Written by Alimpatakan Productions
In the fishing village of Old Jamorawon, situated near the river, lived a man named Juan. Though not a babaylan nor a manggagamot, Juan was a very religious man. Every single day, at the crack of dawn and before going to bed, he would pray and sing to Bathala about the blessings he received.
But to his neighbors, Juan was a prideful and arrogant man. He would often preach about his faith every single day to his neighbors. These causes too much annoyance to the latter. He sang endless prayers and always reminds his neighbors the blessings that they receive are from Bathala Himself. Because of this, he was branded as an outsider and a lunatic, which then in turn, really annoyed Juan.
One day, a storm struck Old Jamorawon and the waters began to rise and flooded the area. To escape, Juan climbed through the roof of his house with what’s left of his belongings such as his prized anito and began to pray.
“Oh, Dear Bathala”, prayed Juan. “Please save me from this calamity. I have been faithful to you all my life. Please save me”.
A few minutes later, one of Juan’s neighbor, Pedro, came to where Juan was situated. He was riding a small raft and called Juan.
“Juan! Juan! Where are you?”, shouted Pedro.
“What is it you want now?”, replied Juan.
“I’ve come to rescue you. You can ride my boat.”
“And then what?”, replied Juan. “Ride your boat because my Bathala can’t save me now? No, thank you”, Juan said sarcastically.
“What? No!”, angrily replied Pedro. “Look, the water’s rising fast. Come now!”
“Just leave me alone will you? Can’t you see you’re interfering with my prayer here?”
After a short while Pedro gave up and went on his way. Juan, now alone again at the roof of his house continued on with his prayer. The rains started to become much stronger. The winds blow hard as ever but Juan continued on.
Minutes later, his neighbor Matthew, riding a boat came at where Juan is. And like what Pedro did, he too tried to convince Juan that he needs to evacuate as the storm is getting stronger and stronger by the minute. But like what happened before, Juan laughed it off and said that it is only Bathala that can save him from this tragedy. Matthew left after hearing Juan’s reasoning.
This cycle then continued on as night falls in. A neighbor arrives riding a boat or a radt. They try to convince Juan to evacuate his place. Juan laughs it off and tries to reason with them. The neighbors leave Juan and the latter continues on with his prayers.
After the last neighbor left Juan for good, the storm suddenly got stronger than ever. The gales became a tempest and the rain drops like small pebbles strong enough to inflict pain on anyone or anything it drops on. But Juan persevered with his prayers. He began to call out other gods to aid him in his predicament. The water surrounding his house then began to rise rapidly and he felt a large disturbance. A flashflood came running in and flicked Juan hard off where he was praying. With nothing to hold on, he sank and drowned immediately.
But then he woke up. Instead of his ragged and wet clothes, he was draped in white. He looked around confused and saw a large man, draped in the finest clothes looking at him.
“Bathala”, Juan screamed silently.
“Yes, it is I”, the man replied in a very low voice.
“Am I dead?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Why? Why didn’t you save me?”, angrily asked Juan. “I prayed and prayed that you save me but you never came”.
“What?” replied Bathala. “Wasn’t it you that declined EVERYONE that attempted to share a boat with you?”
Image Source
Jeszel Campos. “I Sent You a Rowboat.” YouTube, 20 Feb. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcDlFlOvmCE.