73. THE OTHER BENIGNO

BENIGNO Q. AQUINO SR., (1894-1947) son of Tarlac revolutionary Servillano Aquino, father of Ninoy Aquino, was also a great wartime leader on his own. He became a district representative, assemblyman, senator, a Nacionalista campaign manager and a Secretary of Commerce and Agriculture.Early 1930s.

The Kapampangan hero-martyr, Benigno “Ninoy”Aquino Jr. is a familiar face to many Filipinos, as his smiling bespectacled likeness has been immortalized in almost everything—from postage stamps and 500 peso bills to his rebulto in Makati and in other parts of the country. Indeed, he has even given his name to our international airport. Not too many though are familiar with the achievements of his father, the senior Benigno Q. Aquino, much less his countenance, which was why I had to do a double take on this photo postcard when it was offered for sale in a recent memorabilia auction. I was told by the dealer that the subject was an “Aquino” relative, but since the autograph had faded and had become illegible, he was not quite sure as to the man’s true identity. Luck was on my side as I had just re-read Nick Joaquin’s “The Aquinos of Tarlac” a few days before. Comparing the photos of the book and the postcard, it was easy figuring out that the subjects were one and the same—same full cheeks, same profile, same chinky eyes! I had found a rare real photo postcard of our great wartime leader and Ninoy’s father, Benigno Q. Aquino Sr.!

Benigno Sr. was born in Murcia, Tarlac on 3 September 1894, one of three sons of the revolutionary general Servillano Aquino (Don Mianong) and Guadalupe Quiambao. His siblings included Gonzalo (1893) and Amando (1896). The family moved to Concepcion until 1897 when Don Mianong joined the Revolution against Spain. Benigno was sent off to Angeles to live with his aunts, Brigida and Maria who had married into the Ganzons. Later, he boarded in the school of Don Modesto Joaquin in Bacolor. When Don Mianong came home from the war with the U.S. in 1904, Benigno entered the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. An accomplished student in oratory and philosophy, the 13 year-old Benigno graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then pursued law at the University of Santo Tomas, completing the course and passing the bar in 1913 at age 18.

Benigno Sr. practiced his profession in Tarlac and it was there that he met and married Maria Urquico in May 1916. Maria, one of the country’s first certified public accountants, was the youngest daughter of an affluent rice merchant and katipunero Antonio Urquico and Justa Valeriano.The couple settled in Murcia, where Benigno ran a thriving sugar business in his own hacienda, and built a reputation as “a lawyer by profession and a farmer by occupation”. They bore 4 children: Antonio, Servillano, Milagros and Erlinda.

Meanwhile, his star as a politician also began to rise. He became Tarlac’s 2nd district representative in 1919-1928. In his first year as Senator (1928-1934), he lost his wife Maria in March 1928. As a young widower, he was linked with two recent Misses Philippines: Luisa Marasigan and Pacita de los Reyes. But when it was time to re-marry, he chose a 3rd cousin who was 16 years his junior—Aurora Aquino, whom he wedded on 6 Dec. 1930. They begat 7 children: Maria Aurora, Benigno Servillano (Ninoy) Jr., Maria Gerarda, Maria Guadalupe, Agapito (Butz), Paul, Maria Teresa (Tessie).

Benigno Sr. became an Assemblyman (1935-1938) and after that stint, was appointed as Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, where he made his mark as an ardent promoter of Philippine overseas trade, ensuring the upgrade of facilities needed for the efficient disposal of agricultural produce and establishing price control systems. His monthly salary as a secretary was donated to his favorite charities like the Hospicio de San Jose. He also became a successful campaign manager for the Nacionalista Party in 1938.

In the dark days of World War II, Benigno Aquino Sr. was among the members of the puppet Japanese government of Pres. Jose P. Laurel. With the liberation of the Philippines came his arrest and imprisonment at Tokyo’s Sugamo Prison in 1945. There, his health deteriorated and he developed a heart problem. Flown back home a year later, the emaciated Benigno Sr. was arraigned before the People’s Court and charged with treason. He was released provisionally on 11 September 1946, and returned to Concepcion to regain his health. Invigorated, he planned to re-enter politics in 1947 but then-president Manuel Roxas, a close friend, could not support him openly as he had been warned not to associate with so-called “Japanese collaborators” lest he lose the promise of precious U.S. aid for war-torn Philippines.

On 20 December 1947, Benigno Sr. attended the world bantamweight title fight between Manuel Ortiz, the Mexican champion and his kabalen, Tirso del Rosario of Tarlac at the Rizal Stadium. In the ensuing excitement of the 4th round in which Del Rosario was knocked down, Benigno Sr. suffered a fatal heart attack.

Four days later, the charge of treason against him was dismissed by the court. In an emotional eulogy delivered by distinguished statesman Claro M. Recto, he addressed the mistreated leader: “Benigno Aquino! Divine Providence, in claiming jurisdiction over you, has denied human tribunals the right to judge you. The government, in paying homage to you, has cleared you of the calumny heaped upon you without due process of law. And the nation, in associating herself with this demonstration of grief, proclaims that you have served her well…they will remember your splendid achievements and the noble example of your nationalism, virile and blameless, and they will call you a true patriot because you were always a true Filipino”.

72. KEMATEN: A Time To Mourn

UNTIL IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO GO. A funeral procession in Betis of a prominent Kapampangan. Priests, in full regalia, often accompanied the dead to their final resting place, a practice rarely seen today. Ca. 1938.

All Saints’ Day is always a time for remembering our loved ones who have moved on to the Great Beyond. Like the thousands of people who will troop to the campo santo today, I too, will be lighting candles and offering prayers for the souls of our dear departed: my father Gerardo Jr., my paternal grandparents and my twin sisters and brother who all died in infancy and who are collectively at rest in our family plot at the old Mabalacat Municipal Cemetery.

The custom of paying homage to the dead is a universal one, practiced early in Egypt by keeping lamps burning all night for the lord of the underworld, Osiris. In Celtic Ireland, burial caves were opened so that spirits could come up for airing, and candles were lit inside to illuminate them through the night. The Philippines too, has a long tradition of burial practices that called for disposal of the dead in hollowed-out wood. In other regions, the corpse was wrapped in mats or tree bark, interred in caves or underground or kept in jars as a form of secondary burial. All these, of course, were formalized with the coming of our colonizers and it was during the rule of Spain that the 1st funeral parlor was established in the Philippines in 1883. La Funeraria was founded by Carlos March at No. 3 Plaza Goiti, Manila. The parlor offered hermetically sealed coffins imported from Europe, advanced embalming techniques, assorted epitaphs, “French-like packing” (?) and guaranteed permanent service.

The Church dictated the rituals associated with the dead and the dying. The priest was always taken to the house of the sick for confession or “Beatico”. Back then, fees were being collected by unscrupulous frailes for walking the dead to his burial ground or for ringing the church bells a certain number of times. During a funeral procession, prayers were intoned at regular intervals called “posas”. When Todos Los Santos arrived, a misa cantada was said first at the church before people flocked to the cemeteries to decorate the tombs with calla lilies, marigolds, everlasting and palung manuk flowers.

Despite the rigid rules of the Church, folk traditions in Pampanga continued to be observed. There were certain portents of death that old Kapampangan folks believed in: the appearance of a black moth, a dog digging up the ground for no apparent reason, the dreaming of a loss tooth, combing one’s hair at night. To avoid untimely deaths, one should neither position his bed towards the door nor join a picture-taking session if the number of subjects is either 3 or 13. Early Filipinos believed in the mystical number 7, representing the 7 holes of the head. Our pre-colonial ancestors thus covered their dead’s faces with a death mask cut out with 7 holes. But Kapampangans also believed that an invisible 8th hole exists at the crown of the head of certain special persons, gifting them with the power to liaise between the dead and the living.

There are certain no-no’s when a death in the family occurred. The family of the deceased were prohibited from bathing, cleaning the house or getting a haircut. If the toes of the dead curled inwards, beware of another impending death. There was also the prevalent practice of burying a rosary with the dead, but it had to be cut first lest the dead became restless. (Death is the end of our physical life, but a rosary, in a chain form, is “endless”, so it also needs to be cut).

When it was time for the dead to be buried, the coffin, as was the custom in old Mabalacat, was placed in a “lankayan”, a stretcher of bamboos, which was then carried on the shoulders of 4 persons. Children and infants were carried across the coffin to prevent hauntings by the deceased. Taking out the deathbed through the window is another sure way to ward off ghostly encounters. After the interment, 9 days of pangadi and games followed, with young and old partaking in bulaklakan or juego de prenda, karagatan, card games and bugtungan (riddle games). In San Luis, a seat for the dead was reserved at the dining table on the 3rd day after the burial. Instead of food, though, a plate of ash covered with karakarikucha leaves was served for the soul so that it would give clues on where to find some hidden treasure; only after 9 days was real food offered.

The practice of pangangaluwa, prevalent in Tagalog regions, originated from the belief that souls in purgatory need not just prayers but material things to make the transition to heaven. As such, people, impersonating souls, go from house to house, seeking for alms as they sing gosos that end with an urgent exhortation to “hurry up or the heaven’s gate will close on us”. The period of mourning ends after a year—lukas paldas—and on this day, the black clothes worn by the bereaved family are finally replaced and kept in the baul. A pa-misa and a grand salu-salo cap this day, with everyone reminiscing about the past year and of the days with their beloved departed. Tears are wiped, laughter returns. Indeed, to everything, there is a season.
(1 November 2003)

71. BORN ON THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

HOME ON THE RANGE. The Zambales Mountain Range as seen from the Pampanga side. The range forms a natural border that runs through Zambales, Tarlac and Pangasinan. The Zambales range is home to Mount Pinatubo, which caused the century’s 2nd biggest volcanic eruption, awakening in June 1991 after 600 years of dormancy. Circa 1924-1926.

“I was poorly born on the top of the mountain...”, so goes a song I learned from the singing of my Mother. As Kapampangans, we grew up under the shadows of not just one but many mountains—the grand Bunduk Arayat in the east and the expansive undulating slopes in the west—the Zambales Mountain Range. When I was growing up, I knew very little of those nameless blue-grey mountains that loomed above Clark Field, paying less attention to them than the more familiar Arayat. The only time my interest was kindled was when I was in elementary school. I remember we were in our gardening classes, I must have been in Grade 5 then. Our vegetable plots were situated in an enclosed farm fronting the mountain range, so we had a commanding, unobstructed view of the landscape. We were at work on our pechay plots when a school boy stood transfixed before the mountains and shouted to us all that he could see an image of the Virgin on the flank of the mountain! This created quite a stir amongst us gullible 10 year olds. For days, I would strain my eyes on those mountains, and I swear that on a clear day, I, too, could see the faint outline of our Lady!

The Zambales mountain range forms a border that traverses the whole length of Zambales, extends into Tarlac and ends somewhere near Pangasinan’s Agno River. The mountains consist of old volcanic stocks, formed under intense heat and pressure from deep beneath the Earth’s surface, centuries ago. The mountain range is noted for its endemic tropical rainforests and flowering plants like wild orchids that number over 60 species. The mountains had no real agricultural value to Kapampangans, except for a thousand or so Aetas who were found living there in the 1900s. They were cultivating corn and bartering beeswax and rattan with lwlanders in exchange for cloth and salt.

Of course, the most famous occupant of the Zambales range is Mount Pinatubo, which awoke after 600 years of slumber in June 1991 and caused one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in modern history. (Other mountains in the range include Mt. Liwitan, Mt. Kontitik and Mt. Dalayap, whose virgin forests were mercifully spared from Pinatubo’s lahar flows).

There are no recorded documents of Pinatubo’s ancient upheavals, but there exists an oral account from the hardy Aetas, handed down from generation to generation and collected by the eminent anthropologist H. Otley Beyer in 1915. Aetas tell of a violent fight between Arayat and Pinatubo in which big boulders were heaved by the latter, levelling off the cone of Arayat. There were also accounts of earth tremors, rumbling noises, a rain of ash, hot rocks and lava flows that went on for years.

When the Americans came to build Fort Stotsenburg, they familiarized themselves with the rough terrains of the Zambales range. One of their first objectives was to scale Mount Pinatubo, which was one of the highest mountains there, almost twice the height of Arayat. This became a popular past-time for American soldiers who inexplicably nicknamed Pinatubo as “Ida’s Tit”. Camp Sanchez, a picturesque forest encampment set up along the artillery trail (also known as the China Sea Trail) that ran through the mountain borders of Pampanga and Zambales, became the starting point for the ascent of Pinatubo. Successful climbers who reached the peak could sign their names in a guest book up the mountain and certificates were given to those who reached certain designated distances. The conquistadores, as the triumphant American climbers were called, were given certain privileges for their feat, such as leaving their shirt tails out even during formal occasions.

It is interesting to note that in April 1907, a Marine Corps expedition under Maj. E. K. Cole hacked its way to Pinatubo. Accompanying the group was Warren D. Smith, a Division of Mines employee who concluded that “Mount Pinatubo is not a volcano and we saw no signs of its ever having been one, although the rock constituting it is porphyritic”. In November 1914, a Pvt. Edgar J. Eckton of the 7th Cavalry supposedly reached the apex of Mt. Pinatubo but there are half a dozen or so claimants to this feat of honor. In 1921, the first airplane flight over Mt. Pinatubo was successfully undertaken.

Years after the Pinatubo eruption, the range was blanketed with ash that gave it an eerie, snow-covered look, white and ghostly from afar. Today, the Zambales mountain range has regained much of its color and vegetation, forming a scenic backdrop once again to Pampanga’s phoenix-like rise to progress.
(26 October 2003)

70. PADRE MANING: The Life and Times of a Kapampangan Religious

KAPAMPANGAN MAN OF CLOTH. Fr. Manuel del Rosario y Valdez (1912-1987), age 27, shown as a young priest in his souvenir ordination picture, shortly after finishing his studies at the San Carlos Seminary. He was ordained by Manila Archbishop Michael O’Doherty. Ca. 1939.
THE CARDINAL & THE MONSIGNOR AT CLARK. Fr, Maning was a constant companion of Rufino Cardinal Santos. Sandwiched between 2 unidentified Clark Field officials are L-R: Fr, Alejandro Olalia (future Bishop of Tuguegarao), Cardinal Santos and Fr. Manuel del Rosario who are all Kapampangans Circa 1950s.

Msgr. Manuel V. del Rosario, or Padre Maning to his parishioners, was a Kapampangan priest who made his mark in Manila as the longest-serving parish priest of the San Roque Parish in Blumentritt, Sta. Cruz, ministering to the needs of the faithful for over 30 years. To me however, he was first and foremost my uncle, my Tatang Maning, half-brother of my mother, with whom I stayed, together with my younger brother and other transplanted cousins from Pampanga, in the early years of our careers in the big city of Manila.

In my case, he was a surrogate father for 2 years, and a very strict one at that. The daily use of the bathroom was limited to 10 minutes max--or else he would pound the door till we came out. Curfew was set at 10:00 p.m., after which the iron gates to the rectory were locked. Many times, I would scale the gates to get in because my graduate classes would end past that time. Inside the rectory, wearing sandos was a no-no. Oh, how I would try getting out of his way, but then I had to assist him in his daily Masses and help out in different church duties so there was no escaping his temper. Then again, it was Tatang Maning who provided us 100% support as we struggled to eke out a living in Manila, giving free shelter and food, supplementing our meager salaries with additional allowances and treating us out to fancy dinners when we needed a break from our usual pork and beans meals. When we got homesick, it was Tatang Maning who amused and entertained us, taking us out in his car for a quick spin around the city.

As a child, I knew early that Tatang Maning--from the way he was held in high esteem by my mother, aunts and uncles--was kind of special, extraordinary even. At the peak of his priestly career, Tatng Maning rubbed elbows with the rich, the influential and the famous. I have seen his albums with photos of him chummy-chummy with Pres. Diosdado Macapagal, having lunches with former First Lady Trining Roxas, opera star Conching Rosal, Ambassador Rogelio de la Rosa, diplomat Mel Mutuc and joining Cardinal Rufino J. Santos in his many travels abroad. This, indeed, was a far cry from his very humble beginnings as the 8th child of Emilio del Rosario and Josefa Valdez, in a family that would soon grow to include 19 more children!

Born on 4 July 1912, the young Maning spent his elementary days at the San Fernando Elementary School. He then took his secondary education at the Pampanga High School, graduating in 1927. Two years later, in June 1929, he entered the San Carlos Seminary. Because the family was financially challenged (his other brothers were also taking expensive courses in Medicine, Law, Dentistry and Accountancy all at the same time), it took 10 years for him to be ordained. No less than the Most Rev.Msgr. Michael O’Doherty ordained him to sacred priesthood on 26 March 1939 at the Manila Cathedral. His first assignment was as a co-adjutor of San Juan del Monte and as Chaplain of the National Mental Hospital. In October 1939, he was sent back to his home province, serving briefly as a co-adjutor in San Fernando, before being assigned in 1940 to the parishes of Balanga and then Orion, Bataan as assistant priest.

In October 1941, he was finally named as the cura parocco of Zaragosa, Nueva Ecija. My then 13-year old mother kept him company there, and she would recount how Tatang Maning would negotiate the dirt roads on horseback just to reach out to his parishioners! His efforts were rewarded 6 years later with his appointment as Sub-secretary of Finance at the Arzobispado de Manila. Concurrently, he was also the Chaplain of the La Loma Cemetery.

Finally, on 15 May 1951, Tatang Maning was installed as the parish priest of San Roque Parish where he would stay on for the next 3 decades of his life. His first task was the renovation of the church, completing the project in 1952. In the next few years, he extended the church to include a rectory and a social hall. He was also instrumental in the erection of two barrio chapels in Obrero and Manuguit in 1963-64.

When Kapampangan Diosdado P. Macapagal ascended the presidency, Tatang Maning became his Spiritual Director. Likewise, he struck a deep friendship with fellow Kapampangan Cardinal Rufino J. Santos, often traveling to Europe together. When Cardinal Santos was elevated to the rank of a Cardinal in 1960, Tatang Maning was part of his entourage to Rome. In 19 April 1960, he was accorded the distinction of being named Privy Chamberlain of his Holiness, Pope John XXIII. Three years later, he was again named as Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness, Pope Paul VI. In 26 March 1964, he celebrated his Sacerdotal Silver Jubilee with a Testimonial Dinner given in his honor at the Winter Garden, Manila Hotel, an affair attended by no less than President Macapagal and the First Lady, Eva Macapagal.

Long after I have flown the Blumentritt coop and established my independence, I would still occasionally see Tatang Maning in his regular visits to Pampanga where he would make the rounds of the residences of his brothers and sisters where most are settled. By then, he was already retired, living with Imang Susing, another half-sister, in his spacious Marikina house, together with his beloved canines and a menagerie of exotic animals. Already in frail health, Tatang Maning passed away of emphysema on 25 Sept. 1987 at the Cardinal Santos Hospital. His remains were brought back to the San Roque Parish where his longtime parishioners paid their last respects.

Sometimes, when I pass by Blumentritt and see the church and its familiar grounds, I still think wistfully of Tatang Maning, my uncle priest, hoping to see a vision of him saying Mass, back hunched before the altar. I know a part of him still dwells there, in that busy Church which he loved best, where he touched the lives of thousands of people---wayfarers, devout women, beggars and vendors, babies, little children who had received the Holy Host from his hands, heroic sufferers, kindred spirits, sinners and souls unknown to him---living his Faith to the fullest in the service of the Lord.
(18 October 2003)

69. MUSIC TO OUR EARS

MAKING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC TOGETHER. Music runs in the family of Felicidad David and Dionisia Ayson of Bacolor as evident in this photo that shows them with their children and their musical instruments they: bajo, violin, flauta and clarinet.Ca. late 1900s.

Kapampangans have an affinity to music like no other. Just listen to the soaring vocals of international star Lea Salonga (Angeles City). Or that of comedian-singer Nanette Inventor (Macabebe), Rico J. Puno (Minalin), an exponent of OPM in the late 70s, and Mon David (Sto. Tomas). Earlier, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the golden voices of Cenon Lagman, Tawag ng Tanghalan champion, Fred Panopio, Flor de Jesus (Joni James of the Phils.) , operatic star Fides Cuyugan-Asensio and Dario Fajardo (Harry Belafonte of the Phils.) ruled the airwaves. Kapampangans today continue to illuminate both the national and global stage with their gift of music in all its genres—pop, classical, folk—from Ysagani Ybarra of Mabalacat who uses his music for his advocacies and young singer Antoinette Taus to Leventritt Gold Medallist pianist Cecile Licad and Angeles-born Conrado del Rosario, a former student of composition of Lucio San Pedro, and winner of a Young Artist Foundation Grant who now conducts and concertizes in Europe.

Our love for music is deeply rooted in our culture. A turn-of-the century American historian observes: “Music with the Filipinos holds a high place in their esteem. And it is music such as we know that particularly appeals to them…The native has an inherent passion for music, a fact which stands as a guarantee that there is more good than evil in his composition..”.

Kapampangans have always been singing their hearts out long before the Spaniards came. Our forebears sang basultos, folk songs which contained unusual, metaphorical and paradoxical themes. Goso is a song that contains a moral message, while a pamuri, like a paninta, is a paean to love. A Kapampangan peasant also sang songs that talked of the toils of his labor or kantang pang-obra. Juvenile songs like “Sisingle, sisingle, or Bulan, Bulan, balduganan mukung palang..” were sung or chanted by children at play.

When the Spaniards came and organized colonial schools, Music, along with Latin, Rhetoric and Divinity subjects, was incorporated in the curriculum. Young women were taught in both instrumental (mostly piano, harp) and vocal branches of the art. American educators kept music as a basic subject in schools. Two years after the University of the Philippines opened its College of Music in 1916, three Kapampangans enrolled in the music course. During the schoolyear 1923-1924, Kapampangan students of music numbered 6.

The flourishing of Filipinized zarzuelas or musical plays, also deepened many a Kapampangan’s love for music. Pablo Palma of Bacolor organized his own band, Orchestra Palma, that composed the music for Juan Crisostomo Soto’s “Alang Dios”. Local bands, in fact, were staples of Pampanga town fiestas, with itinerant musicians making the rounds of balens, adding their distinct sounds to the festivities. During the re-opening of the Escuela de Artes y Oficia of Bacolor in 1893, for instance, all the towns of Pampanga were required not only to build decorative arches but also to field their brass bands to welcome the Governor General and the Archbishop of Manila.

Soon, Kapampangan bands were making their presence felt in national competitions. At the 1909 Manila Carnival band competition, the 32 member-band from Angeles won First Prize for its stirring rendition of Crème de la Crème by Tobani, under the patronage and care of Don Mariano Cunanan of Mexico. Previously, the band was under the successive batons of Prof. Higino Herrera of Angeles, Jose del Prado of Manila and Lucino Buena of Baliwag, Bulacan. The band’s instruments were all imported from Paris, France. Another band of note was the Banda ’31 founded by Temang Mangio who co-founded this famous Bacolor band with husband Pepe Baltazar of Sasmuan.

Even in the dark days of our colonial past, music kept Kapampangan heroes’ spirits up. Agapito Conchu of Guagua, executed as one of the 13 Martyrs of Cavite, played the church organ and taught music in that province. And it was said that the last request of famed revolutionary Kapitan Isabelo del Rosario before his execution was for him to play his violin one last time. His wish granted, he picked up his violin and played “Danza Havanera Filipina” while tears streamed down his eyes. When the last strain of the song faded, he smashed his violin to smithereens and calmly walked to the gallows to his death in 1901. Indeed, for the Kapampangan, music is not just in his heart, but in his blood.
(11 October 2003)

68. WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK

HEARTH AND HOME. Future mothers go about their Home Economics class with seriousness and youthful zeal in Guagua Elementary School. Schools often had a small structure that replicated a real house complete with kitchens and rooms for reality training. Ca. late 1920s.

GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS. Boys in an unidentified Central Luzon school tend to their vegetable plots lush with “mustasa”, watched over by their gardening teacher. Ca. 1920s.

In my elementary days, the subjects I least liked were the so-called Industrial or Vocational Arts, which required mostly manual labor and nothing else. For several years, I feigned sickness of all sorts and used my frail health as an eternal excuse not to take up “shop” where my classmates made wicker baskets that no one could use and dustpans recycled from old cooking oil cans. But in my gardening class, there was no escape. My teacher, Mr. Jose Rodrillo, reasoned that the outside air was going to be good for my lungs and so, I had no choice but to take his dreaded class. Mr. Rodrillo had a reputation of being a terror teacher, and the image of him screaming directions to us on the proper fertilization of our mustasa, pitse and okra plots as he puffed away on his cigar, remains vivid as a scary memory of my Grade 5 days!

Education under Spain did not have these subjects; instead, instruccion primera (primary schools) offered such courses such as grammar, rhetoric and poetry, Latin, Greek and good manners and hygiene. The coming of the Americans changed all that. In their first decade of rule, the superintendent of Public Instruction of the Philippines, Fred W. Atkinson (1900-1902) emphasized the need for industrial and manual education for Filipinos, perhaps imagining a new generation of Filipino greenthumbs, handymen and perfect homemakers. The Director of Education further amplified in his 1926 report: “ The aims of Industrial Education are found in the capacities and needs of the people and in the natural resources of the Islands and their backward state of development. The people possess a considerable degree of manual dexterity coupled with infinite patience, while their economic and social well-being is below that existing in many countries.”

There were 4 principal areas of Industrial Education: Household Industries, Mechanical Trade, Housekeeping and Agriculture. Thereupon, elementary schools enriched their curriculum with culinary arts, trade, farming and business. Later, this expanded to include needlework, woodwork, pottery, rope-making, ironwork, carpentry, nursing and masonry as school kids progressed to higher grades.

The Bacolor School of Arts and Trades holds the distinction as being the oldest vocational school in the Far East. It was founded in 1861 by Don Felino Gil of Porac as Escuela de Artes y Oficio, on land donated by affluent residents headed by matriarch Dña. Geronima Suarez. When the insular American government put a special emphasis on vocational training, the trade school, which was partially damaged during the last war, revitalized its program in 1909 with advanced courses in furniture and cabinet-making, blacksmithing and iron work for its two hundred students.A second trade school, located in Apalit, was similarly run by Americans. Today, the Bacolor School of Arts and Trades is known as Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trades, renamed after Pampanga’s governor who hails from Bacolor town.

Agricultural training in Pampanga began under Spain with the establishment of an agricultural school in Magalang. It ceased operations in 1898, but was reconstructed and re-opened in 1917 with the help of American teacher Kilmer O. Moe and Assemblyman Andres Luciano, with funds donated by Gov. Ventura. Garden Day fairs, another American invention encouraged by Director of Education Frank Russell White (and Tarlac’s 1st American teacher) were occasions to celebrate and show off the agricultural produce of schools as well as the progress of towns, capped with mass calisthenics, sports competition and the search for Garden Day Queens. For girls, Home Economics was offered as a specialized course in elementary and high school levels. The School of Household Industries, in an effort to attract more women workers, opened 6-month ncourses in lacemaking and embroidery.

“To raise the standard of living, to improve the home and homelife, to provide better methods of doing routine work..and to provide the home with necessary household conveniences..”
Such were the goals of this major educational thrust that the Director of Education proudly proclaimed. But critics were led to observe that the tragedy of the American effort to encourage Industrial Education in local schools lies in the fact that it merely catered to selfish pro-American interests. Linens, tablecloths and lingerie—produce of many a Home Economics course—were chiefly made for American consumers. Trade schools were built in response to the American government’s need to have more buildings. Likewise, agriculture was emphasized, not just to feed Filipinos they say, but to answer America’s raw material requirements.

Today, gardening and home economics have all but disappeared in school curriculums, replaced by new practical art subjects that require simple manual skills (as in assembling pre-cut wood pieces !) and hi-tech tools rather than sprinklers, needle and thread and coping saw. After all, who needs back-breaking manual labor when life is hard enough?
(4 October 2003)

67. Pampanga's Churches: STA. MONICA CHURCH, MINALIN

SANTA MONICA CHURCH OF MINALIN. The ancient brickstone church with its impressive retablo-like façade has been standing witness for centuries to Minalin’s storied past. Here, a funeral procession is about to start. Ca. late 1950s.

Minalin boasts one of the most beautiful churches in the country—the Sta. Monica Church—which features a most unique façade, mimicking that of a giant retablo. A 1619 mural also can be found on one wall of the church, featuring naïve drawings of mysterious origins. Then again, Minalin’s past has always been replete with legends—such as the time that pieces of lumber stocked at Sta. Maria and meant for the construction of the church were carried away by floodwaters to a hilly place called Burol. This mystifying event gave the town its name—“minalis la ding dutung, minalis ya ing pisamban” (the lumber moved, and so must the church). A certain town head, Diego Tolentino, somehow erred in writing down “minalis”, and the town was referred to as Minalin ever since.

One other version though tells of a Malayan settlement headed by Kahn Bulaun, a descendant of Prince Balagtas. The place they say was famed for its beautiful women and when the Spaniards came, they described the town as “mina linda de las mujerers”. Subsequently, Chinese traders who frequented the place abbreviated the description to “Minalin”.

Minalin, as a place, was already in existence as a visita of Macabebe, as early as 1614. It was detached from its matrix in the same year but it was only in 1618 that a regular priest, P. Miguel de Saldana, was assigned to Minalin. On 31 October 1624, the parish was accepted as a vicariate with P. Martin Vargas as vicar prior. Sta. Maria, its pioneer barangay, was formed from an area of land that was ceded by the Datu of Macabebe to settlers Mendiola, Nucum, Lopez and Intal in 1638. It was named after the settlers’ wives, who were all named Maria.

There are no records as to who built the church, although it has been attributed to the work of P. Manuel Franco Tubil in 1764. One documented source cites the church’s completion before 1834. It was reconstructed at various stages: in 1854, 1877 (by P. Isidro Bernardo), 1885 and 1895 (repaired by P. Galo de la Fuente and Vicente Ruiz, respectively). The church, with Santa Monica as its titular patron (Feast Day, May 11) is 52 meters long, 13 meters wide and 11 meters high. The last Augustinian fraile to serve Minalin was P. Faustino Diez and the 1st native priest was P. Macario Panlilio.

The most notable architectural feature of the Santa Monica Church is its retablo-like façade. The main entrance and windows are bordered with a floral décor evocative of early folk altars. Corinthian columns act as support to the triangular pediment that is topped with a lantern-like kampanilya. In the early days, a lighted beacon was placed on top of the apex of the pediment to guide fishermen as they made their way from the river to the town. The structure is further complemented with a short row of balusters. The semi-circular niches hold painted stone statues of various Augustinian saints, and these are harmoniously designed to blend with the rose windows.

Flanking the church are two hexagonal 4 storey bell towers, a little squatty and low, yet solidly built. There are 4 century-old bells, dated from 1850 to 1877, dedicated to San Agustin and Sta. Monica. A low stone atrium with rare capilla posas encloses the convento. The Sta. Monica Church of Minalin stands as another sublime example of Pampanga’s religious heritage.
(27 September 2003)