Vendor lives on ayungin, prayers

Sophia, 38, travels 60 kilometers each day to and from Talim island in Binangonan, Rizal to sell dried ayungin (Therapon plumbeus, also known as silver perch) at a wet market along the railroad tracks on 10th Avenue in Caloocan City.

She said she does not mind the long commute to Caloocan because she earns more, compared to when she was selling dried fish in Quiapo.

“In Caloocan, no one runs after me. The vendors are not selfish. No one comes to collect. Unlike in Quiapo, (I have to give) P60 daily. Four men come to collect and then give to the police. In Caloocan, I (just) give P2 to the sweeper,” Sophia said.

She added that even if she paid her dues, “they still run after me.”

On a good day, she gets P1,200 for 14 kilos of ayungin, now reportedly becoming increasingly scarce and harder to catch from the waters of Laguna de Bay.

According to Eliadora Mercene of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, ayungin comprises more than 70 percent of the total fish population in Laguna lake.

Ayungin are omnivorous, eating crustaceans, zooplankton, snails, annelids, aquatic insects, fish, phytoplankton, microscopic algae and vascular plants, Mercene said.

Sophia said a kilo of fresh ayungin three fingers wide sells for P500, but she can get her supply in Talim for as low as P150. A kilo of dried ayungin sells for P200 to 250.

She started selling the dried fish in 2006, when a priest she knew only as “Father Buchon” told residents of Talim island that dried ayungin is comparable to its more famous cousin, danggit, in flavor. 

Sophia starts each day at 1 a.m. by preparing the dried ayungin – 14 kilos on good days, seven kilos during lean times – for the four-hour trip, which starts with a boat ride from Talim island to Binangonan town at 3 a.m. She then takes three jeepney rides until she reaches the wet market on 10th Avenue. She spends P107 just to reach the market at around 7 a.m.

Sophia sells the dried ayungin at P10 per Styrofoam cup, and her regular customers usually ask for “padagdag,” one more piece, as she puts the fish in plastic bags.

She packs up at 11 a.m., whether or not she sells all the dried ayungin. On her way home, she always stops by the shrine of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo to give thanks for the day’s blessing and to ask for more blessings – and more dried ayungin to sell – tomorrow.