Interview With Sita Galorport

Interview 3

Interviewee: Sita Galorport, born 1947

Interviewer: Kisho Tsuchiya                        Interpreter: Marjorie Tsuchiya Transcriber: Dominique Jonietz O. Lucagbo

Date: August 11, 2019

Language: Bisaya

I’m Sita Galorport, 77 years old.  I was born on April 17, 1947 in Valencia, Bohol. Life was hard enough having 6 siblings and parents merely as farmers. Providing the family’s basic needs became the sole purpose and farming was not putting enough money for us, so my parents decided to let our grandmother raise my one other sibling. I was able to graduate primary school while also helping my parents in farming but stopped because our father won’t let us go to school and wanted me to be a helper in Talakag, Bukidnon. I really wanted to go to school that time but my father would not let us and would even go to the extent of hurting us to stop our delusions. I was young but I was already marked with hardships of life and longing for a life where we don’t have to worry of what we’re going to eat and how are we going to earn money.

My father was injured that left him unable to work in the farm. And I was already a married woman at 21 years of age with my late husband Lorencio Tagotongan. He died after 2 years of my marriage with him due to an illness. I was devastated by him leaving me with our son. At 23 years old, I was a widow and a single mom. It was sad for my part and for my son to grow up without a father on his side.  What’s worse than this is that my mother died not long after and my father decided to remarry in Malaybalay leaving me with no choice but to raise my son and 5 other siblings alone.

Along the way, I met a man who’s from Manila and is staying in Talakag, Bukidnon for business purposes. I got pregnant again not even a year being with him. He wanted me to go with him in Luzon but my siblings were against this because I didn’t know him that much and if something would happen to me, I wouldn’t be able to ask help from anyone. And so I stayed with my siblings, with now two sons at my side. 

I didn’t want to be seen as an irresponsible mother and sister, and so I strived hard by raising and selling cows in the farm to let my siblings and my children to go to school. 

I was very proud then seeing my siblings graduate and most of them were able to work in a company. My children also graduated but just up until secondary level because they wanted to work instead of going to college. My first son married at the age of 20 and my other son worked as a driver. I was alone most of the time because they were working and my other siblings are also already married.

And it was not just me who was fighting a battle of my own. By 1966, Talakag had an on-going war between a group named “ILAGA” and the soldiers. They are men who bring sharp weapons and would sometimes be seen lurking in the forests. I didn’t know the root cause of the war but all I know is that “ILAGA’’ was on rampant killing spree that time. They don’t choose who to kill, may it a child, pregnant or even old people. The mayor announced then a forced evacuation for safety purposes. The reason was people might get caught in between the war and would cost hundreds of lives. It was like hide and seek, except there was no fun in it at all. We would hear gunshots and would start to panic and run in the forest and different places to hide. We would go to Opol, Misamis Oriental to hide there and would go back again hoping that the war already subsided. There was this one time while we were on our way back in Talakag, Bukidnon, we encountered a truck full of dead bodies. They were massacred by “ILAGA” group; the bodies were mutilated and their faces were unrecognizable already. I even wondered if there would still be someone to claim the bodies and give proper burial but I guess the government chose the easiest way possible such as digging in a massive lot and just dump all the bodies in there.

It was terrifying and exhausting having to worry for your life every day and hiding from one place to another. I was not getting young anymore and my body was getting weak and fragile. Upon hearing this, my siblings, who’s been living in Tagoloan, convinced me to live with them. 

Reminiscing all of this now made me realize that I really didn’t enjoy my adolescence. I was so focused on raising my siblings and children that finding happiness for me was in the least priority. I learned how it was to be independent and be a mother and father figure at the same time. Now, I am just happy taking care of my grandchildren and seeing that they are somehow successful In their lives. It made me proud. My life was unfortunate but still God gave me strength and continued giving blessings in my life despite hardships.