Up North: UPDATE
So very much can and does happen in three months time. Has it been three months already? Let’s check the calendar and see. We arrived home in mid-July and November is replacing October on the calendars.
Yes, I guess we have been here for about three and a half months – time for an update on what could and did happen. There have been dry, sunny days as well as typhoon-induced windy and rainy days. There have been good days, great days, and days better left to history alone.
I’ll highlight the better-known (and reported) incidents. They are, however, just the tip of this tropical iceberg called Live in the Philippines, Up North.
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HEADLINE: Katulong – Lost and Found!
As you may know, the katulong who had taken care of our house in our absence, greeted us when we arrived, and helped us unpack is no longer in our employ. She left us for that “higher calling” of love and marriage, and appears to be getting along well in that endeavor. After what felt like an eternity of searching, we employed a new, part-time katulong.
An Ilocano proverb fits our situation pretty well: “Ti napíli makapíli ti kuggangí.” [He who is choosy often picks the worst.]
So far, so good: our new katulong is learning the ins and outs of the job and of our expectations. Sure, as with all new employees, there have been a few hiccups. We solved those with improved communications, explaining the job’s requirements and limits. You can’t do well if you don’t know what it is you are to do!
Progress was positive, then what I believe was the inevitable happened. You see, our katulong is a fisherman’s wife and has lived in poor fishing sitios and puroks all her life. Not only was she learning how to keep house for us, she was learning how to keep house, period. (It’s the often-observed result of a culturally pleasing affirmative answer whenever most pinoys/pinays are asked if they can do something. “Can you do the work of a katulong?” “Oh, yes!”) She now says that we “may not be seeing her for a little while.” (Translation: “I give up; I’m quitting!”)
So, it will be back to “search mode” for baket ko (asawa ko) [my wife]. She still has some prospects lined up, and I’m still partial to fried Spam & rice, so things will work out. (A little cuter this time, honey!)
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HEADLINE: “The ‘BRO” & Internet Connectivity
Another search, this one a little more adventurous, resulted in putting us “on-line” and connecting us with the world via the Internet. We sought out, found and obtained “broadband” service through SMART Bro. Though fate stymied my further search for the “Share It” router and its 2Mbyte service, I remain happy with what service I have. After all, I have “The ‘BRO’s” word that this higher speed service, which has yet to make its way to the smaller municipalities of outlying provinces, will be available 
next year. In addition, I’m sure I could say that my current service is faster than “dial-up” if I had landline telephone service for comparison.
Sure, as with all new systems, there have been a few hiccups. (I’m getting a sense of déjà vu – seems I’ve seen that somewhere before.) Ever since the seven-day brown-out that accompanied and followed the show-stopping, three-time appearance of Typhoon Peping in early October, my connectivity has been spotty at best. (Okay, Paul, enough with all of those hyphenated-words . . . now stop that!) Service finally came to a halt some nights ago. A call on the SMART Bro Hot Line resulted in the scheduling of a visit by a crack SMART Bro Tech Team on Saturday, same week. (The little truck appeared at noon. Manolito, Mo-Mo and Jackie-Boy had returned and they repaired a bad connection to the feed-cable inside the antenna unit. THANK YOU, SMART Bro.) Coincidently, the LBC courier showed up the day before the “halt” with the SMART Bro bill that is due in two days’ time. Do I detect an adventure (”turn over the money and will give you back your service”) story here somewhere?
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HEADLINE: Rainy Season Nixes Movement
Wet weather continues to keep us close to home though, as reported here, we managed to venture out a couple of times. This past week has been a little drier than most. What that really means is that the rains start a little later in the day. Planning trips or outings that will take longer than half a day is not yet possible, as, by the time you know the weather will hold for the day, there isn’t much time left in the day for the outing.
Sure, as with all . . . (insert your favorite “hiccup” déjà vu line here). A few outings started out dry but ended up with our damp turn around for home. There are plenty of dry days ahead of us, so those trips and outings (and their resulting articles and reports) will be on the back burner for the not so dry now.
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HEADLINE: Wee Hour Wee Visitors
It appears that we had another visit from the “small people,” as our nephew refers to them. I’ll refrain from saying the name “Aeta,” as I’ve since learned that they don’t really enjoy that label (ditto for “Negritos” or “Pugot”). For lack of their proper tribal name, then, I’ll borrow on our nephew’s diplomacy and refer to them as “small people,” too. The chronicler for this visit was our Auntie, the mother of the nephew who related the first visit. Auntie was more forthcoming and timely in her report.
This episode involved only two small individuals for whom all of the neighborhood dogs barked as before (déjà vu for two?). One of the two peered in through the gate while the other sat and enjoyed a smoke (Auntie believes it was a hand-rolled cigarette, or something of that nature, as this person’s hands were a bit busy prior to the smoke). They stayed around for the duration of the latter’s moment of pleasure, only to hasten off again when they detected Auntie watchfully eying them. She described them as short, stout, very dark almost black, very curly short hair, wearing shirts, shorts and slippers, and being very fleet of foot. Having a longer look at the “small people” than her son had previously, Auntie was able to provide more detail in her descriptions of everything she witnessed.
Where was your humble columnist during this episode, you ask? As before, here was a chance for a nocturnal, cultural adventure, AND I SLEPT RIGHT THROUGH IT! Baket ko (Asawa ko) [My wife] now makes sure that any dog barking at night is answered by my sleepy-eyed gaze and investigation.
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HEADLINE: Three Strikes & You’re Out!
I guess this is the major story of our first three months. Typhoon Peping took three good strikes at us, and then was out to sea for good. It was very similar to my going through the same typhoon three times in five day’s time while stationed in Okinawa during the early seventies. (What is it with all of this déjà vu stuff, anyway? Am I repeating unlearnt history?)
My “Fascination with Rice” took a new turn. The beautiful rice crop that was in the paddies took it kind of tough during those three passes. Early estimated reports of damage were high, but farmers are replacing those estimates with lower ones. There were three or four different plantings of the rice crop, with the most damage suffered by the youngest crop (last planted). Its “flowering” is doubtful and it will most likely end up as just straw.
The first planted crop was close to harvest time, so it suffered “field loss” damage – some of the grains were blown off the plant, leaving others still attached a little weaker and prone to drop off “in the field.” The result will be fewer grains harvested and marketed.
Damage to crops planted between the first and last is extremely hard to compute. All crops planted were a hybrid version formulated to withstand excess water and storms. Though some of these crops were “laid down” by the high winds, signs of resurrection are hopeful. The worries here are just how long will standing water remain in the fields, will the rice grains fill out properly, will disease or pests infect the crop, etc.
No one will really know the total damage until after the final harvest. Prices at the market for harvested, un-milled rice may go up a little and help offset the losses a little, but profit may still be a big squeeze for the farmers, not to mention the effects of rice availability, etc.
Personally, my “banana crop” loss is approximately 75%. I lost one entire fruiting tree and half of the fruit of another. The remaining fruit on the latter is yet to approach harvest time, so who knows what could happen. The three typhoon passes also eliminated 100% of the eggplant that was almost ready for harvest. Three of four malunggay trees snapped in half with most of the remaining leaves being lost to the wind as well (good thing we harvested leaves before the storm). I still have five calamansi fruits on one bush, and a second bush is trying to recover from storm damage.
(Note: At the time I am drafting this acticle, Typhoon Lupit [Ramil] is threatening to finish up the damage started by Peping, and throw in some of its own for good measure. We can only hope it decides to wend its way north an miss The Philippines all together. We’ll find out later this week just what are Lupit’s (Ramil’s) intentions. You have to love living here and put up with its storms, or else leave.
Further update: After snaking around the Philippine Sea for a week, it appears that Lupit had made an abrupt turn to the ENE, lost some of its power – being downgraded to Tropical Storm – and is headed for Okinawa and the 
Ryukyu Islands. For this storm, waiting seems to be its worst aspect. While six international weather services have amended their projections for Lupit to coincide with its current movements, they still warn that “the snake” could turn for us again as well as intensify prior to visiting. That won’t happen as Lupit was last seen skirting up the coast of Japan, having lost a lot of its intensity and dispersing in cooler, northern sea waters as a low pressure area.
Harvesting rice has become very hard work. The fields are still flooded from all the rains, the rice plants are all soaked and heavily laden with moisture; and the cutting, carrying, threshing, etc. is more back-breaking than ever. Reminds me of shovelling “wet” snow is winters past.
Oh yes: Lupit hasn’t affected the remaining banana crop. For the “Bananaphiles” out there, eight hands remain, each averaging between 14-16 fingers.)
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That’s the UPDATE from Up North. All in all, I make a poor farmer and a merely average resident. I just hope my article writing is a little better.
So, it’s ‘deja vu all over again’, eh? I just love your reports! Keep them coming!
Hi AmericanLola – Long time no see. Hope all is well with you and yours.
Sure, as with all new writers to this e-zine, there have been a few hiccups. I have to pace myself and not write “dated” articles for too far in the future, etc. I will keep taking the necessary steps to continue the reports as you like them, though!
Thanks Paul, I am not sure I can take that type of weather each year. I think I will stick to the south, out of the typhoon belt. It there any safe place to live. Not really, just take it one day at a time. Better luck next time on the banana crop. I really was hoping you would get a big bunch of them.
Hi “E.G.” – (Hope you don’t mind the less formal, more personal address). For me, I’d be bored to tears if things like typhoons didn’t come along and stimulate my rather lazy bones.
While they do appear to be huge and evil life events (especially to western eyes unaccustomed to such foul weather), their “earth-shattering mystique” is shattered itself by advanced planning, acceptance of limitations, and a little luck.
Western news media don’t report the “we made it through just fine” stories – “if it bleeds, it leads.” I’m sure my reports of the typhoons would be much, much worse if I had built and lived in a shanty of cardboard and discarded sections of corregated steel sheeting in the middle of an otherwise dry river bed or other overflow water channel, and had no idea that there was a typhoon on its way to visit me. As is, I didn’t, it isn’t and my reports aren’t.
The banana situation, “on the other hand,” has kept life from being a similarly boring bowl of cherries. The storms did do me a favor of clearing away older plants that had already given up their fruit and that I was saving for removal at a later time on my “to do” list. One thing about banana plants – they’re almost as difficult to get rid of as is bamboo! I’ll have bunches and bunches of palatable enjoyment in the future.
That was a rough period there, Paul. Even my wife says it was bad. I guess her family was spared the worst, since the house did not flood, and her father harvested his rice crop before the worst of the storms. That explains why Ilocanos are so thrifty and willing to move. You have to be tough to live in region 1 of the Philippines.
Hi Jay – Rough? Naw, it really wasn’t that bad for us. I wouldn’t have changed any bit of it. It’s all part of life, albeit an easier, less stressful life.
Prior to moving here, I could have written about truly disasterous rough periods that occurred during my running in the rat race. I was extremely lucky to leave that race course, and will accept whatever comes next as fair payment for that pleasurable exodus.
I’ll agree that, for Filipinos, provincial life in Region One is a bit more rigorous and demanding than that in other regions. It still has that “final frontier” ambience where one is more likely to quench a thirst by scooping up a handful of water from a stream or a well’s bucket than by sipping a favorite beverage served in sparkling crystal by a katulong.
An Ilocano’s familiarity with hardship steels their ability to cope with cruel conditions. As for their thrift, all I’ll say is that Ilocano frugality is legendary, bordering on the penurious!
I totally agree Mng Paul. Life in the north is harder compared to the rest. In Region 2, (& I noticed this in Laoag as well) it’s beastly hotter compared to Manila. I would think that even in the summer time, it’s less hotter there but no, it’s so much hotter there. It makes it worse when there’s drought there. You’d see rice fields that are dried and have cracks.
Hi Roy – Thanks for the vote of confidence!
Yes, the heat and hard conditions result from the region’s location (leeward of the Cordillera) and the effect of weather systems that result. (Sort of like “leeward O`ahu” in Hawaii – much drier, hotter and more rugged than “windward O`ahu”. No wonder more Ilocanos are found on the leeward side than the windward!)
Ya gotta love it!
Hi, Paul, just a personal opinion, we may be treading uncharted territory here to refer to the Aetas as “small people”. It brings to mind the duwendes, who are sometimes referred to colloquially as “small people”. Besides, many non-Aeta Pinoys are as small, if not smaller, than the average Aeta, and probably just as dark. The incongruity of someone who is as small or smaller and referring to the Aeta as “small people” is laughable. Personally, I see nothing derogatory about calling Aetas “Aetas”, but if one wants to be, uh, politically correct, we may refer to them as Tribal Group. I have no idea how widely accepted the name is, but I have come across literature that Tribal Group is the preferred name by a group of young Aetas in Zambales who were studying for the ministry.
Hi John – I used “small people” as borrowed from our nephew to be as diplomatic as I could be. Can’t please everyone!
Duwendes, I’ve been told, are “extremely small people” who cannot be confused with others of small size or stature. They are the size of fairies or elves, similar to leprauchans. One would have to be pretty small to live in ant- or termite-like mounds, trees, etc., or to not be seen when you visit a “comfort” tree (requiring one to say, “Tabi-tabi po”).
While other small Pinoys exist, they don’t share the physical stature attributes. (These would include Pinoys afflicted with dwarfism, etc.) Early observations reported some of the attributes of “Aeta” peoples as: having compact, stocky body trunks; spindly arms and legs; pigeon-toed feet; and a larger than proportional head.
In talking with neighbors belonging to a Mariveleno clan while visiting property we have in Mariveles, Bataan, I was told that they (their clan, at least) did not enjoy being called “Aetas,” “members of the Aeta peoples,” or any similar designation or name. Their preference was their clan name (which I, as an unwise Kano, have forgotten). As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this e-zine, their analogy is that of members of the Hutu, Tutsi or Twa tribes not desiring to be referred to a “Rawandans” or an “Africans.” Guess that’s why I refrain from using the name “Aeta,” deferring to the desires of the “subjects” themselves.
All goes to show you, John: When you try to please everyone, you please no one!
Good updates, and funny as usual, Paul. May I ask more information on the regions designation of the Philippines? What would be the region designation for Metro Manila? or for that matter Western Visayas? I am familiar with designation CALABARZON or MIMAROPA but not by regions.
Mimaropa ( Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan)
Calabarzon ( Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon)
More Power to the Thrifty Ilocanos and to your baket, Paul!
Hi David – Thanks for the kind words. Let’s see if I can nail these regions for you (as gleened from http://www.nscb.gov.ph/ ):
LUZON:
NCR – National Capital Region (Metro Manila)
CAR – Cordillera Autonomous Region (Cordillera Mountains)
Region I – Ilocos Region
Region II – Cagayan Valley
Region III – Central Luzon
Region IVA – CALABARZON (formerly p/o Southern Tagalog)
Region IVB – MIMAROPA (formerly p/o Southern Tagalog)
Region V – Bicol Region
VISAYAS:
Region VI – Western Visayas
Region VII – Central Visayas
Region VIII – Eastern Visayas
MINDANAO:
Region IX – Zamboanga Peninsula (formerly Western Mindanao)
Region X – Northern Mindanao
Region XI – Davao Region (formerly Southern Mindanao)
Region XII – SOCCSKSARGEN (formerly Central Mindanao)
Region XIII – Caraga
ARMM – Autonomous Region of Muslin Mindanao
Additional information, with maps, is available on line at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_the_Philippines (the wiki-info reflects NSCB database contents – I checked).
Hopefully I’ve qualified for another punch on my “Become an Ilocano” card by “not wasting time or space” in providing this list!
Paul;
Thanks for the list, now I’m sure of where I live (LOL). Prior to your list it was just hits and misses, yet I always found my way home. Great update, I’m going to start living vicariously off of you, with permission of course? I still keep learning from each of your reports!
Hi Paul & Paul,
Same here. If somebody tells me he’s from Region XI, I wouldn’t know where it is but if he says Davao, it’s in Mindanao. Hard to remember what province falls under what region. Looks like a list of colonial states that make up the union.
Hi Jun – That fact-checked Wikipedia cite I put in my response will provide a map for each region AND a list of each province included in the region. (I confirmed those lists with info provided by the NSCB database that can be reached – after a little navigation – from the NSCB website address cited.)
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Paul, thanks for the list. Cheers!
No prob, pare!
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