THE OLD BAGUIO

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Engle. On left is Felicidad Reyes to her right is her sister, Manuela Vargas)

(I am posting excerpts from my Uncle Gras Reyes' essay "Embers In My Father's Fireplace" which saw print in the Ani publication The Literary Journal of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Jan-April 1991 Edition. Kevin Engle a friend I recently 'met' on Facebook recently posted an album featuring old photos of Baguio City. In the album, I was surprised to find two photos of my grandmother, Felicidad Reyes, included. Those photos reminded me of these excerpts...)

"My father (Atty. Francisco 'Ikong' Reyes) married a market vendor, a "career" she started when she was a grade schooler. She would not be allowed to go to school unless she sold rice cake early in the morning. Before sun-up my grandmother would already have cooked rice cakes (puto) ready to be sold while hot and steaming.


"Her father died before she finished intermediate school. In his deathbed my grandfather advised my mother never to be without merchandise. Thus, my mother became a vendor all her life, selling fruits and vegetables in the city market. My father once told her to stop being a vendor because his law practice could provide more than enough for the family but my mother refused. My mother countered: 'Don't ever introduce me to your rich clients or your friends in high society because many of them happen to be my customers. When they learn that I am your wife, they stop buying from me.' but how could my father avoid introducing my mother to people?


"Elected as president of the Rotary Club of Baguio, president of the Lawyers League of Baguio, once a city councilor, organizer of the departments of law of the Baguio Colleges and of St. Louis College, and either chairman or member of several boards and communities of civic organizations and reputedly the number-one practicing lawyer in the city of Baguio during his heyday, my father had to attend important social functions where he had to bring my mother. My mother hated dressing up like society matrons, but she had to. And when she did, she was completely transformed into a pretty, affluent looking woman.


"My father once asked one of his clients in a party if his client knew my mother. 'Of course, I know her,' said the client. 'I met her a couple of times in other social functions. Besides everybody knows anybody's wife in this small city.'


"' No, you don't know my wife,' my father said, whereupon he pulled him close and told him to take a closer look at my mother.


"'Yes, of course, I know her. What's the matter with you?' said the client. My mother tugged at my father's sleeve and motioned him not to tell the client, but it was too late. My father said, 'She is the person you buy your vegetables from in the market.'


"The client turned pale. Aghast, he said, 'Oh, no.' The reason my father told him who my mother really was could possibly be the client's way with my mother when he bought vegetables and fruits from her. Not knowing that my mother, the vendor, was one and the same person as the wife of a successful and popular lawyer, he was discourteous and bossy and ordered my mother as though she were his servant. 'Put those vegetables and fruits in the bag. See to it that nothing gets crushed. And   bring the whole bag to my car. I don't have time to go around the meat and fish sections. Buy me some meat and fish. I will wait here in my car.' My mother would quietly obey. That was how she maintained him as a customer. But due to my father's revelation, she lost him as a customer. The client became a mayor of Baguio in spite of himself. People say, however, that it was during his term that Baguio plunged into its most decadent period. Gambling and prostitution became rampant.


" As a toddler I was brought by my mother to the market and allowed to play on the cement flooring while she tended to her store. The market, she said, was clean, 'Peep under the stalls and you can see the market from end to end -- no trash. It was common to see mothers pushing prams while doing marketing.' My mother also said that she could leave her store untended and nothing was stolen; she would come back the following day and her fruits and vegetables would still be there as they were when she left them. Sometimes she would leave petty cash in her cash box and no one bothered to open it nor steal a single centavo. By today's standards, that was too good to be true. But my mother said it was that way in Baguio before the outbreak of World War II.


"Incidentally it was my mother who first made and sold straw flower garlands, better known as cuentas nga everlasting. She also introduced strawberry jam, as taught by an American missionary. The Good Shepherd Sisters used to buy strawberry jam from her and later they made their own.



"The public market was never crowded except during the Holy Week when many visitors from Manila came up to Baguio. During the Holy Week Baguio was transformed from a sleepy village into a bustling city. After that burst of activity the city once again slowed down. And when the rainy season set in, the place became cold and gloomy. For me the dreariness was compounded by the beginning of school days. Relatives and friends who stayed with us during the the months of March, April and May all went home to Manila after the 'summer' session of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals in Baguio. The gaiety of three months -- the picnics, excursions, movies, games, parties and rain-free days -- changed overnight into gloomy, somber and tedious school days."

MY GRANDPARENTS WERE GREEN

No they were not from Mars.

Atty. Francisco S. Reyes (1906 - 1991) and Felicidad O. Reyes (1912 - 1998), my maternal grandparents, were a big influence on my life. Lolo Ikong built the family compound in Baguio City where we all lived (my immediate family and hordes of cousins) -- growing up in the 70s to the 80s before most of my relatives migrated to the US and/or moved to Manila and elsewhere.

A typical day at the compound would start with Lolo Ikong waking up at 5am and turning on the water heater (We had a central water heating system for the left side of the compound that provided hot water for three households -- or 5 bathrooms). Lolo Ikong and Lola Felicing would share a breakfast of pan de sal, butter, fresh fruit in season, brewed coffee (from the coffee trees in the compound). While Lola Felicing would get ready to go to market by 5.30am Lolo Ikong would go down to his poultry and feed his chickens. At any given time, Lolo would have around 30 chickens at the most. They were fenced in an enclosure large enough for them to walk around, pick on worms or grubs on the earth, get their daily exercise, etc. Several coops made from wood scraps were built for them at the far end of the enclosure for them to roost and for the hens to lay eggs.

The chickens were mainly fed ground corn and/or rice along with chopped vegetables (lettuce and cabbage were most common) from Lola Felicing's vegetable and fruit store in the city market. There was also a time we had rabbits in cages near the poultry and were fed vegetables from Lola's store.

After feeding the chickens, Lolo would in turn feed the dogs. We had six German Shepherds at one given time (Bantay, Sultan, Jango, I forgot the rest), six dogs that were never leashed or caged. The dogs were free to roam around the compound often times terrorizing neighbors who would pass by the fence or occasionally the electric and water meter readers. I remember these dogs chasing one another by the perimeter of the property's fence. They also liked running on the hills and sleeping by the biggest pine tree's roots in the compound during hot days. The dogs slept in the garage or the basement during rainy season.

Our dogs weren't fed commercial dog food. My Lolo had an agreement with the owners of Star Cafe so that the kitchen staff would fill up two pails of food with refuse/leftovers from customers that would dine at the cafe each day. These pails of food scraps were picked up after Lola closed her store every evening on the way home. Lolo would sort the food scraps (bones, meat, rice, noodles, vegetables, etc.) and divide the loot -- half would be fed to the dogs and pig in the morning, the other half to be fed in the afternoon.

The food from Star Cafe would also be mixed with whatever food scraps we would accumulate at home. It was common for the households in the compound to bring to Lolo our food scraps as well for him to feed to the dogs and pig. These food scraps were served in individual tin basins -- Lolo made sure the dogs got equal amount in bones, rice, etc.

The pig that was in a wooden sty would be fed all the other scraps that weren't given to the dogs. These included overripe vegetables and fruits my Lola would bring from her store in the market. The pig was fattened from September in time for lechon during Christmas.

After Lolo would finish feeding the chickens, dogs and pig he would wash their basins with water from the tank he installed next to the basement. This tank was directly attached to the roof's gutters, Lolo made sure rainwater was well collected for watering our plants, washing the pets, washing the pets' plates, cleaning the pig's sty, etc. Ditto washing the car.

After his morning chores, around 6.30am, Lolo would knock on our doors and hand out eggs that have been laid by hens in the poultry. He would say "for your breakfast". We had a daily supply of native eggs -- yes they were smaller than the commercial ones but they looked nice in their tan color, sometimes the shell still stained with earth. Aside from eggs, sometimes Lolo would hand over a chicken, already dressed and butchered and would tell us "for your tinola". And then he would wink and go up the stairs to his unit above.

By this time all of us would be busy eating our breakfasts, taking turns in the shower, and getting ready to go to school. My cousins and I carpooled during schooldays. Sometimes if we were eager to be in school, we could hitch a ride with Lola when she was brought to the market at 5.30 in the morning. Several times I would still be waiting by the gate at SLU Laboratory Elementary School because the guards wouldn't open the gate until a few minutes past 6 am.

As soon as Lolo would get to his unit above, he would turn off the water heater that he had earlier turned on -- if anyone did not bathe by 8am, that person would have to brave a cold shower thereafter. Lolo would take his bath, shave with an old blade that he sharpened on a leather strap and splash his face with Old Spice. He would get dressed in his suit and signature bow ties and walk to Session Road where he had his Law Office at the second floor of the Lopez Building. Rain or shine. This was how he got his daily exercise. We used to tease Lolo that he looked like The Penguin in the Batman series especially when he would be carrying his umbrella.

Lolo Ikong and Lola Felicing were sticklers when it came to recycling and reusing anything and everything. Newspapers were kept to line the dog's sleeping areas. The other newspapers were used by Lola in the market when packing fruits and vegetables that she would ship twice weekly to Manila and other cities in the Visayas and Mindanao. Paper bags were reused to pack our sandwiches or lunches for school. Pieces of string my Lola would amass into one ball. Old buttons, yarn, threads, pieces of cloth from sewing projects would be kept and not thrown away. Canvas sacks from the sugar that Lola would use when making strawberry jam were washed and cut into towel-sized pieces, their edges hemmed and these were used as kitchen towels. One time my Lola fashioned an apron from these canvas (katcha) sacks that she would tie on her waist while tending her stall in the market. If we needed materials for art or science projects, my mother would tell us "Go ask your Lola, she might have kept some things up there that you could use". And inevitably, yes, we got materials for our projects from Lola. Old cardboards, crayons, colored paper, crepe paper, cellophane, etc. that she kept through the years.

Water was already rationed in Baguio as early as the mid-70s. Although we had a large tank in the compound to supply water for 5 households -- we were admonished to conserve water daily. The tap was never to be left running while brushing our teeth. A meticulous way of washing dishes was enforced to maximize the water being used and leftover rinsing water from the basin would be used to water plants. We were to shut off lights and appliances when not in use. Hogging the telephone was frowned upon. Lolo used to tell us that only important matters were to be discussed over the telephone and should be done so very briefly and clearly.

This frugal lifestyle may have been borne out of my grandparents' experience with the war. It was common for their generation to live austerely. It would be nice to follow their example.