Kapamilya, etcetera
There are people who are not your blood kin and yet, they are part of your family. When we transferred residence here in Bohol, we developed a strong bond of kinship to some of my friends who are not blood relations.
One couple is Cardo and Corazon Batoy. They are younger than we are but Corazon and I happened to teach in the same institution before – the University of the Philippines in Tacloban. She was single then. She was in the Arts and Sciences, and I was in Management and Technology department. The UP campus was then an annex building to the Leyte Provincial Capitol. The biology laboratory was still in a Bagong Lipunan building. When Corazon got married, she transferred to the Visayan State University to be near her husband, Cardo, who was then working at the Philippine National Bank in Ormoc Leyte. Decades after, we found ourselves the homing pigeons. We are back to our old hometown.
Then, I have Zenaida Pancito: She is a certified public accountant working at the Bureau of Internal Revenue. She is one dedicated public servant who never had a stain associated with the bureau. With her mother Iya Danday, now deceased, we are a regular in her home every fiesta of San Antonio Padua in Montaña, Baclayon. Everything is organic in her home. Magtadtad pa siya ug bani for the pigs ug magtogway pa siya sa iyang mga baka. Ang iyang mga punuan sa mangga, iya lang nga pa-asuhan – dili gyud niya pa bombahan ug mga kemikal aron dali mamunga. Malipay gyud mi kay ug mamunga na, naa gyud siya’y ipanghatud sa among mga balay.
I also have Pidencio Gatillo. Pide is our transport man. His adventure is enough to carry us to wipe the blues away. He is a devoted son, and now that his nanay has passed on, he cannot yet get over his grief, He still longs for his nanay.
We have this tradition of kitakitakits sa sementeryo. It has been for years. But with this pandemic, cemeteries are closed. It’s been a while that we have not seen each other. Mingaw na. But there’s one we have missed. Msgr. Vicente Matias Nunag. We are also his fiesta group. We used to be at the “round church”. We were also there at St. Jude Church except this year. We are his “disciples”.
At my age, I treasure my “kapamilya” sa akong dughan.
In another development, my spirit leaped with joy upon seeing Ted Failon at channel 1. Much more so when cignal tv already cradles the kapamilya channel. The tragedy of M/V Dona Paz 2 decades ago, cemented the career of Ted Failon at abs cbn. He was the anchor at ptv 12 when the boat sank two days before Christmas day. To remember, the vessel was en route to Manila from Tacloban. The boat caught fire when it collided with M/V Victor, a cargo vessel. Ted became a congressman but did not run again for another term.
Back to our kitakits with my kapamilya. What were our topics for discussion during our kapamilya session?: No. 1 in the list is the blended learning. Up to now dili pa gyud ma tukib as to why DepEd insisted on blended learning. Next is the red tagging. There seemed to be no end to our discussion including the Halloween party in Panglao and the U.S.A election. Three days from now we shall known the outcome. There is still the electoral vote to consider after the popular vote. By today, there is already a new president of the US of America. Let’s start appreciating their electoral process.
