Sisig, Clark, and baseball
My Kapampangan friend emphatically declared to me that tuna sisig (and other such variations) cannot really be called sisig. They may be cooked in a similar fashion, he patiently explained, but real sisig has to include chopped pig’s head and liver. Otherwise, it’s simply not the same. It is akin, I suppose, to comparing a bottle of pale pilsen to lite beer or “the real thing” vs. diet soda. It’s not quite deadly or evil enough. According to one source, sisig first surfaced in Angeles, Pampanga during the heydays of the US military in the nearby Clark Airbase. The story goes that locals created the now legendary dish after purchasing cheap the unused pig heads from the American commissaries. Many people credit Lucia Cunanan of Angeles City, or more popularly known as Aling Lucing, as having invented the first sisig in the mid ’70s. Her trademark sisig, served in a sizzling hot plate, is described as a “concoction of boiled and chopped pig ears and cheeks seasoned with vinegar, calamansi juice, chopped onions, and chicken liver.” Sisig, of course, is but one of the many famous Kapampangan dishes that have become popular all over the country. Others include kare-kare, tocino (or pindang), and their native version of the longaniza. Together with their incomparable mekéni (meaning “welcome” or “come here, come among us”) hospitality, I recently experienced first-hand the Kapampangan’s love for good food and now fully understand why Pampanga has earned the distinction of being the “culinary center of the Philippines.”
I was originally at the Clark Freeport Zone for an entire week in April for the national youth baseball and softball championships of Little League Philippines. Boys and girls from 106 teams in eight age groups (four each for baseball and softball) from all over the country swooped into the former United States Air Force base to slug it out for the right to represent the country at the Asia Pacific regional tournaments to be held in June and July. The centerpiece event of the tournament is the “Little League” or 12-year-old-and-under division where my son was playing for the team from the International Little League Association of Manila (ILLAM). Just as my palate got sidetracked, however, so were my other senses diverted from baseball by the greenery and modern infrastructure inside Clark’s 4,400-hectare main zone and 27,600-hectare sub zone. Amid news of Metro Manila being the 3rd worst driving city in the world, I found myself aimlessly and joyfully wasting gas around the base. Other than Subic perhaps, here was one spatial anomaly in the Philippines where the road systems and signs actually made sense and where cars dutifully stopped on red lights. There was little traffic and the air was fresh enough for you to just roll down the window and feel the wind rush through your face without suffocating.
In many ways, my experience in Pampanga that week has been as surreal as how my life has changed ever since my son got into baseball. I used to have a regular life. But that all changed as soon as my son fell in love with his ball, bat, and glove. Part of the reason why I left the corporate world was that I hated driving in traffic, but here I am now driving my son 2-3 hours during rush hour to and from his practices every day. I used to have lots of free time, too. I still do, but I now spend most of it sitting on a bench watching my son play ball or killing time in a nearby coffee shop waiting for his practice to finish. It takes me ages to decide whether the cost of replacing my running shoes is affordable or not, but here I am now constantly surfing Amazon for baseball gear for my son. I used to have a backyard, now I have a mini pitching bullpen and batting area. I’m not sure if I’ve already fallen into what parenting experts warn as the trap of living my life through my son’s. Sometimes I even wonder if we’d be better off without his baseball. But then when I think of all the time we’ve spent together, of having seen first-hand how he’s grown these past few years and how he’s handled all the ups and downs, I don’t think I’d have it any other way. I wish things could be easier and more relaxed though. Maybe if it was so, however, then it wouldn’t be the same. Just like tuna sisig isn’t really sisig.
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Join the ILLAM Baseball and Softball Summer Clinic for kids and teens 6-15 years old on April 23-May 18 (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 3:30 to 6 p.m.) at the Colegio San Agustin baseball diamond in Makati. For details, call 0912-3155345 or e-mail myillam@yahoo.com.
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