Taking me out of Sumisip, but not the Sumisip out of me

Author’s note: Written December 2017

“Doon maraming pinupugutan ng ulo, ‘di ba?” “Laging may gera doon ‘di ba?” “Tapang mo
naman, girl.” – These are some of the reactions I receive whenever I tell people that I was in
Sumisip on a particular day or whenever I say I am maternally-rooted from the municipality of
Sumisip, and you know what my answer is? “What answer do you want me to give you?” Of
course they’d tell me to tell them the truth, and it’s always my pleasure to story-tell.

I got a blank sheet of paper, drew a dot on it and asked my friends to tell me what they see.
Instantly, they unanimously answered that there was a dot. Was it all a dot? Isn’t it a white
sheet of paper with a mark? How can we focus with the tainted and neglect the bigger portion
which was untainted? This is how we became too blind to see the beautiful things about
Sumisip, Basilan as a whole. We tend to only notice the fault and all those negative
descriptions. Who knows what’s behind that paper? It may be a colourful masterpiece or a
beautiful picture.

Although I cannot really say I was a witness of Sumisip’s history, but my childhood memories
tell me that I had great memories in Sumisip as it was painted with laughters and simple living.
Buy me, you can take me out from Sumisip but you can’t take Sumisip out of me. It would
always be a home for me and my mother’s family, and I always pay homage to my roots. It
always feels like home to me, enjoying the fresh air and noise of nature, as well as the sea
breeze since we live a walking distance from the sea in Look-Bait.

There was a time when I have not visited Sumisip for almost two years because circumstances
do not permit. Like timing played its perfect role, I was able to go back during the first ever
Kalasig-lasigan in Sumisip. I have heard it from my relatives; they anticipated the said grand
event which was held at Barangay Buli-buli, one of the barangays in Sumisip where the
municipal hall was located. It was not so long ago when it was reconstructed, but it was my first
time to see it well-built and painted. It’s one of the most beautiful municipal halls I have ever
seen, and its location was perfect as it is. It was standing proud in an elevated hill overlooking
the beautiful Sulu sea as well as small islands of Sumisip like Tinuse Island which is known for its
white sand and crystalline water. Boracay of Basilan as they dubbed it. An untouched beauty
which was breathtakingly beautiful. There were already gymnasium, elementary and high
schools as well the Islamic School (known as madrasah to Muslims), and a small market were
just walking distance from the municipal hall.
I just knew something just changed from my memories, no, there were many things which have
changed. I remembered how I hated the never-ending rocky and muddy road going to Sumisip,
I remembered how bored I was along the endless travel, I remembered how difficult it was to
walk a kilometer or so just to reach a well, I remembered how I always stumble at night
because there was no electricity, I remembered how our bags are always packed for emergency
purposes, I remembered how fear always crept into my system whenever we heard helicopter
flying around or when I see a CAFGU or an army, or any man in uniform because for me before,
it is a warning of possible armed conflict – that I will hear “putukan” again. I remembered how
fearful our mothers’ faces were whenever someone tells the family, “Niyah ne sab magbonoh,”
(“May gera na naman” in Filipino, “there’s an armed conflict again” in English).

But those were just memories to me now, although I remembered myself enjoying a carabao
ride or in its cart, playing “out-out” or “monkey-monkey” in a grass-filled soil not minding even
we stumble, those are still memories which will always be a part of me, and those may seem to
be sad – but for me, for us, those are still happy memories. The gap and the difference time
made itself, the change people tried to make through collective efforts, it makes my heart
flutter – to see Sumisip develop from its negative image to a beautiful one like a photograph
which is developed from its negatives by bleaching to expose its positive image – to expose its
real beauty. And I believe that there will be more beautiful hidden bounty of Sumisip to be
unveiled in the near future, there will be more beautiful stories to be told, opinions to be
shared.

No wonder why first-timers and backpackers always fall in love with Sumisip. I brought my
paternal second degree cousin who is purely rooted from Tuburan, a municipality in the eastern
part of Basilan, to Sumisip during the Kalasig-lasigan Sumisip 2017 and witnessed the festive
event, it made her want to go back again. She even insisted going with me in one of our
monthly sessions of Council of Sumisip Youth Leaders, Sumisip’s first ever youth organization
aside from Sangguninang Kabataan. It makes me feel proud to be a part of Sumisip’s history,
but I am more proud to say that Sumisip is not stuck in history or even in the image which
history has entrenched in people’s minds. And I will always be proud to say, that I am rooted
from Sumisip – despite living in the city for most of my lifetime – despite wandering out of
Sumisip, no one, no place can take the Sumisip out of me.