Growing up with Basi - a personal experience

 Growing up with Basi - a personal experience 

 Dr Abe V Rotor

  Basi and other wine products in different labels depicting important events and scenes in the Ilocos Region. UNESCO Heritage City of Vigan 

I grew up with an old local industry – basi wine making. Today there are still 18th century jars, which I use in the way my ancestors made the wine for generations.

I remember Lolo Celing (Marcelino) made basi in the cellar, the ground floor of our house made of thick brick wall. In dad's time we had around 500 jars. He was one of the biggest brewers in town in post Commonwealth era, and probably after the infamous Basi Revolt in 1807 when the Ilocanos took arms but lost to the Spaniards who took monopoly over the industry. Many were killed in that short-lived revolt along the Bantaoay River, a river where my brother Eugene and I used to fish purong (mullet) in summer.

Getting drunk at an early age

I was already a farmhand before I was of school age, but dad always warned me not to be an aliwegweg (curious at doing things), the experimenter that I was. One morning as dad went on his routine, first to hear mass in our parish church just across our residential farm, I went down to the cellar with a sumpit (small bamboo tube) to take a sip of the sweet day-old fermenting sugarcane juice. I didn't know that with a sip too many one can get drunk. And that was precisely what made me feel sick, but 1 did not tell dad. He called a doctor to find out what was the matter with me. When the doctor arrived he found me normal. What with the distance from Vigan to San Vicente - on a caleza (horse-drawn carriage)?  But the doctor was whispering something to dad.

Then it happened. Dad had left for the church, so I thought. I went to the cellar and as soon as I probed the sumpit into a newly fermenting jar and took a sip, someone tapped my shoulder in the dark. It was dad!

Imagine the expression of his face (and mine, too) in the dark. I sobbed with embarrassment while he took a deep sigh of relief. Since then the doctor never came again. And I promised dad never to taste my “beverage" again.

Sunset and revival of the basi industry

Years passed. I left home for my studies in Manila, so with my brother and sister. Dad continued the industry until he became very old. By then the demand for the local drink declined as beer and all kinds of wine and liquor, local and imported, began flooding the market. It was requiem to a sunset industry. In 1981, dad died, so with our basi home industry.

Even after finishing agriculture I did not go back to the farm. So with my brother who also became an agriculturist. Not when you are young and thinking of adventure and opportunities. I pursued advanced studies in biological science. Eugene went back to the farm later, so with our sister, Veny, who joined the Divine Word College of Vigan faculty. But the thought of reviving basi was never in our mind.

For how can a local product sell in a highly competitive market? Foreign products have been flooding the market under the import liberalization program of the government. Other questions propped up, but all boiled down to one possible solution - business viability.

As a researcher I studied the indigenous process of basi making. After I had sufficient materials about the subject I made it into a paper which I read in an ASEAN-New Zealand symposium upon the recommendation of Dr. Romualdo del Rosario, a fellow professor at the UST Graduate School. But the native product needed improvement. It was at first a losing proposition, and I realized I was blazing a lost path. But I did not give up.

Rotor Basi won the Business Incentive Development Award (BIDA 1998). 

When I opted for an early retirement from government service in 1989 I found more time with my experiments. The improved product was analyzed by the Food Development Center, a government agency that collaborates with the US Food and Drug Administration. Surprisingly the new basi product passed the European standard for champagne, sherry and port.

But it was no guarantee that it is acceptable in the market. It means that if the product is really that good, it can command a premium price. I began to standardize the product. Soon I was able to establish a consistent level of strength (proof), desired range of acidity, and crystal clear color and clarity. There was improvement in aroma, bouquet, sweetness, aftertaste, among other criteria, which constitute international standards for wine. All these were done in various experiments, often in trial and error method, in others through intricate laboratory procedures. Still in others, only after yearlong aging of the wine.

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Basi Revolt, 1807 

Rotor Basi back label

The revolt took place 400 km north of Manila where Diego and Gabriela Silang heroically fought Spanish rule 50 years earlier. It was ignited by the declaration of Wine Monopoly by the Spanish government, depriving the natives of their centuries old cottage industry. Basi was among the goods exported through the Galleon Trade plying Ciudad Fernandina (now Vigan City) and Europe via Acapulco, Mexico (1565-1815). The final battle took place along the Bantaoay River that runs through the town of San Vicente where scores of Spanish soldiers and natives were killed. It culminated on September 29, 1807. Fourteen big oil paintings depicting the Basi Revolt are displayed at the Vigan Ayala Museum, housed in the original residence of Filipino martyr, Fr. Jose Burgos. The painter, Don Esteban Villanueva was an eyewitness of this historic event. Today, the basi industry is being revived by Ilocano entrepreneurs whose ancestors may be traced to the heroes of the Basi Revolt of 1807 (Dr. A.V. Rotor)

Product Guarantee: Basi is brewed and aged in the traditional way in glazed earthen jars (burnay) from upland sugar cane, glutinous rice, and botanical ingredients – Pithecolobium dulce, Macaranga tenarius, and Syzygium cumini. The final product is harvested directly from the jar one to three years after aging. No flavoring and coloring added, no filter and plastic containers used. The product meets the European Standard for grape wine – Champagne, Port and Sherry. (Reference: PFDCS 2498 and PFDCS 9429, Food Development Center, National Food Authority) Approximately 21 proof. (Reference: 01-00-0CL-0017, Industrial Technology Development Institute, Department of Science and Technology) A product of NACIDA Home Industry, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Content 750 ml /375 ml.

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Lastly, I began working on product presentation. The labels I developed are a series of color photographs of historical places of the Ilocos Region, and the story of the Basi Revolt of 1807.

A breakthrough came after receiving the Business Idea for Development and Achievement (BIDA) Award, and a favorable product endorsement by the Department of Agriculture (MARID). Other than the Ilocano balikbayan, the market expanded to include tourist shops, wine connoisseurs, and even church groups.

I am sure Dad must be smiling up there. Here is a toast for you, Dad.

 

 

Author shows golden leaves of samat (Macranga tenarius), and bubod  (local yeast complex culture), which are principal 

ingredients in basi making.

A visit to an 18th century Basi wine cellar 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

 

Original basi wine cellar and jars (burnay) date back to the

 18th century across six generations of continuous operation, 

interrupted only by the Second World War for five years. 

 

The cellar attracts researchers, students and tourists for its historical 

significance with the Spanish Galleon Trade, and technology of 

the old folks in making basi and its related products, principally 

vinegar (sukang Iloko).  

By now this jar of basi is 13 years old.  Unless opened, it remains longer 

in aging. The general rule is, the longer wine is aged, the more mellow it 

becomes.  It's not really so.  There are other factors to consider like 

damaged clay cap and leaching.  And there's the basic rule that "only 

good wine mellows with age" (So with man, sages add.) 

Crystalline golden color and pleasant wine aroma meet the happy

connoisseur after the desired aging period is reached (at least two 

years in the case of Rotor basi). Fresh and direct from the jar, the 

harvest is bottled, sealed and labelled (as shown below), according

 to customers' specifications intended for an occasion like

 wedding, Christmas, exhibit, and the like. 

 

House guest picks a fruit wine of his choice,  Fruit wine making 

follows the basic fermentation-aging process in basi making.

There are 30 kinds of fruit wine developed in this cellar from different 

fruits growing locally like macopa, aratiles, duhat and guyabano. 

Stamp commemorating the Galleon Trade. 

Scene of a Galleon trading post in Ciudad de Vigan in Spanish time. 

"The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade* in the 18th century was undertaken by Vigan Chinese mestizo traders who exported local products such as basi, tobacco and abel to Europe and other parts of Asia..." Pia Roces Morato, Thorns and Roses

                                      * Manila-Acapulco galleon trade 1565–1815

                     

Basi jar lying on the sea floor where a galleon ship was wrecked. 

Basi sparked one of the major revolts against Spanish rule by the natives when wine monopoly was declared by the government. This meant virtually taking the industry from the hands of the natives. The short-lived uprising took place in Ilocos, with the final battle fought on both sides of the Bantaoay River which runs through the towns of San Vicente up to San Ildefonso, which are today the major suppliers of Basi principally to tourists in Vigan, UNESCO's world heritage city, and one of the cultural wonders of the world. ~

EcoArt 1: Environmental Art (Article in Progress)

EcoArt 1

Environmental Art 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Mounted Giant Mussel Clam with glass pearls by AVR 2026

All in pursuit of the pearl, pure and dainty,

    our country the "Pearl of the Orient Sea."

Yet seldom do we see it with pride today,

    this symbol, "land of the proud and free."

                  

Mounted Brain Coral with Embedded Shells, by AVR 2026

Both have been dead many years ago, 

       yet together like when they were alive;

these brain coral and mollusk in a duo,

   in make-believe their fossils survive. 

 

Shells of Giant African Land Snails against a canvas painting 

by AVR 2025

 

Tower Ruins, wood splinters against canvas painting by AVR 2018

Deadwood Looking at Heaven, driftwood against an acrylic mural, 

by AVR 2025 

                      Shelf mushrooms crown a dead tree limb in acrylic

                                                    by AVR 2026 

Tree skeleton clinging on a rock cliff, by AV Rotor

Living with Nature Center

It's counterpart of the sacred Cross;

let's save Mother Nature at all cost.

                                 

Dismembered Pine Trees (Pinus insularis) in acrylic 

by AVRotor 2025

Forest fire spares Bitaog trees (Calopyllum inophylum) 

 in acrylic by AVRotor 2025

Come deluge, El Niño drought, wildfire,

    this tree vanishes, oh, God, forbid

one Nemesis, man's unrestrained desire,

    save it, save it, from his rage and greed.

EcoArt 2

Environmental Art 

 A Lovely Pair in a Bower*

A Lovely Pair in a Bower in acrylic (11.5" X 16") by the author

Author (left) presents painting and a book** he wrote as gifts to Fr Mars Tan, president of Xavier University, on the latter's visit to the author's home in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur in 2024. 

Let the world go by in their bower,

lovers blind to the busy world,

away from the maddening crowd;

fleeting moment is forever,

to this pair in their lair.

Wonder in our midst who we are,

blind to each other, but the world,

strange this crowd we are in;

where's this lovely pair,

where's their bower?

  * A bower for fish is a nest built by fish using their mouths to move sand or other

     materials. Fish build bowers for spawning.

Driftwood Art depicting Nature's urgent appeal for conservation and protection of the environment, pioneered by the author in his artworks and writings in line with emerging movements to save Mother Earth, including cryptobiology, a field of science at the border of the paranormal, legends and popular beliefs. Model: Miss Angie Tobias.

She is a princess of Nature - Angie,

     wherever, whenever Nature is,

Amihan and Habagat, and in between;

     guardian of butterflies and bees;

her ways are far from Narcissus' myth,

     but like a passing summer breeze. 

Ruins of High-Rise Buildings in wood and acrylic

 by AVR 2023

Doomed Predator, acrylic by AVRotor 2008

Are your eyes tired?  Reflection of a painting 

in acrylic by AVR 2025

Come, let me give your eyes rest. Reflection of a Painting

Come, let me give your eyes rest.

"Look deep into this image painted by one whose eyes have long 

sought for peace and rest through some connection with Nature." 

 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Come, let me give your eyes rest, in acrylic (33.5" x 24") by AV Rotor 2025

Painting on display at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Are your eyes tired of too much exposure on the computer, day and night, hour after hour, rushing up school assignments, work-at-home deadlines, tracking down news here and abroad, or simply playing games which is actually a straining pastime?    

Are your eyes tired from heavy schedule in office, at the workplace, driving through heavy traffic beating rush hour and the Bundy clock, for hours, going out and back home, at daybreak and after work, and doing errands in between?   

Are your eyes tired of too much drama on stage and screen, audio-visons virtually without end, fiesta or no fiesta, searching for apparition in the sky, braving the camera and floodlights, looking into the lens for the unseen, and now, with AI magical power?

Are your eyes tired of blinding and blinking lights on the highway complex of vehicles, floodlights and billboards, in restaurants and bars, even in the park you think relaxing to spend a weekend with your family, or simply alone for reflection?

Are your eyes tired of reading novels, printed or in e-book versions by your favorite authors like Hemingway, for contemporary realism; Pasternak, for refined radicalism; Mark Twain, for boys' adventure; Jules Verne, for prototype futurism? 

Are your eyes tired of the imagery of Future Shock and Eco-Spasm by Alvin Toffler, of Uncle Tom's Cabin in the age of slavery in the US, of Ann Frank's Diary of a lonely and frightful world during WW II, of Orwellian Big Brother syndrome in "1984"?  

Are your eyes tired, seeing not only real vision but after-visions accumulated through hours and hours of concentration in school, office, home, and residues of visual experiences surreptitiously stored in your Jungian psyche?   

Look deep into this image painted by one whose eyes have long sought for peace and rest, for connection with Nature in the sky and into the deep, in the microcosm of a leaf, filaments of algae, rootlets, buds, myriads of unseen mysteries of creation. 

And in seeing all these, you may find your way back to the beauty, innocence and joy, to the simplicity and harmony of life and living. ~             

 

 

Details of painting, Come, let me give your eyes rest, by AV Rotor 2025. 

 

Left, author and artist (right) poses with a fellow senior citizen and friend, 

Gerry Singson. Students from the University of Northern Philippines on a 

study tour at the Living with Nature Center. The painting cautions those on 

the "busy lane" to slow down a bit and reflect on the lighter side of life. ~

Biology: Resurrection and Regeneration

Biology:

Resurrection and Regeneration

Dr Abe V Rotor

               

Old folks tell us of the magic of lizards growing new tails, crabs regaining lost claws, starfish arising from body pieces. How can we explain these mysteries?

 

The biological phenomenon behind these stories is called regeneration. The male deer grows a new set of anthers each year; sea squirts and hydras are produced from tiny buds; the same way plants grow from cuttings. 

House lizard or butiki, emerges from hiding after shedding off its skin (molting). 

New worms may regenerate from just pieces of the body; and some fish can sprout new fins to replace the ones that have been bitten off.

Experiments demonstrated that the forelimb of a salamander severed midway between the elbow and the wrist, can actually grow into a new one exactly the same as the lost parts. The stump re-forms the missing forelimb, wrist, and digits within a few months. In biology this is called re-differentiation, which means that the new tissues are capable of reproducing the actual structure and attendant function of the original tissues.

Curious the kid I was, I examined a twitching piece of tail, without any trace of its owner. I was puzzled at what I saw. My father explained how the lizard, a skink or bubuli, escaped its would-be predator by leaving its tail twitching to attract its enemy, while its tailless body stealthily went into hiding. “It will grow a new tail,” father assured me. I have also witnessed tailless house lizards (butiki) growing back their tails at various stages, feeding on insects around a ceiling lamp. During the regeneration period these house lizards were not as agile as those with normal tails, which led me to conclude how important the tail is.

Regeneration is a survival mechanism of many organisms. Even if you have successfully subdued a live crab you might end up holding only its pincers and the canny creature has gone back in the water. This is true also to grasshoppers, they actually detach their legs in order to escape their enemies.

Another kind of regeneration is compensatory hypertrophy, a kind of temporary growth response that occurs in such organs as the liver and kidney when they are damaged. If a surgeon removes up to 70 percent of a diseased liver, the remaining liver tissues undergo rapid mitosis (multiplication of cells) until almost the original liver mass is restored. Similarly, if one kidney is removed, the other enlarges greatly to compensate for its lost partner. ~

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Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

Spontaneous Generation: Life Arises from Non-Living Things - Fact or Myth? (The Backyard as Laboratory and Workshop)

Spontaneous Generation 

 Life Arises from Non-Living Things - Fact or Myth?

The Backyard as Laboratory and Workshop

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

One hot summer night following the first heavy rain in summer, swarms of gamu-gamu (gnats and midges) sweep into residential areas, attracted by light. They incessantly circle streetlights and campfires in frenzy and suicidal attack. Driving becomes difficult in low visibility, the windshield dimmed with their sticky bodies. The scene is one of Homer’s Iliad (the movie Troy), or the proverbial story of a moth meeting glorious death in a lamp. Toads and house lizards have their fill the whole night.  To other predators, it is a change in diet that comes once a year. So with some cultures that gather them for food. Winged termites are very rich in  protein and are claimed to have aphrodisiac property. Where did these creatures come from?   

“Thunder and lightning produce mushrooms.” Old folks would say and I believed in them when I was a child.  It is fairy tale come true. For indeed wild mushrooms inhabit rice straw, banana stalks, tree stump, bamboo grove, and termite mounds (punso).  To a mushroom hunter, imagine the amazement and joy of discovering mushroom colonies that could easily fill a wide brimmed hat or a woman’s skirt. That experience is relived, as I sometimes find mushrooms growing in the backyard after a heavy monsoon rain accompanied by thunder and lightning.    

Were lost cities like that of the Aztecs' in ancient Mexico the testimony of an epidemic caused by spontaneous generation of disease pathogens? 

One of the great puzzles in biology is spontaneous generation. Where do all these living things come from?  Here are some observations to ponder and research on.

1.  Maggots devour a whole carcass leaving but its skeleton.  These larvae of flies appear in sheer numbers as sudden as they disappear altogether. PHOTO

2.  Annual plants like saluyot (Corchorus olitorius), kamkamote (Ipomea sp.), spinach (Amaranthus spinosus), and gulasiman (Portulaca oleracea), spontaneously populate barren fields and gardens, growing  wild and thick like jungle, until a brush fire razes them to the ground as the Southwest monsoon wears off.

3.  Lately, five towns and cities in the country which include Metro Manila, were declared emergency areas as Dengue or hemorrhagic fever spread to epidemic proportions. The resurgence of Malaria is also quite alarming in other areas, such as in Palawan. What really triggers an epidemic. Can these and similar diseases spread without their vectors?  If it is so, how could they spontaneously rise and infect people?

 4. There is a story popular among children of the legendary Pied Piper who rid the city of Hamlyn in Germany of rats by luring them to their death to the sea. 

                                   Bubonic Plague vector, Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla chopis)

It gives us a scenario of rats overrunning the city: rats in the homes, in schools, churches, on the streets, even in the most protected places like the residence of the mayor who promised a Pied Piper a handsome reward but denied after. I could only imagine the unbelievable rate of reproduction of the pest, although these were not rats but lemmings, as science found out, which normally do not cause serious damage. Such incident linked to the Bubonic Plague or Black Death that killed one-third of human population in Europe in the Middle Ages, spawned beliefs that rats grow out of living and non-living things. Many of such stories survive to this day. 

5. Mad cow disease started in Britain in the nineties. It found its way to many countries of Europe, then to Japan and the US. Short of invading the whole northern hemisphere, the disease associated with human JCD Syndrome disappeared as sudden as how it appeared.  

A cow with BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) or Mad Cow Disease. 

And yet in its country of origin, the prion, the causal material - a protein, resides in the victim and may take twenty years to reach the central nervous system.  If prion is a special protein why does it behave like a living thing?  

7.  But the belief of spontaneous generation caused worldwide panic when an estimated 100 million people succumbed to the Spanish Flu virus in 1918. Although the worse hit were the US and India, the toll was estimated to be one out of six people living on earth at that time. The most vulnerable victims were the strong and healthy.  The virus triggers the immune system that turns itself against the patient, so that the more resistant a patient  is the more he is prone to die of the disease.  Which leads the medical world to wonder why the very young and old had better chance to survive. Then after two years the pandemic just fizzled out as if it were a passing wind. Hence by 1920 virtually all cases  were closed.  Today the virus is kept alive in controlled laboratory condition for study.   

 Soldiers sick with Spanish flu at a hospital ward at Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas

Disease Influenza 

Virus strain Strains of A/H1N1 

Location Worldwide 

Date February 1918 – April 1920
Suspected cases‡ 500 million (estimated)

Deaths 25–50 million (generally accepted), other estimates range from 17 to 100 million. Suspected cases have not been confirmed by laboratory tests as being due to this strain, although some other strains may have been ruled out. 

Theories arose, among them is that the virus rode of a passing meteorite before reaching the earth.  Or was it a prototype that mutated with indigenous strains?  So with other pathogens? ~ 

(Acknowledgement with gratitude: Wikipedia, Internet, Living with Nature in Our Times, AVR)

50 Useful Trivia and Practical Tips - Self-administered test (True or False) Chicken Soup for Convalescents, Slow Lead Poisoning, etc.

 50 Useful Trivia and Practical Tips - Self-administered test (True or False) Chicken Soup for Convalescents, Slow Lead Poisoning, etc.

Dr Abe V. Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's-School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio DZRB 738 KHz AM 8 to 9 PM, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

1. The coconut crab is the biggest crab in the world. PHOTO

2. The whale has a good memory. Beware if you injure a whale; it may have its revenge someday.

3. You can water plants at any time of the day.

4. The elevator does not open on the 13th floor.

5. A mirror should be covered during a thunderstorm because it attracts lightning.

6. For bottles that are difficult to open, cool the lid with ice and twist.

7. Chicken soup is best for convalescent.

8. There is truth to the report that car runs freewheeling uphill on “magnetic hill.” This enigmatic place is allegedly found at the foot of Mt. Makiling in Los Baños, Laguna, 60 km south of Manila, a stretch of country road overlooking the Laguna Bay. PHOTO

9. There are skin whiteners that are rich in mercury.

10. The country with the highest rate of traffic accidents in the Asian region is the Philippines.

11. If a clock that has not been working suddenly chimes, it means there will be death in the family.

12. Place charcoal inside a refrigerator to remove bad odor.

13. Poultice of gumamela flowers hastens “ripening” of boil (pigsa).

14. Pulling out a gray or while hair will cause ten more to grow in its place.

15 It’s bad to expose a pregnant woman’s belly to photo flash – she will give birth to a baby with physical defect. PHOTO

16. To get good grades place your review notes or books under your pillow and sleep on them.
17. Egg shells induce flowering of orchids.

18. Banana with freckles and discolorations means it is sweet.

19. Playing sungka is bad because of the nature of the game to “kill” your opponent.     

20. Avoid mending clothes at night; it might cause blindness. 

Playing the traditional sungka game.

21. Don’t harm the señora, the matron rat; otherwise it will destroy more things in the house.

22. Knock once or twice – not thrice, else you court the attention of the devil.

23. Orange clouds are bad omen; they are signs of either drought or poor harvest.

24. If the money spent on wedding was borrowed, the couple will always be in debt.

25. When leaving the dining table ahead, those who are still eating should rotate their plates otherwise they will remain unmarried - for those who are not, of course.

26. Emergence of the salagubang and salaguinto beetles usher the start of the amihan or Siberian cold wind.

27. Place money in a bed pan (arinola), so that it becomes plentiful.

28. The wishbone of a chicken makes a wholesome game for two. Wish comes true to the one who gets the common stem of the Y-shape bone.

29. Children are sacrificed in making bridges and other infrastructure.

30. Pigs are the only animals that will drink hard liquor voluntarily.

31. Corals are burned and pulverized to make cement.

32. We put “blinders” on workhorses because horses can’t focus their eyes the way humans and other animals do. PHOTO

33. When cooking crabs and shrimps first bring the water to boiling, then immediately immerse them - dead or alive – to make them bright red.

34. Before a goat is slaughtered, it is forced to drink liquor.

35. A mad dog vehemently rejects water; and will go wild if forced to drink.

36. Rice is the first thing to carry with when moving to a new house.

37. To break the dormancy of certain seeds like palay, tobacco, saluyot, quickly immerse these seeds in ice water before you plant them.

38. Castor bean (Ricinus communis)or tangan-tangan is poisonous.

39. Use elbow to test tepid bath for the baby.

40. Kugtong - giant lapu-lapu - really exists. Its mouth is so big, a man’s head could get through it easily. PHOTO

41. Angalo, the friendly giant, is a real person.

42. A sex of a child is determined by the sex chromosomes of the mother.

43. Pansit-pansitan or Piperomia pellucida relieves arthritis.

44. Pollen allergy is often the cause of sneezing fit and asthmatic symptoms.

45. Kamagong, the hardest wood comes from mabolo.

46. Among the local dialects, only Ilocano has the term for tempering – paslep.

47. You can detect fish caught by dynamite because dynamited fish have eyes, abdomen, scales and flesh battered by the blast.

48. Beer attracts the giant land snail, Achatina fulica. PHOTO

49. A person born suwi’ (breech birth) can remove bone stuck in the throat by mere sleight of his hand.

50. Victims of lead poisoning may not be aware of their actual condition.

ANSWERS:

1. True. It can weigh up to 4 kilos and can live for 30 years. It climbs coconut trees, harvest the nut and crack it open with its powerful pincers. Being a favorite delicacy it is now declared an endangered species.

2. True. Remember Moby Dick the white whale in Herman Merville’s novel of the same title? At the end, the whale had its revenge killing its torturers, Captain Ahmed and his crew, and sinking their ship.

3. False. Watering plants during hot hours causes pasma, the effect of sudden and alternate exposure to heat and cold. This is what exactly happens when you train a water hose on plants directly exposed to noon heat. It causes damage to cells and tissues particularly in buds, growing leaves and flowers. Even if the plants don’t die under such conditions, they will cease to grow and develop normally, a term we call bansot. The best time to water the plants is early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Allow the plants to get adjusted to the weather. And do the watering with tender, loving care (TLC).

4. True. Architects and builders generally give way to this tradition and superstitious belief. I have yet to ride an elevator that stops at the 13th floor.

5. False, but the reflection of lightning will only exacerbate fear.

6. False. It is the opposite – slowly heat the lid and twist. This technique ideally applies to glass jars with metal cover. The principle involved is that metal and other materials expand when heated, and contract when subjected to cold. The lid readily expands when heated while the glass jar doesn’t expand as much. Heat also loosens wax and other sticky materials.

7. True. However, there are specifications of the kind of chicken to be served. First, it must be native chicken. Karurayan is the term in Ilocos for a pure white native chicken which does not bear any trace of color on its feathers. It is preferably a female, dumalaga or fryer, meaning it has not yet reached reproductive stage. It is neither fat nor thin. Usually the herbolario chooses one from recommended specimens. He then instructs and supervises the household in the way the karurayan is dressed, cut, cooked into tinola (stew) and served to the convalescent. He does not ask for any fee for his services, but then he takes home one or two of the specimens that did not pass the specifications. Chicken soup as a convalescent food is recognized in many parts of the world. Because of its popularity, chicken soup has become associated with healing, not only of the body – but the soul as well. In fact there is a series of books under the common title Chicken Soup - for the Woman’s Soul, Surviving Soul, Mother’s Soul, Unsinkable Soul, Writer’s Soul, etc. Of course, this is exaggeration, but nonetheless it strengthens our faith that this lowly descendant of the dinosaurs that once walked the earth of its panacean magic.

8. False. Puzzled at the mystery, I brought my car to the place. I shifted the transmission stick to neutral, released the brakes, and anticipated what would happen. Surprisingly the wheels began to move and slowly gained momentum. The car was coasting uphill! On second thought I asked myself, “Am I drawn by magnetic force?” People in the area believe the mountain is one huge magnet. It has lured many people to experience the legendary phenomenon. To check if it is really true, I turned back to where I had started earlier. This time it was going “downhill,” but the car did not respond, so I shifted to low gear. Halfway there was water coming from a nearby spring and flowing along the roadside. If water seeks its own level, why is it running uphill? And there I found the explanation. The whole thing is an optical illusion.

9. True. There are cases of mercury poisoning among whitener users reported in Hongkong. Mercury is injurious to the kidney and liver, and may cause deformity in children as in the case of the Minamata disease.

10. False. It is Thailand, with three fatalities in one hour. Studies show that the main cause of traffic accidents is stress and fatigue. Since inducing massage on tired feet, thigh and muscles in gas stations, the rate of accident has significantly decreased.

11. False. It is one of the horror stories, and those of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a great American fiction writer. Two of his ghostly novels are The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables.  PHOTO

12. True. Charcoal absorbs unpleasant odor and gases in the air. For newly painted room place charcoal at the corners of the room, and in three to five days it is safe for occupancy.

13. True. Hibiscus rosasinensis contains pharmacological properties to explain its folkloric use, such as alkaloids and terpenes.

14. False, but pulling out hairs may adversely affect nearly nerves and may cause infection.

15. False, it is impossible to transmit knowledge this way during sleep. But “incubation” of what we have earlier studied or observed may take place in the unconscious mind, even when we are asleep, which sometimes come as dream.

16. False. There is no scientific basis to this claim. The radiation is so little as to affect the child in the womb.

17. True. Eggshell is a source of Calcium which is needed by the plant, and in neutralizing acidity.

18. False, in fact such condition is the result of attacking insects and pathogens. It is often that we find lumps in the fruit, or the fruit itself is deformed or disheveled.

19. False. Well, there are games designed to putting down the opponent mercilessly, and in ways and terms that are not kind and pleasant.

20. False, but anything we do that is habitual under poor lighting will really lead to such condition.

21. False. In India however, rats are believed to be the re-incarnation of dead ancestors. Sometimes rats are called kabas, meaning little children, so that they are often treated with favor.

22. False, but you might get in trouble with the person who despise your manners.

23. True, the orange color of the sky is due to suspended dusts coming for drought affected areas. The Great Dust Bowl in the US in the thirties reminds us of this man-induced calamity.

24. False. But to borrow money to spend for a “bongacious” ceremony is definitely not a good start for the couple.

25. False, but it has become a common practice; even married people do it foolheartedly.

26. False. These insects which reside under the soil for about a year as grubs subsisting on roots of plants emerge at the start of the rainy season (habagat), hence their names May or June beetles. PHOTO

27. False. But who would suspect money to be found inside an arinola (bed pan) but its owner?

28. False. There is a trick to break the bone to one’s advantage.

29. True. It is an ethnic practice which we may have forgotten. The Great Walls of China and the Pyramids of Egypt are known to contain entombed human sacrifices.

30. True, and you can only imagine what happens afterward.

31. True. This is the way of making cement in olden times. Corals are calcium deposits accumulated for thousands of years.

32. True. They have to change the angle of their head if they want to see objects clearly. That’s why they bob their heads up and down, or swing it side to side. To avoid this, horses must wear blinders to have their eyes focused straight and avoid disruptions.

33. True. Try it.

34. False. It is vinegar that is given to the animal to make its meat tastier and reduce its characteristic odor (angdud Ilk). Vinegar is placed in a small bottle and inserted into the animal’s mouth forcing it to be swallowed. The animal is then bled and consequently slaughtered.

35. True. That is how the word hydrophobia is associated with mad dog.

36. True. Together with rice comes a short list of basic necessities such as a bundle of firewood, salt, beans, nuts, fruits, sugar and coffee. The belief is that the family will not run out of these basic needs, an ethnic practice which still prevails in remote communities.

37. False. Immerse the seeds in hot water (around 60 degrees Celsius) as quickly as you can, allow the seeds to cool off and plant them immediately.

38. True. The seeds of Ricinus communis contain one of the most poisonous substances in nature – ricin.This is the reason castor oil as purgative is no longer recommended. Purified ricin is reportedly used in the manufacture of lethal weapons.

39. True. When testing the proper bath temperature, immerse your elbow for a few seconds to determine if the bath is just right – not too warm nor too cold. The finger is not as sensitive to do this test. Next time you bathe your baby, try this useful tip.

40. True. I saw two giant lapu-lapu (kugtong) caught in Sablayan Occidental Mindoro by local fishermen sometime in 1982. Biologically, kugtong is female; the male is minuscule compared to it and is attached to the female - a special case of commensalism.

41. False. Angalo is just a legend of the Ilocos region. It is like Lam-ang, Achilles, Beowulf, or any epic hero. 

Footprint of Angalo, Pinsal Fall

Sta Maria, Ilocos Sur.  Painting by the author

42. False. It is the sperm cell, because it carries either the X or the Y chromosome, while the ovum or egg carries only the X chromosomes. XY means it is a boy; XX, a girl.

43. True. This annual herb appears waxy and translucent for which it got its name, pellucidus. It is shallow rooted, its stem succulent and bears alternate heart-shaped turgid leaves that are transparent and smooth as candle wax. It is a common folk remedy.

44. True. It is called allergy rhinitis. There are people who are highly sensitive to pollen grains. And their allergy is specific to certain plants, and at certain seasons these plants are in bloom. Plants belonging to Family Poaceae or Graminae which include rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, talahib, cogon, and the like generally bloom in the last quarter beginning in October when dry season takes over the waning habagat season.

45. True. Diospyros discolor. It was once plentiful in Philippine forests. PHOTO

46. True. Other Philippine dialects, not even Tagalog, have a term for tempering, the process of hardening bolos and knives as durable and sharp as steel.

47. True. Report to nearest authority the presence of such fish.

48. True. Place the beer bait in a shallow pan, and gather the snails in the morning and destroy them.

49. False. I was born suwi, which means I came out of the womb with head last. When I was a child my dad used to tell people I could dislodge a bone stuck in the throat. And he would bring in “patients” whom I would gladly heal by “feeling” where the bone is and telling them to move their heads here or there, and to swallowing hard with something solid like banana. Believe me after some trials, my patients would find relief, affirming that indeed being suwi is the key to this special gift. But as years went by I ceased to be the healer people knew, and what I thought I was, especially when I finished college. “Get the cat’s paw,” I would advise kindheartedly.

50. True. It is because lead poisoning is slow and cumulative. Take the case of the sickly little boy who puzzled the kindly old family doctor of his condition. Then on a fine Sunday morning the doctor happened to drop at the boy’s residence. While having coffee with the family the doctor found something and exclaimed; “Now I know why my young patient is sickly!” It was like Archimedes who got out of the bathtub shouting, “Eureka! Eureka!” (I found it, I found it) He pointed at the gold lining on the rim of the coffee cup which has faded which means that the user is slowly taking in the lead-rich paint. On inspecting the other china the doctor found the same condition. ~~

Count the number of correct answers and rate it accordingly.

46 - 50 Outstanding

41 – 45 Very Good

36 – 40 Good

26 – 35 Average

16 – 25 Poor

15 & below. Catch up, keep on learning. ~

Acknowledgement with gratitude: Internet photos