Epitaph: Pikit, North Cotabto

@Pikit Municipal Hall

It was this day of the 25th of November 2013 when I first arrived at Pikit, North Cotabato, a place that I never heard before until since then. When I first got a job as a timekeeper on the field, I was assigned to the Municipality of Pikit in the province of North Cotabato. I have no idea that there exist such place although I've been traveling on several places in that province until I finally took my first step on it. On my arrival, I felt relieved that we have people on the neighborhood unlike most of the previous places we’ve been. Things that I do like to the people at the countryside is that they are sincere, simple, and friendly. Maybe not generally but observably. 

my hard hat

The first few weeks was tough, I smell danger. There was one morning when a man along with several companion entered the compound without asking permission. His Caliber 45, shining like stars in the night sky, was tucked in on his side. He’s looking for the officer in charge and it so happened that there’s no one he can talk to but me. I was freaking out but acted as if I’m already accustomed to the place and seeing a man with his firearm that he carries around is just a normal day. Sometimes during the night I can hear from a distant an exchanging barrage of bullets, it would last for at least a couple of hours that I’d fall asleep listening to it. When I asked the neighbors what was it about they said it’s a conflict between personal interest, nothing related to government and completely normal.

Eventually, I managed to set aside my worries and blend within the community. Then on I exposed myself outside the compound even if I told many times to be more careful. Hanging around with some neighbors, chit-chatting, sometimes staying overnight to their homes. After all, I wasn’t wrong with my expectations, they’re kind people.

I’ve made new friends: elders, my age, and youngsters. I have no problem being away from home for a long time but there comes a time when I long for the comfort of the place where I grow up. However, as I’m getting acquainted to them I thought I had found an alternative, a replica perhaps that simulates the consciousness of how it’s like to be at home. By home, I mean, not what I do inside our house, but it includes the area where I live in and the activities I’d prefer to be doing. They would invite me to birthday parties, feast, weddings, and sometimes we go outings with my new found friends.

@midsayap

@copra farm

One of the opportunities being at the province are the tourist spots. There has been a few in Pikit and one of them is the historical Fort Pikit. It’s a like three hundred square meters (approx.) structure made mostly of stones without steel braces as I observed. I wonder why people didn’t preserve the place as they left it unattended, letting it gradually erase from the history and it’s open to the public. It’s also situated on top of the hill making it favorable for couples as they exchange words of love while gazing the entire town from below and with the humming wind touches their cheeks all the way to their nostrils to eventually notice that people are shitting around the place. Another place I’ve been was at the copra farm, it’s like a picnic. We grilled a fish, a fresh water milk fish, and munched on it with bear hands unwashed, I guess the heat from the fish meat will actually kill off the germs. Then we bought Emperador Brandy with matching coconut juice as chaser and coconut meat as pulotan. From Pikit, we went to the neighboring municipality, the municipality of Midsayap, North Cotabato. That outing was planned weeks before, every Saturday we fund P200.00 each until it’s enough to be used for future outings. We hired an SUV to carry us to the resort back and forth, rented a cottage, have foods that’s more than enough to full our bellies, and we drinks *KAMPAI*. We really had fun that day, unforgettable.

@fort pikit

Although I felt like home there were safety precautions to consider. Aside from being a timekeeper, I'm also the payroll officer (warehouse keeper, purchaser, checker, and first aid responder). I hold the amount for services rendered, debts to pay, in short I have the money for a week budget. People seek employment to earn money to sustain their needs and wants, and you can’t always find money on the ground. There’s the right way and there’s the shortcut and shortcuts isn’t reliable that sometimes it would end up the “wrong way.” With the consistent brownout on the place, which at times occurred during the night. No matter how I remain faithful and brave, I can’t help to think of the possibilities that dangers are just around the corner, with a higher chance on that place obviously.

Well, my residency at Pikit wasn’t that bad after all, for 7 months of my stay I truly enjoyed my job and the company of my new found friends. I know one day I’ll have to bid my farewell and I can't help to think that that day has waited for me. It’s been more than a year since I left Pikit. I do miss the place and the people I’ve came to know. I miss the fun and adventures we’ve been through. Memories are like the butterflies, colorful and beautiful as they appear, they perish to give life to another and memories do perish to give a chance for a more wonderful moments in life but I will not left them forgotten. I buried them in my mind, it’s a cemetery for memories and this blog I’ve made is a true stories of my life, epitaph that will constantly reminds me of how my life has been so excited during its timeline.