Living History in an Old Father    

     Porferio had read our telegram and was prepared to help me obtain a birth certificate for his daughter. First however, Itay (Dad) had plans to enjoy the afternoon and obtain the birth certificate the next day. He told me that I was like Marco Polo traveling great distances to foreign lands. He shared with me his experiences of fighting alongside U.S. soldiers during the liberation of Leyte. Porferio had been hired by the U.S. military to guide them throughout the island and root out Japanese troops.

     We sat on wooden bench at a table outside a sari sari store; Itay on one side and I on the other. He insisted I taste the local drink ‘tuba’. Tuba is made from white sap of the palm tree and was the reddish variety colored with the bark of the Lauan tree. I explained that I practiced abstinence from alcohol consumption. Itay insisted that since I had traveled such great distances, and because I was going to marry his daughter it was likely that he would not see her again; I must drink with him because he was a ‘drinking man’.

    I’m not sure I gave much resistance, eating balute and dried fish required some sort of strong redeeming chaser! So Itay filled my rather large cup with tuba. I took a sip and the tuba needed a chaser it was not a palate pleaser; Itay recommended a little coca cola. We sat and ate, as time passed I consumed my tuba. Quietly so as not to be noticed Itay ensured the glass never emptied.  

    In the midst of stories about life as a Filipino, Itay shared with me his militaristic version of the Lord ’s Prayer. “Our father who art in the states, building great battle ships to fight in the Pacific, great be thy name, thy ships come, thy will be done in the Philippines as in the United States. Give us this day troops to fight and plenty of ammunition, so that we may overcome our enemies, and lead us not into defeat but destroy our enemies. For thine is the power, the might that rules the world.”

    As a young man from a small town I had been struggling with the apparent power of the American empire. The behavior of the U.S. military around Subic Bay I found despicable and inconsistent with all I had ever been told about the honor of the U.S. and her efforts in the world. Itay’s inversion of the Lord’s Prayer was both comical, and tragic. I laughed with him, but through my intoxicated state I knew I would never forget this moment and this prayer.

   I was sitting on a bench like any picnic table bench and if you slide to far near the end without other persons holding down the bench, well it will topple, and you will fall on the ground. I laughed so hard with Itay that I had slid to the end of the bench and fell on the ground. A little later we began making our way back to the family home.

   La Paz was without streetlights, candles and little bottles with some kerosene and a wick provided light for people in their homes. It was very dark; we had been sitting, talking and laughing until late. The clouds darkened the night, blocking the light of the moon and the stars. Itay and I were walking with our arms around one another and singing the Philippine national anthem which he was teaching me line by line, the memorable opening words ‘Bayong Magiliw’ . These words are heard every morning as Filipinos sing their national anthem in school, businesses and malls. The entire town was silent, the candles and lanterns had been extinguished, it was late. The animals were howling back at Itay and I. Then he said, “Ah Oh”, it was Nympha and her mother (Inay). They had come to retrieve the drinking buddies that were disturbing the whole town with our singing.

Writing Trinidad’s Birth Certificate

    Early in the morning we went to the Catholic Church to verify the date of her birth with the local baptismal records. Next, Porferio (Itay) and I went through the records and he showed me an entry for of one of his sons who had died a few days after being born. We found Trinidad’s record, June 4th 1955.

     Porferio insisted that I call him, “Itay”. Itay and I went to the city-hall, there was no one there but the doors were open. He told me that he used to work here and he knew what to do. Within a half-hour Porferio had made Trinidad an official birth certificate. Complete with an embossed stamp and a glue on stamp.

   Over the years I grew to understand and love this man, Porferio. In the following years I would witness his kindness and generosity and learn to understand the subsistence ethic required of the poor. For years, each month I sent Porferio a check for support of the family and to buy birthday and Christmas gifts. When I arrived to visit in 1982, the family had moved to a Barangay in Tacloban. I and my brother in-laws built an extension onto the home. As I spoke with the neighbors I learned that each month Itay shared the small gift I sent the family by purchasing food for others in the little area of Sagkahan. Itay and I communicated by air mail for many years. His poetic eloquence shined in everything he wrote as did his patience and love for his family. Porferio lived a typical Filipino life at a very different time than I had witnessed. When I returned in the eighties Itay began to read the bible, pray, he attended my church meetings and one of my Filipino pastor friends baptized him at the beach.  I will see him again.

After obtaining Trinidad’s birth certificate, Porferio’s youngest son Artemio who was 13 asked me to go walking with him. In Lapaz Leyte most of the children had never seen a white person before. As we walked around literally hundreds of kids came out to see the spectacle of me walking around. The bolder kids would attempt to sneak up and touch my hand then run away. They were shy for the most part and just laughed a lot. I enjoyed their attention.