The stores of my youth

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

IN the early 60s, commerce and trade in Tagoloan town, Misamis Oriental in northern Mindanao, Philippines centered on three stores that I remember well.

This was before going to Cagayan de Oro, the capital city of Misamis Oriental, became easier with the frequent jeepney trips. Back then, the city was left to the imagination of those who can't afford to go make those trips.

Only those who had business going to Cagayan de Oro can make the trips which is why every provision is provided for by the sari-sari stores.

Sari-sari (variety) stores is part of Philippine culture and a vital venue for commerce in dusty small towns like Tagoloan. Now it had become more than a mom-and-pop store, selling goods that can also be found in department stores.

From rice to corn, beauty products and medicines to liquor like rhum and the local liquor favorite called the tuba, one can find it in the sari-sari store. One such store is the Pacheco store which serves neighboring towns like Villanueva and even Malitbog town in Bukidnon province.

Dispensary
Brig. Gen. Gerry Paduganan, a Tagoloanon like me, said the Pacheco store owned by Iya (Auntie) Puring Nabong-Pacheco and Iyo (Uncle) David Pacheco was a constant  fixture of our neighborhood in General Wood/Evangelista street.

Aside from selling goods, the Pacheco store is a landmark for being a postal stop, a radio station of sorts and a dispensary of public services.

Iya Puring  was my Grade 1 teacher. A little side story here; I am her favorite second to Gracia Nabong Salac and Jerrylyn Nabong Gervacio who are both her nieces.

We were neighbors and I run errands for her. I learned from her the value of studying and raising my hands to ask questions or answer them. I could have been the favorite also because I hang out with Toto Cherie, their youngest daughter. 

Iya Puring and Iyo David have two daughters Madoline' Gangga" Lepon and Cherie “Toto Cherie” Nairn. Both of them are four years and two years older than me respectively.  

Hangout
Anyway the store was an extension of their big house. It sells medicines for diarrhea, fever and even lice as well as common medical items like cotton, alcohol and band aid. 

Beauty products used long ago like brialliantine to make the hair soft and smell good, borax for whitening the face. Sardines of all kinds,squid, black beans, eggs, milk in cans or in the box, rice, corn, dried fish of all kinds, even the ginamos (fermented fish) sold by the cup. 

It also sells school supplies from the smallest pencil to the biggest Mongol brand. Pencils then are quite durable, you can use it for a year or several months. 

The Pacheco store is a favorite hangout of street kids and adults, who get the latest gossip from the patrons. Like who was drunk or who had a fight the night before. 

The benches provided in front of the store are usually full of men and women and kids. Some of the drunks would receive a tongue-lashing from Iya Puring the morning after Iyo Andres Sanchez, a neighbor, would laugh if he read this in heaven.

Credit
Some men will spend time drinking while the women talk about the latest girlie news. Youths also hang out there while children will buy marbles and elastic bands called “lastiko” and play there. 

I remembered before that radios weren't readily available then and so we hang out at the Pacheco store where we would listen to the radio dramas like Diego Salvador, Melodina and the Anay Nga Nagbakya. 

Since she was a teacher, Iya Puring would tell the children sometimes to take a bath. The Pacheco store sells all kinds of bread, including my favorite binangkal, a slightly hard, chewy and nutty bread filled with sesame seeds.

If there's no cash, the store accepts credit. When one worked at the Philippine Packing Corp. (now Del Monte) he or she can purchase goods on credit with the requirement that said goods are paid on the 6th and 21st since payday is on the 5th and 20th. 

Or else Iya Puring would be knocking on the door on the 23rd if the buyers don't show themselves at the store. The Pacheco store is patronized by those living as far as Iyo Teting Lao's home.

Loans
The Lao family also has a store serving the houses at the back of the church. Iyo Teting Lao is the paternal grandfather of City Councilor Teodulfo Bong Lao of Cagayan de Oro City. 

Their merchandise there specially the snacks or chicheria are too good to be forgotten. 

So I have to go the Pacheco store to buy soap on credit, then entertain Iya Puring with stories of the neighborhood before asking her if I could trade the soap with bread.

At first she would give in but later she understood already what I am up to and my mother would ask why we had too much credit for soap every 15th of the month. 

Later when I started working at the Tagoloan-Villanueva municipal court I had an open credit at the Pacheco store. The store expanded into selling clothes and providing short term loans.

This time I was already doing business inside their house. It was also at this time that masiao, a local betting game proliferated around the municipality. According to Cherie Nairn who's now based in California the store started with "tira-tira."

Merchandise
Another store that gained popularity in Tagoloan town is owned by Iya Pamie Sabio Valdehuesa. The store is located at the stretch of Evangelista Street towards Tagoloan bridge. Iya Pamie was married to Nong Johnny Valdehuesa. 

Their store also had an extensive merchandise like the Pacheco store. I recalled Iya Pamie with her eyeglasses at the cash register. Sometimes Iya Kikay would be on the cashier sitting. 

They have all these sacks of rice and corn including “tahop” on the floor as well as firewood and charcoal or “uling.”  The store also sells yards of cloths for the local "sastres."

The store is adjacent to the house of Iya Tida (mother of Nang Sima) and the beautiful house of the Bibanco family.

I think those who could not pay the Pacheco store for credit would run to Iya Pamie's store or vice versa. But later these two owners would found out those who don't pay. Yes, they might be competitors but they compare notes. 

I'm sure of this because I hang out in these stores and I hear them all. It's funny that I remember all of this. Deep inside me I knew those who escape paying Iya Puring. I think it honed my reportorial skills. 

Finally, there's the store owned by Iyo Lino Nabong, the brother of Iya Puring Pacheco. Iyo Lino is the father of my classmate Jerrylyn Nabong. This wholesale store is in the highway and it was the biggest at the time because it had trucks. 

It's like a mini Gaisano store and it's located on the ground floor of Nabong's big house. My parents don't buy at the Nabong store but my classmate Tata Nabong would bring me to their house sometimes. 

Rich family
The Nabong store is always busy with customers who hear the noise of a nearby mill or “galingan” in the background. The family home's second floor has a piano and the walls are decorated with the diplomas of the children who finished school. 

There are 12 children in the Nabong family and I think my classmate is the baby of the family.  

It was my first glimpse of a rich family's house. I saw the diploma of Nabong's son Erac who become a doctor. I haven't met him yet because he was years ahead of me. 

I also saw the picture of the second oldest child, whom I called Manang Virgie. She retired years ago after working at the Provincial Treasurer’s Office. We talked with each other when I was still working in radio.

There were other stores in Tagoloan town during my childhood years, but these three stores were the most significant and occupied quite a substantial chunk of my memories when I was growing up in my hometown.

I hope my recollections of these stores helped inspire similar fond memories of your hometown or city of your youth. 'Till next time, have a good day.

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines  is now employed  teacher assistant in one of the school systems in the Carolinas.

Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com and at http://www.blogher.com/myprofile/spdennis54. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis.
You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/) and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)

How my father learned to drive

Me and my father

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

This is a story of how my father (tatay) became a great driver without having to own a car. He was already driving at an early age thanks to all the past jeepney owners in my birthplace of Tagoloan town, Misamis Oriental in northern Mindanao, Philippines.  

I learned all these stories just recently from him as I spent two weeks at the family home there in the middle of July this year.  

I had a grand time conversing with my father Semeon Barros Naelga over a cup of coffee and “bingala” (cassava rice cake). Did I tell you that he is a driver first and a farmer second? 

He is the best at both of these trades, though. He has driven jeepneys, trucks and cars in his lifetime. In his childhood, he drove vehicles even if his family had no jeep.

This didn't stop him from dreaming I guess and he waited for opportunities to drive even other people's vehicles. At the time, there were jeep owners who rented their vehicles.

His story
I thought renting out a jeepney is being done nowadays but his stories tell me otherwise. I asked him if he was sure about his stories and he would answer by giving me that look that showed he is sure of what he's talking about.

To believe otherwise would mean the end of our lively conversation.  I can tell he searched his mind for a long time as he caught his breath and I know he was ready to tell his story. 

He said the first jeepneys that he managed to rent were those owned by Iyo (Uncle) Naking Cosin. He said Naking Cosin was married to a  Seno. 

I remember that one of the sons of Naking Cosin was married to the late Jenia Valdehuesa. Sure I recalled Naking Cosin--he was a businessman.

I couldn't exactly point out how much I remembered though. Could be I was still in my Nanay (mother's) womb or I was still a little girl then.   

Fare 
But the next jeep owner he mentioned was only a reminder of  memorable moments about it that are not only visions but images. Those good memories in my childhood. 

The next jeep owner was Iyo Telo as in Othelo Emano. Now, Iyo Telo I can remember. Othelo Emano’s house is strategically located in what is now fronting the manok (chicken) dealers at the other side of the highway. 

The old house is now, I think, a pharmacy and faces the store of my classmate Rolando Emano. Iyo Telo is the father of my Home Economics teacher Marilou who married my arithmetic teacher Ray Abejo. 

The late Othelo Emano is the younger brother of the father of former Misamis Oriental governor and former Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente Emano.  But back to my father's story:

He rented the jeep at P7 a day. Wow, P7 a day you can’t beat that. But at that time that was a huge amount. My father told me that fare for adults going to Cagayan de Oro at the time was 20 centavos and it was 10 centavos for students. 

Memorable
This jeep, I recall, isn't as big as it is today. It's half of that size with a seating capacity of six people on each side I think with three people in the front including the driver. 

I remembered those days when my mother and I would be seated at the front as we headed to Cagayan de Oro. That was the time when I imagined how it felt good to own the jeep as I sat in the front with my parents. 

That in a way was how I felt because my father rented the jeep from Iyo Telo so technically it was ours for a day.

I previously said that going to Cagayan de Oro was one of my more memorable moments since everytime we go there my mother and I would visit Ludenas store to buy ready-made dresses.

Sorry, I forgot to ask my father how many times he has to go back to Cagayan de Oro and Tagoloan daily. Those trips honed his driving skills but my father admitted that there were days he couldn't drive since he was drunk at times.   

Detour
Then he mentioned the third jeep owner named Lucas Remolador who's married to Nang Udiang. Nang Udiang and Nong Lucas are the parents of the Remoladors like Rustica and Pilar.

My father also said that Lucas Remolador was one of the best mechanics in Tagoloan town. I knew the house of the Remoladors in barangay (village) Natumulan a few meters away from the house of Tio Memen Nemecio Neri. 

That was the time when barangay Natumolan from Centro can be reached via  short cut and you can still see coconut trees and fruit trees without the shanties that now dot the area.

Nowadays, we have to find the road because even a road right-of-way is a thing of the past. Sorry for the detour in my story.  

Eventually my father became a truck driver of Del Monte Philippines and he delivered pineapples from Bukidnon province to the Bugo Cannery. He had lots of stories about the kapre (giants) in Mangima, Bukidnon. 

Crossing the river
My father got his own car in later years given to him by his brother Mauro. Oh, how he loved it even if the car's body was deteriorating (kagangkagang.) 

At this time I asked him where did he learn to drive exactly since our family didn't own any vehicle. 

He gave me quite a lengthy story not only of how exactly he learned how to drive but a history of Tagoloan town so I ask you to bear with me as I go along with his account of what the old town was then.

My Lolo (grandfather) Felix “Ingge” Quilang Naelga worked in the “balsa”  and had my father as his buddy. Since there was no bridge from Centro to barangay Sta. Cruz  a “balsa’ was used. 

A balsa is a raft made of bamboo poles and rattan tied up together and uses a long piece of wood usually made of bamboo as a tool for crossing the river.   The balsa as he described it must be big to accommodate everything. 

Memorized
The balsa was used to ferry “isda, kahoy, lugit (fish, wood, rope) and passengers,” he said. The passengers are from Gingoog City and Malitbog, Bukidnon areas and the fare is free only if they hand carry their own items. 

The balsa navigates the Tagoloan river and the captain learns to navigate through the current. It cannot be used when the water level rises so the truck drivers would pay extra money to my grandfather to watch over the vehicles parked at his home.

Since it could not be transported to the river bank it was up to my grandfather to do something about it and my father watched how grandfather would start the ignition and park the vehicles to the front of the house. 

My father would drive the vehicles without grandfather's permission at times and he was scolded for it. He didn't mind it and told me that he memorized how to drive and the parts that went into these vehicles.

My father would observe how grandfather would drive the truck. He has no formal training as a mechanic or as a driver but eventually he taught himself how to brake, take out and attach the tires and so on. 

Salute
This started his love for jeepneys, my father said. A chance to drive these vehicles came when his cousins, the sons of Jesus Barros, would find means to skip classes so they would wash the trucks of “Gimpang Lim” (I hope I remember the name right). 

His cousins didn't like school and would hang out with my father and invited him to work with them in delivering the gravel (grabas) if he wanted to learn how to drive.

My father joined them, not because he didn't like school but he wanted to learn how to drive. He said they were among the laborers who worked on the pier of what is now Gingoog City.

He said they would deliver the sand and gravel to the construction site but there were times he had to do it alone because his cousins were too drunk at the time. They didn't even ask him if he knew how to drive nor if he had a license.

My father said he got nervous whenever he passes a policeman but his fears were unfounded since the cop would salute him. He said the truck bore the message “government projects do not delay.”

Humble
My father and his cousins stayed in Gingoog for several months and while his cousins were busy learning the tricks of drinking a lot of “tuba” (coconut wine) my father was busy honing his skills as a driver. 

My father went back home to Tagoloan as a confident young driver a year later. He applied for a license and he drove the vehicle owned by Naking Cosin who had no driver at the time. 

This is the (admittedly very long) story of how my father learned to drive and the people who helped him learn how to drive. My father is still of sound mind but the years have slowed him down physically.  

Still, I learned a valuable lesson and that is to never stop dreaming and live your dream, however humble it may be.

My father and I with family

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who worked as a nanny and is now employed as a sub-teacher and a part-time teacher assistant in one of the school systems in the Carolinas.

Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com and at http://www.blogher.com/myprofile/spdennis54. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis.
You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/) and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)