Introducing the original settlers of Pangasinan

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Introducing the original settlers of Pangasinan
Language: English
Year: 1928
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Fulltext: 24 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL April, 1928 Introducing the Original Settlers of Pagsanjan <§><§■ •$> <§> <§> Franciscans Push Onward Around Lake Laguna Into Tayabas Commencing this ninth excursion along the great mission trail in the Philippines, we give somewhat extended space to Pagsanjan because it has always been unique among provincial towns. This latter-day period, it is true, seems to be taking away the best talent and causing it to reside in Manila; so that only a few years ago it was reported that Pagsanjan had no can didates for the town mayorship. Nevertheless, Pagsanjan remains distinguished. Deans Conrado and Francisco Benitez hail from Pagsanjan, and Mrs. Benitez, head of the Philippine Wo men’s College. Pagsanjan has always gone in for higher education; towns in the islands twice and thrice her size have sent fewer students to the University and to universities in the United States. Scrutiny of the civil service records would also reveal that Pagsanjan folk know how to live off the government; seemingly they pass the examinations with high marks, and when once employed they are able to stick to the job and earn promotions. A son of Pagsanjan, ex Representative Benitez, was the first legislator in the Philippines to make a speech in English on the floor of the house during a regular session of that body. It was a staged performance; Benitez got little attention, but many members who laughed at him then are no longer lending their levity to our public affairs; speeches in English have also become.quite the regular thing in the house. Pagsanjan has many claims to leadership; she is a fountain, though by no means the only one in the islands, of native enterprise. We smile, of course, when we see a good deal of this enterprise exerted only to the end of annexing government jobs; but that is not altogether Pagsanjan’s fault, and such as it is it is some thing out of the ordinary. “Of a barrio of the town of Lumbang,” writes Father Huerta, “composed of various Chinese and Japanese occupied in the bouga industry, this town was formed, being separated from the mother town in civil affairs in 1668 and in spiritual affairs in 1687, the first minister being Fr. Agustin de la Magdalena. In 1688, upon the recommendation of Sergeant Major D. Mateo Lopez Perea, alcalde mayor of the province, the superior government decided to remove the seat of justice of the province from Bay to this town, establishing in it the capital. In 1697 some 200 native taxpayers were added to the pueblo, who were conceded the right of naming their own gobernadorcillo, which office fell to D. Francisco Umale; and from then on this town had two captains (meaning local 'hieftains), one for the mestizos and the other for the natives.” Huerta wrote in 1865, when this type of gov ernment for Pagsanjan seemed still to be in existence. Two confraternities were connected with the church, one made up of the members of the mestizo grange (gremio de mistizos) and the other of natives. Huerta remarks the prosperity of the first of these confraternities; its common fund of P9000 in 1847 had increased to 1*16,000 in 1852. It was the Archconfrater nity of the Holy Sacrament and dated from 1807; its constitution received the royal sanction July 23, 1819 ,and bulls of the Pope in 1820 and 1826 confirmed its rights and granted indulgence to its members. The original church was of course of nipa and bamboo, 1688. The present one, of brick, dates from 1690 and was “built under the direction of a Christian Chinese called Miguel Guan-Co.” “It was here in this town that our religious saved the silver with which Sr. D. Simon de Anda y Salazar could begin the defense of these islands against the British invasion in the year 1762, which action afterward cost this province of San Gregorio so much unpleasantness.” The tribute collected and held at that time in Pagsanjan as the provincial capital was Pill,000 in specie. In Manila the authorities were collecting the ransom, and they had sent to the provincial treasurer, D. Nicolas Echau Beaumont, for all this silver to be delivered to Manila and put with the growing heap making up the ransom. But Anda had already escaped to the provinces and begun his resistance. The Franciscans knew he was in dire need of funds, and the friars of their order stationed at Pag sanjan were determined that he, and not the British, should have this 1*111,000. They en listed the aid of D. Francisco de San Juan, who had held high military command in the Spanish insular forces and was then the leading figure in Tayabas. He came down to Pagsanjan with 500 horsemen, who stationed themselves around the provincial building while the two friars went in to parley with the agents from Manila. However, these men were so stubborn that one of the friars had to cover them with a blunderPagsanjan Falls.'* The”canoe journey up the gorge to these beautiful falls is a never-forgotten experience, and the return trip, shooting the rapids buss while he impressed on them the fact that not one peso of that silver was going back with them to Manila. Things were at this impasse when agents hove into town from Anda, saying to send the silver to him; and so Beaumont did so “with much lamenting on his part and much rejoicing by the religious.” Besides its wonderful falls, Pagsanjan has medicinal springs once widely renowned for cures effected in diseases of the alimentary sys tem. Why it is that the many curative springs existing in the Philippines are not more recom mended by physicians nowadays is past finding out. THe Jesuits especially have some records and analyses of their waters which would be sufficient to base further scientific investigation on. The springs exist in every part of the islands and there is no question but that their more adequate exploitation would have a salu brious effect. The Franciscans discovered many of these springs, or first observed their use by the native inhabitants; and so it was at Pag sanjan, where they long maintained an infirmary. San Antonio. Established in 1736 out of two villages theretofore attached to Longos Manila Cordage Co. P. O. Box 131 Manila, P. I. TOWLINE BRAND High Quality Pure Manila Rope CROWN BRAND Good Quality Pure Manila Rope PLOW BRAND Mixed Fiber Rope Low in Price DRAGON BRAND Made of Pure Philippine Maguey Ask for Prices and Paete. “The first church, dedicated to San Antonio de Padua, was burned by the Moros of Mindanao in 1760, the Moros also capturing more than 100 prisoners. The second church, of boards and bamboo, endured until 1814, when the one now existing was commenced by Fr. Jos6 Garcia, Fr. Agapito de Aranjuez completing it in 1845. It is of ordinary archi tecture, with a wooden tower, and the cost was defrayed by the friars, certain charitable con tributions, and the aid of the townspeople.” Bay. Founded by the Augustinians, but ceded to the Franciscans in 1737. Capital of La guna until 1688, when the capital was removed to Pagsanjan; the reign of Santa Cruz as the pro vincial capital is recent and postdates 1865, the year in which Huerta wrote, when Pagsanjan was still the capital. Only a bamboo and nipa church existed in Bay when the Franciscans took over the town, but the church of stone, now standing, was begun in 1804 by the Franciscan parish priest, Fr. Gerdnimo Herbas. Patron saint, San Augustin. Bay has extensive irrigated lands. Magdalena. “Four barrios pertaining to the town of Mahayhay formed a visita called Ambling, and this, being separated from the mother town in 1821, was erected in turn into a town bearing its present name, Fr. Antonio Moreno being the first parish priest. The church, dedicated to the heroine of love, Santa Maria Magdalena, is of solid construction sit uated on a small hill of slate stone, extremely durable. This church was built by Friars Maximo Rico, Jose Cuesta, Joaquin de Coria and Francisco de Paula Gonzalez, the zealous curate, Fr. Jose Urbina de Esparragosa, com pleting and adorning it in 1854.” Luisiana. Separated from Mahayhay in 1848 politically, and spiritually in 1854, “by decree,” of course, “of the superior government.” When Huerta wrote in 1865, there was only a small temporary church dedicated to the Holy Virgin. The traveler of today may observe how well the zeal of the people have carried them on, and whether they have thought fit to build in the substantial manner of their forbears IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL April, 1928 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 25 in the older towns. As a matter of fact, the progress of time brought a change of predominant notions; in this day men and women are observed, for instance in a conquest of the air, who, at the time the older churches were built which are not standing in the Philippines, would have been making knights of the Cross, friars and nuns of themselves; for such were the envied activities of that ancient age. While human nature changes but little if at all, the human viewpoint certainly changes a great deal. Next month we journey on with the doughty Franciscans into the Bicol region, the bishopric of Nueva Caceres. They had indeed one more town which is now an important one in Laguna, San Pablo, the province’s main commercial center, where half the desiccated coconut to supply the American market is manufactured— where, therefore, coconut cakes and fudge begin—but when Huerta wrote in 1865 this town was still embraced in the neighboring Babcock & Templeton, Inc. NEW YORK MANILA CEBU SAN FRANCISCO Exporters of Philippine Produce Hemp, Copra, Maguey Head Office: China Bank Bldg., Manila Phones 2-29-62 and 2-29-63 Head States Office: 183 Madison A New York Ci Agents for United Kingdom and Europe: Robinson, Fleming & Company 9 Billitcr Sq., London, E.C. 3 REAL ESTATE By P. D. CARMAN San Juan Heights Addition province on the south, Batangas. The original name of San Pablo, founded by the Augustinians, was Sampaloc; in 1794 the founders ceded the town to the Franciscans. “The church, under the advocation of San Pablo, is of brick, quite strong and spacious.” The Augustinians built this church, but a Franciscan, Fr. Pelegrin Pospei, renovated and repaired it in 1840, making it so fine that “it had nothing to envy in the best temple of the islands.” Old bridges in the vicinity are all the work of different friars stationed at one time or another in San Pablo. Here is another first rate outing place little patronized. . Up a side street only a little distance from the main highway, a crater lake is encountered—cool placid waters resting amid the hills. Wide green sward borders this lake, and trees are large and frequent enough to afford shade for picnic parties. Swimming is ideal. A day may be most profitably and delightfully spent in San Pablo, visiting the two busy coco nut factories, the market and the church, and this remarkable lake. Then there’s another smaller lake, the work of a miracle. A handsome house and grounds were once there, the property of a rich but selfish woman who would not let the poor of the town come into the grounds to gather tamarind beans from her burdened trees. The result of one of her tirades was that Heaven RAIL COMMODITY MOVEMENTS By M. D. Royer Traffic Manager, Manila Railroad Company The following com modities were received in Manila February 26, 1928, to March 25,1928, both inclusive, via Ma nila’Railroad: The following are the totals for the first quar ter of each year from 919 to 1928 inclusive, howing a decided mprovement: 1919, 5,721,562; 1920, 4,577250; 1921, 2,979,880; 1922, 2,621,551; 1923, 2,499,948; 1924, 3,856,879; 1925, 3,539,851; 1926, 3,421.002; 1927, 3,543,539; 1928, 4.485.Binondo San Nicolas Tondo......... Sta. Cruz. .. Sampaloc. . . San Miguel. Quiapo........ Sta. Mesa... Sta. Ana.. .. Pandacan... Paco............ Malate........ Ermita........ Intramuros.. 19,806 39,200 60,954 shook the earth, caus ed the total ruin of the property and the death, by drowning, of the mean widow, and put the lake there so that the destruction could never be re paired. No doubt a dozen legends of the picnic January............ 1’1,138,445 1920 . . . 1’ 1,796,773 I’ 1’1,216,515 lake exist too. 1921 1,631,492 1’ 1922 1,273,713 1923 I’ 570,486 February.......... 1,637,883 492,768 657,012 1,151,309 March.............. 1,142,594 855,620 690,826 778,153 April................. 1,535,135 401,997 704,789 729,829 May................. 1,004,946 466,258 694,211 1,381,465 June.................. 1,609,212 499,569 667,869 1,027,668 July.................. 882,695 480,105 1,029,019 717,859 August............. 1,886,047 558,491 692,891 504,123 September........ 1,321,489 1,022,093 1,040,814 1,153,444 October............ 1,186,673 857,446 812,464 550,507 November........ 803,865 457,699 746,545 863,772 December..". . .. 2,870,499 486,321 1,071,936 848,833 Totals....... . .. 1’17,677,811 1» 8,227,859 1’10,082,089 1’10,277,448 1924 1925 1926 1927 January............ . . . 1’ 1,879,030 1’ 883,818 1,128,773 1’ 1,215,531 February.......... 840,673 972,578 919,150 594,903 March.............. 1,137,176 1,673,455 1,373,079 1,733,105 August............ September...... October.......... November...... December....... Totals............. 1’13,038,861 1’15,404,742 1’12,710,666 1’11,995,124 1928 March February Rice, cavans................ .. 252,500 332,854 Sugar, piculs.................... 382,590 398,370 Tobacco, bales................. 3,480 3,880 Copra, piculs.................... 60,100 49,14u Coconuts..................... ..... 2,240,900 2,048,200 Lumber, B.F.................... 297,000 118,808 11,800 Desiccated coconuts, cases 12,382 Herring - Hall - Marvin SAFES Will your safe stand this? After several hours of terrific heat when the building falls and tons of debris carry your safe into the heat of the raging furnace, will that safe continue to give real protection to your valuable papers? The HERRING-HALL-MARVIN Safe Will! The most complete fire protection ever built! Convenient Monthly Terms Exclusive Distributors in the Philippines: ERLANGER 8s GALINGER, Inc. 601-609 Escolta Manila Cebu IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL