ANOTHER WORLD OPENED

My father lost Sicpao property for non-payment of taxes amounting to P1,700, all twelve hectares, filled with coconuts, bananas, mangoes, and abaca. He knew that this was coming and so he started moving his family to another place, which was in Mahayag. In order to get something for the land, rather than the government taking it, he had the Baron family, who was the family of Estela who was my partner in duet in my primary school days, to take over the land for P600. From this money he put in some amount to buy on installment the property in Gatub owned by Cita and Basilio Dulugin, which was about five hectares in size. But later on, even the Gatub land was not being paid because my father was aiming to move away from Zamboanga del Sur to go back to Misamis Oriental. Before the move, my father took his family to Iligan City, in Lanao del Norte, to visit some of his well to do relatives. One of them was a Chinese. Iligan City was the center of trade and education at that time because of the Steel Mills there and the production of electricity created by the Maria Cristina Falls.

I was already ten years old when I first met the city life, where the toilet was inside the house which was non-existent in Sicpao nor in Gatub. Up to this time I was doing my toilet outside in the bushes. It was also only at this time that I saw a faucet and water flowing out of it. I was raised where water was carried from the well to the house. In Iligan, there was water built in the kitchen. It was a big surprise for me to see a faucet, and a bigger surprise for me when I asked to use the toilet and I was pointed to a small room with nothing there. One of the children in the house had to demonstrate to me how to use this toilet, which I still did not know how to use it even after I got shown how to. When I flushed it I became very afraid by the sound of the gurgling water. We spent the night in the house without a gas lamp. And when the lights were turned off it worried me how to have a light just in case I needed it. I had not known about electricity to this moment. All the time, I was very quiet. I just nodded or shook my head to answer some questions when I was personally asked. I was relieved when we left Iligan and took a bus to go to Tagnipa, in Misamis Oriental. Tagnipa was where my father was born. This was my first time to see the origin of the Ayudtud family, and my dad had not been back here for a very long time since he left the place in 1949.

In Tagnipa, we went to a house by the seashore, which was a real dump, the floor was sand on the beach. The whole house was built out of dried coconut leaves. There was a bamboo bed in the middle, and a stove of dried mud on the side. I thought, however, that this was more comfortable than the sophisticated house in Iligan. I could live here. But I could never adjust to live in the house in Iligan City.

This was also my very time to see an ocean. All my ten years of existence in the world it never dawned on me that a sea existed. I only knew about rivers, about horses and carabaos, about mango trees and chikens. But not an ocean. When I went to play on the beach there were small crabs running back and forth and they hid in their holes. It was my very first time to touch sea water, and my first time to see what an ocean wave looked like. It was also my very first time to see a boat afloat on the sea. Such a very new sight to me.

Since birth I only knew Sicpao and Mahayag. Then, we moved to Gatub. Then while in Gatub I was taken to Iligan City and to Misamis Oriental. My world became bigger. And my mind was forced to understand my surroundings. My father said that we would leave Gatub to move back to Tagnipa. The land in Gatub was being taken back by the Dulugins for non-payment, and it was time to move away.

The year 1965 was the year I had to say goodbye to Gatub. I was twelve years old. I've lived here and went to school in Kumalarang for almost seven years. All my memories will stay with me but will forever be a part of Gatub. My childhood will always stay here. And my awakening was a door that swung open to usher me into a new world.

We took the Bukidnon bus from Gatub to take us all the way to Tagnipa on a nine hour ride. This was my second long trip. We left at four in the morning and we found the bus filled with poeple with most of them fast asleep. After securing all our family belongings on the compartment underneath the passengers seats, the bus began to roll away. It's familiar sound made me remember the days in Sicpao when Titing and I would reenact the scene of driver and conductor. The misty air whisked past me when the bus picked up speed, causing my eyes to tear. Today, we will again pass by Dumalinao, then Pagadian, then Aurora, then Tangub, and on and on all the way to Iligan City. Today, I will again hear the holler of the vendors as they would scream their wares to invite people to buy. And today, Gatub will be a thing of the past, and to never be revisited again.