Filipino Origins in Papua New Guinea
By Alfredo P. Hernandez
Planting Filipino roots in Oceania, circa 1800
Related OOV essay: Invading Papua New Guinea Pinoy Style

(Reprinted with permission from Letters from Port Moresby, Dec. 2, 2006,
Balitang Patas: BATAS News and Legal Affairs)

Marcello's body was brought back to Yule Island, the seat and nerve center of the Catholic mission, where he was honored and buried.

ON NOVEMBER 30, the three generations of Papua New Guinean descendants of Filipino seafarer-catechist-teacher Marcello Fabila marked their great ancestor's 64th death anniversary.

Marcello was one of the 14 known Filipino Catholic lay missionaries who came to what was then known as Papua, a British territory, in the late 1800s to evangelize the natives.

Although he died in Poukama, a far-flung village in the hinterlands of Papua where he spent the last four years of his life as teacher-catechist, Marcello's body was brought back to Yule Island, the seat and nerve center of the Catholic mission, where he was honored and buried. At the time of his death on November 30, 1942, he was 73.

The skipper on the mission ship "St Andrew" sailed by the European Catholic priests was Brother Alexis who also doubled as the chronicler.

In his journal for the Canadian Annals, he recalled: "Marcello was an excellent school master going from one village to another, gathering the children, willing or not, and teaching them reading, writing and catechism … he was one of my good seamen who was truly eager, agile and always ready for a funny long story collected from his long years of seafaring … with the few long strands of hair in his mustache, he had the funny appearance of a cat ready to fight …"

Marcello Fabila, 52, and his new bride Anna Natera, 18,
in their 1919 wedding picture. Anna was Marcello's second wife.
Right photo: The mission cemetery on Yule Island where Marcello
was laid to rest on November 30, 1942.
/ left photo courtesy of one of the Fabila families of Port Moresby;
right photo courtesy of the National Library of Australia

MARCELLO had his first taste of classroom education in 1879 at the age of ten under the tutelage of Spanish priests in Manila. But before that, he already knew how to read and write, thanks to her beloved mother who taught him the Spanish alphabet.

The youngest among ten children of couple Hildephonso Fabila and Josepha Delgado of Dangcalan, then an ancient sitio at Hamtic town in Antique, Panay Island, in the Philippines, Marcello was sent to Manila to go to school against his wishes because he knew he would be separated from his mother who was then becoming blind. In fact, it was Marcello who read for her the few letters received from her other children and she would dictate the answer to him.

...he decided to run away and see the world by becoming a sailor, aiming to reach Chili in South America to see a long-lost brother who was working there.

During the five years of his formal schooling, he became proficient in the Spanish language, was awarded silver medal in mathematics and another silver medal in calligraphy, aside from other prestigious citations for being an outstanding student amidst his classmates who were sons of Spanish government and military officials and wealthy Filipino families.

"I was very proud that my name was honored in school," Marcello told Brother Alexis.

"He likes writing … he had beautiful penmanship having learned calligraphy in the high schools of Manila … you would admire the glorious flourish of his name "Marcello Fabila" if only I could produce it …" Brother Alexis later recalled in his journal of Marcello's exploits.

However, when the young boy decided to move up to the next higher level in his class at the age of 15, his mentors told him to wait for another year when he turned 16. Disappointed, he decided to run away and see the world by becoming a sailor, aiming to reach Chili in South America to see a long-lost brother who was working there.

Fleeing the boarding school, the young boy's first move was to go to the Port of Manila to find a boat leaving the country. He found himself talking to the captain of the steamer "Corrigo". Impressed with his spoken Spanish, the captain immediately signed him up.

His first job as a cabin boy in 1884 began the 14 long years of his seafaring adventures, jumping from one ship to another while traveling around Asia, the Moluccas Islands and New Guinea and briefly living in major ports like Shanghai, Canton, Saigon, Singapore and in several ports in Western Australia and Queensland.

Along the way he learned a lot of things—from fighting to survive to dealing with most despicable persons in every port of call, and on the side learning the English and Malay languages while sailing the British ships. With all this, he gained more self-confidence that made him push for more adventures.

In 1897, after resigning from the fishing boat "Lizie" that worked the Queensland coast between Thursday Island and Cooktown, Marcello boarded "Alice May", a Burns Philp schooner based in Australia which had the mail contract and was doing Thursday Island, Daru, Yule Island, Port Moresby—then an insignificant port of call in the Pacific—and Samarai, a gold-rich area in Milne Bay, on the southeastern tip of Papua.

...Cirilo and Marcello decided to join the mission. At this stage of their lives, they had finally realized that they never found fulfillment in what they had been doing at sea.

Marcello had recalled that in those days, the only export from New Guinea was sandal wood which they shipped to Thursday Island and from there steamers would take it to Hong Kong. While hauling sandal wood from Yule Island which produced most of this wood, he met another Filipino seafarer named Cyrillo (Cirilo) Espinosa who offered him a partnership on sandal wood trade. Although profits were good, they found the job very taxing as they had to work long days cutting the trees deep in the forests and hauling them down to the little port of Yule Island.

When the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart headed by Bishop Alain Marie Guynot de Boismenu arrived on the island in 1898, Cirilo and Marcello decided to join the mission. At this stage of their lives, they had finally realized that they never found fulfillment in what they had been doing at sea. Immediately, the bishop accepted them to work as seamen with Brother Alexis who was the ship captain.

In 1901, after staying on the island for nearly three years, Marcello met and married an island woman, Raurau Ke'e, and was shortly sent to Waima, a far-flung village, with his new wife, to work as teacher-catechist. In Waima, a small boarding school was just started, giving him the chance to run it and introduced the children to Christianity and to a little writing and reading. But after two years in his post, he was transferred to Rapa as there had been no catechist in this village for at least six years.

Cirilo, who was also sent to teach catechism and the Spanish alphabet to the natives, left Yule Island and went his way deep into the Papuan villages on the mainland. He had only a few occasions which were far in between to be able to see Marcello who occasionally reported back to their headquarters.

Marcello told Brother Alexis: "I got used to the customs of the natives, which were not the best … nevertheless, I felt that they trusted me and quite often that they would tell me about their small worries and failures, and even their big ones … that way I managed to know my little flock. While at Rapa, I made a few trips on "St Andrew" whenever I was needed to cover for a crew that had resigned."

When Raurau failed to bear a child after six years of their marriage, Marcello asked Bishop de Boismenu's permission for them to make a second pilgrimage to St Anne shrine at Oba Oba. Actually, shortly after their weeding in 1901, the couple made their first trip to the St Anne's shrine to pray for a child.

On their second trip, they brought three calves for the feast of St Michael, patron saint of the Kuni district, on September 29 where European priest Father Louis Hubert celebrated Mass for their intention.

...in early 1907, he had to deal with a witchdoctor who had just condemned a sick man to death although he was still visibly alive.

Marcello recalled: "St. Michael and St. Anne must have listened to our prayers because the following year (1908), we had a baby boy whom we called Michael, to honor the great Archangel. All the Rapa people had rejoiced with us … while at Oba Oba, we had also promised to stay always at the service of the mission if we had a child. Four years later, we had another boy and we called him Salvatore (Kala) …"

 

HIS LONG years in the village saw him dealt with different types of villagers, who, if not violent, were sorcerers or witch-doctors.

One day in early 1907, he had to deal with a witchdoctor who had just condemned a sick man to death although he was still visibly alive.

Marcello asked the people who were milling around the dying man if he could help him with some medicine but was only laughed at.

"Are you also a sorcerer?" one of the men asked him, telling him that they were to take the man over to the other side of the river because if he stayed there, "the sorcerer will certainly come tonight and make him die".

Then a man arrived from the sorcerer's village, and referring to the sick man, said: "This man cannot live any longer … you better dig a grave and bury him …".

Marcello was appalled and rejected the idea. He told the sorcerer's representative: "Listen to me … bring this man to my house … you can bury him tomorrow …"

At first, the men ignored him until the sorcerer's cousin, who was scrutinizing the eyes of the sick man, stood up and said: "Let him take the body … we will bury him in the afternoon."

As soon as they arrive home, Marcello told his patient: "Now, will you obey me and do all what I will tell you to do?" The man promised to do whatever he was told. Immediately, Marcello gave him a lot of hot tea—one cup after another. By midnight, the man started to sweat profusely and asked his wife to pour cool water over his body, complaining: "I am burning ...!"

They were saying: "The mother was killed, therefore, she (baby) should be buried with her …" "No way …" he told them and never gave the baby.

However, Marcello told the wife to just wipe off his husband's sweat until he calmed down and plunged into a deep slumber. The next morning, seeing the man feeling better, Marcello gave him a good dose of castor oil. An hour later, the man started grumbling again, asking: "What did you give me … my insides are turning upside-down …!!!" Marcello just smiled at him.

When, by evening, the man calmed down and was feeling much better, Marcello gave him some quinine to relieve him of his malaria. Two days later, he was completely cured. One of the man's cousins came to Marcello's house and said: "What have you got in your house? In the village, they believe you have some secret magic and something stronger than what the other sorcerers have …"

He felt insulted being taken for a sorcerer but he knew very well that the New Guinea natives in those days, especially the elderly, thought only of sorcery. The sorcerers would kill or cure and nothing was ever done without them.

Marcello told Brother Alexis that this only showed that many of those sick people could have been saved from death if they were given the right medicine. "But the trouble was that, when they believed they had been stricken by the sorcerer, they were sure they were going to die. Nothing could be done about it and they just died eventually."

The village dancers of Mekeo where Marcello lived for quite sometime
as teacher-catechist. Right photo: A European missionary sister
with island kids. Notice the kid (left, front row) with distinct
Filipino physical features.
/ photo courtesy of the National Library of Australia

ONE SUNDAY evening in 1922, when Marcello was coming back to Rapa from Babiko, one of his coverage areas, he learned of a crime committed the night before—a man named Koae Patea had just murdered his wife, Munaba Huae'e. Marcello rushed to the murderer's house and asked him if his wife was still alive. "No, I killed her …" he admitted. Shocked, Marcello then saw a baby girl about a month old, all covered with blood.

Without any question, he took the baby and brought her to his house. By 8 pm, a group of men and women came to his house asking for the baby. They were saying: "The mother was killed, therefore, she (baby) should be buried with her …" "No way …" he told them and never gave the baby. As soon as the group left, he brought the baby to St. Patrick's hospital (on Yule Island) where foundlings (infant children of unknown parents) were taken in and cared for.

Marcello recalled that fourteen years later in 1936, the baby whom he saved and christened Madeleine Patea had grown up to become one of the big girls helping the mission sisters at the hospital.

"The sorcerer would usually frighten the villagers by telling them they would get sick or even die if they refused to obey him …

THERE WAS a time when the Rapa villagers asked Marcello to be their interpreter in a court case at Kairuku, an outpost on Yule Island. They had complained about having not enough food for themselves because they had to deliver their garden harvest to the village sorcerer.

The white magistrate was curious and wanted to know how the sorcerer managed to impose tax on them. So Marcello explained that the sorcerer would give orders to his "hinahina hauna" (spokesman) that the people must bring him betelnuts, pepper fruits and string to make armlets. But the names of the garden produce were only a code, because the betel nuts meant one pig; pepper fruits meant yams, taros, bananas, sweet potatoes and all sorts of vegetables. And a string meant a shell arm band.

Dismayed, the magistrate exclaimed: "But all they have to do is refuse …"

"They won't", Marcello told the magistrate. "The sorcerer would usually frighten the villagers by telling them they would get sick or even die if they refused to obey him … and so the people gave, even if they had not enough for their family. This was how trouble would start in the village."

Hearing this, the magistrate immediately ordered the sorcerer's arrest and had him thrown into the village jail.

 

SHORTLY AFTER he took charge of Mou in the hinterlands of Yule Island, a woman who was the youngest wife of a bigamist was murdered. The husband had called his first wife and accused her of murdering his young wife. But the woman denied this. Later, however, the woman went to Marcello's house and admitted her crime.

"She came to see me and admitted doing it … it was a case of jealousy," Marcello said of the murder.

The woman told him that she was much older than the second wife and therefore, should get more food, especially during feasts, known as "tatsu". That's why she killed the younger wife to get all the food.

When it was time to bury the woman, nobody had wanted to help Marcello do the job as they were afraid of the "biriwa" (spirits). The following week, he learned from the villagers that the spirit of the murdered woman came at the back of his house at night to eat guavas.

...nearly all the villagers had been baptized, but their Christian life was not as good as that of the Rapa villagers.

"Would she be hungry?" the villagers had asked him but he just laughed at them.

In truth, he had earlier discovered by accident about the story of the "spirits" that had persisted to scare the natives out of their wits.

Marcello recalled: "One evening shortly after sunset, a man was coming back from his food garden carrying a bunch of bananas. Incidentally, two other men who saw him coming hid themselves among tall grass and when the gardener passed close by, the two men stroked his back with a stick."

"The poor fellow jumped up and down and dropped his banana and ran away, scared and screaming "io! io! biriwa … biriwaaa! (spirits). "

As soon as the screaming man disappeared, the two "spirits" had a good laugh and later, a good supper. The tale of the "spirits" persisted in many villages as it had been perpetuated by the smarter ones for their own benefit.

In 1928 when he was 59, the mission sent him to Oriropetana as a teacher and had a big difficulty learning a new language—the Mekeo. After trying hard for quite a long time, he finally learned to speak the language extremely well.

"I soon found out that the Mekeos were worse than the Roro whenever they fought," he said, recalling that there was a big argument between Aipeana and Oriropetana villagers which later plunged them into a fight using bows and arrows and spears. When dust settled down, two men lay dead with many others seriously wounded.

When he first arrived at Oriropetana, nearly all the villagers had been baptized, but their Christian life was not as good as that of the Rapa villagers. "There was no regularity in school, no fervor for the religion."

"A few days after my arrival at Oriropetana, the Bishop came to confirm the children. However, when he asked them about what they had learned from their catechism classes, they were unable to answer properly, thus forcing the bishop to delay the ceremony."

Marcello said that since Bishop Boismenu was going to the mountain villages and would be away for three months, he took the opportunity to further instruct the children. So, when the bishop came back, the children answered quite well to his questions and were all confirmed.

...he discovered to his amazement that the natives in Roro and Mekeo had only two or three notes in all their songs.

Teaching arithmetic to the natives was something Marcello found very challenging and although he succeeded to instruct the Rapa children how to add and subtract, he gave it up on his Oriropetana pupils.

On the funny side of his mission, he discovered to his amazement that the natives in Roro and Mekeo had only two or three notes in all their songs. And it was nearly impossible to teach the natives of Oriropetana songs with more than two notes.

"They loved to sing but only with two notes …", and demonstrated how the chant would go: "Ayyyyyyyyyyy yayayaaaaahhh …! Ayyyyyyyy … yayayaaaaaaaaahhhh …"

"Nevertheless," he said, "after a few months of my stay at Rapa, I managed to make the children and young adults sing hymns with several notes and translated in Roro dialect by Father Cochard (who used to come every month for a few days)." The village elderly, however, had refused to learn the "complicated" religious tunes and stuck with the two-note chants they had grown up with and used during offerings and feast gatherings.

IN A NOTE to Brother Alexis several years later, Marcello wrote: "And now, Brother Alexis, ask those who will read this (narrative) to pray for me and for my village of Oriropetana—may the Good Lord turn their hearts to make them good Christians …"

Amen.

© Alfredo P. Hernandez

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