They fondly call her “Ompo Odis”, ompo being a respectful term for an elderly or a grandparent. Ompo Lodersita Ganloy Ombaogan is a Mandaya-Manobo born on June 21, 1920 and residing in Brgy. Caatihan, Boston, Davao Oriental. When I captured her portrait in her home, she was about to celebrate her 102nd birthday, so she would be 103 today (I am hopeful she is still living well at this time).

Ompo Odis is blessed with 13 children, three of whom were deceased. She does not remember her childhood, nor the wars and the Japanese occupation. She recalled bits and fragments of memories that brought a sad smile or two on her beautiful face. According to the researchers I was with, during her youth she used to eat “bakusan”, a local edible snake known for cough treatment.

With her frail condition and blindness, she was gently lifted from her bed and on the floor for our brief portrait shoot. The only light coming in was from one window. I thanked and hugged her, and though she could not see me, she took the instax film photo I placed on her hand, while on the other hand I gave a cooling balm from Bioskin.

At that time, her centenarian cash gift amounting to P100,000.00 was still on process by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

This documentation with the NCIP team in the Mandaya-Manobo community was for our ongoing phase two Project Epanaw series of coffee table books on the IPs of the Philippines for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on April 3, 2022 at Brgy. Caatihan, Boston. The community was also celebrating the 4th Dinangwagay Festival.