"I want to be able to go back."
One of my greatest frustrations, at my age, is my failure to go back to Dolores town in Abra where I was born.
I remember the Abra of my youth. I spent grade school there until I came back to Manila to join my brothers who were studying here. My eldest brother Desi was then taking up his AB at the old Ateneo de Manila on Padre Faura. My other brother first attended Ateneo but transferred to San Beda College.
In Abra, we must have attended the schools in most of the towns including the capital Bangued. My father was district supervisor of schools; hence we moved around a lot.
Abra in the early 1920s, after the Spanish period, was a sub-province of Ilocos Sur until the late Don Quintin Paredes, the strongman of Abra who became a senator, made it a separate province.
My father taught me many things that young boys these days no longer experience. He taught me to ride horses and carabaos, and how to feed them.
My father was known in Ilocandia as having the best pacers. Horse aficionados used to visit him. Some ended up buying his best pacers.
In 1932, we bought our first car—a Ford Lizzie—for P1,500. It was a fortune at that time because my father had a small salary of P250 a month. My mother had to help him by selling garments and jewelry.
I was also taugh to eat frogs, which we caught in the rice fields at dark. We also gathered snails from the river beds.
I cannot forget eating “abuus”—eggs of big red ants. My father’s favorite dish was kilawin. We also ate papaitan by squeezing the small intestines of the goat to give the dish flavor.
My father taught me many other lessons and I believed these made me strong and steadfast. I became resilient—and that’s what helped us make it through difficult times. For example, during the war when we had to evacuate Manila, we had to buy a ganta of rice using a bagful of Mickey Mouse money.
Would you believe we even ate beetles that fell off the small trees we used to shake? We cooked them as adobo—and they tasted great.
These memories make me want to bring my family to Abra.
A few years ago, I asked my daughter to find out how we can do it. But she told me that based on her Internet research, the facilities were nil. I was sad and disappointed.
Lately, however, the Internet showed there are new places to visit. But most of what it seems to offer are for the young—which leaves me and my wife out of it. There goes my chance.
* * *
I don’t know if President Duterte meant what he said about just shooting terrorists on sight. Was it out of anger and frustration? Or is it, again, hyperbole?
What bother me in this order to shoot and kill is that suspects may not really be terrorists.
With martial law in Mindanao, the President’s words must not be taken seriously. This is not the Wild, Wild West, my gulay!
Sure, terrorists must be hunted down. But killing suspects on sight is too much.
* * *
I don’t know if former Makati Mayor Junjun Binay is aware that the action of his allies in the city council can affect him negatively.
These allies are opposing worthy initiatives of Junjun’s sister, incumbent Mayor Abby. Among these are the benefits for senior citizens over 90.
Is Junjun still my friend? I hope so.
Perhaps this is the reason he is lagging behind in the surveys.
* * *
In almost every bicameral meeting, we know there is always horse trading especially when it comes to the budget.
Whether we like it or not, pork barrel still exists. Reelectionists want to show their constituents that they are able to fund projects for them. This is why despite the Supreme Court ruling that pork barrel is illegal, it is very much alive!
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