The Hegira of a Warrior and the Northern
Hardy Malay Race – A Glimpse of Life
History
The Ilocano Country was called “Samtoy” at the coming of the Spaniards in 1572. Ilocandia now, as Samtoy then, comprises the entire Northwestern territory of Luzon Island. It’s four Provinces – Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra and La Union – make up a long, narrow strip of land that stretches from Cape Bojeador at the northwestern tip of Luzon to the Gulf of Lingayen; a rugged region that crawls between the China Sea on the West and the Great Cordillera Mountain Ranges on the East. The mountains, one observer notes, sometimes run “so close to the coast, which is so reefed that there are very few places that offer safe shelter to vessels.”
The whole Ilocos scenery combines the blended beauty of mountain and sea. Even today, in some parts as in Banaoang, aptly called “La Bocana” ( The Mouth) by the Spaniards – for this mountain gaps the Great Abra River spills into the South China Sea – one experiences the breathtaking splendor of a sunset that shames the sunset of Manila Bay. On the North most tip of the region, connecting Ilocos Norte with Cagayan, one finds the great mountain trail called “El Paso de Patapat,” picturesque as much as it is perilous. But beauty alas, is never equated with prosperity and, as the Spaniards discovered, Samtoy’s own terrain limited her economy.
Although rich in natural resources (the Spaniards were to be attracted most by its famous gold mines), the land itself was never very productive. Ilocos soil, the Spanish Conquistador Juan de Salcedo would find out, was combination of rock and sand; water resources were inadequate, in spite of the great rivers of Abra, Ylauag’s Padsan and Amburayan; and most of the year, the sun burns with steady flame, scorching man and earth; from November until May, the sun burned not only the land but also her resources and her people; aggravated by typhoons at an average frequency of twenty times during rainy seasons. Centuries after the Spaniards came, a writer spawned by that region, J.C. Tuvera, still describe his native Samtoy as “arid, cruel country.” Francisco “Kit” S. Tatad notes in his introduction of a book, “The Ilocos Region is harsh, and to prevail in it, the Ilocano must be strong in body and spirit, frugal, hardworking, intelligent. I say, to prevail on this hard country, the Ilocano has to ingrain unto himself many survival skills and virtues. He wrenches crops from the soil; he scours the nearby sea for fish, shells and exotic weeds; he spins cloth on a homemade loom; he span gold from the river rapids. In the process, the Ilocano has evolved into an intensely practical man – resolute and unimpeachable, frugal, humble, artless and solemn. In the front yard of his neat hut, thatched with cogon grass, grow no decorative flowers nor ornamental plants but prosaic vegetables and medicinal herbal plants. If a leafy vine tumbles down his wall, it is more likely a useful garland of yellow squash than a bloom of bougainvilleas. Nevertheless, it has produced one of the most prolific of all peoples in the archipelago.
Generations of Ilocanos have left home in search of greener pastures. From the Ilocano heartland, they have descended the Central Plain to clear Tarlac Province, crossed the Cordillera to the Cagayan Valley. Thousands more have drifted to Mindoro, the Visayas and Mindanao. Still others ventured farther to the limit, to the plantations of Hawaii and the American West Coast. Wherever he has set foot, the Ilocano has survived handsomely but humble in competition with other groups, for he is “superior in stamina to most of the civilized races, and in industry superior to them all.”
Those who stayed home have by their grit and energy made their coastal home a garden and paradise – each man realizing his dream of a permanent home and a piece of good land to educate his children even to the extent of inflicting pain and suffering unto himself while immersed into the arid land. Tradition sits lightly on a people who until now live and work among the monumental landscape of the past. The ghosts of Baroque Churches loom behind misty cupolas that are haystacks. As the day lightens, bulging machine vehicles raise clouds of dust on the roads running through tobacco and garlic fields. On the seaward side, the traveler may glimpse a gaggle of women in peaked hats helping in to bring in the night’s harvest and bounty of the sea. His un-gaining vehicle might muscle its way past a caravan of bull carts, laden to the rafters with bamboo handicrafts, on its slow journey to the markets of the metropolis.
Frugality, industry, and sturdiness are the proverbial traits attributed to the Ilocano – characteristics which are believed to have been inherited from the concoction of Chinese, Japanese and Malay blend, way back barter trade days before the coming of Spanish interlopers; especially the Chinese, who were the first to have commerce with the Malay ancestors of the Ilocanos hundreds of years ago. In fact, these early ancient influences from two great Oriental cultures came to such a great extent that when the Spanish Conquistador Juan de Salcedo made his significant exploration of the Samtoy Land in 1572, half a century after the Portuguese explorer Fernao de Magalhaes discovered Islas Filipinas in March 16, 1521, he found a clean, and intelligent stock of people who showed a remarkably high degree of civilization. Neat and sturdy houses, brassware utensils, stoneware plates, glazed potteries and jars, silk clothing and gold accessories – all this, Juan de Salcedo discovered, perhaps with awe, in the chain of old ancient settlements he came upon which even in those days, already densely populated. A keen American observer, Percy A. Hill, noted that Samtoy, “probably the first of all Philippine regions to be settled and had sixty-eight thousand tributes or heads of families as early as 1572.”
There were three chief towns at the coming of the Spaniards: Ilauag (Laoag in Ilocos Norte) in the north; Bigan (Ciudad Fernandina de Vigan in Ilocos Sur), the traditional capital, in the center; and Balatao (now the towns of San Juan and Bacnotan in La Union), noted for its gold washings, in the south. Aside from these centers of Filipino civilization, a number of old settlements dotted the Ilocano Coast.
The old port town of Agoo in La Union became known to the Spaniards as “El Puerto de Japon” because it was there where the early Japanese traders usually landed to barter with the “Indios” of Samtoy. Purao was the original settlement from which the present Balaoan, La Union grew. Namacpacan, La Union – the hometown of the mother of the Luna Brothers (later renamed Luna, in honor of the Luna boy Juaquin, who survived the Revolution of 1898 and became governor of La Union and later on became senator) was also the home town of the legendary superman Lam-Ang, according to Ilocano Mythology. Kandong (Candon, Ilocos Sur), Narbakan (Narvacan, Ilocos Sur), Badok (Badoc, Ilocos Norte) and Sinait, Ilocos Sur were, even in those days, individually called “ili daguiti kalalakkian” (where the bravest of men hails) – a reputation for toughness that survived up to the days of modern politico. The old Santa in Ilocos Sur, famous for its blacksmiths (who would supply generations of rebels with fine bolos, swords and daggers, stood at the mouth of the Abra River on the China Sea; it was prosperous settlement until it collapsed into ruin and sank into the sea – church, houses and all – for having challenged, again according to legend, the might of the Supreme Being.
Across the river, from Bigan was, as it still is, Bantay, Ilocos Sur, where the silversmith lived. Ipauay (Paoay, Ilocos Norte), where the famous goldsmiths and cotton weavers dwelled, had the biggest lake in all Samtoy and here, still in Iloko lore, the bejeweled fishes played to lure their yearly preys. There was a place called Bakal – also an encomienda of the King of Spain under the stewardship of Don Gaspar Perez, Bataque (Batac), Ilocos Norte – the hometown of the Marcoses. Of course there was Dinglas (Dingras, Ilocos Norte) and Pidpiddigan (Piddig, Ilocos Norte), comparatively farther from the sea than Ipauay (a pre-Spanish Bombay settlement) and Ilauag, but doubly famous for their gold and basi (the native fermented native wine from sugarcane juice). Dingras and Piddig later on went down in history of Samtoy as bastions of dissent – the former, where the first recorded Ilocano rebellion occurred in 1589, and the latter, where the famous Basi Revolt occurred in 1807.
This was Samtoy – Encomienda of the King of Spain, as the Great Spanish Conquistador Juan de Salcedo found it. When it was awarded to him as an Encomienda, a prize of his Conquista of almost all parts of Luzon, he could have not asked for more.
From the powerful Ancient Kingdom known as Bigan (cabigbigan, “where the biga tree grows”) Salcedo built the Spanish City which he named “Ciudad Fernandina” in honor of the first born son of King Philip II of Spain. Ciudad Fernandina, a prime tourist attraction today, was where the young Conquistador and Encomiendero of Samtoy spent the remaining days of his youthful life before he succumbed as if in karmic retribution, to a deadly tropical disease which killed him on March 11, 1576 at the tender age of 27.
This humble person, Delmar Ynarejos Montanes Castillo Bautista Africa Rubio Alcaraz Calaycay Taclibon y Topinio is a native of the Ancient Samtoy Land, in the Province of Ilocos Norte, born in Laoag City on the 8th of August 1961, year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar. Although I was born in Laoag, I have been always proud to trace my roots in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, the hometown of my ancestors, the hometown of the Luna brothers and the birthplace of my father, Sabino Bautista Rubio Africa Taclibon y Calaycay. I belong to the 7th generation of the Taclibons of the North, and I am proud to carry the genes of genuine hardy Malay race. My Great, Great Paternal Grandfather, Mariano Taclibon was born in 1846 in Badoc, Ilocos Norte and was married to my Great, Great Grandmother Geralda Bautista who was born in 1848 in the same town. The couple bore six healthy children, Benedicta, born 1868, Matias, born 1870, Lorenza, born 1872, Teodosia, born 1874, my Great Grandfather, Pedro Taclibon y Bautista (died, November 20, 1945), was born in 1888, and Honorata was born in 1878, all in the town of Badoc.The Taclibons originally hails from the Town of Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur and later on migrated to the town of Badoc in Ilocos Norte when the clan was considered as dissident way back Spanish times. Santo Domingo was then a former Itneg (corrupted by the Americans as Tinggians) cultural minority town, thus, our native surname.
Badoc, the hometown of the first recorded ancestry of the Taclibons, is situated in the Southernmost part of Ilocos Norte on plain land near the sea and is bounded by Paoay, Pinili, the Cordillera Mountain Range, Sinait, Ilocos Sur and the South China Sea. Badoc was originally populated by the Bagos Tribe of Isneg bloodline – a hardy Malay race of Austronesian stock. It later became an Encomienda named Barao with 2,800 souls under the stewardship of Don Juan de la Pena. Father Alonso Alvarado introduced Christianity to Badoc when he was part of the entourage of the Spanish Conquistador, Juan de Salcedo in his expedition in the North. They first reached the settlement called Barol (which was inhabited by the Bagos tribe) which later became Badoc. Although the first mass was celebrated by Father Alvarado on June 24, 1572, Badoc was only declared as a town on September 19, 1591 simultaneously with the founding of the town church under the advocation of San Juan Bautista and enshrines the miraculous image of La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc since 1620 – that is almost 400 years. The statue was desecrated several times by the marauding pirates so it was brought to Vigan in 1656 and again in 1660 for protection, and was carried in solemn procession there, for protection against plague and other calamities. It was canonically crowned on December 8, 1980 and Bishop Abaya of the Diocese of Laoag proclaimed her as the official patroness of Ilocos Norte. It is interesting to note that the Church of Badoc is older than that of the Church of Paoay (one of the World’s Heritage sites) which was founded in 1593; the builder of the church of Badoc is believed to be the same person who built the church of Paoay.
At present, Badoc is known as the “bawang” (garlic) belt of the country. The huge amount of garlic yielded in this town has always produced the greater bulk of income of its townsfolk to produce doctors, lawyers, educators and nurses in almost all families. During the “Basi Revolt” of 1807, most of the rebels entrenched themselves in this town. Father Sebastian Diez, parish priest of Sinait from 1854 to 1860, baptized in Badoc the patriot and foremost Filipino painter of the 19th century, Juan Luna y Novicio, on October 27, 1857 (born on October 23, 1857) – the brother of the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Philippines under Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine American War, General Antonio Luna y Novicio (Juaquin Luna de San Pedro y Posadas, the father of the Lunas was of Malay and Aeta blood from Zambales, while the mother Laureana Novicio y Ancheta was of third degree Spanish blood from Namacpacan, La Union. At present, the Luna ancestral house still exists as a museum to remind the culture, tradition and the sturdy ancestry of the Badocanos.
As it has been told by my paternal grandfathers Dominador Taclibon y Rubio (born, 1908, and died, 1995 in Dingras, Ilocos Norte) and Marcos Lucero y Taclibon (born, 1899 and died, 1982) – one of the best Ilocos poets and orators during his time, that our ancestors were dissidents who never yielded to the whims of the Spanish friars to be a part of an established community (known as the Doctrinas) by force or through hamleting of natives. My ancestors preferred then to get out of the doctrina and roamed in the wilderness until succeeding generations settled in the town of Badoc in Ilocos Norte and some in the town of Moncada in Tarlac. The clan name Taklibon was never been changed with a Spanish sounding surname derived from the Iberian Peninsula not until the second Hispanization of surnames that the K was changed into C by virtue of the decree of Governor General Narciso Claveria, known as the “ Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos” on November 21, 1841. Almost five (5) years earlier before the birth of my Great Great Grandfather, Mariano Taclibon in 1846.
The Taclibons thus far produced notables in the likes of Marcos Taclibon Lucero Sr. – one of the greatest Ilocano poets of all time, Filipinas Taclibon Lucero – famous singer of the late 60’s, Pedro Bautista Taclibon – Pioneering Farm Worker Foreman in the plantations of Hawaii, Angel Taclibon Bautista – former Mayor of Badoc, Ilocos Norte from 1972 – 1986 and former Phil. Virginia Tobacco Administration Regional Director for Region I, Dominador Rubio Taclibon – former Vice Mayor of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, Engr. Catalino T. Taclibon, Jr. – famous Environmental Engineer, Asian Institute of Technology with Masteral Degree in Engineering, Wendelio Taclibon – Inventor of Vehicle Brackets, US Patents No.6568749, now residing in Shizuoka, Japan, Edmond “Hapzet” Taclibon – famous Amateur League Cyber Athlete, USA, and Catalino Taclibon, Sr. – Labor Leader and one of the original founders and strikers of the Union of Farm Workers, Delano, California, USA, 1973 – 1976.
The family name Calaycay has the same story to tell that of the Taclibons intermarried to a pure Ibanag of ancient Hindu-Malay stock from Cagayan Valley of a former headhunting tribe in the North, the Bucads of Echague, Isabela. My paternal great grandmother is a pure Ibanag married to an Ilocano-Itneg. To some it all, I possess a dominant Malay blood having two minority bloods – Itneg and Ibanag with a dust of Spanish-Japanese-Chinese blood merely because my paternal great grandmother, Francisca Africa Rubio, who was born in 1890 (died, November 1920) is a second-degree Spanish, my maternal grandmother, Casilda Alcaraz is a third-degree Spanish, and my maternal great-great grandfather is a Manchurian, a minority race in China.
So far, the Calaycays has produced doctors, lawyers, politicians, biochemist and scientist, prominent ones are Constitutional Convention Delegate of the 1973 Constitution – Infante Calaycay, representing Kalinga and Apayao, three terms Mayor of Badoc, Ilocos Norte – Dr. Edmundo Calaycay, Dr. Ligorio Calaycay – famous Cosmetic Surgeon, Plastic Surgeon, General Surgeon, Pomona Surgical Center, USA, Dr. Regulo Calaycay – famous Family Doctor and Neurologist, Sacred Heart Medical Group, Pensacola, Florida, USA, Hendricks “Nick” Calaycay – famous rugby player of the Boise State Broncos, USA, Jimmy Calaycay – famous Research Scientist, Biochemist, Mass Spectrometry Specialist, Department of Biochemistry, USA, Corey Calaycay – Councilor, City of Claremont, California, USA, Edmund “Butch” S. Calaycay – famous Hawaii and US interpreter, and Dr. Dorabelle Calaycay Wee, one of the best Filipino doctors of the 21st Century, who now work with the U.N. World Health Organization. Doctor Dorabelle Calaycay Wee is the daughter of the only surviving sibling of my father during the dreaded massacre in Torod, Badoc, Ilocos Norte on November 20, 1945, Honorata Calaycay Bucad Taclibon (later on adopted by Oscar Edmundo Calaycay y Bucad, the brother of my grandmother Emerita Calaycay y Bucad).
The Rubios came all the way from Spain and the Africas came all the way from England (there are no Africas in Spain but in England) after the construction of the Suez Canal on November 17, 1869. The original recorded pedigree was Juan Ramon Rubio and Francisca Ynarejos from Albacete, Spain – were my Great, great, great grandparents. The couple bore a child Cayetano Ynarejos Rubio, on August 7, 1854 in San Sebastian, Villapalacios, Albacete, Spain who was married to Emilia Castillo Montanes who also bore a child Cayetano Montanes Rubio who in turn married to Leoncia Africa. Cayetano Montanes Rubio is therefore my paternal Great, Great Grandfather in the Rubio side who had a female child Francisca Ynarejos Castillo Montanes Rubio y Africa, born 1890 in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, who was married to my great grandfather Pedro Taclibon y Bautista (born in 1888 and died, November 20, 1945). The couple had four (4) children namely, Dominador Rubio Taclibon (born 1908 in Badoc, Ilocos Norte and died 1995), Gregorio Rubio Taclibon, Valeriana Rubio Taclibon Rana and my Grandfather Gil Ynarejos Castillo Montanes Bautista Africa Taclibon y Rubio (born in 1910, in Badoc, Ilocos Norte and married to Emerita Calaycay y Bucad). I therefore belong to the 8th generation of the bloodline of Juan Ramon Rubio and Francisca Ynarejos – the namesake of my Great Grandmother Francisca Rubio y Africa.
Prominence of the Rubio Clan came into being when on March 25, 1898 the Candon Republic was formed under Don Isabelo Abaya when they assembled at the barrio of Namagyan in a scene reminiscent of Andres Bonifacio and his Katipuneros at Balintawak in 1896. Immediately after a rebellion succeeded against Spanish authority, the rebels formed a government popularly called the “Republic of Candon” with Don Fernando Guiralda as Provisional President, Don Placido Guiralda as Secretary of Interior, and Father Valentin Rubio, among others as Consejeros. Isabelo Abaya was chosen as the Commanding General of the rebel army. Valentin Rubio was a native of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, who was coadjutor in Candon at the time and had been in the league with the rebels from the very beginning of the rebellion.
No Filipino student of history has ever treated the Candon Revolt with so much thought and diligence as did the American William Henry C. Scott in his scholarly essay, “Struggle for Independence in Candon.” And no account previous to Scott’s oral or prose, has ever brought to light the martyrdom of eleven Ilocanos, seven of them were leading rebels, executed by the Spaniards after a round-up in Candon during the last week of March 1898. Scott identifies them all: Roberto Guiralda, Placido Guiralda, Manuel Abaya Sr., Leon Abaya, Toribio Abaya, Pio Madarang, Father Valentin Rubio – one of my paternal great grandfathers, Desiderio Agbulos, Victoriano Gadut, Urbano Galac, and Severino Paredes. Until such time that the third President produced by the Great Ancient Malay Samtoy race came into existence to wage a Revolution from the Center - President Ferdinand Rubio Marcos y Edralin (the Grandmother of the late President was Cresencia Rubio – a cousin of my great grandmother Francisca Africa Rubio), next only to President Carlos P. Garcia of Bohol – whose parents hails from Bangued, Abra; and of course succeeding Ilocano Presidents came, President Elpidio Quirino – the pride of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, fourth, fifth, and sixth are half bred Ilocanos – President Ramon Magsaysay – an Ilocano/Zambal, President Fidel Marcos Ramos y Valdez – an Ilocano/Pangasinense, and President Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo y Macaraeg, an Ilocano/Pampango. Still yet, historians has to verify the ancestry of Emilio Aguinaldo – the President of the first Philippine Republic, told to trace his roots in Isabela, Cagayan Valley.
In previous times, Vigan shoved all other towns into the background to claim the biggest roles in the history of the region. Vigan has been the nerve center of political actions as well as the cradle of grave of Ilocadia’s men-of-men in the days of revolt setting aside Valentin Diaz of Badoc and Paoay – one of the Co-Founder of Andres Bonifacio’s Katipunan, Brigadier General Edilberto Evangelista – the defender of Zapote Bridge during the Philippine Revolution of 1898, also of Paoay, the El Vibora – General Artemio Ricarte (born on October 20, 1866 and died on July 31, 1945), Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces under Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine Revolution of 1898 and the only Revolutionary General who never pledge allegiance to the Great American Empire, of Batac, Father Gregorio Aglipay y Labayen – the Vicar General of the Revolutionary Government during the Philippine American War, and also the Founder of the Philippine Independent Church, also of Batac, Marcos Lucero y Taclibon – one of the greatest Ilocano poets of all time, of Badoc and General Antonio Luna y Novicio (born October 29, 1866 and mudered on June 5, 1899) – a prominent member of the Propaganda Movement in Spain and also of the La Liga Filipina, and eventually became the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces under Revolutionary President Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine American War, also of Badoc.
Vigan has provided the country a renowned stateman in Ventura de los Reyes, the first Filipino Diputado (Representative) to the Spanish Cortes; a poetess of international caliber in Leona Florentino – also the mother of Socialist oriented ilustrado who was incarcerated in the prisons of Spain, Isabelo de los Reyes y Florentino; an illustrious patriot and martyr in Father Jose Burgos y Apolonio, who sired the Secularization Movement of the 1860s; and in much later year, Isabelo Artacho co-authored the constitution of the Republic at Biyak-na-Bato. Vigan has been the center of culture and commerce in the entire North from the first days of Spanish conquest. And when the Arch Diocese of Nueva Segovia was transferred from Lal-lo, Cagayan Valley, its seat was moved, of course, to Vigan.
But in 1898, for a brief yet memorable period, Vigan was beaten to a draw, so to speak, and outshone in popularity by Candon in the first great experiment for national unity. And although Juan de Salcedo’s “Ciudad Fernandina” was later to come back into the limelight, Candon was never to lose its popularity again. For the seeds of the Revolution has been sown in the land of Samtoy and the “Cry of Candon,” as the Ilocano revolt led by Isabelo Abaya, the Guiralda Brothers, Father Valentin Rubio and the rest came to be called, was in reality the prelude to Spanish downfall in the Ancient Region called Samtoy!
The Indio of Malay/Austronesian stock – of which I traced my roots and heritage has dwelled in the land called Samtoy, humble and artless, but proud, to have four (4) of the World Heritage Sites in the eight (8) sites in the Philippines out of seven hundred fifty (750) sites all over the world as of July 2003. The other four sites are the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in Palawan, the Puerto Princesa Subterrenean River National Park in Palawan, the Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Baroque Church of Miag-oa, Iloilo and the San Agustin Baroque Church of Intramuros, Manila.
In 1972, the UNESCO or the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization spearheaded the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage whose main and ultimate objective is the conservation, preservation, rehabilitation, and maintenance of such declared sites. As has been declared by UNESCO, the feeling of national pride and sense of patrimonial integrity dominates my very being; this is so due to the fact that four sites belong to the Ancient land of Samtoy – the land of my forefathers.
Out of the eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Philippines is the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras – the ultimate ingenuity of the Northern Hardy Malay Race that traces its roots as Austronesians of Southeast Asia, 6,000 years B.C. based on the studies of Dr. Jesus Peralta; the 2,000 years old Banaue Rice Terraces in Ifugao, Mountain Province which is as the cradle of civilization in the North and the country as a whole, depicts the sterling decisiveness of people to galvanize into a solidarity of force in achieving a common goal and objective. Conservationists and ecologists deduced that this Northern Hardy Malay ingenuity is the best water and soil structure ever constructed in the face of the Earth through natural way. The construction of the Rice Terraces according to Ifugao legend was inspired and taught by the Northern Malay deity Dinapaan of Pahaadan to the hunter brothers Kabigat and Balitok – the sons of Tad–ona and Inuki of Kiangan Mountain Ranges.
The “Hudhud” of which the Ancient Northerners chants during rice harvest times has been honored by UNESCO as one in the ten (10) of the world’s masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The “Muyong” – a sacred ring of forests on top of the terraces that provides water supply according to UNESCO again is so far, the best natural water system and conservation in the world; gathering moist from the atmosphere, absorbed as water by the tree roots from the Muyong and run downstream to the rice terraces to quench the soil.
Another is the Historical Town of Vigan or Villa Fernandina (Ciudad Fernandina) – the center of commerce in the Great Samtoy land before and after colonization era, that engaged itself in the Manila and Acapulco Galleon Trade by supplying the thick hand woven cloth used as galleon sails made out of cotton and human hair from Ipauay (Paoay, Ilocos Norte), sugarcane wine and rum from Pidpidigan (Piddig, Ilocos Norte), large glazed jars from Nagburnayan, Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos tobacco, knives, bolos and sharp items from Santa, Ilocos Sur and San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, gold dust in various delta towns and many others. Evident Chinese influence in the North is the town name Vigan – which is, if written in the Chinese character means “Beautiful Shore.”
Third and forth are the Baroque Churches of Paoay, Ilocos Norte’s San Agustin Church and Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur’s Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion Church.
Since childhood, I have always heard those stories of my ancestry and later been confirmed by my immediate elders, thus I came to realized the significance of my roots and my heritage. Such familiarity of my ancestry is the legacy of my father. I fantasized the past of my ancestors and I even wished to have existed in their times and generations. Every time I take a visit in the North, I always cherished homecoming and the waves of the sea reminds me of my ancestors’ oriental interdependence and intercourse, barter trades, and intermarriages, free from interlopers and conquerors. I wished that I would have lived in their times so that I may have experienced to be truly free.
In my childhood, I can still remember how I grew up in the wings of my maternal grandmother Casilda Topinio y Alcaraz and my maternal uncle Vicente Alcaraz Topinio, a painter. We lived in our ancestral century-old house then in Laoag at the upper floor. In all aspect of my life, I can never remember an instance that I was embraced by my mother. I can remember the hugs and kisses of my father though, as he gently combed my fine young hair every time he ascends upstairs for a visit. Both families belong to the inquilino peasant descent (Jose Rizal’s parents were also inquilinos – those natives who rented lands from the friars who in turn hired tillers) evident in the North way back Spanish times, but my father have squandered his properties during his youthful years being an orphan, who was surrogated and at the administration of Angel Taclibon Bautista – a paternal uncle of his, a politician and town mayor of Badoc from 1972 to 1983 and later on appointed by President Ferdinand E. Marcos as Region I Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration Director, while, my maternal grandmother has a vast holdings that can support two future generations.
The happiest times of my life indeed were during “tersias,” a time wherein landowners and tillers of the soil partakes the blessings in the year’s harvests. I was then the favorite of my grandmother and a maternal aunt Visitacion Topinio Aguilar and of course my uncle Vicente Topinio y Alcaraz, so that I always enjoyed every bit of the “tersia,” best part of the chicken tinola, the best mango fruit, newly cut sugarcane stalk, the first chop of the roasted pig and the only sibling to be carried in a wooden sedan chair by four men in transient while my Grand Mother Casilda Alcaraz checks the vast landholdings (the lands that were originally rented from the Friars were finally awarded to my great grand parents after the Philippine Revolution of 1898). In the eyes of those people, I was a Japanese Prince, because when I was young, I was amply called “Matori” derived from my first name Delmar, compliments of my first cousin Edwin Topinio Aguilar.
In my younger years, I have always been depicted as a naughty and troublesome fellow. When I was below seven, I was called the “Fire Boy” by my uncle Eloy Taclibon, because I nearly put the whole Century Old house ablaze by igniting a cotton mosquito net with a lighted candlestick. My father was so mad but he could not find me, because I was concealed by my grandmother under the traditional “saya,” she wore. Childhood days were the happiest days of my life then; being King of everything not until the death of my uncle and later on my grandmother, and all remained was my maternal aunt, Visitacion Topinio Aguilar.
My maternal grandfather Igmedio Topinio was the King when he still lived, but when he passed away on October 18, 1954 immediately after my birth seven years after, I substituted his place in my grandmother’s heart. I was everything my grandmother have, her ultimate possession, her life and only favored grandchild. Those were one of the happiest moments in my life and until now as I reminisce, I could not control myself but to have a silent cry. I wished such abundance and prosperity during the matriarchal administration of my grandmother continued after her death. It did not turn to be that way. After the landholdings were subjected by Land Reform Program in the early 70s, each of the siblings has had a piece of it – mortgaged, sold and squandered. That was then the end of my little kingdom, my playground and the sentimental reflection of the past haunts me until now.
My poster mother and Aunt Visitacion Topinio Aguilar died in 1978, and so much grief has stricken my very being; precisely because the remaining person who can tolerate my excesses was gone, and I have to go back totally to the folds of my parents. That was then the lowest point of my life. My mother, Filipinas Taclibon was never been in good terms with my aunt until her death. It must have been a clan’s guarded secret because until now I never have known why.
So I went back to folds of my parents. Although my father worked as a bookkeeper at the Public Works and Highways, his salary was not enough to shoulder the expenses of the family of five siblings, two girls and three boys. My father then has to find ways and means to augment his meager income. We then bred fighting cocks, and put up a mini-grocery. Being the next eldest of the boys, it seemed that I have to be burdened with choirs in lieu of our eldest, who was almost non-existent in the house. He turned into a black sheep at the making of my father and his bosom friend, Nestor Siazon – son of former Laoag City Mayor, Eulalio Siazon and the leader of the infamous “All White Gang”.
My brother Gil Demie Taclibon grieved so much for the death of a brother, Sabino Taclibon, Jr., who died of H-fever. As the story goes, because of the inquilino peasant descent of my father, who valued so dearly every grain of rice, discipline has to be imposed to who ever retain a single grain of rice in the plate at the dinning table. The boy might not be feeling well at the very start of a Sunday lunch, his porcelain plate with rice and viands was shoved away and it fell on the concrete floor. Whipping with a bamboo stick ensued, and the boy was left behind in the corner as he shivers with fever crying. That was the cause of the death of a brother whom I have never seen and not even in cameo image or in photo pictures. It was told then that all the pictures of my brother were burned by my father to stop the haunting of his memories.
My father loved our junior so much so that when the boy was nearly over-run by a kalesa or horse drawn cart, the poor cotchero was mauled by my father near death. The boy was told to be mestiso looking derived from the looks and color of my father and the fairest boy in the whole neighborhood. It is so unfortunate that not a single photo picture has been preserved. After his death, my father has mellowed down, before spanking takes place, the siblings of three boys and two girls has to be appraised of the untoward acts done and the rationality of punishment, with a glass of water in waiting after the imposition of the penalty.
Let us go back to my rebellious brother who has distanced himself from me all those years. Perhaps because I became the favorite of my father when I learned the art of rearing fighting cocks and the love of rearing the family orchards, vegetable gardens and the art of making the backyard as spic and span as it should be at the delight of my father; his rebellion emanated from his grief and his hatred of the person who loved him so much more than he loved me. All I can remember was that my brother left ankle was in chain, chopping water cabbage (balangeg or kangkong) on a wooden chop board, with the other end tied in the century old house’s kamagong wooden post with his right leg bounded with first-aide cotton fabrics. It has been told again that it was ordered by my father to a policeman in pursuit to shoot my brother for a malfeasance committed. My father has never been in good terms with my brother since then. What made the gap widen was that when my brother worked with a sole aunt in Baguio City in her wood carving firm for export, my brother masterminded a robbery of all times that involved the near kin of my aunt’s husband. I was there in that summer after the incident, and I was told that my brother was rearing the babies of pimps and prostitutes in a brothel house in downtown Baguio after he ran away.
My brother was my aunt’s favorite I would presume, merely because in my every stay in Baguio in all summers all those years, all praises were uttered by her about the brilliance of my brother who was then studying in Saint Louis University as a commerce student. Not until the unfortunate robbery incident that my aunt should have realized how congenital evil my brother was. Instead of condemning the act, she even went crazy looking for him with teary eyes. She eventually found my brother in one of the bawdy houses in Baguio.
My brother came back to Ilocos without a diploma and ostracized by near kin for his malfeasances in Baguio. But I have always cherished his homecoming, as he was approaching our doorsteps, I embraced him so hard but it was never been reciprocated. I loved my eldest brother as I do love my other brother and sisters. But what extraordinary thing a felt is that he became my champion ready to resist the autocratic ways of my father. My brother is known until now as “Tatang,” one of the dreaded underworld personalities of Laoag, compliments of my father who have turned him into a monster perhaps.
“Tatang Demie” is a well-known beer house operator, gambling wizard, billiard pool hustler and soon after became a well sought trouble shooter by politicians after he manslaughter someone inside his joint who resisted payment of bills. After that, one too many has been heard to be his deadly prey. He is feared together with one Uncle Eloy Taclibon who is considered as human armory. It is very embarrassing to note that during the funeral interment of my father, they never joined the procession. Their motto in life I presume is “never trust anyone, not even your own shadow.”
As I grew up, I came to know that our story is not just an ordinary clan’s story. The Taclibons, is a clan entangled in a never-ending quagmire of violence after violence, vendetta after vendetta, an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth for centuries that had passed in the abyss of no where. It is a tradition that has been passed from generations to the next which I want to stop and finally come to an end. When I was younger, those stories of violence were music to my ear, for what I have heard at first were the gallant stand of my grandfathers Gregorio Rubio Taclibon and Dominador Rubio Taclibon – former Vice Mayor of Badoc, my father and my uncles Eloy Taclibon, Pancho Taclibon, Dr. Ernesto Salviejo Taclibon and his brother Rogelio Salviejo Taclibon (born, February 3, 1939 in Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley), in depending the clan. But I came to know that there were those who have perished in the past for the sake of preserving the glory days of the clan. I have heard stories how my uncles butchered someone, decapitating the head of the victim, cutting his breast down to the genitalia, and revealing the internal organs in a pool of blood. I never knew the reason of the bestiality. Again, I have heard a story that my uncle Eloy Taclibon is one of the best shots in the Ilocos during his time and until now. It was then a stigma that who so ever died of a fatal gunshot-wound at a distant far must have been perpetuated by this uncle.
It was also then that my clan had experienced the most dreaded tragedy of all times in the anal of its history, the death of my Great Grandfather Pedro Bautista Taclibon, three siblings (Laureana, Conrado, and Cresencia Taclibon) and the personal bodyguard of the family on November 20, 1945, just after the Second World War. All in all, five were dead except my father who was there trying to depend his grandfather, brothers and sisters but he wasn’t able to do otherwise but to cower in a safe place of the house to survive. In the history of Ilocos, that incident perhaps is one of the first massacres that ever happened. The siblings who were already orphaned (my paternal grandfather Gil Rubio Taclibon died during the war as a guerilla fighter and my grandmother Emerita Bucad Calaycay followed) were then having their dinner at their ancestral house in Sitio Torod in Badoc with my great grandfather, when a sudden bursts of gunfire reverberated, followed by a loud explosion of hand grenades. The result of the assault was the death of my great grandfather, the three siblings, and the death of a “katiwala” outside the house who was hacked to death. Fortunately my aunt Honorata (later on adopted by a paternal grandfather Oscar Edmundo Calaycay y Bucad) who is the youngest was with a relative in a “maro” or barter trade.
The dastardly incident has traumatized my father, so that there are times flashed backs of the incident kept haunting him often during dinners. During those years after the massacre, series of never ending violence after violence ensued - a never ending vendetta that until up to present times still persists. And it seems that such old tradition of violence in the North has been passed from generation to the next. Vengeance may be undertaken instantly, in one year time, five years, ten years, or even for fifty years and you’ll never know when the first high wind that comes along with blew you away and never realized that you are a victim of inherited blood debt.
It is also worth remembering to tell the death of one uncle by affinity, Amor Lucero, married to my father’s paternal first-degree cousin and a namesake of my mother Filipinas Taclibon. My uncle Eloy then was suspected of killing one the Valdez Clan’s siblings in a distant range of which is his expertise. My auntie wanted to evade trouble so that they decided to settle in my uncle’s home Province in Ilocos Sur. All their things were already set for departure in a hired truck and the only lacking one was a daughter in elementary grade. My uncle has to fetch the little girl in school in a bicycle, of which he was able to be at the gate of Badoc Elementary School. But what welcomed him were bullets coming from two armed men in ladies’ dress. My uncle died right there and then. After such incident, killings had to be done, vendetta after vendetta – an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth that made the whole world blind with blood. It is now year 2008, still vengeance lingers on, as if, the hatred has just began.
My father is already gone, may he rest in peace and serenity with the Supreme Being. I know that it is his fervent hope as I do, that violence shall finally rest in the garden of the graves. May my eldest brother, and some uncles realized that if anger and hatred inherited from the past will not be put to a stop, then I may say that future Taclibons will also be living victims. May the culture of love and peace dominate their hearts and minds and learn to forgive and forget. Let my cousin Clayton Taclibon be the last victim of this violence. He was so young yet died in very violent death a few years ago in Laoag in broad daylight. Five malefactors mauled his frail body, clubbed his arms, legs and head with wood; he cried for mercy, but in dept ears, he was gun down point blank in the head just the same. He was mourned for three days, and in the four succeeding days, retribution and vengeance was imposed. Four of the perpetuators of the crime were seen in each days butchered without heads and body organs. It was never known until to this date who was knighted as the avenger.
The turning point and the lowest point of my life perhaps have yet to come not until this family burden ends with finality. The values of the warriors of the past and the warrior nature of our ancestors is my litany for it to subside; for I believe that it is no longer applicable in our present world, generation and society. Head hunting for vengeance is highly condemnable, instead the court of law – the arbiter of a civilized society must prevail to let justice be done.
My non-violent stance is evident in my poem entitled “When the Fire Tree Blooms…,” composed in my solitary re-assignment in Bacolod in Negros also just a few years ago. It was written before the death of my cousin Clayton. It is worth sharing although it has never been published. It goes:
When The Fire Tree Blooms…….
Born in the lush green tropics, nurtured by monsoon rains,
Verdant turned red – blazing like fire,
Indeed an enchanting beauty of the wilderness.
Summer mourned death; leaves fade away,
And fall unto the bosom of arid land,
Glory it was for the ferocious evil one.
The bestial boa devoured the flesh,
Acolyte of the tyrant and the beast,
Pervert hairy two-legged mammal of Genesis.
Tears shed for the departed,
Mountains shattered by the roar of anguish,
Litany of the avenger resound the rhythm of war.
A generation knighted seven-folds,
The hurricane’s wrath emanates from gentle breeze,
Echo of the past - music of the war dance once again.
The anointed one is destiny; nemesis of injustice and tyranny,
The inevitable is vengeance,
Ingrained in the genes of the Northern Hardy Malay race.
Retribution haunts the Knight’s burning desire,
Magni Nominis Umbra,
Decapitates the savage beast – vanquish at last.
The fire tree blooms, it shall come to past,
Generates new offspring then divest its leaves,
Cry not of sorrow but of relief.
When the fire tree blooms…it is a season for head hunting,
Not a wanton crave for blood but retribution,
A punitive act of the ancient God?
When the fire tree blooms….it is a season of peace and harmony,
Man’s fervent hope then….
That violence shall rest in the garden of the grave.
RAPASAKDALSAKAY, 2000.
The historical artifacts of the clan although, violently nostalgic as it maybe, also has its good sides. Our ancestors pioneered in agro-business, thus my great grandfather Pedro Bautista Taclibon was a pioneering foreman in the plantations of Hawaii in the early 1900s. It has always been lectured that every piece of rice grain is gold being the sweat, blood and tears of our ancestors who all those past centuries have toiled to produce a single grain of rice. Further, it has always been reiterated that every grain of rice constitutes the skull and bones of our ancestors who have all those years survived the rigorous arid land of the North. The clan had survived through hard work, respect and fair deal for fellowmen and fear of the Supreme Being. The values of the family were further enriched by my father who was once a bookkeeper in the Public Works and Highways Ministry. My father retired a poor man, and died a poor man. He didn’t own a house, car, or any property, so that we his children can attest that my father never robbed the people blind; he died in peace and serenity, without properties nore wealth to argue with among siblings. That is the prime legacy of the clan that has survived the adversities of life without enriching itself at the expense of the country and its people.
My fondness of saloyot (native spinach), tabtaba (floating river weeds), abal-abal (earth bugs), balleyba ( rare river weeds), birabid (rare soft shelled snail), simmot-simmot (flying termites), wadag-wadag (camarro), padas (cichlids fish sauce), abu-os (red ants’ eggs), allukap (river cockroach), bua (beetle nut) and gawwed (mint leaves), aballeng (coconut white worms), gammet (rare sea weed), basi (fermented sugar cane wine), pinapaitan, pinakbet, pinespes and every exotic food in the North you can imagine is the concoction of a true-blooded Ilocano. Such delicacies do not simply represent the primitive and ancient taste bud of the North, but rather, it represents the firmness and sense of extreme survival of the Ilocanos. In the mere whistling of the winds, the Northerners can predict impending typhoons that visits the north at an average frequency of twenty (20) times, thus their survival instinct.
I have always lived in an adventurous life. From being a former exchange student to Hunan, China in 1976 (just before the death of the Great Communist Helmsman Mao Dze Dong) to student activist in high school and college days; from the simple arid Province of Ilocos Norte to the concrete jungles of Manila, I survived. When I first set foot here in Manila way back 1985, barely one year with Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and a franchise holder Philippine Casino Operators Corp. (PCOC), as a table supervisor, virtually, I was nothing, but young, educated, trained as a student leader, and a very likable person due to my promptness at work and unreserved work style with co-workers. But during those early years, I was already a man to recon with as far as management is concerned because of my critical and radical views towards company policies.
I was employed with the Corporation in the middle of 1983, and as early as 1985, I have already severed my relationships with some bosses including my Branch Manager and the Branch Security Officer. That’s how I landed in Manila from Laoag Branch. That was my first solitary confinement and virtually a persona non grata in my own native province. I may have been powerless and without influence towards management, but to my fellow rank and file then, I was already a popular figure particularly here in Manila at the tender age of 23.
During those days, there was suppression in the air that nurtured discontentment among the rank and files including myself. The corporation has existed for nine years then, but nobody did have the guts to organize and fight for ones right. But there was a handful few who were progressive in their views, principled and brilliant. The opportunity came in 1986 February Revolution; it was the right time to take advantage of the turmoil that beset the country so that we organized. I was then one of the twenty five original founders of a rank and file union; eventually elected as its first National Auditor, Chairman of the Committee on Labor Education and Research, Co-founder and Co-chairman of the Propaganda and Media Affairs Bureau, and Vice-Chairman of the of the Peace and Order Corps – the security force of the union. I was so young to be involved in unionism at the tender age of 24, the youngest labor union leader ever to be docketed in the Department of Labor at that time and one of the first labor leaders who picketed the labor department side by side with Gokongwei’s Robina Farm Employees Union just after the Revolutionary Government of Cory Aquino was installed.
It was during those times that I demonstrated extra-ordinary courage, blinded by youthful idealism. I might have been the youngest officer of the union but I was the most militant and unreserved in dealing with anti-riot police, goons and metrocoms compliments of then Chairman Norberto Quisumbing. We fought, we struggled, but unfortunately the union was busted at the directive of Malacanang under the presidency of Corazon C. Aquino – the person whom we helped to install as an alternative redeemer of a dying nation. We returned to work in September 9th of 1986 with the negotiation between the union and the Corporation that no single employee should be displaced. All employees were all absorbed by the corporation – the legacy of the labor union.
We failed to put up a strong union and it is one great missed opportunity in my life. It was one of the strongest unions ever to be organized after the 1986 Revolution, but in vain, it turned into a union that never was - compliments of the widow of Ninoy Aquino. But we set a precedent that dissent and radicalism is the product of injustice and suppression. The legacy of the union therefore was the inherent and sacred right to rebel and organize to protect ones life and limbs from perils, from within and from without. Without the union, we would have been at the mercy of the powers that be for re-employment.
There were no dull moments during those union days, and up to this date, I have been always proud to be a former union leader. I consider my involvement as one of the peak of my experiences in life worth telling to my children and grandchildren. My legacy perhaps is wage labor consciousness that if unfair labor practice, suppression, and unjustified autocratic system of governance/management again prevail, then it is up to the young generation to recon to the past and decides whether or not to acquire power through unionism. All these are being told to clearly depict the evolution of power. It may be unsubstantial but still it can influence others for the betterment of the majority.
At present, I carry the item of Gaming Manager D – a position belonging to management executive level. My power and influence perhaps is minimal and emanates solely from what I am as a person, what I have achieved, my educational attainment, and perhaps who I was way back student and union days. My personal profile dictates that I graduated with Honors in College; Outstanding Graduate of 1983 – a recipient of the Estrada-Gutierrez Foundation Gold Medal for Community Service; Outstanding Student Leader of 1983 – a recipient of the SAC- Student Assistance Committee, Office of the President, Leadership Trophy,; Outstanding YCSCian of Northwestern University of 1983; a participant of the 1986 EDSA Revolution under Jejomar Binay contingent; I have finished my Master Degree in Business Administration (MBA) at the Philippine School of Business Administration, Manila and at the Philippine Christian University, Center for Graduate Studies in Business and Management on March 27, 2003 (graduated with Feasibility Study), and my Doctorate Degree in Development Administration at the PCU, Center for Graduate Studies in Business and Management is presently “In Progress” and have already passed my Comprehensive Examinations; a multi-awarded athlete of the Corporation; four (4) time finisher of the dreaded 104 kilometer “Death March Ultra Marathon” from Mariveles, Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga, fro 1988 to 1991; three times elected Gaming Employees SFC Board by a popular vote; a prominent figure in the ouster of then Chairman Norberto Quisumbing in 1987, tagged as one of the “Magnificent Eleven” – as signatory of the position paper exposing the mismanagement of the Corporation addressed to then President Corazon C. Aquino, in affiliation with the Anti-Graft League of the Philippines and the late Atty. Lupino Lazaro; ideologue of the Gaming Employees 5th SFC National Congress in 1992.
Lastly, my name perhaps has reverberated in the four corners of the Corporation because of acts of harassment inflicted upon my person by management. I am perhaps the most be-traveled, most harassed, and most terrorized employee due to my constant re-assignment in the branches to mussel my principle.
I have been with the Corporation for almost 21 years now, and in those years, I have never incurred any absences or tardiness. There are those who want to put me down in the past but record shows that I am a figure above par, so that in the end, they will first think twice before doing something drastic against my person. All those years, I have acquired a substantial number of friends and networks that I can lean on, in times of perils from within and from without. I display authority and power sparingly. My goal in life now is to prioritize my studies for self-development and advancement.
It is well known fact that our Organization has existed for more than twenty one (21) years now, from the time of Marcos way back 1976, to the time of Cory Aquino and to the present, under the Chairmanship of Ruben Ancheta (Marcos Era), Ding Tanjuatco (1986 Revolutionary Government), Norberto Quisumbing, the longest term was Alicia Ll. Reyes of almost thirteen (13) years and presently, Efraim C. Genuino. I was then one of those who were instrumental in the ousting of Chairman Quisumbing then, tagged as the “Magnificent Eleven,” all were former national union officers who eventually paved the way of the Alicia Ll. Reyes dispensation. Indeed, I know too well the history and artifacts of the corporation for I am part of it and I may say that I am a major player in the transformation of its cultural organizational values.
People have come and gone in the Corporation, but the corporation still exists because it is a creation of a Marcos presidential decree 1869, founded under autocratic corporate culture. Different management cultures have come and gone, but autocracy prevailed due to the fact that the corporation was designed under Marcosian organizational culture. It has its good features as far as control is concerned but abused by those people who are not familiar with the nature and features of the business. Basic human rights had been violated and there was total disregard of the dignity and worth of human person as provided for by the fundamental law. This contention was not just based on what my fellow workers have uttered and experienced, but rather based on my personal experience of living dangerously; an experience that almost destroyed me as a rational creation of the Supreme Being. I almost burned out due to stress, to the extent of resigning, or joining the revolutionary force – wherein former batch way back student activism days are local top brass, and even thinking of committing manslaughter. The wounds I have sustained had long been healed but still the scar is there. I survived and transformed into a more resolute person. As Ho Chi Mihn have said, “adversities and obstructions in life should transform us into a polished jade.”
Not to be provide with the mandatory hotel accommodation during my re-assignment in Isabela way back 1992, was a breach of courtesy and respect for an employee; denying me the basic comfort of a warm bed, pillow and blanket during the months of the Siberian Winds was barbaric. That was how the old culture goes during those years. The past chairmanship served three Presidents for 13 long years, and indeed the corporation earned superlatively. But to evaluate the lives and prosperity of employees, we almost lived in poverty. In the present dispensation, it is fervently hoped that the continuous institution of reforms that has made life better for employees now shall continue under the altruistic Chairmanship of Efraim C. Genuino.
My mission in life now is no longer self-centered founded on greed, apathy, and over-consumptive life style, but rather a mission of utmost service to others, exercise ability, knowledge, and power to help uplift the well-being of fellow workers. And at least get out of my shell to do something for the good of our fellowmen, so that comes judgment day I may face my Creator with pride and dignity. All through the years of my struggles in life, I developed the ability to resist pain by experiencing pain to avert a more severe pain, and the ability to casts hatred and anger; my firm belief now is that I must at least do something good for humanity because I am not getting any younger and I may soon say, “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.”
If ever I will be given the choice where would I be now, I would choose to sway with the natural flow of life – simple and dignified. Precisely because all those years of my life that come and gone, I have learned to be contented of what I am and what I have. Resistance to the temptation of the glitter of wealth and comfort of power has already been ingrained in my values. The pain of having less and not being what you want to be is not that painful after all, because, I still live and still I can achieve. The choice of the intangibles is but fantasy and contrary to the real world. I dreamed, I struggled, I have achieved and can still achieve more for the good of humanity. I may now say, “Dum Vivimus, Vivamus, Dum Spiro, Spero,” the Hegira has just begun!
DELMAR T. TACLIBON, 2008
MBA, Ph. D. D. A. – in progress
“The poignant
wish for a tranquil life will find no sanctuary in today’s world. We live in a
revolutionary harsh era. It is an era of swift, violent, often disruptive
change; an era of rapid rate of change and rate of time. And rather than lament
this vainly, we have to decide whether or not we should be the masters or
victims of change.”
Introduction:
TODAY’S REVOLUTION
The Ilocano Country was called “Samtoy” at the coming of the Spaniards in 1572. Ilocandia now, as Samtoy then, comprises the entire Northwestern territory of Luzon Island. It’s four Provinces – Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra and La Union – make up a long, narrow strip of land that stretches from Cape Bojeador at the northwestern tip of Luzon to the Gulf of Lingayen; a rugged region that crawls between the China Sea on the West and the Great Cordillera Mountain Ranges on the East. The mountains, one observer notes, sometimes run “so close to the coast, which is so reefed that there are very few places that offer safe shelter to vessels.”
The whole Ilocos scenery combines the blended beauty of mountain and sea. Even today, in some parts as in Banaoang, aptly called “La Bocana” ( The Mouth) by the Spaniards – for this mountain gaps the Great Abra River spills into the South China Sea – one experiences the breathtaking splendor of a sunset that shames the sunset of Manila Bay. On the North most tip of the region, connecting Ilocos Norte with Cagayan, one finds the great mountain trail called “El Paso de Patapat,” picturesque as much as it is perilous. But beauty alas, is never equated with prosperity and, as the Spaniards discovered, Samtoy’s own terrain limited her economy.
Although rich in natural resources (the Spaniards were to be attracted most by its famous gold mines), the land itself was never very productive. Ilocos soil, the Spanish Conquistador Juan de Salcedo would find out, was combination of rock and sand; water resources were inadequate, in spite of the great rivers of Abra, Ylauag’s Padsan and Amburayan; and most of the year, the sun burns with steady flame, scorching man and earth; from November until May, the sun burned not only the land but also her resources and her people; aggravated by typhoons at an average frequency of twenty times during rainy seasons. Centuries after the Spaniards came, a writer spawned by that region, J.C. Tuvera, still describe his native Samtoy as “arid, cruel country.” Francisco “Kit” S. Tatad notes in his introduction of a book, “The Ilocos Region is harsh, and to prevail in it, the Ilocano must be strong in body and spirit, frugal, hardworking, intelligent. I say, to prevail on this hard country, the Ilocano has to ingrain unto himself many survival skills and virtues. He wrenches crops from the soil; he scours the nearby sea for fish, shells and exotic weeds; he spins cloth on a homemade loom; he span gold from the river rapids. In the process, the Ilocano has evolved into an intensely practical man – resolute and unimpeachable, frugal, humble, artless and solemn. In the front yard of his neat hut, thatched with cogon grass, grow no decorative flowers nor ornamental plants but prosaic vegetables and medicinal herbal plants. If a leafy vine tumbles down his wall, it is more likely a useful garland of yellow squash than a bloom of bougainvilleas. Nevertheless, it has produced one of the most prolific of all peoples in the archipelago.
Generations of Ilocanos have left home in search of greener pastures. From the Ilocano heartland, they have descended the Central Plain to clear Tarlac Province, crossed the Cordillera to the Cagayan Valley. Thousands more have drifted to Mindoro, the Visayas and Mindanao. Still others ventured farther to the limit, to the plantations of Hawaii and the American West Coast. Wherever he has set foot, the Ilocano has survived handsomely but humble in competition with other groups, for he is “superior in stamina to most of the civilized races, and in industry superior to them all.”
Those who stayed home have by their grit and energy made their coastal home a garden and paradise – each man realizing his dream of a permanent home and a piece of good land to educate his children even to the extent of inflicting pain and suffering unto himself while immersed into the arid land. Tradition sits lightly on a people who until now live and work among the monumental landscape of the past. The ghosts of Baroque Churches loom behind misty cupolas that are haystacks. As the day lightens, bulging machine vehicles raise clouds of dust on the roads running through tobacco and garlic fields. On the seaward side, the traveler may glimpse a gaggle of women in peaked hats helping in to bring in the night’s harvest and bounty of the sea. His un-gaining vehicle might muscle its way past a caravan of bull carts, laden to the rafters with bamboo handicrafts, on its slow journey to the markets of the metropolis.
Frugality, industry, and sturdiness are the proverbial traits attributed to the Ilocano – characteristics which are believed to have been inherited from the concoction of Chinese, Japanese and Malay blend, way back barter trade days before the coming of Spanish interlopers; especially the Chinese, who were the first to have commerce with the Malay ancestors of the Ilocanos hundreds of years ago. In fact, these early ancient influences from two great Oriental cultures came to such a great extent that when the Spanish Conquistador Juan de Salcedo made his significant exploration of the Samtoy Land in 1572, half a century after the Portuguese explorer Fernao de Magalhaes discovered Islas Filipinas in March 16, 1521, he found a clean, and intelligent stock of people who showed a remarkably high degree of civilization. Neat and sturdy houses, brassware utensils, stoneware plates, glazed potteries and jars, silk clothing and gold accessories – all this, Juan de Salcedo discovered, perhaps with awe, in the chain of old ancient settlements he came upon which even in those days, already densely populated. A keen American observer, Percy A. Hill, noted that Samtoy, “probably the first of all Philippine regions to be settled and had sixty-eight thousand tributes or heads of families as early as 1572.”
There were three chief towns at the coming of the Spaniards: Ilauag (Laoag in Ilocos Norte) in the north; Bigan (Ciudad Fernandina de Vigan in Ilocos Sur), the traditional capital, in the center; and Balatao (now the towns of San Juan and Bacnotan in La Union), noted for its gold washings, in the south. Aside from these centers of Filipino civilization, a number of old settlements dotted the Ilocano Coast.
The old port town of Agoo in La Union became known to the Spaniards as “El Puerto de Japon” because it was there where the early Japanese traders usually landed to barter with the “Indios” of Samtoy. Purao was the original settlement from which the present Balaoan, La Union grew. Namacpacan, La Union – the hometown of the mother of the Luna Brothers (later renamed Luna, in honor of the Luna boy Juaquin, who survived the Revolution of 1898 and became governor of La Union and later on became senator) was also the home town of the legendary superman Lam-Ang, according to Ilocano Mythology. Kandong (Candon, Ilocos Sur), Narbakan (Narvacan, Ilocos Sur), Badok (Badoc, Ilocos Norte) and Sinait, Ilocos Sur were, even in those days, individually called “ili daguiti kalalakkian” (where the bravest of men hails) – a reputation for toughness that survived up to the days of modern politico. The old Santa in Ilocos Sur, famous for its blacksmiths (who would supply generations of rebels with fine bolos, swords and daggers, stood at the mouth of the Abra River on the China Sea; it was prosperous settlement until it collapsed into ruin and sank into the sea – church, houses and all – for having challenged, again according to legend, the might of the Supreme Being.
Across the river, from Bigan was, as it still is, Bantay, Ilocos Sur, where the silversmith lived. Ipauay (Paoay, Ilocos Norte), where the famous goldsmiths and cotton weavers dwelled, had the biggest lake in all Samtoy and here, still in Iloko lore, the bejeweled fishes played to lure their yearly preys. There was a place called Bakal – also an encomienda of the King of Spain under the stewardship of Don Gaspar Perez, Bataque (Batac), Ilocos Norte – the hometown of the Marcoses. Of course there was Dinglas (Dingras, Ilocos Norte) and Pidpiddigan (Piddig, Ilocos Norte), comparatively farther from the sea than Ipauay (a pre-Spanish Bombay settlement) and Ilauag, but doubly famous for their gold and basi (the native fermented native wine from sugarcane juice). Dingras and Piddig later on went down in history of Samtoy as bastions of dissent – the former, where the first recorded Ilocano rebellion occurred in 1589, and the latter, where the famous Basi Revolt occurred in 1807.
This was Samtoy – Encomienda of the King of Spain, as the Great Spanish Conquistador Juan de Salcedo found it. When it was awarded to him as an Encomienda, a prize of his Conquista of almost all parts of Luzon, he could have not asked for more.
From the powerful Ancient Kingdom known as Bigan (cabigbigan, “where the biga tree grows”) Salcedo built the Spanish City which he named “Ciudad Fernandina” in honor of the first born son of King Philip II of Spain. Ciudad Fernandina, a prime tourist attraction today, was where the young Conquistador and Encomiendero of Samtoy spent the remaining days of his youthful life before he succumbed as if in karmic retribution, to a deadly tropical disease which killed him on March 11, 1576 at the tender age of 27.
This humble person, Delmar Ynarejos Montanes Castillo Bautista Africa Rubio Alcaraz Calaycay Taclibon y Topinio is a native of the Ancient Samtoy Land, in the Province of Ilocos Norte, born in Laoag City on the 8th of August 1961, year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar. Although I was born in Laoag, I have been always proud to trace my roots in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, the hometown of my ancestors, the hometown of the Luna brothers and the birthplace of my father, Sabino Bautista Rubio Africa Taclibon y Calaycay. I belong to the 7th generation of the Taclibons of the North, and I am proud to carry the genes of genuine hardy Malay race. My Great, Great Paternal Grandfather, Mariano Taclibon was born in 1846 in Badoc, Ilocos Norte and was married to my Great, Great Grandmother Geralda Bautista who was born in 1848 in the same town. The couple bore six healthy children, Benedicta, born 1868, Matias, born 1870, Lorenza, born 1872, Teodosia, born 1874, my Great Grandfather, Pedro Taclibon y Bautista (died, November 20, 1945), was born in 1888, and Honorata was born in 1878, all in the town of Badoc.The Taclibons originally hails from the Town of Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur and later on migrated to the town of Badoc in Ilocos Norte when the clan was considered as dissident way back Spanish times. Santo Domingo was then a former Itneg (corrupted by the Americans as Tinggians) cultural minority town, thus, our native surname.
Badoc, the hometown of the first recorded ancestry of the Taclibons, is situated in the Southernmost part of Ilocos Norte on plain land near the sea and is bounded by Paoay, Pinili, the Cordillera Mountain Range, Sinait, Ilocos Sur and the South China Sea. Badoc was originally populated by the Bagos Tribe of Isneg bloodline – a hardy Malay race of Austronesian stock. It later became an Encomienda named Barao with 2,800 souls under the stewardship of Don Juan de la Pena. Father Alonso Alvarado introduced Christianity to Badoc when he was part of the entourage of the Spanish Conquistador, Juan de Salcedo in his expedition in the North. They first reached the settlement called Barol (which was inhabited by the Bagos tribe) which later became Badoc. Although the first mass was celebrated by Father Alvarado on June 24, 1572, Badoc was only declared as a town on September 19, 1591 simultaneously with the founding of the town church under the advocation of San Juan Bautista and enshrines the miraculous image of La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc since 1620 – that is almost 400 years. The statue was desecrated several times by the marauding pirates so it was brought to Vigan in 1656 and again in 1660 for protection, and was carried in solemn procession there, for protection against plague and other calamities. It was canonically crowned on December 8, 1980 and Bishop Abaya of the Diocese of Laoag proclaimed her as the official patroness of Ilocos Norte. It is interesting to note that the Church of Badoc is older than that of the Church of Paoay (one of the World’s Heritage sites) which was founded in 1593; the builder of the church of Badoc is believed to be the same person who built the church of Paoay.
At present, Badoc is known as the “bawang” (garlic) belt of the country. The huge amount of garlic yielded in this town has always produced the greater bulk of income of its townsfolk to produce doctors, lawyers, educators and nurses in almost all families. During the “Basi Revolt” of 1807, most of the rebels entrenched themselves in this town. Father Sebastian Diez, parish priest of Sinait from 1854 to 1860, baptized in Badoc the patriot and foremost Filipino painter of the 19th century, Juan Luna y Novicio, on October 27, 1857 (born on October 23, 1857) – the brother of the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Philippines under Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine American War, General Antonio Luna y Novicio (Juaquin Luna de San Pedro y Posadas, the father of the Lunas was of Malay and Aeta blood from Zambales, while the mother Laureana Novicio y Ancheta was of third degree Spanish blood from Namacpacan, La Union. At present, the Luna ancestral house still exists as a museum to remind the culture, tradition and the sturdy ancestry of the Badocanos.
As it has been told by my paternal grandfathers Dominador Taclibon y Rubio (born, 1908, and died, 1995 in Dingras, Ilocos Norte) and Marcos Lucero y Taclibon (born, 1899 and died, 1982) – one of the best Ilocos poets and orators during his time, that our ancestors were dissidents who never yielded to the whims of the Spanish friars to be a part of an established community (known as the Doctrinas) by force or through hamleting of natives. My ancestors preferred then to get out of the doctrina and roamed in the wilderness until succeeding generations settled in the town of Badoc in Ilocos Norte and some in the town of Moncada in Tarlac. The clan name Taklibon was never been changed with a Spanish sounding surname derived from the Iberian Peninsula not until the second Hispanization of surnames that the K was changed into C by virtue of the decree of Governor General Narciso Claveria, known as the “ Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos” on November 21, 1841. Almost five (5) years earlier before the birth of my Great Great Grandfather, Mariano Taclibon in 1846.
The Taclibons thus far produced notables in the likes of Marcos Taclibon Lucero Sr. – one of the greatest Ilocano poets of all time, Filipinas Taclibon Lucero – famous singer of the late 60’s, Pedro Bautista Taclibon – Pioneering Farm Worker Foreman in the plantations of Hawaii, Angel Taclibon Bautista – former Mayor of Badoc, Ilocos Norte from 1972 – 1986 and former Phil. Virginia Tobacco Administration Regional Director for Region I, Dominador Rubio Taclibon – former Vice Mayor of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, Engr. Catalino T. Taclibon, Jr. – famous Environmental Engineer, Asian Institute of Technology with Masteral Degree in Engineering, Wendelio Taclibon – Inventor of Vehicle Brackets, US Patents No.6568749, now residing in Shizuoka, Japan, Edmond “Hapzet” Taclibon – famous Amateur League Cyber Athlete, USA, and Catalino Taclibon, Sr. – Labor Leader and one of the original founders and strikers of the Union of Farm Workers, Delano, California, USA, 1973 – 1976.
The family name Calaycay has the same story to tell that of the Taclibons intermarried to a pure Ibanag of ancient Hindu-Malay stock from Cagayan Valley of a former headhunting tribe in the North, the Bucads of Echague, Isabela. My paternal great grandmother is a pure Ibanag married to an Ilocano-Itneg. To some it all, I possess a dominant Malay blood having two minority bloods – Itneg and Ibanag with a dust of Spanish-Japanese-Chinese blood merely because my paternal great grandmother, Francisca Africa Rubio, who was born in 1890 (died, November 1920) is a second-degree Spanish, my maternal grandmother, Casilda Alcaraz is a third-degree Spanish, and my maternal great-great grandfather is a Manchurian, a minority race in China.
So far, the Calaycays has produced doctors, lawyers, politicians, biochemist and scientist, prominent ones are Constitutional Convention Delegate of the 1973 Constitution – Infante Calaycay, representing Kalinga and Apayao, three terms Mayor of Badoc, Ilocos Norte – Dr. Edmundo Calaycay, Dr. Ligorio Calaycay – famous Cosmetic Surgeon, Plastic Surgeon, General Surgeon, Pomona Surgical Center, USA, Dr. Regulo Calaycay – famous Family Doctor and Neurologist, Sacred Heart Medical Group, Pensacola, Florida, USA, Hendricks “Nick” Calaycay – famous rugby player of the Boise State Broncos, USA, Jimmy Calaycay – famous Research Scientist, Biochemist, Mass Spectrometry Specialist, Department of Biochemistry, USA, Corey Calaycay – Councilor, City of Claremont, California, USA, Edmund “Butch” S. Calaycay – famous Hawaii and US interpreter, and Dr. Dorabelle Calaycay Wee, one of the best Filipino doctors of the 21st Century, who now work with the U.N. World Health Organization. Doctor Dorabelle Calaycay Wee is the daughter of the only surviving sibling of my father during the dreaded massacre in Torod, Badoc, Ilocos Norte on November 20, 1945, Honorata Calaycay Bucad Taclibon (later on adopted by Oscar Edmundo Calaycay y Bucad, the brother of my grandmother Emerita Calaycay y Bucad).
The Rubios came all the way from Spain and the Africas came all the way from England (there are no Africas in Spain but in England) after the construction of the Suez Canal on November 17, 1869. The original recorded pedigree was Juan Ramon Rubio and Francisca Ynarejos from Albacete, Spain – were my Great, great, great grandparents. The couple bore a child Cayetano Ynarejos Rubio, on August 7, 1854 in San Sebastian, Villapalacios, Albacete, Spain who was married to Emilia Castillo Montanes who also bore a child Cayetano Montanes Rubio who in turn married to Leoncia Africa. Cayetano Montanes Rubio is therefore my paternal Great, Great Grandfather in the Rubio side who had a female child Francisca Ynarejos Castillo Montanes Rubio y Africa, born 1890 in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, who was married to my great grandfather Pedro Taclibon y Bautista (born in 1888 and died, November 20, 1945). The couple had four (4) children namely, Dominador Rubio Taclibon (born 1908 in Badoc, Ilocos Norte and died 1995), Gregorio Rubio Taclibon, Valeriana Rubio Taclibon Rana and my Grandfather Gil Ynarejos Castillo Montanes Bautista Africa Taclibon y Rubio (born in 1910, in Badoc, Ilocos Norte and married to Emerita Calaycay y Bucad). I therefore belong to the 8th generation of the bloodline of Juan Ramon Rubio and Francisca Ynarejos – the namesake of my Great Grandmother Francisca Rubio y Africa.
Prominence of the Rubio Clan came into being when on March 25, 1898 the Candon Republic was formed under Don Isabelo Abaya when they assembled at the barrio of Namagyan in a scene reminiscent of Andres Bonifacio and his Katipuneros at Balintawak in 1896. Immediately after a rebellion succeeded against Spanish authority, the rebels formed a government popularly called the “Republic of Candon” with Don Fernando Guiralda as Provisional President, Don Placido Guiralda as Secretary of Interior, and Father Valentin Rubio, among others as Consejeros. Isabelo Abaya was chosen as the Commanding General of the rebel army. Valentin Rubio was a native of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, who was coadjutor in Candon at the time and had been in the league with the rebels from the very beginning of the rebellion.
No Filipino student of history has ever treated the Candon Revolt with so much thought and diligence as did the American William Henry C. Scott in his scholarly essay, “Struggle for Independence in Candon.” And no account previous to Scott’s oral or prose, has ever brought to light the martyrdom of eleven Ilocanos, seven of them were leading rebels, executed by the Spaniards after a round-up in Candon during the last week of March 1898. Scott identifies them all: Roberto Guiralda, Placido Guiralda, Manuel Abaya Sr., Leon Abaya, Toribio Abaya, Pio Madarang, Father Valentin Rubio – one of my paternal great grandfathers, Desiderio Agbulos, Victoriano Gadut, Urbano Galac, and Severino Paredes. Until such time that the third President produced by the Great Ancient Malay Samtoy race came into existence to wage a Revolution from the Center - President Ferdinand Rubio Marcos y Edralin (the Grandmother of the late President was Cresencia Rubio – a cousin of my great grandmother Francisca Africa Rubio), next only to President Carlos P. Garcia of Bohol – whose parents hails from Bangued, Abra; and of course succeeding Ilocano Presidents came, President Elpidio Quirino – the pride of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, fourth, fifth, and sixth are half bred Ilocanos – President Ramon Magsaysay – an Ilocano/Zambal, President Fidel Marcos Ramos y Valdez – an Ilocano/Pangasinense, and President Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo y Macaraeg, an Ilocano/Pampango. Still yet, historians has to verify the ancestry of Emilio Aguinaldo – the President of the first Philippine Republic, told to trace his roots in Isabela, Cagayan Valley.
In previous times, Vigan shoved all other towns into the background to claim the biggest roles in the history of the region. Vigan has been the nerve center of political actions as well as the cradle of grave of Ilocadia’s men-of-men in the days of revolt setting aside Valentin Diaz of Badoc and Paoay – one of the Co-Founder of Andres Bonifacio’s Katipunan, Brigadier General Edilberto Evangelista – the defender of Zapote Bridge during the Philippine Revolution of 1898, also of Paoay, the El Vibora – General Artemio Ricarte (born on October 20, 1866 and died on July 31, 1945), Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces under Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine Revolution of 1898 and the only Revolutionary General who never pledge allegiance to the Great American Empire, of Batac, Father Gregorio Aglipay y Labayen – the Vicar General of the Revolutionary Government during the Philippine American War, and also the Founder of the Philippine Independent Church, also of Batac, Marcos Lucero y Taclibon – one of the greatest Ilocano poets of all time, of Badoc and General Antonio Luna y Novicio (born October 29, 1866 and mudered on June 5, 1899) – a prominent member of the Propaganda Movement in Spain and also of the La Liga Filipina, and eventually became the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces under Revolutionary President Emilio Aguinaldo during the Philippine American War, also of Badoc.
Vigan has provided the country a renowned stateman in Ventura de los Reyes, the first Filipino Diputado (Representative) to the Spanish Cortes; a poetess of international caliber in Leona Florentino – also the mother of Socialist oriented ilustrado who was incarcerated in the prisons of Spain, Isabelo de los Reyes y Florentino; an illustrious patriot and martyr in Father Jose Burgos y Apolonio, who sired the Secularization Movement of the 1860s; and in much later year, Isabelo Artacho co-authored the constitution of the Republic at Biyak-na-Bato. Vigan has been the center of culture and commerce in the entire North from the first days of Spanish conquest. And when the Arch Diocese of Nueva Segovia was transferred from Lal-lo, Cagayan Valley, its seat was moved, of course, to Vigan.
But in 1898, for a brief yet memorable period, Vigan was beaten to a draw, so to speak, and outshone in popularity by Candon in the first great experiment for national unity. And although Juan de Salcedo’s “Ciudad Fernandina” was later to come back into the limelight, Candon was never to lose its popularity again. For the seeds of the Revolution has been sown in the land of Samtoy and the “Cry of Candon,” as the Ilocano revolt led by Isabelo Abaya, the Guiralda Brothers, Father Valentin Rubio and the rest came to be called, was in reality the prelude to Spanish downfall in the Ancient Region called Samtoy!
The Indio of Malay/Austronesian stock – of which I traced my roots and heritage has dwelled in the land called Samtoy, humble and artless, but proud, to have four (4) of the World Heritage Sites in the eight (8) sites in the Philippines out of seven hundred fifty (750) sites all over the world as of July 2003. The other four sites are the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in Palawan, the Puerto Princesa Subterrenean River National Park in Palawan, the Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Baroque Church of Miag-oa, Iloilo and the San Agustin Baroque Church of Intramuros, Manila.
In 1972, the UNESCO or the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization spearheaded the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage whose main and ultimate objective is the conservation, preservation, rehabilitation, and maintenance of such declared sites. As has been declared by UNESCO, the feeling of national pride and sense of patrimonial integrity dominates my very being; this is so due to the fact that four sites belong to the Ancient land of Samtoy – the land of my forefathers.
Out of the eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Philippines is the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras – the ultimate ingenuity of the Northern Hardy Malay Race that traces its roots as Austronesians of Southeast Asia, 6,000 years B.C. based on the studies of Dr. Jesus Peralta; the 2,000 years old Banaue Rice Terraces in Ifugao, Mountain Province which is as the cradle of civilization in the North and the country as a whole, depicts the sterling decisiveness of people to galvanize into a solidarity of force in achieving a common goal and objective. Conservationists and ecologists deduced that this Northern Hardy Malay ingenuity is the best water and soil structure ever constructed in the face of the Earth through natural way. The construction of the Rice Terraces according to Ifugao legend was inspired and taught by the Northern Malay deity Dinapaan of Pahaadan to the hunter brothers Kabigat and Balitok – the sons of Tad–ona and Inuki of Kiangan Mountain Ranges.
The “Hudhud” of which the Ancient Northerners chants during rice harvest times has been honored by UNESCO as one in the ten (10) of the world’s masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The “Muyong” – a sacred ring of forests on top of the terraces that provides water supply according to UNESCO again is so far, the best natural water system and conservation in the world; gathering moist from the atmosphere, absorbed as water by the tree roots from the Muyong and run downstream to the rice terraces to quench the soil.
Another is the Historical Town of Vigan or Villa Fernandina (Ciudad Fernandina) – the center of commerce in the Great Samtoy land before and after colonization era, that engaged itself in the Manila and Acapulco Galleon Trade by supplying the thick hand woven cloth used as galleon sails made out of cotton and human hair from Ipauay (Paoay, Ilocos Norte), sugarcane wine and rum from Pidpidigan (Piddig, Ilocos Norte), large glazed jars from Nagburnayan, Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos tobacco, knives, bolos and sharp items from Santa, Ilocos Sur and San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, gold dust in various delta towns and many others. Evident Chinese influence in the North is the town name Vigan – which is, if written in the Chinese character means “Beautiful Shore.”
Third and forth are the Baroque Churches of Paoay, Ilocos Norte’s San Agustin Church and Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur’s Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion Church.
Since childhood, I have always heard those stories of my ancestry and later been confirmed by my immediate elders, thus I came to realized the significance of my roots and my heritage. Such familiarity of my ancestry is the legacy of my father. I fantasized the past of my ancestors and I even wished to have existed in their times and generations. Every time I take a visit in the North, I always cherished homecoming and the waves of the sea reminds me of my ancestors’ oriental interdependence and intercourse, barter trades, and intermarriages, free from interlopers and conquerors. I wished that I would have lived in their times so that I may have experienced to be truly free.
In my childhood, I can still remember how I grew up in the wings of my maternal grandmother Casilda Topinio y Alcaraz and my maternal uncle Vicente Alcaraz Topinio, a painter. We lived in our ancestral century-old house then in Laoag at the upper floor. In all aspect of my life, I can never remember an instance that I was embraced by my mother. I can remember the hugs and kisses of my father though, as he gently combed my fine young hair every time he ascends upstairs for a visit. Both families belong to the inquilino peasant descent (Jose Rizal’s parents were also inquilinos – those natives who rented lands from the friars who in turn hired tillers) evident in the North way back Spanish times, but my father have squandered his properties during his youthful years being an orphan, who was surrogated and at the administration of Angel Taclibon Bautista – a paternal uncle of his, a politician and town mayor of Badoc from 1972 to 1983 and later on appointed by President Ferdinand E. Marcos as Region I Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration Director, while, my maternal grandmother has a vast holdings that can support two future generations.
The happiest times of my life indeed were during “tersias,” a time wherein landowners and tillers of the soil partakes the blessings in the year’s harvests. I was then the favorite of my grandmother and a maternal aunt Visitacion Topinio Aguilar and of course my uncle Vicente Topinio y Alcaraz, so that I always enjoyed every bit of the “tersia,” best part of the chicken tinola, the best mango fruit, newly cut sugarcane stalk, the first chop of the roasted pig and the only sibling to be carried in a wooden sedan chair by four men in transient while my Grand Mother Casilda Alcaraz checks the vast landholdings (the lands that were originally rented from the Friars were finally awarded to my great grand parents after the Philippine Revolution of 1898). In the eyes of those people, I was a Japanese Prince, because when I was young, I was amply called “Matori” derived from my first name Delmar, compliments of my first cousin Edwin Topinio Aguilar.
In my younger years, I have always been depicted as a naughty and troublesome fellow. When I was below seven, I was called the “Fire Boy” by my uncle Eloy Taclibon, because I nearly put the whole Century Old house ablaze by igniting a cotton mosquito net with a lighted candlestick. My father was so mad but he could not find me, because I was concealed by my grandmother under the traditional “saya,” she wore. Childhood days were the happiest days of my life then; being King of everything not until the death of my uncle and later on my grandmother, and all remained was my maternal aunt, Visitacion Topinio Aguilar.
My maternal grandfather Igmedio Topinio was the King when he still lived, but when he passed away on October 18, 1954 immediately after my birth seven years after, I substituted his place in my grandmother’s heart. I was everything my grandmother have, her ultimate possession, her life and only favored grandchild. Those were one of the happiest moments in my life and until now as I reminisce, I could not control myself but to have a silent cry. I wished such abundance and prosperity during the matriarchal administration of my grandmother continued after her death. It did not turn to be that way. After the landholdings were subjected by Land Reform Program in the early 70s, each of the siblings has had a piece of it – mortgaged, sold and squandered. That was then the end of my little kingdom, my playground and the sentimental reflection of the past haunts me until now.
My poster mother and Aunt Visitacion Topinio Aguilar died in 1978, and so much grief has stricken my very being; precisely because the remaining person who can tolerate my excesses was gone, and I have to go back totally to the folds of my parents. That was then the lowest point of my life. My mother, Filipinas Taclibon was never been in good terms with my aunt until her death. It must have been a clan’s guarded secret because until now I never have known why.
So I went back to folds of my parents. Although my father worked as a bookkeeper at the Public Works and Highways, his salary was not enough to shoulder the expenses of the family of five siblings, two girls and three boys. My father then has to find ways and means to augment his meager income. We then bred fighting cocks, and put up a mini-grocery. Being the next eldest of the boys, it seemed that I have to be burdened with choirs in lieu of our eldest, who was almost non-existent in the house. He turned into a black sheep at the making of my father and his bosom friend, Nestor Siazon – son of former Laoag City Mayor, Eulalio Siazon and the leader of the infamous “All White Gang”.
My brother Gil Demie Taclibon grieved so much for the death of a brother, Sabino Taclibon, Jr., who died of H-fever. As the story goes, because of the inquilino peasant descent of my father, who valued so dearly every grain of rice, discipline has to be imposed to who ever retain a single grain of rice in the plate at the dinning table. The boy might not be feeling well at the very start of a Sunday lunch, his porcelain plate with rice and viands was shoved away and it fell on the concrete floor. Whipping with a bamboo stick ensued, and the boy was left behind in the corner as he shivers with fever crying. That was the cause of the death of a brother whom I have never seen and not even in cameo image or in photo pictures. It was told then that all the pictures of my brother were burned by my father to stop the haunting of his memories.
My father loved our junior so much so that when the boy was nearly over-run by a kalesa or horse drawn cart, the poor cotchero was mauled by my father near death. The boy was told to be mestiso looking derived from the looks and color of my father and the fairest boy in the whole neighborhood. It is so unfortunate that not a single photo picture has been preserved. After his death, my father has mellowed down, before spanking takes place, the siblings of three boys and two girls has to be appraised of the untoward acts done and the rationality of punishment, with a glass of water in waiting after the imposition of the penalty.
Let us go back to my rebellious brother who has distanced himself from me all those years. Perhaps because I became the favorite of my father when I learned the art of rearing fighting cocks and the love of rearing the family orchards, vegetable gardens and the art of making the backyard as spic and span as it should be at the delight of my father; his rebellion emanated from his grief and his hatred of the person who loved him so much more than he loved me. All I can remember was that my brother left ankle was in chain, chopping water cabbage (balangeg or kangkong) on a wooden chop board, with the other end tied in the century old house’s kamagong wooden post with his right leg bounded with first-aide cotton fabrics. It has been told again that it was ordered by my father to a policeman in pursuit to shoot my brother for a malfeasance committed. My father has never been in good terms with my brother since then. What made the gap widen was that when my brother worked with a sole aunt in Baguio City in her wood carving firm for export, my brother masterminded a robbery of all times that involved the near kin of my aunt’s husband. I was there in that summer after the incident, and I was told that my brother was rearing the babies of pimps and prostitutes in a brothel house in downtown Baguio after he ran away.
My brother was my aunt’s favorite I would presume, merely because in my every stay in Baguio in all summers all those years, all praises were uttered by her about the brilliance of my brother who was then studying in Saint Louis University as a commerce student. Not until the unfortunate robbery incident that my aunt should have realized how congenital evil my brother was. Instead of condemning the act, she even went crazy looking for him with teary eyes. She eventually found my brother in one of the bawdy houses in Baguio.
My brother came back to Ilocos without a diploma and ostracized by near kin for his malfeasances in Baguio. But I have always cherished his homecoming, as he was approaching our doorsteps, I embraced him so hard but it was never been reciprocated. I loved my eldest brother as I do love my other brother and sisters. But what extraordinary thing a felt is that he became my champion ready to resist the autocratic ways of my father. My brother is known until now as “Tatang,” one of the dreaded underworld personalities of Laoag, compliments of my father who have turned him into a monster perhaps.
“Tatang Demie” is a well-known beer house operator, gambling wizard, billiard pool hustler and soon after became a well sought trouble shooter by politicians after he manslaughter someone inside his joint who resisted payment of bills. After that, one too many has been heard to be his deadly prey. He is feared together with one Uncle Eloy Taclibon who is considered as human armory. It is very embarrassing to note that during the funeral interment of my father, they never joined the procession. Their motto in life I presume is “never trust anyone, not even your own shadow.”
As I grew up, I came to know that our story is not just an ordinary clan’s story. The Taclibons, is a clan entangled in a never-ending quagmire of violence after violence, vendetta after vendetta, an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth for centuries that had passed in the abyss of no where. It is a tradition that has been passed from generations to the next which I want to stop and finally come to an end. When I was younger, those stories of violence were music to my ear, for what I have heard at first were the gallant stand of my grandfathers Gregorio Rubio Taclibon and Dominador Rubio Taclibon – former Vice Mayor of Badoc, my father and my uncles Eloy Taclibon, Pancho Taclibon, Dr. Ernesto Salviejo Taclibon and his brother Rogelio Salviejo Taclibon (born, February 3, 1939 in Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley), in depending the clan. But I came to know that there were those who have perished in the past for the sake of preserving the glory days of the clan. I have heard stories how my uncles butchered someone, decapitating the head of the victim, cutting his breast down to the genitalia, and revealing the internal organs in a pool of blood. I never knew the reason of the bestiality. Again, I have heard a story that my uncle Eloy Taclibon is one of the best shots in the Ilocos during his time and until now. It was then a stigma that who so ever died of a fatal gunshot-wound at a distant far must have been perpetuated by this uncle.
It was also then that my clan had experienced the most dreaded tragedy of all times in the anal of its history, the death of my Great Grandfather Pedro Bautista Taclibon, three siblings (Laureana, Conrado, and Cresencia Taclibon) and the personal bodyguard of the family on November 20, 1945, just after the Second World War. All in all, five were dead except my father who was there trying to depend his grandfather, brothers and sisters but he wasn’t able to do otherwise but to cower in a safe place of the house to survive. In the history of Ilocos, that incident perhaps is one of the first massacres that ever happened. The siblings who were already orphaned (my paternal grandfather Gil Rubio Taclibon died during the war as a guerilla fighter and my grandmother Emerita Bucad Calaycay followed) were then having their dinner at their ancestral house in Sitio Torod in Badoc with my great grandfather, when a sudden bursts of gunfire reverberated, followed by a loud explosion of hand grenades. The result of the assault was the death of my great grandfather, the three siblings, and the death of a “katiwala” outside the house who was hacked to death. Fortunately my aunt Honorata (later on adopted by a paternal grandfather Oscar Edmundo Calaycay y Bucad) who is the youngest was with a relative in a “maro” or barter trade.
The dastardly incident has traumatized my father, so that there are times flashed backs of the incident kept haunting him often during dinners. During those years after the massacre, series of never ending violence after violence ensued - a never ending vendetta that until up to present times still persists. And it seems that such old tradition of violence in the North has been passed from generation to the next. Vengeance may be undertaken instantly, in one year time, five years, ten years, or even for fifty years and you’ll never know when the first high wind that comes along with blew you away and never realized that you are a victim of inherited blood debt.
It is also worth remembering to tell the death of one uncle by affinity, Amor Lucero, married to my father’s paternal first-degree cousin and a namesake of my mother Filipinas Taclibon. My uncle Eloy then was suspected of killing one the Valdez Clan’s siblings in a distant range of which is his expertise. My auntie wanted to evade trouble so that they decided to settle in my uncle’s home Province in Ilocos Sur. All their things were already set for departure in a hired truck and the only lacking one was a daughter in elementary grade. My uncle has to fetch the little girl in school in a bicycle, of which he was able to be at the gate of Badoc Elementary School. But what welcomed him were bullets coming from two armed men in ladies’ dress. My uncle died right there and then. After such incident, killings had to be done, vendetta after vendetta – an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth that made the whole world blind with blood. It is now year 2008, still vengeance lingers on, as if, the hatred has just began.
My father is already gone, may he rest in peace and serenity with the Supreme Being. I know that it is his fervent hope as I do, that violence shall finally rest in the garden of the graves. May my eldest brother, and some uncles realized that if anger and hatred inherited from the past will not be put to a stop, then I may say that future Taclibons will also be living victims. May the culture of love and peace dominate their hearts and minds and learn to forgive and forget. Let my cousin Clayton Taclibon be the last victim of this violence. He was so young yet died in very violent death a few years ago in Laoag in broad daylight. Five malefactors mauled his frail body, clubbed his arms, legs and head with wood; he cried for mercy, but in dept ears, he was gun down point blank in the head just the same. He was mourned for three days, and in the four succeeding days, retribution and vengeance was imposed. Four of the perpetuators of the crime were seen in each days butchered without heads and body organs. It was never known until to this date who was knighted as the avenger.
The turning point and the lowest point of my life perhaps have yet to come not until this family burden ends with finality. The values of the warriors of the past and the warrior nature of our ancestors is my litany for it to subside; for I believe that it is no longer applicable in our present world, generation and society. Head hunting for vengeance is highly condemnable, instead the court of law – the arbiter of a civilized society must prevail to let justice be done.
My non-violent stance is evident in my poem entitled “When the Fire Tree Blooms…,” composed in my solitary re-assignment in Bacolod in Negros also just a few years ago. It was written before the death of my cousin Clayton. It is worth sharing although it has never been published. It goes:
When The Fire Tree Blooms…….
Born in the lush green tropics, nurtured by monsoon rains,
Verdant turned red – blazing like fire,
Indeed an enchanting beauty of the wilderness.
Summer mourned death; leaves fade away,
And fall unto the bosom of arid land,
Glory it was for the ferocious evil one.
The bestial boa devoured the flesh,
Acolyte of the tyrant and the beast,
Pervert hairy two-legged mammal of Genesis.
Tears shed for the departed,
Mountains shattered by the roar of anguish,
Litany of the avenger resound the rhythm of war.
A generation knighted seven-folds,
The hurricane’s wrath emanates from gentle breeze,
Echo of the past - music of the war dance once again.
The anointed one is destiny; nemesis of injustice and tyranny,
The inevitable is vengeance,
Ingrained in the genes of the Northern Hardy Malay race.
Retribution haunts the Knight’s burning desire,
Magni Nominis Umbra,
Decapitates the savage beast – vanquish at last.
The fire tree blooms, it shall come to past,
Generates new offspring then divest its leaves,
Cry not of sorrow but of relief.
When the fire tree blooms…it is a season for head hunting,
Not a wanton crave for blood but retribution,
A punitive act of the ancient God?
When the fire tree blooms….it is a season of peace and harmony,
Man’s fervent hope then….
That violence shall rest in the garden of the grave.
RAPASAKDALSAKAY, 2000.
The historical artifacts of the clan although, violently nostalgic as it maybe, also has its good sides. Our ancestors pioneered in agro-business, thus my great grandfather Pedro Bautista Taclibon was a pioneering foreman in the plantations of Hawaii in the early 1900s. It has always been lectured that every piece of rice grain is gold being the sweat, blood and tears of our ancestors who all those past centuries have toiled to produce a single grain of rice. Further, it has always been reiterated that every grain of rice constitutes the skull and bones of our ancestors who have all those years survived the rigorous arid land of the North. The clan had survived through hard work, respect and fair deal for fellowmen and fear of the Supreme Being. The values of the family were further enriched by my father who was once a bookkeeper in the Public Works and Highways Ministry. My father retired a poor man, and died a poor man. He didn’t own a house, car, or any property, so that we his children can attest that my father never robbed the people blind; he died in peace and serenity, without properties nore wealth to argue with among siblings. That is the prime legacy of the clan that has survived the adversities of life without enriching itself at the expense of the country and its people.
My fondness of saloyot (native spinach), tabtaba (floating river weeds), abal-abal (earth bugs), balleyba ( rare river weeds), birabid (rare soft shelled snail), simmot-simmot (flying termites), wadag-wadag (camarro), padas (cichlids fish sauce), abu-os (red ants’ eggs), allukap (river cockroach), bua (beetle nut) and gawwed (mint leaves), aballeng (coconut white worms), gammet (rare sea weed), basi (fermented sugar cane wine), pinapaitan, pinakbet, pinespes and every exotic food in the North you can imagine is the concoction of a true-blooded Ilocano. Such delicacies do not simply represent the primitive and ancient taste bud of the North, but rather, it represents the firmness and sense of extreme survival of the Ilocanos. In the mere whistling of the winds, the Northerners can predict impending typhoons that visits the north at an average frequency of twenty (20) times, thus their survival instinct.
I have always lived in an adventurous life. From being a former exchange student to Hunan, China in 1976 (just before the death of the Great Communist Helmsman Mao Dze Dong) to student activist in high school and college days; from the simple arid Province of Ilocos Norte to the concrete jungles of Manila, I survived. When I first set foot here in Manila way back 1985, barely one year with Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and a franchise holder Philippine Casino Operators Corp. (PCOC), as a table supervisor, virtually, I was nothing, but young, educated, trained as a student leader, and a very likable person due to my promptness at work and unreserved work style with co-workers. But during those early years, I was already a man to recon with as far as management is concerned because of my critical and radical views towards company policies.
I was employed with the Corporation in the middle of 1983, and as early as 1985, I have already severed my relationships with some bosses including my Branch Manager and the Branch Security Officer. That’s how I landed in Manila from Laoag Branch. That was my first solitary confinement and virtually a persona non grata in my own native province. I may have been powerless and without influence towards management, but to my fellow rank and file then, I was already a popular figure particularly here in Manila at the tender age of 23.
During those days, there was suppression in the air that nurtured discontentment among the rank and files including myself. The corporation has existed for nine years then, but nobody did have the guts to organize and fight for ones right. But there was a handful few who were progressive in their views, principled and brilliant. The opportunity came in 1986 February Revolution; it was the right time to take advantage of the turmoil that beset the country so that we organized. I was then one of the twenty five original founders of a rank and file union; eventually elected as its first National Auditor, Chairman of the Committee on Labor Education and Research, Co-founder and Co-chairman of the Propaganda and Media Affairs Bureau, and Vice-Chairman of the of the Peace and Order Corps – the security force of the union. I was so young to be involved in unionism at the tender age of 24, the youngest labor union leader ever to be docketed in the Department of Labor at that time and one of the first labor leaders who picketed the labor department side by side with Gokongwei’s Robina Farm Employees Union just after the Revolutionary Government of Cory Aquino was installed.
It was during those times that I demonstrated extra-ordinary courage, blinded by youthful idealism. I might have been the youngest officer of the union but I was the most militant and unreserved in dealing with anti-riot police, goons and metrocoms compliments of then Chairman Norberto Quisumbing. We fought, we struggled, but unfortunately the union was busted at the directive of Malacanang under the presidency of Corazon C. Aquino – the person whom we helped to install as an alternative redeemer of a dying nation. We returned to work in September 9th of 1986 with the negotiation between the union and the Corporation that no single employee should be displaced. All employees were all absorbed by the corporation – the legacy of the labor union.
We failed to put up a strong union and it is one great missed opportunity in my life. It was one of the strongest unions ever to be organized after the 1986 Revolution, but in vain, it turned into a union that never was - compliments of the widow of Ninoy Aquino. But we set a precedent that dissent and radicalism is the product of injustice and suppression. The legacy of the union therefore was the inherent and sacred right to rebel and organize to protect ones life and limbs from perils, from within and from without. Without the union, we would have been at the mercy of the powers that be for re-employment.
There were no dull moments during those union days, and up to this date, I have been always proud to be a former union leader. I consider my involvement as one of the peak of my experiences in life worth telling to my children and grandchildren. My legacy perhaps is wage labor consciousness that if unfair labor practice, suppression, and unjustified autocratic system of governance/management again prevail, then it is up to the young generation to recon to the past and decides whether or not to acquire power through unionism. All these are being told to clearly depict the evolution of power. It may be unsubstantial but still it can influence others for the betterment of the majority.
At present, I carry the item of Gaming Manager D – a position belonging to management executive level. My power and influence perhaps is minimal and emanates solely from what I am as a person, what I have achieved, my educational attainment, and perhaps who I was way back student and union days. My personal profile dictates that I graduated with Honors in College; Outstanding Graduate of 1983 – a recipient of the Estrada-Gutierrez Foundation Gold Medal for Community Service; Outstanding Student Leader of 1983 – a recipient of the SAC- Student Assistance Committee, Office of the President, Leadership Trophy,; Outstanding YCSCian of Northwestern University of 1983; a participant of the 1986 EDSA Revolution under Jejomar Binay contingent; I have finished my Master Degree in Business Administration (MBA) at the Philippine School of Business Administration, Manila and at the Philippine Christian University, Center for Graduate Studies in Business and Management on March 27, 2003 (graduated with Feasibility Study), and my Doctorate Degree in Development Administration at the PCU, Center for Graduate Studies in Business and Management is presently “In Progress” and have already passed my Comprehensive Examinations; a multi-awarded athlete of the Corporation; four (4) time finisher of the dreaded 104 kilometer “Death March Ultra Marathon” from Mariveles, Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga, fro 1988 to 1991; three times elected Gaming Employees SFC Board by a popular vote; a prominent figure in the ouster of then Chairman Norberto Quisumbing in 1987, tagged as one of the “Magnificent Eleven” – as signatory of the position paper exposing the mismanagement of the Corporation addressed to then President Corazon C. Aquino, in affiliation with the Anti-Graft League of the Philippines and the late Atty. Lupino Lazaro; ideologue of the Gaming Employees 5th SFC National Congress in 1992.
Lastly, my name perhaps has reverberated in the four corners of the Corporation because of acts of harassment inflicted upon my person by management. I am perhaps the most be-traveled, most harassed, and most terrorized employee due to my constant re-assignment in the branches to mussel my principle.
I have been with the Corporation for almost 21 years now, and in those years, I have never incurred any absences or tardiness. There are those who want to put me down in the past but record shows that I am a figure above par, so that in the end, they will first think twice before doing something drastic against my person. All those years, I have acquired a substantial number of friends and networks that I can lean on, in times of perils from within and from without. I display authority and power sparingly. My goal in life now is to prioritize my studies for self-development and advancement.
It is well known fact that our Organization has existed for more than twenty one (21) years now, from the time of Marcos way back 1976, to the time of Cory Aquino and to the present, under the Chairmanship of Ruben Ancheta (Marcos Era), Ding Tanjuatco (1986 Revolutionary Government), Norberto Quisumbing, the longest term was Alicia Ll. Reyes of almost thirteen (13) years and presently, Efraim C. Genuino. I was then one of those who were instrumental in the ousting of Chairman Quisumbing then, tagged as the “Magnificent Eleven,” all were former national union officers who eventually paved the way of the Alicia Ll. Reyes dispensation. Indeed, I know too well the history and artifacts of the corporation for I am part of it and I may say that I am a major player in the transformation of its cultural organizational values.
People have come and gone in the Corporation, but the corporation still exists because it is a creation of a Marcos presidential decree 1869, founded under autocratic corporate culture. Different management cultures have come and gone, but autocracy prevailed due to the fact that the corporation was designed under Marcosian organizational culture. It has its good features as far as control is concerned but abused by those people who are not familiar with the nature and features of the business. Basic human rights had been violated and there was total disregard of the dignity and worth of human person as provided for by the fundamental law. This contention was not just based on what my fellow workers have uttered and experienced, but rather based on my personal experience of living dangerously; an experience that almost destroyed me as a rational creation of the Supreme Being. I almost burned out due to stress, to the extent of resigning, or joining the revolutionary force – wherein former batch way back student activism days are local top brass, and even thinking of committing manslaughter. The wounds I have sustained had long been healed but still the scar is there. I survived and transformed into a more resolute person. As Ho Chi Mihn have said, “adversities and obstructions in life should transform us into a polished jade.”
Not to be provide with the mandatory hotel accommodation during my re-assignment in Isabela way back 1992, was a breach of courtesy and respect for an employee; denying me the basic comfort of a warm bed, pillow and blanket during the months of the Siberian Winds was barbaric. That was how the old culture goes during those years. The past chairmanship served three Presidents for 13 long years, and indeed the corporation earned superlatively. But to evaluate the lives and prosperity of employees, we almost lived in poverty. In the present dispensation, it is fervently hoped that the continuous institution of reforms that has made life better for employees now shall continue under the altruistic Chairmanship of Efraim C. Genuino.
My mission in life now is no longer self-centered founded on greed, apathy, and over-consumptive life style, but rather a mission of utmost service to others, exercise ability, knowledge, and power to help uplift the well-being of fellow workers. And at least get out of my shell to do something for the good of our fellowmen, so that comes judgment day I may face my Creator with pride and dignity. All through the years of my struggles in life, I developed the ability to resist pain by experiencing pain to avert a more severe pain, and the ability to casts hatred and anger; my firm belief now is that I must at least do something good for humanity because I am not getting any younger and I may soon say, “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.”
If ever I will be given the choice where would I be now, I would choose to sway with the natural flow of life – simple and dignified. Precisely because all those years of my life that come and gone, I have learned to be contented of what I am and what I have. Resistance to the temptation of the glitter of wealth and comfort of power has already been ingrained in my values. The pain of having less and not being what you want to be is not that painful after all, because, I still live and still I can achieve. The choice of the intangibles is but fantasy and contrary to the real world. I dreamed, I struggled, I have achieved and can still achieve more for the good of humanity. I may now say, “Dum Vivimus, Vivamus, Dum Spiro, Spero,” the Hegira has just begun!
DELMAR T. TACLIBON, 2008
MBA, Ph. D. D. A. – in progress
Amazing family history, and I loved all you say about the land and different peoples! Do you know anything about the Ascueleta and Calaycay Farm in Cagayan? Thanks!
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