by Telly G. Ocampo
Flowers in September
Some flowers luxuriously bloom in the month of
September. The gumamela or antwanga is one example.
One Sunday before Covid (a couple of years ago), my bff
Ardy and I went just felt fancy free to Cebu. It was some
sort of a time out for us, just a day of lamierda. When we
arrived Cebu, we went on separate ways: she to her son,
Gerrymar and his family for lunch bonding. And I also did
my bonding with my family. However, we made sure that
we also checked in a hotel near the Redemptorist Church
so we could have a comfortable time doing our Sunday
obligation and take a bite at the restaurants nearby.
And we started the lamierda. First, we visited my college
chum. This friend of mine has her collection of beautiful
gumamelas. So I cut several twigs for me to bring and
plant at home. The yellow flower shown in this page is
one of those. Most of what I have, come from my friend’s
garden in Cebu. My bff can have the colors she wants
from my garden.
Another beautiful September bloom is the white cattleya.
My white cattleyas came from a friend when I was a
volunteer of Enfants Du Mekong, a French foundation
primarily giving educational scholarships in several third
world countries including the Philippines.
But the cattleyas that supersede in my mind are the purple
ones – those that were placed in a window box – just
across my window in Tacloban. Cattleyas naturally bloom
in September. Where did I see the purple flowers?
When we were new in Tacloban in the 70’s, the old house
along Burgos street had its window box filled with purple
blooms. The scene mesmerized me. Tuyoon man
gani nako ug labay adto nga balay aron ko makakita
sa mga cattleyas. Several years later, the owners of the
purple flowers became our very close neighbour when we
built our house just across theirs. I’m speaking of the
Quintero’s. Our neighbours, to our left were the Quintero’s
of the payola fame: Ambassador Eduardo Quintero, one
of the authors of the Philippines Sabah Claim. During
martial law, he sought exile in the United States where he
died. But his body was flown home to Tacloban for
internment. That was before the bloodless Edsa
revolution.
Early morning of Monday I read on facebook the demise of
Mrs. Julieta Quintero, the matriarch of my very good
neighbour just across our house. The very same
neighbour whose window plant box was filled with cattleya
purple flowers every September. They are the Quinteros
who are more than a family to us. Their yard has been our
children’s playground. My children can climb their santol
and Igot trees when these were in season. The fragrance
of the ilang-ilang flowers from their yard reached our
bedroom on clear nights. They had a playhouse for their
daughter Rosemarie which my girls can use on summer
days. The companionship was interrupted only when
Rosemarie would study music at St. Scholastica’s in
Manila.
I will now talk about the Banderas Espaniolas, the
flowers we collected in 1995, symbolizing the 400 years of
Christianity in our old hometown of Baclayon. Nong Ite
Mendez (Graciano Mendez) was the frontliner in our
greening program. We had a kaleidoscope of flowers in
our saging-saging: red yellow fuchsia pink and
combination of yellow and tangerine and salmon. When
they were all in bloom, nag anam pud ug kahurot ang
mga saging-saging. And the neighbouring houses had
their blooms. We took over the watering of the park
fronting the church when Nong Ite and Nang Letty had
their vacation in Australia visiting their children. Tio Meling
(Melecio Caballo) was ever ready with his trailer and big
drum (we call as barel) of water religiously watering the
grown up plants planted by Paolo. Mi give up si Dalene
ug bobo kay dili kuno lalim. Gardenia Jayag Uy, the
school principal, adopted the little park with the school
children sweeping the falling leaves. What is left now of
the park after the earthquake is just a narrow strip fronting
the church. Luckily the monument of the Christo Rey was
left untouched where the yukkas and bougainvillas are
there. Nong Ite, Tio Meling, Dalene, Anding Laling, Nang
Dinay, Tio Pat are all gone.
But the little park and the trees remain as a living
testament of the program they have supported. It was a
piso-piso project and a passion to care for the
environment.
