Monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga

1. While we’re on the topic, it seems relevant to note that my father was born in Zamboanga (Philippines); apparently there was a popular song early this century about "Zamboanga, where the monkeys have no tails" (probably a taxonomically incorrect reference to orangutans). This gave my father his lifelong nickname: [the missing] Link. See what I mean, relevant?

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — My generation was the last to have two National anthems to sing in flag-raising and lowering days (Mondays and Fridays) in school.

The Cagayan Elementary School was then housed between the St. Augustine’s Cathedral and City Hall (formerly Police Department) near the bank of Carmen River. An oversized tarpaulin served as our roof on a lot formerly occupied by the US Army Corps of Engineers, appropriately called the "alteration shop."

On designated days all students would dutifully line up before the flagpole in front; have their nails inspected for tell-tale signs of ‘half-moons’ and sing:(each to his/her own key):

"Ooh Jose, can you see?" da don’s early light; followed by "Land of the morning, child of the sun returning; Land dere unholy, dedo our soles ador" This was followed with the oath, "Inibig kung Filipinas,.." (all phonetically spelled from memory.)

A "monitor" was assigned by our head teacher Miss Mary Maandig to see to it that we spoke only in English. Cebuano was looked down upon and heavily discouraged. We were fined five centavos for infractions everytime. To my mind, this was cruel because one could buy a piece of Tirá-tiráh - a hard, sweet nougat stick. A girl in pigtails always picked on me and reported to the teacher, "Ma’am, —Corrales speaking Bisayan, oh!-pointing a forefinger. (The first instance of "power going to the head.")

Looking back it seems that our teachers perpetuated the prejudices of their own mentors the so-called Thomasians or the intrepid Americans who came to the Philippines on board MV Thomas. These biases and prejudices came through primers, songs.and nursery rhymes:

"Oh, the Monkeys Have No Tails in Far Zamboanga;" This was later changed to Don’t you go to Far Zamboanga" a ditty extolling the intoxicating beauty of its women. We were conditioned to ‘Think Poor:’My Nipa Hut Is Very Small; "I was poorly born on the top of the ma-hountin"; "Planting Rice Is Never Fun." A bright classmate, Celso Valmoria - now an Army Colonel, memorized the "I am Pepe. I am Pilar primer from cover to cover and recited it to show off.

"A good Moro is a dead More" attributed to General Blackjack Pershing (who ordered the invention of the .45 caliber pistol to stop a rampaging, Kris-wielding juramentado in his tracks) also taught us the early prejudice.

Ms. Maandig was a very kindly and patient teacher but a strict disciplinarian when demanded. Since the river was only a few steps away, we would sneak out of the classroom to take a dip, leaving our clothes behind the bushes. Upon coming back, we’d sit on the rocks to dry off. Carmen river was deep in our time and it became a rite of passage of boys who wanted to be ‘bigger’ in the eyes of others. You can now walk to the other side.

For naughty students, Ms. Maandig would always pinch the smallest portion of our hita (non-Cebuanos will have to ask a friendly one for the exact meaning) or take our clothes to her room. The miscreants would hide in the bushes shivering since being nekkid was shameful and we had to beg a classmate to appeal to our head teacher for our clothes’ return.Despite fisticuffs, kneeling in mongo beans for atonement of sins, I had a fun time growing up and getting educated.

On graduation, I received three awards: medals for Neatest Student, Most Improved and Most Behaved.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaViews. Emilio FV Corrales is one of the pioneers of Cagayan de Oro media having started writing in one of Mindanao’s oldest newspaper, the Mindanao Post. Mr. Corrales says he is a medically certified sweet person. Send applause or applesauce to: efvc29@email.com.)

Title: The Monkeys Have No Tails In Zamboanga

Author Name: Wolfe, Reese

This is a simple story of a boy, a ship, and a monkey, and the voyage they made to China in the mid-1920’s those brief golden years before depression and war turned the world upside down. Reporting aboard a ship to get away from his uncle, the boy finds himself lost in a lonely limbo half-way between the ship’s officers and the Chinese crew. His efforts to make things better lead him deeper and deeper into embarrassed isolation.

Hardcover Fine Hardcover, Henry Regnery Co, Chicago, 1959. Possible 1st edition. Near Fine/Good+ dust jacket in Brodart cover. Page edges lightly bumped. NO marks, NOT clipped, jacket rubbed edgeworn with small chips missing along the edges. 8vo 8¼ x 5½ inches, 169 pages.

Keywords: LITERATURE & FICTION/ADVENTURE

Price = 23.70 USD

source: http://www.danielsbooks.com/pi/1429.html

Title: The Monkeys Have No Tails In Zamboanga

Author Name: Captain S.P. Meek (1894-1972)

Besides writing two excellent lost race novels set in Amazonia - Drums Of Tapajos and Troyana (Avalon , 1961; originally in 1930s pulps) - and the classic SF short stories "Submicroscopic" and "Awlo of Ulm" (in Before the Golden Age, Isaac Asimov, ed., Doubleday & Co., 1974), also wrote several humorous short stories.

These freewheeling slapstick tall tales are set in a U.S. Army camp in the Philippines in the early 1930s, and collected in The Monkeys Have no Tails in Zamboanga (William Morrow & Co., 1935).

The title story is based on a famous anthropological hoax of the early 20th century where isolated natives of the Philippine island of Zamboanga were photographed with monkey tails attached at the base of their spine and passed off as the missing link.

One story includes a plant which bears peas and corn and secretes its own tin can around them, creating a pre-packaged-succotash plant.

Dick Is it true the monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga ,as they were bitten off by whales

I wish I could remember the rest of that, but so many years have passed

Ted

Zamboanga

Ted, I know the poem you’re thinking of, and I can’t remember it either. We didn’t go ashore that day. We just unloaded and got out fast. If that day is any indication, the monkeys (Japanese) had their tails shot off in Zamboanga.

Dick

Monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga

I cannot believe that Kiplinger ever said this!! But maybe he did. Will stand corrected.

But I grew up in a Navy town in California pre- WWII with reasonable parents.

The point of "they have no tails in Zamboango" statement was undertood to mean that Phillipinos were monkeys without tails. No wonder society has problems.

Zamboanga

Don’t ever remember Zamboanga being mentioned in any of Mr. Kiplinger’s Report’s. Rudyard’s, your boy. I understand. You stand corrected. Please respond, as verification, your source for above interpretation (monkeys without tails). Interested. Neptunesps@aol.com

source: http://discussions.seniornet.org/cgi-bin/WebX?230@25.0umhaHW9zjR.0@.ee7cc13

Before returning to Jolo, the MARINDUQUE was ordered to make some small surveys in the vicinity of Zamboanga. We spent three months there and the wives lived in the Plaza Hotel which was well run by a Filipino gentleman named Bayot. Mr. Bayot and his wife were very kind to them and they enjoyed the stay. As a fact which might be published in "Believe It or Not" there were only forty Americans living in Zamboanga and five or them including Marian celebrated their birthday on July 13.

At the Club in Zamboanga there was often a large party. There was a retired Philippine Constabulary Colonel named Fletcher who was always the life of the parties. He would invariably perform the following stunt at the club parties. He would place three tables, each one slightly smaller than the previous one, one on top of the other. On the top table he would place four beer bottles. He would then climb up, place the four legs of a chair on the beer bottles and stand on the chair to lead the singing of, "There’s Many a Man Been Murdered in Luzon" and "The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga". He was said never to have fallen during this stunt regardless of how much he had been drinking. It was a remarkable performance. On Good Friday we saw the procession of the penitentos walking barefoot in sack cloth and scattering ashes on their heads.

Revisiting the Philippines: Subic Bay Marines Return to Their Old Barracks

Story by: R. R. Keene