www.hau.edu.ph/kcenter The Juan D. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY ANGELES CITY,

1 RECENTRECENT VISITORS MARCH & APRIL F. Sionil Jose Ophelia Dimalanta Mayor Ding Anunciacion, , Mayor Genaro Mendoza, City Joey Lina Sylvia Ordoñez Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, Angeles Vice Mayor Bajun Lacap, Ely Narciso, Kuliat Foundation Ching Escaler Maribel Ongpin Gringo Honasan Crisostomo Garbo Museum Foundation of the Philippines M A Y Kayakking among the mangroves in Masantol Dennis Dizon Senator Tessie Aquino Oreta Mayor Mary Jane Ortega, San Fernando City, Cecilia Leung River tours launched Ariel Arcillas, Pres, SK Natl Federation THE Center sponsored a multi-sector Congressman Bondoc promised to Mark Alvin Diaz, SK Tessie Dennis Felarca, SK research cruise down River convert a portion of his fishponds into a Oreta Brayant Gonzales, Angeles City last summer, discovered that the river is mangroves nursery and to construct a port Council not as silted and polluted as many believe, in San Luis town where tourist boats can Vice Mayor Pete Yabut, and as a result, organized cultural and dock. The town’s centuries-old church is Vice Mayor Emilio Capati, ecological tours in coordination with the part of the planned itinerary for church Carmen Linda Atayde, SM Department of Tourism Region 3, local gov- heritage river cruises. Other cruise options Foundation ernment units in the river communities, include a tour of the mangroves in Masantol Efren de la Cruz, ABC President Estelito Mendoza and a private boatyard owner. and Macabebe, and tours coinciding with Col. Agripino Razon JUNE The project was folk festivals like the batalla of Ben Cabrera, visual artist launched last June 28 to Macabebe, kuraldal of Patis Tesoro coincide with the fluvial , Apung Iru fiesta of Atty. Estelito P. Mendoza procession marking the feast , and the aguman sanduk Vice Governor Mikey of Apung Iru (St. Peter), of . Patis Tesoro Arroyo patron saint of Apalit. Rep. The University’s Mayor Buddy Dungca, Rimpy Bondoc of Community Outreach Program Mayor Dennis Pineda, Pampanga’s Fourth District, will also participate in DOT Vice Mayor Tiger Lagman, City of San Fernando Masantol Vice Mayor Bajun Region 3’s skills enhancement Rosve Henson Lacap, DOT Region III training program on basic tour Ingrid Sala Santamaria Ben Cabrera officials and members of guiding and other livelihood Maestro Reynaldo Reyes local and national media projects to help boost tourism Efren “Bata” Reyes attended the launching and and other economic activity in Javier Nepomuceno press conference. Ivan the river communities. San Luis Church Bunny Fabella Anthony Henares, San The HAU Department of Dir. Jerry Pelayo Fernando City tourism officer, and Engr. Hospitality and Tourism Management will JULY Nestor Mangio Joey Lina, DILG Secretary Robert Canlas, owner of the boatyard, take charge of booking and promoting the Sen. Gregorio Honasan coordinated the affair. The Holy Angel tours in coordination with DOT Region 3, Rep. Zenaida Ducut University brass band, rondalla and polosa while the Center, which prepared the tour’s Rep. Willie B. Villarama performer Renie Salor provided itinerary, will also train tour guides from the Roberto Pagdanganan, DAR entertainment. local communities. Secretary Eric Domingo, DOH Usec. Zenaida Ducut Arturo Naguit, Minalin Vice Mayor Singsing is published quarterly by The Juan D. Nepomuceno Center for Kapampangan Studies Nestor Mangio, Lakeshore of Holy Angel University, Angeles City, Philippines. The opinions expressed in the articles are Gen. Vidal Querol, Camp Olivas solely their author’s and do not reflect official position of the Center. For inquiries, suggestions Robin Nepomuceno and comments, please call (045) 888-8691 loc. 1311, or fax at (045)888-2514, or email at Hannah Bauzon, CL Times [email protected]. John Pangilinan MBP Alabang Carmelo Lazatin Araceli and Tessa Aldeguer Editor: Robby Tantingco Titos Bernardo, Alabang Contributors: Dr. John Alan Larkin, Prof. Lino Dizon, Alex Castro, Ivan Henares, Dr. Jean- Corito Ocampo Tayag Christophe Gaillard, Erlita Mendoza, Kaye Mayrina Lingad, Joel Mallari, Arwin Lingat Editorial Assistants: Sheila Laxamana, Ana Marie Vergara, Iza Salazar, Erlinda Cruz, Gina Diaz Bacolod City Local Government Photos by Jimmy Hipolito 2 Classical piano concert Center to held at Betis church publish

THE SANTIAGO de Galicia parish church of Betis, one of the few churches in the country book on declared National Treasures by the government, was the setting of the free concert of world-class translation pianists Ingrid Sala Santamaria and Maestro THE CENTER for Reynaldo Reyes held early last month. The concert was part of the Pampanga leg of Kapampangan the concert series entitled A Romantic Journey Studies will launch which Ms. Santamaria and Maestro Reyes have the book Gloria: taken across the archipelago to educate their Roman Leoncio’s fellow on classical piano. The Center for Lost and Found Kapampangan Studies, which sponsored the Betis Kapampangan concert in cooperation with the Betis Pastoral Translation of Council, invited students from various schools in Huseng Batute’s Pampanga and Tarlac as well as three busloads of Verse Novel next HAU students. month. It is the third “Originally the concert was planned for the HAU book published by the campus, but we had this vision of merging beautiful Holy Angel University music and beautiful venue, so we transferred it to the loveliest church you can find, the Betis Church,” Press, after Lino says Robby Tantingco, Director of the Center. Dizon’s An Epistle of a Friar Prisoner 1898-1901 and Dr. Luciano Santiago’s Laying the Foundations: Kapampangan Pioneers in the Philippine Church 1592-2001. On exhibit at the Center The book is the idea of Ambassador Virgilio Reyes who discovered a complete manuscript of Kapampangan beauties of yore Roman Leoncio’s Kapampangan Ongoing at the Center’s gallery is an exhibit of version, written in the late 1920s. It photographs of Kapampangan women who won local and contains Jose Corazon De Jesus’ (a.k.a. national beauty contests in the early 20th Century, specifically Huseng Batute) handwritten letter to in the Carnival, the forerunner of Miss Philippines pageant. It is curated by Alex R. Castro, the Center’s Leoncio as well as proofreading notes new museum curator. by the renowned Kapampangan poet Rare photographs of early Kapampangan beauty Isaac Gomez. Roman Leoncio, however, queens like Socorro Henson of Angeles (the first remains obscure as no other information Kapampangan to win a national beauty title in 1926), about his life and works has been Corazon Hizon (1933), Carmeling del Rosario of San uncovered so far. Fernando (1935), Cleofe Balingit of Macabebe (1936), Elisa The book features, aside from Manalo (1937), and Cristina Galang of Tarlac, Tarlac (1953), the complete Kapampangan and Tagalog after whom the Maria Cristina park was named. texts, critical analyses by Prof. Lino Dizon, th Baro’t saya from the early 20 Century, on loan from Dr. Albina Peczon Fernandez and Dr. Leonor “Denden” Sanchez of Betis and Jojo Valencia of San Lourdes Vidal, with foreword by Foreign Fernando are also on exhibit. Affairs Secretary Blas Ople. Socorro Henson c. 1926 Mr. White of Tarlac Book on Thomasite to be launched at Center The Center for Tarlaqueño Studies and the Center for Kapampangan Studies will jointly launch Prof. Lino L. Dizon’s latest book, Mr. White: A Thomasite History of Tarlac Province, 1901-1913 on September 3. The launching will coincide with an exhibit entitled Escuelang Laun: The Thomasites and Early Public Education in the Kapampangan Region and another exhibit by the Public Affairs Office of the United States Embassy, which partly sponsored the publication of the book. Mr. White was the name of the ghost that schoolchildren reported seeing in an old school building in Tarlac. Prof. Dizon’s research revealed that there was a real Mr. White who served as principal and later an education minister during the American regime 100 years ago. Dr. Ronald J. Post, the US Embassy’s Counselor for Public Affairs and Rep. Jesli Lapus of the Third District of Tarlac will be the guest speakers. Prof. Dizon is the Director of the Center for Tarlaqueño Studies based at the , and Consultant for the Center for Kapampangan Studies. 3 GIANT SISIG FESTIVAL sponsored by the Trade and Investment Promotions Office in Balibago, Angeles City last summer featured what was claimed to be the world’s largest sizzling sisig, a dish of broiled pig’s head diced and mixed with onions and pepper. The Hospitality Management students of Holy Angel University prepared and cooked the sisig which fed the thousands who came. The Center, through the research of Siuala ding Meangubie, provided the historical context. TODAY Native Bencab and Kapampangan other donors architecture Ben Cabrera, a.k.a. Bencab, TO help promote the pre-colonial the famous visual artist who hails from Sasmuan but is now based in Baguio architecture of Filipinos, specifically City, recently donated copies of his Kapampangans, the Center will have a books as his contribution to the permanent exhibit of a miniature bale elements of the native,pre-Hispanic house Center’s efforts to build a library kubu (, or cube house), to design, which was simple, useful and in harmony where students and researchers can be constructed by Santy Dizon and with the environment. The fact that we still have access to books in annotated by Siuala ding Meangubie. see such houses today proves their resilience Kapampangan, on the Kapampangan “Filipino architects today prefer after all these centuries.” region and by Kapampangans. Mediterranean, Japanese, American, As Siuala ding Meangubie explains, the Bencab was in Angeles City Balinese and Mexican designs, anything orientation and design of the bale kubu depend to attend the opening of his exhibit with Claude Tayag and Patis Tesoro except Filipino,” Robby Tantingco, Center on the ancestors’ understanding of wind at the Museo ning Angeles. Director, says. “We want to inspire future direction, sunrise and sunset, path of typhoons Other recent donors are: architects and homeowners to use and floods. Msgr. Alfredo Lorenzo, who turned over three boxes of his collections to Old poets meet young poets the library; Dan Dizon, who donated prints of his paintings; Rep. Zenaida The Center has started weekly poetry reading sessions involving veteran Ducut of Lubao and DAR Secretary Kapampangan poets and students in an effort to ensure that the Kapampangan Obet Pagdanganan who gave cash language survives in future generations. The sessions are being coordinated by Erlinda for research activities; Dr. Romeo Cruz, the Center’s cultural activities coordinator, and Renie Salor, resident polosa Taruc who donated copies of his artist. In other developments, the Center will publish a book on culinary arts by father Luis Taruc’s book on Pedro Lilian M. Lising Borromeo as well as a series of booklets on crissotan (Kapampangan Abad Santos; Dr. Ofelia Tolentino verbal jousts), folk festivals and other folk practices. “These are cheaper to buy of CHEDRO III who donated old than books, so they are more accessible,” Robby Tantingco, Center copies of Angelite; Ed Sibug who Director, says. “Hopefully we can popularize crissotan donated documents; and Dr. again among students.” Marietta Gaddi who lent old The crissotans were composed by poet photographs of her mother, a former Miss Angeles. Jose Gallardo, whose works have been turned over to the Center by his family. The Kapampangan counterpart of balagtasan, crissotan is named after Juan Crisostomo Soto, the prolific writer from Bacolor who is acclaimed as the Father of Kapampangan Drama. Aside from booklets, the Center is also publishing plates of Kapampangan heroes and historical events for classroom use in public and private schools, as well as illustrated comics, maps and other instructional materials. CDs and videos of folk festivals are also being prepared.

4 Candaba poet Jose Gallardo Bacolor and the Origin of Kapampangan Studies By John A. Larkin 100 years ago, an American educator in Bacolor started it all In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, His part in the creation of Kapampangan studies derived Bacolor reigned supreme as the political and cultural heart from his research between 1904 and 1910 into the earliest of Pampanga, then one of the richest provinces in the history of the towns of Pampanga. He set about to determine archipelago. The town possessed a very active cultural life, the foundation dates for all of the churches in the province and served as the home of poets, playwrights and journalists. and to compile lists of all the priests in the parishes from There occurred an outpouring of local plays, poetry contests 1572 to 1905. and other literary works, and Bacolor provided the first It was in this focus on all of Pampanga’s towns that the provincial governor under the new regime. In the town, as idea of Kapampangan studies had its origins. At the time in the province, it was an era of celebration of things conceptualizing national history was in its infancy, and it was Kapampangan and the time when the concept of still possible and reasonable to think of other areas as Kapampangan studies had its beginnings. essential regional centers of politics and culture. Hence, One of the originators, perhaps the prime instigator, of Parker concentrated on Pampanga as a separate entity. He the field of Kapampangan studies was an American teacher did not look at all the Augustinian parishes in Central , named Luther Parker. With a degree from Chico just ones where the Pampangos resided and practiced their () Normal College, he came to Masantol in 1901 faith. as one of the earliest of the new government teachers. In Parker did not consider the towns of southern Tarlac in 1904 he became an instructor at the Bacolor Trade School his collection of histories of the Pampangos. Only one and its principal from 1908 to 1910. During his stay in reference to Concepcion appears in a list he made of the Bacolor, he developed an interest in the history and culture graduates of the Bacolor school between 1861 and 1869.3 of the province. Afterwards, he transferred to other Out of this interest in town foundations Parker made his assignments in , Ilocos Norte and Nueva Ecija most important contribution to Kapampangan studies. before returning to the States in 1925.1 Around 1909-1910, he conceived of the idea of each Parker possessed no formal training as a historian or as municipality in the archipelago compiling its own local history, an anthropologist, but he maintained a genuine enthusiasm and he took that scheme to James A. Robertson, then head for Pampanga’s past and its contemporary culture. of the Philippine Library. Robertson liked the project and Likely, his association with the luminaries of Bacolor convinced Governor W. Cameron Forbes to issue an and its surrounds stimulated that interest. His executive order enacting Parker’s plan.4 It does not seem connection with the trade school put him in touch that those histories were ever completed by other with the town’s leading literary and political figures. provinces, but Parker collected a set from most towns in When the school marked its fiftieth anniversary Pampanga, which he then deposited in the Philippine in 1911, the preparatory committees were Library. laced with important local personalities. The Eventually they came to rest, after the Second Program Committee enlisted Modesto World War, in the main library of the University of Joaquin, the Committee of Invitations the Philippines, Diliman. They continue to this day included Felix Galura and future governor as crucial sources on the early history of the Francisco Liongson, the Committee of province. Parker himself never wrote anything Festivities contained former Governor enduring on the history of Pampanga, but his efforts Ceferino Joven, the Committee of Reception to organize the writing of the town histories had Zoilo Hilario and the Decorations remains a strategic factor in establishing the notion Committee boasted as one of its members of the Kapampangan having a separate and Juan Crisostomo Soto. significant historical development. Besides becoming acquainted with Among the compilers of the town histories Bacolor’s political, social and literary elite, brought together by Parker, at least three added Parker also corresponded with leading in other significant ways to Pampanga’s cultural American scholar administrators. He undertook heritage. Dr. Felino Simpao of Guagua was a a field report on the Negritos of Pampanga for highly regarded poet and playwright, as a well as David Barrows, contributed this work and the erstwhile editor of local newspapers. Manuel others to the collections of anthropologist H. Gatbonton later wrote another, more complete, Otley Beyer and corresponded with the history of his home community of Candaba, which renowned librarian and document compiler became the basis for all subsequent work on the James A. Robertson. However, it was history of the town. And, finally, Don Mariano Pampanga that provided Parker’s main Vicente Henson sent Parker a fairly complete list inspiration. Dr. Luther Parker (to page 26) 5 1576 Local landlord Guillermo 1599 Bacolor asked to 1612 Bacolor had four priests Manabat established pueblo of contribute an annual rent of 200 and 3,900 Catholic inhabitants Bacolor based on an ancient pesos, 200 bushels of rice and 120 paying tributes, not to mention settlement called Bakulud; first chickens to San Agustin Monastery thousand others who didn’t pay church built on his land; in Manila Augustinians chose San Guillermo 1645 Quakes damaged Ermitaño (St. William the Hermit) as 1607 Bacolor asked to pay church TIMELINE town’s patron saint to honor the same rent to Augustinian Monastery town’s founder; Augustinian in Guadalupe 1672 Fire razed convent OF BACOLOR records dated December 31, 1576 1608 Bacolor one of most beside the church mention “Bacolot (or Vacolot), a prosperous Augustinian territories convent… located by the river in country, next only to Manila, 1722 In addition to the Betis, and was called San Guillermo” Cebu, Guadalupe and Tondo. already onerous rental fees to the COLONIAL Augustinian monasteries in Manila, 1578 Fray Diego de Ochoa, who wrote the first Arte, 1609 On October 31, the Bacolor was asked to pay annual HISTORY Vocabulario y Confesionario en Intermediate Definitory of the fee of 50 pesos as assistance to Pampango, appointed Bacolor’s Augustinians held in Bacolor missionary priests in Ytalones first prior on April 30 convent

WHEN the Americans came soldier wrote, he came upon a houses here and see them painters, soldiers and civil to the Philippines towards the town that he said would put stare.” servants—they were all born end of the 1800s, they to shame all colonizers who He was referring to Bacolor, and bred in this tiny community. were surprised to thought they were the jewel in the Spanish The American soldier discover that the bringing light to a colony’s crown at the time. stationed in Bacolor in the late islands they had dark continent. Even in early colonial times, 1800s described some of the purchased from “Many in the the residents of this small town townspeople he had met Spain (for a States doubtless were already possessed with a during his stay: measly $20 believe this pioneering spirit and a taste for “There is one gentleman million) were far country a greatness. The country’s first here who formerly practiced in more cultured wilderness and priest, first woman author, the the Manila courts. While you than they had the people playwright of history’s longest might not expect him to be imagined. “Sixty savages,” the literary work, the writer of the quite a savage, you would miles from Manila, white soldier first zarzuela in any native scarcely look for a fine Greek right in the edge of wrote. “I would like language and a multitude of scholar in the jungles of Luzon, the foothills,” an American to take them into some doctors, lawyers, musicians, yet here is surely one. Bakulud/Bacolor JEWELJEWEL ININ THETHE CRCROOWNWN This tiny community in the heart of the Kapampangan Region has produced more illustrious Filipinos than any other town or city in the country, and has changed the nation’s history in ways disproportionate to its size By Robby Tantingco Kasaysayan 6 Casa Real, the provincial capitol in Bacolor 1746 Dome of church Bacolor Elementary School would Plus Ultra was also granted by King 1786 First La Naval collapsed; Bacolor started to later occupy of Spain. festivities held in Bacolor (earlier function as capital of Pampanga, in Manila and later in Angeles—the which extended to Nueva Vizcaya, 1759 Smallpox epidemic 1764 Present-day stone church only three places in country where , Tarlac, parts of , erected La Naval is celebrated) in honor of and Zambales 1760 Bacolor population reached 16, 384, only 40 of whom 1769 Native clergy took over Nuestra Señora del Santissimo 1749 Bacolor visited by a were Spaniards parish Rosario (Our Lady of the Most Holy sultan Rosary), whose image (as well as 1762-64 Gen. Simon de Anda 1777 Cockfighting taxed for Kapampangans’ participation) was 1754 Great epidemic y Salazar arrived in Bacolor after the first time credited for Spain’s successful Manila occupied by invading British defense against series of 1755 Bacolor officially made forces; Spanish Government moved 1779 Start of tobacco invasions by Holland 1606-1645; capital of Pampanga national capital to Bacolor; town monopoly victory deemed critical because renamed Villa de Bacolor, one of the Dutch would have certainly led 1757 Volcanic ash rained on only three towns in the colony 1782 Visit of Governor Don country to . Bacolor bestowed that honor by virtue of a Jose Vicencio royal decree; a special coat-of- 1799 Start of monopoly of 1758 Casa Real, the capitol arms with motto Pluribus Unum, Non 1785 Measles epidemic; price building, built on spot that the of rice fell to 12 centavos per cavan betel nuts; term of capitanes

“There is another family of Spaniards first came in 1571. pueblo; thus he is credited as ending the war between Spain musicians here. They have a they found an ancient the founder of Bacolor, upon and England.) very fine place and I have spent settlement of traders and rice whose land the church was The material prosperity of some evenings there, listening growers, as the land was well eventually erected and upon Bacolor allowed its people to to the piano, violin, mandolin, irrigated by a river that led to whose name the choice of the devote time and wealth to harp and singing, as pleasant as the sea. (The other pre-hispanic town’s patron saint was based. things spiritual and artistic. By I ever passed in my life. communities in Pampanga were The town’s strategic mid-1800s, the town was a “Señor Joven is a scientist Lubao, Betis, location, being at thriving center of arts and quite up in modern electrical Macabebe, Macabebe and the crossroads trades. The longest work in research. His house is lighted Candaba, Bacolor, only a few between Guagua, Philippine literature, Comedia by an electric plant of his own Pinpin [later Macabebe, Lubao, Heroica de la Conquistada de manufacture. He was Sta. Ana], kilometers apart, and Mexico, Granada o sea Vida de Don educated in Hong Kong and Cabagsac represented the made the colonial Gonzalo de Cordoba llamado el , and is a free-thinker. [later San farthest opposite government Gran Capitan, all 832 pages of “But the man I am most Luis], Arayat, ends of establish the it, was staged for seven interested in is the principal of Apalit, Pampanga’s provincial capital consecutive nights in February, the schools, from whom I am Sasmuan, colonial politics there in 1755. 1831 in Bacolor—the first and taking lessons in Spanish. I go Mexico, (Casa Real, the only time it was performed. It down at three o’clock, and Guagua and Porac.) capitol building, was erected in was written by Padre Anselmo business begins. I teach him There are accounts that 1758, at the site of the future Jorge de Fajardo, a native of English and he teaches me when a combined force of Bacolor Elementary School.) Bacolor. (This masterpiece, Spanish. At five o’clock we Spanish and Macabebe soldiers When the British Navy written in elegant have a lunch of cakes and defended Manila from Chinese captured Manila in 1762, the Kapampangan, equals if not cigarettes and then resume our pirate Limahong on November Spanish forces under Simon surpasses the Tagalog epic studies. I am becoming fairly 29, 1574 and chased him across de Anda retreated to Bacolor Florante at Laura, according to proficient in Spanish, which is Luzon all the way to Lingayen which was named the colony’s many scholars.) likely to be of great value to Gulf, some of the pirates settled capital. Gen. Anda organized Bacolor also produced the me. It has already brought me along the banks of the an army of volunteers from country’s first vernacular a standing offer of a good Cabalantian River and Pampanga and other provinces zarzuela, Mariano Proceso position in the schools of intermarried with Bacolor who launched attacks on the Pabalan Byron’s Ing Manila.” natives. Two years later, local British in Manila. (Eventually the Managpe, staged at the Teatro Bacolor’s prehispanic name landlord Guillermo Manabat, British withdrew after a treaty Sabina on September 13, 1900. is Bakulud, which means high probably with Spanish backing, was signed in Europe formally and level ground. When the organized the town into a (to page 30) Filipinas Heritage Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Bacolor Municipio de Bacolor 7 extended to two years Dalan a Bayu, connecting Bacolor Fajardo; it lasted for seven 1841 Road leading to Minalin and Guagua consecutive nights; a great completed 1803 Price of rice rose to 4 typhoon blew over town pesos per cavan; many people 1820 Epidemic struck Manila; 1842 Cholera epidemic died of starvation after 9 days it hit Bacolor 1832 On August 13, a big flood inundated town following solar eclipse at 3 P.M. 1805 Start of wine monopoly 1822 San Isidro chapel and appearance of a comet transferred, blessed 1835 Casa Real rebuilt 1807 Vaccination introduced in 1845 Tinajero chapel built and Bacolor 1830 Big celebration marked 1839 Native clergy turned over blessed, thanks to support of Don completion of church and convent, parish back to Augustinians; Fray Juan Joven 1808 Church and convent destroyed by fire more than 20 Manuel Luis succeeded Padre 1847 National celebration were burned down during term of years earlier; later in the year, Celestino de Vera Padre Felipe Basilio; reconstructed marking the wedding of Queen nine men were hanged for various Isabel of Spain in 1830 offences 1840 Three wooden arches built for La Naval celebration on 1850 Bacolor lost many 1813 Big fire reduced to ashes 1831 First and only November 8; Gugu Bridge Tindang Matua (public market); constructed residents to a succession of opening of Panuliran, a straight performance of epic Gonzalo de earthquake, typhoon and flood highway to San Fernando, and Cordoba by Padre Anselmo periods. Here they were— since one fifth of its present Relaciones de Baculud I was supposedly speaking as I population, (yet) it gave to have met these natives in the the service of the army streets of Pampanga — the thousands of volunteers, BACOLOR loyal companions of our including officials, petty disgraces and of our glories. officers (sargentos), and They, and only they, were with soldiers, always disciplined and as the center of us during the 1650s to the valiant, as attested by our 1750s, in that century of historians. Afterwards, we Philippine history frustrations, whence we have encountered some of them been harassed at all fronts, not with Don Simon de Anda, the 1762-1764 being able to sustain the farms self-same soul in the noble (terrenos ganados) and the adhesion of our flag; until Stirrings of nationalism among Kapampangans honor of the flag, with Manila now, Pampanga has offered a when the capital was moved to their province burning with ridicules and most dignified chapter in sterile disaccords; they were memory… In Pampanga, there By Prof. Lino L. Dizon there, in equal number with is so much honorable military the Spanish soldiers, and history.” in the initial issue of his Revista IN 1858, Jose Felipe del constantly with them, J. del Pan was musing de Filipinas (1876): Pan made an unusual trip to participating about the relaciones of a “I have the provinces of fraternally in their century looked upon , limitations, in their earlier, those Pampangos a trip he called poverty, and in their especially with certain ‘ expedicion glories, guarding the about the curiosity and aventurero- fortresses, defending British sympathy. During filosófica’. against the frequent Occupation a brief stopover in Considered until assaults of the Dutch, of the the capital en the recent the Moros, the Philippines, route the Cabo times as the Igorots; acting as where (ship), I have first Dean of the “perfect Kapampangan read about this Philippine associate” (contra soldiers and ‘grand curiosity’ Journalism, this diez) since they the town of of the region prolific Galician presumed themselves Bacolor among many writer-editor to be the friends of figured books, both old later published these Castilians. Brave prominently and current, his people! At that time, in their loyal interspersing reminiscences Pampanga province Simon de Anda y Salazar lived major historical William Draper, nearly killed on Pampanga across Bacolor Church did not even have by a Kapampangan (to page 27)

Anda’s missing monument fence which stood upon the edge of the largest step. Carved Revolucionarios left no trace of memorial on the marble plates on the four sides of the pedestal were the following inscriptions (presumably in Spanish): (1) To the to the great Spanish general memory of Don Simon de Anda y Salazar, Defender of these In 1853, a monument was erected Islands, 1762; (2) At the same time he attacked the invaders in front of the house where Simon de and suppressed the interior disorders; (3) Fray Remigio Anda lived in Bacolor, across the church Hernandez, Bultos, Areza, Fray Sales; (4) Erected in 1853. patio. It was an obelisk, 6 meters high, After the Spaniards fled, Governor Tiburcio Hilario standing on a pedestal that was 1.7 ordered the statue destroyed. By 1909, only the pedestal meters high, which in turn stood on a 6- had remained, on top of which stood the wooden spine of meter-square graded base. One side of what used to be the obelisk. The four marble slabs with the obelisk had a marble plate on which inscriptions had disappeared. A rumor went around that the was carved a commander’s cane and a slabs had been buried under the front door stones of the general’s sword united by a crown of Escuela de Artes y Oficios (now DHVCAT) when the school Anda’s lost monument in laurel and palms. The monument was was reconstructed in 1907. Bacolor, similar to the made of stone; it was one near Intramuros surrounded by an elegantly designed iron Source: Luther Parker Collections Folder 239 No. 95 8 1851 Five consecutive (paglimbunan) covered with tent (Angeles); Bacolor visited by 1871 Dr. Jose visited earthquakes shook town made of coco cloth; eight brass Archbishop of Manila who solicited close friends Don Balbino Ventura bands accompanied image of contributions for construction of and Don Francisco Joven in 1852 Construction of Simon Nuestra Señora del Santissimo Palacio de Arsobispo in Manila and Bacolor; on October 8, big flood de Anda monument in front of Rosario; huge turnout of visitors other churches in China struck Talba, Bacolor and towns Sampaloc bridge; construction of led to a shortage of food in Bacolor of San Fernando, Arayat, stone bridges between San in following days 1861 Opening of Escuela de Candaba, San Luis, San Simon, Fernando, Buracan and Buquid; Artes y Oficios de Bacolor (later Sto. Tomas and Minalin tax increase of 3 pesos imposed 1858 Market transferred from Pampanga School of Arts and to finance these constructions; plaza to church patio with Trades), oldest vocational school in 1873 The short-cut road from strong earthquake struck again permission of Fray Manuel Diaz the country, probably in Far East; Gugu Bridge, Bacolor to Palaui, opening of new highway to Angeles San Fernando, built 1853 Bacolor church restored 1859 Another big La Naval (through Parulog and San Antonio) under Fr. Manuel Diaz’ celebration; procession featured a 1879 Strong typhoon hit supervision; Casa Real renovated vapor (ship) float to represent 1865 On Christmas day, houses Bacolor; rice sold at P1.25 per Spanish navy that defeated the of the Paño, Puno, Lampo, cavan or siam a sicapat 1856 Big La Naval celebration; Dutch navy Fernandez, Alimurung, Rodriguez, to protect the saint’s image from Sugui, Alvares, Sandico and Dizon 1880 Strong earthquake rain, the whole procession route 1860 Blessing of road to Culiat families were burned down destroyed the Casa Tribunal and

Reminiscences of Royalty Affluent families shaped the cultural and political landscape of Bacolor’s history The Pampangos Don Valentin Ventura of Bacolor helped finance Rizal’s El Filibusterismo; shown with his family in Madrid

By Ivan Anthony Henares bound them together, and At the center of the noble provincial governor of pedigrees that spoke no less lineage of Bacolor were three Pampanga, a post which at Villa de Bacolor. The name of grandeur. mestizo families, who through that time, was reserved for evokes a glorious era long No one has gone deep intermarriage strengthened Spaniards; and Don Juan gone, now obscured by the enough through the history of the ties that connected them Joven, a rich Chinese trader sands of time. All that is left Bacolor to find out the state together. Many of the from Binondo who also became of it are memories in books of affairs before the 19th prominent names from Bacolor a gobernadorcillo of Bacolor. and old wives tales, as well as century. Thus, the can trace their lineage to three These individuals became the its monuments which stand as enumeration of families would individuals: Don Jose patriarchs of the de Leon, Leon mute witnesses to a time begin at the turn of the 19th Leonardo de Leon, who like Santos and Joven families when it was known as the century, when the affluence his brother Don Pedro Leon de respectively, together a very Athens of Pampanga, the of Chinese traders plying the Arcega, may have been born powerful conglomerate by the social and political heart of the Pampanga route was reaching in Cavite; Don Francisco late 1800s. province. And behind this its peak, thus sparking the rise Paula de los Santos, a The web of intermarriages immense saga that was of a new class of society gobernadorcillo de mestizos, is indeed too intricate for one Bacolor, were powerful prevalent in Pampanga, the who at one time served as to clearly grasp the strong interim alcade mayor or families, the strong ties that Chinese mestizo. (to page 29) 9 damaged the church; Fr. Eugenio 1884 Strong typhoon and send their brass bands, from the Paulino Lirag and Alvaro Panopio, Alvarez ordered repairs, which San Fernando train station all the way rose in arms against the Spaniards, were completed in 1886; further 1886 On February 1, treasury to Bacolor; the town of Betis erected marking the start of the Revolution renovation finished in 1897 under was transferred from Guagua to an intricately decorated bamboo in Pampanga; they burned the Fr. Antonio Bravo Bacolor tower Casa Real to smoke out the Cazadores and 1882 40-day monsoon rains; 1887 Series of typhoons 1894 All town officials were cholera ravaged Bacolor and the destroyed much of Bacolor; Fray guarding it; prisoners were set entire province from August to Eugenio Alvares pleaded for alms required to wear suits free and big houses in the January, 1883; the cemetery at were torched, including Salinas consecrated to 1893 Inauguration of the 1897 Provincial prisoners the Bazar de Bacolor and the accommodate influx of corpses; reconstructed Escuela de Artes y attempted to escape from the Casa mansions of the Jovens, the another flood on November 10 Oficios (earlier destroyed by fire) Real; the doors were locked in time Ramirezes and others on March 8; the Governor General and 84 prisoners were executed and 1883 End of the tobacco and the Archbishop of Manila were buried in Saliwas 1899 In March the monopoly; tribute increased to among the guests; all the towns of townspeople began to evacuate P1.50 or atlung salapi; gold chalice Pampanga were required to 1898 Voluntarios Locales de out of fear for the new colonizers; stolen from the church construct their respective arches Bacolor quartered in the Escuela de American soldiers arrived on May Artes y Oficios, led by Felix Galura, Low-profile heroes Day 1 of the Revolution in The Hilarios of Bacolor Pampanga and the road to freedom The first cry of revolution in Pampanga occurred on June 4, 1898, at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Bacolor CECILIO of Guagua and Mariano nastier and the Hilarios were when Felix Galura, Alvaro andAlejandrino of Arayat were advised to return to Panopio and Paulino Lirag Tiburcio deported; Ceferino Joven, Pampanga together with led the Voluntarios Locales de Hilario, Ruperto Lacsamana and Francisco Reyes. Around this Bacolor in a revolt against the then law Antonio Consunji were time, too, Aguinaldo returned Spanish authorities. They students, harassed), which almost from Hong Kong to resume burned the Casa Real witnessed decimated their ranks except the war against Spain and to (provincial capitol) and killed thefor Jose Alejandrino, disprove allegations that he the pro-Spanish Cazadores and martyrdom Maximo Kabigting and had run away with the Macabebes. This event was of Gomez, Mariano Llanera who joined indemnity money from Spain the basis for what is probably Tiburcio Hilario Burgos and Aguinaldo at Biak-na-Bato. Del (as part of the pact at Biak- the best play of Mariano Zamora at Pilar, too, would have been na-Bato months earlier). Proceso Pabalan Byron Bagumbayan exiled had Tiburcio not warned In Bacolor, the Hilarios (1862-1904) Apat Ya Ing in 1872. him. wisely decided not to Junio, about a local woman The While the Tiburcio brothers immediately proceed to their who puts on men’s clothes to shocking and the other revolutionaries, house in barrio San Vicente fight alongside her Katipunero sight of the including Rizal, near the town boyfriend. priests’ languished in exile in proper. While resting execution various parts of in the house of P1M missing galvanized Mindanao, Andres Marcela Samia in their resolve Bonifacio started the barrio San Isidro, they in Tarlac Cecilio Hilario to fight for armed revolution saw a big fire in the independence. against Spain. Later, horizon. It turned As the Americans advanced to Pampanga, Governor A cousin, Marcelo Hilario del during the trial of Rizal out to be Tiburcio’s Tiburcio Hilario watched Pilar of Bulacan, also a partner in Manila, the Hilarios house being torched in the Hilarios’ law firm, shared from the belfry of the Bacolor were transferred to by the Spanish church how the new their hatred for the Spaniards Bilibid Prison to make Cazadores. The Jose Rizal colonizers defeated the after a friar caused his them testify against Hilarios then sought Filipino army in . He suspension at UST and after his Rizal. They refused. refuge in the house packed up and moved his and brother, a priest, was tortured Soon thereafter, they of Braulio Mendoza other families (like the and deported. were permitted to in barrio San Antonio Aquinos and the Barreras) Following Jose Rizal’s visit to live with their families and, later, in the to Concepcion, Tarlac, the Hilarios’ residence, Tiburcio in a rented house house of Domingo bringing with him one million was exiled to Jolo, Cecilio to along Azcarraga St. Panlilio in barrio silver pesos which was the Balabac island between (owned by Francisco Maliwalu. voluntary contributions from Mindanao and Reyes, forebear of The Spaniards Kapampangans, war bonds Palawan. the founder of FEU) made their last stand and Chinese donations. This Other but required to on July 1, 1898 in entire amount was formally Kapam- report regularly to Macabebe, where turned over to Gen. in the house of Julian pangan authorities. There Gen. Ricardo Monet revolutionaries they were often escaped by boat. Santos in Tarlac, Tarlac in the suffered visited by Kapampangan Immediately, all adult male presence of witnesses. However, three days later, similar fate revolutionaries like Modesto Kapampangans elected their Gen. Luna was assassinated in (Maximino Joaquin, Felix Galura, Pedro town presidentes (mayors) Hizon of Nueva Ecija and no one Liongson, Andres Serrano who in turn elected Tiburcio knows, to this day, where Mexico, and Aurelio Tolentino. Hilario as the Governor of that money from Bacolor Felix When Commodore Dewey Pampanga. ended up. David sailed into , the Source: The Pampangos by beleaguered Spaniards got Source: The Pampangos by 10 Rafaelita Hilario Soriano Rafaelita Hilario Soriano 18; in September, evacuees Bacolor to San Fernando when started returning to their homes Macario Arnedo of Apalit was in Bacolor; Ceferino Joven elected governor of Pampanga, despite the capitan municipal; Gen. Emilio objections of his predecessor, Aguinaldo royally received in Ceferino Joven Bacolor 1906 Waist-deep flood in Tragedy 1901 First civil government in Bacolor due to the breaching of the the Philippines under the Gugu and Patrero dam Americans established in Bacolor; in the Don Ceferino Joven appointed 1907 Gugu bridge rebuilt with stronger materials first provincial governor, and Don Sources: Luther Parker Estanislao Santos first municipal 1908 Tax increased to P2.00, Collections; The Story of Bacolor in president; ceremonies took place one peso going to construction of a Nutshell by Dr. Rogelio M. Samia; family in the Escuela de Artes y Oficios roads and bridges Angels in Stone (1987 edition) 1903 Seat of provincial by Fr. Pedro Galende, OSA; special (The government transferred from thanks to Arwin Lingat for the tragedy) transcriptions involved a prominent, respectable Women of Bacolor avert and wealthy citizen of the war of the generals town, Don In his unpublished Memoirs, Justice Jose Gutierrez David Balbino (1891-1977) recalled that a schism had developed between Ventura. He two of Gen. Aguinaldo’s generals which threatened his was the father revolutionary government. Gen. Tomas Mascardo’s soldiers of Don were stationed in Guagua while Gen. Antonio Luna’s were Honorio Ventura, who in Calumpit, Bulacan. On the day that Gen. Luna marched became his troops towards Guagua for a showdown with Gen. Governor of Mascardo, the ladies of Bacolor, among them Jose’s sister Pampanga and Trining, met Gen. Luna in Bacolor and persuaded him to Secretary of drop his plan to attack Mascardo in Guagua. Later the young the Interior, Masonic Jose saw Luna’s troops marching back in the opposite and of Africa Ventura, wife logos direction, averting a potentially bloody and tragic battle of Lolong between revolutionaries. Santos. Don Balbino had a brother, Don Valentin Gen. Tomas Mascardo Gen . Antonio Luna Ventura, a contemporary of Rizal in Europe. Don Valentin was one of those who supplied funds which Revolucionarios from Bacolor made the printing and publication of the El Propagandists, poet-soldiers and Filibusterismo possible. Through indiscretion, secret financiers helped win the day perhaps, of Don Balbino’s two older daughters— By Ivan Anthony Henares Nunilon and Belen—who were boarding students As sparks of the Revolution Balbino who was among the Joven; revolutionary governor (colegialas) in a Catholic began to find their way into the landed gentry in Bacolor. Tiburcio Hilario y Tuason of school in Manila, the friars province, signs of a revolt Another was Francisco San Fernando, whose maternal came to learn that Don became evident. By this time, Liongson who later became a grandfather owned vast tracks Balbino was a Mason. intellectuals, professionals, senator of the Republic. of land in Bacolor; Praxedes Masons were then being poets and artists, the emerging Kapampangan literary Fajardo of the Philippine Red prosecuted as enemies of ilustrado class, had gained geniuses like Juan Crisostomo Cross, among the women of the Church. Don Balbino prominence in Bacolor, already Soto, Felix Galura y Napao, the Philippine Revolution who was brought by the Guardia being acclaimed as the Athens and Mariano Proceso together with her brother Dr. Civil to San Fernando, about of Pampanga. Several of these Pabalan Byron produced Jacobo Fajardo, and labor six kilometers from Bacolor, individuals would later become works that fanned the flames leader Joaquin Balmori, are on foot with his hands tied assets of the Philippine of the Revolution; some of among those listed in the NHI at the back, in broad Revolution. them left writing for a while and publication Filipinos in History; daylight and in view of Among the Filipinos in the actually took up arms. and Mateo Gutierrez Ubaldo, everyone. After sometime, Propaganda Movement in Spain Among those who led the a delegate to the Malolos he was released and was Valentin Ventura, whose revolutionary cause in Bacolor Congress, whose son Eduardo returned to Bacolor.” (Don Balbino never contribution to the cause was were its presidente municipal, Gutierrez David was also recovered from the pain and financing the printing of Rizal’s Ceferino Joven y Casas and active in the revolutionary indignity of the experience. second novel, El Filibusterismo, his brother Francisco, cause. He died soon thereafter.) with the help of his brother grandchildren of Don Juan

B. Mendoza P. Fajardo D. Panlilio Source: Jose Gutierrez 11 David, in his unpublished Memoirs. The homegrown art of SIMON FLORES This famous Manila artist left behind a lucrative career to settle in the bucolic town and paint the ceilings of local churches By Alex R. Castro

art classes. Among those he tutored was chose to stay and work in seclusion in Celestina, a niece who suffered a nervous Pampanga’s heartland, holding art classes breakdown after an unrequited love affair and giving drawing lessons to Celestina, in One of the country’s most celebrated with a Guardia Civil. Simon was thus the his desire to soothe her troubled mind and masters of the brush in the last quarter of first known Filipino to use art therapy for make her well. In one of her manic fits, the 19th century was a Manila artist who mental health care patients. she bit the hand of her kind uncle. The made Bacolor his home in the most Though largely homegrown, Simon’s wound festered and became gangrenous, productive years of his life: Simon Flores reputation quickly spread via his leading to Simon Flores’s death on 12 y de la Rosa. Born on 28 October 1839 international triumphs that March 1904. in San Fernando de Dilao (now Paco), pre-dated Juan Luna’s more Of his style, Art Critic and Flores grew up amidst a cultured and famous wins. His oil painting, Professor Emmanuel artistic milieu: uncle Fabian Gonzales was “La Orquesta del Pueblo “ Torres keenly observed: a painter who decorated the ceilings of (Music Band of the Town), “The art developed by Flores Malacañang Palace and who collaborated won a Silver Medal in the and his kind assumed a with the Italian scenographists, Divella and Philadelphia Exposition of gently lyrical and celebrative, Alberoni in house painting commissions 1876, an event held to mark rather than a dramatic and for the native elite. Another uncle, Pio America’s centennial. Two self-questioning mode; a de la Rosa taught young Simon the canvasses, “Despues de la modesty and serenity of rudiments of painting. Ultima Cena” (After the Last tone rather than an Simon’s natural talents prompted the Supper) and “El aggressively heroic family to enroll him at the Academia de Prendimiento” (The eloquence; in short, an art Dibujo y Pintura where he was tutored Arraignment of Christ), bested more suitable to the intimate 52 entries to garner the Msgr. Tambungi as by the Spanish director himself, Agustin painted by Flores privacy of the parlor than the Saez y Granadell and also Lorenzo highest honors in an art museum or salon.” Guerrero and Lorenzo Rocha. After 4 contest held to commemorate the He is at his best in capturing the cozy, years of intense study, he set up his own tercentenary of the birth of St. John of intimate atmosphere of pastoral living in studio where he accepted commissions for the Cross in 1891. His win merited national his genre paintings. But his enduring images portraits, religious works and trompe l’oeil media attention with him being featured of the country’s rising new bourgeoisie are painting, thereby continuing the tradition on the popular periodical La Ilustracion better known. He rarely painted a subject of early masters Justiniano Asuncion and Filipina. At the 1895 Regional with a smile, in keeping with the ascending Antonio Malantic. In the same studio, Exposition of the Philippines, The role of the new aristocracy in Central he held art classes, teaching painting to Expulsion won an Honorable Mention. Luzon. Visual cues of their authority are students such as his nephew, Fabian de No amount of encouragement and seen in their glum expressions, rigid la Rosa, who would go on to achieve even material promises could lure him back to greater fame. sophisticated Manila though. Instead, he (to page 29) His work would soon attract the attention of Monsignor Ignacio Pineda Tambungui, a canon of the Manila Vicente Alvarez Dizon Cathedral and a chaplain at the San Juan The Bacolor painter de Dios Hospital. Msgr. Tambungui was instrumental in opening doors for Simon, who bested Salvador Dali giving him design and painting jobs for churches, cemeteries and mortuary niches. The first Kapampangan artist to receive an This led to a church-decorating project in international award is Vicente Alvarez Dizon of Guagua, Pampanga, the Tambunguis’ Bacolor (1905-1947), whose painting After a Day’s native town—plus more commissions in Toil, won first prize in a competition marking the Sta. Rita, Mexico, Betis and ultimately, Golden Gate World Fair and Exposition in San After a Day’s Toil Bacolor. Here, in San Vicente, Simon Francisco, California in 1939. He bested entries from 79 countries including his chose to settle down, after having met compatriot and Spanish surreal painter Salvador Dali, who placed and married the monsignor’s sister, second. As sponsor of the Exposition, IBM now owns the painting; the original is on Simplicia Tambungui. The couple, permanent display at the IBM Gallery of Fine Arts in New York. A prolific painter, however, were to be childless. musician and lyricist, teacher and book author, Dizon is also known to have introduced The environs of Bacolor were very finger painting in the country. He married Ines Henson of Angeles City, with whom conducive to Simon’s artistic pursuits. He he had four children, Victor Jose, Daniel Antonio (also a painter), Edilberto Luminoso not only painted vigoriously but also gave and Josefina, a.k.a. Josie Henson, painter and president of Akademyang Kapampangan. 12 Birthplace of the vernacular zarzuela CRISSOT Sometime in 1900, the three dramatists of Bacolor, Juan Crisostomo The volume, variety and quality Soto (Crissot), Felix Galura (Flauxgialer) and Mariano Proceso Pabalan Byron met and decided to incorporate songs into their plays. of his literary output should put him Previously, all the plays staged in Pampanga were moro-moros, comedias, in Shakespeare’s league and straight dramas, without musical numbers. The trio asked Amado Gutierrez David to be their composer and after several weeks, Pabalan One poet could have Byron came up with Ing Managpe, the first vernacular zarzuela in the singlehandedly put Bacolor on the map. Philippines, and Magparigaldigal, and Soto produced Paninap nang Don The name Juan Crisostomo Soto y Roque. Rehearsals were held in the Gutierrez mansion in barrio Sta. Caballa (1867-1918), popularly known Ines, Bacolor, where Don Mateo Gutierrez y Ubaldo had built a stage as Crissot, shines the brightest among for family presentations. Thus, this house could be considered as the the galaxy of Kapampangan writers. He birthplace of the Kapampangan zarzuela. When the zarzuela had been wrote a mind-boggling 50 plays rehearsed thoroughly, it was brought to the Teatro Sabina for the gala (including 3 tragedies, 8 comedies, 20 performance. Hundreds of zarzuelas were presented in Bacolor within a zarzuelas), more than 100 poems as three-decade period, considered the golden age of Kapampangan drama. well as essays, novels and short stories. Source: The Unpublished Memoirs of Justice Jose Gutierrez David. “This is an output,” wrote Rosalina Icban-Castro, “one expects from a Athens of Pampanga major writer in the order if not of Kapampangan literature reached its golden Shakespeare at least the minor age during the lifetime of Soto, Galura and Pabalan Crisostomo Soto Elizabethans.” His best known works Byron, the drama triumvirate of Bacolor. are the zarzuela Alang Dios! written after the death of his Pampanga was among the first provinces to have daughter Maria Luz Generosa; the novel Lidia; the play Delia; theatre companies with resident playwrights, the short story Y’Miss Phathupats; and the poem Malaya. Soto directors and actors, and nowhere in the province edited three newspapers, El Pueblo, El Imparcial and Ing was the theatre scene more active than it was in Alipatpat. Literary verbal jousts in Kapampangan, rhymed and Bacolor. improvised on the spot, have been called crissotan, the There were more poets per square meter here Kapampangan counterpart of the Tagalog balagtasan. Many than in any part of the Philippines, wrote Jose of his works mirrored his intense revolutionary fervor; Soto Felix Galura Luna Castro, former editor of The Manila Times. wrote for La Independencia and served with Gen. Tomas It probably came with the gene pool, but the role of money could not be Mascardo as a major of infantry. His descendants have formed underestimated. Many rich families sent their children to Europe to study, the organization Sapni nang Crissot to preserve and and when they returned they brought with them European tastes and popularize his legacy. lifestyles, including love for theatre. Zarzuela companies from Spain Excerpts from came from Bacolor, thanks to rich families, which also financed local productions whose performers included children of the same rich families, thus ensuring continued support. Alang Dios! In Bacolor, the first theatre company was Compania Sabina, organized by Juan Crisostomo Soto shortly before 1901 by local patron Ceferino Joven, who was then Music by Pablo Palma governor of Pampanga. Actors’ wages ranged between P4 and P15 per showing. The play’s author received P100 per production. Costumes ESCENA 64 MARIA LUZ Y ENRIQUE were provided by the performers themselves and the troupe performed ENRIQUE: Maria, oh salamat queca…. Micalma ca! Mipala ca! for free during fiestas and other big community celebrations. The theatrical season in Pampanga coincided with the dry season, MUSICA recessing during the when the folk cenaculo plays took over. The rainy season was when the playwrights wrote their scripts. MARIA: Enrique! ENRIQUE: Maria! Reference: Kapampangan Literature: A Historical Survey and MARIA: Enrique! ENRIQUE: Maria! Anthology by Edna Zapanta Manlapaz (Ateneo de Manila University Press) MARIA: Ay, bandi cu! ENRIQUE: Maria! MARIA: Casaquit na ning bili co! ENRIQUE: Nanung lungcut mu, Virgen Malasia! Virgen Malasia! Teatro Sabina sabian mu canacu at piramayan ta. MARIA: Cacuanan da cu qng candungan mu; qng candungan mu; Constructed in 1901, Teatro Sabina, was one of two important ing e cu sinta patanggap deng pilit qng pusu cu. theatres in that part of Pampanga (the other being Teatro Trining in Guagua, home base of Aurelio Tolentino). Named after its owner, the ENRIQUE: Bulaclac ning ilang,calulu na ca… calulu na ca… spinster sister of Ceferino Joven, Teatro e ca pailanat caniting lasa. Sabina was unique for its deep well located MARIA: Ua’t aguiang mapait iti alducan ta… iti alducan ta… under the middle of the stage, dug there to bista’man masaquit pibatan tana. improve acoustics. ENRIQUE: Nanung panayan tang bayu? Entrance fees varied, from P2.00 (palco MARIA: Ing camatayan, bandi cu… proscenio seats), to between 60 centavos ENRIQUE: Baquet nanu ita sabian mu? and P1.00 (orchestra seats), to 20 MARIA: Uling talasaua na cu. centavos (entrada general). Rates were LOS DOS: E bala aguiang mate cu, nung uarit qng candungan mu; often reduced after opening day. Teatro dapot qng picutcutan cu panga bengi yapa mu cu, At itang tumulu Sabina averaged two productions a month. mung lua, Mamagus uli ning lugma, yang ambun a pasaguiua It was renovated in 1909; the proscenium caring bucung malanta. arch contained the names of dramatists Nung mate ca, ay, mate cu; tuqui cu queca, tiqui cu… Pabalan, Soto, Galura, Gozun and Jose Nung nanu ing acalman mu Gutierrez David (only 18 at the time) and ya ing buring acalman cu, the names of composers Pablo Palma, Jose acalman cu. Prado and Amado Gutierrez. The theatre HABLADO eventually closed when patronage dwindled. Jose Gutierrez David and MARIA: Baquet dinatang ca ngeni? Nanu ing buri mu queti? Source: The Unpublished Memoirs of Zoilo J. Hilario as actors Justice Jose Gutierrez David ENRIQUE: Maria— 13 with political unrest, the school was made Escuela de headquarters of the Voluntarios Locales de Instructors & Students Bacolor who were the first to revolt against Artes y Oficios Spain. The provincial capitol was also of the Escuela de Artes transferred from the Casa Real to this school during the early American Occupation. When y Oficios 1861-1869 de Bacolor the provincial capital was moved to San Fernando, the school was relegated to municipal Professors Destinies of town and hall. Padre Dizon del Moral It was converted back into a school and Señor Don Agaton Estrella school linked forever Sr. Don Pedro Pineda alternately named Bacolor Intermediate Sr. Don Mariano Natividad The Escuela de Artes y Oficios de School, Bacolor Trade School (in 1922), and Sr. Don Valentin Ramirez Bacolor (formerly El Colegio de Santa Tereza by virtue of Republic Act 1388, Regional School Sr. Don Vicente Quirino de Jesus, later Pampanga School of Arts of Arts and Trades (on July 1, 1956). Sr. Don Nicolas del Carmen and Trades, now Don Honorio Ventura The school was destroyed by fire at least Sr. Don Joaquin Dizon College of Arts and Trades), founded by Fr. five times, in 1869, 1896, 1898, 1944 and 1958. Juan P. Zita and Don Felino Gil on a site donated The school is credited for the active local Students from Bacolor industries requiring skilled labor which not only Don Mariano Alimurung by the Suarez sisters of Bacolor, opened on Don Jose Tuazon November 4, 1861 upon the approval of its sustained the economy of the communities in Don Mariano Fajardo statutes by Governor Lemery. the region but also inspired and guided the unique Don Juan Garcia y Lampa In 1896 when the country was percolating craftsmanship and artistry of Kapampangans. Don Domingo Panlilio Don Julian Palma house in the church patio; faculty roster included Don Augustin Mercado Bacolor Emerenciana Palma, Lorenzo Malig and Don Cecilio Laxamana Tirso Manabat who was also the principal. Later, American teachers who are now Guagua Elementary remembered only by their surnames, joined Padre Maximo Viron School them, e.g. Mr. Higgley, Miss Huff, Miss Padre Ignacio Tambungi Carlston, Mr. Pinstaff, Mr. Crawford and Sta. Rita Operated on funds Mrs. Butts. Don Ariston Maglalang raised during fairs In 1913 a ten-room building was built on Padre Braulio Pineda the old site of the Casa Real, using a P25,000.00 Don Bonifacio Carlos Mariano Opened in June, 1901, the Bacolor funding through the so-called Gabaldon Law. Don Juan Sason Elementary School initially occupied just one The school’s principal at this time was Marciano Don Franco Sason room of the ruined Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Malig and the faculty included Alejandro Don Prudencio Santos Bacolor. Among the first teachers were Tirso Lopez, Benito Pangilinan, etc. The school Manabat (Grade I) and Mariano Proceso Porac was run mainly on government grants plus funds Don Lupo Carpio Pabalan Byron (Grade II). Promotion to the raised through fairs, industrial and agricultural Don Felipe Juico next grade was through examinations exhibits, athletic, literary and beauty contests, administered by Amando Gutierrez (for as well as pork barrel funds of political luminaries Angeles Spanish) and Luther Parker (for English). such as Senator Gil Puyat, Rep. Pedro Valdes Don Fabio Quiason In 1902, classes were transferred to an old Liongson and Rep. . Don Juan Nepomuceno Don Mariano Limson Formerly called the Bacolor Catholic Don Julian Mananquil School, St. Mary’s Academy was the first of Don Catalino Mercado three Benedictine schools opened in Pampanga St. Mary’s Lubao (the other two being Holy Family Academy in Don Exequiel Zita Angeles and St. Scholastica’s Academy in San Academy Don Emiliano Dimson Fernando). Founded in 1919 by Fr. Pedro Santos of Porac, education was initially free to Education was free San Luis all pupils without discrimination. The Sisters took in this Benedictine-run Don Emilio Alfaro over in 1922, with five nuns supervising more than 200 students and Fr. Santos remaining as school San Fernando the school director. Don Antonio Consunji Fr. Santos started a high Don Mariano Custodio after Fr. Santos left; the school was saved only Don Teodoro Santos school which, however, failed through the generosity of some people. More Don Mariano Santos after only two years. than a third of the students of St. Mary’s Don Mariano Dayrit Undaunted, the energetic Academy came from poor families; those who Don Diego Pamintuan parish priest purchased a could pay were charged the minimum monthly school bus which transported fee, probably the lowest among all private schools Mexico the girls from Bacolor to the in the country. Don Mariano Cunanan Assumption Academy Among its alumni are Amparo Villamor, Don Vicente Cunanan Don Leon Lising (old name of St. member of President Carlos P. Garcia’s Cabinet Scholastica’s (as Social Welfare Administrator); Joaquinito San Simon Academy) in San “Jake” Gonzales, valedictorian at De La sale Don Pablo dela Cruz Fernando University and national president of the Jaycees Don Mariano Pamintuan morning, when he died in a plane crash in Baguio; noon and Mariano Alimurung, internationally known afternoon cardiologist; Fr. Pallasigui and Fr. Odon Don Leoncio de Castro every day, until Santos; top violinist Biliong Palma; Gerry his term ended. Tarlac Rodriguez; civic leaders Raquel Gonzales Don Marciano Barera Used to de Leon, Elisa Buyson Sison, Emiliana free education, Gonzales and Pilar Villarama. Concepcion, Tarlac many students Source: The Story of Bacolor in a Nutshell by Don Pedro Sanchez dropped out Dr. Rogelio Samia 14 Fr. Pedro Santos Other sugar planters included siblings Justo Arrastia, president of the Sugar is Pampanga Sugar Mills Planters Association, and Jose Arrastia; first cousins Alfonso de Leon y David of San Fernando and Rafael de Leon y Lazatin of Mexico, a sweet half-sibling of Jose Leoncio de Leon. Writer’s Note: My fascination with Bacolor began with a Simon Flores portrait of Don Jose Leon Santos published in the Manila Bulletin a few years back, as part of an announcement of the opening of The new industry brought huge profits but the Museo De La Salle in Dasmariñas, Cavite. The museum is actually a showcase of the rich widened the gap between rich and poor Bacolor heritage, as the entire Santos-Joven- By Ivan Anthony Henares Panlilio residence and its contents were transferred there before the coup de grace PASUDECO struck Bacolor in 1995. Thus, everything was th In the latter part of the 19 century, in the social patterns of Pampanga. And saved. And how ironic but true it is to say that sugar became a very powerful commodity, quoting its preface, the social register for one to feel the former opulence of Bacolor, a dictating the movements in the upper aimed to put “the right people in the right visit to the Cavite museum is necessary. echelons of Pampanga’s social classes. The places, and in the places where they With further research, I found out that Jose th early 20 century saw the rise of a new belong.” It was “a tribute to Pampanga’s Leon Santos was my direct great-great-great class of society, which was beginning to leaders in business, in the professions, and grandfather, a son of Don Francisco Paula de gain prominence—the sugar planter. in society.” los Santos and Doña Luisa Gonzaga de Leon. His Although the center of activity shifted to Among these sugar planters was Jose son from his first wife, Doña Arcadia Joven, was neighboring San Fernando, the new Leoncio de Leon y Joven, founder and Don Mariano Leon Santos y Joven, my great- provincial capital, several citizens of Bacolor president of the Pampanga Sugar great grandfather, who would later transfer to still found themselves at the center of the Development Company (Pasudeco) which San Fernando and become its municipal lucrative trade. constructed the first Filipino-financed sugar president from 1902 to 1903. Arcadia Joven was A look at the Pampanga Social Register central in Pampanga in the town of San a daughter of Don Juan Joven and Doña of 1936 would reveal an emphasis on sugar Fernando. Geronima Suares. True to its title as the “Athens of the Marasigan, Miss Manila, won as Miss Pampanga”, Bacolor was not just a cradle Philippines. Her court included Miss Luzon, of culture, it was also the seat of beauty, Iluminada Laurel (Batangas), Miss echoing the fabled reputation of Greece Belles of Visayas, Lourdes Rodriguez (Cebu) and as the land of beautiful goddesses—Hera, Miss Mindanao, Nora Maulano (Sulu). Aphrodite and Athena—who figured in Even then, Rosario Manuel’s beauty was perhaps, the first documented beauty In a provinceBacolor known immortalized in a special commemorative pageant of ancient times, as judged by for lovely women, booklet issued by Free Press. Paris. the loveliest should Bacolor belles like Luz Sarmiento, GUIA BALMORI Paz Sanchez, Consuelo Santos and naturally come from Miss Philippines 1938 Elisa Gutierrez were regarded as the Bacolor By Alex R. Castro Guia Balmori was the second known town muses in the mid 1920s-1930s. The winner of the National Beauty Contest more notable crowned beauties however (formerly, the Manila Carnival) with were Rosario Manuel and Guia Kapampangan roots. Her father was Balmori. Joaquin Balmori of Bacolor, a well- known labor leader who married Rosario ROSARIO MANUEL Gonzales. The Balmoris were of Spanish Miss Pampanga 1927 stock, and this showed clearly in Guia’s In 1927, a Bacolor beauty was fair and finely chiseled mestiza features. crowned Miss Pampanga, and thereby The Balmori family settled in Ermita gained the right to represent the nd and Guia was named after the district’s province in the 2 National Beauty titular patron, Nuestra Sra. De Guia. Guia Contest sponsored by The Philippine Free was a secretarial student at the U.S.T. Press. Doe-eyed Rosario Manuel went to when the contest beckoned. Her Manila for the competition to make her candidacy stirred quite a ruckus, from her bid for the Miss Philippines crown. It was father who saw the pageant as a frivolous a tall order for Rosario, as among the exercise, and from the religious nuns in previous year’s winners was a kabalen— school who frowned on such beauty Socorro Henson of Angeles, who shows. Nevertheless, she surprised reigned as Manila’s Carnival Queen of everyone with her victory. At her 1926. coronation, she wore a Ramon Valera gold In the 1927 edition, 28 beauties from gown and was escorted by a dashing around the country participated. Two of Kapampangan collegian, Ernesto the contenders that year were Amelia “Gatas” Santos, son of Teodoro Santos Romualdez, Miss Leyte, who bore a of San Fernando and Mabalacat. Her prize striking resemblance to a niece, Imelda money of P1,000 was discreetly tucked Romualdez and fellow Kapampangan, Luz Besa of Tarlac. In the end, Luisa Guia Balmori (to page 28) 15 Cabinet Church Pioneers Justices of the Honorio Ve Bachiller Don Miguel Jeronimo de Supreme Court Kapampangan Morales, the first Filipino priest (1654) (chief of the Padre Mariano Hipolito, the first Filipino Justice Tiburcio Hilario then Secreta priest-calligraphic artist (1793) Justice Jose Gutierrez David succeeding Fe Padre Anselmo Jorge Fajardo, the first Justice Roberto Regala remembered Filipino priest-playwright; the second Filipino Justice Jesus Barrera student from priest delegate to the Spanish Cortes of 1822 Justice Ricardo Puno, Sr. Macapagal Doña Luisa Gonzaga de Leon, the first Arsenio Lu Filipino woman author; translated the religious Jose Gutierrez David Services work Ejercicio Cotidiano into Kapampangan Amparo Vil (published posthumously in 1844, reprinted in Eduardo Gutierrez David Social Welfare 1854 by the UST Press Judges Rodrigo Pe Sor Bibiana Zapanta, the first Filipino secretary of P missionary beata to Mindanao; she served as Ceferino Hilario, Court of First Instance Ricardo Pu school principal in 1875 in the Jesuit mission in Eduardo Gutierrez David, Court of First Instance in Justice Tamontaca, Cotabato, giving refuge to Luzon and Visayas Estelito Me libertos (children ransomed from their Muslim Federico de Jesus then Secreta captors) Gregorio de Jesus Sor Asuncion Ventura, the first Filipino Eduardo Gutierrez David, represented the foundress of an orphanage; she founded the province at the proclamation Asilo de San Vicente de Paul, a house with of the Philippine school for poor girls, in Paco, Manila in 1885, Independence in June, 1898 using her own inheritance; the orphanage still Zoilo Hilario exists Mariano Buyson y Lampa, Source: Laying the Foundations: Kapampangan Mariano Buyson Pioneers in the Philippine Church 1592-2001 by y Lampa Court of First Instance Dr. Luciano PR Santiago (Holy Angel University Press) in Visayas

Legislators Zoilo Hilario Jose Gutierrez David, delegate to Don Francisco Liongson, the first the Constitutional Assembly that Kapampangan senator drafted the 1935 Constitution Venancio Concepcion, represented Iloilo Pedro Valdes Liongson in the Malolos Congress Zoilo Hilario authored the first land Pablo Angeles David, member, House of reform law in the Philippines Representatives, senator from 1947 to Sally Gozun Acosta, member of the 1953; California State Legislature Francisco Liongson Artists Dario Fajardo, “the Harry Belafonte of Pablo Palma wrote music of countless the Philippines” zarzuelas, including Crisostomo Soto’s Fred Panopio, “the singing cowboy” Alang Dios! Lorenzo de Jesus, star actor at the Virgilio Palma, musician Teatro Sabina Antonio Fajardo, doctor, orator, linguist, Jose Rodriguez, popular movie star actor, musician Chito Feliciano, star of TV show Vicente Alvarez Dizon bested Salvador Dali Dancetime with Chito Henry Dizon, Arturo and Ceferino “Ninoy” Joven, award-winning leading stars of Circulo Escenico international painter Temang Mangio who, along with Vicente Dizon and sculptor husband Pepe Baltazar of Sasmuan, CHILD Flor de Jesus, “the founded the famous Banda 31 Joni James of the Philippines” Ambassadors ooff Businessmen and Carmen Buyson BACO Accountants Carlos Valdes Bienvenido Tan, Jr. Out of the ga Don Jose “Pepito” Leoncio Rafaelita Hilario Soriano small village in de Leon, Pampanga’s first Amb. Carlos Valdes millionaire, founded the Governors of came a whol Pampanga Sugar Development Kapamp Company (PASUDECO) Pampanga Justo Arrastia great men a Carlos Valdes Tiburcio Hilario Amaury Roque Gutierrez, Ceferino Joven first Filipino President of Caltex Francisco Padua Joaquin “Jake” Gonzales de los Santos Francisco Gamboa Fuljencio Nuñes Romeo Gonzales Honorio Ventura Marciano Dizon Pablo Angeles David Francisco Granada Estelito Mendoza 16 Ceferino Joven Amb. Rafaelita Soriano Doctors/Scientists t Members Regino Navarro, bacteriologist; chief of the Laboratory Department, Philippine General entura, the first Jose “Ping” de Jesus, Secretary of n member of the Cabinet Hospital Public Works and Highways Jacobo Fajardo, the first Filipino Director of Executive Bureau in 1921, Ronaldo Puno, Secretary of Interior ry of the Interior, the Bureau of Health and Local Governments Antonio Fajardo, an official of the World elipe Agoncillo); he is also Ricardo Puno, Jr., Press Secretary as the benefactor of a health Organization Lubao, Diosdado Conrado Buenviaje, chairman of the Committee on Scientific Assemblies of the gay, Secretary of General Philippine Medical Association Mariano “Ano” Alimurung, internationally llamor, Secretary of known heart specialist, first Asian to become e Vice President of the International Federation erez, Jr., executive of Catholic Physicians President Magsaysay Benjamin Canlas, head of Pathology uno, Sr., Secretary of Department, UP College of Medicine; Vice President of the Philippine Society of Solicitor General, Pathologists endoza , Dean of the UP College ry of Justice Benjamin Barrera, Jacobo Fajardo of Medicine Lucrecia Regala Castillo, chief of Ricardo Puno, Sr. Pediatrics, Veterans Memorial Hospital Honorio Ventura Amelia Almeida Garcia, chief of Clinical Pathology, Church Leaders Educators Veterans Memorial Hospital Rogelio Samia, cardiologist, Msgr. Alejandro Olalia, DD, Pantaleon Regala, first Superintendent of secretary-treasurer of the Bishop of Lipa the Philippine School of Arts and Trades Philippine Heart Association Raquel Gonzales De Leon Vidal Tan, President of the University of the Francis and Luz Serrano, headed the national Catholic Philippines and Far Eastern University prominent doctors Women’s League; she rose to Ceferino Joven, (not to be confused with Juan Galang, owner and director, national prominence when she the revolutionary), Supervisor of Private Galang Maternity Hospital in Manila crusaded against motels and Schools lodging houses Elisa Gutierrez Abello, Head Public Servants of the Spanish Department of UP Diliman Praxedes Fajardo, headed the Red Cross during the Revolution Fr. Bernardo Perez, Rector of Conrado Cajator, PAGCOM chief the San Beda College Jose Regala, Trafcon chief Evangelina Hilario Lacson, Emerito de Jesus, Undersecretary of National Defence Akademyang Kapampangan Regis Puno, Undersecretary of Justice Bienvenido “Bidong” Escoto, headed the Presidential Anti- Smuggling Commission and sat in the National Advisory Board on Health Ernesto V. Santos, Member of the Monetary Board Rodrigo Perez, Jr., Chairman of the Commission on Elections Manuel Abello, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Rolando Olalia, labor leader Fortunato Aguas, Commissioner, Bureau of Internal Revenues Media Leaders Enriqueta David Perez, editor of the Philippine Herald DREN Fortunato Aguas Wilfredo Buyson Villarama, President of The Manila Times fff Military Officers Philanthropists O LOR Maj. Porfirio E. Zablan, the first Don Jose “Pepe” Panlilio, behind Filipino fighter pilot; an airfield at the unequalled Santacruzan of Bacolor ates of this camp Murphy (now Camp in 1934 n Pampanga Aguinaldo) was named Zablan Air Don Mariano Alimurung, pioneer Base in his honor of the Knights of Columbus e galaxy of Gen. Gregorio M. Camiling, Jr., Don Gregorio Alimurung Guia Balmori pangan Commanding General of the Don Francisco “Paquito” Panlilio Philippine Army Pedring de Jesus Beauty and women Col. Modesto Gozun, Adjutant Doña Natividad de Leon and her General of the Armed Forces of children ran a charity clinic in Malate Queens the Philippines Jorge de Leon, received papal Brig. Gen, Virgilio David decoration for his works in charity and Luz Sarmiento Col. Augusto Gutierrez, PC service to the poor Rosario Manuel Commander of Pampanga Don Pascual Gozun, writer, Paz Sanchez Federico Calma, chief of AFP dramatist, public servant, town leader Consuelo Santos engineers Elisa Gutierrez Ciceron de la Cruz, PC personnel chief 17

Border calligraphic drawing by Padre Juan Severino Mallari (1785-1840) As I look back the years gone by, I in one-and-a-half months’ time, so that cannot but recall with very fond memories classes were opened formally under the the 15 long years that the Lord permitted I remember Sisters in June, 1922. How was this me to spend in the town of Bacolor. They accomplished? It was through the were not only years to remember but they presentation of a Spanish zarzuela (Morirse were also the earlier years of my Bacolor... a Tiempo), through the generous services priesthood; consequently, they were the of a group of first-class actors of the town By Archbishop Pedro S. Santos, D.D. years when the idealism and vigor of youth and a few guests from Manila, including (1889-1965) drove me to many inspiring ideas. Pepe and Paquito Panlilio, Antonio My recollections of Bacolor date back Fajardo, Leonardo Abola, and to my boyhood days when I first came to The former parish priest others. I had to prepare for the whole the town as a student in the Instituto of Bacolor, who went on presentation, rehearsing and directing the Zita del Moral. This was a famous to co-found Holy Angel play. However, since it was a zarzuela, I educational center in those early days. First University and become discovered that, on the gala night, of all, it was established to honor the late someone would have to be with the Rev. Fathers Zita and del Moral, two the Archbishop of Nueva orchestra to conduct the same. I had to very distinguished Filipino priest educators Caceres (Naga), looks do this also. In so doing, the need for during the days of the first Philippine back fondly someone to remain in the back of the Republic. The school was organized by stage to coach and serve as apuntador de Don Roman Valdes and was situated in telon became obvious. what is now the house of the late Don It was for this specific task that I invited Pepito de Leon. Among its leading Don Paquito Liongson to serve as such. professors were such luminaries as Don I believe this was an important experience Marcelino Aguas, Don Tomas Gamboa, of his that must have contributed to Don Don Modesto Joaquin, Don Benigno Paquito’s subsequent interest in dramatics. Ricafort, and later Don Vicente Neri and And it was also from that original stage Don Tirso Manabat. Don Roman Valdes presentation that the same group became was the director and the sub-director was inspired enough, so that they continued Don Pedro Abad Santos. Among the together and eventually formed many prominent alumni of that small school, themselves into the Circulo Escenico. I can recall Don Pedro Valdes Liongson, Everybody knows now how popular this Don Jose Valdes, and many others. It dramatic club became, not only in the town was opened only to boys. and in the province but later even in Manila. Another important remembrance I Tickets for that original presentation were treasure with much value today is the close sold at P2.00 per seat in the rows of association of the foundation of the preferentes, and the rest at P1.00. By Catholic primary, later elementary, school combining the classrooms of the first floor of the town (St. Mary’s Academy) and of the building we were able to have a the Circulo Escenico. When I invited the capacity of 240. Benedictine Sisters to conduct the school I do remember that among those who in1922, the Sister Superior-to-be remarked came to the affair was a young lad who that the physical condition of the school roofing. I can recall with special satisfaction paid P200.00 for his seat to be in a building (the old Convento) was in a sad now that, through the Lord’s kindness, I preferred spot to listen to a lady guest state, needing immediate repairs and re- was able to have such repairs accomplished pianist from Angeles City.

MLQ and the red-hot chili peppers Juan Luna and Aside from Rizal and Aguinaldo, Bacolor was visited by the lucky horse-rider other historical figures, according to the unpublished Other prominent house guests of memoirs of Justice Jose Gutierrez David (1891-1977). Jose Gutierrez David’s family included When Jose was a young boy, his brothers Amado and Fernando Ma. Guerrero, Cecilio Eduardo regularly brought home their classmates in Manila Apostol, Jose Palma, writer of the for the Christmas vacation. Among them were Epifanio original Spanish lyrics of the National de los Santos, Vivencio del Rosario, and Manuel L. Anthem, and Juan Luna, already a Quezon. In one of those visits, the young Quezon arrived famous painter at the time. His visit after everyone had left the house for the midnight mass. coincided with a horse race, the prizes He went straight to bed but since it was cold, to took a of which were clothing material decorated with embroidery or painting, Manuel Quezon woolen suit hanging near the bed and wore it to sleep. It turned out to be Vivencio’s holiday suit. When he found Juan Luna donated by prominent ladies in the out, he roused Quezon from sleep and a shouting match ensued. The next community, including Jose’s sister Trining. Trining’s morning, Vivencio secretly put red pepper in Quezon’s cup of hot chocolate, donation turned out to be plain-looking compared to the causing Quezon’s lips to swell. But out of respect for their hosts, the two boys other donated prizes, so she asked her brother Eduardo controlled themselves. Jose’s mother, noticing the tension, reconciled the two to ask his friend Juan Luna to paint something on it. Juan and ironed Vivencio’s suit for him. Years later, when Quezon became President Luna complied and finished the painting after a few minutes. of the Philippine Commonwealth, he appointed Vivencio to various important Trining’s prize, it goes without saying, outshone them all. positions in government and the judiciary. Source: The Unpublished Memoirs Source: The Unpublished Memoirs of Justice Jose Gutierrez David of Justice Jose Gutierrez David

18 Circulo Escenico Tuqui Ca, As Compania Sabina faded, a new Panlilio, Francisco Panlilio, Arturo breed of artists in Bacolor organized Joven, Horacio Gutierrez, Antonio Circulo Escenico in 1923, with Madrid- Fajardo, Ignacio Santos and guest Baculud based Francisco Liongson Alonzo, son performers from Manila. The group’s of Don Francisco Liongson by his first Queta qng busal na first Kapampangan production was a Niting Capampangan wife, as president and Jose Gutierrez translation of Severino Reyes’ Huling Pati David as vice president. The objective (Ing Tauling Bilin), starring Luz Palma, Carin ya mayaquit was to stage dramas, zarzuelas and Arturo Joven and Pablo Angeles Tibuan cung balayan operettas in Spanish and Kapampangan. Loroño, with Jose Gutierrez David A nung nu babagul Performers included children of Bacolor’s directing. Ing marimlang amiam rich and famous: Elisa Gutierrez, Ofelia Source: The Unpublished Memoirs of At nung nu masayang Pamintuan, Nieves Joven, Jose Justice Jose Gutierrez David Titiman ing bulan.

Carin e mapansing Angin dayat-malat The paper lanterns of Bacolor Dapot caring ilang Misna qng calapad The Giant Lantern Festival, Sangapan mu naman Ing tiup nang banayad for which San Fernando is Ning macayayamang known today, has its roots in Angin qng abagat. Bacolor’s La Naval fiesta Malambis a basle As part of the La Naval celebrations held Carin mu damdaman at the tail end of the rainy season in Ing siuc da ding batis Ang angin qng parang November, residents used paper lanterns Ang dalit ding ayup to protect the candle flame from wind and Ing biung ding tanaman… rain as well as to liven up the procession Paua ngan ping babie with multi-colored lights. These lanterns Tula’t capaldanan. hung until the Christmas season. Lanterns mounted on poles during the La Naval Lauisuis ding cuayan eventually made their way to the Matas magparayo Ing azul a banuang lubenas, the nine-day advent Lililung qng yatu procession, and the maitinis, when Alun ding processions from various barrios Ing sinag ning aldo converge in the church patio on Christmas Panagaula nala Eve. Masayang balen cu. (According to parol makers, the trend this year in parol design is a return to At ita… balu mu? Ausan dang Baculud. the traditional Bacolor-style lanterns.) Qng bale meyaring Cuayan at pinaud A quecang acaquit Qng metung nang suluc End of an era Carin cu mibait Mebiasang linugud.

Tana… tuquian mucu Losing the capital to Carin ca magsaya Queta qng balen cu Gauan dacang mutya; San Fernando At carin, baluan mu Newly elected Pampanga Governor decision, citing the strategic location of Alang lua’t paliasa Macario Arnedo of Apalit presided over San Fernando. The Manila- Bucud mung mimiral railroad, which crossed San Fernando but the transfer of the provincial capital from Ing lugud at tula. Bacolor to San Fernando, despite the not Bacolor, linked the former with Manila, objections of his predecessor, Ceferino Cavite, and Tarlac. The capital was first Joven, and prominent families of Bacolor. housed in an old building in barrio Del Pilar, The transfer began in early 1903 and across the San Fernando River fronting (dedicated to Concepcion Roque) accomplished July, 1904. The Philippine the parish church (now cathedral). Jose Gutierrez David Commission had earlier approved the Source: The Unpublished Memoirs of Justice Jose Gutierrez David Bacolor, 1908

19 And then… HORROR The end came in the form of boiling mud and water that sounded like a thousand carabaos running berserk. It came from the same mountains from which gentle rivers had, for centuries, flowed into the town to create its idyllic landscapes and inspire ALL GONE itsits residentresident poetspoets andand painters.painters. ItIt camecame likelike aa thiefthief On October 2, 1995, the town of Bacolor ceased to exist. That w inin thethe night—monsternight—monster wouldwould bebe moremore likelike it—it— the day the worst in a series of avalanches erased the heavily popula snatching children from their parents’ grip and barrio Cabalantian from the map. More than 100 lives were lost and snatching children from their parents’ grip and least 15,000 houses destroyed. “Villagers escaped death by a hairline burying them where their bodies could never be burying them where their bodies could never be climbing on roofs (of their rich neighbors’ houses) but remained maroon found again. for days without food, water and change of clothes,” said Ananias Canl No community deserved this kind of ending. town mayor at the time. History’s great civilizations were treated with more Since 1991, lahar from had repeatedly struck portio kindness: Greece was defeated in war, Rome of the town at a time, and the barrios fell one by one like domino ch deteriorated over centuries. But Bacolor’s fate is Of the 21 barrios—Balas, Cabalantian, Cabambangan, Cabetican, Calibutb worse than war or epidemic or flood or fire or Concepcion, Dolores, Duat, Macabacle, Magliman, Maliwalu, Mesali earthquake, or all of those combined. Lahar comes Parulog, Potrero, San Antonio, San Iisidro, San Vicente, Santa Barba unannounced; it scalds and then entombs you with Santa Ines, Talba and Tinajero, only Calibutbut at the boundary with Ange unannounced; it scalds and then entombs you with City has remained relatively unscathed. dirt that hardens like rock; then it does the same thing to the rest of your family, your house, your car, and your entire neighborhood. It does so with such swiftness and finality that you will not be able to retrieve anything, not even memories, not even the chance to return and start again. Even the gravesites of Bacolor’s heroes and artists disappeared forever. Bacolor has finally come full circle; lahar fulfilled the prophetic etymology of the town—it elevated the place above the rest. Bacolor is now, truly and ironically, makabakulud.

20

Yann Arthus Bertrand “ La Terre Vue du Ciel” was ated d at by ned as, ons ips. but, pit, ara, eles

21 EVEN THE DEAD NOT SPARED It can be said that Bacolor’s dead were given two burials—well, actually, several burials, if you count the number of times lahar layered the cemetery at the back of the church every year from 1991 to 1995. When All Saints’ Day comes, the living returns to Bacolor to light candles where they think their departed relatives’ graves lie, 20 feet below. “First we buried them six feet below,” one resident says. “Then lahar buried them 20 feet below. It’s a total of 26 feet between us and our loved ones! Worse, we might be several more feet off the mark!” The parish priest has instructed the people to light candles in their homes instead.

As they crawled in mud like trapped animals, “This“This waswas worseworse thanthan it was difficult to imagine that these were the same proud thethe eruptioneruption itself”itself” descendants of the Jovens, By Robby Tantingco Galuras, Maligs and Palmas of Bacolor THE PARISH church of Cabalantian, Groping his way in the dark convento, in shouting about rising floodwaters and one of the more populous barrios of Louie’s thoughts were on the trip he was people climbing to the choir loft of the Bacolor, was still being fortified with to make with his parents the next day, church next door. In an instant, Louie sandbags on the night of October 1, 1995, Monday, for a surgery to remove a large felt warm water around his thighs. Fr. which was a Saturday, when Typhoon birthmark on his shoulder. As the rains Musni, the secretary and Louie had barely Mameng crossed Central Luzon. continued, he worried about lahar, which climbed the ladder to the choir loft when Parish priest Fr. Eduardo Musni, 47, had inundated parts of Bacolor in the last the flood overtook them. was supervising the work, despite a fever. few years. He calmed himself by thinking Louie, who could not swim, sank. The He retired to his room at 3:30 a.m. At that Cabalantian was a relatively elevated priest pulled him out of the water and 4:30 a.m., his assistant, Louie Lansang, area, and that the Gugu dike recently built the three of them joined some 200 18, rose to prepare for the Sunday Mass by government engineers would hold. frightened people on the choir loft. They scheduled at 6 a.m. Suddenly, the parish secretary came saw the muddy water, now steaming with volcanic debris and reeking with sulphur, rise inside the church below them. The wooden pews floated noisily and then, in a heap against the altar, sank under their own weight. To the priest”s horror, the flood continued rising until it overflowed into the choir loft. The men peeled off the ceiling and they helped the women and children climb to the roof of the church. The steep pyramidal roof forced them to spread around it while doing a balancing act on the gutters. Louie and the secretary sat close to the parish priest; drenched to the bone, they looked at the tempest around them: the dark grey (to page 30)

22 FROMFROM BAHAY-NA-BATOBAHAY-NA-BATO TOTO HOUSE-ON-STILTSHOUSE-ON-STILTS Some families used single MISERY car jacks to raise their houses WITHOUT Malig Mansion after a lahar flow The elegant colonial houses of Bacolor, Some houses have been raised as many locally known as bahay na bato (stone as four times. END house), were not spared in the deluge. Family members dug with shovels and Depression, disease Many were totally entombed, together bare hands to retrieve and recycle materials with their antique furniture, paintings, from their old house to reconstruct a new and corruption documents and other heritage materials. one. Against all odds, Bacolor returnees One exception was the Panlilio mansion raised their recycled houses using single plagued evacuees which was transported, in the nick of time, car jacks until rich Kapampangans in the Lahar victims’ travails did not end after to Cavite to become the Museo de La United States donated six large hydraulic they had fled to safety. First, they were herded like cows on military trucks to Salle, thanks to the efforts of Bro. jacks to the town. The local government evacuation sites, which ranged from school Andrew Gonzales and Joey Panlilio. then instituted a house-raising program, buildings to tent cities and gymnasiums. These Other houses were raised on stilts to donating jacks, materials and copper molds were halfway houses en route to the outwit the annual flow of lahar. In 1991, for making the concrete stilts and permanent resettlement areas—nothing more houses were buried in two-meter deep supporting beams, and designated a local than rows of identical units located in the mud. In 1994, a fresh flow elevated the contractor and construction crew. middle of sugarcane plantations that sizzled ground with another one meter of mud. Homeowners paid only the labor costs. under the sun. Conditions in evacuation and resettlement areas can be hellish—loss of In 1995, another 3.5 meters, for an Source: Can This Town Survive? A Case Study of a Buried Philippine Town by Kathleen S. privacy, lack of sanitation, flies, disease, petty average total deposition of 6.5 meters. Crittenden (University of Illinois at Chicago) thieves and other indignities. Farmers suddenly had no farms and shop owners had nothing to do, except to line up for relief goods. These on top of the trauma of being uprooted from home and losing all possessions and livelihoods and facing a bleak, even blank, future. Hundreds had succumbed to depression, neurosis, even psychosis. Suicides had been recorded. And, as if to add insult to injury, corruption reared its ugly head amidst the sea of suffering. Billions of pesos in government funds were reported missing as dikes, megadikes, sabo dams, catch basins and other engineering interventions were pushed by politicians, contractors and agents who salivated after the commissions, when the money could have been better spent on welfare and livelihood among the evacuees. In some cases, the dikes had given residents a false sense of security, leading to tragic consequences. Bacoloreños with their proud heritage are probably wondering what they did in the past to earn this suffering. Daily Inquirer

Anachronistic houses-on-stilts in the middle of dry land 23 Library of Congress FREE PRESS Construction of train bridge over in the 1890s Lahar devastation in the 1990s TWO KNOCKOUTS History delivered the first blow, Nature the second By Jean-Christopher Gaillard, Ph.D.

WHEN speaking about disasters and Bacolor, one would think by intense daily shuttles; the eastern portion of the Bacolor town first about Pinatubo lahar onslaughts. But another event also proper (e.g., Cabalantian) even became part of the had a tremendous and surely longer-lasting effect. This is the outer, upper-income residential ring surrounding San Fernando’s construction of the Manila-Dagupan railway. The succession historical center. A clear sign of this urban stagnation is the of these two disasters struck Bacolor down, from the glorious relatively slow population growth of Bacolor during the 20th seat of power and culture it once was, to a small village it has century. Between 1903 and 1990, censuses show Bacolor become today. population multiplying by 4.98, compared to San Fernando’s 8.85. Founded in 1576, Bacolor was described by Mariano Henson (Prior to the transfer of capital, between 1837 and 1887, Bacolor as the capital of Pampanga as early as 1746—at the time when population multiplied by 1.78, compared to 1.58 of San Fernando Pampanga covered a wide territory that extended to Nueva and Sto. Tomas, then combined.) Evidently, the transfer reverted Vizcaya in the north, Aurora in the east, and the trend. parts of Bulacan and Bataan in the south. From By 1990, Bacolor had thus been down- 1762 to 1764, it even enjoyed the privilege of ranked to the level of a small town, its only being the capital of the Spanish government in Despite a stunning claim to fame being its cultural functions. the Philippines during the British occupation of reversal of fortune, Then came the Pinatubo eruption of 1991, Manila. In 1762 it was also granted the very Bacolor now has and the huge recurrent (volcanic rare title of Villa by the Spanish authorities. debris flows) between 1991 and 1997 During the colonial period, this town therefore a real chance of buried Bacolor by portions and in stages. enjoyed complete urban functions. Provincial- recovering At least 75% of Bacolor’s population has level administrations were located in Bacolor fled the town or been resettled in the which also enjoyed commercial functions due to the power adjacent municipalities of San Fernando, its strategic location at the contact between and the glory Mexico, Mabalacat, Floridablanca and Lubao. the two geographical units of Pampanga—the Bacolor thus lost one of the main elements wetlands of the Pampanga River delta and that help define the hierarchical level of a Candaba Swamp, and the so-called dry lands. Bacolor was also town: its population. In a previous article (see Singsing Vol. 1 famous for its trade school, the first in East Asia, and for its No. 4), we have already shown how the people of Bacolor cultural activities. These complete urban functions made Bacolor struggled to maintain the town’s cultural functions and how the rank very high in the Philippine urban hierarchy, at least at the value of territorial markers increased throughout the crisis. Another level of a regional urban center. asset that never left Bacolor was the Don Honorio Ventura However, in 1892, the government decided to build a railway College of Arts and Trades (DHVCAT), which did not stop its to link the Lingayen Gulf to Manila. The choice of the route operations even at the peak of the lahar crises, compared to the seems to have passed through a debate. The principalia of commercial and economic establishments (banks, hospitals, stores, Bacolor presumably faced tough objection from the nobility of etc.) and administrative units (municipal offices, justice court, Mexico (Masicu), who also wanted the railroad to pass through water service, etc.) that fled, closed down or were destroyed. their town. Allegedly, to settle the feud the government It is really the cultural and educational functions of Bacolor that selected San Fernando instead, which lay in midpoint between helped the town survive the disasters. the two towns. As it turned out, the railway became a major The decrease in population resulted in revenue shortage as axis of development in the Central Plain of Luzon and Bacolor well, as the internal revenue allotment (IRA) is mainly based on was cut off from it. Ten years later, the provincial capital of population figures. Taxes from economic investors were also cut Pampanga was transferred from Bacolor to San Fernando. Thus, down to almost nil. In 1996, Bacolor was ranked at the bottom Bacolor lost its administrative functions and much of its economic of the Pampanga urban hierarchy. In the span of one century, power, in favor of San Fernando. What remained were its cultural the combination of anthropogenic and natural disasters has functions. produced a complete reversal of fortune for Bacolor. Bacolor eventually deteriorated into a mere satellite of the new provincial capital. The two towns were indeed connected (to page 28) 24 DEFYING PINATUBO By risking everything, the trade school inspired the town True to the spirit of their ancestors, the first structures were held in resettlement areas and alternate campuses were that Bacoloreños rebuilt were their churches and schools. This readied. At some point, enrollment dropped to 2,800 (down they did through donations from teachers, private citizens, from 5,300), but the school remained open, although dismissing elected officials and foreign benefactors, as well as through an students early to allow them to go home before dark. By informal tax on each truckload of sand quarried from the town 1998, enrollment had recovered at 4,079 students. By 2001, (as many as 100 trucks per day). The Don Honorio Ventura the school was the major employer in Bacolor, with 186 regular College of Arts and Trades (formerly the Escuela de Artes y faculty and 50 non-teaching personnel, not to mention the Oficios de Bacolor), alternately closed and reopened throughout economic activity it created in the town proper and the the lahar season; students, faculty and administrators cleared inspiration it gave to residents of Bacolor. debris each time. Since all shops and labs had been buried to their rooftops, as well as all first-floor classrooms, make-up classes Source: Can This Town Survive? A Case Study of a Buried Philippine Town by Kathleen S. Crittenden (University of Illinois at Chicago) HIGH AND DRY UNIFYING SYMBOL Ironically, Bacolor, once condemned The much- as the catch basin for lahar, photographed San Guillermo has become the safest town Church of in the province Bacolor is the Because of the tons of lahar dumped on the town, the visual symbol, raising of the national highway, and the dikes intended to sacrifice measure and it, Bacolor is now at least 6 meters higher in elevation than diary of lahar either San Fernando on the east or Guagua on the west. By devastation in sustaining the lahar flows, Bacolor has ironically solved its historical Pampanga. problem with flooding, which in turn has become severe in other Lahar began Pampanga towns not directly affected by lahar. Since all entering the government buildings, residential houses, churches and schools church in 1994; have been either raised or fortified in anticipation of future flows, by 1995, the and residents and town leaders have shown independence from cumulative the national government in responding to disaster situations, deposition was the town is probably the safest place in the province today. 6.6 meters. What used to be the choir- loft window above the buried main entrance is now the door. Huge chandeliers are nearly touching the elevated ground. The famous retablo (main altar) had been unearthed and raised, and religious services have resumed as early as 1996 to contribute a sense of normalcy to the community. The La Naval was celebrated in November, 1995, barely weeks after the worst lahar episode. A large tent was erected in front of the church, and scattered Bacoloreños returned to participate in the ceremonies. At once heartbreaking, defiant and hopeful, it was one of the shining moments in the history of the town.

former neighbors’ lack of loyalty to their town. Many families have invested heavily in rebuilding their houses in the town; others who don’t have the resources to rebuild content No place themselves with returning every day to visit old friends and try to capture a lifestyle that is probably lost forever. Those in resettlement areas try to recreate their former environment by naming streets after their old streets, insisting on electing their like home old town officials instead of the officials of the town where the TODAY resettlement area is located, and celebrating the fiesta of the town that is miles away. Unfortunately, the residents’ attachment In the face of a diaspora, Bacoloreños have shown an awe- to their land is not shared by the town’s economic sector, which inspiring devotion to the land of their birth. Aside from houses fled and relocated at the first sign of danger and stubbornly on stilts, residents built new houses on top of dikes rather than stays away. go back to resettlement areas. “I would rather live and die in Bacolor” is their determined reply when asked why they would Reference: Can This Town Survive? A Case Study of a Buried Philippine Town risk their lives again. They also express disappointment with by Kathleen S. Crittenden (University of Illinois at Chicago) 25 (Bacolor and the Origin... from page5 ) of Spanish era officials which supplemented the “official” history In search of of Angeles. However, Don Mariano’s unique contribution to Kapampangan studies may have been the inspiration he prehistoric Bacolor supplied to his nephew, Mariano A. Henson, who decades later composed histories of both Angeles and Pampanga Facing extinction, a town goes back Province. The younger Henson also utilized Parker’s works that to its beginnings he found in the collections of H. Otley Beyer. Thus, there exists By Joel P. Mallari a direct linkage between the work of Mariano Vicente Henson and Luther Parker and the histories of Mariano A. Henson that AT the early period of colonization, it was noted that represent a starting point for the modern era of Kapampangan there were already at least eleven important settlements, 5 namely Lubao, Macabebe, Sasmuan, Betis, Guagua, Bacolor, studies. Apalit, Arayat, Candaba, Porac, and Masicu (later Mexico) Bacolor’s preeminence did not long outlast the first decade located along the major waterways of the Kapampangan of the twentieth century. The status of capital of Pampanga Region. By choosing Bakulud from among these settlements already migrated from Bacolor to San Fernando in 1904. as the regional capital, the Spaniards already acknowledged Through the latter community passed the railroad that carried the town’s superiority at the time. passengers and commodities to Manila. In addition, in 1921 The early Kapampangans were probably Buddhist as a San Fernando became a milling center of the revived sugar result of cultural influences from India through the Sri-Vijaya and Majapahit Kingdoms dominating the Southeast Asian industry that flourished for two decades following the 1909 region with which Kapampangans were trading. The passage of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act. Eventually, cinema Kapampangans that the Spaniards found were Muslim and other diversions cut into Bacolor’s local cultural production because by that time, Islam had already dominated the entire and the town faded into regional obscurity. Around 1911, Luther Southeast Asian region from its point of origin in northern Parker transferred out of the province, and his project of the Sumatra. writing of Kapampangan town histories ended. The idea was Bakulud was ideally situated because of its access to river reborn after World War II with the compiling of the Historical networks, specifically the Betis River (linked to the Guagua- Pasak River, which is the major tributary to Indung Data Papers (HDP) by local teachers from every province. The Kapampangan, or the Pampanga River). Pre-colonial format of the HDP resembles remarkably that of Parker’s original Kapampangans (so named because of their communities along histories with their listing of officials and breakdown into barrios; the riverbanks) probably used tough barangay-style boats, however, I have never been able to learn enough about the which carried 60 to 90 persons, in interacting with various origins of the HDP to establish a connection between the two merchant capitals overseas. The heavy trading activity in projects. Nevertheless, the similarity between the two indicates the area is evidenced by artifacts unearthed in Lubao and the worth of Parker’s original scheme. Porac which are in the vicinity of Bacolor. From all indications, they were active seafaring people. Archaeological as well as In his thinking about Pampanga’s history and culture Parker satellite evidence shows the ancient delta reached the Betis was, no doubt, stirred by the vibrant cultural life of Bacolor. area, which makes pre-Hispanic Bakulud a coastal town, further Besides knowing its outstanding authors, perhaps he also reinforcing its role as an entrepot of trade and economic attended zarzuela performances at the Teatro Sabina, and development in the region. other cultural happenings. Perhaps he was impressed that When the Spaniards came in 1571, they found a thriving Bacolor had once served (from 1762 to 1764) as the Spanish Muslim community in Betis with a population of at least 3000— capital of the entire Philippines.1 At any rate, he proved himself big compared to Sugbu (Cebu), Mactan, Maynilad (Manila) and Bigan (Vigan) each of which had a maximum population one of those rare American colonials who possessed an of 2000 at the time of the conquest (Candaba, by the way, appreciation of the culture that he discovered around him. had 3500). Thus, the Spaniards added little to the already And in Pampanga in that decade, Bacolor was the place to be. progressive Bakulud to make it the capital of the new While it is not fashionable in the post-colonial era to accentuate province. the positive about America’s representatives, Luther Parker Pieces of artifacts like black-white decorated jars, deserves at least a simple acknowledgement for his role in discovered in Lubao, which is very near Bakulud, date back forging Kapampangan studies. Bacolor made that role to the Sung (A.D. 960-1279) and Ming (A.D. 1368-1644) Periods. Exensive burial sites dating as early as Tang (A.D. possible. 618-907) to Middle Sung Period and i Luther Parker, “Some Notes on Pampanga,” Luther Parker Collection, p. 6; John A. Larkin, “Luther Parker’s Report on the Negritos of Pampanga in 1908, Asian Studies, another burial site dated Sung, Yuan II, 1 (1964), pp, 106-107. (A.D. 1279-1368) and Ming Period, ii Letter to the Editor of the Free Press from Luther Parker, Bacolor, October 23, 1911, containing a huge number of sherds Luther Parker Collection. iii “List of the graduates and pupils of the Bacolor School of Arts and Trades, formerly and pieces of earthenware, ‘El Colegio de Santa Tereza de Jesus,’ for the period 1861-69,” p. 2, Luther Parker have also been discovered in Collection iv Letter of Introduction for Luther Parker written by James A. Robertson, Washington, Porac, Bakulud’s neighbor to D.C., December 11, 1917; Letter from J.J. Harty, Archbishop of Manila, to Luther the west. Parker, October 25, 1909, Luther Parker Collection. v Faustino Pineda Gutierrez, Parnasong Capampañgan, San Fernando: Ing Catimawan, In short, the unearthed 1932, pp. 118-124; Manuel Gatbonton, Ing Candawe, n.p., 1933; Letter from Mariano tradeware and the Muslim faith Vicente Henson, Angeles, to Luther Parker, Bacolor, April 8, 1910, Luther Parker discovered by the earliest Collection; Mariano A. Henson, A Brief History of the Town of Angeles in the Province of Pampanga, San Fernando: Ing Katiwala Press, 1948; Mariano A. Henson, Spanish conquerors show that The Province of Pampanga and Its Towns, 1st ed., Angeles, by the author, 1953, Bakulud and its neighbors in the forward. vi Luther Parker, “Some Notes on Pampanga,” p. 8, Luther Parker Collection delta were firmly linked to the Southeast Asian trade network centuries before 1571.

26 This was the last stand of Manila. Archbishop Manuel Rojo, Rugged man in ragged clothes the acting Spanish Governor-General, was forced to agree to British terms of surrender. There was resistance however, from In the early 70s, motorists passing through Bacolor never some Spaniards and Filipinos who continued the fight in the failed to notice a hobo standing motionless on the roadside provinces, particularly in Pampanga. near the Don Bosco Academy. Rich students in the exclusive On Oct. 6, the oidor Simon de Anda, after paddling his way boys’ school threw sandwiches at him; children taunted him. out of Manila on Oct. 4 and a brief respite in Bulacan, settled in Old folks said he lost his mind after the Augustinian convent of Bacolor, then the capital of Pampanga. wife died in an accident on her way back home; since then he It was to be the ‘belligerent’ cabecera of the Philippine colony had stood on that spot day and night, rain or shine, as if for more than a year. waiting for his wife who would never return. Baculud (or how the inhabitants of Bacolor pronounced its After the lahar episodes in the 1990s, nothing more was name) was already a bustling settlement when the Spaniards heard of him. first arrived in 1571. Local history has it that a certain Don Guillermo Manabat reorganized it as the Pueblo de Bacolor in 1576. (Bacolor as the center.. from page 8) The same friar-cronista, Juan de Medina, had also something to say about Bacolor in the 1600s, “which is the best village not and exceptional defense of the Spanish crown. only of Pampanga, but of all the islands; for it has more than one Juan de Medina, an Augustinan historian, wrote in 1630 thousand Indians under the bell.” about the noble Kapampangan military heritage which del Pan “It is about one and one-half days’ journey from Manila by was still praising two centuries later: sea and creeks, as in the case of the others. It has the best “And yet it can be said of these Indians (and a strange thing meadow-land in the islands, and it all produces rice abundantly. it is), that although they are treated so harshly, it is not known It is irrigated, as was remarked above of the others. It has a that a single one has deserted to the Dutch in Maluco, where celebrated church with a crucifix, which is entirely built of stone they suffer more than in their own country. Many of the other and brick. The house is made of stone also. The inhabitants are Indians go and come. When these soldiers leave Pampanga, they the richest and best-clothed of all Pampanga, and have the most present a fine appearance, for the villages come to their aid, prominent of the chiefs. When the supply of religious is good, each with a certain sum, for their uniforms. All this is due to the there are always three in this village, and there have even been teaching of the religious of our father St. Augustine, whose at times four or five; for besides the stipend paid by his Majesty flock these Indians are, and the children of their teaching.” (who owns this encomienda), it has its own chaplaincies, founded by the said inhabitants of Pampanga. It has also its own altar “Bacolor is the best village not fund, which, although not very important as yet, will yield only of Pampanga, but of all the something for the support of those in charge there.” islands.” When Simon de Anda proclaimed himself the Captain-General of the Philippines on the 5th of October in a town of Bulacan, the - Juan de Medina, Kapampangans at first did not agree. They refused to admit any 17th century Spanish chronicler Spaniard for that matter, believing that these people were not faithful to their defense of the colony and that the death of When the Englishmen attacked the Philippines as a carry- many Kapampangan soldiers was a result of Spanish neglect rather over of the Seven Years’ War that had repercussions on the than the prowess of the Englishmen. Nevertheless, the diplomatic relations between their country England and Spain, Augustinian friars of the province managed to convince their there was a showcasing of this Kapampangan military tradition. parishioners to support Anda and Spain. The British arrived in Manila on September 23, 1762, immediately taking over the strategic portions of the Spanish capital. Skirmishes around the arrabales of Manila persisted for a week, but since Tagalogs, Ilocanos and Day One the superiority of the British arms was evident. There Pangasinenses fleeing revolts were, however, motions of support for the Castilian escudo, were given a safe haven in especially from the Kapampangans. On October 4 (or 3 in other accounts), at about two in the Pampanga during Gen. Anda’s morning, some 3,000 Kapampangans and 200 Spaniards attacked stay in Bacolor British detachments in Manila; an assault characterized by bloody surges and stiff hand-to-hand combat. It was in this encounter Thus, on the 11th of October, five days after Anda settled in that José Manalastás, a Kapampangan soldier, distinguished Bacolor to continue his resistance, the Alcalde Mayor of Pampanga himself for his boldness. He personally entered the tent of the called a meeting of the gobernadorcillos of the province and British commander, General William Draper, then dragged him neighboring towns to pledge their unanimous support and out with a dagger poised to pierce his heart. The timely arrival of recognition of the former as the Captain-General of the Philippines. reinforcements nullified the brave Filipino’s aim; wounded by British Later, as an Augustinian, Eduardo Navarro, wrote, the towns of rifles, he had to flee. The lull after the battle would reveal that Bacolor, San Fernando, Mexico, Candaba, Santa Ana, Arayat, Betis, there were 200 killed and about 300 wounded, a great number Guagua, San Luis, Apalit, Macabebe, Sexmoan, Minalin, San Miguel of whom were Manalastás’ kinsmen, the Kapampangans. de Mayumo, Santa Rita, , Porac, Santol, Bongabon, San A.P. Thorton, a British who was probably present during Jose, Tayug, Tarlac, and swore their allegiance to Charles the assault, made this account: III, the King of Spain, in a public display of support and loyalty. On October 4th, when the winds had dropped, (Draper) was Secured by his loyal Filipino soldiers led by his aide-de-camp, attacked by a thousand Malays (Pampangos), whose ferocity the Kapampangan Santos de los Angeles, Anda thus continued and courage amazed the English, used in India to seeing native the government in Bacolor, initially reorganizing the army of Spanish levies better armed and led flee at the sight of them. But these and Filipino soldiers and dispatched circulars around the colony to strange Indians repeated their assaults and died like wild beasts, continue the resistance, ‘in the Name of God and the King’. gnawing the bayonets. The pressure of attack on the gun- In his many reports to the King of Spain, Anda enumerated positions continued, and at the same time the walls of the city in detail the workings of his Bacolor capital. For example, to spur were beginning to wilt before the bombardment. Draper decided economic trading, he permitted free trade among the provinces to take by storm. (next page)

27 and that all lands of Pampanga be planted with rice and sugar To maintain the integrity of the Spanish crown, Anda utilized cane; however, as a rebuttal against the British and their Spanish mostly his loyal Kapampangan troops and other Filipinos in collaborators, he forbade the sending of any provision to Manila. suppressing these revolts. He also encouraged the circulation of the barrilla (coins) in the It should be noted that the melting-pot arrangement of whole province, which he later suspended with the proliferation what was once the Kapampangan region took place during of counterfeits from the Sangleys (Chinese). Bacolor’s term as the capital. For example, there was an edict In answer to the enticement of the British among the ‘indios’, from Anda that “land in the village of San Ysidro be given to the he also allowed them “freedom of worship, and exemption from Tagalogs who had fled from Manila.” Upper Pampanga, specifically the tribute and from polo y servicios.” the towns of Tarlac and , was opened for the Ilocanos and Curfews were observed in Bacolor; Anda ordered that in the Pangasinenses who had fled their provinces due to the Palaris capital and the surrounding villages that “the bell be rung at nine revolt. o’clock at night for all people to retire, and not to be seen on the streets, in order to avoid disorders.” Games of dice, cockfighting and cards were prohibited; nipa wine in the capital Kapampangans proved their was to be sold only on retail, to avoid drunkenness. He forbade loyalty to the concept of nation “illuminations at night, on the eve and day of the anniversary of birth and the saint’s day of the king and the prince of Asturias.” and showed their kinship with Passports were strictly enforced, especially among Spaniards other ethno-linguistic tribes who might bring provisions to their compatriots in Manila and the Chinese who were supporting the British. Similar to the arrangement in Intramuros, Anda established “gates” to the Bacolor capital in the pueblos of Lubao, Guagua, Sexmoan, and In the midst of the fight between Anda and the British, the Macabebe. There was a mention of a carved plate “of some hard Seven Years’ War came to a close on February 10, 1764, with Philippine wood, on which are three separate inscriptions, also England restoring the Philippines to Spain. On the 14th of March, carved in the wood”. Anda set up this plate on the gate of 1764, the new Spanish Governor-General, Francisco de la Torre Sasmuan. When the walls were destroyed afterwards, it was arrived in Bataan. Anda invited him for a visit; de la Torre arrived said, the plate was preserved in a Manila government office in in Pampanga on the 15th. The next day, the 16th, he took over 1858 and later sent to a museum in Madrid as a memorial of the the post from Anda in the capital of Bacolor. Two weeks later, on excellent signal services of Anda in his Bacolor capital. the 31st of March, the Spanish troops with their loyal Kapampangan J. del Pan’s comment of “mientras ardia Manila en ridiculas y and other Filipino soldiers marched back to Manila. esteriles discordias (Manila burning with ridicules and sterile In recognition of the unquestionable loyalty of Bacolor and disaccords)” could have been the altercations between Archbishop the whole province of Pampanga, a royal decree of November 9, Rojo, who acceded to the British in the capital of Manila, and 1765 transformed the erstwhile capital into the Villa de Bacolor. Anda, who continued the struggle in Bacolor. Most historians have downplayed events in Bacolor, Pampanga Charged with defiance and insubordination, Anda wrote many in 1762-64, viewing the episode only as a fight between the retaliatory letters and counter-charges to Rojo from his Bacolor Spaniards and the British. However, it should be seen as one of capital. Cutting provisions to Manila and other safeguards to the first signals of Filipinism: by initially resisting even the Spaniards maintain his capital, he also instructed both friars and secular who collaborated with the invading British, Kapampangans proved priests in Pampanga to defy their archbishop who had instructed their loyalty to the concept of nation and not to their colonial them to go back to Manila. masters; and by opening their region to other ethno-linguistic It was during the stay of Anda in Bacolor that some Filipinos groups affected by revolts and disorders, Kapampangans showed took advantage of the situation and started also their revolts. kinship with other tribes. Kapampangans probably already Included were the rebellions of in the , thought of themselves as ‘Filipinos’ even in that early period of the Chinese in the adjacent town of Guagua, and that of Juan our history. de la Cruz Palaris in Pangasinan. (Belles... from page 15)

in her bouquet. Her court included Rosario Ferro (Miss Luzon), Belen de Guzman (Miss Visayas) and Marina Lopez (Miss Mindanao). Later in life, she married Jose Avelino Jr., who would soon be a Senate President, with whom she bore 7 children. She settled in Paranaque and operated a beauty parlor in with her daughter.

Right: Guia Balmori, daughter of labor leader Joaquin Balmori, escorted by Ernesto “Gatas” Santos, son of Teodoro Santos of San Fernando and Mabalacat; she is the second Kapampangan to win a national beauty contest, after Socorro Henson.

Far right: Rosario Manuel represented the province in 1927 (Photo courtesy of Museo ning Angeles, thru kindness of Marc Nepomuceno) 28 in the minds of ideological journalists, literary writers and peasant revolutionaries. Like them, Simon helped foster the growing consciousness for a national identity though his images that represented the true Filipino sensibility. Unlike artists of means like Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo and Juan Luna who could afford to exhibit in the great galleries of Rome, Paris and Madrid, Simon’s homegrown purist style was just as expressive, virtuous and dazzling, successfully surmounting the challenges and the limitations of historical circumstance of the world he lived in.

A Master’s Legacy. Here is a comprehensive list of the known works of Simon Flores. 1. Portrait of Andrea Dayrit, c. 1870, a belle from Bacolor. ( Central Bank Collection.) 2. King Amadeus, c. 1871. Portrait of the Italian regent who ascended the throne of Spain. It graced the municipal hall of San Fernando. Painting was lost in a fire when Antonio Luna razed the entire Poblacion. 3. La Orquesta del Pueblo, (The Music band of the Town) 1876, Oil on canvas 4. Quiazon Family, 1880. 3 generations of a prominent family from Culiat. C. 1880. (Leandro Locsin Collection) 5. Cirilo and Severina Quiazon and Children, c.1880. A much- reproduced work of Flores featuring once again this prominent Culiat couple. (Central bank Collection) 6. Primeras Letras (Learning to Read), c.1890, (Jorge Vargas Collection) 7. Feeding the Chicken, c. 1890. The subjects of Primeras Letras and this painting appear to be the same. (Jorge Vargas Collection) 8. Portrait of Msgr. Ignacio Tambungui, c. 1890. Oil on ivory. 9. Despues de la Ultima Cena, (After the Last Supper) ,1891 10. El Prendimiento, (The Arraignment of Christ), 1891 11. The Expulsion, 1895 12. Simon Flores, c. 1890s. An auto-retrato, or self-portrait

Ivan Henares in charcoal. The drawing shows Flores in his 50s, wearing a muffler. Simon Flores’ ceiling paintings in churches in Betis (above), Used in an article about him in “La Ilustracion Filipina”. Guagua, Sta. Rita, Mexico and Bacolor have been either destroyed or painted over beyond recognition 13. A Gentleman in Sunday Clothes 14. A Lady in Sunday Clothes (Homegrown... from page 12) 15. Juanita, charcoal ovalo study, (Locsin Collection) postures and stern stares, not to mention the trappings of 16. Group portrait of A Man in Barong Tagalog and Wife in wealth: bastons, folded handkerchiefs, exquisite gold jewelry Maria Clara, (UST Collection) and handkerchiefs. 17. Dead Child, 1902. A memento mori (recuerdo de patay) The significance of Simon Flores’s art lies in the fact that it of a deceased child. (National Museum Colelction) represented the best from a Filipino artist at a critical time 18. Various paintings for the baroque church of Betis: when the concept of a Philippine nationhood was still evolving Inmaculada Concepcion, (Cupola area) , Sagrada Familia (Rectory). (Reminiscences... from page 9) school in Asia, now known as children. Among them was the Don Leonor de Leon de Keyser, inter- offspring Honorio whose daughter connections (Celestino and Ventura College Dolores Keyser, between these Jose) would of Arts and would marry Jose three families. begin the Leon Trades. Upon Joven y Among the children y Santos clan, Arcadia’s death, Gutierrez, a of Jose Leonardo withJose would later grandson of Don de Leon and his prominent marry her Juan Joven. wife Casimira descendants younger sibling Another child, Custodia, were as far as San Ramona Damaso de Doña Luisa Fernando, Joven y Leon, had a son Gonzaga de Leon, Porac and Suares. Two of Jose Leoncio de who is well Angeles. their daughters, Leon y Hizon, remembered for her Jose Leon y Juana and who would also Kapampangan Santos Josefa Leon marry into the translation of the married Santos, Joven clan with his Arcadia married two marriages to

Ejercicio Cotidiano, Museo de La Salle Museo de La Salle Joven y Domingo siblings Regina and and Don Jose Don Jose Leon y Santos Doña Ramona Suares Joven Aniceto de Leon. Suares, a Panlilio, Natividad Joven y Jose Aniceto would pass on the daughter of Joven patriarch, creating the Gutierrez. These surname de Leon to his Don Juan Joven and Doña Santos-Joven-Panlilio Clan. ties that bind are endless. But descendants. While Luisa Geronima Suares, the land Don Jose Aniceto de Leon two patterns definitely emerge: married Don Francisco Paula donor of the Escuela de Artes married Doña Aleja Buyson, the numerous intermarriages, de los Santos, and their y Oficios, the oldest trade with whom he had five (next page) 29 and the Joven tradition of marrying the intermarriage, as a form of consolidation way or another, was connected to this younger sibling upon the death of the as well as strengthening of wealth and principalia pedigree. Together with other older, which in the examples above, power. ilustrado families such as the Liongsons, appeared thrice. This is indeed a most Towards the end of the 19th century, Valdeses, Venturas and Palmas, these royal pattern not at all new. The Royal it was said that almost every bahay na bato clans dominated the social patterns of this Houses of Europe had for the longest in Bacolor was either a Joven or a de Leon elegant Pampanga town, representing as time, used this same pattern of house, as every prominent resident, one what John Larkin terms as “the pinnacle of native society.” (Jewel ... from page 7) Galura, Mariano Proceso Pabalan Byron and the small town. In 1900, the last Capitan many others joined fellow Kapampangan Municipal, Don Ceferino Joven, stepped The wealthy Joven family financed writers (like Aurelio Tolentino from the down as the Americans occupied the the Compania Sabina, whose members neighboring Guagua town) in the fight archipelago. The next year, the new included prominent residents of Bacolor against Spain and later against the United colonizers inaugurated in Bacolor the drawn together by a common love for States. Only a few kilometers separate country’s first civil government, with theatre. Juan Crisostomo Soto was Macabebe and Bacolor on the map, but Ceferino Joven as the provincial governor. the company’s resident playwright and these two Pampanga towns represented In 1903, the Philippine Commission director. The Jovens alsosupported the the farthest opposite ends of the political transferred the provincial capital to the Orchestra Palma, whose member Pablo spectrum of the time. While the next town, San Fernando, where the all- Palma composed the music of Soto’s Macabebes cast their fortune with the important Dagupan-Manila railroad passed. famous zarzuela, Alang Dios! Many of the colonizers, Bacoloreños severed all ties with But the jewel did not lose its luster songs from this musical have become their former masters. Jose Rizal planted even when history moved the spotlight popular folk songs. the seeds when he visited his wealthy away from it. Throughout the 20th When the revolution against Spain friends Don Balbino Ventura and Don century, Bacolor continued to produce broke out—Bacolor, despite its being a Francisco Joven in Bacolor in 1871. The hundreds of great men and women, way colonial bastion, and despite the first cry of the Revolution in Pampanga beyond what might be expected from a widespread notion that Kapampangans occurred on June 4, 1898 in Bacolor. The small town. sided with the Spaniards—produced the following year, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo References: Kapampangan Literature: A Historical Survey and Anthology by Edna bravest freedom-fighters. Even poets entered Bacolor in triumph. Zapanta-Manlapaz (Ateneo de Manila University and artists took up arms against their But the tide of history quickly swamped Press); Our Islands and their People by Jose de Olivares; “The Story of Bacolor in a Nutshell” by Dr. colonial masters. Crisostomo Soto, Felix Rogelio M. Samia. (This was worse... from page 22) sky melted into the dark grey sea of lahar no help arrived for 24 hours when dry land sometimes they fell into the mud, that raged below them. Only rooftops was just a couple of kilometers away. screaming and flailing their arms like terrified and the tips of trees and electric posts “When night came I felt desperate,” he trapped animals, and had to be rescued. were all that remained of Cabalantian. says. “The children were crying and the It was hard to imagine that these were Louie wondered if the rest of the world adults were in shock. All that Fr. Musni the same proud descendants of the knew what was happening to them and could do was tell us to pray. Jovens, Galuras, Maligs and Palmas of if they were already doing something By daybreak Monday, the rain had not Bacolor. about it. stopped and fresh lahar flowed Fr. Musni was the last to reach safe Lahar flowed intermittently, at noon, dangerously close to the roof. At 9 A.M., ground. Days later, they dug out his vehicle in the evening and again at dawn the during a lull, Fr. Musni decided to evacuate along with other cars where escaping following day, Monday. The 200 survivors the rooftop. “He felt that if we didn’t, families had been trapped and suffocated sat helplessly around the edge of the the next lahar flow would drown us,” Louie inside. To this day, the images that still church roof for more than 24 hours. “We says. haunt Louie are those of people being were wet all throughout,” Louie narrates. So one by one they climbed down and carried away by lahar. “We saw them on “We urinated and defecated in full view gingerly stepped on hardening ground, their roofs embracing each other as lahar of everybody. Nothing was important avoiding soft spots that could turn into engulfed them,” he recalls. “They floated anymore since we expected the lahar to quicksand. Someone had the bright idea for a while and then they were gone. overtake the roof and kill us all.” of using the electricity lines as hanging They were not shouting or crying. They Helicopters came, hovered around, bridge, and everybody followed him. Men just looked so shocked.” Interview conducted by Gina Diaz and Sheila and left. Louie could not understand why carried old folks and children on their backs; Laxamana on July 17, 2003. (Two Knockouts... from page 24) Bacolor will probably never get back the same administrative population, goods and information flux of national importance. and commercial glory it once enjoyed, but like the proverbial Commercial activities as well as passage-tourism for Subic-bound phoenix it is rising from the ashes of Mt. Pinatubo. The lahar tourists are areas to look into. Bacolor can also take advantage threat has progressively decreased. The accumulation of volcanic of the economic dynamism that animates the City of San sediments has elevated the town and rendered it safe from Fernando, especially because it can offer flood-safe and vacant flooding. The returnees from evacuation sites are beginning to grounds for investors. (Ironically, it is the historical center of San boost the town’s population and tax revenues. New Fernando that now takes a beating from floods.) Finally, Bacolor’s infrastructure, rehabilitated roads and bridges are also boosting cultural heritage will always be its main element of identification the morale of the residents. The construction of the municipal and differentiation; it should certainly be taken into account in hall, frequently relocated in the past, symbolizes the return of future development plans. the municipal seat of power to the town’s historical center. All these represent the governmental green light to the full Please visit our redesigned website: rehabilitation of Bacolor. Today, the asset of Bacolor in terms of urban development resides in its location along the Manila-San Fernando-Subic www.hau.edu.ph/kcenter Bay Freeport pathway. This corridor is a major avenue for 30 WHEN the Kapampangans started referring sense and sensibility yet borderless in their born’s ‘Acadia,’ the serene and quiet dreamland to Baculud (Bacolor) as the “Atenas ning exploration of human experience significant and of one’s hopes and aspirations. In the country Pampanga” or the cultural center of the true. When we speak of the glory of Baculud, of her literary and artistic triumphs, Baculud province, they were unanimous in celebrating we speak synonymously of the artistic creations remains one of the enduring, the main sources the literary company that was fostered and of her people. In a world where gilded and well-spring of beauty and truth for the nurtured by this town. monuments and illuminated memorials are Kapampangan. Her poetry, prose and drama From Baculud’s Fajardo in the 18th century fleeting and transitory, the emotions, hopes, continue to delight and inspire those who and on to the mid-19th to 20th century literati ideals, dreams and values of a people find rediscover them in the age of cyberspace. Her dotted the map of literary history in the region ethereal repository in the poetry, prose and writers, artists, printers and publishers have and gave the Kapampangans dramatic/ musical articulations as well as the long become models and mentors to other the arts and letters that tradition of patronage and support for the arts Kapampangans and to long generations of have remained as exquisitely defined for the Kapampangans by literary artisans and craftsmen. Here Baculud distinguished since the Baculud and her literati. prevails, is untouched by the pains and earliest times of creative For these poets and writers, musicians, sufferings of the world, of disasters and famine. writing, publication, printer-publishers and patrons and the audience Here she is timeless as myth, poetry and song, printing and performance of Kapampangan literary arts, their town, the stories and worlds imagined or factual that in the region. The “Athens ‘Baculud,’ is a home and an ideal, their residence permeated her once elegant turn-of-the-century of Pampanga” found its as well as their pastoral and idyllic realm. ‘Baculud’ homes and country streets, her glittering theater flowering in the for the artists was not only their town, the source and private artistic salons, her silvery orchestral contributions of of their rootedness; it was more importantly, and choral compositions from zarzuelas, during Bacolor’s sons and and still is for many Bacolorenos, the acadia of religious processions and misa cantadas, her daughters, works their poetry and song. It is the inspiration, the busy printing presses merrily putting out the local and writings bucolic and the pristine bit of heaven that they reading and pietistic fare of the Kapampangans that are go home to again and again, literally or for well over a century. rooted in imaginatively, despite what calamities and Baculud, as locals continue to refer to the Kapam- natural disasters can and may fashion. town, evoke the image of the cradle of regional pangan It may have been that Baculud was in civilization, a cultivation that is one’s own, a the past ‘Atenas’ or Athens, the cultural journey from ‘Atenas to Pompeii,’ yes, and on to center for a people. In the interim she has ‘Acadia’ that makes the tribulation and the suffered much from the clutches of man-made triumph equally poignant for a people who know and natural calamities like world wars, economic that Baculud is, and always will be, the town dislocation and volcanic eruptions and lahar enshrined in our hearts. Rosario Baluyut inundation. The last years of the 20th century (Sources: L.P.R. Santiago, Laying the and other immortal plunged the town and the people into the gloom Foundations (2002); E.H. Lacson, Bacoloreños Kapampangan Writing (1984); R.I. Castro, and death path reminiscent of a ‘Pompeii’. Literature of the Pampangos (1981); Villa Yet above it all, Baculud and her artists have de Bacolor (1975); F.P. Gutierrez, moved on to the fabled locale as the native- Parnasung Capampangan (1932)) From Athens to Pompeii … and on to Acadia In her great and immortal children Bacolor transcends disasters and human suffering, and is now timeless as myth, poetry and song by Erlita P. Mendoza

31 1895 1995 Archbishop Francesco Marchisano, D.D., Vicar-General of the Vatican City-State and President of the City-State of the Vatican Archbishop Francesco Marchisano, D.D., Vicar-General of the Church, Holy See, will be Guest Honor at Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage on 29-30 September- Workers the Third Biennial National Convention of Church Cultural Heritage Angeles City. Angel University, Holy Studies, 2003 at the Center for Kapampangan 1 October,

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