“There are places I remember . . . !”
The first line of the song of the Beatles will usher in our readers to this article. The line of the song goes this way: There are places I remember, in my life and things have changed.”
As the song goes, there are also names in my life that I treasure, These are the names of places in my small hometown of Baclayon. I think the change of names was due to geographical division from barrio to barangay.
Let’s start from the first barangay after Tagbilaran – POOK (pronounced PO-OK). Only the oldies now would call the barangay as POOK as it is now called STA. CRUZ, after their patron saint of the barangay. The sitios under Pook are now clustered into Barangay LIBERTAD. That used to be KANGGINING, which also used to be part of KAMPATOK.
Why is it that most of the sitios’ names start with KAM or KAN? Is it because they were derived from the name of a local chieftain? I could not answer this myself.
KAMBUWANG, KAMPATOK, KANDPOG, are places in the hinter sitios of Taguihon. And these are places where we (and my playmates) used to go for pangahoy ug pang-an-an ug bugnay. Along the way, we had stories of the carbungko and huge snakes “residing” in the area. And we were told nga mobuga gajud ug kajo ang carbunko. Mahinumdum ko nga magtini-il lagi mi ug lakaw kaniadto. Amo lang bitbiton among tsinelas. I dont know why we did not feel the heat of the sharp stones as we stepped on them on our way. We also did not feel the weight of the bundle of firewood as we carried these on our way down from the hill. Among ipanglukdo man lang tong mga kahoy igsusugnod unya hanigan lang namo among ulo ug mga unas sa saging.
I do not know where to locate those places now, although I heard that they have become partially part of Guiwanon and Taguihon, and perhaps San Isidro. There is one thing interesting, though, in Taguihon – the ESKURNIM. Naa ni mahimutang sa eskina dapit sa balay ni anhing Memoy. The millenials now are not anymore familiar with the word ESKURNIM. During those days, this was also called ESKINA KA DORANG. Why is Dorang popular? It was only Nang Dorang who had the funeral march nga giduyugan ug musiko (called “banda” nowadays). Please do not ask me the full name of Nang Dorang. All I know is she was Soltera, who had the means and resources to send her relatives to school. Her abode was a landmark in Taguihon.
There is another place called PISONG – now MOMES: the Miguel Oppus Memorial School. During the years immediately after the war, I was in the elementary grades and for lack of classrooms at the Baclayon Central School, the classes for Grades 5 and 6 levels were held in Pisong. I enjoyed my elementary days in Pisong, At that time, Pisong was known as PISONG BUNGA and PISONG NANGKA. Pisong Bunga was in the Pajahan side and Pisong Bunga was in the Taguihon side. Now, there is no more Pisong: it’s either San Isidro or Momes and Momes or Landican.
Matud pa ni Lola Danday, ang original gud nga kapilya sa Pisong kadto gyung didto sa Bunga. However, a feud ensued among the members of the Chapel organization. As a result, some members left the group and formed their own group inspired by their patron saint, SAN ISIDRO. Mao kini ang hinungdan nga naa nay PISONG NANGKA. However, today, this has become part of SAN ISIDRO. I surmise, there is no more PISONG NANGKA. This area now is a busy place since a national road is being built in its location.
LANDICAN KAHOY DAKU, KANGGAWA, BAHA, KANGUJAW, KAMBANAC, TUNGA – these are places to watch in the old hometown of Baclayon. In these areas, the road network is like in the metropolis: wide cemented roads complete with solar lamp posts all the way to Laya. From the kiosk to the inland barrios, subdivisions abound from the low cost to high end categories.
People are no longer planting ube. There was a bonanza of cash from proceeds of the sale of land hence, people have become millionaires today and (hopefully not) beggars tomorrow. I hope this scenario will not happen in the old hometown.
As development is slowly happening, and amidst this pandemic, I hope there will be a changing of mindset to focus on mini farming. And praying my old hometown will maintain its character as an old Spanish pueblo.