Franciscan missions in Samar: forward on the Mission Trail

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Franciscan missions in Samar: forward on the Mission Trail
Language: English
Year: 1929
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Fulltext: July, 1929 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 25 Another important construction program is that recently announced by the Matson Navigation Co., contracts, it is understood, having been placed for three combination passenger and cargo liners for the Trans-Pacific service. These vessels will be constructed at the Bethlehem Fore River Plant, Quinsey, Mass. They are approximately 600 feet in length, with a speed of. 18 knots. Each will be fitted with the highest type of passenger accommodations and will carry both general and refrigerator cargo. Additional particulars on these vessels have not O. G. Steen, General Manager, The Robert Dollar Co., with headquarters at Shanghai, was a visitor to Manila during the month of May, having arrived aboard the s.s. President Taft May 9 and returned to Shanghai by the same liner. Mr. Steen, accompanied by his family, left Shanghai June 7 aboard the s.s. President Grant for the United States on a combined pleasure and business trip. Geo. P. Bradford, accompanied by his family, arrived Manila from San Francisco June 20 aboard the s.s. President Madison. Mr. Bradford was until recently General Agent for the Columbia Pacific Shipping Co., in charge of their Philippine operations, with headquarters at Manila. Mr. Bradford has resigned that position to join the firm of L. Everett, Inc., Far Eastern Agents of the remaining Shipping Board lines operating from the Atlantic coast and gulf to the Orient. G. M. Violet, who has been connected with The Robert Dollar Co., Manila Branch, the past year in the capacity of Freight Solicitor, was promoted to the Position of Freight Agent on May 20. W. K. Garrett, who formerly occupied the desk of Freight Agent, The Robert Dollar Co., Manila Branch, has been transferred to the post of Acting Agent, Iloilo Branch and took over his new duties on May 27. L. C. Admiraal, General Passenger Agent, Java-China-Japan Line, with headquarters at Batavia, was a visitor in Manila for ten days the first half of May. Mr. Admiraal was in the course of completing a trip around the world and while here announced the inauguration of a fortnightly passenger and freight service between Manila and Java ports with new express Liners. James Wells, Agent for The Robert Dollar Co. at Iloilo, arrived in Manila May 30 enroute to his home in Scotland for a vacation. Mr. Wells departed from Manila as a passenger aboard the s.s. President Polk June 5 and, after circumnavigating the world, is expected to return to Manila some time in November. J. W. Huck, Cebu Agent for the Columbia Pacific Shipping Co., arrived in Manila from Cebu May 20. Mr. Huck was up on business and returned to his post at the end of one week. Ole May, formerly attached to the Passenger Department of the Los Angeles Office of the Dollar Steamship Line, has taken up similar duties with the Manila Branch of The Robert Dollar Co. Mr. May arrived in Manila aboard the s.s. President Van Buren May 7. J. O. Foyle, formerly attached to the Freight Department of the Dollar Steamship Line, San Francisco, arrived in Manila aboard the s.s. President Hayes May 21, to take up duties as Freight Solicitor, Manila Branch, of The Robert Dollar Co. Franciscan Missions in Samar: Forward on the Mission Trail Last month we entered Samar with the Franciscans, so the situation has been introduced to the reader and nothing remains but to extract from Father Huerta’s notes as progress is made from' town to town. Catbalogan, the capital, was also described briefly in the paper on the province as a whole. The reader will not forget that the Jesuits christianized Samar, and the Franciscans only went there in 1768, when the Jesuits were banished from the Philippines (not to return for a century) in accordance with the royal decree banishing them from all the Spanish empire. Bangajon.—Taken over from the Jesuits with a Dooulation of 2,316, including 539 tributos John Martin, Far Eastern Representative of the American Bureau of Shipping, arrived in Manila aboard the s.s. President Grant May 27. Mr. Martin was on a business trip over his territory and returned to Japan aboard the s.s. President Grant May 31. B. R. Bates, General Agent, Dollar Steamship Line, Singapore, passed thru Manila June 18 aboard the s.s. President Adams, returning to his post after a five months’ vacation in the United States. While in the United States Mr. Bates joined the ranks of the Benedicts and brought his bride back with him. G. A. Harrell, District Passenger Agent, The Robert Dollar Co., Manila, accompanied by Mrs. Harrell and young daughter, departed for the. United States June 14 aboard the s.s. President Cleveland. Mr. Harrell is enjoying a five months’ holiday and expects to return to Manila at the expiration of same. Ethel L. Hawthorne, Secretary, The Robert Dollar Co., Manila, left Manila June 28 aboard the s. s. President Pierce for Hongkong, where she will meet her husband, S. R. Hawthorne, who is returning, after a business trip to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne will return to Manila aboard the s.s. President Taft July 8. or taxpaying families, Fr. Juan Salguero being the first Franciscan parish priest. The Jesuits had already built a stone church, and a convento of the same material. Patron, St. Michael, the archangel. “The bounds of this town are not limited on the north and east, wffiere the mountainous terrain abounds in valuable woods, palms, rattans, good pasturage, wax and honey, wild game and many edible roots. There are many streams, branches of the two rivers which bathe the town. Of these, the one flowing from the north first takes a course from northwest to southeast, abruptly turns westward and, when oast the town, turns toward the south. 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The current from the north is so much more powerful than that from the south that it turns the latter back, causing a great lake to be formed in a valley called Sapinit, southeast of the town, the waters sometimes rising to the depth of 50 feet. Many of the trees and plants in the valley are poisonous, especially those called carisao and cunumay; for which reason, the waters sometimes remaining over the valley for 30 days, they are so corrupted that the odor is unpleasant at great distances, and in the town it is insupportable. But this is not the worser calamity from the floods: most of the water from the inundated region having to be carried off in the stream from the north together with the pestiferous odor it gives off, both the fish which abound in the river and those in the sea, to a considerable distance from shore, are killed. “It is a disaster to this town for the rivers to get out of bank, for the floods usually continue for two months.” Little circumstances of this kind, which tend to explain the sparseness of population in various provinces of the Philippines, Samar included. Huerta says that in his time the people of Bangajon grew rice, Manila hemp, palauán and yams; farming, hunting and fishing were the industries; the women wove native cloths, and these, with what rice could be sold, were disposed of in Catbalogan. That was in 1865, and probably conditions are about the same now as then. Capul.—Here the Franciscans found a population of 884, with 300 tríbulos. Jesuits had built a stone church dedicated to St’. Ignatius Loyola— which Fr. Mariano Valero repaired in 1781, “who at the same time built the most beautiful and substantial torre existing in the province.” These torres were fortified watchtowers erected, usually, under the leadership of the friars serving as parish priests, at points where Moro pirates were to be feared. The sturdiest of them are still standing, landmarks on the coasts of the Philippines from northern Luzon far to the south. Guard was maintained from their turrets night and day; voluntary military discipline prevailed among the friars’ parishioners, and the alarm from the torre was a signal for all to rally at the church and defend the community from impending attack. At such crises the friars took military command of their flocks, and wielded the sword and fired the matchlock. In this manner many of the new Christian communities were saved from annihilation at the hands of Mindanao and Sulu pirates. Catarman.—When taken over from the Jesuits by the Franciscans in 1768, the population was 1,305 and tributos numbered 430. Father Huerta mentions forest products from the mountains to the south and excellent fishing along the coast; in his day the crops were those still grown, rice, coconuts, abacá, camotes and palauán, this last being a palm with a large edible root. Native cloths are woven on hand looms by the women, and the men farm, fish and hunt. The church at Catarman in Huerta’s day, 1865, was of timber; no doubt no better one exists today. The patron is Our Lady. The friars built everywhere in the Philippines with the best materials locally obtainable, as transportation of heavy materials any great distance was out of the question—neither ships nor roads were available. Thus in the region extending from Lingayen to well southward of Manila, where volcanic tufa was available, they built of that; it is the material out of which the buildings in the walled city were constructed, and so much of it was obtained from quarries at Guadalupe that it came to have that name, guadalupe, Where no stone was to be had, but clay was good, kilns were erected and bricks made for the construction of churches. There was always some friar who was a craftsman, at least an amateur one, or there were Chinese craftsmen about. Brick churches went up throughout the Cagayan valley; brick and stone were used together in Manila; brick and timber were often utilized together. At Catarman, evidently, no good brick clay was to be had, while the hardwoods were abundant and accessible. But aside from the churches, perhaps the other things built by the friars, the brick and‘stone bridges and culverts especially, which are still in use, have the value of millions of pesos. Of course, in the provinces evangelized by the Jesuits the credit should go to them which elsewhere goes to the friars. As they adorned Manila with her most beautiful church, that of St. Ignatius, so they devoted themselves to the welfare of the provincial missions. Catubig.—Fr. Antonio de Val deolivas took over this town from the Jesuits for the Franciscans in 1768, when it had a population of 1,515, Here’s how to get Manilas! Genuine Manila Hand Made Long Filler Cigars are obtainable in your city or nearby! List of Distributors furnished upon request to— C. A. BOND Philippine Tobacco Agent: 15 Williams St. New York City or (ma n il a ) ¿0*g -fTC^, Collector of Internal Revenue Manila, P. I. Manilas will satisfy your taste! and 510 tributos. The name has been changed, formerly it was Cagninipa; the old site, too, is now occupied by the town of Navas. “It was moved as a consequence of an invasion of Moros during which the town was burned, multitudes of people perishing and the Moros taking more than 500 captives. This removal must have occurred about 1770 to 1775, because, having taken over the town with 510 tributos in 1768, in 1775 there were but 300, a diminution due to the invasion.” In 1777 Catubig was joined to Palapat, and 1784 to Lauang (both names are names of forest trees), until in 1790 Fr. Juan de la Plasencja was assigned to Catubig as its first parish priest. “The climate is damp and tmhealthful, winds are light and during mornings the sky is overcast sometimes until full midday. The commonest diseases are rheumatism, drosy and fevers. Good water is had from the river. There is river communication with Lauáng and Navas, and during floods by a precipitous path. Mails come from the capital at irregular intervals. The church, under the advocacy of St. Joseph, was built of stone on the old site, where some ruins still remain. A timber church (on the new site) was built by Fr. Juan de Plasencia about 1790, and one of timber and masonry (the common type of construction adopted in Manila) was built by Fr. José Mata in 1805. A timber church was built by Fr. Agaton Martinez in 1838. * * * The river flowing by the town has a depth of 70 feet and is navigable to a point above the town of Navas, a matter of three days with the oars. Navigation in small bancas (dugouts, need we say?) on this river is dangerous because of the voracious crocodiles which infest its waters. The cultivated lands produce much rice, abacá, yams and palauán. The people are engaged in farming, gathering abacá and coconuts, hunting and the gathering of forest gums and wax; and the women in weaving guiñaras, which, with what agricultural' and forest products they have to sell, are taken to the capital, or to Albay or Manila.” This picture of life in Catubig in 1865 would apply today to many remote towns of the Philippines. One may indeed not go far from Manila in order to observe similar conditions of life, save for the public schools, the doctor with his own drug store, the Chinese shops on every hand, and the new roads. Life is simple in such towns, the people happy. Palapat.—This town was taken from the Jesuits for the Franciscans in 1768 by Fr. Antonio Sellez. When Huerta wrote in 1865 the stone church built by the Jesuits was still standing and in good condition. Patron, Our Lady of the Ascension. “The only fixed boundary is that on the west. On the east lie valleys and many mountains abounding in game, hardwoods, palms, rattans, pastures, gums and wax. The beautiful neat little port is well protected and ships of the deepest draft may harbor there. Game fish are plentiful. “In this port the galleon Filipino was detained in 1762, for fear that the British cruisers might seize the silver she was bringing from America to Manila. From here it was transported by order of Senior Anda (the officer of the Manila government who went to the provinces and held out against the British) to Polangui, then a town of Camarines, in which enterprise the aid of the Franciscans was very material. From Polangui the silver was taken to Iriga, and from there by the Cabusao river and the coast of Camarines Norte to Mauban, under the direction of our Fr. Francisco Rosado de Brozas, who by order of Anda supplied the necessary bancas.” Tubig.—Fr. Joaquin Polo went to Tubig for the Franciscans when the Jesuits were expelled from the islands in 1768 (not to return for a century). A new roof was put on the church the Jesuits built, in 1846, by Fr. Manuel Lozano, “who at the same time built a new choir, two chapels and a very beautiful sacristy. The parochial house is also of stone and very spacious. * * * The river flowing past the town rises at a site called Magtaon in the jurisdiction of Calviga, whence, first losing itself among rocks and precipices, it appears again twelve leagues away, and flows eastward to the sea, having received on its left bank the IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1929 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 27 Danao river which rises in the vicinity of Parie and forms, not far from its origin, a magnificent cascade.” Underground streams such as Huerta here describes are found elsewhere in the Philippines, which have all the natural phenomena ascribable to an archipelago comprising more than 3,000 islands, some isles of coral, others mountain peaks and ranges once comprising, perhaps, southeastern Asia, and yet others elevated above the sea’s level by violent earthquakes and eruptions. We shall continue through Samar with the Franciscans next month. REAL ESTATE By P. D. Ca r ma n San Juan Heights Addition Altho June is nearly always a slow month in Manila real estate, the total as shown is most satisfactory. With the exception of June, 1923 and 1927, no other June sales since 1920 have equalled the above figures. The 1923 and 1927 totals were only slightly larger. The following are the sales for the first 6 months of the years 1920 to 1929 inclusive: 1920, PS,726,503; 1921, 4,347, 704; 1922, 4,688,420; 1923, 5,638,910: 1924, 6,206,247; 1925,6,760,664; 1926, 6,208,202; 1927, 5,862.967; 1928, 8,120,737; 1929, 10,760,037. May Sales City of Manila 1929 Sta. Cruz..................... P 117,387 Binondo....................... 341,500 San Nicolas................. 47,078 Tondo.......................... 36,133 Sampaloc..................... 450,029 San Miguel................. 45,100 Quiapo......................... 13,251 Intramuros.................. 40,500 Ermita......................... 70,000 Malate......................... 65,648 Paco............................. 113,506 Sta. Ana...................... 16,301 Pandacan..................... 2,870 Sta. Mesa.................... 21,823 June 1929 175,680 105,400 155,547 66,269 89,712 44,650 20,000 23,551 45,801 35,225 115,417 25,300 Pl,381,126 P 902,579 JUNE SUGAR REVIEW By Ge o r g e H. Fa ir c h il d Ne w Yo r k Ma r k e t : —The market under review opened with the previous month’s closing quotation of 1-3/4 cents c. and f. for Cubas, equivalent to 3.52 cents 1. t. for P. I. centrifugals. Notwithstanding the satisfactory distribution in the United States of refined sugar at unchanged prices, the market for raws declined, and before the end of the first week, holders of Cubas were asking 1-23/32 cents c. and f. for prompt shipment sugar but buyers would not quote above 1-11/16 cents c. and f. (3.46 cents 1. t. for P. I. 96°). In the second week, prices sagged further, apparently due to Cuba’s production of 5,135,000 tons (up to May 31) coupled with the large visible supplies in Cuban and Atlantic Coast ports. During the last two days of the second week however, an improvement developed which was ascribed to an expectation of better demand for refined during the coming heavy-consumption months. In the third week, the U. K. bought 5tons of raws at a price equivalent to 3.54 cents 1. t., which was considered significant, and on the 18th very heavy transactions were consummated in New York—210,000 tons on the exchange and 70,000 tons actuals. • As was to be expected a sharp reaction set in alter the sudden buying wave was over. On the 20th, the market was steady at the decline with small sales prompt shipment Cubas at 1-3/4 cents c. and f. (3.52 cents 1. t.). The fourth week opened with an evident improvement during which the U. K. bought 40,000 tons August-September shipment at a price equivalen t to 1.69 cents f.o.b. (3.60 cents 1. t. for P. I. 96°). This improvement was not long maintained, since the weakness of the refined marked was communicated to the centrifugal market, the latter closing with sellers but no buyers on the basis of 1-25/32 cents c. and f. for Cubas (3.55 cents 1. t. for full-duty sugars). On the 27th, however, a firmer tone developed owing to the reports of President Machado’s speech favoring a controlled Cuban crop for next year. On the 28th, 200 tons AugustSeptember shipment P. I. sugar were sold at 3.73 cents 1. t., while small sales present shipment Cubas were sold to operators, Atlantic Coast and Gulf ports, at 1-7/8 cents c. and f. (3-64 cents 1. t.). The visible stocks in the U. £., U. S., Cuba and European statistical countries are 5,258,000 tons as compared with 4,725,000 tons at the r i en t al F you take the short Transpacific route to Seattle—or if you enter at San Francisco—book passage on the Oriental Limited for eastern America. Luxuriously appointed and smartly serviced, yet charging no extra fare, this fast train reaches Chicago in 68 hours from Seattle or Portland. It traverses 1200 clean, cinderless, scenic miles behind giant electric and oilburning locomotives, including 60 CLEAFLCIMJERL^ Apply to Tourist Agencies or Trans-Pacific Steamship Lines or write J. Wesley Young, Gen’l Agent, Pass’r Dept., 1205 4th Ave., Seattle, Wash. A. H. Hebb, Agent, 916 Government St., Victoria, B. C. Edw. A. Dye, Gen’l Agent, 607 Hastings St., Vancouver, B. C. C. A. Gerken, Gen’l Agent, 1009 Hearst Bldg., San Francisco, Cal. M. J. Costello, West. Traf. Mgr., Seattle, Wash. Cable address: Hillrail same time last year and 4,411,000 tons in 1927. Futures. Quotations on the New York Exchange during June fluctuated as follows: High Low Latest 1929— July............... .. 1.81 1.59 1.80 September... . .. 1.91 1.68 1.91 December.. .. .. 2.02 1.76 2.02 1930— January......... .. 2.05 1.78 2.05 March.............. 2.10 1.84 2.10 May.............. ... 2.16 1.92 2.16 Philippine Sales. During the month of June, sales of Philippine centrifugals in the Atlantic Coast—afloats, near arrivals and for future deliveries—amounted to 33,850 tons at prices ranging from 3.49 cents to 3.67 cents 1. t. as compared with sales amounting to 32,000 tons during the same period last year at prices ranging from 4.21 cents to 4.52 cents landed terms. Eu r o pe :—F. O. Licht, in his monthly report for May, released his second estimate of the European beet acreage for 1929-1930 as compared Limit ed Across America miles along Glacier National Park. Enroute, see the illuminated New Cascade Tunnel, longest in the Western Hemisphere—8 miles through the Cascade Mountains —shortening the distance across America on the Great Northern Railway. At Chicago make connections for Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington, D. C., and other American cities. A Dependable Railway IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL