Sagada revisited

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Roger D. Sinot

SAGADA, Mountain Province - At 3:15 p.m. on Feb. 26,during our three day Episcopal Diocese of North Central Philippines (EDNCP) 26th annual convention at the Cathedral of the Resurrection, I received a text message from Manung Annab, Atty. David Daoas. It says, “11:10 am, Dad peacefully joined his creator. He has suffered long enough, bed ridden for five years. We are just comforted by the fact that he is in better hands and in a better place. May he rest in peace.” Then I texted back, “Imuna da laeng no datayu, mang Dave.”

Early morning of March 02, 2014 my wife Karen and I packed our things, and went up to Baguio from Asin then proceeded to Sagada, together with Auntie Lourdes and Karen’s younger sister Marian. It was a long winding road but we had fun on the way. It was a five hour trip compared to previous seven hour trip. The road cement was a lot better than before.

Upon reaching the town proper, we dropped by to say “hello” to Dra. Frances “Ces” Aspili, a surgical doctor assigned in St. Theodore’s Hospital for a month. All is well for her.

I guess, one has to go up to Sagada to discover why almost all folks know the song Danny Boy and sang it from their heart. Just like, why lemon pies are so popular that Joseph, Karen’s cousin, had to build a self-architecture house.  For Sagada’s Lemon Pies, a “must taste” in Sagada.

During uncle Ignacio’s wake, I noticed that the folks sang Danny Boy without notes and just sang their hearts out. London Derry air, popularly known as “Danny Boy” was one of Pete St. John’s notable contributions to the list of traditional Irish musical jewels. It is one of the plaintive ballads inspired by the great Irish Famine of 1845-50 and written by an Irish journeyman, composer and a poet.

In my article last week, March 1, 2014 issue, I mentioned few of the educators who became community leaders. Uncle Ignacio Muting Daoas was a janitor who became a teacher and retired as a school supervisor, then served as Mayor of Sagada. His family was awarded the Centennial Hwaran gPamilyang Pilipino and finalist at the Gawad Gina Lopez Bayaning Pilipino Award-Pamilya Category. Mr. Julius Bangnan recalled that as a young high school boy, he knew the Daoas family; they were the only mini grocery store in Sagada that sold slippers. He used to walk all the way from Masla to Sagada to buy one. He considered the Daoas old man as his inspiration to go to school, now he is the chief of the secondary Education at Department of Education, Cordillera Administrative Region. Uncle Ignacio was an inspiration to him and the whole community as well.

The ballad goes, “Oh, Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling/from glen to glen, and down the mountain side/the summer’s gone and all the roses falling/tis you, tis you must go and I must by./but come ye back when summer’s in the meadow/and all the valley hushed and white as snow/yes, I’ll be there in sunshine or in shadow/oh, Danny Boy, oh, Danny Boy, I love you so.”

“But when you come and all the flowers are dying. If I am dead and dead I well maybe/you’ll come and find the place where I am lying/and kneel and find the place where I am lying/and I shall hear though soft your tread above me/and all my grave shall warmer sweeter be/for you will bend, and tell me that you love me, and I shall sleep in peace because you come to me.”

May I share the song Green Leaves of Summer for Uncle Ignacio, Mr. Jose Olarte and all the teachers who have joined the one and only great teacher and creator up in the sky world.

“Twas so good to be young then in the season of plenty/ When the catfish were jumping/ As high as the sky./…Twas so good to be young then/ To be close to the earth/ And to stand by your wife/ At the moment of birth./…Twas so good to be young then with the sweet smell of apples/ and the owl in the pine tree/ A-winking his eye/…Twas so good to be young then/ to be close to the earth/ now the green leaves of summer are calling me home.

Farewell to our teachers, we cherish you and your teachings. We saw your light when you’re hardest hit. Farewell and Happy trails!