DROP by our home and you will also not fail to miss our garden.
Ask the mailman, the water delivery boys, the teachers conducting the latest census.
After they mount the stairs and spot this rectangle of about 25 square meters, visitors nearly always stay on the pebbled path that leads to the door.
They might just want to spare their shoes or avoid stirring up mosquitoes as large as horses from bursting out of the wild growth.
I can’t say I blame them. After decades of pouring cement, concrete and asphalt, our leaders and investors are bringing back green spaces. They are re-sculpting urban consciousness to return the outdoors to our life.
It’s a relief not just to find our cities breathing again but many people actually walking, running, biking, skateboarding, playing, reading, conversing and sleeping under trees.
Yet the popularity of “natural architecture” has one “tic”.
Emphasizing the aesthetic, the exotic, and the decorative started the fad among homeowners to abandon the backyard gardens of old for botanical showcases.
For generations that lived with the deprivations of war, a garden was for raising household needs: the omnipresent “malunggay,” herbs, vegetables and root crops, if space allowed.
These days, we drive to the nearest grocery or the wet market for what the household needs. We cultivate a garden to distinguish our home from the similar-looking units in the mass housing project.
A few summers ago, our family worked on our garden. We hauled in garden soil. We brought in organic fertilizer. We got plants and shrubs of varying hues of green, flowers whose names I did not even know.
Before summer ended, we spread a mat and played Scrabble or Monopoly on the carpet of blue grass that eventually turned brown, like a moth-eaten rug, under our trampling.
Though they did not strike us as landscape consultants, our cats, too, took a stake in the transformation of their territory. Statuesque plants swayed, graceful but flowerless. I wondered if the trellis’ shade or the hilltop breeze was upsetting the blossom production until I saw the cats swat at, nibble and pounce on them during slow afternoons.
The gradual disappearance of our garden happened not due to human neglect or feline malice but household need. When dengue cases rose in our village, scrounging for “manggagaw” along the streets seemed insufficient and unhygienic. Thriving even in shallow soil or under the shade, the weed is boiled to make a decoction that prevents the worsening of a person bitten by a dengue mosquito.
When we potted shrubs that had velvety maroon leaves, the cats also fancied them as cushions. Dreaming about mice, cats pouncing in their sleep occasionally caused pot and plant to smash on the street. When we replaced the ornamentals with “manggagaw” and onion bulbs, the cats kept off the pots. Onion is good for burns, insomnia and Pinoy “bistek” (beef steak).
We drink but don’t buy java tea or wachichao tea; we grow cat’s whiskers plant. It’s a pretty sight in the wilderness before us, its white feathery stamens any fastidious feline may proudly claim as its own whiskers. Wachichao flushes the kidneys, urinary tract and gall bladder. It is said to treat diabetes and elevated levels of cholesterol and blood pressure. It fools the cats.
Whenever someone’s delivering mineral water or the post, we calm their fears by pointing out that only household tabbies, not larger predators, are stirring the overgrowth.
Look, this is a garden. That’s green tea (for managing weight, cancer and heart disease), oregano (for flavoring pasta, pizza and salads and driving away mosquito), two kinds of jasmine, also known as “sampaguita,” fragrant in the night air and in a cup as jasmine-flower tea, and “tanglad” (lemongrass juice is “antiseptic, analgesic, antifungal, antimicrobial and antidepressant,” as well as unforgettable when paired off with native free-ranging chicken in a pot).
(mayette.tabada@gmail.com/ mayettetabada.blogspot.com/ 0917-3226131)
* First published in Sun.Star Cebu’s July 4, 2010 issue of “Matamata”
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Living by the sword
WHAT’S the cost of obsession?
To find and kill Osama bin Laden, Gary Brooks Faulkner pawned all his construction equipment and put a lot of wear and tear on his kidneys.
In the news, the American recently returned to his Colorado home after he was detained and then released by the Pakistani government.
According to The New York Times/International Herald Tribune, he was roaming in the “lawless tribal areas near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan” in a “suspicious manner,” said Pakistani officials.
Faulkner was caught with a dagger, a pistol with 40 rounds, a sword, a book full of “Christian verses and teachings,” a “small quantity” of hashish, and night-vision goggles.
For his efforts, Faulkner has been called a variety of names by the media and Netizens. “Rocky Mountain Rambo,” wrote the NY Daily News.com in its lead. “Go get em Gary!!!!!,” commented a reader named Kissarmy to the online article.
Would Faulkner have been greeted with confetti rather than jeers if he had succeeded? “Hero” and “patriot” mingle freely with “screw loose” and “Hollywood delusions” in the blogosphere.
Faulkner is an unlikely Osama hunter. The former convict is a construction worker who saved his earnings and eventually sold his tools to finance several trips to Pakistan. He is in his 50s and just started dialysis to treat his kidneys. His family says he never served in the military or underwent special training.
On his sixth trip in about seven years when he was arrested, Faulkner was checking out caves in the border district of Chitral, which is “widely rumored to hide Mr. bin Laden,” according to the NYT/IHT.
He does not speak any tribal language but wore a robe and grew his hair long. On a Daily News article, side-by-side photos of Faulkner and bin Laden show the two men sporting gray beards. Reports say that the two also share kidney ailments.
What drove the man to attempt what untold millions of dollars and a global anti-terrorism network have failed to carry out since 9/11?
His family members say that Faulkner was “increasingly frustrated” that his government was “distracted” by other domestic and international concerns and “forgot” the “main issue”.
“The reason is because a man ordered a hit on our country so we went to war,” commented a sister of Faulkner.
Getting back, settling the score, fixing someone’s wagon, wreaking vengeance.
There are many English idioms for exacting revenge; nearly all of these are in common use.
It is not only language that betrays us. Popular culture, particularly the news media, document how our alter ego breaks out of the gloss of education and civilization to run amok.
In human terms, justice—catching and punishing the wrongdoer—is interchangeable with avenging the wronged.
Peace can only be bought if we steel ourselves to wield the sword.
“"Draw me not without reason, sheath me not without honor" is an old Spanish saying about swords, quoted by a group that calls itself the Internet Sword Collectors Association.
What is the fine point of this?
Before I digress, let me answer first this online poll: “Do you think Gary Faulkner should keep hunting Osama Bin Laden?”
I check “yes” if I think “the U.S. military and CIA aren’t making progress so let him have another shot.”
It’s “no” if I think “(Faulkner) is a fool who could end up getting Americans killed with his vigilante tactics.”
The man who told reporters, “We can’t let people like this scare us… we’re going to take care of business,” had a nap after he arrived home.
(mayette.tabada@gmail.com/ mayettetabada.blogspot.com/ 09173226131)
* First published in Sun.Star Cebu’s June 27, 2010 issue of “Matamata”
To find and kill Osama bin Laden, Gary Brooks Faulkner pawned all his construction equipment and put a lot of wear and tear on his kidneys.
In the news, the American recently returned to his Colorado home after he was detained and then released by the Pakistani government.
According to The New York Times/International Herald Tribune, he was roaming in the “lawless tribal areas near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan” in a “suspicious manner,” said Pakistani officials.
Faulkner was caught with a dagger, a pistol with 40 rounds, a sword, a book full of “Christian verses and teachings,” a “small quantity” of hashish, and night-vision goggles.
For his efforts, Faulkner has been called a variety of names by the media and Netizens. “Rocky Mountain Rambo,” wrote the NY Daily News.com in its lead. “Go get em Gary!!!!!,” commented a reader named Kissarmy to the online article.
Would Faulkner have been greeted with confetti rather than jeers if he had succeeded? “Hero” and “patriot” mingle freely with “screw loose” and “Hollywood delusions” in the blogosphere.
Faulkner is an unlikely Osama hunter. The former convict is a construction worker who saved his earnings and eventually sold his tools to finance several trips to Pakistan. He is in his 50s and just started dialysis to treat his kidneys. His family says he never served in the military or underwent special training.
On his sixth trip in about seven years when he was arrested, Faulkner was checking out caves in the border district of Chitral, which is “widely rumored to hide Mr. bin Laden,” according to the NYT/IHT.
He does not speak any tribal language but wore a robe and grew his hair long. On a Daily News article, side-by-side photos of Faulkner and bin Laden show the two men sporting gray beards. Reports say that the two also share kidney ailments.
What drove the man to attempt what untold millions of dollars and a global anti-terrorism network have failed to carry out since 9/11?
His family members say that Faulkner was “increasingly frustrated” that his government was “distracted” by other domestic and international concerns and “forgot” the “main issue”.
“The reason is because a man ordered a hit on our country so we went to war,” commented a sister of Faulkner.
Getting back, settling the score, fixing someone’s wagon, wreaking vengeance.
There are many English idioms for exacting revenge; nearly all of these are in common use.
It is not only language that betrays us. Popular culture, particularly the news media, document how our alter ego breaks out of the gloss of education and civilization to run amok.
In human terms, justice—catching and punishing the wrongdoer—is interchangeable with avenging the wronged.
Peace can only be bought if we steel ourselves to wield the sword.
“"Draw me not without reason, sheath me not without honor" is an old Spanish saying about swords, quoted by a group that calls itself the Internet Sword Collectors Association.
What is the fine point of this?
Before I digress, let me answer first this online poll: “Do you think Gary Faulkner should keep hunting Osama Bin Laden?”
I check “yes” if I think “the U.S. military and CIA aren’t making progress so let him have another shot.”
It’s “no” if I think “(Faulkner) is a fool who could end up getting Americans killed with his vigilante tactics.”
The man who told reporters, “We can’t let people like this scare us… we’re going to take care of business,” had a nap after he arrived home.
(mayette.tabada@gmail.com/ mayettetabada.blogspot.com/ 09173226131)
* First published in Sun.Star Cebu’s June 27, 2010 issue of “Matamata”
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Among us
“HILAN” and “dakit” are Cebuano words I renewed an acquaintance with, following the June 13, 2010 accident in Balamban, which killed at least 20 people and injured other passengers of a bus that plunged off the Transcentral Highway in Balamban, Cebu.
Aside from focusing on the tragedy and the probe to determine cause and culpability, some of the local and national media coverage included a detail that isn’t usually found in Western-set guidelines for news writing: the supernatural angle.
Local dwellers attested to the frequency of accidents occurring in that area. A driver plying this route said that, due to the spot’s notoriety as “hilan,” he and others always slow down and blow their horns whenever they pass.
According to www.binisaya.com, “hilan” alludes to a secluded place or one confined to the use of particular persons or groups. Sharing this association of being haunted are other Cebuano synonyms: “abtan,” “alabtan,” and “tao-an”.
A family who lives down the ravine said to reporters that vehicles plunging down that steep incline seemed to always halt before a “dakit,” the Indian rubber tree also known locally as “balete”. In his June 19, 2010 column, Sun.Star Cebu columnist Godofredo R. Roperos recalled: “Where the tourist bus fell last Sunday, or so I learned, there once stood a big ‘balete’ (‘dakit’) tree. It was cut down as it blocked the path of the heavy machines when the road was constructed some years back. The tree stood right on the curve of the road.”
Journalism is primarily about reporting what is verifiable.
In the Balamban incident, reports are rife with verifiable details: Sun.Star Cebu reported that Balamban Mayor Alex Binghay said drivers must use low gear in the Transcentral Highway, specially in descending roads; and Cansumoroy Barangay Captain Emilia Montecillo pointed out the railings and warning signs placed along the road due to Sitio C’s history of at least 20 vehicular accidents, excluding the June 13 mishap.
Yet, even from its high seat of Western rationalism, journalism can spot and report bits of local lore, what anthropologists call syncretism, the fusion of an imposed Christianity grafted on an older animistic religion.
Just as we accept that fairness and balance requires all sides, the juxtaposition of the verifiable and the unverifiable should, instead of negating the other, add to what we know. In 2008, the death of a Korean tourist in Kawasan Falls in Badian sparked investigations.
One of the official findings was that facilities constructed near the popular tourist spot did not have a municipal permit. The Badian Municipal Government also admitted it needed help from the Provincial Government in regulating the management of Kawasan Falls, particularly diving from the falls and rafting.
The tourist who jumped from the first level of Kawasan and fell on the raft boarded by another Korean was just one in a long line of tragedies tied to that place.
According to local lore, swimmers who drown or meet other accidents in Kawasan fall prey to the “mantalaga,” a giant squid that is believed to inhabit the depths of the pool.
More than a scare tale, the “mantalaga” explains why local dwellers know better than to drink and carouse while swimming or diving. The belief that we share this world and therefore must co-exist with others makes us more respectful, more cautious, and more scrupulous in observing laws intended to preserve human life and ecology.
The Water Code states that structures encroaching on a body of water cannot be given municipal clearance, a requirement for a building permit. Balamban police will prohibit buses and other heavy vehicles from entering the Transcentral Highway due to its risky curves and inclines.
Giant squids, vengeful tree spirits: from a certain world-view, they mean the same thing.
(mayette.tabada@gmail.com/ mayettetabada.blogspot.com/0917-3226131)
* First published in Sun.Star Cebu’s June 20, 2010 issue of “Matamata”
Aside from focusing on the tragedy and the probe to determine cause and culpability, some of the local and national media coverage included a detail that isn’t usually found in Western-set guidelines for news writing: the supernatural angle.
Local dwellers attested to the frequency of accidents occurring in that area. A driver plying this route said that, due to the spot’s notoriety as “hilan,” he and others always slow down and blow their horns whenever they pass.
According to www.binisaya.com, “hilan” alludes to a secluded place or one confined to the use of particular persons or groups. Sharing this association of being haunted are other Cebuano synonyms: “abtan,” “alabtan,” and “tao-an”.
A family who lives down the ravine said to reporters that vehicles plunging down that steep incline seemed to always halt before a “dakit,” the Indian rubber tree also known locally as “balete”. In his June 19, 2010 column, Sun.Star Cebu columnist Godofredo R. Roperos recalled: “Where the tourist bus fell last Sunday, or so I learned, there once stood a big ‘balete’ (‘dakit’) tree. It was cut down as it blocked the path of the heavy machines when the road was constructed some years back. The tree stood right on the curve of the road.”
Journalism is primarily about reporting what is verifiable.
In the Balamban incident, reports are rife with verifiable details: Sun.Star Cebu reported that Balamban Mayor Alex Binghay said drivers must use low gear in the Transcentral Highway, specially in descending roads; and Cansumoroy Barangay Captain Emilia Montecillo pointed out the railings and warning signs placed along the road due to Sitio C’s history of at least 20 vehicular accidents, excluding the June 13 mishap.
Yet, even from its high seat of Western rationalism, journalism can spot and report bits of local lore, what anthropologists call syncretism, the fusion of an imposed Christianity grafted on an older animistic religion.
Just as we accept that fairness and balance requires all sides, the juxtaposition of the verifiable and the unverifiable should, instead of negating the other, add to what we know. In 2008, the death of a Korean tourist in Kawasan Falls in Badian sparked investigations.
One of the official findings was that facilities constructed near the popular tourist spot did not have a municipal permit. The Badian Municipal Government also admitted it needed help from the Provincial Government in regulating the management of Kawasan Falls, particularly diving from the falls and rafting.
The tourist who jumped from the first level of Kawasan and fell on the raft boarded by another Korean was just one in a long line of tragedies tied to that place.
According to local lore, swimmers who drown or meet other accidents in Kawasan fall prey to the “mantalaga,” a giant squid that is believed to inhabit the depths of the pool.
More than a scare tale, the “mantalaga” explains why local dwellers know better than to drink and carouse while swimming or diving. The belief that we share this world and therefore must co-exist with others makes us more respectful, more cautious, and more scrupulous in observing laws intended to preserve human life and ecology.
The Water Code states that structures encroaching on a body of water cannot be given municipal clearance, a requirement for a building permit. Balamban police will prohibit buses and other heavy vehicles from entering the Transcentral Highway due to its risky curves and inclines.
Giant squids, vengeful tree spirits: from a certain world-view, they mean the same thing.
(mayette.tabada@gmail.com/ mayettetabada.blogspot.com/0917-3226131)
* First published in Sun.Star Cebu’s June 20, 2010 issue of “Matamata”
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