Remembrance and deliverance

This old man has every reason to celebrate this past week, together with all Kapampangans, Bacolor residents especially, and set aside his rage, at least temporarily.  No, it’s not all about our 113^th Independence Day, although this historic event, on its own, merited lots of jubilation from all of us.  This annual celebration though had made the past week doubly ecstatic as we also commemorated a milestone in our collective triumph over the twin disasters that seriously threatened to wipe out Pampanga from the country’s map and nearly deprived the Kapampangan race the cradle that nurtured its distinct social and cultural development that started long before the Spanish conquest took place.

I remember writing the following in one of my short papers in my Urban and Metropolitan Development and Administration course to describe my town: 

“Bacolor was founded in 1576 by local landlord Guillermo Manabat based on an ancient settlement called Bakulud.  It was among the first towns in Luzon that the Spanish colonialists recognized when they started the occupation of Manila.  They were on the lookout for areas that would support their sustenance and the other material bases of their occupation of Manila and the various prosperous communities along the riverbanks of the great Rio Grande (Pampanga River) proved ideal for this purpose. The Pampanga Socio-Economic Profile (2001: 2) claimed that the conquest of the province by the Spaniards began in 1571 right after the defeat of Rajah Soliman in Tondo.  That early, these communities were already food self-sufficient, had a functioning and well-adjusted system of self-governance (Ibid: 1) and were trading in various merchant capitals overseas (Mallari, 200_: 26).   These obviously fit into the scheme of things of the Spanish conquistadores.”

“Bacolor, because of its strategic location, its high and level well-irrigated land by a river that led to the sea, and its “material prosperity that allowed its people to devote time and wealth to things spiritual and artistic “ (Tantingco, 200_: 7) was chosen over the other pre-Hispanic settlements of Lubao, Betis, Macabebe, Candaba, San Luis (Pinpin), Arayat (Cabagsac), Apalit, Sasmuan, Mexico, Guagua and Porac (Ibid) as the provincial seat of the colonial government not only for the above cited purpose but also in the subjugation of the rest of North Luzon.  In 1762, this importance further became more pronounced with its declaration as the capital of the Philippines when Governor General Simon de Anda had to escape Manila to avoid capture from the invading British forces and declared it the seat of the colonial government.   From Bacolor, Anda directed efforts by the Spanish forces, beefed up by the highly skilled Kapampangan soldiers, to retake the city.  It remained the country’s capital until Manila was returned in 1764 to the Spanish throne (Zaide, ____ cited in Buenviaje, 1968: 43) with the signing of an agreement with the British crown.   The town, though, was the province’s capital as early as 1755 and “remained so until 1903 when the capital was transferred to San Fernando”.  (Ibid)  Pampango historian, Mariano Henson however claimed that the town was the provincial capital as early as 1746.  (Gaillard, 200_: 24)”

Obviously, Bacolor and, of course, Pampanga, existed long before the Spaniards came and the Kapampangans were far from being barbaric and ignorant.  (Western historians would want us—conquered people—to believe that our country had to be freed from ignorance to rationalize their aggression and occupation of our land.)  What was not present, and which the Castilian conquerors unwittingly hastened to develop, was our collective identity as Kapampangans.  This they accomplished when they supplanted with their own the native baranganic form of government for easier administration and supervision of these pre-colonial communities and for smooth exaction of tributes and forced labor—polo—to further advance Spanish conquest of the islands.  The commonly experienced abuses from the Spaniards proved fertile ground for these independent communities, which Filipino historians likened to nation-states rather than to local governments we now have, to forge unity and develop social cohesion towards the evolution of the Kapampangan race.

This rich history and tradition was the one almost consigned to oblivion when Mount Pinatubo awakened on 15 June 1991 from its almost 600-year quiescence and vented the fury that had been slowly sweltering in its bosom.  In this day and age, many would laugh at the explanation our Aeta brothers and sisters offered on what caused the eruption.  The drillings for geothermal energy by the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) in their deity’s, Apo Namalyari, idyllic lair caught his ire, thus, the eruption.  Whatever the reason is, the undeniable truth is that the flare-up was among the most destructive volcanic explosion recorded in recent history.  It was so huge that it was said to have altered the global climate.

At the micro-level, the immediate surroundings of Mount Pinatubo bore most of the brunt of its eruption and its more vicious aftermath, the lahars.  But the locality that really hogged and lingered in the national, even international, attention was Bacolor as it helplessly lay prostrate along the path of the smoldering mix of volcanic debris and rain water until 1995 when 20 of its 21 barangays had been inundated by varying depths of lahars—some were buried by as much as 10 meters.

Mainly because of our perseverance and resilience, the Kapampangans have successfully overcome all odds and risen up from the ashes of Mount Pinatubo, like the mythical bird, Phoenix.  We not only contented with the physical challenges posed by the twin disasters but by the initial bureaucratic disregard of the national government, which, at the onset, considered to just allow the province succumb to the harshness of the eruption and resultant lahar flows.   Our organized collective actions made the national government to reconsider its initial stance and undertake massive infrastructure intervention to contain the destructive lahars in Bacolor and spare the rest of Pampanga.

Specifically for Bacolorenos, we can cull a lot of learnings from this which will go a long way in confronting the tougher challenges that our town faces as it treks to reclaim its lost glory and esteemed stature among the municipalities of Pampanga.  One, the disasters had created so much goodwill that was there during the critical stages of our ordeal and contributed a lot to our triumph over these catastrophes.  It is therefore prudent that we wisely utilize the remaining goodwill to complete our rehabilitation.

Two, then as now, “vultures” are hovering over us to pounce on our weaknesses and apparent helplessness to advance their selfish interests.  These had become common fixtures in any actual- and post-disaster phases of disasters.  I’ve also seen them worked while supervising a post-landslide community-based disaster risk management project in Dingalan, Aurora in 2005 up to 2006.  Evidently, these have not left us but unlike real vultures with their unmistakable appearance these have mastered sartorial dressing and mouth pro-people utterances to disguise their real intent.  We should therefore be always on the lookout that these will not deplete the residual goodwill that we needed so much to complete our rehabilitation.

It is also indispensable to bear in mind that it is not enough that we carry out remembrances but undertake this, more importantly, in the context of our deliverance from the obstacles that caused our downfall.  Moreover, may we be able to fashion the same, if not surpass, the unity that made us triumphant over the twin disasters as we trudge the path towards the comprehensive rehabilitation of our town.  The same unity forged by our forebears to make Bacolor the greatest Kapampangan town in the olden times.  (30)