They call him Silis, or Celes as in Celestino ? Whatever is his real name , they just call him that...
I use to see him strolling around Plaza Maria fronting the Chuch. I was still in high school when I first saw him and heard stories about him and why he became like that..
He was younger then, in his early twenties.They said he bacame like that because he impregnated a girl somewhere in Mindanao and refused to marry her. The girl resorted to witchcraft to punish him for what he did. That's why he became like that.
He became a familiar character in town, walking alone without seeming to care whats going on around him. Like a hippy. wearing blue jeans and sometimes with a piece of towel hanging above his shoulders, he strolls around picking scraps of food from garbage cans and drinking leftover sofdrinks from customers of sari-sari stores and carenderias.
So familiar were we all of his presence that nobody seemed to mind him at all, behaving as if he's not even there. Being non-violent, he wasn't to be feared. Being healthy looking, he wasn't even to be pitied.. He was just there.
Now, 30 or so years after. he still roams the streets doing the same thing, scavenging for food, walking around without a sense of purpose. A little bit older now, he seems to blend more fully with the place and crowd ...
Celes the madman don't seem to look mad anymore. He goes around without saying a word.
People who know him say he's no longer insane. They say he's trying to maintain his madness to escape the responsibilities of life.... "He's one helluva lazy bastard", they say of him.
Who knows whats on his mind? Who cares? As long as he doesn't hurt anyone, nobody seems to mind . He's just there. He blends well. No need to call the authorities. No need to give him anything. No need to pity him.
He doesn't seem to need anything, even acts of mercy from the religious ones. No need even to pray for him; for his safety, for his enlightenment, that he might receive or continue to recieve the graces necessary for his state of life...or whatever it is they pray for people in need.
He's not in need and nobody needs him. Hes just there.
Celes the madman? Celes the hippy? Someone told me that his family name is Caballero. So, that's who he is, Celes Caballero. But no matter what, he's just plain Celes to me, a Minglanillian, a Lumad Minglanillahanon - a Minglanillero.
Celes the minglanillero, the man who's just there. Simply there.
4 comments:
Kaila ko anang Celes Caballero, taga amo na sa Tiber, ang ilang balay sa una kilid sa simbahan sa Sabadista. Parente pa gani na namo.
I think he's 2 years older sa akoa.
hehehe, bitaw naa ni siya puyo sa Tiber..Kaila man diay ko sa mga igsoon ani niya...Na-timing man gud nga nakit-an ni nako siyang naglakaw-lakaw dihang nag-take kog pictures sa lungsod.
Gaw alan, bilib kaayo ko sa imong mga gihimo. Ang pagsuwat ug estorya sa iyang kinabuhi and post it on this blog para kaming Minglanillanons makahinumdum sa among mga nabiyaan diha. Usahay nakaingon ko: maayo pa si Celes wal gayud problema. Imagine pagkadugay na sa panahon more than 30 years na ug si Celes galakaw-lakaw pa lang gihapon as if wala gyud problema. I'd seen so much sa imong works Gaw & Am so proud knowing you as one of my agaw. Keep up the good work & God bless!
salamat gaw william...nagkalingaw lang kog suwat-suwat dinhi aron mapaambit unsay akong nakita..kay kahibawo man sad kong malingaw sad ang makabasa...
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