By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
Amelia and Teresita enrolled at the Laya Elementary School, the only school in the valley at that time, in 1944. She was in Grade IV having finished the first grades in Malate. Teresita was in Grade II.
They used the books from the American period but the pages which talked about America were folded and pasted together so that the pupils could not read them. They were not taught any Japanese as none of their teachers was capable of teaching the language. They sang the Philippine National Anthem first and after that, they would face the east and bow then stand upright to sing the Japanese national anthem. The flag of the Japan was also displayed on campus.
They would ride on a carabao with their schoolmate surnamed Ibanez holding the rope of the carabao. They were barefoot to the end of the war as their shoes brought from Manila had already been worn out. On sunny days, walking to the school would be an ordeal as the surface of the ground made of mixture of soil and and felt like burning embers.
Right after the war when more outsiders came to find their luck in Tabuk, the population of what would become the town center increased dramatically. It was then that the government thought of putting up a school in the school reservation in what is now Dagupan Weste to accommodate the children. The new school being closer to Ubbog, the Belandres girls this time including Rosemarie were among the first pupils there.
Before the school year was over, Filomena decided that the family relocate to the Belandres homestead in what is now sitio Bayabat in barangay Dilag which was around four kilometers from the Tabuk Central School. That meant at 6AM they already need to leave home. Their food for lunch sometimes is omelet with squash flowers. When it rains, it was arranged that they spend the night in the house of the Villanuevas or the Gallemas. There were times they were caught by a thunderstorm on the way which were unpleasant experiences in their young life. When the lightning flashed, they would sometimes drop on their belly on the ground afraid they would be hit by lightning. Amelia says they must have been leaving their school things in school as she does not recall getting them wet.
While in Bayabat, the continued riding their carabao to and from school. At one time while she, Teresita and Rosemarie were negotiating the steep slope down to the Baligatan Creek, the carabao rushed down. The sudden movement made her sisters slide down as they failed to hold on to the tail of the animal pushing all three down on the neck of the carabao.
Amelia also recalls that what her sister Teresita who usually sits behind her on the carabao did not like with the rides was that when she (Amelia) hit the side of the carabao to goad it to quicken its pace, it’s often her foot getting hit.
Frontier life
Since there were no matches available then, they would cover the embers with the ashes which would prolong the life of the embers. Thus they kept the stoves burning. When the fire dies, they would rekindle it through the rubbing of one piece of dried bamboo with another. One of the pieces has a slit within which dry bamboo shavings were placed before rubbing the pieces together to create friction. They would blow through a bamboo tubes to stoke up the fire and when the cooking is done, the smell of the smoke would cling to them.
They pounded the rice they cooked and ate using the mortar (alsong) and pestle (al-o). They also knew how to winnow (taep).
They also learned to patch their clothes themselves.
The maya
The family had a farm at the edge of the valley in Dilag territory which a tenant was tilling. At one time while the grains were in the early stages of ripening which is a favorite time for the maya to feed on the rice, their tenant went away. That left no one to drive away the maya except Amelia and her two sisters. They would make a racket while running on the dikes. They have to be there before the birds came so that meant going to the ricefield very early. Since they were rushing, they could not eat breakfast so Filomena would prepare carabao milk and rice for them to take along. The milk were in bottles and the rice in coconut shell.
When it is time to eat and there being no water source nearby, the sisters would wash their dirty hands with some of the milk they brought along.
They were under the sun all the time they guarded the rice from the pestilent maya as there was no hut nor trees in the farm.
The sisters had their “vengeance” on the maya. Men would trap them by the use of a net and rice bait. They would place the rice on the ground under the net which would then come down the moment there are birds eating the rice through the pulling of string. The girls, however, would pull out the feathers of the maya which was a very tedious activity. Although there was no soy then, their mother improvised to cook the maya as adobo. Amelia fondly recalls that she and her siblings ate a lot of maya.**(To be continued)
