Rizal: Viva San Clemente! Higantes of Angono, Rizal

Today, I finally got to visit the town of Angono, Rizal which is known as the Art Capital of the Philippines and the hometown of two national artists namely Carlos "Botong" V. Francisco for painting and Lucio D. San Pedro for music. Our purpose was to check out the annual Higantes Festival as well as the fluvial procession in honor of the town patron San Clemente held every November 23.

But what a way to start my day! Since on the way to Angono, I got to witness Philippine road courtesy at its worst! Despite the fact that it was still early in the morning, traffic was slow no thanks to the jeepneys who had virtually occupied all three lanes of the road to pick up passengers. Ironically, the shoulders and parking slots on the side of Sta. Lucia East for example was empty and available for use. If we phase out jeepneys from the streets and replace them with an efficient transport system, I could bet you we wouldn't have traffic since most of the grind is a result of undisciplined jeepney drivers and that is virtually all of them!

You had tricycles on the left as well as center lanes when these slow creatures should use the right lanes. In fact, the law does not allow them on national roads! They are being tolerated and yet they cruise along the busy metropolis streets as if there are no vehicles impatiently following behind them. You had vehicles creating their own counter-flows. Indeed, what a way to start my day!

But my excitement overtook my impatience and lack of sleep especially as we neared Angono. The access road to the town was blocked so we had to enter it through a side street. We were able to park in front of the town plaza. From there, it was a 1 kilometer walk to the church where the parade and procession was going to originate from. We arrived at the church just in time for the ending of the Mass and the beginning of the festivities in honor of San Clemente.

It was one big party on the streets of Angono as the loud and rambunctious mardi gras-like parade made its way around town. Of course, there were the higantes, which are colorful paper mache giants measuring about ten to twelve feet in height.

I heard that higantes used to be found in fiesta celebrations around the country. One story of its origin traces back the roots of this practice to the Spanish colonial period. Hacienda owners were wary of expenses and thus prohibited all celebrations except for one annual fiesta. To make the best of a gloomy situation, the townsfolk borrowed an art form imported from Mexico by Spanish friars and created larger-than-life caricatures of their Spanish landlords, a sly joke to get back at them.

As Angono-based painter Nemiranda recounts, there used to be only two or three higantes at the start of the procession. But because of the large number of artists, which at that time included Botong Francisco, Angono was not only able to maintain this practice. The town elevated it to an art form thanks to creativity of the many artists of the town who made their own versions of the higantes.

But I would learn that the higantes are just one aspect of this merrymaking. Following them was the procession proper. But this was quite an unusual procession led by altar boys in shorts and rowdy revelers following close behind. Expect to get wet since water is flying all over the place as participants chant "Tubig! Tubig!" asking the people around to throw water at them. Just pray that you don't get hit by a water gun of some wise guy who gets his supply of water from the canal along the street.

The bulk of the procession was composed of parehadoras, groups of young girls from every barangay, in colorful costumes, wearing wooden slippers (bakya), and each holding a wooden boat paddle (sagwan), marching together and stomping the ground in a uniform beat as they walked around town followed by a marching band.

And there were various groups of townsfolk in themed spoofs of pop culture icons. I wonder how Kris Aquino would react if she saw who spoofed her and the 26K. Haha! Towards the end of the procession were the andas bearing three images. The first was that of San Isidro Labrador. A little further back was that of the town patron San Clemente escorted by the Knights of St. Clement in red t-shirts. And at the end of the procession was the image of the Virgin Mary escorted by a bevy of young girls in white dresses. Bamboo pole-bars with hanging ornaments were installed along the route. These were raised by levers on either side as an image passed under it.

We met up again with the parade at the town plaza where it slowed down as louder chants of "Tubig! Tubig!" could be heard, with the crowd summoning the operators of a water truck from Manila Water to hose them down and drench them wet! Everyone wanted his or her share of the water as if it were manna from Heaven.

But the activities did not end there. The images still had to be brought to the banks of the Laguna de Bay where they would be enshrined in a floating pagoda for a fluvial procession. We decided to take a tricycle going there since it was still a distance away. The pagoda was a simple tent constructed from bamboo. As the last image was brought on board, the pagoda set sail.

We didn't finish the entire procession since we wanted to visit the Angono Petroglyphs. On the way back to the plaza, we saw the Blanco Family Museum but since we were on a tricycle, we couldn't stop.

We got my car and tried to ask around for the petroglyphs. Everyone we asked from the tricycle drivers, the traffic enforcers to the car wash attendants (my car was full of mud so I had it cleaned) had this puzzled look on their faces when we asked about the petroglyphs. Ordinary people in Angono do not know that they have a national cultural treasure in their town. And there were no signages along the main roads pointing to it either!

Part 2: Angono is the Art Capital of the Philippines
Part 3: Angono Petroglyphs in Binangonan, Rizal

Bulacan: Bulacan heritage groups react to imminent transfer of Mercado House

I have not seen the Bagac project personally. But from several friends in the Heritage Conservation Society, I was able to get the following: there are already about eight to ten heritage houses that have been transferred to the property in Bagac, Bataan. Many of them are reportedly from Bulacan. From Pampanga, there are two namely the Reyes House from Candaba, which was said to be the oldest and one of the grandest homes in Pampanga before it was transferred, and an unidentified house from Mexico. Also purchased was the Enriquez Mansion on Hidalgo Street, Quiapo which will be transferred soon.

Another home rumored to have been purchased is the Mercado House in Bustos, Bulacan which was ironically featured in the 2006 heritage homes calendar of Shell. Obviously, this house does not need to be “saved” and is best kept where it is standing right now.

Bustos, Bulacan has a very unique architectural style found nowhere else in the country. Because of its proximity to the forest and mountains, the Mercado House was built like a fortress. This unique type of 19th century house found only in Bustos is characterized by its all stone exterior since it was unlike the regular bahay na bato which was stone below and wood above. There are said to be about 2 to 3 of these houses left in Bustos and the Mercado House is arguably the best and grandest example of these.

It has carved stone corner pillars and carved stone garland and crucifix motifs in the entrance. The house also had peep holes for rifles to aim at tulisanes. The town thus has a different air and taking the house out would leave a large vacuum in the historical fabric of the community.

After hearing of the news, the Pamanang Bulacan Foundation immediately called for an emergency meeting of its Board of Directors. They have also alerted Governor Josie dela Cruz about these developments and we will get her response soon. I spoke with the chairman of the foundation who voiced out his strong opposition to the move. Maybe for the less-signifcant houses, it would not raise too much of an alarm. But for a house as prominent as the Mercado House in Bustos which is significant not only to the town but to the entire province of Bulacan, that is a different question. It just shows that when you go around shopping for the best examples of Philippine heritage and uproot them from their communities, a lot of ethical questions arise.

The problem is the fact that the purchases are sometimes kept from the local community, especially the local heritage foundations. And thus, they are caught off guard. When they find out, it is already too late. Watch out Bulacan since they're also after the Constantino House in Balagtas (Bigaa).

On the Bagac property, it was also discovered that there are many issues regarding the location and there is a large possibility that transferring them may do more harm than good in the long-term. First, no lime plaster was used to protect the stones. And given that the houses were reconstructed right beside the sea, the strong winds could easily wear out and weather the delicate adobe. The air will also cause salt encrustation on the stone which would lead to the disintegration of the adobe. Damage to the adobe would thus be faster because of its location by the sea.

Second issue is the fact that the person tasked with reconstructing the homes is not a trained restoration architect. As a result, the reassembling of the houses is not correct, proportions are wrong, unnecessary embellishments were added, and the setting is just not right so houses look funny and out of context. The way the “town” is laid-out does not follow any Spanish colonial tradition in the Philippines and is not authentic to any period of our history.

Some homes are from urban areas where in the natural setting, they are supposed to stand side-by-side and close to the street. One example is a house from Binondo which is a row house. It is funny to see a row house without the row and even a garden in front!

Issues of flooding also came out. The houses should have been reconstructed further inland. It is reported that the Bagac Church which is already one kilometer inland is still reached by flood waters especially when the waves are high. Moreover, we all remember the West Luzon Fault which became news when the issue of the safety of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in neighboring Morong was raised. Thus, the proximity of Bagac to a faultline makes the property prone to earthquakes and more so, because of its seaside location, to tsunamis.

Again, we repeat our call for a moratorium on this project until it is discussed in length in the proper forum.

OT: Congratulations to Manny Pacquiao on his victory! Thank you for lifting up the spirits of the Filipino nation. But Santa Banana! I will have to agree with Emil Jurado on his spending and gambling spree. As he writes "somebody like Pacquiao who is idolized by millions of Filipinos also has an obligation not to indulge in conspicuous consumption while millions languish in poverty." Check out the full column here.

Photo credits: Philippine Ancestral Houses (by Fernando N. Zialcita, et al)

Pampanga: Giant Lantern Festival 2006

It's a spectacle you should not miss! A showcase of Filipino ingenuity, San Fernando's giant lanterns never fail to bedazzle the crowd! Watch twelve barangays battle it out with their 18-foot lanterns, each with at least 5,000 light bulbs, on December 16, Saturday, 7 p.m. at SM City Pampanga, City of San Fernando. Check out a previous entry on the festival here.

It's best to arrive at the venue early. I suggest you park at SM City Pampanga before lunch. Have lunch there, watch a movie or whatever since if you arrive later than that, traffic will start to get bad since over 100,000 people watch the event annually. Also park near the exit since you'll have a hard time getting out when the event is over. For more information, contact the City Tourism Office at (045) 961-5684.

Ivan About Town in the news
While I was doing my regular Internet search, I found the following:
■ Old houses mirror revolutionary past (15 Nov 06, PDI) - This Inquier article quoted one of my blog entries on San Miguel, Bulacan. Yikes! It just shows I'm being read. Haha! I hope my good friend Prof. Ambeth Ocampo does not get mad at me for my comments. But I really am hopeful that the NHI will declare San Miguel a National Historical Landmark soon;
■ Mekeni Tuki Ka! reaping rave reviews from Kapampangans abroad (11 Oct 06, Pampanga News) - Wow! Governor Mark Lapid thanked me for helping promote the Pampanga Tourism MTV and uploading it on YouTube.com. Over 28,000 have viewed the video as of today;
■ Pampanga heritage supporter is 2006 'Unlad Pilipinas' winner (14 Sept 04, SunStar Pampanga)

Pampanga: Pio Chapel and the ethics of transferring heritage structures

It's time to post again about my Philippine travels. Today, I visited Porac, one of the towns of Pampanga. Although Porac is more known for its natural sites such as Dara and Miyamit Falls as well as the Porac Highlands, it also plays host to some of Pampanga's important cultural heritage structures. One of these is the last intact (meaning unrenovated) hacienda chapel in the province which is located in Barangay Pio.

I have been to Pio several times before but we decided to visit today after it had been rumored that someone had purchased the chapel and will be transferring it to Bagac, Bataan! To give you a backgrounder on the Bagac project, check out this PDI column. As a result of the news, the Pio Chapel is fast becoming a rallying point for Pampanga in the fight to preserve its heritage and is now sparking a debate on the ethics of transferring heritage houses and structures.

Heritage structures must remain where they are because they are part of the historical fabric of the communities they are located in. There may be some cases however when transferring a heritage structure may be better than leaving a structure where it is, especially when it is highly likely that the structure will be lost or demolished in the near future.

But, when you go shopping for heritage houses and structures, especially in places where they are an important part of the historical fabric of the community, is that right? I was told that many of the houses were purchased from Bulacan, including one from the heritage town of San Miguel de Mayumu (which now serves as the house of Bishop Soc Villegas) and another house in Bustos which was ironically featured in the heritage house calendar of Shell. I wonder if Governor Josie dela Cruz knows about this.

In Pampanga, the grand old Reyes House of Candaba, which was the oldest surviving house in the province and the house where Noli Me Tangere was shot several decades back, is now in Bagac. News circulating is that Mayor Jerry Pelayo is not happy and is making moves to protect what is left.

We got to chat with the parish pastoral council president and a barangay kagawad while we were in Pio. Mass is said at the chapel every Saturday at 5 p.m. It was built in 1861 as part of the hacienda founded by Don Felino Gil (who also founded the Escuela de Artes y Oficios, the oldest trade school in Asia, which is now DHVCAT) and his wife Dona Eugenia Toledo. Their descendants include actress Rosemarie Gil. But the property is no longer theirs since it was sold to someone from Bulacan who was said to have donated the chapel to the local community.

We were told that the Gils visited several times to cart off the antique furniture and artifacts inside their hacienda house and chapel. Nothing was spared including the piedra china flooring around the chapel and the house. The most infamous of these visits was in the 1980s when actor Dante Varona, who accompanied them, climbed the belfry of the chapel hoping to get the centuries-old bell. He was mobbed by the local community and they were chased away with tabak, an agricultural-based cutting bolo.

The chapel is very important to Pampanga because as I mentioned earlier, it is the only intact visita in the entire province of Pampanga. Aside from that, it is a circular chapel built during the Spanish colonial period, pre-dating the UP Chapel (which some claim to be the first circular church in the country) by 145 years!

The people of Barangay Pio in Porac are now up in arms after word reached them that their chapel was reportedly sold by a still unknown person and would be transferred to Bagac soon. The municipal government and the local community are now vigilantly guarding the chapel. And if and when the demolition crew comes to get it, they said they will protect it with their lives. Quoting them, "They could not even get the bell, what more the entire chapel!"

Now with that situation, is it still ethical to transfer a heritage structure to someone's private property? And even more so when news is going around that the structure is being transferred to serve as a decoration for their daughter's debut?

A moratorium on this Bagac project should be done until further studies are done on the location in particular since there are a lot of issues on the safety of the houses being built so close to the sea, and until the heritage community has fully digested this unusual project and threshed out the ethics of transferring heritage structures. Again, heritage structures are best kept where they are so that they are appreciated in the proper context vis-à-vis the environment they are built in.

Actively shopping for heritage houses for use as scrap material for homes or transferring them whole, and even worse, using coffee table books featuring heritage homes as shopping catalogues is simply detestable. The best way to save a heritage house is by educating the local community about the value of a heritage house, the significance of its architecture or former inhabitants to the local community, and its potential as a symbol for the community to strengthen local identity and pride of place.

Photo credits: Tonette T. Orejas (2nd, 3rd and 5th photo)

Manila: What is wrong with Manila?

When President Manuel L. Quezon said, "I prefer a country run like hell by Filipinos to a country run like heaven by Americans." I'm sure he never thought that his wish would come true quite literally.

Senator Alfredo Lim was right when he berated the City Government of Manila for its greed. Two educational institutions in Tondo, both integral parts of Manila's heritage, and providers of free education to no less than 10,000 students in Tondo, will soon give way to shopping malls. Oh how Atienzic!

And the good senator and former mayor could not have said it better: "These two lands, inseparably identified with institutions devoted to education and imbued with memories of the Manileños’ past, having existed for decades as public schools, accommodating no less than 10,000 poor students of Tondo, for free, the Rajah Sulayman High School and Jose Abad Santos High School, are awaiting their unexpected and dreaded demise, as their death certificates have been signed by no less than the City Council, with the death sentence struck - with a thumb-up sign, by its City Mayor. As heralded, from the schools’ burial sites will rise luxurious malls: the stereotypical symbols of the modern care-free lifestyle – luxurious wares, expensive foods, entertainment centers, fully air-conditioned establishments."

He adds, "Without a doubt, this is the voice of gold, the whisper of wealth, heard and heeded by ears of avarice and greed."

The article Lust for silver triumphs over Filipino heritage was published in two part in Malaya on November 15 and 16.

OT: I updated my Multiply site and added some background music. Did you know that the instrument used in the Lonely Planet theme is the kubing, a jaw harp from the Philippines?