Malalim na Lodlod, Lipa City, 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 Malalim na Lodlod in the City of Lipa, 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
PART ONE : History
I. Present Official Name of the Barrio – Malalim na Lodlod.
II. 1. Popular Name of the Barrio – Lodlod (Past and present).
In the old town of Taal, Batangas, there was a barrio called Mahabang Lodlod. Its equivalent is Malalim na Lodlod of Lipa City.
In this place, there lived long ago, a dyer. When the dry season came, the spring which was the main source of the water supply of the early inhabitants dried up. This particular dyer, who depended most of his trade upon the spring thought of a plan by which he could get a continuous supply of water. He dug a wide well in the lowest part of the place because he thought that by doing so, water would spring sooner from it than when it was dug in a higher altitude and he would need a shorter rope with which to get the water from it. The well, then, became the main source of water supply of the barrio people and its neighboring barrios. Up to the present, this well exists but people no longer draw their water from it because they have put up artesian wells and open wells in their own homes. That old big well is now converted into a little swimming pool for the barrio people. It is located in the deepest place of the barrio along the main road. Because of this deep big well, the early inhabitants of the place had come to call the barrio Malalim na Lodlod.
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North South East West |
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Banaybanay Bolbok Mataasnalupa Pangao |
) ) ) ) | All barrios of Lipa City |
III. Date of establishment – On or about 1605 when the town of Lipa, Batangas was founded.
IV. Original families of the barrio:2. Sebastian Mayor and Eusebia Landicho
3. Manuel Landicho and Damiana Alvarez
4. Simon Maralit and Clemencia Mayor
5. Andres Katigbak and Antonia Rodelas
V. List of tenientes del barrio from the earliest time to date:
| 1. Monico Lingao | 2. Guardiano Lingao |
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3. Juan Inciong 4. Andres Lingao 5. Juan Leynes 6. Faustino Lingao 7. Sixto Guce 8. Felipe Mayor 9. Alfonso Lingao |
10. Juan Mayor 11. Solomon Lingao 12. Juan Mayor 13. Juan Lingao 14. Pedro Magsino 15. Martin Katigbak 16. Juan Mayor |
It will be noticed that Mr. Juan Mayor had served three terms, each for many years because the people liked his administration very much and they did not like to change him. He is no longer residing in the barrio but he was still the teniente because he had a great influence over the people.
VI. The former barrio of Malalim na Lodlod included only the territory from the bridge bounding old Tambo or Tambong Luma up to Pangao. On or about 1948, Tambong Luma was annexed to it because the people of the place became angry one time when the procession of the Blessed Virgin did not reach their place. They complained that they had shared in the expenses for the fiesta and yet they were not reached by the procession. So, the parish priest, Rev. Father Apolinario Lingao, worked for the annexation of Tambong Luma to Malalim na Lodlod.
VII. The present school site was not the first location of the school building. When the first school building was established in the barrio way back in 1924, during the supervisorship of Mr. Galicano Luansing, it was located at the western end of the barrio on the lot donated by Mr. Guardiano Lingao.
In 1950, there was a felt need for a wider space for the increasing number of school children. The barrio PTA under the leadership of Mr. Juan Mayor and Mrs. Consuelo T. Umali, the Elementary School Principal, worked for the transfer of the school building to its present site of one hectare, one-half of which was donated by Mr. Faustino Lingao.
VIII. Important facts, incidents or events that took place during the Spanish, American and Japanese occupations.
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pected of them. The abused the poor inhabitants. The men were forced to hide themselves whenever those guardias were in sight in order to free themselves from their unbecoming acts.
During the early part of the American occupation, this barrio was one of those places included in the zonification by General Bell. The people encountered untold difficulties during the zonification.
IX. During World War II, the people of Lodlod suffered incredible hardships under the Japs. All kinds of food became scarce and the people were all panic-stricken. Between 1941 and 1945, the barrio people witnessed and underwent the most horrible destruction of human lives and properties. Hundreds of innocent lives human lives were mercilessly massacred. Their houses and other belongings were burned. Those belongings that were spared by the fire were neither robbed or stolen.
From trial or proof of courage, the barrio people, after the liberation, began to revive their former businesses in textiles. Some did fail, but others in their ventures succeeded to the extent that the barrio has become one of the most prosperous barrios in the whole province. This barrio has, at present, twenty-nine radio receiving acts, ten pianos and seventeen jeeps, showing the progress that it has achieved.
PART TWO : Folkways
X. Traditions and Customs
Widespread in this barrio is the race to the church door right after a mass baptismal ceremony. As soon as the church bells peal to announce the end of the ceremony, each sponsor carrying his or her godchild stages a race down the aisle. It is believed that the child whose sponsor reaches the door first will be healthy, prosperous and will live a long life, or will be a leader among men.
Other baptismal practices designed to give a child advantages in life are as follows:2. During the baptismal ceremony, the sponsor places a little feeds of the dove in the baby’s mouth to make him intelligent.
3. The sponsor pinches the baby during the ceremony to make him cry. It is believed that a baby who cries during the
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4. While the baptismal group is still in church, a member of the baby’s family places bottles of soft drinks at the head of the stairs. As soon as the party arrives, the bottles are kicked down the stairs and everybody in the party is supposed to bring good luck to the baby’s family.
Birth is still accompanied by much pain and much superstition. Mothers still give birth under the same conditions which obtained [prevailed] during the days of their great-great-grandmothers. Very few or none give birth the modern scientific way. A woman’s delivery is assisted by the “hilot,” an unlettered obstetrician, usually old, who a few minutes before she was called by a nervous father, might have been feeding pigs or cleaning some fish. Talk to the hilot of bacteria and she doesn’t know the word. Ask her if she should not sterilize her hand before handling the patient and [she] would tell you to your face that she had delivered hundreds of babies and none of them had died.
The hilot depends on local herbs, native concoctions, and brute force in delivering a mother. While a woman goes through her first pains, the hilot asks the husband or some member of the family to look for this or that kind of grass or leaves. When the baby has some difficulty coming out, the “hilot” sits above the patient using her muscles to force the child out. There have been cases where babies were torn apart or suffered much injury in the hands of the village midwives.
Once the baby is out, the “hilot” applies the herbs to stop the bleeding. If the baby or the mother dies in the hands of the “hilot,” the ignorant folks attribute it to God’s will. The “hilot” escapes blame since she has delivered hundreds and not one of them died. If mother or child survives, however, it is one more feather on the midwife’s cap.
It is believed that a pregnant woman who becomes fond of fruits of a tree will make all the fruits of the tree sour.
It is the duty of the father to bury the placenta (called in Tagalog inunan). As soon as the placenta is out, the “hilot” delivers it to the father, who goes to the yard, digs a hole and dumps the placenta in. Sometimes, books, pencils or any articles connected with education are buried with the placenta to make the child a wise man. It is usually buried where the first sun rays shine on it so that the cheeks of the baby will become rosy.
3. Serenading Practices
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the sake of pleasure. Sometimes, the girl being serenaded just peeps through the hole in the wall and waits for the third song. After this has been finished, she just extends her thanks.
Serenades are held as early as eight P/M.
4. Courtship
5. Marriage
6. Death and Burial
7. Festival
8. Punishments
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XI. Myths, legends, beliefs, interpretations, etc.
THE LIVING PAST OF THE BARRIO OF LODLOD
To explain the genesis of this universe is very confusing as one cannot discuss this topic in a purely scientific manner. People, especially here where religion prevails, insist on what is believed by their elders and ancestors. On the religious side, the world is said to be a God-created one. The first things created by God with the lands, she's, stars and other heavenly bodies, then He divided a certain length of time into day and night. Feeling dissatisfied with His creations, God tried to mold an exact replica of himself out of mud and put life into it – this was Adam. God saw that Adam was lonely, as lonely as when He was when He had not yet created anything, so He took every from Adam and produced a woman out of it. Eve was really created to accompany Adam in Paradise as this world was then called. They lived in Paradise until both were tempted by a devil to eat the apple of sin. God, enraged by their disobedience, drove them away so that they sought a place where they could hide their guilt. God, being merciful to His own creations, pardoned them but they no longer could live in luxury and comfort as they had been in Paradise. Other living creatures we're created to meet the needs of these created human beings. Him term, Adam and Eve were granted wisdom and power so that they could think of ways in securing their livelihood and other basic needs. They learned how to use their minds and bodies in an effort to look for an easier way of living. They were children and in turn, their children and turmeric, producing multi-million populace as it is now.
Although population is fast multiplying, disasters are also made to check up the increased number of inhabitants. Natural calamities such as lightning, droughts, floods, storms, and earthquakes are dangers to mankind. But man of firm faith in the Divine Creator believes that these calamities are used only to punish the sinners. Take for instance, the lightning and thunder. We know these two always follow each other. This is explained as a monstrous devil having teeth all in canine form that when enraged, or like to fight it prey, next noise and attacks violently producing lightning and thunder.
Earthquakes or the shaking of earth is one of the calamities which mankind fears. The earth is believed to be on the top of a giant tortoise so that when it gets tired, it changes its position; this results in the shaking of the universe. Although this belief is so absurd, still many believe contrary to its scientific explana-
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