Bicol dancing girls and priests

Title

Creator

Soliven, Maximo V.

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XVII (No. 5) May 1966

Year

1966

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

■ An interesting case of what may be called com munity specialization in the Philippines. BICOL DANCING GIRLS AND PRIESTS Anyone who have ever taken the trip by car will have to agree that the 115 kilometers between Naga City (Camarines Sur) and Legazpi City (Albay) are among the most fascinating in the Philippines. There’s never a dull spot along the route, but in my book the first prize goes to this unique town called Polangui. This is be cause Polangui’s chief “ex port” is women. Go into any of the plush night-spots along the strip on Roxas blvd. in Manila, and you’ll find that not a few young ladies hail from Polangui. In Angeles, Pampan£a, Polangui is amply re presented. At the “Acacia” Club in Naga-only the other night, purely in the interest of statistical research of course, we polled the demure denizens of the dance floor and discovered that about 70 per cent of them or more hailed from Polangui. Make no mistake about it. The dance hostesses and bailarinas sent out by Polangui to spread cheer throughout the country are not fly-bynights. Their profession is a time-honored tradition of this municipality that dates back to the Spanish regime. • * * Even more interesting is the fact that the main head quarters of this feminine cot tage industry is a barrio about half a kilometer from the poblacion called “Ponso.” On May 27, Ponso and Po langui will celebrate the an nual fiesta in typical slam bang fashion. Last year, about 400 hostesses from all over this farflung republic “came home” to literally kick up their heels for two nights. A top band was im ported from, Manila to liven up this sort of busman’s ho liday. Do the townsfolk of Polan gui resent their “fame”? Not at all, I’m told. The free enterprise of their adven turous sisters and daughters is one of the community’s 30 Panorama major sources of income, for the girls dutifully send the profits home and.save up the rest towards the inevitable day when the bloom fades from the rose. The only possible object of resentment is the town of Donsol, Sorsogon (still in the Bicol Re gion), which offers stiff com petition to Polangui in the profession. But it seems there’s still enough business to go around. Polangui, incidentally, is one of the five towns iri the Third District of Rep. Jose fina Duran. But the lady solon is definitely NOT from Polangui. « • * Four kilometers from Po langui, on the other hand, is the town- of Oas. The mu nicipality of Oas has a dis tinction of its own — it ex ports Priests. Scores of priests throughout Bicol and the rest of Luzon come from Oas. In fact, when a baby boy is born, he is jokingly referred to as “another prospective Seminarian.” Equally intriguing is the town of Nabua. This muni cipality has for decades sup plied the United States Navy with Filipino seamen. Many of these US Navy Pinoys have already retired and returned to their hometown. As one speeds along the highway, he can pick out the neat and well-appointed residences of these “pensioners.” More over, the retired Navymen enjoy PX privileges at US commissaries and go as far away as Sangley Point and Subic Bay to procure the ne cessities — and perhaps a few “extras.” This is reflected in the fact that a bottle of good Scotch sells at about P16 on the sly in Nabua. This is known as spreading the benefits around. — By Maximo V. Soliven, Manila T imes. May 1966 31

pages

30+

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