451. ACHARA ART: Relishing our Artistic Pickling Tradition

Picked Me Pink: ATSARA, pickled vegetables, presented artfully.

The Philippines share many food preserving traditions with its Asian neighbors, the most popular being pickling fruits and vegetables. Our term for such preserved condiment is “atsara / achara”, from the Indian “achaar”, a generic term for anything pickled. India’s stamp on our regional cuisine is evident as well in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, where the condiment is called “acar” or “atjar”.

Just about any fruit or vegetable can be pickled, depending on the country’s produce. Indian prefer green mangoes, lemons, carrot, chickpeas. Pickling, like its allied processes like fermenting, preserving by sugar, and drying is a way of extending the shelf life of food, and ensures availability of out-of-season fruits, vegetables and other produce.

ACHARA Atbp, from "Filipino Heritage:The Making of a Nation" 

Papaya is the most common choice in Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines. The pickling medium also varies—Japanese and Korean kitchens use salt, rice bran, miso (fermented bean paste), and mustard, while Indian cooks use mustard or sesame oil.  

Our local achara, made from green papaya laced with carrots, pepper, onion and optional raisins, is sweet and tangy. Its table uses also vary—as a side dish, dipping sauce, flavor breaker from the sameness of food, or relish to accompany longganisas and fish. I know at least one person who eats atsara as salad!

 MARMALADAS y CONSERVAS:  Orange, Pineapple, Kundol, Papaya

But it is in the manner of presentation that the Philippine achara is truly distinctive.While the pickling process is relatively simple--- upon boiling the fruit ‘n  vegetable mix, the pickling syrup takes over—and in a week’s time or longer, the atsara is ready to eat. It is the preliminary preparation of ingredients, however, where the creativity of local cooks found full expression. Grating the papaya is easy enough, but artistic cutting of the other achara ingredients requires a higher level of skill and attention.

Before placing in bottles for pickling, the vegetable and fruit pieces were delicately cut and carved with intricate designs—carrots were fancifully shaped into flowers, cucumbers became foliage or rosettes, and melons scooped into balls.

FRUITY FRETWORK, Sunday Time Magazine, 1966

This vegetable and fruit carving tradition harkens back to the ancient ages in Japan, where it began and known as “mukimono”,  then spread to the Malay region where the practice was adapted in local kitchens. The art thrived in some countries like Cambodia and Thailand especially, but not in the Philippines where, even before World War II, papaya carving was already a dying art.

Food technologist (and later, war heroine)  Maria Orosa, of The Bureau of Plant Industry, sought to revive the art by gathering trainees to learn the skill. Most of the talents came from Bulacan. One, Mrs. Luisa A. Arguelles of Meycauayan was a master carver of not just papayas, but kundol, candied orange and camote. She carved silhouettes of people’s profiles, various font styles, and figurals from peels and flat fruit pieces. Another, Mrs. Presentacion de Leon used locally-invented carving tools to make elaborate fruit and vegetable pieces that were shaped like balls, curls and petals.

ROSES AND THORNS, Vegetable Carving, STM 1966

Once the boiled in the pickling solution, the mixed fruit-vegetable achara is placed in wide-mouthed jars and the carved vegetable pieces are arranged and coaxed into positions to form  pleasant scenes and words (e.g. “recuerdo”, “ala-ala”, “amistad”). The bottles or jars are then sealed and let to stand on display on the aparador platera for all to see. The merits of these bottled achara lie not only in the decorative folk artistry but also in the rich flavor of its varied contents.

Aside from the papaya-based achara,  green mangos, kamias, radishes, and santols were also pickled in brine water. Filipino homemakers—from big cities to rural barrios—learned the art of pickling and preserving early—informally or home economics classes. Proof of their kitchen wizardry was when a group of Filipinos, mostly from Pampanga, won merit awards at culinary contest held at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CARVING TOOLS, Sunday Times Magazine, 1966

Among those recognized was Atanacio Rivera de Morales (buri palm preserves ); Isabel Mercado (preserved limoncito); Irene Canlas (preserved melon); Maria Guadalupe Castro (santol jelly); Rafaela Ramos Angeles (santol preserves) and Justa de Castro (kamias fruit preserve).

Imported pickled cucumbers in bottles were available in the Philippines in the 1930s under the Del Monte (Achara de Pepinillos) and Achara Libby’s brand. Local attempts to commercialize production of similar products began when American Mrs. Gertrude Stewart arrived in the Philippines in 1928. Living here, she was disappointed to find recipes in magazines calling for ingredients not found in the country so she created new recipes integrating local produce.

From vegetables and fruits--to blooms, petals,  and flowers!!

In 1959, Mrs. Stewart was contracted by Estraco Inc, a distributing company, to supply pickles, fruit preserves and marmalade products for their new food division. Thus Mrs. Gertrude Stewart Homestyle Foods was born. Her greatest contribution to the food industry is the utilization of native Philippine fruits like the duhat, bignay and sayote that she used to create mock maraschino cherries.

CUT ABOVE THE REST. An expert fruit and vegetable carver

Today, the bottled achara has become a familiar offering in pasalubong stores, food stalls and even big groceries and supermarkets, supplied by small to medium sized home industries. Packaged in bottles labeled with catchy brand names, the commercial atsara may still hold the same taste appeal, but for sheer visual attraction, nothing can match the presentation of atsaras of yesteryears.

Though some might dismiss this pleasing bottled arrangement as purely culinary, the art of fruit and vegetable carving/cutting is part of our cultural heritage, a charming form of folk art where food becomes the art itself.

For to fashion a santol into a multi-petalled dahlia flower, to create stars out of carrots, green papaya into curlicued leaves, mangos into palm fronds, to carve sentiments of love and names of beloved on a pomelo, constitutes a skill worthy of an artistic genius.

SOURCES:

All About Achaar, the Indian Pickle: Recipe and Tips, Written by MasterClass

The Folk Art Issue, The Sunday Times Magazine, May 1963

The Food Issue, The Sunday Times Magazine, 1966

“Let’s Preserve our Preserves”, The Sunday Time Magazine, 12 March 1961 issue, p. 32

“Conservas”, The Tribune, 25 Nov. 1933, Rotogravure Section, p. 3.

Homefront section, The Tribune, 10 Dec. 1943, p. 27

 

450. BOBOTU: More Connected with Indonesian Bobotok than with Mexican Tamales

I  SAY BOBOTU, YOU SAY TAMALES...

My earliest encounter with local kapangan was not with the readily available puto (both lason and kutsinta), the common kalame and suman, but with bobotu—the banana leaf-wrapped treat with a rather unusual taste and an even stranger name.

It was always made at home during the yearly fiestas of my town, prepared by Ati Bo, my dad’s former nanny who came to live with us and her family for the rest of her life.

Exposed early to the making of the bobotu, I acquired a taste for its delicate “malinamnam” mix of spicy-salty-peanutty flavors, so different from other kapangans that were mostly sweet.

A week before the fiesta, Ati Bo would recruit extra help from Arayat, her original hometown. The women would efficiently turn the back of our home into a dirty kitchen, cleaning and bringing out implements like the kawa (vat),  the stone gilingan in which to ground malagkit rice to a paste (galapong), and the coconut kudkuran.

My favorite part of the process takes place on the long bangku (benches) where the bobotu was “assembled” efficiently . One lays a line of cut, fire-softened banana leaves on the bench, while another plops a dollop of the cooked bobotu mix on the wrapper with a sandok.

 She is followed by another worker who tops the mix with the right amount of rich, orange spiced sauce—made pretty much like the one used for pancit palabok. The next helper deftly arranges slivers of chicken (or sometimes ham), slices of hard-boiled eggs, and crushed peanuts on top of the sauce. The final step is steaming the leaf wrapped bobotu, but I prefer eating it some hours after, when the consistency is firmer to my liking.

Documenting bobotu makers with Bryan Koh, culinary writer

The sheer number of ingredients explains the bobotu’s distinctive taste, making it more than just a kapangan to me. It can very well be an ulam (viand) or a meal in itself. But what about the name—Bobotu? When did people start calling it “tamales”?

For as long as I can remember in the early 1960s, we only called it “bobotu”—and by no other name. I started hearing the term “tamales”  more frequently to our bobotu, from mostly Manila friends and outsiders. Maybe “tamales” sounds more “sosy” (classy) than bobotu, for those with more refined tastes. Even ambulant vendors have been hollering "Puto!! Tamales!" when they make the rounds of the nieghborhood. During a 2012 food research trip with Singaporean culinary writer Bryan Koh in San Fernando, Pampanga, kapangan makers there differentiated the tamales from a bobotu. Tamales, they say, is a more special version because it has more toppings!

I have also heard stories about it being a Mexican import, introduced here during the time of the galleon trade. Sure, our amigos introduced us to the avocado, the camachile, and the guava, but I still have yet to see references about “tamales” in the Philippines in written works or old documents.  I have always thought that given the use of basic ingredients, and the fact that the Asiatic region has an ancient established culture of leaf-wrapped cooking, the “bobotu” of Pampanga must be known even before the Conquest.

I can only offer a few conjectures. Could it be that the Spaniards saw the banana-wrapped bobotu and noted some similarities with the corn husk-wrapped “tamales” of Mexico, their Nueva España of central America—and began calling them as tamales (of the East) , too?

Or just maybe, it was the Mexicans themselves who saw our “bobotu”, which triggered memories of their homemade “tamales”.  Could there have been a case of reverse adaptation where the Mexicans made tamales here, substituting local ingredients, like our rice, for their corn? Did the Mexicans turn the bobotu into tamales? Or did the Filipinos turned the tamales into a new bobotu as a way of resisting what was alien to their palate?

Just a few years back, an origin story alleging how the delicacy came to be called “bobotu” circulated in the local culinary circle. In pre-women’s suffrage days (i.e. before 1937), it was said that women huddled together and voted to cook “bobotu”, while their menfolk were out casting their ballots in the town elections. The dish they cooked was reportedly, “bobotong asan”.

I heard this story few months after the folk song, “Eleksyon Ding Asan”, collected by Dr. Lino L. Dizon in San Fernando, saw print in a popular Singsing magazine.  I am inclined to believe that the overly-imaginative storyteller learned of this song, borrowed the plot about fishes involved in the electoral process, to cook this yarn of a tale.

“Bobotu” sounds Malayo-Polynesian to me, so I proceeded to locate the word and its variations in Bahasa, Javanese, Malay dictionaries and on-line translators. This led me the Javanese word “botok / bothok”,  defined as “a traditional dish made from grated coconut flesh, which has been squeezed of its coconut milk, often mixed with other ingredients such as vegetables or fish, and wrapped in banana leaf and steamed.” The key words: “coconut flesh”, “coconut milk”, “banana leaf”, “steamed”, leaped out from the page, as they are associated with preparing “bobotu”.

It goes on to describe its consistency ( “It has a soft texture like the mozzarella cheese and is usually colored white.”), cooking and serving suggestions (“To add flavor and nutrients… use additional ingredients as...tofu,..catfish,..salted fish..egg… salted egg…shrimp..minced beef”).  Like in Pampanga where we have “bobotung asan”, Indonesia, too, has “bobotok lele” , steamed banana-wrapped catfish laced with spices, tomatoes, and peppers.

Botok was so popular among the Indonesians that it has become a generic term for any dish made by wrapping various ingredients in banana leaves, then steaming them.

Now the clincher:  The plural form of “botok” is botok-botok, which, when contracted becomes another alternative name with a familiar ring-- “BOBOTOK”! Have we found bobotu’s nearest of kin?

Of course, there are telling differences too. “Bobotok” doesn’t make use of rice dough—it is in fact, served as a viand, to be eaten with rice. On the other hand, the Mexican tamale uses a masa of corn flour, while Pampanga’s uses rice flour. Tamales are filled with a mix of meats, beans and cheese, wrapped in corn husks, while bobotu is topped with achuete-based sauce, meat, eggs and nuts, wrapped in banana leaf. And, as mentioned earlier, they taste a world apart.

It is interesting to note that in South Africa, another dish inspired by “bobotok” is served in many homes where it is called “bobotie”.  According to Jakarka Post writer Theodora Hurustiati, bobotie was “first introduced by Javanese slaves, brought to South Africa through Cape Town by the Dutch East India Company in the 1600s”. Apparently, a large number of workers from Southeast Asia were recruited who practiced their cooking traditions as one Malay-speaking community. Indeed, good food, like good news, travels.

I’ve always known bobotu as bobotu, so I will always call it bobotu, not tamales--never mind if the English bard maintains that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. Tamale never tasted anything like bobotu, anyway.  Bobotu originated in this part of the world, with a name that is clearly Malayo-Polynesian, not Mesoamerican. The Spanish/Mexicans may have contributed the word tamales—their sole influence-- but not the origin of a kapangan we know ever since as bobotu. We could say merely that they built on the Philippines’ leaf-wrapped cooking tradition that is aligned with the well-entrenched Asian gastronomic culture.

 SOURCES:

Bobotie's Melting Pot, https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/11/10/bobotie-s-melting-pot.html

 Tamale Digest. https://tamaledigest.blogspot.com/2014/05/filipino-tamales.html

 Vegegable Dish: Botok. https://www.tasteatlas.com/botok

 Anchovy Botok Recipe, Nutritious Home Cooking Menu, https://endeus.tv/resep/botok-teri-menu-masakan-rumahan-yang-bergizi

*449. Unsolved: THE JOVENS OF BACOLOR DOUBLE MURDER CASE, 23 April 1946

FATHER AND SON Edilberto and Ricardo, died in an 1946 ambush in Bacolor, allegedly committed
by the governor's body guards. The double murder remains unsolved, Photos: June TiglaoTuazon.

Seventy seven years ago, one of the most horrifying killings in Pampanga’s crime history happened in Bacolor, resulting in the deaths of members of  one the town’s most prominent families: 62 year old EDILBERTO JOVEN and his son RICARDO, age 24. Edilberto’s brother, FRANCISCO, 55, lived to tell the tale of this brutal murder, that has remained unsolved to this day, and that a cover-up was made to protect the masterminds.

The elder Joven, an Ateneo graduate, was a pharmaceutical chemist by profession. His father was Francisco Casas Joven, brother of Ceferino C. Joven, the first Civil Governor of Pampanga in 1901. In 1906, he married Margarita Palma, who died in 1919 and left him with 5 children. That same year, he was elected mayor of Bacolor, and was elected for a 2^nd term in 1922. By then, he had taken a second wife, Elena Samia, with whom her had 4 children; Ricardo or Carding, a law student,  was the eldest and only son from that union.

 After his mayoral stint, he worked for the Bureau of Internal Revenue as a drug inspector from 1924 to 1928. On the side, he joined groups like Recreativa Filantrofica, Ding Aficionados Bacolod and Ing Parnasung Capampangan for social and literary pursuits.

 In 1931, Joven re-joined politics by becoming the Provincial Board secretary, and 2 years later, during the term of Governor Pablo Angeles-David, Joven was named Assistant Director of the Pampanga Carnival of 1933 by the governor himself. His return to the political arena and party loyalty shift could have caused his untimely death and that of his son Carding.

 Joven has had a brush with violence before. In 1915,  a seemingly-sick cousin, Angel Joven, armed with a pocket knife, assaulted him while crossing the street, inflicting serious bodily injuries.

 But that fateful event in 1946 was different, as it was deadlier, and many believed, to be politically motivated for it coincided with the national elections. Joven, by 1945, was the President of the newly-formed Pampanga Democratic Alliance,  a leftist party that counts the National Peasants Union of the Hukbalahap, the Committee of Labor Organizations of the local Communist Party and the Filipino Blue Eagle Guerrillas as members, threw their support behind incumbent Sergio Osmeña’s presidential bid.

 On the distaff side was Pablo Angeles David who cast his lot on Senate Pres. Manuel Roxas of the Liberal Party. David had the unfortunate experience of being kidnapped twice by the Hukbalahaps in 1944 and 1945, by HMB Commander Silvestre Liwanag or “Kumander Bie”, that caused him so much suffering. Though he came back alive, the Japanese Kempeitai, seized him, believing he was now working for the HMB. His arrest would profoundly affect his wife Concepcion’s health, who died on Christmas Eve, 1944. It is no wonder then that as acting post-war Pampanga governor,  he took a hard stance against the Hukbalahap/HMB, driving them to the mountains and the hinterlands though intense pacification operations.

 As the Police Report recounted that on 23 April 1946, about 9:15 p.m., shots were heard coming from the direction of barrio Tinajero. When officers responded to the scene, they saw a parked jeep behind the Bacolor Elementary School. Searching further, they found the bodies of Edilberto, his son Ricardo, and Francisco, sprawled on afield some 100 meters away from the jeep. Miraculously, Francisco was alive, but barely, and he was rushed to the hospital where he was able to give a statement to the authorities, led by a certain Sgt. Pineda and the Chief of Police.

 In his account, Francisco  said that “on their way home just a few paces from the gate of Bacolor Elementary School, 3 masked men and armed with Thompson asked them to turn back their jeep where they came from. They made them walk about 100 yards into the rice fields where they were shot.” There appeared to be no motive for the killing, as the police stated at that time—2 days after the shooting--and the assailants remained unidentified.

 In October, 6 months after the killing, a certain Sgt. Ricardo Ocampo, an investigator of the 11^th Military Police Co., stationed in Lubao surfaced, with a signed affidavit attesting to his knowledge of the crime and the perpetrators behind it. He identified the killers as bodyguards of the present governor, Pablo Angeles David. In his explosive revelation, he said that a day after the murder, he met with Eliong and asked him about the murder case.

 Eliong alleged to have boasted that together with Nanding, and their companion bodyguards, carried out the plan, and that he shot the father-and-son Jovens with the submachine gun that caused their instant deaths. He shot the wounded Francisco again after noticing he was feigning his death. He said he wanted to shoot all of them on their heads, but Nanding was rushing to leave the scene, so Eliong was not able to do so.

 A few days after, Ocampo said he met with Nanding in San Fernando, who was en route to Manila. Ocampo confronted him about the Joven killings, pretending to praise him for his actions. At this, Nanding told him he already knew who Ocampo’s source was—the looselipped Eliong. Nanding admitted the killing, then afterwards, exacted from Ocampo the promise to keep secret their conversations.

At the military headquarters, Ocampo saw Nanding again who approached him and advised him to tell the Gov. Angeles the source of his version of the story so that the governor himself would know what to do with Eliong.

 After talking to the other bodyguards, Ocampo came to discover and conclude that Eliong and Nanding wanted to take credit for the Joven killings, that was allegedly ordered by the governor himself. Thus, by eliminating the opposition, victory would be assured for Roxas and Liberal Party candidates in Bacolor.

Sgt. Ocampo also managed to trick Lt. Ildefonso Paredes, Detachment Commander of the 111^th Military Police Co., into admitting his role in the plot, by bragging about being far better than the commander, having solved the case by himself.

 To this, Lt. Paredes allegedly retorted: “You don’t think that I know what happened? Do you believe my boys? I told you you could rely on them.” As a proof of his connivance, Lt. Paredes said that he did not go directly to the scene of the crime when summoned, but drove around different barrios to give the bodyguards more time to escape.

 Ocampo ended his narrative with a recommendation to confiscate the Thompson guns of the Gov. Angeles, fire them, have the shells examined by ballistic experts, and then compare them with the bullet shells found at the murder scene. He is certain that the tests will prove that one of the governor’s Thompsons was used in the commission of the crime.

 Despite these damning revelations pointing to the direct involvement of the governor, his bodyguards, and the collusion of the police, Sgt. Ocampo’s affidavit seemed to have been conveniently ignored. The investigation did not prosper, no arrests were ever made, and the double murder of the Jovens of Bacolor remains a cold case to this day, leaving a Joven descendant to observe: “When people in power are involved, expect a cover up. Politics then, as now, has not changed.”

 (MANY THANKS to June Joven Tiglao and Nona Joven Lim, for the photos, materials and additional information).

Ninu't Ninu Qng Kapampangan, 1936

446. Angeles’s Kick-Ass Olympic Taekwondo Jin: DONALD B. GEISLER III

KICK & SHOUT: Donnie Geisler, Taekwondo Jin from Angeles
Image: www.pinoybigbrother.com

Taekwondo was just an exhibition sports at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and the token delegation of jins sent to compete did surprisingly well—with Bea Lucero and Stephen Fernandez winning a pair of Bronzes. When the Korean martial arts discipline became an official Olympic sport in 2000, a Kapampangan jin from Angeles not only made it as a member of the 4-man taekwondo team, but also marched proudly at the head of the Philippine delegation at the Stadium Australia as the country’s flag bearer.

Donald “Donnie” David Geisler III (b. 6 Oct.1978) , at 21 years old, and 6 ft. tall had come to the Olympics arena armed with sterling national and international sporting credentials. The son of German-American Donald David Geisler, and Filipina Gracia Bayonito of Bicol, he grew up in Angeles, where his father, a former army colonel who served in Clark, opted to settle down to raise his family.

At age 7, Donnie  took up a course in taekwondo offered by his elementary school.  Mentored by a Korean trainer who taught Americans in Clark, the young Geisler was a naturally-gifted athlete, and soon became skilled in the sport. Later, he would practice regularly in a taekwondo school put up by his uncle in Pulungbulu. He seriously took up further training, and joined taekwondo tournaments along the way, even while coursing through Chevalier high school and later, in college, where he made it to the school's pioneer taekwondo varsity team.

By the mid-1980s through the early 1990s,  athletes like Monsour del Rosario, Arnold Baradi and Roberto Cruz helped  promote the popularity of the sport, through their podium victories at the Asian Games, World Taekwondo Championships and the SEA Games. 

In 1996, at age 18, Donnie was sent to Barcelona, Spain to compete in the very first World Junior Taekwondo Championships. The lanky jin pulled in a surprise by winning a historic Bronze medal. Two years later, he won a pair of Silvers---first in Asia’s premiere sporting event—the Asian Games in Bangkok, and at the 1998 World Cup Taekwondo Championships in Germany.

He would win the first of three Southeast Asian Games Gold, in Brunei Darussalam in 1999. At the star of a new millennium  he won a Silver in his weight class at  the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Hong Kong. In between, he managed to finish his Arts and Letter degree in Legal Management  from the University of Santo Tomas in 1999.

With such solid accomplishments, Donnie was expected to spearhead the debut campaign of the small Philippine team and do well in Sydney. He was entered in the Individual events (Men’s Welterweight 80 kg. class). In a tightly-contested first round match against Sweden’s Roman Livaja, both jins scored 4-4, but based on superiority, the Swede prevailed.

But Donnie’s Olympic dream did not end in Sydney. He would qualify again as one of 3 Filipino jins in the next 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece—where the hallowed Games began. This time, he faced the formidable Turk, Bahri Tanrıkulu, whose sister was an Olympian medallist. Geisler made a good account of himself, and fought like a pro. But like what happened in Sydney, the match ended in a tie—9-9, and once again, based on superiority, the Turk was declared winner (he would advance to the finals to win Silver). 

As the best-scoring non-winner, Donnie was called for a repechage—for a final chance to advance to the next round. His opponent was Hichem Al-Hamdouni from Tunisia. Bad luck hounded Donnie when, in the course of the fight, he dislocated  his ankle and suffered a double tendon injury, thus putting him out of contention and ending his quest for Olympic glory.

His post-Olympics career continued in the next few years with better results. In 2001, he was at the 21st Southeast Asian Games, where he won a Silver medal. In the succeeding editions in Vietnam (2003), and the Philippines (2005), he proved his superiority in the region by winning 2 Golds in a row.  At the 2002 15^th Asian Taekwondo Championships in Jordan, he added a Bronze medal to his collection. His last competition was at the 2007 FAJR Cup in Iran, where he had another Bronze finish. 

Believing that  “all work, and no play” makes for a dull life, Donnie jumped into the showbiz bandwagon and joined the Celebrity Edition of the hugely-followed Pinoy Big Brother  TV reality show in 2007, along with his actor-brother, Baron Geisler. For the next  50 days, Donnie gamely joined in the fray, accomplishing strange tasks, making strategic alliances with fellow PBB members and surviving eliminations.

Unfortunately, on the 56^th day, Donnie got evicted from the PBB house, concluding his brief showbiz fling.  But he stayed long enough to meet Jen da Silva who would become his wife and mother of his daughter, Frankie.  The young father also has a son, Robbie, from a previous relationship.

Donnie continued his love for the sport by founding the Donnie Geisler Taekwondo Training Center in 2009 which coaches and teaches children of all ages—including those with special needs. The center has a branch in Sindalan, San Fernando.

The national athlete, who is also a licensed taekwondo instructor and international referee, is also a respected coach. He was a former coach of the Philippine National Team, and currently is the Head Coach of Colegio de San Agustin in Makati, and the British School in Manila. His checkered career in taekwondo may have ended but his love for the sport that have earned honors for himself and the country continues with unabated passion.

SOURCES:
Image: www.pinoybigbrother.com

Donnie Geisler Oly FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/donnie.geisler

Donnie Geisler Taekwondo Training Center: https://www.facebook.com/pg/donniegeislertaekwondo/about/?ref=page_internal

Donnie Geisler Bio, Stats and Results/Olympics at Sports-Reference:

https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ge/donald-geisler-1.html

Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinoy_Big_Brother:_Celebrity_Edition_2

Donnie Geisler taekwondo interview video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGCsb2B1_wY

445. The Tears and Triumphs of ELIZABETH PUNSALAN, Olympic Ice Dancer, Lubao

ICE QUEEN, Elizabeth Punsalan, 5-time U.S. ice dancing champion, 2-time Olympian, has a full-blooded Kapampangan father, Dr. Ernesto Punsalan of Lubao. 

When skater Elizabeth Punsalan stepped on the ice with her partner-husband Jerrod Swallow at the Hamar Olympic Ampitheater in Lillehammer, Norway, she was a picture of poise and grace. She had done this many times before--with the eyes of the world watching, she had danced, skated--and won, despite the intense pressure of  competition.  But this time, the feeling was different. Behind Elizabeth’s seemingly calm exterior, was pain and quiet grief for her father, who, less than two weeks before, had been stabbed and killed by her own brother.

Elizabeth Punsalan (b. 9 Jan. 1971, in Syracuse, New York) was the daughter of Dr. Ernesto and Teresa Punsalan.  Her father, a surgeon, had come to America from Lubao, as a medical student. The family eventually settled in Ohio, where Dr. Punsalan began a thriving practice. Young Liz, on the other hand, was drawn to the sport of ice skating at the tender age of 7. Soon, she was competing in skating competitions, and winning ice dance contests. Early in her career, she found a partner in Christopher Rettstatt, and debuted at the 1989 U.S. Championships. They stunned the field by copping 8^th place in the country’s premiere sce-skating event.

That same year, Punsalan was paired with a new 22-year old talent, Jerrod Swallow. Their chemistry was apparent from the start. Under the watchful eye of their coach, Sandy Hess, the pair began training in Colorado Springs. At the 1989 Skate America, they placed 7^th, but did even better at the 1990 U.S. Championships, where they finished 5^th.  They capped their ice dancing campaign when they returned the next year, finally winning their first U.S. national title.

Coming in as the pair to beat at the 1992 U.S. Championships that also served as the Olympic team qualifier,  Punsalan and Swallow finished in third place, owing to a fall that Swallow made in the free dance. Disappointed at his performance, Swallow pondered about leaving the sport, but Punsalan encouraged him to continue. They would eventually marry in 1993 and become partners for life.

The tandem changed coach in 1992, and, under the help of Igor Shpilband, they again rose to skating prominence, rivaled only by the pair of Renee Roca and Gorsha Shur, who trained alongside them. But Russian-born Gorsha still had to meet another requirement to skate for the U.S.---an American citizenship. Punsalan and Swallow  waged a letter-writing campaign to Congress to delay the granting of his citizenship, as there was only one slot reserved for the U.S. at the 1994 Winter Games.  

This unsportsmanlike behavior was unwarranted as Punsalan and Swallow were uncontested all the way to the finals.  After Roca and Sur suffered spills, the beleagured pair eventually withdrew. Punsalan and Swallow thus, earned their second national title—and an Olympic spot --and began preparing for the Lillehammer event.

But just two weeks before they were set to go to Norway, a family tragedy befell the Punsalans. On the night of February 4,  1994, Elizabeth’s father, Ernesto,  was stabbed to death while asleep at his Sheffield Lake home in Ohio.  Worst, the assailant turned out to be Elizabeth’s third brother, Ricardo, who had been plagued with mental problems. The doctor was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph Hospital and Health Center in nearby Lorain. He was just 57.

Despite her sorrow, Elizabeth Punsalan decided to continue with her Olympic journey, at the urging of her family. "My father was proud of my skating achievements and would have wanted me to go on to Lillehammer," the Kapampangan-American skater said. "I will try to skate my very best there in his memory." After her father’s funeral, Punsalan and husband Swallow, immediately flew to Lillehammer  to begin their quest for an Olympic ice dancing gold.

In the rounds leading to the finals, the pair skated through their personal pain, and secured 14^th place. But they would eventually dropped to 15^th position when Swallow fell during a lift, sending him and Elizabeth crashing down on the ice—along with their Olympic dream.

Beaten but unbowed, the couple bounced back at the 1995 U.S. Championships, finishing as runners-up to their arch rivals, Roca and Sur. They were on a roll in 1996, 1997 and 1998 championships, when they reigned supreme by winning 3 national titles—and another chance to redeem themselves at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. This time, the pair finished strong in 7^th place in the Mixed Ice Dancing event.

The ice has not yet melted in Nagano, when, at the 1998 World Figure Skating Championships held in March in Minneapolis, Punsalan and Swallow capped their sterling ice dancing career with a 6^th place finish.

After retiring from competitive ice skating, Punsalan and Swallow continued to skate in ice shows for a number of years. Punsalan became an ice dance coach at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Once off the ice, Elizabeth also found a new interest and became an interior designer, while raising two sons, Gavin (13) and Alden (6).

When the 2019 U.S. Figuring Skating Championships unfolded in Detroit in late January, Punsalan and Swallow—five-time American champions themselves-- were there to welcome America’s best skaters to their city, which had become a prominent  international training ground for some of the greatest Olympic skaters on ice. The couple’s presence and their skating legacy would have certainly provided inspiration to the many young skaters who, just like young Elizabeth 2 decades before, have come to begin the realization of their Olympic dreams.

(POSTSCRIPT:  Younger brother, Ricky, was charged in the death of their father, but was found mentally unfit to stand trial. As of 2016, he remains in a mental health institution for at least the next two years. Punsalan’s mental health state will be reviewed again in December 2018.) 

SOURCES:

Elizabeth Punsalan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Punsalan

Elizabeth Punsalan photo: http://susanfieldofgold.blogspot.com/2014/12/day-7-liz-punsalan-and-jared-swallows.html

Skating squabble plays to soap opera background, by Milton Kent, THE BALTIMORE SUN,

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-02-16-1995047108-story.html

ICE DANCER DEDICATES GAMES TO SLAIN FATHER, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-02-16-9402160123-story.html

Punsalan says he is Jesus, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/03/05/Punsalan-says-he-is-Jesus/9170762843600/

Why do so many international Olympic figure skaters train in Michigan?

http://www.michiganradio.org/post/why-do-so-many-international-olympic-figure-skaters-train-michigan

*442. RAYMOND L. OCAMPO of Lubao: A Winter Olympian's Long, Lonesome Road to Calgary

SKI IS NO LIMIT. Lawyer-luger Raymond Ocampo Jr. did not just want to compete in the Olympics, he wanted to race for the Philippines, his country of birth. But his dream was put in peril due to passport issues. Photo: NY Times,

When a topnotch Kapampangan-American athlete and lawyer was asked in one job interview which he would prioritize—to handle a major corporate client or to compete in the Olympic, he chose the latter—and got hired anyway. Such is the commitment of Raymond L. Ocampo Jr. to his chosen discipline—luge—a winter sport that is hardly known in the U.S., much less in the Philippines. But Ocampo did not just want to join the Winter Olympics; he wanted to compete for the Philippines.

It had been 16 years since the Philippines was represented in a winter Olympics;  the first time was in the 1972 Sapporo games when cousins Ben Nanasca and Juan Cipriano competed in alpine skiing. The two were adopted and lived in Andorra, and took to skiing in the Pyrenees. They became so proficient that the Swiss government recruited them for an alpine skiing group, which paved the way for their Olympic stint under the Philippine flag.

Ocampo’s journey was unlike our pioneer Olympians. Born in Lubao on 10 Feb. 1953, his parents migrated to Canada when he was 11. The young Ocampo channeled his energies into sports of all kinds—as a high-schooler, he became a member of his school’s basketball team that won the state championship. Even as a political science student at UCLA and later, as a law student,  he was running marathons in between poring over legal tomes.

After passing the bar, Ocampo went into private practice and continued with his love of sports. In 1986, the year he got employed by Oracle Corp., he became fascinated with luge—a fast race on artificial ice tracks using racing sleds that could be maneuvered to reach over 140 kilometer per hour.

What was amazing was that Ocampo learned the sports from scratch. He would watch old video tapes of past winter Olympics editions, but when he reviewed the Saravejo Olympics of 1984, he was surprised to learn that tropical Puerto Rico was represented by a skier named George Tucker. He seriously began entertaining the thought of representing the country of his birth.

First, Ocampo began investing in the sport, spending as much as $20,000 alone for trips and equipment. He started intensive dry-land training on a sled with wheels and joining races. His first big one was at  the Empire State Games at Lake Placid in 1986, finishing a creditable 7^th in his over-30 age group. One of those he defeated was Puerto Rican George Tucker! The experience buoyed his confidence and thus began his  personal mission to ski for the Philippines.

But first, he needed the permission of the Philippine Olympic Committee in Manila via the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco. It took awhile to convince sports officials that his application was valid: the International Olympic Committee allows an athlete to represent the country of his birth so long as he has not competed in the same sport  for another country. Besides, as a dual Filipino-American citizen, he was eligible to don the Philippine tri-color.

The national committee however, required him to hold a Philippine passport first—and thus began a series of frustrating passport issues that imperiled his Olympic dream. ''Luging is hard enough,'' he realized, but ''the paper trail was the hardest part.'' A personnel from the consulate volunteered to take his case, and his cache of supporting documents to Manila to discuss his request with the Olympic committee.

But the official’s timing was bad; Corazon Aquino had just ousted Marcos, and a new government was being put in place. It did not help that the official had strong ties with the Marcos administration, so upon landing in Manila, he was withheld, and his papers were confiscated, including Ocampo’s pertinent documents. The disappointed Olympic hopeful had to start all over.

Ocampo personally sent a letter to Vice President Salvador H. Laurel. He sent another letter to Sec. Gen. Francisco Almeda—who had denied his first request. The United States Luge Federation even sent a letter of recommendation to convince the Olympic committee. When still a deluge of letters and telex messages from Ocampo were left unanswered, the weary athlete phoned Almeda directly, finally convincing him how serious he was. With that final go-signal, Ocampo gave a big sigh of relief as he mused:  ''It was an exhausting process…more exhausting than lugeing.''

When the 15^th Winter Olympics unfolded in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on 13 February 1988, the triumphant Ocampo marched into the McMahon Stadium, proudly  holding the Philippine flag up high. He was the lone Filipino among the thousands of international athletes who congregated in Calgary that year to vie for medals in the premiere winter sport games of the world.

Never has there been an athlete who have worked and prepared as hard as Raymond L. Ocampo Jr.—even before the Games had started. ''A medal is not something I'm shooting for,'' the Kapampangan-American said. ''But whether I win one or not, it would be nice to bring a focus to the Philippines for something other than the troubles they have been having. That's just the way I feel.''

 (POSTSCRIPT: Ocampo was fielded in the men's singles luge event and finished 35 out of 38 overall. In 2010, he served as an honorary captain of the U.S. Olympic Luge Team that competed in Vancouver,Canada. He is the current President and CEO of Samurai Surfer LLC, a private consulting and investment company)

SOURCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Ocampo

Raymond L. Ocampo Jr. , https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=667210&privcapId=338154

OLYMPIC PROFILE: RAYMOND OCAMPO; One-Man Luge Team With Tale of 2 Flags, By MICHAEL JANOFSKY, Nov. 29, 1987, https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/29/sports/olympic-profile-raymond-ocampo-one-man-luge-team-with-tale-of-2-flags.html

Pictures: https://www.h5.com/ray-ocampo-jr/

New York Times, Nov. 29, 1987

*434. WITH THESE GIFTS, I THEE WED

WEDDINGS ARE MADE OF THESE. A home reception...a spread of dishes... wedding cake...and lots of gifts, complete the wedding celebration. ca. early 1950s.

The tradition of giving gifts to couples united in weddings goes back to pre-colonial times. In many ethnic groups, the practice goes even before the actual wedding rites, as in the case of Pinatubo Negritos who pay dowry to the bride’s family in the form of “bandi”—treasured property in the form of bolos, bows and arrows.

In pre-Hispanic society, after the ceremony presided by a babaylan or a tribal priest/priestess is done, a series of gift-exchanging rituals is undertaken by the man and his family to counter the possible negative responses of the bride. Such instances include her refusal to attend the wedding banquet, or even to go into her new bedroom that she would be sharing with her spouse. The bride then is plodded with gifts of gold, jewelry, rich fabrics and animals to ensure that she will fully cooperate.

Kasalans during the Spanish times were comparatively austere affairs; the giving of gifts was encouraged to help start the couple in their new journey together. The superstitious belief that sharp objects—like knives and needles—were not appropriate as wedding gifts came from the Spaniards. In the more prosperous 1920-30s, weddings became more Westernized and larger in scale. Gift-giving became even more lavish and varied, as shops and stores sprouted along Escolta and Avenida, providing more showcases of gift ideas to sponsors, relatives, and invited guests.

One of the post-wedding highlights for the newlyweds is when they open boxes and boxes of gifts to find the surprises of their lives.  For example, when Juana Arnedo,  got hitched with Felipe Buencamino around 1870, her father, Apalit gobernadorcillo Joaquin Arnedo gifted her and his new husband a grand bale a bato. The mansion was built on over a hectare of lot in Capalangan, near Sulipan, Apalit.

In 1936, after Dr. Jesus Eusebio, noted ophthalmologist  from San Fernando, married Josefina Buyson of Bacolor in fabulous rites at San Guillermo Church, Jesus’ father, Don Andres Eusebio, sent them off to honeymoon in the U.S. via luxury liner Pres. Hoover, and then to Europe, all-expenses paid.

By far, however, the wedding gifts received by Doña Consolacion Singian and Don Jose M.Torres , are incomparable in terms of variety and range, enough to furnish a house. The guest list itself consists of politicos and senators, jurists and patriots, affluent hacenderos and business mavens, and the upper tier of Kapampangan high society. After their nuptials on 28 April 1912 in San Fernando, the bride made an inventory of their gifts that she wrote in her personal journal.

From one of their godfathers, Hon. D. Florentino Torres, Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, they received a complete set of black Vienna chairs with a marble table, a sofa and four chairs. Dna. Ramona Valenzuela de Goyena contributed more pieces of furniture with her gift of  six European chairs for dining.

Japanese-made gifts seemed to be very popular in the early decades of the 20th century as at least 9 guests gave them: D. Joaquín Longos (a very fine Japanese tea service), D. Manuel Gómez (a beautiful Japanese coffee service), Da. Juana vda. de Chuidian ( a pair of elegant and beautiful Japanese earthen jars), Srta. Belen Gómez (a dozen elegant and fine Japanese cups for coffee) , D. Joaquín Zamora, (a pair of capricious lacquered Japanese paintings). D. Vicente Gana ( a complete set of very fine Japanese tea service), D. Joaquín Herrera (elegant Japanese pillows), D. Pío Trinidad ( a pair of beautiful Japanese flowerpots),  and lastly, Fiscal of Pampanga D. Oscar Soriano (very fine and complete Japanese tea service).

The couple also received an astounding six sets of flowerpots with pedestals—led by Pampanga governor, Hon. Dr. Francisco Liongson, and Pampanga judge Hon. Julio Llorente who seemed to have bought the same “pair of elegant flower pots on pedestals” from one store. Curiously, D. José Monroy, Tomas Arguelles and Melecio Aguirre all gave “apple green pedestals with flowerpots”.  Well, at least they were color-coordinated.

Valuable silver--from tableware, coffee service, butter dishes, candy and fruit trays and decanters--were also gifted to the newlyweds. The most impressive was a silver toothpick holder  given by D. Godofredo Rodriguez. Whatever became of these silver gifts that are now antiques?

The practical D. Perfecto Gabriel must be commended for his very native gift—the only one from the bewildering assortment of European, Japanese, American, Chinese thingamajigs. Aside from a pocket watch, he gifted the Torreses an Ilocos blanket.

Today, some things never change when it comes to giving wedding presents.  There are gifts that are functional and practical,  there are many more that are recycled and inutile. The ubiquitous glass punch bowls and sets of glasses are still favorite giveaways, along with rice cookers, flat irons, towels and whistling kettles. That is why couples-to-be now have the derring-do to suggest their desired gift, explicitly written on their wedding invitations: “With all that we have, we’ve been truly blessed/ Your presence and prayers are all that we request./ But if you desire to give nonetheless/Monetary gift is one we suggest.”   With the money received...you may now treat the bride!

*431. MAY DAYS IN PAMPANGA

‘TWAS IN THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY. Kapampangan kids—including the children of Evangelina Hilario-Lacson and Serafin Lacson—dress up as Santacruzan characters, for the annual Maytime procession.

The merry month of May was named after Maia, the  Greek goddess of fertility, a mother figure in mythology. Thus, since the 18^th century, it has come to be the month associated with the Virgin Mary, with many special devotions and religious rites taking place in May.

Kapampangans not only hold the traditional Flores de Mayo processions which celebrates the titles of the Virgin listed in the 13^th century Loreto litany, but also conduct a different version of Santacruzan. Sabat Santacruzan--which dramatizes the finding of the True Cross by St. Helena-- is different in that the procession is halted several times by costumed actors who challenge the Reyna Elena in a poetic joust and engage her troop in a swordfight derived from yesteryear’s moro-moros.

Along with the Sabat Santacruzan are celebrated the various town fiestas and festivals of this province. Floridablanca, Mexico, Masantol, Sta. Rita, and San  Fernando observe the feast days of their patrons in various days of May. The Sampaguita Festival of Lubao, the Batalla of Masantol and the Pinukpukan Festival of Floridablanca all happen on this sunny month.

The first day of May also marks Labor Day, in celebration of laborers and the working class.  It brings to mind the memory of  the “grand old man of Philippine labor”—Kapampangan Felixberto Olalia Sr. (1903-1983), the first chairman of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) founded in 1980. Much earlier, he had founded the National Federation of Labor Unions, and became a champion of labor causes,  like  Crisanto Evangelista during the Commonwealth years. Olalia  and his family suffered for his work—he was imprisoned several times even in his advanced age;  his own son, KMU lawyer Rolando Olalia met a violent death in 1986, part of  supposed plot to rid the Aquino Cabinet of left-leaning members.

With May upon us, we look back at some of the past events of significance in Pampanga, which transpired on this fifth month of the year.

1 May, 1942. The execution of jurist-martyr-hero, Jose Abad Santos.

There are several conflicting dates of the hero’s death. What is known is, Abad Santos, his son Pepito, and Col. Benito Valeriano were captured by the Japanese on 11 April 1942 in Barili, Cebu. He was ordered executed by Gen. Homma and taken to Malabang, Lanao on 30 April.  Keiji Fukui, the interpreter during Abad Santos's confinement, supported by his diary notes, put 2 May 1942, 2 p.m., as the date of his death by musketry.  But the hero’s biographer, Ramón C. Aquino, claimed that May 7 was the date given by Pepito himself during his testimony at the war trials. Recently, the National Historic Commission of the Philippines, re-set the date to May 1.

1-18 May, 1910. Appearance of Halley’s Comet

Halley’s Comet made its appearance to the world, after approximately 76 years (it last appeared in 1835). People of Pampanga were struck with awe as the spectacular comet lit the skies before sunrise for 18 days.

4 May 1899. Philippine revolucionarios led by Gen. Antonio Luna burns San Fernando Church.

Not only was the church razed to the ground by revolutionary troops, but also the Casa Municipal and several houses to render them useless to the approaching American forces.

6 May, 1933. The Pampanga Carnival ends.

To celebrate the strides made by the province in the last two decades, the Pampanga Carnival Fair and Exposition--“the greatest concourse of people on the island of Luzon”—was held for 2 weeks, beginning on 22 April, 1933. The venue was the 12-hectare Capitol grounds in San Fernando. Appointed as Director General was the Hon. Jose Gutierrez David, Pampanga’s delegate to the 1934 Constitutional Assembly. More than a display of prosperity, the Carnival was also meant to be a concrete expression of local autonomy in keeping with the principles of a truly democratic government.Almost all of the 21 towns of Pampanga came to participate in the fair that was patterned after the national Manila Carnivals. The fair ended with the selection of Miss Pampanga.

7 May, 1866. Birth of Dña. Teodora Salgado, financier of the Revolution

During the Philippine Revolution, Kapampangan women came in full force to aid the revolucionarios. Not only did they activate La Cruz Roja (Red Cross) for the sick and wounded revolucionarios, but also funded the activities of local revolutionary groups.  On such generous financier was Teodora “Dorang” Salgado,  daughter of Joaquin Salgado and Filomena Basilio of San Fernando. The life of the “grand dame of San Fernando” reads like a telenovela: she was twice-widowed, thrice married, childless--yet she surmounted all these trials to emerge as Pampanga's most successful--and richest—businesswoman.

7 May, 1899. Gen. Aguinaldo moves the seat of the government to Angeles.

The revolutionary leader, coming from San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, transferred the seat of his government to Angeles. Mass was held in the town, attended by his soldiers.  Aguinaldo stayed in Angeles until July, when he moved his government to Tarlac.

12 May, 1812. The proposal to make Culiat a self-governing town is vetoed by Spanish friars.

Sixteen years after Don Ángel Pantaleón de Miranda, and wife, Doña Rosalía de Jesús, settled on a new land that grew and prospered to be Culiat, the residents proposed that their new town be given autonomy to organize its own governing body. The proposal was disapproved by friars led by Fray José Pometa.

12 May, 1962. Pres. Diosdado P. Macapagal moves the date of Independence Day from July 4 to June 12.

The United State, through the Treaty of Manila, granted  independence to the Philippines on 4 July 1946 to coincide with its own Independence Day. In 1962, Pres. Macapagal issued Presidential Proclamation No. 28, which declared June 12 a special public holiday throughout the Philippines, "... in commemoration of our people's declaration of their inherent and inalienable right to freedom and independence".  Republic Act No. 4166 formalized the date by proclaiming  June 12 as "Philippine Independence Day".

20 May, 1897. Insurrectos raid Talimunduc in Angeles.

On this day, a band of insurrectos led by a capitan from Barrio Tibo, Mabalacat raided Talimunduc (now Lourdes Sur) and recruited new members. Local officials managed to pursue and disband them, and 7 men were caught, including Crispulo Punsalana and Cornelio Manalang. They were supposed to be taken to jail in Bacolor, then the capital of the province, but they disappeared; rumors had it that they never got to their final destination and were all killed.

 21 May 1919, Major Harold Clark dies.

Major Harold Clark, the military pilot stationed in the Philippines and who gave his name to Clark Air Base, died in a seaplane crash in the Panama Canal Zone on this day.

28 May, 1870. Birth of Brig.Gen. Maximino Hizon, Pampanga’s  revolutionary hero.

This Mexico native became the caudillo of the Revolution in Pampanga who rallied Kapampangans to fight the Spaniards under Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary banner. He ordered the execution of the parish priests of Mexico and San Fernando, Pampanga, and later led attacks against Americans in a foiled attempt to recapture Manila. Hizon was captured by the Americans and exiled to Guam where he died of a heart attack in 1901.

*430. FOLK SONGS OF THE KAPAMPANGAN REGION

I WANT TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING. Kapampangans out on excursion trips usually brought their stringed instruments to make beautiful music while on the road, or while enjoying their picnic. People would sing along to add to the merriment of the moment. 

Pampanga’s musical traditions begin with folk songs and melodies. These are the first songs that you heard growing up, on your Ingkung’s knee; the lilting lullabye that Ima hummed in lulling you to sleep. These are also the songs that you sang in school, full of nonsense and made-up rhymes, songs about Atsing Rosing, Mariang Malagu and Kapitan Besyu.

They are the songs sang by peasant workers to fight off boredom and drudgery, to express pride in their labors, however humble. They are the stirring kantang Ukbu that galvanized a national movement, patriotic paeans to a country.

They are the dirgeful tunes you heard being chanted on Holy Week, the hymns and carols that you dutifully sang in church services and the frenetic beat that devotees danced to in annual kuraldals. From the plaintive serenatas of many a lovestruck swain, the sweet chords of a kundiman to the bawdy tunes that livened up many a drinking spree, these songs are a part of our race since time immemorial, wrought by anonymous wordsmiths, and handed down from generation to generation through oral tradition.

Folk songs we call them, music of the common people that says so much about how we live, love and laugh. There are various touchstones that define this kind of music.

First, the anonymity of authorship. Unlike formal poetry, where names like Crissot, Gallardo and Yuzon are associated, there are no such names to speak of in folk poetry. Because of the continuous transmission process, there are no fixed attributions and sources. Which means, the longer the transmission period, the more impossible it is to determine the originator.

Second, the language. Folk song lyrics are generated by common people who are largely untutored, with nary a care for the rigid disciplines of literature as taught in schools. They give free rein to ideas and emotions without a thought for forms, meters and aesthetics, telling stories with natural flair, earthy words and all. The lyrics are uninhibited, the language(s) raw, spontaneous and even mixed.

It is not:

Legwan king kaladua, legwan king katawan

Nung iti mikalu, sunlag ya ing legwan

Ugaling uliran, mayap a kaniwan

Selan at sampat lub, dit a pamagaral

Nung miakma iti king santing ning laman

Tunggen keng malagu, babai ninuman

But it is:

Y Mkaka kung Maria, mamuli yang tapis
Purung purung sutla, habing Camarines
Ninu ing tatalan, ninung talabitbit
I kaka kung Peping, anak ng Don Pedro

It is also:

Kabang teterak ku, lulundag, luluksu

Miyagnan ing sagakgak, pakpak ding gamat ku.

Emuku tiknangan, anggang mepagal ku

Susunga ku rugu, tutulung sipun ku..

And likewise:

One day, misan a aldo

I saw menakit ko,

A bird ayup kano

Flying susulapo

Third, folk songs are a work in progress. The Kapampangan folk song evolves by continuous alteration, as opposed to its formal literary counterpart where every word is fixed, the form precise and permanent. Folk songs are subject to versioning and customizing, in the course of their transference, a cultural process perfectly permissible to fit the needs of the times. Folk songs survive  because of effective adaptation and it is correct to sing:

Papatak, papatak

Magkanta la ring tugak

Lilintik-lilintik

Magkanta la ring itik

But it is also okay to sing:

Papatak, papatak

Magkanta la ring antak

Lilintik, lilintik

Magkanta la ring Instik!

With the ongoing cultural renaissance in Pampanga, Kapampangan folk songs are being rediscovered and enjoyed.  Folk songs are no longer just the interest of historians, musicologists and seekers of quaint entertainment, but of late, they have found favor as part of the repertoire of youth bands, mainstream singers local music icons led by Pampanga’s best known minstrel, Totoy Bato. After all, folk music has played a very important part in almost everyone’s life. Without a doubt, the folk songs we learned from our childhood, from our parents and friends have been instrumental in shaping our taste for music in all its melodious permutations. There is no better reason to start singing them again. So pick up a guitar, raise your voices, and sing your heart out!