Pacifico, Santa Teresita, Batangas: Historical Data Part I
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| Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines. |
PART I
Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Pacifico in the Municipality of Santa Teresita, 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.
[Note to the reader.]
At the time when this document was created, the barrio of Pacifico was still a part of San Luis rather than Santa Teresita. The barrio would become part of the latter municipality in 1961, after the passage of Executive Order No. 454.
[Cover page.]
HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE
OF THE BARRIO OF
PACIFICO
Compiled by:
Gregorio S. Mendoza
[p. 1]
HISTORY AND CULTURE
OF
THE BARRIO OF PACIFICO
PART ------ I
This said barrio was established formally when the Spanish sovereignty was about to end. It is popularly known as Sampa, although at present this barrio is entirely different from this village. It is well known in such [a] name because formerly, this barrio of Pacifico was once a part of Sampa. This so happened because as years went on, the inhabitants increased, thus forcing the population to protest against the Spanish authorities for the division of the barrio of Sampa into two sectors. The eastern part adopted the name of Pacifico while the western part retained the original name. It so retained its originality in view of the fact that [a] long time ago, there was a very big and old tree by that name in the western part.
So, Sampa was named after that legendary tree, but Pacifico could not be known as to why it was named as such, for no data or reliable information regarding such thing could be found. This barrio of Pacifico had a sitio within its territorial jurisdiction – San Antonio, which was recently separated and considered as an independent village just after liberation.
The original families of this barrio were the following names of persons. They were Evaristo, Dorotea, Juan Ulila as he was called, Juan Putol, Juan Cristobal, Felix Segunial, Francisco and Gardiano.
Regarding the different barrio lieutenants who had rendered services to this village from the earliest time to date, the following names of persons were the ones concerned. They were Apolinario Andal, Eleuterio de Villa, Jose Sebolino, Onde Segunial, Ramon Andal, Santiago Cabrera, Juan Cabrera, Monico Mendoza, Leoncio Segunial, Ananias Andal, Vicente Mendoza, Ricardo Cabrera, Bibiano Rodriguez, Brixcio de las Alas and Gregorio Andal
[p. 2]
As to its important facts, incidents or events that took place in this barrio, nothing could be narrated, except when World War II broke out.
During the Japanese Occupation, “neighborhood associations,” as they were called, first came into being. These associations existed until the time they wear ruling the islands. Aside from the barrio lieutenant, a section leader called “cabo” was chosen as the leader to supervise the inhabitants residing in the sector. This leader or cabo, assisted the chief official of the barrio in the performance of their duties as ordered by the Japanese military authorities.
In enforcing the laws, the military authorities were so tyrannical for if certain individuals happened to commit mistakes, punishment was so severe. They even went to the extent of executing the concerned delinquent without due process of law.
In the early part of the war, all schools were totally closed, depriving everyone the much desired educational rights and privileges, but when conditions where almost returning to normalcy, some schools where ordered open. In the opening of these institutions of learning, certain changes had been noticed. The English language, which was regarded as the most popular, was totally discarded. It was no longer used as a medium of instruction. Pictures of American citizens where torn off, or properly pasted, with a view of enforcing in ourselves to forget the so-called American ideologies. In place of this most desired language, as treated as a school subject, the Japanese language or Nippon as it was called, was the one used.
In view of these horrible educational policies, enrollment had totally decreased in comparison with the previous years. The people at once showed signs of antagonistic tendencies against the Japanese military authorities. Instead of attending schools, majority stayed at home and some went to the mountains to take up arms with the ultimate aim of driving way the Japanese hordes from the islands. Many remain illiterates, but still they preferred this, rather
[p. 3]
rather than attend schools and study the much-hated Japanese-sponsored means of education.
In the latter part of nineteen hundred and forty-two, a certain change had been brought about in the fields of economics. This sudden alteration was considered as destructive, for the percentage of production of rice and other necessities had alarmingly decreased, because the Japanese rulers ordered the people to plant cotton instead of other crops. This planting of cotton could be compared with the tobacco monopoly during the Spanish times, that if and when we ignored their order of planting in the time they had specified, immediately that delinquent was brutally punished.
But although it was so detrimental and prejudicial on the part of the Filipino people, still there was but one good effect. This benefit was the learning of applying fertilizer [to] rice and other crops. Formerly, the commercial fertilizer was only used in sugarcane, plants but when cotton planting was enforced, the people began to conceive the idea that commercial fertilizer could effectively be applied in the growing of rice, corn, vegetables, fruits and other plants.
In the wars of 1896-1900 and in 1941-1945, life could be recorded as killed, but [a] great amount of property was commandeered, or rather destroyed. Since the early part of Japanese occupation, foods such as rice, corn, and meat such as beef, pork, [and] fowls were seized by these colonizers for their subsistence. Sometimes, they paid; at other times, they didn’t and if they paid, it was so lamentable to say that the amount offered by them as payment for the commodities taken was extremely hard below the current price. Late on, when probably they knew that General MacArthur’s forces we're coming very timely, they began to revise their ways of securing foods from the populace. They began to see everything that pleased them, without paying a single cent. As we feared their brutal responses, we remained at ease giving everything they wished. This manner of ruling the colonial peoples could not win the sympathy and admiration of the Filipinos.
[p. 4]
PART – II
FOLKWAYS
Traditions, customs and practices in domestic and social life such as birth, baptism, courtships and visits, marriage, death, and burial, festivals, punishment, etc.
(a) Birth – The mother who has newly delivered a child drank warm water every day until she had taken a cool bath. To hasten her recovery, she also drank a kind of beverage or liquor sold in the drugstore such as vino de quina, vino de cacao, winet, etc.
But before delivering a child, a midwife who knew something about delivery was called for by any member of the family. Commonly, this midwife was the quack doctor in the locality. She had not studied in any kind of institution concerning delivery, but merely happened to acquire such knowledge through practical experiences. She did not know any scientific knowledge about birth, but applied her odd ways of operation. If there were difficulties in the delivery of the child, the midwife resorted to apply her knowledge concerning superstitions. In this, the husband or anyone assisting the delivery cut some banana plants, untied the knots which the husband or the wife had tied, and pulled the nails on the posts which were considered done by any one of the spouses. If every means of their commands were exhausted and still [the mother] failed to deliver the child, then that would be the only time to consult the doctor or to bring her to the hospital.
After the delivery, then the newly-delivered mother would begin to drink the above-mentioned beverage. After the lapse of two weeks, the woman began to heat her body with a hot stone prepared by the husband or by any relative of hers. Usually, she used to warm her body two times a day for a period of fifteen days. This kind of practice of hastening the recovery was made continuously for a period of two weeks, after which the mother would take a full cool bath.
(b) After giving birth, the parents selected a sponsor for the newly-born child. If he was a boy, usually the sponsor would commonly be a man and, if a girl, the selected sponsor
[p. 5]
would naturally be a woman. When a child was baptized, the child was brought to church by the supposed sponsor wherein the priest would officiate the baptism. Then, they would go home. The parents of the child would prepare a meal. If the parents could afford, they prepared a big party. They killed pigs, cows, chickens, and invited their relatives and friends. After this baptism, then the parents of the child addressed the sponsor as “cumadre” or “kumpadre,” as the case may be.
(c) Courtships and Visits – During the early days, no gentleman could enter immediately the premises of the lady’s house without first taking off the hat. Usually, the man took off his hat the moment he sighted the roofing of the house of the lady he was courting. Upon reaching the house, he could only step up when the parents of the girl consented him to do so. After reaching the balcony, he would again stay and wait for another word of welcome. If he was asked to enter the house, then the man would enter, but as quickly as possible. He had no chance to talk with her and if he had decided to marry her, he would first render various phases of work. In other words, he got water, pounded rice, gathered fuel, plowed the field if the father was a farmer, etc. But the judgment would not be rendered at once, not until the services had been recognized in continuous manner for a number of weeks or months. Sometimes, his servitude lasted for years before the parents’ judgment would be handed down. Before the marriage time could be reached, years and months in many cases were the ones counted.
(d) Marriage – In many cases, the gentleman courting continued his manner of serving without knowing the effect or result of his servitude. If he was acceptable, the parents of the woman