PRIDE AND HERITAGE OF CARAGA (CABADBARAN CITY, AGUSAN DEL NORTE)

Vice President Sara Duterte - Carpio's ethnic attire during President Ferdinand R. Marcos. Jr.’s State of the Nation Address has again elicited cynicisms from the ignorant and everyone that has nothing but detestations for the 17th President and Vice President.

 

Appropriately, as the Vice President is simply proud of her heritage and of the people she represents, particularly the Lumads, the Visayan collective term used to describe the about 13 non-Muslim ethnic groups of Mindanao, including the Blaan, Bukidnon, Higaonon, Mamanwa, Mandaya, Manobo, Mansaka, Sangir, Subanen, Tagabawa, Tagakaulo, Tasaday, and T'boli.

 

With key personalities present in the SONA, it is inevitable not to evoke CARAGA's rich cultural heritage, the home of talented, beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful men and women in past and present generations, bound by family ties (by consanguinity or by affinity), and common roots in CABADBARAN CITY, AGUSAN DEL NORTE.

Notably are :

 

YEDDA MARIE KITTILSTVEDT-ROMUALDEZ, wife of House Speaker Martin Romuladez, was Bb. Pilipinas International 1996 and served as Representative of the 1st District of Leyte. 

 

Yedda is a niece of VERONICA ELIZABETH MORTOLA ATEGA- NABLE, also a beauty queen and past member of Bayanihan Dance Troupe.

Both are direct descendants of the Revolutionary Leader Don Andres Atega, while Veronica, ("Nang Veth", as the Mortola family calls her) is also on her mother's side a granddaughter of Don Adolfo Mortola y Cabrera.

 

The Atega and Mortola clans are closely related because of the inter-marriages between the families

SOLEDAD GONZALES ROA -DUTERTE (November 14, 1916 – February 4, 2012) was a Filipina teacher and activist. She is the mother of the 16th Philippine PRESIDENT, RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE, and the paternal grandmother of VICE PRESIDENT SARA ZIMMERMAN DUTERTE-CARPIO. 

 

Many Cabadbaranons have also made noteworthy accomplishments in their own rights.

TRESSA ADELFA M. MORTOLA, CPA, Ph.D., LPT, CAT, CFMP, CSEE, a granddaughter of Don Adolfo Mortola y Cabrera, for 7 years had served as Dean of a reputable Business Management and Accountancy School in the City of Legazpi. Her siblings and other family members have also made intellectual marks in the academies, like Georgina of the Trinity University of Asia, Editor-in-Chief; Azucena, Chemistry, Cebu Institute of Technology; and Elsa, named "Woman of the Year" at Silliman University.

Adelfa wears a Manobo attire being proud also of her Manobo (maternal) and Spanish (paternal) lineages. 

 

Cabadbaran City is the home of numerous topnotchers in major national professional exams.

 

Mindanao, to respectfully educate, is not backward or politically and socially unstable as some may think. It has its colorful heritage, made more vibrant by its people.

 

Make it your next tourist destination.

 

(Photos and some information gathered from the WWW and immediate family members).

 

j.e.masagca
 
#advocatusdiaboli
#chasinglightschasingdreams

 

  

ATEGA ANCESTRAL HOUSE

Atega St., Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte

j.e.masagca
 
#advocatusdiaboli
#chasinglightschasingdreams

 

CABADBARAN in CARAGA Region is an old community its existence can be traced back to 1200 A.D.,Traces of the existence of 12th-century villages could be found along ancient waterways, contemporaneous with the old archaeological sites in Butuan City. Artifacts from these pre-Spanish villages like Chinese ceramics made during the 15th-16th centuries however existed. 

 

Archival records showed that Cabadbaran was first mentioned in history as a small village chosen by Spanish authorities to become a new reduction which they called “La Reunion de Cabarbaran” in 1867. 

 

With its long and eventful history, Cabadbaran City in Agusan del Norte is not wanting in cultural treasures including, I should say, forgotten ancestral houses.  

 

One has but to go several blocks in the town’s población to encounter ancestral houses dignified or intimidating in their grandeur. 

 

Among the most notable are the Mortola, Paduganan, and Alburo ancestral houses. But the most notable is the Atega ancestral house which was built in 1904 by revolutionary leader Don Andres Atega.

 

It is a huge but unassuming white structure from the outside but its interior is awesome that its description is better left to a viewer’s senses rather than on an author’s rhetorics. 

 

Built in 1904, the Atega House was the home of the Atega family that originated from the Spanish Friar Father Pedro Garcia. It was built by a revolutionary leader named Don Andres Atega. 

 

It was originally an “L” shaped house but succeeding generations, and as the family grew, rooms or wings were added that grew to  36 rooms and a garden, including what is described as “a house within a room”. 

 

The interior is a mixture of Filipino, Chinese and European styles, suggestive of the passing period or preferences of the owners.  But it all sums up to classy prosperity.

One of the rumors is about a haunted room that is kept locked. But without mentioning it, my gracious host, Ms. Marilou, however, opened it for me and explained that only those with bad intentions will experience strange phenomena. 

 

The Atega ancestral house is not only a repository of rich culture but the home of talented and beautiful, and wonderful men and women in past and present generations.

 

MY SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS

1. We can’t expect everyone to have the same view as ours but it is no reason to be rude. Courtesy, respect, and civility are still to be observed even if confronted with an alternative or hostile idea.

2. The purpose of language is to communicate that grammatical or rhetorical errors are excusable so long of course that he/she doesn’t insist on such errors or inaccuracies.

3. Facebook postings are to inform or express ideas and never to solicit “likes” or positive reactions or comments. No reaction or comment is better than a mere “courtesy like”. Who knows, your audience may just have been stupefied to react.

4. Criticism should be subtle and done with finesse, and Horatian Satire is still the classic way of sarcasm.

5. Gross misinformations cannot always be ignored out of our moral and social obligation to protect the public from falsehoods.

6. With rampant blatant lies, stupidity, and crash ignorance, it is hard to be apolitical. One has to take a critical and intelligent stand.

7. God’s graces are very much unlike a popularity contest that it borders on sacrilege to say that abundant blessings will come with the sharing of religious photos. Neither are prayers appropriate on Facebook as God doesn’t maintain an FB account.

8. Tastes and food preferences knows no social or financial boundaries so it is rude to say that a rich kid will not share what a normally deprived kid will eat or is accustomed to. Jack of Titanic was a poor guy but “doesn’t like caviar much”.

9. Too many “selfies” is still a psychological disorder bordering on Narcissism.

10. Facebook is not a full-time job that we should, or expect others to reply to in real-time.

11. I personally take challenges on FB as irrelevant and a waste of time.

12. Many will post their travel photos or food trips but it is not always to brag. They are just too happy with their experiences that they want others to have the same given the chance.

13. In my case, I usually post places or food photos to promote a unique culture, particularly how food is done in the past era or a place.

14. When I don’t accept friend requests on FB it’s not always because I don’t like her/him, as being just another “surveillance camera”. It’s either because it is a bogus account or it’s his/her FB friends that I don’t like. Anyway, most of my postings are public so there is no need to be a friend to have access to it.

15. Senseless postings, particularly those ripe with envy, hate, or are meant to politically discredit, may simply just be ignored. There are remedies available, however– to unfollow, unfriend, or block.

16. Respect the privacy of others. Postings may be intended for a particular group of friends or for family consumption and not for all those on the friends’ list. No reaction or comment is therefore necessary.

17. If ever I do not react or comment it does not mean that I have not read, appreciated, laughed privately, or understood a post. Some just take me to deep contemplation or that the emoticons on FB are insufficient or inaccurate. Much more, posts appearing on walls may be fleeting.

18. A like does not always mean “good” or interpreted as being brutal. It is an acknowledgment of information conveyed.

19. A ”credit to the owner (CCTO)” is ill-mannered and insufficient to imply that a photograph is of another person. At the very least mention where it was taken or cited.

20. I only react or comment to a post where I see it or whoever posted first.

GUBAT, SORSOGON, PHILIPPINES

j.e.masagca
 
#advocatusdiaboli
#chasinglightschasingdreams

 

RIZAL BEACH at low tide - one of the many beach resorts lining the coast of Gubat to Bulusan towns on the eastern coast of the Province of Sorsogon.

 

Here, no matter how many bathers there are one can still find a beach spot all for himself.

 

But I was thinking what if 500 years ago Ferdinand Magellan dropped anchor here rather than in Homonhon or in the VisMin section of the archipelago?

 

Guam, from where Magellan took off to continue his journey on March 1521,  is at 13.4443 Degrees North.  Homonhon is at 10.7301 Degrees North, Gubat, Sorsogon is at 12.9202 Degrees North, Virac at 13.5849 Degrees North, and Legazpi City is 13.1391 Degrees North.

 

My crazy notion is that if Magellan’s navigator has taken a straight westerly course from Guam, given some deviations due to the prevailing wind and ocean currents, then the expedition could have landed in the Bicol Peninsula.

 

Maybe it was the Amihan (Northeast Monsoon) that is prevalent in the first months of the year that caused the drift 3 degrees in latitude towards the south, give or take some minutes and seconds.

 

In all probability, if it were so, the Spanish expedition it could have landed in Catanduanes, not only as the island is almost of the same latitude as Guam but its geographical location is further out to the Pacific Ocean than any part of Luzon.

 

Just a wild imagination but how the change could have altered the pattern of Western cultural influence in what later would become Las Islas Filipinas.  

 

Who knows, Magellan could have made it home to Spain as Bicolanos are gentle and more tolerant people, without being cowards or subservient.  The endless debate as to the site of the first mass in the archipelago could have been avoided.

 

Anyway, even if Magellan drifted further south of Luzon, Sorsogon Province is credited to be the site of the first Catholic Mass in the island of Luzon, and other maritime roles during the Spanish regime.

 

From Magayagayang Magallanes, November 27, 2017, in magallanessorsogon.gov.ph:

 

“Coming from Cebu, Fray Jimenez together with Fray Juan de Alva went to Oton, Panay to meet Legaspi who was there at that time. Then Fray Alonso Jimenez and Spanish Captain Luiz Enriquez de Guzman were sent to explore, pacify and evangelize Southern Luzon.

 

‘Sailing northeasterly coming from Oton, Panay with brief stopovers to evangelize Leyte, Samar, Masbate, and Burias Island, and across Ticao Pass to Sorsogon Province, the missionary group of Fray Alonso Jimenez reached Ginangra (a barangay of the present-day town of Magallanes) and landed finally at the ancient fishing village of “Hibal-ong” which was later called Ibalon (Gibalon).

 

‘The landfall of the De-Guzman-Jimenez expedition was on the shore of Ibalon (“Hibal-ong”) now known as sitio San Isidro (in Barangay Salvacion), which is situated at the mouth of a big river, located at the western coast of Sorsogon Province in what is now the Ginangra River. Near the mouth of the said river, they must have cast anchor not too far from the seashore and went ashore to Ibalon.

 

‘On the shore of Ibalon, the present-day sitio of San Isidro at the mouth (“bocana”) of said Ginangra River, Captain de Guzman, and Fray Alonso Jimenez built a small chapel made of bamboo and nipa. There, Fray Jimenez held the first mass in Luzon in 1569. The natives were baptized, thus making Ibalon (now sitio San Isidro) the first Christian settlement in Luzon.

 

‘The holding of the first mass in Ibalon (Gibalon) in Luzon in 1569 is evidenced by the records of the San Agustin Museum in Cebu and Manila which stated that he (Fray Jimenez) went to Ibalon in the province of Camarines (the name of the Bicol Region at that time) where he resided for some time, baptized a lot of indios and principales and built a small chapel. The said records were written in Spanish, a portion of which reads as follows: “xxx aqui paso a Ibalon, de la provincia de Camarines, donde residio algun tiempo, bautizo a muchos indios y principales, levanto una pequeña iglesias xxx”.

HUMAN INTEREST

 

Human interest abounds everywhere, particularly in public events like this morning’s oath-taking ceremony for passers of a Board exam. It could be touching, and even hilariously entertaining especially if one is waiting under the morning heat to be accommodated inside the main hall observing people is one easy way out of boredom.

 

Family pride, which I call “froud farents” behavior, that manifests from constant selfies with ward, being dressed up or made up better than the oath takers,  was the order of the day, that limiting the guests was something that may be considered as “anti-family”. Sadly many have to content themselves peering at the proceedings beyond a couple of glass doors when so many have to endure the walk and/or take public rides to the venue.  I even saw a family using their tricycle all the way from a town at least 115 kilometers away.

 

The PRC should have also taken this into account, not just the free bottled waters that a photo is taken of anyone who avails of it.

 

Inconveniences are not rare, like a Board passer whose shoes suddenly broke up, the scarcity of public transportation, and the rain suddenly pouring uncooperatively after the ceremony.

 

Hopefully no overpricing by tricycle drivers. 

 

On my part, with most of the oath takers passing by where I stood, the cartoonist in me took over before I died of boredom and heat stroke. I just amused myself with what unfolded.

Filipiniana attire was prescribed but many seem to overdo it. It was an oath-taking ceremony not a fashion show at least, but I can’t help not noticing a guest that’s gold from hair to toes. That’s nostalgia or retro I think, coming in like a 1960’s Double O-7’s girl in Gold Finger.

 

Even Filiniana-inspired dresses also have a difference in what is to be used in an evening affair and under the full glare of the sun, unless one wants to be like Raj incarnate.

 

Some felt wonderful without their “Camareros” (wearing gowns with outrageous designs and lengthy trains that are often seen on Good Fridays or pintakasis), dudes as if competing in Tawag ng Tanghalan, dresses with side slits from the waist down like those in Miss Earth beauty pageant, and a bareback but the 2 inches width bra straps could well support Marcelo Fernan Bridge.

 

And of course, I counted at least 54 with obviously extended/ heavy eyelashes,  with one having an eyelash pointing down and the other side pointing up. 

 

Many should learn from the two Muslim ladies who came elegantly in their simple Hijab, especially the one with the red and maroon combination.

 

The point is they would be teachers that proper dressing should be learned for their young students to emulate. Power dressing should not be confined to the corporate world.

 

The guest speaker has asked if they as teachers are ready to face the millennials, with their different attitudes and behavior, not knowing that the oath takers in the majority are such. Kung maka selfie na lang, with all the jump jump, ay wagas!

 

"GRATITUDE, THE MEMORY OF THE HEART"

 

"Alumni come home because of their gratitude to their alma mater," said Fr. Isabelo R. San Luis, SVD (born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte) in his homily during the thanksgiving Mass on the  Golden Jubilee Homecoming of Divine Word College High School Department Batch 1968-1972.

Fr. Bel says, "gratitude is the memory of the heart". 

Thus, the high school boys 50 years ago came home on July 7-10, 2022, full of memories and grateful for having been molded in the ideals of Divine Word College of Legazpi, grateful for the friendship, the bond, and solidarity with everyone in the Class of 1972, and fondly remember the "Divine Days", then an "all-boys high school". 

 

We came home to our alma mater because Batch '72 to share the "mga pasalubong", or gifts, with Divine Word College. Fr. Jhonatan A. Letada, SVD (from Clavertia, Masbate) said, these are GIFTS, GRATITUDE, AND GIVING BACK. 

 

We, the alumni, are the GIFTS to the institution, for being what we are. The second gift is our GRATITUDE, as our presence is an expression of our deepest gratitude to our alma mater.  Lastly, out of gratitude, we have the gift of GIVING BACK not only to the institution but to our family, friends, and community. because we have been blessed. 

 

What have we gained from my alma matter during our academic years? DUC IN ALTUM, to launch into the deep, unafraid, and with confidence. To launch into the deep without pretensions, with self-respect, and with humility, to uphold one’s principles even at the cost of being unpopular.

 

Nobody can set sail unprepared, as the sea is perilous with the high winds of reality and the dangers of the squalls of avarice and selfishness. 

 

Fortunate are we to have been forged in values, ethics, service, and academic excellence typified by the quad letters DWCL. 

 

DISCIPLINE, coupled with ethical principles is lacking in contemporary times. Like honesty, even if it is such a lonely word as a song goes.

 

As high school students, discipline is a way of life that is metamorphosed into self-discipline. Surely, many were sent to this school not only for academic excellence but for the discipline imposed by the administrators. 

 

Erring students, including me, are often sent outside, to kneel with arms outstretched in the corridor because of misbehavior; or the entire class is made to stand on the basketball court under the heat of the mid-afternoon sun, or made to run on the court for five to ten rounds for unruly behavior while the Father President, Fr. Florante Camacho, SVD, reads the breviary in the shade.

 

The same punishment applies to tardiness that seldom is late for school. 

 

While the Divine Word College of Legazpi is not run by the Benedictine order, the rule of “ora et labora” (working and praying) had become a part of our discipline. In high school the Friday afternoon mass and prayers before each class are mandatory, and we were required to do manual work as part of the curriculum, like ground preparation and hollow blocks making for the construction of the high school building, aside from the usual gardening chores. 

 

We attended so many Eucharistic Celebrations by week that Arnold M. and I have memorized the missal.

 

Personal conflicts are often settled with the challenge, "Peace Corp?".  Fist fights to settle an issue are usually done after classes at the nearby yard of where the US Peace Corps has its official residence, and never within the school premises.

 

It was discipline coupled with dignity preserved that we carried over to college life and until now.  Still have the eyes of being mischievous, but never arrogant or proud. Classmates have remained humble and wittingly funny.

 

Discipline has contemporarily become a rarity because of ridiculous laws, erroneous appreciation of human rights, or simply because of indifference attendant to poor upbringing. Proper values are the true mark of a good pedigree or breeding. How a person conducts himself is reflective of the kind of family that he was raised from.

 

Consistency of actions, firm decisions, and loyalty are attributes of discipline. As in our morning prayers, we always proclaim to “Christ the King, Loyalty!”

 

But it was not all about adversity as one may call it. So much support was extended by the school in terms of facilities, extensive reference collections, and even magazines that are a delight to high school boys. Never mind if the fathers have the vow of poverty to keep as long as the student has what they basically need, including discounted food at the canteen during "school feeding days". The Father Principal sees to it that the library has a regular and updated copy of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Life Magazine, and other foreign publications. Good reading materials were then our luxury provided by the school.

 

Discipline, it all adds up to what we are today.

 

WISDOM– There is a difference between wisdom and knowledge. The latter is nothing more than the absorption of information or the gain of skills, but wisdom is the integration of both skills and information and putting that into positive action.

 

This is the difference between liberal education which teaches the “why’s” of things, while other courses provide the “how’s” of skills. 

 

Of course, there is the wisdom to balance personal needs and social needs; and personal preferences over family preferences. With these, we carry on social responsibilities in whatever discipline we pursued.

 

In all ways, the alumni have been competitive, not only in local industries but in other parts of the country and the world.  

 

What we are today we all owe it to our teachers. Many teachers came to the homecoming, but we missed Ms. Myrick (who attended the dedication of the school chapel on December 2021, and still, as ever, a smiling Fraulein, Mr. Donald E. Morisky (II-D Class Adviser, from Phoenix, Arizona, USA, and migrated to Los Angeles, California),, Fr. Valentine, Fr. Mulrennan,   Ms. Hemady, Ms. Vallejo (to whom we run for help in our Spanish assignments), and of course Fr. Flor Camacho, SVD, our school principal then. Instead came Fr. Bel San Luis, SVD, who also handled some subjects like Ethics, Philosophy, and Theology subjects in college. 

 

CHARACTER – Our characters were molded by discipline and wisdom, to be productive members of society, and to earn the mark of the integrity of a Divinian.

 

Almost no day pass that a high school student gets into trouble and gets a scolding from the Father Principal, Fr. Joseph L. Bates, and how he dislikes it if the student bows down his head in remorse or shame. 

 

The good priest, a benevolent disciplinarian, would always say while scolding a misbehaving guy: “Look at me. Be a man. Don’t just stand there like an ikus (bicol for cat) or a kabayow (horse). Look at me in the eye.” The point is we should be responsible for our actions, to reason out if right, and take responsibility for our actions.

 

Some fraters have also shaped our characters and views, to take action in times of wrong, and be able to answer the next generation as to what we have done during our times to correct a wrong, says Frater Gillo.

 

LEADERSHIP – As the school had aptly wrought its students, many have emerged as leaders. There became mayors, congressmen, and other political figures, while others have become leaders in the professional and corporate worlds.

Nothing much has changed beyond physical appearance. the same humility, playfulness, and sense of humor.  The only thing noticeable is the metamorphosis of many into self-confidence.

Our challenge to the next generations:

After several decades, is the school the same as before in values and excellence? Are the graduates of today similarly trained? It is only them that have the precise answer, or perhaps the answer was blown by the wind.

 

Graduates of today however seem to have forgotten the importance of social responsibility as the work or academic institutions themselves have similarly forgotten so. 

 

There are things more important than money. If one pursues nothing but money, there will always be this emptiness, this longing for the unknown which is actually the thirst for meaning in life that can only be quenched through service to others.

 

We were like that before, with meaning, purpose, and direction. How are you today?

 

BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

The Philippines is not wanting in beautiful women, and many transgenders are likewise stunningly beautiful.

 

Beautiful women, we meet every day in malls, marketplace, churches, and aboard jeepneys I even saw one riding on top of a jeepney bound for some remote town on the island of Catanduanes.  I first noticed her in the boat going to the island from Tabaco City and indeed she was daintily and naturally beautiful.  Of course, until she scrambled to get a place on top of a jeepney.

 

Even fishes, meat, and vegetables are termed “magayon” or beautiful.  On visits to the wet market, a vendor would say, “Sir, and gaganda ng mga isda o. Bili na po kayo (Sir, the fishes are beautiful.  Please buy them”).  When I’m in good humor I would usually reply : ”Okay, pero pwede ba natin siyang isali sa search for Miss. Bikolandia kasi sabi mo maganda?”

 

The point is, being adjudged as Miss so and so, or Binibining this and that, does not exclude others from being called beautiful or of lesser beauty. Neither it is a license to be presumptuous or arrogant, like the lady in yellow I saw on TV in the pre-pageant interview.

 

Beauty may get to join pageants because of sponsors, handlers, finances, or simply by ambition, while others with wit and looks wouldn’t care less. Perhaps they already have that self-confidence that there is nothing more to prove.