Pinoy Kasi : ‘Tabo’

By Michael Tan
Columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: February 20, 2009

One Filipino blogger calls it the “tabo scandal.” Most readers probably know the story, but let’s run through it again quickly. A Filipino machinist working in a small Australian town (literally, the name of the place was Townsville) went to the office toilet with a bottle of water. His superior noticed and said that wasn’t allowed, but the Filipino insisted. To make a long story short, the supervisor realized the bottle of water was going to be used to clean the “down under,” and I don’t mean the geographical place.

There was an exchange of views, the Australian insisting that when in Australia, one must do things the Australian way, in other words, the “tabo” was taboo. Our feisty Filipino held his ground and lost his job. Uproar followed, the trade union of machinists siding with him. The company eventually claimed the worker was being disciplined for having left his work without proper leave.

The incident is now the subject of numerous blog sites with confusing details. For example, I’m not sure if he was eventually reinstated. Opinions about the behavior vary, a minority saying this was another example of shameful (or shameless) Filipino unhygienic behavior, while most others felt, “Hey, don’t be an ass, it’s his ass.” I thought I’d jump into the fray as an anthropologist because we’re looking at a clash of cultures here. It’s not the first time. Remember, a few years ago there was the case of the Filipino child in a Canadian school, who was reprimanded because he insisted on using a spoon, rather than a fork, to scoop up his food.

Cultural icon

The Townsville incident is interesting because all the Filipino blogs and Internet commentaries all use the term “tabo” even if there was no such object involved. It reflects the importance of the “tabo,” not just as a household utensil but as a cultural icon.

Cultures are packages that include ways of thinking and doing, as well as material objects created along those ways of thinking and doing. The “tabo,” a water dipper usually made of plastic, is an example of such a material object, with many functions and meanings.

The “tabo” is essential to the Filipino toilet. So important is the object that Filipinos, whether on short- or long-term travel, will bring their own “tabo” ... or, if they had forgotten to bring one and will be living abroad for some time, will request other Filipinos to eventually bring one.

The “tabo” was originally a wooden dipper used to take water out of a “banga” [clay cistern] for drinking or washing (for example, washing the feet before entering a house). Even with 21st-century modern plumbing, many Filipino homes still have the “tabo,” partly because of perennial water shortage and low water pressure. Water has to be collected in drums and pails and the “tabo” still has its original function as a dipper.

In the toilet, the “tabo” is there for various hygienic purposes, not just to get water but to function as a small basin. Back in the 1970s, as a student doing rural service in places with limited water supplies, I learned to use one “tabo” of water to wash my face and brush my teeth with enough leftover to clean and put on my contact lenses.

The Townsville incident related to still another hygienic function: cleaning up after doing scatological duties, not just by dousing the rear with water but sometimes even soaping it, and after the cleaning, taking up another “tabo” of water to flush the toilet followed by still another “tabo” ritual to wash and soap the hands. (Scatological duties are also sometimes politely called “number two” or the more onomatopoeic “uu.”)

Now, you might ask, why can’t Filipinos make life simpler by using toilet paper? Ahh, there’s the culture-in-the-body component. It’s not accidental one of the words we use in Tagalog for culture is “kaugalian” or habits. Once learned, the “tabo” becomes an enduring habit, incorporated into our bodies and our psyche. Many Filipinos, even upper-class ones, will insist the “tabo” leaves you cleaner down there, and now we’re expanding the discussions to mean both front and back.

Filipinos are divided on the scatological function of the “tabo”. I grew up with toilet paper and was horrified when I was deployed in a rural village and found out no one used toilet paper there (except in one mayor’s house, where the toilets had martial law propaganda leaflets stacked up — his way, I suspect, of protesting the dictatorship). The idea of manual cleaning seemed repulsive, and I felt the rinsing left a mess on the toilet seat and on the floor.

Now with very young kids, I have no problems using the “tabo” or even my bare hands to wash them after they poo; in fact, I think it’s more ecologically friendly than using moist wipes or toilet paper, especially considering how often they scat. But ask me “to “tabo”” myself? Nope, I’m too acculturated, embodied in toilet paper.

Bidet

Don’t think, though, that this “tabo” and washing thing is a sign of barbarism or of the impoverished Third World. There are many cultures in the world that dislike toilet paper, which is why you have the bidet, a low-mounted plumbing fixture with nozzles to spray water for cleaning the down under — yes, front and back. (Usually, a short one is called the family nozzle, used for the rear, and a long one, a bidet nozzle, for the front.)

The bidet is used in southern Europe, Latin America, India, Arabic countries, Japan and Korea (and, lately, in China) and has evolved now to include hot and cold water and even a mini-heater that warms and dries whatever you wet. Far from being barbaric, the bidet is even considered part of a wealthy and luxurious lifestyle.

“Bidet” means “pony” in French, indicating the way you’re supposed to sit on it. It’s not that easy to do. Like the use of a “tabo,” proper bidet etiquette requires quite a bit of choreography to keep yourself balanced, not to get yourself too wet, and not to make a mess in the toilet. Still puzzled? Check out wikihow.com/Use-a-Bidet.

When you think about it, the “tabo” is a low-tech, affordable version of the bidet. Who knows? With so many Filipinos living overseas, the use of the “tabo” just might spill across (sorry if that sounded like the messy toilets) borders. Like the lowly tsinelas or slippers, the “tabo” will probably get a make-over with jazzed-up colors and designs, maybe even mutating in the way it’s pronounced by young Filipinos growing up overseas: Anyone for a “teboe”?

In the meantime, will someone please come up with a post for wikihow.com on the correct use of a “tabo,” including how “to “tabo”” without a “tabo,” like our brave Filipino worker did in Townsville?
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Email: mtan@inquirer.com.ph