Lessons from the Bayambang Culture Mapping Project

Lessons from the Bayambang Culture Mapping Project

Among the most memorable experiences I've ever had in local government service is easily the Bayambang Culture Mapping Project. A collaboration between Bayambang National High School and other local schools, the local government unit of Bayambang, Pangasinan, and its 77 barangays, and Center for Pangasinan Studies, with assistance from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and other private entities, the project started on September 10, 2018 as a whole community endeavor.

It involved, to quote the project objective, "identifying the cultural assets of the community through a substantial gathering of data on the major components of the locality's profile like classifications of cultural assets and resources, including cultural organizations, spaces and facilities, intangible assets, cultural heritage, natural heritage, festivals and events, creative cultural industries, and creative cultural occupations."

It is unforgettable to me personally, because it was like a new window opened to a new vista that I never knew existed.

I grew up in this town not caring one bit about its history and culture, I guess because no one else did. Due to personal issues, I even resented anything having to do with Bayambang as something hopelessly poor, corrupt, and backward, and I think I am not alone in that angsty, juvenile sentiment. With nothing remotely of note going on, Bayambang was a place that was best left behind, for good, and forgotten about. When I came back in 2016 after 20-plus long years of absence and a little bit older and wiser, I had almost zero interest in the town, except that it was where my folks and some old friends and schoolmates lived, where particular comfort food from my childhood were routinely cooked and served, and where school memories are deeply cherished. I had little inkling that there was something else beyond that bubble.

Little by little, the culture mapping project revealed to us, participants, what lay beyond: a rich world of almost forgotten local history, obscure beliefs and practices, secret food ways, missing tales, particular ways with language, hard-to-find songs and lesser-known dances, with most of the mapping finds found to be commonly shared with the rest of Pangasinan province but at times surprisingly unique.

We participants already had an idea that our town is somewhat a historic town, but we didn't realize to what extent. We also had an idea that it is not bereft of traditional culture, but there was so much we still didn't know. And that was where all that excitement came from.

In the validation phase which gathered the most respected educators and elders of our community, we debated the authenticity of cooking buro, deremen, inlubi, puto, pinakbet... We argued over the traditional nomenclature surrounding clay pots. We constantly asked questions, we ended up groping for answers, until little by little, artifact by artifact, we were able to gather different mosaics of information, different facets of the same subjects, and to see a bigger picture of who we once were or used to be.

The result? Volumes and volumes of filled-out mapping forms and records, museum-worthy artifacts collected, and articles upon articles making sense of the remnants of history and culture found and recovered. We soon found ourselves synthesizing our findings, and analyzing them to describe the cultural resources, networks, links and patterns of usage of our community. The most noteworthy output of this project is the book "Say Nanlapuan," which summarized the first volume of the above finds.

Volunteering on this project because of long-time interest in Filipino culture in general took a lot of time and effort on my part, but I obviously enjoyed the process nevertheless because of the joy of discovery. Among the discoveries are some valuable lessons, some frustrating, but mostly eye-opening and exciting.

1. In general, common folk don't give much importance to local history. They just don't care. And they tend to be dismissive of local cultural traditions. This can be gleaned from the lack of knowledge of or absence of artifacts or relics from the past, including some very important ones. For me, as far as Bayambang history is concerned, the holy grails include: a facsimile at least of the first Pangasinan-Spanish dictionary by Cosgaya; Aguinaldo's declaration of Bayambang as fifth capital of the First Philippine Republic; a copy of Lacuesta’s "Bayambang Post" community newspaper; a copy of Dr. Marina Sabangan's and Dr. Perla Nelmida's theses compiling local folk tales and folk songs; the last issue(s) of "La Independencia" published here; the printing press buried at Estacion during the first Philippine revolution; copies of the local publication "Babasaey Ombaley" issued during the Filipino-Spanish War; an old bicycle during the time of Lacuesta (the father of Philippine cycling); records of folk songs collected by Prof. Elsa Quinto; an old taltagan (boat-sized wooden mortar) that should remind us of Col. Edwin Ramsey's exploits here during the Filipino-American war against the Japanese Army; artifacts from WWII including the huge concrete markers at Camp Gregg Military Reservation; accounts of Japanese military's wartime atrocities; accounts involving the exploits and sojourns of Malong, Palaris, Rizal, Luna, Del Pilar, and Magsaysay in Bayambang; and personal effects/objects from the most famous and accomplished personages from this town aside from those that we have collected.

Why these artifacts? Because they are associated with historical events of national significance and local events and accomplishments that can be considered watershed moments in the annals of the town, moments that help define the town's identity through significant communal memory....And yet these are nowhere to be found. This list of most wanted local artifacts, you see, is a source of frustration for me.

2. In digging up the past, people may get negatively affected (hurt, offended), especially when properties such as precious pieces of land are involved. For example, there are affected residents in two places designated as important local cultural markers: Estacion (a property of Philippine National Railways, a national government agency) and old cemetery welcome arch (which is on church property reportedly donated by the archdiocese to the occupants).

3. If we don't pass on markers of cultural identity and heritage, they get lost or erased within even just one generation. Ever heard of the panagcorona ritual and associated song for seven-year-olds?

4. Senior citizens are the best informants on and culture bearers of the fast-fading traditions. It is best to track them down as soon as possible before they disappear altogether.

5. After the downside, the upside: No one expected this, but upon my initiative and thanks to a lot of devoted and talented hands (local leaders and department and unit heads) and contributions from across the community, both resident and expatriate, the project ended up with a treasure trove of new articles on local history and culture, and draft upon draft of glossaries of all kinds (I am particularly happy with the first online -- and free -- glossary of local idiomatic expressions, to help preserve our fast-fading ways with the otherwise rich, beautiful, and sophisticated Pangasinan language). These are all waiting to be expanded and produced as books.

That's a far cry from almost nothing on Bayambang apart from the routine publication of the annual Pista'y Baley (town fiesta) 'souvenir programs' and the monograph on local town history produced by the Quadricentennial Committee. The latter, we have to admit, is a great pioneering effort, which for some reason languishes in the limbo of non-publication until now. It is the one major resource which the culture mapping project was able to build around, but nevertheless, there was a lot of gaps that we needed to bridge and a lot of ground that we needed to cover.

In the end, the sacrifice the project entailed was all worth it, since the vast amount of knowledge gathered bore fruit in terms of our (we participants') newfound, if not renewed, pride of place and love for our town and its people.

When this project eventually won the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines–Department of Tourism (ATOP-DOT) Pearl Awards on October 4, 2025, it was like an afterthought, just an icing on the cake.