Tell Me About The Philippines: "Philippines"__The Place I Called My Home

The photo above is an old file of mine, which I cherish until today. The greens you see is an extension of Mindanao State University, where I earned my education. Can you see people under the trees? Yes, we use to sit there to study our lessons or have a meeting with our friends or simply enjoy the panoramic view of around the city below and up the mountain ranges. MSU is the mother school, which is situated in Marawi City. It is a place where you can see many things that you do not see in most Christian places. Instead of Christian churches, you see mosques and the minarets atop the domes. So far, I only saw three Christian Churches, one for the Catholics, one for the Protestants and another one for the Moncadistas in Moncado Colony where I grew up. If you look at through this picture, it is right there across the other side of the Lake.

Marawi City

It was once called DANSALAN CITY. The name was derived from the root word “dansa” (meaning waves) because of the big waves of the lake. Surprisingly, it may be a lake only but it has big waves especially in the afternoon. You need to take the big pump boat if you want to reach the other side of your place or else you have to travel in circle if your place is at the other end. Well, it’s different now. Ferries have claimed the lake.

The Tourist Spot in the South

The main attraction of this place is the cool climate it possess. Actually, it’s like Baguio City. Our water is sweet to taste because it came from the rain. You will think a glass offered to you came from the ref because you can see cold smoke from the glass. It’s like breathing with the snow around you when you speak. There’s a dense fog early in the morning that cars turn on their front lights to see the road ahead.

The scenic spots of Marawi includes the beautiful Lake Lanao of course, which is the second largest lake in the Philippines next to Lake Buhi.

IMoncado Colony (my home) is also a tourist spot where many tourists took pictures of our ancient structures. If you stand right on that spot, you will see the beautiful view of the whole Lake across the black mountain ranges.

You will be amazed how the shape was formed with those black forest from afar. You can visible see the formation of a sleeping lady from the shape of the head, the ark of the nose and mouth down the chest, the folded hands and the feet. It is called “The Sleeping Lady Mountain”.

As you slowly turn to the right, you will see the vast formation of structures comprising the Mindanao State University on the other side of the mountain.
Next, you will see the “Signal Hill”. On top of the hill is a big polygon structure. You need to travel by foot and around the side trails only. It’s like an orange peeled in scallop you know.

Turning at 180 degrees, you will see a huge bald and round mountain called the “Sacred Mountain”. It is called Sacred Mountain because only thick cogon grass grow on the huge mountain and no trees at all but one bunch of bamboo trees. Nothing else. Though beside it is another mountain and thickly covered with trees.

On the left side you will see the Old City Hall standing all along that hill. It’s like an old Muslim Palacec with its traditional Okir Engravings which is the legendary Sarimanok.
Marawi is divided by two religions yet the people know their limits and respect each other’s culture and tradition. I know most of you don’t have much knowledge about this place unless you grew up with them. MSU is about 4 kilometers from the city.

Wet Markets

Would you believe guys, we used to walk for one kilometer in going to the wet market where fresh fishes from the lake are sold and another half kilometer in going to the other side of wet market where fresh beef and fishes from the sea are sold. No one mind us hiking because it’s what others do instead of taking the pedicab.

Abundant fish from Lake Lanao

You can find different kinds of fresh fish in the lake. It’s the much and bigger version of fish ponds of fresh fish in Navotas and Cavite. Some of the favorites are shrimps, katipa (catfish) or carpa. Haluwan, Sirung, etc. They clean it with ashes (from firewood) or lime and soda to omit the slimy parts. I tell you guys, you can no longer see any traces of the black parts when they’re cleaned!

Yellow-Colored Foods

More often than not, these are cooked with heavy coconut milk including young grated coconut, lots of turmeric (Kalawag) or curry, spring onions, bell peppers and of course, a bunch of chili for flavoring. If you’re a chili lover, then this is your place. I love this recipe with Haluwan in it especially the head part because it has lots of meat in the cheeks. It’s the most expensive part actually. The same thing is done with Katipa though some preferred to have it grilled. The Sirung is small but bigger than “dilis”. It’s like a slimmer version of goldfish. They multiply heavily just like “dilis” so they are often cooked like “paksiw” in Tagalog, with lots of turmeric, coco milk and chili again. “Palapa” meaning spices, is the main course on the table.

Otherwise known as Bungkaong, this is the most expensive kind of fish produced by the lake. This time, it is the giant size version of gold fish! It weighs about 1-5 kilos more or less. Its caviar is even the most expensive one and it could weigh about a kilo or so.

The Old Practices

They use the old weighing scale called “espada’ because it’s more trusted than the usual weighing scale since it can be tampered. Butchers sell only the beef muscles and they throw away the carcass and internal organs and they give it for free to my uncle who just love to cook kansi (bone part) and paklay (for the internal organs) until they learned how to cook it that it went along and sold per kilo.

Smoked tuna or Tulingan is also a favorite and cooked the same way as other yellow foods on the table. To top it all, Rice is also cooked with turmeric and chili! Actually, they’re all yummy.

Culture and Tradition

You will find it funny but it’s true. When we ride a bus or a Fierra (that was the trending one during that time), the men sit at the front sit because the girls are not allowed to sit beside men or better yet, the one next to her should at least be a relation. In school, we were given two options to wear, one is skirt and the other in pants. We were allowed to wear sarees (malong) during Wednesdays which is our ‘wash day” for uniforms.

Holidays

Both Christian and Muslim Holidays were observed hence if you take a look at the calendar, almost half of it already covered all the holidays. The solution was that we were required to have classes on Saturdays to cope with the required number of days for the school year. We were also taught about the Quran and the Bible.

There are certain Holidays where we had parades. This time, you will see the colorful malongs of the Maranaws. They wear their traditional “Landap” inspired malong. It is intricately handwoven with no end except the two openings of the tube-like outfit, and yes, they’re very expensive because they’re made of silk.

Several ethnic dance are performed especially the royal dance called “Singkil”. The princess dance along with the prince by hopping in between the four bamboos while the prince showcase his expertise in handling his “kampilan” (sword) while dancing. The musical background is performed by elders using “kulintang” while the men use the big gong, all of which are made from thick brasswares.

Weddings

If you want to join hands into matrimony, there will be series of events to ask for the hands of the girl. You need to prepare one week celebration for the family, land to offer and of course, jewels, so better think twice if you’re ready for this. During the ceremony, the man is displayed in public through a parade of both families but the bride is kept inside her room with her entourage outside the door while waiting for the groom to arrive. The Imaam (priest) will do the ceremony. After that, the man will go to the bride’s room, and guys, it’s not the end yet. You need to make peace with the ladies’ circle so make sure you still have lots in your pocket in this situation. When everything is settled, it will be the time for the groom to see his bride. The ceremony ends with the man holding the top hair of the bride. This action is called “batal”. It symbolizes that she now belongs to the man.

Best Education

Dansalan is the only place in whole Mindanao which was not under the influence of the Spanish colonization and the Japanese occupation. The Americans were welcomed to establish camps in the city hence a school was established in Bangolo named Camp Keithley Elementary School along with the oldest hospital in the province.
Since we were on the upper side, we went to school named Marawi Central Elementary Pilot School. Our teachers were Christians and few Muslims who were educated in Dansalan Junior College.

Dansalan Junior College

This school was put up by Priesbeterians. Because of this, they had all the advancement to get a better education with lots of aids from the United States of America. The School is complete with facilities including housing for the faculty and staff, gymnasium and UCCP Church (United Church of Christ in the Philippines). There were relief goods for everybody from the UNICEF such as bulgur, yellow corn, butter, wheat and Powdered Milk.

Peace Corps were deployed in the area to help educate the Maranaws in the area including Christians.
I can still recall when they would go to the house for house visitation and midweek prayers. After the service, a program was conducted where I was one of their favorites because I was trained to sing the Kundiman when I was a kid. Let me recollect it. It runs this way:

Natutulog ka man
Irog kong matimtiman
Dungawin mo man lamang ang aking pag-iibig
Dahan-dahan mutya, buksan mo ang bintana
Kaawaan at kahabangan ng yong pagmamahal
Kung sakali man saya ang aking paglingap,
Pakiusap ko sau
Kaawaan mo ako
Kahit mamatay
Pag-ibig ko’y minsan laman

Oh well, that’s all I can remember. There’s still a chorus to that. Actually, it’s a serenade song which was a traditional practice of long ago when the guy would court a lady through his song at night. When the girl hears the song and if she likes for the man to come up, the window will be opened and she accepts the flowers. He will be allowed to speak to the girl but someone beside is watching. But that’s another story. It is only practiced in the Christian Community. I am only elaborating the purpose of the serenade. The translation of that song is meaningful as well.

Anyways, to proceed with my story, our school were provided various Peace Corps from the US to link with our church. They were also our English Drill teachers. Time came when the old Peace Corps who were pioneered the building of the school need to retire and they went back to the US.

Our school could be labeled as a non-sectarian school. It is semi-private and they accept both Muslims and Christians. It’s one of the oldest schools in Dansalan City. They were responsible for slowly educating the people. We had huge library were many graduate study students did their research. Most of our teachers hailed from Silliman University which is also a protestant school during that time.

Mini Hospital and Clinic

The school received huge help via our church links especially when our new director took over in the name of Rev. Lloyd G. Van Vactor. A mini-hospital and clinic was built for the people. The students were given audio-visual lessons about Family Planning for them to slowly introduce the concept of family control to their parents.The parents gradually accepted the use of contraceptives and the process called circumcision.

Sports Enthusiasts
Sports was introduced for men and women, choir presentations were held during programs as well as Operettas.

Cottage Industry

Maranaw women were given livelihood projects with their prowess in hand weaving. Their finished products were paid accordingly and exported to the US.

Mindanao State University

Dansalan Junior College was changed to Dansalan College and the course offered was only limited to English major and History. To those who wanted to further explore other courses opted to study at Mindanao State University. Various scholarship offers were granted for those who were able to pass the entrance exam. I was granted a full scholarship as a varsity player. Inter-school swapping of scholars from UP were as well granted.
Several branches were opened in various locations in Mindanao as the population expanded and to lessen the expenses of the students in other places.

The Glory We Once Had

Yes, it was the glory we once had. All these beautiful memories shattered into pieces when Martial Law was proclaimed by then Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos. Insurgency crop up and war broke out. Many families were displaced, the whole city was burned down. It took hard for the people to recover, and yet they stood up again and built even more durable structures.

The Reunion

Six years ago, we had our first school reunion after 46 years! It was Batch ’72 Hi-school Graduates of Dansalan College. I would say, our Section 1 batch were successful in their respective chosen fields of profession. Those from abroad just came back for the said occasion with the presence of some of our teachers, including our two principals, our teacher in Math subject and our teacher in religion/Physical Education. We only met in Iligan City for security reasons.

Ground Zero

After the three months war between the rebels and the military. I doubt there will be another reunion as planned, and the more it won’t happen again with this global pandemic going on.

This maybe my Swan Song my friends but it is of great honor and privilege that I have once again made this testimony without any notes and research but rather it all came from heart, fresh memories rushing through my mind. I started writing this since this afternoon, took rest for a while and at exactly 2:43 AM., I am bidding you goodnight.

My heartfelt thanks to @bearone and @mrnightmare89 for this Noble endeavor for the whole world to know more about the Philippines.

The ending may be sad but I know that our government will see to it that what has been damaged by war will be brought back to its normal condition in God's time.

Thank you for reading. Keep safe everyone!

Till then,