1

and

2

folk wisdomAN EXAMPLE OF EARLY KAPAMPANGAN PROVERB:

Panayan mu karing ának muing depatan mu kang tata mu.

(Expect your children to treat youthe way you treated your father.)

COVER: “GOD THE FATHER” CHURCH CEILING PAINTING SAN LUIS, PAMPANGA (Photograph by Prof. Regalado Trota Jose)

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river cultureTHE FISHERFOLK OF SOUTHERN PAMPANGA HAVE AN ANCIENTWISDOM AND INDIGENOUS WORDS FOR WINDS, AS WELL AS FORDIRECTIONS: AMIANAN (NORTH), ABAGATAN (SOUTH), ASLAGAN(EAST) AND ALBUGAN (WEST). IN NORTHERN PAMPANGA, MOUNTARAYAT IS THE POINT OF REFERENCE: PARALAYA (TOWARDSARAYAT), PAROBA (AWAY FROM ARAYAT).(Illustration by Joel P. Mallari)

4

Gen. Aglipay

JUNE

Bebet G. Gozun, DENR Secretary; Gen.Edgardo B Aglipay, Chief, PNP; FrancescoCardinal Marchisano, Vatican City; Dr. Ma.Cristina Carlo Stella, Vatican City; Fr. IsidroAbaño, Secretary-General, UST; JosephMcCallus, Columbus State Univ.

CardinalMarchisano

JULY-AUGUST

Rep. Anna York Bondoc, Fourth District;Board Member Nestor Tolentino; Board Mem-ber Aurelio Gonzales; Board Member JohnnyQuiambao; Elwood Perez, film director;Amacia Espanta, School of the Infant Jesus;Judge Irin Zenaida S. Buan, RTCC Br. 2

A NUMBER of staffers andconsultants of the Center forKapampangan Studies havebeen invited to join the Na-tional Commission for Cul-ture and the Arts (NCCA).

Center Consultant Prof.Lino Dizon was recently electedto the executive council of theNCCA’s National Committee onHistorical Research, while theCenter’s Museum Curator, AlexCastro, sits as a member.

Resident translator AntonPrima represents the Center Di-rector in the National Commit-

Dom MartinGomez, OSB

Ma. IsabelOngpin

CENTER JOINS VARIOUSNCCA COMMITTEES

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER

Jose “Ping” de Jesus, President, Manila NorthTollways Corp.(MNTC); Dom Martin Gomez,OSB, Monastery of the Transfiguration; MariaIsabel Ongpin, Museum Foundation of the Phil-ippines; Sr. Nicole Dabalus, SPC, St. Paul Uni-versity, Tuguegarao; Giovanna Fontanilla, UST;Jaime de los Santos, UST; Nina Cabral, UST;Joyce Arriola, UST; Evangeline Escobar, St.Mary’s University, Bayombong; Jocelyn Ong,University of San Agustin, Iloilo; Alvin Sanchez,University of Regina Carmeli; Arch. ClarisseAvendaño, UST Museum; Sandy Chua, UST;Fr. Ramonclaro Mendez, Angelicum Univ.; JunRomeo Galang, UP Diliman; Antonio A.S.Valdes, Phil. Carouche Society; Jesus Ma.Vitug, LTO Region III; Fr. Lucio Gutierrez, OP,Fr. Angel Aparicio, OP, Fr. Fidel Villaroel, OP,Maria Eloisa de Castro, Divina David Tulio,PNP Regional Director Quirino dela Torre

Clockwise,from top left: Cruz,Dizon, Prima, Castro

tee on Language andTranslation, while Cul-tural Activities Coordina-tor, Erlinda Cruz, re-cently elected chair of theKapatagan (Lowland Cul-tural Communities) Sub-committee (Zambales,Tarlac, Pampanga Clus-ter), has joined theNCCA’s National Commit-tee for Kapatagan andelected assistant secre-tary.

Ms. Cruz earlier wonin the cluster election par-ticipated in by represen-tatives from various cul-tural and academic insti-tutions like the MinalinMuseum, Batiauan

Foundation, Bamban Histori-cal Society, Capas TourismOffice, Ramon MagsaysayTechnical University, TarlacState University and the Artsand Culture Councils of SanFernando and Mabalacat.

The other cluster officers areNancy Tremblay, Vice Head;Roland Quiambao andMichael Pangilinan, PampangaCoordinators; Bayani Chavezand Dr. Cecile Santiago,Zambales Coordinators; Rhoniede la Cruz and Lino Dizon,Tarlac Coordinators.

Congratulations for a job welldone in preserving anddisseminating the rich literary“

THE Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Pampanga recentlypassed two resolutions intended to further boost the cultural re-naissance currently sweeping the Kapampangan Region.

Resolution No. 138 “requests all AM and FM radio stations inthe Province of Pampanga to play at least one OriginalKapampangan Music (OKM) in the morning, afternoon andevening everyday as a way not only of popularizing these songs butalso of creating a sense of cultural awareness and pride amongKapampangans.”

The resolution was proposed by the Center for KapampanganStudies and sponsored by Board Member Nestor Tolentino.

The Sanggunian went one step farther by passing ResolutionNo. 147 that requests all municipal mayors and San Fernando CityMayor (Angeles is a chartered city), cinema/theatre operators/own-ers, schools, malls in the Province of Pampanga to do the same.Board Member Tolentino also sponsored the resolution.

The second resolution suggests “reasonable” time and frequencyof airing Kapampangan music, as follows: cinemas/theatres, everyafter showing of the film; schools, before the flag ceremony andincluded in music lessons; malls, included in the centralized soundsystem; municipalities, before and after flag ceremony.

The two resolutions were signed by Vice Governor JosellerGuiao and approved by Governor Mark Lapid.

RADIO STATIONS, MALLSTOLD TO PLAY K MUSIC

”tradition of the Kapampangans.My grandfather and father--indeed my whole family-- areproud of, and happy with, youreffort.

MANUEL V. PANGILINANChairman, PLDT

RECENT VISITORS

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THE highest-ranking Church official to ever set foot onPampanga soil came to the Center for Kapampangan Studies toopen an exhibit featuring wood and stone artifacts from differentparish churches in the province.

His Eminence, Francesco Cardinal Marchisano, DD, Vicar-General of the Vatican City-State, President of the Fabric of St.Peter and President of the Pontifical Commission on Sacred Ar-chaeology, recently visited the Archdiocese of San Fernando tofulfill a promise he had made when he failed to attend the ThirdBiennial National Convention of Church Cultural HeritageWorkers held last year at Holy Angel University. His elevation tothe College of Cardinals had coincided with the convention.

Cardinal Marchisano was accompanied by Dr. Cristina CarloStella, secretary of the Pontifical Commission on the Cultural Heri-tage of the Church, of which the Cardinal is the former president.

The exhibit is the result of the six-month special course onPampanga church history facilitated by Prof. Regalado TrotaJose at the Holy Angel University, in cooperation with the HAUABSTRAK Art Group and HAU-KAMARU, a student archaeologicalorganization. HAU President Bernadette Nepomuceno led hun-dreds of faculty, administrators and students in welcoming theCardinal. The University choir, brass band, rondalla, dance the-

VATICAN VICAR-GENERALOPENS ARCHAEOLOGYEXHIBIT AT CENTER

atre group and traditional Kapampangan polosador all performedduring the arrival ceremonies.

Archbishop Paciano Aniceto earlier accompanied CardinalMarchisano in a tour of the Archdiocesan Museum, the half-buriedSan Guillermo Church of Bacolor and the Santiago de Galicia Churchof Betis, where the visitors were greeted by townspeople dancingthe kuraldal in the street.

Dr. Carlo-Stella said the Pampanga welcome was “the best wel-come the Cardinal has received anywhere in the world.”

Top, the HAU community comes out in full force to giveCardinal Marchisano a rousing welcome. Above, part of theexhibit on Pampanga church archaeology at the Center.

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THE Center re-cently launched its lat-est book, A Cofradiaof Two: Oral Historyon the Family Lifeand Lay Religiosityof Juan D.Nepomuceno andTeresa G.Nepomuceno of An-geles, Pampanga,written by Erlita P.Mendoza with Fore-word by Ambeth R.Ocampo, Chairman ofthe National HistoricalInstitute.

Historian Dr.Luciano P.R.Santiago was theguest reviewer during

the launching ceremonies. Bernadette M. Nepomuceno, Presi-dent of Holy Angel University, which published the book; CenterDirector Robby Tantingco; Cynthia Rivera, Director of the USTCenter for Intercultural Studies, all gave speeches.

Mendoza, a researcher and faculty member of the University

of Santo Tomas, and Teresita N. Wilkerson, one of the surviv-ing children of the book’s subjects, also spoke during the program.

The book cites Juan and Teresa Nepomuceno as “a remarkablecouple whose unlikely partnership helped build the first city of theKapampangan Region.” Their story is told verbatim in individualinterviews with their eight surviving children, namely, Javier Jesus(Jave), Aureo Jose (Fr. Rely, SJ), Carmelo Patricio (Miling),Teresita Marcela (Teresing), Aurora Hilda (Auring), FloraGracia (Lula), Josefina Marcela (S. Pining, OSB) and PedroPablo (Peter), and by their in-laws, Cristina, widow of GerominPedro (Min), and Yolanda, widow of Juan Mamerto (Tok).

Except for a few who are abroad, the interviewees and theirrespective families attended the book launching. Other guestsincluded Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, DD, Bro. AndrewGonzales, FSC, Dr. Albina Peczon Fernandez, Palanca Hall ofFamer Ben Medina, Councilor Vicky Vega Cabigting, Dr.Evangelina Lacson, Prof. Regalado Trota Jose, Dr. JulietMallari, Abong Tayag, and UST administration officials and fac-ulty members.

Author Erlita Mendoza (left) and Bernadette Nepomuceno, President of Holy Angel University, at the book launching.

“Your magazine will go down inPhilippine history as an excellentpublication.

DR. LUCIANO P.R. SANTIAGOAuthor, The Hidden Light

7”

After only twoyears of publishingbooks, the Centerfor KapampanganStudies has won thecountry’s highestbook award givenby the Manila Crit-ics Circle.

Gloria: RomanL e o n c i o ’ sK a p a m p a n g a nTranslation ofHuseng Batute’sVerse Novel, Lostand Found, co-ed-ited by the Centerand AmbassadorVirgil Reyes, Jr.and published bythe Holy Angel

University Press, won this year’s National Book Award(Translation Category).

The book presents and analyzes the translation of a work ofa major Tagalog writer, Jose Corazon de Jesus, a.k.a. HusengBatute, done by an obscure Kapampangan writer, RomanLeoncio, in the late 1920s. Apparently, the translation had beenlost until Ambassador Reyes stumbled upon the manuscripts 70years later under the most serendipitous circumstances.

CITY COUNCIL CONGRATULATES CENTERFOR NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

National ArtistNick Joaquin hailedthe book as a signifi-cant collaboration be-tween Kapampangansand Tagalogs, whosepaths have alternatelycrossed, merged andeven collided in thecourse of the nation’shistory.

The book was theCenter’s third; the sec-ond publication,Kapampangan Pio-neers in the Philip-pine Church, wasalso a finalist in the2003 National BookAwards (History Cat-egory).

Meanwhile, the Angeles City Sangguniang Panlunsodunanimously approved Resolution No. 4261, S-2004 congratu-lating the Center for Kapampangan Studies “for winning thecountry’s most prestigious award for publications.” The resolu-tion was sponsored by Councilors Vega-Cabigting, Aguas,Sangil, Rivera, Lacson and De La Cruz and seconded by Coun-cilors Maniago, Ganzon, Yabut, del Rosario and Mallari; itwas signed by City Vice Mayor Dr. Ricardo Zalamea.

RESEARCH JOURNAL NO. 2 OUTThe Center has an-

nounced the release ofthe second issue ofAlaya: KapampanganResearch Journal, withthe theme Filipinos andKapampangans DuringNascent Colonial Contactsand Evangelization(1571-1715).

Edited by Prof. LinoL. Dizon, the issue is ref-ereed by an internationalpanel composed of JohnLarkin (State Universityof New York at Buffalo),Buichiro Watanabe(Nihon University atMishima), Joseph P.

McCallus (Columbus State University), Emmanuel F. Calairo (DeLa Salle University at Dasmariñas), Lydia Yu Jose (Ateneo deManila University) and Eusebio Dizon (UP Diliman).

Articles include: Pampanga, 1571, Compared with Sumatra andJava, 1511 by Edilberto V. Santos; Doubting a Hero’s Name byJose Victor Z. Torres; Metallurgy in Early Kapampangan Society by

Joel P. Mallari; Philippine Religious Missions to Japan and Philip-pine-Japan Relations in the 17th Century (1582-1715) by Lino Dizon;Felipe Sonson: 17th Century Filipino Jesuit Missionary to Marianasby Fr. John N. Schumacher, SJ;

The Philippine Revolution in Pampanga: A Letter of RufinoSantos, OSA (1899) by Fr. Policarpo Hernandez, OSA; BalagtasProperty Site, San Jose, Guagua, Pampanga: Preliminary Archaeo-logical Report by Leee Anthony M. Neri.

The issue also contains reviews and commentaries, e.g., AThomasite in Pampanga: The Experience of Will M. Carruth byJohn Larkin; Ghosts of the Past: A Review of Lino L. Dizon’s Mr.White: A Thomasite History of Tarlac Province, 1901-1913by Jose Victor Z. Torres; By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them: AReview of Erlita Mendoza’s A Cofradia of Two by Luciano Santiago.

“I cannot congratulate you enoughfor this historic issue. The previousissues were very good, but this oneis world class.

JAVIER J. NEPOMUCENOFormer VP & ComptrollerAyala Corporation

8

ON-GOINGCENTER

PROJECTS

Kapampangans who thinkAtin Ku Pung Singsing is the onlyKapampangan folk song are infor a surprise when they see themusical anthology that the Cen-ter is putting together. Staffershave been combing the villagesin the Pampanga countryside todiscover, record and annotatelittle-known folk songs like arana(serenades), kantang ukbu (Hukprotest songs), tumaila (lulla-bies), pantatanam (plantingsongs), gosu, basultu, polosaand others. “One 80-year-oldfarmer in Porac sang for us 50songs in one drinking session,”Center Director RobbyTantingco said. “He could re-member every word even if thelast time he sang them was 20years ago. The bad news is, hewasn’t able to pass them on tohis children and grandchildren.So when he dies, the songs diewith him.” The Center is alsopreparing with Arti Sta. Rita aprovince-wide MTV competi-tion featuring Kapampangansongs.

ANTHOLOGY OFFOLK SONGS

“ Congratulations forcontinuing to be the most activeand productive regional culturalcenter in the country.

FR. JOHN SCHUMACHER, S.J.Church HistorianAteneo de Manila University”

ORAL HISTORIES

The Center is in pre-produc-tion stage of the Kapampanganzarzuela Ing Managpe byMariano Preceso PabalanByron of Bacolor, the firstzarzuela in any Philippine lan-guage. Musician Stan Palma,the play’s musical director, hasreconstructed the original melo-dies contained in the zarzuela’slibretto. Meanwhile, the Centeris again co-producing Arti Sta.Rita’s second CD ofKapampangan songs. The Cen-ter was the co-producer of twoprevious CDs, Kapampangan Ku(Arti Sta. Rita) and Abe Mu Ku(Mon David).

ZARZUELAREVIVAL

Oral witnessing sessionscontinue with Angeles town his-torian Daniel Dizon relivingWorld War II as it happened inhis community. The Center isalso lining up interviews withKapampangans who have storiesto tell about their experienceswith Mount Pinatubo’s eruptionlast June 15, 1991 and the sub-sequent lahar flows in their re-spective towns. “The Jews whosurvived the Holocaust have theirtestimonies on tape,” Tantingcosaid. “Kapampangans experi-enced a similar life-altering eventand their stories should never beforgotten.” Resident translator Anton

Prima has finished translatinginto English the town historiescontained in the Luther ParkerCollections on Pampanga.These texts contain little-knowninformation on local historywhich is in Spanish and mostlyhandwritten. Meanwhile, Fr.Edilberto Santos, aKapampangan historian, is alsotranslating for the Center someof the earliest grammar bookswritten by the Augustinian fri-ars, namely, Arte y Reglas dela Lengua Pampanga (1621)by Fray Francisco

TRANSLATIONS

CHILDREN’SLITERATURE

In an effort to popularizeKapampangan language and lit-

Coronel;.Arte y DiccionarioPampango (1700) by FrayAlvaro de Benavente; andArte de la Lengua Pampanga(1729) by Fray DiegoBergaño.

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The Center and Infomax,the region’s top cable TV net-work, have started co-produc-ing a weekly 12-minute culturaldocumentary show entitledIndung K, hosted by KayeMayrina Lingad, PRO of theCenter. The first episode airedrecently featured Kapampanganjoie de vivre as seen in their folkfestivals. Infomax ManagerMaureen Aquino revealed thatthe episodes will be shown onthe syndicated Living Asia series.The Center is also co-producingwith KAISA-KA a documentaryon the Malaya Lolas as well asvideoke and MTV materialsfeaturing Kapampangan songs.

INDUNG K ONCABLE TV

The Center provides miscel-laneous forms of assistance totowns in Pampanga, such as cer-tifying documents in the bound-ary row between Minalin and aneighboring town, testifying onthe controversy of the “missing”church bells of Magalang, help-ing put up the parish museumof Sto. Tomas, providing aname for the new festival inAngeles City, the SadsaranFestival, and, with the NCCA,conducting training for the newmembers of the San Fernandoarts and culture council and thePampanga provincial arts andculture council.

ASSISTANCE TOTOWNS

Fr. Venancio Samson hasfinished translating the first halfof Vocabulario en la LenguaPampanga en Romance(1732) by Fray Diego Bergañoand is expected to wrap up hiswork by New Year’s Day. Thetranslation of what is regardedas the earliest Kapampangandictionary is a collaboration be-tween the Center forKapampangan Studies andthe National Commission forCulture and the Arts (NCCA).It is the first phase of a largerproject to compile a comprehen-sive Kapampangan-EnglishDictionary. “The benefits ofmaking the Bergaño dictionaryaccessible to Kapampangan re-searchers and students are im-mense,” Tantingco said. “It is atreasure trove of original

DICTIONARYPROJECT

The family of Angeles poetJose F. Sanchez has donateda boxful of Sanchez’ pre-warmanuscripts, including unpub-lished works such as theatreplays, screenplays, poems, shortstories and letters. The familyof Guagua ’s PedroDanganan, a.k.a. Apung Iru,the celebrated Kapampanganfaith healer in the 1920s, alsodonated an actual Apung Irucostume, a black shirt and a pairof black trousers, which he hadused in healing and photo ses-sions (for estampitas). FrayFrancis Musni of theConvento de San Agustinlikewise donated an extant copyof Ing Emangabiran, datedNovember 20, 1915, which isone of the earliestKapampangan-language news-papers.

DONATIONPROGRAM

“ ” I think about theCenter a lot and I enjoyyour newsletter.

Kapampangan words no longerin existence today; it providesclues on the culture and lifestyleof Kapampangans as the Span-iards found them in their pre-colonial state.” Another book indevelopment is LilianBorromeo’s authenticKapampangan recipes.

JOHN LARKINAuthor, The Pampangans

erature among children, theCenter did its own version ofJose Rizal’s illustrated fable ofthe monkey and the tortoise,entitled I Paû ampo i Matsin.Resident archaeologist/artistJoel Mallari did the watercolorenhancement of the sketches,while Ana Marie Vergara didthe layout. Consultant LinoDizon translated the original En-glish text into Kapampangan;Erlinda Cruz edited it.Storytelling sessions usingPowerPoint presentation of thisfable are part of museum toursat the Center, especially forschoolchildren. The Center isalso publishing illustrated com-ics on the life of “the warriorfrom Macabebe” (a.k.a. TarikSoliman) and of PhelipeSonsong, a Macabebe soldierwho became a missionary anda probable candidate for beati-fication.

John V

illaco

rta

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HARVESTING SONGS. Over pancit and bottles of brandy, researchers of the Center interview Florentino David and other oldfarmers in Jalung, Porac and record vanishing Kapampangan folk songs as part of its program to document, annotate andpopularize again little-known Kapampangan songs. The Center also interviewed Diosdado Pascual and Mercy Cruz, basultosingers from Sta. Rita.

“”

It’s brilliant! The hard work ofresearch and writing that you put into it, andthe love and devotion to our culture andhistory, are evident and admirable. I amtouched and impressed that our kabalens’spunk and nobility of vision, talents, courageand self-sacrifice have contributedimmeasurably to our nation’s progress andwell-being.

MARIEL N. FRANCISCOBook Author and Founder, Center for Health& Creative Arts

A day-long workshop onsetting up and managing townmuseums was held at HAUlast October 28 for variousmunicipal arts and culturecouncil officers fromPampanga and Tarlac. It wasinitiated by the JDN Center forKapampangan Studies in part-nership with the NationalCommission for Culture andthe Arts (NCCA).

Enrico Manlapaz fromthe NCCA’s Speakers and Re-source Persons Bureau facili-tated the workshop. TheCenter’s resident archaeolo-gist Joel Mallari served as re-

NCCA, CENTER HOLDMUSEOLOGY WORKSHOPFOR CULTURAL COUNCILS

source person.Among the towns that

sent representatives to theworkshop were: Guagua,Floridablanca, Bamban,Candaba, Capas, AngelesCity, Mabalacat, City ofSan Fernando, Sto. Tomas,Masantol, Mexico, TarlacCity, Lubao, Macabebe,Minalin.

The Pampanga provin-cial capitol and CampOlivas also sent delegates.

The activity is part of theCenter’s objective to helptowns and parishes set up theirlocal museums and libraries.

AWARD FROM PAMPANGAPRESS CLUB

The Pampanga Press Clubrecently named Center Direc-tor Robby Tantingco as Out-standing Kapampangan (Cultureand the Arts Category) “for hisoutstanding accomplishmentstowards preserving and promot-ing Kapampangan cultural heri-tage.”

The 54-year-old press club,said to be older than the Philip-pine Press Club, handed theawards during its anniversary

celebration.Other awardees were: Rep.

Ana York Bondoc (Medicine),Sen. Francis Pangilinan(Goverment Service- National),Mayor Buddy Dungca(Goverment Service-Local),Gov. Mark Lapid (Youth), TessLaus (Business), BishopFlorentino Lavarias (Reli-gion), Maureen Aquino (MassMedia), Supt. Nicanor Tanga(Law).

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WHEN Pampanga was established as a province in 1571 (thefirst in the entire country), it was about ten times its present size,and according to the 1903 Census of the Philippine Islands,“embraced all the central plain north from Bulacan to the mis-sions of Cagayan and its mountains.” Over the years, the Span-iards carved out other provinces from it, in a process usually ac-companied by the retreat of the Kapampangan language before anexpanding Tagalog. Whereasthere is evidence that most ofBulacan and Nueva Ecija,Eastern Bataan and Tondowere Kapampangan at the be-ginning of the Spanish con-quest, the Kapampangan areais now confined to Pampanga,Southern Tarlac and rapidlyretreating remnants in Bataanand Nueva Ecija, with the lan-guage shift going on at an evenfaster rate. Today,Kapampangans form a minor-ity in Tagalog-dominated“Gitnang Luson,” and unlesssomething is done, will be re-duced to insignificance or dis-appear as an distinct people ina few decades.

It has not always been so.Kapampangans have oftenbeen described as “clannish,” anegative term used in Manilato describe those who do notconform to the language, cul-

RECLAIMINGTHE KAPAMPANGANREGIONAL IDENTITYRegion III should be reconfiguredto create a separate Kapampangan RegionBy Edwin N. Camaya

The Kapampangan-speakingregion, extending beyondPampanga Province toinclude lower Tarlac andupper Bataan. The green-shaded areas are solidKapampangan speakers; theperipheral areas havescattered Kapampanganspeakers, remnants of whatused to be a largerPampanga Province duringcolonial times. Map showsthe main ethno linguisticgroups in central Luzontoday. (Courtesy of Dr. Jean-Christophe Gaillard).

ture and identity of the capital. Their reputation in the metropolisas being mayabang included pride in their native culture and lan-guage, which they spoke with each other on every occasion, evenoutside their home region. This stubborn sense of identity andconsciousness of their heritage allowed them to survive as a dis-tinct people even as they were surrounded by their large, rapidlyexpanding neighbors, the Tagalogs and the Ilocanos.

12

This continued into the beginning of the 20th century. Portray-ing Kapampangans at the height of American colonial rule in hisThe Pampangans, John Larkin notes that they spoke their ownlanguage, possessed a thriving regional literature and a distinctivecuisine, and had distinguishing characteris-tics such as differences in attire (he men-tions, for instance, that the traditionalfarmer’s headgear is different in shape andmaterial from those of neighboring peoplesin Central Luzon). In addition, the bookPhilippine Ancestral Houses byFernando Zialcita and Martin Tinio, Jr.observes that the Kapampangan version ofwhat is known in Tagalog as the bahay nabato was different in style and layout fromits counterparts in other regions of the Phil-ippines. Indeed, Larkin notes that large-scale interaction with non-Kapampangansdid not take place outside of the elite until the agrarian unrest ofthe 1920s and 30s, when the foundations of what would laterbecome the Hukbalahap were formed. Not surprisingly, as lateas 1960, it was noted in the census that a majority of the people infour Pampanga towns could still not speak Tagalog; in addition,there were only five municipalities wherethe proportion of those who could speakTagalog was over 60%.

Nevertheless, their nearness to Manila,relative to other major Philippine groups,has meant that Kapampangans were drawninto the politics of the central governmentearlier and more intimately than the oth-ers. Despite sporadic revolts, they were en-listed into the Spanish colonial army andhelped maintain order throughout the ar-chipelago during most of the colonial era.In the late 19th century, amidst increasingdiscontent, Kapampangans were among thefirst members of the Katipunan, and were the only non-Tagalogsof the first eight provinces declared in a state of revolt in 1896.Despite their relatively small number, they have been representedin practically every cabinet since the time of Aguinaldo, headedall three branches of the Philippine government, executive, legisla-tive, and judicial, and are well representedin most fields of endeavor.

This success comes at a very steepprice. Kapampangans have paid for it by asteady erosion of their sense of identity.Once proud of their distinct culture, manyKapampangans today are ashamed of oreven deny their Kapampangan-ness. AFilipinas Foundation survey published in1975 underlines the extremely poorKapampangan self-image. Alone amongnine groups surveyed (the others being theTagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Ilonggo,Bicolano, Waray/Samar-Leyte,Pangasinense and Muslim), theKapampangans rejected their own group,considering the Tagalogs the most likeable.In addition, some of the Kapampangans(2%) considered their group the least like-able. The percentage of the others waseither zero or less than that of the Kapampangans. In a rankingof the major ethnic groups, Tagalogs had a higher average ranking(1.8) than Kapampangans (2.7) in a survey conducted amongKapampangans. Needless to say, the rest of the groups rankedtheir own far ahead of the others.

Kapampangan literature, which, during the 1930s was describedas the most extensive in proportion to population by the Encyclo-pedia of the Philippines, is today variously described as mori-bund or dying. As early as 1981, Edna Zapanta Manlapaz,

author of Kapampangan Literature, ex-pressed the fear that the older generation ofpoets may not be replaced. The Kapampanganlanguage itself is by many accounts in dangerof extinction: the late Renato “Katoks”Tayag predicted in 1985 that with the steadydecline of the language, the Kapampanganswould disappear as a separate people within acentury. This may be a generous estimate.As increasing numbers of Kapampangan par-ents no longer bring up their children to speakthe language, Kapampangan could reach acrisis point much earlier.

This has taken place despite two devel-opments in the recent past which brought Pampanga to the lime-light. The first, a cultural revival sponsored by the provincial gov-ernment in the early 1980s, was cut short by a change of adminis-tration before it could show results, and in any case did not extendto the mass media and the educational system. The second, rapid

economic development during the late 1980s(at one point, Pampanga became the leadingprovince in economic growth) was, unfortu-nately, not accompanied by serious moves toencourage the local language and culture. Inany case, this was slowed down by severalnationwide developments, and finally endedby the Pinatubo catastrophe in 1991.

Ironically, it was the Pinatubo tragedy, per-haps the worst disaster Kapampangans havegone through in recorded history (that is, thepast few hundred years), which destroyed somuch of the world they knew, also brought asort of rebirth. Faced with the prospect of

annihilation as a people, our kabalens gathered what remained,and reaffirmed a culture that had been neglected for so long. Whilesome of this was under the auspices of the government or estab-lished institutions like the Church, it also involved private groupsor individuals. From the popularity of Kapampangan-language hand-

made greeting cards among the youth to therise of updated, Kapampangan-themed festi-vals (such as the Tigtigan Terakan kingDalan and Fiestang Kuliat in Angeles andthe Sinukuan Festival in San Fernando) andthe adoption of business names in the regionaltongue (“Bingut,” “Mekeni,” Miyabe,”“Pialungan,” etc.), the message was that thenative culture was once again “in.”

One of the results of the Kapampanganrevival was an increasing acceptance of theconcept of the Kapampangan Region. For-merly, people referred only to Pampanga, de-spite the fact that there are also large num-bers of Kapampangans in nearby provinces likeTarlac (where they comprise nearly half of thepopulation), Bataan and Nueva Ecija (in hisarticle “Salute to the Simple Life” in the 1960s,the late Nick Joaquin noted that “much ofthe province is now outside its borders”). The

fact that most Kapampangan areas, and not just Pampanga, wereaffected by the ravages of Pinatubo, intensified this sense of soli-darity, which was nourished by the cultural revival going on, andgiven impetus by the location of the Clark Special EconomicZone astride the Pampanga-Tarlac border. Today, the term is gain-

IRONICALLY, IT WASPINATUBO THATBROUGHT A REBIRTH;FACED WITH THE PROS-PECT OF ANNIHILATIONAS A PEOPLE, WE REAF-FIRMED A CULTURELONG NEGLECTED.

ONE OFFSHOOT OF THISREVIVAL IS AN INCREAS-ING ACCEPTANCE OF THECONCEPT OF AKAPAMPANGAN REGIONBEYOND THE BOUND-ARIES OF THE PROVINCE.

THE TIME IS RIPE TO PUSHFOR A SEPARATE POLITI-CAL UNIT TO REFLECTTHE SEPARATE LINGUIS-TIC, CULTURAL AND HIS-TORICAL COMMUNITY OFKAPAMPANGANS, TOREPLACE THE PRESENTINACCURATE GROUPINGOF PROVINCES KNOWN ASREGION III.

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ing general cur-rency, being usedexplicitly by institu-tions and groupsranging from theCenter forKapampanganStudies at HolyAngel Universityto the regionalglossy K Maga-zine, as well asv a r i o u sKapampangan-me-dium Internet sites(“Aptas”). Stil l,this growing con-sciousness of aKapampangan re-gion has so far nottranslated into amove for a separatepolitical unit. Untilnow, that is, for theresults of the recentelections haveproven conclusivelythat theKapampangan re-gion is a political re-ality, the way it is a geographical, historical and cultural one.

Many metropolitan commentators have commented (unfavor-ably) on how the President lost in her “own region,” Central Luzon,with the implication that it does not reflect well on her. This ig-nores the fact that Region III, as presently constituted, is anartificial region that does not have a common denominator, whethercultural, geographic or historical. While the “region” is more thanhalf Tagalog, three of the seven provinces have non-Tagalog ma-jorities (Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales), while a fourth, Aurora,is divided between Tagalog and Ilocano (not to mention the factthat the regional center is San Fernando, a Kapampangan city).Two others, Bataan and Nueva Ecija, are mostly Tagalog, but havelarge numbers of Kapampangans in the case of the first and Ilocanosand Kapampangans in the case of the second (the towns of North-ern Nueva Ecija are mainly Ilocano, while Cabiao has a largeKapampangan minority). This leaves Bulacan as the only “pureTagalog” province. This is not exactly true: there are reports thata few border villages of San Miguel remain Kapampangan to thisday. In fact, the evidence indicates that most of Bulacan wasKapampangan when the Spaniards arrived, with the Tagalog-speak-ing area limited to the Meycauayan River Valley. Kapampangan-language place namesare evident in many towns. For instance,Mayumo in San Miguel de Mayumo comes from theKapampangan word for “sweet.” On the other hand, one of theoldest villages in San Ildefonso is Pinaod, from the Kapampanganword for nipa thatch, pinaud (the Tagalog equivalent is pawid).Likewise, the old name of Plaridel is Quingua, from theKapampangan qñg uaua (“at the mouth of the river”). The nameof Bulacan itself is supposed to have come from burac, supposedlya description of its fertile soil.

Region III does not even correspond to the Central Plain: threeprovinces, Zambales and Bataan in the west and Aurora in theeast, are narrow coastal areas dominated by mountain ranges,and do not belong geographically to the Central Plain of Luzon.On the other hand, Pangasinan, which is part of the Central Plain,is grouped along with Region I, the Ilocos Region.

The implicationis that the Presidentdoes have a regionalpolitical bailiwick, al-though this does notcorrespond to Cen-tral Luzon, but ratherto theK a p a m p a n g a n -speaking area, thearea referred to asthe KapampanganRegion. InPampanga, sheswept her opponentswith 90% of thevote, her 642,712burying FernandoPoe Jr.’s 84,720.Proof that this is notjust a provincialPampanga vote but aregional, pan-Kapampangan one isthe fact that thelandslide extendedto theKapampangan-ma-jority areas of neigh-boring Tarlac:

Bamban, Capas, Concepcion and Tarlac City. So strong was hershowing there that she was able to carry the entire province,210,171 against 166,249, despite the fact that she lost in all 14non-Kapampangan towns. That in itself is proof of the existenceof a Kapampangan vote and a Kapampangan region, for the pro-GMA vote followed not the political boundary of Pampanga, butthe linguistic boundary of Kapampangan.

This is not the first time Kapampangans have voted as one. TheKapampangan Region voted for Macapagal in 1965, Osmeña in 1969,Aquino in 1986, Ramos in 1992 and De Venecia in 1998. This wasin defiance of the national (and Central Luzon) landslide for Marcosin 1965 and 1969, and for Estrada in 1998. As if to drive home thepoint of a common Kapampangan vote, Southern Tarlac has votedalmost invariably like Pampanga, and unlike Northern Tarlac, in prac-tically every election, including the just-concluded one.

The inescapable conclusion is that the Kapampangan Re-gion is a legitimate region linguistically, culturally, and historically,and now politically as well. The last factor should finally convinceKapampangans, as well as the authorities, to promptly work toconstitute the Kapampangan-speaking areas into a separate politi-cal region, in preparation for a shift to the federal system, in whichthey should have a federal state of their own. Aside from theabove factors, it certainly has the economic clout to stand on itsown. Of the eight major language groups, only Kapampangansand Pangasinenses do not have regions of their own, somethingthat is long overdue for both. The Kapampangan Region is largerin area and population than at least 21 independent countries,including Barbados, Grenada, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Malta,Mauritius and Seychelles, and in population than at least 24 in-cluding Brunei, Cyprus, Estonia, Fiji, Gabon, Guyana and Swaziland.This may be the last chance to save the Kapampangan languageand identity.

For the President, it will be an opportunity to leave a legacy,the survival of Kapampangan and other regional languages. It willbe a most appropriate legacy by a leader with a command of somany tongues, and one for which future generations will be eter-nally grateful.

In the 1700s, the territory of Pampanga extended all the way to Nueva Vizcayain the north and Baler in the east, covering all of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija andportions of Bulacan and Bataan

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RIGHTFUL PLACE. Aguman Sanduk participants in the shadow of thecenturies-old Minalin Church (All color photos by Robby Tantingco)

8 UNIQUE KAPAMPAN

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Kapampangans are still debating whether mallsare good or bad for the local economy. The debate mayas well apply to what they do to local culture. The Gi-ant Lantern Festival of the City of San Fernando, thelubenas of Angeles City, the Malaya Lolas’ book launch,the Pampanga Arts Guild exhibits—these are just someof the cultural events that may not have happened atall had SM, Robinson’s and Nepo Malls not sponsoredthem. By picking the tab, the malls saved these tradi-tions from extinction and ensured that Kapampanganswill continue seeing them for years to come.

However, there’s just this little thing that the mallsare asking in return: can these sponsored events pleasebe held in the mall grounds? These modern-day parksensure a big audience and take care of collateral wor-ries like marketing and technical production.

Problem is, the people who go to malls go thereto shop, not to watch a cultural show. Thus, they merelystop and stare at a basulto singing contest in one ofthe mall’s halls, for example, and then leave. The heavytraffic of shoppers gives organizers the illusion of pa-tronage.

Secondly, a folk tradition that is uprooted fromits natural habitat and staged in an artificial environ-ment may not be a good thing. Bandurias and acousticguitars are electronically enhanced or they’d bedrowned out by disco music blasting from the central-ized speaker system and by the din of the noisy crowdreverberating across the cavernous mall. Because shop-pers have not been as psychologically preconditionedfor a cultural show as ticketed patrons are, folk festi-vals held in malls leave no lasting impression on theirviewers, and therefore fail in their objective to createcultural awareness. They may continue surviving formany years but that’s all they will do, survive. Failingto take root, they will eventually wither and die.

Malls should push their good intentions one stepfarther by dropping the condition in the contract andby agreeing to sponsor the festival right in the commu-nity where it originated. The community, for its part,should ask only for partial, not total, sponsorship frombig business and rely on its own resources. One goodexample is Sapangbato’s sabat santacruzan that theCenter for Kapampangan Studies asked Nepo Mall toco-sponsor last May. This unique version of the Mayfestival, featuring costumed performers recitingKapampangan verses in the street as they interrupt thesantacruzan, had been sustained by the David Familyevery year until they could no longer do so starting fiveyears ago. The Center, furthermore, will assist the or-ganizers in converting the tradition into a community

By Robby Tantingco

The malling of Pampanga and the SMization of its folk festivals—i.e., financing traditions on the condition of holding them

in shopping centers —is it boom or bane to local culture?

GAN FOLK FESTIVALS

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project in which other Sapangbato families and success-ful residents donate money, time and resources to reviveit and stage it not in the city proper or in the mall but inthe streets of Sapangbato where it began God knows howmany decades, even centuries, ago.

The Kapampangan Region—Pampanga, SouthernTarlac and a few towns in Nueva Ecija, Bulacan andBataan—is on the threshold of becoming a part of the ex-panding orbit of the Tagalog Metro-Manila. Its uniquetraditions, from the limbun of the northern towns to thelibad of the southern towns, are in real danger of beingforgotten by a population that has allowed its tastes,lifestyles and priorities to be defined by the giant malls.

Last year, when Robinson’s built the world’s largestlantern in response to SM’s Giant Lantern Festival,Kapampangans finally realized that malls support cultureonly to the extent that culture supports the malls, i.e., far

from being altruistic, malls are in reality after benefits suchas the fiesta-like atmosphere that cultural activities cre-ate, and the good image they help the malls to project.Cultural workers and artists may be lured to take advan-tage of the availability of funds but with the Robinson lan-tern standing forlornly in the middle of the empty parkinglot like a homecoming queen that missed her own parade,they are beginning to wonder if accepting the malls’ offeris worth commercializing, adulterating or uprooting cul-ture.

Malls can only provide the life-support that will pro-long the slow death of local culture; they can never re-store it back to health.

Here’s a catalogue of those charming, peculiar butvanishing folk festivals:

1. LUBENASIt’s another folk tradition forced to turn to commerce and tourismafter being disowned by a religion that has outgrown its usefulness

WHERE IT STILL SURVIVES: Mabalacat, Magalang,Angeles, San Fernando, Mexico, Concepcion, CapasWHEN IT OCCURS: Nine evenings before Christmas (De-cember 16-24), the same period for simbang bengi (dawn Masses);lubenas is the corruption of novena, meaning “nine”WHAT IT IS: It is a procession on land (limbun, to differen-tiate it from libad which is a procession on water) where two rowsof lanterns mounted on bamboo poles accompany the andas (shoul-der-borne carriage) or carroza (wheeled carriage) bearing the pa-tron saint’s image. The lanterns, five to seven of them on eachrow, are carried by boys or men, sometimes women; except inMexico where only one row of lanterns precede the santo. (Thenumber of lanterns depends on what the barangay can afford.)

At the head of the procession is a lantern in the shape of across, and behind it is another lantern in the shape of a fish, withmovable fins, mouth and tail. Right behind the santo is a solitarylantern that is larger than the rest.

All the lanterns in a lubenas are made of paper and bambooframes and are illuminated from within, either by candlelight orelectric light. (Today, it is only Brgys. Cutcut and San Jose inAngeles City that still include the fish lantern; only one man, 70-year-old Eulogio Catahan or Apung Eloy of Cutcut still makesfish lanterns, and only one household, in Brgy. San Nicolas, stillmakes the peculiar white lanterns of Angeles, quite different fromthe multi-colored lanterns of San Fernando.)

Angeles lanterns have tails while Mabalacat lanterns generallyare tailless.

STARRY NIGHT. Procession of lanterns in Mabalacat

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sion route, usually the main streets sur-rounding the church) were most likelyretained for the Christmas season.WHAT IT MEANS: The lubenasshows the Kapampangan tendency to doeverything in excess: one suffering ofhaving to wake up in the wee hours toattend the nine consecutive simbangbengi (dawn Masses) is obviously still notenough penitence for Kapampangans toprepare their souls for Christmas, theyalso must add another suffering, i.e.,staying up late the night before to at-tend a procession that requires them towalk great distances. ButKapampangans camouflage their suffer-ing beautifully with yet another manifes-tation of excess: instead of just usingcandles to light their procession, theyhave to hoist multi-colored lanterns whichare illuminated from within.WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS:In general, fewer people join processions

because the Church since Vatican II has underemphasized the im-portance of such para-liturgical practices, and also because heavytraffic has made processions inconvenient and even risky. In An-geles, only about five barangays still hold the lubenas; inMabalacat, only 14 out of 27 barangays; the same number do itin Mexico. In Angeles, the maitinis has been transferred from thechurch patio to the Museo ning Angeles grounds and startinglast year to the parking lot of Nepo Mall. Organizers have trans-formed the tradition into an inter-barangay competition, with cashprizes to boot, as an incentive to revive interest in it. This isanother example of a folk tradition that has served the Church solong and so well during its struggling years, but now that it’s be-come anachronistic, is gradually being eased out and therefore isleft with no choice but to turn to that other great structure in thecommunity, the Mall. Parish pastoral councils should reclaim thisgem of a tradition and use it for the reason it was originally in-tended: to bring people back to church like moths being lured to thelight. Holding it in secular settings diffuses its religious significance,and artificially propping it up by turning it into a contest cheapensits spirit. (R. Tantingco)

The peculiar fishlantern and whitelanterns of Angeles.

Marching behind the carroza is the local choir singing “Dios teSalve,” usually accompanied by a brass band or a lone guitarist.According to historian Mariano Henson, the two most popularversions of “Dios te Salve” were arranged by Prof. Higino Herreraand Prof. Antonio G. Dizon.

In Mexico town, the singers pause at intervals topray the rosary. This practice is probably a vestige fromthe Spanish times when Kapampangans had a peculiarway of doing a procession: they stopped at certain pointsto watch the reenactment of the life of whoever saint wasbeing honored in the procession.

From December 16 to December 24, the town’sbarangays hold simultaneous lantern processions in theirrespective areas; on Christmas Eve, right before the Mid-night Mass, lantern processions from these barangays con-verge in the church patio, creating a wonderland of hun-dreds of lanterns of various shapes and colors. This eventis called maitinis (probably from the word matins).HOW IT BEGAN: Henson said the tradition started(or was already existing) when the town of Angeles firstcelebrated the La Naval fiesta in October, 1830. But thepractice of lighting paper lanterns for religious festivals,which is common among Far East countries, probably origi-nated in Bacolor, site of the first La Naval celebrations(held in November) in Pampanga. Because of the prox-imity of the La Naval to Christmas, the same lanternsused to line the dalan paglimbunan (designated proces-

HAIL MARY IN SPANISH. One of seven versions of Dios Te Salvecomposed by Kapampangans for the lubenas. (Annotation byEdwin Lumanog).

1933 painting of lubenas by Vicente Alvarez Dizon

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WHERE IT STILL SURVIVES: San Fernando

WHEN IT OCCURS: Saturday night before Christmas Eve

WHAT IT IS: It is a competition of giant lanterns, measuringtwo- to three-stories high, trucked in from the competing barangaysof San Fernando. During the performance, the lanterns taketurns in impressing spectators with a display of dancing lights madepossible through rotors placed behind the lantern—large steel bar-rels rotated by a driver to synchronize with the music. Each rotorcontains a map made of thousands of hairpins (yes, aspile), eachhairpin corresponding to a light bulb in the lantern to which it isconnected by an electric wire. Strips of masking tape cover por-tions of the rotor so that when the rotor is rotated, the flow ofelectricity to the lantern is cut or released according to this map,thus producing the illusion of dancing lights.

This rotor technology is both primitive and ingenuous. Thebeauty and elegance of a giant lantern hide the complex networkthat powers it: 4,000 light bulbs individually holed up in a vastmesh of wires, cardboard and foil, covered with layers upon layersof multicolored paper and plastic, and connected to the rotors byhundreds of yards of electric wire tangled like spaghetti at theback of the lantern.

During the competition, the lanterns “dance” to cheesy musiclike soundtracks from Voltes V and Hawaii Five-O or irreverent poptunes like Ocho-Ocho, Spaghetting Pababa and Ang Bangu-bangong Bulaklak, and judges grade the lanterns based on synchronicityand audience impact, rarely on the lantern’s design since many ofthem are done by the same makers and therefore the differencesin design are not that radical. When the giant lantern festival wasstill held in the patio of the San Fernando Cathedral, the lanternsdanced to a live brass band playing traditional Kapampangan songslike Atin Cu Pung Singsing and O Caca, O Caca.HOW IT BEGAN: As mentioned earlier, the tradition of

2. LIGLIGAN PARULClash of the titans: lanterns as big as housesflash their amazing technicolor lights like giant electronic peacocks—but these behemoths are an endangered species

illuminated lanterns in Pampanga most likely began in Bacolor aspart of the La Naval festivities. Residents used paper lanterns toprotect candle flames from wind and rain during the La Naval monthsof October and November. When the capital was transferred toSan Fernando in 1904, the tradition of illuminated paper lanternsfollowed as well, although the competition itself may have begunonly in 1908, in the new capital. The shift to electricity-poweredlanterns occurred in 1931; with the problem of lighting thus solved,the lantern makers focused on expanding the size and enhancingthe design and technology of the lanterns, including the innovativerotor system which replaced the manual switching system.WHAT IT MEANS: The ligligan parul of San Fernando is ashowcase of Kapampangan vision, ingenuity and craftsmanship,and of the Kapampangans’ willingness to overspend just to pro-duce a thing of beauty. Residents of the city may have becomejaded to the giant lanterns but tourists are always dumbfoundedby their magnificence and native technology. They look like space-ships with blinking rainbow lights descending upon the crowd, butmore than being visual wonders, the San Fernando lanterns aregenuine community heirlooms, giant heirlooms like the pyramidsof Egypt which contain an ancient technology passed down fromthe ancestors. Part of the charm is their fleeting nature: you knowthat they are put together only in December and after that theyare disassembled again. Their heft and size make them unstoreableeven in warehouses. You often see cannibalized giant lanternslying in backyards during the rainy season, like skeletons long de-composed but awaiting their next reincarnation. It’s both sad andhopeful.WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS: Years ago, the ligliganparul was held in the cathedral grounds in downtown San Fernando;later it was transferred to the Paskuhan Village parking lot andrecently to the SM parking lot. The commercialization was inevi-

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table to keep the amount of prizes com-mensurate to the rising cost of building agiant lantern, which can cost up toP300,000.00. Only a few barangays canafford to join the competition; in fact, themakers of giant lanterns are concentratedin only three barangays, namely, Del Pi-lar, Sta. Lucia and San Jose. The bestknown lantern maker today is RolandQuiambao; he is often commissioned tomake the lanterns of several barangays;thus, he is the one competing with him-self. The lanterns should express the char-acter of the barangay that owns it andshould be a product of the residents’ cre-ativity, instead of just their ability to pay.There should be an effort to reintroducetraditional elements and return to the origi-nal intents of the festival; for example, or-ganizers argue that old Kapampangantunes are not fast enough and thereforenot challenging enough for the dancingcapacities of the lanterns. But this is be-cause the festival has degenerated into acontest of the lanterns’ technological prow-ess, instead of their aesthetics; after all, itis a giant lantern festival, not a dancinglantern festival. Also, these magnificentmonuments of light and color do not de-serve to be unveiled in the parking lot of ashopping center; they have to be returnedto the parish church which inspired theircreation in the first place; if the patio can-not accommodate the number of viewers,maybe a series of shows can be done, notonly in the cathedral grounds but also inthe barangays which they represent, andnot only during Christmas but long afterit, if only to make the costly lanterns worthall the money the barangays have raisedto make them. In recent years, the citygovernment has made an effort to use thelanterns as vehicles of local tourism by ex-hibiting them in distant places like RizalPark, Intramuros, and even Taiwan. (R.Tantingco, with additional notes by IvanAnthony Henares).

Behind each giant lantern is therotor system mounted on a truck.

DWARFED. Roland Quiambao dresses up one of his giant lanterns. Below, the realwonder of the giant lanterns is the illusion of dancing lights and kaleidoscopiccolors during performance.

Ivan

Hen

ares

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WHERE IT STILL SURVIVES: Minalin; a smaller ver-sion called Aguman Sensi used to be held in San Antonio, Bacoloruntil lahar forced the evacuation of the entire villageWHEN IT OCCURS: In the afternoon of New Year’s Day,when most people, including tourists and media men, catch up onlost sleep from the previous night’s revelry—which is why AgumanSanduk is Pampanga’s best-kept secretWHAT IT IS: Aguman Sanduk, literally “fellowship of theladle” (Aguman Sensi, on the other hand, means “fellowship of thespatula”) is an annual event held only in Minalin town, wherehundreds of boys and men from various barangays pour into thestreet wearing wigs, make-up and women’s clothes. It isPampanga’s own Gay Pride Parade, except that no gays are al-lowed. It is the menfolk of Minalin—sunburned farmers and fisher-men, local doctors and engineers, school boys and neighborhoodthugs—who unabashedly parade in the streets around the parishchurch in full transvestite glory. These days, the celebration hasbeen enhanced by the inclusion of floats representing the barangaysof the town; each float features the “ladies” and a number of cos-

3. AGUMAN SANDUKHundreds of farmers and fishermen put on their wives’ lipstickand wear their daughters’ mini-skirts, every year since 1931,all in the spirit of fun and in defiance of long-cherished Kapampangan values

DANCING QUEENS. Women and children of Minalin watch their menfolk do the unthinkable: dress up as girls in the middleof the street and in broad daylight. Below, that’s a man in a dress wearing a paper crown spiked with tuyo.

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tumed performers, satirizingconventional women’s roles likegiving birth, preparing dinner,etc. The float is preceded andfollowed by more “ladies” do-ing choreographed dances.After the parade, a short pro-gram is held in the church pa-tio to determine the year’sAguman Sanduk Queen,who is the ugliest of the cross-dressers. Thus, the “muse” ofeach competing barangay notonly dresses up as a woman buthas to look like an ugly woman,which is why Aguman Sandukis both a celebration of wom-anhood and a parody of it.HOW IT BEGAN: It allstarted in 1931 when a groupof Minalin men, drinking beerand eating lelut manuk in frontof the old municipal hall (nowmuseum), brainstormed onhow to end the long Christmasseason with a bang. Theydared each other to do the ul-timate no-no among

Kapampangan men: make fun of theirmanliness by wearing a dress in public.And do it smack on New Year’s Day, indefiance of the superstition that what-ever you do on the first day of the year,

you’d be condemned to do it the restof the year.

In the early years, AgumanSanduk participants did not merelywalk in the street but role-playedwomen, the most popular ofwhich was a pregnant wife be-ing attended to by a midwifeand a worried husband, atopa gareta (carabao-driven cart)which paraded around thepoblacion. In the evening, themen performed crissotan (ver-bal jousts in which poets com-posed witty verses on the spot).The first Aguman SandukQueen was Hilarion Serrano.According to old folks, promi-nent men participated in theAguman Sanduk through theyears: retired SandiganbayanJustice Roberto Lagman,ConCon delegate RicardoSagmit, Jr., provincial boardmember Antonio Mercado,and a long line of mayors andparish priests.

In the 1950s the menfolkof San Antonio, a barrio inBacolor, launched their own

version of the Aguman Sanduk,calling it Aguman Sensi. It proved

as enduring as the original, until lahar fromMount Pinatubo erased the village from the mapin 1995 and forced the residents to resettle inBulaon, San Fernando. So far, no one is talkingabout reviving the tradition.WHAT IT MEANS: Aguman Sanduk isa weird festival not only because of the freakishmakeover of the participants, but also becauseit parodies Kapampangan machismo andKapampangan pulchritude—two biases firmlyenshrined on the altar of Kapampangan socio-cultural values. Sociologists may also see it asan expression of Kapampangan joie de vivre,their carefree spirit that drives them to reck-lessly plunge into anything that will put them introuble later on. Sociologists may also see thisquaint festival as a protest against—and libera-tion from—a whole catalogue of political incor-rectness, e.g., gender discrimination, fear of ho-mosexuality, etc.

Aguman Sanduk likewise calls attention to

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the little-known fact that it is the Kapampangan man, not woman,who is the better cook. Most likely, Augustinian friars taught theirhouseboys and sacristans the art of culinary fusion, blending indig-enous and Spanish elements to produce dishes that were accept-able to both the friar and his native house companions; thus, ben-efiting from this unique arrangement and also from the availabilityof all necessary condiments in the rich priest’s kitchen, Kapampangancuisine has achieved universal respectability and has created thearchetypal Kapampangan male cook brandishing a sanduk.

Aguman Sanduk is also noteworthy on two aspects: one is itsendurance, and the other is its purity of intent. The fact that theresidents of this small village have been doing it for more than 70years, despite the war, the eruption, the economic depression,and the fact that they have done it not for religion, and certainlynot for media attention or for tourism (because it’s held in theafternoon of New Year’s Day when tourists and TV crews are asleep,the only spectators they have are their own wives and children)—these prove that Aguman Sanduk, despite its relatively recent andshallow beginnings, has earned the right of being considered a

genuine Kapampangan folk festival.WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS: Today, Aguman Sandukremains little known outside the town itself. Since it is a uniqueKapampangan tradition, it should be promoted by holding it through-out the province as part of town fiestas and company parties. Promi-nent citizens, like the governor, town mayors, priests and businessand civic leaders should participate and show that they do not taketheir manliness and handsome faces too seriously. Local organizersshould not allow it to degenerate into a gay beauty contest; theyalso should revive cultural elements like the crissotan and shouldnot inject adulterations like inviting Manila celebrities who will onlyhog the limelight away from the cross-dressers. A couple of yearsago, they invited the Sex Bomb dancers who stole the show fromthe “ladies,” nearly caused the stage to collapse and erased thewhole point of Aguman Sanduk. The people of Minalin should besmart enough to recognize, respect and preserve the cultural trea-sure that their forebears have passed down to them, and to pass iton to the next generations in its pristine form. (R. Tantingco)

QUEER AS FOLK. Even the neighborhood thugs are ready for their close-ups; Aguman Sanduk is only for heterosexualmen, and gays can have their separate beauty pageants on another day. Far left, it is every child psychologist’s nightmareto see boys and adolescent men dress up as women, but in Minalin no one seems to care.

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WHERE IT STILL SURVIVES: Sasmuan, Lubao,Macabebe, BetisWHEN IT OCCURS: While Sasmuan marks its town fi-esta on the feast of its patron saint, St. Lucy, on December 13,kuraldal is held with great fervor in the week starting January 6,which used to be the feast of the Three Kings (recently strickenout from the reformed Church calendar). The only plausible ex-planation for the date is the connection between light, which is themeaning of the saint’s name, and the Star of Bethlehem whichguided the Three Kings. In Sta. Cruz, Lubao, the residents dancethe kuraldal on the barrio’s fiesta on May 3, towards the end of theprocession in front of the chapel along the Olongapo-Gapan Road.In Macabebe, barrios and sitios celebrating their respective fies-tas in May perform their small-scale kuraldal. In Betis, a group of24 dancers and 2 instructors, all residents of Sta. Ursula, dancetheir own version of kuraldal with swordfights on July 25 (feast ofSt. James) and for 9 consecutive days before the feast day, whendevotees fetch the saint’s image from the hermana’s residence.WHAT IT IS: Kuraldal is a dance in honor of St. Lucy (al-though in other places, Kapampangans do the kuraldal in honor oftheir respective saints). It is performed by devotees who make apilgrimage to Sasmuan during the town’s fiesta (December 13)and with increasing intensity all the way to kuraldal season in Janu-ary. Dancers cry “Viva Santa Lucia! Puera sakit!” (“Away with ail-

4. KURALDALPilgrimage to a small fishing village brings hope to childlesscouples, who must dance this wild dance all night long on thefeast of St. Lucy

ments!”); petitions range from pregnancy to winning the lotto topassing the board exams.

The mother of all kuraldal, the Sasmuan kuraldal, starts in themorning of January 6, after the 8 AM Mass. A short-distance pro-cession of the image of St. Lucy, between the parish church andthe Sta. Lucia barangay chapel, along the narrow portion of thedalan paglimbunan (procession route), is marked by street danc-ing. The next day, January 7, a group of women devotees, wear-ing buri hats and dresses with pink-and-white floral designs, dancedoor-to-door for donations. The climax is on the evening of Janu-ary 10, when the Archbishop of San Fernando, the Sasmuan parishpriest and several other priests concelebrate Mass on a makeshiftstage in a square behind the Sta. Lucia barangay chapel. After theMass, two brass bands, one in front of the makeshift stage and theother in front of the chapel, signal the start of the kuraldal. Thecrowd is sometimes so thick that devotees only manage to sway orjump instead of dance. The dancing lasts until after midnight.

Meanwhile, devotees clamber up the makeshift stage to pickup flowers and leaves from the bouquets and rub their handker-chiefs on the image of St. Lucy. This wooden image is a smallerversion of the January 6 image, but probably much older and defi-nitely not made in Spain, judging from the elongated earlobessimilar to Buddha statues, according to church heritage expertProf. Regalado Trota Jose.

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Kuraldal may be theKapampangans’ answer to Obando,but it is wilder. Some dancers havebeen observed to dance non-stopfor several hours, bathed in sweat,

with faces white as sheet and eyes rolling up as if in a trance.In Betis, the 24 dancers are expected to pass on the duty of

performing the kuraldal to their children, in the same way thatthey inherited it from their respective fathers.HOW IT BEGAN: Spanish chronicler Gaspar de SanAgustin wrote in 1698 that an image of St. Lucy had been vener-ated in Sasmuan “since long ago.” More research is needed todetermine if kuraldal may have originated in the tribal dances ofpre-Hispanic Kapampangans and if the Spanish friars who couldnot stop the practice may have merely replaced an unknown pa-gan idol with the image of the Catholic saint. Or, kuraldal mayhave been a para-liturgical ritual begun by the Augustinians or thesecular priests, which, over the years, was moved out from insidethe church to the church patio and later, farther into the streets ofthe community. The timing of kuraldal coincides with the end ofthe duman season in nearby Sta. Rita town, which raises thepossibility that it may have been part of the natives’ harvest ritualsin pre-Hispanic times.WHAT IT MEANS: More research should also be made onwhy only the communities along riverbanks practice kuraldal.Kapampangans, as their name suggests, are river people; theKapampangan civilization began on the riverbanks and merely ra-diated towards the interior of Luzon island. Thus the river towns

in the south are older than the towns in the northern uplands;many traditions found in southern towns are unheard of in thenorthern towns; in fact, going from southern towns to northerntowns in Pampanga is like moving from a cultural feast to a cul-tural famine; Kapampangans seem to lose their cultural footholdthe farther they wander away from their birthplace, the PampangaRiver. Kapampangans in Apalit, Masantol, Macabebe, Sasmuanand Lubao dance at the drop of a hat, even in the middle of thestreet and in broad daylight; their cosmopolitan counterparts inAngeles, Magalang, Mabalacat and San Fernando have todress up first and create artificial inducements like tigtigan terakanking dalan (street disco) to bring themselves to dance in public.WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS: Unless organizers im-pose a liquor ban, devotees will one day stop coming to Sasmuanfor the annual kuraldal, which is gradually being taken over byinebriated teenagers who are clueless about the cultural and reli-gious significance of the event. Local juveniles probably mistakekuraldal for a rave party so they convert the chapel into a disco,dancing wildly and irreverently on pews and on the altar tableitself. Kuraldal is unique to Pampanga; it is probably a hint to howmusical, how carefree, and how hedonistic our Kapampangan an-cestors were; kuraldal should therefore be promoted and posi-tioned as the Kapampangan festival, with the kuraldal dance stepsadopted as the basic dance steps in other Kapampangan festivals,e.g. the Sinukuan Festival in the City of San Fernando and theBaguis Festival in Angeles City, two well-funded cultural inven-tions in search of a theme and a rhythm that resonates with theKapampangan spirit. (R. Tantingco with additional notes byArwin Paul Lingat)

DANCING FOR MONEY. Costumed dancers perform door to door for donations

MIRACULOUS. Left, image of St. Lucy is the object of veneration. Above, the basic kuraldaltune (annotated by Edwin Lumanog).

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5. BATALLA

WHERE IT STILL SURVIVES: Most barangays in Macabebe but particularly Brgy.Dalayap, which is one of those villages in the Pampanga River Delta that can now be reached onlyby boat after farmlands were converted into fishponds in the 1970s; also Brgy. Sapang Kuayan inMasantol and Brgy. Sto. Niño in San Simon townWHEN IT OCCURS: May 22, which is the barrio fiesta of Dalayap (feast of St. Rita),although it is a moveable feast depending on how soon the annual floods come; last Sunday of Aprilin barrio Sta. Maria, Macabebe; in Sapang Kuayan, it is held on the last Saturday of February; in Sto.Niño, on January 25WHAT IT IS: Batalla may just be a variation of kuraldal, since both involve dancing and usethe same music, but batalla seems to be a reenactment rather than devotional. After the 4 p.m.Mass officiated by a visiting Catholic priest in the predominantly Methodist village of Dalayap, theprocession begins at the chapel and heads for a footbridge to the east. Then it makes a U-turn just

Everything rocks and rolls in this irreverent procession, butthis obscure village holds the clue to the power of folk and

to the ultimate destiny of the Church in the Third World

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before reaching the bridge, and that’s the signal for the start ofbatalla: the brass band starts playing the familiar kuraldal tune,and devotees begin to dance the batalla, which is different fromthe steps of kuraldal. Batalla is mostly hopping, which intensifiesas the band plays faster, with intervals of swaying when the musicslows down. All participants, from ciriales-bearing acolytes tobarefoot children and old wives and fishermen, jump and danceas they negotiate their way through narrow streets and aroundfishponds and riverbanks, until after sunset. Those who carry theandas, bearing the tiny image of their patron saint, rock it fromside to side, at times really violently, as they chant “Oy! Oy! Oy!Oy! Oy!” Devotees form two lines behind the andas by holdingthe shoulders of the person in front of them: adults right behindthe saint, where the dancing is most violent, teenagers in themiddle, and small children, some barely above the ground, at thetail-end.

When the procession finally returns to the chapel, the partici-pants, including the andas bearers, start running around and shout-ing like banshees, similar to what the Chinese do in their dragondance. Afterwards, they position the image in front of the churchdoor and then perform a ritualized tug-o’-war; the intensity and

the violence of the dancing and shouting indicate that the batallahas reached its climax. It then resolves itself with the saint beingallowed inside the chapel. The band plays a few more tunes be-fore the crowd’s excitement subsides.HOW IT BEGAN: The oldest villagers in Dalayap say batallawas already practiced by their parents and grandparents. Batalla,which means “battle,” is quite obviously a ritual based on moro-moro, popular during the colonial days, depicting the battle be-tween the Crusaders and the heathens, or perhaps between theChristian conquistadores and the Muslims who were the inhabit-ants of Pampanga at the time of the Spanish Conquest in 1571.Like kuraldal, batalla may have been a pre-Hispanic tribal dancethat was merely Christianized when the missionaries came. Thereare no references to this unique Kapampangan ritual in extantSpanish documents.WHAT IT MEANS: The folks who practice batalla probablydo not realize that they are reliving the struggle between the Mus-lim Kapampangans and the Christian Spaniards. The eventual entryof the saint’s image through the chapel’s door and the subsiding ofemotions immediately thereafter may be seen to symbolize the

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successful Christianization of Kapampangans and the pacificationof their land. But one small point should not be missed: the saintsucceeds in entering the door only because the people have al-lowed it, and not as a result of a defeat in battle. In history,outside of Tarik Soliman’s defeat in battle which occurred in Ma-nila and not on Kapampangan soil, there is no known resistanceput up by Kapampangans when the Spaniards penetrated the landfor the first time by way of the river. In the metaphor of thebatalla, the saint’s entry may be interpreted as Kapampanganshaving lost the battle but won the war, i.e., while Christianity trans-formed them, they also transformed Christianity through thefolksification of religion. Common folk create their own rituals likemakeshift ladders so they can reach an unreachable God; priestswho decide these folk rituals have outlived their usefulness some-times cruelly terminate them and replace them with alien ways ofworship, leaving the people to wander about listlessly. This ob-scure festival called batalla in this obsure fishing village in Masantolprobably holds the clue to the ultimate destiny of the Church inthis part of the world: the revelers, towards the end of batalla,boisterously seizing the chapel with no priest in sight recalls theimage of a revolution and hints at the uncontrollable, untamable

power of folk and its eventual victory.WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS: Tourists, media peopleand researchers have largely ignored batalla owing to the distanceand scarcity of the places where it occurs. In the case of Dalayap,the obstacles include the frequent ebb and flow of the river whichfloods the village around the time of its fiesta, and the brownouts(electricity is out longer than it’s on). The batalla there ends earlyin the evening because the entire place is thrown in total darkness.

Although the residents have mostly converted to Methodist andother Protestant denominations, many of them continue to join thebatalla; fiesta visitors from other barrios also swell the number ofrevelers. Still, the tiny community can hardly afford the requisitebrass band, much less a generator to light up the batalla venue.The practice is also threatened by intoxicated participants who be-come violent and vulgar when the image of St. Rita enters the chapeland the band starts playing popular ditties. Concerned parish pas-toral councils, instead of barangay officials, should take charge ofthe event to preserve its religious content and prevent it from dete-riorating into a mere tourist attraction or worse, a political vehicle.(R. Tantingco)

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6. LIBAD

WHERE IT IS STILL PRAC-TICED: Apalit, Sasmuan, Minalin,MacabebeWHEN IT OCCURS: In Apalit,where the biggest and most elaborate cel-ebration occurs on the Rio Grande(Pampanga River), the first libad beginson June 28 and the last one occurs onJune 30. In Sasmuan, small libad areheld by the barangays and sitios locatedalong the whole stretch of the river DalanBapor (Guagua-Pasac River) during theirrespective fiesta; in Minalin, the libad isheld during the town’s fiesta on the sec-ond Sunday of May, along the San Fran-cisco River; and in Macabebe, specifi-cally on the river island of Pulu, a libadaround the two-kilometer island is heldon the feast of Nuestra Señora deCandelaria.WHAT IT IS: Libad is the genericterm that refers to a fluvial procession heldin honor of a patron saint; in Apalit, it is inhonor of St. Peter, whom locals intimatelyrefer to as Apung Iru. Two big libad areheld to accompany the passage of the ven-erated image of Apung Iru, which is an Arnedo family heirloom butwhich is lent to the parish church on the feast of St. Peter on June29. The first libad is held the day before, when the image “travels”to the Apalit church; the second, more boisterous, libad occurs theday after the fiesta, when the image “returns home.”

On June 28, after the 9 AM Mass,, the ivory-faced image of

Pampanga’s own fluvial procession has swimmers manually pulling thepagoda across the river and devotees being rewarded with a spectacularshower of food from the riverbanks, like manna from heaven

Apung Iru leaves its chapel in Brgy.Capalangan, and is borne in procession bythe Knights of St. Peter, who wear brightorange shirts. After the procession on land,the image is brought to the banks of a tribu-tary leading to the Pampanga River in Brgy.Sulipan and put on a pituya (two or three smallboats tied together), which takes it to the pa-goda (barge decorated and made to look likea multi-tiered house). The Pampanga RiverControl System (PRCS) and later, the Depart-ment of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)regularly lent the barges on which the pagodais mounted to prevent a repeat of the tragedyin a similar festival in Bocaue, Bulacan. Mean-while, hundreds of boats, many of which arefestooned with images associated with St. Pe-ter (cock, fish, etc.) and bearing brass bandsand wildly cheering revelers, accompany thebarge as it negotiates a seven-kilometer stretchof the Pampanga River. Organizers have in-stituted an inter-barangay competition of boatdecorations to liven up the celebration. Thebarge lands in Brgy. San Juan, in a port un-der the North Expressway bridge, from whereApung Iru is led in procession again towardsthe Apalit parish church, where it stays during

the town fiesta.On June 30, the image of Apung Iru is taken from the church

after a Mass at 8 AM, to the same port in San Juan where anotherMass is held; then, another libad commences as the saint is re-turned to Capalangan. It is in this last libad where thousands ofdevotees on both sides of the Pampanga River keep pace with the

Ivan

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FIRST POPE. Life-size ivory image ofSt. Peter a.k.a. Apung Iru theFisherman

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progress of the pagoda; there are groupswho wave leaves and flowers as theydance to the strains of kuraldal fromanother brass band on land. There arealso those who climb up the roof of theirhouses so they can throw apples, cannedgoods, boiled eggs, etc. on the peopleon the pagoda or on the boats accom-panying the pagoda, presumably to easethe hunger pangs of devotees who haveskipped lunch to follow the image, or,as a local superstition goes, to feed St.Peter who comes disguised as a hungryold fisherman during his feast day. Theshower of food is both breathtaking andenvironmentally unsound, because thestuff that doesn’t land on the boats stayson the water for days. The Knights ofSt. Peter, swimming in the river’s murkywater, pull the barge with a thick abacarope to make sure it doesn’t tilt and alsoto guide it towards the river banks whereclusters of devotees wave and splash inthe water. Somewhere in Brgy.Tabuyoc, where the pagoda has beenassembled earlier, two sets of Knightsperform a push-and-pull ritual with thepagoda, so that the image stays longerin the vicinity. In Brgy. Sulipan, theimage is taken from the barge and borneon the shoulders of another set of theKnights of St. Peter, for a procession tobring it back to its chapel in Capalanganwhere it will stay until the next fiesta.Thousands of devotees, many of themdancing the kuraldal, follow Apung Iruin this last leg of the procession, manyof them shouting “Viva Apung Iru!”

FROM WAY BACK. Libad in 1929; below, libad in 1950.

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HOW IT BEGAN: Kapampangans insouthern towns like Apalit used to celebratebayung danum (new water), the early floods ofthe season, which may have been the pre-His-panic equivalent of new year. The Spanish fri-ars probably Christianized this pagan practiceby introducing saints like St. Peter and St. Johnthe Baptist, whose feast days in June coincidewith the ancient holidays.

The ivory image of Apung Iru, said to be300 years old, is a family heirloom of MacarioArnedo, governor of Pampanga in 1904-1912.Don Pedro Armayan (or Umayan) is credited tohave brought the image from Spain in 1844. In2002, the family’s mansion in Capalangan mys-teriously burned down, which necessitated thetransfer of the image to the barangay chapel.

According to old folks, the early years of thelibad saw only a few boats, none of which wasmotorized, accompanying the image on its tripto and from the Apalit church. One of the locallegends is that fish leaped out of the water in theduration of the libad. Another is that one revelerdrowned every year as a sacrifice to the river.WHAT IT MEANS: Fluvial processionsare common in regions that are awashed withriver networks, but the libad of Pampanga isunique because of the intense devotion, theelaborate celebrations, and the mystical con-nection between the people and the river. TheApalit libad, according to former UNESCO Com-missioner Prof. Felipe de Leon, Jr., is a com-bination of Naga’s Peñafrancia fluvial proces-sion and Tayabas’ hagisan during which devo-tees throw foodstuff from their houses in thewake of the San Isidro procession on the street.It is also a hodge-podge of Christian and paganelements so fused over decades of repeated oc-currence that it is impossible to tell one fromthe other. Is the throwing of food meant for theKnights of St. Peter or for the river itself? Arethe devotees thanking the saint or the riverwhose cyclic floods replenish their farmlands andlead fish to their very doorstep?

Kapampangans seem to nurture their spiritby returning regularly to the cradle of their civi-lization—the river after which their land wasnamed—in the same manner that the Hindus,for example, make regular pilgrimages to theGanges and bathe in its banks at least once ayear for spiritual renewal.WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS: Lo-cals believe each libad always claims one fatal-ity; while this may only be a superstition, casesof drowning have indeed occurred during thefrenzy of the river celebrations—although noth-ing in the same magnitude as the tragedy inBocaue, Bulacan. Local organizers should in-crease the number of patrols and lifeguards dur-ing the libad and if it can be helped, ban politi-cians from using the participating boats as ve-hicles for their campaign streamers. The festi-val can also be a launch pad for the proposedriver cruises of the Department of Tourism. (R.Tantingco with additional notes by TonetteOrejas)

Devotees throw foodstuff in plastic bags at the Knights of St. Peter.

The Rio Grande is filled with hundreds of boats; below, revelers on theriverbanks greet the passing pagoda.

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7. SABAT SANTACRUZAN

WHERE IT STILL SURVIVES: Sapangbato (Ange-les), whose patron saint is the Santa Cruz (Holy Cross), SanFernando and some villages in Concepcion (Tarlac)WHEN IT OCCURS: Towards the end of May

WHAT IT IS: Also known as Goydo-goydo (after Goy doBorgonia, successor of Constantine), sabat is a version of thesantacruzan in which costumed performers interrupt the proces-sion to challenge the sagalas and their consortes to a duel, eitherthrough verbal joust or in a swordfight. It is a reenactment of theambuscades that infidels (Moros) launched on the Crusaders asthey returned to Europe after finding the Holy Cross. Thesantacruzan itself, before it degenerated into a pageant of beautyqueens and starlets, used to be a novena procession commemo-rating the finding (not the search, because Reyna Elena is alreadyholding it!) of the Cross by Empress Helena and her son, Em-peror Constantine, in Jerusalem. The basic storyline of theSapangbato version, which is handwritten on a thick book thatresembles a pasyun, begins with Reyna Elena embarking on a searchfor the Cross and ordering Goy do Borgonia, next in line to her sonEmperador Constantino, to repel an attack led by Moro queenFlorifis, sister of Prinsipe Arabiano and Prinsipe Turquiano.Goy do Borgonia, however, falls in love with Florifis and is unableto carry out Reyna Elena’s order, thus prompting the queen to turnto Emperador Carlo Magno of the Franciang Corte for help. CarloMagno sends eight of his 12 brave princes (Doce Pares), namely,

The charming original form of the vastly popularbut shamelessly commercialized santacruzan lives onin a small village at the foothills of Mount Pinatubo

Prinsipe Roldan (the captain), Oliveros, Reynaldos,Conderlos, Goyperos, Montesino, Galalon and Ricarte. TheCrusade encounters many battles en route to joining Reyna Elena’sparty; in one battle, Roldan slays Moro prince Clynos and wearshis cape. Meanwhile, Reyna Elena and party finally discover theCross relics on Monte Lebano (Mount Lebanon), and start theirvictorious journey back to Europe, singing Viva Victoria! They en-counter Roldan who is still on his way to the Holy Land and whomthey do not recognize because of his borrowed Moro cape andalso because they think he’s been dead. Reyna Elena asks each ofRoldan’s princes who also do not recognize him—except Olivares,who confirms Roldan’s identity. The problem thus settled, theprocession resumes until they are ambushed by Prinsipe Arabiano.Goy do Borgonia captures the Arab prince but just then Moro queenFlorifis comes to rescue Prinsipe Arabiano, her brother. Being inlove with Florifis, Goy do Borgonio requests permission fom ReynaElena to free Prinsipe Arabiano. Afterwards it is Florifis’ otherbrother, Prinsipe Turquiano, who attacks the procession and isabout to succeed in stealing the Cross when Reyna Elena makesan impassioned speech about the meaning of the relics toChristendom. Moved, Prinsipe Turquiano and the Moros are con-verted.HOW IT BEGAN: Santacruzan originated in Europe, wasexported to Mexico, and then passed on to the Philippines in theearliest days of colonization. Fr. Francisco Coronel, OSA trans-lated in 1689 a papal bull on the practice, Ing Bulla quing Sancta

Swordfights and torchlightsin Sapangbato

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Being a folk ritual conceived by common people who may only haveheard (instead of read) about the stories, the santacruzananachronistically mixes up Biblical, literary and historical personagessuch as: Methuselah (or Matusalem), a bearded old man on a gareta, toast- ing grains of sand on a hot pan to remind us about mortality; Reina Banderada in a long red gown carrying a yellow triangular flag, representing the advent of Christianity; Aeta aborigines, the heathens before the Spaniards came; Reina Mora, the Moro queen, representing the Moslem religion which antedated the Christian faith in the Philippines; Reina Fe (carrying a cross), representing the virtue of Faith; Reina Esperanza (carrying an anchor), the virtue of Hope; Reina Caridad (carrying a red heart), the virtue of Charity; Reina Abogada, wearing a black graduation toga and carries a large book, the defender of the poor and the oppressed; Reina Sentenciada, her hands bound by a rope and flanked by two Roman soldiers, the symbol of people unjustly convicted; Reina Justicia, carrying a weighing scale and a sword; Reina Judith, Judith of Pethulia who saved her city from the Assyrians after she beheaded the cruel Holofernes; she carries the head of the beheaded man on one hand and a sword on the other; Reina Sheba, who visited the famed King Solomon and was over- whelmed by his wisdom, power and riches; she carries a jewelry box; Reina Esther, who spared her countrymen from death and destruc- tion through timely intervention with King Xerxes; she carries a scepter; Samaritana, the woman whom Christ spoke to at the well; she carries a jug on her shoulder; Veronica, the woman who wiped the face of Jesus; she holds a piece of cloth imprinted with the three faces of Jesus; the Tres Marias: Mary of Magdala (she carries a bottle of perfume), Mary, Mother of Christ (she carries a handkerchief), and Mary, mother of James (she carries a bottle of oil); A-V-E—M-A-R-I-A, eight (8) girls wearing long white dresses and angel wings, holding their respective letters; Divina Pastora, Divine Shepherdess, holding a staff; Reina de las Estrellas, Queen of Stars, holding a wand with a star; Rosa Mystica, holding a bouquet of roses; Reina Paz, Queen of Peace, holding the symbol of peace; Reina de las Propetas, Queen of the Prophets, holding an hourglass; Reina del Cielo, Queen of Heaven, holding a flower and accompanied by two angels; Reina de las Virgines, Queen of Virgins, holding a rosary, also flanked by two angels; Reina de las Flores, Queen of Flowers, holding a bouquet of assorted flowers; Reina Elena, Queen Helena, the legendary finder of the True Cross, represented by the small cross she carries, escorted by her son, the Constantino, both canopied by the procession’s largest arco. (For the santacruzan to be more exciting, the identity of the chosen Reina Elena is kept a secret until the day of the procession.) And then comes the carroza bearing the image of the Blessed Virgin

cruzada pepanabanga ming Sto.Padre ing laguionaInocencio decimo. The original santacruzan was like amoro moro staged a la street theatre (estrada); it lastedmany hours as the procession made numerous stopoversto give way to the poetic jousts. Thus it is the sabat, andnot the sagalas-studded santacruzan, that more accu-rately resembles the santacruzans of yesteryears.

The month of May, coinciding with the start of theall-important rainy season, was probably the most festi-val-laden season for the pre-Hispanic Kapampangans. Wehave no idea what these pagan festivals looked like, andhow much have been retained or reflected in today’s fes-tivals. The Spanish friars either banned them, or replacedthe anitos with saints, or coincided calendared feast dayswith folk festivals, which is probably why certain fiestasare played up in Pampanga around this time of year (Sta.Cruz on May 3, Sta. Monica on May 4, San MiguelArcangel on May 8, San Isidro Labrador, patron offarmers, on May 15; Sta. Rita on May 22; San JuanBautista on June 24, and San Pedro or Apung Iru onJune 29). Flores de mayo, the practice of offering flow-ers to the Blessed Mother, is said to have begun in 1854after the Pope proclaimed the dogma of La Purisima (Im-maculate Conception) and lo-cal folks started a separate fes-tival specifically for the BlessedMother who many thought hadbeen overshadowed by Helenain the santacruzan. (Flores demayo is integrated in somesantacruzans, with the inclu-sion in the procession of acarroza bearing the image ofthe Blessed Mother.)WHAT IT MEANS:Kapampangans have threegreat festival seasons, namely,Christmas, Holy Week and May,and of all the celebrations oc-curring in May, the most spec-tacular in terms of costumesand community participation,is the sabat santacruzan. Theromantic elements in the story,e.g., the love affair betweenRoldan and Florifis and the rec-onciliation between Christiansand Muslims, which repudiatesthe notion of Christians subju-gating Muslims and implies theequality and ultimate union ofall religions, resonate amongKapampangans who in 1571gave up Islam to embraceChristianity. WHAT THE FUTUREHOLDS: In Sapangbato,the David Family, who keepsthe original goydo-goydo textas a family heirloom and whosemembers comprise the infor-mal drama company that per-forms it, has ceased produc-ing it since five years ago dueto lack of funding from spon-

TRADITIONALCHARACTERS IN ASANTACRUZAN

Mary and in other cases, with the pintacasi (patron saint) of the town/barrio, followed by a musicus (brass band) playing Dios te salve.

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MOUNTAIN MAIDENS. Below, makeshift canopy shelteringthe Reina Elena is the centerpiece of a folksy santacruzan inSapangbato, Angeles City; above, 1860 sketch of a localsantacruzan (La Illustracion Filipina).

sors and support from the community. The last performance washeld outside Sapangbato upon the request of the sponsor, andunless sabat is staged in its traditional locale, its natural habitatas it were, and unless the Sapangbato community itself res-cues it through organized effort, this extraordinary folk fes-tival, which has a potential for becoming not only a touristattraction but also a catalyst for barangay unity, will justbe another lost and forgotten folk festival of Pampanga.This year the Center for Kapampangan Studies, incooperation with the Nepo Mall, sponsored the revivalof the sabat santacruzan but insisted on it being held inSapangbato, not in the city proper. Judging from thereaction of the villagers, there is hope that they willorganize themselves to support their homegrown tradi-tion and sustain its survival for years to come. The Cen-ter, for its part, will provide technical assistance by spon-soring seminars on community organizing, drama andspeech workshops for performers in the sabat; by tappingsuccessful Sapangbato residents for sponsorship; and by link-ing it up with the city tourism office to promote it as a seasonaltourist destination.(R. Tantingco with additional notes by Edgar John Ocampo).

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Holy Week in the Kapampangan Region is like no other: thepageantry and charming traditions of the Catholic Church collidewith the violent rituals of the common folk. While the rest of thecountry quiets down in prayer and reflection, the entire provinceexplodes with fiesta-like activities that rival and defy the subduedofficial ceremonies inside the churches. Mal a Aldo literally means“Important (or Holy) Days.” The seven-day spread is prefaced withthe Biyernis Dolores, the Friday before Holy Week when

8. MAL Á ALDOThe holiest days of the year are celebrated in the unholiest manner:men mutilating their bodies instead of going to confession, and women on microphones chanting and wailing all night instead of going to Massmicrophones to Mass

Kapampangans celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, thussetting the tone for the next few days. In Sto. Tomas, the imageof the Mater Dolorosa is fetched from the hermana’s residence bya group of stabats, or girls singing the Stabat Mater, and is broughtto the church for the Mass. The hermana throws a party for all--quite strange considering the Church’s rule on fasting for all LentenFridays, but then it may be considered as the local Mardi Gras, orthe feast before the fasting. Some highlights of the week in the

MELODRAMATIC. Hooded men show their children how to ask forgiveness of sins. These boys will most likely do the samething when they grow up.

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Kapampangan Region in chronological order:PALM SUNDAY Blessing of the palaspas (palm leaves) in allchurches in Pampanga and Tarlac occurs in the morning Masses, withsome parishes garnishing their rituals with nuances like having the priestride a donkey and conducting the blessing outside the church to simu-late Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. Palaspas come in many creative forms,the most amusing of which have dangling grasshoppers and birds wovenfrom the palm leaf. In Sasmuan, palaspas-waving residents line thestreet between the church and the nearest visita (chapel), where seven

kubul (shrines or altars) have been set up as stopovers forthe priest who slowly makes his way while blessing thepalaspas. Each kubul, sponsored by a family, has its owncostumed angels singing one version of the Osana (thereare seven versions). Upon reaching the church, the priestknocks on the closed door three times; when the door isopened, everybody enters and the Mass begins.MONDAY By this time, puni or makeshift chapels havemushroomed at every road turn throughout the region.Financed by barangay funds and contributions from theneighborhood, the puni can be as simple as a small altartable with a roof of banana leaves and walls of coconutleaves and bamboo sticks, and as elaborate as a real kapilyawith a painting at the altar depicting a suffering Christ.Inside the puni, a group of singers chant the pasyun, whichis the common folks’ version of the Bible. Visitors areserved coffee, juice or ice cream. In Macabebe andMasantol, puni are usually small but the organizers servelavish food and invite different chanters every night (thebiggest feast is, ironically, on Good Friday). Lining theroad in front of the puni are food stalls, set up for theweek to take advantage of the influx of visitors and kibitz-ers. The atmosphere is fiesta-like. In the parish churchitself, the mood is somber as members of various parishorganizations cheerlessly prepare the liturgy for the week,dress up the carrozas and decorate the monumento, whichis what they call the temporary altar to house the BlessedSacrament on Maundy Thursday.TUESDAY Flagellants have also started to emergefrom fields and orchards after donning the traditional at-tire consisting of a cloth mask crowned with vines and asingle rope tied around the arms and legs. By the time

CONTRAST. While their husbands defy Church ban onflagellation, pious womenfolk of Minalin toe the lineand lead procession of Mater Dolorosa (circa 1920s)

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MAMALASPAS bleeds his back usingthe traditional gadget panabad andlater by repeatedly beating his backwith bamboo sticks (burilyus).

TYPES OF FLAGELLANTS, THEN AND NOW

MAMUSAN KRUS carries a cross madeof hard wood, sometimes bambooand, in some cases, banana trunk.

MAGSALIBATBAT rubs skin againstthe dirt road and crawls for severalkilometers

they hit the street, their bare backs havealready been wounded with a panabad,which is the traditional gadget for bleedingflagellants (the Kapampangan term for fla-gellant is magdarámè or magparáya, “onewho bleeds himself,” although other termsare used to specify the kind of penitenceemployed, e.g., mamalaspas (one who usesbamboo sticks to bleed his back),magsalibatbat (one who throws himself tothe ground), and mamusan krus (one whocarries a cross). Reasons for flagellationrange from asking pardon for sins, to ask-ing favors, to thanksgiving. Flagellants endtheir penitence in the puni, where they layface down as their assistants whip them withbanana stalks while they pray. Flagellantsarrive in the puni singly, in pairs or in groups;their arrival is always accompanied by acrowd. Meanwhile, in the big mansions ofthe poblacion, rich families now based inManila start arriving and preparing their heir-loom santo for the Wednesday prusisyun,

which is the excuse for their annual re-unions.WEDNESDAY Parishes hold a longprocession featuring carrozas of the BlessedMother and the Apostles, but costumed ac-cording to their traditional iconography (todifferentiate this procession from anotherone on Good Friday, when all the saints wearblack). In most towns of Pampanga (ex-cept Mabalacat, Magalang and Mexico;in the case of Angeles and Floridablanca,the Wednesday procession has been mergedwith the Good Friday procession) thecarrozas are tableaux, i.e., entire Biblicalscenes with multiple santos, instead of soli-tary saints (e.g.,Last Supper, Entry to Jerusa-lem, Agony in the Garden, The Arrest,Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning withThorns). The tableaux santos actuallymove, thanks to a mechanism operated byboys hidden under the carroza. The mostspectacular of these tableaux is the TerceraCaida (Third Fall) in pre-lahar Bacolor: a

carroza with the image of a cross-bearingChrist flanked by a Hudyo (literally Jew, butdepicted as Roman soldier, reflecting theoutdated Catholic bias against the Jews) inthe act of whipping Him and another play-ing a drum, met up in front of the publicmarket with another carroza from the op-posite direction, which bore the image ofSt. Veronica. Surrounded by people fromthe merged processions, the two carrozaswere joined to allow Veronica to glide for-ward and reach out to wipe the face of thefallen Christ; when she returned to hercorroza she spread her hands again to re-veal the miracle of Christ’s face being im-printed on the cloth. It was great enter-tainment which, sadly, had been discontin-ued after lahar buried the town in 1995.By the way, Kapampangans traditionally holdtheir processions at 8 P.M. to give them-selves time to go home after the Mass andeat dinner. Many parishes today start theprocession immediately after the late after-

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noon Mass, probablyfor fear that peoplewould no longer re-turn after dinner.

In Magalangand Arayat, someflagellants carrycrosses made fromhuge banana trunks.In Brgy. SanBasilio in Sta. Rita,local folks hold aquaint version of thepasyun, calledpasyun serenata, inwhich two sets ofchanters mounted onelevated platforms (like balconies where la-dies are serenaded from below) alternatelysing the pasyun to the tune of classical op-era pieces, each group of chanters accom-panied by its own brass band situated be-neath the singers. The whole performancelasts all night, and is repeated nightlythroughout the Holy Week. The bands areallowed to play their best pieces during in-tervals between pasyun texts, but there isonly a small crowd to appreciate them. Thebands are also placed precariously close tothe road, where noisy tricycles and over-speeding jeepneys and trucks interfere withthe otherwise magnificent show.MAUNDY THURSDAY Years ago,the Archdiocese banned puni activities af-ter Wednesday; for a while, there was com-pliance, but in recent years this order hasbeen largely ignored. And so while the faith-ful flock to the church for the Maundy Thurs-day rituals like Washing of the Disciples’ Feetand the exposition of the Blessed Sacra-

PASYUN SERENATA. In Sta. Rita town, two sets of pasyunchanters and their respective brass bands try to outperformeach other by alternately singing the entire pasyon to the tuneof zarzuela and opera pieces, with only the traffic andpromenaders around to witness the grand performance.

Crucifixion in Pampanga circa early 1900s;below, costumed Tres Marias in San PedroCutud en route to hill of crucifixion

ment in the monumento, an-other sector of the communitycontinues its own reading of thesalvation story and performs itsown rites of atone-ment, in complete de-fiance of the Church.When darkness falls,thousands of per-fumed Catholics causemassive traffic jams asthey hop from churchto church for the tra-ditional Visita Iglesia;meanwhile, the un-washed hoi polloi millabout on the dustyroad in front of thepuni waiting for thenext flagellants to ar-rive. In Mabalacat,the afternoon Mass ispreceded by a smallritual called Agnus

AGNUS DEI. In Mabalacat, they venerate a cakeshaped like the Lamb of God.

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Dei, in which the costumed Twelve Apostles and members of vari-ous parish organizations fetch an image of the Lamb of God, whichis actually a cake stuffed with cooked meat, to be offered duringthe Mass and eaten afterwards.GOOD FRIDAY Today is the day when thousands ofKapampangan men (and some women) perform their individualand group rituals of blood-letting and self-immolation all acrossPampanga and Tarlac. In Bamban, penitents in uniform Nazarenecostumes and customized crosses converge at the grotto at sun-rise and proceed by batches to Mabalacat, where they all con-verge at the church patio, creating a scene straight out of a CecilB. de Mille epic. In Sta. Maria, Macabebe, even doctors andprofessionals bend down to have their bare backs wounded by alocal manabad before they flagellate themselves in the streets. InMagalang and Arayat, penitents crawl like worms on the dirtroad, rubbing and bruising their skin and covering their bodieswith dust. As noon approaches, various groups reenact the Pas-sion of Christ in street performances: in Pampang, Angeles City,thugs and market stevedores portray Roman soldiers mounted onhorses; in Madapdap Resettlement, Mabalacat and inBatasan, Candaba (now administratively part of Bulacan Prov-ince), men pursue and beat up a cross-bearer with such ferocityand realism to qualify it for reality TV’s Extreme Challenge—bothroad shows end in an actual crucifixion. But all roads lead to SanPedro Cutud and Sta. Lucia, both in San Fernando, where anumber of men and women have themselves nailed to the crossfor the benefit of thousands of foreign and domestic tourists who

CHURCH TRADITION VERSUS FOLK TRADITION. During Holy Week, the pomp and pageantry of official church ritualscollide with the raw violence of folk practices. In Sasmuan, however, flagellants have been allowed to tail the Good Fridayprocession, showing that the two can coexist. Opposite page, bottom, the town’s Sto. Entierro is said to be one of the mostexquisite carrozas in the country, a genuine community heirloom.

brave the heat and the kilometric walk to the local calvary. As theorgy of pain and violence subsides in the late afternoon, thou-sands of Kapampangans converge in church patios for the longGood Friday procession; in Bacolor, San Fernando, Sto. Tomas,Mabalacat, Sta. Rita and Guagua, the image of the grievingBlessed Mother is followed by a choir singing Stabat Mater accom-panied by violins; as the procession passes the Rodriguez Man-sion along Consunji Street in San Fernando, members of the fam-ily throw petals from the balcony. But the highlight of the GoodFriday procession is the hearse bearing the Apung Mamacalulu,also known as Sto. Entierro (“The Interred Christ”). By this time,flagellants have gone home to soothe their aching backs, except inSasmuan, where the Good Friday procession is tail-ended by an-other grim procession of penitents who carry crosses as big aselectric posts—the only place in Pampanga where orthodox ritualsmix with folk practices.BLACK SATURDAY Many parishes hold the Easter Massat 10 PM so that they can coincide the salubung with the stroke ofmidnight. Salubung is the reenactment of the joyful meeting be-tween the Blessed Mother and the Risen Christ; two processionswith their respective carrozas start from opposite sides and meetin front of the church where a girl dressed up as an angel is low-ered from a scaffolding to lift the black veil off the face of theMater Dolorosa. In San Matias, a barangay of Sto. Tomas,scions of prominent families defy the Easter vigil and do the rigodonde honor in the Sabado de Gloria Ball, because the town fiestaalways falls on Easter Sunday (when St. Thomas saw the Risen

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Christ) and tradition dictates a rigodon dehonor must be held on the eve of a town fi-esta.EASTER SUNDAY The most elaboratesalubung are held in front of the churches ofSto. Tomas and Minalin. Shortly before thebreak of dawn, the brass band plays and anall-girls’ choir sing Alleluia as the two santosare positioned face to face. The angel doesnot immediately appear; instead, she is hid-den inside a pusu-pusu (heart-shaped giantbanana flower) which opens in five stages, onelayer of petals at a time. Each opening is ac-companied by the band playing and choir sing-ing, which prolongs the whole ceremony. Af-ter the salubung (also called pusu-pusuan inthese parts), the people go inside the churchfor the Easter Mass. In Sto. Tomas, anotherquaint tradition follows after the Mass: a groupof well dressed girls and their escorts danceand sing and throw petals on the path of thecarroza bearing the statue of the Risen Christ,accompanied by a violin. This ritual is calledsagalas. Afterwards (8 AM in Minalin and 12PM in Sto. Tomas), a crowd gathers in thechurch patio for the pakbung hudas, in whichan effigy of Judas Iscariot, who had betrayedJesus, is exploded with firecrackers planted in-side its body. The crowd cheers lustily and thelast ritual of the Kapampangan Lenten Seasonends.(R. Tantingco with additional notes byArwin Paul Lingat)

GLORY IN THEFLOWER. The smalltown of Sto. Tomascomes alive withtruly quaint folktraditions on EasterSunday: pusu-pusuan (top) atbreak of dawn;sagalas (left) afterthe Easter Mass (arite of passage forall maidens of thetown); and thepakbung hudas(bottom) shortlybefore noon, wherethey explode theeffigy of Judas.

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SPECIAL FEATURE ON RIVERSTHE LOST HIGHWAYSOF PAMPANGA RIVERS AS HIGHWAYS. Long before the Westerners came and introduced the concept of road, our ansestors used thevast network of rivers, streams and canals to go around. Unfortunately, due to siltation and other natural and manmadeinterventions, this network has all but disappeared. (Map by Joel P. Mallari)

PART TWO

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A MILLION years ago, when the earth’s sea level was muchhigher, the area that would later be called Pampanga lay underwater, between two islands that would eventually become theZambales mountain range and the Sierra Madre.

As the sea receded, the land emerged, still swampy comparedto the rest of Luzon, but the eruptions of Pinatubo and Arayat,simultaneous or alternating, dumped sand and stone all over, likethe two warring deities that the earliest inhabitants would laterimagine in mythology.

BETWEEN THE DEVILAND THE DEEP BLUE SEASinukuan versus Namalyari, siltation versus subsidence—trapped in a mythical and geological battleground, Kapampangansmust find their destiny and redemption in their riversBy Robby Tantingco

The lahar phenomenon we see today is only one of the cyclesof siltation and subsidence that have occurred throughout the ages.The volcanoes reclaimed land from the sea, but the siltation weigheddown the reclaimed area back into the sea. Today, following the1991 eruption of Pinatubo, which released tons of new soil thatelevated many towns, the scientists are again warning us that ourprovince is slowly sinking. The geological history of Pampanga isa never-ending battle between the land and the sea. Once upon atime, the sea extended all the way to Bacolor. Then lahar from

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Pinatubo pushed the seashore to Masantol. Now subsidence isthreatening to make the sea return to Bacolor! Even the town’soriginal name, Bakulud, which means elevated, gives us a hint ofthe cyclical push-and-pull of geological forces in Pampanga: whenour ancestors named the town, lahar had just elevated it; by thetime Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the town was no longer elevated,which made it the catch basin of the modern-day lahar. Today, after that episode, the townis once again makabakulud, standing on elevatedground.

When our ancestors came and settledaround the Pampanga River, did they realize theywere putting up their houses in a battleground?Did they have an actual experience, or at leasta memory, of a pre-historic eruption of Pinatubo?Did they know that God created a thousand riv-ers to run through Pampanga precisely to pro-vide channels for the volcano’s vomit to flow to the sea? Was thiswhy they had so much respect for their rivers—not only becausethey got their daily sustenance from them, but more importantly,because the rivers assured the perpetuation of their race by creat-ing a balance in nature, between a hemorrhaging volcano and thegalloping sea?

Today, we have recklessly altered this order by choking ourrivers with houses, dikes, farmlands and fishponds. Our forefa-thers had built their churches and houses facing the river; we didthe reverse: our houses have their backs turned and the river hasbecome a mere receptacle of our wastes. Our forefathers had noroads, only rivers; no cars or horses, only boats. It was only the

GEOLOGICAL CYCLE. Ancient Kapampangans called the town Bakulud because prehistoric lahar had elevated it. Whenthe Spaniards came, in 1571, another eruption had just elevated the surrounding towns. Thus, in the next eruption, in1991, lahar flowed into the now low-lying Bacolor, elevating it once again.

Westerners who introduced the concept of road, reoriented ourtown layout away from the river, and slowed down travel. Todaywe boast we can reach Manila in an hour-and-a-half using theNorth Luzon Expressway; actually, our forefathers reached Manilain 30 minutes via Pampanga River.

Our rivers have saved the day for us many times in history.Tarik Soliman and his 40 caracoas sailed fromMacabebe to their martyrdom in Bankusaythrough a river. Kapampangans in Candaba,Guagua, Bacolor, Apalit and even Poractraded venison, indigo and metal wares with theChinese and the Japanese, as well as with eachother, through an intricate network of rivers andcanals that connect to Manila Bay. According togeologists, shallow rivers like the Abacan ofAngeles, the Pasig Potrero of Bacolor andthe Gumain of Lubao used to be deep and

navigable enough for traders and warriors. And it was the RioGrande that gave conquistadores, rebels and revolutionaries ac-cess to the heartland of Luzon, and which served as escape routefor the tragic Macabebe Soldiers who were abandoned by thesame Spaniards they had defended in the last dying hours of colo-nial rule.

To really understand the role of rivers in the history and des-tiny of their race, Kapampangans need only to check the map tosee that their province looks like a human heart enveloped by aweb of arteries, veins and capillaries, which are actually the thou-sand rivers, streams and canals that radiate from the mountainsand empty into the bay.

THE REASONPAMPANGA HAS ATHOUSAND RIVERS ISPRECISELY SO THATLAHAR CAN FLOWSAFELY TO THE SEA

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The province, as well asLuzon’s central plain,

was under the seauntil Pinatubo’s

prehistoric eruptionsdumped lahar

all over the place

By Robby Tantingco andJoel Pabustan MallariMaps/Illustrations byJoel Pabustan Mallari

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1 2This series of computer-aided maps reconstructs a prob-able sequence of geological events that shows MountPinatubo’s role in the formation of the land mass thatSpaniards, only a few thousand years later, would namePampanga (in red lines). (1) Much of central Luzon

is under water, forming a shallow strait between two elongatedislands that will later turn out to be the Zambales MountainRange (2) and the Sierra Madre (3). In the middle is a volcanicisland that is Mount Arayat (4), already dormant at this point,the last eruption having occurred half a million years ago. To itsleft are a string of islets (5) that are actually the tips of what willbe known today as outcroppings and foothills in Mabalacat (theso-called Doña Africa Hill is one of them) and Bamban. MountPinatubo (6) has a much larger crater formed by previous erup-tions more massive than the 1991 eruption, resulting in early allu-vial fanning towards the east that is the future Porac, making thetown the first among Pampanga towns to emerge from the sea. Ateam of archaeologists, geologists and geographers from UP andthe National Museum is presently analyzing data to determine moreaccurately the dates of Pinatubo’s prehistoric eruptions.

seafaring Austronesians or the aborigines who crossed land bridgeson foot) arrive in the coastal areas, which are actually the slopesof the Zambales mountains. Chinese traders also probably reachthe area. One likely settlement is Porac, where archaeologicalexcavations will yield artifacts from as early as A.D. 900. Anotherprobable settlement site is the island of Mount Arayat, the mostconspicuous landmark in the region. The boatmakers to whom theCandaba Adze is credited probably settled on the shoreline aroundMount Arayat.The seawater in the strait recedes so much that most of centralLuzon turns into a vast marshland or swampland. More eruptionsof Mount Pinatubo continue to silt the volcano’s surroundings, re-claiming more areas that will later become towns, like Bacolor(11), which the first pre-Hispanic settlers will latercall “makabakulud,” i.e.,elevated. The deeperportions of the strait re-main underwater, the fu-ture Candaba Swamp(12) and LakeCanarem (13) in Tarlac.A sliver of seawaternorthwest of Mount

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Subsequent Pinatubo eruptions (Inararo Eruptive Pe-riod 35,000 years ago, followed by Sacobia EruptivePeriod 17,000 years ago; Pasbul Eruptive Period 9,000years ago; Crow Valley Eruptive Period 6,000-5,000

years ago; and Maraunot Eruptive Period 3,900- 2,300 years ago)further spread volcanic debris and lahar towards Tarlac (7) andAngeles and Mabalacat (8) on the eastern side, and Zambales(9) on the western side. Global sea level is, coincidentally, alsoreceding, exposing other parts of Luzon like the elevated sec-tions of Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija (10).The earliest settlers (there is still debate whether they were the

Early cartographersmistakenly recordedlakes in centralLuzon which wereactually onlyswamps, such as,Magabol Swamp,Lake Canarem andCandaba Swamp.

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3 4Arayat (14), site of the future Magalang town, is probably theoriginal route of the prehistoric Pampanga River. Meanwhile,the first settlers may have been buried or driven away by continu-ing eruptions of Mount Pinatubo; however, other waves of migra-tion persist.

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3As the sea level continues to drop and Mount Pinatubocontinues to hemorrhage, the strait practically dries upand the central plain of Luzon is exposed for the firsttime. Pangasinan (15), Nueva Ecija (16) and therest of Tarlac (17) emerge, although still swampy and

therefore uninhabitable. The area east of Mount Arayat remainsunderwater (18); this will be the future route of Pampanga River.In the Candaba Swamp area, scattered habitation sites appear onemerging islands and islets, which explains the ancient tradewareand local pottery sherds found in the vicinity. The last big erup-tions of Mount Pinatubo (Buag Eruptive Period, 500 years ago)occur only less than 100 years before the coming of the Spaniardsin Pampanga in 1571, burying settlements in Porac and in SanMarcelino, Zambales once again, and elevating the areas aroundBacolor, making Bacolor lower than its surroundings, contrary toits name (from makabakulud, elevated).

This is the landscape that the Spanish conquistadorescame upon in 1571. Although the eruptions of MountPinatubo have ceased completely, the lahar depositson the slopes and upstream continue to slide down.The environment having relatively stabilized, more set-

tlers arrive, as well as traders from neighboring Asian countrieslike China, Japan and Indonesia, lured by the looming Mount Arayat,the fertile volcanic soil and the network of rivers that encouragemobility and inland exploration. The early Spanish arrivals find thriv-

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ing communi-ties in Betis,M a c a b e b e ,Lubao, Bacolor,C a n d a b a ,Apalit andother areas inPampanga, butthese are morelike indepen-dent states andislands sur-rounded bypalisades andother kinds offortifications,which give theconquistadoresthe impressionof disunity.Porac is settledby variousseparate tribes,and several de-cades after theSpanish con-quest, is aban-doned again,leaving behindcemeteries and houses that will be excavated in the 20th century.Meanwhile, the plain’s depressed areas, the last sections to be-come dry, become the Pampanga River Basin (19).

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5In the last 400 years, the residual lahar from the lastprehistoric eruption of Mount Pinatubo has continued toalter the landscape of the region. For instance, laharhas covered the original route of Pampanga River west ofMount Arayat and pushed the river farther east, at the

opposite side of the mountain. Thus, Pampanga River today skirtsaround Mount Arayat, flows in a zigzag fashion on the plain (20)until it finds the depressed Candaba Swamp (21) before proceed-ing aimlessly across more flatland, finally spreads out dendriticallytowards the sea (22). In the meantime, silt from the slopes ofMount Pinatubo extends the southern coastline of the province,creating an area later known as Masantol (23). Elsewhere in theprovince, sand and silt gradually fill the intricate web of rivers andtributaries, causing floods. The situation is further aggravated bythe phenomenon of subsidence, the sinking of vast areas of landdue to the weight of siltation, rapid decrease of underground wa-ter due to unregulated use of artesian wells, inability of soil toabsorb surface water due to urbanization, etc.

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In 1991, Mount Pinatubo again vomitted massive pyro-clastic ejecta, choking once more the river channels. InTarlac, lahar is being channeled towards the sea via theMoriones River (24), O’Donnell River (25), andSacobia-Bamban-Parua River (26), all of which even-

tually merge with the Rio Chico which in turn merges with the RioGrande (Pampanga River). In Pampanga, the lahar deposits onthe slopes of Mount Pinatubo empty into the following rivers:Abacan River (27), Pasig-Potrero River (28), and Porac-Gumain River (29), all of which merge with the Guagua-PasakRiver (which could be the former route of the prehistoric PampangaRiver before lahar pushed it behind Mount Arayat). Buried underseveral meters of volcanic debris, the town of Bacolor is once againmakabakulud, elevated, while the surrounding towns languish inprolonged flooding. The modern-day eruption may have benefitedthe province with a fresh supply of soil material, but the addedweight, according to scientists, has in fact hastened the effects ofsubsidence. Thus, Pampanga is sinking back into the sea...again.

PAST. Before prehistoric eruption;coastline extends to Porac

PRESENT. Pinatubo eruptions dump siltand reclaim what is now Pampanga

FUTURE. Subsidence weighs down &causes land to fall back into the sea

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ASIDE from the large amount of rainfall (El Niño),the silted river channels and the rising sea level, thereis another reason for the unusually severe floodingin Pampanga in recent times. It’s called subsidence.It’s a geological phenomenon where an entire re-gional surface subsides as a result of normal, naturalcompaction, accelerated compaction, and tectonicmovement.

In the case of Pampanga and the areas aroundManila Bay, including Manila and Bulacan, the causeof subsidence is accelerated compaction of land, i.e.,the porous layer (where you find water, sand andgravel) tightens underground, causing the layers ontop to settle down. This is caused by two things.First, people pump up water faster than it can bereplaced; in southern Pampanga, almost every househas a water pump (most likely donated by a politi-cian during the campaign). This is where scientistshave measured subsidence to be at its worst.

The second cause of accelerated compaction isthe lahar that the last eruption of Pinatubo hasdumped on the province, which weighs the deltadown. As it is, the delta is a soft, sandy area createdby the ancient eruption’s silt and by the rivers’ sand;when you dump tons of fresh lahar on top of it, itslowly sinks.

Dr. Fernando Siringan of the UP National Insti-tute for Geological Sciences (NIGS) cites indicatorsof subsidence in Pampanga: flood levels are higher;floods recede more slowly; nipa palms and otherplants and animals that thrive in brackish water slowlyadvance upstream; farmlands are invaded by salt-water and become unproductive; water pump polesjut out of the ground.

Government efforts to solve subsidence, such asdike construction and dredging are a waste of re-sources because subsidence can never be solved. Infact, these efforts only aggravate the problem. Forexample, dikes upset the floodplain dynamics by pre-venting the natural buildup of silt on riverbanks dur-ing floods, which will eventually elevate the surround-ing areas. Dredging, on the other hand, deepensriverbeds to a point where the sea level becomeshigher than the river itself, causing a reversal ofwater flow.

What people can do is minimize the effects ofsubsidence, like reforestation (which will delay ero-sion and siltation); dismantling illegal fishponds(which will quicken the exit of river to the sea); regu-lation of drilling pumps and wells by installing con-trol valves and proper spacing of sites; erection of awater reservoir, so that people don’t have to pumpwater every day, every hour (some pumps are evenfree-flowing).

These are just measures to minimize the effectsof subsidence; it can never be stopped. Pampangawill eventually sink back into the Manila Bay, thecoastline will progressively advance inland, all theway to Bacolor and even San Fernando. The onlything that will reclaim the land from the sea is an-other eruption of Mount Pinatubo, larger than the1991 eruption, which will dump sand on the prov-ince like it did many centuries ago, restarting thewhole cycle of siltation and subsidence once again.

Pampanga (Manila, too) is sinking,and Pinatubo is both the culpritand the solution

...AND HOWTHE SEA WILLRECLAIMPAMPANGA

SUBSIDENCE PHENOMENON

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LIFEBLOODOn the map, rivers, streams and canals look like arteries,veins and capillaries weaving around a province that’sshaped like the human heartBy Kragi B. Garcia

Gilid mu ilug, sapa king libutad mamagus;Ngeni bina na kang minalis;Kabibi ampon asan, atin pa kayang mengatagan? From Lawiwi ning Makabebe

AS BLOOD runs through our arteries and veins, rivers—beingthe vital milieu of Kapampangan lives, history, art and culture—run all throughout the region. Dungan, sanglad, labas, batang,libad, bagse, katig: these are but a few of very common wordsrecited like mantras by riverfolks in the so-called mawli or South-ern Pampanga. Sad to say, these words and whatever they repre-sent are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. But then, whoreally cares?

Comfort is king and modernization is god! Tricycles andpedicabs (or three-wheelers) have replaced their precursors, thekareta and kalesa (and karitela) and have become, aside fromjeepneys and cars, omnipresent whether in urban or rural areas.That’s notwithstanding pollution, traffic jams and overcrowding.Instead of being the nostrum, modernization has become the poi-

son which brings about not onlyenvironmental but cultural chaosas well. Nowadays, very fewbarangays or towns recognize the importance of the ilug and sapa.Where before, houses and even churches faced the river, they’renow built as though they snob it. Glorious paro, biray and eventhe common bangka are now in moribund state, if not alreadydead.

But if one were to converse with one’s makatwa, one may findhis nostalgic longing for the days gone by. Those were the dayswhen everything in everyone’s life revolved around the ilug. Trans-port and commerce were done via the rivers; in the pre-Spanishperiod, even battles transpired therein or in their outskirts. Fromthe very spectacular fluvial parades or libad to the very humdrumceremonies like kasalan or even binyagan, the rivers were the usualvenue. Thus, each makatwa has a story or two to relate aboutthem; from folklores to tales about birth or death, romance orenmity and mythological vis-à-vis historical events, from the drollto the sacrosanct.

Above, 1832 map of Pampanga showing the intricate web ofriver channels in Pampanga

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RIVERS AND GEOGRAPHY. Imaginea human heart and what do you see? It’s amuscle full of veins and arteries. Take aclose look at an old Kapampangan map andsee the similarities. Pampanga is sur-rounded by rivers and crisscrossed bybrooks, streams and canals emptying intothe bay.

Barangays or areas within a town areusually named after rivers or brooks foundthere, like Sapang Batungdalig (birth-place of Aring Tarik Bangku Suliman, thevillage whose residents made the mistakeof discarding unusually large rocks and hu-man bones during a dredging in connectionwith the Pampanga delta project), SapangMaka, Sapa Libutad, Sapang Balen,Sapang Maragul, Sapang Maimpis,Sapang Batu, Sapang Pari (said to bethe gravesite of decapitated priests), etc.which appropriately describe their location.Otherwise, they’re called pulu (which doesnot necessarily mean island but merely vil-lage). In the same manner, settlementswere named descriptively like PulungMatalaib, Pulung Dyablu, PulungMaungut, etc. Other variations similarlyrefer to rivers or events or things pertinentto them. Examples: kadwang tete, tetematsing, kabambangan, bambang, bitas,bebe, alawli, etc. Diké (pronounced pho-netically) refers to the Arnedo Dike, whichalmost all tubung-mawli know as the 48.2-kilometer dike, constructed during the in-cumbency of Governor Macario Arnedofrom 1904 to 1912. It was meant to pro-tect 14 towns from recurrent floods whosecurrents, some makatwa say, are capableof splitting a bangka in two. As a side story,the construction of this dike rekindled theenmity between Kapampangans and Taga-logs. Provoked by their grandstanding poli-ticians, Tagalogs in Bulacan, which is on theother side of the dike, protested by sayingthat since the water comes from thePampanga River, the flood should stay inP a m p a n g a .Kapampangans,on the otherhand, arguedthat Tagalogs arefree to fish in thePampanga Riverand thereforeshould take theirshare of theriver’s ebb andflow. The debateended only afterthey realized thatthe dike was in-tended to guidethe floodwatersdirectly to the seaand thereforeserved the inter-

ests of the people on both sides. Recently,Tagalogs protested again the Pampangadelta project, but that’s another story.RIVERS AND LIVELIHOOD People’slivelihood is also influenced, even dictated,by rivers in the locale, e.g.,. farmers andfishermen from dayatan (farmlands) andligawan (fishing villages), vinegar and tubabrewers (magaslam) from nipa palm (sasa)villages, and even pinaud peddlers, and intandem with them, makers of salakab, swiki,bukatut, kimput, alawas, dala, kitig, baklad,and other fishing implements. Anlwagingkwayan at pinaud, obviously, are from nipa-producing barangays. Aside from kubu, theybuild sawali (or dalig bulu), or sala-sala (ordalig kwayan). On the side, these anlwagi(carpenters) usually also make giant kites(burarul or guryun), sanduk, tambayuk andeven parul.

Inter-town trading, barely existing to-day, used to be a quite lucrative baliwas orpamanangu (business) for fishing entrepre-neurs via cross-town waterways in Guagua,Sasmwan (Sasmuan), Apalit,Masantul, Minalin, Makabebe and eventhe Tagalog towns of Orani, Hermosa,Aguni (as residents of Masantul andMakabebe pronounce Hagonoy), Navotas,etc. They sold their daily catch of apap,bangus, ema, alimasag, kabibi, paro, ulang,

and also manuk, bibi, itik, galas, pabu,dumara, pugu and wis, as well as their eggs,either fresh or buru, at the pantalan ordungan or made transactions at thebagsákan or, to use a term acquired fromthe colonizers, consignacion. InMakabebe, there’s a place they callpalengking luma which used to be bustlingwith produce from various towns until theearly 1960s. This palengking luma, orwhat’s left of it, faces what is now an in-conspicuous, almost dried-up sapanglibutad, formerly the route plied by mer-chants on bangka or bagse, long before theadvent of pugpug and motorized boats. To-day, the only active dungan are those atKadwang Tete and Saplad David inMakabebe, Pantalan Arabya in Masantul,and maybe those at Dawe, Saplad andManyango in Minalin.KAPAMPANGAN BOAT-MAKING.Watercrafts used to be a big industry in thecoastal villages. Kapampangans were ex-perts in making boats of various shapes andsizes and for various purposes. The lanang(molave tree, after which a village in

HISTORY’S FIRST MEGA-DIKE

WOMB TO TOMB. The river is setting forall rites of passage of Kapampangans.

THE Arnedo Dike was built during the administrationof Pampanga Governor Macario Arnedo (1904-1912) whenthe country was under the American Occupation. The 48.2-kilometer dike runs from Baño in Arayat to Gatbuca inCalumpit; it was intended to prevent the Pampanga Riverfrom overtopping its banks during floods. In 1938, a 2.5-kilometer canal was dug up starting in Sulipan, Apalit down-stream to further minimize flooding. Today, Kapampanganshardly notice the Arnedo Dike because residents have builtentire neighborhoods on top of it.

WATERWORLD. Kapampangans live in houses on stilts in theriverbanks in Masantol.

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Candaba had been named) was the pri-mary material for boat-making. For the katig(outriggers), they used impun kwayan (bam-boo) for its buoyancy. For the layag (sails),cloth or plaited strips of plants weremounted on bamboo masts with swivels foreasy maneuvering. Bagse (oars) came inmany forms.

The watercrafts built by Kapampangansincluded: the karako (caracoa), the ancientwarship which carried the infantry battalionand the artillery; the biray or virey, the war-ship commandeered by the laksamana (con-spicuously named after the character of KingRama’s admiral brother in Ramayana), oradmiral who was none other than the lakan

or rajah; the paró or parao, a multi-pur-pose boat for transporting large cargos andpassengers(owning a parao was considereda status symbol, not unlike owning a carrozatoday for religious processions); the vinta,mostly for open-sea travels, but hardly usedin Pampanga where gale-force winds arerare; and lastly, bangka or baloto, whichhas survived to this day, although equippednow with a motor (replacing the oars androwers but not the takad, which is still usedupon reaching the dungan or port).

Kapampangan boats have a peculiar dia-mond-shaped sumanga (prow) which differ-entiates them from boats in other regions.

In the latter days Kapampangans ven-tured into making kasku,and were recruited inbuilding galleons by theSpanish polo administra-tors.PHENOMENON OFSUBSIDENCE. A re-cent study made by thegroup of Dr. FernandoSiringan of the NationalInstitute of GeologicalSciences (NIGS) regard-ing the rate of sinking ofcoastal towns inPampanga, Bataan

and Bulacan reveals that subsidence hasbeen happening at an alarming rate of 30millimeters per year. Many factors are saidto contribute to subsidence: sea level risedue to global warming, tectonic movements,volcanic activities, the accumulation of sedi-ments in the Pampanga delta whichstraddles the three abovementioned prov-inces, and the heavy extraction of water(through water pumps), which compacts thelayers of sand and soil beneath us.RIVERS AND POLITICAL (UNDER)CURRENTS. The extinction of rivers andtheir tributaries is both a natural and man-made phenomenon. In a Los Angelesspeech in 1983, shortly before he died,Ninoy Aquino asked, “What if a personpunched you and knocked you down, thenoffers his hand to help you stand up, areyou obliged to thank him?” Most of theplasdan or fishponds that have mushroomedaround the Pampanga River delta are ownedby politicians; whether acquired illegally ornot is another issue. Remember theblastings made by then-Governor and nowSenator Lito Lapid? Too bad a legislator-friend of then President Ramos was side-swiped by the explosion, and so there wentthe blastings! These shrewd owners makethe people believe they truly care by dis-tributing relief goods (donated by equally

TAGA-ILOGS AND KAPAMPANGANSTHE CULTURAL affinity of the two Malayan tribes was fos-

tered as well as limited by the Big River. Both owe their name tothe fact that they settled along rivers. Like the taga-ilog (peopleof the river), ding capampangan (people of the banks) built theirhomes beside rivers. Their towns and villages were named aftertrees, plants and bodies of water—Apalit (forest tree),Masantol, Sapa (the old kingdom in Sta. Ana, Manila, mean-ing “brook”) and of course, Maynila itself, where the nila, orindigo plant, abounded.

From the prow of Martin de Goiti’s flagship as it ap-proached the delta on the edge of the Bay, all the land in sightbelonged to only two tribes—Pampangos and Tagalogs. Goitiwas not unacquainted with these peoples. Earlier, while explor-ing the Pansipit River, he had met Tagalogs—and perhaps somePampangos, too.

THE IDEA OF national unity was to begin as this unity of theTagalog and Pampango country… a counter capital to Manilaalways had to be within the Tagalog-Pampango terrain—likeArayat, as proposed by Governor-General Basco; or Bacolor,to which Anda removed the government during the British Oc-cupation; or Kawit, Malolos, San Isidro and Tarlac, the suc-cessive capitals of the Aguinaldo government. But when theSpaniards, after the fall of Manila in 1898, transferred the gov-ernment to Iloilo… it automatically meant the end of Spanishrule…. When the symbol of Victorian progress, the railroad, wasbrought to the Philippines, the first line was, of course, laidalong, and further bound together, the Tagalog-Pampango coun-try, connecting it with the outposts in the north….

The role of this region can be read in our flag, where eachray of the sun stands for either a Tagalog or Pampango prov-ince…. Spain (which never had more than 5000 Spanish troopsin the islands) could rely on the Tagalog-Pampango alliance tokeep the (Philippines) from disintegrating…. From the start theempire of Spain in the Philippines could not have survived savewith the consent of these two tribes.

Excerpts from“The River in the Plain”

in Maynila by E. Aguilar Cruz

Excerpts from“The Wicked Accomplices”

in The Aquinos of Tarlacby Nick Joaquin

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pretending-to-care civic groups) duringfloods. They also distribute banlik withtrucks marked “For official use only” (thatis, for dredging only), but in reality, theyuse these trucks for digging their new fish-ponds. They also use their pork barrel fundto construct causeways and “band-aid”roads, which don’t last a year, and that’swhere the rub is—an instant alibi to use theirpork barrel fund in a vicious cycle of patapal-tapal and the opportunity to pay politicaldebts. Projects like these are usually giventheir finishing touches to coincide with elec-tion season. And these politicians have thegall to demand gratitude from their sup-posed beneficiaries who are actually thepoor victims of their two-faced swindle! Asthe rivers dry up, ‘nu ku po, lakwas langmikwalta reng makwalta, deng pakakalululakwas no mang mekalulu!RIVERS AND ENVIRONMENTALWHIRLPOOLS. It’s amazing how local

administratorsallow, or eventhey them-selves do,squatting onthe banks ofsapa and ilug,systematicallyinching theirway and en-croaching uponthese public do-mains. Ila-ilanamu rengmakinabang atpaparusan da lareng malukangkeraklan. Andwhy shouldthey give adamn to thepopulace whenthey have theirmansions built

someplace else?In addition to what’s been said earlier,

the extinction of rivers worsens ecologicalproblems. Travelers have replaced boatswith the ubiquitous jeepneys and tricycles,whose emissions have poisoned the once-babaung-duman Kapampangan environs.Though not as noticeable as before, therepulsive fermentation plant in Sulipan,Apalit continues to oppress the residentsin the vicinity. No one has made a follow-up to see if the alcohol plant has indeedstopped dumping toxic wastes into the RioGrande. Dead fish continue to be seen float-ing. The talangka, which could be enticedwith darak and scooped up with a tabu rightin front of one’s house during a flood, haveall but disappeared. That’s not to mentionkabibi, parus-parus, ulang, damuku, lyalu,likauk, bya, dulung, komun, tagokgok,balanak, tampal bangka, alugasin, palus,kanduli and the fish of the elite, apap. Eventhe kobing-kobing have not been spared.

Though the dapu has long disappeared, onewonders what ecological imbalance andother environmental repercussions its dis-appearance has caused.

Aside from fish kill, the pinak vegeta-tion has been endangered, too, not becauseof pollution but because of our irrespon-sible kabalens’ wanton exploitation.Bakawan, palapat, turumpalat, kansasaga,kulumanas, pandakaki and the very raredalwari have become extremely difficult tofind, indeed.RIVERS AND CULTURAL RIPPLES.Kapampangans are a festive lot. And sincetheir lives are inseparable from rivers, rev-elry and celebration are often held near orin the rivers or at least tied up to them.The libad or fluvial parades in honor of thetown or barangay patron or patulunan takeplace in the rivers. Aside from the popularApung Iru of Apalit, the Nuestra Señorade Candelaria in Pulu is noteworthy be-cause its libad literally circles Brgy. Puluwhich is a river island with a length of onlytwo kilometers. Sasmwan town and abarangay in Masantul have the same pa-troness, Sta. Lucia, whom residents honorwith kuraldal. On the feast of St. John theBaptist (San Juan Bautista), river com-munities explode with a frenzy of splashingand bathing. Locals call it sangwanan;bands of revelers armed with buckets of wa-ter roam the streets on the lookout for un-suspecting victims, stopping at nothing,even chasing passenger jeepneys or wait-ing in ambush atop trees. In Masantuland Makabebe, rivers are lined with rev-elers on both sides throwing plastic bags ofmurky water at each other like two armiesexchanging fire; woe to the boat that getscaught in the crossfire! Nung e ka bisangmabasa, the dictum goes, e kamakipaglibad!

Kapampangan folklore, mythology andeven history are checkered with referencesto rivers. In Apalit, Apung Iru, patron saintof fishermen, allegedly appears disguised as

BOATS started instinctively as part of the human developmentand adaptation to riverside and coastal environment. Around3500 BCE, the Egyptians developed carpentry skills for buildingplank watercraft and perhaps used these for a sickle-shaped boat;meanwhile, in China, ducks probably gave the Chinese the ideamaking ships as evidenced by the recovery of a 5th-century BCElacquered vessel in the shape of a mandarin duck. TraditionalSoutheast Asian ships were capable of sailing across the IndianOcean to Madagascar Island, and across the Pacific Ocean to asfar as Easter Island.

The boats recovered in Butuan, Agusan del Norte wereround-bottomed, sail-propelled, rudder-steered and carbon-datedto be from AD 320, which predated European boat construction.In the Kapampangan Region, canoe-shaped boats called baluto(var. baroto) and balbaloto were made by carving out the innerportions of logs using types of daras (adze, the oldest specimen ofwhich, the Candaba Adze, is about 5000 years old) and later,gobia, lukub, pait and balibol. Only a few boatmakers in Abucay,Bataan (and a handful in Sasmuan and Candaba) still employthis Neolithic technique of boatmaking. Before, most river com-munities in Pampanga, including Betis, Guagua, Lubao, Apalitand Macabebe had thriving boatmaking industries. The mainreasons for their disappearance are the scarcity of skilledboatmakers and the depletion of forests. (Joel P. Mallari)

THE VANISHING TRADITIONOF BOATMAKING

FISH KILL. Pollution is causing an ecologicaldisaster in the rivers of Pampanga.

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RIVER FESTIVALS. Kapampangans believe that if it rains on the feast of St.Peter in Apalit (above) on June 28-30, it will also rain on the feast of St.Nicholas in Macabebe (below) on September 8-10. St. Nicholas, fondly calledApung Kulas, is Macabebe’s version of Apalit’s Apung Iru.

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The Hondas and Toyotas of our ancestors: viray, parao, caracoa, vinta and baloto

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an old fisherman begging for food.This happens during the libad of June30 after being displeased with thecelebration held during the previouslibad of June 28. It is also to beexpected that one reveler drownsduring the libad as a human sacri-fice to appease Apung Iru or theriver deity.

Residents of Makabebe, whosepatron saint is St. Nicholas, ob-serve with keen interest how theweather turns out during the fiestaof Apalit; their belief is that if it rains

on the feast of Apung Iru onJune 28-30, it will also rain onthe feast of Apung Kulas onSeptember 8-10!

There’s an old river taleabout Apung Kulas: One day,an unbaptized isik (Chinese mer-chant) was rowing his bangkaduring stormy weather. Whilenegotiating the river, he encoun-tered a large, starving dapudownstream. He panicked, butjust then remembered he hadtinape nang Apung Kulas stashedin his pocket, given to him ear-lier by a friar. He threw the bis-cuit at the crocodile, shouting,“Sanikulasi, sanikulasi, magi kasa’ng batu balani!” The dapu in-stantly turned into stone and theisik was saved. From the riverhe ran back to the friar and askedto be baptized.

During World War II, accord-ing to Huk veteran EugenioSantos a.k.a. KumanderKislap of Makabebe, Huk sol-diers evaded the Japanese by op-timizing their familiarity with theriver systems. They launchedambuscades from hidden sapa

and used canals as their escape routes. Hesaid they even used tangke kapaya (papayastalks) when snorkeling under water, or hidamong the tukal (water lilies).

Pampanga River is also gravesite forsome people, casualties of suicide and ho-micide; “salvaging” incidents are as frequentas drowning accidents. Bloated bodies ofvictims of summary execution are seen float-ing down the wawa or mouth of the river,often mistaken for animal carcasses.RIVER OF TEARS? The term “dried-uprivers” is an oxymoron. Tears, not even ariver of them, will never be able to reversewhat centuries of warped disregard andshameless exploitation of our rivers havedone. One historian once said that our fore-fathers used hundreds of carabaos in pull-ing tons of timber and logs from forests toshipyards. Excuse me, but such hypothesisdefies logic. Rivers were still everywhereduring that time and it was the more con-venient alternative to float logs on riversand canals, from the ilang (forest) to thekabalenan (town), using skil ledKapampangan boatmen as guides. Riversneed not be worshipped the same way theGanga or Yamuna are worshipped in In-dia. What we simply have to do is savewhat’s been left of them and give the nextgenerations of Kapampangans the simplebut precious gift of being able to beholdthem still and, hopefully, the bonus of be-ing able to navigate them even once more,just like we used to do.

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JACKS OF ALL TRADES. Boatmakers(bangkero) are navigators, carpenters, fish-ermen, foresters, woodcarvers all rolled intoone. As navigators, they are supposed tobe skilled in the art and science of flota-tion, in the supervision and balancing ofkatig and batangan (outrigger parts), in de-termining the boat’s preparedness for tripand the measurements of the bangku,papag, banggera, etc. as well as the direc-tion of the sumanga and mulin (front andrear of the boat) and how much combinedweight of passengers and catch of fish the

KAPAMPANGANBOATS ANDBOATMAKERSToday’s fishermen have lostall memory of their ancestors’native wisdomBy Joel P. Mallari

boat could take..As foresters, they must know which

hardwoods to use and what age: bulaon (ormolave, Vitex parviflora Juss.), dau(Dracontomelon dao Bico.), balacat(Ziziphus talanai Bico.), etc. which will bechosen depending on whether the boat willsail in saltwater or freshwater, in river or inopen sea. In addition, they should knowwhat time of year is the best time for boatproduction. For instance, Candababoatmakers recommend production fromFebruary to July.

THE WANTON conversion of ances-tral farmlands and swamplands in thePampanga River delta (Masantol,Macabebe, Lubao, Sasmuan,Minalin) into lucrative fishponds (milk-fish, shrimps and tilapia are certainlymore profitable than nipa) starting inthe 1970s has led to an ecological di-saster whose effects are known only tothe victims.

The mangroves were the first ca-sualty. These trees once blanketedhectares upon hectares of coastal land,providing sanctuary to native and mi-gratory birds and rare species of marine animals and plants;they also prevented soil from washing into the sea, and pre-venting saline water from creeping into farmlands and waterbeds.

Today, there is only a thin patch of mangrove trees at thepoint where Pampanga River empties into the bay.Kapampangans should visit it to marvel at its exquisite beautyand weep that it’s all that’s left. Farmers in many barangays inMasantol and Macabebe also shake their heads over farm-lands that have been laid to waste because the soil has been

DEADLYDELTAFISHPONDSPoliticians continueto ignore a majorecological disaster

poisoned by invading saltwater.Villagers living on riverbanks also are perplexed by the phe-

nomenon of the disappearing freshwater fish like gurami, lualu,karpa, itu, tagokgok and even talangka. They say these havebeen replaced by bangus, paro and ema—not bad except thatthese are found not in the free waters of the river but in thefenced fishponds; the villagers just have to content themselveswith a few that escape into the river.

TYPES OF BOATS. The usual boats are thesmall ones like dunai, which use bagse(paddle) and sipid, valued for its speed.During colonial times, the casco, often mis-taken for a Chinese ship, was used for trans-porting cargo. It used laiag (square sails).Sometime in the late 13th Century, perhapsas a result of Kublai Khan’s thousand-shipraid on Java in AD 1293, Southeast Asianshipbuilders adopted the Chinese feature oftransverse bulkheads similar to the localcascos often seen in the Pampanga River.The other types of boats seen by the early

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Spaniards were biray and parau. Biray wasa small boat with flat bottom, equipped withan ugit or timon (rudder) and propelled byrowers using gaud or bagse (paddles) fac-ing coxswain at stern. Parau was a largepassenger and cargo sailboat common notonly Kapampangans but also amongBisayans, Ilukanos, Tagalogs, etc. The Span-ish galleons and Chinese junks, despite theirsizes, did not astound the locals anymoresince it was they who had built them throughthe policy of forced labor. In the 1800s, thesteamships came to be known as bapor andbarku among the locals. They becamea common site in Guagua andMacabebe, which prompted locals torename a local river as Dalan Bapor.

The natives’ boats were smallerthan the Spanish warships and galle-ons but it’s like comparing a sibad-dagat(Pacific tern) and a manok (chicken):what the small lacked in size and heftthey compensated with speed and ma-neuverability. These qualities made the na-tives’ vessels suited for sailing along coast-lines dotted with coves, islets and shoals;they could easily dock in numerous bantilan(wooden ports) in the riverbanks. Some ofthese boats had arbul (mast) where the laiag(sail) was lowered; otherwise it was used fordrying the lambat or kulumbu (fishing netmade of abaca fiber).FISHING NETS. The lambat is made fromwoven abaca that is soaked and boiled withbark of nigi (Camptosremon philippinense[Vid.] Becc. Bombacaceae, common inPampanga) or dampol (Afzelia rhom [Blco.]Merr. Fabaceae) to make it durable and colorit red, in a process called dampulan. The

vilinear. Mulin (rear) and sumanga (front)are sometimes flat or chipped (such as thosefound in Pampanga) or pointed (or kinabite,i.e., found in Cavite), or even carved withdesigns similar to those found in the woodtrusses (rafters) of the Sta. Monica Churchin Minalin.

The boat’s rim is known as sintas; some-times an additional tabla is added to increaseheight of the baul (boat’s body). The kátig(pair of bamboo poles on both sides of theboat) is used for steadying the boat; batangare the pair of poles that fasten the katig to

the boat. Boats found in theGuagua-Pasak River and othertranquil rivers in Pampanga haveonly a single katig on one side ofthe boat. Some katig are tied tothe bating with ropes called tau-tau to make the katig flexible.MODERN BOATS. As late as1980s, Sta. Ursula in Betis stillproduces the old fashioned

bangka. Today, boats in Pampanga aremostly made in Abucay, Bataan. Mostare made of galvanized metal sheets, fiberglass, welding rods, palettes of putty, etc.Heavy machine equipment and electricpower tools have replaced the old daras,palatio, palakul, lagari, gunting, sinsil,dakam, katam, pait, arindela, sultador,lukob, pait and other traditional tools. Theyoung generation of boatmen have also lostall memory of the fisherman’s wisdom oftheir forefathers, like being able to tell bythe direction of the wind or the position ofthe moon and the stars if it’s a good time tofish. It is yet another glorious Kapampanganheritage that is about to completely vanish.

intricacy of the woven lambat is tested wheneven the tiny kobing-kobing (3-inch longneedle-like fish) can be caught in its web.

The lambat is attached to the baskagan,a bamboo pole at the sangkal or boat’s rear.There are two types of fishing net:galadgad, which is used for daytime fishing(when the boat is moving), and dalungkit,for nighttime (as well as daytime) fishing(when the boat is generally stationary).BOAT FIXTURES. Every bangka shouldhave a papag (bed made of bamboo slats),for sleeping and resting during the long

hours out at sea or river; banggera (smallerversion of papag, used as table); pamatéalun (also called pamalún and pamalbálalun), wing-like extensions located at theboat’s front and back, used for breaking thewaves, balancing the boat and increasingvelocity. For rivers and shallow portions ofthe sea, a boatman uses a tagkan (alsocalled tikin and atkan), a long slender polefrom a bikal tree (Schizostachyum diffusum[Bico.] Merr. Poaceae) to move and maneu-ver the boat as it approaches the shore.BOAT FEATURES. Some boat features arepeculiar to the fishing villages or regionsthey are used. The galudgud or lunas(boat’s bottom) can be flat, semi-flat or cur-

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Map of wind directions according to Kapampangan fisherfolk

LUGAL GABUN ASLUGAL ILUG

K A P A M P A N G A N Swere no doubt one of theearly boat people of thePhilippines. The kind ofancient boats they used,the precise period in pre-history and the particularareas they used theboats, can partly betraced to vernacular glos-saries. Udiong, Bataan(now Orion) borrowed itsname from udiong, whichmeans either a big boat ora boat’s tip or extremity.Balbalutu and Balutu arenames of barangays inVictoria andConcepcion town, re-spectively, both in TarlacProvince; balbalutu refersto a canoe-type boat whilebalutu is a similar boat(var. baroto, small sail-boat). Telabangka (“likea boat”) is a village inBamban between theS a c o b i a - B a m b a n -Parua River andAbacan River, and alsoin Arayat; on the otherhand, Arbol (“boat mast”)is a barangay (completename: San Juan deArbol) in Lubao.

Parua (or Paruao)River derived its namefrom either palual, down-stream direction of theriver, or parau (var. parao,paraw, prau, praus,prahus, etc.), large cargo/passenger sailboat.

Going back to balutu,this small sailboat iscarved out from hugelogs; the process of carv-ing is called mangobia,i.e., dukit (carving) usinggobia (rounded chisel),and other tools such aslukub (centering chisel),pait (chisel), palakul (ax),balibul (auger bit) anddaras (adze, which is theoldest known boat-making tool). Pandaras River in the City ofSan Fernando and sitio Duquit in Dau, Mabalacat, can be tracedto these boat-making terms.

Some of the toponyms pertain to topographical and hydrologi-cal terms like uaua (Guagua), river’s mouth, or the point wherethe river meets the sea; macabebe means coastal or riverbank;lubao came from baba (n), floating, or lebajo (n), depressed areabetween two elevated areas, in contrast to bakulud, which meansplateau or to some extent island. Two of the many rivers of Porac

BALUTU NATIONTRACING THE EARLYKAPAMPANGANBOAT PEOPLECollective memory of our watery pastsurfacing in unexpected places like Tabun, Mancatian and Bana,and in unlikely words such as laut,luslus, muli and dulungBy Joel Pabustan Mallari

are called Pasig-Potrero andMancatian, which mean, re-spectively, “field near theriverbanks” and a conjugation ofthe verb ebb (káti), or low tide.

In Apalit, barangayTabuyuk possibly came fromthe word buiuk, a cove or thepoint at which an inlet is deep-est inland, or headwater whichcan be relative to a next barrionamed Malauli which is a con-jugation of downstream.Tabun, which literally means adam, is a common placenamein Pampanga, notably inMabalacat, Angeles andCandaba, and even in Pulilan,Bulacan and in Nueva Ecija.

The caracoa or korakoa(cora-cora in Indonesia) is prob-ably the ancient name of thevinta, the larger version of thebaranggay. Old sketches showthe caracoa resembling a largebangka with a carved beast’shead as its bow and a carvedcurled tail as its stern, with theboat’s hull representing the elon-gated torso of the beast. It hastwo sets of outriggers carryingmore rowers, which increasesthe boat’s speed. It has plat-forms capable of carrying a hun-dred or so fighting men asidefrom the rowers. TheKapampangan warriors fromMacabebe who sailed their wayto the fateful battle ofBangkusay in 1571 most likelyrode in such caracoas.

The beast depicted in thecaracoa resembles the barag,the monitor lizard hunted byKapampangans even to this dayfor its meat. Diego Bergaño’s18th-century Kapampangan dic-tionary lists another name forbarag, banias, which may be theorigin of the name of a village,Malabanias, located along theAbacan River in Angeles (theprefix mala means “having theappearance of”).

Another interesting pointworth pursuing is Bergaño’s in-clusion of the word barag-gay

as another spelling for baranggay, which raises the possibility thatthe ancient boat derived its name from barag, whose image adornedthe bow and stern of what Butuanons called balanghai and whatHenry C. Scott described as capable of carrying 30 to 90 passen-gers on long seafaring trips. MA(H)ANGIN, THE MANY WIND PATTERNS

Ancient river cruising and seafaring depended on the boatpeople’s navigation skills, which included their indigenous knowl-edge about wind type and pattern. For example, Kapampangans

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recognize the wind blowing from the south as abagat (var. abagatanor timug) in other places), which coincides with high tides. Thenorth wind is amian (evident during the month of January), orbalas in other places (northeast wind is sabalas); to fishermen outfishing farther down south on Manila Bay, amianan or amianin isthe northerly wind coming from the Pinatubo area. Amiang ibat-aldau is the easterly wind; the westwind is banaklaut, while the south-west wind is salatan.Kapampangans also have a term forsoft breeze, palé-palé (evident onthe wavy rice fields), and for a gustof wind, bulos. Banas, alasuas,alisuas and alinsangan all mean sul-try and humid climate.ILUG, LABUG, LULBUG...:HYDROLOGICAL ACTIVITYAND RELATED DESCRIP-TION

Because of their proximity tothe rivers and the sea, and theirfrequent brush with floods,Kapampangans have becomeacutely aware of every nuance ofwater activity and have, as a re-sult, a developed vocabulary for wa-ter and its properties.. Káti, kakati,mankatian, kinati, makati are formsof the Kapampangan word for lowtide or ebb. J.V. Panganiban de-fines makati as a large area of landleft bare by the ebb of the sea.Albug, limbug, lulbug, kalbug referto flood. Dagul, albug, matas allmean high tide. Alun, darabulbul,bulubuk, balusbus mean wave,sound of flowing water, sound ofbubbling water, and sound of fall-ing water, respectively.

Susun is the Kapampangan wordfor small wave, buiun is big wave andbuiun-buiun is a series of big waves.Padpad means “carried or pushed bythe wave,” which is different fromgáto, which means “float on water.”

Waterfall is puntu or baldug inKapampangan, while flow or currentof water is agus, the root word foragusan (“where the water flows”)and daragus/dadagus (“flowing”).Matabang/Tabang/Tinabang meansfreshwater, which is different from matabsing, maniaman, malansaand other words to describe how water tastes. Dayat means irri-gated farmlands (which look like a freshwater lake) while dayat-malat/dayat-maasín means the sea.

The clarity of water is described either as malabno, malino ormalabug, its density as malanyo or maraiuput/madaiuput. Lastly,a body of water that’s full of vegetation is described as magumi.

The river delta is known as pasig or pampang, while the lowestpart, the basin, is called kontelado. Tabun is dam, tabun-malati is adam-like system for irrigation. Bambang, paranum, paligi are all typesof irrigation channels; batas is the shortened route of irrigation.

Batung-sapa is river stone, batung mabie is finely grained stone,batung mete and buga both refer to frothy pumice stone (the lat-ter also a verb for “spew” if stressed in the first syllable, and “throw”if stressed in the second syllable—clearly, either way, a reference

to its volcanic origin).KATAGALUGAN REGION: TOPOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT

Kapampangans call rivers their ilug or sapa, and springs theirbatis or ulu. Banlik is the fine sand found in slow-moving riversand creeks. A pool of stationary water is alugan, which is relatedto the word alog found in old Ilocano and Tagalog dictionaries.

Alugan may refer to the marshy ar-eas of Lubao, Sasmuan,Macabebe, Masantol, Hagonoyand Tondo. These communities sur-rounding the Manila Bay were prob-ably the Lusung (Luzon) referredto by Gaspar de San Agustin.Thus, the term Tagalog might refernot only to the Tagalog ethno-linguis-tic group but to Kapampangans andall people living in the vicinity of analog or alugin, or the rim of the Ma-nila Bay. Tagalog does not refer topeople of the ilog, or they should havebeen called Tagelog or Tagilog, asSiuala ding Meangubie theorizes, butrather to the people of the alog.THE PALAEO-ENVIRONMENTOF RIVERS

Ancient Pampanga was domi-nated by crisscrossing navigable riv-ers (as evidenced by geological dataand early maps) that gradually dis-appeared over centuries due to flood-ing, siltation and prehistoric lahar.This slowed down and eventuallystopped Manila Bay navigators fromproceeding inland. In recent years,this situation was further aggravatedby settlement of people, reclamationof land, illegal and irresponsibledumping of domestic refuse and in-dustrial wastes and of course, the1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo.Kapampangans are familiar withthese phenomena as seen in wordssuch as bana (marsh), pinak(swamp), burak (mire), labuad (deepmud), tarlak/tarilak (quicksand) andkabanlikan or laiak (deposit of finesand caused by ebbing water).PAULI NA KU, E NA KALALAUT: EARLY TERMS FORDIRECTIONS

Ancient oral mapping of places re-quired great skills of referencing and establishing of markers. Riv-ers were an excellent example of spatial contours that served asmarkers. Mauli, malauli, alauli refer to downstream, e.g., when aKapampangan said “Pauli na ku” he meant he was taking boat andgoing downstream. The opposite is pangulu, upstream (thus, babo-pangulu, a common placename, means headwater, or source ofwater that becomes the river). Laut is the sea, as in E na ka lalaut(“Don’t go out to sea,” although today it means far and applies toland as well). Luslus means the boat is bound for south, in thedirection of Manila Bay; today it applies to distant travel on land(“Luslus ku Menila bukas”). Dulung also used to mean go down,usually to the riverbank where merchants sold their wares; today itmeans go to the market, regardless of its location or elevation.

Ing lupang Kapampangan manimu ia keng danum a kakaulkeya…

BARAGGAY in the ancient dictionary is anotherspelling for baranggay. Did our ancestorsname the boat after the lizard?

SUSUN-SUSUN means ripples or small waves, buyunmeans big wave

DAYAT is irrigated ricefields (dayat malat is sea);pulu means village, which looks like an island inthe middle of the dayat

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ONE of the celebrated archaeological artifacts in the Philip-pines is a stone adze (locally known as daras), listed by the Na-

tional Museum as having been un-earthed in Candaba although somesources claim it came from Tarlac (theprovenance papers may have been partof the documents destroyed or lootedin World War II, so we will never knowfor sure). Today it is widely known asthe Candaba Adze. It is estimated tobe 5000 years old, which makes it asold as the Pyramids of Egypt.Kapampangans consider the CandabaAdze as their Holy Grail because itpoints to a Kapampangan civilization,or at least a Kapampangan boat-build-ing industry, long before the Christiancolonizers came, in fact 3000 yearsbefore Jesus Christ was born.

The adze, which earlyKapampangans called ipan alti (light-ning tooth), was made from basalt witha length of 36.4 cm, width of 9.8 cmand thickness of 4.53 cm. H. OtleyBeyer presented this stone to the Na-tional Museum during his active involve-

ment in the 1930s. The recovery of this artifact is a crucial factorin establishing a chronology of prehistoric events which could pos-sibly include the early seamanship around the Manila Bay area.

The early people in the region had learned that a tool with adefinite shape and clean edges wasfar more effective than a flaked stone.They had learned that if they attachedit to a pole they could lift it over theirshoulder and bring it down withgreater momentum of force, exactlythe same principle in using asarulgamat (hoe), palakul and palatio(axes), piku (pick mattock) and masu(hammer).

The Candaba Adze also providesclues on the early peopling of the re-gion. Relative to this was the indica-tion of the Neolithic Period of balen(nation) based on material type andmorphology. Consequently this couldbe the earliest evidence of prehistoriccivilization in the region that gives aclue on the settling phase of thepeople and the beginning of maritimetrade (and possible movement) via thePampanga River located on the west-ern section of the Candaba Swamp.Daras are the pointer of wet rice cul-tivation which begins from forest clear-

ÍPAN ALTÍNEOLITHIC BEGINNINGS

By Joel Pabustan Mallari

Candaba already had boatmakers at the time the Pyramids of Egyptwere being constructed, or 3000 years before Christ was born

ings that give way to the erection of houses for the rice cultivatorsand other domesticated crops towards the establishment of a balen.This stone tool was obviously designed to cut down trees andcarve boats to be used for the exploration of other pulu (settle-ments or islands) beyond the seas. The size of this particular adzeindicates it was used for larger boats; in fact it is probably thelargest artifact of its kind found in the entire rim of theAustronesian (ancient sea-faring people) Asia-Pacific Region.

Related to the Candaba daras is the archaeological site inArubo, Nueva Ecija where unearthed flaked stones point toPalaeolithic Age, and the recovered stone implements in Haci-enda Dolores, Porac, which include asung-asungan (mortar andpestle), taisan (grinding pad for metal blades like palang), andipan alti (adzes), with associated dates ranging from 12th to 15th

Centuries.As an aside, in Jalung, Porac, old farmers collect ipan alti

(sometimes called ipan duldul, thunder tooth), which they believehave been cut by lightning and thunder (which brings curse andenergy) to fell large dutung (trees).

Important discoveries on the Neolithic-Period socio-economicdevelopment of the settlements around Pampanga River mighthave been difficult to achieve without the Kapampangan mandarás(old boatmakers).

EARLY CIVILIZATION. The Candaba Adze (above, left) isproof that the land that would be known later as Pampangaalready had settlers who used the stone implement to makeboats (below) for seafaring and trading activities. An exactreplica of the Candaba Adze is on permanent exhibit in themuseum of the Center for Kapampangan Studies.

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GUAGUA’s old name was Uaua, meaning themouth of a river. This definition implies the role of thistown as an ancient entrepot of transportation that car-ried not only local and trade goods but also the differ-ent cultures brought about by these interactions.

Recently, a team of archaeologists from the Ar-chaeological Studies Program of the Universityof the Philippines and active volunteers from theHoly Angel University Archaeological Society per-formed a brief systematic exploration last February 6-8 at Brgy. San Jose in Guagua. Hundreds of artifactswere recovered; some of the initial finds already indi-cated cultural interactions between the earlyKapampangans and their neighbors. This new archaeo-logical site has been named the Balagtas PropertySite after the owners, Balagtas-Capuno family. Thesite has an accession code of III-2004-G issued by theNational Museum.

The site yielded significant artifacts among whichwere (a) a Chinese coin, and (b) a blue glass bead.The coin belongs to the Ch’ing Dynasty (1644-1911AD) during the reign of Emperor Shih Tsung withreign title Yung-cheng (Yongzheng), who reignedbriefly in 1723-1735 AD. This artifact was minted fromthe Manchu Yon (Yunan mint) written in the ManchuYon script, found on the reverse side of the coin whichno longer appear in the Chinese script. Related to thisaccount was that during the late 1500s the ManchuYons began to conquer the Ming Dynasty. They es-tablished the Manchu Dynasty in 1559 but controlledonly a small part of China as rebels fighting the Ming.During this period, foreign demand for Chinese goodsgrew, causing huge amounts of silver to flow into Chinafrom the Americas via the Philippine archipelago andJapan. Coincidentally, this artifact seems to indicatethat the early Guagua settlers not only traded goodsduring the Ming Dynasty but also continued tradingwith the Ch’ing Dynasty. Thus, Guagua was more thanan ordinary entrepot of goods.

The second artifact, blue glass bead, found in adeeper excavation, is obviously older than the coin interms of cultural period. Chinese documents writtenfor sailors instructing them what to trade local prod-ucts for, mention different kinds of beads. The lead-heavy beads found throughout Southeast Asia (and Eastern Af-rica) match the time and distribution of Chinese trade. Thesemulti-wound beads (especially the blue ones) are now identifiedas Chinese. Another report says that when the Spanish set up theGalleon trade (1565-1815 AD) linking Manila to Spain via Mexico,other markets for Chinese beads opened. Padre beads identifiedas blue glass beads, copper ruby beads, multi-wound beads andother Chinese types are known in the Americas archaeologically orethnographically. Trade beads that reached Mexico during theSpanish Period came principally from China through the Galleontrade. Indeed, the “Padre beads” of the American Southwest were

BALAGTAS PROPERTY SITEA GLIMPSE INTO GUAGUA’SANCIENT MARITIME TRADEBy Joel Pabustan Mallari

New archaeological research in Guagua may rewrite Kapampangan history

one of them.A different source may also possibly be seen from

this blue artifact. Austronesian speakers from Borneohad settled in southern Vietnam in 500 BC – 100 AD.The pottery styles and jar burials of the Sa Hyunhculture show continuing ties with Borneo and the Phil-ippines. These jar burials contain blue and red glassbeads, attesting to the importance of trade to theseregions. Thus, these practices with the direct associa-tion and/or presence of these beads especially the blueglass beads illustrate continuing links between south-ern Vietnam and Southeast Asian islands. Noted ar-chaeologist Wilhelm Solheim further states, “I hypoth-esize that the Sa-Hyunh Kalanay and Lapita potterytraditions had a common origin somewhere in thePalawan-Sarawak-Sulu Sea-Salawesi area and thatit was at this point in time and space that a second amain stage in the spread of the Austronesian languagesbegan.”

Historically, the role of active trade relations of thedifferent entrepots found alongside the mouth of Ma-nila Bay where the harbor of Guagua used to be strate-gically located in the northern part contributed much tothe generated colonial income derived mainly from thegalleons sailing from Acapulco. These galleons broughtshipments of silver bullion and minted coins that wereexchanged for return cargoes of Chinese goods, mainlysilk textiles, as there was no direct trade with Spain.

The trading relationship of the Kapampangans tolocal and overseas commerce has already been provento be wide and progressive during those periods. Ac-counts have it that Kapampangans continued their tradewith Batavia, until the Galleon trade gave the Span-iards full control over all commerce in the colony. In-deed, at one point Filipinos were not even allowed toleave their village to trade, thus, active freeports likeGuagua may well have served as viable entrepot of tradeand commerce.

Only two of the hundreds of artifacts unearthed inGuagua have been examined, and partially at that. Yetthis preliminary archaeological analysis already offers avivid glimpse into what could have been the glory daysof ancient Guagua and the early Kapampangans.

Chinese coins( t o p ) w i t hc h a r a c t e r sindicating year andplace they wereminted; blue glassbeads (below)similar to the onesabove, were foundin Guagua recentlyby the HAUA r c h a e o l o g i c a lSociety.

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Strange burial boats in Lubao, sunken ships in Nueva Ecija, andthe Russian prince who came to dine, wine and hunt in ApalitBy Joel Pabustan Mallari, Charlene Manese and the Research Team of the KapampanganArchaeological Volunteers of Holy Angel University (KAMARU-HAU)

RIVER MYTHS AND MYSTERIES

1. THE ONCE-MIGHTY PORACRIVERAncient Porac was in the vicinityof a seashore

THREE PREHISTORIC settlements in Porac, one unearthed byanthropologist H. Otley Beyer’s team in 1939 (HaciendaRamona site), another by archaeologist Robert Fox in 1959(Balukbuk site), and the third by the National Museum in 1999(Bábo Balukbuk or Upper Balukbuk site) which was exploredfurther by the UP Archaeological Studies Program in 2002,raise the question of why the settlers built relatively large commu-nities high up on the foothills of the Zambales Mountain Range.Their location seemed not consistent with the usual pattern of

thriving communities along major rivers and seashores.One theory is that centuries ago, the coastline of Pampanga

was not in Masantol where it is now, but in Bacolor or, at most,San Fernando, which means that Porac was just in the vicinity.

Another theory says that the ancient Porac River, which to-day is nothing but a shallow brook, was navigable enough for largewater vessels from Manila Bay, and that the subsequent eruptionsof Mount Pinatubo, years (not centuries) before the Spaniardsarrived in 1571, silted the river and either destroyed the communi-ties or forced the inhabitants to abandon them. Old folks in Lubaotown, located downstream where Porac River joins Gumain Riverto become the Porac-Gumain River, claim that in the 1960s,they saw what looked like large wooden boards floating in theriver. The boards, between 12 and 16 feet long, were roughly cut

PRE-HISPANIC WARSHIP. Kapampangans as well as other anicient Filipinos used caracoas capable of carrying as many as200 warriors. The first Filipino to die fighting for his country, “ a young warrior from Macabebe,” used such boats in theBattle of Bangkusay in 1571.

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(possibly by axe) and had holes in them,which made the folks speculate that theymust have been parts of a large ancientboat washed down from upstream PoracRiver, which they believe to be navigablein the distant past.

Were the settlers Kapampangans?Or were they the dreaded Zambalheadhunters who periodically wentdown from the mountainsides and raidedtowns in Pampanga? Tradeware ceram-ics as well as iron-tipped weapons andtools had been dug up by the archae-ologists in Porac. What did the settlersbarter with the traders? Lino Dizontheorizes that since deer thrived on theslopes of the Zambales Mountain Range(J. Mallat wrote that in 1819, more than7000 stags were killed in a single Tarlac

pueblo), the settlers in the upland communities in Porac may haveproduced deer products like venison (prized meat then) and deerhide (used as samurai armor vest). (J. Mallari)

2. WERE BETIS AND LUBAO AS BIGAS CEBU?The conquistadores found thriving Muslimcommunities hereTHE EARLIEST Spanish chronicles show that the first settlementsin Pampanga were situated along the major waterways. MiguelLoarca listed these ancient settlements with their correspondingpopulation figures, thus revealing a comparison between Pampangasettlements and those in other parts of the archipelago:

Vitis (Betis) 3,500Lubao 3,500Cebu 3,500Calonpite (Calumpit) 3,000

Macabebe 2,600Candaya (Candaba) 2,000Vigan 1,600Malolos 800Negros 700Mindodo (Mindoro) 500Ylocos (Ilocos) 500Guiguinto 400Tondo 350Vohol (Bohol) 200Pandacan 150

Most if not all of these communities thrived along or close toriverbanks and coastal areas for two basic reasons: abundant re-sources and accessibility of transportation. This is true for all thegreat cities and civilizations of the world.

Sea-faring vessels penetrated island interiors through navigablerivers. One example of this is the Pampanga River. The earlySpaniards called it the Rio Grande de la Pampanga (Great Riverof Pampanga) owing to its width and depth and length. The riveroriginates from tributaries in Mount Lagsig and Mount Mingolitin the southern Caraballo Mountain Range, opposite MagatRiver. That area used to be part of Pampanga when the provinceextended all the way to Balete Pass in the north and Orion,Bataan in the south, or 125 km wide and 175 km long, in the1700s. (J. Mallari)

3. LUBAO’S ANCIENT BURIALBOATSSkeletons turn up during a flood

OLD civilizations all over the world observed a variety of elabo-rate burial rituals, one of which involved boats. The Vikings, forexample, interred their dead in boats or ships, as in Oscberg, orin graves on land with stone markings in the form of a ship, as inLindholm Høje. Around 3000 BCE the practice of burying actualboats along with the dead evolved in Egypt.

BAPU DAPU. Crocodiles once infested the entire stretch of the Pampanga River, resulting in thepresence of the reptile in Kapampangan mythology, art and architecture, and in toponyms such asSapang Dapu, Babang Dapu, etc.

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Austronesians such as the many ethno-linguistic lowlandersliving in pre-colonial Philippines had this reflected culture. Archaeo-logical excavations in Nakavajayan, Batanes, for instance, haveproduced what seem to be boat-shaped stone markers, as well asburial jars, dating back to 1595 A.D. In Palawan, Chamber A ofthe Manunggul Cave turned up a burial jar (710-890 B.C.) withanthropomorphic figures on top of the cover, representing soulspaddling from a boat on their way to the afterlife. The sumanga(stern) of this miniature práò (boat) had been carved in the form ofa human face with eyes, nose and mouth. This motif is still found inconventional sea vessels of Sulu, Borneo and Malaysia.

Researchers of the Center for Kapampangan Studies, to-gether with Dr. Rordrigo Sicat, author of The Kapampangans,recently interviewed old folks in Dr. Sicat’s hometown, Lubao, liv-ing near the now-heavily silted Gumain River. According to them,during the great flood of 1972, an eroded section of the protectivedike near the property of a Pablo de la Peña in Brgy. Gumiturned up several boat-shaped coffins. They described the findsas canoe-shaped kabaung, inside of which were the skeletal re-mains of what appeared to be at least six-footers. Beside theskeletons, the interviewees claimed, were indigenous and tradewareceramics: blue-and-whites with floral patterns they recognized aslosa, brown stoneware dragon jar (“balangang atin ubingangmakabatibat na kule malanging dutung”), and local earthen pots

ALFREDO Evangelista of the National Museum saysthat archaeological evidence and early ethnographic accountsby Spanish chroniclers indicate that the disposal of the dead inhollowed-out wood has a long tradition in the Philippines. Itevolved along with other forms of burial, like inhumation bywrapping the corpses in mats, or with tree bark, and intermentof corpses or skeletal remains in jar containers inside caves,under the ground or in open air (e.g., cliffs, trees). Evangelistaeven goes as far as saying that burial by boat coffin is as old asburial in a jar, as recent archaeological activities in Palawan’sTabon Cave proved. If the Lubao boat coffins are authenti-cated (granting they are still retrievable), they may date backto between 710-890 BC (same as Nakavajayan) and AD960-1279 (Sung Dynasty) and AD 1279-1368 (Ming Dy-nasty).

BOAT COFFINSlike kuran and banga. Each coffin measured between 12 and 18feet long, carved out of the trunk of a bulaon tree (Vitex parvifloraJuss.). Not quite knowing what to do with their morbid discovery,the people of Lubao broke up the coffins and made them intohandles of hammers, axes and bolos, as well as farming imple-ments. The bones, meanwhile, were collected and put in a sack,brought to the church for the priest’s blessing, and then buried inthe town’s cemetery. (J. Mallari)

4. FACTORIA AND THE SHIP THATSANK IN NUEVA ECIJADid Spanish galleons sail as far as theheadwaters of the Pampanga River?

Pedro Arcilla wrote that as recently as the early 1900s, largeboats could still navigate the Pampanga River from Manila Bay allthe way to Cabanatuan City and other Nueva Ecija towns. Infact, a parish document in a Nueva Ecija town mentions a casco(old folks there say it was a Chinese junk, others say it was aSpanish galleon) that sank during a storm in the early 1800s inthat upstream section of the Pampanga River that flowed throughthe town of Factoria. An old resident of San Isidro town (presentname of Factoria) allegedly recovered a part of this sunken ship’srudder which is now displayed in his private museum, awaitingscientific verification.

In 1925, the old church of San Isidro fell into the PampangaRiver during the height of a typhoon—proof of how destructive thecurrents of that upstream segment of the Rio Grande could be.Moreover, the toponym of Factoria implies three possibilities: first,as factory of bricks (the ladrillos, tejas, tenejas and baldosas ofcolonial churches were made of baked red clay abundant in theperipheries of the river); second, as foundry of bells (the churchesof Factoria, Cabanatuan, Gapan, Cabiao, Arayat, Candaba,Sta. Ana, Apalit, Calumpit, Hagonoy and Macabebe, all liningthe Rio Grande, are all facing the river and have similar bell de-signs); and third, as shipyard supplying all kinds of water vesselsthroughout the region.

Lino Dizon adds that the old town of Factoria controlled thetobacco industry in the North and was the capital of Nueva Ecija atthe time. Indeed, this once-thriving town, formerly within theboundaries of the Kapampangan Region, owed all of this to itsproximity to the Pampanga River. (J. Mallari)

5. THE SASMUAN-CABIAOCONNECTIONThis upstream town served as havento Kapampangan refugees

IN THE Sasmuan Papers of the Luther Parker Collections(c.1900), there is a claim that Factoria became the capital of

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LITERALLY. In San Vicente, Sto. Tomas, the casket capitalof the Philippines, a coffin doubles as a boat.

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Pampanga in 1762, when the British invaded Manila and thecountry’s capital was moved to Bacolor. The territory of Pampangaextended all the way to Nueva Vizcaya and the province of NuevaEcija was not yet existing. The provincial alcalde mayor (Gover-nor) of Pampanga, a Señor Biron, was residing in Factoria, whenBritish soldiers invaded Sasmuan through the town’s ManglaresRiver. (A barrio in Sasmuan is called Estaca, from the Spanishword estacadas or stakes put up in the river to prevent entry ofinvaders.) Señor Biron ordered all the residents in the easternsection of Sasmuan (then still named Sexmoan) to evacuate toCabiao (then still part of Pampanga). However, a group of womenheaded by Doña Magdalena Pineda presented a written protestagainst the order to evacuate citing the inconvenience of moving

to Cabiao. After the British left the coun-try in 1765, the Philippine capital was re-turned to Manila and apparently,Pampanga’s capital was returned toBacolor and thus ended Factoria’s briefshining moment in history.

But Sasmuan’s connection withCabiao did not end there. In 1808, afterSasmuan’s church burned down, therewas a disagreement among townspeoplewhere the new church and conventshould be built. Those living in the north-ern part of the town wanted it built inthe middle of the town, while those inthe southern part preferred its presentlocation (beside the river). As a result ofthe disagreement, many residents movedout to Cabiao and others to barrioTapulac in Orani, Bataan. The con-vent was built on the riverbanks on theright side of the present church, but wassoon destroyed by erosion as a result ofconstant swelling and battering of wavesand water surges caused by steam boatsand other water vessels frequenting theriver (connected to the Dalan BaporRiver of Guagua). A new smaller con-vent was built on the left side of the bel-fry in 1856.

6. MEXICO:PAMPANGA’SCAPITALBEFORE BACOLOR?Bacolor was theprovincial capital only from

1755 to 1903BACOLOR started functioning as capital of Pampanga in 1746

and officially became capital only in 1755, or 184 years after theSpaniards created the province and seven (7) years before it be-came the interim capital of the Philippines. The town served asthe provincial seat of government until 1903, when the capital wasmoved to San Fernando. In Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas,Gaspar de San Agustin, OSA wrote that the provincial capitalprior to Bacolor was Mexico town, which is not surprising be-cause Mexico was one of the oldest and most prosperous commu-nities in Pampanga. The province’s oldest surviving church struc-ture is found in San Jose Matulid; the town has a barangay namedParian which indicates the presence of a thriving community ofChinese merchants before; and a tributary to the Pampanga Riverlinks Mexico directly to Manila Bay passing through the importanttowns of San Fernando, Bacolor, Guagua, Sasmuan andMacabebe.

7. SAPANG BALEN AND ITS VIO-LENT PASTAngeles City lies in the path of anold, forgotten river

When the city’s founder Don Angel Pantaleon de Mirandaand wife Doña Rosalia de Jesus, came to Kuliat, the northern-most barrio of San Fernando, to establish a new town, they chosethe area around the Sapang Balen creek which at that time wassurrounded by lush vegetation. Thus, the two oldest streets,Sto.Rosario and Miranda, run parallel to the creek on both sides;

HIDING PLACE. Whenever times got rough, residents of Sasmuan evacuated toCabiao, Nueva Ecija (then part of Pampanga) through the Dalan Bapor, SanFernando River and Pampanga River. Next to Cabiao, the Nueva Ecija town ofFactoria (now San Isidro) became capital of Pampanga in 1762-65 when Bacolorwas the interim capital of the Philippines, or so documents say.

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The once-prosperous town of Mexico started declining afteran 1883 quake destroyed the church and most of thecommunity.

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the oldest mansions are found along these two streets, as wellas the church, the old municipal hall (now museum), old camalig,etc. The important barrios of Kuliat (now Angeles) are in factlocated around the Sapang Balen: Pampang, Sto. Domingo,Cutcut, San Nicolas, San Jose, Sta. Trinidad, Sto. Rosarioand Pulung Bulu. .

The creek may seem harmless but its present tranquilitybelies a violent past. Mariano Henson’s A Brief History ofthe Town of Angeles notes that on July 20, 1881, “A typhoonand a heavy downpour of rain caused the treacherous Taugsalient, which used to originate at the southwesternmost tip ofbarrio Pampang, to swell up to a murky, clayey tone into theSapang Balen Creek, causing the destruction of the three bridgesof 1850 and carrying away three houses from barrio San Jose.It is said that before 1796 the Taug sometimes went a few hun-dred yards behind the present church during protracted heavyrainfall.”

A similar devastation occurred in 1972 when Sapang Balenwashed away dozens of houses in San Jose, and again whenMount Pinatubo erupted on June 15, 1991, when the creek over-flowed into downtown Angeles.

Sapang Balen is actually the ancient path of Taug River; atsome point in the distant past, Taug turned and elbowed to-

1964 sketch by historian Mariano Henson showing the river systems affecting Angeles City: the Taug River which originallyflowed into Angeles City now turns to join Abacan River; the Sapang Balen (below, left) now occupies Taug River’sformer path. During the lahar flows in the 1990s, Pasig Potrero River (lower left) almost overflowed upstream to join TaugRiver, which could have buried Angeles City instead of Bacolor.

Early 1800s map showing the Parua (Bamban) River but notthe more major Sacobia River which is supposed to flowfrom the west towards Mabalacat and elbows to merge withthe Parua River.

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Kapampangan hospitality: multi-course dinners accompanied byorchestra music, Spanish cuisine and its local adaptations, winesfrom Spain and France, canopied beds, Sulipan-monogrammedFrench porcelain washbasins andurinal pots, hotel-like room service,etc. Among the guests were Gov-ernors-General, Archbishops, JoseRizal, Gen. Arthur McArthur,Gen. William Howard Taft, andPrince Norodom I of Cambodia,who had an alliance with the French,who in turn had an alliance with theSpaniards, who were assisted byKapampangan soldiers in theCochin-China War of 1868. ThePrince reportedly fell in love with alocal maiden, Pepita Roxas of thenext town Calumpit, Bulacan. Butthe best-cherished visit to Sulipanwas that of Alexis Alexandrovich,Grand Duke of Russia and son ofthe Czar himself. While inPampanga, the Russian Dukehunted birds in the surroundingmarshes, and boar and deer in themountains. In gratitude, he giftedhis gracious hosts with a whole setof monogrammed porcelain dinnerset.

10. THE LOST CANNERY OFGUAGUAWhy a small tributary in an interior townis called Dalan Bapor

It’s amazing how something so big could be erased without atrace so quickly. The town of Guagua has always been a com-mercial hub, even as early as pre-Hispanic times when it was athriving community of Moros who traded with Chinese merchants.The Pasak-Guagua River which connected with the Rio Grandeserved as the highway of cargo ships doing business in the town;a tributary to this river is what used to be known as Dalan Bapor(literally, ship’s way), which today is just a shallow canal after theeruption silted it. But at least until World War II, it was the sceneof intense economic activity because it led to a cannery located inwhat is now a subdivision beside the Guagua National College

wards Abacan River, leaving behind a dried-up riverbed on whichBrgy. Cuayan, Carmenville Subdivision and the city propereventually stood. Today, somewhere near the subdivision, a springappears and flows into what is now known as Sapang Balen, butthere is always the danger that Taug will become so flooded that itwill overflow the dike, reclaim its ancient route, reconnect withSapang Balen and head straight towards the city proper. Duringthe height of the lahar threat in 1992-1994, this doomsday sce-nario almost happened when lahar from the mighty Pasig-PotreroRiver, which turned out to be only a few meters away at somepoint upstream, nearly spilled over into Taug River. Had that hap-pened, the lahar that eventually buried Bacolor would have bur-ied Angeles City instead. (C. Manese)

8. THE MYSTERY OF THE SACOBIARIVERThe mighty river probably did notexist before the 1850s

SACOBIA River, which became a byword during the laharseason in the 1990s, is one of four major rivers emanating fromthe eastern slope of Mount Pinatubo itself (the others being Abacan,Pasig Potrero and Porac-Gumain). Strangely, however, SacobiaRiver does not appear in maps made during the entire colonialperiod until mid-1800s. Cartographers could not have missed sucha major river, considering that even creeks in the vicinity of theSacobia River are depicted.

Is it possible that Sacobia River did not exist before mid-1800s?There is a theory that it may have been formed, probably due

to a lake breakout on the slopes of Mount Pinatubo, in the 1850s.Sometime in 1856, the town of San Bartolome in southern Tarlacwas completely swamped with floodwaters from Parua, the river’sold name. Parua may have been the downstream name of BambanRiver (Sapang Mabanglu). 1856 may have been the year SacobiaRiver was formed; it elbowed away from Mabalacat (in a spotcalled Maskup in sitio Bana) to merge with the Bamban Riverbefore proceeding to Concepcion and draining into Rio Chico.

Another puzzle is the name “Sacobia.” Nobody knows what itmeans or to whom it refers. It is not a Kapampangan term andthere was no Spaniard or Filipino who went by that name. Thefact that residents in the area have no indigenous name for itraises the possibility of its recency.

9. RUSSIA’S GRAND DUKE CAMEBY BOATThe world’s rich and famoustraveled all the way to Apalit

DURING colonial times, el-egant mansions of richKapampangan families lined theRio Grande, the most famous ofwhich was that of Don JoaquinArnedo Cruz and Doña MariaSioco Arnedo, in Sulipan,Apalit. “(Their) combinedfortunes…created a lifestyle ofleisure and luxury unmatchedelsewhere in the archipelago,”writes Gene Gonzales in hisbook Cocina Sulipeña. Thecouple frequently threw lavishparties for their guests who camefrom Manila via the bay and

Pampanga River (the Arnedos had a small pier) and stayed at leasttwo nights and three days. They were pampered with the best of

Alexis Alexandrovich, GrandDuke of Russia

Guagua Church circa 1900

Excerpt from the 1887 Guia Oficial:

VAPORES PARA LA PAMPANGA

Salida de Manila, los Domingos, Martes y Jueves,a las 7 y media de la mañana, con escala en Balangaa las 10.Salida de Guagua para Manila, los Lunes, Miercolesy Viernes.

Pasage de cámara, a Guagua $2.50Id, de cubierta, Id .50Id, de cámara a Balanga 2.50Id, de cubierta, Id .25

BOAT FARE TO GUAGUAFROM MANILA

Coci

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Fray Francis Musni

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in Brgy. Sta. Filomena. Old folks living in the area recall that thecannery occupied the entire land area of the subdivision; that “hugeships” transported tons of canned goods like sardines and evenKapampangan specialties like tabang talangka and burung asan;that it offered retail canning services for affluent families who wantedto send canned products abroad; that it was bombed by Japaneseplanes in World War II; and that it finally closed in the 1960sfollowing a series of labor disputes.

Some remember the name of the plant as Luzon Steve-doring, but that may just be the recent name. They say that theplant did undergo changes, maybe in management or even owner-ship and kind of business. After the war, steamships became scarceand instead, barges with loads of abonu (fertilizer), pulut (honeyor beeswax), mining products (“huge blocks of dark stone”) andmayumu (sugar). Some recall the plant was purchased byPASUDECO which converted it into a warehouse.

There remains an island in the middle of Dalan Bapor, acrosswhere the cannery once stood, which is called Duck Island be-cause well, the old folks have conflicting explanations: Americanpilots described it as duck-shaped; the islanders raised ducks andgeese; and it is a corruption of “dock,” because it is where thecargo ships docked when loading and unloading.

The rivers gradually lost their usefulness as transportation routesbecause of siltation and also because roads were improved andthe Manila-Dagupan Railroad, which crosses San Fernando,opened. (J. Mallari)

11. THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1972Pampanga’s worst calamity before Pinatubo

SUPERSTITIOUS Kapampangans at-tributed the 1972 flood to the theft ofthe image of Sto. Niño in Tondo, Ma-nila which happened shortly before thestart of the monsoon rains. Others re-called the prediction of American psychicJeanne Dixon, who had reportedly seena vision of Luzon Island going completelyunder water that it was possible to travel by boat inland fromManila Bay to Lingayen Gulf. In fact, this was exactly whatthe astronauts saw from their spacecraft orbiting the earth atthe time of the flood: floodwaters blanketing the island fromBulacan and Pampanga to Tarlac, Nueva Ecija andPangasinan (in short, the entire Central Luzon region); theAgno River and the Pampanga River had disappeared andfrom the sky it was easy to imagine that Manila Bay had in-deed connected with Lingayen Gulf and that it was completelypossible to travel by boat from end to end!

In colonial times, natives and probably even Spaniardsand Chinese merchants traveled between Pangasinan andPampanga using the Rio Grande (Big River) de Pampangawhich was still connected with the Rio Chico (Little River)de Pampanga; there is, however, a gap between Rio Chicoand the Agno River, but in old maps a lake (Canarem, prob-ably a swamp like the Candaba Swamp, also sometimesdepicted as a lake in old maps) once existed in the vicinity ofthe gap which makes it entirely possible, especially during therainy season, to make the connecting boat ride between theRio Chico and Agno River. Moreover, there may also havebeen streams in this gap which connected the two rivers; theChinese pirate Limahong could have easily made this hisescape route from Salcedo’s forces in Pangasinan.

Today, fallen trees and mud have rendered the Rio Chicoun-navigable.

THE PSYCHIC’S PREDICTION:”MANILA BAY WILLCONNECT TOLINGAYEN GULF”

NEXT to the eruption of Pinatubo, the worst calamity to everhit the Kapampangan Region in recent memory was the flood of1972, when the entire Central Plain of Luzon was submergedunder water. Heavy monsoon rains lasting 40 days nonstop hadbeen triggered by four tropical cyclones that made a direct hit inthe area during that year’s rainy season: Asiang, Konsing, Toyangand Undang.

The flood, which claimed 298 lives, was worst in the CentralPlain because this area is the natural catch basin of two majorwaterways, the Pampanga River and the Agno River; more-over, the presence of the Candaba Swamp (pinac), alugin (water-logged) areas and baná (marshes), as well as the phenomenon ofsubsidence, further makes the area susceptible to flooding.

Morphologically, the 1972 flood resulted in the sedimentationof the western side of the Central Plain, where erosion from theZambales Mountain Range has geologically formed alluvial fanson the plain’s western side, which continuously choke river sys-

Kasa

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an Jeanne Dixon

tems and silt large areasof dayat (rice fields); lo-cal farmers even have aterm for fields affectedby sedimentation:mibanlikan. In SanFernando, for example,large areas of farmlandsnear Lapat experiencedsedimentation of up toone meter high.

As an immediate re-sult of sedimentation inthe so-called Rice Bowlof the Philippines, thenext harvests in CentralLuzon were jeopardized.Kapampangans, how-ever, took advantage ofthe sandy soil and con-verted rice farms intosugarcane and water-

melon fields. (C. Manese)

Ninfa A. S. Springer

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WATER has al-ways been the life-blood of ancient com-munities. Early set-tlers set up homesnear rivers, brooks,lakes and streams forreasons of conve-nience. Water gavelife, served as meansof travel, nourishedplants and spawnedabundant marine pro-duce that fed people,gave livelihood andcaused whole townsto grow and flourish.Kapampangans ,like the Tagalogs,thus settled by thebanks of a great river,too, and the riverinesettlements that grewalong its pampangand its tributarieswould define thePampanga region andits people.

Rio Grande dela Pampanga, asone of the longest riv-ers in the Philippines,lies in the middle of agiant depressioncalled the PampangaRiver Basin, which hasa total area of 9,520sq. km. encompassingPampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija andportions of Zambales, Rizal, Quezon,Tarlac and Nueva Vizcaya, The RioGrande originates from several rivers in thesouthern slopes of the Southern Caraballorange, in mountains Lagsing and Mingolitopposite to the Magat River of Cagayan.It flows in a southerly direction to its mouthin Manila Bay, joining its major tributar-ies, Rio Chico in Talavera near Mt. Arayatand the Angat River at Sulipan.

On this fabled river sailed the Malayanpioneers from the Malay Peninsula andSingarak Lake in West Sumatra, discov-ering dwellers along its banks. Henceforth,the inhabitants of the riverside communi-ties were known as “taga-pangpang,” giv-ing Pampanga its name. As a rich source oflivelihood and as means of commercialtransport, the great Pampanga River hasbecome inextricably linked with theprovince’s economic, political and social his-tory through centuries. It was no wonderthen that our forebears considered the riveras sacred, its ebbs and flows dictating thecourse of life along the banks and the townsbeyond.

Rio Grande and Rio Chico (or“Chiquito”) provided wide access from south

THE RIO GRANDEOf the thousand rivers, rivulets, estuaries, streams, brooks

and canals running through the Kapampangan Region, the grandest of them all is the Pampanga River

By Alex R. Castro

local produce. Mexico town’s role as a majorcommercial center would soon diminishwhen the tributary, on which the town waslocated, was silted up; commercial trafficmoved elsewhere.

Through the years, the Pampanga Riverhas been dammed, silted up and pollutedby man. And as everyone knows, thePinatubo eruption of 1991 caused untoldhavoc to its tributaries. The disastrous re-percussions are most felt during the rainyseason, when water from the oversilted riverchannels and estuaries, which has risenhigher than the land around it, floods wholetowns and plains, a yearly encroachmentthat seems unstoppable.

Yet, remarkably, Rio Grande has shownan amazing ability to heal and renew itself.Today, the mother of all rivers flows smoothlystill and it often comes as a surprise to theoccasional water traveler that the ripplingwaters have remained pristine in some ar-eas and the scenics similarly well preserved:from the lush mangroves jutting from theriver’s navel, the flock of migrant birds thathave come to commune with nature to themagnificent townscapes visible from afar.What other magical sights could our fore-bears have seen from this river?

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A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

to north of Pampanga until the 18th cen-tury. Back then, travelers would find sailingthe waters of the river very smooth, not-withstanding the rainy season. One couldactually go upstream in a small boat fromManila Bay to Lingayen Gulf without see-ing the sea! The course started northwardvia Pampanga River, to the Chico River,then rounded off the east of Arayat andalong the Tarlac-Nueva Ecija boundary,up to Canarem Lake, then northwest alongTablang, Quiniblatan and MangabolRivers, proceeding to Tarlac River whichempties downstream to Bayambang Riverand into Agno River which is the maintributary of Lingayen Gulf.

At the start of the Spanish colonial pe-riod, all major settled areas of the provincewere mainly situated in the south near thegreat river and along its tributaries furthernorth. Apalit, Arayat, Bacolor, Betis,Candaba, Guagua, Lubao, Macabebe,Mexico, Porac and Sexmoan were thetowns of principal importance at this time,due to their proximity to the river. Mer-chants from these towns would sail southin bancas and cascos towards the esterosof Quiapo, Tondo and Binondo wherethey would unload zacate, sugar and other

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PAMPANGA River is alive and well, still clean and healthyand suitable for trade, transportation and tourism. This was thediscovery of a research team that recently went on a boat ridefrom the headwaters of the river in Arayat all the way to where itmeets the sea in Manila Bay.

Organized by the Center for Kapampangan Studies, theteam’s mission was to trace ancient trade routs and to survey theriver’s potential for tourism activities.

The team rode on a double-deck houseboat lent by Engr. RobertCanlas through the auspices of then Masantol Vice-Mayor BajunLacap. The ride began in Candaba, going upstream until the boat hitshallow water in Candating, Arayat, then turning around and goingdownstream, past Candaba, San Luis, San Simon, Apalit, Calumpit,Macabebe and Masantol, where the team found a patch of man-groves—only a handful left but still unbelievably beautiful.

The team also found colonial churches and chapels on thebanks, facing the river, their entrances barely several feet from thewater—indicating that parishioners used to go to church by boatfrom their houses (before the Spaniards reorganized pueblos aroundthe church, communities were linear, with houses lining the whole

A CRUISE DOWN PAMPANGA RIVERA team of researchers tracing the route of ancient marinersdiscovers the river’s capacity to renew and heal itself

extent of the river). That these structures have remained intactproves that the river hardly changed after several centuries.

Except for pockets of garbage dumps, and the fermentationfactory in Apalit, the whole stretch of the Pampanga River wassurprisingly clean. The siltation and the heavy pollution peoplewere complaining about were in the tangled network of canalsand tributaries, but Pampanga River itself has retained its pristinedepth and width and beauty and strength.

The Center has proposed to the Department of Tourismriver cruises using Engr. Canlas’ fleet of yachts, kayaks and speed-boats now ducked in Sulipan, Apalit. The Center is also propos-ing a round-table conference among mayors of towns where theriver passes to discuss clean-up, riverside eateries and docking/refueling stations, and cultural tours. Old churches can be thedesignated stopovers, where tourists can buy the town’s productsand have a taste of local delicacies. The boat ride itself will berest and recreation, with performers on board singing traditionalsongs and annotating on history, culture and ecology.

The river cruises may also be timed to coincide with riverfestivals like libad, kuraldal and batalla.

KABAKAUAN. Part of the research team that cruised down Pampanga River took an exploratory boatride into themangrove forest (kabakauan) at the point where the river empties into the sea near the Masantol-Macabebe area.

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LIKE planting cycles, floods (albug inKapampangan) are regular seasons in thecalendar of the hardy Kapampangans. Ac-customed to the winds and waters of theRio Grande, Kapampangans have come toregard the river as a means of transportand their source of fish and water for theircrops.

Their ancestors built their houses onstilts to let wind and water pass throughthe sulip, as they called the high space be-tween the ground and the floors of theirhouses. Dwelling on the banks, they livedin houses that faced the river. They refusedto compromise this closeness to the river,forcing the Augustinian clergy to buildalong the banks the first churches in theprovince in the 16th century. Floods dic-tated where the churches would stand, asin the case of Minalin.

Floods came with regularity but with lessdisastrous impact, as the late historianMariano Henson documented. Then,floodwaters took only a few hours to drainout, much unlike recent flooding when wa-ter would take days or weeks to recede.

Old folks reckon that floods never re-

FLOODED LIVESDiking and dredging will never solve the problem;Pampanga will always be flooded

ally disrupted lives. It was during the Ameri-can colonial period that dikes sprouted allover the province. Official records showthat the flood control works in thePampanga River Basin—the drainer of 30river systems in Central Luzon—began in1939. By the end of 1990, there were 44earth dikes spanning 381 kilometers. Atleast 86 percent of these dikes were withinPampanga and other provinces fallingwithin the so-called Kapampangan Region:Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bataan andBulacan. Drainage facilities like cut-offchannels, waterways, floodgates and canalsspanned 371 km.

Old earth dikes along the Pasig Potreroand Porac-Gumain rivers were part ofearly flood control measures.

The devastating 1972 floods worsenedthe situation, and as a result, easing futureflooding became the priority of the govern-ment. In 1975, the government asked theUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme to undertake a comprehen-sive study of the Pampanga River and theCandaba Swamp, a natural water catch-ment spanning 33,000 hectares.

By Tonette Orejas

The result of the study was thePampanga Delta Development Project,which had two components—irrigation andthe widening and dredging of the mouth ofthe river that heads out to Manila Bay.

Both components have been accom-plished. The P3.1-billion dam, named afterthe late President Diosdado Macapagal,rose in Arayat and diverted the water fromthe Rio Chico and the Rio Grande to some8,000 farmlands in Pampanga. Otherprojects followed, including the wideningand dredging of a 22.7-km span of the delta.These were done using loans obtained fromJapan and carried out after the 1991 Mt.Pinatubo eruption.

Yet the flooding that these projectssought to ease became even more severe,not to mention the 10,000 families alongthe delta who sacrificed their lands to savethe province. The Department of PublicWorks and Highways justified morespending by saying the effects of lahar hadlimited the drainage capacity of the rivers.The agency, reports show, spent P3.3 bil-lion to put up and strengthen the basicallyweak FVR Megadike. The DPWH spent

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another P119 million for dredging the Pasacdelta area and Bataan in year 2000. Thenow-defunct Mount Pinatubo Commissionchanneled P567.08 million for desilting works.

With all these funds being funneled toflood control works, why do Pampanga andthe rest of Central Luzon still experienceserious floods?

Desilting seems to be the one and ur-gent solution that the DPWH and local offi-cials see. But Ruth Pambid of the Cen-tral Luzon Center for Emergency Aidand Rehabilitation (CONCERN) saidshort-term measures, like desilting, are awaste of public funds. Rains, she said, onlywash back the sediments dumped on thebanks. Even President Macapagal Ar-royo, in a visit to Mexico, Pampanga lastyear, noted the futility of desilting and cas-tigated DPWH officials.

Two scientists, Dr. Fernando Siringanand Dr. Kelvin Rodolfo, have offered sev-eral alternative solutions. These are out-lined in their ongoing study, “Net Sea LevelChanges in the Pampanga Delta: Causes and

Consequences.”Pampanga, Bulacan and Metro-Ma-

nila are geographically prone to floodingbecause they are low-lying areas, they slopetowards the sea, they are in a coastal envi-ronment and they take in rainwater fromvery large watersheds (Sierra Madre in theeast and Zambales Mountain Range inthe west). The seawater that the south-west monsoon winds push towards theshore also blocks the discharge of floods.Lastly, the aquaculture industry has alsothrived along the delta, choking the river’smouth with fishponds.

Mount Pinatubo’s debris that now siltthe channels are only part of the problem,experts say. “It is true that flooding incoastal Pampanga worsened between the1980s and 1990s, but it (had) also wors-ened in the decades before the eruption,”Siringan and Rodolfo said in their study.

“Channel capacities have been decreasedby encroaching fishponds and houses, byinappropriate garbage disposal and siltationlargely due to deforestation and the conse-

quent erosion of upland slopes,” they said.Flooding, they added, was also wors-

ened by the loss of the floodplain due tourban development and due even to dikesthat ironically had been built to solve theproblem.

The rapid rise in sea level, the result ofglobal warming (expansion of water whenheated, and melting of glaciers), is com-pounding the sinking of the delta plains. ForSiringan and Rodolfo, the more viable solu-tions go beyond dikes and dredging.

Forest covers delay the rainwater thatdrains out to the flatlands. “If reforestationis to be effective, it cannot be done on atown-by-town, or even province-by-provincebasis, because parts of the watershed thatdrain into the delta plain also lie in adjacentprovinces. Thus, a serious reforestationendeavor must be done on a national ba-sis,” they said.

The present forest cover of CentralLuzon, at 334,193 hectares, is tiny com-pared to the region’s total land area of 2.147million hectares.

SOMEWHERE within the sprawling structure of the Opera-tions Building of the Weather & Flood Forecasting Centercompound in Diliman, Quezon City, is a room where daily moni-toring of hydrological parameters and forecasting of an impend-ing flood in one of the major river basins in the Philippines, some60 km north of the compound, is being made. There’s nothingremarkable about that room until you consider that that’s wherethe flood bulletins and warnings for any flooding within thePampanga River Basin would be coming from. That room, theycall The Pampanga River Basin Flood Forecasting & Warn-ing Center (PRFFWC).

The Pampanga River is one of the 2 major river systemsdraining the Central Luzon plain, which is oftentimes referred toas the “rice granary of the Philippines”. The area, unfortunately,suffers considerable flood damage almost every year.

The floods of August 1960, July 1962, and May 1966 aresome of the destructive floods that affected the Pampanga RiverBasin. However, the flood that occurred in July 1972 was consid-ered as one of the most disastrous. It inflicted a total damage ofabout $300 million in Central Luzon area particularly in thePampanga River Basin. It was in the light of these sad experi-ences that the government authorities saw the need for a non-structural measure of mitigating flood loss and damages – a floodforecasting and warning in the major river basins in the country.

In 1973, a pilot flood forecasting and warning system (FFWS)for the Pampanga River Basin was established through technicalcooperation between the Philippines and Japan Governments,taking into account the action program decided by the ECAFE/WMO Typhoon committee. The effectiveness of the system sub-sequently led to the establishment of similar systems covering

PREDICTING FLOODS,AVERTING DISASTERSThe whole stretch of the Pampanga River is nowbeing monitored by government scientistsBy Hilton Hernando, PRFFWC, FFB, PAGASA

the Agno, Bicol and Cagayan River Basins in 1982.The FFWS in the Pampanga River Basin envisages forecasting

the flood level at vulnerable places in the lower reaches of theriver one day, or if possible two days, in advance. Forecasts ofriver stages will be prepared with reference to forecast points.

The procedure for flood forecasting involves estimation ofthe basin rainfall in advance, runoff computation, and estimationof flood wave propagation by means of flood routing and othertechniques. The application of empirical correlation and compu-tation of various parameters with the help of computers form amajor part of the operational procedure. In line with commonpractices of flood forecasting, the results obtained from the op-eration of the system will be kept under continued review so thatfrom the experience gained, improvements can be carried outwhenever appropriate, both in the network of reporting stationsas well as in the technical procedure.

The present flood forecasting system for the Pampanga Riverbasin is composed of a telemetering network of rainfall and waterlevel gauging stations. The network consists of 8 rainfall and waterlevel gauging stations, 5 rainfall stations, a repeater station and 1combined repeater and rainfall station all strategically locatedwithin the Pampanga River basin and the sub-basin of GuaguaRiver. The terminal telemetry station serving as the nerve centerof data collection is located in the Operations Center in the WFFCcompound. Just recently, an on-line database system was installedin the Center for the continuous input of data from the telemetrynetwork to the Center’s computer.

The rainfall and water level gauging equipment in the stationnetwork are fully automatic. Depths of rainfall and water level ofrivers at the stations are transmitted by the telemetering system

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at a specified time interval; say one hour, via a repeater stationat Cabanatuan and San Rafael to the terminal telemetry sta-tion at the Operations center.

A year-round operation of the system is maintained in asmuch as data collected from the network of observation will beuseful not only for flood forecasting but also for research, engi-neering and agricultural purposes in the area.

Similar to the FFWS in the 4 major river basins in Luzon, theFlood Forecasting and Warning System for Dam Operations(FFWSDO) in 3 of these basins (Pampanga, Agno & Cagayan)was conceived and finally started in 1983. This was in the light ofthe unprecedented flooding brought about by the release of im-pounded water by Angat Dam in Bulacan in 1978, which causeddestruction and death downstream of the dam.

The FFWSDO is aimed at the telemeterized FFWS that willprovide the necessary information for the safe and cost-effectiveoperation of the Pantabangan and Angat dams for thePampanga River basin, ultimately to forewarn the people in the

RECORDEDCATASTROPHICFLOODS IN PAMPANGA& TARLAC

As Kapampangans adopted Western ways,floods turned from blessingto nuisance to disaster

flood plains downstream of these dam sites of the impendingrelease of impounded water through spillways during floods. Thesystem is operated under an inter-agency cooperation betweenPAGASA, as the lead agency, and the dam operating agencies,namely the National Power Corporation (NPC) and the NationalIrrigation Administration (NIA).

The PRFFWC has been in existence for over 30 years now;however, its operations and its purpose are not yet fully heard of atthe basin where it provides flood bulletins and warnings. Owing toits level of service competency and concern of the welfare of thebasin’s populace, the center hopes to promote its responsibilitiesthrough public information drives and close coordination with thelocal disaster coordinating councils of the basin. For now, whetherthe center is known or not, the business of service goes on and willcontinue for as long as there’s always a threat of flood in thePampanga River Basin area. After all, public service is never meantto be advertised but rather to be felt.

Gilda Cordero Fernando

1871 Candaba1872 San Luis1881 Floridablanca,

Bacolor1884-85 San Luis1886 San Luis1887 Minalin, Sto. Tomas,

Macabebe, Apalit,San Simon, San Luis,Candaba, Bacolor

1890 Bacolor1899 Tarlac

ABACAN River in Angeles City used to be a navigable river,a route for traders and merchants from Mexico town downstream;it was probably named Abacan because when traders reachedAngeles it was usually time for brunch (which ancientKapampangans called ábákan because they only had two meals aday, brunch and dinner).

Abacan River wreaked havoc on Angeles town several times inhistory, probably because the new settlers did not realize theywere building their town on top of an ancient riverbed. Accordingto historian Mariano Henson, the town proper was flooded dueto water overflowing the banks of Abacan on August 4 and Sep-tember 3, 1929; July 1-5, 1930; August 12-14, 1931; July 29-30,1932; and 1935, 1936 and 1937.

In 1846, the flood in Apalit town crept up to the church’s main altar.Calamitous floods have caused the relocation of many towns

in Pampanga and Tarlac. Mexico town proper used to be in Brgy.San Jose Matulid, where the town’s first church (the oldest inthe province) still stands fronting the Sapang Matulid. Capasalso moved due to flooding, and so did Minalin (formerly locatedin Sta. Maria, Macabebe), Lubao (formerly in Brgy. Sta. Cruz)and of course, Concepcion and Magalang, which used to be one

town (Macapsa) until flood-waters from Cuayan andMaisac Rivers forced resi-dents to transfer to SanBartolome; floods from theParua River forced anothermass evacuation: one groupof evacuees moved north toSto. Niño which eventuallybecame Concepcion, anothergroup remained for a whilein San Bartolome until yetanother flood, in 1856 (thetown “looked like a largelake”), necessitated an evacu-ation southward to SanPedro Talimundoc, whichremained the presentMagalang (the town’s com-plete name is San Pedro deMagalang although its titu-lar patron saint is SanBartolome). The old site ofSan Bartolome, meanwhile,was known as Balen

Melacuan (“Abandoned Town”) and is now a mere barrio ofConcepcion. Other recorded floods:1683 Macabebe1769 Minalin1815 Candaba1831 Bacolor,

Guagua1832 Candaba1833 Minalin1839 Candaba1846 Apalit1856 Concepcion,

Magalang1869 Minalin

In Angeles, historian Mariano Henson has a detailed recordof the floods occurring in the town, mostly due to typhoons andprotracted rains causing the Taug River to overflow, the mostsignificant of which are: July 20, 1881, September 1885, July 20,1911, August 20-27, 1919, July 17-25, 1920, June 26-27, 1961,July 21, 1962.

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THE CANDABA Swamp, locally known as Pinac, is a vastexpanse of farmlands during summer and a lake of floodwaterduring the rainy season, which led many Spaniards in colonial timesto misrepresent it as a lake on the map. The people of Candabaare so used to the annual flood they would be upset if no floodcame within the year.

Thus, their rice fields alternate as fishponds and farmers re-place their plow and harrow with fishing implements. Their versa-tility reflects the land’s ability to regenerate and flow with nature’scyclical rhythms: flood replenishes the soil, its ebb coincides withthe arrival of migratory birds which feast on the exposed bed ofsnails and jumping small fishes. The people of Candaba who getthe best of both seasons are therefore assured of a year-long live-lihood and supply of food.

There’s a lesson to be learned here for the rest of theKapampangans who know the flood will surely come but they stillweep when it does, because they never learn how to embrace it aspart of life. Our ancestors lived in houses on stilts, so water neverentered their rooms; we, on the other hand, build palaces on theground and then put up a fortress of sandbags around it when theflood comes. Our ancestors had a ready boat under their house;we spend all our savings on a luxury car which is trapped useless

THE AMAZINGFARMER-FISHERMENOF CANDABAThey ride the cycle of seasons and go with life’s ebbs and flows

Farmers during the dry months ... become fishermen when the floods come.

in the garage when the streets are flooded. Our ancestors let theriver flow where it must; if it changes direction then they lift theirlightweight houses and set it up elsewhere. We build subdivisionson the path of the river and then when we get flooded, it’s theriver that we force to relocate; we keep spending billions dredgingthe river and walling it up with concrete dikes which keep collaps-ing and leading to tragic loss of life.

Our ancestors were never harassed by the constant floods inPampanga because they had also learned to build their communi-ties around floodplains instead of on top of them. They let thesenatural catch basins to do their part as nature had intended them.The Candaba Swamp is a good example: in summer it functions asfarmlands, on rainy days as fishponds. Our ancestors recognizedit and respected it. Modern Kapampangans, on the other hand,suffer all the inconveniences and tragic consequences of the an-nual floods because they have built their communities right on topof floodplains. It won’t be surprising if 20, 30 years from now,developers who have absolutely no memory of the Candaba Swampwill build a subdivision right in the middle of it..

We are, first and foremost, river people. Our province is calledPampanga and we are called Kapampangan. About time welive up to our name.

By Robby Tantingco

Kasa

ysay

an

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R I V E R B A N KKapampangans havecommon patterns ofculture. These in-clude their values,preferences, mores,pigment, customs andtraditions, and theirstrong sense of iden-tity. They are foundin the south andsouthwestern areas ofthe province, includ-ing Lubao, Guagua,S a s m u a n ,M a c a b e b e ,Masantol and por-tions of Minalin,Apalit and Bacolor,precisely or proxi-mately along themouth of thePampanga River andaround the ManilaBay. Examples ofthese cultural pat-terns:

MUSICAL SPEECH,GRAPHIC LAN-GUAGE. Usually,Kapampangans inthese areas speak ina sing-song(gegége). Inflectionand intonation arehigher than normal.The gaiety of thespeaker’s tongue istireless, energeticand sometimes eventheatrical. Even incasual conversation,speakers are pleas-antly noisy (maingé).As the language isnaturally and instinc-tively spoken, words come like rapid-firesounds and rhythms, often high-pitched(matarling), at times even agitated, whichis misconstrued as quarrelsome which ofcourse it is not. The language is decoratedwith figurative and flowery expressions, bor-dering on the bawdy: buguk (lit. rotten),murit (idiot), ‘nai da na (short for puta ya iinda na, son of a bitch), sosoning (moron)and the like are used in casual conversa-tion, rather carelessly. To non-Kapampangans, they sound rude; toKapampangans, especially in the rivertowns, they are quite harmless.

FIESTA DANCING Regardless of religion,Kapampangans in coastal villages and rivercommunities in the south fill their homes withfood during fiesta and open their doors tofriends and strangers alike. The highlight of

THE MERRY WAYSOF THE

RIVERBANK PEOPLE

What is it about theriver that brings outthe Kapampangans’

true nature?

By Dr. Rodrigo M. Sicat

In virgin swamps andponds, fishermen’s foot-prints scattered all over themud floor are evidence ofdisturbance. In fishing par-lance, a watery area thathas not been disturbed (emedaldal) means goodharvest, because the wa-ter has not been des-ecrated yet. Undisturbedwater yields great crops.When harvests are copi-ous, fish catchers and gath-erers march and feast inthe river, marsh, swamp,pond and tributary in greatjoy. When fish baskets(buslu) and bancas arebrimming with catch, thevillage people rejoice inthanksgiving.

Most riverbank com-munities of Pampangahave been pious and pas-sionate practitioners of thecuraldal since time imme-morial. As devotees ofSta. Lucia (St. Lucy, pa-troness of light) inSasmuan town celebratethe saint’s feast day onJanuary 10, the devoteesof Apu Sto. Cristo ob-serve their fiesta everyMay 3 in Sta. Cruz,Lubao, the celebrationshighlighted with a curaldal.The miraculous blackwooden cross of Sta. Cruzis believed to be the Span-iards’ gift to the nativeswhen they arrived in thisvillage in 1572. Similarly,the island villages of Lubaoperform the libad fluvialprocession, which culmi-

nates in a curaldal also. This charming tra-dition is spectacularly celebrated in Apalitduring the Apung Iru feast day.

THE MERRY FISH PORTS. Fishports(dungan, or sometimes sadsaran) are alovely sight. Bancas and boats in all shapesand sizes are parked along the shore(paroba) which is usually near the market-place. Motorboats have painted women’snames on them, usually the boat owners’beloved. Unpainted bancas, on the otherhand, indicate antiquity but they remain themost popular vehicles in these parts. Here,in these ports, merchants and buyers(maniali) interact with the usual tricks ofthe trade like sitsitan (whispered negotia-tion over price), pakyawan (wholesale), ortundukan (retail). Fish and mollusks areoften sold in banyeras (fish basins). All in

Alex

Cas

tro

any fiesta is the curaldal, which is a Catholictradition similar to the thanksgiving dancerituals of the Kapampangan Aetas per-formed during harvest season. This beauti-ful tradition is participated in all members ofthe community as a gesture of gratitude totheir patron saint. The term means “end-less body movement.” For example, whenone moves his entire body pointlessly, wesay to him, “Tuknang na kang luluyon,balamu cucuraldal ka.” The word is akin todaraldalan (to disturb) and dadaran (to re-move or thresh), common among farmersin the area. Both words involve intense bodymovement in a merry environment, particu-larly the movement of arms and feet whichis fundamental to a dance ritual.

The word daldal is a fishing term usedwhen the waters are disturbed (me daladal).

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all, a noisy, smelly, intense activity.

THE VILLAGE PEOPLE’S TAN. Dwellersalong the shoreline and riverbanks aredarker than their upland counterparts. Thetan is of course attributed to the saline andalkaline breeze from Manila Bay and thePampanga River. Kapampangans wear theirtan like a badge of honor testifying to theirhard work and paying tribute to their mari-time ancestors.

FISHING TOOLS. Kapampangans in fish-ing villages tenaciously use the followingindigenous tools: pasabal, balkad, bumbun,baslig, dalungkit, sakag, patinga, biakus,saklit, palapad, bukatut, pukut, gayad, panti,etc.

PLEASURES OF SACCHARINES. To fish-ermen, sweetened delicatessens serve as

TREES AND PLANTS FOUNDALONG THE PAMPANGA RIVER

SASA (Nipa fruticans Wurmb. [Blco.]) PANDAN LALAKI (Pandanus gracilis[Blco.])

KALUMPANG (Sterculia foetida Linn.[Blco.])

DAPDAP (Erythrina carnea [Blco.]) PUTAT (Barringtonia racemosa DC.[Blco.])

BOTON (Barringtonia speciosa Linn.[Blco.])

substitutes for meats and vegetables espe-cially during the long rainy season. As oneriverbank saying goes, Malumud ku man atmate, ing kanakung pakabug e ke ipaglibe.Some of these native sweets are: inuyat(thick red-brown syrup extracted frommascovado or brown sugar, contained in tincans or bamboo poles), tinuklab (orpakabug, hardened sugar block shaped liketwo-sided mounds), pinotsa (sugar blockwhich is a coarser version of tinuklab, plainround in shape), patku (grated coconutmeat cooked in brown sugar), bagkat (friedpeanut cake baked in brown sugar) and tirati(long, hard stick coated with white sugar).

FLOOD-WISE. Southern towns are proneto year-round flooding, whether rain or shine.Tidal floods (brought about by high tides fromManila Bay) raise the level of river water byone-half to one meter high. Hence, coping

Flora de Filipinas

with flood has become a part of day-to-daylife for coastal Kapampangans. During lowtide, receding river water exposes fish andsnails to the delight of fishermen. High tidesthat last for a week or so soak hamlets andvillages (makasangkayo), which means noincome for villagers within the duration ofthe tide. This predicament is the most pain-ful helplessness of riverbank life.

This condition is aggravated beyondimagination when rainy season comes. Zeroincome and poor support from local authori-ties make life in the riverbanks unbearable.Hence, the inexpensive saccharine(pagmayumu) is the best substitute viandamong the people during these pathetic cir-cumstances. Flood covers mangroves, fishports and fishponds. The duration of thistype of flood is dictated by the monsoons.As floods subside, life in the coastal villagesbegins anew.

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Amphibians make up one of the sixclasses of backboned animals generally clas-sified between classes of fishes and rep-tiles. Frogs and toads are the most impor-tant to the Kapampangan chef, since a lotof these species are edible. Tugak gener-ally refers to frogs such as tugak pepekat(Rana erytthaea) and tugak kakanan ortugak tutu (Rana cancrinova and Ranalimnocharis). These seem to be limited toopen cultivated areas, such as kadayatan(ricefields), plasdan (fishponds), rivers andstreams. Karag technically refers to variet-ies of toads which are stout and have wartyskin; examples are the baner (Bufo marinus,widely distributed in the Philippines and in-troduced to the islands during the Ameri-can Period) and karag gubat (Bufobiporcatus philippinicus) which old folksclaim is also edible and delicious especiallyits muscled leg parts.

Meanwhile, reptiles are more numerousand more diversified than amphibians. Theliving species of reptiles include the ordersof turtles (pau, pauikan); tuataras; lizardsand snakes; and crocodiles and alligators(like dapo). Examples of snakes are theubingan tudtud (Typhlops braminus),kamuhalu/kamamalu (King cobra,Ophiophagus hannah) etc. while lizards in-clude barag (monitor lizard, Varanussalvator), banias (water lizard, Hydrosauruspustulosus), tarebalak (common scincoid liz-ard), tuko and galakgak (chameleons) andthe smaller ones such as the varieties oflupisak (gecko species) seen on barks oftrees and on house walls and ceilings.Among the lizards mentioned, barag is themost in demand to Kapampangan chefs. It

TUGAK , BARAG AND DAPU:FELLOW RIVER DWELLERS

By Joel Pabustan Mallari

Kamaru (mole crickets) have robustfront legs highly modified for digging. Theytunnel rapidly just below the soil surfaceand make trails of pushed-up soil similarto that of a mole, only much smaller. Molecrickets can run very rapidly when on thesoil surface. They are attracted to lightsand are occasionally pests of vegetables.

Mole cricket is known as kamaru in theKapampangan vernacular. It is best repre-

By Emar Canilao Chua and Joel Pabustan Mallari

ARU! KAMARU!

These reptiles and amphibians have co-existedwith Kapampangans as friend or foe or food

Jonathan Best

EDIBLE. Above, frog species thatbecome betute on theKapampangan menu; left, baragalso ends up on the table.

once so prevalent in their villages that atone time the then young General EmilioAguinaldo, together with his friends, wasable to capture a big crocodile in the river--so big that when they transported it toBatangas it created large waves. InCandaba, there is an old wives’ tale about acrocodile terrorizing people in the market-place during a flood, many years ago. InApalit, long before the Apu Iru fluvial cel-ebration, revelers in the river fed the croco-diles that were said to infest the waters.

Only Kapampangans have a word for the mole cricket

sented by the specie Orthoptera: Gryllotalpaorientalis Burmeister. This insect has so farno other indigenous name among the restof the ethnolinguistic groups of the Philip-pines. It is dark brown and about 30 to 35mm long. Generally, crickets are known fortheir chirping noises.

In flooded rice fields and freshly erodedriverbanks, mole crickets are usually seenswimming in the water. Early Kapampangans

searched for these insects during the rainymonths of May till August along riverbanksand walls of irrigation channels. They arealso found in permanent burrows or for-aging-galleries in levees or field borders.The entrances to burrows in the soil aremarked by heaps of soil. The nymphs feedon roots and damage the crops in patches.

The mole cricket tunnels into the soilusing its enlarged forelegs. It feeds onseeds and resulting in loss of plant standor poor crop stands. Kapampangans uti-lize their abundance by including them intheir regular menu as arobung malangi orsinangle kamaru.

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& W

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is considered as a prized catch to an aver-age mangasu (hunter), since this lizard isvery fast and adaptable on land, in waterand on trees. It has well developed limbsfor running whether the terrain is swampyor marshy. Barag can still be found nestingalong the riverbanks close to Mt. Arayat andswampy areas of Candaba and San Luis. Itis considered an endangered specie. Its eggsare highly prized for their rarity and nutri-tive value.

As for crocodiles, old fishermen inSasmuan recall that crocodile-hunting was

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Misan cayaldauanIlug cacung delaquitanAdungdungan co ring asanMipagvotu lang capitan

Ing votu rang picayariTeniente ya ing balulungiPresidenti ya ing bundaquiUling maragul yang dili.

Cocinero ya ing ituUling mingatba ya tibu;Sundalus no man ding tuyuBalang tindajan atilu pu.

Governador ya ing bangusUling dacal ya ganadus;cuñeras no man ding paroUling macapal lang tutu.

Infiernus ya ing calangLigaya ya itang curan,Uling carin la bucal-bucalDeta pung icua cung asan.

[From Alejandrino Perez’ Pampango Folklore (1968). Text re-verted to early Kapampangan orthography for purposes of analy-sis.]“One day/ as I crossed the river/ I saw fishes/ electing their head[mayor or capitan municipal].The results were: /the balulungi was the lieutenant,/ the bundaquithe president/ Because it was the largest of them all.The itu was the cook/ for its sharp whiskers on both sides/the tuyowere the foot-soldiers since they were available in every store.The milkfish was the governor/ because it had many followers;/the shrimps were the deputies/ since they were abundant.The stove was hell,/ the cooking pot was heaven/ since that waswhere they were a-boiling,/ the fishes that I had caught.”[Though Perez has his own translation, which is used as referencein this article, the above translation is this writer’s.]

This is a basulto [Kapampangan nonsensical folksong] about agathering of fishes in an electoral process. Contributed by a certainMagdaleno Dayrit of San Fernando, Pampanga which Dr.Alejandrino Perez included in his graduate thesis and later pub-lished in 1968, the song must have been quite popular during its timebecause of the many versions that it spawned, one of which surfacedin Concepcion, Tarlac two decades later. The title Misan Cayaldauan(One Day) is the song’s first line and not necessarily its theme.

Like most nonsensical rhymes, Misan Cayaldauan has an un-

ELECCION DING ASAN

FISH IN THE LIFEOF THE KAPAMPANGANAn old nonsensical song about an imaginary election among river fishessurprisingly provides a glimpse into folk lifestyles, beliefs and attitudesBy Lino L. Dizon

derlying meaning; it is actually a commentary on Kapampanganriverine society and lifestyle. Intended to be accompanied by aguitar, its lyrics describe and ridicule the process of electing a capitan(head) of a pueblo. The song was most likely composed duringthe last decade of the Spanish period, when elections, in spite ofthe reforms of the Maura Law in 1893 (including changing theterm gobernadorcillo to capitan municipal), were monopolized bythe principales, or the elite. This basulto’s anonymous composerwas probably a manasan (fisherman), who was quite familiar withthe ways of fish and of the politicians in his community; the folksong could have been his way of making his views about the politi-cal system at the time heard.

Probably composed and sung while he was fishing with a paduas(fishing rod) or the more elaborate rattan salacab or fish-trap, thefolksong reflects a Kapampangan’s penchant for fish. For ‘the peoplethriving on the banks,’ the river, including its fish, is life. Writingabout him and other Filipino indios in 1842, Monsieur Jean Mallatbriefed the reading world on this essentiality: “Fish abounds in thesea, the lakes and the rivers to such a point that the native has tofish for only a few instant to provide him food for the day, and itoften happens that all the father of the family has to do is to getinto the river which flows below his little bahay or house, to obtaina provision sufficient for the food of the whole family.”

For the Kapampangan, asan (fish) is synonymous with ulam(viand, anything that goes with rice, his staple food). Thus, whenhe asks, “Nanu ing asan?” (literally, “What is the fish?”), it is notincorrect to answer, “Fritung babi or manuc” (“Fried pork chops orfried chicken”). Fray Diego Bergaño himself noted asan’s lin-

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guistic interchangeability in the 1700s: Masan cang bubulbulan(“Eat rice with a viand that had to be dressed [chicken or bird]”).

DING ASAN QUING TABANG : A PLANTILLAOF FRESHWATER FISHES

The basulto is a laundry list of freshwater fish (asan tabang)that thrived in the river before its water became polluted and be-fore tilapia, gourami and Bangkok itu (catfish) invaded it from theadjoining plasdan (vast fishponds that evolved from mere baclad).

The teniente or lieutenant (field inspector/ chief of police) isthe balulungi. Perez described it as “a small fish resembling a sword-fish;” the term, which is absent in Bergaño’s dictionary and otherKapampangan sources, could have been coined by combiningbalungus (mouth/beak) with tungi (sharp stick). According to GeneGonzales, these fish were considered “plebeian fare because oftheir reputation as surface skimmers that feed on floating waste.”

A freshwater variety, the balulungi could be the rcynchorhampusgeorgii, Valencinnes, 1847, the ‘long- billed half-beak,” known asbaritos, buging and bugiw in other major Philippine languages.Dr. W.C.T. Herre was to write during the early American period(1923): “In nearly every little stream can be found curious littlefishes with elongated beaks, which on examination are seen tohave but the lower half extended while the upper beak seems tohave been cut off. These halfbeaks, near relatives of the flyingfishes, spend their whole lives in fresh water.”

Belonging to the order of Beleniformes (needle fishes), thebalulungi with its long, threatening beak and its constantpatrolling of the waters, qualified for the coveted po-sition of inspector and police chief (teniente-mayor)in the song’s make-believe election.

The tuyo, a popular fare on the Filipino din-ing table, expectedly figures in the song. Butfor a fish that’s so indispensable in one’s diet,ironically there was a time when nothing wasmore degrading than to be caught having tuyoas asan or ulam. This unfortunately low sta-tus of the tuyo, the song goes, is due to itscheap price and availability in every store;thus it is compared to sundalos orcudrilleros, foot-soldiers; a variant of thesong calls the tuyo secretas (pupils), forrhyming purposes as well as to under-score once again its bottom rank. Evennow, one can stil l hear from aKapampangan that he has only a sundaloto go with his rice. J. Mallat was so rightwhen he said in 1842 that a certain fish wasdespised by Europeans in the Philippines not be-cause it was not good but because it was com-mon.

Another misfortune for the tuyo is its name,which is often confused with the very process ofdrying and salting that gave it its name (also daing[pescado seco, Bergaño]). It should have beencalled sardinas, in conformity to the name of itsspecies; e.g. sardinella gibbosa (Bleeker, 1849),the Goldstripe sardinella. Sharing this predicamentis a cousin, the tinapa, or smoked fish—a nounthat’s really a verb, as in tinapang tamban andtinapang galunggung.

In earlier times, the tuyo-tinapa duo were ge-neric in children’s rhymes. A popular G.I. whistling drill,Let’s Go...was reworded by playful Kapampangans as:

Tuyu, tinapa, balasenas liga.(Dried fish, smoked fish, boiled eggplant).This can be taken either as poking fun or as a

tribute to the poor Kapampangan’s dining table, where theabovementioned trio are the most common fare, along with aslamsasa or nipa vinegar, and baguc (salmuera, Bergaño), or shrimppaste. And who could forget these irreverent ditties:

Lucsu ca, Tuyu/ Babaing malagu, Nung acung mamiru/ Milaco ca baru. (Jump, tuyo, Beautiful Lady, If I play a trick on you, you’d be undressed)

Lucsu ca, Tinapa/ Babaing mataba, Nung acung manuma/ Milaco ca baba. (Jump, tinapa, Fat Lady, If I kiss you, you will lose your chin)

Of all the fish in the Kapampangan riverscape, nothing com-pares to the milkfish or bangus (Chanus chanus,Forsskål ) in itsdignified, almost regal, bearing (no wonder it is the national fish).It is thus compared in the basulto as the Governador (provincialgovernor) and in the song’s variant as the abugadu (lawyer) which,again, in this case is more for rhyme than for aptness. Could it bea racial slur, since alcaldes (as governors were formerly called)were then exclusively full-blooded Spaniards, and even mestizongbangus (half-breeds) did not endeavor to become? What alsoqualified the bangus as governor was the fact that it is almostalways surrounded by ganados, which Perez translated symboli-cally as “many young ones,” referring to countless fingerlings thatconstantly follow the milkfish—not unlike the usual retinue of ubiq-

uitous bootlickers, opportunists, and blind followers—liter-ally and appropriately, ganados means domesti-cated animals or livestock.

In the same league with the ganados arethe shrimps, the paro (parao, Sp. camarones,Bergaño). The basulto assigns them the po-sition of cuñeras, which Perez translated as“rowers,” probably from cuña, or cradle. Canthere be more efficient rowers than the parowho will never go against the flow? Shrimpsare caught by the thousands with an ordi-nary fishnet (dala, sacag, bating, etc. Sp.red, Bergaño), and it is their fate to becomebaguc or, as Mallat observed, “the nativesleave them in piles with the sole aim of mak-ing them rot so that they may be sold asfertilizer for the betel plantations, to whichthey give much pungency and aroma.” Ac-tually, in political parlance, cuñeras refersto the official’s assistants or deputies whocrowd government offices, a phenomenonstill observable in present times.

And there is the ito (native catfish), orthe Tagalog hito (clarias batrachus,Günther 1864), notable for its pair ofsharp whiskers or barbels. The basultocompares it to a cocinero or a cook. Forsometime, as alleged by Herre in the1920s, it was the “commonest of thefreshwater fishes,” a distinction that isno longer true since its more adaptable,meatier but less delectable kin, theBangkok ito, now dominates the mar-ket.

CODAThe variant basulto also adds some

more fishes in its repertoire, including the

Alex Castro

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biang pucpuc, the licauc, the sapsap andthe canduli:

Fiscal ne man ing biang pucpucConsejal ya ing licauc ...Camineru ya ing sapsap, Uling malutu

ya balat ...Magmasid ya ing canduli ...(The stunted bia is the fiscal/the licauc

is the councilor/The sapsap is a street-cleaner/ Since it is red-skinned/ the canduliis the overseer.)

The first two are similar to the paro,tiny and sold by the bulk, and thus assignedas fiscales and consejales (fiscals and coun-cilors). Herre observed that “in moststreams, too, there are gobies (bia) thatdo not go down to the sea...and can bedismissed from consideration as having littlebearing upon a study of the geologic his-tory of the Philippines and the land con-nections of the various islands.”

Bia, with their numerous kinds (e.g.,the bunug, the padas, and the gapis), arealso caught by the thousands and arecooked by the handful with a mixture ofstarch and then fried, like beruyang okoy.The same goes with the licauc, which oth-ers call ayungin (silver perch); it is a smallbangus-like fish that teems in ponds afterflood or rain, preferred for their petite roes(puga). Actually, in Bergaño, it is properlytermed as lucauc, or pececillos, comomartinicos; a small fish, like the mythical,legendary duende. It is probably the biaand licauc’s untraceable and unexplainableorigins, or so the common folk thought,that endowed them their supernal stance.

Another pececito or small fish cited byBergaño in the 1700s was the alubebay,now pronounced as alubebe. This specieshas suffered the same fate of the tuyo; itsname has been downgraded to its fish sauceby-product and is now no longer known asa fish species. Dr. Carl Semper, a Ger-man scholar who visited the country dur-ing the mid-1800, cited the case of “otherenormous quantities of fish with barely thesize of a finger,” and natives “caught themby the millions, using a great variety of in-geniously made contrivances,” and whichare “salted and stored in earthen jars(where) they are preserved for a long timeand then sold everywhere in the Archi-pelago under the name bagoong (preservedfish), whose role in domestic trade is notnegligible.”

The variant song consigns the sapsap, or the toothpony (gazzamintua, Bloch 1795) to the role of street-sweeper . In earlier times,and today as well, camineros wore red-colored pants, probably forgreater visibility to reckless drivers.

The canduli (lates calcarifer, Bloch, 1790) is assigned as a mereobserver since it is generally an outsider, preferring more the brack-ish or sea water (dayat malat) and only occasionally visits the rivers,like during the spawning season, as the prized apajap (bass) of thePampanga River in Apalit.

The basulto, surprisingly, failed to include the liwalu, which was ahackneyed tenant in Kapampangan waters, as attested by a number

of toponyms attributed to it, e.g. Maliwaluin Bacolor, Pampanga and Tarlac City andCaluluan (Ca-liwalu-wan), in Concepcion,Tarlac. The Historical Data Papers ofConcepcion called it archer fish (toxotesjaculatrix, Pallos 1767}. However, Herre, whocalled it lawalo, classified it as anabastestudineus (Bloch), or climbing perch.

This fish, again according to Herre,comparing it with other freshwater species,is “of even greater ability to live withoutwater” and could have been named byKapampangans for such ability: liwalu, fromlual or ‘outside (the waters)’. But in spite ofthis prowess, the liwalu is no longer widelydistributed and is now quite rare. Aside fromits small size, Herre attributed its being “lessdesirable” to, as Kapampangans would say,maduyi ya (it is bony); and it could be the1700s buanbuan which Bergaño calledpescado espinoso, delicious but spiny.

THE PRESIDENT’S PROFILEAnd these lead us to the biggest of

them all, the bundaqui, mudfish, beingelected capitan or, as the variant song pro-claims, the presidenti. MostKapampangans call it bulig, as it is com-monly called in many Southeast Asiancountries (Original Austronesian clue?);a few refer to it as dalag.

Bergaño orients us on the proper termsapplicable to the fish’s stages of growth:the yellow-striped fingerlings are known asbundalág; the intermediate size is thebundaqui, and the fully grown is the dalag.There are related terms in this orientation:bundalagan means ‘where there arebundalag;’ pabundaquian, ‘where there arebundaqui;’ and pamundalagan, ‘where onecould catch dalag.’

J. Mallat wrote on the predominant roleof this fish in the Kapampangan terrain, es-pecially during the rainy season: “it is moreor less during this period that they catch inthis lake (Candava Swamp) a great quan-tity of dalacs, a fish of which the Indios areextremely fond and which is in fact deli-cious. It is claimed that this fish could befound in fields, because during the periodof great floods, they penetrate through themud up to places where there is only sev-eral inches of water. The dalac resembles avery large and very short eel and its way ofswimming makes it prefer muddy places.

What is not consumed locally is transported to Manila where itarrives still alive.”

In 1863, Dr. Carl Semper observed that “there is a fresh waterfish belonging to the genus ophiocephalus (dalag) which is foundall over the Archipelago, as well as in Malaysia and India and whichhas a special importance in characterizing the climatological dif-ferences between Luzon and Mindanao. (It) belongs to the groupof fish which are equipped with receivers on the sides of the headto retain water so that they can remain on land for some time andthey even go up the palm trees without lacking humidity in theirbronchial tubes and being prevented from breathing.” Sixty years

TUYU is the sundalo (footsoldier)because it is common.

BANGUS (MILKFISH) is thegovernador because it is alwayssurrounded by fingerlings.

BUNDAQUI, DALAG OR BULIG(MUDFISH) is the capitan(president) because it is the biggestriver fish of all

BALULUNGI is the teniente (chiefof police) because it constantlypatrols the river.

PARO (SHRIMPS) are the cuñeras(deputies) because they look likeassistants crowding governmentoffices

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later, W.C. Herre was to concur that: “thedalag, or haluan (Ophiocephalus striatus,Bloch) is a fish of remarkable tenacity of life,grows rapidly to a large size, is of fair foodquality, and has therefore been widely dis-tributed by Malays in their wanderings. As aresult, it occurs in all parts of the Philippines.”

But what baffled early Kapampangansand other Filipinos was the ontogenesis ofthe dalag, as well the ito and other fishessuch as the gobies. Where had they comefrom? For centuries, answers were offeredin the form of cuentung balen (folktales),often ludicrous and fantastic enough to makeone guffaw or puke.

In the 1800s, Fr. Joaquin Martinez deZuñiga, O.S.A., a confrere of Bergaño, triedto solve this enigma. He wrote at that time:

“Some believe that the fish come fromthe rivers when floods occur. I shall not denythis may be true many times, but there aretimes when I have seen places not reachedby the floods; in the first downpour of therain, the fingerlings of these two kinds offish could be seen, which leads me to be-lieve that these fish leave their eggs in thesoil and are not destroyed by the dryweather; when the rains fall the eggs hatchand out come the fish. Some people deducefrom this that these fish thrive in putrefiedmatter, not believing that the eggs could lastlong without being destroyed. They also al-lege, in support of their opinion that thesefish thrive in putrefied matter, that when-ever tombs are opened they find dalag inthem and in all marshy places where thereis always standing water. I have been a cu-rate of Hagonoy and Calumpit, the lowesttowns in the Manila Archbishopric, and havetried to find out if this kind of fish couldreally be found when graves are opened.But I never found any.”

And who were the perpetrators of thesenauseating stories about the dalag? Again,Martinez de Zuñiga had the answer: “theidea came from a joke told by Augustinianfathers to their brethren when they still ad-ministered parishes in Pampanga (writing inthe late 1700s, most of the parishes werethen ceded to the secular and native clergy).In order to emphasize the abundance ofmudfish in this province (which is the mainfare during Fridays) they jokingly told themthat if they had no fish, they could orderthe sexton to open a tomb and catch whatis need for the day.”

Mallat, however, had another suspect :“Besides all these fishes, there is one whose flesh gives very

sound nutrition and is the common food of the natives; it is thedalac: it is found abundantly in the lakes, the rivers, the marshesand even, during the season of rains, in the ricefields calledcimenteras, a word which several authors have improperly givenas cemeteries.”

YANASA: HELL, PURGATORY, AND HEAVENOf course, as the basulto concludes, the fate of any fish is the

dining table; it is even metaphorical: the calang (clay stove) is

SAPSAP is the camineru (street-sweeper) because its red scales arelike the red pants of street-sweepers

ITU (CATFISH) is the cocinero(cook) because its sharp whiskersresemble kitchen knives

compared to Hell and the curan (clay pot)to Heaven. The song variant, however, ismore picturesque and complete with theJudgement Day motif:

Ligaya ya ytang dulangmacabulaclac lang pingganInfiernus ya itang calanpurgatorio ya itang curan

Aside from the stove being Hell andthe curan being Purgatory, Paradise is nowascribed to the dulang (or low table, usu-ally regarded as a plebeian fixture) whereplates are arranged, like petals of a flower,waiting for a serving of fish aromaticallyboiling in a pot, their place of agony, simi-lar to tormented humans who died in astate of sin.

The mamasulto could be imagining thesigang asan, or sinigang in other Philip-pine languages. “They ate the fish,” wroteMallat, “with certain grasses and tamarindmaking thus a dish called sinigan, whichwas much relished by them.” Or, it couldbe the bulanglang, known as the PoorMan’s Lunch, with the use of guava insteadof tamarind.

But Kapampangans, known for theirsophisticated and gourmet taste, have anarray of pescado or fish recipes, especiallyfor species they can catch in their rivers.Affluent households have placed much em-phasis on the cosmopolitan style of Span-ish cooking, characterized by the dominanthue of the tomato sauce, as in stews likeescabecheng asan and the redundant termpesang dalag (since pez is already ‘fish’),and the richness of the ingredients, as inrellenong bangus (stuffed milkfish), pescadoal gratin, and chuletas (fish fillet).

It follows that the poorerKapampangans have simpler fares for theirfish: daing (dried/marinated with salt,sugar, or vinegar), derang (or ningnang,broiled), pacsi (braised in vinegar with gin-ger, green pepper, and other spices, as thepacsing licauc ), or simply titi or fritu (fried)in pork lard. Yet, in reality, even the richbisect social ranks, forget table manners,and betray their true gustatory selves asthey devour such crude cooking, especiallywhen these are supplemented with fishcondiments as patis, baguc, and buru (fer-mented rice and fish).

The variant basulto ends with a di-dactic couplet:

Matas ya’t mataluctucMasaldac ya pangabaldug.(Higher and loftier,the fall is harder.)

After a hefty pescado meal, thanks to the bounty of his riverand its tenants of fishes, the Kapampangan of yesteryears prob-ably imagined this couplet appropriate as a lasting aftertaste:Nanung pagmayumu (what’s for dessert)?

LICAUC are the consejales(councilors) because they arenumerous

CANDULI is the magmasid(observer) because it is an outsiderfrom the sea who visits the riveronly occasionally

BIANG PUCPUC is the fiscalbecause it has unknown origins

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BIRDS FOUND ALONG THE PAMPANGA RIVER

DUMARA, Philippine mallard(Anas luzonica)

PUGU, quail (Coturnix ) WIS, black-tailed godwid(Limosa )

PATURIUK-TURIUK, white-headed stilt (Himantopus)

SALAKSAK OR KULIAUAN,kingfisher (Ceyxcyanopectus)

SIBAD ILUG, Pacific swallow(Hirundo tahitica)

DENAS BALE, tree sparrow(Passer montanus)

KANDUNGAUK, purple heron(Ardea purpurea)

TARATPIPIT, common fantailwarbler (Cisticola juncidis)

TAGAK MALUTU, reef egret(Egretta sacra)

TAGAK PALE, little egret(Egretta garzetta)

LARUS, whiskered tern(Chlidonias hybrida)

OTHER RIVER FISH FOUND IN PAMPANGA

LIWALU, climbing perch(Anabas testudineus)

TALAKITOK, long-finnedcavalla (Caranx species)

TALUNASAN, swamp eel(Simbranchus bengalenus,McClleland)

DUE OR DUAY, blackpompret (Stromateus niger,Bloch)

Philippine Birds

83

biyáyan na ka ning ilugnung mapibabatâ ka,anang ápu ku.

baluán me ing kimut da reng asanustung mabilug ya ing bulan,ustung káuran ampong ing danum lalapo ya,mamanggá ya lalam,ustung panaun kuaresma.

deng mánasanmengari lang anak-iluguling karin ing bie—balamu gabun keng ortelano—nung mapibabatâ ka muampong balu me kimút ing danúm.

deng bangka, sagwe, byakuspakamálan mu lalalu’t deng mánasane mu la tatábinung sampá la keng guluttanggapán mu lamengári kapatád, káluguran.

ding palapate mu la pupututanmengari lang balé kareng páro,

talangka,mangálating asan.

ing ilug ampo reng mánasanpakamálan yu la.

ing ilug

Tonette Orejas

Early Kapampanganfisherfolk in Tinajeros,Bacolor

Alex Castro

84

In 1940 when I was10 and in the fifthgrade, the strict Ger-man Benedictine nunsrequired me and manyother classmates at theHoly Family Acad-emy in Angeles,Pampanga to becomeSACRISTANS. The nunspersonally took chargeof our training and af-ter classes each day wespent one and a halfhours for this purpose.It was very systematicbut intensive and in lessthan three months’ timewe were not only ableto memorize all theLatin prayers of themass, but we actuallysucceeded in serving inour “first masses”, withflying colors and a guar-anteed 95% grade inreligion. The regularSACRISTANS and the“MAYUL” (SacristanMayor or Head Acolyte)of the church tookcharge in teaching usthe actual motions ofaltar-serving. Our par-ents were particularlyproud of us and wouldalways comment thatwe were potential can-didates for the priest-hood, which turned outto be true for a fewclassmates.

Suddenly, about12:30 p.m. on Decem-ber 08, 1941, our sleepytown was violently flunginto World War II when around 150 Japa-nese bombers and fighters rained bombs andbullets on nearby Clark Field and FortStotsenburg, as I watched in horror thelargest U.S. military base this part of theglobe go up in smoke. Little did I knowthen that it would mark the beginning ofthe end of American military rule in the Phil-ippines, that culminated in the fall of Bataanand Corregidor in April-May 1942. TheJapanese occupation was a total shock forall of us. We had to adapt abruptly to anew and foreign way of life full of rules, regi-mentation, imposition of personal and pub-lic discipline, etc. Physical violence becamea daily occurrence. A pall of gloom and feardescended upon the land. On the other

A TRUE STORY

“TO ‘KIRISUTO’WITH ALL OUR LOVE”By Daniel H. Dizon

hand, the Japanese tried their best to keepeverything as normal as possible, althoughclumsily. The town’s Japanese military com-mander, a Col. Suzuki Tatsuzo of Tokyo,was a highly educated officer who gradu-ated from the German Military University ofBerllin and who spoke fluent German. TheGerman nuns reopened their school in June1942 and were ordered by the Japanese toinclude Filipino nuns in their faculty. Weenrolled again to resume our intermediatecourse; but added to our old subjects wereNippongo, a separate subject on Japanesesongs like: KIMIGAYO, AIKOKUKOSHINKYOKU, KOKUMIN-SINGUN-KA,SAKURA, HAMABE-NO-UTA, HINOMARU andothers including the new Tagalog March,

“TINDIG AKING INANGBAYAN”. Our expertNippongo teacher was ayoung Fi lipinaBenedictine nun namedSister Agustina, whowas ordered by theJapanese to take up in-tensive Japanese in Ma-nila in three months’time and came out of itspeaking like a nativeHAPONESA. Col. Suzukiperiodically visited ourschool, animatedly con-versing with the Ger-man nuns to furthersharpen his German tothe nuns’ delight. Atthe same time SisterAgustina sharpened herNippongo with thecolonel’s staff officers tothe delight of the Japa-nese. Col. Suzuki madesure that the school’sfaculty staff religiouslytaught us the new ad-ditions to our ReadingSubject – the biogra-phies of Rizal, Bonifacio,Gen. A. Luna, Mabiniand other Filipino he-roes, which were nevertaught to us before.The biographies ofgreat Americans in ourReaders book were or-dered covered up.During our commence-ment exercises in April1943, Col. Suzuki wasour guest speaker andhe emphasized hisstrong belief in the ca-pability of the Filipino in

all things and he said our heroes provedthis fact to the world! He explicitely stressedthat a nation whose people were withoutdiscipline and patriotism would never pros-per and would surely perish. He deliveredhis speech in bombastic German and wastranslated into English by our Mother Supe-rior, Sister Lucilla Boegner, O.S.B.

During all this time I continued to serveat holy mass, even after graduation, and Iusually stayed in the church helping in itsupkeep. I also became a junior“KUMPANERO” (bell-ringer) for all occa-sions. I joined some friends in workingpartime in the kitchen of the Japanese gar-rison beside the church to stave off hunger.

In the summer months of 1944 the

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and gave them communion immediately af-ter. Eventually this became a forthnightlyritual.

The war situation turned from bad toworse especially after the commencementof American air raids in September 1944.The Angeles and Clark airfields were bomvedalmost daily by U.S. Navy carrier planes andlater by U.S. Army heavy bombers. Fur-thermore, HUKBALAHAP guerrillas intensi-fied their ambuscades and assassinations

on Japanese patrols and Filipino puppetconstabulary and police forces. Starvationhad spread and public executions by thepuppet police became frequent. In Janu-ary 1945, U.S. liberation forces were ad-vancing from Tarlac and were poised for asiege of Clark Field, which was heavly de-fended by Japanese forces. One day, aftera devastating aerial bombardment of An-geles and Clark Field by low-flying U.S.bombers, JOSEPH and ANTONIO, in fullbattle gear, came rushing to the Holy Fam-ily Academy and frantically asked SisterEugene if she could quickly arrange for con-fession and communion. At the same timethey were bidding the nuns their farewellfor that night, they were ordered to fight tothe last man at the frontlines. TheBenedictine nuns instead collectively de-cided for a special holy mass to be said fortheir departing Japanese friends. Soon Fr.Bituin with his MAYUL, a Mr. Pablo Basilio,came carrying all their mass paraphernalia.In a jiffy the nuns converted a second floorroom into a makeshift chapel to conceal thesecret ritual and then quickly dressed up intheir all-black habits.

After hearing the confesions of the twoJapanese, the holy mass began in all so-

lemnity. JOSEPH and ANTONIO knelt rightat the foot of the makeshift altar in deepconcentration, as the Benedictines intonedthe “REQUIEM AETERNAM” in angelicGregorian chant. This was then followed byseveral hymns that were sung softly, like:“NEARER MY GOD TO THEE”, “HEART OFJESUS”, “BLESS O DEAREST MOTHER”, “THEEWILL I LOVE”, etc. During the consecration,JOSEPH and ANTONIO, with hands claspedat their foreheads, uttered loudly the word“KIRISUTO” three times, then followed byan emotional Japanese prayer. After the lastblessing, as a parting gesture, Fr. Bituin per-formed the ritual of General Absolution onthe two “enemy” souls that were about todepart into eternity. Then everyone shookthe hands of the two Japanese soldiers in alast farewell.

Sister Eugene came forward and saidto them: “JOSEPH-san and ANTONIO-san,please give our love to KIRISUTO when yousee Him tomorrow, ne!” To which they bothnodded with tears welling in their eyes andbowed low as they profusely expressed theirdeep gratitude to all and uttered their lastSAYONARA. They then donned their steelhelmets and backpacks, shouldered theirrifles and walked slowly away. That eveningseveral army trucks transported the troopreinforcement to the battlelines.

By nightfall the next day only two trucksreturned to the Japanese motorpool at theHoly Angel Academy beside the church.The MAYUL inquired from one driver andhe was told the unit of JOSEPH-san and AN-TONIO-san had been entirely wiped out tothe last man. Indeed, the two enemy sol-diers were the Japanese Emperor’s loyalwarriors, but they were Christ’s first!

SOME WARTIME FILIPINO ACQUAINTANCES OFJOSEPH-SAN AND ANTONIO-SAN:

1. MR. GREGORIO HENSON, 1944 Senior Aco-lyte of Holy Rosary Parish Church, Angeles City, ORALTESTIMONY given to the author ca. 1975.

2. MR. PABLO BASILIO, 1944-1945 “SacristanMayor” of Holy Rosary Parish Church, Angeles City, resid-ing at #146 Ma. Myrna Drive, Villa Gloria, Angeles City,ORAL TESTIMONY given to the author ca. 1977.

3. REV. FR. ADRIANO “SILVESTRE” H. LACSON,1942-1945 Senior Acolyte of Holy Rosary Parish Church,Angeles City, now the Treasurer of the Alabang BenedictineAbbey, Muntinlupa City, ORAL TESTIMONY given to theauthor on 24 January 2004.

Editor: Robby Tantingco Layout: Ana Marie Vergara

Japanese constructed four large airfieldsaround the town and by the time they werecompleted some three months later, squad-rons of warplanes came to use them. Atthe same time tens of thousands of airfieldpersonnel also poured in and were aug-mented by regiments of infantry and fieldartillery units that concentrated in Angelesand Clark Field. One afternoon while I wassweeping in the church, I was startled tobehold a Japanese soldier kneeling in frontof the large statue of Our Lady of Lourdesin one of the side altars. He was prayingthe rosary fervently. The next afternoonthere were two! I could not believe my eyes.From then on they would come to pray therosary in the same corner daily until thelast day of their young lives. They wouldstay for benediction and were enthralled atthe angelic voices of the Benedictine nunssinging the “O SALUTARIS” and “TANTUMERGO”. Many times they would linger awhile more to listen to the monastic melodyof vespers sung by the nuns in Gregorianchant, at around 6 p.m.

Soon they introduced themselves to thenuns and regularly brought some token giftslike a few pounds of refined sugar or one ortwo cakes of soap--rareties at that time. Theelder one was named JOSEPH and theyounger one, ANTONIO. They spoke a mix-ture of broken English, Tagalog andNippongo. Parishioners always became veryemotional every time these two “enemy”soldiers were seen praying in church. As themonths passed, their friendship with the nunsgrew, as well as with the parish priest, Rev.Fr. Cosme Bituin, the MAYUL and the SAC-RISTANS. When the smelly carabao lardcandles ran out, JOSEPH and ANTONIO se-cretly supplied the church and the nuns withsmall amounts of diesel oil which theybrought in small tin cans, one at a time, inthe dead of night, to fuel oil lamps. Manytimes, usually around midnight the two Japa-nese Catholics would secretly show up at theschool and request for the Sacrament ofReconciliation and Communion. A Filipinanun named Sister Eugene would quidklysummon Fr. Bituin who obligingly heard theconfessions of the two “enemy” penitents,

Singsing is published quarterly byThe Juan D. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies

of Holy Angel University, Angeles City, Philippines.For inquiries, suggestions and comments,

call (045) 888-8691 loc. 1311, or fax at (045)888-2514,or email at rptmt@yahoo.com.

Visit website at www.hau.edu.ph/kcenter.CENTER STAFF: Robby Tantingco (Director), Kaye Mayrina Lingad (Public Relations Officer), Erlinda Cruz (CulturalActivities Coordinator), Joel Mallari (Archaeologist/Researcher), Anton Prima (Translator/Researcher), SheilaLaxamana (Events Organizer/Administrative Staff), Ana Marie Vergara (Computer Graphics Artist/Researcher),Arwin Paul Lingat (Church Heritage Researcher), Dr. Rosita Mendoza (Consultant), Francisco Guinto (LanguageConsultant), Felix Garcia (Language Consultant), Jimmy Hipolito (Visitors Liaison Volunteer). Museum Curator/Consultant: Alex Castro Historian/Consultant: Prof. Lino Dizon

GERMAN NUNS,JAPANESE SOLDIERSPRAY TOGETHER WITH AKAPAMPANGAN PRIESTIN THE DARKEST HOURSOF WORLD WAR II

86Photo of lady courtesy of Gilda Cordero Fernando

87

folk musicATSING ROSING IS ONE OF THOSE TRADITIONAL SONGSOF KAPAMPANGANS THAT ARE FADING FROM MEMORY.IT WAS USUALLY PERFORMED DURING THE CORONATIONOF A LOCAL BEAUTY QUEEN.

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suffering folkmagsalibatbat (N). A KIND OF FLAGELLANTWHO CRAWLS AND RUBS HIS SKIN AGAINSTTHE DIRT ROAD, USUALLY SIGHTED INFARMING VILLAGES IN MAGALANG, PAMPANGAON MAUNDY THURSDAYAND GOOD FRIDAY.(Photographs by Robby Tantingco)