A tale of two women

The first time I met Cecile Cariño Afable she was fanning herself briskly almost hitting the beads on her chest with her abaca fan. I thought she’s so fair, tiny, chubby with red cheeks. Is she from the Igorot hills, or is she of Japanese lineage, I wondered as I am always curious about migration patterns. Well, she was both!

Cecile’s most illustrious ancestor is Mateo Cariño, her grandfather who was an Igorot chief born in Tublay, Benguet in 1841. He became the Cabecilla, the headman of the community. His ancestors owned vast tracts of land surrounding the Baguio City of today up to Trinidad Valley. The Americans around 1911 paid him $5,000 to occupy it permanently. Eventually a portion of the land became Camp John Hay and Burnham Park.

I met Cecile again at a tea party hosted by the Baguio Country Club. It was a time to reminisce as we looked back at pictures that showed an era when women wore stockings and strode into the club with coiffed hair do’s sprayed stiff. Men who didn’t seem to complain about wearing white or dark suits at the club and even enjoyed getting drunk in them.

As we sipped wine and enjoyed the canapes we delved into the history of Igorot artifacts, Kalinga gold, Cameron Forbes and Dean Worcester who established the Baguio Country Club. Anecdotes on the Japanese occupation from Cecile inspired me to write about her because she spoke mostly about the ’40s and the Japanese occupation and Benguet’s liberation which is ever unforgettable in Baguio City.

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Cecile recalled that Camp John Hay was bombed on the morning of December 8, 1941 making Chief of Police Capt. Joseph J. Keith, declare Baguio an open city. On the 27th Japanese columns arrived at Kilometer 4 at Naguilian Road and occupied Baguio without firing a single shot. The officers organized the military police and constructed third degree chambers. Afraid, most of the residents took to the hills.

Cecile Afable told us that in 1945 with Baguio totally besieged by war, her family had no food to eat but camote skin and was subjected to tragic-comic situations. "The Japanese suspected my father of being a collaborator for the Americans because he was a Japanese English teacher named Okubo." They sought refuge in the Baguio Cathedral where she saw nuns and priests bleeding beside her. "I saw heads falling from people’s bodies. All the while four American planes circled the Cathedral swerving downwards then upwards bombing it while I thought of my youngest brother Bernie in Bataan, and would he survive this?"

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With a smile Cecile said, "On April 26, 1945 Baguio was finally liberated! The 33rd and the 37th divisions marched into a city of ruins and secured Camp John Hay with General Clarkson as its commanding officer." Baguio Country Club became the general’s headquarters. Before that, the Club had became the Japanese officers’ recreation haven. Instead of wine, scotch on the rocks and vodka, Japanese sake was served at the veranda.

That year, Notre Dame de Lourdes Hospital was made a center of underground activities including aiding American internees and the guerrilla forces around Baguio while accommodating the Camp John Hay hospital patients too. Cecile said, "When Baguio was liberated, my father was suspect again by the Americans who thought he was a Japanese collaborator. They put us on a truck and we headed for Canlubang prison.

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Cecile remembers her parents’ courtship, that of her Japanese father Tiroji Okubo and Filipina mother Josefa Carino. "You wife me, I husband you." Two people married through sign language! This honorable resident of Benguet, from the stock of prestigious Igorots, at 80 years old edits the Baguio Midland Courier, a family newspaper. Mrs. Afable, I thought, what a ball of fire as she strode away leaning on her carved cane. Her hair is coifed Japanese style – full bangs and its length below the ears with flaming red lipstick but covered with a Spanish mantilla that chilly evening. I thought she certainly has an American sense of humor – swift and witty.

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Our woman from the south is Nimfa Cuartel. Like Mrs. Afable, she is a determined woman. Nimfa is the highest-ranking female officer of the Bureau of Fire Protection and the regional fire marshal of Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and Occidental, Lanao del Norte, Camiguin and Cagayan de Oro.

How did that happen? After graduation Nimfa headed for Manila and landed a job as a sales personnel. "I had a hard time finding my way around the city. I was getting lost all the time so I quit that job."

In 1983, a tip came from a kababayan working at the National Police Commission that her college degree would allow her lateral entry into the service as a junior officer.

She applied for the job and was made an administrative officer in the Fire Marshall’s office. Her chemical engineering background enabled her to join inspection teams. At 27 years old she became a Fire Inspector. "The Bureau of Fire was then at its infant stage," she explained. "But doing the rounds continuously of different areas of responsibilities gave me a wide perspective on the mandate of the agency. I knew that my strength lay on improving systems."

Today as regional fire marshal with the rank of F/Senior Superintendent, her area of responsibility includes four provincial offices, 57 stations, 75 fire trucks and 681 men.

She told me, "Readiness is imperative... I go around the city to inspect and make sure personnel and equipment are ready for any eventuality."

How do you do that? I asked her. "Upon receiving a report on an incidence of fire, we immediately raise the ‘Code First’ alarm. This alarm needs one fire truck and an ambulance. We have a card system that identifies which fire truck must respond to the fire scene first and which will follow as the succeeding support unit. This is to avoid a disorderly dispatch of the units because there are several fire stations under my command." Fire ground commanders who arrive on the scene assess the situation and call if there is a need for a second alarm. Then two additional fire trucks are dispatched."

Both mental alertness and physical fitness are a requirements for fire fighters. "You can’t panic," Nimfa stresses. "You must be able to work as a team. This type of emergency calls for people working together to face the crisis."

The Bureau of Fire can boast a strong training program but budget restrictions have resulted to very poorly equipped fire fighting units. "In Region 10," Nimfa said, "a fire coat is shared by four personnel. Fire boots are shared by two or three personnel and the same goes for the helmets." The fire helmets should have Plexiglas for face protection that have a rating of two hours. This means the glass should withstand a blaze for two hours before meltdown. "The same rating stands for fire coats that’s why our equipment is expensive." A fire coat costs P15,000 and should have a fireproof and waterproof lining.

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She praised the dedication of the fire fighters whose ideal composition is usually seven per shift per truck. When she talks about a shift, it’s a 24-hour duty for them. "The civil law mandates an eight-hour shift that translates to a one-day duty and the following day is an off-day. Not for us. We work more than the required hours a week if we went by the civil service code. The Bureau of Fire personnel are not allowed to claim overtime pay either. That’s fine, we’ll do what’s assigned to us and work it out," Nimfa says.

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Nimfa Cuartel is known to be uncom-promising. In the growing urban sprawl of Cagayan de Oro, she has sent a clear message to businessmen that any fire code violation will result to fines and penalties.

Nimfa is married to a fire fighter with the rank of major, and assigned in Pampanga. Her sons Ned, 13, and Russel, 10, live in Bulacan where they go to school for economic reasons. "It is a juggling act visiting them but I get by." Yes, you surely do Superintendent Cuartel.

There you have it, two admirable women who contribute to a better republic.