By: Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
The vanishing scene of “tabo sa sawang”
Market day in our town of Baclayon is every Wednesday. That schedule is carried on until today. I was the “Maria went to town” type of girl at home – during market day – when I was young, very young. That was during the post war era. Wala pai tsinelas na gitawag namo ug “esmagol” kay ang uso kaniadtong panahona, bakya pa man.
But the bakya of my youth was very stylish. The wooden heels to support our feet were carved with flowers. For the young like me, at that time, our bakya heels were not high. They were just enough to let us look elegant as we wore them. Dili gyud ta-as ang tikod nga mura bitaw ug karang nga ikaw nga magtan-aw molingiw na lang kay simbakohay matuwang ang nagsul-ob. If we did not wear the bakya, we had dainty slippers artfully adorned with beads and lubitos. And we wore these only for special occasions.
Then, on market day, we would go to the stall of Nang Maning. This stall was filled with all sorts of hair clips which we called kumpit. Our hair kumpit with our bakya made us look completely young and ladylike. Nang Maning’s stall had pairs of shoes, too, but my parents would not allow us, then, to buy a pair as we wished – but as we needed it.
All kinds of stuff could be found in our market before. The saleswomen displayed their wares on the cemented floor covered with jute mats. My Lola Danday always tasked me to buy native tabako para ibuhot-buhot kung tingtugnaw. She also told me to buy bawnos ug suwa (or suha) para sa iyang buhok. Mind you, I could not remember the commercial shampoo at that time; and body soap brands were Camay Pink and Palmolive. These were not sold in our market but were only available in Tagbilaran City.
In our market, most of those who sold vegetables were from the inland barrios (now called barangays) of Baclayon. Women sold kamatis nga lomboyon which were in abundance. Lomboyon nga kamatis was kind of bigger than the fruit we call lomboy. Pero kini nga klase sa kamatis kai mas aslum pa sa karon nga klase sa dagkong kamatis.
Ampalaya (paleja) was also sold in several varieties with skins that were more curly in texture than the present hamis nga klase. Everything was sold, not in kilos, but according to the tapok. And the leaves of the utanon nga bago were tied like a chain. We didn’t have candies in varied colors for sale. We only had the tira-tira wrapped in dried banana leaves (unas) and, later, the wrapper used was Japanese paper or papel de hapon.
Most people from the inland barrios come down to sell their products. Those were the times when we planted luy-a, tangad, kalabo ug sibuyas by the kitchen door, hence, we didn’t have to buy these from the market. Our backyard plants were fertilized by the ashes coming from the kitchen sug-ang nga lutu-anan. We had to use buga to clean the kaldero and kaha. Buga can be found in the lapyahan paghuman sa habagat. Patay konong bato ang gigikanan sa buga. That’s what my Lola Danday said. There was also the no-og no-og leaves which we used to wash our plates. PAGKAHINLO UG PAGLASINAW GYUD SA AMONG MGA PLATO, KUTSARA UG UBAN PA. We never used rubber foam because there wasn’t any. For hard residues, we used the bunot (dried coconut husks).
I’m worried about the future. Magpadayon pa ba ug saka ang presyo sa mga panaliton? Look at the prices of gasoline and diesel. If this will be the trend, what is going to happen to the young generation? I am also scared at how subsidies are being given – left and right. People seem to wait for dole outs and aids and what not. There’s the AIC, the PAFFF, the 4Ps, to name a few. Come to think of it. It’s the taxpaying public who is carrying the burden.
During my young days, we did not ask for rice as our farmers planted them. We did ask for fish as we were told to catch fish. We did not ask for aid when we were in crisis because we struggled with our strength to make both ends meet.
I wish the market scene during my young days would come back and bring happiness and satisfaction to our people. Enough of dole outs because it’s still people’s money given to the “SELECTED” FEW. Yes, the selected few.
