Category Archives: Community

Notes On The Filipino Road-and Other Elements

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

October 3, 2024, Manila- Today was one of those days when the executive dysfunction of some friends led to long periods of sitting around, waiting for things to happen. K was doing a lot, as was the renovation crew who are working on the Baha’i Center. She, and they, were doing fine without me, so I offered to help another friend, and waited, and waited. In the end, the day went by with plans unfulfilled-for several reasons.

While waiting, though, my mind went over several things I’ve noticed have changed about Philippine traffic, since last year: 1.There are, for pedestrians, a signal that tells both how long until they may cross again (red numbers) and how long they have to cross (green numbers). There is still, for unregulated intersections, the tradition of crossing when traffic slows down. 2. There are several more directional signs for outlying areas than I recall from last year. 3. Directions for places of interest are more commonly posted, both in Metro Manila and in the smaller cities. 4. Cautionary signs, regarding speeding and littering, are more common-especially in smaller neighbourhoods. 5. I have seen fewer instances of gridlock than I saw last year.

Coffee shops and juice bars have sprung up in areas where they were lacking-always a sign of a trend towards a more peaceful camaraderie and health consciousness.

There aren’t as many beggars, and there is markedly less trash on the streets, even in more “rundown” neighbourhoods. (There are many more wheeled trash bins around.) More kids are in school than are wandering the streets. I see more people who look like they are on a mission. I see more couples showing affection, though rarely in an unseemly manner. Life in “the Phils”, to my eyes, seems to be getting better.

My relative downtime gave me a chance to completely catch up on things that had accumulated, so now I can focus on remaining goals, over the next 3.5 weeks. I am keeping abreast of events in the U.S. and in western Asia. Hurricane Helene was the worst cyclone in my homeland since Katrina. There are no words to describe my sorrow at the devastation in places like Perry (FL), Asheville, Boone, Aiken, Greenville (SC), Tryon, Valdosta, Damascus and Newport (TN). I have been to most of those places and have friends in several of them. Claytor Lake State Park, in southwest Virginia, was a place of refuge for me, in August, 2011, when I was at the lowest ebb, emotionally. It is now at its lowest ebb, physically, and will do well by the Federal aid that has been secured for several states in the southeast. Remember our small towns. They will live on and largely recover, but right now, many are in agony.

Extended Stay

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

October 2, 2024, Manila– Kathy was still off doing the practical work of the Divine, so I decided to get my own small contribution to the greater effort done. It took three hours, mostly of waiting, but I extended my visa by two weeks-and will thus be able to consult with her, and the rest of the team, as to how that time can best be put to use. As gruff as the clerks are,(probably because they’re paid a pittance), the lady at the last station entered two weeks beyond what I needed, as the expiration date. I still need to get back to Arizona by Oct. 28, but it’s nice to have that buffer period, just in case.

During the final hour of waiting, between the payment part and the confirmation part, I went over Jones Bridge to Binondo, the oldest of Manila’s Chinatowns. There are a couple of arches that set the mood.

Pasig River, with old financial district across from Intramuros.
Gateway to Quiapo Chinese Commercial Area, Binondo.
Filipino-Chinese Friendship Arch, Binondo
Four hundred years of ties between the Philippines and Mexico are also a point of pride, along the Pasig.
Jones Bridge, close-up
Mural, west of Jones Bridge

After taking this photo, I was approached by a pedicab driver, who said he could take me to a dozen fascinating sites. I asked him to take me to the National Museum of Fine Arts, only. This turned out to be more than enough for the poor soul, and I paid him a fair wage for his effort. These men represent a dying art, but don’t need to die on the job. Ironically, right after he let me off, a horse-drawn cart came down the street on the opposite side. I felt just as bad for the poor horse, as for the pedicab driver.

Here is the National Museum of Fine Arts.

I managed to take in the second floor and half of the third.
Manuel Roxas, the fifth President of the Philippines. His is the first likeness to greet the visitor to Fine Arts.
“Angel”, by Guillermo E. Tolentino is right behind President Roxas.
Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo was one of the Philippines’ greatest painters of the 19th Century. Here is his “El Gobernador y El Obispo” (1896), based on an imaginary historical encounter.
Hidalgo (right) is featured here with his contemporary, Juan Luna.
“Dr. Jose A. Rizal”, by Felix Gonzales (1962). This piece is one of many depictions of the National Hero of the Philippines, in an honorarium gallery. It is Gonzales’ only work, in the National Museum.
A retablo (altar piece), from the Church of San Nicolas de Tolentino, Dimiao, Bohol.

There are a pair of long murals, which feature the length of Filipino history, but which I’d rather cite after a visit to the National Museum of Anthropology.

This second solo venture was a full day.

Cave People, A Change Purse and a Cockroach

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

October 1, 2024, Manila- The three titular things stood out, in my visit yesterday, to Palawan Heritage Center. My guide, a knowledgeable, if soft-spoken, young lady named Irene, presented two videos: The first, on the island and its tributaries-which constitute the largest province in the Philippines. There are roughly 1, 780 islands and islets in the jurisdiction. The main island is 280 miles (450 km) long and 31 miles (50 km) wide. It is the mini-Chile of the Malay Archipelago. It is also the only part of the Philippines that was once part of mainland Asia.

The second video raised an issue of humanity: The Tau’t Bato, a small subgroup of the Palaw’an First Nation, live traditional, simple lives in the Singnapan Valley, of southern Palawan. They take shelter in nearby caves, during the rainy season. many of the Tau’t Bato came to live in cities, from Puerto Princesa to Manila and Cebu, in the 1970s to 2000s. They found urban life to be totally at variance with their experiences in the Singnapan, only finding “work” as house servants, trash pickers or purveyors of trinkets. They slept on the sidewalks and were generally treated as curiosities, at best, or outcasts, at worst. Many went back to Singnapan, though some still live in the larger communities. Fortunately, those who have returned to their homeland are protected by the provincial and national governments.

As Irene was showing me several paintings by local artists, a cockroach came onto the polished marble floor. I left it to her to decide the insect’s fate, and a janitor was summoned, whisked the creature onto a dustpan and deposited it in the garden outside. (I do this at home, when confronted with a sewer roach.)

The last item was a handmade change purse, which I bought for K, given her love of local handicrafts. I picked up a “glow-in-the-dark” trinket for myself.

Here are a few scenes of the Palawan Heritage Center..

Palawan Provincial House
Some works by local painters
Dr. Higino Mendoza (top row, second from left) was the wartime governor of Palawan. He worked to keep his people safe from Japanese rule, and was executed for his trouble. He is regarded as the provincial hero of Palawan.
Here are more works by local artists.
Here is a replica of Plaza Cuartel’s gate, when it was intact. The present structure has fallen into disrepair.
This depiction of a babaylan ( a traditional healer) was intended, by the Spanish, to frighten children. The healer was actually a gentle soul, as a rule.
Here is a diorama of a Tau’t Bato home.
This may be as close as I get to a Palaw’an village, any time soon.

In the afternoon, I went with Roger to a small local beach, called Aquaman Beach Resort. It is in a small barangay called Bancao-Bancao. The tide was incoming, but the water was like a bath, so I walked around a bit and took some shots.

A view of the Philippine Sea, at Bancao-Bancao. (Above and below)
Roger, resembling Ernest Hemingway.
Longhouse, at high tide.
Lone tree, and a boat cabana
Long view of Aquaman Beach Resort.
Another “tree islet”
Forest trail, out of Aquaman Beach Resort.

My last day in Puerto Princesa ended with a nice meal at McCoy’s Restaurant, at Bay Walk Park. For now, having returned to the capital, Palawan will continue to exist in my heart. The Philippines as a whole will, as well, after I head back to North America, on October 27. Something tells me, though, that we will be far from done with one another.

Lyanna

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Posted by on in children, Community, Education, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 29, 2024, Puerto Princesa- “I remember you from before”, said the six-year-old, as she came into her grandparents’ front room, “it’s so good to see you here again.” She introduced herself as Lyanna, “though that’s only my nickname”, and showed six fingers, indicating her age. I asked her what grade she was in- “One”. She then explained that she was not “so conversant” in Tagalog, as she had been initially taught English and Spanish-for whatever reason the latter was important to her Filipino parents. She further explained that her father was a Navy officer and her mother, a nurse. When her little brother came out of the back and started crawling over me, Lyanna said “It’s okay; he can’t help it.” Grandmother quickly took the boy away, and Lyanna continued: “We mustn’t pick on the people who have learning problems. Everyone has one problem or another. For example, I have trouble learning Tagalog.”

I probably could have listened to the child expound on the Universe for a lot longer, but I had to get my dirty clothes to the laundry, up the street. She quickly exited, saying “Bye, bye. See you next time!” Precocity is priceless, and those who place limits on it do so to their own eventual detriment.

The other aspect to this is the seeming closeness of young children to the spirit world. Whether their recognition of certain people, whom they had not previously met in the flesh, is based on mere generalization of people with similar countenances or demeanors, or results from an encounter in a spirit dimension, is something we will only be able to ascertain when the time comes to go to the next level. In any event, I keep running into such children, and I know I am far from alone, in that regard.

This day passed without any of the scheduled meetings taking place. I have to say, though, that the conversation with Lyanna and a longer discourse, with her grandfather, were probably far better uses of my time than meeting just for the sake of meeting.

Precocity is priceless.

Soloing

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Historical, Inner Struggles, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 28, 2024, Puerto Princesa- The shoe, it turns out, was only moved a short distance from its untouched mate. Darkness keeps us in suspense, yet I sense when patience will win out, in daylight. The pair again adorn my feet.

I met another American, this morning. He has settled here in Palawan and farms with his wife, near BM Beach, which will itself be my beach experience on Monday. I have made it known that, so long as I am welcome in the Philippines, next year will bring a longer stay. The “Great Adventures” I had planned for the next five years are better off done with someone I have come to love-and trust- very much. Before them, then, comes earning trust, myself-and so I make that commitment, even with the adjustments this will bring to my comfortable life in Arizona.

Family has only grown larger, over the years, but I have seen a bigger picture than my local scene, since I was four years old. Always branching out, farther and farther-while never forgetting my roots, it has been such a rewarding life. Some of this has been imparted to my son, who is in the rootedness phase of life, and so will be the anchor of annual or semiannual jaunts back to North America. The wider family, though, will hardly shrink.

I felt comfortable enough, this evening, to walk south and west, and take in Puerto Princesa’s Bayside Park, its Cathedral and Plaza Cuartel- the scene of a brutal massacre during World War II. It may or may not be a hallmark of American travelers, but I go anywhere that is not off-limits, or is obviously dangerous turf. Puerto Princesa is not a dangerous place.

Statue of the “princess”, for whom the city is named. She was an elusive figure, it is said.

Peacock Statue (Tandikan)-the provincial bird of Palawan.

University crew members, in practice

City logo, at Bayside Park.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Puerto Princesa

Account of brutality that grew out of fear.

So went my solo visit to Hondo Bay and its interesting park.

A Missing Shoe

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Education, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 27, 2024, Puerto Princesa- The dog was sniffing my shoes, as a I left them outside the door to the large, comfortable villa, where our evening meal and impromptu conversation of two hours was to unfold. There are no puppies here at Dang Maria, (named for the mother of the owner), so I thought nothing of leaving them in the customary spot.

We had several lengthy and intelligent conversations today. Sister-friend Jane looms large in this seaside community, and has done nothing but good for the Puertenyos, and all Palawenyos. Her vision, like mine, is global and inclusive. I am proud to see her as a spiritual sibling.

My actual hosts here in Puerto Princesa are a furniture maker, Roger, and his wife Amie (AA mee). Roger sets the meetings and, in the tropical tradition, the times. It is vacation mode, even with my keeping view of my goals here-to encourage the Baha’is, as we continue to re-group, in the lingering aftermath of pandemic. I walk more slowly, along Manalo Street, to and from my host’s residence and my digs at Rodolfo Royale Hotel-and anywhere else we may be walking.

Our first leisurely stop was at Palawan Mall, where I refueled my wallet. We then headed over to Jane’s Restaurant, Neva’s Place, named for one of her three daughters.

Neva’s Place, Puerto Princesa, Palawan (above and below)

After a meal of garlic shrimp and noodles, with coffee as a dessert item rather than as “fuel”, we bid Jane adieu and headed back to our respective spots on Manalo Street, for siesta in the sitio (neighbourhood). It is still an institution here on Palawan-for those who don’t have a series of meetings to attend.

Our evening gathering, at Dang Maria, started “promptly at 5 p.m.”, which is Taglish for “be here around 6…or so”. We got there at 6:15. The gloaming had set in, but in the house, everything had a quiet vibrancy, and we addressed woes, both near and far. One thing we all hold in common- our Faith is not meant to have us hold our heads in the clouds. Spirituality, if real, must envelop, absorb and sanctify the material and the practical. Matters, great and small, put in front of us, are worthy of our attention. “Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.-Baha’u’llah, “The Tabernacle of Unity”

Evening, at Casa Maria, Puerto Princesa
Amie, Roger and Jane
This is the one where I look like my maternal grandfather. (Time is flying!)

It was time to leave, being close to 9 p.m., so I went outside, to put on my shoes-except that there was only one. We looked high and low-but in the darkness, there was only one thing to do. I was graciously offered a pair of sandals, and the remaining shoe was placed out of harm’s way.

Tomorrow is another day.

Day of Even Flow

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 26, 2024, Puerto Princesa, Palawan- Today began with an urgent plea, which I answered with a long prayer for healing. It seemed to have done the trick, as the medical emergency has been relieved somewhat. So, prayers on that matter (Confidential, of course) will continue from this end.

The day played out with yet another transition from Manila to a provincial area. It was a day of even flow, with a flight delay answered by the pilot by getting us to Puerto Princesa in 2/3 of the time that the manifest stated. Passengers are far from the only people who want to get to their destinations, be those home or a temporary Home Base.

Here in “Puerto”, and elsewhere in Palawan. motorized tricycles take the place of jeepneys. Two of them got me from the airport to this 2-star hotel: Rodolfo Royale, which more than suits my needs for a few days. The first Tricycle took me to a “recommended” rooming house, whose owner was none too pleased to see a foreign national. No matter- I got a second tricycle to a popular restaurant, and my friend here in Puerto lives just up the road from RR, and getting in here was no problem.

It will be more socially intense here, as there is a larger group of people who are interested in my presence, and these are country people, not so absorbed in their own day to day business, as those who dwell in the cities. In the course of events, that is a good thing, more conducive to personal growth.

A Split City

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 25, 2024, Manila- Stepping off the light rail car, at Fifth Avenue station, I spotted an ornate Chinese temple and adjoining pagoda. I was in Caloocan, the Philippines’ fourth-largest city, and the only one that is split by a neighbouring community. In this case, Quezon City, the largest city in the country and its former planned capital, has split Caloocan into the greater northern segment and a slender southern area, by way of the former’s aggressive annexation of land in the 1930s and again in the 1950s.

It is in southern Caloocan that the Chinese structures are found. The Taoist Temple, named Thai To, and its pagoda, lie to the south of the Fifth Avenue Light Rail Station. The outer gate of the complex was open, but the doors to the structures were not, so I confined my curiosity to their exteriors. I know from having lived in South Korea and visiting Taiwan that temple visitation involves serious protocol.

Thai To Taoist Temple and Pagoda, Caloogan South (above and below)

Crossing back to the main street, I noticed another old Mandarin-style building, on the north side. So, crossing over, I found Ung Siu Si, at the north end of a small area of shops and warehouses.

Ung Siu Si Temple, Caloocan South

Two older Chinese men, who had been lounging outside, got up and moved away, as they saw me approaching. A nearby security guard chuckled at their wariness, but no one had a problem with my photographing the building.

This was the extent of Caloocan South’s Chinatown remnant, save for a few small cafes with signs in Mandarin. I spent the rest of my solo afternoon at Co-Lab, a pleasant coffee shop, frequented by university students. It is ever a feature of my sojourns to seek out such haunts, and while away an hour or so by journaling. Co-Lab, also called The Coffee Project, is not far from Ola!, or from the Baha’i Center, so I will visit there again, when K and the sister-friends are busy with projects, on a given day.

Tomorrow, though, I will wrap this second stay in Manila and head southwest, to Palawan, for a three-day visit. It is the home of two of the sister-friends, who have been so important to our day-to-day activities.

No Compromise

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 23, 2024, Manila- There was not much on my plate today, except to recount to a couple of friends, as to my visit in Baguio. I also “planted” the second rose quartz heart in a Philippine locale: The front garden plot of the Regional Baha’i Center, in Manila’s Santa Ana neighbourhood. The first was “planted” on Saturday, in the front garden of Rosevilla Transient Guest House. Others will be interred on Palawan and in places I will visit, in the remaining four weeks of my present sojourn here.

I have met several men who have come from afar, and married Filipina women. Some have known their mates for several years. Others came on a wing and a prayer, and found the one they sought. I wish them all many years of happiness.

I did not come here, last year, with the intent of finding a special person. I had twenty-nine years of love from Penny, and her spirit still guides me-and so I was guided to a shimmering, radiant soul, when I least expected. As to the outcome, it’s been a lovely year of long-distance communication and an equally lovely set of in-person meet-ups, so far. We will see where this goes, but I am in a joyful state right now.

One thing is clear, though: I do not view Kathy, or any woman for that matter, as an idea, a trinket, a plaything or a pastime. Penny was for real; so is K. I am a head or so taller than she, but we are eyeball to eyeball, and her thoughts, dreams and life plan are as important to me as anything in my life.

There are those who will read this and tell me-“I remember when……” Of course you do, and so do I, sometimes to my chagrin. Those friendships, or reasonable facsimiles thereof, each imparted a lesson for me-and probably for the women involved as well. I have seen those of them who have remained my friends go on and meet good men, or continue along an intentional life of single person hood.

I have long since reached the point of no compromise with the lower nature. As my bond with K evolves, and in whatever direction it goes, I will follow the path of honour. My marriage to Penny taught me the way and all else that follows is in that vein.

A Cordillera Sojourn, Day 4: An Igorot Origin Story

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Historical, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 22, 2024, Manila- The wooden Ibaloi warrior sat in my crafts souvenir bag, keeping watch over the bus, and me-like Little Bear, in “The Indian in the Cupboard”. I would not have been surprised, had he come to life and begun murmuring fiercely in the Ibaloi dialect of the time. The history of the indigenous people of the vast Malay archipelago: East Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Timor L’Este and the Philippines mirrors that of the First Nations of the Americas. Indeed, they were all subjugated by the same European conquerors-and their successor cultures.

Mabel Cook Cole provides us with this account of the origin of the Igorot nations

“The Creation

Igorot

In the beginning there were no people on the earth.

Lumawig, the Great Spirit, came down from the sky and cut many reeds. He divided these into pairs which he placed in different parts of the world, and then he said to them, “You must speak.”

Immediately the reeds became people, and in each place was a man and a woman who could talk, but the language of each couple differed from that of the others.

Then Lumawig commanded each man and woman to marry, which they did. By and by there were many children, all speaking the same language as their parents. These, in turn, married and had many children. In this way there came to be many people on the earth.

Now Lumawig saw that there were several things which the people on the earth needed to use, so he set to work to supply them. He created salt, and told the inhabitants of one place to boil it down and sell it to their neighbors. But these people could not understand the directions of the Great Spirit, and the next time he visited them, they had not touched the salt.

Then he took it away from them and gave it to the people of a place called Mayinit. These did as he directed, and because of this he told them that they should always be owners of the salt, and that the other peoples must buy of them.

Then Lumawig went to the people of Bontoc and told them to get clay and make pots. They got the clay, but they did not understand the molding, and the jars were not well shaped. Because of their failure, Lumawig told them that they would always have to buy their jars, and he removed the pottery to Samoki. When he told the people there what to do, they did just as he said, and their jars were well shaped and beautiful. Then the Great Spirit saw that they were fit owners of the pottery, and he told them that they should always make many jars to sell.

In this way Lumawig taught the people and brought to them all the things which they now have.”-Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), pp. 99-101.

The First Nations of the Malay Archipelago, including the Philippines, have much the same richness in their cultures and in their societies, as have the First Nations of the Americas-and in fact, all the First Nations, across the globe. It was all too easy for Europeans and their settler descendants to have lost sight of this, because no sooner had a wave of Eurasian nomads come across from the steppes of the landmass’s center and settled down (the Celts, the Aryans, the Teutonic tribes, the Huns, Avars and Turks), than another wave of nomads, the Mongols being the last, came thundering across the plains, to conquer and disrupt society. Each successive wave of settlers disdained those they found in place. So did the ethos of conquest become ingrained in the European mindset-and in many ways, the wisdom of the indigenous people was discounted and overlooked.

I am grateful to have had a small amount of time with the Idaloi. I will be back, possibly as early as next month.

I came back to the capital, this afternoon. The return trip was made the way the average Filipino makes it-via a local bus, that stopped in four different depots and two rest areas. The bus picked up roadside passengers in the countryside between Baguio and Sison, which was the first rest area. We continued through small cities, like Urdaneta and Moncada, stopped at a second rest area, in Angeles, and still got to Pasay Victory Line Terminal in five hours. Now, there are four days to regroup and replenish, before going to Palawan, the “frontier” of the Philippines, in the southwest.

Here, as a bonus, is a collection of Igorot legends.

Click to access 07_A%20Collection%20of%20Igorot%20Legends.pdf