Nemfa Gahatok (left) and Marian Rosales (right) recall their Christmas memories in Barangay Guizo in Mandaue before her house was burned down, almost two years ago.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
IN GOOD TIMES AND BAD
It’s 5 p.m. Saturday, and Mariel Rosales is going door-to-door, sort of.
“Hello? Maayo? Manaygon ko! (Good day! Can I sing Christmas carols?)” she asks, calling out the people staying inside a makeshift tent tucked under what is left of a dead tree in a parking lot at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
The 11-year-old girl has been trying to draw people out of their shed into listening to her husky tunes of “Sana Ngayong Pasko.”
A woman in her mid 30’s comes out of the tent and Mariel begins to sing.
“Sana ngayong Pasko ay maalala mo pa rin ako, hinahanap hanap pag-ibig mo …”
At the end of her performance, the woman gives her P3 as she goes on to another tent, singing the same song.
“Even before our house was burned down, this is how I spend my remaining time before going to sleep during the Christmas season after my class” said Mariel in Cebuano.
Mariel is a Grade 5 student of the Mandaue City Central School.
She and her family were among those displaced by a huge fire which hit Barangays Guizo and Mantuyong, Mandaue City, more than a year ago in March 2016.
About 800 families including Mariel’s, set up makeshift dwellings at the CICC grounds, transforming the parking area and its green spaces into a shanty town.
According to Mariel’s mother, Marian, Christmas will never be the same after the blaze.
She remembers staying inside the house of their relative in Barangay Mabolo in Cebu City after their house in Barangay Guizo was burned.
“Me, my husband, and my 4 children had to sleep at the sala (living room) of my husband’s brother because we could not afford housing materials,” said Marian.
“Ni stay mi for 4 weeks then pagkahibalo namo nga ang Mandaue City ni donate ug tent sa CICC, ni balhin mi ug naki singit sa akong mga ig-agaw para ma usa (We stayed there for four weeks until we heard that Mandaue City donated a tent at CICC. So we crammed into the space where my cousins were in so that we could just live together),” she added.
Nevertheless, she said her family is grateful to God for giving them another chance at life.
Since the fire, Christmas has been a far cry from past celebrations that the Rosales family had been used to.
Christmas in Barangay Guizo, said Marian, was filled with festivities and smiles.
According to Marian, the families staying at CICC would still celebrate Christmas, but the festivities and merriment of their neighbors at the relocation site are different.
“Before, you could see karaoke booths. You would hear laughter and Christmas jingles of children, and our neighbors would invite us for dinner,” she said.
After the fire, the smiles have waned, she said.
“The only thing that we will be doing this year is to make a simple Noche Buena for our family,” said Marian.
On Christmas Eve, they plan to prepare roast chicken, dried fish and malunggay soup.
“It is also our family’s tradition to attend the 9-day Misa de Gallo, and this year we plan to complete it,” she said as a way to thank God for all their blessings, in spite of everything.
Jovelita Dagohok, cousin-in-law of Marian Rosales looks out the window. CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
The things that matter
Marian is grateful that they survived the fire.
“Nahadlok ko kay basin wala nami padulngan sa among pamilya human pagka sunog (I was afraid that we would have nowhere to go to after the fire),” she said.
She watched how the blaze devoured her home and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
“I felt a loss of great hope, seeing the house you stayed at for more than ten years, burn down in just a matter of hours,” Marian said.
“Life can really change with just a snap of one’s finger” she added.
After the fire, she found her house barely standing.
Marian said, her husband had to pick up whatever was left from their house and sell them at a nearby junk shop.
“My husband looked for scrap metal and sold it to a nearby junk shop just to make ends meet,” she said.
She said they are thankful that no one died from her family.
Residents received P8,000 assistance from the Mandaue City government, however, Rosales said it was not enough.
The money they got was used to pay their debts.
“Despite the small amount of money, I’m still thankful,” she said.
Sheets of plywood donated by the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide-Cebu (Piston-Cebu) were used to divide the interior of their tent, to create compartments or rooms.
“My husband, Arnold is a jeepney driver now, and nagpasalamat kus Piston sa pag tabang nila namo, bahala ug ginangmay lang, wala mi nila gi pasagdan (I am grateful to Piston for their help. No matter how small, they did not leave us alone),” she said.
Arnold earns P1,500 a day to provide for his family of six.
“Akung pinaskuhan sa akung pamilya, kaning P8,000 pesos nalang nga akong inutang (My Christmas gift to my family is this P8,000 which I loaned),” he said.
He plans to buy a sack of rice and housing materials to fix their makeshift tent.
The money will also be used to pay off expenses for their daughter’s education, said Arnold who will never forget the evening of March 12, 2016 when fire ate up all their belongings.
But along with the bitter memories of that tragedy comes a reminder to be always grateful for his family which the fire left unscathed; and that, he said, is all that matters.
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