LIFE stalled for Jagna calamay vendors when the Jagna port closed for repairs. But like the delicacy they sell, families just stuck and banded to keep both shells together until they made it through the tides.
When Gloria Macapagal Arroyo personally re-opened the P60.39 M port to traffic last May 9, members of the Jagna Calamay Makers’ and Vendors’ Association, (JACAMAVEA) see the sweet future ahead.
At least for Procesa “Porsing†Ranoa, when the travelers come, then the calamay would sell, she shared during an interview.
Occupying the town’s best selling products, calamay, a favorite pasalubong item here has practically kept food coming for the vast majority of the barangay Can-upao residents.
The port closure has however also dealt the biggest blow to the calamay makers for they lost their biggest market when the boats ceased to come, Ranoa, who has been 25 years in the industry said.
We thought it was just a minor port repair and it would still continue to operate, but it was fully closed. Then, we have to find another market and the roadside stalls came to be, said another vendor Betty Gutierrez, who owns a small stall at a street corner.
Most of the time, we wait for buses and vans to stop and buy from us, but the time when sales were brisk were over. Ultimately we had to reduce production and so had the food in our tables, Gutierrez said.
We have been used to this life of patience, Ranoa said, apparently meaning the sacrifice they do to make one of the sweetest Boholano delicacies.
Calamay, a Boholano delicacy made from well-milled glutinous rice cooked with coconut milk and brown muscovado sugar over low fire is an age-old industry that also typifies Boholano patience and dedication to work.
“It’s the constant stirring for about two hours, exposed to the heat and struggling to tend the fire while wrestling with the oversized ladles that remind us of hard work. Add the stifling heat and the phrase labor of love is madeâ€, Ranoa explains.
The age-long in this coconut producing town 58 kilometers east of Tagbilaran has employed a few hundreds, while its down lines benefit countless more families involved in procurement of coconut shells and spoke shaving them to make the characteristic packaging.
We were forced to find other odd jobs just to make both ends meet. Some have to try their luck as carpenters, fishers and some went farming. All were temporarily seeking jobs until the ports could reopen, Ranoa, who sits as member of the Jacamavea board attested.
But patience and persistence triumphed for the vendors now that the port opened and the boats are coming. The unmistakable delicacy in its characteristic spoke-shaved coconut shell with a red band has again proven that calamay itself sticks.
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