Nag-iba, Mabini, Batangas: Historical Data
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| Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines. |
Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Nag-iba in the Municipality of Mabini, 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.
[p. 1]
HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE BARRIO OF NAG-IBA
Part One
The present official name of the barrio is Nag-iba.
Nag-iba is the popular name of the barrio which was being derived from the past Nag-iba which literally means a “change.” This barrio has within its jurisdiction the following sitios: Gitisan, Balanoy, Mainit, Sayimsim, Bañgon, Nangkaan, Nakayutib, Bucal and Naambon.
The date of its establishment is unknown even by the old folks of the barrio.
The original families were Abrahan, Cabral, Manalo, Dipasupil, Aranas and Mañibo.
The list of tenientes from the earliest time to the present is as follows: Mariano Abrahan, Fernando Dimayuga, Juan Carpio, Mariano Boloso, Antonio Mañibo, Fabian Calderon, Maximo Ilagan, Juan Alolod, Luis Dipasupil, Higino Manalo, Epifanio Cabral, Mateo Matibag, Cesario Manalo, Juan de Rosales and Eustaquio Dipasupil. The present barrio lieutenant is Basilio Magnaye.
There are no sitios within the jurisdiction that are depopulated or extinct.
No people could tell the exact date when these people lived in this place. Others supposed that they began living in this place way back in 1850.
No events took place during the Spanish and American occupations. During and after World War II, the people of this place had started new lives due to the effects of the war. Agriculture began its development. People were so busy cultivating their lands. Schools had been constructed and people sent their children to study. This primary education was under the supervision of the principal of the Mabini Central School. Only Grade One was organized in the sitio of Naambon, but now we have Grades One to Five in the barrio of Nag-iba.
At present, only one religion is existing in Nag-iba. It is [the] Christian religion. People used to go to town on Sundays and other holidays.
Part Two
Traditions, customs and practices in domestic and social life are as follows:
Birth – If a woman can deliver easily, they unlock the trunk or aparador [to] untie anything which the husband and wife had tied before the hour of delivery come.
[p. 2]
Another is putting the saddle at the back of the midwife which according to them will make the delivery easy.
Baptism – If there is a child born, the parents call someone who can baptize their child in the belief that after being baptized, [the baby] will be in good health and condition. After the baptismal ceremony, the godfather blows the forehead of the child so it will inherit the godfather’s talents and characteristics.
Courtship – A man courting a lady selects a luch [lucky?] day or month according to them, so that he will be easily accepted by the parents of the girl whom he loves.
Marriage – Before the wedding day, the bride and the groom are not allowed to go to some distant places, for they may meet accidents that will prevail [prevent] the wedding.
Death – If a person dies, then the rest of the family will open the windows and sway the hand with a lighted candle.
The barrio folks have many superstitious beliefs such as, in times of meal, if there is a fork that falls on the floor, they say a male visitor will come, if a spoon falls, then a female visitor will come; another is when cooking and then the fire makes a sound, some visitors will come, too. They believe also that when a person dies, she or he will visit the rest of the family on the fourth day after his burial.
[The] Popular song is the Pandango or awit and their amusement is in the form of dance which is [the] so-called “Suble.” [subli]
[The] Puzzles or riddles are as follows:
2. Ang baboy ko sa hulo [pulo], balahibo’y pako. (langka)
3. Isda ko sa maraveles [Mariveles] nasa loob ang kaliskis. (sili)
Proverbs or sayings – here are some:
2. Ang tubig na matining lusukin mo at malalim.
3. Ang asong pala batok ay di nañgañgagat.
[The] Method of measuring time is by looking at the position of the sun or low and high tide of the water. Their special calendar is the one which Honorio Lopez authored.
Due to the inability of majority of the people to read because they did not study, no books or any documents could be transed [?] about the Philippines.
Old folks can remember in their minds what had happened in other places through the news from some strangers. Such things could not be recorded due to the inability to write and the absence of the materials to be used.
[p. 3]
No real authors and their works were recorded but the old folks could tell stories from memory. The same stories were handed down to the people at present in this barrio. Tagalog songs and kundiman were learned and [the people] applied them to sabalan and pandango.