Wartime boy (1)

A. Paulita Roa

DURING the war, the basic commodities were always hard to obtain especially soap. Enterprising individuals who were able to manufacture soap were guaranteed to rake a modest fortune out of it.

Kagay-anon historian Filomeno M. Bautista had the foresight to include a chemistry book in his belongings when he evacuated with his family. The book contained instructions on soapmaking. He made little experiments and later, decided that he could make it well enough to sell it.

However, there was an important ingredient that was not available in large quantities — lime or pagang. It was a base for extracting lye and had to be burned first. Lime was found in some coastal areas in Lagonglong and Salay. What seemed to be a daunting and impossible task of procuring a large quantity of lime during wartime was miraculously provided by a frail and bent old lady who lived in sitio Dampit in Lagonglong. Here, the eldest son and namesake of the historian, who is popularly known as Dodong, shares his story:

The old lady of Dampit was a known lime maker and she agreed to provide them with lime powder through Dodong on a weekly basis. They met every week on a certain area where he paid her emergency notes that was the legal tender during the war. But time came when it was becoming difficult to meet the lady personally due to increasing Japanese patrols. He agreed to her suggestion that she will leave the gallon cans full of lime powder near her nipa hut. And he will leave the payment behind the bamboo post in her hut. This unorthodox way of trading was to last for a year and it was solely based on mutual trust.

Dodong considered the lime maker as his family’s lifeline that they were able to manufacture laundry soap of good quality. Teddy recalled that his father became so adept in soap making that he came up with a soap that was similar to the Ivory brand. Their soap was traded for rice, root crops, fish and meat. The cash that they got helped them survive the war.

Then near the end of 1945, just as the US forces landed in Leyte, the supply of lime powder suddenly stopped. Dodong searched for the gallon cans and asked around about the lime maker but no one really knew where she was or what happened to her. One day, he met an individual who told him that the old lady died in her place of evacuation for unknown causes. The family never knew the name of the lime maker nor her personal circumstances, but they believe that God in His mysterious ways made sure that she provided them with the precious lime powder at the time when they needed it most.

As the war was about to end, there were Japanese soldiers known as stragglers hiding in remote areas in eastern Misamis Oriental. Teddy could not forget about the Japanese soldier who was caught by the boys hiding in a thicket and promptly reported it to the guerrilla group nearby. They subjected him to a series of cruel and tortuous acts. When he was dying, they saw that he had a crucifix under his shirt. The guerrillas who killed him were not also spared from suffering horrible deaths themselves. (to be continued)