by Connie C. Triggiano
Tayangtang has a rustic, almost musical ring to it, however discordant one may perceive the word upon its playback. Tayangtang, after all, was the pulse of Paete, an ubiquitous presence by which the tempo of life in this little town was measured and recorded.
Tayangtang is vintage Paete, a small Laguna town south of Manila. This is the town’s indigenous term for a bench, serving like a nerve center for things Paete. There had been similar wooden benches put up through the years but there could only be one Tayangtang ni Karyong Bado. And it was situated just outside the convenience store in Bagumbayan, a few meters away from the Ermita Church. The original store was owned by Macario Valdellon, once a member of the Paete Municipal Government. Valdellon’s name rose in value not so much by his success as a businessman, but maybe more so by the historical appendage that bound his name with the past and the people of Paete.
Tayangtang ni Karyong Bado, the wooden bench, and the Paetenio saw through life’s many seasons together. It served as a forum where the town’s self-proclaimed geniuses, philosophers and gossips dropped in to discuss the latest developments on the local, national and international scene. Much rationalizing of motivations and sharing of backroom information was offered. Here, one might had have chanced upon a brilliant discourse on how to solve the country’s pressing problems and picked up a nugget or two of wisdom to ponder upon later.
This was also where one heard, first, who just arrived in town, recently died, given birth, found a new job, lost his, married, or who was sleeping with who and other small talk that might had sounded mundane. But these were the tales that threaded the lives of a people. They found comfort in homespun accounts and passed them on to friends and relatives dispersed in the town and elsewhere.
The first Tayangtang bench served as a sort of pre-departure lounge where townsfolk sat waiting for rides to take them out of Paete. Owing to its strategic location, Tayangtang invariably became the principal source of the latest news from Manila and areas outside Paete, brought in fresh by early-morning arrivals. It eventually metamorphosed into a public forum where people, not necessarily travelers, met to trade stories, at all hours.
Tayangtang had to be moved to a better location in Gitnang Bayan next to the Ermita Church, (Shrine of San Antonio Abad) when the national highway offered greater convenience for embarking and disembarking passengers. This was where, according to local historians, standards for non-Paetenian brides the local boys brought home were defined:
(a) iyong mga puwedeng iuwi ng tanghaling tapat, (those who could be showcased at noon or middle of the day) and
(b) iyong iuuwi lamang ng ”first trip” or “last trip.” (those who need to be hidden from public eye, brought to the town on first and last trips only)
Tayangtang remained a congenial spot for male bonding, not only for profound discussions on the meaning of life — or the lack of it. It was perfect for the uniquely Paete “usloan,” a locally concocted term that refers to occasional digs at things personal and irreverent, participated in by the town’s most rowdy, raucous types, the “buharo” and the rascals.
Paete’s women stayed clear of the Tayangtang, effectively designating a forum for their men to enjoy their exclusively male talk. For Tayangtang offered, too, a comforting setting for the men’s rambunctious exchange of conquests and pleasures, real and imagined. But since Tayangtang participants came purely for a chance to network and socialize, liquor and drugs were no-no’s. Discussions therefore remained cordial, if not 100% wholesome.
One sat at Tayangtang without a pre-programmed topic in mind. Subject matters were brought in by the discussants, and each new walk-in invariably brought with him new ideas. A topic was not normally exhausted and arguments were left dangling, to be settled the next time the same group managed to get together. When one first joined in, no formal inquiries on topics currently being discussed were made. Once he got the drift of the conversation, he could stay on and engage in the exchange, or he just lurked and listened.
When a townmate happened to stroll by, he was almost always hailed into joining the foray, with the customary inquiry, “Saan baga ang punta mo?” (And where might you be going?) which to a non-Paetenio can be a downright assault on privacy. Why would they want to know where I’m headed, one may ask, and why should I tell them? But it’s Paete’s own way of breaking the ice. The manner by which the inquiry was expressed and the characteristic Paete punto or accent both half-pled for a response. It is good manners for the one invited to pause briefly for the obligatory kumustahan after obliquely parrying off queries regarding his destination. It also provided a polite exit for others in the group who must move on.
A version of Tayangtang ni Karyong Bado surfaced in cyberspace in early 1997, organized within the town’s first website, paete.org. The founder, Rey Q. Carolino and his Canada-based kababayans created a Paete chatroom at the DALNET Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. They invited the members in the Paete mailing list, and the first such chat was launched in real time. Early participants came from North America, Asia and Pacific Islands and Europe. The group held a Paetenians Internet Seminar in 1997 in Toronto and the live internet chat brought in more kababayans from other parts of the globe. The internet mailing list grew. The clamor to chat grew stronger as more Paetenians heard about it and found a great way of reliving the old times and renewing ties with long-lost friends and relatives.
It was Pastor Gagaring, a staunch Tayangtang devotee from Saipan, who recommended to name the forum, “Tayangtang ni Karyong Bado.” Thus, the Tayangtang bench went high-tech. The participants were now males and females, of various age groups and from diverse backgrounds. Language used was a mix of English and Tagalog. But decidedly Usap-Paete in character and appeal.
Owing to the new generation of chatters, many of whom were not born in Paete only claiming affinity by way of parents and relations, the language used in TKB also evolved, and on occasion, the chat became a forum for recalling used-only-in-Paete words, dissecting their meaning and relevance to today’s usage. Outside of the Paete realm, some of those terms sound bizarre and ridiculous, but native-born Paetenians attest to the precision by which these words deliver the message. Even the most authoritative dictionaries cannot succeed in reporting all their shifting nuances. Expect a Paetenian to recognize another, by simply overhearing the former’s use of a uniquely Paete word or phrase. This lexical resource ensured that ties to Paete would never be severed wherever else in the world the Paetenio is found.
Tayangtang’s chat format retained that of the original Tayangtang bench in Paete which remained, for many years as a historical icon in that little corner just outside the original grocery store of Karyong Bado. Callers from different parts of the world logged in to TKB, briefly interrupting the conversation with a string of hello’s and glad-to-be-here stuff thrown both ways for those who arrived in the chat room ahead, and the newcomers. Then the talk somewhat would assume a formality when divergent views would begin to be expressed. Joy would surface when relations were traced, or friends re-discovered one another. Invariably, new friendships were forged, made more enduring by private emails that followed.
Tayangtang very often exploded into a wild “usloan” when the old hands at this type of puckish poking took over. There were moments of rough glee, but purely Paetenian mirth, and everyone soon forgot how the bantering bordered on the profane and the sacrilegious. Good byes were always temporary….see you next week in TKB.
Tayangtang ni Karyong Bado went a long way from its original setting in Paete. It became host to a weekly online chat that brought Paetenians together from various corners of the globe — next best thing to being in the actual Tayangtang, they said.
It has been many years since the Tayangtang bench in Paete hosted its last forum with the menfolks. The internet chat room created in the town website has also gone shuttered and silent. The need to keep ties with other Paetenians everywhere has been replaced by social media channels from the same internet source as the TKB. Paete folks dispersed all over the world are now living out their lives in public orbits through platforms like Facebook, Messenger, Zoom or Skype. But each text message, voice/video calls, multimedia posts, image uploads and kababayan conferences still echo the sentiments of a people craving for a glimpse of the quaint little town they left behind. They were images and memories remained vivid and alive by the original Tayangtang.
Connie Triggiano is currently Board Secretary of Circa-Pintig, a Chicago community theater organization. She works as Academic and English tutor assisting foreign students to pass IELTS, TOEFL, Celpic, ESL and other English exams to gain admission to universities in English speaking countries. She also trains greencard holders to pass US citizenship exams and interview. She worked for many years as Vice-President of Chicago-based Leo Burnett Advertising in its Manila office where she managed the advertising accounts of the country’s biggest brands: Procter & Gamble, Pepsi Cola International, BPI, Vicks, Wyeth and Cathay Pacific. She edited a travel newspaper in Singapore and taught college freshmen in a local university. Connie graduated with a BA degree, major in English, from the University of San Francisco in California while working as an information officer for a United Way agency. She took up MS in Advertising at the Asian Institute for the Development of Advertising, UST Graduate School.
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