There is never a lack of something to discover in Antique, my province.
I arrived in San Jose, the capital town, yesterday for the Binirayan
conference on culture and heritage organized by the Datu Lubay Center at the Pinnacle Suites.
Checking in at Pinnacle Suites was a pleasant surprise. It’s a boutique hotel, clean, tastefully furnished with rooms more spacious than other San Jose hotels. And surprise, it has wifi!
It is owned by the Liao family who also owns Susana Marketing that sells construction and housing materials.
The moving force of Datu Lubay Center and this conference, which is supported by the National Commission for Culture and Arts, is writer Alex de los Santos. Datu Lubay was a chieftain who according to the Maragtas, the Visayan oral history, taught the women of Antique how to weave.
The Binirayan confab, attended by more than 40 public school teachers and librarians , is a continuation of Datu Lubay Center’s mission to promote culture and arts education as a tool for empowerment and social change.
EricB. Zerrudo, director of Metropolitan Museum of Manila, brought down the otherwise esoteric subject of Heritage conservation to everyday life with his lecture,”Heritage, Makakain ba yan?” He said it’s a question often asked of him and his colleagues by members of Congress during budget deliberation.
Eric stressed that heritage and development need not clash and cited Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s Ilocos Sur and Gov. Chavit Singson’s Vigan which successfully used their rich and beautiful heritage in their development plans.
Eric said heritage is not only about the past. It’s past plus present plus future.
Fr. Fortunato “Bobit” Abiera spoke about the role of local historical councils.
Fr. Bobit is president of the Antique Historical Council, a body created by the provincial government but is composed of volunteers coming from the academe to promote and strengthen the historical identity of the people of Antique.
“Heritage makes us better understand of who we are as a people,” he said.
Fr Bobit laments that most of the festivities being undertaken by the government, which use up a lot of money, lack “heart and soul” and do not contribute to better appreciation of Antique’s culture.
In his opening remarks, Alex told of a story that reflected one aspect of Antique culture. In his desire to make use of indigenous Antique materials, he ordered through someone who used to bring them vegetables, 50 pieces of buri envelopes. He was made to understand that she was also into buri weaving. Buri is a kind of palm and its dried leaves are used to make hats, mats, and other items.
When delivery date came, the buri woman delivered only 33 pieces making the excuse of a death in the family. Alex refused to accept reminding the buri maker, or so he thought her commitment to him. Besides, he said, she could continue doing his order during the wake.
Alex later realized that during wakes, it’s another means of livelihood that people are pre-occupied with: tong-its, a card version of mahjong.
It was not only tong-its that Alex as the reason for the non-completion of his order. He found out that the person he was dealing with was not the buri weaver. He was dealing with a middleman and apparently the price given to the real buri maker was not incentive enough to completing the order.
So, on confab day, the first 41 attendees had their exquisite buri envelope while the late arrivals had their information materials in a plastic envelope.
There was also an interpretative dance performance of the story of Lola Masing by the Hiraya Theater Company.
Lola Masing is Tomasa Salinog, a comfort woman during the Japanese time.
Alex said Lola Masing was one of those who officially demanded apology from the Japanese government for the crime of rape that Japanese soldiers did to her and other Filipino women. He said Lola Masing refused monetary offer. “I will not accept money. I need your apology,” Alex quoted Lola Masing as having insisted. She died three years ago not getting the apology she had wanted to hear.
Alex paid tribute to Lola Masing: “She is a symbol of an Antiquena, of courage and of dignity.”
Eric said culture, like the story of Lola Masing, “is everything ennobling and excellent created by a people – ang pamana ng ating karangalan at kagalingan.”
Enjoy, Ellen! 🙂
Ellen, have a good well-deserved holiday.
One day, hopefully soon, I shall visit Antique.
Sounds like you are enjoying your Antique stay. There is nothing better than HOME.
We have a very rich culture and a lot of people like Lola Masing. We just have to bring out the best in our people. Filipinos are loved all over the world. There must be something unique in our heritage.
“Filipinos are loved all over the world.” – psb
Are the noypis friends now with the Hongkong chinese?
Save for the Anini-y church, Hamtic cemetary, old capitol building of San Jose de Buenavista and the convent ruins of Patnongon, Antique, unlike Iloilo and Negros, does not have an impresses architectural landscape from where heritage may be readily consumed.
This tells us a lot about the province’s development—that it pales in comparison with its neighbours. Iloilo was at one point the Queen City of the South and Negros the center of sugar industry in the country while Antique became a major source of cicadas (sugar plantation laborers).
Antique is better known for aswangs. In college, I found it convenient to introduce myself as someone from Iloilo (mimicking, even, the Ilonggo accent) if only to avoid being asked of aswangs.
Perhaps Antique’s association with the aswang is no coincidence for what it lacks in architectural landscape, it makes up with its rich oral tradition. Association with the aswang afterall was perpetuated perhaps by Antiquenos who worked as household helpers.
We do not excel as weavers of buri hats, bamboo crafts and patadyong but also excel as weavers of story.
Lola Masing lived to tell her story. She did so emphatically that it inspired a play staged in Japan.
The Maragtas is another proof of Antique’s rich oral tradition. It is said that the 10 Malayan datus that landed in Hamtic, came into contact with a local chieftain, Marikudo who exchanged Aninipay for a golden salakot and necklace. Historians now dismiss the Maragtas as a myth.
Myth or not, the Maragtas is a story of a population’s desire to remember and aspire to live up to one’s dreams. It should not be dismissed. It should be retold.
Evelio Javier started retelling the story of the Maragtas in a celebration called Binirayan. It was not an attempt to distort history rather, it was an attempt to instill pride to a population bereft of achievements to celebrate.
Javier’s life is another story that must be shared. The EDSA revolution is closely tied to the Aquino saga, a story immortalized in the media. But EDSA was not an Aquino affair nor was it confined to Manila. Javier got chased to death in Antique, his funeral procession in Manila is said to be the direct precursor of the EDSA revolution in 1986 as thousands participated in the funeral parade. I do not have a personal recollection of the man as I was only 4 years old at the time of his death. I only knew him from my mother’s stories. (She would tell me of how Evelio would have children armed with sticks as his escorts.)
And so it is, that what Antique has to offer are its stories both real and imagined.
Ellen sorry for the long post. Your blog touched on a topic dear to me. Krrrruuhay, Ellen (emphasis on the rrrrrrr).
Hope to see your Beatiful place Maám Ellen soon!
Kailangan nating e-promote ang sariling ating…palakasin ang domestic tourism kasi napakaraming magandang places sa Pinas na di pa natin napupuntahan.
Discover the Philippines at mag enjoy tayo sa likas na ganda nito.
Tru Blue, temporary set back lang yan sa Hong Kong.
Where does the name Antique come from? It sounds Spanish. Without any offense, many in Antique and Panay Province are not fair skinned. Maybe the earliest people in that place were Negritoes. I have a friend from San Jose and he said people there are very hospitable.