[b]"My Butuan of Long Ago"[/b]

By Ramon (Ray) L. Burdeos

These are my best recollections of my experiences, observations and thoughts growing up in Butuan. They were for the most part pleasant memories. There were some bad ones, but too few to mention.

While growing up I was under the watchful eye of my strict but caring grandmother, Macaria Atega. She was a love child of Cornelia Atega and Tomas Montilla. Great-grandfather Tomas Montilla happened to have other liaisons with women of the Aquino, Busa, Cassion, Cultura, Danoco and Duran families.

Grandmother Macaria was first married to my grandfather Angel Burdeos, who died at an early age from some kind of infection. She later married Canuto Rosales, a widower and former governadorcillo of Butuan, with children from his previous marriage. One of them was Elisa Rosales Ochoa, the first Congresswoman of the Philippines. After some time, my grandmother became a widow again; she died in her eighties.

I received strict moral guidance not only from my grandmother but also from my parents who helped tremendously shape my character to prepare me to face life in the future whatever that might be. They were there always when I needed support, motivation and encouragement when I found myself in the midst of trouble. They were loving and caring.

My father, Ramon Atega Burdeos, was deputy governor before the big war. He was known for his impeccable honesty while working for decades in government. My mother, Manuela Mabasa Legaspi, was a Miss Capiz in 1929. She was an avid player of mahjong, a game considered by many as morally incorrect by the small conservative Butuan community. I have two sisters, Felicidad and Ramona.

Our house was in the north end of Magallanes Street, close to the municipal court of Judge Ricaforte and very near the wharf. When it rained heavily during wet season, our house was flooded due to the overflow from the banks of Agusan River nearby. When that happened, it was something welcomed as festive days for the kids. They roamed or rode barotos (canoes) around the flooded streets. But once the flood receded, the streets turned into a muddy place. In two days of hot sun, the mud turned into dust. It became a nuisance.

Just before the invading Japanese Imperial Forces occupied Butuan, there was a bandillo (public announcement) on every street intersection in town warning the town folks about the coming of the enemy. One town person beat a drum while another one, the town crier, read the announcement. It was the beginning of a sad episode for the people of Butuan.

Upon hearing the bandillo my grandmother brought all her children, including my father, to Magcasina, where she owned hectares of farm land. We stayed there through the duration of the war which was referred to as the period of “evacuation.”

Sometime before the end of the war, we had to return to Butuan. My mother was pregnant with her fourth child. A Dr. Manuel Santos offered to deliver the baby in his clinic in Butuan. After the baby was delivered, we had to stay in town because the baby needed a follow up care. A few days later a major turning point in the war happened.

The American liberation force, supported by Filipino guerillas, attacked the Japanese elements in Butuan. We were caught in the crossfire. We could hear relentless gunfire outside the house. We were all terrified not knowing what was going to happen to us. After a few hours, there was a lull in the fighting.

My father decided we all leave the house and go to the bank of the river in front of Insek Vicente's hardware store. There we would take a baroto ride across. When we reached the other side of the river, there were guerrillas there, members of the attacking force, who ordered us to get out of the way fast and go to Banza for safety where we went posthaste. From Banza we continued to travel to Magcasina.

In a matter of days, Butuan was liberated. The Japanese had retreated to the hills in Upper Agusan and farther south to Davao. We returned to Butuan to find that most buildings had been destroyed including our house. Within days, the rebuilding of the town began and the government was operating again.

The Japanese were later captured and brought back to Butuan. While they were kept in jail, some angry Butuanons threw stones at them. The Americans were alarmed and immediately put a stop to it least the unruly crowd turned into a lynching party. The prisoners were ultimately shipped back to Japan.

Ray, you must have confused with AQUIO to AQUINO.
Thomas Montilla I think had one child with Eufemia Aquio
which was Juan.

Alice N Wonderland

Alice, you are exactly right, it's Aquio as opposed to Aquino.  Thanks for the correction.

RayB

Dear Ray,

I enjoyed reading your article.It brought back fond memories of Butuan You have that 'gift' of easy writing. Although we were in Manila and Surigao at the end of WWII, Magcasina, our coconut farmland, is familiar -we could have been neighbors! We lived in Magallanes street - is there a new name?

... I am looking forward to your 3rd book!

Happy holidays!!

Aging

Alice,

Vic and Jody are planning to publish a Coffee Table Book about the experiences of the Butuanons. YOU should write your experience now.  I'm sure both Vic and Jody will be very appreciative of your contribution.

About Cora's photo, I would like to ask you if you can contact your Tia Parad in Cagayan De Oro if she's able to send me a copy of the photo  of the Hawaiian Dance she presented during the fiesta in the fifties. In that dance, Cora and I were dance partners. I will reimburse her for all the expenses: copying and shipping. Thanks.[size=14][/size]
Ray  

Luz Piencinaves-Jandug wrote:

Alice, you are right. And Juan Aquio was my grandfather, and Ray is my cousin because of his grandma who was also the daughter of Thomas Montilla.

Luz

Dear Ray,

Thanks for asking. pero masipog kita kay masayran
nila gaygaya kung unsa kita ka "Pispita" hadtong
asido pa kita. Anyway, I grew up not only in Butuan,
but I've been to so many places on my younger days.

I didn't spend time in Butuan during vacation days.
I went to Carmen, Tagcatong, Gingoog, Medina,
Vinapor, Linogos, Camiguin Island, Aklan and other
small towns kay la-agan ba ako kamo aventurera.

I have a very rich childhood full of technicolors and
adventures- mountain climbing and things I was for-
bidden to do like swimming in the river bank. I would
prefer to tell stories in person kay may action pa.
Some friends would tell me, I'm in the wrong
profession.

I should have been a "comedienne". I'm really a
character at heart kaya ang iban disaton pachada
guid ang childhood experience nila hong Butuan.
For me I skip classes just to see Tessie Agana and
go gallivanting in Magsaysay Bridge. Climb the tower
of the church when it was half finish just out of curiosity.
And it was realy very scary.

About the picture you are asking. I doubt if it still around.
Ligaya and her husband I think are both deceased. I don't
think at that age their mind is predictable. I remember
Tio Paciano Montilla advised me that get old as old as he
90 plus as it's not a good thing. He gave lots of explanation
which was quite true. But you and Nonoy, I could guess will
reach that age and beyond.

Alice N Wonderland[size=14][/size]

I address her some 2 decades ago until now as the Wonder Woman - she is the retired Schools Superindent Lydia Moran.

Si Lydia mahinhin ba idto. Dili ba "Pispita" to quote the
newly baptized Wonder Woman.

Continued...



Motor launches ("lantsa") were available. Insek Vicente DySeko, a well-respected Chinese businessman and probably the wealthiest, who spoke fluent Spanish with my grandma, operated the “Silvestre” that brought merchandise to the towns up river for sale or barter with forest products like  oway (round rattan poles) and balaba (split rattan) and agricultural produce back to Butuan. The other river launch was the “Hele”, I think it was owned by the Ong Yiu's, shipped lumber to upriver towns for sale or in exchange for farm and forest products.

Most of the houses had backyards planted to different fruit trees and vegetables; the front yards to flowers of several varieties. Some yards were fenced with hardwood, bamboos or bahi (ironwood) to keep the pigs or dogs from straying. A few had the US standard toilet with flushing water; others just a toilet bowl where one had to pour a pail of water. Several hundred more used the antipolo-type toilet attached on small structures joined with a "taytayan" or wooden bridge several feet from the ground, and for one-storey houses anybody just walked a few feet away to the C.R. All the houses had galvanized water tanks to save rain water for drinking. Some had deep wells for laundry and cleaning.

Several artesian wells were located in several public places of the town. What year they were installed, I have no idea, but the water passed through 4-to 5-inch diameter water pipes embedded down the ground for several feet and flowed continuously non-stop throughout the years as I can remember until it dried up sometime in the late 50's. The residents, including myself, used to take a bath in the nearby communal well ("poso") while the women washed the clothes. That was where town gossip spread fast, not yet in today's beauty rumor parlors. The artesian wells were enclosed in concrete structures divided into 4 to six compartments.

One "poso" was located near the hospital, another in front of Mano Miguel Bokingo's residence at Mabini Street just a walking distance from our house. The third I can remember was that well at the corner of Zamora and Juan Luna Streets on the property of Mana Oding Low. There were also some up north whose exact location I can no longer remember. Across the river, in Baan, near the house of Mano Sanong and Mana Anang Piencenaves, parents of Flora Albarracin, our former Assistant Provincial Treasurer during our time at the provincial capitol, was a flowing artesian well, when lit, caused it to emit flames. There were two concrete water reservoir tanks, one installed at the back of the present police department - the old provincial capitol which in later years became the city hall - and the second just east a few feet from the present Puericulture Center.

The latter sunk halfway due to the strong earthquake sometime in the 20's or 30's that caused some streets to crack wide open. My grandpa would tell us that he was one of those who rescued a woman who fell into one of the fissures.

The same earthquake caused the old Catholic church in Bansa, at the entrance of the Bansa River, to sink, showing only part of the belfry now almost totally engulfed by a balete tree. On top of the church was the Del Rosario sawmill. We inspected this area with Mano Etoy Flores sometime in the 80's and found some burnt candles. It was reported that hundreds of years earlier Muslim pirates burned that church. An antique crucifix was earlier discovered and given to Mano Pioy del Rosario.

Life was simple for the ordinary folks. They dressed simply in camisa de chino, camesadentro, t-shirts, short sleeves polo barong with khaki or maong pants. For the well-to-do, particularly government officials, they wore mostly white shark skin suits with bow ties, white or black and white leather shoes, a Panama hat. Buri hats were worn by the ordinary individuals. For the officials, the baston (cane) carved with intricate designs indicated authority. But the ordinary folks had the same passion as the affluent - siesta time - reportedly a Spanish influence, a daily routine on their rattan hammocks ("duyan"), or on bamboo or bahi beds in their backyards.