The face of the past.

By Rhea C. Lucasia
The biblical quote “the family that prays together stays together” is old yet gold. I
am sure everyone knows that quote from the very beginning. Reflecting on words like
these can sometimes be low key yet fascinating and tracing our family backgrounds can
sometimes be at the highest resort of flashbacking. Now, I have studied and interviewed
a family that lives long in our community to trace back their history.
On the eastern part of our barangay, there lived a family name of Marcos. They
are not just one family with that last name, they are 18 households in total. Fascinating
isn’t it? and yes, they are living here for a very long time. Their ancestors have been
traced long ago from the Ilocos Region where the famous Marcoses lived.
According to Encarnacion Marcos, 72 years old who stands to be the
grandmother of the family, they are from Dingras, Ilocos Norte and moved here because
of their parents who have a land in here. She was then married to Diosdado Marcos
who was a farmer in Ilocos. They inhabit the land by building a house and tried to live a
peaceful life. But life was not that easy for them here in Masbate.
They have been strike by extreme poverty and they have no work to finance the
needs of the growing family. Her husband worked as a farmer but does not own any
land. The land he took care of was from his friends and they just have part back then.
They ate cassava and sweet potatoes day and night to pass the day. “Even how hard
life is back then, I know we are happy and contented”, she added.
According to her, they have been living here for almost 50 years. She then
revealed that they moved here not just because of the ownership of the land but also
because the family of her husband did not liked her to be their son’s wife. She described
it by saying the words she can clearly remember the day she was introduced to his
husband’s family. “Nagrigat lang garud ti biyagen, agasawa ka apalang ti narigat!” which
means “mahirap na nga ang buhay, mag aasawa ka pa ng mahirap!” was the words
they got to say. From that very moment, her husband decided to fight for the love they
got to start. By that, they decided to move here.
A very dramatic story that can be compared to telenovelas and drams on the
movies and television. That made my feelings mixed during the whole interview
process. Just like the majority of the people in the country, they are Roman Catholic.
According to their sons and daughters who have sons and daughters too at this present
time, they have been parts of Pasyon or Pabasa during Lenten seasons. Passion or
Pabasa is a Philippine epic narrative of the life of Jesus Christ which is focused on His
passion, death and resurrection. Indeed, a family that prays together: stays together!
When I asked them if they are part of the minority groups in Ilocos or here, they
stopped and asked me what do I mean by minority groups. So, I reiterate to them that it
is the group of people which are culturally, ethnically or racially distinct group that
coexist with but subordinate to more dominant group. Her daughter, Alice Marcos
Casirayan, said that their parents are from llocos, hence, they are Ilocanos.
With regard this minority group, according to Philippine Statistics Authority, in
Ilocos region, 97% of the household population classified themselves as Ilocanos. Other
ethnic groups included Tagalog (0.57%), Kankanai/Kankaney/Kankanaey (0.34%), and
Apayao (0.32%). This shows that Ilocos has diverse groups of people but Ilocanos are
the majority of it. That really tells about the etymology of the word “Ilocano”.
Ilocano is a very interesting language because it is the third most spoken native
language in the Philippines. According to Lola Encarnacion, Ilocano language is very
funny because they may seem angry while speaking even if they are actually not. They
may seem yelling and arguing while talking even if they do not intend to. That made me
ask her why and she replied, that is because they speak fast and they are high pitch
speakers.
Only Lola Encarnacion and her husband are Ilocanos. She admitted that upon
moving here, they have hard time communicating with other people. They need to talk
to them through Tagalog in order to understand them. Until such time that they have
built their schema in speaking our local language. Their sons and daughters are using
Masbateño language because they are raised here in Masbate. With that said, it is
correct to say that their first language is Ilocano and their second language is
Masbateño language.
Upon digging up their past, I realized few things away from the process
questions. Along the process, I agreed with the words of Robert Penn Warren when he
said, history cannot give us a program from the future, but it can give us a fuller
understanding of ourselves and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the
future. With that, may we never forget where did we truly came from by always
reminiscing and treasuring the moments that made us move to the places in our lives
which make us as the person we are now. This is the importance of history.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilocano_language#:~:text=Ilocano%20(also%20Ilokano%3B
%20%2Fi%CB%90,native%20language%20in%20the%20country.&text=The
%20Ilokano%20people%20had%20their,script%20known%20as%20kur%2Ditan.
https://psa.gov.ph/content/ilocos-norte-least-populated-province-ilocos-region