Recollections of Childhood in Tiwi

One of the more vivid recollections of my childhood was that of a Toyota Coaster, a mini bus servicing the big hotels in Legaspi— Mayon Imperial Hotel, La Trinidad Hotel and Albay Hotel—stopping by daily in front of our house, always bringing a bevy of multinational tourists led by a distinctly loud tour guide who descended the concrete steps towards the house, where artworks and products made of abaca and other native materials were mounted on a wall display in the sala.

My grandparents were known proponents of the local handicraft and cottage industries in Tiwi since the 1950s and were featured at the height of their business in the Philippines Herald, one of the leading newspapers at that time, in a section titled Little People Making Big. per said article- “they stopped the exodus of women from Bicolandia” which I will also write about in a future post.

Looking back? It was always fascinating as a child to watch the awestruck faces of those tourists as they examined the framed artworks as the din of the tourist guide’s voice reverberated throughout the small room as he explained the intricate process and the materials used in their construction.

Most of the artworks that were on display depicted the local hot springs, vignettes of early geothermal exploration, and of course, the usual touristy fare— rustic local scenes with the Mayon Volcano as a backdrop.

The tourists were a mix of various nationalities from all over the world, with the Australians and the Japanese comprising the majority.

My gran’pa Lolo Pito sold a lot of his artworks during the heyday of tourism in Tiwi (1970s to early 1980s). He used to keep a small notebook with pictures of his artworks and the names and address of his buyers catalogued in it. The list was a hodgepodge of various nationalities, with one of the more noteworthy entries being a Peruvian whose name now escapes me who bought several huge pieces that made me wonder how cumbersome it would be to transport them to South America. Now, whenever I remember that particular moment, I would envision a scene where I’d spot one of those frames hanging in a restaurant on the streets of Lima.

Unfortunately, I could not find that particular notebook the first time I went home to Tiwi from the United States. It was probably lost to the floods brought about by the annual monsoons and typhoons that constantly visit and plague Basag since forever.

After the wells of the hot springs dried up as a consequence of the geothermal operations in the 1980s, the sight of the mini bus and its tourist passengers visiting Tiwi suddenly became scarce, until one day they just stopped coming.

The tourism industry became anemic and the revenues it brought to Tiwi took a downturn. With a few exceptions, the souvenir shops have closed and the people behind them moved on to other endeavors.

And what happened to the tourist guide with the loud and distinct voice?

I have learned years later that his name was Aguinaldo ‘Gina’ Cariño; that he was a good friend of my grandfather — they were party-mates in the local branch of the Liberal Party under Senator Victor S. Ziga; that he became a Board Member of the Province of Albay during the time of Governor Romeo Salalima and in 2014 was honored by then-Governor Joey Salceda as one of the Outstanding Albayanos for his lifelong support and contributions to the tourism industry in the province, among other reasons.

This is the Philippines!

During the peak of the tourism boom in Albay and Tiwi in the mid 1970s and 1980s up until the early 1990s, the fame and beauty of the Japanese Garden in Tiwi was not only confined to local knowledge but was also renowned overseas. It was listed in many foreign tourism brochures and guidebooks (e.g. Japan) as a must-see in the Province of Albay for visitors.

The 1992 National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Handbook on Land and Other Physical Resources named the Japanese Garden in Tiwi as one of the premier tourist attractions in Albay, but its most notable inclusion was in a 1977 tourism book, This is the Philippines!

In the book, the author Lea T. Castelo talked about how Imelda R. Marcos’ support for the arts and culture inspired her...

“the writing of this book has been inspired by the First Lady whose consumate dedication to the development of the arts and culture in this country, in order to make it a land of vibrant and self-reliant people, is the pride of the Filipino race. Coming generations will also appreciate the wonders of their land, its history, and its destiny, from this book.”

She later expounded how “The residents’ participation in the national development came in the form of developing beaches, constructing resorts and building parks...”

And in the entry for Tiwi she described the Tiwi Japanese Garden as a —

“A beautiful place not only for the enjoyment of residents but even for tourists and domestic visitors is the Japanese Garden. This is almost a hectare in area. It was developed by the Japanese Peace Corps volunteers and landscape technicians. It is a charming blend of Japanese art and the use of native ornamental plants. Aside from its colorful attraction, the garden stands for the warm friendship of two peoples: the Japanese and the Filipinos.”

The Flag Pole

This is a picture that I grabbed from the LGUTiwi FB page of the ongoing redesign and enhancement of the Plaza in front of the municipal building.

What caught my attention amid the chaos of construction and what have you was the concrete base of the flagpole. I can still vividly remember the story behind said structure.

One day in the late 70s or early 80s, while supervising the construction of the koi (Japanese carp) ponds & water fountains in front of the old 'municipio', my father, Aki Shimizu, was asked by mayor Oriel Clutario if he could improve the old flagpole in the plaza.

He immediately asked his workers to gather the materials needed for the simple design that he sketched on a paper bond in haste: bricks made at the Tiwi Ceramic Plant and corals that were brought from Corangon earlier; they finished the job by late afternoon of the same day.

Of course, as with many of his public landscape projects and works in Tiwi, my father did it for free.

The koi ponds and the fountains are long gone, and judging from the current design of the plaza, the flagpole will eventually be condemned to oblivion, too. I am sharing this backstory here for posterity.

On a side note: Can anyone tell me the proper name of the Tiwi Municipal Plaza?

Yes, it has a name that not too many people, especially the newer generations of Tiwinhons, are aware of. But if you read the book "TIWI Molding the Pots of Prosperity from the Springs of History" -- authored by eminent historian Danilo Madrid Gerona, you probably already know the answer to the question above.

Tiwi Hot Springs, Cagsawa Church Ruins, & Mayon Volcano.

Memories of my Father

My father would have been 60 years old today but he died young at age 43 from complications of his excesses in life.

I remember my Dad mostly as a beer-drinking, chain-smoking, black-coffee drinking, temperamental man who spoke English, which he learned from my mother, mixed with the vernacular he learned from the Istambays in our town.

He was a young man of 21 when he first set foot in our remote town in the Philippines as an eager member of the Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV), Japan’s version of the US Peace Corps in trying to make amends for the war that devastated his neighbors years back.

It was in Tiwi, Albay, famous for its Hot Springs and Pottery, among others, where he first made his mark in the Philippines. He was assigned as a Ceramic Technician and had a hand in the rehabilitation of the Ceramic Plant of the town.

And with the cooperation of some local folks, he was instrumental in making maybe the first and probably the only Japanese Garden in the Philippines made by a “genuine Japanese” at that time.

The Japanese Garden in Tiwi was once upon a time one of the most visited places in Albay by both foreign and local tourists alike. It even landed in both the Japanese and Philippine Tourist Guidebooks, although the information on the latter was erroneously credited to a group of Japanese JOCVs, which I think only shows how irresponsible they were in handling facts and put premium more on hearsays rather than do some research on the subject.

Sad to say, the said Japanese Garden of today is a mere shadow of its old self having fallen victim to neglect due to political intramurals of the local leaders. I hope that one day, I could raise the money to rehabilitate it if only the town’s local officials would allow it.

My father was a handsome man which was probably why he was able to win the hands of the only daughter of the former Mayor and convinced her in the end to elope with him when my Grand Pa did not approve of the relationship because of what he deemed as cultural differences and the thought of losing his precious daughter to a complete stranger and a "former enemy" at that, what with the painful reminder of the Second World War still fresh in the late 60s.

My Grandfather, in his attempt to stop their blooming relationship, even asked the Japanese Embassy to pull him out of Tiwi and had him recalled to Japan thus ending abruptly the stint and career of the youngest member of the 1968 batch of the JOCVs in the Philippines. But my father wrote to my mother almost everyday until he finally came back and the rest was history.

EARLY YEARS

I will always remember his ritual each morning, sitting in his chair with a cigarette wedged in his fingers, reading a book in between sips of his very strong sugar-less black coffee.

He was a wide and voracious reader. He had a vast collection of books from the animes to history and the sciences, all in Japanese of course, which was maybe his way of getting in touch with his roots while moored in a land far different from where he grew up.

I will always remember the packages from Japan that my Lola Riki, his mother sent to us. I will always remember the excitement on his face as he took out the toys, clothes and boxes of food out of the box and gave them to us one by one.

Long before Voltes V and other Japanese Anime's invasion of the Philippines, I already had my share of those battery-operated robots, transformers and anime-designed sneakers, school supplies and clothing. Funny, but I even refused to wear those sneakers to school and use the knapsack, since I felt that I was out of place, for in the mid and late 70’s I think those things were uncommon in the Philippines.

And long before Japanese foods were in vogue, I already had my fill of sushi, sashimi and the like. My father would regale us with stories about his early years in Post-War Japan where food were scarce and the sacrifices they made.

He once shared to us a story about how his Mom would prepare and arrange his packed lunch for school with nothing but rice and a single pickled red cherry at the center fashioning out a Japanese flag from the meager supply that they had to remind him not to be choosy about food.

And he was a funny man too. Maybe taking from his mother, he in turn tricked me and my younger sister into believing that the Nori paper that he just ran over the flames of a lone candle is actually carbon paper that he turned into something edible and other hilarious stories about the brown Miso paste, the pickled radish, the sesame seeds and the Kikkoman soy sauce.

I will always remember how he gave birth to a lot of animals through the magic of Origami as well as colored pencil sketches on the drawing books putting to good use his talent that once upon a time won him a place in a UNESCO-sponsored art contest in Japan.

I will always remember how he made our Christmases more bright and fun with his artworks and fancy decorations of Santa, Rudolph and such.

And of course, how he made my school projects better than anyone else with his wide knowledge and imagination.

He was our resident artist, comedian, designer and father rolled into one.

(To be Continued)