A long time ago, there was a couple called Ballitok and Bugan.
They had wide rice fields with bountiful annual harvests.
They shared their harvest with people who helped them during the
planting and harvest seasons.
One day after the harvest season, there was a long typhoon. The
rice paddies are filled and overflowing with rainwater, almost causing the
dikes to collapse and the people could not go out to get food.
A day after the rain stopped, Bugan took
her kayabang (bamboo basket) and told her husband that she will get pallay (bundle of rice) from their alang (Rice Granary) in their field. Ballitok prevented her because the water in the paddies had not yet subsided, but Bugan persisted and left.
her kayabang (bamboo basket) and told her husband that she will get pallay (bundle of rice) from their alang (Rice Granary) in their field. Ballitok prevented her because the water in the paddies had not yet subsided, but Bugan persisted and left.
Bugan filled up her kayabang with palay. She was about to
leave when she notice plenty of shells in the water-field paddies. She
left her kayabang in the alang and waded in the paddies to gather shells. While
gathering shells, she came upon a deep portion of the field where her feet were
stuck.
She tried hard to pull her feet from the mud, but no to avail.
Instead, she went down deeper and deeper the mud. She shouted for help, but no
one responded because she was alone in the rice fields.
It was already late afternoon when Ballitok became anxious in
waiting for his wife. He followed her to their alang and found her kayabang
filled with palay, but Bugan was nowhere to be found. He went to the rice field
and saw Bugan’s submerged head, her hands lifted above her head in her call for
help.
He rushed to drain the water, but the rice paddy could hardly be
drained because it was overflowing with water. He ran to the community shouting
for help.
The people rushed to where Bugan was submerged and immediately
scooped water from the rice field using containers and dippers. (Scooping water
with a container in Kalanguya dialect is “Tenek” and
the past tense is: Tinek”).
The people were able to drain the water from the rice paddy
through Tinek, but it was too late for Bugan had already drowned.
The story of Bugan’s death spread fast among people who loved her
because of her family’s generosity. Since that time, the people called the
place “Tinek”. The name “Tinek” became
popular because the field is a central meeting place and a prime source of
rice.
Later when school was opened in the place, the first teachers, who
were Ibalois, retained the name and pronunciation of “Tinek”.
After some years, the name “Tinek” was pronounced “Tinoc”. The Tuwalis a
neighbor ethnolinguistic group has changed the letter “e” in the last syllable
to the sound “O” because of the nature of the Tuwali dialect.
Sources:
- Content: From the research of Ancestral Domain sustainable
Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP)