Taming Medusa in the Garden

 Taming Medusa in the Garden     

 Dr Abe V Rotor

 Living with Nature - School on Blog 

 

Safari World, Thailand 2010

Medusa is revived, transformed, 

     serpent into flowers in her hair;

a broken bike once more alive,

     her face serene and fair. 

Wonder the magic of a garden

     tended and cared with love,

the monster of our lives tamed,

     so the heart into gentle throb.  

Won't we transform a dark corner 

     into a little Eden our prayer?

visit some forgotten garden we fear,

     and myth we live with and conquer. ~

                       

Dirge Over a Shrouded Sky

Dr Abe V Rotor
A sugar mill furnace at night in Batangas

The night has a thousand eyes,
bright and twinkling in song;
but one dreary night one cries
out, the cry of Armageddon.

No song can bring back the moon
and the stars - they've died out
under a blanket of doom
where spirits roam about.

No other but his own death,
and the earth's, man is doomed;
masked by power and wealth, 
softly he digs his own tomb. ~

Dirge of the Pasig River

Dirge of the Pasig River

Dr Abe V Rotor 

An estero of the Pasig River, Pasay, Metro Manila.
I am dying, Mother, my mother whose womb was
     as virgin as the day I was born a rivulet to stream, 
estero to a tributary that feeds the mighty sea,
     as virgin as the Paradise of Milton's dream.

Mother, let me die - or let me sleep then forever,
    for neither can I flow out to sea nor keep in the sun;
let me die with garbage and silently sink in the murk,
    with foul gases, on thickening sludge, silt and sand.

I hear no songs anymore, Abelardo is long dead;
    I see no living garlands, not a bird building nest
among lilies and floating kiapo, among the nilad,
    pride of a race, woven into mats for lovely rest. 

Ahoy there! Two children are staring at my water;
    but they can't see what is inside me, I am as black,
as a dark night, but oh, how my heart longs for them!
    I have lost all things good - even as a mirror I lack.

Mother, let me die, there's no more sense of living,
    for I do not belong to humans anymore, I swear;
I'm no longer a part of creation, I'm but a stranger;
    but my mother doesn't answer, she doesn't answer.~

San Vicente Ilocos Sur, My Beloved Hometown

Dr Abe V Rotor

Dedication: San Vicente Ferrer, patron saint of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, other towns, villages, schools and other institutions in many parts of the world, whose feast day is celebrated in April.

Main road from Vigan going to San Vicente town, 3 km. 
1970 photo on a helicopter by the author

Shaded area in first photo - the poblacion showing the church, 

plaza, elementary school, market  and municipal Hall, circa 1970

17th century church after the war. Note: Photo distorted, stretched to the right.  
Both towers are of the same size an height.

In my childhood I saw detours of footpaths
dividing East and West, two warring niches  
where the zone of peace was the holy ground, 
and beyond was wilderness - and the unknown, 
beyond the confines of Subec and the Cordillera, 
the memory of Diego Silang, and the Basi Revolt 
on old, meandering Bantaoay River.
 
In my youth I saw the sun sitting  
on acacia stumps and on the tired landscape, 
but rising in dreams and visions on the horizon, 
and in the wisdom of my forebears, 
 the old guards of your fort.
 
Time has stood still since then.
 
I come to pay homage to your temple, 
and into the arms of my people, my roots;
 I see the footpaths of yesteryears, 
now grown and multiplied, and always fresh,
 leading from the East and West, 
and the many corners of the earth 
converging at your portals in pilgrimage.~

From Light in the Woods, AVRotor 1995

Idyllic scene of rural San Vicente mural in acrylic by the author circa 2003.  
Mural graces the second floor of the Municipal Hall.

 About San Vicente Ilocos Sur  

San Vicente is a fifth class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 11,720 people.

The municipality is known for its production of beautiful furniture made from narra and other tropical hardwoods, even from old wood previously used in wooden sugarcane crushers and old houses to make reproduction antiques.

Barangays

San Vicente is politically subdivided into 7 barangays.

• Bantaoay
• Bayubay Norte
• Bayubay Sur
• Lubong
• Poblacion
• Pudoc
• San Sebastian

Etymology

The municipality's name came from the name of Saint Vincent Ferrer, whose winged statue was found inside a box entangled in fishing nets. The fishermen consulted this matter to the friars in Villa Fernandina (now Vigan), who identified the person depicted by the statue. The statue was carried to the town's center, where a church was built. From then on, the town formerly known as Tuanong (sometimes called Taonan) became San Vicente.

History

In tracing the history of San Vicente, one always has to start from Vigan. Vigan was established by the Spanish colonizer, Juan de Salcedo on June 13, 1573 up to 1582, there were only 800 residents.

Upon Salcedo’s return in 1574, he brought with them the Augustinian friars in order to teach Christianity to the inhabitants. After Salcedo’s death on March 11, 1576, Franciscan friars replaced the Augustinians in the year 1579. These same friars spread up to San Vicente to convert the people to the Catholic faith.

In 1591, Vigan has already an organized form of government, which included these barrios namely: Bo. Tuanong, Bo. Sta. Catalina de Baba and Bo. Caoayan. There were then a population numbering about 4,000 inhabitants.

Between the years 1720 and 1737, the first chapel of Bo. Tuanong was erected. Later in 1748, the Confraternity of Jesus of Nazareth was organized. In one record of the Vigan Convent archives, a funeral that happened on January 29, 1748 at the Chapel Bo. Tuanong was recorded. Two chaplains Bro. Don Agustin de la Encarnacion and Don Pedro Geronimo de Barba were the priest stone the chapel in that year 1748. It is believed that the chapel is the first stone building that sees upon entering the San Vicente Central School from the main road. Bo. Tuanong which belonged to Vigan was the old name of San Vicente.

On June 16, 1751, the chaplain was Don Miguel de Montanez. He was the first priest there and also in the chapel of San Sebastian. It is found out that Barangay San Sebastian already erected.

Hardship in reaching Bo. Tuanong and Bo. Sta. Catalina de Baba from Vigan especially during the months of June to October was experienced, due to the absence of dike or bridge. Priests from Vigan reached these places by means of a raft. The problem prompted the separation of these two barrios from Vigan in 1793.

In 1795, it was the initiation of the seat of municipality and the church and Bo. Tuanong became San Vicente de Ferrer. Don Pedro de Leon was the first parish priest and he was believed as the initiator of the construction of the Church of San Vicente.

Demographics

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1990	9,989	—
1995	9,848	−0.27%
2000	10,877	+2.15%
2007	11,907	+1.26%
2010	11,720	−0.57%
Source: National Statistics Office

Source: Wikipedia, Internet;  Poem reprinted from Light in the Woods: Photographs and Poems by Dr A V Rotor Megabooks 1995

San Vicente Ferrrer Church (Ilocos Sur) Unique European Renaissance Architecture (Article in Progress)

Dr Abe V Rotor

 
San Vicente Ilocos Sur church history

Seven Keys to Happiness

Seven Keys to Happiness

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Know and appreciate yourself
and the world.

2. Maintain good physical and
spiritual health.

3. Cultivate a good sense of humor.

4. Be a friend.

5. Be creative: always have a goal.

6. Maintain a wholesome relationship
with the opposite sex.

7. Get to know and trust your Heavenly
Father as a close, personal friend.
 
Reference: Seven Keys to Happiness, Dan J Black