15 years ago, during my childhood days in the province, i still heard that famous Filipino folksong "Bahay Kubo" (nipa hut) which we (my cousins of same ages) used to mimic and tried to remember. Being at the province and having a farm, my parents use to bring me along (there's no one to look after me at home if left) with them when they visit the farm to plant onions and garlic. I used to remember at my young age the looks of our nipa hut in the field. The lyrics have really describe fully our Bahay Kubo though not all plants mentioned were present.
About 5 years ago, my family sold the farm and for that time has never visited the place. Last vacation, we manage to take a picnic at the river near our former farm. I was surprise how the place changed in five years. The former vegetable fields were no longer the same as it used to be. There now are bungalows and concrete houses. Gone also are those bahay kubo's that i always gazed on remembering the song which is i say forcibly injected in our minds in our younger days.
The gone bahay kubos are not the lone thing that disappered but also the trees and shrubs that then made the place perfect for a shortlived hibernation from urban chores. I cold no longer see any vegetables growing in the place. The place is no longer the memorable site that i know with "tikling, pugo, langay-langayan, tagak", and many other birds going/flying to and fro while "kuliglig" noises even in a broad daylight.
While returning to work during the trip, my mind wanders with the bahay kubo. Bahay Kubo or simply kubo when used in some literary piece nor in some day-to-day conversations figuratively denotes poverty, illiteracy and being too rural. It never connotes simplicity, nature, resource abundance and true Filipino heritage. In fact, even studentry hate to hear they live in a nipa hut! This is what the present society is injecting the mind of our youngsters and therefore no wonder that most people wanted concrete homes irrespective of the destruction of nature, environment and resources. It psychologically push us to want development at any cost because we don't want to associate ourselves with bahay kubo-the poverty, illiterate and lowly!
