Good Old Days need not lose to modernization
By C.M. Navarro (Bandillo Batanes, Oct. 2000)

They say that in order for us to see how modernity has change our way of life as a people, we have to go back and look at the past, While modern technology has definitely raised our quality of life in relation to our use of new equipment and appliances, there are also effects on our values and environment.

In the late Fifties, almost every stream meandering in the creeks traversing the national road from Basco to Imnahbu had clear water spilling out to the sea. Here, the people would go down to catch shrimps, small water fishes and eels that provided a tasty meal for the family. On the side, they enjoyed a cool bath and many children learned to swim in its small pools or deeper recesses. Today, almost all of these streams have run dry, the younger generations deprived of the thrill of wading and harvesting from their bounty or taking a dip in their coal pools.

How unfortunate that the new generation cannot enjoy the fine gray sandy seashore that stretched from Kilometre 1 to the western side of Naidi Hill in Basco. That was a beautiful seashore, when one could have a leisurely walk from one end to the other, or sit on the sand watching the sun slowly sink to the horizon at the end of the day. At that time the sea had a gradual deepening from the shore and any swimmer or wader can predict just how far he or she can go with calculated safety. Will that annoying eyesore of LST debris ever be cleared from Basco Bay? The environmental disaster it has created is irreversible, which makes it a real tragedy. And can't we not get a little space at the southern edge of Basco so one can freely go up the upper portion of Naidi Hill to get the view of Basco? But there's the dike too that blocks the way. It's a big risk to get the view now with the barbed wire threatening its mark on your skin. And who can forget the luminous moonlight that regularly broke the dark nights devoid of any electric lights! Then, the whole town would sleep a little late, with children's voices lending joyful sounds to otherwise silent night. Even without the moonlight, the blackness of the sea on dark nights would periodically be illumined with dancing lights from the "colemans" of fishermen in their tatayas. Now, very few ever care for the moonlight because electric lights have come to light the town. And television sets have stolen so much of the children's chances to enjoy their childhood in more cultural nourishing games.

The Batanes High School, being the only high school in the entire province, was the meeting place of all the youth of Batanes pursuing a secondary education. Each town was represented in the high school campus, and youthful banter and taunting will often occur. The Bascaneous would tease the Isamurongs' language peculiarity abounding with chi's as in "An ka chimochimoy nam maychan kamis kabachichi", and the southerners would retort with "Nu tatin tito moaw!" The Ibayateneos were the butt of common jokes from the Bascaneos and Isamurongs with their "Itbayat man-ngan mangpid su kalapay" singsong, to which they would coolly retort in Ichtbayaten (which the mainlanders could not understand) accompanied by like a Madonna-like mystic smile. But there was a lot of bonding among the students and even romances that ended up in inter-town marriages. ____________________________________________________________________________________

In the late Fifties, almost every stream meandering in the creeks traversing the national road from Basco to Imnahbu had clear water spilling out to the sea.
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There was a beautiful view from the capitol porch and in the plaza, because at the edge of the grass-blanketed park, there was the blue sea with its ever changing moods-now calm and blue, the next raging mad and foaming white. The sky would display a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns as the sky went from morning to night. There never was a monotony of design and color. Unfortunately, this has been blocked by the NFA building and all the other government buildings along Kavangan Drive. And the capitol building has become faceless. Where is it front?

Saturdays would be firewood-gathering time, not by cutting down the whole tree but by cutting the dried branches only. Groups of friends would go out in the open fields for this. For others, it would be weeding time and along the way, there would be a lot of gathering of payin, bayak'bak, tanyud (just drive the flies away), or alunot. Everyone was sustainable without the lecture from the DENR. When did we learn to go commercial in firewood and cut down a whole vutalao tree for the kitchen fire?

In the streets we greeted everyone we met with "Dios mo apo"or "Maraan, kamnaan, Dios mo Ina", and we go home after our classes we repeat the same greetings to our parents with folded arms as a sign of respect. Now we have adopted the Tagalog way of greeting by raising the hand of our parents to our foreheads without saying a word. Why have we forgotten the customary greeting for our elders taught by our forefathers? Some of the changes are irreparable, like the seashore of Basco Bay forever defaced.

Some can be restored if we work on it. Shall we do something and bring back the splendor of the gold old days? Or shall we leave it at that even if they hurt and destroy-and we will continue to do so without end?