Dulag circa 2007

I went back home for the all saints day to Dulag, the place where I grew up.

As the tricycle I rode traverse the old asphalted two way road, I remember the days when these very roads were still the old road. The road back then was not asphalted thanks for the Cristo Rey celebration finally a politician and cashed out there fund to had the road asphalted so that our little barangay will be presentable to the visitors who will join the procession…and that there names will be remembered by the old folks during election time.

Yes election time. The barangay election has just been concluded and just like before corruption is still rampart. The only difference was that the bribes candidates hand out are higher today. Why is it that so many candidates will be ready to give money in order for the voters to cast there vote in their favor? Problem is the voting public themselves are the very reason why these candidates give money…as our utility man at the office says “ensuring there future”.

I usually bike around our barangay in the afternoon if I am on vacation. I always noticed the difference back then. Our old building school was no where to be found, most of the fields are now with erected houses, parts which were once spacious are now crowded, and most of the old people are still here but with there lives still below standard life. I think instead of improving our barangay has not change at all. The young people have become more liberated and undisciplined. As early as they can be they can already grab a bottle of beer and a stick of cigarette and stay in the side ways doing nothing. Most are unemployed; wasting there God given talents and some parents are still “consentidor” by not forcing there children with capacity to work go to work. They just look up to the sky, sigh and wait on God’s grace to come. Have they not known that God has already showered them with so many blessings? Unfortunately they have not yet realize it, and as long as they don’t realize it they are there rotting and losing all there potentials as time causes these God given talents to rust just like that.

It seems that the only possible way to uplift there lives is going to foreign lands. Just like may brother sings “Saudi Saudi yayaman din kami, Japan Japan sagot sa kahirapan.” I am myself bound to an overseas work offered by my brother-in-law in Guam. I was able to have a chance to work for multinational company who offers a better compensation than my current employment but my brother-in-law has long been offering this job because he badly needs someone to rely on. I accepted it because I know I can be of great help to him and at the same time it will be a learning experience for me besides the good compensation which won’t be offered by most companies in the Philippines.
We call this brain drain. Most of our talented countryman are now working abroad to have a better chances at life. Same with my simple barrio. Some of my elementary classmates are already working abroad. With the help of Friendster, I was able to know that they are already abroad. They are now away in foreign lands struggling to live and attain a better life than staying home for nothing.

Overall my barangay could still be a better place. Only if my barangay folks with truly seek change and betterment I think it has a change to be a better place. Only time can tell and I hope by the time I get back from my stint in Guam, Dulag will be a better place.

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Undas

Another day of the year; only one day for the dead.

I left the apartment around 7 am to catch the bus bound to Dulag.

People visit there beloved departed once a year on this very day, and the irony of it is that we could have done so when they were still alive. We could have hugged them or maybe we could have a hearty chat over puto or kakanin instead of placing it in a paper plate with a lighted candle.

Another irony of it why is it we just visit them today when we could have visited them weekly or monthly? When we buried them we were weeping all the way and sometimes even pass out.

On the contrary this event has its own good side. Relatives were able to have a reunion. We are able to meet our titos and titas, cousins, and old friends who happen to have someone buried in the same cemetery.

It also shows the level of stature every one has in the society. One can see it in the "nitso" of the dead and through the candles and flowers placed. Sad to say that such attention could have been given to them when they were still alive; it is only when we are dead that we enjoy a soft bed, a soft bed in a pricey coffin.

It is truly ironic to celebrate and remember our dead on this day when actually the church intended this day for those departed ones who have no one to cherished there life. One thing more November 1 is for the Saints and November 2 is the day for the dead but as early as October 31 we are already having Halloween parties. We have forgotten those people who have showed exemplary life as a Christian and yet we celebrate more the tikbalangs, aswangs and the underworld creatures of our folklores.

Though it has been a tradition, I hope each and every Filipino will not forget the essence of what we are celebrating. We must be happy because our love ones are already there and we must be ready for the time of our death is unknown as it is written in the Bible; it is like a thief in the night, no one knows when it will come.

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