Eventide

Eventide at the Metro’s Port

In the Navotoas fish port, eventide or nightfall signals the start of the unloading operation of the day’s catch from fishing boats and ships. Called in Filipino as hango, the unloading begins around 8p.m., in anticipation of the arrival of fish dealers from Metro Manila and surrounding areas who will bid on them in lots by midnight.

They call them birador, sampador, batilyo. These are designations of port workers who unload the dayss catch from fishing boats and ships. Each group, with a specific role. The birador lifts the banyera or fish bucket from the storage below the ship’s deck. The sampador man the ramps. The batilyo navigates the fish buckets around crowds using the gancho, a hook that bites to the rim of the banyera. The taong lancha or boat men, rests from the long haul, but watches over the efficient line operation that is difficult to see, at first.

The smell of fish lingers, at times, amplified by floods caused by the high tide. Chaos, organized.