⌛ A Window On Time In Sabtang, Part 2

Later that day we were invited to attend mass. I had envisioned swimming and hiking during the trip and had packed accordingly. We hurriedly donned the only dresses we had hoping to blend in.

But it was not to be. After the mass, the procession wound its way through the center of town with the various patron saints of the island’s barangays. As they passed us, all my hopes of being inconspicuous faded as we turned out to be the only onlookers in sight. Except for the mayor, Susie and her father who were all taking pictures; everyone else seemed to be in the procession.

It was discomforting and I sought Susie’s aunt for an explanation when it ended. What she said was totally unexpected: in the olden days, the Spanish priests told them that everyone had to join the procession. Those unable to attend stayed indoors with all the windows and doors closed. She said it so matter-of-factly, that I caught myself before I could exclaim “But, the Spaniards left a hundred years ago!” For the first time I got the feeling that the 20th, much less the 21st century had not quite made it to Sabtang.

This was underscored a few days later when Susie found a group of tourists desperately trying to get to Batan Island in order to catch their flight to Manila. To their horror and my amazement, they were told no one would bring them across the channel because it was a Sunday. Apparently, the Spanish priest in the church of Ivana (which happens to be directly behind the docks) had forbidden anyone from crossing the channel because the motors were too noisy and these disturbed his homily.

I realized then that the roots of Catholicism run deep among the Ivatans; 98% of them are Roman Catholics. For an ipula like me, these vestiges of colonialism may seem startling. But on second thought, this may not be as much a submission to a colonial past but an accommodation of a request by a beloved priest. After all, the pace of island life is not tied to fixed schedules and following such an edict (if you can call it that) was not too much of an inconvenience.

Whatever the case, Susie solved the problem by arranging to have a friend bring the group across and set them ashore away from the Ivana pier. Yet, those super-sensitive ears of the Spanish priest heard them anyway. He came out to see who had dared defy him - training his binoculars on the channel - only to find Susie and her friend were well on their way back to Sabtang.