Sampa, Santa Teresita, Batangas: Historical Data Part I

PART I

PART I | PART II

Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Sampa 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 Sampa 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 SAMPA

[p. 1]

HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE BARRIO
OF
SAMPA

P A R T   I

Prior to 1800, the barrio of Sampa was established. Up to the present, the popular name as Sampa is maintained. It is well-known in such [a] name because the inhabitants find it hard to climb the high road. So, therefore, Sampa was derived from the elevated road which people used to pass in going down. This barrio Sampa had a sitio within its territorial jurisdiction. Pacifico, which was separated and considered as an independent barrio.

Regarding the original families of the barrio were enumerated as follows. They were Eleuterio de Villa, Joseph de Villa, Juan Aquino, Rosa Ilagan, Apolinario Clor, Manuel Cataquez, and Juan Tordicilla.

As days passed, the inhabitants of the barrio became greater until finally the people appointed a barrio lieutenant. Way back to the barrio lieutenant who had rendered satisfactory services from the earliest time to date, the names below were concerned, in chronological order. They were Eleuterio de Villa, Simeon Lavapiez, Ambrocio Mercado, Marcos Hernandez, Jose Cataquez, Simforocio Ilagan, Fortunato de Villa, Nicacio de Villa, Elias Hernandez, Pedro Sabolino, then Pedro Bonsol and at present Ananias Cataquez.

Concerning the historical sitio, structures and buildings of the barrio houses were made of bamboo and cogon unlike of today, strong materials are used. Houses were constructed as sagubang type.

As to its important facts, incidents or events that

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took place in this barrio, nothing could be noted except when World War II broke out.

When the world war broke out, [a] certain association existed. This association was the “Neighborhood Association.” Aside from the barrio lieutenant, a section leader called “cabo” was chosen as the leader to take care of and supervise the inhabitants in his sector. This cabo assisted the barrio lieutenant in the performance of his duties ordered by the Japanese military authorities.

During the early part of the Japanese occupation, schools were closed, depriving everyone the desired right to learn. But when the conditions returned to normal, some schools were opened. Some changes had been noted in the institution of learning. The foreign language as English was disregarded. It was not used as the medium of instruction. Devices such as pictures of American citizens were torn off, forcing us to forget the so-called American ideology. So, therefore, the Japanese language or Niponggo troated [taught?] as [a] school subject was emphasized.

In fact of these terrible educational policies, enrolment decreased. Instead of attending schools, majority stayed at home. Those people who had stone hearts went to the mountains to take up arms and aimed to drive away the Japanese hordes from the islands.

Later, in nineteen hundred forty-two sudden changes had been brought in the line of economics. The production of rice, corn and other products was decreased. People got shortage of food. People were forced to plant cotton instead of food crops.

Of course, the people had to follow the order of planting by the Japanese rulers because when we turned

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a deaf ear to the order of planting, the person concerned would be severely punished. There was but one advantage upon the Filipino people, the planting of cotton. This benefit was the learning of applying fertilizer to the rice and other crops. Recently, the commercial fertilizer was only used in sugarcane, but when the cotton planting was enforced, the people began to apply commercial fertilizers to the growing rice, corn and other crops.

In the years 1941-1945, no life could be recorded as killed, but great amounts of property were seized or rather destroyed. Since the early part of the Japanese occupation, foods and domestic animals were confiscated for their existence. Sometimes they paid, at other times they didn’t and if they happened to pay, the amount offered was extremely far beyond the current price.

Later on, when they knew that the American forces were coming [from] abroad, they began to seize everything they wished without paying any single cent. Because we feared their brutal responses, we remained at ease, giving everything to satisfy them.

The acts of injustice and ruthlessness of the Japanese soldiers could not win the sympathy and admiration of the Filipinos. As to the accomplishments toward rehabilitation and reconstruction following World War II, nothing could be narrated except when the enrolment of pupils was increasd, P.T.A. buildings were constructed, and many unqualified teachers were employed.

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HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE BARRIO
OF
SAMPA

--FOLKWAYS--
PART II

A. BIRTH: During delivery of the child, the mother is attended to by a local midwife called “hilot.” She is assisted by a man locally called “salag.” The hilot continues attending to the mother and the child until the mother is given a bath which usually takes place after a month or five weeks after delivery of the child. Right after delivery of the child, firecrackers are fired as a sign of thanks. Chickens are dressed and served to the people who had come to pay a visit. The parents decided on who will be the godfather or the godmother as the case may be. When the newly-born baby is the first child, the grandparents usually take a hand in deciding on who the godfather or the godmother will be. The godfather or godmother of the first child is usually a very close relative of the parents, a brother or a sister of either father or mother of the child.

The newly-born baby is baptized by the oldest man of the barrio. This practice is locally called “buhos-tubig.” Then, a baptism of the priest follows after a lapse of several days. “Buhos-tubig” is not practiced except only when the newly-born child is not in a condition to live. The mothers of the newly-born babies practice a sort of sweat bath called “nagbabato,” until they take a bath five weeks or a month after the delivery of the child. In the practice of “nagbabato,” the husband heats a hard stone. After heating, the hard stone is wrapped up in some leaves like duhat. The mother stands with [the] hot stone between the feet. The mother is wrapped

[p. 5]

up in a thick blanket. The stone is not removed until after the mother perspires.

B. BAPTISM: Immediately before a child is baptized, relatives and close friends of the child’s parents donate things such as chickens, eggs, wine, and other beverages to be used during the baptismal party. This is called the “tawiran.” The local hilot (midwife) carries the child to the church. The godfather or the godmother follows. In going out of the church, the bearer of the child must outrun the others. The belief is that the child will be ahead of the other children baptized at the same time in every way of life. Before the baptismal party is over, the godfather or godmother, as the case may be, gives a sum of money to the child and the “hilot.” The sum of money given to the child is called “pakimkim.”

C. COURTSHIP: The use of go-between is still practiced. The men, or sometimes the parents of the men, render services to the lady and her parents. [The] Services are in the form of plowing the field, weeding rice fields, fetching water and firewood, or sometimes the house takes a long time, especially when the ladies or the ladies’ parents are not in favor of the men their daughters are going to marry.

When the services of the men are accepted, the courtship ends in marriage. When the services are rejected, the men have to stop courting the ladies. This practice of rendering services is fast being for use away with, especially when the men and ladies are in love with each other, because if the parents of the ladies force the men to render services, the lovers usually elope.

D. MARRIAGE: Before marriage, the contracting parties, including all [the] nearest relatives, have a sort of conference called “bulungan.” Food is being served on the occasion.

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The go-between is always present in this occasion in the lady’s home. Things to be done during this occasion are discussed, such as the wedding party called “hapunan.” Prior supper on the eve of the marriage sponsors food to be served on the wedding party. Often, [the] dowry called “bigay kaya” or “padala” such as land, jewelry, clothes, and animals are asked from the man or his parents. Sometimes, the marriage will not take place just because the man or his parents cannot comply with the dowry. At this “bulungan,” the date for the marriage is set. The day selected must be a lucky day, a day the parents say will give good fortune to the newlyweds. When the date of the marriage comes, a party is given. After the party, the relatives of the man go home taking with them some utensils like dipper, ladle, [or] plate. The relatives of the man are the ones who serve food, giving special attention to the relatives of the girl. The party is always served in the lady’s home. When the bride dresses for the wedding, a sister or a very close relative of the groom attends to her. The reason is for the parents of the groom to have access to every piece of clothing the bride desires. Every piece of clothing discarded by the bride is put together on the groom’s clothes. The collected clothes are given to the groom’s mother. The reason is that the bride will have to stay at [the] bridegroom’s house. Her tendency is to go to her parents always. Her tendency will always [be] to stay with the parents of the groom. A silver coins is given to the groom coming from the parents of the bride and vice-versa. Before climbing the stairs, a part which has not been used is thrown away. The bride and groom are given sweets, those sticky ones, and a glass of water to drink. At the same time, while the

PART I | PART II

Transcribed from “History and Cultural Life of the Barrio of Sampa,” 1953, online at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections.