FATHER MATEO'S WOMEN
I was very hesitant to attend the Sunday masses last summer because of the rumor that surrounded Father Mateo. According to the rumor, the priest was involved with different women. Even though it was just a gossip but it had a great effect in our community. There were only few people that attended the mass of Father Mateo; these were who believed that he was not guilty of the crime that the community had been accusing him. Some religious moralists formed themselves a group, in which, its main goal was to oust the priest in the parish. The group even had a signature campaign in the village, convincing people that Father Mateo should go to another congregation because he is the "devil" in a man's clothing.
I considered myself a critical thinker, skeptic, curious researcher and do not easily believe to rumors. I could not tell whether Father Mateo is guilty or innocent, what I need is strong and hard evidence. To tell you honestly, there were nights that I could not sleep because of the mystery that bounded the priest. I wanted to know the truth; I wanted to answer the questions that tickled in my mind such as: "Who are these women, are they Father Mateo's ex-girlfriends?", "What are the common characteristics of these women that a priest falls in love with?", "What are their professions, are they single, married or widowed?"
One night, I waited in front of the convent, which was, located at the back of the parish church. I hid myself and my bicycle behind the trunk of an Acacia tree. It was already ten o' clock and the wind was blowing coldly when the priest appeared in the convent's garage and slowly rode his bicycle going to downtown. Without hesitation, I followed the holy man to his destination but I made sure that he wouldn't notice me that I was following him like a secret agent. I am just a 16-year-old curious teenager.
Father Mateo stopped in a brothel, which is, situated in one of the oldest streets of Davao City. I stopped and hid behind a car that parked on the other side of the street. I watched closely as the priest entered the establishment and talked to the manager. The manager welcomed him and showed a room with a big glass window, in which, he could see the ladies inside.
"Choose whoever you like sir," said the manager as he presented the women in sexy clothes.
"I want that girl with red lips," Father Mateo pointed the lady he liked.
"Your wish is my command," exclaimed the manager.
"I will be waiting in room number 17 upstairs," said Father Mateo.
"Okay, the lady will be there in less than a minute," the manager said as he left the priest and entered the glass room to get the girl. I was not contented of just knowing the destination of Father Mateo but I'm very much curious of what was going on inside, so I decided to become a customer of the brothel. I thought to myself that if I want to know the truth, I should be bold enough to cross the fire. When I entered the place, the manager was doubtful on my age.
"Good evening sir," I greeted him.
"Good evening too, how old are you?" he asked me with a distrustful eyes.
"Hmmm...20!" I lied on my age.
"Okay, as long as you have the money."
"No problem," I showed to him my wallet with P 3,000 pesos inside.
"Come, I will show to you the beautiful ladies I have," said the manager with smiling face.
The manager showed to me the ladies in the glass room. He asked me which lady that I liked and I pointed the girl with red lips. After I made my choice, the manager instructed me to wait at room number 18 upstairs. I went to the room, sat on a chair beside the bed and waited for the girl. The room was simple; it was being lighted by a candle which was placed at the table near the curtained window. There were also picture frames to beautify the place. After a few minutes of waiting, a beautiful woman entered the room wearing white lingerie. She came closer to me and held my shoulder, then caressed my face. She got my right hand, placed it to her chest. She then tried to remove my shirt but I stopped her by placing her hands down.
"Look, I came here not to make love with you," I said frankly.
"Then why are you here?" she asked in total confusion.
"I came here to discover the truth about one customer," I replied.
"Are you having your research study or assignment about the lives of the prostitutes in the brothel?" she asked as she walked away from me and went to the window for a glimpse of the outside world.
"I want to know if the man on the other room is guilty or not of the crime that the people are accusing him," I explained.
"Did he kill anybody?" the lady clarified.
"No, but do you know him?" I asked.
"Not that much but he is a regular customer here. He comes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening usually at ten o'clock. I really find him weird," the lady said as she sat down on the side of the bed near to me.
"Was he once a customer by you?" I asked bravely though offensive. "Yes, once!" she replied. All at once I sat beside her, held her hands and begged if she could tell or give me some information about Father Mateo. The lady was curious about my relationship with the priest, I just told her that he is my cousin who boasted that he is loyal to his wife and never have marital affairs with other women. The lady believed to my lie but before she revealed any information, she had one condition.
"What is your condition?" I asked with a frown face.
"What is your real age and where did you get that money of yours to pay me?" she said.
"Okay, I will tell you the truth. I am not 20 but I am a 16-year- old high school student studying at Davao City National High School. I got this P 3,000 from my parents, I lied to my mother, and I told her that I have a project at school that its materials would reach to P 1,000 pesos."
"How about the remaining P 2,000?" the lady interrogated again.
"I stole the P 1,000 pesos from my father's wallet," I answered shamefully.
"And the remaining P 1,000 pesos?" the lady became a lawyer in a court trial.
"From my savings," I said. "But I promised to myself that I will return the money that I stole from my father's wallet and the money that my mother gave me," I added. "So, I answered your questions honestly; now, would you please tell me something about him," I insisted.
"Why don't you go here and listen to their conversation?" the girl suggested as she stood up and put her left ear to the wooden wall. I followed her suggestion; I not only listened but looked for possible small holes so that I could see what was going on room number 17.
I didn't notice that I accidentally leaned on the weakest part of the wall, which was, already eaten by termites. It collapsed and I fell to the other room. Father Mateo and his lady were shocked to my appearance. When I turned my head to see them, the priest and the lady were embracing each other. They were not naked or lying on bed. They were just standing in the middle of the room as the candle's light shone them. The two looked at me closely without blinking. I could read what was in the mind of the priest, he might say to himself "this boy is so familiar; he might receive communion from me."
A week after the incident, I decided to attend the Sunday mass; but before the holy praise began, the moralists were talking about the latest news. They were so happy that Father Mateo transferred to a different parish. I came nearer and listened to their conversation.
"Thank God that the devil is now gone," exclaimed the first woman.
"I'm happy that he voluntarily transferred to another community," said the first man.
"His conscience was killing him badly, how could he stay in a place that degrades his reputation as a priest, His decision to leave our barangay is the best solution," added the second woman.
"I can now have a peaceful sleep at night because everything is back to normal," said the second man in a joyful way.
"God really answered our prayers by listening to our complaint letter against Father Mateo," sighed the third man as he joined the group leaving the shade of the Acacia tree and went inside the house of God.
As I looked at these people, I asked myself why others are very judgmental; why they could not have the critical thinking skills rather than joining a bandwagon of fools? Because of these questions, I decided not to join the holy mass because it was being attended by "fallen angels" hiding in a man's cloth. So, I went home and slept the rest of the morning.
That Sunday afternoon after I ate my lunch, I received a call from Father Mateo. He favored me if I could visit him to his new parish community in Paquibato District. At first I was hesitant to go because the place is a hinterland but the priest assured me that my trip to his new post will be safe and comfortable. When I agreed to his invitation, he told me that a van with a driver was waiting outside the convent. I was surprised and delighted to his tactics and because of this I immediately went to the convent and got inside the van. The driver named Timoy asked me if I were ready for our short trip, and I replied "yes". To give you a small background of our destination, Paquibato is woodland merely composed of forest and mountain, it is located in the third district of Davao City near in Bukidnon-Davao boundary. The place is home to some indigenous tribes, a sanctuary for animals, and a hiding place for some government rebels.
When we arrived in Paquibato, Timoy had to leave the van to a barangay captain living in the lowland because we had to ride a horse in order to get to Father Mateo's place. Our journey was accompanied by Dodong, the sacristan of Father Mateo. He was waiting for us in the lowland; Dodong led the way by riding his horse while Timoy and I were behind him riding another horse. Our thirty minute travel to the highland was a mixture of crossing a river and hiking on rocky and muddy pathways. While we were traveling, I wandered why Father Mateo chose to live in the mountains rather than having an easy lifestyle in the plains.
When we arrived in the place it was already five o'clock in the afternoon and the sun was setting. I was surprised because it is an Ata community, the Ata children were playing, the wives were busy preparing food for dinner, and the husbands together with their adolescent sons were busy painting the newly built school building. Dodong led us directly to the nipa hut of Father Mateo. I immediately went inside while Timoy and Dodong decided to clean the horse's feet in a deep well nearby. When the people in the living room saw me, Father Mateo stood up and handed to me my lost wallet. I was looking for it for the past few days and I thought it was gone forever.
"You lost your wallet, I got your number there," the priest said with a smiling face.
"Thank you so much but where did you find it?" I asked.
"In the place that we met, remember?" he answered.
"I'm sorry for that," I apologized sincerely.
After the short talk, I was so shocked when the two ladies from the brothel were there in the living room. Father Mateo said that he will just explain to me later on the real score. Since I know already the two ladies, the priest introduced me to Mr. Brown, an American missionary and social worker and I hands shook with Mang Yulo, the chieftain of the Ata tribe in the community. After the introduction, we all ate dinner; afterwards, the visitors went to their respective huts for a goodnight sleep but Father Mateo and I decided to discuss the rumor. We sat down in a bench outside his nipa hut. He then showed to me the complaint letter petitioned by the moralist group. I read the content, after reading, we had an in-depth conversation.
"What were the reactions of your fellow priests in the parish?" I asked curiously.
"They laughed!" replied Father Mateo in a cheerful way.
"Ha? Why did they laugh on a complaint letter against you?"
"Because they have no idea what is really going on," said the priest.
"Tell me, what is really happening?" I insisted in curiosity.
"Would you believe me that those brothel girls awhile ago will soon to be teachers in this community?"
"Teachers? But they are sex workers and they are not college graduates," I said.
"So what if they are not college graduates, what is important is the passion to teach," said Father Mateo defending the two brothel girls.
"But why did you get them as teachers?" I asked.
"As a priest I have a mission and I want to help the needy," he replied.
"What is your mission father?"
"My mission is to help those sex workers find a noble and descent job," answered the priest.
"You could not find a licensed teacher to teach the Ata children?"
"I could not, they prefer to teach in the lowland because of the reports before that some teachers in the mountains died of Dengue, bitten by snakes and visited by some abusive rebels. They already have a phobia on those events," Father Mateo explained.
"How did you know that these brothel girls love to teach?"
"When I was their customer in the brothel, I asked them two questions, the first question was if they want to have a decent job, secondly, I asked what is their dream profession,"
"So you went to the brothel not because you wanted to make love but because you wanted to help them," I clarified.
"Yes, you are correct!" Father Mateo gave thumbs up for my generalization.
Father Mateo further explained what happened after he convinced the brothel girls to become teachers to the Ata children in the mountains. When I asked Father Mateo on how many brothel girl did he convince to be a teacher, he answered that I should wake up early tomorrow in order for me to find out. On the following day, I woke up late, the sun was already high up in the sky and I heard the voices of the children reciting the alphabet. I immediately rose from the floor and went to the kitchen to wet my sleepy face with cold water from the basin. I checked the priest in his room but he was not there, so I decided to visit the school as what he had challenged me to discover. When I was approaching the school, I saw the lady who myself was once a customer by her, giving seatwork to the grade four pupils. She was wearing decent attire as if like a professional teacher. I came closer to her classroom's window to observe her class but when she saw me, she immediately went out. I was stammering when we had our conversation.
"Hello, remember me?" she asked.
"Yes I remember, I don't know what to say, you are totally different now," I replied.
"Are you looking for Father Mateo?"
"Yes, where is he?"
"I think he is at the school's office doing some paper work," she replied.
"By the way, I'm happy for your life now but I'm just intrigue, how many of your co workers are already here in school working as a teacher?" I asked.
"All of us, there were six women working in the brothel. Each of us is assigned to every grade level, my task is in grade four," she replied.
"Wow that's amazing!" I was so shocked that all of the brothel girls had left their old job to become teachers to the Ata children.
"We really thank God for answering our prayers. Father Mateo is the instrument," she exclaimed.
"I still don't know your real name," said I.
"By the way I'm teacher Daisy," she replied.
"Hello teacher Daisy I'm Brandon!" said I as we hand shook each other.
Daisy revealed to me that instead of a salary they are receiving a monthly allowance from the American missionary group headed by Mr. Brown. Aside of being a teacher, they also help the parish on its community work and outreach program. All of the teachers are living in one big nipa hut which is near to the school. Father Mateo is the school head during weekdays and a priest every Sunday. Every Saturday, a professional lecturer from the lowland would come to the village to give a seminar to the teachers on the latest trends and technology related to education.
I went home that afternoon after eating my lunch. When I arrived, I immediately returned the P 1,000 pesos to my father who was sitting in his favorite chair watching television.
"What's this?" father asked in confusion.
"Your money, I stole it from your wallet but then I realized that I should have asked you whenever I want to buy something rather than stealing," I said in a low voice.
Father accepted the money and then he smiled. Afterwards, I went to the kitchen to meet my mother who was washing the dishes. I handed the P 1,000 bill to her.
"Hey, where have you been and what's this?" mother asked.
"I'm sorry I lied to you, there is no project that its materials would reach to one thousand pesos. I am returning this because my conscience bothers me every night," I explained. Mother accepted the money bill and gave me a kiss for my honesty. That night, I decided to attend an evening mass in our parish but before that I went to downtown to see what happened to the brothel if it has no more workers. When I arrived there, a big signage was posted "CLOSED and FOR SALE". Seeing the signage made me feel justified but I was very much pleased when an announcement was made by the presiding priest before the mass started. The priest praised and acknowledged Father Mateo's school project for the benefit of Ata children in Paquibato District. Moreover, the presiding priest told the audience that the rumor about Father Mateo was non-sense because the women that were linked to him were all aspiring teachers and dreamt to become a second parents to the Ata children.
*THE END*
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