Borwalte, Calaca, Batangas: Historical Data

Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines.

Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Borwalte in the Municipality of Calaca, 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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PART I – HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF BARRIO BORWALTE

1. Present official name of the barrio – BORWALTE

3. The barrio of Borwalte was established during the early part of the Spanish occupation. At first, the place was covered with trees, thick cogon and talahib.

4. The original settlers of the place came from Puting Bato. Immediately after the Spanish occupation, there were only two houses inhabited by the two families who came from Puting Bato.

5. Since there were only two families during the early days, the barrio did not have any barrio lieutenant. It was only after the American occupation that a barrio lieutenant was appointed in the barrio. He was Melanio Baque.

6. The story of old barrios or sites within the jurisdiction – None.
7. Data on historical sites, structures, buildings, etc. – None.
8. Important facts, incidents or events –

9. Due to the remoteness of the barrio, the place has not been greatly affected by the different wars that [took] place from 1896 to 1945.

PART II. FOLKWAYS

10. People find interest in reading books and papers. They are interested in attending meetings, convocations and programs. The people participate in social and political affairs. When a child is born, the parents immediately select the godfather if a boy, and the godmother if a girl. Since the people are pure Roman Catholics, babies are baptized in the church. The people are all courteous, especially to women. They do not forget the old Filipino custom of “po” and “opo.” The marriage customs are the same as in other barrios. Marriage is highly celebrated. Deaths are mourned deeply for one whole year. A daily prayer for nine days is said for the repose of the soul of the dead. Punishment for a crime committed is quite severe. When a person commits a crime, he or she is whipped. If he

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or she cries, then the pain is not felt, hence, the whipping continues, but if the whipped person does not cry, then he or she feels the pain and will be pardoned.

11. The people sincerely believe in God. To them, all happenings that they do not comprehend are phenomena of nature. They believe in some superstitions. They believe that God created the world with its lands, mountains, rivers, lakes and ocean for the use of men. Trees, plants and animals are [the] world's vegetation. They believe that the sun, stars and the moon our heavenly bodies beyond the control of men, and that when eclipses take place, these heavenly bodies are in trouble. They believe that earthquakes are signs of rain, heat or storm. To them, lightning and thunder are fire and they are dangerous. They say that rain comes from the sky and that the wind is carried by somebody with mysterious powers and strength. They believe that Adam and Eve were the first man and woman. They think when twins are born that it is a double compensation from God. They believe that sickness is cost by mysterious acts of nature, such as coldness, warm and the winds.

12. The popular songs in the place are kundimans, pandangos and others. The people are fond of ball games, running by pairs and umping. The love [of] music, playing the guitar and serenading.

13. Riddles – None.

15. The people have different ways of telling time. When the sun rises, they say it is six o'clock in the morning. When the sun is directly above the head, it is twelve o'clock, and when it sets, it is six o'clock P.M. In case on rainy days, when the sun is not seen, they say that it is six o'clock in the morning when the chickens go down from the trees. When they get [blurred word] at noon, it means it is already twelve o'clock. When the people see the leaves of trees coming close together or when the leaves of vegetables bend downwards, it is already evening. That chickens a light on trees at six o'clock P.M.