The Chabacano Ensaquea

Ticang: Ay de veras! Cosa ya tiempo aquel? Ni no hay mas respeta ni el maga iglesia, cay todo gayot ya saquea.

Buchang: Si ñora, hasta el maga tela colorao, el maga cinta, el maga galon ya hace divisa-divisa el maga militar del Republica.

Ticang: Ay bueno lang si ese; ya saca-saca el maga vestido del Padre, el maga muebles y hasta maga alajas. Jesus, Maria y Jose! Ta profana gayud sila todo, por eso gende na ta sale el castigo de Dios aqui na Zamboanga.

Zamboanga is cursed!

In the continuing saga of a distant time, that may not be so distant after all depending on how one perceives time, we hear Ticang and Buchang talk about a tumultuous time in Zamboanga's history when looting took place at the church (the old cathedral?) by the military of the Zamboanga Republic.

When I first came across these conversations in 2014, my mind was in shambles and had a hard time comprehending them. More than 10 years later, I now find it easier to understand them.

My father was in the city recently for a vacation and I was amused to hear him use the word ensaquea in one of our conversations.

It was the first time ever I heard it being used so I took note of it.

I first came across this word in the Chabacano manuscripts from 1901 in the form of the word "saquea".

The way my father used ensaquea was to mean that someone ran away with something or took something without permission. A good example of how to use this word is when someone “sharons” lechon from a party without the host knowing about it.

Recently, my brother asked me about the difference between salta and brinca. I told him that they are synonyms but may vary in degree. For example, at least for me, salta means jumping in place, while brinca means jumping from one place to another.

So I think that while ensaquea could be a synonym of roba (or ruba as it’s pronounced), as far as how my father used it is concerned, it perhaps does not cover illegal acts, and that is probably where roba comes in.

Interestingly, both words do not appear in Camins’ dictionary. Meanwhile, the word ensaquia does appear in Santos’ dictionary. It is also important to note that both ensaquia and ensaquea are compliant with the general Chabacano spelling rules recommended by the local government. Depending on how rigidly you want to follow that rule, ensaquea is the more “correct” version.

The Chabacano dialogue above was taken from a manuscript which is actually part of a larger one that describes the culture of Mindanao. The manuscript was discovered by Mauro Fernández, a linguistics professor at the University of La Coruña in Spain, and he has graciously shared these dialogues with me. He presented them at a congress in Stockholm in June 2017.