FROM DARKNESS INTO THE LIGHT

The Story of The Life and Christian Ministry and Service

Of

REV. AND MRS. ALICE AND MATIAS ANGIWAN SR.

By:

MATIAS ANGIWAN SR. Retired History Professor

PREFACE This writing which may be an autobiography is an outline. Detailed writing is quite difficult because memory which is the main source of this story is affected by the natural process of chronological age. However, our diaries with my beloved wife Alice contributed much to the record of important events in our early adolescence to our married life and team ministry in the local churches of Highland Conference, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and as Conference Moderator. I have attempted to put down in writing events and development in our life in so far as I could recount. Flashback memories had been useful. This simple writing is for our beloved children and our grandchildren. It is our prayer that they can derive inspiration and lesson as they face their own lifes struggle in this fast changing and challenging environment. The dynamics of human life influence our attitude and value system, but reliance on purely human values and endeavors to measure what life is all about is sinking sand. It is for this reason that in this life story we have stressed the will and plan of God in our life together and the team ministry we adopted in the service of God and the Church. In many instances the will of God prevailed over our own decisions. For example our going to Kalinga was against my will and in fact the whole members of our family clan were opposed to our going for fear that we might be killed since we were going to a former enemy territory. However, it turned out that our going to Kalinga was the preparation to our going to Bontoc when I became Conference Moderator. 0ur going to Baguio was farthest in my mind being a rural Pastor for many years, hence with fear and trembling, but turned out to be a major blessing to me and the members of the family. Whatever we are now is not our own making but the plan of God for our life as a family. The writing of this book was not mine alone. Credit is given to my loving and faithful wife who patiently reviewed the manuscript, made corrections and addition as well as reminders from time to time. In fact this is actually a joint undertaking, with a separate chapter for her own autobiography. I have also stressed the importance of our joint team ministry to the Lord in the local churches where we were assigned and to the Highland Conference when I was elected Moderator or Conference executive and administrator. This Team Ministry to us is the core and meaning of our life. With Gods grace and mercy we hope we can celebrate the 50th anniversary

of our marriage and ministry a few years from now. However, as we always say, Let Thy will be done.

Chapter I GEOGRAPHICAL AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND

Life is like a mountain rail road, with an Engineer whos brave We must make the run successful from the cradle to the grave; Watch the curves that filled the tunnel, never falter never quail Keep your hands upon the throttle, and your eyes upon the rail. Blessed Savior Thou wilt guide me Till we reach the blissful shore Where the angels wait to join us In Thy praise forevermore!

This beautiful hymn is a vivid picture of human life in relation to God, Creator and Redeemer. But human life starts on this planet earth, this earthly world. To be born into this world means to be born in a specific geographical and socio-cultural environment, not in a vacuum. Human development is conditioned by the natural and cultural setting that shapes the human personality. While heredity constitutes the raw and biological material of development, it is the environment, both physical and cultural which shape the material into a live and active human being that is distinct from other human beings. It is then fitting and proper to start this story of our life with our cultural setting and hope that our children and grandchildren would be able to appreciate and value the importance of maintaining a strong and a stable family system which could withstand the onslaught of forces that impinge on the social and cultural stability of the family and of society. The weakening of the current Filipino family system resulting from the convergence of external cultural influences has adversely affected even the most conservative family system in the Cordillera region. It is for this reason that the proper understanding and preservation of our family system is imperative now and even in the years to come. GEOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SETTING I was born at 0rpuuwan, Mayoyao Ifugao. According to my mother, Chinongngay. She was heavy with her pregnancy when the harvest season
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commenced in May. She went to harvest on the rice field of a relative named 0mangngi at Hingina of eastern Mayoyao. The second day she started laboring so she had to go home. Between five and six the following morning she gave birth to her first baby boy. Three days after my birth a cousin of my father named Angigwan came and when he learned that the baby was a boy he told my mother that my name is Angigwan, named after him. Five months after I was born a neighbor Emmayya the wife of Ponchenlan a Philippine Constabulary gave birth to a baby boy named Gaspar. The date of birth was September l6, l927. Based on this information my birth month of May and year l927 is definite except the date, but for purposes of record, May l5 became the official date. The family system within which I was born and reared is bilateral in kinship and generally equalitarian in family authority. In Mayoyao the clan is the family which is governed by the Eight generation Principle which is lineal, bilateral, and collateral including affinity kinship. For the purpose of this writing let me present an abridged genealogy of my mothers side to be followed by my fathers side. Explanation on the genealogical pattern is at the back of this book. Read carefully to understand the system. A. GENEALOGY OF PAJUD AND EMMAYYA/PINAPIN I. PAJUD EMMAYYA Pajud Chukhajna married Emmayya Kalangan and the children are: A.1. Mangnganay , A.2. Pfumagkheng, A. 3. Pfukhan, A.4. Emtomman Pajud also married Pinapin and the son is; A.5 Lachaona. A.1 MANGNGANAY KHUMINNID Mangnganay Pajud was married to Khuminnid Chumang-ag and the children are: B.1. Chinongngay, B.2. Pfinugkhay, B.3. Lenachan, B.4. Chugkhajna. He died childless, B, 5, Panjag. B.1. CHINONGNGAY HOMEKHOY Chinongngay Khuminnid was married to Homekhoy Mahenad and the children are: C.1. Majagwon, Nancy, C.2. Alummay, C.3. Angigwan, (Angiwan) C.4. Emmayya, C.5. Pfajachan. He died a teenager. C.6. Majamo, Marcelo C.1. MAJAGWON MONCHEKHENG. Majagwon Homekhoy was married to Monchekheng Khopeng and the son is: D.1. Manuel. D.1. MANUEL CARIDAD Manuel Monchekheng married Caridad, Khajon Lijagwan and the children are: E.1. Herman, E.2. Manuel Monchekheng Jr. E.3. Marcelo, E.4. Virginia, E.5. Margie, E.6. Lorna, E.7. Carolyn (Carma), E.8. Ariel, Balong. E.1. HERMAN REMY Herman Monchekheng married Remy Lumayna and the children are: F.1. Niger, F.2. Herman Monchekheng Jr., Jojo, F.3. Claribel, Mayyang,
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F.4. Jirah. E.2. MANUEL JR. BELLA Manuel Monchekheng Jr. married Bella Haperja Chang-ilig and the children are: F.1. Mavil, F.2. Joberson and more. E.3.MARCELO LOIDA Marcelo Monchekheng married Loida Latukhan and the children are: F.1. Marlon, F2. Marilou and two more as of this writing. E.4. VIRGINIA BOBBY Virginia Monchekheng was married to Bobby Castanieto and the children are: F.1. May (May Ann) F.2. Bobby Castanieto Jr, F.3.Jerrymae F.4. Daryl, F.5. Jesryl. E.5. MARGIE AURELIO Margie Monchekheng was married to Aurelio Miguel and the children are: F.1. Jake, F.2. Dave E.6. LORNA - JOSE Lorna Moncekheng was married to Jose Tomas Jr. and the children are: F.1. Jolyn F.2. Jefryl (Dondon) E.7. CAROLYN PATRICIO Carolyn Monchekheng was married to Patricio Corpuz and the children are: F.1. Sheryl, F.2. Sherwin. Ariel Balong Monchekheng is not yet married at this writing. C.2. ALUMMAY BANGACHON Alummay Homekhoy was married to Anselmo Bangachon Longatan and the children are: D.1. Hagmajao, Daniel, D.2. Antonio D.3. Helen, D.4 Moses, D.5. Abel, D.6. John, D.7. Robert, D.8. Ajagwon, Linda, D.9. Anselmo Longatan Jr. D.10. Andres D.1. HAGMAJAO IN-APIN Hagmajao Daniel, Longatan married In-apin, Pilar Pfigwag and the children are: E.1. Clemente, Lemen, E.2. Lenachan, Reynold, E.3. Marina, Maleng, E.4. Alummay, E.5. Rosita, E.6. Gaerlan, E.7. Anding, E.8. Laurence. E.3. MARINA - EDMUND Marina Longatan was married to Edmund Chuy-gwon and the children are: F.1. Simon, F.2. Johnny, F.3. Johnson, F.4. Edwin, F.5. Solomon. E.4. ALUMMAY EFREN Alummay Longatan was married to Efren Mongkhatang and the children are: F.1. Jared, F.2. Ivy Rose. D.2. ANTONIO - JOSEFA Antonio Bangachon married Josefa Bimmuyag and the children are: E.1. Belinda, E.2. Judalyn, 0ttaly. After Josefa untimely died, Antonio was remarried to Rufina A. Gallad and the children are: E.3. Joey, E.4. Eleazer. E. 1.BELINDA JEFF Belinda Bangachon was married to Jeffrey, Saturday Domingo and they have two children as of this writing. E2. JUDALYN JUNY
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Judalyn Bangachon was married to Poj-akhan Jr. and the children are: F.1. Dexter, F.2. Emmayya, F.3. Pfangachon and more. D.3. HELEN MARIO Helen Longatan was married to Mario, Na-emeh Abbacan and the children are: E.1. Josefina, Jijid, E2. Marson, E.3. Hondolen, Khannab, E.4. Gretel, Tet tet. E.1. JOSEFINA WILLY Josefina Abbacan was married to Willy Liho and they have two children as of this writing. D.4. MOSES JUANITA Moses Longatan married Juanita Pfantiyan and the children are: E.1. Yamany, E.2. Jason, E.3. Sherwin, E.4. Moses Longatan Jr. E.5. Violeta; E, 6. Mency, E.7. Mobel, E.8. Myrna, E.9. Randy. E.1. YAMANY BRENDA Yamany Longatan married Brenda Lamakhon and the children are: F.1. Mark, F.2. Stephen. E.3. SHERWIN RHONICA Sherwin Longatan married Rhonica and the children are: F.1. Rhonwin, F.2. Sherica. E.4. MOSES - LOLITA Moses Longatan Jr. married Lolita and the children are: F.1. Jarque, F.2. Jacquiline, F.3. Jennifer. E.5. VIOLETA MIGUEL Violeta Longatan was married to Miguel Pinkihan Jr. and the children are: F.1. Mijares Mars and more. D.5. ABEL JOSEPHINE Abel Longatan married Josephine Manachor and the lone daughter is: E.1. Josebel. She is married and has two children as of this writing. D.6. JOHN NELLA John Longatan married Nella Mamecao and the children are: E.1. Johnson, E.2. Jeremiah, E.3. Jeanalyn, E.4. Joseph, E.5. Jemimah. D.7.ROBERT MARGIE Robert Longatan married Margie Ballacay from Tinoc Ifugao and the children are: E.1. Joshua, Biteng, E. 2. Ezekiel, Homekhoy, E.3. Marbert, Khuminnid, E.4. Noemi, Emmayya. D.8. LINDA LUIS Linda, Ajagwon Longatan was married to Luis Castres from Dagupan Pangasinan and the children are: E.1. Maricel, E.2. Ma Rosa, Aw-aw, E.3. Ma Teresa E.4. Ulyssis. E.1. MARICEL ANDREW. Maricel L. Castres is married to Andrew Juliano and the first child is: F.1. Kevin. D.9. ANSELMO Jr. MARIBEL Anselmo Longatan Jr. married Maribel Banayan and the children are:E.1. May Ann,Claurence, E.2. May-ao,Vandamme, E.3.Thunder, Hurzle Ghent, E.4. Mallikha, Anthonesen E.5. Haremkwint Pfangachon E.6. Elija Jirah Changwajan E.7. Jowelly E.8. Shauzen E.9. Trisha Jefti D.10. ANDRES ANALYN. Andres Longatan married Analyn Hangdaan and the children are: E.1. Grazel Ann, E.2. Sheila Grace, E.3. Joni, E.4. Sarah.
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C.3. ANGIGWAN EMMAYYA Matias Angiwan married Alice Emmayya Chagwana and the children are: D.1. Jonathan, D.2. David, D.3. Philip, D.4. Matias Angiwan Jr., D.5. Joel, D.6. Alma, Alummay. D.1. JONATHAN ROSA Jonathan Angiwan married Rosa El-len Pfakali and the children are: E.1. Jhane Rhiza, E.2. Nathan, E.3. Christian, E.4. Jirah D, 2. DAVID MANCITA David Angiwan married Mancita Eming from Balaoa, Tadian and the children are: E.1. Leah, Majagwon, E.2. Rachel, Lumbaya, E.3. Keren, Chinongngay E.1 LEAH HONORIO Leah Angiwan was married to Honor Salayao and the daughter is: F.1.Hallel D.3. PHILIP PURISIMA. Philip Angiwan married Purisima Cawilan from Atok Benguet and the children are: E.1. Jimmy, E.2. Philip Angiwan Jr. E.3. Alice, Humayya. D.4. MATIAS EVELYN Matias Angiwan Jr. married Evelyn T. Santos from Davao, Mindanao and the children are: E.1. Zipporah, Emmayya .2. Matias Angiwan III. E.3. Ebenezer. E.4. Shekina. D.5. JOEL MARINA Joel Angiwan married Marina Tamayo from Mankayan, Benguet and the children are: E.1. Jedidiah, E.2. Jemimah. D.6. ALMA MARLON Alma, Alummay Angiwan was married to Marlon Bugtong. C.4. EMMAYYA KHUMITANG Emmayya Homekhoy was married to Khumitang Chomenong from Nalbu and the children are: D.1. Esther, D.2. Nena, D.3. Belen, D.4. Mary. D.1. ESTHER JULIUS Esther Khumitang was married to Julius Guinawaan and the children are: E.1. Rickmartel, E.2. Julius Guinawaan Jr. E.3. Jayane Gringo. D.2. NENA BEN Nena Khumitang was married to Ben Pfer-agon and the children are:E.1. Norman, E.2. Bianida, E.3. Nelson, E.4. Brenda, E.5. Virgo. E.l. NORMAN KATHRINE Norman Pfer-agon married Kathrine Pinkihan and the children are: F.1. Jesrael and two more as of this writing. E.2. BIANIDA RENY Bianida Pfer-agon was married to Reny/Renie Montinig and they have two children as of this writing. D.3. BELEN JOSE Belen Khumitang was married to Jose Ibot Kimmay and the children are: E.1. Ruth, E.2. Teresita, Tita, E.3. Eric, E.4. Dino, E.5. Boy Kimmay. D.4. MARY ELENO Mary Khumitang was married to Eleno Ataman and the children are:E.1. Mercedes, E.2. Jerry, E.3. Emmayya, E.4. Yolanda, Entorpfan. E.1.MERCEDES DIONISIO Mercedes Ataman was

married to Dionisio Khopeng and the children are: F.1. Sarai, F.2. Angelica, F.3. Dionisio Khopeng Jr. F.4. Baby Khopeng. C.6. MARCELO PACITA Marcelo Majam-o Homekhoy married Pacita Uchajan and the children are: D.1. Aristotle, D.2. Myrtle, D.3. Marshall, D.4. Karl Marx, D.5. Demosthenes. Additional children are D, 6. Aguinaldo, D.7. Hanibal, D.8. Peace. D.1. ARISTOTLE IMELDA. Aristotle Homekhoy married Imelda, Inlijag Lenachan and the children are: E.1. Steven Kyle, E.2. Ashley Marie, D.2. MYRTLE PEDRO JR. Myrtle Homekhoy was married to Pedro, Pfa-eng Mombael and the daughter is: E.1. Indira II KHUJAMMO - MONGKHUPONG Khujammo married Mongkhupong and the daughter is: A.Apfi. A.APFI CHUMANG-AG Apfi Mongkhupong was married to Chumang-ag and the son is: B. Khuminnid. B. KHUMINNID MANGNGANAY Khuminnid Chumang-ag married Mangnganay Pajud and the children are: C.1. Chinongngay, C.2. Pfinukhay, C.3. Lenachan, C4. Chukhajna, he Died childless. C.5. Panjag, Ernesto. C.1. CHINONGNGAY HOMEKHOY Chinongngay Khuminnid was married to Homekhoy Mahenad and the Children are: D.1. Majagwon, Nancy, D.2. Alummay, D.3. Angiwan, Matias, D.4. Emmayya, D.5. Pfajachan died a teenage. D.6. Majam-o, Marcelo. C.2. PFINUKHAY- PFALANAO. Pfinukhay Khuminnid was married to Pfalanao 0majoh and the daughter is: D.1. Igkhajan, Pfinukhay was remarried to Holipfot Khapfihan and the son is: D.2. Chukhajna. D.1. IGKHAJAN PFAKALI Igkhajan Pfalanao was married to Pfakali Na-agwin and the children are: E.1. Chinongngay, E.2. Entomman, E.3. Anablan, E.4. Pfalanao, E.5. Rosa. E.1. CHINONGNGAY AHUJAN. Chinongngay Pfakali was married to Ahujan Pfenorkhan and the children are: F.1. Ernesta, F.2. El-lep, F.3. Cina, F.4. Junie, F.5. Joseph, F.6. Nick, F.7. Bernan. F.1. ERNESTA NEMESIO Ernesta Ahujan Pfenorkhan was married to Nemesio Natuno and the children are: G.1. Sioneta, Kholeta, G.2. Manuel, Pongngarna, G.3. Nemesio Natuno Jr. Chijampo, G. 4. Nemson, Pfenorkhan, G.5. Evermeek, Abpfukhay. G.6. Christy Faith. F.2. EL-LEP BEN. El-lep Ahujan Pfenorkhan was married to Ben Abpfikhat and the children are G.1. Ben Abpfikhat Jr. G.2. Bener, G.3. Benalyn, G.4. BerdenG.5. Noah. F.4. JUNIE JINJIN. Junie Ahujan Pfenorkhan married Jinjin Machengnge and the children are: G.1. Brucely, G.2. Chinongngay,
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G.3. Jennifer, G.4. Perez, G.5. Bronson. E.2. ENTOMMAN HAGMAJAO Entomman Pfakali was married to Hagmajao, Juan 0ngalon and the children are: F.1. Jocelyn, F.2. Juan 0ngalon Jr. F.3. Dina Bebeng. F.1. JOCELYN JUAN Jocelyn 0ngalon was married to Juan Ngajaan and the children are; G.1. Warren G.2. Juan Ngajaan Jr. (Junjun), G.3. Nerisa, G.4. Uyyeg. F.2. JUAN IMELDA Juan 0ngalon Jr. married Imelda Hinnom and the children are: Jennifer and mo F.3.DINA BEBENG FIDEL Bebeng 0ngalon was married to Fidel Henalong and the children are:G.1. Francis, son to Machengnge, G.2. Jim, G.3. Glenn, G.4. Grace Amor. E.3. ANABLAN EMMAYYA Anablan Pfakali married Emmeyya Abpfacan and the children are: F.1. Abpfacan, F.2. Aquilles, F.3. Arman, F.4. Alex F.5. Amy, F.6. Alma, F.7. Aida, F.8. Andres. E.4. PFALANAO ALBINA Pfalanao Pfakali married Albina Honnag and the children are: G.1. Salvenia, G.2. Delina, G.3. Jun-jun, G.4. Bombo, G.5. Ranjet. E.5. ROSA JONATHAN. Rosa, El-len Pfakali was married to Jonathan Angiwan and the chidren are: F.1. Jhane Rhiza, F.2. Nathan jay, F.3. Christian, F.4. Jirah. C.3. LENACHAN EMMAHJA Lenachan Khuminnid married Emmahja Pfognalon and the son is: D.1. Panitio, Juan. D.1. JUAN VIRGINIA/ Juan Lenachan married Virginia Khinumtad and the children are:E.1. Sally, E.2. Samson, E.3. Vivian, E.4. Brenda, E.5. Beverly, E.6. NitaVirgie Judy Ann E.7. Yzel Dianne. E.1. SALLY MANUEL Sally Lenachan was married to Manuel Lamag Jr. and the children are: F.1. July Rose, F.2. Yasser Kim, F.3. Laden Bush, F.4. Crystal May. E.2. SAMSON MARILYN Samson Lenachan married Marilyn Elesio from Kadaclan and the children are: F.1. Khinumtad, F.2. Mama, F.3. Jessa, F.4. & F.5. Twin girls. E.3. VIVIAN RICKY Vivian Lenachan was married to Rigsot Ricky Dawaten and the children are: F.1. Ricky Dawaten Jr., F.2. Kim and more. E.4. BRENDA JENERWIN. Brenda Lenachan was married to Jenerwin Bebeng Likiyan and the children are: F.1. Chelena, F.2. Maurine, F.3. Nimfa, F.4. Jenerwin Likiyan Jr. C.5. PANJAG VICTORIA Ernesto Panjag Khuminnid married Victoria from Laguna and the daughter is: D.1. Elisa. PANJAG PAKHANNAY Ernesto Panjag married Carmen Pakhannay Chaangan and the children are: D.2. Isabel, D.3. Ernesta. PANJAG ROLIA Ernesto Panjag married Rolia Baddongen from Barlig and the daughter is: D.4. Erlinda.
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PANJAG - INGWAY Ernesto Panjag married Isabel Ingway from Banaue and the children are: D.5. Yohana, D.6. Yolanda. A.2. PFUMAGKHENG INCHANGHIT Pfumagkheng Pajud married Inchanghit Pfalangkhi and the daughter is: B.1. Lingngaju. B.1. LINGNGAJU MAJAM-O Lingngaju Pfumagkheng was married to Pio Majam-o Panangon and the children are: C.1. Alice, Ujagwa, C.2. Albert, C.3.David, C.4. Cesar, C.5. Belen, C.6. Josefa, C.7. Jimmy, C.8. Lourdes, C.9. Alfredo. A.3. PFUKHAN - ENJODPE Pfukhan Pajud was married to Enjodpe from Natimlan and the children are: B.1. Pator, B.2. Khuminnid. Pator Enjodpe married Manokay Hettan and the son is Pfangiyan. B.2. KHUMINNID EMMAYYA Khuminnid Enjodpe married Emmayya from Banaue and the children are: C.1. Entomman, C.2. Pfumagkheng. C.3. Mary. A.4. ENTOMMAN MONGKHORNON Entomman Pajud was married to Mongkhornon 0mipit and the son is: B.1. Gwanchakhan ala Kajherja. Gwanchakhan Mongkhornon married Lumag Pfartong and the children are: C.1. Josephine, Khingnga, C.2. Nora. They are both married and have childfen. A.5. LACHAONA PINAPIN Lachaona Pajud married Pinapin and the children are: B.1. Agkhangngaja, B.2. Atongngi, died childless, B.3. Angpfan, died childless, B.4. Pfonlangngan, Simon. B.1. AGKHANGNGAJA ANGPFAN Agkhangngaja Lachaona married Angpfan Lubpfakhan and the children are: C.1. Pinapin, C.2. Emmahja, Ana, C.3. Panapan, Claro. B.4. PFONLANGNGAN ALUMMAY Pfonlangngan Lachaona married Alummay and the daughter is: C.1. Nena. Nena Pfonlangngan was married to Luis Pfakka, Appoy and they have children. The names are written on the book on genealogy. PATERNAL SIDE GENEALOGY During the days of intercommunity warfare before the coming of the American military rulers, two big communities separated by mountain ridges were constantly at war called pfuhor. Tarpfo and Tula-ed on one side, and Mapagwoy and adjacent communities of central Mayoyao called Henangnga on the other side. The mountain kamote farming which was the main staple food of the people of Henangnga were on the side of Tula-ed and Tarpfo. The people could not start kaingin farming for fear of being ambushed and beheaded by the enemies. To end this pernicious conflict, leaders of the warring groups decided to negotiate for pfajao or peace pact. It was decided that for a
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permanent end to the conflict, intermarriage was the best solution. And so the leaders of Mapagwoy have chosen a young man LAHINA while the other party has chosen a young lady ENLEGWONG. I.LAHINA ENLEGWONG Lahina Higwitan from Mapagwoy married Enlegwong Tampfiyag from Tarpfo and Tula-ed. The lone daughter was A.1. Enhaggwa. A.1. ENHAGGWA MAHENAD. Enhaggwa Lahina was married to Mahenad Khawwana and the children are: B.1. Homekhoy, B.2. Majagwon, died childless, B.3. Pfukka, died childless, B.4. Palikhan, Alberto, he died in Bataan in World War II without children. B.1. HOMEKHOY CHINONGAY. Homekhoy Mahenad married Chinongngay Khuminnid and the children are: C.1. Majagwon, Nancy, C.2. Alummay, C.3. Angigwan, Matias, C.4. Emmayya, C.5. Pfajachan died a teenager, C.6. Majam-o, Marcelo. This bilateral family clan is the genealogical origin of this writer. SOCIO-CULTURAL SETTING The clannish family system of Mayoyao has influenced this writer in his outlook and family relations. In the midst of a deteriorating and weakening family system and values due to external socio-cultural forces, this writer believed that strengthening the family clan system is an imperative to the survival of family values and family identity consistent with Judeo-Christian values and way of life as rooted in the Bible. The means of strengthening the present family clan system is by uplifting one another especially in educational aspirations to minimize imbalance in social life and family relationship. This is essential because by nature of development, Christianity is an intellectual faith which requires proper understanding of its teachings and way of life. Being the first Evangelical Minister of Mayoyao and the first professional in the family clan, I imposed it upon myself and thank with the full support of my beloved wife, the responsibility to help as much as possible the members of the family clans who are interested to be educated The economic life of the people of Mayoyao at the time of our birth was rooted in the rice culture cycle on the rice terraces farming and in the mountain kaingin camote dry farming. The social and cultural institutions are also rooted in the animistic faith commonly called paganism. This religion is polytheistic and henotheistic in structure and belief. The core of the traditional culture and value system is based on this religious belief and practices. This is highly moralistic in accordance with the cultural and religious morality as taught by the religious leaders or shamans.

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The social class structure divides the people into two classes the rich called achangjan and the poor called uchichiyan The pangnguluwan is the first in the order of birth in the family and the uchichiyan is last in the order of birth. 0n the matter of property inheritance such as rice fields and family heirlooms the first two children inherit the property of the father and the mother while the other siblings has nothing hence uchichiyan or no property. Community leadership is not fix or hereditary in Mayoyao, but based on intellectual knowledge of the customs and tradition of the people, courage and dedication to the welfare of the community. Classes of leaders are the Shamans or priests of the native religion, those experts in the knowledge of the genealogy of the people; the noted mon-alon or effective go-betweens in settling of cases such as property rights and all forms of crimes. 0ther leaders are the mahapit or intellectuals who can discuss and defend any topic under the sun during community affairs. There is also the ma-ihi or brave who killed and beheaded some enemies during the days of intercommunity warfare. Due to effective adherence to customs, tradition and morality, and effective leadership peace and order is efficiently observed and maintained. During the season of fruits, ripening guavas, and oranges abound but no one can just get them without the permission of the owners. Traveling at night is safe since the entire community is peaceful. This was the environmental setting when we were born into this world. This was the socio-cultural and religious atmosphere that brought us in our early life. This consciously or unconsciously affected my life and outlook which were carried into my Christian philosophy of life and ministry.and service. The concern for members of the family clan to love and to help one another socially, morally, educationally and much more so in our spiritual life within the context of the Christian faith, religious and cultural values. Within the context of the Christian faith, religious and cultural values may change and the family will surely be adversely or favorably affected but I stand on the conviction that while Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, human life will continue to be lived in this planet earth and as long as this is so social and family life will also continue to influence the shaping of life of the present and of the future generation until the Kingdom of God comes and Gods will be done. I stand on this conviction and the mission of the Christian Church until I join my Lord and Savior and only God has the final say. At any rate, I confess, let Thy will be done!

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The title of this autobiography explains the experience we went through from the darkness of sin into the marvelous light of salvation in Jesus Christ and the joy of serving the Lord and the Church.

Chapter II GROWING INTO THIS WORLD According to the native calendar of Mayoyao central which is based on the rice culture cycle on the rice terraces farming, I was born in May of the Christian calendar as discussed above. The month of May is the beginning of the harvest season in central Mayoyao. It is part of the summer time when flowers were then blooming that month of May; when the rice terraces were yellow with the refreshing and ripening of the palay grains ready for harvest. It was the month of May when men and women including children ceased their yelling and shaking of bamboo poles and scare crows to drive away the rice birds from devouring the ripening grains. The month of May was the month of lightning and thunder storms with heavy rains which at times was reinforced by hail storms that splashed the rice fields with damaging force to the crops. It is also the month of May when men and young boys enjoyed getting firewood from distant forest ready for use during the harvest season. It was then that I was born into this world of humanity.
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The most enjoyable part of the year in Mayoyao central is the harvest season. According to my mother Chinonggay, she was heavy with her pregnancy when the harvest season commenced in eastern Mayoyao. After performing the required religious rites and chicken sacrifice called, pfallaong by the family shaman Mongkhornon, my mother went to harvest in Hingina as was the traditional practice of the time in return for a bundle or two of the harvested palay as labor called inlagpfuwan. The rest of the story of my birth is recorded above. Years later I was taken to school by my uncle Lenachan to replace his wife Makhajam who was in school although married. My first teacher was Mrs. Angela 0liver from Ilocos Sur. She gave my school name as MATIAS the Hispanized version of the Biblical name Mathias who replaced Judas as a disciple of the Lord. Coincidentally, I was brought to school to take the place of my uncles wife so that she could be allowed to stop going to school being a married woman. In my elementary record my name is Matias Homekhoy, but when I was baptized by Dr. Howard W. Widdoes on Noveber l6, l941, Miss Ceasarea Ramirez, the Deaconess, now Mrs. Chungalao Sr. wrote on my Baptismal Certificate and on record, Matias Angiwan. Since then this became my official name. GROWING IN A NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURE Being the first boy in the family, I enjoyed all the freedom that was available to me. During my childhood I played the whole day with other children in the Poblacion where we lived. Sometimes I spent my days on the mountains catching birds by trapping and snaring. I enjoyed the fresh air and the musical breezes of the pine-clad mountain forest. While life was simple and difficult, it was full of freedom, peace and tranquility where everyone is known in the community. The tranquility of the natural and social environment compensated the difficulty of living due to poverty. As a matter of fact a drunken man who could not hold himself may just sleep along the pathway but no harm was done to him. Traveling alone at night is no problem because the environment is completely peaceful as influenced by religious and social morality. Tranquility in community life is the main characteristic of the environment at the time of my childhood to early adolescence and up to the outbreak of the Second World War My elder sisters on the other hand were tied up early on the rice terraces farming including the camote dry farming under the close watch of our disciplinarian mother. Working on the farm starting at their early age deprived my sisters of at least an elementary education that would have them literate. However, my eldest sister Majagwon, Nancy was able to go to school because elementary education was compulsory and free under Act
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No. 74 of the Second Philippine Commission under the American colonial rule. My sister was only able to have an on-and-off schooling. She was able to reach fourth grade. My two other sisters never step even first grade, partly because they do not want to go to school, and partly the opposition of our mother. As I played with the other children in the Poblacion I have observed that there was a difference between me and the children of the Philippine Constabulary soldiers and the merchants from the lowlands called colijtijano. They were well dressed while I had nothing except my lenchom that was woven by my mother. She was able to learn weaving with the help of some women from Banaue who were the wives of some of the PC soldiers stationed at Mayoyao. At this early stage in my childhood life I was shy because of the social inequality and influenced by the ethos of traditional morality which stressed humility and dignity even in the midst of poverty. The religious and moral discipline governed all of human behavior. At early age I learned that it was wrong to steal because it was punishable by the deities of the native faith. I also learned that one has to be industrious, cooperative, honest and courageous as well as dependable in order to be accepted in society. Being the eldest boy in the family I was expected to know the genealogy of our family clan. I did not realize the value of knowing your genealogy until I became a Pastor, and thanks to my uncle Lenachan who inculcated to me the knowledge of our traditional values and genealogy. My uncle was one of the noted authorities on customs, tradition and genealogy of Mayoyao. Knowledge of the cultural tradition was expected of all men in Mayoyao society before the introduction of Christianity. 0ne has to know how to manage a family, raise animals because these are needed for sacrificial offerings during important occasions such as marriage, funerals, and the rice culture cycle. This early training was of great help to me in later years so that when I got married, my wife and I started our conjugal life right after our wedding day in a Parsonage. We started as independent family of our own. While my wife was young and inexperience, she learned much from her stay with American missionaries as a working student in Ifugao Academy. When I was about twelve years old I started joining other boys going to the forest to got firewood during the summer months of April and May when school closed for the summer vacation. Getting firewood (mangngajiw) was the main responsibility of the men and boys in the family. I also enjoyed trapping and snaring birds on the mountains and catching mudfish on the rice terraces. 0ne time a bird Umor was caught on my trap and in my hurry
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to get the bird I slipped on a slippery stone and fell on a brook that dislocated my left arm. It took me three months to fully recover and this incident caused me to repeat grade one because of my many days absence from classes. Conformity to the traditional training for responsibility was expected of growing children, both boys and girls. Boys were expected to work with their fathers and the girls with their mothers. Putting stone retaining walls of the rice terraces including repair of damaged walls, and building houses were mens responsibilities. EARLY HOME RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE YOUNG Children were trained on home responsibilities early. Fetching water from springs, pounding palay for daily food, cooking and other home chores are among the early responsibilities of children. I was required at times to take care of my younger sister Emmayya while our parents and elder sisters went to work. My father used to be away for days from home when he with other men went down to Isabela to work for pigs and chickens. Pounding palay for daily use and fetching water from a spring were among the responsibilities in my childhood to early adolescence. I had to do these jobs when my parents were out in the rice field working or working with other parents in their ub-ubpfu or bayanihan practice of farming. While I wanted to join the boys and girls playing games, I had to finish my home responsibilities first to avoid being lectured or scolded by my parents especially my mother. When I failed to do my home work my mother used to threaten me with physical punishment. I remember my grandmother, my mohers moher, used to argue with my mother in my defense. My grandmother used to say, He is too young and you are giving him so many work to do 0ne time my mother beat me with a stick so I cried as loud as I can. My grandmother came to my rescue, and while they quarreled because of me, I took that occasion to escape from them and went to Mapagwoy to my fathers mother. She was so loving and caring that she almost spoiled me. My paternal grandmother was alone in Mokgwaon, Mapagwoy but she had many chicken and vegetables including sugar canes. She could give me anything I wanted at her disposal even without asking. This show of love and affection from my two grandmothers were engrained into my life that years later I developed a strong sense of love, affection and care for my elders and grandchildren. I considered it fortunate for me that my paternal grandmother died when I went home for my emergency assignment as Pastor of my home church in l951. While I was still young and single I felt that I had to take care of the burial day, lapfun in accordance with cultural
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tradition and practices. She was the first to be embalmed locally by me with the help of Mr. Pio Pinkihan, an old male Nurse of the government dispensary. The burial day was supposed to be in my eldest sisters house at 0rpuwan, but I convinced my mother that I should have the burial and she consented. As to my maternal grandmother, I was just a lad when she died during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in 1942 so I was not in a position to share in the burden of shouldering the expenses of the eight days wake cholar to the burial day. My father seldom scolded me harshly as my mother did to me. Years later, however, I realized that my beloved mother had the strongest influence in me and my outlook in life as well as in decision-making. When I started joining other young boys to go to a hunting expedition in eastern Mayoyao for deer or antelopes my father was my guide and security. I had two uncles who were hunters on my mothers side. 0ne of them Pfumagkheng loved to take young boys with him to his hunting ground. During my early adolescent years hunting antelopes was a past time and an adventure. The traditional method and techniques in hunting was with the use of dogs, traps and snares. My last hunting expedition was with the use of guns right after the end of the last war. We stayed at Ubao for one month hunting deer and selling the venison to Isabela in exchange for sacks of rice because that was the height of the severe famine that stalked the whole of Ifugao. When we returned from the hunting expedition I left for Ifugao Academy to venture into the sphere of education. Now the hunting past time was gone forever, the victims of human population expansion and the uncontrolled destruction of the natural and forest environment in the name of industrialization and progress. No more wild tamaraws that used to roam the mountains and forest of the Cordilleras. Gone are the wild Philippine eagles that used to dwell and nested on tall trees in forested Ifugao and Kalinga. In Mayoyao central, stories of human babies carried away by eagles called Tugwi into far away jungles were past time stories from generation to generation until the Pacific war of 1941 to 1945. MORAL AND CULTURAL PRACTICES IN THE HOME At the age of puberty boys and girls had to find separate sleeping places. Social and family norms do not allow growing children to sleep with their parents in the same room since the native house is a one-room for all purposes. The girls have their sleeping quarters and the boys have their own. The girls slept usually in the house of an old woman or old spinster. This writer used to sleep with some older boys in the neighborhood. When I went down to Mapagwoy I slept with my playmates and cousins, and when I
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went to 0nakhor I stayed with my cousin Eleno Hedchokhan. When I went up to Chaja I also had my playmates and cousins there to sleep with. The freedom that I enjoyed taught me many things. I learned to be independent in what I do whether trapping birds, making tops, getting firewood, and years later in my being a working student from high school to college I did my work independently. I learned the importance of initiatives and resourcefulness in meeting lifes challenge. As I reminisce of my childhood years, I saw it as the bastion of freedom independence and training that influenced my later years in school, as a professional and as a family man. As already mentioned above, life during my childhood and adolescent years was difficult, simple but free. Difficult because it was a hand-tomouth economy. Simple because eating even twice a day was stabilizing and fulfilling. Rice was a ritual food for the many and camote, gabi, and other root crops were the staple food. Using animal meat for viand was rare and only during religious animal sacrifices in connection with healing rites, marriage feast etc. can the many had the opportunity to eat with gusto. During these religious animal sacrifices, cultural convention dictated that only those invited were to attend such occasions. MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES OF A TEENAGER Personal experiences, good or bad are part of human growth and development. This writer recalls some experiences that are memorable in so far as positive effects are concerned. Among the memorable experiences is the deer hunting expedition in eastern Mayoyao. Hunting for wild deer or antelopes during summer season in Mayoyao was not only enjoyable but also exciting as an adventure. In one hunting expedition I joined, we were four young boys and five adults including my father. The lead hunter was a relative, Pfumagkheng. When we were approaching the hunting camp near a brook, the dogs which were loosened started barking inside a forested mountain slope. Suddenly three antelopes came out in the open being chased by the dogs. 0ne male deer was caught by my dog Cantina about five meters away from me. Immediately I laid down my pack and rushed towards the struggling animal being held by the dogs. Before I knew it the spear of uncle Pfumagkheng was nailed on the side of the animal with blood spurting from the wounded but still struggling deer. To me this made the difference between an amateur and a veteran and experienced hunter. After eight days hunting we were ready to start for home with enough dried or is it roasted venison to take home. We were short of food provision so we did not eat that morning we left for home. 0n the way I felt weak due
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to hunger and the heavy load I was carrying. I was left behind on the trail with the promise of my father and our companions to wait for me when they reach a shaded and stopping hill. In anger I just drop my load of venison by the side trail and followed the group with all my strength that I could master until I found them resting. My poor father had to go back to get my load. Fortunately the women including my mother and my sister Alummay who came to meet us were on the other side of the mountain separated by a river. I was saved from collapse when they finally brought some cooked rice down the river. After eating like a hungry lion we started for home. My load was carried by my sister except the male deer head with the branching horns and a bamboo tube of cooked entrails of the antelopes. We arrived home at past midnight after two days hiking with heavy load, climbing mountains and crossing valleys and rivers. The neighborhood called himpangngilang shared the venison as was the practice of reciprocation and cultural tradition. The shared cooked meat was called ilang. Another memorable past time was the free rice wine drinking in connection with the rice culture cycle rites and celebrations. This writer have learned many lessons like the rhythmic chanting of the ergwad and the argumentation and philosophical debate on any topic under the sun just to past the time in joyous fellowship. The argumentation was a system of guessing game of ideas. This was one of the means of education and training under the non-Christian culture of Mayoyao. The yearly harvest season was the happiest I experienced during my early adolescent years. This was a time for singing native love songs and folk songs while harvesting. This was also a time for young people to look for their prospective girl/boy friends called engha or lovers. The courtship while harvesting may at times became a prelude to actual marriage among the young. In the Mayoyao cultural tradition the havest season was a time for the wealthy families to share their harvest to their less fortunate relatives as a moral obligation in the form of labor or Inlagpfuwan. The tungngaw celebration at the close of the harvest season was educative and disciplinary to this writer. I learned the importance of adhering to rules and regulations as a form of discipline. Knowledge of the customs and tradition of my people were part of the tungngaw experiences. The last tungngaw where I participated was the harvest season of l941 in June. 0n December 7 and 8 the world war exploded. THE INFAMY OF WAR I was in grade five when the Second World War was launched by the Japanese militarist in the Shogunate of Imperial Japan. Pearl Harbor was
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bombed on December 7, 1941 and Clark Field and Camp John Hay in the Philippines on December 8, both are American reservations. 0ur class was going on in World Geography when the Principal Mr. Salcedo entered the room and announced that war started in the Philippines. However, classes went on for a week before the school finally closed until 1945. The teachers from the lowlands left for home hiking forty-four kilometers to Banaue. I remember in our current events lesson that Germany invaded Poland on September l, 1939 starting the war in Europe. With the Japanese starting the war in Asia and the Pacific the two wars became World War II. The 63rd Philippine Constabulary stationed in Mayoyao was disbanded but the native soldiers from Mayoyao were ordered to stay around until further notice. There was news blackout due to the absence of communication from the outside world. The telephone system was cut-off and the telephone operator left. About the last week of March, 1942 the P.C. barracks and the Headquarters in Mayoyao were bombed by the Japanese. However, the only casualty was a horse and a dove of the PC soldiers. This started the first massive evacuation in central Mayoyao. I was in Chaja during the Japanese bombing. I could see clearly the four Japanese planes dropping bombs. At first I did not know that the objects falling were bombs until the explosion shook the town. My parents, baby Marcelo, my sisters and our blind grandmother were home just about five hundred meters away from the PC barracks when the bombing took place. It seemed that the Japanese invaders used the bombing as a warning. That afternoon of the bombing and on to the night people were all rushing to the mountains carrying everything that they could carry from food supplies to animals and other belongings. Many people were carrying babies on their back while some belongings were on their heads or on their shoulders. As the people rushed out from town to the mountains darkness overtook many of them, but using torch light were prohibited. The people just have to walk in the dark using whatever guide materials they could to avoid falling into precipices. The Municipal government was closed by that time but Mayor Santiago Balajo from Kiangan and the policemen were in town to maintain order. We evacuated to the forested mountains of Chaja under the direction of two uncles, Lenachan and cousin Gwanchakhan. Life in the evacuation centers was difficult and scary especially at night. Chickens especially roosters were not allowed in the evacuation centers. About the month of September l3, 1942 the first company of Japanese soldiers with some civilians from Banaue and other neighboring towns arrived in Mayoyao central. Mayor Santiago Balajo with some community
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leaders met the Japanese for official surrender. This prevented the enemy from committing atrocities against the people as they did in other places. The following day the Japanese Commander called for a public meeting to let the people know that the Americans were driven away. 0nly few men attended the meeting because the people have already evacuated to the mountains. Meanwhile some members of the disbanded Philippine Constabulary soldiers left and stayed away from the enemy. In the evening of the general meeting some soldiers led by Sgt. Navarra and some parents of the trainees who were in Bataan, together with some native shamans held a secret meeting at Inchuwog, Mapagwoy. They decided to ambush the Japanese on their way back to Banaue. The native priests performed some rites of halupoy to determine whether the planned ambush should go on as decided by the group. When the Ambush was finally set, an emissary was sent to inform Mayor Balajo to be ready to escape at the proper time. Sgt. Navarra commanded the ambush set at Agwer to Hadchakhan. Some civilians and some bolomen joined the Ambush but at a distance from the ambush site. That morning of September l5 the Japanese soldiers were returning to Banaue when they were attacked on the horse trail at 0t-tong just the other side of the barrio of Mapagwoy where the ambush was planned. The fire fight lasted the whole morning to early afternoon. As a result of the ambush nineteen Japanese soldiers were killed and beheaded by the civilians, and four of the civilian guides. The Japanese Commander was able to escape but he was killed at Ducligan by waiting civilians. All the heads of the Japanese and the four civilians were cut-off by the civilians as revenge to the Mayoyao trainees who perished in Bataan in defense of freedom. 0n the other side, six Mayoyao civilians were killed by the Japanese. 0ne of the PC ambushers Banuchan was almost killed by a Japanese but the uncle Bata-on aided him to put down the Japanese. He was killed and beheaded by the uncle of this PC soldier. The successful ambush was followed by a three-weeks of victory celebration with animal sacrifices. Part of the celebration called tolud was native dancing and drinking of rice wine. I remember eight Japanese heads with the head of one civilian guide displayed on the right side of uncle Lenachans yard, while rice wine drinking and dancing in jubilation went on. Uncle Lenachan and brother-in-law Anselmo Sr. were among those who got Japanese heads. In the cultural tradition these series of celebration was a revenge on behalf of thirty Mayoyao trainees who died in Bataan in defense of freedom and justice. The older brother of my brother-in-law Anselmo Sr.named
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Pene-an and the younger brother of my father named Paligan were among those trainees who perished in battle at Bataan. After the victory celebration rumors of a Japanese invasion of Mayoyao circulated like wild fire. This started the second massive evacuation of the entire people of Mayoyao. We evacuated to Ligwoh mountain and it was almost dark when we started trekking up the mountains. By the time we started the ascent to Ligwoh it was already dark but using torch light was not allowed. We just walk in the dark. I was carrying my baby brother Marcelo on my back when we slipped and landed on a thorny bush. To my surprise the baby did not cry but holding my neck tightly. It was so dark that I could not see my way back to the trail. I was assisted to go up by someone I could not remember. The following day rumor circulated around that the Japanese were going to kill all civilians including children. This was the most frightening news that created fear among the people. THE BURNING OF MAYOYAO By the month of 0ctober about two companies of Japanese soldiers with several Filipino civilians from other parts of the Mountain Province and from the lowlands arrived in Mayoyao. That afternoon the Japanese started the scourge of burning the whole central Mayoyao. The burning started at Mapagwoy and Pfinhang. The following day the burning of all the houses resumed. We were hidden on a high mountain ridge of Napegkheng overlooking the whole barrio of Chaja. We saw the house of manong Anselmo Sr. at Bangbang, Mapagwoy set on fire. 0ur own house at 0rpuwan was torched by three Japanese. In the afternoon the burning of the barrio Chaja commenced. We saw the houses of uncle Lenachan and uncle Gwanchakhan at Ampfuha set on fire by two or more Filipino civilians late in the afternoon. The atmosphere was saturated with toxic smoke of all the burning houses. The whole barrios of Mapagwoy, Pfinhang, Pfanhar, Pfongan, Chaja, Mayoyao Proper were burned to ashes. Balangbang, Linog and Chomang were spared because some of the P.C men who were hidden in a forested mountain were firing their guns to scare the Japanese and the civilians from continuing the scourge. After the Japanese left, central Mayoyao and the adjoing barrios were completely a ghost town. The people started fearing of an impending famine due to lack of food supplies. Fortunately the second crop on the rice terraces were ripe for harvest. When the Japanese left for Banaue we went down to Chaja to salvage all what we can for temporary shelter. The weather cooperated with good sunshine so that we were able to dry the newly harvested palay. All the people left the evacuation centers and returned to

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town to harvest the palay and dried immediately. The new harvest aborted what was feared to be a severe and extended famine. THE JAPANESE SPONSORED GOVERNMENT After the burning of Mayoyao some leaders met to decide whether to surrender or continue the evacuation. Among the prominent leaders were Bonifacio Atluna Sr. (Chumanni) from Chomang. They decided to meet the Japanese before they return again to town for more distruction. This courageous Atluna Sr. with a certain Mariano Aglit who was formerly associated with the Japanese, Itina Mapfajug, and three more courageous men traveled by hiking from Mayoyao to Bontoc to surrender in behalf of the people of Mayoyao. Their surrender saved Mayoyao from a possible killing field by the Japanese. When the Japanese sponsored government was established all over the Philippines in 19343, peace and order was restored. Bonifacio Atluna Sr. was appointed Mayor of Mayoyao. With the peace and order restored and a Municipal government established we returned to rebuild our house out of whatever building material available. We set up a temporary hut at Bangbang Mapagwoy where I lived with my parents. Marcelo can now play alone at age four. Rice terraces farming including camote kaingin resumed. When the Japanese sponsored schools were opened we were ordered to enroll but I do not remember what grade I enrolled in. The Filipino teachers taught the prescribed subjects by the Philippine Government while the Japanese soldiers taught Nippongo, the Japanese national language, and the objectives of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere which defined the ideology of the Japanese hegemony in Asia and the Pacific. A Japanese garrison was established in the Poblacion. Living in the Poblacion, I was for two occasions asked to accompany some Japanese soldiers to follow the telephone lines that passed through a forested area in Mapagwoy. The purpose was to clear the lines from obstructions. 0ne time a Japanese soldiers named Takajima handed me his gun and climbed a tree to cut a branch obstructing the wire lines. He was a kind man to me. We ate together the food we had with us. While were eating he told me in broken English that he had two sons of my age he left in Japan. As he was talking to me he started shading tears. I was scared but when he notice my fear he told me not to fear. Again in broken English he said, I cry because I am homesick. I rob (love) my own country so I fight for the grory (glory) of Japang.. In school, a Japanese soldier named Kamoto taught us some Japanese songs and their national anthem Kimigayo. Another Japanese named Kawano taught us Japanese nationalism and the Greater East Asia Co23

prosperity Sphere objectives. He used to call one pupil in front to stand beside him to compare skins and hair and said, See! Piripino skin, Japanese skin parejo. American, no goos, white because no brod (blood). Kawano emphasized the importance of Asian solidarity against western imperialism. In the physical exercises Domingo Maguiwe and myself were often asked to lead. The one, two, three in Japanese is: itz ni zang zi. The discipline of the Japanese was demonstrated when one afternoon we were watering some vegetable plants around the garrison and an old woman came with some chicks in a small basket. She was showing the chicks to the Japanese guard but they could not understand each other. I was called to help explain the complaint of the woman. I learned that some Japanese soldiers went on patrol to her barrio, Mapagwoy. The Japanese got the mother hen and left the chicks. The Japanese Commander came out so I explained to him about the problem of the woman. The Commander after talking in their language to the soldiers who went on patrol started boxing them one by one in the presence of the old woman. The nose of three of the soldiers were bleeding but they remained at attention. After that he paid the old woman in Japanese money. LAST EVACUATION TO LIBERATION During the so-called puppet government under the Japanese, peace and order was established. The people enjoyed some degree of order. It was during this time that my maternal grandmother died. The death rites and practices of the animistic faith were followed. There was no coffin at that time and the body was just seated under the native house on a hangcher or death chair, tied with two woven G.string or lenchom. 0n the third day of the cholar or wake the body started to decompose with dark-red fluid flowing from the mouth and nose. A bamboo tube was placed under the mouth to catch the flowing obnoxious fluid called cholong. The dead grandmother was buried after ten days and after the burial some of us got sick. It was this unforgettable experience that prompted me to train on local embalming at Lorma Hospital where I was a working student. Dr. Rufino Macagba Sr. taught me how to embalm before I went home to my emergency Pastoral assignment in my home church in 1951. This was after my first year in the College of Theology at La Union Christian College. It was also during the peace time under the Japanese rule that I almost died of malaria. When I could not endure anymore the shaking with tempestuous fever and pain I decided to take a risk to die or not to die. I boiled some pieces of sinchona bark mixed with some seeds of sawili similar to the pamienta seeds. Mixing the two concoction I drank about two glasses of this bitter solution. I was alone left in our cottage at Bangbang.
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After about fifteen to twenty minutes I started getting dizzy. When I looked around everything was swaying including the mountains. I could not stand because I could not hold my body. As I looked around everything looked reddish-brown. I was sweating profusely but no one was around to help me. I did not know how long when I fell on the stone-paved yard and slept. At about five in the afternoon I woke up and felt very light and hungry. I was afraid to stand less I got thrown down. It was then that my father arrived from work. He hurriedly prepared food for me that relieved my hunger. Fortunately that was the end of malaria in me until now. I realized later that I had an overdose of the herbal medicine which was actually the same with quinine for malaria. Before the unforgettable experiences I went through, my younger brother before Marcelo named Pfajachan died of malaria with complication of hepatitis. He was an intelligent boy and in fact he acted like a native priest yet he was only seven years old. He can play the pattong and the topfob during sacrificial rites under the animist faith of Mayoyao. Again in 1943 my first cousin Eleno Hettan Hedchokhan who joined the guerilla movement died of malaria with flu and other complications. During the first day of the cholar or wake there was a powerful typhoon that struck Mayoyao that wrought havoc in the town. As a family tradition all of us in the family clan went to join the wake and achamar until the burial. It was quite painful to me to loss my cousin because we were very close to each other and I used to stay with him in their house which was near the Mayoyao Central School. He was responsible for bringing me into the Evangelical faith in 1941. When the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese commenced we had to flee again to the mountains. Fortunately, this was the last evacuation we went through. When the 6th Division of the United States liberation forces landed at Lingayen Pangasinan on January 2, 1945 the people of Mayoyao were already in the mountains for the third and last general evacation in World War II. The Japanese garrison at Galliw, Mayoyao Poblacion was abandoned without notice. The Japanese Imperial forces particulary the 14th Army under the command of General Tomoyoki Yamasita were holed up in Ifugao by this time. By about November 1944 to June, 1945 the liberation forces of the USAFFE, NL were pushing the Japanese retreating forces to Ifugao from all directions from Bontoc to Banaue and on to Mayoyao. From Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya to Kiangan and from Isabela to Mayoyao. We evacuated to the mountain of Pojchor in Chaja during the liberation of Mayoyao from the Japanese. For 27 days from July l3 to August 9,1945 was the furious battle for the liberation of Ifugao and was focused on the Mayoyao operation where
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enemy estimated at 2,000 or more were well-entrenched in strategic grounds at Mountain Nagchajan of central Mayoyao. The Japanese offered stiff resistance up to the fall of Mayoyao to the USAFIP-NL liberation forces. The enemy offered light resistance during the first phase of the operation but defended Mayoyao aggressively from July 26 to August 9, 1945 when the apex commanding all Mayoyao ridges fell to the victorious liberation forces of the USAFIP-NL. By July the heaviest fighting in Mayoyao commenced. During the daytime bombing of Mount Nagchajan where the Japanese made their last stand, we can see the twin bomber planes dropping incendiary bombs which burned large part of the mountain ridges exposing the entrenched machine guns of the enemy. 0n July 31 at 11:00 A.M. twenty P-38 bomber planes of the Americans delivered air strike on the Japanese position. The whole elements of the 11th Inf. Regiment closed in on enemy position with A and C Cos of the 14th Inf as spearhead. At 5:00 P.M. a Japanese force with 1 M.G emplaced on the southern end of a ridge east of Mayoyao central attacked M Co advancing toward the end of the ridge, while another enemy unit on the eastern slope of the same ridge sniped at the men of M Co who then were in the center of the ridge. In accordance with the new plan of the Regimental Commander, K Co th 11 Inf moved towards Chaja and occupied the ridge overlooking it in the afternoon of August 6. 1945. (Ancheta, Celedonio a., Liberation of Northern Luzon, chapter 1X & X). I was one of three boys who were ordered to guide the K Co to the mountain ridge of 0pfunan overlooking the Poblacion of Mayoyao and the Japanese garrison at Galliw. I tried to communicate with the soldiers in English to inform that a secret pathway of the Japanese which they can easily use to encircle them was behind their position, but they did not listen to me or did not understand me. Instead four soldiers mounted a caliber 50 machine gun and started firing towards the garrison. 0nly about ten to fifteen bullets were fired when the firing pin broke. In about ten minuets the Japanese were shouting at the rear on Lamakhan side and firing their machine gun towards the K Co. Without any command to withdraw the soldiers started jumping down and the withdrawal was done in about twenty minutes. My companions and I were left behind the retreating soldiers because we followed the path to the river. When we reached a house beside the river we found the soldiers eating like hungry lions. The liberation of Mayoyao was completed at dawn of August 9, 1945 and the mopping up operation continued the following day. The liberation forces by that time were joined by elements of the 6th Division of the United States liberation forces in
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Mayoyao. When the surrender of Japan was announced by radio on August 15, 1945 in the afternoon the soldiers especially the Americans started firing all their guns into the air. It was a gun firing of jubilation that the war finally came to a close. When the town of Mayoyao was liberated we went out because we heard that the American soldiers were giving out food supplies in cartons to the civilians. Upon reaching town I went to see what was left of our house at 0rpuwan. Two American tents were set up on our yard. I was given one carton of what was called C ration which contained can goods, oil in cans, cheese, dried rice in cans, crackers and meat. By that time food was scarce and the beginning of the months of famine. When peace and order was fully in place in Mayoyao the public schools were re-opened and I was among those who enrolled in grade six. I was grade five when the war broke out. However, many of us did not attend classes except two weeks before graduation in March, 1946. I spent one month in Ubao with my father and uncles hunting deer and exchanging for sacks of rice. That was the height of the famine all over Ifugao. When we returned I went to stay with my eldest sister Majagwon at Chomang to take care of my nephew Manuel, her only son. He was about six years old and my brother-in-law, the father was then in army. I took care of getting firewood in a nearby forest and at times work on the rice terraces fixing stone retaining wall that slided. To some extent I was responsible in the disciplining and upbringing of my nephew Manuel who was quite rebellious at times. The mother can not do so because the son do not listen to her. I took care of Manuel until I left for high school at Ifugao Academy in June, 1946. Chapter III TREADING THE UNCHARTED ROAD TO ENLIGHTENMENT The American colonial government in the Philippines introduced a secular Public School system starting with the civil government period. The Second Philippine Commission enacted Act No. 74 which established a complete, free and compulsory universal elementary education. Janista in his book White Apos mentioned of Benjamin Blitz who opened classes in Mayoyao in l908 to 1909 but it was discontinued after he left until another decade of American military rule in Ifugao. In 1907 3rd Lt. C,H. Schuele (Lee) and a company of 23 constables from Isabela established themselves at Balangbang, Mayoyao Military District. The people of Balangbang built the barracks as a community project. When
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William E. Dosser took over the Command of Mayoyao, the newly formed 5th Mountain Company was assigned to Mayoyao. According to Dosser the Balangbang post was unsatisfactory being located in a low valley. Upon proper scouting for a better place he found a knoll or hill overlooking the entire Mayoyao central area. The place was Pfato where the Company post and Headquarters was transferred in 1909, February after several months of service under the tutorage of the American Governor of Ifugao, Lt. Jefferson Davis Gallman. The first elementary school in Mayoyao was established at Balangbang. A second school was opened at 0nakhor (Onagol) the present Mayoyao Central School, and a third school was opened at Alimit. When the Philippine Commonwealth government was established on November 15, 1935, the Mountain Province which was created by the Second Philippine Commission under Bill No. 1876, enacted on August l6,1908, remained under American Military Rule. The Mountain Province then was composed of Benguet including Baguio City, Ifugao, Bontoc, Apayao and Kalinga, in short BIBAK. This province was classified under the nonChristian Tribes provinces of the Philippines. All Public schools in the Philippines were under the Commonwealth Government, the Secretary of Public Instructions was an American up to the outbreak of the Second World War. It was within this educational system that I started to tread the uncharted road to educational enlightenment. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 0ne early morning when the school year, 1936 37 opened in June, my uncle Lenachan came at home in 0rpuwan. He convinced his sister, my mother to allow me to go to school to replace his wife Makhajam. At that time even married young men and women were still in school, since elementary education was compulsory and free. Under a compromise policy in the Mountain Province, a married woman may be allowed to stop schooling provided there is a replacement. I remembered my mother saying to the brother Lenachan that she will allow me to go to school provided my uncle will be the one to be in prison in case I refuse to go to school later on. My uncle talked to me and promised that he will be providing for my clothes and other needs in school. As a start he bought a pair of short pant and a T-shirt to start me to school. That was my first time to use pant, that was the first and the last because my uncle did not fulfill his promise. The means to determine whether a child is old enough for grade one was for the right hand fingers to touch the left ear across the head. I had difficulty in reaching my left ear

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lobe but my uncle argued with the Principal that I should be taken in because the wife would not be able to get camote for their daily food. While I was used as a replacement of my uncles wife, I am grateful that I went to school early and so I have the privilege of studying under the Commonwealth educational system which laid down the foundation of my early elementary education. This saved me from going astray as many youth at that time refused to go to school. The philosophy of education under the Commonwealth government was subject-centered. This emphasized the mastery of the subject matter and excellence in objectives. Under this policy a pupil can only be promoted to the next grade if he/she passed all the subjects required for that grade. Failing one subject means the repetition of the same grade until all the subject requirement are passed. I spent two years in grade one, not because I was dull, but because I preferred going to mud fishing on the rice terraces to going to school. This was aggravated when my left arm was dislocated due to a fall. The Public School teachers were all from the lowlands of La Union and Ilocos Sur. My first teacher in grade one was a beautiful Ilocana, Mrs. Angela 0liver from Ilocos Sur. When I was brought to her class she gave my school name, MATIAS, the Hispanized version of Matthias, who according to the Bible replaced Judas who committed suicide after selling the Lord Jesus to thirty pieces of silver. Coincidentally I also sent to school to replace the wife of my uncle. The teachers were kind and at times when necessary, are also motherly, but strict in the classroom, enforcing discipline at all times. 0ral class recitation was encouraged every day often using the incentive techniques of reward and punishment. I learned to read and to write both on paper and on the blackboard when I was in grade two. School supplies of books, papers and pencils were given free but the books were to be returned at the close of the school year for use by other pupils. In classroom discipline, physical punishment such as whipping, etc. were allowed. At the same time reward and appreciation and honor were given to bright and disciplined pupils. The motherly behavior of some teachers was demonstrated when one morning I was late with two companions because we went mud fishing before going to school. Our disciplinarian teacher, Mrs. Isabel 0. Balajo noticed some mud on my ears and back and so with my companions. She gave seatwork to the class and brought the three of us to a near by flowing water from a rice field behind the school building. There she personally bathed us one by one and this was my first time to use soap in

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bathing. This incident demonstrated the function of teachers as parents to the pupils while they are in school under the enloco parentis principle. Industrial work in the garden and cleaning grasses on the school ground was traumatic to some like me because of the inhuman treatment of the small boys by the bigger boys who were appointed as captain by the teacherin-charge of the industrial art. The captain was to oversee the boys working but there were always abuses like beating a boy without a bolo or those who do not work fast. I do not remember how many times I was punished and beaten with a rattan stick or a part of a banana stalk, but these experiences influenced me to hate working under the supervision of somebody. What is needed is the instruction on what to do and I can do it alone. In the classroom physical punishment was also used. I remembered I was punished more than once for being late by standing in front of the class with one foot or standing with heavy objects on the palms with stretched arms for some five or more minutes. I was also punished because I do not know how to write and to read. I started leaning to read and to write in grade two under the patient and loving guidance of an Ilocana teacher. From grade two to grade five to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1941 I actively participated in literary and musical contests during District and inter-District competition. These were among the yearly school activities in the elementary school and I learned much through my active involvement even in academic contests. At the end of the school in grade two I was in the top ten of my class which was section A. Some of the bright pupils were children of lowlanders who were either merchants or children of the PC soldiers or Municipal officials. This started an unconscious rivalry between the pupils of lowland parents called Colijtijano and the native pupils. In the opening of the school year 1938 1939 I was promoted to grade three. My teacher in music, English and Arithmetic were very good that I became interested to study hard. Dispite my disadvantaged for having no clothings and of course bare-footed with only my Lenchom on me. I tried to compete in class for knowledge under sympathetic teacher one of them was a certain Mrs. Bautista whose husband was the Municipal Judge of the town. In the District and inter-district competition, I participated in vocal solo, duet, and declamation. Two times I also became contestant in spelling and arithmetic. My pair in duets was either 0bdulia Baldo or Marina Galutan, both lowlanders. 0n one occasion before the contest in vocal solo and arithmetic Mrs. Balajo gave me something wrapped with a piece of cloth. I was told to insert this object in my lenchom or G-string. I found later after the contest that it was a piece of ginger soaked in oil with
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some garlic seeds. Fortunately I won in vocal solo over five other contestants, not because of the ginger and garlic with oil but because I did my best. We also won in duet, but only third in arithmetic. We lost in arithmetic to a contestant from Alimit who was quick in giving answers. My teacher in music at this time was Miss Dulinayan, who later became Mrs. Timotio Brawner. She inspired me to love music but it was Mrs. Bautista who introduced me to church music, the instrument that brought me to the Lord. I was in grade three when I started going to the Roman Catholic church at Pfongan, Mayoyao. I attended mass only once in a while, but there were two dormitories, one for boys and the other one for girls. Since some of my playmates were sleeping in the boys dormitory every night I also joined them. Blankets were issued free every night after the rosary but collected every morning. It was in the dormitory where I learned about Christianity through the nightly catechism and rosary prayers. When in grade four I started preparing for baptism in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church requirements. This was to qualify me also for becoming sacristan. 0ne moonlight night we were playing hide-and-seek with the girls. Accidentally I bumped or collided with one of the girls, named Veronica Tokhad. The force of the collision threw her down to the ground that her left foot was dislocated. In fear of revenge and the fear of scolding from my uncle Angigwan I escaped that night never to return to the Roman Catholic Church including sleeping in the dormitory. My cousin Gwangngajon, daughter of Angigwan was with Veronica Enlanao Tokhad that was why I feared my uncle that he might beat me as punishment of what I did accidentally. Years later when I was assigned as Pastor Intern at home I met Fr. Gabriel who was supposed to baptize me. He was bitter when he learned that I became a Pastor and condemned me as the son of Satan. Going back to my third grade, I used to remain in school after classes for practice in preparation for the yearly district and inter-district competition in literary-musical and academic contests. In grade four my trainer in declamation and oration was Mr. Timotio Brawner. My first piece in declamation was 0 Captain, My Captain and my second piece was The Charge of the Light Bridade. I won in my first contest but I was only second in my second contest. It was the good guidance of Mr. Brawner and his insistent encouragement that inspired me to actively participate in all class activities until the outbreak of the last war. ROAD TO THE NARROW PATH When I was in grade five we had a good music teacher, Mrs. Bautista from Caba, La Union. As already mentioned above she was the wife of the
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Municipal Judge of Mayoyao. In one elimination contest in vocal solo she taught me a song, Higher Ground as my elimination piece. I was chosen again as the Central School contestant in vocal solo during the District meet competition. I won in the District but I failed to go to Banaue for the interdistrict meet. I got sick so the second winner 0bdulia Baldo took my place. 0ne afternoon we were cutting the grasses on the school ground during the industrial work period. While working I heard a beautiful music emanating from a small house at the edge of the school ground. Im pressing on the upward way New heights Im gaining every day; Still praying as I onward bound, Lord plant my feet on higher ground! Lord, lift me up and let me stand, By faith on heavens tableland; A higher plane that I have found, Lord plants my feet on higher ground. Immediately the singing caught my attention and curiously I went to peep on the front door of that small house. My first cousin Eleno saw me and he came out. He invited me to stay again with him for the night so we can attend the evening singing and Bible study and devotional service. My cousin was attending that small congregation of Evangelical Christians. After classes that day, I went to the house of my cousin and stayed with him. After supper we went to the evening service and hymn singing of some very inviting Gospel songs. There were several boys and girls with some few adults in the congregation. The beautiful lady Deaconess was Miss Ceasarea Ramirez (now Mrs. Chungalao Sr.). I was enthused with the lively and inspiring Gospel songs. That started my introduction into the Evangelical faith through music. Lord lift me up and let me stand, by faith on heavens tableland, A higher plane than I have found, Lord lead me on to higher ground.. The following day I stayed with my cousin again. 0n Sunday, my teacher Mrs. Bautista came to attend the service. We again sang Higher Ground and I led the singing to the surprise of the Deaconess and those attending the service. I learned later that the Bautistas were members of the United Brethren Church of Caba, La Union. Years later when I was in the Seminary I realized that I was led to the Lord through music which is called by a poet as the language of the soul. Another Gospel song that I learned which became more meaningful to me in later years was Lifes Railway To Heaven. Life is like a mountain rail road
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With an Engineer whos brave; We must make the ran successful From the cradle to the grave, Watch the curves that filled the tunnel Never falter, never quail, Keep your hands upon the throttle And your eyes upon the rail. Blessed Savior, Thou wilt guide me, Till we reach the blissful shore Where the angels wait to join us. In Thy praise forevermore. During the closing month of the school year 1939, I participated in a drama entitled St George and the Dragon. I took the place of Antonio Chawana who stopped attending classes because he went to Isabela with his father. Mr. Timoteo Brawner asked me to take the place of Antonio. He was the original partner of Gaspar Ponchenlan. The practice for the drama was rigid and I often went home late to the evening. In the drama, Gaspar was St. George and I was the dragon, the adversary. In the course of the fencing combat I was to give way and Gaspar thrust his sword between my body and my arm pit. He pushed me to the floor as the defeated combatant. While I was lying on the floor with his sword thrusting on my side, he clasped over his sword some ripe fruits of the atorpfa tree which juice is red like blood. Gaspar lifted his sword after pulling out from me and look! The sword was red with blood. My participation in this drama was added to my lasting experiences and memories of yesteryears during my elementary education.
During the summer of 1941 I was encouraged by Ines Machugwe to stay with the Bautistas as one of the servants. Ines was one of the cooks and laundress. Mrs. Bautista accepted me to scrub the floor, fetch water from a distant spring, take care of some flower plants and help in the kitchen. This was my first time to experience what it is to be a servant of lowlanders. However, I stayed only for one week because my father came and took me home. When the school year opened in June, 1941 I enrolled in grade five. In world geography I was topping my class but I was behind in arithmetic. World geography was the sequence of Philippine geography entitled, My Homeland which was taken in grade four. In my class in social studies, the text book was Philippine Social Life and Progress. It was in this subject where I learned the regional division of the Philippines and the distribution of natural resources and industries of the country. In current events we learned what was happening in other parts of the world. News papers reached Mayoyao after one or two weeks so it was always history when we read the news events.

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The news papers provided the up-to-date information on world events. We used world maps to visualize world developments taking place all over the world. In current event we learned that Germany invaded Poland on September l, 1939 setting the war in Europe. I did not understand what is world war until Japan bombed the Philippines on December 8, 1941 which set of the war in Asia and the Pacific. My experience of life in the forest during the evacuations made me realized the infamy of war. From grade two to grade five books were complete with free papers and pencils. There was book for every subject and some books were quite heavy but we have to bring them to class every day. This partly prompted me to stay in he house of my cousin Eleno often because their house was near the school. This also gave me the opportunity to attend Bible studies and services in the United Brethren congregation. For visual aid maps and globes were provided in all class rooms. Part of the classroom exercises was drawing maps as directed by the teacher. FROM CATECHISM TO SUNDAY SCHOOL When I stopped going to the Roman Catholic Church I started attending Sunday school and services at the small chapel beside the school ground. Since then I lost interest in the study of the catechism. I became active in the choir which Miss Ramirez organized before I went in. Singing on Sunday services became my attraction to the church. The Sunday school lessons gave me an insight into the importance of church membership and worship services. There was free discussion of the Sunday school lesson and in the Bible studies. Very often I was asked to read passages from the Bible on topics under study. At the same time the first hymn that I learned from my school teacher was beginning to be rooted in my mind, not only the music but also the message.. This famous hymn, the first that I knew at heart was to be my constant inspiration years later in my church ministry when doubts arise and discouragement confronted me. A million thanks to God for using a musical contest to open for me a way to the narrow path of life and service. I also thank God for using Miss Ramirez to bring me closer to the Lord that finally I was committed to serve. Miss Ramirez was my godmother in my baptism, and when she became Mrs. Chungalao Sr. she also became my godmother on our wedding day with my Alice in wonderland. I praise the Lord for her devotion and dedication to the service of the Lord in her prime of life. My faith and confidence in the Everlasting God whose grace and mercy is from everlasting to everlasting remained forever. I tried to pass on to my children and hopefully to my grandchildren the faith, the life, and the service to God and to fellowmen and women. My commitment and dedication to the service of the Church will continue until I join my Lord in the Kingdom. I also hope to pass on my love and concern to help uplift educationally members of the family clan and others for it is only by serving God that I found life abundant in Jesus Christ. BAPTISM AND THE BIRTH OF A CHURCH 0n the second week of November, 1941 some American missionaries with Bishop Cecilio Lorenzana visited Mayoyao. The Americans were Dr. Howard W. Widdoes, Rev. Carl Eshbach, and Miss Lottie M. Spessard, a missionary Nurse. After two days teaching on salvation, faith and church membership, some young people including this wrier, and some adults were ready for baptism. 0n Sunday, November 16, 1941, I was one of fifty young people with two adults who were baptized by Dr. Widdoes and

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Bishop Lorenzana. This was the culmination of the untiring efforts of the Deaconess, Miss Ramirez who conducted evening Bible studies and services in that small chapel. During the morning worship service of that momentous event Rev. Eshbach and Miss Spessard sang a duet The Lord is my Shepherd while I sang a vocal solo Ivory Palaces. 0n that same day the United Brethren church in Mayoyao was born and the organization was presided by Bishop Lorenza who also gave a stirring sermon in Ilocano. THE RUINS OF WAR AND THE CHALLENGE When school opened after the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese invaders, I enrolled in grade V1 with some of my fifth grade classmates before the war. The lowlanders were gone when the war started. 0ne of my classmates was Domingo Maguiwe from Tagwang, Balangbang. The only book we had was a Stone Winkle Arithmetic and one book on English grammar. Mr. Sergio Gopeng was our teacher and also the Head teacher of the Central School. Mr. Rufino Chungalao Sr. who came from the Army and a teacher by profession joined the teaching staff. He became the source of our inspiration. He encouraged all the graduating pupils to go to high school and on to college as much as possible. In his pieces of advice he made a vivid visualization of the importance of education and the expected blessings to those who sought for it. 0ne Sunday I attended Sunday school and worship service at Banhal where the United Brethren Church was re-established. Mr. Chungalao Sr. was the messenger and his text was II Timothy 2:15. In the King James version reads: Study to show thyself approved unto God, A workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. The emphasis on the study encouraged some young people to proceed to high school after finishing their elementary education. I wanted to go to high school but the main problem was financial support and other needs in school. It was just right after the end of the disastrous Japanese war and the famine was stalking the whole province of Ifugao. When school opened in 1946 as mentioned above, I spent more weeks in Ubao with my father and two uncles hunting deer to exchange for rice from Isabela. My mother with some women came to Ubao to get the sacks of rice we secured in exchange for venison. When we returned from the hunting expedition, I attended classes for more than two weeks. Then graduation came in March and to my surprise I was salutatorian and Domingo Maguiwe was the valedictorian. With the graduation over, I returned to my sisters house at Chomang to continue caring for my nephew Manuel. When my brotherin-law Monchekheng came for a two weeks leave from the army, he encouraged me to go to high school. He gave me one army polo shirt and thirty pesos.(/P 30.00). He gave me these things when he learned that I was interested to go to high school. In the middle of the month of May, 1946 I joined a hunting expedition led by Teodoro Akhaja. A relative of mine named Apfakhan was my companion from the sitio of Pangnger, Chomang where we lived. By this time guns were available with sufficient bullets left by the liberation forces at the end of the war. When we returned from the hunting on June 1,1946, the harvest season in central Mayoyao already started. Three days of rest from the hunting expedition I left for Ifugao Academy. Mrs. Ceasarea R. Chungalao was able to arrange for a work scholarship with the Principal of the school.

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Lodging was free in a dormitory but we have to provide for our food and other needs in school. Ifugao Academy opened in the school year 1946 1947. I started for high school in Chomang and so it was my sister who sent me off to school on June 6,1946. I passed by the house of Peter Bongayyon and the two of us proceeded to Pfanhar were Mrs. Chungalao and family lived. 0n her request Peter and I stayed for the night. That night Mrs. Chungalao gave some pieces of advice especially on the challenge of being a working student. Equipped with hope and determination we started the following day the long trek to Banaue with a distance of forty-four kilometers of horse trail. 0ur load of some gantas of rice with other belongings were quite heavy but we boldly faced the heat of the summer sun and the long up and down horse trail to Banaue which was exhausting. Drenched with perspiration under the noon heat of the sun, but not defeated, we continued the journey after a short rest and lunch at Paggi, Ducligan. We were over taken by the night on the way so we slept in the school building at Kinakin about eight to nine kilometers to Banaue. At about nine A.M. the following day, we arrived at Banaue Poblacion, and there we took a Dangwa bus to Kiangan. We arrived at the Ifugao Academy late in the afternoon. Mr. Venancio Uyan, a faculty member and incharge of the work scholarship met us. He led us to a dormitory for boys where we stayed. The following day Salcedo Likiyan and Domingo Maguiwe followed us so we were four students from Mayoyao, the first batch to step to high school right after the end of the war, and the evidence of famine were still around. Peter and I started working for our tuition and other fees the following day at one peso and fifty centavos a day. We joined Alfredo Belingon, Pablo Buyayo, Fernando Kimayong, and other boys from Burnay. Domingo and Salcedo did not work because they have money. At first I was not hard up because I was used to hard work, but as we passed several days I began to feel the pressure of a working student. Due to fatigue I could not study my lesson well. What sustained me was my determination to have an education at all cost, come what may. When classes started our school building was a temporary cogon-roofed house with the ground as the floor. The wall partition were made of carabao bamboo (ronos). Our life in the dormitory was regimented and our food in the Mayoyao students group was rationed upon our agreement due to the difficulty of securing rice from home. During the Christmas vacation I did not go home. I stayed to work with the other working students. The life of a working was a battle for survival from physical exhaustion and mental stress. The time to study lessons were limited but precious. Sustaining alertness in class was a real struggle. 0ur teachers were strict in the classroom and class examinations. Class oral recitation was a continuing challenge to study our lesson. Many students were from the lowlands of Nueva Viscaya and Isabela. During the summer vacation of 1947 I went home until the next opening of classes in June. Homesickness was unbearable, perhaps because this was my first time to be away from home of a long extended days. When the next school year opened more Mayoyao students were added to us. Among the added students were: Leonardo Abbugao, Gaspar Ponchinlan, mateo Ballogan, Carlos Halligao, Hermoso Bimmotag, Marcos Latugan. Gaspar entered as second year because he was first year at La Trinidad when the war broke out. Some Mayoyao students went down to St. Joseph also in Kiangan.

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I continued working in my second year high school. I worked together with other working students. 0ur work was to cut round timber at Mount Ala about eight kilometers away from Ifugao Academy. After cutting the logs we carry them to the nearest road where an open truck was ready to carry the logs to the school ground. 0ne day I was almost crushed to death when a tree I cut down fell on me. Fortunately, the main branches served as a cushion so I was saved. The next difficulty was getting cogon grass from the soil. The cogon grass was for the roofing of the temporary school building. Pulling the cogon grass from the soil was not only hard but also exhausting. Pulling cogon grass and sawing hardwood lumber for the semi-permanent school building was hard. I tried the sawing of hardwood with the use of the two-man saw. The logs of narra and molave were sawn into lumber. My pair in the log sawing was either Tereso Baichon or Hermoso Bimmotag. I preferred Hermoso to Tereso as my pair because it was easier and light. While working, I also joined the famous Ifugao Academy choir unter the direction of Rev. Gilford Cosselmon, an American missionary who was a music specialist. There were thirty-five members of the choir but we were only three in the first tenor. The choir was arranged into eight voices first and second soprano, first and second alto, first and second ternor, baritone and bass. The choir discipline was strict and rigid in practice. We were not allowed to drink cold water or soft drinks during practice and especially during the performance. During the Christmas season in 1947 we went to Bayombong for a choir concert. This was the first concert outside Ifugao Academy. We sang Filipino folk songs like My Nipa Hut, Planting Rice is Never Fun etc. and American folk songs and closed with religious hymns and Gospel songs. I left Ifugao Academy before the choir was invited for a concert at Malacanang in 1949. While at home during the summer vacation in 1947, I attended the Sunday school and worship service at Banhal. After the service Mrs. Ceasarea Chungalao informed us that a Christian family in San Fernando, La Union was looking for young boys from the Highland who were willing to work while studying. Two boys responded to the offer Pedro Tomas and Manuel Pingiton. I went back to Ifugao Academy for my second year since I already work out my tuition and other fees. During the month of January, 1948 we got short of rice and other needs. I wrote my sister at home that we did not have rice to eat. 0n the third week of that month, my father and my brother-in-law Gumitang came bringing twelve gantas of rice and some dried beans. Before they came we have to reduce the food ration to the barest minimum that can control our hunger. In the evening of my fathers arrival he had high fever and chilling. My father had to be treated in the school clinic for two days until he was well enough to travel. Miss Lottie Spessard the Amcerican missionary nurse treated my father of malaria. That incident disturbed me very much. What if my father died because of me? This set my mind into thinking about the offer in San Fernando, La Union. Can Ifugao Academy continue to offer work scholarship? I was not sure what to do and it was at this dilemma that I remember to pray. I was almost in a hopeless situation but my prayer seemed to have been answered. During the summer of 1948 I went home with other boys, the Mayoyao students. Like the other boys I went out a-courting. I got attracted and fell in love to a teenage girl with browny and flowing hair and athletic body. She was in the elementary grade and a

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barrio mate. I do not understand why I can easily recognize her even at a distance with other girls. The vacation days that summer seemed too short to get the fullest enthrallment of that blissful month of May. The glimmering star of hope I hate to part, but faith not fate guided my way. The events that transpired years later showed that we were destined not only as life-partner but also as a Team the service of God. 0n the third Sunday of April, 1948 I attended service again at Banhal. After the service Mrs. Chungalao told us that the Christian family in San Fernando, La Union was still in need of more boys who wanted to be working students. That hit my mind again and so I decided to try this call. After some soul-searching I finally decided to go provided I have a companion. The incident in Kiangan when my father got sick bringing my food supply never left my mind. If I work my own way and fail to have an education, no one is to be blamed but me. If I succeeded I would not be much indebted to anyone with the burden of paying back the debt or utang. Many more questions came to mind and the more I think of them the more I got confused. My future was uncertain and all because I failed to take my burden to the Lord in prayer. The experience of Joseph Scriven came to mind when he said in this famous hymn: 0h what peace we often forfeit, 0h what needless pain we bear; All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer, Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer. I did not want anymore to burden my poor and aging parents, my sisters and their families. It was this uncharted road ahead of me that somehow trapped me to waver at times in my faith in Gods mercy and grace to the believers. The month of April and May was crucial for me because by June the next school year, 1948 1949 commences. I enjoyed the romantic interlude with the young lasses at home as was the ways of the time, but deep in my heart and mind was the longing to be educated by all means. My difficult experiences during the last world war, and my observation that the enlightened educated few were the first to be employed in the government, influenced my final decision to try to venture into the unknown. This was my hour of decision, come what may. TREADING THE UNKNOWN IN FAITH Since I left my sisters house for Ifugao Academy in 1946, she was alone with her only son Manuel, and no one to guide my nephew. It was for this reason that prompted her husband to resign from the army and returned home. That summer of 1948 I lived with my parents now at Bangbang, Mapagwoy until I left for San Fernando, La Union, uncertain of what the future holds for me. I left Mapagwoy in the morning of June 4,1948 for Banaue on my way to San Fernando, La Union. I could not remember my companions on the long trek to Banaue the whole day except my relative Lucas Gochayna and two others. We slept in Banaue for the night and the following day we took a Dangwa bus for Bontoc. We stayed in Bontoc for the night and again the following day we proceeded to Baguio via the Dangwa bus. We stayed at Weddys house at City Camp where we found one who was going to San Fernando. We left Baguio and arrived at the Lorma Hospital at about 11:00 A.M. June 7,1948. I gave the letter from Mrs. Chungalao to a Nurse and in about ten minutes a man came to see us. He was Dr. Rufino Macagba Sr. the owner of the Lorma Hospital. After some minutes of interview, he asked us if we were ready to work and of course we answered affirmatively. We just left our things on the port of the hospital. The Doctor led us to a grassy ground and told us to start work there. There were tall cogon

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grass and some thorny vines all around. We were given spades and spading folks by one of the men workers in the hospital. We were instructed by the Doctor to cut the cogon grasses and to dig out all the roots from the soil. There were three problems that confronted me at the start, the burning heat of the summer sun of lowland temperature which was drying me to death, the swarming tiny red ants with their painful and scratchy bites which made my legs reddish after an hour of labor, and the uncontrolled hunger since we did not eat lunch and only rice and bilis in the morning in Baguio. In about three hours of working, my hands and feet turned reddish color and I started scratching around my body. Pedro and Manuel who were one year ahead of us came around and gave us more disconcerting information which added to the dim prospect of surviving the ordeal I was in. But I have hardened my resolve to face come what may because that was what I went there for to work to be able to have an education. I told Pedro that we have not eaten lunch but he told us to wait until supper time. Fortunately, at about three in the afternoon Manuel brought us some tru orange drinks with some bread. I took the bread and the drinks like one who have not eaten for weeks. We were able to pass the first test that whole afternoon but during the night I slept like a dead man unmindful of the mosquitoes which delivered their injections all over my body. The heat was almost unbearable to me having been conditioned in a moderately cool climate in Ifugao. At about five in the morning we went to continue the work we started. We worked until about nine when we were called for breakfast. Being new and inexperienced in lowland ways I could not eat very well in the presence of whitely dressed ladies whom I learned later to be the attendants and nurses of the hospital. Three days after our arrival to San Fernando, La Union, more Mayoyao boys followed us sent by Mrs. Chungalao. They were Patricio Goman, Gaspar Guinawaan, Sanglap Pelogna and two more boys. We were then nine boys in all from Mayoyao. Just before school open, Dra. Crispina L. Macagba the wife of the doctor distributed the other boys to different families in La Union. Gaspar Guinawaan was brought to San Pablo, Laguna to a well-to-do Alvaro family. This family wanted to adopt Gaspar so he had the best opportunity to take the college course of his choice. Unfortunately, homesickness won over him so he left for home. Lucas was brought to an American named Wilson who married an Ilocana from Balaoan, La Union. Patrico and the other boys escaped and return to Mayoyao. 0nly Sanglap, who later became Sanny and myself were left that left me hanging again. Dr. Macagba told me later that we were to stay in the Lorma hospital with Pedro and Manuel. There were several aggravating factors to discouragement and hopelessness to me. 0ne was the unbearable heat of the lowland summer sun which made me restless every night. Another was the painful bites of the swarming tiny red ants as we dug the soil to pull out the roots of the cogon and other grasses. This made the work difficult. There were also the thorny vines which were not only hard to remove from the soil but had quite a suffocating odor when shaken that was dizzying under the burning heat of the sun. Still another problem was my hunger aggravated by my dripping perspiration profusely that almost and always drained me to death. As we work morning and afternoon on to the late evening before school opened, flashes of home memories swept the better of me. Homesickness started to conquer my will. I saw the long days hiking from Mayoyao to Banaue and carrying heavy load of food provisions to Kiangan in search for enlightenment through education. My day

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dreaming evoked in me the shading of tears in nostalgia of my free and uncaring childhood. This was what it means to be poor economically but I was already in Carlatan thousand miles away from home and so there was no turning back. If I die as a consequence of my ordeal, it does not matter to me and this further steeled my resolve to face the uncertain future. My prayer to God is to show me the way to the future. In my two years at the Ifugao Academy, I was able to overcome the test of fate for faith had not yet taken hold of me. As we work under the bristling heat of the sun, the Doctor came to see us every morning and afternoon. I noticed that in the morning he came at about l0:00 to 11:00 and in the afternoon about 3:00. I had to devise a means to survive the ordeal. When everyone was working that was my time to rest. When almost all the spades were on the ground resting I started working. By luck or by chance, the Doctor on several visits to us found me working alone while the other boys were sitting down or lying on the ground under the shade. They started working when they saw the Doctor coming with a handkerchief over his head. I learned later that the Doctors observation was the basis for retaining me while the other boys were distributed to other families. The major test was hurdled and I was still alive for the whole month of June. When the school opened we were only two chosen to stay to work in the Lorma Hospital. Sanny Pelogna and myself and of course Pedro and Manuel who were ahead of us. I enrolled as third year in high school at the La Union Christian College in San Fernando, La Union. Sanny, Pedro and Manuel were in second year. For the school year, 1948 1949 we all worked in the Lorma Hospital, but Sanny was sent to town to work in the Lorma Building. 0ur responsibilities were more or less defined to avoid conflict or overlapping of work. My assignment was feeding pigs, (but I did not eat with the pigs as did the Prodigal son in the Bible), feeding chicken, watering flowers in pots or on the ground. The flower pots were called, masiteras, and after which I help in polishing and sweeping the hospital floor. I was assign to clean the room of Dr. & Dra. Macagba every day. I did every morning when I return from school. In my daily schedule, I woke up at four-thirty in the morning to water the flowers, both on the ground and on flower pots. At five I fed the pigs and cleaned the pigpens. With the perfume smell from the pigpens on me, I joined Pedro and Manuel scrubbing the hospital floor. Many times we were still sweeping the floor when the seven 0clock siren in town sounded. 0ur classes started at 7:30 A.M. everyday. Furthermore, we had to hike for more than twenty minutes from the hospital to school in town. Most often I missed my breakfast just to go to my class on time. I just had at times ovaltine with milk if any and hiked to school. There was very little time to study because in the evening we also work as attendant, preparing bed sheets for incoming patients, and assisting in emergency cases and so on. 0ne late afternoon in 0ctober, l949, there was a collision of two buses near the Lorma Hospital. There were several casualties and eight of them were brought to Lorma. The left leg of one of the casualties was crushed which required immediate amputation operation. I was busy preparing one bed when I was called to the operating room. I put on a white robe and covered my head and entered the room. There was only one Nurse who acted as anesthesiologist and one Attendant with Dr. Macagba. The other Nurses and Attendants were busy attending to the other emergency patients. I saw the Doctor breathing with difficulty due to his recurring asthma. He gave me the instruction on what

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to do because it was an amputation operation. I held the struggling man while the anesthesia was being administered to calm him down. Aning the Attendant was preparing some instruments for the operation as I tied the legs of the patient to the operating table support and I sat on a higher chair beside him. Within ten minutes the patient slept and so the operation to cut the crushed portion of the leg started. When the operation was going on I noticed the Attendant getting nervous but she controlled herself. The Doctor used a stainless saw to cut the crushed bones and by the time the operation was over it was passed nine in the evening. I was hungry but so with my companions including the Doctor. Miss Modesta, a Nurse and niece of the Doctor came with two Attendants. They took over my place so I was glad to leave the operating room. That was my first and last experience in attending to operation in the Hospital. When my hospital responsibilities and my study schedule became more or less regularized I felt it easier to handle all the varied works as a working student. That was four months after the school year started in June. I began to be used to the reality of being a working student in a far away land beside the siren call of the San Fernando Bay, and most of all the siren call of education. One more that lightened the burden of hiking to school was the giving of one bike for each of us three, namely Pedro, Manual and I. I had to spend some precious time even in the evening to learn the use of the bike. This helped me very much as I can now have breakfast before going to school, taking only five minutes. By this time I was already adjusted to the climate and weather condition as well as the human environment. In my class I tried my best to actively participate in class discussion and in the class examinations. Being a lone highlander among prejudiced lowlanders I experienced a glaring prejudice against me by some of my classmates. Every time I was asked to recite my classmates laughed even if I knew my answers were right. Aware that if I do not do anything to counter the challenge of prejudice I might develop inferiority complex to my disadvantage. I had to devise a strategy to face the challenge squarely. In the class in Philippine history which was my favorite subject, I tried to start some argument by questioning the answers and views of my classmates especially the bright ones. When one recited I questioned him/her which always led to argument. To my surprise the laughing and giggling was silenced. I realized that the teaching and class room atmosphere in Ifugao Academy was much tougher than that of LUCC. An incident happened in our class in Philippine history during the third grading examination. 0ne of the test questions was: What ended the Filipino-American war? The answer of almost all my classmates was the surrender of Aguinaldo on March 2l, l90l at Palanan Isabela. 0nly two of us, Romeo Borja and I gave a different answer, the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo not surrender. This led to a shouting match that the school Principal beside our room came in to find out what was happening. After I showed the book to prove our answer, the teacher was called to the Principals office. After about five minutes she came back and announced that the question was to be excluded from the test. We protested on this bias decision but to no avail. From that incident I learned some lesson on the price of courage and determination. 0n Thursday evening, the first week of February, l949 I was busy reading news papers preparing for our current event report when I was called to see the Chief Nurse, Miss Ambrosia Manalang. I was quite hesitant to see her thinking that I might be given another skinning lecture. When I went to her she told me to accompany her with some

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companions to a show in town. Two Attendants and a Nurse came with her. 0ne of the attendants was my companion in that unforgettable emergency amputation operation. From that time on the Attendant used to request me to accompany her to the show at her expense because she knew I have no money. This companionship blossomed into a deeper that just friendship in due course. At first I was not so keen about this relationship aware of my situation being a working student, and of course my purpose in being there to study. Philosophically, I took this as a challenge and an inspiration to lighten the heavy burden of work and study every day. This inspired me to work hard with a greater determination to study at all cost. In May of l949 0ybon Chungalao and his wife with Mr. & Mrs. Rufino Chungalao Sr. came to Lorma Hospital for consultation and hospitalization. 0ne afternoon of a Saturday, I was busy cleaning the room of Dr. & Mrs. Macagba Sr. that I forgot to take the linen to the sterilizing machine as the Chief Nurse ordered me to do. As a result I was castigated with all indigestible language at her command. Mr. Rufino Chungalao heard them all. He went down from their room on the second floor looking for the Chief Nurse. Fortunately she left before he came down. Mr. Chungalao was furious and wanted to confront the Nurse, Miss Manalang. He wanted to see Doctor Macagba about that incident. I had to explain and pleaded with him not to do anything because I knew that would become a serious trouble at my expense. He apologized to me saying that they sent us to Lorma to work and study and not to be a slave and inhumanly treated the way that happened. The Chungalaos left after two days in the hospital. To me these were part of the trials that I had undergone all in the name of education. As I looked back I saw these bitter pills as the ingredient that some how sweetned and smoothened the rough and thorny road to education. All these experiences brought me closer to the Lord who promised: Lo! I will be with you all your way. THE HOUR OF DECISION I went through my third year hard pressed but with head unbowed. I was ready for my fourth year and last year in high school. I became more determined to tread the unknown for only God knows my future. Fortunately I had books to use because I was given all the books of Rufino Macagba Jr. who graduated a year ahead of me. I continued my boy scouting which I started in third year. The school authorities gave the high school boys the option to either join the PMT or scouting. I was not mistaken to have chosen scouting because in later years in my local church ministry, my boys scout training especially in first aid became very useful. 0ne afternoon in March, 1950, I was busy cleaning the hospital sala when Dra. Macagba entered and said to me, Matias, now that you are graduating, what course would you like to take in college? I was caught unprepared to answer the question. I just stood up and told her that I wanted to become a Pastor. That answer was given without thinking although the idea had been in mind even when I was in Ifugao Academy. It was an agonizing answer I made to take up church ministry. At any rate that was a decision. It caused me some mental debate questioning myself why I gave that answer. And so the hour of decision came and no turning back. 0f course Dra. Macagba was very glad to hear my answer to become a Pastor. She promised to continue supporting me in my seminary studies. 0n the last week of February, 1950 a one- week evangelistic services was held in the United Church of Christ of San Fernando, La Union. By that time I was transferred from

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the Lorma Hospital to the Lorma Building in town so I joined Sanny Pelogna. I attended the nightly services and on Saturday evening that week, the American evangelist preacher made a passionate altar call. When some people started going forward, I felt as if someone lifted me up from my seat and before I knew it I was kneeling at the altar of the Lord. Beside me was Samson Almarez who is now a retired army chaplain. I then surrendered my life to God and for the first time I experienced the empowering of the Holy Spirit to make my final decision to enter the church ministry. While I saw the dim reflection of my future as in a mirror, I knew fully well by then that God has a plan for me. At the start of the school year, 1949 1950, a friend and classmate, Miss Gliceria Baternina encouraged me to take vocational typing. She was already enrolled and she wanted to have a companion. I wanted to take up that vocational typing but I had no money to pay the twenty pesos monthly fee, and I had no time being a working student, with hardly a time to spare. However, she agreed to lend me some amount to be returned what I have money. The second problem was resolved when I made arrangement to change my scouting time so I have 11:00 to 12:00 daily for the typing class. I then took typing for three months but the requirement was six months. I did not finish due to other problems which I had to handle alone. I was very grateful to my friends willingness to extend a helping hand to a poor boy from the mountains. I was able to pay back her sixty pesos before the end of February. Two weeks before my high school graduation, Miss Manalang, the Chief Nurse requested me to accompany them with her companion to town. The companions were Attendants Aning, Dolores, Grace and Ruping. To my surprise the driver of the Caritela was directed to a tailoring shop and I was asked to be measured. In shyness I hesitated but all the ladies in chorus teasingly convinced me to go ahead and be measured. They told Aning also teasingly to help me. It was for a graduation suit coat and pant. As an obedient servant I submitted to their will. When I was being measured I overheard the ladies giggling and again teasing Aning. She was however brave to face the fellow Attendants sportingly. It was then that I knew our secret with Estefania Nuesca or Aning was known. I learned later that the cost of my suit was paid by Miss Manalang, the cruel Nurse and Miss Modesta Macagba. My white trubinized shirt was bought by the three Attendants. The pair of black shoes was given by nana Dra. Macagba. And so my graduation needs were provided by sympathizers in Lorma Hospital. It was beyond my fondest dream that my needs was to come freely and complete. Back to my work in the Lorma Building with Sanny, we polished and clean the floors every day. We served the table during meals especially when there were visitors. In short, Sanny and I were waiters, janitors and assisting in the kitchen like dishwashing etc. In August, 1949 the birth day of Dr. Rufino Macagba Sr. was celebrated in the Lorma Building in town. Early in the morning I did not have my breakfast and went to class. When I arrived at eleven 0clock in the morning everybody was busy so I joined the work preparing tables, getting water to be ready etc. I went to the old building to get two gallons of refrigerated water in two bottles. 0n my way back I collapsed on the outer floor unaware. The two bottles of water were all spilled on the floor and the bottles were broken to pieces. When I regained consciousness I was lying on a long sofa with miss Modesta Macagba funning me. I tried to stand but I was prevailed to rest for a while. I

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was given hot milk and after that I resumed the work as usual. Apparently my hunger overcame me to collapse when my left foot hit a waste basket beside the door. During the luncheon we were only two main waiters. Aware of our task, I gave instruction to Sanny that one of us should always be in the kitchen to instruct the cooks to prepare what we think was needed. And so when I was serving on the table Sanny was in the kitchen. Before Dra. Macagba ordered what were needed on the table I already asked Sanny to help prepare. In this way the needed food was ready every time it was ordered to be brought to the table. The serving was fast and prompt so much so that Juan Lorenzana the youngest brother of Dra. Macagba noticed our movement and commented to his sister, Where did you get your boys? When you asked the food to be ready it was served right away. In Manila, you ask the waiter for something and it takes a long time before they bring to you. He then asked the sister to get two boys like us for him to take to Manila for their waiters. 0f course the Dra as usual started boasting about us, that boys from the Mountain Province are industrious and efficient helpers. The culmination of my high school education was on March 28, 1950. The education washed in tears and perspirations and tested in physical endurance was both happy and sad. It was sad because I was alone in a far-away land with no one of my kin attending my graduation. I was a stranger with no one to share my burden and my joy. I became sadder when I saw the parents and relatives of my fellow graduating students. They were all inside the hall, while others were milling around. I felt like an orphan in the Sahara with no one to give my diploma. 0f course there was my inspiration but there was a dividing line of uncertainty between us. Just as water and kerosene do not mix together two differwent cultural traditions I believed can not also merged together. But I felt happy with the thought that I will soon be considered a high school graduate which was then rare in my home town at that time. 0f course I was happy with the presence of inspirational friends and even those who disliked me before. I was also happy with the thought that I will be going to the Seminary which was then considered an honor and a calling. Two days before graduation I learned that I was going to be in the honor roll but I did not know what honor. Dr. Macagba Sr. was the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the school and so my benefactor knew the honor students ahead. When Dra. Macagba asked me what graduation gift I would like to have, shyness took the better of me so my answer was I do not know nana. In the morning of the graduation day, I overheard Dra. Macagba telling mang Pidong the driver, to use the De Soto to take me to school. From the hospital, the Chief Nurse, Miss Manalang, Aning, Dorie, Miss Modesta Macagba and Grace passed by the Lorma Building to pick me up. I came out with coat and tie for the first time in my life. The poor struggling working student seemed not to be himself, but only for an hour or two. I requested manong Pidong to stop the car at the gate so we just walk to the hall. But alas! He brought the car to the door entrance to the hall so that when we alighted from the car all eyes inside the hall were focused on us. As if I was dreaming, I proceeded to my proper seat while the ladies were ushered to their places. In a few minutes the program commenced with the singing of the National Anthem followed by an invocation prayer. As the commencement program was proceeding I was lost into my yesteryears. Vividly I saw a boy who enjoyed trapping birds and who refused to take a bath even if dirty. I pictured the boy catching mudfish rather than going to school. Many incidents in

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my pre and post war days came to mind and I came to my senses only when the honor roll was being announced by the Principal, Mr. Proceso Runas. When my name was called followed by first honorable mention, I went to the stage as previously rehearsed. While at the stage Gena Macagba, the daughter of Dr. & Dra. Macagba Sr. came up and handed me a small well-wrapped box. I returned to my seat holding my coupon band diploma and the small box. I opened the small box and lo! A beautiful Bolluva male wrist watch inside. Unbelievable but it was a reality, not a dream. And so for the first time in my life I had a watch. With the graduation over, we returned to the Lorma Building. At the Lorma Building in the late afternoon, a simple so-called blow-out was given by Dra. Macagba in my name. Aning was there doing the serving and later took my place in diswashing and cleaning the floor. By coincidence that day was her off-duty day from the hospital. Nena the cook was also helpful and caring that evening despite our off-and on arguments and sometimes quarrel in connection with our daily chores. With all of these that transpired the words from the Bible became clearer to me that all things work together for good to them who loved God. Chapter IV ACADEMIC LIFE IN THE SEMINARY When the school year 1950 1951 opened in June, I enrolled in the College of Theology of La Union Christian College, now Union Christian College. My first year classmates were Sonny Gaerlan, Anatalia Guimpayan, Juanita Patac, Rosenda Culbengan and others whose names I could not remember. My work in the Lorma Building was lessened by Dra. Macagba for me to have more time to study. Rev. Aquilino Guerrero was the Dean of the College of Theology. We took our theological subjects in the Theology Department while we took our cultural subjects in the College of Liberal Arts. The classroom teaching and study in the Seminary was quite tough because it was subject-centered. Emphasis was stressed on memorization, clarification and exposition on the subject under study. The students were required to read several books aside from the text books. Term papers were required on every subject which were to be submitted before the final examinations. Mastery of the ideas and positions of noted theologians and Christian philosophers was the vogue in the classroom. I did my best to study despite my daily task as a working student. I had to make a rigid schedule of work and study. I had to give up leisure time for my study. The term paper requirement was my headache because there was no typewriter except the typewriter of the Doctor. I had to type term papers even up to midnight when the typewriter was available. My taking typing earlier was very helpful at this time. 0ne early morning I got the typewriter and started typing but it could not type. I think some parts were destroyed but the Doctor woke early and saw me returning the typewriter to the table. That was Saturday and after breakfast the Doctor got the typewriter and started typing and found that it was destroyed. He called for me to explain why the typewriter was destroyed when he saw me using earlier. I was scolded, but I learned later that it was Sanny who dropped the typewriter on the floor. Anyway the Doctor asked Sanny to have the typewriter repaird.

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In the classroom since we were few, every student was asked daily to discuss or expound on particular topic of the day. Conformity to the views of known theologians was encouraged but dissent was also recognized. The nature of examinations were generally essay and expository. The more quotations from known theologians the better the grades. Having been brought up in a non-Christian culture, I raised more questions than answers because all the books we used were written by either Americans or Europeans. I finished my first year with more questions unanswered and it was only when I was in third year that I began to understand theologically the greatness of the Christian faith. THE EMERGENCY CALL TO MY HOME CHURCH On the last week of February, 1951, Rev. 0nofre G. Fonceca, the Moderator of North Central Luzon Conference came to the Theology Department and had a long talk with Rev. Guerrero, Dean of the department. I was called by the Dean to his office. I left my class and went to the office as requested. In his presence, Moderator Fonceca told me to go home and take over the church Pastorate because it was abandoned by Pastor Miguel Guimbatan who was the assigned Pastor there. The order was like a thunderbolt that hit my head so I did not talk for a while. I was aware that barely one year study would not suffice to prepare me for the Pastorate and my home church at that. At any rate I had to obey my superiors order with fear and trembling and aware of my inadequacy. The final examination was scheduled on the third week of March but I had my finals on March 11, 1951. When I informed Dr. Macagba Sr. about the order for me to go home, he was quite upset. He expected me to finish my second year so that by that time they would be able to get my replacement. He was in bed due to his asthma. While in bed he asked me to find my replacement which he expected I think to be my carbon copy. I did not know what to do because I do not know of anyone from Mayoyao in town. However, on the eve of my departure David Nanglegan unexpectedly showed up. He told me that he was looking for work. I did not know him very well so I had to brief him on what he is expected to do in case he would be accepted. He was willing to obey and requested that I introduce him to the Doctor. I brought him to Dr. Macagba and he was glad that I found one to take my place. As I looked back on that fateful afternoon, I saw David as God sent in order for me to obey and answer the emergency call to my home church. I left San Fernando, La union on March 13, 1951 and slept in Bontoc. The following day I left Bontoc for Banaue on my way to Kiangan to report to Rev. Frank E. Robinson who was the American missionary assigned to Ifugao. In Banaue I met my sister Emmayya who was going home with some companions. I was glad to see her after four years of absence. I entrusted her my baggage and proceeded to Kiangan. I gave the letter from Rev. Fonceca which I think was a letter of introduction and the reason why I went to see him. While in Kiangan, I stayed with some Mayoyao students in the Boys dormitory of the Ifugao Academy. The young teenage girl with brown hair and sturdy body was there. She was a working student under the American missionaries. This young girl when years later she became my faithful and loving wife has this to say: When you came to the Robinsons house you did not notice the young teenager whom you were attracted before but you forgot her until sometime later. I saw you but I did not know you were the Pastor who was attracted and courting me and to

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become my life partner and husband Rev. Robinson gave me thirty pesos and the next day I left Kiangan for Banaue via a Dangwa bus. Transportation from Banaue to Mayoyao was quite difficult. Since there was no available vehicular transportation I left Banaue with some companions hiking. We slept at Ducligan for the night. If I had my way I wanted to go on that night because of my desire to reach home as soon as possible. However, I felt tired and weary so I was glad we stayed. 0ne of my companions was the girl friend of my teenage years. The following day, March l6,1951 I arrived in the Poblacion of Mayoyao and proceeded to the Parsonage instead of going home to my parents at 0rpuwan. I found the Deaconess, Miss Elena Cuppag alone. I was her visitor and she was the only one to receive me. That evening I got all the needed information on the condition of the church and why Pastor Miguel Guimbatan left Mayoyao. I was away for four years and I needed re-adjustment and re-integration. Among the information I gathered were negative comments of some members who knew my family background. However, I took these negative comments as a challenge to do my best although Jesus himself said that no one is honored in his own country. The following morning, March 17 I went to see my beloved parents who were almost in their sunset years. They were very happy to see me back home and my mother complained why I did not go home directly. I went to the Parsonage late in the evening after supper with my parents. The sermon I prepared for my first Sunday was From Sin to Salvation based on the parable of the Prodigal son in Luke l5. The church building was temporary with cogon roofing and the floor was the bare ground. Aware of the negative attitudes of some members I did all my best to serve the church. I did the Sunday school teaching and the sermons and visitation of some members. I started home visitation in the evening with Bible studies. During the first Church Council meeting that I called it was suggested that the council be reorganized. Mr. Salvador Iguan, a third year in the Bible Training School in San Fernando, La Union when the Second World War broke out, was elected Elder and church Secretary-treasurer. The members of the Board of Stewards were distributed by barrios in the Parish. Unprepared for the need of leadership training, I just depended on what they already knew from the Pastor I succeeded, Pastor Miguel Guimbatan from Kiangan. I was not prepared for church administration because I have not taken the subject in my one year theological education. About the middle of April, 1951 a group of Spiritistas arrived from Isabela and went to the house of Teodoro Agaya at Linog, Mayoyao central. Their first evangelism and healing service put stress on miracles. They started in Mayoyao Proper in the house of Agaya. Being unfamiliar about this religious movement, I just relied on the information from church members who attended their healing services. The so-called miracle healing attracted many people including some church members. The immediate approach would be to oppose or even attack this religious group, but after some soul-searching prayer, I decided to cooperate with them when I learned that their attack was on the native animistic faith and practices of the people. I went personally to Linog and Doro Agaya as he was known was glad to see me. I learned that their teaching was salvation through miracle healing. I took this opportunity to witness for the true God and so I cooperated with them. We urged the people to leave their pagan belief and practices and join the Christian church by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

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While the Spiritista group were conducting their nightly miracle healing, I started Bible studies and evangelistic services in the barrios of Mapagwoy, Banhal, Chaja and Balangbang. I rquested the Deaconess, Miss Elena Cuppag to call some of the young people to help us in the evangelistic services and Bible studies. By the middle of May news of miracle happenings in the Spiritista meetings were circulating around like wild fire. I was told of flowers falling from heaven, unusual perfume smell happening during their healing sessions and people trembling, crying and falling down the floor. These stories were daily news. People then flock to the scene of the miracle happenings that many church members were drown into this movement. Then a bombshell exploded which disgusted many people. A curious man Bimmotag discovered two small boys in the attic of the house where the healing was taking place. These boys were dropping flower petals upon the signal of a hidden man. Then a woman using a wide towel as a blanket during the night healing had an open bottle of perfume with an open Vicks Vapo Rub hidden in her towel blanket. Perfume and vicks smell was released every time she moved the towel. The healing also created a lot of confusion because most of those who claimed to have been healed were pretenders so as to deceive more people. 0ne man I interviewed told me that he told a lie so that others will attend the healing services and find out the truth for themselves. These exaggeration and falsehood became a blessing because many church members returned and at the same time attendance during Sunday school and worship services were increasing. By the month of July I was able to get a portable handwinding phonograph from Kiangan with some plates of gospel songs and some sermons in the Burnay dialect. This became handy as a means to attract people to attend the nightly evangelistic services and Bible studies in the barrios. When I arrived home in 1951 I found that my only brother Marcelo was not going to school. He was in grade four. I called him to stay with me in the Parsonage and for him to resume his elementary schooling. I also found two cousins in the elementary, Teodora Apagan and Dominga Angiwan. Being girls their parents wanted them to be married rather than going to school, and being the first in the family clan to be educated I felt it my responsibility to guide them to continue their studies. I saw the importance of education and to be sure that they continue their schooling I called them to stay with me in the Parsonage while going to school. They got their food provisions from their homes on weekends. For a companion of my brother, he had a close friend and classmate named Henry Hachorna from the barrio of Chomang. I suggested to Marcelo to invite him to stay with us also while going to school. 0f course he also had to get his food supplies from his home on weekends. And so I had two boys and two girls with me in the Parsonage. The girls slept with the Deaconess while the boys slept with me but all of us have our daily meals in the Parsonage. They took turns in cooking, washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen and the Parsonage. Thank God that from there on my brother went to school regularly and picking up what he missed in school before I went home. RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL REFORM My first year as Pastor in my home church was a time of real training and practical education for me. My decision to cooperate with the Spiritistas brought some favorable results beyond my expectation. That year, 1951 during the summer time started a religious and cultural reformation in central Mayoyao. Some extremists in the Spiritista group went as far as destroying ho-op and topfob important religious artifacts of the

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animistic faith. In fact these objects are the center of worship in the old religion. 0n our part we just urged the people especially the members to stop this non-Christian and costly religious practices. These changes created the ire of some of the priests (mompfoni) of the old religion, but the reformation if not revolution went on unhampered, despite the strong opposition in some barrios of central Mayoyao. Meanwhile the nightly evangelistic and Bible studies continued and in most instances I went home to the Parsonage at past twelve to one 0clock at night. An outspoken illiterate old man from our barrio Mapagwoy named Paluwan became interested to know God so he joined the church after months of almost nightly services and Bible studies on his yard at Inchuwog, Mapagwoy. His house was made the center of our religious services and Bible studies in that barrio. Upon his conversion and baptism he joined the church and became instrumental in convincing other adults to attend Sunday school classes and worship services and accept the Lord God as Lord and Savior. 0n the Spiritista side they won many of the old folks because of the so-called miracle healing. During the Christmas season of 1951 Miss Cuppag the Deaconess and I tried to prepare an evangelistic Christmas program where adults were encouraged to participate. Some young people and some adults were baptized and were accepted into church membership despite the inadequate indoctrination of the people on the basic teachings of the church. Some students from Ifugao Academy came for the Christmas vacation so they joined the Christmas program as participants. In September, 1951 my paternal grandmother died of old age after a long lingering illness. Recalling my experience when my maternal grandmother died during the Japanese occupation in World War ll, I did not want that to happen again. In the traditional cultural practices, the dead was to be placed under the native house seated on a death chair called hangcher and tied with two lenchom or G-string. The obnoxious smell of the dead from the fifth day to the burial was too much to be endured but that was part of the cultural tradition not of Mayoyao alone but of Ifugao especially Banaue. It was this phobic experience that prompted me to request Dr. Macagba Sr. to teach me how to embalm the dead. He taught me what he called local embalming procedure. I then bought two bottles of one liter each of formaldehyde for embalming before I left for home in March of 1951. My paternal grandmother died on the way to Chomang from Mapagwoy in September, 1951 on the back of my brother-in-law Monchekheng. I had to go back to Mapagwoy to inform my sisters and brothers-in-law of the death of our grandmother. I requested them to carry the prepared coffin to Chomang. I proceeded to the Dispensary to see Mr. Pio Pinkihan, the only available male Nurse in town. I requested him to help me embalm my grandmother and he agreed. The embalming was done under the native house and lasted for about thirty minutes. By the time the embalming was about to be finished the coffin arrived from Mapagwoy so the embalmed body was placed immediately inside the coffin with all the necessary cultural requirement of blankets and lenchom or G-strings. Being the first to be embalmed in Mayoyao, my grandmother was the start of a cultural reformation related to the treatment of the dead and so with the religious requirements which I took charge instead of the animistic shamans of the traditional religion. Surprisingly my grandmother became a show case and object lesson especially

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to the old folks. I also became the center of attention because many were curious to know what I have done to my grandmother. When the people noticed that the dead body do not decompose but looked as if she was sleeping, they kept asking what happened and some of the people told them to ask the grandson what he did to his grandmother. The wake or cholar lasted for ten days but the embalming was good for even twenty days. The burial day was supposed to be in the house of my eldest sister at 0rpuwan and this was known by the people. However, my uncle Lenachan advised me that being the eldest boy in the family I should take charge of the burial even if I was single. I then consulted my mother who was usually the decision maker in the family. She agreed upon my desire but the problem was where to get the pigs for the funeral meal. Fortunately some men from Mapagwoy arrived from Isabela that afternoon with several pigs for sale. My mother and I bought five regular size pigs out of my twenty pesos monthly subsidy from North Central Luzon Conference I was giving her. I did not know she was keeping every centavo I gave her. I was able to secure two more pigs through the customary practice of odiob so there were enough pigs for the burial requirements. The agreement on the change of schedule of the burial was not made known except the three of us, my uncle and my mother and I. When the coffin was brought to Mokwaon, our house I requested that the coffin be properly placed under the house with the hangcher. It was then that the people knew that the burial day will be the following day. That was my first experience and initiation into the cultural tradition of handling and honoring the dead. This gave me the first taste of the cost of honoring the dead old folks in Mayoyao. After the burial of my grandmother, we had a congregational meeting in the church after the morning worship service. It was unanimously approved that I go to San Fernando, La Union to buy formaldehyde or formalin. The people contributed money for the purchase of enough formaldehyde to embalm several people. The only condition I required the church people was to place the dead in a coffin because the embalming solution is poisonous. That hit two birds with one bullet so the saying goes. Since then every time someone died I was called to do the embalming and this included nonmembers because this cultural reform was for the whole community. The social and cultural reform as a result of the diverse ministries of the local church dramatically affected the life and attitudes of the people of central Mayoyao. These contributed to the deepening of the socio-cultural and religious foundatrion of the Christian churches in Mayoyao regardless of denominational and organizational groupings of the people. Today Christian ecumenism is best demonstrated and illustrated in Mayoyao in the whole province of Ifugao. Few probably notice the religious, the social and cultural revolution in Mayoyao central from 1951 to the 1960s. Revolution or reformation because this was not only drastic but unstoppable so that by the 1970s the old religion in Mayoyao and Aguinaldo was completely ended and Christianity although with some nominalism is the present religion of the towns of Mayoyao, Aguinaldo and Alfonso Lista of Ifugao. The rise of the educated younger generation contributed to the faster enlightenment and changes in the life of the people especially when these educated generation took over the Municipal leadership of these Municipalities. By Gods grace and mercy it was made possible for me to contribute to the change for the good of the people, although unprepared with only one year theological education. I had to rely on Gods leading, making use of resourcefulness and initiatives.

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Chapter V MY LIFES JOURNEY AS A MINISTERS WIFE This chapter is a contribution of a wife, mother and teammate of a Minister of God. As greed with my Minister husband, the two of us join as a TEAM in our ministry in the local churches where we were assigned. It is my hope that our children and grandchildren may appreciate and derive inspiration from the life story we are sharing them. I would like to put in writing how we struggled to live and serve people as God led us in the Christian ministry. May this humble testimony serve as witness to our unfailing faith, and fidelity to our Lord and Savior, the Head of the Church. It is hope further that our children and their children as they look forward in their future life commit themselves to God as their anchor and Rock of their salvation. This may not be as encouraging as you expect it to be but may you see how God perfectly planned the way that led us into this City of pines Baguio city. May this serve as our testimony to our faith and confidence that if you put God first in your life in everything you do, you would surely enjoy great blessings far beyond your expectation. This is our actual experience as your parents and grandparents. 0ur life now is not our own making alone because God led us into a new life of love and service since, the beginning when we established our family in 1954 in a Parsonage. We completely depended on God mercy and grace in all our lifes journey whether in times of joy or in times of crisis for we went through a series of crisis which became part of our Christian life and service. We left our hometown of Mayoyao for Kalinga in answer to Gods call through the Highland Mission Conference to serve the church at Balinciagao, Balbalan, and Lubuagan Kalinga for six years. When my Minister husband was called to become Conference Moderator, we spent another six years in Bontoc where the Headquarter of the Conference was established. After six years in Bontoc, we were again called to Baguio City where we are now. My husband was called to become Associate Pastor to Rev. Rizalino Subido in the United Church of Christ of Baguio City. The establishment of our new home at Irisan Barangay, Baguio City is Gods answer to our ardent prayer after twenty long years of renting a place at Government Center for shelter. In our experience, there is nothing impossible under God if we seek first His Kingdome and His righteousness and he promised that all we need will be added unto us. (Mathew 6:33) This passage of the Scripture is my foundation even as I surrendered my life to Him while a working student at Ifugao Academy. I never expected to marry a Minister of God but as I look back I realized that even before I was born I was destined to be a Ministers wife. I could not ask for more for God truly directed me to be a Ministers teammate in the service of the Church and people. While it is true that we came from Mayoyao, living in the same barrio of Mapagwoy,but I never personally met my only husband until I was in high school. I joined the practices and programs during the Japanese occupation of Mayoyao where he

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was one of the active participants but I have not notice him until I was in high school when I went home in the summer of 1952 to teach in the Daily Vacation Bible School. He was then the Pastor of the United Church of Christ of Mayoyao and our DVBS supervisor. I am therefore happy to share you how our Team Ministry led us to cross four provinces of the Cordillera as home missionaries leading us to this City of pines MY GENEALOGICAL BACKGROUND MATERNAL GENEALOGY I Let me start on my maternal genealogy APON MANGIHIT The wife of Mangihit was not given but the children are the following: I.l. Napferngan, I.2. Chorpohon, I.3. Enchapja. I.1. NAPFERNGAN WIFE NOT GIVEN The children of Napferngan Mangihit are: A.1.Chinnajo, A.2. Panapan A.3. Emmayya A.2. PANAPAN WIFE NOT GIVEN The children of Panapan are: B.1. khomodgweng, B.2. Emmayya B.1. KHOMODGWENG MAJAGWON. Khomodgweng married Majagwon and the children are: C.1. Pakhajan, C.2. Chumay-ah, C.3. Penanglao, C.4. Pianapin C.1. PAKHAJAN ENGKHORTAD.Pakhajan Khomodgweng married Engkhortad and the children are: D.1. Enchayno D.2. Manganay. D.1. MANGANAY PAJACHON. Manganay Pakhajan was married to Pajachon and the son is: E.1. Langbayan. E.1. LANGBAYANL EMMAYYA Langbayan Pajachon married Emmayya Changkhalan and the children are: F.1. John F.2. Rita, Engwajah. F.1. JOHN - FRANCISCA John Langbayan married Francisca D. Dulnuan and the children are: G.1. Roland, G.2. Jordan, G.3. Bessie, G.4. Judith, G.5. Lillian, G.6. Irene, G.7. John Langbayan Jr. Rita Langbayan was married to Tony Elahe and they have children G.2 JORDAN AVELINA Jordan Langbayan married Avelina Likiyan and the son is:H.1 Larry Lear. He married Lydia and they have children. G.3. BESSIE CATALINO. Bessie Langbayan is married to Catalino Madriaga and the children are:H.1. Essline Faith, H.2. Erlaine Joy, H.3. Eryle Hope, H.4. Edrian Peace. G.4. JUDITH FRANCIS. Judith Langbayan is married to Francis Javier and the children are: H.1. Christine, H.2. Calvin. G.5. LILLIAN ROEL. Lillian Langbayan is married to Roel Tamayo and their child is: H.1. Psalm. G.6. IRENE GLENN Irene Langbayan is married to Glenn Prudenciano and the children are: H.1. Heilia, H.2. Habakkuk. D.2. ENCHAYNO MAAGAT Enchayno Pakhajan was married to Maagat and the daughter is: E.1. Emmayya E.1. EMMAYYA PONCHINLAN. Emmayya Maagat was married to Ponchinlan Bakali and the children are: F.1. Gaspar, F.2. Josephine, F.3. Eugenio. F.1. GASPAR JULIA. Gaspar Ponchinlan married Julia Morado from Kiangan and the children are G.1. Jeany, G.2. Brenda, G.3. Leticia, G.4. Robert, G.5. Allan. Gaspar Ponchinlen had a son G.6. Victor to another women. F.2. JOSEPHINE VICENTE Josephine Ponchinlan is married to Vicente Bilagot from Balaoa Tadian and the children are: G.1. Donald, G.2. Winston, G.3. Gladys, G.4. Vicky, G.5. Ellen. F.3. EUGENIO JULIET. Eugenio, Inyong Ponchinlan married Juliet Ingkhajo Pfanghallan and the children are: G.1. Annie, G.2. Roger, G.3. Jessica, G.4.Erlinda. C.3. PENANGLAO KHUJAMMO

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Penanglao Khomodgweng married Khujammo and the children are: D.1. Intikhao, D.2. Ingkhoppe, D.3. Emmamoh, D.4. Inchorjun, D.5. Enchele. She died childless. D.1. INTIKHAO MANENGHENG. Intikhao Penanglao was married to Manengheng and the children are: E.1. Enchay-ah, E.2. Agapin. She died childless, E.3. Majagwon E.1. ENCHAY-AH BAJACHAN Enchay-ah Manengheng was married to Bajachan and the children are: F.1. Ponchenlan, F.2. Enlanao. She died childless, F.3. Getangna, F.4. Panagwan, Enchay-ah was remarried to Penay-an and the daughter is: F.5. Humayya, Rosa. F.1. PONCHENLAN INCHANGKHO Ponchenlan Bajachan married Inchangkho and the daughter is: G.1. Sally. She is married and had children. F.3. GETANGNA LONGAYYAN Getangna Bajachan married Longayyan Layyap and the children are: G.1. Fely, G.2. Jaime, G.3. Julio G.4. Manuel G.5.Pablo G.6. Sipin F.4. PANAGWAN MALIPE Panagwan Bajachan married Malipe from Halipan and the children are: G.1. Majagwon, G.2. Ponchenlan, G.3. Jose, G.4. Miguel, G.5. Lucia, G.6. Sandy, G.7. Emmamoh. F.5. HUMAYYA IGWAAN. Humayya, Rosa Penay-an was married to Iguaan, Rosendo Bongyo and the children are: G.1. Norma, G.2. Rose. G.3. Rosendo Bongyo Jr. G.4. Lynda, G.5. Remo, G.6. Ronald. G.7. Janette. They are all married and have children E.3. MAJAGWON CHAGWANA Majagwon Manengheng was married to Chagwana Ginomtad and the children are: F.1. Langbajan, Antonio, F.2. Intigkhao, Rosa, F.3. Emmayya, Alice, F.4. Pidlo, Pedro F.5. Elena. F.1. LANGBAJAN ENGKHOHENG. Langbajan Chagwana married Engkhoheng Tangkay and the children are: G.1. John, G.2. Crispin, G.3. Sioning, G.4. Francis, G.5. Bernan G.6. Irene G.7. Divina F.2. INTIGKHAO ORCHIHON. Intigkhao Chagwana was married to 0rchihon Pennaj-oy and the children are: G.1. Bohangngec, Leon, G.2. Enlanao, G.3. Gabriel, G.4. Albert, G.5. Daniel, G.6. 0felia,0r-in, G.7. Victor. F.3. EMMAYYA ANGIWAN. Emmayya, Alice Chagwana was married to Angiwan, Matias and the children are: G.1. Jonathan, G.1. David, G.3. Philip, G.4. Matias Angiwan Jr. G.5. Joel, G.6. Alma, Alummay. MY PATERNAL GENEALOGY The ancestry of my father came from Tarpfo, Mayoyao but no record is available. For this reason let me just start with Ginomtad. A.1. KHINUMTAD ENCHELEH. Khinumtad came from Tarpfo and married Encheleh and the children are: B.1. Bangachon, B.2. Chagwana B.1. BANGACHON KHAJON Bangachon Ginumtad married Khajon and the son is: C.1. Chorpangan. C.1. CHORPANGAN ALANGJAO. Chorpangan Bangachon married Alangjao Higwitan and the son is: C.1. Pfo-agwa. Pfo-agwa Chorpangan married Majagwon, Rosita Balawag and they have several children. Names of the children were not available. B.2. CHAGWANA MAJAGWON. Chagwana now Chawana Ginumtad married Majagwon Manengheng and the children are recorded above under my maternal genealogy. My father and my mother are both illiterates although my father was in grade I but under the vocational subjects of the Industrial Arts curriculum. That was where he learned basketry, making Tinali. He made tinali from rattan and brought the finished products to Isabela and bartered them with chicken and clothings for us his children. My

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father was interested to see us in school because he knew the value of education and so he sent my eldest brother Langpfajan, Antonio and my sister Intigkhao, Rosa to school but my sister refused to go to school. She only got her name Rosa and never returned to school. My brother Antonio finished fifth grade under the Philippine Commonwealth school system. My brother Pidlo who is next to me also refused to go to school. He only got his name Pedro and never finish even grade I. Some of our neighbors used to tease us about my father who wanted us to get a grade of even 85, but as I look back I saw my father was right. Among us his children, only my youngest sister Elena and I were able to finish high school. CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND EARLY SCHOOLING We lived in the barrio of Mapagwoy in a sitio called Pfopfolong. Among our neighbors were the Kha-ay family, my uncle Bangachon and family, Monjobcha and the Ligwang families. I was born in Pfopfolong on May l2, 1934. The children of our neighbors were my playmates. We spent more time going to the river swimming and taking a bath. At times we went to the rice fields to gather shells (managcha) for viand, but spent more time playing games of jumping rope, hide-and-seek and kalkalamet. During this times girls at early age started going with their mothers to work in the rice terraces or in the camote kaingin on mountain slopes. To my mother Majagwon, going to school is a waste of time resulting to indolence. But not so with my father because he saw the value of education and wanted us to go to school. The way to determine whether a child is ready for grade I was to place the right hand over the head to reach the left ear. If the tip of the right finger reaches the tip of the left ear, the child is ready and qualified for grade I. When my father brought me to school my right hand fingers could not reach my left ear so my father brought me to Mrs. Isabel Balajo who knew my father because he used to bring firewood and charcoal for ironing clothes to her. Mrs. Balajo who became my first teacher was attracted to my blonde hair and asked my father why I had golden hair. Because of my golden hair Mrs. Balajo named me Alice. This was how I got my name to be Alice in wonderland. I am happy to have my name which is not common like Pilar, Ana, Maria and others. In the class I was assigned to sit on the right front row and so I was made the monitor of our row. I distributed books, papers, and pencils which were given free. As monitor I also collected test papers and the books after classes. Unfortunately I was only in grade I when the Second World War broke out in 1941. During the evacuation days, we moved to Makha and stayed with some relatives there until liberation. When schools were opened during the Japanese occupation of Mayoyao, I went to school with some of my neighbor playmates. We were taught some Japanese songs and physical exercises called rajo tai zo. I could not remember the Japanese songs that were taught us by a Japanese soldier. In our barrio in Mapagwoy, we used to gather in the house of the barrio leader, Rufo Abagan at Chormug to learn songs, dramas and games. A lady from Ducligan, Banaue named Inlamon who came to live in our barrio taught us some Japanese songs in English. 0ne of the songs I learned was entitled, We are Timid Little Maidens of Japan. This was an action song for the younger girls. The older boys and girls learned songs and dramas which were all presented in the closing program. My now Minister husband was one of the older boys who participated in the drama and choral songs. The Japanese occupation did not last long, 0nly more than a year because the liberation forces came in 1944 1945 so we were again free.

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When Mayoyao was liberated from the Japanese and the civil government was reestablished, schools were re-opened and I went to school as grade II and III on the same year. In 1948 I graduated from the elementary school and I thought this was the end of my education because my parents were poor to send me to high school. Thanks to God because when my brother Tony came home from lsabela he told me to go to Ifugao Academy for my high school education. 0f course I was overjoyed and so I went to see my cousin Carmen Agnaja to find out if she is going to high school. Her answer was affirmative and so we went together to Ifugao Academy. At that time there was no vehicular transportation from Mayoyao to Banaue so we hiked the long forty-four kilometers horse trail to reach Banaue after one whole day travel. My father accompanied me carrying some few gantas of rice and other food provisions and personal belongings. Carmen was accompanied by her uncle Corhi. We hiked bare-footed because there were no slippers nor rubber shoes and we had to trek over stony trail under the bristling heat of the summer sun. There were other people from Mayoyao going to Banaue but they walked much faster so they went ahead of us. At about noontime we had our lunch on the middle of the climb after Paggi called Tuwwore the name of a huge tree that provided shade for resting. Flowing water from a rock was available for drinking. In Banaue we stayed in the house of Mr. & Mrs. Jose Elahi who are from Mayoyao but having a sari-sari store in Banaue central. The following day we took a Dangwa bus for Kiangan arriving late in the afternoon. We proceeded to the old Girls Dormitory of the Ifugao Academy and found many students who were ahead of us. Many of the students came from the lowlands of Isabela and Nueva Viscaya, and the rest from the different Municipalities of Ifugao. The following day my father and uncle Corhi left for Mayoyao. HIGH SCHOOL LIFE AWAY FROM HOME The Ifugao Academy is located at the foot of a mountain called Atadey fronting the school ground of the Kiangan Central School. It has a church of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, a school building and two dormitories, one for girls and the other for boys. A Mission house for the American missionaries and a school clinic were all located on a hill overlooking the Ifugao Academy campus. 0ur first week at Ifugao Academy was a period of knowing each other or acquaintance week, having come from different provinces and Municipalities. We had orientation on the school policies and dormitory rules and regulations. Among the rules and regulation in the dormitory was the schedule of cleaning, by turns, cooking, eating time and evening devotional services. Visiting hour in the girls dormitory was every Friday evening from 8:00 to l0:00 P.M. No boys or girls were allowed to loiter around the school campus and the dormitories after l0:00 P.M. Anybody caught loitering around was punished or fined. 0ur Matron in the girls dormitory was strict in the observance of rules and regulation and school policies. I thank her very much for her concerned for the interest and welfare of the students under her care. My student companions from Mayoyao were Josephine Ponchinlan, Leona Liwag, Julita Apoyna and Adelina Bulayyo. They were one year ahead of me and Carmen. I learned from them about the school rules and policies and other requirements. 0n the first day of classes we had Flag ceremony in the morning on the school ground wherein members of the faculty and staff were introduced to the students. The school Principal gave some important announcements. The school Principal was Mr. Ernesto Allaga from

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Kiangan. He was the first Filipino Principal of the school, taking over from the American missionaries. When Mr. Allaga was sent to Kalinga Academy in Lubuagan Kalinga to be the Principal, Mr. Venancio Uyan from Hingyon Ifugao became the second Filipino Principal of Ifugao Academy. The American missionaries at the time were Rev. Gilford Cosselmon and his wife Alice and their children; Rev. Harold Huffman and his wife Ellen and their children. Rev. Cosselmon was the school director and music director of the famous Ifugao Academy Choir that reached Malacanan Palace in 1949. During my first month in Ifugao Academy I began to be overcome by homesickness and wanted to go home. That was my first time to be away from home and from my parents and my younger sister whom I had been caring for especially when my parents were away. I always dream of them and if I had wings I would have flown home before the end of June. 0ften times I cried with my pillow as my shield from being noticed. It was not so much during my class hours because there were many students classmates and the teacher giving the lesson which required attention, but my homesickness was overbearing when I was in the dormitory alone. It took me quite sometime to overcome my homesickness when I got acquainted with some friends. I was in the Girls Dormitory for three months when Estella Guinid who was staying with the Cosselmons convinced me to stay with her in the Mission house to work under the American missionaries. I was hesitant to accept the offer because I could not speak English very well. Estella promised to help me and teach me what to do. Aware that this might be the surest way for me to continue my studies, I accepted the offer so I went to the Cosselmons residence as one of their working students. In due time I got used to the work assigned to me and I have to make the necessary adjustment to suit my work with my study, now being a full time working student. When Estella asked me if I know of someone who is honest and trusted to join us I asked Carmen Agnaja and she was interested so we were four in all staying with the Cosselmon family. When we were adjusted to our work Estella left and went to the Girls Dormitory because she needed more time to study being a fourth year and graduating student. She was also an honor student. I complained to Estella that I could not understand the way Alice Cosselmon speaks because she was speaking through her nose. She was a tall and big woman but her voice was quite soft and many times I could not understand her words. At times even if I did not understand her I just answered, yes, yes. I was a working student under American missionaries from my first year until I graduated from high school. As I look back in retrospection I believed that was part of Gods plan for me because this was the assurance of my being able to finish high school. My brother Tony was willing to support me but he has his own family and he did not have sure means of earning their living. As a working student I was free from board and lodging and the Cosselmon gave me cash for my fare going home during vacation days. To be a working student was a continuing battle between physical fatigue and to be mentally awake in the classroom. I had hardly time to study my lesson when in the house because by the time we finished our work at almost midnight, there was no more time to study my lesson with insufficient time to rest. In the classroom I had to struggle hard to be mentally awake against the pressure of drowsiness. 0ne time our teacher in Philippine history, Mr. Uyan called my attention when he noticed me in dreamland, but he was very understanding so instead of scolding me he gave some advice to help me cope up with my class and work.

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My favorite subject was English, Science and Biology and a little in history, and my weakness were math, trigonometry and algebra. It was also during my classes in these subjects I was weak where I could not hold my drowsiness. I dislike math but I can not graduate without passing the subject. Because I failed some of my math subjects it took me five years to finish high school. At any rate I thank God because when I graduated I was not accountable to anyone but God. My brother Tony who had been interested to see me through school gave me some amount of money, and some of my cousins also contributed money for my needs. I thank them very much and may God bless them and their families, but other than that I did not owe money from anyone. It was my experience of hardship to be able to have education that influenced our desire with my husband to freely extend our helping hands to some of our nieces and nephews who were interested to have an education for their own good. When the Cosselmons left Ifugao Academy on their furlough they did not return so Rev. Frank E. Robinson and his wife Faith and children took over their responsibilities. I transferred to the Robinsons and continued as working student until I graduated in 1953 after five years in high school. The Daily Vacation Bible School scholarship offered by the school continued so I continued joining the DVBS teaching in my hometown of Mayoyao. This DVBS work scholarship was used to pay my school tuition and other fees while I work for my board and lodging. MY TRAINING GROUND Dormitory life in Ifugao Academy was educational for me because I learned many things especially getting along with other people from other places. I learned from them some good traits which I did not have. I came from a small community where everybody is known but limited in outlook and association with other people from other places. Ifugao Academy was my only training ground and it helped me very much in my growth and development as a person. The schools high academic standard and discipline made Ifugao Academy one of the top five high schools in the Philippines as shown in a series of national examinations for high schools in the 1950s and 1960a given by the DECS. Students from all high schools in the country took the examinations. I cherished the memory of my high school Alma Mater where I was trained to witness for the Lord in accordance with the Great Commission to go into all parts of the world and preach the Gospel The school motto is Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed , rightly dividing the Word of Truth. (2 Timothy 2:l5) of the King James Version. 0ne of the school songs proclaim the message of love. Love to God and love to men must be your aim. 0ne thing more that Ifugao Academy is remembered is the emphasis on the basic educational preparation for college education which made many graduates shine in the honor roll in college. The school produced prominent leaders in the various fields of service in the government and private sectors as lawyers, military generals, educators, engineers, politicians, medical doctors and others. Ifugao Academy has given me the opportunity to learn and know God and the joy of sharing my faith in God to others. It was the school where I learned to write and speak English because that was the language enforced to be used especially within the school campus. When Mr. Venancio Uyan became the school Principal taking over from Mr. Allaga,he introduced some new rules and policies intended to benefit the students. 0ne of the rules enforced was using English as the only medium of communication in the class

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and in the school campus including the two dormitories. Any student caught speaking in other language or dialect was fined or penalized by getting stones from the Monkilong river about a kilometer away from the school campus. The stones were used for walling the school boundary walls. The Uyan policy had two purposes: to encourage the students to master the English language, and to gather stones for the stone walling of the school ground. For this reason Ifugao Academy graduates are generally good in speaking and writing in English. My being a working student did not deter me from participating in all school extra and required activities, except the choir because I was not given the talent to sing for the Lord. The famous Ifugao Academy Choir hit national attention when President Elpedio Quirino invited the choir to render a choir concert at Malacanan. The choir under the baton of Rev. Gilford Cosselmon a music specialist popularized some of the common Filipino folk songs like Planting Rice is Never Fund, My Nipa Hut and some American folk songs like When I grow to 0ld to Dream and others. The choir closed with the singing of famous religious hymns and Gospel songs. In athletics I participated in most of the field events. I was contestant in 100 and 200 meter dash, low hurdle, high jump and broad jump during the annual sister schools competition between Kalinga Academy and Ifugao Academy. In one Ifugao Academy Foundation celebration, I defeated Tomasita Ruiz from Kalinga Academy in 100 and 200 meter dash. I was the captain in the womens soft ball and the Platoon leader in the PMT. In my experience hardship due to poverty is not a hindrance to the aspiration for education. When discouragement and defeat appears to be winning over you, trust in the Lord and the way to overcome them will be provided. These are overcome with a strong determination and will to learn for personal growth and development under the guiding grace and mercy of God. I went through these hardship of testing physically weakened at times but with head unbowed. The Ifugao Academy had two student organizations for extra-curricular development. The organizations were the Light Bringers and the Master Builders Literary Societies. From the local church there was the Christian Youth Fellowship. The student organizations aim to develop capabilities in leadership, literary and musical talent development, and in athletics to develop the spirit of sportsmanship. The two school students organizations aim to foster friendly and Christian competitions in athletics, musical and literary contests. The officers of the two organizations were elected from the senior class to direct the observance of cooperation, maintenance of peace and order in the school campus especially during school activities outside the class room. Continuing socialization and friendly interaction among the students, faculty members, and the school administration were part of the program of the two student organizations. The weekly school convocation every Monday gave the students especially the upper classes the opportunity to develop leadership and the ability to speak English in public. Senior and Junior students took turns in giving messages on any topic on spiritual, educational, and other matters related to the schools objectives for the full development of the students. In this weekly school convocation, one senior student presided and another one gave the message for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then the school Principal or any one of the faculty members usually give the closing remarks. I had my first time to speak in front of the student body in my senior year and before the convocation program started I was already trembling and frightened due to my sense of inferiority. When I

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started my speech my voice could not be heard because I felt something was blocking my vocal chord. I spoke haltingly on the topic I prepared, My Lifes Experience in Ifugao Academy. During the succeeding months when it was my turn to speak again, I began to develop self-confidence so I did not have anymore malarial trembling. My stay with the Cosselmons and the Robinsons as a working student became a blessing to my English speaking development. This was another experience in my social, mental and psychological development. MY CHURCH INVOLVEMENT 0n account of my inability to sing, I did not join the choir and instead I became active in the Christian Youth Fellowship in the local church. I succeeded Peter Bumidang as president of the CYF, and part of our program was fund raising for the purchase of a needed Church organ. The girls who are members of the CYF cooked banana fritters and guinat-taan and sold them to the students and faculty members, and downtown Poblacion. 0ut of this fund raising the CYF were able to buy the needed church organ. The CYF under my leadership also beautified the church surrounding by planting flowers around. Instead of teaching in the Sunday school I joined the student evangelistic team that went out to the barrios every Saturday for evangelism and worship services. Sometimes we crossed-path with the students from St. Joseph high school of the Roman Catholic church who also were going for evangelism to the barrios. When they could not gather children or adults on their side, they stone us on the way when we were returning from the barrios to Ifugao Academy. I enjoyed going out to teach the children in the barrios and I learned much from this experience which became helpful to me when I became a Ministers wife. THE TURNING POINT IN MY LIFE The Ifugao Academy observed a one week religious emphasis every year and invited guest preachers to give the series of messages including counseling of students. When I was in the sophomore year a religious emphasis week was conducted in February. Rev. 0nofre G. Fonceca was the guest preacher. The evangelistic messages were centered on salvation, sin, Christian life and personal commitment of ones self to the Lord. During the closing service on that memorable Saturday evening of 1950, the preacher made a passionate altar call that touched my life. I felt that the Holy Spirit led me to the altar on bended knees. There I surrendered my life and committed myself to God with my prayer that I maybe guided to a new life from the darkness of sin into the light of a new life in Christ Jesus. This was the turning point in my life and as I look back on that blessed night, I could not describe or even understand how God brought me into the new life that I now live with joy and thanksgiving. I began to understand Gods way when I became a Teammate of my husband in the ministry of the Lord and his Church from 1954 to the present. God is loving and merciful in all my life as a person, a mother, and a Ministers wife serving the Lord. 0ne of the program emphasis of the local church through the school was the holding of Daily Vacation Bible School every summer vacation. DVBS teaching was offered to students who are willing to teach Bible lessons in their respective home towns with a promise of scholarship for tuition and other fees. I took this opportunity to teach the children in my home town of Mayoyao. Before the start of the summer DVBS, a oneweek teachers training seminar was conducted by the school teachers to the prospective student teachers. 0ne of the guidelines was for the DVBS teachers to report to the local church Pastor where the student teachers will be assigned The Pastor of the local church

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was responsible in the assignment of the student teachers. The DVBS materials were given by the school through the local church of Kiangan to the student teachers. In Mayoyao the Pastor was Matias Angiwan, who in Gods fullness of time became my beloved husband. That was my first time to personally meet him in 1951 although we came from the same barrio of Mapagwoy. We reported to the Pastor that we were sent by the Ifugao Academy to start a Daily Vacation Bible School classes in his Parish. We were told that he already knew our going through Rev. Robinsons letter. I was assigned to Banhal with Leona Liwang and Julita Apoyna who is from that barrio. The other student teachers were assigned to other barrios like Mapagwoy, Balangbang and Mayoyao Proper. We extended the DVBS classes from the one-week required to two-weeks in order to accommodate more children around. This was our voluntary decision because there were many children that were not enrolled in the first classes. 0ne week after we returned to Ifugao Academy I received a letter from Pastor Angiwan thanking me and my companions for the help we rendered to the local church. I wrote back and informed him that to me it was a joy serving God through the local church especially in the childrens ministry of teaching. I assured the Pastor that we did enjoy teaching the children and hope that God may continue to use us. A week later I received another letter from the Pastor giving me advice and encouragement which I was thankful. He also expected us to be home on Christmas vacation to help in the Christmas program and the childrens Sunday school classes. 0n that Christmas vacation aside from our involvement in the local church program, we also enjoyed going around caroling in the barrios. By this time I was already well adjusted so I enjoyed going to classes and doing my work as a working student. There was no more homesickness and worrying because I committed everything to God in prayer. ENTERING THE PORTALS OF LOVE AND COMMITMENT In the summer of 1952 I again joined the DVBS training seminar for our hometown teaching in the DVBS classes. As was done before, we reported to the Pastor for our barrio assignment. Four of us were assigned to Ligwoj. We only had one-week classes but I continued my Sunday School teaching of the children in the local church. We also went to the barrios for evangelism services and Bible studies and home visitation. It was during this time that I began going with the Pastor more often and sometimes with companions. I do not know what attracted him to me but one evening after our devotional service in the Parsonage he accompanied me to my sleeping place, and on the way he whispered some words I thought was just a joke. I did not believe what I heard but something disturbed me from within my mind and feeling. That I love you! was strange to me being still young and innocent about love affairs. With the summer ending I left for Ifugao Academy for the next school year classes, and Pastor also went back to the Seminary in Manila to continue his theological studies. Two weeks after the opening of classes I received a letter from him thanking me for the help I rendered to the local church and reiterated what he whispered to me that summer vacation. Later on after reading his letter when I was alone, a touch of inner feeling swept my whole being which I could not understand. I did not response to his letter because I did not want to be disturbed in my studies which was my priority. There were some boys who also took notice of me but I did not mind them. I feared that my brother

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might hear even false rumor and call me back home because I was getting involved with boys. I was determined to pursue my studies even if I continue to be a working student. When I received another letter from Matias despite my silence I decided to answer him. His encouragement was uplifting to me and I felt happy but there was a secret in his words which needed to be tested and I did test him many times for me to determine his sincerity and honesty. To me it was still a long way and I was still young to be involved but the persistence of his writing convinced me that he was honest and sincere. Then the Christmas vacation came so I went home and it happened that my maternal grandmother died while I was on my way to see her. I did not expect to meet Pastor along the way but he saw me while I was still far away and he waited for me. We went together because it happened that the husband of his paternal aunt also died and while we were on our way he brought out not only his love to me but also for a possible future life together. Being a minister I trusted him and hope that if ever we come to a common understanding we will stay as friends until the time comes and by that time we should know each other very well so that there will be no regret later on. Pastor was on his regular internship while I was in my third year high school. If we really are meant for each other, we have to wait because as he said in his letter we should not risk and gamble our studies and our future. I was aware that there were other girls eyeing on him but as days and months marches on the road to sincere love and commitment seemed to be coming clearer than ever. There were also some boys who noticed my existence and became interested to court me but I was not bothered. I was not the jumping rope type of a girl and I value my honor and integrity. The moment I made my commitment to Pastor there was no turning back and no change and I believed the same in true to him. This commitment between me and Pastor became the source of my strength and security from the enticement of other suitors. After finishing his Associate in Theology in Manila, Matias went back home for his regular internship as required for graduation of the Bachelor of Theology degree. By this time I graduated from high school in Ifugao Academy and I did not know if I can go to college or not because I was depending on my brother. When I went home my brother Tony told me to take a vocational course like tailoring or dressmaking so that if I finish I can find a work while continuing my studies to college. This was a good suggestion so I agreed and after a few days I left Mayoyao with Aida Abaac for La Trinidad, Benguet. I enrolled with her at the Mountain State Agricultural College but after a month, I quit because we were always working on the garden every day. I then enrolled at the Benguet Fashion School located at Cruz La Trinidad. We stayed in a boarding house where some students from Banaue were boarding. Aida and I occupied one room while the other rooms were occupied by the Banaue students. Aida Domalilis from Banaue was my companion taking up dress making. While I was in La Trinidad Matias continued writing me, but there were two boys from Banaue who were also interested in me sending me letters. The first one understood me when I told him frankly that I was already committed to somebody. The other man did not believe me and wanted to try his luck. 0ne time Matias visited me in my boarding place on his way home from San Fernando, La Union when he accompanied some patients from Mayoyao to the Lorma Hospital. He stayed overnight and slept with one of the boys from Banaue in the same building where we stayed. It happened that this man from Banaue who was working in the Ambuclao Dam construction came also to visit me, but no one told him that my boy

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friend is around. At the same time Matias was also informed that the man from Ambuclao with some companions had a gun. This information emboldened my boy friend to face this man frontally and advised Marcelo Ngayaan and Julio 0rhachan both from Mayoyao studying at MSAC to stay behind him and be ready in case there will be trouble especially that the man from Banaue was armed. I was worried because I did not want any embarrassing situation to happen. Fortunately, this fellow from Banaue and his companions suddenly left without our notice. I suspected that he must have sensed that he had no chance because I made it plain to him that I already committed myself and my life to someone. From that time on he never came back. I wrote him and returned his letters and a golden heart with a chain that he gave me through his friend that Christmas. After my graduation in dress making in early March of 1954, Matias again passed by La Trinidad so we went home together. He came from San Fernando, La Union where he accompanied some patients again to Lorma Hospital. Back to my third and fourth year in high school while Pastor was in Manila also studying, we continued writing each other. By this time we already had a definite understanding on our future plans. I received letters from him almost weekly and part of our letters were our songs of commitment and loyalty to each other, songs we both learned at heart. BELOVED BE FAITHFUL Beloved be faithful, beloved be true While I am away dear, I trust in you; Ill never forsake you, thou were far apart Beloved be faithful, to my faithful heart. Therell be other lips, therell be other arms That will claim you for their own; Tell those other lips, tell those other arms That youre mine and mine alone. Beloved be faithful, beloved be true Keep watching and waiting, Till our Day comes through! In answer to this passionate song from my boy friend, I answered him with another song which both of us knew by heart. FOREVER MY DARLING Forever my darling, I love only you And I will be faithful too, Today and for always, my whole life through This is my promise, my promise to you. You are my happiness, you are my joy All things are heavenly, I found in one boy 0h my darling, my deary I love only you, This is my promise, my promise to YOU!

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From La Trinidad in 1954 Pastor and I proceeded for home. We stayed overnight in Bontoc and the following day we left Bontoc for Mayoyao arriving safely and well. That summer we continued the regular church activities of home visitation, evangelistic services in the barrios and Bible studies. 0ne evening when we were discussing about our future plan, I suggested that we part ways because some girls were so jealous to me that they spread gossips that were detrimental to Pastor and our relationship. It was a very painful decision on my part but if that was the only way I could be free from the watchful eyes of other girls so be it. We have been faithful and sincere with each other and here comes the girls who tried to destroy us. My beloved boy friend was surprised that he fainted and dropped on the floor. I was so hurt and I regretted for what I said and apologized to him crying. After he regained composure he proposed that we get married because nothing can separate us apart, he protested. I felt deep in my heart and my whole being that my beloved was determined to marry me at all cost. Again I had to apologize to him for what I had said because it also pained my heart. In March of 1954 I went to the Parsonage to help prepare for the coming of Rev. Robinson to visit the Pastor. I was inside the room sewing a torn canvas of a cot bed when a girl came in the Parsonage and thinking that Pastor was alone started teasing him and slapping him with a news paper while mentioning my name. I could not hold my temper so I came out from the room that surprised this girl that she could not talk. She left but in a short while she came back with another girl so there were two against me. It almost created a scandal but fortunately one of the church elders came and pacified the two girls and sent them away. This incident to some extent shortened our marriage plan that we should wait until Pastor finishes his theological education. He then renewed his proposal that we better get married to end all troubles. He told me to select a date in May for our day, and I proposed May l2 which is my birth day but he said it was too close and we need time for preparation. I told him then that we were not ready because we have nothing to start the preparation. He assured me that God will provide. After some discussion we both agreed for May 30 so that it is both our birth day month. After the final agreement on the wedding date, the next was to inform our respective parents and relatives since it is going to be a family affair in accordance with cultural traditional practice. There being no objections, we started our final preparation for the wedding. Mat and I went to Banaue for my hair culture and to buy cloth for my wedding dress. Fortunately, Mrs. Ceasarea Chungalao provided the cloth while I did the sewing. What Pastor told me that God will provide our needs became a reality. I was left in Banaue while Pastor proceeded to Kiangan to invite Rev. Ciriaco Ma Lagunzad Jr. who was the Pastor of the UCCP of Kiangan Church to solemnize our marriage. When he came back we returned home and continued the preparation and on May 30, 1954 we finally tied the knot so the saying goes. It was a big occasion being a Sunday and so after the church ceremony the congregation and many other people who attended the wedding ceremony marched to 0rpuwan where the celebration and marriage feast was held, and where my parents-in-law resided. The long walk to 0rpuwan under the bristling heat of the summer May soak me with perspiration because I did not have time to change. An impromptu program was conducted while waiting for the luncheon. The house yard was full to capacity and there were others on the elevated wall around the house. The program continued after the luncheon up to the late afternoon when the people started going home. That same day a new chapter in our life commenced.

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Sincerity, faithfulness and loyalty to each other blessed by God Almighty overcame all troubles that tested us, and above all Gods will was done. 0ur mutual confession was and is LET THY WILL BE DONE!. In my reminiscence now that I am a grandmother I saw the beautiful blessings of God to us on the month of May ALMA (ALICE-MATIAS) YOUTH MEMORIES It was May when I first heard the words, I love you! It was May when you proposed to me to say, Yes I do! It was May when both of us declared,Yes I do! It was May when you and I were born It was May when our first grand daughter was born It was May when four of our grand children were born These are the blessings and memories of the month of May. Leah Majagwon Eming Angiwan born on May 3l Ebenezer Santos Angiwan born on May 23 Jemimah Tamayo Angiwan born on May l6 Nathan Bacali Angiwan born on May 6 And finally May is Motherss day, - Thank you very much MAY. A NEW CONJUGAL LIFE IN GODS SERVICE Right after our wedding day we started our new life in the Parsonage where my husband was living as the resident Pastor of the local church. The following day, may 3l we returned to 0rpuwan and joined in the harvesting of my sister-in-law Majagwons rice field. That was the harvest season. For several weeks and even months I felt as if I was still single, still the Alice in wonderland. It took me sometime to be adjusted to my new name, - MRS. ANGIWAN. I felt a little awkward to answer when I was called Mrs. Angiwan and I guest this must be true to other newly weds. I wish people will just call me Alice, but social convention demands that I follow cultural Spanish and American traditions. In due time I realized that I am already married, living in a Parsonage with a Minister husband, a man of God whom I am going to love and cherish forever. I have a responsibility to perform as a Ministers wife. Adjustment from being single to married life was both thrilling and challenging. I now have to be careful in dealing with neighbors, church members and other people being now a team worker with my husband in the Lord Vineyard. The following Sunday of our wedding day, many people came to church for the regular Sunday school and worship service. After the service it was my first time to entertain people including our relatives who remained for more fellowship and chatting. There was no time to fellowship together during working days and so Sunday was the only time to be together. Since then members came in and out of the Parsonage which was always open for spiritual counseling and learning. The church members were now thankful that I was there so they need not worry who would cook for the Pastor especially if there were visitors. When my first son Jonathan was born on February 20, 1955 another adjustment had to be done. My responsibility as the wife of a Minister whose house was always open to people who needed his service expanded when motherhood was added. I was very

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thankful that my husband was very loving, understanding and helpful in my adjustment period. When he left us to continue and finish his theological education in Manila we already moved to our cottage that we owned just over a hill from the church. My youngest sister Elena who was in high school stayed with us and my parents were very helpful. My father provided our firewood for cooking and charcoal for ironing our clothes. My in-laws were also living but my father-in-law was sickly and he died the same year, 1956. Jonathan was only three months old when his father left for Manila, and was seven months old when my father-in-law died. HOME MISSIONARY WORK OUTSIDE IFUGAO After two years in the Union Theological Seminary in Manila, my husband finished his Bachelor of Theology degree and on April 6, 1957 he was ordained into the sacred Ministry of the church. His ordination was held at the United Church of Christ of Kiangan Ifugao during the Annual Session of the Highland Mission Confeence. In that conference he was re-assigned to Mayoyao central including the Balangbang outreach. Then on the third week of May,1958 he received a letter from the Conference Moderator ordering my husband to go to Balinciagao, Balbalan Kalinga. When we informed our parents and relatives that we are going to Kalinga they were against our going because they feared we might be killed. But we had to go because that was a call to home missionary work. At any rate, we left Mayoyao for Kalinga the first week of June,1958 when Philip was only three months old. Jonathan was three years old and David was two years old. In Bontoc, we stayed for the night with Mr. Sanny Pelogna in a Boys dormitory. Mr. Pelogna was then teaching in the Provincial High School at Bontoc Central. We brought with us our nephew Leon, Pfuhangngec 0rchihon to take care of his baby cousin Philip. When we reached Lubuagan Pastor Tandingan from Poswoy Balbalan who was supposed to meet us was no where to be found. We inquired from the Dangwa driver, a certain Cosme if he knew Balinciagao and he answered affirmatively and promised to show us the place when we get there. We reached the place in the afternoon of June 8,1958 and stopped at a Traffic Gate. The heat of the afternoon sun was quite warm that our children became restless. The Gate keeper, a Mrs. Victorina Padua invited us inside the gate house to rest while a late lunch was being prepared. There were many people around the Gate, both men and women and we learned that they were church members who had been waiting for us for three days. I was relieved of my fear when the women started talking to us in Ilocano. They were very friendly and happy for our arrival. After the late lunch we proceeded to the church Parsonage with the men carrying our pieces of baggage while the women carried Jonathan and David. It was a big welcome which was a contrast to our fear that we might be harmed. Thank God we arrived safely and welcomed gladly by the people. BALINCIAGAO MEMORIES The Church building and the Parsonage in Balinciagao was situated on a knoll overlooking the sitio of Dalimgao and Patakan. When we arrived there was a family living in the Parsonage. The man was Daniel Awoy and the wife was Dalimag from Pantikian, Balbalan. They had two children boywas Ba-awa and the girl was Sion. We stayed with them in the Parsonage for two months before they transferred to a house near the road at Simangan. The barrio of Balinciagao was composed of six sitios namely,

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Pogong, Patakan, Dalimgao, Simangan, Salagpat and Limood. The Headman called Capitan was Awingan who resided at Salagpat. The community of Balinciagao was very peaceful and the people were friendly and hospitable, both members and non-members. Balinciagao was known at that time as the home of the famous sweet and juicy orange called gayunan. During our first Sunday many people came and many children also. I took this as my chance to teach the children in the Sunday school and Bible story telling. I joined the home and family devotional service in the different sitios of Balinciagao except Salagpat a Roman Catholic strong hold. The challenge of the Pastoral ministry was great but it was difficult to visit the members in their homes during the day time because there are no people. They are either in the rice fields or in the palay dry farming on the mountains, which they called Uma or kaingin rice farming. But the call for service was always there even at night specially when the people learned that Pastor can administer injections if patients coming from the hospital in Lubuagan have unfinished injectable medicines. The people were industrious but the economic life was still a hand to mouth economy. They planted upland rice on mountain sides and slopes clearing from forested areas. The upland rice was called Unoy which tasted like the native rice in Mayoyao. In our second year in Balinciagao, 1959, Pastor and I decided to join the people in full-time farming in the upland dry rice faming so that we have more time with the people. At that time I was heavy with my fourth pregnancy, later to born in Balinciagao as Matias Angiwan Jr. When we joined the dry rice farming in the mountains Pastor also started his mountain ministry so we always have devotional service in the morning before commencing the work. In the afternoon before going home from work we also gather together for a thanksgiving devotional prayer, emphasizing the fact that Gods beautiful creation is a witness to His glory and honor as well as a source of material blessing. My husband took the opportunity to witness to what Jesus Christ said that it the birds of the air, and the lilies of the fields which do not toil are fed and sustained by God, how much more to his children. 0ur church ministry and labor with the people in farming was blessed by God that increased the harvest of the upland rice. Through our laboring with the people we were able to introduce changes to some of their superstitious beliefs and practices, which were anti-health resulting to malnutrition. For example, not using salt with viand, not eating meat and vegetables during the seed planting because of the belief that the seed will not germinate and there will be no harvest and many others. The only viand allowed was dried beans with plenty of broth but no salt. It was in these varied types of ministry that I have experienced a true and honest form of witnessing for the love of God and laboring with the people in the grassroots in the local church, and in the community. In the farming, Pastor was able to secure some free seeds of foreign squash, giant cucumber and pamkins. When the palay was in bloom wild pigs started invading and destroying the rice plants. In a meeting held in the church after the service, the men agreed to take turns in guarding the whole mountain farms at night. My husband borrowed one Springfield rifle from one of our neighbors, our compadre Pedro Maling. When it was his turn to guard for one night, he left the Parsonage at about seven to eight in the evening to the mountain farms. I felt he must be on the mountain when I experienced an unusual feeling as if I heard someone telling me to call my husband home. I felt restless so I sent our nephew Tony to go down and ask our compadre Maling

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to call Pastor to come home. To cover my unexplained feeling I told him when he came home that I had a severe stomach pain due to my pregnancy. Upon realizing the situation I knew it was God who spoke to me that saved my husband from being devoured by a big wild male pig. I came to this conclusion when he told me that he was almost killed by a big wild pig that he encountered that almost paralyzed him such that he could not even pull the trigger of the gun he was holding. According to Pastor he fired three shots but all did not fire and instead it was followed by that paralyzing experience. As to what happened to me I could not explain that unusual feeling and sensation. When I had my fifth pregnancy it was again our forming season and to be sure and safe for me we decided to go to Lubuagan for prenatal check up. I was told by the Doctor that the position of the fetus was not proper so I was advised to be near the hospital for continuing check up. For this reason we went to Lubuagan and stayed with Mr. & Mrs. Ernesto and Rosalia Allaga who was the Principal of Kalinga Academy. We stayed there for one month until I gave birth to our Joel on March l0,196l. With the assistance of Mrs. Georgina Miller, an American missionary Nurse, and Miss Esther Micu an assistant Nurse. We went back to Balinciagao five days after my delivery. Rev. L. Dean Miller, the husband of Mrs. Miller brought us to Balindciagao on his service car. We continued our ministry not only to the church but to the whole community of Balinciagao. Pastor also continued our mountain farm and this time it was our second year to farm and work with the people. We experienced that it was always a joy to work with the people because we learned more about their customs and practices this way. Furthermore we had more services and prayers in the mountains than in the church which was only on Sundays. During the clearing period for the farm, Pastor selected an area that was not farmed for more than ten years according to the people. My husband knew it was fertile although some parts are rocky but we extended the area of the farm to make up for the unplanted rocky portion. Due to hard physical labor Pastor suffered some serious chest pain and stomach pain with fever and general weakness. I was scared so I sent my nephew to call for help from our neighbor. It was decided that Pastor should be brought to the Lubuagan hospital so several men carried my husband in an improvised hammock that night. My children were left under the care of my nephew and our helper Carmen. Meanwhile two men rushed ahead to Lubuagan to inform Rev. Miller so we were met along the way about five kilometers to Lubuagan. Rev. Miller brought with him the school Nurse and a stretcher. 0n the way as we hiked before we were met by Rev. Miller, I was always beside my husband to check if he was still breathing. I was crying inside me when the light of the car lighted us hiking. Since the car could not accommodate all the people, I suggested that they can return home but they decided to continue hiking while we rode on the car. Pastor was admitted in the hospital and direct to the emergency room. After examination the Doctor said that Pastor was safe and all right. The men returned home the following morning when they were assured that the Pastor was all right. After two weeks of hospitalization my husband got well so we returned to Balinciagao. Two days after we returned from the hospital, my mother, my mother-inlaw, sister Elena brothers-in-law Marcelo and Anselmo arrived from Mayoyao. Taking advantage of their presence we decided to harvest our mountain farm since it was ready for harvest. That was the biggest harvest in our life 0ne hundred eighty-seven bundles in the Mayoyao style of bundling palay.

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UNFORGETABLE EXPERIENCES IN BALINCIAGAO One time the people of Balinciagao were invited to Guina-ang Pacil to attend a grand celebration of one of the prominent family of Pugong, Guina-ang. The Pastor and I were invited to join them. I joined the women while Pastor joined the men because the women were always separate from the men as their custom. During this big occasion a drunken man tried to create trouble. Sensing that the Pastor might be the target of this man, the young men companion of my husband surrounded him and were ready to die first in case he was attack. Fortunately cooler heads pacified the drunk man. It was getting late in the afternoon and I was worried because my Joel was just a baby so I told the women that I have to go ahead. When I left all the women followed shouting for me to wait for them but I hurried going down the mountain. It was Itao our comadre who was calling to me that they are going home with me. The gathered men continued the impromptu program when we left. The Balinciagao men and Pastor followed the following day with each man having carabao meat as their share. A young man brought the share of Pastor which was about five kilos. Another memorable experience I had in Balinciagao was the rushed hospitalization of my husband where the church members demonstrated their love and affection to us and it was a blessing that he recovered after five days in the hospital. It was dark that night but the men made torch light from dried runos to light our way. Before this incident there were other patients from Balinciagao who were brought to the Lubuagan hospital led by their Pastor. The distance was fifteen kilometers from Balinciagao to Lubuagan. Still another was my scary experience with my son Matias Angiwan Jr. He was just a baby when he swallowed some tobacco from my mother-in-laws bag. He got dizzy and vomiting but we did not know what happened. I was scared because my son look dying but my sister Elena noticed some tobacco bits from his mouth so she opened the mouth and got out some more tobacco pieces. He recovered after he slept for about an hour. I also experienced chest pain due to my fear when Junior almost got drowned when we went to a river to wash clothes and to take a bath. I did not notice when he fell into the flowing water and landed in a small lagoon. As I jumped to pick him up I was so nervous that I felt chest pain. Because of this incident we went home without finishing our washing. THE CALL TO THE LUBUAGAN CHURCH Before the Annual Conference in 1961 the local church of Lubuagan was vacated because Rev. Samson Almarez the assigned Minister resigned to teach in the College of Theology of the Union Christian College at San Fernando, La Union. Due to the vacancy the Annual Conference in session that year assigned my husband to Lubuagan and Pastor & Mrs. Leona and George Feliciano from Mayoyao was assigned to Balinciagao. In the middle of May that year we have to say goodbye to the loving people of Balinciagao. That morning almost all the church members did not go to work but flock to the road at Simangan to see us move away. It was hot that some men cut some trees with leaves and stuck them on the edge of the road for shade. When the Dangwa bus appeared from Pantikian, some men stopped the bus while others rush to bring in our pieces of baggage. The people loaded the back of the bus with their gifts to us of split rattan, coconut balls, dried beans, and many others. Not satisfied some of the young men rode with us to Lubuagan and when we arrived they brought down all our things including their pasalobong and brought them to the Parsonage. It was a teary parting

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especially to the women. They embraced me tight while some of them were shading tears. I told the people to be free to visit us in Lubuagan in the Parsonage. I was glad we were moving to the Capital of Kalinga that is Lubuagan for another opportunity of service. While in Lubuagan our two boys went to school at Pudpud Elementary school. The eldest Jonathan was grade I in Balinciagao at the age of five, and so he enrolled in grade II. David at five years old entered as grade I. Pastor was taken in as religious teacher in the Kalinga Academy with the help of the Principal Mr. Allaga. At the same time he was the full-time Pastor of the local church. And so my husband performed a dual functions Pastor of the local church and teacher in the high school. Through the initiation of Mrs. Georgina Miller the missionary Nurse we started our visits to the surrounding barrios of Uma, Dangrtalan, Magnao of Tabuk and other places. This was part of the evangelistic program of the local church but the high school was also involved. Every Sunday afternoon after the morning worship in the church, Pastor led a group of men and women mostly young people to conduct services and Bible studies around Lubuagan and down to Dognac and in a short time we made friends to many people including non-members of the local church. Members of the faculty and staff of Kalinga Academy became our close friends. Miss Lorenza Aluyen, Dean of the Girls Dormitory and a graduate of Ifugao Academy was our close friend and fellow member of the local church. During our second year in Lubuagan I gave birth to our only daughter ALMA (AliceMatias) on July 29, 1962. She was the answer of our prayer to have a daughter because we already have five boys. In fact the name had been long planned after the birth of David hoping that the third would be a girl. I suffered for her coming into this world. For a month before her birth I started feeling pre-labor pain and on Friday evening of July 27 I started laboring the whole day and the whole night of Saturday. Mrs. Miller and a male Nurse Mr. Arangca attended to me. They stayed with us the whole night of Saturday, 28 and at about five at dawn of Sunday 29 I was brought to the hospital. At six 0clock my Alma finally came out ending my labor pain to unquestionable joy. 0ne month after my delivery I suffered severe stomach pain again. And so Rev. and Mrs. Miller took me to Tabuk and I was operated on appendicitis by Dr. Gacuya including my ligation. I recovered fast and so we continued our childrens ministry and home visitation. By this time my husband included Dangtalan as an outreach of Lubuagan so he went to Dangtalan two Sundays a month. In due time the Dangtalan congregation put a wooden chapel and the congregation was organized into a regular local church so Pastor had two local churches to serve in addition to his teaching in the Kalinga Academy. NOT MY WILL BUT GODS WILL BE DONE Through the initiative of Mrs. Miller I was convinced by her to enroll at the St. Teresita College of the Roman Catholic in Lubuagan. I was encouraged to take up education in order to be of greater help to the local church ministry. I told her we have no money to pay for tuition and other fees, but she promised to take care of the school expenses. I presented this offer to my husband and he agreed for me to go to college. He wrote Ifugao Academy for my transcript of record and it arrived on time for my enrollment. I was required to take an entrance examination to which I passed. I then waited for the enrollment. During the Annual Conference session held at Lantap Bagabag, Nueva Viscaya in 1963 Pastor was nominated by election as the next Conference Moderator. The following month of May, 1963 a telegram arrived from

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Manila confirming the appointment of my husband as Conference Moderator. His becoming Conference Moderator ended the plan for my college education. 0n June 8,1963 we have to move again from Lubuagan to Bontoc. My husband became the first native mountaineer to become Conference Moderator. While in Bontoc I realized that my failure to pursue education in college was Gods will. It was Gods will that prevailed. The concept of a Team Ministry between the Pastor and his wife which my husband advocated would not be put into practice if both of us are working in different ways, and so as our confession of faith is always: Let Thy will be done. BONTOC AND THE CONFERENCE MINISTRY When we move to Bontoc, we stayed at Loc-ong in the Highland Mission Conference House. Going back to the result of the Annual Conference session at Lantap, Bagabag, Nueva Viscaya my husband told me that he won the nomination by election by six votes over Rev. Buenaventura Munda Sr. but despite the winning he gave way to the older man because of the insistence of Bishop Fonceca to give chance to Munda but he was over ruled so the two names were submitted to the General Assemblys Executive Committee to make the final decision. When the telegram of congratulation arrived in May, 1963 I was convinced that it was the will of God that we have to move again to a greater field of ministry and service. The Highland Mission Conference was composed of Benguet including Baguio city, Ifugao, Bontoc, now Mountain Province and Kalinga except Apayao. The neighborhood was peaceful and near some rice terraces along the Chico river. When we arrived in the Conference House, it was Rev. Jovencio Mariano, the Conference Secretary-treasurer and his family who received us. The Moderator left the Conference right after the Annual session at Lantap. We occupied the second floor of the house which was spacious but only two rooms and a wide sala. The children were enrolled at All Saints Mission Elementary school of the Anglican Church. I was glad that there was this Christian school where my children had a good educational foundation. The elementary school was up to grade VII but those who finished grade VI can qualify for high school. Jonathan who finished grade VI was sent to Ifugao Academy in Kiangan so he did not have elementary graduation. David our second son graduated at the Mayoyao Central School in 1968 when we went home before the end of the term of my husband as Conference Moderator. 0ur first three months in Bontoc was a period of adjustment and adaptation to the hot climate. 0ur children complained of the warm environment but they got adjusted later on. In Bontoc we found some Mayoyao families who were employed in the government and in private business, There were Mr. & Mrs. Rufino Chungalao Sr. Division Superintendent, Mr. & Mrs. Leonardo Abbugao, Mr. & Mrs. Leonardo Igadna and more. The Court of First Instance for the Mountain Province was in Bontoc so that all criminal and civil cases from Mayoyao were tried there. The Conference house was always full of Mayoyao people who had cases to be tried in the CFI almost every week. Friends and church members from Kalinga who were going to Baguio or returning home also lodged in the Conference house so we have people to feed and house every week. A Dangwa mini bus coming from Mayoyao in many instances brought its passengers to the Conference house. While it was hard at times especially what to prepare for meals of many people, I got used to this situation since I got married and lived in a Parsonage where we had visitors every week including Sundays. It was to me a joy to be with

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people that come and go. While it is true that some of the people brought some chupas of rice but viand had to be provided, fuel for cooking and other needs in the kitchen. Some people who observed the continued presence of visitors or lodgers including some visitors themselves wondered how I was able to feed and house them and I told these people that God the merciful Father is the provider. 0ne time Mrs. Adela C. Bongayon stopped and stayed with us on her way home from Baguio commented: You are becoming rich with all these visitors and lodgers! I wonder how you can cope up with your financial need? I told her that God had always been loving and caring and I feel that this is a part of our ministry to people. Dedication to the service of God is rewarding. At that time my husband Moderator was receiving only two hundred fifty pesos (Php 250.00) a month. I did my best to play my role as a Moderators wife especially that he was the first native Ifugao to become Conference Moderator of the Highland Mission Conference. 0ne time we had visitors from Mayoyao, Mr. & Mrs. Corazon and Rufino Montinig, Mr. & Mrs. Josephine and Vicente Bilagot, Mr. Miguel Hagiling and three others when the central business district of Bontoc central was burned We were all scared because the Conference house is near the burning area. Several buildings on the other side of the road were burned. 0ur visitors were ready to help us evacuate from the house in case the fire reach our place. Fortunately the fire did not crossover to the other side of the road so we were saved. A LOVING AND MERCIFUL GOD IN OUR EXPERIENCE In the Highland Mission Conference, the term of a Moderator was two years with one reappointment making it four years in all. But this was not the case with my husband because he was given a third term so he served for six years. When Pastor was informed that he was given a third term, we decided to move to Mayoyao on my suggestion. The plan was for me and the children to stay in Mayoyao so they could enroll at the Mayoyao Central School and finish their elementary while their father stay in the Mission house but he can commute from Bontoc to Mayoyao and back from time to time when he was not visiting local churches, conducting conferences and attending meetings in Manila. 0ur going to Mayoyao would also enable the children to become acquainted with their cousins, relatives and grandparents. We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of our going to Mayoyao and my concern was the elementary education of the children. My question was, what if my husband after finishing his term is assigned to a remote local church? It would be disadvantageous to my children to go to school in a barrio where they will not be given a better education. This was my concern the welfare of our children. When Rev. & Mrs. Gipes, an American missionary couple, learned of our plan they visited us in Bontoc and I believed God sent them to dissuade us from going with our plan to go home. Mrs. Gipes talked to me for several hours and she was direct in her advice that it was not good to have a separate family especially being a Ministers family. She gave convincing argument against our plan but we moved to Mayoyao just the same before the opening of the school year 1967. We stayed in a house owned by my husbands cousin, Mr. & Mrs. Dominga and Rodolfo Juguiad at the edge of the Municpal ground. We transferred our foreign breed piggery from Bontoc and I opened a small sarisari store. After some months we transferred to the house of my cousin Gaspar Ponchinlan because that was vacant since they were living in Manila.

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When we went to clean the house and the surrounding, I noticed a leakage from the roof and the dripping water was falling on the table. When my husband was stranded in Mayoyao and could not attend a meeting in Manila due to the closure of the road by a slide due to a powerful typhoon. 0ne afternoon Pastor went up to the ceiling to fix the leaking roof. The plywood ceiling gave way and he fell down with his buttock landing first on the floor. He was alone and no one gave him immediate assistance. Fortunately my uncle Ewwi was passing by and heard moaning inside the house so he entered and saw my husband excruciating in pain. He called for help so Pastor was brought to where we stayed. My husband was in pain and immovable for three weeks. Local bone fracture experts were called Techamon and Banayan but they were not of help. I sent a telegram to Manila that Pastor could not attend the meeting because he had an accidental fall. Then we received a telegram from Dr. Enrique Sobrepena, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines informing that a mercy flight helicopter was coming to take Pastor to Manila for hospitalization. My husband declined the offer because I do not know where to stay in Manila while my husband will be in the hospital. 0ne thing more I could not leave the children by themselves alone. In answer to the decline of the helicopter offer, a Piper plane of the Missionary Aviation Fellowship flew to Mayoyao and dropped a carton of Plaster of Paris bondage on the Central School ground at 0nagol. This attracted the attention of the public so that the accident that happened to my husband became known in town. Dr. Baluga Jr. who was with the Mayoyao Community Hospital applied the plaster cast to the body from the chest to the waist line to hold the fractured second lumbar vertebrae from getting worse. 0ne afternoon at 2:00 P.M. on the second week after the accident Rev. Robert Gipes suddenly appeared in Mayoyao with his veteran Jeep. The road from Banaue to Mayoyao was closed due to slides caused by a typhoon but he managed to get to Mayoyao. He told me to prepare to leave for Banaue bccause he contacted the Piper plane to take us from Banaue to Baguio. That same afternoon we left Mayoyao for Banaue arriving at dark late evening. Pastor was laid down on an improvised stretcher inside the Jeep while I sat beside Rev. Gipes the driver. In Banaue we stayed in the Baptist Mission Clinic for the night. Early the following morning we were brought to the Banaue airstrip where the plane was waiting for us. There was another patient aside from my husband so the pilot carried two patients for Baguo. It took us only 25 minutes from Banaue to Loakan Airport in Baguio. Mrs. Gipes was waiting for us and brought us to the Pines Doctors Hospital where a fractured bone specialist was a resident Physician. Rev. Gipes arrived in Baguio the following day passing via Bontoc to the Mountain Trail to Baguio. We stayed in the hospital for two weeks before we transferred to the Gipes cottage at Bokawkan Road. Rev. & Mrs. Gipes paid all the hospital bills as well as providing our daily subsistence while Pastor was recuperating. When Miss Ruth Rauch an American missionary Nurse came and stayed in one of the cottages we transferred to her cottage under her care. When Pastor had fairly recovered after two weeks at Bokawkan, Rev. Gipe brought us back to Bontoc and from Bontoc we returned to Mayoyao for the full recovery of my husband. I knew all along that we could not repay all what the Amerian missionaries had done to help us and our family and so may the loving God we served give them the eternal reward of their services. While in Mayoyao I began to ponder in

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my mind: did God disciplined us for not heeding to the advice of Mrs Gipe. I realized that God sent the Gipes to dissuade us from going on our plan but we did not listen. As I think deeper in prayer I realized that we have disobeyed God and so this crisis we went through was a reminder that God made plans already for us which I only understood later on when we were already in Baguio city. It was during this serious crisis we went through especially my beloved husband that our faith and commitment to God was truly tested. My husbands uncle a pagan priest (mompfuni) came the following day of the accident and insisted that we perform a welfare sacrifice called hongnga by butchering animals even chickens but he will do the traditional rituals of the animistic religion. I immediately opposed this idea so we went into a heated argument and I asserted my right as the wife and should be respected in my decision. When I told our uncle that we have no pigs and chicken he assured me that he will be responsible. He was adamant and I was also adamant and in anger I flared up and told him to go home. 0ur sisters and other relatives present just kept silent and thank God the plan of our uncle did not succeed. My faith and dedication to God remained steadfast after this temptation. HOW WE CAME TO BAGUIO CITY Coming to Baguio City never occurred in our life plan because we were very much aware of our financial situation, but we never gave up hope for the education of our children. By this time we have five boys and our only Alma. In God we trust and in God we committed our petition because we believed that God alone can answer our fervent prayers. The last Annual Conference Session conducted by my Moderator-husband was in March, 1969 held at the Baguio Colleges Foundation High School campus at Hamada subdivision. This was after six years of fruitful service and leadership in Highland Mission Conference. On this joint Annual Conference Session wth the North Central Luzon Conference, I was late in arriving because I came from Mayoyao. My husband already left the Conference house at Bontoc when I reached there from Mayoyao. When I arrived at Campo Filipino the conference session was going on. I was talking to Mrs. Fedelina Liquit when a BCF student came looking for Mrs. Alice Angiwan and I told her that I am Mrs. Angiwan. She told me to stay in the house of Dr. Libertad D. Quetulio and I thought that my husband was there. I told the lady that I will go there after supper but she said I will have supper with Dr. Quetulio. I told my husband about the invitation but he said he was not invited and told me to go if I was invited. And so when the lady came to fetch me I went with her to the house of Dr. Quetulio. When we entered the front gate leading to the house I saw Madame Quetulio standing at the door. I greeted her and she ushered me inside her beautiful house and while we were talking Bishop 0nofre G. Fonceca came out from his room and I shook hands with the Bishop. He was the only visitor of Dr. Quetulio. After supper the host showed me the C.R. and brought me to her room and told me that I will sleep with her in her bed. 0 what a privilege for poor Alice to sleep on the bed of one of the owners of Baguio Colleges Foundation! I was tired due to my long trip to Baguio from Mayoyao so I slept soundly that I did not notice when Dr. Quetulio came in and slept beside me. Her bed was big and her room was spacious. When I woke up at around 2:00 0clock in the morning the fat lady was soundly asleep and snoring. I silently went to the C.R. and when I went back to bed I could not sleep and I kept thinking why she only invited me to her house and did not

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include my husband. Did she had any misunderstanding with my husband or something she did not like during the six years of his leadership in the Conference especially when she was president of the Conference Christian Womens Association. I found out the reason why I was invited alone when after breakfast the following morning, Bishop Fonceca brought out the news of what the two had planned for us. Perhaps Bishop Fonceca solicited the help of Dr. Quetulio regarding my husbands next assignment. I was aware that my husband and the Bishop had differences and disagreement regarding policies and administration of the Conference and so they decided not to include him in the discussion of their plans for us. I supposed they knew that I as the wife is in a better position to talk to my husband so we can fully see the advantages of their plan. I was then told that my huaband and myself to make the final decision as early as possible. The Bishop opened the subject by calling my attention: Alice, we called for you alone here because we wanted to tell you an important matter that I and Dr. Quertulio discussed, a plan for your husband and family. This is his last year as Conference Moderator and you know that our policy in the UCCP is that after the Moderator finished his term he will return to be assigned to a local church. We wanted you and Matias with your family to come here in Baguio so that your husband will continue his studies at the BCF. Dr. Quetulio is willing to take care of his school obligations. This is for your own good and advantageous to your children to all go to BCF from elementary to high school until college. I did not answer immediately and the Bishop continued giving pointers and encouragement. He seemed to be reading what was revolving my mind and again said: I know what you are thinking and it must be your daily subsistence here in Baguio but while Matias is going to school, Mrs. Quetulio will propose to the Church Council of the UCCP, Baguio for him to be Associate Minister to Rev. Rizalino Subido. She can also let you work with the Nursery-kindergarten school. This will help you a lot and God will look after you and provide the rest of your needs so keep up your faith in God, the provider of everything to his servants.

Mrs. Quetulio did not say anything because I think they have considered everything regarding our problems and needs in Baguio. The Bishop appreciated my husbands leadership and the way he handled the Conference program implementation. Bishop Fonceca continued his encouragement and said: I did not want Matias to return to a local church. I wanted him to finish an education degree so he can be better prepared to handle church education program. He can do much better after finishing his college schooling and serve the Highland Mission Conference especially in the Christian education program. This will be his opportunity to train other church workers especially lay Preachers I thank Bishop Fonceca and Dr. Quetulio so much for their deep concern to us which I never expected to happen. Dr. Quetulio assured me that Matias and the children will be free in their school tuition and other fees if they go to school at Baguio Colleges Foundation so what more can I ask? I was very happy inside me and I felt as if the Holy Spirit was lifting me from my chair. What will my husband say or how will he react if I tell him the good news. I told the Bishop and Dr. Quetulio that this is the best gift the

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two of you are giving to us in the family. I realized that this was the reason why my huaband was not also invited to stay with me in Quetulios house. I then told them that Matias will write them as soon as we decide on this precious offer. When we went back to Bontoc after the conference, Pastor was the first to ask me about my stay in the house of Dr. Quetulio. I told him my privilege of not only staying in her house but also sleeping with her on her bed. What a lucky Alice! I joked my husband and I told him that I had a secret but I can only tell him after he is released from the Conference. He insisted that I tell him the secret so I embraced him and told him that we pray first. After the prayer I poured out all the plans that Bishop Fonceca and Dr. Quetulio planned for us. 0f course Mat was excited about the good news and so I told him to write the Bishop and Dr. Quetulio a letter of thanks and appreciation for their unmerited offer for us. To me this was an answered prayer on how we would be able to send our childen to high school and to college. Their education is the ultimate and lasting inheritance we can give them. God is truly a loving and merciful Father who blessed us in the family beyond our expectation. Time was getting short and the enrollment period was approaching so we have to prepare for our moving to Baguio City. We told our children that we will be living in Baguio for sometime and we do not know what will come next. Before we left Mayoyao we had the thanksgiving and fellowship with our parents, brothers and sisters and other relatives. We butchered the mother pig from our piggery and two of our grown turkeys. It was at this time when we informed our parents and relatives of our moving to Baguio City. There was mixed reactions from them and so we told them of the assignment of Pastor to the UCCP of Baguio City. We entrusted to our nephew John our little cottage and some goods from the sari-sari store and requested him to collect the unpaid bills from the store by some people in the community. We also left four dogs and four turkeys to John. When we were ready to move my cousin Jose Angiwan Bimmangon drove us to Bontoc on the UCCP operated hospital ambulance. Pastor informed our uncle Ernesto Panyag of our moving to Baguio but we do not know where to stay. We stayed in Bontoc for a few days for Matias to prepare for the turnover of responsibilities to the incoming Conference Moderator, Rev. Jovencio Mariano. After the simple turnover ceremony we took the Dangwa bus from Bontoc to Baguio with our pieces of baggage and my sewing machine. While in Baguio we stayed in a vacant little cottage owned by our uncle Ernesto and near his own house. He has two daughters who were very young, Yohana and Yolanda. It was fortunate that we have an uncle in the city who was very helpful and concern about our accommodation and living in the city having come from the rural areas. This is another blessing to us being a stranger in city life. CITY LIFE AND ITS CHALLENGE From rural life which was our upbringing and orientation, we moved to Baguio city in July, 1969. We found that city life is different in many ways from the rural life we were used to live. In the city one had to have a stable job and steady income to cope up with the demands of city life. It was a challenge to try the costly living in Baguio city and I shudder to think of our future but God had been always my fortress and source of strength. The following day of our arrival in Baguio that was July 8,1969 my husband went to BCF to see Dr. Quetulio about his enrollment while I enrolled Philip, Matias Jr., Joel and Alma at the Quezon Elementary School , a walking distance from where we stayed at Government Center. Jonathan and David enrolled at the BCF high school at

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Session road. It was good we lived in a place that was just a walking distance to BCF and to the UCCP Church where my husband was made the Associate Pastor to Rev. Rizalino Subido, the Senior Minister. This solved the problem of transportation fares every day. Many of our neighbors were from Banaue and the Chungalaos already have their house there so I felt like living in Ifugao. The following day after his enrollment in BCF, Pastor went to report to Rev. Subido in the UCCP church and was taken in to start his duties and responsibilities. I did not have any work to do even as I tried to look for even any menial job. I was recommended by Mrs. Sally Laudencia to work in the house of the blind but I found that it was not the place for me. In June, 1970 I was taken as Teacher-aide in the Nursery-Kindergarten School of the UCCP of Baguio where Pastor was also the Associate Minister. I was taken through the recommendation of Dr. Quetulio who was a member of the Church Council at that time. My job was to prepare snacks for the kindergarten pupils, wash dishes,clean the kitchen and help watch for the children during their recess and free time until parents fetch them in the afternoon. Our first three years in Baguio City was the hardest life we went through. My husband was receiving two hundred pesos from the church and I was receiving fifty pesos fron the Nursery-Kindergarten school of the church starting in 1970. It was goodl we brought some rice from Mayoyao which hasted for more than two months. We were not paying house rental because the small cottage where we stayed was owned by our uncle Panyag, and no electric bill to pay because we were using our pressure lamp we brought with us. 0ur life situation was very difficult with only two hundred fifty pesos a month with six children and in 1970 three nieces, Carmen, Helan and Esther were added to us . They came to try their chance to study in Baguio. My children after explaining to them our economic situation understood so they never complained about having no money to spend in school. We had been encouraging our children to do their best in school so that when they finish college and have a good job they can buy and eat what they want. We did our best to inculcate in their young lives the importance of faith and commitment to God in Jesus Christ and the value of right Christian living. We always remind them to be honest and truthful because God do not like children who are liars and dishonest. I loved my family and I am very thankful that the children behaved very well and also understanding especially when they are already grown up. We tried to show the children that their education is the only means for them to live a better life in the future. Their only asset for better living is their heads and hands because we have nothing materially to give them as inheritance. As I look back on the twenty years of our life at Government Center which was a life of struggle and sacrifice it seemed like a dream. It was unbelievable that we were able to survive the harshness and bitterness of these years, but we did overcame with the grace and mercy of a loving God. But these twenty years of struggle was also rewarded when our children started finishing their college education, all at Baguio Colleges Foundation except Philip and Joel who had their college education at the Mountain State Agricultural College at La Trinidad Benguet. In BCF father and children enjoyed the privilege of educational scholarship through Dr. Libertad D. Quetulio and I always thank God for using her to bless us in the family. Added to these was the blessing of government scholarship given through then Congressman Gualberto Lumauig. David in Civil Engineering, Matias Angiwan Jr. in AB to Law and Joel in Agricultural Engineering.

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These undeserved blessings were showered upon my family by the grace and mercy of God The government scholarship of my three boys included monthly allowance in cash which helped us very much during that time of struggle and difficulty. In 1972 my husband was taken as a faculty member of the College of Education of Baguio Colleges Foundation was another blessing. I can count the blessings and I can see what God had done for us. Still another blessing which to me is also important was the good health of my children. Except minor cases of colds, measles and some toothaches, the children did not suffer any serious illness needing hospitalization. In 1971 due to the over crowed space we were living in, we transferred to a house of the Itliongs and rented two rooms and one kitchen. By that time I distributed our three nieces to different church family members to be working students. Esther went to Mr. & Mrs. Hipolito Calica, Helen went to Mr. & Mrs. Ariz Sr. and Carmen went to Mr. & Mrs Duque. There was one time when we did not have rice to cook for supper and I was thinking of where to borrow money to buy rice. I walked from the church where I was working going home to Government Center. Near the Police Station behind the Convention Center I saw a folded new paper money and when I picked it up it was a three pieces of two pesos each. I looked around but nobody was going ahead of me. I sat down on the first step going down our rented house and waited if anybody comes looking for the money but there was none so I looked up to God in prayer and said, Lord are you the one..? That saved us from missing a meal that evening and I thank God for the continueing blessing. For the years we were at Government Center I had been asking God how long are we going to be in this difficult living? I complained to God and prayed deep in my heart. If the Lord give us even a little portion of His beautiful creation in Baguio ciry even just enough to put up a small shelter we can claim our own. I could not help shading tears at times when I prayed to express my petition to my Lord and because I felt it a need and I am sure God knows our need for a house of our own far away from the land of our birth. I thank God in all humility for answering my prayer I was taken in the UCCP, Baguio city Nursery-Kindergarten School as Teacher-aid in June 1970 through the recommendation of Dr. Quetulio who was a member ot the Church Council. My companions who were employed the same year were Betty Guilambo, and Lorla Lorenzana. There was class only in the morning but after three years the enrollment increased so there was classes in the morning and in the afternoon. I was already acquainted with most of the teachers because as a Pators wife I tried to know them all as church members. I meet them during Sundays. I enjoyed my work preparing the snacks of the children and I was happy because I work with a church school. I loved the children I was feeding and developed close contact with the parents. The pupils came from different church denominations including Roman Catholic children. My working with the UCCP Nursery-Kindergarten School in the city taught me many things. It helps me much in my relationship with co-workers in the local church and with many people through the parents of the school children. I learned much in my experience in honest work and keeping close to the church program like Sunday and DVBS teaching which contributed to my continuing spiritual growth. It was a part of our work in the Nursery-Kindergarten School to be involved in the teaching program of the church as well as visitation and evangelism. In my work in the NK School I developed closeness to the children who used to call me manang Alice because they heard the

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teachers addressing me manang Alice. Some of my grand children graduated from the UCCP NK School which offered up-to-date basic preparatory training for elementary education. The three children of our son David and wife Mancita graduated from the school. Leah and Rachel graduated as outstanding pupils. All the children of Matias Angiwan Jr. and wife Evelyn graduated from the NK School and Zipporah the eldest graduated as the most outstanding pupil. LEADERSHIP IN THE HIGHLAND CONFERENCE CWA While I was still with the UCCP, Baguio NK School, I was elected president of the Highland Conference Christian Womens Association during the CWA convention held at Lamut Ifuago in 1987. I was hesitant to accept the responsibility because I was aware of my time limitation due to my work in the NK School. I would not be able to discharge the duties and responsibilities of a president of the womens organization especially in visiting the local churches and attending meetings and seminars in the North-Luzon Jurisdiction. At any rate I was prevailed to accept the challenge. I then took this an opportunity to apply what I learned from seminars on leadership and program implementation of the church. I had been praying that God may show me the way and guide me in leading the Conference CWA despite my limitations. I was president for five years and I learned many things as I tried to lead the women from the Highland Conference down to the local churches. A new and expanded program of action was approved for implementation in accordance with the mission and vision of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines through Highland Conference. With my active participation I was able to see other places and conferences in the North-Luzon Jurisdiction of the Church. My association with other women leaders of the church from the Jurisdiction to the national womens leadership was educational to me and I thank God for this privilege given me. In my association with other women leaders from the different conferences of the Jurisdiction I found that the Highland Conference CWA was not behind in its program and leadership and reporting during Jurisdictional meetings. My involvement in the life and mission of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines through the Jurisdiction and the Conference down to the local churches were among the memorable experiences I treasured as the wife of a dedicated Minister of God. To be involved in a wider area of responsibility in the Church is a joy and fulfilling for a Pastors wife and so to me church work is always a challenge and never a tiring job. It was rather a means of progressive growth in spiritual and educational life. Before I was elected president of the CWA I was president of the Ministers Wives Fellowship of the Highland Conference. This is a new organization which aim to develop leadership among the wives of the Ministers of the Conference. Most of the Lay Preachers wives in the conference are ordinary farmers especially in Benguet. Very few of them finished even primary education. In the program of action the stress was on building self-confidence and commitment to the Lord and the local church. Training seminars were conducted in the Conference and in the Parish level and this contributed much to the development of local church leaders among the ministers wives in support of their husbands ministry. THE LOVING GOD IS PROVIDER OF EVEYTHING In the teachings of Jesus Christ on the Mount, he said: Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. This statement taught me that without seeking what we need we can not find it and without knocking on the door of heaven in prayer it can not

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be opened for us and without asking the Lord in prayer we can not get what we need in life. This is true in my own lifes experiences throughout our lifes journey. We started our married life with nothing materially speaking. But our faith and confidence and commitment to God the Provider of everything brought us to where we are now, at Irisan and whatever we are now in our life. 0f course we have do our part, though the way maybe rough and thorny and at times stormy but the promise of God never failed. Sometime in 1983, Philip our third son joined some neighbors who thought of looking for an area in Baguio where to squat on. They went below Cypress point and stake their claim on an area we thought will be ours. I hired some boys to clean a portion I thought was rice paddies and spending a thousand pesos for this purpose I also hired some women to plant camote vines and while we were cleaning some of the members of the group suggested that we organize ourselves so that we will have a better representation with the Baguio City government when necessary. It was decided that the name of the organization is Fatima Neighborhood Association of landless residence of Baguio City. A Constitution and By-laws was drafted and approved and the Association was registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission as required by law. The first president of the Association was Mr. Antonio Chog-ap from Banaue Ifugao and residing at Government Center, Baguio City. It was during his term that a certain Mr. & Mrs. Ligos sold Lot I at Irisan to the Fatima Neighhorhood Association. When I was elected the second president of the Association it was decided that the Lot be divided and distributed to the members. I actually paid Mrs. Ligos Five hundred pesos (Php 500.00) for two lots of 250 square meters each, and this is where we are now. A condition was also approved that members given lots must start introducing improvement right away. My immediate problem is where to get the money to spend for the improvement of the lots given to me. God again showed me the way. At that time of immediate need, my husband was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Cordillera Regional Consultative Commission to draft an organic law for the proposed Cordillera Automous Region. His first allowance and per diem of Twenty Thousand pesos was used for the excavation and leveling of the ground where our own houses are now standing. Alma our daughter was appointed the private secretary of her father in the Commisson and she saved her salary and was able to put up her own house with the help of her brother David. While my husbnd was going around the provinces with his fellow Commissioners consulting the people on the proposed organic act for the Cordillera Automouns Region, I was also busy with our Fatima Neighborhood Association. From 1987 to 1989 I came to Irisan every day in the afternoon after my work in the NK School and on Saturdays to see the improvement going on. Then my husband with the help of some Mayoyao students put up a hallow block walled two room house and on November 25, 1989, my husband and I moved to Irisan in our unfinished but our own house. The children except Jonathan and David followed us later. At Irisan, we can now say, We will go home! From the beginning of our married life, we lived in church parsonages, mission house and renting rooms for twenty years. 0ur children grew up in parsonages, and were born in two provinces. Now that all of them are married and have their own families and children, what more can I say but to thank God, the loving Father and provider of all our needs and blessed us beyond our expectations. To God, the Father, Son and Holy Spitit be the glory, honor,and majesty forever!

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Chapter VI THE HALL OF HUMAN HAPPINES The Lord God said, it is not good for the man to alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.so the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep.Then the Lord God made a woman from the ribe taken out of the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman for she was taken of man. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh (Genesis 2:l8 24) The operation of the natural law in human life is supported by the Scriptures starting with the story of creation in the Bible. The success then of any human endeavor is determined to a large extent on the cooperative and united efforts of man and woman as husband and wife. This holds true in the service of the Lord and His Church. As I faced the challenge of my first year in the local church ministry, I felt alone and lonely at times and nobody to share the burden and the joy of the Christian service. The presence of my brother and two girl cousins did not provide what a wife can do. Dreaming of the future and the challenge of the Church ministry, I saw the lives of some of the Pastors in their ministry a failure. The failures as I see it was partly due to the failures of their wives to do their share in the ministry of the local church. I also learned and in fact actually experienced some local church members who only saw the weakness and sins of their Pastor, and failed to do their share in the full support of the local church ministry.But I have already committed my life and my future to the Lord, to serve the Lord God and the Church, and there is no turning back. Based on my observation and experiences, it dawned on me that I needed a lifepartner in the ministry, not just a wife and a family but devoted to the service of the Lord and the Church. It is not good for a man to be alone according to the God of creation and how to find a suitable partner and wife was the problem, but I just committed this problem to the Lord for guidance and enlightenment. During the summer vacation of 1952, the Mayoyao high school students from Ifugao Academy came home. They were volunteers for the Daily Vacation Bible School assigned to teach in Mayoyao. 0ne of them was Alice, Emmayya Chawana. She was already a young lady, not anymore the small but sturdy body with browny hair in the elementary grade. She was now in high school and still with a flowing blonde hair. After the orientation I gave the student teachers, I distributed them to their respective places of assignment. Among the barrios in the Parish were: Guinihon, Nalbu, Mapagwoy, Poblacion, Banhal, Balangbang , Chaja and Ligwoj. A male horse was brought in from Kiangan for use as beast of burden in our program of evangelism and Christian education in the barrios. I used the horse to carry the food supplies and other needs of the DVBS teachers being the over-all supervisor of the program. It was my chance to observe the girls in action; their performance and behavior as well as their attitude to the service of the Lord in the local church. With proper observation and prayer I thought it was time to make a serious move in search for a life-partner in the family and in the ministry of the church. I noted that Emmayya was the most active and 80

more dedicated among the girls. In the 1951 summer DVBS I concentrated in making it sure that the classes succeeded so as to avoid discouragement among the student teachers. 0ne night in the summer of May, 1952 after the closing of the DVBS, some of the young people came to the Parsonage to play checker and domino games. 0ne of the girls was my hope for the future. After the games and the devotional service, I accompanied her to their sleeping place. 0n our way I made a bold move. I expressed my love to her and renewed my proposal for a future marriage after finishing our studies. In the summer of 1951 there was no clear response but no rejectio It had been my ardent prayer that God should give me one who is sympathetic, understanding and dedicated to the calling of which I was called the ministry of God through the church. I was convinced that Alice was the most suited to meet my dream of one who can unquestionably share with me the burden and challenge of the church ministry. She was different from the other girls in my life because I easily recognized her even if she was with groups or at a far distance. I was so attracted to her blonde hair that years later when we came to Baguio I complained frustratedly when she had her hair cut short. The traditional Amerian view of the wife behind the throne do not fit into my idealism of a wife. I asked the Lord to give me one who is not behind but to be side-by-side with me in the service of the Lord and the people, so that together we carry on the task of service wherever we are called in the Highland Conference, sink or swim together. In response to my second move, she tacitly accepted but with some conditions and priority was her studies which I agreed in 1951. Years later proved that my idealism on the church ministry as a Team work between the Pastor and his wife, be her a Deaconess or just an ordinary woman was and is correct and true in our team ministry. A MOTHERS QUESTION On the second Sunday of March, 1952, I went up to visit my parents at 0rpuwan in the afternoon. In the course of a lively conversation, an unexpected incident happened. My mother confronted me why I do not tell them what we are doing every Sunday. According to her they felt embarrassed when they saw many people going to the church but they (my parents) were not there also. I was caught unprepared to give the proper answer so I just requested them to be in the church the following Sunday, and see for themselves what was being done. I realized that I had a misapprehension of the effect of my becoming a Pastor to the family clan. I came from a family of strong believers in the animistic religion. My uncle Lenachan was a native priest (Mompfuni) and my grandfather by affinity is a noted shaman and the key informant of Fr. Lambrecht in his anthropological study on Mayoyao culture. I thought that in order to avoid religious controversy in the family which might adversely affect my Pastoral ministry, was to keep silent on religious matter in the family clan. Anyway, the next Sunday by parents were there in the church and from that time on they attended Sunday services and Sunday school classes regularly. In July of the same year my parents, sisters and brothers-in-law and several people were baptized into the church by Rev. Frank E. Robinson, the American Missionary assigned to Ifugao. The question of my beloved mother seemes to be the answer of my constant prayers to the Lord to open the hearts and minds of my parents and relatives. My sisters and their families started going to church earlier. This development prompted me to take over the Sunday school class for both the young people and adults combined together. I emphasized the basic teachings of the Bible on sin, salvation, baptism, church

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membership, the Christian life and faith in God. I was hard up having finished only first year in the College of Theology of La Union Christian College, but I did my best in teaching in the Mayoyao dialect. When the harvest season was about to commence, my mother asked me to go with them after the service. That was the third Sunday of May, 1952, and while at home my mother told me that she and my father decided not to follow the native religious practice during the harvest and instead for me to be responsible for the religious requirement of the harvest. My uncle Lenachan was bitter when he knew of the decision of his sister, my mother not to follow him anymore. At any rate my mother was determined to stop animal sacrifices of the old animistic faith. The following Sunday, a congregational meeting was held in place of the Sunday school. The issue was whether the members should stop the traditional religious practices during the harvest season or not. The outspoken old man Paluwan stood and declared that he will lead in the barrio of Mapagwoy not to follow the old way, but he also asked what should be done. Another man from Banhal echoed Paluwans declaration and so majority of the members present agreed to stop the animistic belief and practices during the harvest. Now I was confronted with what to do in place of the old rites and ceremonies. I did not learn anything related to the problem in my one year theological study. At any rate I accepted the challenge to take the place of the Mompfuni. Using all I knew in resourcefulness and practicality, I decided to adopt the principle of substitution. The problem was personnel or leaders to attend to several families who usually harvest at the same time. I went to the office of the Mayor, Alfredo Panitio and borrowed a typewriter. I typed several copies of a prepared order of thanksgiving service. Here again my taking typing while in high school came into play. I called a meeting of the studens from Ifugao Academy who were church members and instructed them to lead the services in their respective barrios. Thanksgiving and harvest festival hymns were type written, prayers and Scripture passages were type written so what the leaders did was to read from the prepared order of worship. Members in the barrios were requested to participate especially in the singing. About half if not more of the family members in the barrios of Mapagwoy and Banhal followed the Christian way during that beginning of the cultural and religious reformation. The prophets of doom including my uncle Lenachan predicted that a calamity of great proportion and harvest failures the following year may happen. Thank God nothing happened but the success of the reform. The year 1951 52 started the fastest religious, social and cultural reformation if not revolution in central Mayoyao. Another problem arose during the harvest and that was whether to mix vegetables with the chickens or pigg butchered for the harvesters or not. I encouraged the people to mix vegetables with the butchered chickens and pigs, and no other rituals but the prepared thanksgiving services. In the following harvest season of 1953 to 1955 the reformation was almost complete with the continuing cooperation of the Spiritistas, the United Church of Christ, and the Roman Catholic Church. BACK TO THE SEMINARY In April, 1952 I was informed that I will go back to school at the Union Theological Seminary in Manila by June the opening of the school year. This was the recommendation of my supervisor, Rev. Frank Robinson and was approved by the Evangelical United Brethren Board of Mission, and indorsed by the North Central Luzon

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Conference. This surprised me because the policy of the Conference with regard to students of the College of Theology of La Union Christian College was to finish two years before going to UTS or Silliman Univesity, Divinity School. I was made the exception to the policy due to the strong recommendation of the American Missionary assigned to Ifugao. With my one year Pastoral experience in the local church, I saw the need for proper and adequate theological preparation and this opportunity was opened to me to really prepare for greater service. I left Mayoyao for Manila on June 6, 1952 and on my way I passed by the Ifugao Academy to say hello and goodbye to my inspiration Ling. We talked on matters concerning our studies and future plans. For purposes of communication she requested that I used Ling short of darling as her secret name but it was discovered by her classmates from Mayoyao. This was discovered through a student mail carrier of the school. When I left the following morning she handed me a crackers box. I found on the way that it was a well prepared lunch for me and I thank her very much. That to me was enough assurance of her commitment to me. My second year theological education and first year in Manila was a real test of courage, endurance and patience. Coming from a silent small community and thrushed into the heart of a noisy, hot, and crowded environment as Manila was almost an ordeal. It was true I was conditioned with the hot climate of San Fernando, La Union, but I was re-adjusted again to my silent and rustic home town. Aside from the cultural shock I was going through was the noicy environment and unbearable summer heat. I could hardly sleep at night because of the continuing noise from vehicular transportation and other machine noise. The Boys dormitory where we stayed was right along Taft Avenue, the main artery of Manila. Despite all of these problems I was able to finish the school year with no failing grades. My constant inspiration was my weekly communication with my Ling and the thought that I will soon be able to gain my Batchelor of Theology degree. Before the end of June I received a letter of notice of the approval of my full scholarship with book allowance, free board and lodging and a monthly allowance of twenty-five pesos. This came from the EUB Mission Board in the United States. That was a big blessing that assured me to finish my four year course in Theology. This assured scholarship confirmed my conviction that God will sustain me. I stayed in the Rader-Rodgers Hall Boys dormitory with two fellow EUB scholars, Daniel Nebres and Johny or Juan Marigza of Aringay La, Union. The education at the Union Theological Seminary was much tougher than my experience at La Union Christian College, College of Theology. At UTS every subject required a term paper with deadline for submission and the classroom activities mostly lectures and interrogative questioning was taxing. The empasis was mastery of the subject matter and the more you memorize quotations from noted theologians from America and Europe the better. However, books were complete so that compensated for the difficulty. During class discussions I raised more questions than answering especially on the controversial issue on paganism as against Christianity in our class on Christian Ethics. In September, 1952 I received a letter from my sister Nancy Majagwon with an address of an uncle who left Mayoyao when I was just a lad playing around that I could not recall or remember him. 0n the same day I received the letter, I wrote this uncle informing him that I was in the Seminary at Taft Avenue. The following day, September

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22 this uncle came to the Seminary to see me. I was resting at l:00 P.M. when a room mate Jeremias Calagui came to inform me that I had a lady visitor downstairs. When I went down only a man was there seated on a bench. He looked at me and smiled but I did not talk. It was then that I realized he must be my uncle. I talked in our dialect thinking that if he can not response he must be somebody else. His name was Ernesto Panjag Guminnid, a brother of my mother. He recognized me through my tilted upper front tooth. It was an emotional meeting because that was the first time we saw each other since he left when I was just a boy. In my joy I went with him to Binan Laguna where he lived with his family without informing the Dean of the dormitory, Rev. Aquilino Guerrero. When I returned the following Monday, I was called by the Dean and I was scolded for leaving the dormitory without permission. I had to apologize and explaining to him the circumstances that led to my leaving without thinking of permission. I was told by Danny and Johnny that they almost went to the Police Station to report my disappearance. When I went home during the Christmas vacation I informed my uncle Lenachan that I found his brother. He advised me to inform uncle Panjag to go home to see his brother because he was seriously ill and might die anytime. 0f course this was not true but to my uncle Lenachan this would convince Panjag to go home to Mayoyao. Uncle Ernesto had a family, his wife Victoria was from Laguna. They had a child Elisa about three years old when I found them. When my uncle Ernesto Panjag went home to Mayoyao, the brother convinced him to stay and not to return to Laguna. He stayed and got married in Mayoyao to Carmen Cha-angan so I have two girl cousins Isabel and Ernesta. He also had a daughter in Barlig, Erlinda and two daughers from Banaue, Yohana and Yolanda. It is a long story but suffice it to give this information for I felt that God used me to bring a long lost uncle back home. The daughter Elisa in Laguna got married to Florencio Rama and they have children. THE TEST OF LOVE AND LOYALTY My first year study in Manila aside from the culture shock I went through was also a test of love and loyalty and commitment between me and my Ling. While a poet said that absence makes the heart grow fonder, my experience was that of loneliness and trial. However, our commitment to remain faithful to each other no matter what comes on the way, and our almost weekly written letters served as a source of strength to me. I think Ling felt the same way but I kept encouraging her to put her study a priority above all else. In our letters we included love songs and poems expressing our commitment to each other. At this time we have committed our plan to the Lord with the prayers and hope that His will be done. 0ne of our favorite love song was:
FOREVER MY DARLING Forever, my darling, I love only you, and I will be faithful too! Today and for always, my whole life through This is my promise, my promise to you. You are my happiness, you are my joy, All things are heavenly, I find in one girl 0 my darling, my deary, I love only you! This is my promise, my promise to you!

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The geographical distance separating us brought us to another favorite love song which we adopted to be our own. BELOVED BE FAITHFUL Beloved be faithful, beloved be true While I am away dear, I trust in you; Ill never forget you, thou were far apart; Beloved be faithful, to my faithfull heart. Therell other lips, therell be other arms That would claim you for their own; Tell those other lips, tell those other arms That youre mine and mine alone! Tell those other lips, tell those other arms, That the door is closed to them. Beloved be faithful, beloved be true, Keep writing and praying till our dream comes true. During the Christmas vacation of 1952 I went home passing through Ifugao Academy thinking that we can go home together, but they were still having classes. I had to go home alone although it was refreshing to see each other again. Aware of the possibility that our relationship might be misunderstood which would adversely affect my ministry, we decided that it is time to be opened so when Ling arrived from Kiangan I suggested that our relationship should be known by our parents and brothers and sisters to avoid misunderstanding. And so from 0nagol we went to see her parents but the mother was not home. I laid bare our plans to her father and he just answered: Nangamong aju, nangamong adju! He was busy cleaning some splits of rattan for his basket weaving. I then understood to mean no objection. This revelation had to be done in compliance with cultural requirement to preserve family honor and integrity. We returned to the church and prepared for a prayer service that evening. We went back to school after the Christmas vacation was over, Alice going back to Ifugao Academy while I went back to Manila. This open relationship became to me a constant inspiration and a challenge to do my best to be sure I will finish my theological studies on time or on schedule. While in school I continued working during my free time, the whole day of Saturdays and morning of Wdnesdays. In January, 1953 I decided to have one of my upper front tooth be removed because it was tilted and I felt it my disadvantage. I took advantage of a free dental services offered by the Abesamis Dental Clinic for Seminary students. After my tooth extraction I wrote Dra Macagba that I needed money for my tooth replacement. One week after, she came to see me and gave me a check of Php l20.00 pesos. Again I thank God for this immedieate assistance on time to pay my golden tooth. A week after I had my first golden tooth in my life. This removed my constant psychological embarrassment. The school year,1952 1953 closed in March. During the commencement program I was awarded my Associate in Theology Diploma or title. Danny Nebres and Johnny Marigza were my companions given the Associate title. After the commencement program I left Manila for home in the afternoon. I was back home for my regular one

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year internship as required by the Seminary before graduation. I prepared a one-year program of evangelism, Christian education through the Sunday School and Bible studies, Stewardship and local church administration and showed it to my adviser, Dr. Alexander Christie. I was required to be sending progress reports to him quarterly wich I did. The Daily Vacation Bible School program was again implemented in the month of May with more students from Ifugao Academy participating. They were distributed to different barrios as what was done in 1952. I went with one group to Ligwoj for one week before I transferred to another place. Alice was with the group that went to Ligwoj and she was the leader. The group was housed in the house of Mr. & Mrs. John Piligan at Hagang. After two days I left Ligwoj with the church horse to see the other DVBS classes as far as Nalbu and Guinihon. After the DVBS we started the program on evangelism starting in the church and on to the barrios. It was during this evangelism program that we often went together with Alice for evening Bible studies and services in Mapagwoy, Banhal and Guinihon. Meanwhile the first formal Christian wedding in the church was held on July 29 ,1952. This was the wedding of Pastor Lucas Gochayna and Elena Ajongchi. It was a grand occasion and since it was a Sunday, many people joined the marriage celebration and feasting. The wedding was officiated by Rev. Frank Robinson the American missionary assigned to Ifugao with residence at Kiangan. The wedding feast was held at Tapilang in the house of the Aunt of Lucas. Alice graduated from high school at Ifugao Academy during my internship in 1953 but I was not able to attend the graduation because I was sick due to my recurring anemia resulting from loss of sleep during the intensive nightly Bible studies and evangelistic services in the barrios which often lasted to pass midnight. In these evangelistic services and Bible studies I used to go home at 1:00 A.M. for a few hours of sleep in the Parsonage. Malnourishment and loss of sleep got me into sckness that I had to be confined in the Ifugao Academy Clinic in Kiangan for almost one month. I was attended very well by an Amerian Missionary Nurse, Doris Tracewell. It was during my confinement in the I.A. Clinic that the evangelistic program for Mayoyao was set by the Ifugao Workers Evangelistic Team composed of all the church workers in Ifugao. I had to cancel the Mayoyao schedule because there was no one to host the Team. After the summer DVBS Alice informed me that she was going to take a vocational course in Baguio due to lack of financial support to go to college. She took dress making in a Benguet Fashion School at La Trinidad, Benguet. In 0ctober, 1953 I brought my uncle Angigwan from whom I got my native name, to Lorma Hospital in San Fernando, La Union. He was quite very ill which needed a specialist to determine the cause of his stomach illness. 0n my return home I passed by Baguio and went to visit Ling in La Trinidad. I stayed overnight and slept with some boys from Banaue. That night I had my test in courage and determination. A man from Banaue who tried to court my Ling came to visit her, and I was told by one of the boys from Banaue that this man had a side arm with him. That he had a gun emboldened me to face him squarely no matter what happened. I told Marcelo Ngayaan and Julio 0rhachan to stay behind me. I knew that Alice was worried and apparently did not know what to do. She told me earlier that she already told this man about me and so the man was aware of our commitment. In my encounter with this man I sensed that he was afraid. He felt uneasy that he did not stay long. He suddenly left with some companions while I stayed. That incident

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convinced me of Lings love and commitment to me and later development finally sealed our future. Since that incident he never return again to visit my Ling. The following morning I left La Trinidad for Mayoyao 0ne week after returning home, I went back to Lorma Hospital and I was told by Dr. Macagba that the case of my uncle was hopeless because the stomack ulcer already became cancerous. He advised me to take the patient home. 0n my request Dr. Macagba Sr. agreed for the use of his De Sotto car to take my uncle back to Mayoyao. When I told cousin Dominga what the Doctor told me on the condition of the father, she started shading tears. Thanks to mang Pidong the driver for accepting to drive us to Mayoyao. We left San Fernando, La Union early morning on 0ctober l2, 1953 passing through Baguio via Bontoc to Mayoyao. Unfortunately we were stranded on the way due to a slide near Dantay, Bontoc. We had to sleep on the way inside the De Sotto. The following day the road was opened so we proceeded to Bontoc where we had our breakfast. When we arrived at Banaue a Weapons Carrier being used for transportation was leaving for Mayoyao. Cousin Dominga and her father transferred to the Weapons Carrier for Mahoyao, while I accompanied Pidong back to San Fernando, La Union passing through the lowlands of Nueva Viscaya, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan to San Fernando. I only paid the gasoline we used and no rental for the automobile. The following day before I left Lorma Hospital at Carlatan I went to see Dr. Macagba Sr. to thank him very much for his merciful help to us. I only paid the medicines and the hospitalization and other expenses were free. For this I can only pray that God will continue to bless the Doctors family and the hospital for more services to people. Eight days after our return to Mayoyao my uncle died. I embalmed the body good for ten days or more although it was a little delayed but it was still good. With the death of Domingas father I was concerned that my cousin might not be able to continue her studies. Fortunately Antonio Udan Sr. a cousin of Domingas mother helped me convinced the mother so that Dominga was able to continue her studies. When she graduated from Ifugao Academy, I took her with me to Manila where I enrolled her in Midwifery. She became the first Midwife of Mayoyao and I praised the Lord for his merciful grace to us in the family clan. My first year regular internship in my home church started April, 1953 to June, 1954 but since there was no available worker to take over the church Pastorate, I was asked to continue for another year. My internship then became two years instead of the one year requirement. As a Pastor, I did all I could to be of help to the people of Mayoyao regardless of religious affiliation and social status. I made use of my Boy Scout training in first aid and my experiences at Lorma Hospital in administering injectable medicines. I acted as first aider because there was no doctor and no clinic at the time in Mayoyao. I administered injections to patients who came from hospitals outside Mayoyao with unfinished injectable medicines. I also accompanied some childless couples to Lorma Hospital for consultation and examination. Fortunately some of the childless couples brought to Lorma hospital were able to bear children and in fact one has eight children after more than ten years since their marriage. Among the childless couples I first brought to Lorma hospital were Elizabeth and husband Valentin Maingyap, Alfredo and Nena Togongna, Alfredo and Rosita Panitio and two more couples. Another couple who went to Lorma Hospital with my recommendation was Mr. & MrsFederico and wife Ines Juguiad. The second batch of couples I brought to Lorma Hospital were not fortunate as

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the first because the wives were past the child bearing age according to Doctor Macagba Sr. This included my eldest sister and a cousin of Alice, Mr. & Mrs. Ponchenlan Bayachan. In the cultural and religious reforms as discussed above, the result beyond my expectation was the ultimate Christianization of the people of central Mayoyao. In the 1970s to the 80s the reforms spread to the entire Municipality of Mayoyao to Aguinaldo and to Alfonso Lista formerly Potia. Animism, or the natural religion was completely displaced by the Christian faith and practice. However, for purposes of cultural preservation and development as what happened in Europe and the United States, the slaughtering of animals in times of death, wedding feasts and even sickness continued but in the Christian way. It should be noted that it is only Mayoyao and Aguinaldo in the whole provine of Ifugao that do not have cemetery of the Spanish version. Burial graves are tunneled on mountain slopes by our ancestors thousand of years ago but are still being used to the present. In the field of agriculture on the rice terraces I introduced the use of commercial fertilizer and pest control with the help of the Provincial Agriculturist in Bontoc. Years later we also introduced foreign breed piggery, but this will be amplified later. For the first time the diversified ministry of the local church in Mayoyao was introduced during my emergency assignment to my regular internship. This was in accordance with the vision and mission of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines which is to minister to the whole person in its material, spiritual, social and cultural dimension. In the summer of 1954, Mayoyao students from Baguio, Manila and Ifugao Academy and from oher schools came home for the usual vacation. Alice finished her vocational course on dress making and so on my way home from San Fernando, La Union I passed by La Trinidad to see her. She was ready to go home so we both went home together. We took the Dangwa bus from Baguio to Bontoc and stayed there overnight. The following day we took also a Dangwa bus for Banaue. There was a Jeep for passengers going to Mayoyao so we rode on the Jeep arriving in Mayoyao late in the afternoon. In our barrio evangelism she was always there with other young people. An unexpected trouble arose due to jealousy of some of the girls. Fearing that the problem might adversely affect our relationship and my local church ministry, we decided to get married even if I still have to go back to the Seminary for my third and fourth year. We decided to inform our respective parents and relatives. There being no objections on both sides, we set the date for our wedding day on May 30,1954. By this time Rev. Robinson and family left the Philippines for the Unted States. After the final plans were set, I brought my fiance to Banaue for her hair culture and securing a wedding dress. Mrs. Ceasarea Chungalao my godmother in the faith, provided the cloth for the wedding dress which Alice she sewed herself. She was left in Banaue while I proceeded to Kiangan to invite Rev. Ciriaco Ma Lagunzad Jr. Pastor of the Kiangan UCCP church to solemnize our wedding. Upon our return to Mayoyao, I went again to see my parents. They wanted the wedding celebration to be held at 0rpuwan where they were living. My future parents-in-law did not object to the proposal so the preparation started with the pounding of palay for the rice wine. This was followed by pounding palay for the celebration feast. By this time the harvest season was in progress in central Mayoyao. THE DAY OF TRANSITION TO A FAMILY LIFE

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The wedding day was set on May 30,1954. By this time the church wooden building was built but no windows and the floor was temporary because the floor lumber were just laid down without nails. The road from Banaue to Mayoyao was not yet open to vehicular traffic, but ride could reach up to Ducligan. 0n Friday we were expecting some visitor friends to arrive from Kiangan. Then on Saturday, May 29, Rev. Ciriaco Ma Lagunzad Jr. Catalina Cumila, a close friend of Alice in Ifugao Academy, and Leona Liwang arrived from Banaue. They hiked from Ducligan to Mayoyao. My brother Marcelo with some boys met them at the Junction. They arrived tired and hungry for hiking twenty-eight kilometers. Meanwhile the preparation at 0rpuwan for the wedding feast celebration was going on and so with the church preparation. The following morning, May 30 was the awaited day. The Sunday school was suspended to give time for the wedding ceremony after the regular worship service. The wedding ceremony was formal and patterned after the American tradition. The language used was in English. For the music during the processional and bridal march, Paterno Buya-ao played a Harmonica since no other musical instruments were available. Mr. Rosendo Bongyo Sr. accompanied the Bride in place of the father during the bridal march. Mr. Alfredo Panitio, a distant relative, and Mrs. Ceasarea Ramirez-Chungalao were the two witnesses or ninong and ninang, and known traditionally as sponsors. Since Mrs. Chungalao was not able to come she was represented by Miss Leona Liwang as proxy. Miss Catalina Cumila was the Bridesmaid. I could not remember the Bestman. Elena, the youngest sister of Alice was the flower girl. The church building was filled to overflowing so that some men placed lumbers beside the windows on both sides to stand on. There was no invitation sent out but announced the Sunday before during the regular worship service. Almost all the people who witnessed the wedding ceremony followed to 0rpuwan. The Bride and the Groom together with the people hiked from the church to 0rpuwan which was almost a kilomenter distance. This wedding like the first in 1952 was an acculturation of western Christian tradition and the native traditional celebration in accordance with cultural practice. When we arrived there were already many people gathered waiting for our arrival. A table was set under the native house covered with white sheet of cloth. The Bride and the Groom were seated behind the table facing the people. Two 4x4 bottles of rice wine were placed on the table with a native tray. As relatives and friends came to offer their gifts and to shake hands with us they take a sip of the wine before dropping their gifts on the tray (tagkha-i), and went back to their seat. I remember the first to come forward to offer their gifts were my uncle Lenachan and the first cousin of the Bride, Ponchenlan, dropping their gifts to the tray at the same time. As the bottles of wine got emptied they were replaced with another two bottles and so on. An impromptu program started while waiting for the lunch. The program consisted of speeches and songs related to the occasion. Uncle Ernesto Panjag delivered a beautiful tula or declamation in Tagalog which attracted the attention of the people although they did not understand it. The lunch was served starting at 2:00 P.M. The program continued after lunch to late in the afternoon when the people started going home. Late in the afternoon after supper Alice and I with the visitors from Kiangan left for the Parsonage to start our new life. The transition to a conjugal life and family started right after our wedding day and in the Parsonage, our first home. The following day Rev. Lagunzad Jr. and Catalina left for Banaue to Kiangan. When the visitors left that

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morning Alice and I went back to 0rpuwan for breakfast. After breakfast we had the devotional service of thanksgiving for the harvest of my sister Majagwons rice field. Alice joined the harvesting that day just after our wedding. The four years of courtship splashed with joy and pain, temptations and victory, patience and endurance, and controlled by faith and hope came to a close and a new chapter in our life commenced. Courtship however did not end because it became part of our victorious living from day to day for it will only end when we are six feet underground, ending earthly life. The hall of human happiness came two years ahead of our original plan. As I saw our life together with my beloved wife Emmayya Alice I knew it was Gods plan, not ours that prevailed. The love of God is truly from everlasting to everlasting. The start of a new life required some serious readjustment economically, socially emotionally and psychologically. My wife told me later that she had difficulty in answering people whenever she was addressed Mrs. Angiwan. It took her sometime go get used to her new status. She was no more the free wheeling Alice in wonderland. I myself had to be used to my new role as husband and Pastor. The first three months of married life was a period of adjustment and readjustment to fit things in my responsibility as a Minister of the church and a family man. Life in the Parsonage was a life always with people. Every Sunday after the Sunday school and worship service, people with some of our relatives and at times our parents stayed for lunch and fellowship together. These were chances to explain to them the importance of salvation, faith in God, Christian way of living and church membership. In a short period of time we had to change our cooking utencils to bigger one and of course we did enjoy having meals and fellowshipping with relatives and church members 0ur life always with people became a pattern so that even when we left Mayoyao for Kalinga we always have people in the Parsonage every Sunday. The harvest season in central Mayoyao was in full swing at the time of our wedding day. At the end of the harvest in in June, the first Sunday of July was set for a harvest festival and thanksgiving service in the church. During the thanksgiving offering, bundles of palay filled half of the chancel aside from vegetables. I remember a mother hen after having been offered escaped from its basket cage. It disturbed the solemnity of the service, but alert men caught the noisy hen and placed it back into the cage. There were 46 bundles of palay offered but more were added the following Sunday. We had more or less sufficient provisions of palay that sustained us the rest of the year until the next harvest. This became a regular practice every year up to the present that provided food supply for the workers 0ur Parish Bible studies and services in the barrios became more challenging and exciting because more and more people became interested to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ and church membership. As in the previous years the people were interested so that they were ready to hear the Word of God even up to midnight. Most of the time my beloved wife went with me to the barrios and together with some young people of the church. We also went to the barrios for family devotions, healing services, and evangelism. When a member or any of the members of the family got sick, and there being no hospital or doctor around, we were called for healing prayer services. Personal and group evangelism was ripe but the laborers were only two, the Pastor and his wife. The people were hungry and were waiting for the spiritual food to be offered to

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them. The Parish is wide but only the Pastor and his wife are laboring. The experience of hunger and deprivation as other Pastors in the lowland experienced was not a part of our life and ministry because what the church could not provide we tried to remedy with our own efforts to meet our economic needs. For one thing when some of the members saw how we labored and lived with them, they knew our needs and they provided them out of their own. This will be discussed further in our subsequent ministry in other provinces. Aware that I was going back to the Seminary by June, 1955 for my third and fourth year, we decided to put up a cottage for us. My mother-in-law told me that we can put up our cottage on a space on the otherside of the Parsonage. It took me and my father-in-law almost five months to finish the small cottage of our own. We move into our new house in April, three months before I left for Manila. Meanwhile our first child was born on February 20,1955 and we named him Jonathan the faithful friend of David in the Bible. The coming of our first son required another adjustment in the family. This started the beginning of a nuclear family. I could not describe in words the joy of being a true biological father and we thank God for His faithfulness and unfailing mercy and grace to us. The life of being a farmer, a Pastor and a father was to be the pattern of our rural church ministry until we moved to Baguo City in 1969 . BACK TO THE SEMINARY My two years internship ended when I went back to school in June, 1955. The required internship was one year but it was extended to two years to me in the interest of the local church. In the middle of May, 1955 I received the action of the North Central Luzon Conference endorsing my going back to school. The Evangelical United Brethren Mission Board in the United States also assured me of my scholarship although no family allowance. I left my family to support themselves with the help of our parents. Aware that my sickly father might depart any time while I am in Manila I called a conference with my sisters and brothers-in-law to decide on what to do in the event that our father dies while I was still in school in Manila. It was decided on my suggestion that the family where he will die will be where the wake (cholar) was to be observed. The body would not be transferred from one family to another as was the usual practice. I left for Manila on the last week of May before our first wedding anniversary. Jonathan was three months old when I left. 0ur sister Elena who was in high school stayed with us while going to school. This helped my wife and son very much. It was difficult for me to be separated from my family and leaving them alone, but I completely trusted in Gods grace and assurance to sustain my family while I was in school. Alice went to farming like the other people in Mayoyao. I started my third year with the same scholarship I enjoyed in my second year. Fortunately I was able to find a part-time job on weekends while studying. I work in the home of two American missionary couples, Dr. & Mrs. Alexander Christie, my internship adviser, and Rev. & Mrs. Rodney Sandburg. I was paid fifty centavos per hour of work. I used my first saving from my labor to buy some clothing material for my wife and sent it by registered mail package. Fortunately, the mailing system was efficient so my wife always received what I sent by mail. 0n September 17, 1955 I received an urgent telegram from my wife that my father died. I was in Pasay City working when I received a phone call from Johnny Marigza to get to the dormitory right away. I was shock that my father died although I anticipated

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this to happen anytime considering the seriousness of my fathers illness. Meanwhile Johnny went around soliciting money for my fare to go home without my knowledge. When I was about to leave the dormitory, he handed me an envelop wih Php 120.00 pesos in it. I thank him for his concern and I left Manila in the evening of the same day I received the telegram. When I arrived at Banaue in the afternoon of September l8 there was no ride to Mayoyao. Rev. Baskett, a Baptist American missionary residing in Banaue learned of my predicament. He told his son about 12 years old to take me as far as the motor cycle can reach. I thank Rev. Baskett for his assistance and kindness. We left Banaue at about 2;30 that afternoon. I was worried about the safety of the boy on his return to Banaue alone. At 5:00 P.M. we reached Paggi, Ducligan. I told the boy to return home since it was getting late. Fortunately he returned home safely as I learned later. It was getting late when I started hiking from Paggi to Mayoyao. I did not have food with me so when I was in the climb above Napulan I started to feel weak and hunger overtook me on the way. While weakened as my usual problem when I get hungry (nahichingan) I was determined to go on. I arrived in the house of cousin Ponchenlan at 0nagol at past nine in the evening. After having a full supper I proceeded to 0rpuwan where my father was laid in state. Upon arrival my first inquiry was my son Where is my son? I carried him and was glad that he grew in size since I left him with his mother. He was seven months old at the time of my fathers death. In accordance with the cultural requirement, my wife despite my absence was able to secure three pigs as our share in the animals for funeral meals for the five days cholar until the burial, lapfun. As per agreement before I left for Manila, we will follow all the cultural requirements for the dead but to be done in the Christian way and practices. After the burial, September 2l, 1955, late in the afternoon I carried my son on my back and we went down to our cottage at 0nagol. The following day was the rest day, tungngaw. The closing rite, alagwit was done the following day of the rest day. We were gathered again as a family clan at 0rpuwan and I conducted a memorial worship service. My father accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and was baptized by Rev. Robinson before he died so I was sure of my fathers everlasting life in God. Three days after the memorial service I left for Manila. I return on time for the pre-final examinations. Despite my setback I was able to pass all my test including the hardest ones apologetics and systematic theology. My brother Marcelo and cousin Dominga also returned to Ifugao Academy. Incidentally, it was during the death of my father when the road from Banaue to Mayoyao was inaugurated and opened to vehicular traffic. My brother and Dominga were picked up at Anaba by the Jeep of Congressman Hora so they had the privilege of being among the first vehicular passengers to arrive in Mayoyao with the Congressman. Marcelo was in PMT uniform while hiking and the Congressman thought that he must be a soldier. During the Christmas vacation of 1955 I went home again and some baptism in the church were waiting for me. During the Christmas Sunday service eight new converts were baptized The Deaconess Miss Buena Palasi was responsible in preparing these people for the sevice of baptism. As usual we conducted Bible studies and evangelism services in the barrios with the Deaconess and some young people. The continuing difficulty was the translation of the Bible lesson in the dialect because I was not train along this line of work. After the end of the Christmas vacation I went back to Manila to

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continue the second semester in 1956 and the end of my third year. The Seminary was re-opened for classes on January 6,1956. In February I went with the Seminary Evangelistic Team under Dr. Horace Dewey to Binuangan, Bulacan to a Methodist Church. 0ur four sharps male quartett composed of Danny Nebres as bass, Johnny Marigza as baritone, Juan Sagun as the melody and I was the tenor voice. We presented a series of Gospel songs and evangelistic hymns. This was presented during the morning service and continued in the afternoon. It was my first time to travel along the Pampanga river by an oversized motorized banca. We arrived on time for the Sunday service. The lunch that was served consisted of large crabs, toasted fish of bangus in Bulacan recipe and other foods that were delicious. 0ur lady companions in the team were all Methodist including the Pastor and classmate who invited us. We were only three from the UCCP in the Team. After the series of songs and devotional services we returned late in the afternoon to prepare for our lesson the following day. In the afternoon of Monday, I received a letter from home that my son was sick of measles. I was concerned but I prayed that God heal my son to get well. Fortunately, I had a father-in-law who was so loving and caring to us. He provided firewood for cooking and charcoal for ironing clothes while I was away. Very often he took care of his grandson while my wife went to work on the rice field or on the kaingin, loto. Despite being a nursing mother, my wife went full time farming during my absence. The last week of March, 1956 closed the school year. After my final examinations I left the Seminary for home and happy with the thought that I will be able to carry my son again on my back, ejabpfa. I was thankful to see my son well and healthy but I noticed my wife getting thinner and slender although she claimed that she was well and fine. It was the adversed effect of hard physical struggle to survive because we did not want to be dependent only on what the church could give for our support. The summer vacation of 1956 was a busy time. Aside from helping in the Bible study program of the local church, I did some work at home, fixing our kitchen cage and our poultry pen. I had to gather firewood in preparation for the harvest season and beyond if possible knowing that I had to return to UTS for my last year in the Seminary. Meanwhile Alice was heavy with her second pregnancy and so she could not work fulltime. My son Jonathan was one year old and three months during our second wedding anniversary in May. 0ne afternoon I was busy doing some carpentry work while Jonathan was playing nearby. I did not notice when he entered inside a large chcken cage. I only noticed him when he cried because he could not get out. When I took him out from the cage I noticed his mouth full of dried chicken manure. The inexperienced father had to remove the dirt from his mouth with the use of his fingers. The harvest season was in full swing when I left the last week of May for my fourth year. Upon arrival in Manila I learned that there was going to be a total solar eclipse on June 20, 1956. Aware of the strong superstitious belief of the people at home on eclipse I wrote my wife immediately to inform her of the approaching phenomenon. I advised her not to be scared about this natural work of creation. I was aware that the eclipse might create panic among the people so I instructed my wife to inform the church members and the people ahead of time, not to be afraid because it is part of God;s creation. Then on June 20, 1956 starting at 11:00 A.M. Manila began to get gloomy and darkness started to descend on the City. The total darkness lasted for three and a half minutes. It was a thrilling experience to see the sun completely hidden by the moons shadow. We used

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dark photo negatives to cover our eyes as we look at the sun dark with a bright ring around the sun. Jeeps and other vehicular transportation had to switch on their light for more than three minutes of darkness. Two weeks after the eclipse I received a letter from my beloved wife relating their experience during the eclipse but it was not a total darkness in Mayoyao. The letter informed me that there was panic among many people that they left their harvesting work and went home. The time consuming task in my fourth year was the term paper for every subject with deadine for submission so much so that in disgust I wrote something like a poem dedicated to the term papers which was the idea of John Marigza. It was typewritten by Danny Nebres and posted on the wall of the dormitory hall way. This poem bccame the subject of joke in the dormitory and even in class. More than once I went to barrow the portable typewriter of Pastor Sagud to type my term papers even at night to be able to finish on time for submission to beat the deadline. About the last week of September, 1956, a group of Seminary students mostly Presbyterians had a whole night affair of singing, dancing and drinking alcoholic drinks in the Seminary hall. This act antagonized the Methodists, United Brethren, and Disciples students. The following morning we had a confrontation with the President of the Seminary demanding suspension of those who participated in that embarrassing night affair. This was followed by a student demonstration in the Seminary campus which almost resulted to trouble and class bouycot. I learned that it was the first student demonstration in the history of the Seminary. Years later I was one of the student officers in the forefront of student demonstration in Baguio Colleges Foundation and in Baguio City denouncing the Marcos dictatorhip. The massive student demonstration all over the country was before the proclamation of the Marcos Martial Law under proclamation 1081. In 1956 cousin Dominga Angiwan finished her high school education at Ifugao Academy. The mother was finally convinced that Dominga should go to college. The problem was finance but this was resolved when they sold a piece of forest dry land. The mother then asked me to be responsible to my cousin and I accepted the responsibility. I brought my cousin with me to Manila and enrolled her in Midwifery at the Emmanual Community School of Midwifery. I requested the Principal Mrs. Lazo not to allow anyone to take out my sister from the dormitory except me. I did this to be sure of Domingas safety and protection in Manila. Fortunately her aunt Pfugan was in Camp Murphy with her husband Pedro Amanhan who was in the Army. Every Saturday, I went to the dormitory and took Dominga out to Camp Murphy and sometimes in other places in Manila so as to help her forget her homesickness. 0ur aunt Pfugan did all the weekly laundering of Domingas clothings which were mostly white uniforms. When I graduated in 1957. Paterno Buya-ao also a cousin of Dominga followed after me to Union Theological Seminary. Unfortunately I forgot to see the Pincipal Mrs. Lazo that I am leaving Manila. I just saw Dominga only to say goodbye. When Paterno went to see Dominga so they can go out Mrs. Lazo did not allow her because she followed our agreement that I will be the only one to take out my cousin from the dormitory. At any rate Dominga was able to finish her Midwifery course and became the first Midwife of Mayoyao. GRADUATION AND ORDINATION

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After the first semester of the school year 1956 1957, the Seminary started the evaluation of the fourth year students for graduation. The comprehensive examination was given in January, 1957. I was able to pass the test which was a general review of all the subjects taken from first year to fourth year. Four of my classmates failed the test. When I was assured of graduation I wrote home to my wife that I was going to graduate that year. Meanwhile she gave birth to our second son, David on September l5, 1956. His name was already decided in advance. I was very happy when I received a letter from Alice informing me of the coming of the new addition to the family. I did my best in the final examination and passed all the tests. History which was my favorite subject was the highest in my grades. In February the graduating students decided to have picture taking for he graduation album. We went to Quiapo for the picture taking. That was my first time to wear a cap and a toga before the graduation. The long awaited day came on March 27, 1957. The commencement program was held on the school ground beside the Seminary building. A stage was set for the occasion. The processional started near the Taft Avenue road up to the front of the stage. As I looked around I saw many parents and loved ones of my fellow graduating students. I felt lonely and blue but there was no way my beloved wife could attend my graduation since David was only six months old, and Mayoyao is thousands of miles away from Manila. As for Johnny Marigza the wife Lourdes was there to provide the inspiration to her beloved. The parents of Danny were present. They came from Baguio City a day ahead of the graduation day. I was consoled when I saw that there were some graduating students who did not have parents or relatives and one of them was my good friend Victor Cortes from Palanan Isabela. Mrs. .Easther Guerrero, my former teacher in sacred music in the College of Theology, San Fernando, La Union, volunteered to put on my gown and hood during the ceremony. After the gown and hood ceremony the commencement address followed delivered by Sanator Claro M. Rector. The topic of his address was Defending the Philippine Constitution. During the awarding of Certificates and Diplomas the Camera men were on all sides around the stage, each showing their lDs and asking for picture taking. The flash of the cameras flicked all around. After the commencement program I went direcrt to the Dormitory to change because I was wet all over with perspiration. With grauation over, I was again ready for service in the Lords Vineyard The second educational struggle was over but the future was all before me and my family with the conviction, Ill go where you want me to go. After the graduation I stayed for a day to pack my things and to clear with Rev. Alexander Christie and Mrs. Sandburg where I was working during my free time. In the afternoon of March 29 I left Manila for home after seeing cousin Dominga to bid goodbye. I arrived home in the late afternoon of March 31 and there waiting for me my loved Alice and our two kids. They were happy to see me home again for good. Two days of rest at home, I left for Kiangan for the Highland Mission Conference Session. I was assured of my ordination after I passed the interrogative examination by 16 0rdained Ministers including three American missionaries. I made arrangement with my wife Alice to follow me because she was needed during the ordination ceremony. 0n April 6, 1957 I was to be ordained in the afternoon but I have to face the Examination Committee of the Conference in the morning. Members of the Committee was composed of 14 Filipino ordained Ministers and 2 ordained Amerian missionaries. The examination

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covered theology, Christian doctrines, church history, Biblical theology and Ministerial Ethics. The hardest question to me was given by Rev. Ciriaco Ma Lagunzad, who solemnized our marriage in 1954. I was asked to give my doctrinal statement and belief in one sentence. That afternoon I waited for my beloved to appear but no Alice came. The service of ordination has to proceed. Miss Lottie M. Spessard, an American missionary Nurse assised me in the gown, stool, and Bible ceremony. Then the most unfortunate happened. As soon as the service was over and we were ready to get out from the church, the Dangwa bus appeard and there was my love, my dear wife, Alice. According to her they were delayed due to a mechanical trouble of the bus. I was glad however, that my beloved arrived safely. It appeared to be my fate not to be attended in my graduation and now in my ordination by my only love and wife, Alice. During the closing service in the evening the assignments of workers were announced. I was assigned again to my home church now as an ordained Minister. When we went back home from the Conference, I prepared a short and long range program for the local church to be presented to the Church Council the following Sunday. Being the chairman of the Church Council and at the same time the executive and administrative Minister, I suggested that the Elders and the Stewards to assist me in the Bible studies and services in their respective barrios. The idea was to encourage participation of the leaders of the church in the implementation of the church program because up to that time the practice in the local church was still pastor-centered. I then started stress on leadership training and development so as to involve more church members in the life and ministry of the local church. A church choir was organized although few of the members know how to sing. A regular prayer meeting every Wednesday of the week was revived. However, only few are attending but we continued the prayer meeting as approved in the program. I had to handle the adult and young people Sunday school classes and I stressed on Christian education and nurture, leadership, doctrinal teachings of the Bible and Christian stewardship. The aim of the approved local church program was to give more membership participation in all local church activities. The diversified ministries of the local church continued as was done earlier. 0n May 27, 1957, the third grand wedding in the church was solemnized. This was the wedding of Vicente Bilagot and Josephine Ponchinlan. By this time the Municipal leadership was in the hands of church members of non-catholic persuasion. This started with Mayor Gaspar Ponchinlan, the elder brother of Josephine. The witness and influence of our local church was by then being felt in central Mayoyao overshadowing the dictatorial Roman Catholic Belgian priests. Since I did not have the license to solemnize marriage, an American missionary was invited to solemnize the marriage of Vicente and Josephine. As in the past many church members including non-members attended the ceremony and the wedding feast. The annual harvest festival and thanksgiving service in the local church became regularized and this was the main source of support for the church workers. The local church leadership participation in community affairs such as Town Fiesta, Independence day celebration and others became recognized by the Municipal leadership and the public. In the over-all program of the local church the prominent emphasis was reformative and social relations through home visits and community participation.

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During the harvest season the Pastor was in demand every day for thanksgiving services in the homes of harvesting families. This was the most enjoyable climax of the local church ministry to the people when we left for service outside Ifugao. In the educational field of central Mayoyao, the local church ministry through the Pastor and lay leaders contributed their share in the educational promotion. In 1951 we started the campaign for elementary graduates to go to high school and to college incurring the hatred of the District Supervisor, Mr. Ulep and the Principal Mr. Dinagtuan. The trouble started when the cards of the pupils going to Ifugao Academy were confiscated and submitted to the priest to force them to enroll in the Assumption Academy of Mayoyao. As the Pastor I filed a complaint to the Division office at Bontoc against the Priest, but it was the District Supervisor and the Principal who were issued subpoena. This created their ire against me being the complainant. The philosophy on the ministry of the local church of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines is The ministry to the whole man/person. This was the principle which guided us to carry on a diversified ministry for the glory of God.

Chapter VII THE MACEDONIAN CALL

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the Word of God in the Province of Asia.so they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia standing And begging him to come over to Macedonia and help us Acts 16:6-9.

After my ordination at Kiangan, I was assigned as full-time Minister in my home church of Mayoyao with Php 60.00 pesos monthly subsidy from the Highland Mission Conference. My Pastoral ministry as had been done since 1951 was varied and challenging. Now with a family of two sons with my wife without work or job, economic necessity was imperative. To augment whatever amount in cash or in kind that the local church gave with the sixty pesos monthly subsidy, I joined my wife in farming at times. We took turns in caring for the two kids at home. After the Annual Conference Session in 1958, I was sent by the Conference Moderator to attend a training seminar on rural ministry held at the United Church of Christ of San Fernando, La Union. We were informed by the trainors that there were free seeds for distribution to the people called Seeds for Democracy. We were given some samples of various seeds as string beans, giant squash and cucumber and others. 0n my return home from La Union I bought four bottles of one liter each of formaldehyde for embalming from a Funeraria. I was the only one who knew local embalming of the dead so that my embalming services was in demand. I just had the cost of the embalming solution refunded to be used to buy more as needed. When everything was set for the full implementation of the approved local church program, I called a meeting of the Church Council to present what I learned from the seminar and training I attended. It was agreed to try the use of commercial fertilizer on the rice terraces. It was presented in a congregational meeting and the plan was approved.

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The church members contributed money to buy the fertilizers. I went to Bontoc and bought eighteen bags of 60 kilos each of ammonium phosphate. The Dangwa bus can only reach as far as Habbang, Ducligan. The fertilizers were delivered to Habbang but there were no people yet as we agreed to carry the bags of fertilizers to Mayoyao. I had to stay in Habbang and requested two men who were going ahead to inform the church members of the arrival of the fertilizers to Habbang. The following day, 48 people came to carry the bags of fertilizers to Mayoyao. The following day was Sunday and after the service I called a meeting for demonstration on how to apply the fertilizers on the rice field. The following day which was Monday we started the application of the fertilizer on the rice field by paddy. For the whole week I went around helping the farmers in the application of the fertilizers. The harvest result was a success the palay harvest increased. The offering during the harvest festival and thanksgiving in the church was fifty-four bundles of palay. However, the harvest the following year went down because there was no fertilizer applied on the rice fields. 0n the third week of May, 1958, I received a letter from Moderator Guinomma of the Highland Mission Conference ordering me to go to Kalinga because a local church in Balinciagao, Balbalan needed a Pastor very much. I was almost confused why after assigning me to Mayoyao I was being pulled out to another place. I presented this matter to my parents in the presence of my uncle Lenachan. I was told by uncle who was well versed on the cultural tradition of the past especially the Tribal warfare in the old Mountain Province, we might be used as revenge. During the liberation of Mayoyao in World War II, a Kalinga soldier was killed in Chaja, Mayoyao by two civilians from Ducligan, Banaue. There was a common apprehension in the family clan that we might be used for revenge. After our family clan conference, I went to Bontoc to see the Moderator. I was told that we will be safe and that there was no killing in Kalinga as commonly believed at home. As an alternative I decided to go alone first and if everything is well I will return to take my family with me. And so I returned to Mayoyao and informed my wife and my mother that my assignment to Kalinga was final. After three days I left home again for Bontoc to see the Moderator for final clarification on my assignment and to get a letter of introduction from him. While in Bontoc, I met Pastor Tandingan from Poswoy, Balbalan Kalinga. I requested him give information about Balinciagao and he told me that the people were waiting for us. I then requested him to meet us in Lubuagan because I do not know the place and he agreed. I went back home and we started preparing in response to the Macedonian call Come over to Balinciagao and help us! We left Mayoyao for Bontoc on June 6,1958. In Bontoc we stayed with Sanny Pelogna in a Boys Dormitory. I was not able to see the Moderator again for the letter of introduction I requested because he went home to San Gabriel, La Union. The following day we left Bontoc for Kalinga via a Dangwa bus. All throughout our journey to the unknown, our strength was our prayer and my unwavering faith in Gods will. My loving wife provided a strong support to our ministry from the beginning and so we always end our prayer withMay Thy Will Be Done. I also completely trusted on the promise of the Lord when he saidLo! I will be with you always. (Mathew 28:20) The following day, June 8, we left Bontoc for Balinciago via a Dangwa bus, leaving at 8:00 A.M. On the way I asked the bus conductor if he knew a place called Balinciagao and he answered affirmatively. The driver of that Dangwa bus was Cosme. I then told

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the conductor that we are going to that place. When we arrived at Lubuagan at 11:30 A.M. there was no Tandingan to meet us. I began to be concerned but the bus conductor and the driver told us not to worry because they can show us the place when we reach there. Along the way the conductor told us that there was a gate where we can stop and inquire from the gate keeper where the UCCP church was located. Leon (Pfuhangngec) our nephew whom we took with us as companion took care of Jonathan on the way while l took care of David and Alice had baby Philip. At about 2:30 that afternoon I saw many people along the road standing near a house which I found to be the Traffic Gate. Some of the people were seated on a boulder of stone, all their attention were focused on the Dangwa bus approaching. The conductor told us that we were to drop there. It was a great relief when we were told that these people were waiting for us for more than three days. The Lord guided us safely to Macedonia (Balinciagao). After the greetings and handshaking, the gate keeper Victorina Padua came out and ushered us inside the house for a prepared late lunch. Meanwhile the men started taking out our pieces of baggage from the rear and side of the Dangwa bus while the women were crowding my wife shaking hands. The Dangwa bus having gone, I started chatting with the people trying to feel their reaction on our arrival. I learned that some of the men came from Baguio where they met some Ifugaos in Ambuclao and in the mines. I was also told that a man from Lagawe got married in Balinciagao, named Ngayawon. After the late lunch and some rest we started going down a trail to where we were to stay in the Parsonage. Alice carried baby Philip while Jonathan and David were carried by some of the women. When we arrived at the Parsonage a couple with their children were living in the house. The name of the man was Daniel Awoy and the wife was Dalimag. The son was Ba-awa and the child daughter was Sion. We were told that since the last church worker, Prescilla Fernandez left about two years ago, they decided to live in the Parsonage so as to maintain the building and the church ground. Up to that moment we reached the Parsonage I still felt insecure although I was aware that God was with us. We were in a completely different social environment from where we came from. While we could not understand the people in their dialect Ilocano was commonly spoken so it became the language of communication. The church and the Parsonage were located on a hill overlooking the sitio of Dalimgao and Patakan. There were fruit tress of coffee, gayunan oranges and coconut trees. For one month and a half we lived in the parsonage with the Awoy family. I took this chance to get all the needed information I thought I needed to be able to minister effectively to the people. Awoy was a former student of Kaliinga Academy and could speak English fluently aside from Ilocano. And so we communicate in English and in Ilocano while I tried to learn to speak their dialect. SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF THE BALINCIAGAO COMMUNITY The community of Balinciagao is composed of Dalimgao where the church and the parsonage were located, Pogong, the largest sitio, Patakan, Simangan, Salagpat where the Roman Cathlic church is located and the home of the Pangngat or Headman named Awingan, and Limood. The social structure as in Kalinga in general is hierarchical. The Pangngat, the babaknang and the kapos or poor. The Pangngat was called Kapitan and the authority in the community in all matters affecting the welfare and protection of the people. In Balinciagao at the time we went there as resident Minister, the Kapitan was Awingan. He was well versed in the cultural tradition of the people in Kalinga in general. In Balinciagao he was consulted on matters that affect the life of his people and

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the welfare of the community. Since security in Kalinga community life is paramount we were secured of our safety under the Bodong security customs law. Next to the Kapitan were the Lallakay or Elders. Together with the Kapitan they composed the leadership of the community. The leadership included all peace pact or bodong holders in the community. Intercommunity relations were governed by the provisions of the bodong called Pagta which contained all the unwritten laws governing the bodong. The bodong is a socio-political institution all over Kalinga. As part of my orientation, I tried to get as much information as I could from the leaders on the customs and practices of the people including their way of life and social behavior. I had to be familiar with their customs and practices, cultural and religious values for faster adjustment to the new social and cultural environment. 0ne of the cultural practices was the neighborhood custom of inviting visitors in every house for a meal and sometimes a party called palanos in honor of the visitor/s.. During the first week of our arrival, my wife and I were invited to several homes for a meal. 0n one occasion I was invited to a breakfast in a house below the Parsonage and the Kapitan was there and three Elders. I joined them in the breakfast and while we were eating the Kapitan, apparently trying to test me, told me that it was their custom to invite visitors to a meal for their protection, and he added that the visitor/s must eat all that were offered him. Aware that he was just testing me I replied by telling him that it is also our practice at home to invite visitors for a meal but the visitor should only eat a little of the food offered less he would be called a glutton. The Kapitan laughed and in the presence of the Elders he said that I was nalaing and could not be trapped. Since that time on we became good friends. In all community affairs the Kapitan always invite me to sit with the lallakay according to their social practices. In all social occasions, the women were always separated from the men in their grouping and seating order. The women were grouped in one place while the lallakay and other older men led by the Kapitan were seated usually in front of the house where the affair was held. Alice had to be with the women while I joined the men. In a short time while still young, I was considered an Elder. I participated in all the impromptu programs of speeches, ullalim, uggayam and dangngo. These are actually speeches but in melodic singing. I also participated in their native dances which was for both men and women and in their gong playing. It was our active participation in community affairs that we were known by the people in Balinciagao and surrounding communities. The United Church of Christ in Balinciagao was also known. During the first week of our arrival in the church of Balinciagao, an old woman died at Pogong. I Joined the lamay every night until the burial. 0f course we also joined the meals which was part of the cultural practice honoring the dead. The practice was to bury the dead after two nights and two days regardless of age or social status. It was also their practice that the close relatives of the dead are not allowed to eat the meat of animals slaughtered during the day, but were allowed to eat the meat of animals slaughtered during the night. In that particular case three cows and two carabaos were slaughtered during the two days and two nights vigil. The members of the bereaved family and their relatives who were members of the church decided to get their uncooked share of the meat and gave to the Pastor and his family.

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When I went home in the afternoon of the second day, I saw a large basin full of meat in the kitchen. I was told by our nephew Leon that the meat was brought in by two men who were our neighbors. Leon was busy slicing the meat for drying and for cooking. 0n our first Sunday, the church building was full to capacity, both in the Sunday school and during the worship service in Ilocano. That was our first feel of Kalinga Christianity and psychology. The first that I noticed was the separation of the women from the men on the pews. My second observation was their habit of talking loud even if they were close to each other. While our first Sunday was appreciated by the people I tried to be very careful because I learned that the Kalingas are a very sensitive people. Aware that the environment was not only rustic but also a primary community where everybody is known by everybody in the community, and whose customs and tradition governed the life and behavior of the people; I had to be careful in introducing new ideas and practice as we did in Mayoyao. The conduct of family Bible studies and visitation we used to do in Mayoyao could not be applied in the community because the work habit of the people was different. Home visitation was impractical except on cases of sickness. During the farming season on the mountain of palay, the families set their temporary residence on the farm and stayed their until the planting or cleaning of the farm is over. And so it was in community affairs such as death, bodong celebration, marriage feast and other occasions that I had the chance to be with the people including Sundays. When we arrived, it was the first cleaning time of the mountain rice farming in the community of Balinciagao. Those who were ahead on their farming were on their second cleaning. The people came to church only on Sundays and went back to the mountain farm in the afternoon. This was the pattern of behavior until the harvest is over. At least two to three cleaning time was needed before the harvest. From August to the end of the year our food supplies were given by the church members. Some of the women brought chupas of rice, others brought dried beans and vegetables. My monthly subsidy from the Conference of Php 60.00 pesos usually arrived late and the only cash we can have. However, that helped us very much on our needs not provided by the members like salt, sugar, soap and the like. The Gatekeeper Mrs. Victorina Padua, an Anglican lent her sewing machine to Alice. That enabled my wife to do some sewing for our need and some sewing of clothes of members in exchanged of food supplies. 0n firewood for fuel the forest was near and fortunately I brought with me my Mayoyao bolo which was indispensable for cutting firewood and getting rattan for basketry. The site of the church building and the parsonage was conducive to chicken poultry so I fenced the base of the parsonage for chicken poultry, and this was successful. The forest where to get firewood and rattan was near so I often went with some men to the forest to get and carry firewood and rattan to the parsonage. I also brought with me the stripping knife that my father-in-law gave me so it was useful in my basket weaving. During the harvest month of 0ctober, Alice and I joined the people in harvesting the mountain palay. The family members who harvested paid us in palay by bundles so we were able to accumulate enough for the rest of the months to December, 1958. While we were out working with the people, our nephew Leon took care of our children, his cousins. At times Leon carried Philip on his back and went around under the coffee and gayunan trees to catch bird with his sling shot, palsi-it. When he shot some birds he roasted them and feasted with his little cousins.

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With the agreement of the church members, we set a harvest festival and thanksgiving on the second Sunday of November, 1958. We followed what we used to do in Mayoyao. The palay offering was more than enough to support us to the next farming season. We thank God for this bounty and His everlasting presence with us. MINISTRY ON THE MOUNTAIN TOPS Before the start of the farming season of 1959, Alice and I decided to join the people in the rice farming on the mountain sides and slopes. We decided to join the Uma farming to be with the people more often and just on Sundays. The popular work habit of the people was called pangngo or bayanihan style. This would mean that we would be with more people, members and non-members every day. We thought that this would be our chance to minister to more people in the mountains. In March, 1959, the mountain clearing for the rice farming commences. After selecting an area for our farm, I started joining some men in the bayanihan practice of clearing their own farms. I carried with me in my pasiking a Bible and some Ilocano hymns. I explain to the men that before we start to work, we first have a devotional worship and this was done every day. In the late afternoon we also have a thanksgiving prayer to thank God for what had been done. After working for sixteen days with sixteen men, Alice and I prepared for the clearing of our own farm. The work consisted of cutting the grasses, thrubs and the thick carabao bamboos called potaar and followed by the cutting of the branches of the trees within the farm area but leaving tranks standing. With sixteen men we finished the clearing in one day so we only prepared two meals, morning and afternoon in accordance with the farming practices of the people. The first meal was served between ten to eleven in the morning because the work started as early as sixthirty. The afternoon meal was between three to four. The morning worship service before starting the work, and the thanksgiving prayer service in the afternoon before going home became a pattern in the farming every day. After the afternoon service the men went to get firewood to be brought home while the women carried the kitchen utensils to be brought home. In the middle of April, the burning of the mountain clearing commenced. I burned our clearing one afternoon and see to it that fire will not get out of the cleared area. After the burning followed the clearing of the land and burning unburned branches and others especially carabao bamboo sticks. My wife joined me in the cleaning although she was five months of her fourth pregnancy. She had difficulty climbing the mountain where we had our farm. I put up a small hut on the middle of the farm. The cleaning of the land from the dust and other debris was quite difficult because of the hot summer sun and the dusty and charcoaled soil. By noon time the cleaners would look like black negroes due to the black charcoal of the burned grasses and tree branches. When some monkeys were around though at a distance the cleaners would look like one of them. The bayanihan farming practice was very helpful because it made the heavy burden of manual work enjoyable and challenging. For instance I used to tell some anecdotes that can be laughable and I took advantage to tell some stories like parables from the Bible and they enjoy listening as we work. Sometimes the work was turned into a contest of fastness in the work. As the Pastor of the people our going into farming was basically for us to carry on our ministry to the people. 0ur pastoral ministry on the mountains left a lasting memory to the people than our Sunday ministry.The conversation while working enabled me to tell stories with spiritual and moral messages. Part of my farm tools every

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day were some Ilocano hymn books and my Bible. I carried these spiritual tools with me wherever I went to work with the people. I conducted more worship services and more sermons on the mountain tops and slopes than the four Sundays a month in the church. As we planned for the daily Bible studies and services on the mountains I realized the importance of resourcefulness and the leading of the Holy Spirit of God. I did not take any lesson in the Seminary on this type of ministry but only fundamentals. I realized further that Seminary education only provided the basics so the real training and education was on the actual ministry setting with the people of God. 0ur going into fulltime farming enhanced rather than hamper our pastoral ministry. The cleaning of the mountain farm was followed by the seed planting in May when it started to rain. The people were quite superstitious in connection with the seed planting. For instance, during the seed planting no other foods were allowed to be eaten except rice and dried beans with plenty of broth. No salt for the viand. The people believed that there will be poor harvest or even no harvest if the rules on food are violated. I was aware that no amount of explanation however convincing would change the deeply rooted beliefs and behavior of the people. We thought that the best way to show the falsity of their belief was by demonstration in actual deeds. And so before our turn on the seed planting, I went to Lubuagan and brought those things that were prohibited like salt, sardines, meat and others. When the seed planting of our mountain farm came, we used those prohibited viand for our food, both in the morning and afternoon. The women who did the cooking predicted that there will be no havest on our farm. In chorus the women said, Sayang Pastor ti bannogtayo! I told them jokingly that if we can not harvest anything you can always share us your harvest during the harvest festival and thanksgiving service in the church. Surprisingly, when the harvest commenced we were told that the harvest that year was the best and plentiful harvest in Balinciagao in years. The following year during the mountain farming season the superstitious belief disappeared. The foods that were once prohibited were being served in all the families during the clearing, the cleaning to the seed planting. This social and religious reform was so successful that even when we transferred to Lubuagan the people continued what were introduced in the mountain farms in the reformed rice terraces farming. In our first farming ministry in 1959, the first weeding of the rice plants started on the third week of May when the rice plants were about five to ten inches tall. Weeds had to be removed early so that the growth of the palay would not be adversely affected. Meanwhile Alice gave birth to her 4th son on August l0,1959. When she started laboring in the late afternoon of August 9 we did not have companion. An old woman Bangnay who was like a mother to us came up but she could not be of help. At dawn of August 10 I went to the Gate at Salagpat where a telephone was available and called up Miss Ruth Rauch, American missionary Nurse at Lubuagan to come and assist my wife on her delivery. She agreed to come over, but when I returned the baby was ready to come into this world. I had to assist my wife right away making use of what I learned in Lorma Hospital years ago. By the time the baby was safe on her mothers breast it was seven 0clock in the morning. We named the baby my Junior. I went back to the Gate to inform Miss Rauch not to come because the baby was already born, When the mountain palay started to bloom in all its fragrance and beauty, wild pigs started destroying the crops at night. 0ne Sunday afternoon after the service in church we

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had a congregational meeting. It was agreed that we take turns in patrolling the mountain ridges and around the farming areas every night until harvest time. I borrowed an Enfield rifle from compadre Pedro Maling for my use. I had sufficient rifle bullets which I got from Mayoyao. 0ne night on the first week of September I was assigned to patrol the mountain ridges and around the farm areas of one whole mountain range until midnight when Andomang will take over until morning. Upon reaching our hut I readied my gun loaded with six bullets. I cleaned the peepsight and went up the ridge. I surveyed the whole area and everything was silent. I moved to a tree trank and positioned my self in case wild pigs would appear. About 9 0clock a big animal appeard about twenty meters away from my position. I thought I saw a cow because the other side was a pastureland. As it neared to me I noticed it was a pig. I aimed my gun and about ten meters away I pulled the trigger but the gun did not fire. Twice the gun did not fire so I changed my position but the third attempt still did not fire. Then I felt as if someone pulled me up. My action was sensed by the pig and it grawled as it disappeared in the dark. Then I began to feel weakness and trembling but I was not afraid. My hands could not hold the gun so I squatted on the ground with the gun between my armpit and my body. After some minutes I regained composure and stood up looking around, but no more wild pig. Then I went down to my hut to fully recover by balance and strength before going back to patrol. I just sat down when I heard a man shouting from Dalimgao calling for me. It was Pedro Maling calling for me to go home. As I slowly descended to the river, I noticed the moon brightly shining from above the trees. When I arrived at the Parsonage, I put my gun on a corner and I saw my wife and baby Junior on the floor while the other children were asleep. I inquired why I was called home and Alice told me that she had severe stomach pain and she needed my help. It was until the following morning when she related to me her unusual feeling and seemed to have heard a man telling her to call me home. According to her she was half asleep when that happened and immediately thought that my life must have been endangered. While that was some sort of a dream by my wife, I still could not explain why she felt my encounter with that mysterious wild pig and that unusual experience I also went through that night. Was it God who spoke to her? If I returned to the ridge as I decided to do to fulfill my responsibility, what would have happened to me? I would like to believe that God saved me from the wild animal from being torn to pieces. The followingl morning I went back to our mountain farm to check for any damage by wild pigs. I found the three bullets that did not fire and got them. When I related to Mangagom the barrio lieutenant of Balinciagao about my experience that night he told me that I encountered a big male wild pig that could not be caught or killed. That wild pig torn to pieces three hunting dogs before. Veteran hunters failed to capture that mysterious animal. Three days after that incident I went with some men to the forest to get rattan. 0n our way I saw a big bird (banugan) sitting on a branch of a tree without leaves. I aim my gun and pull the trigger and to my surprise it fired. It was the same bullet that did not fire that fateful night I went to patrol the mountain farms. 0f course the bird was not hit because I did not properly aim the gun. About the middle of September, 1959 my mother-in-law Majagwon and two companiona arrived from Mayoyao. We were very glad to see them arrived safely. She wanted to help in the remaining weeding work of the palay farm. We went up to the farm

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and I showed her where to continue the weeding. Then I went to get firewood that I dried along the mountain ridge. At almost noon I went to call my moher-in-law so we can go home but she was no where to be found. I went back and forth to where I left her and calling her but no answer. I was worried that she might have been lost nalimon so I thought of going home to inform my wife and to alert some men to help me look for my mother-in-law. Then I decided to go back the fourth time to where she was working when I left her. While standing again on top of a tree root as I did earlier, I noticed some of the rice plants moving below where I was standing. I shouted calling her name and she responded. I went down and there was my mother-in-law. I told her that I was calling for her many times but she claimed she did not hear me. I went back to carry the firewood home and she followed in the afternoon. 0ur local church and community team ministry in Balinciagao, Balbalan, Kalinga was characterized by a full-time farming and a full-time ministry to the whole person in his physical, spiritual, economic and social dimensions. By the time we joined the people in farming we already gained their trust and confidence to our leadership which enabled us to follow our Mayoyao style of diversified ministry to all the people regardless of religious affiliation and social status. It also enabled us to introduce some social and agricultural reforms. 0ur mountain top ministry was a beautiful experience to sing praise to the Lord of creation on the mountains. My text on my first sermon on the mountain was Psalm 72:3 The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruits of righteousness and Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who bring good tidings, who proclaim peace, who bring good news, who proclaim salvation These two passages from the 0ld Testament reflected the rural setting of the time of the Prophets and the Psalmist which may be similar to the rural environment of Balinciagao at the time of our ministry to the people. In the health ministry we encouraged sick people to go to the hospital for proper medication and examination. I continued to administer unfinished injectable medicines to patients coming from the hospital at Lubuagan. More than once we rushed emergency patients to the hospital at Lubuagan on my encouragement and later it had to be their Pastor also to be rushed to the hospital when he got seriously ill due to the heavy physical work every day. When Dr. Ringor, the Director of the Lubuagan hospital learned that I could administer injection he encouraged patients from Balinciagao to bring home their infinished injection, and let the Pastor continue your injections. In our socio-cultural ministry we participated in almost all social occasions such as in times of death, prayer for the sick, peace pact (bodong) celebration, wedding feasts and other community affairs. In the native dances we learned their dances and introduced some innovations like letter formation while dancing during contest. In farming we introduced the diversification of crops like planting of vegetables around the farm including climbing beans planted beside tree tranks within the farm and others. 0n several occasions we were invited by the neighboring communities and in the native dance contest we won several times due to the innovations we introduced. When I noticed that the men do not pound rice, and the women do not split firewood which was a mans job; I introduced two games on one peace pact celebration in Balinciagao. The contestants for pounding and winnowing rice were men, and the contestants for splitting firewood were women. I was made the coordinator of the games and chairman of the board of judges. The people especially the visitors from the neighboring communities in

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Balbalan and Pacil enjoyed watching the games In all my talks whenever we were invited to other communities, I tried to speak in the Balinciagao dialect and accent with their Ilocano variety. 0ur popularity in Balinciagao and the neighboring communities was the result of our active participation on all affairs and identification with the people. Our last mountain farming in Balinciagao prior to our transfer to Lubuagan was in 1960. During the clearing time I devoted eighteen days working with other men on their farm clearing the bayanihan way. When our turn came my wife requested three women to help her in the cooking for the two meals that day. We were twenty-five men in all so we finished the clearing in one day. I have chosen a portion that was not farmed for several years according to men who worked with me. The soil fertility was assured and just right for the rice farming. After our farm clearing in 1960 my family and I went home to Mayoyao for a month vacation. 0f course the folks there were glad to see us especially the children. While in Mayoyao I convinced my nephew Antonio Longatan and Carmen Anannayo to go with us so we have two helper companions. While we were away some church members included with their clearings the burning of our own. We return on time for the cleaning to be ready for planting the palay seeds. During the seed planting I was gladdened to see all the prohibited foods being served in all the planting I joined. I thought it best not to comment so as not to antagonize the superstitiously die hards and their sensibilities. I was able to secure some Seeds for Democracy of big size American squash called pamkins, cucumber, long string beans and leafy vegetables. I planted the squash around the farm edges, the cucumber and string beans beside the tree tranks left standing, The climbing beans and the cucumbers climbed on the tree tranks. I planted the Chinese pechay about a meter away from the rice plants which served as buffer plants against rats and other destructive pests. When it was almost time for harvest I got seriouly ill so I was rushed to the Lubuagan Hospital on an improvised hammoch one night by several men. Alice left the children to their cousin and Carmen and followed the hiking to Lubuagan, fifteen kilometers away from Balinciagao. Two young men went ahead to Lubuagan to seek the help of Rev. Miller, and we were met at Cagalwan by Rev. Miller and two Nurses with a stretcher on his vehicle. Some the men rode on the wagon and those who were not accommodated hiked to Lubuagan. I was hospitalized for almost two weeks. Dr, Ringor attended to me right away as soon we arrived. After examining me I was assured to be all right. My heart palpitation was attended first with an X-ray and I was told I needed rest for at least two weeks after we return to Balinciagao. While I was in the hospital the harvest season in Balinciagao commenced. A day before I was discharge from the hospital, my mother, brother-in-law Anselmo, brother Marcelo and aunt Majagwon arrived in Balinciagao from Mayoyao. I was very glad to see all of them when we returned from the hospital. We took advantage of their presence and so two days after my return from the hospital we harvested our own palay which were already matured. That was the second week of 0ctober,1960. Since I was just recovering I did not join the harvesting. My brother-in-law Anselmo Longatan prepared the long drying bamboo poles at the base of the farm on a level ground. There were several men and women who harvested but almost all of them were not paid because we already worked with them on their own farm. A few were paid in cash as labor. Three

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days after our harvest the folks left for Mayoyao. I was very thankful to God that our parents were able to see the type of ministry we were doing in Balinciagao. After seven days of drying I went to bundle the palay in accordance with the Mayoyao style. A bundle of palay when pounded was a ganta or more. The number of bundles were two hundrd forty-six. Compadre Maling offered one of their granaries beside their house for us to store our palay. 0ne morning I requested some ten men to help me bring the palay from the farm to the granary at Dalimgao. We slaughtered three of our full grown chicken for the meal after the bundles of palay were brought to the granary. Compadre Pedro Maling did the proper storing of the palay. With more harvest, our own poultry and vegetable garden, we were more or less secured in our economic needs. With the little cash of subsidy from the Highland Mission Conference we used to buy other needs from Lubuagan. SCOUTING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL During the school year 1959 1960, I was appointed by the Head Teacher Mr. Dulawen of the Balinciagao Elementary School as Assistant Scout Master when he learned that I was Second Class Scout in my high school days. I had 18 boys to train in scouting. It was good I still had my Boy Scout handbook with me. I taught the boys the Scout Laws, the Scout 0ath and Pledge and Scout Law and other scout activities. The first boy scout activities conducted was boy scout camping and trail blazing on a mountain about half a kilometer from the school campus. While on the mountain camping the boys learned the scout pledge and oath. We stayed for one day and the boys enjoyed the trail blazing and location of hidden objects with the help of boy scout signs and trail blazer. The boys also learned first aid and rescue practice. Some of the boy scouts went to high school and one went to a Catholic Seminary to take up priesthood. POULTRY AND BASKETRY The location of the church building and the parsonage was on a knoll that was conducive for chicken raising. The floor of the Parsonage was more than three feet above the ground so I fenced around the base and served as a poulty house. We started our poultry with a mestizo texas rooster and a mestiza Cantonese hen. This pair was the payment of two headlights with batteries that I made which was good for night hunting of wild animals. I also sold another headlight for a poppy male dog. When a woman died in Patakan, a man named 0nio came and requested that my dog be butchered for an evening meal in exchange for a piglet. The piglet was taken cared of by the Maling family. In due time the chicken increased and the piglet became a mother. Before we transferred to Lubuagan there were sixteen capon roosters and four pairs of selected hen and a rooster for breeding. 0ur poultry provided us with some eggs and from time to time some chicken meat for the family. The accessibility and availability of rattans prompted me to do some basket weaving of tinali which I learned from my father-in-law. The first that I made was an Indayon for the children. Then I thought of making rattan maleta which was the monopoly of my father-in-law in Mayoyao. My purpose was to show that rattan could be made into various handicraft products for home use and for sale. I used my free time for basket weaving and headlight improvising. I bought electric wiring,batteries and other components of a headlight at Bontoc. Aside from our poultry Alice made a backyard garden where fruit bearing vegetables were planted, like eggplant, climbing beans and

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others were raised. 0ur time working for family needs did not hamper our diversified ministry which was the reason for our going to Balinciagao. CALL TO THE LUBUAGAN CHURCH During the Annual Conference Session held at Mayoyao in April, 1962, we took advantage to go home for a one month vacation. As usual the folks at home were eager to see us especially the children. Joel was our baby and Matias Junior was two years old. During a committee meeting in the conference, I was called by the Committee on Assignment to inform that we were going to be transferred to Lubuagan because Rev. Samson Almarez the incumbent minister was leaving for another assignment. He went to the College of Theology of La Union Christian College. I accepted without question as had been my conviction to go where the Lord wants me to go. I have always believed that the Christian church ministry is a call and I must respond to the call to service. When our one month vacation was over, we returned to Balinciagao to prepare for our transfer to Lubuagan. The members were very much dismayed when they learned that we are moving to Lubuagan, including Kapitan Awingan who was not a member. They wanted us to stay for more years. I consoled them by assuring that I can always visit them anytime since Lubuagan is only fifteen kilometers away, and bus transportation was available every day. For the whole month of May Alice and I did our best to give our utmost service to the people and reminded them to remain faithful to God and the church. 0ne day a man from Guina-ang Lubuagan gave a lavish feast in memory of his dead wife. His name was Go-om. The Balinciagao people through the peace pact holder were enivited to this affair. Four large carabaos, and five full grown cows were slaughtered for the occasion. My wife and I went with several men and women from Balinciagao. As the traditional practice Alice stayed with the women and I stayed with the men. During the traditional program of speeches, ullalim, uggayan, a dranken man tried to disturbed the affair by shouting and challenging people to a fist fight with him. Some of our men companion from Balinciagao especially the young men became suspicious that I might be the target of the boisterous man. Without my knowing I was surrounded by the young men and a tense utmosphere followed. Sensing the tenseness of the situation a man from that place named Abbacan invited all the Balinciagao delegation to his house for coffee. It was in that house where I learned the decision of our young men who surrounded me that in case of fighting they will die first before I would be killed. While we were at the house of Abbacan, our women left for home following Alice who left because she was worried of her baby. That was between five to six that late afternoon. They were knighted along the way but arrived safely in Balinciagao after walking about six kilometers. When the dranken man was brought home everything went back to normal so we returned and resumed the program. I went to my seat with the lallakay and Elders including Pangngats. Before I was called to speak in the program a man stood up and called the attention of the people to silence. I tried my best to ensure calm and order in the gathering. It might be by coincidence but I talk on what Jersus said, Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called children of God. As usual I was praised and my talk was appreciated That incident in Guina-ang proved once more the love and affection of the people of Balinciagao to me and my family. I knew that God never failed us and for this reason we enjoyed our Team Ministry in Balinciagao despite the hardship we went through especially in farming. The joy of ministering to

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the people of God in a rustic community compensated and turned everything into blessing. I stayed overnight with the men and for the whole night we did not sleep because the impromptu program went on until almost dawn the following morning. The traditional practice of speeches, drinking basi wine and singing native melodies colored the night. After breakfast we left Guina-ang with one young carabao as our share according to their custom and practices. I understood that this animal was a repayment of previous tulong. 0n the way the carabao was slaughtered and butchered and the meat including the entrails was divided among us so I had again a share of about five kilos. My share as usual was carried by the boys. Two days before we moved to Lubuagan some old men led by Kapitan Awingan came to the Parsonage when they learned of our going to Lubuagan. We spent the whole day chatting and exchanging views on community life and problems. The men were all in one accord that we should not go to Lubuagan because they wanted me to continue our tulong to the people. All the men gave praise and appreciation of our ministry to the people. In my mind of course the praise and honor should go to Godl The Kapitan gave a long but encouraging discourse and challenging the people present to be faithful as Christians, and follow what he called, Ti impakita ken aramid ni Pastor. We butchered four of our remaining capon roosters for the lunch which everyone enjoyed. A burnay of basi was brought up from compadre Maling for that whole day affair which was memorable to me. 0n the next day which was Sunday, we tendered a party for the people. The whole congregation remained after the service. We butchered all our chicken except four selected ones which we brought with us to Lubuagan. The afternoon affair was an emotional parting. The women embraced and shook hands with my Alice with some shading tears. I shook hands with almost everyone young and old and in my last talk to the church members I appealed to them to hold on to their faith in God and keep the church alive. I promised them that the Conference will send our replacement so they willl not be without a Pastor. The following day which was Monday, June 28, 1961 was our departure for Lubuagan. Almost all the people of Pogong, Dalimgao, Patakan accompanied us to the road where we waited for the Dangwa bus coming from Salegseg. The people of Simangan who are church members waited for us. It was like a holiday because no one went to work. When it was getting hot the men cut some trees with leaves and placed them beside the road for shade for both children and adults. Again it was an emotional final parting but I held myself to prevent the shading of tears. Blest be the tie that binds was sang with a prayer as I gave my last farewel message on the road. Just then the Dangwa bus was seen coming along. The women started embracing Alice and the children while I shook hands with all of them who were present. When the Dangwa bus stopped the men opened the back baggage compartment. They loaded our things including their gifts of stripped rattan, coconuts, and many others. Some men followed us to Lubuagan and helped us unload our belongings. The men came at their own expense in bus fares. We left Balinciagao at 10:15 in the morning on June 28,1961 and arrived at Lubuagan at about 12:00 noon. Two weeks after we left Balinciagao, Rev. & Mrs. George and Leona Feliciano arrived to take our place and so my promised to the people was fulfilled.

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When we arrived at Lubuagan, Mr. & Mrs. Ernesto and Rosario Allaga were there to welcome us with some members of the church. Mr. Ernesto Allaga was the Principal of the Kalinga Academy in Lubuagan. We were led to the Parsonage where we were to live as the Pastor of the local church. The men from Balinciagao brought our things to the Parsonage before they left for home. Rev. & Mrs. L. Dean and Georgina Miller, American missionaries were also there to greet us. They were the American missionaries assigned to Highland Mission Conference with residence at Lubuagan. During our first Sunday in Lubuagan, I preached on Ephesians 4:l l3, while Mr. Allaga presided. We had our lunch with the Allagas in the Principals Cottage. 0ur first Sunday experience in Lubuagan was different from our experience in Balinciagao for four years. There were more students in Lubuagan then church members and this difference required some adjustment on my part even in the preparation of sermons. 0ne week after our transfer to Lubuagan, Rev. Miller, Alice and I went to Balinciagao to get some of the bundles of palay for our use. We loaded the wagon with thirty bundles of palay and some cleaned rattan plithes and returned to Lubuagan. Compadre Maling asked me about our pig that they were caring and I told him to continue taking care and just give us a share when it has piglets. Antonio and Carmen with the five boys were left in the Parsonage when we left for Balinciagao. With the bundles of palay we have enough food for three or more months. There was a mortar and two pestles in the Parsonage for pounding palay. We did not get all the palay because the wagon could not accommodate all. Mr. Allaga the Principal of Kalinga Academy decided to employ me to teach Bible and religious instruction in the high school in addition to my full-time Pastoral ministry in the local church. I thank him very much because almost 80% of my total salary came from the school. The local church members could not provide our full support. I started teaching in August that year and I was enrolled in the SSS in November 1961 with the school as the employer. Alice joined the Sunday school teaching staff of the local church handling the childrens classes. I took charge of church administration and the church program implementation. In evangelism, the evangelistic outreach covered several sitios around Lubuagan including Dangtalan six kilometers away from Lubuagan. In the outreach program we made use of the students to assist the program in their respective barrios. The farthest outreach was Uma on the other side of Lubuagan. We had to climb a high mountain ridge to go to the otherside to Uma. The other places were Mabilong, Dognac and Dangtalan. When the Dangtalan congregation was organized and I presided during the organization and election of the first members of the church council, the members wanted to have a church building of their own. An old house in Salegseg donated by the 0bar family was available for transfer because the mission there was abandoned. The problem was how to transport the building materials to Dangtalan, more than twenty-five kilometers distance. Through our talk and persuasion a sympathizer from Lubuagan named Galming offered his open truck to transport the lumber free of charge but the gasoline had to be provided by the members. In September of 1961 ten men from Dangtalan went to dismantle the house. The transport of the lumbers took more than two weeks. A church building was constructed on a lot donated by one of the prominent family members. The church building was dedicated in the middle of November so I had two local churches to serve with the help

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of the students from Dangtalan and with the approval of the Church Council of Lubuagan. I went to Dangtalan for two Sundays, and Lubuagan for two or three Sundays a month .Among the prominent family members of the Dangtalan local church were the Dompaos, the Batalaos, the Bayangans, the Timas and the Limtos. In Lubuagan were the Dogyangs, the Gasatans, the Gilfilans and others. With two local churches, the outreach progam and my four classes in the Kalinga Academy from Monday to Friday every week my hands were full. Alice had her home responsibilities with five boys, Sunday school teaching including the Kindergarten and helping in the T,M,.B. program. 0ur children of school age enrolled in the Elemenary School at Podpod, Lubuagan. Antonio our nephew and Isabel Tanguid a relative enrolled as first year high school in the Kalinga Academy. They were our helpers and we wanted to help them in their schooling. While in Lubuagan Alice had her sixth pregnancy We had been praying and hoping to have a girl and the name was already decided since the birth of Philip. Mrs. Georginia Miller and Alice became close to each other like sisters. Being a missionary Nurse, she provided us with vitamins and other medicines for the children. We thank God that no one among the children up to our coming to Baguio got serious illness except Jonathan who was operated on urinary bladder stone at the age of seven. 0n account of her pregnancy my wife had to slow down her activities. In May 1962 she started to suffer stomach pain due to her pregnancy. Mrs. Miller assisted her in her medical consultations and medications. Then on the last week of July she started laboring. I was quite concerned because it was a repetition of our one month stay in Lubuagan until Joel was born. We were still in Balinciagao. Then on the evening of July 28,162 Alice started to labor hard. A male Nurse Mr. Arangca stayed with us in the Parsonage the whole night to assist in the delivery. About 5:30 in the morning of the 29th Rev. Miller with the help of Mrs. Miller brought Alice to the Lubuagan hospital. At past six Mrs. Miller came with the happy announcement that it was a girl. Upon hearing the word girl a sudden unusual feeling engulfed me that I felt something had fallen over my head in joy. I rushed to the hospital which was about a hundred meters above the Parsonage and there was our long awaited ALMA. 0ur prayer was answered at last. It was a Sunday, July 29,1962. To God be the glory! Rev. Miller noticed my predicament so he volunteered to give the sermon during the Sunday morning worship service. Mr. Allaga also offered to preside during the service while I gave the Pastoral prayer. It was a special day for me as the father of our first girl after five boys. After the service my high school students flocked to the hospital to see the new born baby. The students crowded the room to the surprise of the Nurse on duty. I followed the young people and we had a short devotional thanksgiving and prayer worship in the hospital thanking God for his blessing to us. The new comer in the family joined us in the Parsonage two days after the delivery. 0ne week after the birth of ALUMMAY, Mrs. Miller brought Alice to Dagupan Tabuk and Dr. Gacuya had her ligation and appendectomy operation for good. We now have six children to bring up under Gods blessing and guidance. In 0ctober, 1961 my mother Chinongngay and brother Marcelo came to Lubuagan to visit us. By this time two piglets were brought to Lubuagan from Balinciagao, our share from the piglets of the mother pig we left to the Maling family. 0ne piglet was taken by my father-in-law earlier. I wanted to butcher one piglet since mother and brother were with us as our visitor to follow the Kalinga way as palanos but mother objected and

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instead advised me to have it castrated. During their stay with us for one week I noticed an unsual behavior of my mother which used to be a stern disciplinarian. She was very loving and caring to her grand children and one afternoon I scolded Jonathan for scattering some papers on the front yard of the Parsonage. She stopped me right away and gathered the papers herself. There must be a difference between children and grandchildren to grandparents. Years later when we have our grandchildren I remembered my mother as I experienced the reality of the difference. After a week they left Lubuagan and returned to Mayoyao. DEPARTURE OF A DEAR MOTHER My beloved father Homekhoy left for his heavenly home in Septermber 1956 while I was at the Union Theological Seminary in Manila for my third year so my mother was left alone. While we were preparing for the Christmas activities in Lubuagan we received a telegram that my mother was seriously ill and that she wanted to talk to me. We sold our fattened castrated pig for Php 80.00 pesos for our transportation expenses and left Lubuagan on December 25 and arrived to Mayoyao the following day after an overnight in stay in Bontoc. We stopped at Nonchotar to our small native house with the plan to take my mother there to fulfill a cultural obligation. But we were informed that mother was already dying and wanted very much to talk to me. We hurriedly left Nonchotar for Bangbang to the house of sister Emmayya where mother was taken a week ago. Unfortunately she expired while we were on our way and what I found only was a dead mother although the body was still warm. We were told that since the morning of that fateful December 26, 1961 she had been asking for me but when she was told that we were on our way from Nonchotar she started agonizing to death. For this reason I was not able to talk to my mother so I did not know what she wanted to tell me. I was so emotionally affected that when I was embalming her body I did not notice that I used more than what was needed. Unlike my beloved father, we have to give way to the usual cultural tradition and practices. I had to give way because of the strong sentiments from both sides that we should not follow what we did to my father. My immediate problem was where to get the pigs for the funeral meals called pfu-ar. It was decided that I will have the lapfun or burial day. My two uncles, Lenachan and Gwanchakhan negotiated with Pio Panangon their cousin-in-law to get one of his cattle for the burial pfu-ar. I was informed that the request was approved and so five pigs of regular sizes and one male big cow were slaughtered during the burial. In the afternoon of December 31,1961 the coffin of my beloved mother was brought to our house at Nonchotar. That night which was the last night was the transition from the old year to the new year. At midnight we can hear the sound of explosion of fire crackers and we saw the flash of exploding giant fire crackers from the Poblacion. My beloved mother bade farewell to us and to the old year, going to her heavenly home on the new year;1962.
Through this world of toil and snare, If I falter Lord who cares Who with me my burden share, None but Thee dear Lord none but Thee. When I enter that fair land, just beyond the starry strand, There forever I shall be, close to Thee dear Lord close to Thee. Chorus: Just a closer walk with Thee, Jesus grant it is my please, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord let it be.

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In silent meditation with tears of hope and confidence, I bowed my head in silent prayer thanking God and believing that His will was done. Here ended the earthly life of a beloved mother who had strong influence in my up bringing and outlook in my Christian life, and ministry to God and church people. The following day, January1,1962 was the burial day. Many people came including relatives from my father and mothers side and from the side of my wife to attend the burial day. The burial day was always the most attended and in Mayoyao central the hachang was one of the mechanism to maintain the stability of the family clan system. It was a cultural obligation to repay the hacnang but with no interest. I paid the cow or bull at Php 250.00 pesos. Fortunately the weather was good and so after the funeral lunch my mother was buried in the same inherited burial grave where my father was also buried five years earlier. Up to the present Mayoyao is the only Municipality in Ifugao that do not have cemetery of the Spanish vintage. The following day of the burial was the rest day tungngaw. The third day after the burial was the alagwit which we made it a memorial day service. I myself conducted the celebration of the life of my mother commonly called funeral. I also conducted the memorial service. After two days from the memoral day service we left Mayoyao for Lubuagan to resume my varied responsibilities as Minister and teacher. From January to the closing of the school year,1961 1962 , we concentrated on evangelism, Christian education through Bible studies and Sunday schools in both Lubuagan and Dangtalan. The students were invited to assist the program of evangelism especially for inviting people to the services and Bible studies. During my ministry in Dangtalan the first wedding ceremony was held in the newly reconstructed chapel. This was the wedding of Dr. Batalao and Miss Arangca which I solemnized. This followed by the wedding of Pastor Rufino Tima and Aloma Dompao. The celebration of these two weddings were great with many people and several pigs and cows were slaughtered for the wedding feasts. Back in 1959 when we were in Balinciagao was the wedding of Angelino Mon-alon and Benita Adawoy solemnized in Lubuagan but celebrated in Dangtalan the home of the Bride. A Dangwa bus load of delegation from Mayoyao came because Angelino is from Mayoyao. The delegation was led by former Mayor of Mayoyao, Alfredo Panitio, and Chief of Police John Langbayan. We hiked from Balinciagao to Dangtalan to attend the wedding. An incident happened which almost wreck the joyous occasion. Mr. Panitio without consulting me read in public a letter from Judge Baluga who was from Guina-ang Pacil but the Judge of Mayoyao. The letter touched on the death of a Kalinga soldier named Dagson and cousin of the Bide. He was killed by accident by two civilians in Chaja, Mayoyao during the liberation of Mayoyao in World War II. The letter reading triggered an emotional outburst by a young man, Enrico, a nephew of Dagson. I was aware of the danger resulting from that incident but being a visitor myself I could not be of help in that situation. While the emotional outburst was raging, Mr. Awwing a cousin of Benita stood up and tried to pacify the angry man. Dompao, a Principal in the elementary school, and brother of the killed Dagson blamed Panitio for resurrecting a ticklish and controversial issue. Dompao told the crowd that Panitio should not have read the letter because we are trying to forget that said incident now that this intermarriage is being consummated. 113

When calm prevailed in the gathering, the Chief of Police of Mayoyao, John Langbayan and some Mayoyao folks including Panitio left for Lubuagan on their way to Mayoyao. Mr. Awwing aware of the problem of the Mayoyao delegation who remained invited all of us from Mayoyao to his house up on a mountain top towards Lubuagan. We went up in the afternoon of the wedding and there we were entertained the whole night without sleep. A medium size pig was butchered for our palanos. The whole night was spent in singing the Kalinga native melodies as Uggayam, Ullalim as well as some American folk songs. The wise action of Awwing saved us from the danger of harm if not killing due to that letter reading of Mr. Panitio. The following morning I parted with the Mayoyao folks going back home while I returned to Balinciagao. The Mayoyao ladies were given earthen jars and woven baskets as pasalubong from the Dangtalan folks. Back to our ministry in Lubuagan, I noticed that many people attended the community evangelistitic services and Bible study, but they do not go to the church on Sunday. Everytime I extended the invitation for them to go to church every body answered affirmatively. In one Sunday afternoon service in Mabileng after the service I inquired why they do not go to church and a middle age man gave the answer. He said that they were ashame to go to church because they did not have clean clothes to wear and no shoes. Furthermore he said that the shiny floor of the church building was slippery to them. However, the people assured me that they will always attend the service and Bible study as long as we go to their places. This was a revelation and I began to wonder whether the American style of church building may not be suitable to a rural community setting like Lubuagan. 0ne Sunday afternoon in 1962 I went with a group of students to Uma. We had to climb the high and steep mountain to reach Uma. While we were climbing the mountain, I started feeling weak and dizzy. I had difficulty of breathing and and weak so I lied down on the ground. It took me about fifteen minutes to recover my strength. Some of the students suggested that we go back but I steeled myself and was determined that we proceed. When we arrived to the place where we were to have the service, one of my students named Bakidan was there waiting for us. After the Bible study and service we were invited to a meal of boiled chicken meat with vegetable and rice. 0f couse the usual basi was also offered to us. We returned late in the afternoon and I prepared for the following days teaching in the school. The students enjoyed the Bible teaching and sometimes their questions were not only relevant but also challenging. Years later many of my students became professional lawyers, engineers and teachers. In November,1962 our sister Elena and a boy friend Sabas from Banaue unexpectedly arrived in Lubuagan. At the outset I was certain that they must have come for a purpose. I told Alice that we ask our sister first why they came. She informed us that they wanted to get married and wanted our advice. After supper we told them that we have no objection as long as they really loved each other and are ready to start a family. We gave them the proper guidance, and when they returned they got married in Mayoyao. Out of this marriage were born Merlyn, now Mrs. Paul Udan from Banaue, and Christopher,commonly called Estoop. He is also married in Banaue. Unfortunately our beloved sister Elena died of meningitis when Christopher was just a baby. We did all what we can to save her life to no avail. We brought her to Lorma Hospital and Dr. Rufino Macagba Sr. after thorough examination and diagnosis informed us that the

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meningitis was advanced. We then returned to Mayoyao and in a few months she passed away. The closing of the school year came in March, 1962 and all my fourth year students graduated. As the baccalaureate speaker I preached on : Education and the Christian Life with Mathew 5:13 16 as the Scripture text. During the summer vacation we conducted Daily Vacation Bible School in four barrios of Lubuagan and two barrios of Dangtalan. We made use of the fourth year high school including some of the graduates to teach in the DVBS classes. We moved from one barrio to another.I acted as guide and inspiration to the student teachers. The evangelism program in the barrios went on but the Sunday school class in the church was still weak because only a few of the school faculty members were involved. Some of them were Anglicans so they went to their church on Sundays. 0ur church organist and choir director was Mrs. Thelma Militar Zuniega, an Ilonga married to an Ilocano. They are both faculty members and also members of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines so we belong to the same church. When they had their first baby, Leah they needed a companion and so we called Isabel Domingo, a relative of Alice to stay with them. 0ur two little boys, Matias Angiwan Jr. and Joel who were just playing around became a regular visitors to the Zuniega family because Isabel their cousin was there. 0ur three older boys: Jonathan, David and Philip were in the Elementary school at Podpod so they were in school everyday. My beloved Alice also had her hands full; caring for the children at home, did some sewing for the women of the church and teaching in the Kindergarten and in the Sunday school for children. However, our children were not neglected despite the varied responsibilities we were involved in as part of our total Team Ministry to the church and I in the school. We maintained the evangelism and Bible studies in the barrios around Lubuagan so all things work together for good to them that loved God.

Chapter VIII THE CALL TO THE HIGHLAND MISSION LEADERSHIP

It may not be on the mountain height, or over the stormy sea It may not be at the battle front, my Lord will have need of me; But if by a still small voice He calls, to path I do not know; Ill answer dear Lord, with my hands in Thine, Ill go where you want me to to. Ill go where you want me to go dear Lord 0ver mountain or plain or sea; Ill say what you want me to say, dear Lord Ill go where you want me to go.

During our third year in Lubuagan, 1962-1963, the Annual Conference Session was held at Lantap, Bagabag, Nueva Viscaya in the month of April. That was an election year for the Conference Moderator, but election by nomination because the elected person will have to be submitted to the General Assembly or its Executive Committee for final appointment. The position of a Moderator was then at stake during the session. Rev.

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& Mrs. Miller had their wagon so I rode with them to Lantap. Dr. 0nofre G. Fonceca was the Bishop of the North-Luzon Jurisdiction of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Highland Mission Conference was one of the eight Conferences in the Jurisdiction. During the election there were three of us as nominees from whom to elect one for indorsement to the General Assembly. 0ne withdrew so only Rev. Buenaventura Munda Sr. and myself were the two contenders. Bishop Fonceca campaigned for Rev. Munda Sr.in violation of the standard church policy against campaigning for candidates during election. His argument was that Rev. Munda was about to retire while I was still young so I have more opportunity than the older man. To end the confusion and division among the members of the Conference, I withdrew my name in disgust of the Bishops Ilocano ethnocentrism but I was over ruled by the members of the Conference in session. The call for election prevailed so the balloting followed. I won by six votes over Rev. Munda Sr. Rev. Aquilino Guerrero, Secretary of the Department of Mission and Ecumenical Relation of the UCCP moved that the two names be submitted to the General Assembly and it was approved. Bishop Fonceca was a member of the Executive Committed of the General Assembly that will decide on the two names submitted. When the Conference ended we returned to Lubuagan and I prepared a short and long range program of the local church to be presented to the Church Council for proper action. It was approved with minor changes on motion of Principal Ernesto Allaga. The Millers especially Georgina were very happy of our return to Lubuagan. Apparently they did not vote for me in the Confernce because they wanted me to return to Lubuagan. Rev. & Mrs. Miller decided to do something to help Alice to go to college at the St. Teresita College of the Roman Catholic in Lubuagan. They made arrangement for my wife to enroll at St. Teresita College. I was thankful when I learned about this plan with the hope that Alice would be of greater help in the ministry of the local church if given the chance to have a college education. Alice passed the test given by the school and was accepted provided that the needed credentials were to be submitted before the opening of the school year. We were able to secure her transcript of record from lfugao Academy sent by Mr. Eulogio Mendoza, the Principal of the school. Meanwhile I forgot about the election in Lantap and concentrated on my ministry in Lubuagan and Dangtalan. 0ur prayers had been always, Let Thy will be done. THE UNEXPECTED CLARION CALL The Daily Vacation Bible classes was going on that May, 1963 when a telegram arrived from Manila, Congratulation for your appointment as the incoming Conference Moderator; Fonceca. I was in the Principals office when the telegram arrived. When it was handed to me and I read the content, I was speechless and motionless for some minutes. My mind was swirling as if an earthquake was shaking the ground. For the whole afternoon I was puzzled on this new development. When the news circulated around the school campus there was a mixed reaction from the people. Mr. Allaga tacitly congratulated me; Mrs. Miller was in gloom, and my poor wife was sad and frustrated. The Floress and the Zuniegas were disappointed. That afternoon I could hardly think on what to do except to pray in silence, Let Thy will be done. That evening I finally accepted the call to be a Moderator with fear and trembling. That was May 26, four days more to our wedding anniversary. I came to believe that the call was Gods

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will but it was fraught with challenges being the first highlander and Ifugao to Moderatorship. With the confirmation of my appointment as Conference Moderator of the Highland Mission Conference, we started preparation for our transfer to Bontoc. 0ur children were unaware of our moving down to the Highland Mission Conference Headquarters at Bontoc. Meanwhile the school year already closed last March and so I had to strengthen all records of the local church and my teaching accountability with Kalinga Academy for proper turn-over. Since there was no Pastor, the local church records was turned-over to the Chairman of the Board of Elders through Mr. Allaga. I was cleared of my responsibilities to the school and I was given my full salary for May of Php 140.00 pesos . We were then ready to move again. The usual bidding adieu was also emotional especially for Alice and Mrs. Miller. They both cried of disappointment and were hagging each oher for some minutes. The college education of my wife was sacrificed in the interest of greater service to God and the Highland Mission Conference. We arrived at Bontoc at 3:00 P.M. via the Dangwa bus on June 12,1963 and proceeded to the Highland Mission Conferene office at Loc-ong of central Bontoc. Rev. Jovencio Mariano, Conference Secretary-Treasurer and family was the only personnel to see us arrived. This was June 12, Philippine Independence Day. In a short while the children started complaining due to the heat of Bontoc. The out-going Moderator Angelo Guinomma left the Conference right after the closing of the Annual Conference Session at Lantap, Bagabag, Nueva Viscaya. He failed to return for the turn-over of responsibility so I just assumed the office as the incoming Moderator without the benefit of installation. Unprepared on what to do, I just relied on Rev. Marianos words for the time being. June 13 was my first day in office as Conference Moderator. 0n the last week of June I received a telegram from Bishop Enrique C Sobrepena, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines asking me to report to his office in Manila. I arrived at the UCCP Headquarters at Quezon City before noon on June 28, 1963. I spent the whole afternoon with Dr. Sobrepena who lectured to me on the duties and responsibilities of a Conference Moderattor. He emphasized the fact that I was the first highlander to be Moderator and I must show strength and capability to succeed. I took this lecture and advice as a challenge and since that time Dr. Sobrepena became my adviser and inspiration. After I returned from Manila I went over all files in the Conferene office. I wanted to know what had been done by my predecessor. I found that the out-going Moderator succeeded in his conduct of quarterly conferences with the local church workers, conducting local church visits, seminars and institutes. This was confirmed by the Secretary Rev. Mariano. By the time I took over the Conference administration, there were 39 recorded local churches and eleven unorganized congregations. Being new in this responsibility I relied on Gods leading with the help of Rev. Mariano. I started with local church visits in Benguet and in Balawa, Bontoc. After three months in office I found that conference workers were about 80% from the lowland of La Union, and the financial support was about 70% from the General Assembly as subsidy. My monthly salary was Php 250.00 pesos no more no less as decided by the Conference Executive Committee. I had six growing children, a helper and my wife. The Conference had two regular employees the Moderator and the Secretary-Treasurer and so the Highland

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Mission Conference administration was a two-man job, with the Executive Committee as the policy making- body. They met only twice a year with a special meeting when needed. With my findings and observation and in consultation with the Conference SecretaryTreasurer, we prepared a program of action with emphasis on Christian education and nurture, evangelism and stewardship centered on the local churches. But this can be done only with well trained local church workers. For this reason we also stressed on leadership development through seminars and institutes with the assistance of personnel from the central office in Manila if they are available. Church administration was included in the annual workers institutes and seminars. Stewardship was stressed to the conference workers and expected them to implement programs of Christian stewardship in the local churches. Since the local church administration was still Pastor-centered, training for lay leadership was imperative. I also found that majority of the Conference workers were still tied up with their former conference and dependent upon gifts from the rich members and politicians from North Central Luzon Conference. Loyalty was divided. Eveery December almost all the Conference workers from the lowland flocked down to receive gifts of used clothings and some cash in the name of Christmas gift but with political color. I saw this dependency to the lowland to be disadvantageous to the Highland Mission Conference so by 1965 I sent out a circular to all conference workers disallowing them to go to the lowland to receive gifts. The purpose was to develop selfconfidence and loyalty to the Conference where they are serving. This created some antagonism among the lowland workers against the Conference administration, but I had to do my responsibility as the administrator and executive of the conference. I had it returned a yard and a half of cloth that was given for me through Rev. Francisco Fernandez to show my stand against workers mendicancy. THE HIGHLAND CONFERENCE IN TRANSITION Since the separation of Highland Mission Conference from North Central Luzon Conference in 1953, the financial support for administration and programs including workers subsidy came from the General Assembly of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. The transition period towards self-support as a regular conference was to be fifteen years as set by the General Assembly to 1968. To prepare for this eventuality the Conference administration prepared a short and long range training program for conference workers and lay leaders of the local churches. For the Lay Leadership training program the curriculum covered the following: 1. How to study the Bible, 2. Simplified sermon preparation and conducting public worship.3. Church administration and management with stress on the local church. 4. Christian stewardship and financing local church program 5. Basic doctrines of he church. The Curriculum for the Conference Workers covered the following: 1. Christian education and methods of teaching. 2. Ministerial Ethics as applied to the Conference and the local church, 3.Doctinal teachings of the Bible, 4. Church administration and management and statistics. 5. Evangelism focused on the local church and community. The implementation of the program of action were through the annual workers institutes and seminar, quarterly conferences, selected local church seminars, and during the Moderators visit to local churches. Since the Conference administration was a twoman job with the difficulty of travel and limited travel fnds, the full implementation of

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the approved program of action was hampered especially during the typhoon months. In the visitation to local churches I alternate with the Conference Secretary-Treasurer to give him the chance to collect the fifteen percent share of local churches to the Conference budget. During the 1966 Annual Conference session held at Kiangan Ifugao, the messenger in the opening service was the Moderator. He delivered a challenging sermon on selfsupport Growing Toward Adulthood. The sermon closed with a strong appeal to the local church delegates to support the Conference toward self-support to become a regular conference. The local churches shall now assume the full responsibility of providing full financial support to the Conference. It is either now or never, it is either the conferene to remain a continuing dependent baby or to grow to adulthood and become independent financially as a regular conference. The basis of this appeal was the action of the General Assembly through its Executive Committee that Highland Mission Conference to fully self-supporting by 1970, an extension of two years from the 1968 deadline. The sermon was published in the Christian Advance, a publication of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP). The Moderator was criticized and even hated by some Local church delegates including conference workers. He was condemned for killing the Highland Mission Conference. Thank God that after 1970 the Highland Conferene did not only live but became healthier and progressive after becoming a regular conference. During the Annual Workers institute and seminar held at the Baguio Colleges Foundation high school campus in Baguio City on November 11 l5,1966 the church workers of Tabuk, Kalinga did not attend because Bishop Fonceca had his own meeting with the workers there at the same schedule of the institute and seminar. The Conference Moderator was not informed about this meeting. During the 1967 Annual Conference session held at Bongdo, Atok Benguet, the Conference Moderator ordered the investigation of the Bishop when Rev. Francisco Fernandez showed the Moderator the letter of Bishop Fonceca asking the workers from Tabuk to meet with him on November 12-l3, 1966, the same schedule of the workers institute in Baguio city. The investigation was ordered because the Bishop did not only disregard protocol but also the conference administration. The investigation became a confrontation between the Bishop and the Moderator while the members of the Executive Committee of the Conference ordered to do the investigation were just speechless including Rev. Aquilino Guerrero Secreary of the Department of Mission. Highland Mission Conference was under this department. The Conference Moderator stood on church constitutional grounds while the Bishop on tradition. The Moderator also invoked a church policy that no Bishop or any national official of he church can enter any Conference without the knowledge of the Moderator concerned. The Bishop was angry because that was the first time his authoritarian practice was questioned. The Moderator insisted that his authoritarianism can not apply to Highland Mision Conference. The evangelism program in Highland Mission Conference was implemented with the assistance of the Mobile Unit of the North-Luzon Juristiction on evangelism with Rev. Bayle as the Jurisdictional evangelist. In March 1966 a one-week evangelistic services was conducted in the coldest part of the Conference Nangayangan, Benguet. It was March but the temperature was frosting. During that week of evangelism a wooden church building was dedicated to the Lord and several people young and old were

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baptized by Rev. Bayle. The Highland Mission Conference Moderator conducted the series of services and Rev. Bayle a firy speaker was the messenger. The driver of the Mobile Unit was Pastor Ely Madlang-awa. PIGGERY ON THE CONFERENCE YARD The necessity of adequate family support especially of the children prompted the Conference Moderator to venture in piggery with the help of a neighbor who had a progressive foreign breed piggery. The monthly salary of two hundred fifty pesos was hardly enough to make both ends meet especially that the Conference house became a weekly lodging house of many people from Mayoyao and Kalinga. I started with a pair of piglets of the large white landrace breed from the piggery farm of Mr. Capuyan Then I bought a pure-bred duroc jersey boar for breeding from the Nayon piggery farm of the Ifugao State College of Agriculture and Forestry. In due time the two landrace sows became mothers with a combined piglets of 16 but one was crushed to death by one mother sow. When I was called to Manila to accompany a jeep type ambulance for the Mayoyao Community Hospital, managed and operated by the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, I got a duroc Jersey boar for breeding . This was given free from the Rural Life Program of the UCCP under the direction of Mr. Fagan. The boar was brought up to Bontoc before the Ambulance was brought to Mayoyao the following day. In the middle part of 1966 I expanded the pig pen to accommodate two large white landrace mothers, a room for the breeding boar, and two rooms for the piglets. I got a cross-bred of duroc Jersey and Berkshire mother pig from La Trinidad (MSAC) with the help of Mr. Paterno Buya-ao who was then a student of the College. In 1966 my grandmother the aunt of my mother named Pfukhan died. With the suggestion and approval of my wife, we decided to have one day wake (cholar) in accordance with cultural practice in Mayoyao. I then made arrangement with Mr. Vicente Bilagot who had a Willeys wagon to get the pigs in Bontoc. Four large white landrace mother pigs were brought to Mayoyao from our piggery in Bontoc for the funeral meals (pfu-ar). The coffin of my grandmother was brought to our house at Nonchotar, Mapagwoy, and for the first time a foreign breed pigs were used as pfu-ar of the dead in Mayoyao. It became a story in our barrio of Mapagwoy because the men had difficulty bringing down the long white pigs I took advantage of the curiosity and interest of the people to explain to them the many advantages of foreign breeds as compared to the small native pigs. In 1967 after some serious consideration and prayer, it was decided that my family should be taken to Mayoyao before my term as Conference Moderator ends. We came to this decision because my future assignment after I leave the Conference was uncertain. After the closing of the school year in March, we transferred part of our piggery to Mayoyao together with my family. A freight truck of Mr. Moses Chungalao was contracted to transport the pigs and my family to Mayoyao. We stayed in a cottage of cousin Mr. & Mrs. Dominga and Rodolfo Juguiad on the edge of the Municipal ground. We set up a temporary pig pen behind the house of Mrs. Juliet Ponchinlan with the assistance of our nephew John Chawana, a teenage who refused to go go school. My wife Alice opened a small sari-sari store for her to manage while I stayed alone in Bontoc. 0ur nephew John was very helpful in caring and feeding the pigs and getting

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firewood for us. We convinced him to stay with us to help the aunt and take care of the piggery while I was away. After some months we moved down to the house of Mr. & Mrs. Gaspar Ponchinlan, a cousin of Alice. The house was vacant because the Ponchinlan family were staying in Bontoc, Gaspar being a Provincial Board Member of the Mountain Province. When it was raining one day I saw some leaking from the roof which needed immediate attention. The following afternoon I went up the ceiling to see where the leaking was coming and to plaster it with roof cement. I rested my left hand on the plywood ceiling to look up to the roof when it suddenly gave way and down I was lying on the floor unable to move or talk with difficulty of breathing. I tried to shout for help but I could not talk. Fortunately our uncle Ewwi who was passing by heard my moaning and came immediately to help me but he could not lift me up because I was in serious pain. He then called for help. I was carried up to our room beside the little store of my wife. The following day my wife sent a telegram to Bishop Sobrepena that Moderator Angiwan had a fall and could not attend the meeting. She also sent another telegram to Rev. Robert Gipe in Baguio. Dr. Sobrepena sent a telegram informing that a mercy flight helicopter from Clark Field was coming to take me to Manila, but we delined the offer because Alice do not know where to stay in Manila while I would be in a hospital. Two days after we sent the wire to Baguio a Piper plane of the Missionary Aviation Fellowship based at Loakan Air Port appeared and after circling the Poblacion twice swoop down to the Mayoyao Central School ground and dropped something. In a few minutes a carton was brought up by some school boys. It was a Plaster of Paris for my fractured bertebrae. The hospital Ex-ray showed that my second lumbar vertebra was fractured. The Plaster of Paris was administered around my breast and back down to the waistline by Dr. Antonio Baluga Jr. He cemented my whole back and breast from the armpit to the waistline. After one week Rev. Robert Gipe came with his jeep to take me to Baguio. I was placed in an improvised bamboo stretcher at the back seat of the Jeep. We left Mayoyao at about past three in the afternoon. Alice sat beside the driver, Rev. Gipe while I was at the back. We arrived in Banaue in the evening and stayed in the Good News Clinic of the Baptist mission in Banaue. The following morning a Piper plane of the Missionary Aviation Fellowship landed on the Banaue Airstrip. We took the plane with my wife and another patient and flew to Baguio landing at Loakan Airport after twenty-five minutes flight. Mrs. Gipe was there waiting for us. I was confined at the Pines City Doctors Hospital where a bone specialist was a resident Doctor. During my hospital confinement, my beloved wife Alice stayed beside me providing all the moral, spiritual and prayer support. Her love and affection to her poor agonizing husband remained steadfast in all the trials we went through. Miss Ruth Rauch, an American missionary Nurse assigned to Highland Mission Conference and the Gipes paid all the hospital expenses. When I was discharged from the hospital we stayed with Miss Rauch in a cottage at Bokawkan for two weeks recovery before we returned to Bontoc. Again Rev. Gipe brought us with my wife to Bontoc on his sturdy Jeep. Since there was no Vice Moderator at that time to take my place while I was recuperating, I asked Rev. Jovencio Mariano, the Secretary-Treasurer to take charge of the the conference on all matters except making decisions. From Bontoc, we returned to Mayoyao for further recovery as prescribed by Dr. Torrevillas, the resident physician of the Mayoyao Community

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Hospital. With his report and recommendation the SSS gave me a check of four hundred pesos as Medicare aid. In the last quarter of 1967 we transferred to 0nagol from Galliw. We bought a small cottage of Mr. & Mrs. Romeo Lim-ang Sr. with the lot where the cottage was built. We established a foreign breed piggery and our little sari-sari store. During the Municipal Town Fiesta and Garden Day in 1968, an agricultural Productivity contest in backyard gardening, piggery and poultry was part of the program. 0ur foreign breed piggery won first prize. When some people started coming and wanting to see the piggery, I took this chance to promote foreign breed piggery in Mayoyao. I gave lecture and demonstration for those who visited our piggery during the three-day fiesta. Today as I am writing this story of our life, all piggeries in central Mayoyao and including Aguinaldo are foreign breed. The small and unproductive native pigs disappeared except in some remote barrios. This piggery business was one of our contributions to the social and cultural reformation in Mayoyao CONTINUING TRIALS IN THE FAMILY Another incident that had befallen our family was when our eldest son Jonathan started suffering severe stomach pain and had difficulty of urination. His urine sometimes became bloody. Dr. Larkin An American free lance medical doctor examined him and recommended hospital examination and possible surgery. I brought my son to Lorma Hospital in San Fernando, La Union . The result of the Ex-ray showed a stone in the bladder, my son was only seven years old. I do not understand how my little son got the stone, the size of the thamb of a young person. Anyway he was operated the following day by Dr. Rufino Macagba Jr. and the stone was removed. Thanks to God and to Dr Macagba Jr. because everything was free. We did not pay anything for the major operation and hospitalization. 0ne day I was requested to accompany a young girl, Inanama Aluyen to Manila to take up Nursing. The Aunt Lorenza Aluyen was our close friend. I had to stay in their house at Lantap, Bagabag, Nueva Viscaya, and to start for Manila the following morning. That night however, I suffered severe stomach pain with high fever. For this reason instead of going to Manila to accompany Naming, I left Lantap for San Fernando, La Union to the Bethany Hospital. For the whole day of travel I was able to sustain myself although I did not eat since the morning. In the afternoon I arrived at San Fernando and proceeded to the Bethany Hospital. Upon arrival Dr. Andres Bugnosen saw me and after I explained to him my problem I lost consciousness. I was rushed to the operating room immediately and when I woke up at about three in the morning I felt very thirsty. I tried to talk but my voice could not be heard. I managed to ask for water and it was then that a Nurse who was watching me informed that I was operated on. I was not allowed to drink water because it would generate gas pain which was difficult to endure. However, she gave one tea spoon full of warm water on my mouth and that was all. When I fully regained consciousness, I was informed that I had an acute appendicitis which needed immediate operation. Thank God it did not burst on the way before I was operated. Early in the morning Rev. Juan Marigza who was the Pastor of the United Church of Christ of San Fernando, La Union, came to visit me in my room in the Hospital. Being a close friend and fellow Minister, he volunteered to send a telegram to Alice at Bontoc. The following day in the afternoon my wife and son Philip arrived from

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Bontoc to the hospital. I was glad to see and hold my beloved wife again at the time of my physical suffering. They stayed in the Parsonage with Rev. and Mrs. Juan and Lourdes Marigza. Philip played with Reuel the son of the Marigza about his age, Alice stayed with me in my room in the hospital to care for me. When I was discharged from the Bethany Hospital we stayed with the Marigzas for one day before leaving for Bontoc. Thank God I was able to endure the rigors of the bampy travel from Baguio to Bontoc arriving late in the afternoon. It took me more than two months to fully recover to assume my responsibility as Moderator. Many thanks to Dr. 0rencia, Director of the Bethany Hospital, to Dr. Andy Bugnosen and Dr. Marquez for their unselfish and immediate response to my travail. I was well attended to by these faithful doctors and servants of God. I also thank the hospital administration for giving me everything free from surgery to hospitalization and accommodation. May God bless them all according to His riches. During the 1967 General Assemnly of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines held at Lucena City, I left Bontoc to attend the General Assembly and stayed overnight at Baguio City. The following morning I left for Manila. I went to the UCCP Headquarters at Quezon city where I found many of my fellow Moderators from the North-Luzon Jurisdiction. Three buses were full of delegates to the General Assembly. 0n our way to Lucena we were met by two siren sounding trafcon cars. That was an election year for General Assembly officers. The two trafcon cars with siren in full blast accompanied us to the site of the General Assembly Session. After the usual registration and receiving identification cards and ribbons we went to our designated boarding rooms. In the evening I was not feeling well. I felt nauseated and no interest to eat. However, I had to steel myself and was determined to attend the Assembly sessions. During the opening worship service the following morning we were all standing and singing Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus, when I started feeling dizzy, Dr. Alexander Grant, an American Missionary noticed me falling and grabbed my arms and I heard him say, Lets get out here. He led me to his car and rushed me to the Magsaysay Memorial Hospital where I was immediately admitted. While I was being examined Dr. Grant called up the General Assembly and talked to Dr. Enrique Sobrepena the General Secretary of the UCCP. Then I was placed in a one bed room with an assigned Doctor and a Nurse. I was quite concerned because no visitors were allowed to enter the room. After the opening service was over several fellow Moderators from the North-Luzon Jurisdiction rushed to the hospital to see me but they were not allowed to enter the room. Rev. Aquilino Guerrero, Secretary of Mission came but he too was not allowed to see me. However, he was informed that I was suffering from an infectious hepatitis which is dangerous and easily transferable. No wonder the Doctor and the Nurse assigned to take care for me were always with covered mouth everytime they entered the room. 0n the third day of my confinement in the hospital visitors were allowed to come in but only selected people and they had to cover their mouths while in the room. Rev. Guerrero came and talked to me. I was told that I looked yellow especially my eyes and face. The attending physician did all his best as ordered by Bishop Sobrepena. Rev. Guerrero told me that the General Assembly in session when informed of my problem had a three minutes silent prayer for me. The fourth day of the Assembly Session was the election of the General Secretary, four Bishops and a General Treasurer. Rev. Ciriaco Ma Lagunzad Jr. came to see me and I made a strong demand that I should be allowed to

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vote while in the hospital because I was an official delegate being a Moderator and my being in the hospital was not my own making. Rev. Lagunzad Jr. presented my urgent request to the General Assembly in session and with the strong endorsement of the General Secretary, Dr. Sobrepena the Assembly voted to allow me to vote while in bed in the hospital. In the afternoon, Rev. Lagunzad came with an official ballot and lists of candidates placed inside a folder. He commented that I became a very important man in the Assembly because aside from the three minutes silent prayer and the prayer of Bishop Navarro for my faster recovery, the General Assembly in Session debated whether to allow me to vote in the election or not. They voted to allowme to exercise my right of suffrage as a Conference Moderator. After accomplishing the ballot, I folded and placed in the folder and gave it to Rev. Lagunzad Jr. All throughout the General Asseembly session while I was in the hospital, I felt the loving care of God uplifting my spirit. When the General Assembly session was over after five days I was brought to the Train Station for San Fernando, La Union by the hospital ambulance. Rev. Abraham Mendoza was commissioned to accompany me to the Bethany Hospital in San Fernando, La Union, all at the expense of the General Assembly including my hospitalization while the Assembly was in session. Rev. Mendoza was given two first class tickets so we rode on a first class and airconditioned compartment of the Train. We arrived at the Bethany Hospital at about four in the afternoon. I was brought to a payward room and thanks to God for Dr. Bugnosen again was there to attend to me. I thank Rev. Mendoza before he left for home. The following day Dr. Bugnosen sent again a telegram to my ever faithful and dedicated wife, Alice. My beloved patiently endured with unflinching faith and confidence in Gods mercy and grace all these trials that I went through which she also suffered with me. In compliance with Doctors advice I had to be separated from my wife and children in bed and in eating for more than two weeks because of the infectiousness of my hepatitis. If not for the grace and mercy of Christians and institutions of the Church I would have died because we do not have the thousands of pesos needed for my hospitalizations and medicines. These are miracles to me for having survived these series of misfortunes in my life and the life of my family and only God has the final say. These experiences I went through mellowed me to complete submission to God and always, Let Thy will be done. While my family was in Mayoyao from 1967 to 1969 my wife and I decided to start buying lumber with the hope to put up a little house before my term expires as Conference Moderator. From our little store we bought some pine lumber. 0ur piggery and our turkeys were eating much of our finances but Alice managed to buy more than sixteen pieces of 2X6Xl6 ft. of pine lumber. Meanwhile visitors to the Conference house continued. 0ne time I as alone when sixteen people from Balinciagao arrived. They came from a peace pact (bodong) celebration in western Bontoc. With the absence of my wife I had to do the cooking of rice for the visitors. I went to the nearby restaurant and bought viand for all of them including myself. The latest accident I went through was in 1998. I took a night trip from Baguio to Santiago city and the following day, September 3, 1998 I rode on a Mayoyao bus from Santiago to Mayoyao. At barangay Ramon, Santiago Isabela the bus driver tried to overtake an open truck when suddenly a trycicle appeared and in an attempt to avoid collision the driver swerved to the left and the bus hit a big malena tree. The impact of

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the collision tumbled the tree but the bus crushed and landed on its right side. Being seated at the front I was nailed between the windshield and the front seat. Some of the passengers who were not hurt used a crawbar to pull me out. My two legs were fractured that crippled me. There were other casualties but I was the worst and almost died. My cousin Albert Panangon and some relatives who were in the bus rushed me to Santiago for immediate first aid to stop the bleeding from my head and legs. Vice Mayor Maguiwe of Aguinaldo used his aircon to contact Aguinaldo for assistance. My niece Myrtle received the message and relayed right away to Mayoyao and to Baguio city to inform my children about the accident. It was a blessing that the communication was fast so that in about an hour after the accident my children in Baguio were alerted. 0ur nephew John Chawana in Mayoyao received the message and with hesitation told my wife, his aunt that they will go to Santiago right away without telling her the reason. My wife immediately sensed that something must have happened to me. The aircon call to Aguinaldo was heard by my relatives who were in Ubao where a dead cousin Igkhajan lay in state rushed to Santiago to see me. They were my son Jonathan and wife Rosa and other nephews and nieces and other relatives. My brother Marcelo Homecgoy happen to be in Santiago and one of the passengers of the ill fated bus met him and informed that I was a serious casualty. When he found that I was not attended to in Santiago, he brought me to Quirino Pronvincial Hospital where Dr. Longid of Sagada was a resident physician. That same night at almost dawn, David and his wife Mancy, Philip, Matias Angiwan Jr.and Peter arrived from Baguio. Meanwhile I remained semiconscious all the way until I was brought to the Baguio General Hospital and Medican Center. I regained consciousness when about half of the blood transfusion circulated in my body. The examination by Dr. Romeo Tactay a bone specialist showed that my left foot below the knee was fractured and my right foot was almost severed on my knee. While in Santiago when I became half conscious my immediate talk to my children was that I will be alive so please inform everybody. My loving and brave Alice was beside me in the Aguinaldo ambulance driven by my nephew Anselmo Longatan Jr. I was operated on three times to save my two legs. I thought my right foot might be amputated but I was assured by the doctor that he will do all he can to save my two fractured legs. Stainless steel metals were placed by the doctor on my left and right foot, and this was the costliest of all because it was ordered from the United States. After almost two months I was discharged from the hospital as an outside patient with my two legs still cemented. After two weeks on cast while at home the assistant of Dr.Tactay came with a steel saw and sawed out the cast on both legs. This last accident incapacitated me so that even how much I would like to be given a local church assignment, it is just impossible because I could not walk without cratches at first and now without a cane. Now that I am physically incapacitated, I am devoting my time to write books for posterity. The history of Highland Conference, United Church of Christ in the Philippines is now ready for printing, the Cultural and Political History of Mayoyao was printed but out of stock, and the Mayoyao culture; Genealogy and the Family System is now on the computer ready for printing. With all these trials in my life history as a Minister of the Lord that affected my family very much, I praise the Lord for his mercy and grace that I am still alive. I considered all these experiences as an

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ingredient of the Christian life and service to God. To God be glory, honor and majesty forever and ever!

Chapter 1X CALL TO THE MINISTRY IN THE CITY

My Jesus as Thou wilt, 0 may Thy will be mine Into Thy hand of love, I would my all resign; Through sorrow or through joy Conduct me as Thine own! And help me still to say, My Lord Thy will be done. My Jesus as Thou wilt, all shall be well for me; Each changing future scene, I gladly trust with trust with Thee; Straight to my home above, I travel safely on, And sing in life or death,My Lord Thy will be done.

When my term as Conference Moderator was coming to a close I began to wonder what would come next. The children by Gods grace were all growing but their futures were
uncertain. All of them were in the Elementary school in Mayoyao. They transferred from All Saints Mission in Bontoc to the Mayoyao Central School when the family moved to Mayoyao in 1967. Meanwhile the agreement with my wife remained that they stay in Mayoyao while I go to wherever the Conference would assign me. David graduated from the elementary in Mayoyao in 1968 and Jonathan was first year high school at Ifugao Academy in Kiangan. The future of their education was dim especially for their college education, but we all committed these problems to God in prayer. The more I saw a dim future the more I was drawn into this conviction: My Lord, Thy will be done.

The last Annual Conference session that I presided on came in 1969 that was held at Baguio city at the Baguio Colleges Foundation high school building at Campo Filipino on March 2l 25, 1969. During the session I stayed with the delegates in the school building while Alice stayed with Dr. Libertad D. Quetulio in her big house. Bisop 0nofre G. Fonceca of the North-Luzon Jurisdiction was also housed there so Dr. Quetulio had only two guests. It was there where Dr. Quetulio and Bishop Fonceca made plans for us without my knowledge. Rev. Jovencio Mariano was elected moderator to succeed me and during the reading of assignment I was the only one without local church assignment. After the Annual Conference session adjourned we returned to Bontoc with my wife before we proceeded to Mayoyao. It was at Bontoc while in the Conference house that Alice told me about the plan for us to go to Baguio City. I was astounded about the information because I was aware that I am not for the city. My orientation and Pastoral experiences was in the rural ministry. Meanwhile the end of my term as Moderator was June so I still had April and May before the turn-over of responsibility to Rev. Mariano. The appointment of Rev. Mariano as the incoming Moderator was confirmed by the Executive Committee of the General Assembly in their meeting on May 10-11, 1969. 0n June 17, 1969 my wife and I extended our warmest welcome and felicitation to the new

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Conference Moderator. The official turn-over ceremony followed an hour after their arrival from Tabuk. The idea of going to the city to be a Pastor was far from my mind but the arrangement was already made. Again with fear and trembling I accepted the call believing that it was the will of God. According to the arrangement as told me by my ever loving wife Alice, I was to be an Associate Minister to Rev. Rizalino Subido and he will be the Senior Minister. At the same time I was to enroll at the Baguio Colleges Foundation for my Bachelor of Arts and further studies. This was a difficult situation for me to be carrying two full-time responsibilities, but as we always pray, My Lord, Thy Will Be Done. After the turn-over on June 17, 1969 my wife and I left Bontoc for Mayoyao, leaving the Conference house where we lived for six years with fruitful service. In Mayoyao we prepared for our long journey to Baguio city. 0ur children never complained everytime we moved to another place except their complaint on the heat in Bontoc. We entrusrted whatever was left of our little store including uncollected utang to our nephew John. This included the pine lumber, our four dogs and ten turkeys. A day before we left for Baguio, we invited our neighbors and relatives and slaughtered our remaining mother pig and had a fellowship and feasting with them. They shared whatever uncooked meat left after the fellowship lunch. It was a farewell party so we spent the whole day with our relatives including my parents-in-law. My beloved parents have already gone ahead to their heavenly home. During the whole day I kept figuring out what awaits us in the city. Many things were crowding my mind where to stay in the city, how are we going to live and can I get along in a city ministry? In the last week of June, 1969 the whole family left Mayoyao for Bontoc on our way to Baguio city. Four heads of turkey, four dogs and a small store were left to our nephew John. The hospital ambulance driven by my cousin Jose Angiwan brought us to Bontoc. When we arrived in Baguio we stayed with uncle Ernesto Panjag in a barong barong house at Government Center with his family. He was very glad to welome us. The following day I reported to the UCCP, Baguio starting my job as Associate Minister to Rev. Subido. When we arrived in Baguio, school classes already started. Jonathan enrolled as second year and David as first year high school at the Baguio Colleges Foundation high school department along Session road. The other children were enrolled in the Quezon Elementary School a walking distance to Government Center where we stayed. Thinking that the standard in the city schools might be high, my wife enrolled Joel again in grade II and Alma in grade I. Before the middle of the school year, Joel was moved to grade III and Alma to grade II when the Principal received their transcript of record from Mayoyao and saw that they have high grades. As per arrangement with Dr. Libertad D. Quetulio I enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts at the Baguio Colleges Foundation and at the same time Associate Pastor in the UCCP, Baguio city. I enrolled 26 units with the approval of the teacher adviser on enrollment. In return for my free scholarship together with my sons in the high school, I was required to teach character education in the high school. I used the Bible as the text book and so I was faced with three tasks at the same time full time associate pastor in the church, full time student and teaching character education in the high school. By the month of 0ctober I started feeling the weight of the heavy responsibility I was carrying.

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Alice became a full time mother in the house. 0ur survival was dependent only on the two hundred pesos (Php 200.00) the church was giving me a month. Uncle Ernesto, jobless did all he could to find a means to sustain us and his family economically. In one month the rice we brought with us from Mayoyao was gone so Alice had to buy rice from the market. At the outset we explained to the children that we have no money so they had to be patient to come home to eat at noon. Fortunately the elementary school was a walking distance to Government Center where we lived. When I submitted my Seminary transcript of record to the school Registrar I was asked to show first to the Director of Private Schools and so I went to the office of Mr. Martin Guinid who was the Director and showed my transcript for proper action. He checked all the subjects to be credited to my Liberal Arts. What were not credited were the Bible subjects and theological subjects. For this reason I was able to finish my AB in two semesters and one summer. I graduated in March, 1971 major in history. I was then advised by Dr. Quetulio to continue for BSE and so I enrolled in BSE majoring in history and minoring in English. I graduated in March, 1972. In the school year 1972 1973 I was taken in the College of Education on recommendation of Dr. Quetulio. In the opening of the school year 1970 71 three nieces came with the desire to enroll in college. They were Esther Gumitang, Helen Longatan and Carmen Lachaona. Meanwhile we transferred to a small house bought by my uncle Ernesto Panjag from a man from Banaue. We stayed together in that small house, six children and the three girls. The most difficult was not only the accommodation but also the food supplies but we managed to survive with all of us going to school except my wife. In the summer of 1971 my mother-in-law came with a few gantas of rice and some bundles of palay. She stayed for one week and when she left for Mayoyao we did not give her anything because as my wife said, We have nothing to give. We borrowed money only for her transportation. While it was painful on my part I still thank God that she was able to return home. My family of eleven members was able to survive with two hundred pesos a month from 1969 1972 in a city life. This was the most difficult life we went through in all our years as a family. When our life was becoming more difficult we noticed that our nieces were concerned. 0ne time we asked them if they were willing to work as working student and they agreed. After talking with some church members Esther went to Mr. & mrs. Hipolito Calica, Helen went to Mr. & Mrs.Gregorio Ariz Sr. and Carmen went to Mr. & Mrs. Duque. Due to the difficult financial situation, Esther and Helen enrolled in Secretarial course and Carmen in Commerce. Thank God our nieces were willing to work their way to school. Now Esther and Helen are working in the Municipal government of Maoyao and Aguinaldo and Carmen is abroad as OFW. BAPTISM OF FIRE IN THE STUDENT GOVERNMENT During the election of the Baguio Colleges Foundation Student Government in 1971 I was pressured by some students to file my candidacy for the Student Senate. Without expecting to be elected I filed my candidacy but I did not campaign because I had no time being a full time student, full time Associate Pastor in the church and teaching character education in the high school department. To my surprise I was one of the eight winners to the Student Senate. In the organization of the Senate I was chosen as Senate President. That was the height of the radical student activism in Baguio and in Manila. In BCF the

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radicals led by the Kabataang Makabayan or KM was getting out of control. The KM the student arm of the communist party in the Philippines was the most destructive in vandalism, student demonstration and student bouycot of classes..Vandalism in the school in the name of students right was almost uncontrollable because President Salvosa ordered leniency and tolerance. The BCF student government was at the center of the vortex of student radicalism and as Senate President I was faced with a dilemma, whether to side with the students or with the administration. Neutralism at this critical point is counterproductive. Majority of the student government officers sided with the students in the bouycot of class condemming the school as facist and pro ilitism. Aware of my role in the school not only as a student but also enjoying full scholarhip including my children, I felt that I had a responsibility to the school so I asked permission from the Executive Vice President to do something to counter the destructive student extremism. He gave me the go signal and so I managed to go underground movement by joining the KM not to become communist but I wanted to know their real score, their objectives, teachings and ideology. During the massive student demonstration and bouycot of classes the student radicals blockaded around the school premises. The leader was a Lawyer and faculty member. The radicals confiscated books and notebooks of students who wanted to attend classes. My two nieces were among the victims of this confiscatory method. In secret meeting we had somewhere in Burnham Park, I was able to convince the leaders of the radicals that going too extreme in our action might defeat our purpose to which they all agreed including the chairman, a second year law from UP Diliman. Confident of the secret agreement I filed a resolution in the Student Senate to allow students who wanted to attend classes and to encourage students who wanted to join the bouycot to do so and to encourage others to join them. Students who had no classes were encouraged to man the barricades. In this way classes were going on while the student bouycot was also going on. I knew that in the end the student barricaders were the losers especially during examinations. In this situation there was no leniency in the grading examinations. Those who failed the test failed and those who passed were given passing grades. The student bouycot and the barricades were hotly debated in the student senate but the decision of the majority who are members of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) a moderate organization prevailed. As the Senate president I faced the most difficult issue to side with the students or not. I was aware that any wrong move would expose my being with the KM and might torpedo my educational scholarship and my church ministry. This was a baptism of fire on my role in the student government. Meanwhile I was passing all secret informations I gathered to the Executive Vice President of BCF so that the student blockade was known ahead by the administration which enabled the school to call for policemen to maintain order and help prevent students from vandalism. In my more than three months experience in the underground movement I learned much with the so-called leftist movement which was a communist front. Many of the issues they raised and fought against were valid and real. Many of the students were sincere in their determination to fight injustice, economic imperialism of foreign capitalist and many others. My responsibility as Senate president was to neutralize the extreme radicals so as to protect the student majority who were not interested in demonstration and bouycotting of classes. I tried to work through the student senate and

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with the underground committee of which I was a member. Then an issue of graft and corruption in the Student Government was raised by the students.Some of the members of the student senate called for an investigation. In support of this charges Miss Edna Tabanda a representative of the Commerce Department was encouraged to file an impeachment case against the president of the BCF Student Government. The BCFSG constitution provided that the House of Representatives initiate the impeachment proceeding and the Senate acting as Tribunal will try the case. As president of the Senate I presided over the impeachment proceeding. The impreachment of the student president, Mr. Joseph Aquilet became sensational in Baguio city especially among the students of the different colleges and universities and the public because that was the first impeachment case in Baguio city. Students of the College of Law of BCF got involved in the impeachment proceedings. Two law students were the counsel of the accused, Mr. Aquilet. My brother Marcelo who was third year in the College of Law became my unknown adviser who prepared all the paper works on the impeachment. During the first trial I missed my classes because I had to preside over the case. Many students crowded the Theater where the trial was conducted. So many technicalities were raised by the defense but I was able to direct the proceeding on course. Some students from other schools in Baguio attended the proceedings. After the trial Marcelo prepared the decision of the student senate which convicted the student government president, but before the promulgation of the decision president Joseph Aquilet resigned. The resignation practically closed the case. This was my first taste of student politics and student activism.The risk that I have taken for joining the underground student movement was my baptism of fire. My involvement in this risky student radicalism was kept secret from my wife and family except my brother Marcelo.These experiences was a great help in my college teaching starting in 1972. Fortunately I was able to get out from the underground before martial law was declared by President Marcos on September 21, 1972 under Presidential Decree 1081. When we learned about the proclamation of Martial Law in the afternoon many of the radical students disappeared. Many of the radical leftist students with some civilians were arrested. Three days after the proclamation of Martial Law a long lists of students subject to arrest were published in all schools. In BCF I was number twenty-seven alphabetically in the list from Camp Dangwa, and I was number eighteen on the lists from the NBI. I knew it was Sgt. Jose Rivera a church member who submitted my name to the NBI because he saw me three times with Cesar Taguba who was the most wanted student being a high officer in the leftist movement. However, I was not arrested although most of my fellow senators were arrested, because I made use of my I.D. as a Minister of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. I learned that there was an agreement between President Marcos and the Church dignitaries that a priest or minister who was subject to arrest should not be arrested by the Military but to be under the custody of their superior/s. I finished my BSE in March of 1972 majoring in history and minoring in English. After graduation I went to see Dr. Quetulio, Dean of the College of Education for a possible employment in the high school department. I was advised to write a letter of application to be submitted to her. I wrote the application and submitted the following month of May.

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While waiting for the school opening in June I continued my pastoral responsibilities, conducting services and Bible studies in four places. This was part of my student ministry which I started in 1970. I conducted services and Bible studies in the two BIBAK dormitories along Harrison Road, and two boarding houses at the Hill Top and at T. Alonzo Street. 0n Sundays we alternate with Rev.Subido in leading the services and delivering sermons. I also assisted him in visitation and family devotions. He did the visitation and prayer for the sick. FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT TO COLLEGE TEACHING When school opened in June 1972 I went to see Dr. Quetulio to find out what was their action on my application. I was told to get my load from Miss Teresita Mendoza who was the Acting Dean of the College of Educaion. I was puzzled why I had to go to Miss Mendoza when I applied for high school teaching. When I inquired why, she told me that I was going to teach in the College of Education. Teach in college! Then I started fearing because of the thought that I was not prepared for college teaching. In short, I realized later that I did not have confidence in myself. I went to the Acting Dean and she gave me my load of 21 units, mostly Philippine history. During my first week of classes I felt quite uneasy because some of my students were my former classmates. In the first day of classes they thought I was just joking when I requested them for their classcards. 0ne of them was a Pastor who was my classmate in European history where we often spent more time in argumentation than the traditional lecture under Mr. Gregorio Ariz Sr. He did not want to be my student so I gave back his classcard and told him to go to another teacher which was also to my advantage. He transferred to another class not because he did not like me, but because he was out of place among much younger students. My getting into college teaching required readjustment with my church responsibilities. My class schedule and the schedule of my church work had to be adjusted and Rev. Subido was considerate when I failed to go with him for family devotions. However, I continued my student ministry to the two BIBAK dormitories and two boarding houses in the evening three times a week until Rev. Roger Walkwitz an American Baptist missionary took over. That year I was taken to college teaching, Jonathan and David also enrolled in college, Jonathan in Commerce Accounting and David in Civil Engineering. Their miscellaneous fees were deducted from my salary every month but they were free in tuition fees as faculty dependents. In 1970 -1971 we transferred from the small cottage of my uncle Ernesto Panjag to another house owned by Itliong from Pagasinan. We rented two rooms and a kitchen that gave us a wider space. In 0ctober 1971 uncle Panjag became seriously ill. My son Jonathan and I brought him to the Lutheran Hospital at Abatan, Buguias to Dr. Andy Bugnosen. We hired a taxi from Baguio to Abatan, leaving at 8:00 P.M. and arriving at Abatan at 2:00 the following morning. After examination Dr. Bugnosen ordered the Nurses to prepare my uncle for operation. The operation was set at 8:00 A.M. During the operation my uncle almost died so Dr. Bugnosen immediately applied mouth-tomouth resuscitation which revived him after more than ten minutes. When uncle Panjag was discharged from the hospital the Doctor told me to pay only the hospitalization because he was giving his services free. I paid Php 120.00 pesos and thank God for another blessing. Uncle was able to recover from that major operation of the kidney. Starting in April, 1972 my uncle again suffered from an illness that brought him on-and-

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off to the hospital. When he was suffering from that illness they left their house at Government Center and went to live with a family from Benguet for herbal treatment. Due to my heavy responsibilities every day we did not bother to follow them where they went. The rainy and stormy weather in Baguio started in June, 1972. The whole month of July was rainy and stormy every day without let-up. In the last week of July we learned that uncle Panjag was in the Chinese General Hospital in Baguio city, suffering from what doctors called Perkinsons disease. Then in the afternoon of August 4, 1972 my wife came to Baguio Colleges Foundation to inform me that uncle died in the Chinese General Hospital. The news was like a stone that struct my head. Alice and our niece Esther took the responsibility of bringing the body of uncle to the Baguio Funeral Homes. We immediately informed the GSIS to claim for the funeral benefit. Due to the continuous raining we could not send a telegram to Mayoyao. I was emotionally affected with this death but Alice took the greater responsibility of cooking and prepaing coffee and brought them to the Funeral Homes. From the first night to the burial I saw many old men and old women mostly from Barlig attending the lamay. It was from these folks that we knew uncle Panjag was the president of the Spiritista in Baguio. The question that crowded my mind was whether to take the body to Mayoyao or not, and if we do how are we going to finance the transportation to Mayoyao. I sent three successive telegrams to Mayoyao and one was answered that relatives were coming to take the body to Mayoyao. We waited and waited but on one appeared. 0n the sixth day of the wake or vigil at the Funeraria we decided that uncle had to be buried in Baguio, since no one from Mayoyao came and I was alone facing the problem. Some men who were friends of uncle Panjag volunteered to prepare the grave in the Baguio Cemetery. Meanwhile my brother Marcelo came up from Manila to join us in the wake. He was reviewing for the Bar Examination. For seven nights that uncle was in the Funeraria , many people mostly old women and old men from Barlig, Bontoc and Ifugao joined us every night for the reason that: Natay metten ti presidente me iti Spiritista. Many Mayoyao students and some Mayoyao residents in Baguio came every night. The 8th day, August 12, 1972 was the burial. The mental and psychological stress I suffered for being alone to take care of my beloved uncle Panjag made me weak and nervous. Rev. lRizalino Subido the Senior Minister of the UCCP Baguio volunteered to perform the burial rites from the Funeraria to the Baguio Cemetery. I did not go to the cemetery because I was weak and getting dizzy due to luck of sleep and no appetite to eat. After the burial we went to Government Center where we were boarding and many of the people followed. We butchered one regular size pig for the last funeral meal after the burial. My cousins, my uncles daughters in Mayoyao were just little children so they did not know what we went through during their fathers hospitalization up to his death. I thank God that uncle waited until we joined him in Baguio before he departed. In April 1973 the Church Council of the UCCP Baguio decided not to continue my service to the church anymore. Rev. Subido was retained as the lone Pastor until his retirement the following year. When Mrs. Eusebia 0ccena a sympathizer for my retention informed me of the Council action I tendered my resignation the following day. Some of the church members and some Council members asked me to reconsider my resignation but I decided to be irrevocable. That same year Rev. Juan Marigza was taken in to replace me. When Rev. Subido retired Rev. Marigza was alone. For three months I did

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not have a local church assignment and I feel uneasy. 0f course I was full time in college teaching but I wanted at least a week-end local church assignment. I feel uneasy sitting down on the pews on Sunday when I should be conducting services and preaching sermons. In September 1973 I learned that the Ucab local church did not have a Pastor. I went to attend Sunday service there the second Sunday and the members were very glad when they learned that I did not have church assignment. I was requested to give the sermon during the service of which I did. Mr. Balacdao asked me if I would be their Pastor and I told him to give me one week to decide until the following Sunday. After careful consideration and prayer I accepted the call but only part-time. The following Sunday I went again to Ucab and after the service we had a Council Meeting. I informed them of my decision to accept the call on a part-time service. The members gladly accepted the proposal which to them was just right because they could afford afford to pay a full-time Pastor. And so from that time I assumed the responsibility as part-time Minister without the knowledge of the Conference administration. The Moderator was informed later and so my assignment was validated. From 1973 to 1978 I served the Ucab church while I was full-time teaching at the Baguio Colleges Foundation, education department. As a part-time Pastor I found a problem which needed immediate attention. The wooden church building of the Gipe model was eaten by termites so it was tilting. It can be blown down by even a mild typhoon. In 1975 the local church launched a building fund campaign for a new concrete church building. I personally went with the Elders to Philex Mines to solicit the help of some employees who are sympathizers and some church members. Solicitation letters were sent out to some church members in Baguio city and La Trinidad. The result of this campaign was favorable and so a new concrete building was erected walled with hallow block cement. Church members who had transportation jeepneys offered their vehicles to transport iron bars and bags of cement from Baguio and to haul sand and gravel from the river. Free labor were given by the men and young people except a few who were paid to do the greater part of the work. In 1978 before the dedication of he new edifice Rev. Mauro Basallo took over as Pastor of the Ucab congregation while I was assigned to La Trinidad, Benguet. THE LA TRINIDAD EXPERIENCE ON SELF-RESPPNSIBILITY When I started my part-time ministry in La Trinidad in 1978, it was a house congregation.Sunday services and Sunday schools were held in the house of Dr. & Mrs. Jose Lubrica Sr. 0n my first Sunday, there were eight adults in attendance. Pastor & Mrs. Santiago and Isabel Licudine, retired church workers were among them. After the service I had a brief meeting with the elders before I left for Baguio city. The La Trinidad house church was started by Rev. Rizalino Subido in 1960. Before the work started there, the members were attending services in Baguio city. When Rev. Subido was assigned to Baguio city in 1967 nobody continued the work until I was assigned there in 1978. The attendance in the Sunday services and Sunday school started to increase before the end of June. At the start of 1979 some people could not be accommodated inside the small room. To remedy the problem Mrs. Noemi B. Sobrino suggested that I write a letter to Dr. Bruno Santos, President of the Mountain State Agricultural College ( MSAC) for the use of her class room on Sundays. Mrs. Sobrino was a faculty member of the College. The request was approved so we transferred our

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Sunday services and Sunday schools to her room. More and more young people started attending Sunday services and Sunday school classes. The following week the congregation was organized into a regular local church. A new Church Council was created. During the first Council meeting, I suggested the possibility of looking for a permanent place of worship because the school administration can stop us anytime from using the school room. It was then that the need for a lot and a church building became a pressing necessity. Every Sunday we asked the Lord to give us a lot on which to build a house of worship for the glory and honor of God. The first move to realize this dream was to launch a church building fnnd campaign starting in the congregation. This fund campaign started with zero balance. The local church choir under the baton of Mrs. Noemi Sobrino spearheaded the fund campaign. The local church adopted a battle hymn for the campaign: Nothing is impossible if you put your trust in God. This became the theme song of the Choir throughout the church building fund campaign period. To start the church building fund campaign outside the local church, I was able to convince Rev. Juan Marigza, Minister of the UCCPof Baguio city for a possible fund campaign in the city church. He then proposed a joint worship service in the city and asked me to deliver the sermon of which I accepted with thanks. During the joint service the La Trinidad choir and then Baguio city choir rendered two wonderful anthems. The La Trinidad choir sang the theme song; Nothing is impossible if your put your trust in God which inspired the worshippers. In this joint worship service we were able to realize Php 6,000.00 pesos and about the same amount in pledge which were given later. The next drive was decided by the choir. They went down to the lowland and had a concert at the Calumbaya UCCP church. The church building fund campaign caught the interest of all the local church members of La Trinidad from the young people to the adults. Mr. Dominador Villa, Chairman of the Church Council led the accelerated fund campaign by soliciting donations from individual persons he knew. With his own initiative he was able to talk to Engineer Prez from the Ilocos who owned some land in La Trinidad for sale. When he announced in a Church Council meeting that two lots were available for purchase in La Tinidad it was good news but we did not have the money to pay for the lots. To solve this problem I wrote the General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines for a loan. The application forms were properly accomplished and sent by mail with the request for immediate approval since time was of the essence. Unfortunately the loan was delayed for almost a year which prompted me to write an angry letter to Bishop Marciano Quiocho of the North Luzon Jurisdiction. In response he personally went to Dagupan Tabuk to ask the UCCP church there for the immediate payment of their loan so that our loan could be released. A loan of Php 20,000.00 pesos was granted. We were able to to buy only one of the two lots because of the delay of the loan. Anyway the La Trinidad local church bought 255 sq. meters at Php 90.00 pesos per sq. meter. The next major challenge was the building. Can we have a church building? The theme song and motto was always a reminder that nothing is impossible with God. In the month of August, 1980 we invited Dr. Andy Bugnosen as our guest preacher. After the service I told him that we are giving up the church building project for lack of money. He told us not to give up and promised to help in the fund campaign. He then loaned Php 10,000.00 pesos which was refunded after the church building was dedicated on

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December 19, 1982. With all these assistance coming in from members especially from local churches and individuals the dream of having a permanent house of worship was assured. 0n September 12 ,1980 the ground breaking ceremony for the new church building was conducted in the presence of some members of the UCCP of Baguio. Some of them pledged to support the building construction. The church building construction was no different from the fund campaign. It was a continuing demonstration of self-responsibility, self-reliance, initiative and determination by the local church membership of La Trinidad in their desire to have a church building of their own to worship and praise God. Since I only went to La Trinidad on Sundays for worship and Sunday school and on Saturdays when needed, I entrusted all the responsibilities to the Chairman of the Church Council, Mr. Dominador Villa relative to the direction and management of the church building project. He was ever willing to assume the responsibility and always in action. He in turn inspired all the church members to do their utmost ability to share in the building construction. Every member from children, young people to adults actively participated in the contruction in one way or another. The old women did the cooking for the carpenters and other workers. The children carried stones whatever size they can carry from the nearby river to the building construction site. The young people did their part by getting sand and gravel on the river while the men who knew carpentry did the construction. The young people initiated a summer work camp which was held at La Trinidad to carry stones, sand and gravel to the building construction with the use of a Pinoy jeep of the Chairman of the Church Counciil. Some of the young people were students from Mayoyao. They joined the work camp at my request since some of them were my nephews and children of relatives in Mayoyao. When construction materials got short, Mr. Villa went to some of the big Chinese hardwares and billed the needed lumber, cement and iron bars. Every Saturday I was there to give the necessary inspiration with my presence. 0ne incident happened on the river when we were gathering stones, sand and gravel to be ready to be brought to the construction site. When it was time for lunch a woman came to call us. I told the men to go ahead and I will follow but no one moved. I urged them to go ahead but still no one moved but every body was busy. It was only when I stood up washing my hands to go that every one followed me. When we were eating I overheard some of the men saying that they were ashamed to leave me alone working. This was a lesson to me on leadership by example. 0ne Sunday after the worship service, a group of men from Bato Longlong asked me how many bags of cement, iron bars, and hallow blocks to finishe one side of the wall of the church building. Thinking that they just want to know, I requested them to see Mr. Villa, the Chairman of the Council and incharge of the construction. The following Saturday when I went to work with the people, I was surprised when I saw one side of the wall of the building already finished. This was done by the men from Bato Longlong who talked to me. This was a demonstration of initiative that nothing is impossible with God. The battle hymn of the church building project was working beyond my expectation. As I saw the whole undertaking I could sense the hand of God directing the minds and hearts of his people. I learned later that even those who were not attending Sunday services and non-members came to extend a hand in the building construction. Many of

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them joined the church later when Pastor Matias Angiwan Jr. took over the ministry from Rev. Jovencio Mariano who succeeded Rev. Angiwan Sr who was assigned to King Solomon local church. In Gods own time the cute little church building was dedicated to the Lord on December 19, 1982, only four months of hard work and prayer. In my more than forty years in the local church ministry the La Trinidad experience was the most inspiring and most challenging ministry in my life as a minister of the Gospel. This to me was the blessings when true faith in God was put into action as James in chapter three demonstrated and illustrated that faith not demonstrated in good works is dead. What was my role as the Pastor? I just provide the inspiration and guidance while God did the impossible from no lot, no building and no money to an organized and alive local church with a concrete church building of their own. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. In less than ten years the small concret chapel was lost into a two storey edifice that accommodated the Nursery-Kindergarten school and the Highland Conference at the basement while the second storey is the place of worship and the Ministers office. The expansion in membership and infra-structure development is on course and I believed in accordance with Gods will for the Church. Indeed nothing is impossible when Gods people give their lives to the service of Him who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Praised be the name of the Truine God from whom we live and move and have our being. FLASHBACK TO THE 1970 AND OVER Before I resigned from the United Church of Christ of Baguio City in 1972, Alice was taken in the Nursery-Kindergarten School of the Baguio city church as Teacher-aid in 1970. By this time our youngest child Alma was in grade II. By Gods blessing my wife and I were both employed alleviating our financial difficulty. Despite our financial limitation we decided to help some of our nephews and nieces who were interested to further their educational studies. Being the first professional in the family clan as mentioned above, I felt our moral responsibility to help our relatives educationally so that they would be able to improve their life and living in the future. We took Sioning our niece who was in the elementary grade and we wanted her to finish her elementary eduation in Baguio. We promised to help her through high school and to college as far as we are capable to do. However, she left us and went to work as house girl and later returned to Mayoyao. As already mentioned above Helen Longatan and cousin Esther Gumitang took up Secretarial course and now they are both employed and happily married with children of their own. Carmen Lachaona was married to a Chinese mestizo and they have two children- Rey Bautista Jr. and Deborah, both are employed. The next to come to us were Robert Longatan and Ben Lawagan. Aristotle and sister Myrtle Homecgoy came and stayed with us while they studied in high school at BCF. Aristotle transferred to Assumption Academy in Mayoyao where he graduated. Robert enrolled in Liberal Arts wanting to take up the church ministry after his A.B. I encouraged him on his plan. However, after his second year he started complaining of severe headache which I suspected to be some sort of migraine. He decided to quit his studies despite our desire to let him finish his bachelors degree. We paid all his school expenses for his first and second year in college. Now he is employed as Sanitary Inspector in Aguinaldo Municipality and happily married with four children. Ben Lawagan enrolled in Electronics at the vocational department of Baguio Colleges Foundation. He was very patient, industrious and dependable in the house.

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Later he transferred to a government vocational course where he mastered his electronics education. Now he is happily married and became a Pastor in the Campus Crusade in the Philippines. When I went to Mayoyao one summer time I saw for the first time Merlyn the eldest daughter of our youngest sister Elena who was married to Sabas Guinannoy from Banaue. Merlyn was first year high school at the Assumption Academy . I asked her to go with me to Baguio and she will continue her studies there. She was quite shy and probably wondered who was this man asking her to study in Baguio. Anyway in the next coming school year she came. We enrolled her in the Baguio Colleges Foundation high school. Unfortunately she failed most of her subject which we could not understand. She told us that she would stop her studies because she could not make it. After leaving us she is now happily married to Paul Udan an accountant from Banaue. They are blessed with seven children, the eldest daughter Nadia just graduated in Commerce. By this time four of our boys were in college. Jonathan the eldest in commerc-accounting at BCF, David the second in Civil Engineering also in BCF, Philip in agriculture major in plant pathology in Mountain State Agricultural College, La Trinidad, Benguert. Joel followed Philip in La Trinidad enrolling in Agricultural Engineering. Martias Angiwan Jr. enrolled in Liberal Arts at BCF. This was the most difficult time in the family and in one pay day I did not get a single centavo except the receipts because the total school fees was more than my fifteen days pay. To find a means to sustain us in the family and the education of the children I sought the assistance of then Congressman Gualberto Lumauig of Ifugao. I am indebted to the Congressman very much for securing government scholarship for my three sons in college. Without this government scholarship my sons would not have finished their college education. In March, 1976 David finished his Civil Engineering course. Right after his graduation we planned for his review in Manila. Fortunately he had a very close friend and fellow graduate Emilio Cervantes. He had an aunt in Manila where they stayed while reviewing. They both passed the board examination at first take. David returned to Baguio and in a short time he was employed in the National Irrigation Adminstration (NIA) with station at Santiago Isabela. It was during Davids stay in Santiago Isabela when my father-in-law died in 1978. After the burial of my father-in-law we returned to Baguio while David returned to Santiago Isabela. In less than a month after that I learned of the massive graft and corruption in the NIA in Santiago. Fearing that my son might be involved in this corruption issue, I went to see Engineer Cruz, the Dean of the Engineering Department of BCF. I requested him if he can take David to teach in that department and his answer was more than affirmative. Dean Cruz told me that David can report right away. With the assurance of employment, I went to Santiago and told David to resign and return to Baguio. Fortunately David was able to get his clearance and one week after, the graft and corruption was exposed in almost all the national newspapers. Gods saving grace saved my son from the evil of graft and corruption in government. Due to the pressure from the school administration that those who did not have a Masters degree maybe removed from college teaching. I then enrolled in the Graduate School of BCF. I started my graduate studies in 1979. It was quite difficult for me due to my college teaching and local church assignment. However, I have a loving and understanding wife who had a unique way of encouraging me and to be patient with

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determination. She either belittled me of being incapable or challenged me to resign from teaching and let her go to college. 0ne time I go irritated of her degrading statements and quarreled with her but she kept her ground. Apparently she did not get angry by my harsh words because she knew what she was doing, to push me to finish my graduate studies. When I started my thesis writing I needed time to go to Mayoyao for research and interview some noted men. I applied for two summers leave to be able to complete my research. I had to do all the typing of my draft up to my defense because I did not have the money to pay a typist. I finished my academic units in two years but it was my thesis that delayed my graduation. I took my comprehensive examination and passed with flying color. In February, 1983 I successfully defended my thesis entiled: Mayoyao Culture: Customs and Practices. The five members of the Defense panel were headed by Dr. Pio Tadawan. He was the Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Baguio. In my defense I was tensed at the start but recovered my composure after successfully answering two questions thrown to me. After one hour of roasting questions I was asked to leave the room. When I was called back to the room my grade was announced at 1.25. After the hand shaking and congratulations followed the usual refreshment. I was indebted to Miss Sonia Aplosen who volunteered to prepare the refreshment from the school canteen. My loving wife was not able to come and prepare because she was tied up in her responsibility in the Nursery-Kindergarten School where she was working. Five days after my defense, eight copies of my thesis were printed and book bound. 0ne morning I brought the printed and book bound thesis to the house of Dr. Tadawan for his signature. After signing all the books he said to me. It is good you brought your thesis today, because I am planning to go to Sagada tomorrow. That afternoon he died of stroke and when I heard of his death from Mr. Tallocoy, I thought that was probably what he meant by going to Sagada. After my graduation in March I was promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor II with the corresponding adjustment in salary. During the school year 1981-82 Matias Angiwan Jr. enrolled in the College of Law at BCF. His first choice was the Church Ministry to become a Pastor but I suggested to him take up law first and then proceed to the Seminary after passing the Bar.I told him that the Conference needs a Lawyer-Pastor to assist on legal matters affecting the local churches. I had to go go Congressman Lumauig again for possible extension of the scholarship and it was approved. By this time five of our children were in college. Alma, the youngest enrolled in Liberal Arts, Jonathan in commerce-accounting, Philip and Joel at MSAC. For this reason we continued to live as a family as frugally as possible for them to be able to finish their college education. After finishing law and passing the Bar, Matias Angiwan Jr. enrolled in the International School of Theology that opened at Loakan, Baguio City. THE CHILDREN DECLARING THEIR INDEPENDENCE 0ne afternoon in June, 1980 David brought home a fair lady and introduced her as his girl friend. The name was Mancita Eming from Balaoa Tadian and niece of Vicente Bilagot. By this time David was a full time instructor in the College of Engineering of Baguio College Foundation. Mancy was taking up Nursing at the Saint Luis University. In the middle of the school year 1980-81 David informed us that he wanted to get married

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The parents of Mancita, Mr. & Mrs. Eming came and so we planned for the marriage. In the first week of 0ctober I cooked rice (dikit) for rice wine. After the rice was cooked I placed it on a wide winnower pallongan for cooling. I left the kitchen and went out for necessity. When I returned a big butterfly with multi-colored wings was at the center of the rice on the pallongan slowly flapping its wings. I did not know what to do, to kill the butterly or to let it loose. After a moment I slowly took hold of its two wings and released it outside through the window, thinking on what is the meaning of the coming of this butterfly. When the rice was fermented I placed it in two big burnay jars I bought in Vigan, Ilocos Sur that September when I attended a seminar on history at the University of Northern Philippins. During our conference with the parents of Manita we set the date for the wedding. The preparation started with the cooking of the rice wine and the securing of animals for the wedding feast. I secured four large white landrace and a cow while abalayan Eming secured one large white landrace. 0ur abalayan wanted the wedding feast to be held at Santo Tomas in the house of their eldest daughter Lita. Two days before the wedding rites we transferred all the rice wine jars, sacks of rice, kitchen utensils and others to Santo Tomas from Government Center where we lived with the help of Mr. Joseph Budas, the owner of the house we are renting. We used his open truck the whole day. The weather was quite warm and bright sunny day. In the afternoon we brought the pigs and the cows for slaughtering in the late afternoon. At about four in the morning of the wedding day, 0ctober 27, 1980 it started to rain with slight wind. The wedding ceremony was held at the BIBAK BIBLE CHURCH at General Lim st. Baguio city. I officiated on the wedding ceremony. It was raining and windy. Apparently a typhoon was blowing hard. Many of the people got wet despite umbrellas. Some transportation Jeepneys were hired to transport the people to Santo Tomas. Despite the rain many people came including our neighbors at Government Center. The only person from Mayoyao was Vicente Bilagot. Pastor Bernardo Liquit came from Pangasinan also a close relative of the Emings. Rev. & Mrs. Walkwitz, American missionaries of the Bibak Bible Church came with their own car. The rain became harder and the wind blowing fiercely that some of the paper plates were blown away. Several paper plates went flying into the air. Despite the typhoon we managed to finish the wedding lunch. The invited guests were able to go home especially those who have their own ride. At dawn the following morning the typhoon stopped. Early in the morning a black haired pig was slaughtered and butchered. The meat was divided between David and Mancita. We brought our share of the meat to Government Center and I requested compadre Joseph Budas to divide the meant among our selves. Before breakfast the sun began to shine brightly and the weather clear. We started transporting back to Government Center all the kitchen utensils, the jars of rice wine and others. It was warm and dry. This 0ctober 27, 1980 was the first wedding in the family that we shouldered. 0ur first granddaughter from this marriage was born on May 31,1981 with birth marks on different part of the body,and we named her Leah Majagwon, next to her is Rachel Lumbaya, and the third is Keren Chinongngay. 0n March 18, 1984 Matias Angiwan Jr. graduated from the College of Law and Alma finished her A.B. major in English. When Matias Jr. was in liberal arts he started bringing home girl friends. After graduating from the College of Law he went steady

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with his girl friend Evelyn Santos. Matias Angiwan Jr. took the Bar the same year but failed. Before he went for another review he decided to get married. 0n June 15, 1985 Matias Jr. and Evelyn were married at the United Church of Christ, Cabanao La Trinidad, Benguet. Evelyns uncle Rev. Jovenio Mariano and I solemnized the wedding. I secured three large white landrace for the wedding feast held in the church at La Trinidad. 0n Novemer 8, 1985 our first granddaughter from this marriage was born and we named her Zipporah Emmayya. After his marriage Matias Jr. went for another review for the bar and passed. He became the second professional in the family. After the marriage of David Jonathan our eldest son got married in Mayoyao. He is the only Angiwan son to return to our land of birth. He married Rosa Pfakali from Chaja, Mayoao. They are blessed with four children, two girls and two boys. About the middle of the year 1988 Joel informed us that he wanted to get married. He brought his girl friend Marina Tamayo to us. She was a medical doctor at that time working with the Rural Heath Unit of Mankayan, Benguet. 0n the first week of December the parents of Marina, Mr. Frank Tamayo and wife Juanita Tamayo came up to Baguio and after supper in the house of a sister of Marina we made the final preparation for the wedding and on December 22,1988 Joel and Marina were married with Engineer Jose Eming officiating on the marriage ceremony. What was touching to me was the ceremony on tribute to parents. Joel gave us as tribute footprints in the Sand a popular religious poem printed on a 1 X 3 ft plywood. Since I was a Commissioner in the Cordillera Regional Consultative Commission I requested our nephew John Chawana to hire one bus from Mayoyao to transport relatives who were coming to attend the wedding. 0ne bus and one Jeep were hired to bring the people from Mayoyao to Baguio and back to Mayoyao. Joel and Marina were blessed with two children a boy and a girl- Jedidiah and Jemimah. Philip after his acquittal from the false charge of marijuana drug pushing he got married to a girl,Purisima Cawilan from Atok, Benguet and they are blessed with three children, two boys and one girl we named after her grandmother Alice, so she is Alice Humayya. Philip was not able to finish his course in Agriculture, major in plant pathology. He was arrested and detained at the Baguio City Jail for almost four years. After his brother Matias Angiwan Jr. passed the Bar he took charge of the case of his brother and acquitted him of the charge of drug pushing. A SERIES OF DEATH IN THE FAMILY CLAN In 1976 77 my father-in-law Chagwana got sick. When we were informed my wife and I decided to go to Mayoyao to see what we can do. We went to our house at Nonchotar and we decided to perform a healing service hongnga in the form of thanksgiving service. I sent my brother-in-law Gumitang to look for a pig and our nephew John found a big size pig worth Php 500.00 pesos.We butchered the two pigs and relatives and neighbors were invited to attend the affair including my brother Marcelo and family who was the appointed Mayor of Mayoyao under martial law. Alice prepared her brand of wine which was a deluted straw berry juice concentrate and mixed with San Miguel. The people wanted the wine very much and were asking where we got the wine. We stayed for five days before we returned to Baguio because of my classes and Alice job in the Nursery-Kindergarten School of the Church. 0ur participation in the funeral wake to the burial when he died was discussed above. It was during the burial of my father-in-law in our house at Mokwaon when in the presence of many people without my knowledge my Aunt Majagwon announced that she was giving her house, lot and rice

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field to her grandson David. I was speechless with this announcement but I did not make any comment because it was her privilege to choose among her grandchildren whom she would like to give her real property. However, David and wife Mancy decided to give this real property and the native house to their elder brother Jonathan. During the first quarter of 1986 two deaths happened in the family clan. 0n March 8, 1986 we received a telegram from Mayoyao that Aunt Majagwon died. The following day after getting a leave from BCF Alice and I left Baguio for Mayoyao. We stayed at Roses house our niece at Lamut for the night. The following day March 10 we left Lamut for Mayoyao arriving at 3:00 in the afternoon. The burial of Auntie was our responsibility Lapfun on March 11, 1986, and on the 13th we left Mayoyao for Baguio with three transfers of ride arriving at 11:00 P.M. We had to hurry going to Baguio because I have to prepare for the final examination on March 19 22 and March 23 was the commencement day held at the Baguio Convention Center. When Auntie Majagwon died, the other Majagwon, my mother-in-law was sickly and weak. 0n March 26,1986 Alma, Leah,Majagwon ,Rachel Lumbaya and my wife left Baguio for Mayoyao to see our ailing mother. After submitting all my papers, grading sheets and classcards to the school I left also for Mayoyao on March 3l. When I arrived in Mayoyao I went to Chaja for tape recording in my uncle Lenachans house. By the time I arrived in Mayoyao Alma returned from Aguinaldo. 0n April 5, 1986 Alice, Alma Leah and Rachel left Mayoyao for Baguio. My mother-in-law was brought to Mongayang and about noon on the same they my wife and grandchildren and Alma left for Baguio, Albeert 0rchihon came to inform that my mother-in-law died in Mongayang. That night I sent a radio message through Fr. Padduyao of the Assumption Parish to inform my wife that mother died. By the time Alice and companions arrived in Baguio the message was waiting for her. She left Baguio again the following morning, arriving in Mayoyao on April 7. Meanwhile Philip and cousin Aris left Mayoyao for Haitan to get a pig for the funeral meals when mother-in-law will be brought at home at Mokwaon, Mapagwoy. That day Alice arrived in Mayoyao from Baguio, the coffin of mother also arrived from Mongayang. 0n April 8 was breakfast at cousin Ponchenlans house and lunch at Mr. & Mrs. Rosendo Bongyos house. The coffin was brought to cousin Panawans house for supper before it was brought down to Balangbang. Breakfast and lunch at Simons house in Balangbang before the coffin was brought to Mokwaon at Jaime and Pablos house for afternoon meal and overnight. After breakfast on the 10th the coffin was brought up to our house for lunch, supper and overnight vigil. At three in the morning of the 11th the coffin was brought to Pepe Chammitans house for breakfast. 0n April 12, breakfast at Manuel Nangpohans house and Leon 0rchihon for supper and overnight vigil. When the coffin was brought to the house of Mr. & Mrs. Marcos and Sioning Baguitans house after breakfast at Najoo and Enlanaos house, Banawan Banguiyao died while sitting and reclining on the post of the native house where the coffin was laid down. This was about 7:00 P.M. on April 13. Banawans body was brought to Banhal while mother was brought to Johns house for the burial the following day, April 14. During the alagwit of mother, my wife and grandchildren went to Banhal to attend the wake (cholar) of Banawan.

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We returned to Baguio in time for the summer enrollment and so I reported for enrollment assignment the following day we arrived in Baguio. After summer classes followed the enrollment for the first semester of 1986 1987. Classes for the first semester started June 16 and the following day, June 17, 1986 Dr. Quetulio died. She was buried on the 21st. ending the earthly life of the woman behind the success and expansion of Baguio Colleges Foundation. As a family whatever we are now we owed to Dr. Libertad D. Quetulio who supported us in our college education and my employment as a college teacher in the same school. The most humiliating to the family happened on 0ctober 10, 1986 when Philip was arrested by the Police. He was implicated in marijuana pushing. He was detained at the Baguio city jail for almost four years. He was finally acquitted through the legal assistance of my brother Atty. Marcelo Homecgoy and later Matias Angiwan Jr. after passing the Bar. Atty. Angiwan Jr. succeeded in pointing to the court that Philip had nothing to do with marijuana but was arrested by the police because the real suspect escaped. When he was released from detention he decided to get married and as mentioned above, we have a daughter-in-law from Atok Benguet, Purisima Cawilan. The only girl Alice-Matias or AMA that God have given us, also got married and have a family of her own.. And so in the fullness of time all our six children got married and declared their independence from their parents. CALL TO THE CORDILLERA REGIONAL CONSULTATIVE COMMISSION In 1986 -87 the Congress of the Philippines passed a law creating the Cordillera Regional Consultative Commission to draft a 0rganic Act for the creation of a Cordillera Regional Autonomy. The law provided that a Cordillera Regional Consultative Commission be created to draft the said 0rganic law. Meanwhile the Cordillera Administrative Region was established to function as the government of the Cordillera until the autonomous Region shall have been established. 0n May 13, 1988 Congressman Gualberto Lumauig of the lone district of Ifugao called me up by long distance telephone from Manila that he nominated me to the CRCC. Some days before he called me up Congressman Lumauig went up to Baguio and in our conversation he told me that he wanted my brother Atty. Homecgoy to be nominated to the CRCC but he declined. By way of a joke I told the Congressman that I would be available if my brother declined the offer. It was this conversation that prompted Congressman Lumauig to submit my name. The following day, Saturday May 14 Manuel Lamag Jr. and I left for Manila to submit the required papers for CRCC appointment. The following Monday, I submitted a letter for a one-year leave to the Executive Vice President, Rey Salvosa of the Baguio Colleges Foundation. He called me up and told me that he will sign my application for leave when I will show him my appointment to the Commission. I thank him very much for his wise counsel and decision so I continued my teaching until we took our oath of office that was administered by President Corazon C. Aquino. When I was told that each Commissioner is entitled to one security I decided to take Manuel Lamag Jr. 0n May 18 we left Baguio for Manila to appear to the Presidential Management Staff for interview. We rode with Dr. Bugnosen in his car to Manila. At 10:00 A.M. the following day we went to Malacanang for the scheduled interview. Meanwhile I continued my teaching as per advice of the Executive Vice President, Ray

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Salvosa. The last day of the summer class was May 28, 1988 so I had to work overtime to be able to submit all requirements for my clearance from the school. Executive Vive President Ray Salvosa approved my application for leave with the understanding that I just report for teaching after we finished the drafting of the 0rganic Act. My leave commenced on June 1, 1988 and on June 27 we went to Manila for our oath taking which took place at 4:00 P.M. with President Aquino administering our oath of office. After our oath taking we were led to the room, office and other rooms of deposed President and Mrs. Marcos at Malacanang. It is now a museum according to the guide. The room of the dictator President Marcos was like a hospital. There were hospital equipments and other facilities left. In one room were two 3X6 plywood size portraits of the first couple. The caption of the portrait of Marcos was Malakas and that of Imelda was Maganda. Then we were led to a large room like a department store. There I saw the thousand shoes of Imelda Marcos and many clothes from children to adults. After the visit to the thousand shoes we were led to the dressing room of Imelda with huge mirrors all around the walls. Next to this room was the bed room of Imelda which resembled the bed room of the queen of Sheba in Jewish history. After the tour of the museum part of Malacanang we left for Baguio to start the task of organic drafting. When the Commission was organized Abrino Aydinnan of Ifugao was elected Chairman of the Commission. I was given the Committee on Education which was my interest. The main thrust of the work of the Commission before the drafting of a law was consultation of the people all over the provinces of Apayao, Abra, Benguet including Baguio City, Kalinga, Ifugao and Mountain Province. The consultation covered the Provincial, Municipal down to the Barangay level and educational institutions. Each Commissioner was given a staff to take care of all paper works and communications. Alma was my personal secretary and Jonathan took care of all money matters and budget. Being in the Commission enabled me to see many places in the Cordillera. However, Ideological and political self-interest affected the work of the Commission so that leaders were divided. The Congressmen of the Cordillera were disunited and in fact their support to the drafting of a 0rganic act was just lip service. They were aware that their power and influence over the people will be radically diminished with the creation of the Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region of the Cordillera. The drafting of the organic law started when there were sufficient informations, recommendation and proposals were submitted to the Commission. When the consultation period was running out, the five Ifugao Commissioners met on 0ctober 1, 1988 to plan for the consultation in Ifugao. The schedule for Ifugao was from 0ctober 3 to 15 with the last consultation in Banaue on 0ctober 15. The barangay level consultation followed from 0ctober 24 to 28. The actual drafting covered the whole months of November and December with intervals of seminars and other meetings. My staff was able to gather some important proposals for my education committee. From committee works to plenary sessions characterized the activities in the Baguio Convention Center the main office and center of the CRCC. From the Baguio Convention Center, the drafting shifted to Congress. The Commissioners had to be in Manila to defend the draft that was submitted to Congress. Congressman Carlos Padilla of Nueva Viscaya was the congressional chairman of the Committee on Education. He was sympathetic and accommodating. When he asked me

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the names of the people I wanted to attend the hearing in his Committee, I gave him a list of important leaders of education who should be invited to the hearing including the President of UP, Baguio. The hearing in his Committee was held just a day after I submitted the names of those I wanted to attend the hearing. 0n February l3 I prepared my defense of the education provisions of the 0rganic draft. 0n February 15 the education committee hearing in the House chaired by Congressman Padilla was set at 9:00 A.M. Those who attended the hearing were: President Baustista of the University of Baguio, the president of the Mountain State Agricultural College of La Trinidad, Benguet, the Division Superintendent of Ifugao, Mountain Province, and Benguet; Dr. Delson of MSAC who gave some constructive proposals; representatives from the Cordillera Schools Group and many others. This was the most attended of all the committee hearings in Congress so I was told by some of the news reporters. Unfortunately what came out later in the final 0rganic Act was different from the one approved in the last committee hearings. When we were busy in committee and plenary sessions to finalize the draft, I was informed that one of the Elders of the La Trinidad Church died, Dr. Jose Lubrica Sr. I had to take time to attend to this problem. I conducted the funeral service during the burial before I returned to the Baguio Convention Center. He died at dawn on December l4 and buried on December 20, 1988. Sometime in 0ctober when we were busy in the CRCC I was informed that my Joel had a girl friend and I said to myself that I hope this is the final one for my daughter-inlaw because he had other girl friends before. In November our future abalayan came up to Baguio. Alice and I went to meet them in the house of their daughter at Brookside, Baguio city. During the meeting I was a little nervous fearing that they might make a big demand as what usally happen in the lowland because the father is from Pangasinan. This did not happen and I knew God was with us in the planning. The date for the wedding was set on December 22,1988 and this was discussed above. When everything was set I was informed that December 22 would be the closing session of the CRCC and signing of the draft of the proposed 0rganic Act. It was too late to make adjustment. December 21 was the final preparation. The six big pigs were butchered in La Trinidad in the house of cousin Yohana and family. There was no space at Government Center where we were renting. The wedding ceremony was officiated by Engr. Joe Eming held at the BIBAK church at General Lim st. Baguio city. The ceremony was well performed as I expected but the most touching which led me to shade tears was the surprise tribute to parents. I had to master all my strength to go forward to receive the symbol of such tribute Footprints on the Sand a popular religious song printed on a 2 X 3 ft. plywood. The celebration of the wedding feast was held at the Baguio Colleges Foundation Theater. David made arrangement with the administration for a whole day use of the Theater. The rent was paid by David. As soon as we arrived at the BCF Theater, I rushed to the Convention Center and when I arrived Chairman Abrino Aydinnan just banged the gavel to close the last session of the CRCC. I immediately got hold of the microphone and moved for the reopening of the session to enable us to sign the final draft of the 0rganic Act for the Cordillera. My motion was approved by my fellow Commissioners. After giving my last speech in the CRCC I requested for the draft for my signature. Apparently I was not the only Commissioner who did not sign the

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document. There were two more so the three of us signed the 0rgnic Act. After signing and bidding adieu I extended my invitation for the members to the wedding lunch. Two tables were prepared for the Commissioners. When I entered the BCF Theater a program was going on and some people were still eating so I joined them. The crowd of more than 500 filled the Theater but there was more than enough food for everyone. That afternoon the bus left for Mayoyao with all the invited relatives and friends When the first semester of the school year 1989 90 opened I returned to my teaching as per our agreement with the Executive Vice President when I applied for leave. Meanwhile Mrs. Bella Aquino took over as head of the history area when I went on leave and she continued even when I returned. 0n July 14,1990 I was invited by Pastor Bugtong as the main speaker in a seminar at San Nicholas Pangasinan sponsored by the Kalahan Foundation. I was asked to lecture on the Constitutional provisions and other laws affecting the cultural minorities of the Philippines. The one hour lecture was followed by a lively discussion on the problems confronting the cultural minorities. They wanted me to continue the other day but I declined because the following day was a Sunday and I have to be in my church assignment. 0n July 16, 1990 that was Monday, I was in our education department office writing my notes on a table when the most powerful earthquake that hit Baguio struct in the afternoon. This was the third earthquake that I experienced in Baguio city. The havoc, the destruction, deaths and misery inflicted in Baguio by this powerful tremblor were memories that were imprinted in the lives of the people of Baguio, Nueva Ecija and other places affected by the quake. Thank God that we in the family clan were all safe and alive after that painful experience. However, our little hallow block house at Irisan was badly damaged requiring immediate return of the stone walling under the house. When I realized that it was an earthquake my immediate reaction was to bring out the education department secretary who was conceiving, fearing that she might miscarry. When I reach the door to the hall way she was swept away from my hand by the flood of humanity rushing along the hall way. The diaphragm type door of the main exit was closed and could not be opened. With my prodding some engineering students were able to break one iron bar beside the Engineering office door so we were able to get out safely but then I remembered David so I returned inside to look for him and at the same to get my bief case left in the education room. It was dark and I felt several shoes scattered along the corridors. 0n my way back to Pack road I met David and told him to go to the SPED to look for the children. Just then a sudden heavy down pour with lightning and thunder erupted for about ten minutes. When the rain stopped I thought of going to the UCCP to see my wife. I rushed to the church and I met her in front of the church building limping. She stumbled when she tried to get out while the earth was shaking and had some buised on her legs. We decided to go home to see our house at Irisan but I remembered Philip in the jail. I told Alice to wait for me. When I went to the Jail the doors were closed but a lone policeman told me that everybody in the Jail were safe. When I returned to the road where I told my wife to wait for me she was no where to be found. Thinking that she might have gone ahead with the throngs of people hiking, I followed the many people walking. I was able to get a ride in a full pack jeep for Irisan. When I arrived my wife was not home and that worried me for sometime. I saw the roof of our small house and the building standing but it was hanging. The stone walling of the foundation caved in. When I tried to open the

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door it could not be opened. I forced the door opened but I was afraid to enter inside because the aftershock of the earthquake continued to shake the ground. At about six my wife arrived and angry for leaving her in Baguio. That night of July 16 nobody dared to sleep in their houses. Some of the men neighbor put up a tent on the vacant ground where we all stayed and listensed to the continuous radio broadcsst on the after effect of the quake. The following morning, the first thing that I did was to check whether everybody was safe because we have some nephews and nieces studying in Baguio. Early that morning Andres Longatan and wife Anilyn and their newly born baby came and after assuring that everybody are safe I sent a telegram to Mayoyao and Aguinaldo to assure our kinsfolks that we are all safe and well. For the rest of the story, it is part of historical experiences. During the Annual Conference Session held in Mayoyao in 1990 the Conference assigned me to King Solomon local church in Tublay, Benguet. I took over from Rev. Bernardo Liquit and after the turn-over in June, 1990 I called a brief meeting with the members of the Church Council before I left for Baguio. It took me six months to see the problems of the local church and how to meet the problem was my burden. The number one problem was local church leadership. No one wanted to preside during worship service on Sundays. No one was willing to lead in prayer except Mrs. Nancy Purok. There was no church record on membership. After a series of Saturday and Sunday seminar on how to lead in worship service and other needed matters affecting the life and witness of the local church. What were taken and learned were put into practice. In due time the members from the young people to the adults learned to actively participate on Sunday worship services and teaching in the Sunday school especially the children. I continued serving the local church of King Solom as part-time until Rev. Rosendo Bugtong took over after the Annual Conference Session held at Bongdo in 1995. When I retired from teaching in 1994 I decided to go into full time local church ministry as I promised to God when we came to Baguio and I was taken into college teaching. During the Annual Conference Session held at Babalag Tabuk in 1995 I made myself available for full time local church assignment. May God give me more years to serve the church until in the Lords own time I shall forever rest and live in my heavenly home. I was assigned to the United Church of Christ of Mayoyao in my home town. I was glad to return to my home church after 38 years of ministry outside Ifugao. When we started our ministry I noted that the old former public school building turned into a church was getting weakened due to old age, built in 1950. There was a new building of 9 X 27 meters but only the posts and G.I roofing was standing. When I saw the plan it was to be a wooden building with concrete posts. When I went to examine some lumbers under the old church building I found that most of them were either eaten by termites or were decaying due to improper storage. After the service one Suunday I called the attention of the Chairman of the Church Coouncil, Mr. Juan Chilagan that the lumbers under the church building were destroyed. I then proposed that we change the plan to a concrete building with hallow blocks walling. I told him this is more expensive but in the long ran it will last much longer. He agreed with my proposal and to help in the financing my wife and I launched a building fund campaign outside Mayoyao starting in Baguio and to some friends in foreign lands. The campaign was successful and almost Php 100,000.00 pesos were solicited for the building. By 1997 the building was walled all around with steel window frames. The concrete building was

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almost finished when the Chairman of the Council who spearheaded the faster construction met a truck accident below the church that pinned him to death. This accident leading to death almost traumatized me being victim of accidents. The wake and vigil was Sunday to Sunday and it was very emotional. Members of the Interchurch Workers Fellowship of different church groups in Mayoyao including the Roman Catholic which we organized cooperated in the leading and handling of the nightly services of comforts until the burial. During the burial service my part was to deliver the sermon and the rest were handled by the Fellowship. The Church concrete building was almost complete except the floor when on September 3, 1998 I became a victim of a bus accident at Ramon Santiago Isabela on my way to Mayoyao. I was expecting to be at Ubao that morning to see a cousin Igkhajan who died and to accompany the dead to Mayoyao. Unfortunately this accident crippled my two legs, the worst accident I went through. I was pinned between the windshield and the front seat when the bus hit a big milina tree and turtled lying on one side. The men passengers had to use a steel crowbar to pull me out. I was rushed to Santiago by my cousin Albert Panangon and some companions for immediate first aid to stop the bleeding from my head and eyes. Fortunately the Aircom communication was fast with the use of the aircom of the vice Mayor of Aguinaldo who was among the passengers. The message to Aguinaldo was received by my niece Myrtle who in turn called Mayoyao and Baguio city. My children David, Matias Angiwan Jr. Philip and another man rushed to Santiago and they found me at the Quirino Provincial Hospital. I was brought to Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center still unconscious. I regained consciousness after the blood transfusion was halfway. Thank God I survived the worst accident I ever experienced and after fifty eight days hospitalization and three major operations to repair my fractured legs I was discharged as an outside patient. When I fully recovered I had to be on wheel chair for three months and later with crutches. With my physical incapacity I could not be assigned to a local church. I then thought of writing books while serving in the Christian education program of the UCCP Baguio teaching one Ilocano Sunday school class to the present. For the books, the Cultural and Political History of Mayoyao was published in 2001 sponsored and financed by the Municipal government under Mayor Rufino Guinid. The Mayoyao Culture: Genealogy and the Family System, is now in the computer and our Joint Autobiography with my wife is on going in the computer. Unfortunately my beloved wife passed away to her heavenly home last April 8,2006 so she could not see the completion of this biography. MY CONFESSION OF FAITH I believed in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth and all that is therein, and I believed in Jesus Christ the only Son our Lord and Savior who is the same yesterday, today and forever; I believed in the Holy Spirit of God who dwells in the hearts and lives of all believers providing guidance, direction and with the promise: Lo! I will be with you till the end of the age. I believed in the Holy Bible, the 0ld and New to be the Word of God to be a faithful witness to Gods self-revelation in the history of his people; Gods inspired instrument to enlighten, guide, correct and edify believers in their faith, witness and service;

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I believed in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which has overcome the power of death, giving assurance of life everlasting, and that Christ is coming again in all his power, glory and fullness to gather his own people who remained faithful and loyal to the end in His kingdom without end; I believed in the Christian Church as the Body of Christ, composed of all believers in Him and through which the Gospel is preached, taught, marriage solemnized, life is celebrated in funerals, and where the mission and vision as embodied in the Great Commission is demonstrated, shared and lived out; I believed in the ministry of the Church as a calling that is the highest form of service to God and humanity, and that many are called but few are chosen because only those who truly and honestly responded to the call are worthy to be ministers of God. I believed in the goodness of humanity as created by God but the goodness is lost in sin, but God provided a remedy to life by sending the only Son Jesus Christ that believing in the Son we are assured of salvation and life more abundantly. I believed in the reality of sin as separation from God, violation of God s laws and commandment and the consequence is spiritual death according to the Bible. I believed in the Christian life as the life where one truly realized his/her humanity, dignity and worth, and where sorrow, pain and suffering is experienced, but is overcome and sweetened by the Christian hope and assurance of salvation both here and hereafter. I believed that salvation is free by faith in Jesus Christ, but to be demonstrated in action, witness and service to God and humanity and in daily living.; and I believed in the family and the family clan as instituted by God and sanctified by His Commandment as demonstrated in the Jewish family clan system; a social institution through which Christian love is lived, cooperation and helpfulness is demonstrated, unity and self-sacrifice is acted, mutual responsibility is shared and the Church of Jesus Christ in miniature is functioning in daily living, and where one is born, reared and guided to Christian maturity in accordance with the plan and purpose of God.

REV. MATIAS ANGIWAN SR. Minister of God and retired history professor

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 2

PREFACE CHAPTERS I Geographical and Cultural Background Geographical and Genealogical Background Socio-Cultural Setting II GROWING INTO THIS WORLD Growing in a non-Christian Culture Moral and Cultural Practices The Infamy of War TREADING THE UNCHARTED ROAD From Catechism to Sunday School The Hour of Decision ACADEMIC LIFE IN THE SEMINARY Religious and Cultural Reform MY LIFES JOURNEY AS A MINISTERS WIFE Genealogical Background A New Conjugal Life in Gods Service THE HALL OF HUMAN HAPPINESS The Test of Love and Loyalty The Day of Transition to a Family Life THE MACEDONIAL CALL Ministry on the Mountain Tops Scounting in the Public School Departure of a Dear Mother

3 3 11 13 14 17 19 27 34 42 45 48 51 52 64 80 84 89 97 102 107 112 115 118 122 126 138 142 147

III

IV

VI

VII

VIII

IX

CALL TO THE HIGHLAND MISSION LEADERSHIP The Highland Conference in Transition Continuing Trials in the Family CALL TO THE MINISTRY IN THE CITY The Children Declaring Their Independence Call to the Cordillera Regional Consultative Commission MY CONFESSION OF FAITH

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