WAS THIS GOD'S WAY?

The following school year hurriedly arrived and I enrolled at Sacred Heart High School in Kiwalan, in Iligan City. I was now on my third year high school. Kiwalan was fifteen minutes away from Salimbal and the fare was ten centavos one way. Eng-eng, being still single and working in Cagayan de Oro in construction was the one who shouldered my entrance fee, books, and miscellaneous, and he would also pay for my monthly tuition of ten pesos. Sacred Heart was also a Catholic school like St. Joseph. My father and mother had no money, their tobacco lost capital and my father became sick so he stopped his salt making industry. He bought a net and he resorted into fishing. Merlyn and Baby were still in the elementary and Titing totally quit school and could not be persuaded to go back. I was the biggest expense in the household.

I was a natural leader and in Sacred Heart I got immediately noticed by the principal and was given the whole military training, which was an integral subject in the school, to be the batallion commander. Why it was given to a third year student when there were fourth year students who were also capable was beyond me. It must have been because I was tall and looked sturdy. I also had a presence that could not be pushed around. Even in the Catholic mass I was given some responsibility by the priest. Miss Navarro, our teacher in religion recommended me. I sensed that she had a liking on me and she was impressed that I knew the Bible very well. I was animating in her class and took the lead in discussion. She loved to walk with me after school and I initiated to walk her home many times. My classmate Emmanuel was the closest to me among my new friends because he also liked to drink. When we got to school drunk, Miss Navarro sent Emmanuel out but she kept me. I was her favorite, and I believed that I was the favorite by all of my teachers. I was doing well in all of my subjects and I even took my entire battallion to a contest in Iligan on a borrowed sword. As the top commander, I had to be good in executing a sword.

Months passed very quickly, we found ourselves moving again to another location but still around the Lugait area, closer to Floro Cement. At this time construction of the plant went full speed and around the vicinity little stores in order to cater to the Manila people and other contractors multiplied innumerably. What was once a quiet town, Lugait got transformed like a miracle. And even Iligan City, which was thirty minutes away by car also became busier. I finished my third year satisfactorily and bragged to Eng-eng, who was my benefactor all along, that he should be proud of me. And he was. But he broke the bad news. He was contemplating to get married soon and this mean that he could no longer pay for my schooling. My whole family, especially my dad, was saddened at the news. Of course, he had to get married. We were happy that he was getting married, but the joy was overshadowed with sorrow over my not being able to get into fourth year.

With school on vacation, and the prospect of making it back was doubtful, I became a sea-hand to my dad. Back in Gatub I was a farmhand. Here now, a sea-hand. I learned how to drive a banca now, while in the beginning, aside from being afraid of the sea, my driving of the banca tossed the boat into the deep and I remember Eng-eng had to shout at me: "Rowe on your left, rowe on your right." I also learned now how to bait the hooks, and how to light up the "petromax." By the way, a banca is a small boat, and a petromax is a kerosene powered lamp. My dad and I prepare the boat and the net around four in the afternoon, and he taught me how to arrange the net that in so doing it would just easily fall into the water accordingly with how it was placed inside the boat. We then haul the small boat, which was a two seater, into the water, dragging it along the sand until it hit the part of the water where it was deep enough for us to ride in. I had practiced how to mount the boat without tipping it on its side, least it capsizes. My dad was the pilot and I was the net thrower. The length of the net was about two hundred feet and we would leave it until around nine o'clock. We would know that it was our net down in the bottom of the sea by the bamboo bouy which had bore specific markings. Otherwise, without the bouy, we would lose the net and may not find it at all. When nine o'clock came we picked up the bamboo bouy and pull the rope which tied to the net and began hauling the net into the empty space inside the boat. Fish tangled in the net surfaces up as the net was being put into the boat. Variety of fish was caught, small and big, and even squids. I learned to untangle the fish and put them into the designated places. After a while, we head back to the beach where people waited for our catch. On one night, which varied, we could make about thirty pesos. On moonless nights, our catch was better.

I proved to be a good son to my father and mother. I was a consistent help to the house. And I also at fourteen years of age found a job with one of the sub-contractors in Floro Cement doing steel bending. It was easy to bend the steel bars, even if they were size nine. I also learned to install the bended steel bars, following the architects plan. I became a fast tier, using tiny wires to connet the bars fo each other as indicated in the plan. My dad and mom were proud of me.

With little money from the job