JULIA SATORRE FROM CARCAR: A Gift of Service to our Family

 

JULIA SATORRE FROM CARCAR
A Gift of Service to our Family 

 Journalist Alex Tizon epically wrote about his family secret startlingly kept hidden for so long, the existence of a slave in their family. And strangely, not only while living in the Philippines but carried over to his family’s life in the US.

Altruistic service springs in many forms in the Philippines and it does not necessarily equate to or even remotely identical to indentured servitude.  A Filipino native keenly observant of things around him could even say that in the generations prior to the current one, selfless service or service beyond the call of duty or commerce had been quite common and almost typical in the country.

 It may have had its inauspicious beginnings in the dreadful need for survival of many poor Filipinos, especially those in remote barrios where penury was very prevalent.  But over time, it had evolved to something that could be considered casual and normal in Philippine society. It has had resident members of family households who were not necessarily blood relatives who rendered domestic services and showed loyalty beyond normal expectations to exact even from blood relatives.

 Yes, in quest for survival many adolescent or mature ladies and men from the remote provinces were sent to the cities to search employment as domestics, in reply to a cultural demand that required having domestics around the house.  And not necessarily limited to families with affluence and resources. It had simply carried over from past generations as a cultural construct to have domestics perform menial jobs around the house, even though there may have been ample number of family members to carry on such tasks.  This custom definitely is foreign in many other cultures, specifically Western cultures, where only families who are very rich and/or influential can afford and do engage such services.

 In the Philippine setting affordability was not the main consideration for needing and hiring domestics.  The arranged benefits were then so minimal that for intents and purposes many of them were performing services for simply free board and lodging.

 My personal experiences could be illustrative of this situation.  In the 70’s and we already had 4 young kids then, young domestics could be hired for 60 pesos a month.  They lived with us and slept where space was available, and typically having no private quarters for their exclusive use.  Of course, we fed them and provided minimal benefits like a weekly day off and maybe, provision of some basic medicine for fever, headaches, cuts, etc.  But beyond that, the monthly pay was all that was bargained for.  Others did bargain for more, like maybe being allowed to attend to some vocational courses.

 That was how it was then.  Families practiced it.  Many of these helpers stayed with the same families for years, until certain things change like deaths in their families, marriages, etc.  And thoughts about slavery or indentured employment that would result in any tinge of guilty conscience or moral outrage were not common.  One could surmise It was one contented, and maybe clueless, society, where probably an informal caste system was prevalent.  For truly given the observable circumstances it would now be easy to conclude that such existed during those times.

 Were they ever coerced into staying further or longer without their consent?  It would not be honest to say there were no such cases.  But by and large the relationship was congenial and consensual. Or phrased in a different vein, there could somehow had been some moral suasion at play in some relationships.

 Thus, I offer as example our own Julia Satorre of Carcar, Cebu, who had passed on many years ago.  While the arrangements may be similar in some respects with what Mr. Tizon described for his own particular case, we present in our case almost the opposite of his own.

 I do not know all the circumstances that first led to Julia moving to our extended family with my maternal grandmother as the initiator and for what reasons. But I can say in all honesty that I started knowing Julia when she was still living with my widowed grandmother in her house along Sikatuna St., in Cebu City. She had come from the town of Carcar, Cebu, and from which town my grandmother also had a score of relatives.   My grandmother having been widowed early, Julia had stood as her constant companion in the house during her solitary years. 

 As to exact arrangements, whether short term or long term?  There never was any formal discussion or agreement as far as we know, between her and my grandmother, or my mother, or my sibling who she also served.   Though there definitely were no regular monthly or otherwise stipends, that much we knew.  As a matter of fact, when Julia would go visit her family in Carcar on occasion, she returned home proudly loaded with local goodies, fruits and vegetables, live chickens and/or chicken tinola cooked in the incomparable way that they did in Carcar.  I recall that even on boat trips to Cagayan de Oro, she would pack that tinola so somehow it would survive the overnight trip.

 And we never really realized how far Julia got in her education when she started her stint with the family.  We did notice that she had difficulty writing her name, and more challenged in writing letters.  And she had not gone through any additional schooling during her entire time with the family.  And what’s more, we became Julia’s only family, never really able to create her own.

My grandmother went through years of being bed-ridden and Julia singlehandedly took care of her.  Fortunately, she could count on the help of some close and loving neighbors, who were not only related but very solicitous of our Lola’s welfare.  A doctor son-in-law of a niece always ministered to her.

 And on occasion I also stayed in the place because of certain business in Cebu, and Julia took care of me in the house.  I recall an unforgettable incident when I had to overstay my intended trip because I caught chicken-pox.  Julia did all the yeoman work of feeding me, cleaning the house, and more. Fortunately, during that time, my Lola had to be temporarily moved to the house of a relative nearby so she could convalesce from surgery and could be attended better there.  So I had the place for myself. And the better because chicken-pox is highly contagious.  So I had to spend an extra two-weeks nursing my dreary condition.  All due thanks to Julia, I survived and was soon back to my hometown.

 But many years later, we continued our relationships with her even after our grandmother had died, and a married sister had continued living in the old house where my grandmother stayed.  The house had really been owned by my mother, the land being her share of the estate that Lola divided among the siblings when she was still alive. And Julia continued on as a trusty and invaluable companion of that family. 

 I recall many years after our grandmother had passed and Julia herself was getting on in age, that the remaining family members, her 3 daughters, collectively decided that Julia should have a share of a real estate property left by the old lady. It was a two-hectare lot somewhere in Labangon, Cebu.  Anyway, even before anything was finalized, a homestead lot of 400 sq.m. was allotted to Julia.  And for her part and in another show of extreme generosity and charity, Julia had requested that instead of her, the property should be put in the name of one of her favored nephews.   Needless to say, she got her wish and the nephew and the family started living in that set-aside homestead lot.  Though it took a while to dispose of the lot, it eventually sold and the nephew and his family as far as we know continue to live in his allotted share.

 All of us 9 siblings went our separate ways except for one who stayed on in Cebu.  And over time we lost contact with Julia and on occasion would ask only about her condition.  Next we heard, Julia was having extreme difficulty in moving around, greatly bothered by painful varicose veins on her legs, which condition had started a long while back.  Then if my recall is right, during her last days, she had requested to go back to Carcar, where she continued to have relatives, and my understanding is that she died and got buried there. 

 I know all of us who had contacts with her over the years feel some searing emptiness and nagging remorse in the knowledge that we probably never really tried to fairly repay her countless years of self-less services.  And that collectively, in our honest estimation, the family did not do enough in return if only to show deep appreciation for the graces and selfless services that she had bestowed on the family. Services that were rendered unstintingly with nary a complaint or murmur, performed always with the willing love and care that loving mothers would expectedly give to their children.

 At this point in time, it would not be difficult for me, and the rest of the family,  to understand and realize that we could have planned and done some things that could have “ameliorated” the situation of Julia. Maybe in the area of financial rewards or benefits, though we are certain that if indeed Julia had real needs and had made them known or they came out of the open, my grandmother and mother would have unerringly obliged her even within their very limited capacities. 

 Especially when we became adults and grown smarter to how things ought to be, we could have collectively done something, even though there never was any situation to suspect that Julia was not happy, contented, or even felt coerced in her continued stay with the family.  In other words, there were no trigger incidents that could have alerted us to the need to do something to rectify whatever was wrong or lacking in the relationship. Her relationships with the adults in the family were always cordial like she was a blood relative, and all the kids always respectful to her as an elder, and not as an inferior.  

 We can only hope that God in His good time has given her the rewards she richly deserved.  And we are forever thankful to God for the grace of service bestowed on our family in the gracious person of Julia.

 In hindsight culled from observations made over the years, we find that her unique tribe is disappearing fast and inevitably.  For us, there will never any other person like Julia, even if we paid the whole world for her replacement.


As epilogue, a harkening thought emerges from the mist and draws the picture of a balmy and ideal Philippines having no need for angels or heroes like Julia.  Where everybody is happy, contented, and progressive. Where economic equality and/or parity are prerequisites taken for granted.  Where there are no debilitating hardships needing the rescue efforts of gifted individuals in possession of herculean virtues of generosity, altruism, loyalty, and selflessness.   In other words, where the foretaste of a paradise is already within grasp right here.
   
Would it be an interesting and inspiring place?

Link: 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/