Maayong Aga From Tabucan

5th October 2005
Maayong Aga (Good Morning) from Tabucan! Tabucan is a small village inside on the Dumangas municipality, which is part of the Ilo Ilo province on the Island of Panay in Republic of the Philippines!

Tabucan is an agricultural community that produces large amounts of fish and rice. The local people are very poor. A labourer working on the farm earns around 100 pesos ($NZ 2.50) a day. The local teachers earn around 250 pesos ($NZ 6.25 a day). They buy their own chalk and have not had a pay rise for 10 years.

Each village in the Ilo Ilo province has a local elected Captain, you is responsible for ensuring the village runs smoothly. The Captain has several local Branangay Tanod under his command. A tanod is kinda like a policeman, but they are not armed. There is also a local Barangay Council.

Tabucan is a very small community and it was chosen by the volunteer organisation because of its excellent safety record. I attended the birthday party of the local Captain's wife on one of my first nights here. When I left the party, the Captain insisted that 2 guys escorted me home. This was strange to me because a) The walk home was very short, less than 3 minutes and b) the two guys where both under 10 years in age!

The Philippines was ruled by the Spanish for about 333 years and you can still feel the influence. Statues and pictures of Christ and Mary are everywhere. 80% of Filipinos are devout Roman Catholics.

Power Outages, or brownouts, are a common occurrence. They can last anywhere from 10 minutes, to a few hours. The first time it happened to me, the locals didn't even bat an eyelid. They smiled and laughed, lit a candle or two, and got on with life.

The Home Where I Live

I live inside a two-bedroom home with Risa and her family. Risa sleeps with Nicole, who is too cute for words, in one room and another daughter sleeps on a matress in the lounge, and I have a room to myself. Risa's husband is a sailor, who is currently on a one-year voyage.


The house from the outside.	A stall from which Risa sells some simple items to help the community

The kitchen	The lounge

My bedroom	The bathroom

What I Eat

Every main meal in Tabucan, including breakfast, contains fish and rice. A sample meal can be found here.

Cigarettes and beer are insanely cheap here. They both sell for about 40 pesos ($NZ 1), which is cheaper than bottled water. The locals like their alcohol and often offer me a drink. Some of them find it quite odd that I don't drink at all. In a way, it is a bit of a shame because that is one part of the local culture that I am missing out on. They brew their own rice wine and enjoy local rum mixed with Mountain Dew.

Language

Everyone in the Philippines speaks Filipino and a least a conversational English. A bit of patience is often required to understand some people, but we always get there in the end.

There are also about 100 very distinct and different dialects spoken in the Philippines. In Tabucan, they speak a dialect called Hiligaynon. I am trying very hard to learn Hiligaynon. At the moment, I am trying to turn it into a game with my host family. If I can't name the food, I can't eat the food. It is a bit of silly fun and it gives me a thing to talk about with the family.

Mimi, a local girl, gives formal lessons twice a week. I am trying to learn new words everyday. When I visited the mayor I could name Calampay, or crab, on their district seal. He was very impressed. Whenever you get a certain phrase correct, you get a big grin from the locals. At the moment, I know the following words and phrases.

English	Hiligaynon
Good Morning	Maayong Aga
Good Noon	Maayong Ugto
Good Afternoon	Maayong Hapon
Good Evening	Maayong Gabi
How are you?	Kamusta
I'm fine	Maayou Man
Thank you	Salamat
Water	Tubig
Small crab	Kalampay
Pork	Baboy
Cooked rice	Kan-on
Unmilled rice	Palay
Uncooked rice	Bugas
Soup	Sabaw
Bread	Tinapau
Banana	Saging
Fish	Isda
Vegetables	Utan
White root vegetable	Takway
Milk Fish	Bangus