There is a phrase to describe the Balik Caramoan 2007 – very worthy project.
To the CRANE headed by Doming Alarkon, my fervent prayer for its success. I believe Doming has in his heart the genuine welfare of his town. He deserves full support. His heart has not left the hometown even when his residence is now Naga City.
Doming and I were classmates at the United High School in Caramoan.
But he finished ahead of me by one year. I quit when I was third year. Lack of finance was the culprit.
In first year, all of the over 30 of us valedictorians and salutatorians were grouped into one section, the best and brightest from about two dozens of elementary schools. Doming, who was frequently seen with a Manila Daily tucked under his arms was our topnotcher.
His classmates looked up to him for his extraordinary talent. Another topnotcher was Glicerio Alarkon, Jr., who is now a lawyer.
I was the valedictorian in my class in Paniman Elementary School. But because I was homesick all the time and absent, I could not concentrate on my studies. Almost everyday I would hike the over three-kilometer mountain road from Oroc-Osoc to Paniman to come back early the next morning, hiking the same route.
But I enjoyed those early years. I was a young man with big dreams. I did not mind my difficult life.
After high school, with college a distant goal, I started job hunting in other parts of the country. It was a search for a place under the sun. For years, I stayed away from the hometown, my time occupied in the pursuit of a youthful dream.
When I visited Caramoan after 15 years, I was like the main character in the Dutch folklore, Rip Van Winkle, who woke up to find strange surroundings after what he thought was a whole afternoon sleep.
Nobody could recognize me except my old high school pal, Kekoy San Pablo, who alighted from a jeepney in Tawog.
If in those days the Filipino diaspora had started, you would have found me comfortably tucked in some remote parts of the globe. I had an adventurous spirit which was quenched when I got a family in Catanduanes.
Today, I visit Caramoan once in a while to calm down an old longing for the home soil. The last time was when I stayed with my wife at the pension house of another classmate, Roger Reyes. It was there where I met my old best friend, Kekoy San Pablo, former Caramoan vice mayor, who was on a visit from the US.
Everytime I return, I cannot contain my excitement. That is probably the result of my long absence. One is thrilled no end by what he expects to find, the coming face to face with people from my childhood, the rediscovery of a beautiful friendship, and of finding something that will make memories almost real.
In this year’s homecoming of Caramoan expatriates, many surprises await them. The CRANE has prepared weeklong activities to make their stay pleasurable. There is the visit to undiscovered places and the exciting evening of the search for Caramoan’s fairest damsel.
Who knows, balikbayans with their mighty dollars, well-satisfied with the red carpet welcome, may hit upon an idea that will greatly benefit their birth place.
Since this is a journey home of Caramoanons from various parts of the globe, what is your idea of home? Do you agree with the answers given by top Asian writers, themselves expatriates, who said home is either a favorite dish, a memory, an idea or an old house?
Their answers were published in the Time Magazine August 18-25, 2003 issue. They had given the answers after embarking on a physical and mental trip home.
The title, The Journey Home, was on a two-page spread of Time with a photo of a door at the middle of a big room, a window with iron grills on both sides. The door, half-open, guarded by four pets, gives a picture of home, inviting a tired traveler to come in.
What is your answer?
