Touching a Hero
Nayna Katigbak. Just an ordinary girl.
Or is she? HHHmmm….
Historical revelations are not an everyday occurrence, so much so that when one does occur, you do what any historian would naturally do. You document it. This is what I’m doing here (not because I’m a historian, but because I’m a bored housewife who can’t watch TV after doing the dishes, thanks to my two-year-old who is hogging the screen, watching her fave cartoons).
It all started when I said, “Katigbak… I seem to have come across that name in Philippine History books. Are you, in any way, related to some historical figure?” Nayna, who was a visitor at my mother’s place, cocked her head slightly to one side and looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. Then she began, ” All I know, from an auntie who made our family tree, is that we are descendants of Segunda Katigbak. On my mother’s side, we are related to Leonor Rivera.”
Do these names ring a bell? If they don’t, what grade did you get in your PI 100 class? In UP, PI 100 is the required course on Dr. Jose Rizal. I don’t know what they call it in other colleges, but I’m sure that most teachers of the course would never skip juicy class discussions and speculations about the love life of the Philippine National Hero. That’s right. Leonor Rivera and Segunda Katigbak are among the many love interests of Rizal.
And this Nayna Katigbak– this pretty, slim, chinita lady in my mother’s living room could very well have been smooching with the Julio Iglesias of Philippine History if she had been born 140 years ago.
Sparks would have flown between them had Rizal laid eyes on her. She is, afterall, a living relic of Segunda Katigbak and Leonor Rivera. She carries the genes of these two women, who were not just our hero’s cup of tea, but have held hands with him and probably even done some hanky panky with him. (gasp!) WHOOAAAA! What an awesome realization! I have touched the demi god of our country through Nayna Katigbak.
ako su, 3 sa PI 100. hehehe
nice artwork hehe
hisa ko ah….akon ya nga ancestor spanish friar….
hahahaha! nice artwork chiq.
rizal’s a bit too small and heroic for me now… but that’s quite a thought though!
hehehehe
Thanks for the compliment on my artwork. Athena was doing some coloring and I suddenly had a bright idea. I borrowed her crayons and did a little coloring myself.
Suon Jorelle,if it makes you feel better, I didn’t get a high grade on PI 100 myself. I only remember Leonor Rivera. I wasn’t really listening to Papa Joe when I was taking the course. I was always irritated when they talked about Rizal’s lovelife. It sounded too much like showbiz tsismis, Kuya Germs, and Cristy Fermin. Hehe. You know how it is when you’re young and silly. You take yourself too seriously, you aspire to be an intellectual who only discusses issues instead of personalities.
Liz, indi ka mahisa. You’ll have your time.
daw kacharming sang collage mo a! daw outsider art
I hope “outsider art” is a good thing.
Chiq, other colleges calls PI 100 as Soc. Sci. II or with whatever higher course numbers. In UP Diliman, PI (Philippine Institution) stands for some other nasty jargon which I know is also familiar to you. This subject would have been long scrapped in the Phil. educational system had it not been for the Rizal Law (RA 1461).
Nayna is very lucky to have the genes of the very two women who occupied very special places in the national hero’s heart. Segunda was Rizal’s first love (She was I think 16 yrs old when she caught Rizal’s interest) and Leonor Rivera according to history was Rizal’s one true love.
Now, you made me look back at how history classes under Papa Joe were like. PI 100 was not actually about the “life works and writings of Jose Rizal” but the “life works and writings of Jose Reyes!”. Yes, Papa Joe would tell us about his life as a graduate student in Spain, places he went to and the ladies he courted. Like the national hero, Papa Joe had a line-up of mestiza girls vying for his romantic attention. To prove the historical validity of his claims, he would bring photo albums to class. While we browsed the pages of the old album, we had mix feelings of awe (this guy indeed reached places!) and “amusing-confusion” (why the need to share such personal stuffs instead of more serious academic readings?). Like the Rizals’ Papa Joe was also a landlord. Remember his stetson hat and wooden cane? He would tell us of his struggles in managing his land/crops and conflicts with his tenants, reasons why he was always late in coming to class.
I graduated with little appreciation of Papa Joe’s history. If there was any consolation, it was the fact that Papa Joe’s classes were one of the very rare “easy and stress-free subjects. ” He was generous with grades too!
Later, i realize that teaching history takes a lot of personal creativity. Papa Joe’s history is personal to him and lucky were the students who were given access to the intimate data. His narratives were concrete reflections of historical processes, of the entanglements of the past and present. If i can only go back to Miag-ao, I would certainly love to sit in Papa Joe’s class, browse his albums and listen to his tirades in Spanish…
Nice to see you here, ace. Thanks for visiting. I know how busy you are . Maayo ka pa may tsismis nga nakuha parte sang personal life ni Papa Joe. Ako ya, blanko gid. BTW was he good-looking when he was younger? How could he have collected many mestiza lovers kung law-ay sia? He certainly was a character.
the art work is really your style. had i not known you in college days i could have sworn the one who made it is either a stalker or an old maid, exremely old maid.
people we meet might surprise us of the blood running through their system, there are those whose line figured in our history (like Nayna); others share blood with hardened individuals crowding our penetentiary cells and definitely there are others closely related to our infamous politicians (and proud of it may I add).
Tionks, napakadlaw mo gid ko bala. Ngaa madumdom ka nga stalker or extremely old maid ako based on my elementary schoolish art work? Dumduman ko tuloy ang hambal mo bala kay “Ms. Nuria” sang una nga “ihi sang laon” dason nagyuhom lang si Ms. nga daw naembarass, nga daw naham-ot man. glad to know that you haven’t lost that trace of bitchiness.
kita mo man puro kiss mark ang hitsura ni Rizal. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
pent-up emotions lang na. waay gid abi outlet para sa literary, obra ko di from work to accommodation and back to work. kon kaisa nagalagaw man pero limited man ang makadtuan kay daw kahaladlok maglibot libot di. basi unintentionally may ma break kaw nga customs nila, tigok.
Despite this seemingly harsh punishments imposed by local authorities, damo gihapon nagahimo sa katuntuhan. ara ang pagpahubog, ara man ang pakihilawas sagwa sang matrimonia.
PAKIGHILAWAS SA SAGWA SANG MATRIMONIA! Daw sermon sang pari ba. Basi dugay-dugay mahambal ka na nga “Salimpapaw nga pagtoo.”