Back to our roots

A simple life in the province is what boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee want for their children. They packed their bags, so to speak, and transferred their kids to Hope Christian School in General Santos City from Brent International School in Laguna.

The Pacquiaos are back to their roots. With all the millions or billions that Manny has now, he has made the decision to have his kids experience, or maybe at least see and imbibe, how it all began for him — his days of want, his moments of insecurity, his bouts with poverty. Money is a piece of cake for Manny now but to GenSan he brought back his kids so they will appreciate better the kind of life they have now.

His move underscores that there’s fulfillment in simplicity. And the simple life in the province is many times the antidote to the hustle and bustle brought by the city.

The Pacquiao kids have reportedly been enjoying their new surroundings. They will enjoy them more in the future. GenSan will ground them. They will further discover their roots — that long before their father bore fruits, his roots were first planted on GenSan soil, threatened by poverty but firmly planted just the same. And one day, they will profusely thank their parents for bringing them home.  

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I have now become a weekend promdi. For 20 years, the metropolis has been my home. My job, a blessing I am thankful for, has exposed me to some of the best treats life can give. My taste buds have already experienced epicurean delights. I have been lucky to be given assignments abroad and be mesmerized by a motley of cultures different from mine. Yet, every weekend, my heart knows that the best sunset is still found in our backyard in Gulod; that the freshest air I can breathe is the breeze brought by our decades-old narratree in our humble garden; that the best food I will savor is my mother’s sinigang sa bayabas. At the end of the week, the best treat will always be a weekend date with my mother.

Life in the barrio takes its own cadence, many times lulling and lilting. City dwellers, when they want a respite, always take to the countryside. A road trip to a nearby mountain resort is a welcome indulgence on long weekends. A flight to a bucolic destination is always part of the proverbial bucket list. The de-stressing elixir is found in the province. It’s in its sweet, sweet breeze, in its serene surroundings, in its simple way of life.

Again, simplicity of life matters all the time. We don’t need much to be whole. But we also cannot be complacent when there’s no food on the table. This is exactly the reason why Kid Kulafu, Manny Pacquiao’s moniker when he first started to box in the province, wore the gloves, went up the ring and fought his first fight — to put food on the table. Now that his table is replete with abundance, the homeboy in him still chooses to return to what he thinks is more comfortable for his children — a life in the province.

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“I made sure my children would spend time in my hometown Medellin, Cebu when they were children. To this day, they love to visit and stay in the province,” Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung told me. Mariquita and her British-Chinese husband Carlos Yeung have a diamond business in Hong Kong and real estate in Cebu.

Their three children Carla, Martin and Jewelle, all born in Hong Kong, learned their Filipino values in Medellin, a municipality in northern Cebu. “Their vacations in Medellin made my parents very happy. It also made my children well-rounded human beings who know how to give back,” she said.

Discovering their roots and celebrating them, added Mariquita, made her children compassionate human beings. “They discovered that there is another world apart from theirs. And the beauty of having my children connected to Curva, the barrio where I grew up in Medellin, is that they also fell in love with it.”

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Boy Abunda, the Philippine TV’s King of Talk, told me once the importance of going back to one’s roots. “It’s going back to your core.”

Boy, a native of Borongan in Eastern Samar, admitted he was one of the first products of his town’s brain drain. “I want to go back to Borongan because I want to encourage the young students in the town to celebrate what they have.

“I want them to know not to be afraid to fish. Not to be afraid to protect the forest. Not to be afraid to protect the land, and to cultivate it. I want them to learn how to be proud farmers. I want them to learn the things I did not do and learn because I had to go out of Borongan to discover what I can do to be able to serve the town.”

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One’s excursion to one’s roots is a way of mentoring oneself. It teaches one to be fully aware what one has inside — strengths, frailties, warts and all.

These are strengths and weaknesses discovered by kids when they climb trees or wade in shallow streams. In their roots, they fortify themselves as they acquire values that become building blocks of their character. And a solid character is important to developing wings.

To go back to the roots is to explore the core of one’s being. It’s rediscovering the DNA that makes one unique.

A simple life in the province is, for many city dwellers, already a luxury.  The Pacquiao children are enjoying it now.

Indeed, provincial living has its own charm, its own allure.

(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. I’m also on Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)