Polillo.pdf

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Part of Panorama

extracted text: Philippine Panorama — XLVII POLILLO ctually, Polillo is not as small as its names de notes. It has two towns —Burdeos on the east and Po lillo on the west—and it would take a small motorboat the bet ter part of a day to circum navigate. By walking, which is the most common means of land travel, it takes about 15 hours to walk from Polillo to Burdeos. It has two points of contact with the mainland, Mauban and Infanta, both of Que zon province. Motor launches ply everyday between the island and the mainland carrying copra and bananas which are th? main products of the island. During a stormy month the strait be comes unpassable and the island truly becomes remote. The patron saint of the is land is the carpenter St. Joseph. Because he was poor, the peo ple of Polillo believe that no body on the island would be come rich. There seems to be some trutfi to this because no body is really rich on the island although nobody is actually very poor. 76 Panorama Polillo has to buy its rice from the mainland and some times even its fish. Consequent ly, the little money that its peo ple earn from copra and bana nas is used to purchase the sta ples and there is little, if any, savings. Nothing noteworthy or spec tacular has happened on Polillo since the Spaniard Salcedo founded its first town in 1572. A Catholic church was con structed in 1800 and around the same year a Moro watch tower was erected because it was sacked by Moro- pirates. During the Revolution, Po lillo remained aloof. All that it did was shelter a few fugi tives from the Spaniards. Even the Japanese during the War ig nored Polillo. Hence the way of life of the people, their homes and culture have re mained practically unchanged. In such a town, a baptism, a fiesta or a wedding is a muchawaited event. People from the different barrios would congre gate in the house of the celeb rant and drink and dance for two days. As an Irish priest had observed, “The people could hardly afford to send their child ren to high school, but they spent P400 for fireworks and P500 for a band, all of which were gone in a moment.” Prob ably, the most exciting thing that has happened to Polillo recently was the national elec tion. There was much campaign ing, betting, speculating and tempers ran high and wild. uring the rest of the year tfie people would occupy themselves in fishing, cleaning the coconut groves, planting and harvesting bananas. In the evenings they would congre gate in the stores, drink lambanog and exchange harmless gossip. It is probably because talk ing- is the principal entertain ment that the people are lively talkers. Most of them are high ly opinionated and they would sound off, in an earthly way, on subjects as diverse as the best way of cutting a baby’s navel and the strategy and tac tics of nuclear warfare. Con versation in Polillo is flavored by homey witticisms and a kind of indirect moralising. During the stormy months the people grow fat because of inactivity. This is also the time when the people run into debt. The Chinese and the buyers of copra and bananas are there fore able to buy the products months before the harvest, Polillo is hardly a vacation spot but it certainly can offer the weary city-slicker a week or two of complete peace and relaxation. November 1958 77
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