Journal Entry: Tacloban

note: there was no internet access in Capul island so i kept my journal until i came here in Tacloban Leyte to publish the experience of our four day trek all over the island.

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26 October 2008 Poblacion, Capul

6:00 AM
Last night we finally came back to where we started from our four day trek around the island of Capul. We marked the end of our trek in Poblocion this morning so we get ourselves ready to ride the Motor (motorboat) back to the mainland (Matnog and Allen). Yesterday we came to Brgy. Oson from a long trek that started in Sawang. It was the most challenging trek of all. We climbed several hills before we get to Oson. And as soon we set foot in Oson we approached a few local people there and asked them the route going to Poblacion. The people whom we've asked gave us a lunch of fish and cassava cake, it was really delicious. Then we went to the nearby beach to swim for a while, after that we played Basketball with the local youngsters there. At exactly five in the afternoon, we prepared for our trek to Poblacion. We get there at six in the evening. It was timely because there was a wedding reception. Our contact, which is the bridesmaid, invited us to have dinner with them. It was the only day we had pork meat. My friend got disgusted with the meat after he comfortably had a diet of fish and vegetables. He didn't ate much that night.

25 October 2008 Brangay Sawang, Capul

7:00AM
We stayed in the house of a Community Organizer in Barangay Sawang. Before we got here, we stayed overnight in Barangay Landusan, which is five kilometers away from Sawang. The Barangay Captain (chieftain) there let us sleep in their house. The next morning, the son of the Barangay Captain joined our trek along with his two other friends because they told us that there are beautiful caves there. And so we trekked the shoreline until we reached Sawang. Upon reaching the place, we asked local elders for permission to climbed their precious caves. In return for the Permit document we paid, the local elders provided us a few flashlights and a guide. The community people in Sawang value there caves, though some caves have been vandalized with names written on the walls. Some people had already visited the caves and it has become somewhat popular among Spelunkers and cave hobbyists. After the stressful cave climbing we went back to the house of Mrs. Teresa Suan- the community organizer. She gave us a very delicious lunch of fish and vegetables.

During the midday i went to talk with the local people in Sawang. I asked them the story of Capul. I got the same answer from them that these people called Moros were the original settlers of the island. But one thing that got me curious was their description of Moros. Mana Elena told me that when she was younger she still saw a few Moros and these moros usually stays on the sea with their boats. When i asked Tatay Marino- 72 years old, he told me that these Moros sometimes sets foot on the island to get their crops of camotes and cassava. They despised these Moros because they steal their crops. Both Tatay Marino and other much older person named Tatay Dandoy- 78 years old, were furious about these Moros. But when i asked them why they didn't stopped these Moros from stealing their crops, they told me that they don't bother to interfere because of fear. But i suspect that these Moros that they are describing are actually the Sama-Dilaut (nomadic sea people) and the people who dwell on land are the Sama-Bajau. They must have a relationship toward each other that made them co-exist not until the Spanish colonizers came to christianize the land dwellers and made them believe that the nomadic sea people are Moros (muslim).

In Sawang, they have a good source of drinking water provided by the natural spring water from the nearby mountain. And from time to time local people there voluntarily protects and cleans their source of water in a collective way- they call it Pintakasi. I find out that the people who lives around Capul, most especially in Sawang are relatively healthy comparing to other municipality of Samar. Subsistent fishing and farming, which is closely related to gardening is their main source of living. They get enough food and whenever they had fish surplus they tend to share their catch to the whole Barangay. The lack of electricity enables them to quickly distribute the perishable catch to other Barangays. Sharing is part of their economy.

23 October 2008 Aguin and Corong-corong, Capul

2:32 PM
During the trek that started from San Luis, we joined the walk with two old women who are on their way to Sitio Pinamingutan. There i saw rice fields, which i believe the source of local rice in the island. Upon getting to Corong-corong the old women left us in a beautiful shoreline just before the Barangay of Landusan. The place was so amazing that me and my friend didn't think twice to swam the sea. The sands were pure white and the waters are clear and serene, it was a perfect place for meditation and total idleness.

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replay
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In San Luis we had breakfast in the place of the Barangay Captain (chieftain). While eating local pancit and camote cake (Iraid) an old woman named Elisa Manaog-Cabacong joined and chatted with us. She told us stories of her found artifacts in her backyard. I got curious so we joined her to see the artifacts in her place. Nanay Elisa lived in the middle of a Manggal forest, which some mangroves have been cutted to pave the way for fish ponds. In her place, i saw a several century old armlet and chinese wares. I believe the artifacts are genuine and is very helpful for research. When i was observing the artifacts, it seem to me that Capul is once a trading post for ancient chinese traders. But according to the story of Nanay Elisa her place was once a residence of a chinese couple who had one daughter. This story was passed on to her by another old woman whom Nanay Elisa saw once. I asked permission to Nanay Elisa if i can take pictures of the artifacts and she allowed me. While taking photographs i asked Nanay Elisa for the story of Capul. She quickly answered me back and said that Capul was once a place of Moros. Her story sounds similar to Mana Macring Tan of Barangay 4, Poblacion in Capul town center. Nanay Elisa also told me that there is a landmark found somewhere in Landusan that has an inscription that says ACAPULCO. That is where the local people named the island, according to her.

11:00 AM San Luis, Capul
After the passenger boat docked in the town center of Capul we searched for a Carinderia, but unfortunately we found nothing. There are few neighborhood who sells Ulam but no Carinderia at all. I believe that was how we are greeted welcome by the island of Capul. While we were walking still searching for a canteen, an old woman near the Plaza invited us to her place. She was selling cooked vegetable of eggplants and squash, her name was Nanay Soleda. She told us that in Capul there is no such thing as Carinderia, Restaurant, Canteen or whatsoever that we see in the city. I asked for the reason why they don't have such thing she only gave me a smile. After a while she served us rice from her personal Caldero for free. We only paid the vegetable. Nanay Soleda and her neighbor Mana Macring Tan told us that never hesitate to ask help from the people of Capul, upon knowing that we plan to trek around Capul. Upon knowing that it was already four in the afternoon we went straight to Parola (lighthouse) to camp-out and sleep. Because of a long chit-chat with Nanay Soleda and Mana Macring, from Poblacion to Parola we rode a motorcycle, which they call it scooter. There was no road for cars and big vehicles. Upon getting to Parola I immediately setup our camping tent above the hill overlooking the intertidal zone. The place was really amazing and fantastic but it was quite windy. I witnessed the night with wonderful moonlight illumination over the sea. The next morning, the sun began to rise at five in the morning. At 7AM we started our trek.

Journal Entry: Catarman Samar

note: the live update of my hitchhike has began. the chronological order of this blog is read from the latest to the previous date of my journal entry. this journal is primarily written offline and if there's a chance to see an internet cafe along my route i publish the journal online.

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21 October 2008 Catarman, Samar

11:25 AM
- I am in a internet shop somewhere in Bonifacio St. blogging updates of my first day of travel. The reason why i'm here in Catarman is due to the request of my friend to go along with him for the authentication of his birth certificate. I thought he promised to give me a free ticket but it turned out different. i went with him anyway because i wanna experience Catarman also before i finally get to Capul island. After logging-out, my first hitchhike will start from here.

9:56 AM
- We are now in Catarman, Samar. the town center still remains a classic example of hispanic reducciones urban planning. the plaza is the center surrounded by the Church and the Municipio.
- Less car in the town plaza and has lots of rickshaw bicycles that looks like a miniature Calesa.
- Old accacia trees surrounding the plaza has grown plenty of ferns wrapping its body. it only proves its century old existence.

6:40 AM
Finally, the ferry boat bound for allen sailed. we expect to arrive in Samar after a few hour.

4:08 AM
- We arrived in Matnog, Bicol- the last edge of Southern Luzon. in few minutes we aboard a ferry boat to cross the island of Samar. will embark at Allen port. there are only a few passengers aboard with us.
- The sun cellular providers has no signal here.
- The dawn is about to break and some childrens are wide awake. Few passengers singing Karaoke at the back deck.

20 October 2008 Southern Luzon

Evening
- The bus had a stop-over somewhere in Quezon Province. We had dinner and it was expensive so i thought of temporarily have some non-nutritious food until we get to our destination in Catarman. this is to spend less.

3:17 PM
- Finally we left Metro Manila

The Search for Sama People

note: the following text below is an unfinished writing. i wrote this a couple of days before my scheduled departure. i hope to finish this as soon my hitchhiking ends.

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There is a group of people in the Philippines who is about to be extinct together with the diminishing species of flora and fauna in the archipelago. They are the nomadic sea people.

As I slowly get to know these people, by reading ethnographic accounts and books in athropology, I became personally attached to them. One factor that drove me closer to their heart is the fact that my ancestors from the maternal side were subsistent local fishermen in a remote province of Leyte. I remember once my mother told me that her Father use to chant a prayer mantra asking forgiveness to fishes before going out to the sea for a big catch. Surprisingly, the said practice has a similar tradition with Sama-Dilaut people.

I first read accounts of Sama-Dilaut at the National Public Library of Tokyo. It was summer time and I have just finished reading David Graeber's “Fragments of Anarchist Anthropology” in spring, which inspired me to discover non-authoritarian practices inherent to indigenous knowledge systems. My main objective is to learn from indigenous traditions and practices of nomadic people to be particular. This is where I was brought to the world of Sama-Dilaut.

Sama-Dilaut or commonly known as Bajaus are boat dwelling people, they live on seas most of their time and occasionally dwell on land only to get drinking water, attend gardening and take logs for building boats. Anthropologists argued that these people commonly originated from Semporna in Borneo, but according to Sama-Dilaut's oral-tradition their ancestors once lived in Johore- a place somewhere in the west of Sulu islands. According to their oral story they unconciously stucked their boat poles, to protect themselves from the incoming typhoon, on the back of a sleeping giant sting gray. It awakened the monster and they were brought to unknown seas and never again find the way back to Johore.

Until then Sama-Dilaut people travel back and forth from Borneo to Southern islands of the Philippines and other areas of Southeast Asia where fishing grounds are favorable for them. They don't have a particular territory that could box them inside the boundaries of a State.