Daily Diary: Day Three

Written by Gwyneth Liew

Photographs by Melissa Chia, tumblr.com

     Our day started with a feast kindly provided by Prof. Rosalie Hall, our host at the University of the Philippines Visayas. The feast consisted of a serving of rice cakes referred to as ibus as well as juicy mangoes, a favorite among locals. Ibus is a rice cake which is similar to the Malaysian's nasi pulut (starchy rice). During the feast, some of us learned from our female student guides that there was a special way to open the ibus from its leafy packaging. One would first have to push down the ribbon and outer layers before using a fork to slice it halfway down. It felt like a peculiar way of peeling bananas.

     After the scrumptious meal, we thanked our hosts and proceeded to take a group picture outside the Gender and Development Program building. Soon after, we had our first session of the day led by Prof. Melanie J. Padilla, a lecturer in the College of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of the Philippines Visayas. Her session was split into two main topics - the history and the culture of Iloilo city. She started off by naming some tourist spots in Iloilo and continued to talk about the urbanization of the city. The people of the city experienced governance monopoly by the Spanish and subsequent conflicts with the American troops before finally gaining their independence. We then took a break with the UPV student guides teaching us a modified version of the Banana Peel dance, which invoked much laughter from everyone involved.

    The session then continued with the focus on pre-colonial culture of the Iloilo population. To our surprise, their pre-colonial culture was akin to the animistic culture experienced in other Asian countries like Japan and even our home country, Malaysia. What particularly caught our attention were the practices that involved the sacrifice of infants to their gods and body modification. The most interesting topic was the tugbuk, which was a decorative adornment of gold, brass, or iron that men sometimes inserted into their genitalia. This was said to be designed to enhance the sexual pleasure of their women.

Can you imagine the pain? O.O 

(Image taken from Tumblr.com)

     Next, we headed off into a nearby town called Jaro where the next session was to be held. As it was time for lunch, we stopped by a restaurant called Andoks to fill our rumbling stomachs. Due to the crowd at the restaurant for lunch, food was served to and finished by the first group while the second group hadn't even been served theirs. Because of this, our schedule was delayed by about 20 minutes before we rushed off to the Plaza where the Church of Jaro is situated. While we were there, we learnt about the statue of the Lady of the Candles, which has miraculously grown in size over time. It is said that the statue was originally much smaller, and that one day, the caretakers noticed that her outfit was getting smaller. The statue has since been moved from its now too small niche into a larger glass case.

Doesn't she look mysterious?

     After our brief encounter with the beautiful and mysterious statue, we headed to the Archdiocese of Jaro where the session was to be held. The speaker was Monsignor Oso, who is 27 years into his priesthood, and is a passionate believer of social justice. He spoke of the need for social justice in the current landscape that is the Philippines, and his and the church's efforts to help the poor and marginalized of the community. After the session, there was a question and answer period during which we exchanged information regarding the social and political scenes in both the Philippines and Malaysia. We headed back to UPV after taking a group photo with Monsignor.

The last of our group photos of the day

     When in the dorm, some of us left to do some personal shopping whilst others chose to stay behind. Those who stayed behind either mingled with the university students or did some work on their laptops in the lobby. Much too soon, it was time to head out again for dinner. We headed to the city centre in two separate jeepneys and split into different groups. Some of us chose pizza and fried chicken whilst others dined in at a restaurant where they ate batchoy, a local delicacy. The time after dinner was spent observing the dance rehearsal for the Dinagyang festival. Despite a long waiting period during which the dancers spent time establishing their blocking, the audience were treated to an out of the world experience when the rehearsal finally began. Needless to say they finished to thunderous applause. 

Here are the colorful ribbons and skirts & lanky and handsome young men

     As we headed back to the university with our stomachs filled with Dunkin' Donuts kindly bought for us by Dr. Yeoh, our minds were filled with wonder about the dance we had just seen. There were some of us who even started thinking about the meaning of life. With that being said, we highly anticipate the events of the festival! Good night, and see you soon!

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Gwyn is currently a second year university student who has embarked on a journey of selling insurance to achieve her financial freedom by her graduation in the year 2014. Her ultimate goal is to be an influential writer and to share her knowledge on self awareness for the enlightenment of all.