipating the Filipino peasants. Now that the touted EDSA Revolution that suddenly propped Ninoy Aquino widow, Cory Aquino to lead the revolutionary government, he had thought of severing his ties with the communist armed group. He is now leading a movement for the genuine autonomy of the Cordillera, hence the name Cordillera People's Liberation Army for its armed group and the Cordillera Bodong Association as the organization. I looked at the magazine insert of the newspaper. He was also featured in the magazine together with Phillip Salvador who played him in the movie "Balweg." I stopped reading the article when I finished my cup of coffee. I graciously thanked Manong Julius and walked towards home which was around the 600 meters away from the bakery. 

I did the customary Ilokano greetings to the old folks at home. I told my mother that I had my pandesal breakfast at the bakery already. It was then that my mother told me that the man from the telegraph office sent a message for me. It was a telegram from my friend asking me to go back to Manila on the specified date if I am interested to do volunteer medical work. I told my parents about the telegram and they said, they would support whatever decision that I make. Hence, after just a week at home, I was off to Manila to join the list of medical volunteers to different parts of the country typically not reached by a doctor. 

We were the first batch of doctors under the Cory administration. We were a group of idealistic soon-to-be doctors. But my friends had other things in mind. Aside from doing service, they would want to add adventure and vacation in the list of their purposes. These friends of mine had travelled with me to Sagada and we were mesmerized with the utopian beauty of the place. We were hoping that Sagada is one of the places where volunteers were assigned but unluckily it was not on the list. We were looking for other places near our mountain paradise and the place that showed in our map is Balbalan, Kalinga-Apayao. Kalinga-Apayao used to be a single province but eventually separated after some years. Unknown to us, the area we chose is very much farther from Sagada. 

Note:
Those who own the pictures I have used and does not want to appear in this blog, please e-mail me at rqmallari60@gmail.com and I would be more than willing to remove them. Thank you.