Barrios Inicbulan, Rizal and Durungao, Bauan, Batangas: Historical Data Part II

Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines.

PART I

PART I | PART II | PART III

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LIST OF BARRIO LIEUTENANTS

II. Rizal

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Popular Songs, Games & Amusements

Interviewing our old barrio folks in Inicbulan, Rizal and Durugao concerning the old popular songs, we found out that during the past days, some of the old songs were Sitsiritsit, Ang Ulilang Awit, La Palomang Mahal, and Pakodiring. They said that these songs were important and meaningful to the hearts and minds of our barrio folks. At present, some of the new songs are Pungay ng Mata Mo, I Went to Your Wedding, Dinggin Mo Neneng, Ang Mabangong Bulaklak.

The games in Inicbulan, Rizal and Durungao during the olden times and even at present are Tubigan, Tago-taguan, Sunka, and Tuktok ng Itlog.

Tubigan is a game of several boys or girls which are divided into two groups. The first group will be on guard at the edge of the line. The opponent group will go inside the square and when one or more are touched by the guard at the line, will be the guard at the edge of the line. If the members of the group who are entering the square [and] pass through are untouched and come back untouched also, then the party who are on guard owes one set of the game. They will always be on guard until they touch, too, their opponents at the line.

Tago-taguan is [a] good game that is called hide-and-seek.

Sunka is a game inherited by the Filipinos from the Chinese. Two persons can play the game. A big piece of wood with seven small holes one each side and a big hole at each end and 98 pebbles are used to play this game. Each of the seven small holes contains seven pebbles. The pebbles will be distributed into the small holes at the sides up to the big hole at the end. The player who got more pebbles in the big hole at the end is the winner.

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Toktok is a game of young boys during the hot season. It starts in the month of March and ends in April. The boys select these hard-skinned eggs to be used by them in playing the game. One boy who has a hard egg will strike the tip of the egg of his opponents. The owner of the egg that cracks is the loser, and he will give up his egg to his opponent.

We have also some amusements during the past and up to the present such as Bulaklakan, Halo-halo Clara and Parindihan. It is interesting to note that in the Bulaklakan, the head of the game is like a king. Nobody can disobey him. If the king says, “Ang ibon ng hari ay lilipad at dumapo sa bulaklak ng Rosal” and if the partaker whose name is Rosal does not answer, “Wala po rito at nasa bulaklak ng Everlasting,” he is already guilty. Then, the king will give him a penalty like singing a song or reciting a tula.

Halo-halo is another amusement. The four partakers hold each of the corners of a handkerchief. If the head of the game says, “Halo-halo Clara bagting,” the one whom he points [at] must do the reverse and if he will follow what the head says, he is guilty. The penalty for those who are guilty is also similar to that of Bulaklakan.

Puzzles and Riddles

According to our old folks in Inicbulan, Rizal and Durungao, puzzles and riddles were very popular during the past and even at present. Some of the puzzles and riddles that are still common are:

Destruction of lives, properties, and institutions during wars, especially in 1896-1900 and 1941-1945.

Way back 1896-1900, when all the people in our place had

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no weapons except bolos, there was a great fight between the Spaniards and the people in the town of Bauan. It was really a great fight between the two. The people in our place used bolos as their weapons while the Spaniards used guns. There were no people in our place who were killed in this battle. The Spaniards succumbed at the long and white bolos of our people. The surrender of the Spaniards was a blessing to our people. The confiscated weapons – they used these guns left to them by the Spaniards. Not long after, the Americans came. The Americans were riding on fine horses whenever they went to war. When they came to Bauan, they were surprised to see many Filipinos ready to fight with them. Among these were the people of Inicbulan, Rizal, Durungao and other neighboring barrios. The battle took place somewhere between Mahabang Dahilig and Balayong. Many of these people died in this battle. More than ten Americans were hospitalized because they were wounded. Their captains during that time were Capitan Ramon from Taal and Capitan Caraos from Alitagtag. There was also another group of people called “sandatahan.” These people used bolos while the other group used guns which they got from the Spaniards who surrendered themselves. During this battle of Mahabang Dahilig and Balayong, many plants were destroyed because the people were called to take part in this war and because it served as their hiding place.

Then came World War II. It was really a tremendous one. The Japanese during that time were very cruel. At night, when they passed in front of our houses, they were riding on mule horses when they went to Cutmoon. They could not see anybody on the side of the road for fear that they might be asked by these cruel people. These people got our food like corn, sugar, bananas, rice, camotes, and all products that our farmers raised. Some of the people brought the collected products to the mountain where the Japanese were living. They went there at night so that the people would not know their way in going to the mountain. In Inicbulan, five men were killed by the Japanese due to a wrong suspicion that they were guerrillas.

Upon the arrival of the Americans, there were more than 200 Japanese that were killed as they were heavily attacked in their hiding places.

Two or three days later from their escape from their hiding places, they were seen cooking meat at the eastern part of Taboc. It was discovered that the meat was from the stolen cow that they took away as they passed the vacated homes in Durungao. A battle was fought, leaving no Japanese alive, but two Americans were also killed.

Gradually, we started a new life with our friends, parents and loved ones happily up to the present.

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B I R T H

The counterpart of the modern “comadron” or midwife during the past was the “hilot” and what will surprise most of us is the fact that the “hilot” was a man. For the reason that medical science had not yet attained the present development nor had its influence penetrated the remote barrios of this country, the “hilot” would press hard [on] the abdomen of the woman by thrashing with his feet, immediately after delivery for the purpose of forcing out the blood on the belief that if not done, the abdomen would bulge out. This method must have accounted for and justified men in engaging in the profession of midwifery by reason of force in the method of child-delivery. Wood ash was applied liberally to the newly-cut umbilical cord of the baby, a fact which attributed [to] high infant mortality, especially from tetanus infection. The baby was wrapped tightly with clothing with only the face visible, and hands and feet bound tightly together.

B A P T I S M

It was the superstitious belief that if a newborn child was not immediately baptized, its soul might be taken away by the evil spirit and so the custom generally observed was to carry a child barely three days old to town on foot (since there were no roads) to be baptized. Baptism was held only on Wednesdays and Saturdays of the week so that all children born between Wednesday and Saturday were baptized immediately on that following Saturday and those born between Saturday and Wednesday were baptized on that following Wednesday. The baptism robe was hired from town for a peseta. All the children were baptized at the same time in a mass.

The priest in some cases, not the parents, selected the name for all the children; the funny part about it was that all the male babies were given the same name and all females were given the feminine equivalent of that name. That means that if there were 40 male babies and 40 female babies baptized in one day, the priest would get a name from the calendar and if it happened to be “Juan,” then all boys were named Juan and all the girls were named Juana. Happily, there were priests who allowed the parents to select names for the infants. The pre-Spanish custom of naming their children according to their characteristics such as Malakas or Maganda was complete wiped out by the Spanish influence.