Baguilawa, Bauan, Batangas: Historical Data Part I
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| Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines. |
PART I
PART I | PART II
Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Baguilawa, Bauan, Batangas, the original scanned documents at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections not having OCR or optical character recognition properties. This transcription has been edited for grammar, spelling and punctuation where possible. The original pagination is provided for citation purposes.
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HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF BAGUILAWA
Part I – History
1. Present official name of the barrio - - - Baguilawa
2. Popular name of the barrio:
b. Past - - - - - - - Duhatan
c. Derivation - - - Came from the name of a tree Baguilawa
NAMES OF SITIOS
Silangan - - - Kanluran
Ibaba - - - - - Ilaya
3. Date of establishment - - During [the] Spanish Administration
4. Original families - - - - (a) Dalangin family(c) Boongaling family
(d) Evangelista family
(e) Dimayacyac family
5. List of tenientes from earliest time to date
(b) Cabeza Ramon Dalangin
(c) Cabeza Felomeno Cabral
(d) Teniente Mateo Boongaling
(e) Teniente Juliano Bunquin
(f) Teniente Mamerto Bacsa
(g) Teniente Alejandro Casapao
(h) Teniente Epifanio Caguete
(i) Teniente Juliano Evangelista
(j) Teniente Valeriano Bunquin
(k) Teniente Antonio Cruzat
(l) Teniente Sofronio Abante (present)
6. Story of old barrios or sitios within the jurisdiction that are now depopulated or extinct:
In the middle part of the barrio, there are now few houses because most of the houses were moved to the field, for the people prefer to stay near the fields so they could attend to their poultry and
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hog raising. There is plenty of space for raising vegetables and fruits for home use.
7. Data on historical sites, buildings, structures, old ruins, etc. – None
8. Important facts, incidents or events that took place during:
a. Spanish Occupation
1. Appointment of cabeza or cabezas in each barrio.
2. [The] Cabeza assigned a person to teach the children of the barrios [a] little of Arithmetic, the “doctrina” and writing in Tagalog.
3. People evacuated to different places, for fear that with the coming of the Americans, they would be affected in their daily lives.
b. American Occupation
1. Building of schools made of nipa, cogon, and bamboo.
2. Sending of children to school was compulsory.
3. The changing of the cabeza to the teniente as head of the barrio.
c. During and after World War II
1. People in the barrio evacuated to different places.
2. [The] Japanese lived in the barrio. There was destruction of properties.
3. The Japanese bought the people’s field crops and animals at a very good price, so people had plenty of money. The people had plenty of money, but nothing to eat for production of food and merchandizing of same was scarce.
4. When the Americans came, the people of the barrio killed some of the Japanese that were hiding in some places in the barrio.
5. Many people of the barrio owned some firearms that were left by the Japanese.
6. More roads were opened in the mountains.
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9. a. Destruction of lives, properties, and institutions during wars, especially in 1896-1900 and 1941-1945
1. Three natives of the barrio were lost. Nobody could tell what was the cause of their deaths, whether they were punished by the Japanese or by the Philippine guerrillas during World War II (1941-1945)
2. Three lives were lost also for being electrified in the Japanese dug-outs while hunting for some leftover properties of the Japanese (1945)
3. During the stay of the Japanese in the barrio, destruction of properties took place. Some school properties were lost; they were taken by the Japanese.
b. Measures and Accomplishments toward rehabilitation and reconstruction following World War II
1. The improvement of [the] road from Sta. Maria to Baguilawa was done, thus making means of transportation. The road from Sta. Maria to Baguilawa is now a semi-provincial road under an assigned Caminero.
2. The school was repaired.
3. The number of merchants increased due to the easy means of transportation.
10. Traditions, Customs and Practices in domestic and social life, birth, baptism, courtship, marriage, death, burial, visits, festivals.
Marriage
The marriage festival is celebrated in the girl’s home. The parents of the boy shoulder all the expenses and responsibilities. The girl’s parents spend nothing. The girl receives [a] dowry, sometimes, land, money, animals, jewels, or other valuable things. There are times when marriage is postponed, for there is disagreement between the parents of the boy and the parents of the girl. After the marriage is over, the girl is taken to the boy’s house. The boy follows the next day. The couple stays at home for four days. They are not allowed to go elsewhere.
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Death
When someone dies in the house, the rest of the family should not take a bath for four days. They can take a bath after four days, with the belief that the flesh of the dead might fall from its bones. In case a wife dies, the husband should not peep at the grave for if he does, he at once will seek a wife; if he could not secure at once, he will be very much troubled, and even neglect his work and children. If a husband dies, and the wife does the same, the same thing will happen to her.
Punishment
According to old traditions and beliefs, it is not good to punish a child by tying him with a rope to a post or walls of the house, for when he grows old, he will be imprisoned.
Courtship
A boy courting a lady brings wood, water, and helps in all the work at home. If the girl likes him, he will not be questioned, but if the girl does not like him, she will tell her mother to tell the boy to stop helping them or stop bringing water or wood to their home to discourage [him] and then leave her eventually.
The boy who is admired by the girl continues to help at the girl’s home. Later, the parents of the girl will call the parents of the boy to talk about their marriage.
Baptism
A newly-born baby should be baptized at once, otherwise some sort of anitos will take him, or play with him, thus making the baby sick. The Godmother or Godfather of the baby selected should be [the] one who possesses good characteristics for, according to their beliefs, the baby inherits from him or her.
11. Myths, Legends, Beliefs, Interpretations, Superstitions, Origin of the World, Land, Mountains and other Natural Phenomena:
A. Origin of Rice:
Rice is the most important food of the Filipinos, so the children of the Philippines will find in the legend a story of its origin interesting.
One of the gods named Siwa created a girl whom he called Bright Jewel. She was so beautiful that he
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wished to marry her. But the gods were forbidden to marry, so a meeting was called to consider the matter. After a long discussion, it was decided that Siwa might marry beautiful Bright Jewel. Now, Bright Jewel would not marry Siwa until he found food better than any known at the time. So, Siwa went to earth to look for this food, but he never came back. Bright Jewel longed for his return for many a day, and she finally descended to earth to look for him.
After a time, a plant grew near the grave of Bright Jewel. The legend says that this was the rice plant which has furnished the food that Bright Jewel so greatly desired.
Origin of Coconuts
Long, long time ago, there lived in Laguna a beautiful girl. A young man who came from Batangas went to Laguna on a visit to his friends. During his visit, he met this young man [probably woman] at a dance and they fell in love with each other.
The parents of the young girl, however, had already decided on a husband for their daughter and they forbade the young man to call at their house. They also told their daughter that she must not see him. For some time, the lover was not able to see her.
One day, during a flood, the young man was changed by a magician into an eel. He swam to the house of the young girl. She was standing at the window. He said to her, “I am your lover changed into an eel. If you still love me, bury me and put me out of my misery.” The girl did so, and in a few days, a strange plant appeared where she had buried the eel. The plant still showed in the fruits the eel’s face, the two eyes of the husk of the coconut, being the eyes of the eel.
C. Origin of the Gold Mines in the Mountain Province
Many, many years ago in the hills of [the] Mt. Province, there laid a little Igorot village called Suyok. Every year, they celebrated the Igorot feast with a canyao. Canyao is a dance. In one of these celebrations, a great change came into the life of the village.
One day, Kunto, the bravest and strongest man of Suyok, went to the mountains to hunt. He had not gone so far when his keen eyes caught sight of a blackbird standing some distance ahead. Kunto paid no attention to the bird for it was only an ordinary crow and he thought it would fly away upon his approach. Instead of flying away, however, the bird came hopping toward the hunter. For the first time in his life, the brave Igorot hunter was afraid. He decided to give up his hunt for the day and returned to the village. He
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went to see the wise men of the village and asked them the meaning of that meeting with the bird.
“The blackbird is a messenger from our gods,” said one of the men. “Since the messenger of displeasure appeared to Kunto, let him decide how we can win back the goodwill of our angry gods. Let us celebrate a canyao to please the gods.” At last, on the day of the celebration, the people assembled around an altar build on the hill.
The pig above the village that was to be offered to the god as a sacrifice was securely tied when all at once it got loose and ran away. Just as Kunto was about to seize it, the pig vanished and in its place stood a trembling old man who was so weak that he could hardly stand. The people stood back. Kunto led the old man to a fallen tree nearby and bade him to sit down and rest. The people rushed to his aid but he held them back with his hand and said, “Don’t raise me anymore, my children. Let me lie where I have fallen. Go on with your feast and if you will obey the command that I shall now give you, you shall prosper. Your village shall grow rich. Bring me home some cooked rice, then cover me with a big kettle. On the third day of your feast, return to this spot. You will find a tree the like of which you have never seen before. Remember, let no one have the trunk or roots of this tree. Now go and leave me here.” There, they left him. They continued their feasting and dancing. Kunto lifted the kettle wondering if he would still find the old man under it. To his surprise, he found a tiny tree under the big kettle. It was the most wonderful tree for its trunk, branches, twigs, leaves and fruits, were all gleaming gold.
Kunto put out his hand and picked one of the shining leaves. As soon as a leaf was taken, another grew in its place. For a time, there was peace and contentment. Everybody was rich. The tree kept on growing and growing until finally it seemed to touch the sky. The earth shook and the ground opened where the tree fell. The tree sank down, into the earth and disappeared before the very eyes of the frightened villagers.
To this day, the gold remains buried into the depths of the earth at Suyok. Only by patient mining can the gold be gathered. If we go to [the] Mt. Province, we will see the mines near Suyok and maybe hear the story of their origin from the old men of the hill.
D. Why Crocodiles Keep on Eating Men and Monkeys
In the olden days, animals and men were friends. They could talk with one another without fear. The crocodiles and monkeys played together in the forest and whenever there were any disputes or troubles between them, they always let people whom they could contact settle the matter.
PART I | PART II