On our 21st Century Literature subject, we were assigned to do an interview to ask someone

about a story where they came from. Before doing the interview, my groupmates and I inquired
about the background of the one we will interview. We also asked what is the story all about?
What is the background of it? And as interviewers, we thought about what can we learn from
this story and, how can we relate from what happened to the characters of it. Our group luckily
found an interviewee who is named Aris Ferrer. Sir Arris told us that he is 19 years old. He said
that he was born in Davao but he is currently living now in Caloocan City together with his
family. After knowing his background, we asked him to give a story from his hometown and he
said yes. He told us that one of the famous story in his hometown is entitled "BAGOBO". Bagobo
by Mabel Cook Cole is a wonderful story about the origin of Bagobos which teaches us that
there is a miracle after all hardships and obstascles we're going to experience.

The story "Bagobo" as Aris narrated, is about two siblings that is a boy and a girl who are the
children of Toglai and Toglibon. One day, a great drought came which led their siblings to leave
their home but the boy and the girl were unable to leave because they are too hungry and weak
to travel longer. When they were about to die, they saw a sugar cane that has juice in it which is
enough to keep them alive until the rain came. Because of that, their children are now called
Bagobo. After hearing what Aris told us, I became interested so I searched the story on the
internet and there were many things I discovered in this story. The things I discovered is that the
great drought Aris told us, lasted for 3 years and that there were no droplet of rain came, the
rivers and lakes evaporated which caused fishes and some animals to die. I also discovered that
the boy and girl had many siblings then they lived together with their parents in Sibulan, which
is placed at the side of Mt. Apo. When the drought came, they traveled from a far by two's to
find water and food . The groups that were built by the decendants of Toglai and Toblibon's
children were classified by the things they brought from Sibulan. Some of them, came to the
west bringing the rocks from the river of Sibulan that's why that place was called Maguindanao,
some of them came to the South bringing "Bilaan" which means baskets that's why their
descendants were called Baraan or Bilaan. Last is the boy and the girl who couldn't left Mt. Apo
but when they were in the verge of dying they saw a sugarcane, that's why their descendants
were called Bagobo because "bago" means new and "obo" means growth which is pertaining to
the sugarcane.

Based on my research about the background of the story Bagobo was derived from the word
bago which means new and obo which means growth. The story Bagobo is famous in Davao
City. Sibulan is an ancient settlement of the Bagobo, located at the foot of a dormant volcano
Cuernos de Negros, meaning the Horns of Negros but also known to the natives as Magaso. It
was written by Mabel Cook Cole and published on 1916.

I think that the lesson of the story Bagobo tells us is that after the challenges we've been facing
through, there is always something beautiful that will make us feel better appears. The
challenges we're facing is like the great drought in the story and the something beautiful that
will make us feel better is the sugarcane. The story of Bagobo reminds me of the water in the
desert which is called "oasis" and the quote "There is always a rainbow, after the rain."

I can relate this story from what's happening in the present of our society by the siblings of the
girl and boy from the people who came from the province but chose to live in Metro Manila.
The sibling's of boy and girl in the story traveled so far away to find water and food just like how
people from the province migrate to Metro Manila for better opportunities or to find a work
here so they can feed and provide the needs of their family. I relate to this because my parent's
families were from Bicol but they migrated in Metro Manila, they met here so that's why I was
born, grew up and currently living in Quezon City right now.

I therefore conclude that our interview of Sir Aris Ferrer about the famous story of his
hometown Davao City entitled Bagobo is about two siblings, a boy and a girl who experienced
drought and when they were in the verge of dying of hunger and thirst, they saw a sugar cane
which helped them to live until the rain came. Bagobo was derived from the word bago which
means new and obo which means growth. The lesson of this story is that we will always see
something beautiful which will make us feel better after facing many challenges. I can relate this
story from the people who migrate from their hometown or province to the city or mostly
Metro Manila just to find better opportunities. I really had fun knowing and researching this
story. I also believe that it will be engraved in my mind for a very long time because of its lesson.
Bagobo by Mabel Cook Cole is a wonderful story about the origin of Bagobos which teaches us
that there is a miracle after all hardships and obstascles we're going to experience.