A Journey To A New Life- Eddie

Eddie Jacobe lived in Jose Panganiban, a town in the Province Camarines Norte in the Philippines. He lived there for about 16-18 years. Now, he is currently living in North Hollywood with his wife, Susan, and his daughter Isabella. He is a wonderful father, brother, husband, grandfather, and most importantly a great role model to his children. He loves cooking for his family and friends, and is known to be a great chef to many. Eddie loves to go to family gatherings where he spends time cooking and enjoying the presence of his relatives. He is a good keeper of family ties. This is greatly shown whenever he pays a visit and is like a handy-man on call. His daily rituals consist of watching the news and/or reading the newspaper. Eddie is also a wonderful grandfather to his 8-month old granddaughter Hailey which he baby-sits while his son, Lowell, is at work. As he sits calmly as if lying on the beach, he reminisces all of the good times he had in Jose Panganiban. Although Eddie misses the calm, and laid-back days in Jose Panganiban, he is sure to make everything worth while living in his favorite city of Los Angeles.

It's not a province it’s a town, Jose Panganiban, the province is Camarines Norte, which is in the Philippines. Camarines Norte is as big province, as big as Los Angeles . I lived there for about 16 years. I was 2 years old when I moved to Jose Panganiban and I lived in Manilla , Philippines before that. I moved with my brother to Jose Panganiban, who is also a police officer there in the town. I knew some people who lived around the town, but there is a small town close to Jose Panganiban called Paracale. The capital of Camarines Norte is Daet.

My favorite part of high school is the people, my classmates. Maybe we have a difference in culture and the way we live there because Jose Panganiban is a small town, not like in Los Angeles because it is a very big city.

We have town fiestas, which is a big celebration to us in that town. Everybody prepares something for their visitors, and everybody goes out and has fun in plaza, which is like a center where you play games, activities and go dancing.

Well in the Philippines, we don’t have a lot of luxuries like here in America. Like television, washing machine, and transportation. I walked from my house to the store and to the school everyday going and coming back. It was about two miles away from my house. Here in America you have the luxury of transportation, you can go and somebody will take you to school and pick you up. In Jose Panganiban, we don’t have that luxury. Well, even the mayor didn’t have a lot of luxuries there. It is a small town and it is not very prosperous like here in America. It is a third world country, so they don’t have those luxuries like here in America.

We had radio but we didn’t have a regular newspaper. We heard the news mostly from the radio. If there were any big events or any emergencies, we would hear it from the radio. We also heard it from school, from the priest in the church and from the barangay captain. Also, some people would spread the word. The news I liked there most of the time is when there's an event. Like the province service. Also, you know like high school we have an athletic event or when celebrities come in the town from Manila and they perform.

Ninety-eight percent of the people are Filipino and there are some foreigners, like the priest and some people from other countries, like Americans and Greeks. There were several religions there, like Roman Catholic, Adventist, and there was a religion called Iglesia Ni Christo. The people there are more laid back and they know how to take it easy. After work they still have time to hang around with their friends and visit their relatives.

The Greeks worked in the ship because there's a pier. They some to pick up some gold from the mining because Jose Panganiban is a mining town, there's a lot of iron and some gold. The common job there is mining. The Mambulao Bay used to be bountiful in gold. That’s why they had a gold mining company there because there used to be a lot of gold. But now they closed the mining because there is no more gold.

The Mambulao Bay is the most beautiful bay I've seen in my life. It is very calm and it's not too crowded. I love the bay; I love the scene then and watching fishermen when they bring their catch from the bay. My favorite thing to do is to play and hang around with my friends and go to school. We only had one movie house there.

Family was very important there. Family always came and helped you if you were in need. When people were working during the day, they aren’t afraid to leave their children with somebody else because they leave them with their family. They know that they are well taken care of because it is their family. If it is a big event or a small event, family is always there.

I speak tagalog and most of the people spoke tagalog, but some people spoke bikolano. The Philippines has a lot of dialects. Bikol is one of the languages spoken in Luzon .

I haven’t been back to Jose Panganiban for more than 20 years. I enjoyed my childhood and my life in Jose Panganiban, it’s a place that I would love to go back to visit. Living there impacted my life because I learned a lot of patience and more about family. I don’t regret anything there because I love that town very much and I want to contribute something to that town if I can. A part of my ambition is to go back to Jose Panganiban and see my old friends and relatives.

Interviewed by Sabrina Hammou