Pangao, Ibaan, Batangas: Historical Data

Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines.

Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Pangao in the Municipality of Ibaan, 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 THE BARRIO PANGAO
Part One: History

1. Present name of the barrio: Pangao

2. Popular name of the barrio, present and past, derivation and meanings; names of sitios within the territorial jurisdiction of the barrio.

The present site of the barrio extends to the boundaries of the following: to the north, Talaibon; to the east, [the] barrios of Matala and Dayapan; to the south, Sandalan; and to the west, the Poblacion.

a. Derivation –

Pangao is a local version of an instrument used for administering a sort of punishment of guilty individuals and sometimes to suspected criminals during the Spanish regime. It was made up of two pieces of wooden boards which have semi-circular holes along the sides that when placed side by side will form circular holes properly locked.

How Pangao Got Its Name

Pook Pangao, a barrio in itself, came into existence when the early settlers made their settlements in 1784 in Matala, later transferred to the present site of the poblacion. During this time, the inhabitants were ruled by the “Teniente” under one “Teniente Mayor,” [the] equivalent to the Mayor nowadays. This place was inhabited by people who were unruly and hard to govern. There were many robberies, cattle rustlers, abductions, and other kinds of crimes in this place. Since it was hard for the Tribunal to determine the offender, the Kapitan, usually recognized as the Tribunal, made it his way of inserting the legs of those persons suspected inside the holes of the wooden boards (panaoan), securely locked. Due to many cases of this kind in this locality, this place was called “PANGAO” thereafter.

3. Establishment: Formally established in 1784.

4. Original families –

The families of Caringal, Cabral, Recio, Real and Ron were among the first settlers of this place.

5. List of tenientes from the earliest time to date:

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6. Story of old barrios and sitios within the jurisdiction that are now depopulated or extinct:

The present site was the original place which the early settlers occupied. It is on the outskirts of the Poblacion along the Ibaan-Rosario Road.

7. Date on historical sites, structures, buildings, old ruins, etc.

8. Important facts, incidents or events that took place:

9. Destructions, etc.

a. This place was not affected so much by the revolution of 1896, and the war of 1941.

b. The populace became conscious of the economic security as an after-effect of the war. Many engaged in small-scale businesses and found these profitable. They have rebuilt bigger and better homes more convenient than [their] old homes.

Part Two. Folkways

10. Traditions, customs and practices in domestic and social life; birth, baptism, courtship, marriage, death, burial, visits, etc.

The people of this barrio have traditions common to other barrios of the municipality of Bauan. When a child is born, the neighbors and relatives, especially the young people, keep vigil over the newly-born infant until after he is baptized by the priest. For fear of bad omen such as becoming bewitched or being stolen by [an] evil spirit and the child may become frightened and become sick. Among the evil spirits are known in Tagalog as patianak, iki, tigbalang, and mankukulam.

The baptism is usually accompanied by merrymaking and feasting that the parents incur debts to feed the whole barrio.

In [the] earliest days, courtship was often done by the arrangement of the old folks. The man was not allowed to talk with the maiden. During the courtship, the man was not allowed to sit on the bench but, instead, on the floor. There was no engagement between the maiden and the man. Before their marriage, the man was allowed to serve the family of the maiden for several months or even a year.

Marriage was usually arranged during the months of December, January and May. The wedding was usually accompanied by feasting and merrymaking in the house of the maiden. Then, the maiden, with the relatives of the man, transferred to the house of the man.

When a person dies, distant friends, relatives and neighbors come to pay respects and condolence. For nine successive nights, prayers are offered and during the fourth and ninth days, there is a special praying party for the repose of the departed soul.

Some of the common punishments for ordinary offenses are by whipping the offender or dipping the offender in the water until he is drowned.

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11. The people’s beliefs in the different phenomena of nature:

During the ancient times and even up to the present generation, the people of this locality have many queer beliefs regarding the different phenomena of nature and varied interpretations as they affect their daily lives.

The eclipses are believed to have [a] bad effect on the suitors as believe that the proposal to a young maiden will meet its doom as in the case of "Pinaglahuan Pag-ibig." and to those who are newly engaged, it means and everlasting happiness.

Earthquakes are believed to be the wrath of God. Others believe that it is the meeting of heat and cold under the earth. They didn't know that earthquakes are caused by the loosening of huge boulders and falling one after another.

When a setting off eggs has been subjected to an earthquake, they are believed to become infertile. These eggs will either be sold or used in the house.

When a person is walking along the road and an earthquake occurs, he should stop and hold on to something solid or lie down left he falls down to the ground and become an epileptic person.

When lightning flashes are accompanied by thunder, old people say "Close all the openings or leave them all open." don't go near the door, windows, or post but kneel and pray. Sometimes, the entire family sits around a dish of live charcoal placing dried coconut palm leaves which had been used in the church during Palm Sunday which were blessed by the priest with holy water. The smoke from this gives relief from fear of lightning and thunder bolts. They cover all shiny things like mirrors and lamps as they reflect the fire-like flashes hurled by lightning and thunder bolts. The old even sprinkle the corners of the house with vinegar. All these ways are believed will save the people inside the house from being struck by a lightning and thunder bolts

When clouds are moving fast, it is believed a typhoon is somewhere. The rain is believed to have been brought up to the sky by [a] rainbow and when the clouds become heavy, the rain falls.

The storms are believed to be god's wrath upon the many sins of man. The changes of the weather are believed to cause sickness and the changes of the climate are attributed to [the] growing old age of yours all other natural phenomena are often attributed to the will of God.

The first man and woman are believed to be Adam and Eve and the birth of twins or more is taken to bring prosperity to the family.

Sickness is believed to be the result of negligence or the curse of God. In fact, they attribute everything that happens to the will of God. Even good fortunes, evils and calamities are attributed to divination. Some people believe that when there is a sick person and the chickens cackle at night, the sick person will die later.

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When dogs howl at night with [a] dreadful sound as if are seeing some mishaps, it is a sign of [a] a bad omen or some calamities [that] may happen in the neighborhood.

Such are the beliefs of the people and their interpretations of the different natural phenomena and other external forces, as they affect their daily lives both physically and psychologically. Given the backward people believe that astronomical forces affect their lives.

12. The games were tubigan and pico.

The popular songs are the awit, the pandango and the abaruray.

There are no amusements among the people of this place except fishing by hook during leisure time.

15. Methods of measuring time, special calendars

The earliest inhabitants of this town who were almost all illiterates resorted to crude and various methods of reckoning time. The most common among them are based on the crowing of chickens as the following:

Those living near a large forest reckons the time on the sound made by the twittering of a large bird called "kalo" which makes loud, shrill noises which are heard throughout the whole community. When it makes a sound in the morning, it is about seven o'clock, then at twelve noon, and another at four in the afternoon.

A young owlet commonly called "bahaw" in the locality makes a loud shrill noise early at dawn, and the time is reckoned to be five o'clock in the morning. At this time, the farmers get up and begin to pound the rice for the use of the family for the whole day. If they do not found rice, they do some other jobs such as fetching water from the spring, or pasturing their work animals.

Those who travel from one town to another wakes up when they hear the rapid crowing of the chickens. Another method of reckoning time is based on the whitening off the eastern horizon (Pamumuti ng Silangan). Journey and the time is five o'clock in the morning.

[Gibberish.] usually reckoned as six o'clock in the morning, when the sun is overhead, that is, in the zenith usually called twelve noon. At sunset, it is reckoned as six o'clock in the evening.

Still, there are methods such as the following:

1. The so-called "hampas-tikin ng araw," meaning when a bamboo pole is placed at 45 degrees pointing at the sun, disposition of the sun is reckoned as three o clock in the afternoon.

2. Another is the length of time when the rice is cooked, in an ordinary sized pot called "isang sinaingan" which is measured oz equivalent two fifteen minutes.

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3. Do you another length of time is the smoking of home made cigarettes, which is equivalent to ten minutes.

4. At daytime, when the sun shines, the time is usually reckoned by shadows of tall trees and other tall objects near the house. The important parts of the day are marked by the extent of the shadows.

5. Still another method is the humming of cicadas which coincides with the time that the hens lay their eggs. It is commonly called "ii-itlog ng manok," which is between nine and ten o'clock in the morning.

Special Calendars - -

In the absence of the printed calendars, the division of the different parts of the year is usually reckon by the presence of migratory birds. Early in the month of May, when a group of small birds called "pirukit," these birds begin to sing loud twittering after the first and second rain at the end of the dry season, the farmers hurry in preparing their fields for planting. And they know that this. Of the year corresponds to the month of May. Because the melody produced by the song of the birds is similar to "hasik-hasikan" meaning sow, sow you're rice.

Next to this is what the farmers called "San Piro San Pablo (the feast of Saints Peter and Paul) which corresponds to the end of June when it is the last time to sow rice in the fields.

The birds are generally the harbingers of the season. When it is harvest time, a certain kind of insectivorous birds locally known as "pakiskis" migrates in large numbers and they also make shrill noises, the farmers know that this period of the year corresponds to the month of September or the harvesting season. The funny thing about these birds is that they disappear after the harvest time; and if one could find one or two of these birds at any time of the year, they do not make any noise as they do during harvest time.

Another method of reckoning special calendars is when the madre cacao trees begin to bloom which is usually the sign of the ending of the past year and the beginning of the New Year. When [the] dap-dap tree begins to bloom, it marks the beginning of the milling season of sugarcane, when the "sinewelas" tree begins to shed its leaves, it is the Lenten season (Kuarisma) it's fruiting season ends, it is the beginning of the rainy season or the month of May; the growing season similar to the springtime in the temperate countries. The grass is also used for reckoning the division of the year, when the people say "tag mutha," it means the time of intestinal diseases which is very common among children.

Then comes the period called “tagkabute,” the growing of mushrooms in the fields and forests, which corresponds to the month of August.

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