The treasures of Calbiga

MY trip to Calbiga town west of Samar island the other day turned out to be a smooth ride on its newly asphalted highway, almost the exact opposite of the same highway from Calbiga to Calbayog. This part is now said to be full of holes and mini canals that makes travel a torture. When I alighted near the police checkpoint at Unding’s village two and a half kilometers away from the town proper, Nalding, his younger brod and also our ‘pais”, was waiting about 50 meters away, thinking I would follow Unding’s instructions. I saw Unding and some others waving from the top of the hill and, thankfully, Nalding came to my rescue.

The group - consisting of Unding, Nalding, Lumen, a younger brother and fellow ex-seminarian and his cousin, the famous ballet dancer, Nonoy Froilan – was having a little party with sinugbang isda, tinolang isda, shrimp, binakhaw and, of course, our favorite bahalina. They were in a small unfinished shed separate from the house of Lumen, comfortably seated on wooden benches, with Nalding doing the role of a tangero (the guy who makes sure your glass is always full).

As soon as the introductions were done, Nalding and Nonoy were animatedly relating the organizing work they were doing for Calbiga’s cultural council. For a small town to have such a council involving some prominent people, it was a comforting thought. That would have been unbelievable a few years ago when Nonoy and Unding were in their prime and at the height of their respective careers.

Nonoy was one of the favorite male dancers of the Cultural Center of the Philippines who had gone to places here and abroad to promote his art. Unding, on the other hand, was a top gun in the advertising industry who had honed his artistic gifts in big advertising firms as well as the media in Manila. When you are at that stage in your life, it is easy to forget your roots and think only of your own future.

But now, after having been at their pinnacle, the two have joined hands to help the town organize its first cultural council which will kick off on the last week of this month with a small conference, with a rooster of speakers that reads like a who’s who in the cultural scene. Thanks to Nonoy’s efforts, they are coming to Calbiga to share their expertise gratis et amore.

For cough and colds

Since our seminary days, Unding was always known to be very active in the art scene, his skills employed in the seminary’s occasional cultural affairs. He had notions to becoming a great artist one day, studied architecture when he left the seminary, but didn’t finish it for financial reasons. But that didn’t deter him from carving his niche in the advertising industry’s creative department.

Besides art, Unding, unknown to many, is also a poet, although he refuses to consider himself as such. He says he only writes poems in the vernacular (Waray-waray) where has shown mastery and, one time, even won in a poetry writing contest. Except for the white hairs, he is still the same Unding bubbling with enthusiasm and youthful exuberance, which belies his advancing years.

Both Unding and Nonoy are some of Calbiga’s priceless treasurers in the cultural scene. I just hope their selfless dedication becomes a model for the younger set of Calbiga to follow.