For those who like ORATORY, amongst the pious students of Public Speaking… I AM A BADJAO By: Abdilla H. Sumbing You asked me of my origin? I will tell you that I am the son of the four seas! You asked me of my religion? I will tell you that my religion was the religion of your ancestors! You asked me of my history? I will tell you that the history of this country is incomplete, without touching the veneer of our adventures, tossed by the formidable tradition of our forefathers! You asked me of my dreams and aspirations? I will tell you that the future to me is meaningless. It is as meaningless as yesteryears…and the confine of my thoughts Is limited to the Lepa that used to be my home and continent since time immemorial! You asked me of my present identity? I will tell you that I am a BADJAO, a Sea GYPSY in the language of the whites, But…I am a citizen of the world! Patriotism? Love of country? Pilipinism? People Power? The only thing my father taught me since birth was to love the tides and the rumbling waves that used to rock me gently in my homely vinta cradle. I have become a part of the ocean floor, which is why I smell of seaweeds and sand dunes. I could recite the names of a hundred aquatic species even with my eyes close when I was seven, but would never know who Magellan was. The Philippines I knew since childhood is the same shore and beach that nurtured me with shells and turtle eggs. I know they were there for centuries. The vast land and appurtenances thereof are as strange to me as the island inhabitants who proudly called themselves Pilipinos. Government? Bill me ignorant in the arts of politics! Indict me for not knowing the Philippine Constitution! Disgrace me for not respecting the Pilipino Flag and the National Anthem! Curse me for not speaking the lingo of Francisco Balagtas! But let me ask you one simple question, just one soul touching question: Did you, you who proudly claimed to be Pilipinos, in words, in thoughts and in deeds, come to teach my father and his forebears the legacy you call civilization? My eldest brother told me that our father died some years back because uniformed men with guns came to force him to ferry them to the other side of the island. He was sick then and too weak to do the paddling, and so he politely implored that he be excused for turning them down. Without mercy, they shot him! His body was mutilated with bullets, and he died. He was murdered at the stark of daylight! They did not bury him because he was a smelly old man. Somewhere at the shoreline of the other island, from where I saw the first light of a beautiful morning, I learned that our tribal leader was decapitated for defending his young daughter who was molested viciously by the same beasts of fury to satisfy their carnal and bestial instinct. Not long thereafter, my mother succumbed to a lingering ailment brought about by grave emotional distress over the untimely demise of the old man. Yes, no aqua herb and vegetation could ever give her back the thought of his presence and the memory of our once happy seafaring family. Both of them died and my hope for a better tomorrow under their care died too. There was nobody we could turn to for our grievances. The people that walked on land would look at us with indignation, often frightening us with their barking dogs. Often they would jeer at our misfortune. Heaven knows our parents died for us, to defend our rights which are as sacred as the Black Stone of Arabia! And now you come to compel me to love this country, you mistakably call the Philippines, in honor of the Spanish Conquestadores? You come to impose taxes from the little we have had? You come to offer me guns to fight beside you the enemies of the Republic? Damn you!!! Go to hell! Go back and tell your leaders that I cannot fight your battles! Tell them that I belong to the sea, and I owe you nothing! Forgive me for raising my voice too high. Pardon me for being so naïve and temperamental. But if you should know your unwritten Tarsilas, my great, great grandfather taught the ten Bornean Datus the navigational knacks of sailing. He was a Wise Man because he can tell the weather by the position of the stars. How we followed you to this part of the country, I would not know. But you cannot bear me out for saying that we both suffered the evils of foreign subjugation, the wrath of colonialism and the brutality of tyranny and oppression. Together, we shed blood to win our freedom. We fought we cried and rejoiced to finally have it. And as we reaped the blessings of independence, you shared it with no one! With insatiable greed, you gobbled my rightful share of the blessings, denying me even the basic fundamentals of equality, liberty and happiness. Your leaders dislodged millions to develop the land while avaricious men from among you started devastating my kingdom with dynamites and other illegal methods of fishing. You started polluting the sea with your thrashes and scamps, annihilating even the smallest starfish on the seabed, leaving me nothing even to admire! You have done all these and many more in the name of economic advantage and development. Unaware, that your kind of advancement is killing us day by day. I have many more to say, but my voice is distant from the Manila Government. We are few, which is why we are not strong. But I swear by the Mighty Being that gave us life and sustenance in this Lonely Planet, that my children and my children’s children will keep on shouting, until this voice would become strident! Until I would become dear to you because I am the other Pilipino! Be the judge! Be the wise Khadi! Judge my past, my present and my future. MY DESTINY LIES IN YOUR HANDS!!!
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 15:05:53 +0000
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