“Sometimes I wish I could just rewind back to the old days and press pause…
just for a little while.” – Unknown
***
I was born and grew up in Bansalan, a town in Davao del Sur. It was in this town I learned to know what life is all about. It was here that I learned how life was in those days when there were no gadgets, internet, and Wi-Fi connections. In fact, we didn’t have any telephone. The only mode of fast communication was telegram (not the one which the younger generation these days know).
We lived in a place that was near the Miral River. We didn’t have any problem when washing our clothes. We just went to the river and washed them there. Even our dishes, we brought and washed them in the river. We also took a bath there.
Life was so simple then. We didn’t have any toys to play with but we had banana stalks which we transformed into armalites and guns. We used sardines as our little “vehicles” and used discarded slippers – which we formed into circles – as tires.
I attended Villa-Doneza Elementary School, which was about 1.5 kilometers away from our home. I had to walk all the way from home to school, following a small road (which was under coffee trees) and then a rice field before reaching school. During the rainy season, I utilized banana leaves as my “umbrella.”
During school closing ceremonies, our mother would bring our father to attend. He was given the honor to pin the ribbons we children received. Most of us were honored pupils. My mother advised me not to take those ribbons when going home; instead, I would wear them until we reached home.
My father was very proud of our accomplishments. “I have to go back several times to the stage to pin the ribbons of my children,” he would say to people who asked him along the way.
Our parents didn’t take us to a mini-hospital when we had fever or cough. If ever we were sick, our mother would give us “mamon” (a sweetened bread) and royal tru-orange. In some instances, our mother would resort to “tuob,” or stem inhalation, one of the many traditional health practices in rural areas.
During summer, most of the children went to the newly-harvested corn field where we had our kites flown. We used newspapers and coconut midribs; for paste, we used cooked rice. The thread we used were those in sewing clothes.
We didn’t have electricity at home where I was growing up. We used kinky lamps. My father would light the petromax at night to give us a better light. When we were going to sleep, he would turn it off.
My mother was sort of a green thumb. She collected different kinds of flowers and ornamentals (particularly several species of San Francisco or crotons). During our spare time, we would marcot those ornamentals. Or we cut some branches of crotons and placed them in the bottles. Several weeks later, roots would come out and we would transfer them to discarded cans of tinapa or milk.
These ready-to-plant ornamentals were being brought by a neighbor and sold in the public market during Sundays. We children were happy since we would have extra money out of our mother’s collections of ornamentals.
When our town had electricity, we were so happy. By this time, we had transferred our home near a highway since my father was able to have his own shop. He was a mechanic and he had some helpers aiding him.
Our home was near a university. We sometimes go to the place and play at his ground during holidays and weekends. At night, we would play “tubig-tubig” at the highway since only very few vehicles were flying it during those times.
Since our parents could not afford to buy television, we could go to our neighbors and watch television series – “Wonder Woman” and “Six Million Dollar Man.” The reception was very hazy and was in black-and-white but we still enjoyed watching them.
Bansalan in those days was way behind compared to what it is now. It was not until Edwin Reyes became the mayor that our town became a first-class municipality. Not that past administrations were not doing something. It may be because Bansaleños were not ready for change.
Today, Bansalan has gone a long, long way. We have several banks, hospitals, and big stores. We even have a mall and a fast food restaurant.
We have our own festival called Dorongan. During such occasions, some people – mostly pupils and students from different schools – participate in the street dancing competition. Most of us go to the street and watch these lively choreographed “dances” (if you call it that way). The energy is high during the event.
Balutakay – used to be a haven of insurgencies in the past – is now teeming with tourism destinations. There are several places you can visit, including Sir Ped’s Café Mount Apo and Twin Mountains.
Since the road is now cemented, farmers don’t have a problem bringing their produce in the town proper. Among those that grow well in the area include cabbage, potato, green onion, sweet pepper, tomato, and carrot.
The coffee grown in sitio Neptune is now known throughout the world. The coffee has won recognition from prestigious award-giving bodies not only on the national level but in the global scene as well.
Bansalan is also noted for organic farming. The Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center in barangay Kinuskusan has been practicing such a system since the mid-1970s. The organic farm of Benjamin Lao is well-known for its coco sugar and coco honey.
From the sleepy town, which I used to know, Bansalan is now one of the progressive municipalities in Davao del Sur.
