Monday, February 7, 2022

Bayambang: Fifth Capital of the Philippines (Proposed Points of Interest for Municipal Museum)

Bayambang: The Fifth Capital of the Philippines

 

 

Proposed Museum Points of Interest for Bayambang, Pangasinan

 

Our Municipal Museum, located at the heart of our Town Plaza, is nearing completion.

 

Since Bayambang has a number of interest points as far as culture and history is concerned, I have listed down the following as the major points in our narrative around which our collections of artifacts will be organized.

 

Our collection of artifacts is limited to old photos, not-so-old publications, religious items, and traditional agricultural implements.

 

I. First Inhabitants

 

Agalet, an Aeta, is said to have first settled in Bayambang, forming a village of sorts.

 

Originally called Balunguey or Malunguey, the village evolved to become Bayambang, from the indigenous tree called bayambang or balangabang which thrived in the area.

 

Proposed artifact to display: photos of bayambang plant, book of history of Bayambang

 

II. Spanish Colonization

 

- Under the Dominican missionaries, Bayambang became the home of a 400-year old parish, the parish of St. Vincent Ferrer, the “patron saint of builders” and a great miracle worker.

 

- In this parish once served a Spanish priest named Fr. Fernando Cosgaya, who compiled local words and came up with the first Pangasinan-Spanish dictionary, whose original copy is said to be currently displayed in a London museum. (A surviving copy is kept at the UST’s Benavidez Library, so we are wondering if we could secure a facsimile for our museum, so students and other visitors can freely browse through it.)

 

Proposed artifact to display: copy of said dictionary

 

- It is said that being a refuge of revolutionary heroes is no accident for Bayambang, for it has a history of pocket rebellions. The Pangasinan historian Rosario Cortez notes that Andres Malong staged a revolt against the ruling Spaniards in 1660 in this place, followed by Juan dela Cruz Palaris’ first battle in the barrio of Manambong in 1763, the place being a part of Binalatongan (present-day San Carlos City).

 

Proposed display: artwork/paintings depicting these events

 

- The fertile plains of Bayambang were turned by farmers into a major rice-producing area. The inhabitants have evolved a wealth of terms and expressions in relation to the cultivation and cooking of rice.

 

- The place was formerly a producer of sugarcane because of the sugarcane quota imposed by the Spanish colonial authorities.

 

- Bayambang is also the home of the “binasuan” dance.

 

Proposed display: video of binasuan dance

 

III. Turn of the Century: SingKapital (The Fifth Capital of the 1st Philippine Republic)

 

- On November 12, 1898, General Emilio Aguinaldo temporarily transfers the capital of the Philippines to Bayambang – the fifth and last capital of the 1st Philippine Republic. "The Council of Government convenes for the last time in Bayambang, in which meeting it was finally decided to disband the army and resort instead to guerilla warfare. The formal workings of the central government of the first Philippine Republic thus ended in Bayambang."

 

Aguinaldo's infant daughter Flora Victoria died along the way and was buried at the parish church's original cemetery, but her name may be seen as a good portent of things to come: the birth of the Philippine Republic was inevitable.

 

- On August of that year, Jose Palma wrote the Philippine National Anthem inside a train coach in a railroad station located at the barrio of Bautista, now a neighboring town.

 

- An issue of the Revolution's newspaper, "La Independencia," was published around this time.

 

- Months before this, General Antonio Luna transferred the Department of War to this town.

 

- Note that, in the annual “Heroes’ Trek,” which traces General Gregorio del Pilar’s escape to Tirad Pass and eventual martyrdom, ‘pilgrims’ all the way from Bulacan and Manila routinely include Bayambang among their pit stops in recognition of the town’s historical significance.

 

- No less than our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, was reported to have set foot in Bayambang repeatedly, to visit his muse, Leonor Rivera, in the then barrio of Camiling.

 

Proposed artifact to display: copy of La Independencia, Philippine flag, replica of Aguinaldo’s statue or bust, busts of Goyo, Luna and Rizal (Bayambang as refuge of heroes)

 

 

IV. American Colonial Period

 

- The town became a center of education, the site of the oldest school in Pangasinan, the Bayambang Central School, as well as the site of an historic institution of higher learning, the Pangasinan State University-Bayambang, which once served as the laboratory of the country’s first pre-elementary (kinder) class, first opportunity class for gifted children, and the site of the country’s first pilot nutrition program, being the host of the Philippine-UNESCO National Community Training Center.

 

- Bayambang has at least six surviving Gabaldon buildings from this period.

 

-   A huge chunk of central Bayambang became the US government’s Camp Gregg Military Reservation.

 

Proposed artifacts to display: miniature of Municipio, old photos of Municipio, BCS, BNHS, PSU

 

V. Japanese Occupation

 

Bayambang became the headquarters of the legendary American military officer, Lt. Edwin P. Ramsey, for the East Central Luzon Guerrilla Army (ECLGA) he organized after escaping the fall of Bataan from the pursuing Japanese militia, with our very own Lt. Claro Camacho as his aide de camp.

 

Bayambang was extensively devastated during the war, with the biggest buildings bombed out and reduced to ashes. Local guerrillas fell victim to the Death March and other depredations of war. But the local church was spared miraculously after bombs fell on it.

 

Proposed artifacts to display: Photos of Ramsey, Lt. Claro Camacho, ECLGA

 

VI. Post-War Period

 

- The producer of the province’s most delicious fish buro – thanks to the enduring legacy of Mangabul Lake’s once famed bounty of freshwater catch. (It is also reportedly where binuburan originated, though this still needs to be confirmed by research.)

 

- The “cornbelt” of Pangasinan

 

- The “onion capital” of Pangasinan

 

- An exporter of mangoes

 

Proposed artifacts to display: Traditional agricultural implements related to the raising of rice, corn, onion, mangoes, freshwater fish

 

- It is the hometown of the “father of Philippine cycling,” Atty. Geruncio “Gerry” Lacuesta, a former Manila-based media man.

 

Proposed artifacts to display: old bicycle, with photos of Tour of Luzon

 

- Other notable personalities: the actors Vic Pacia, Oscar Salazar, Donita Rose, Wendell Ramos; the comedian Ramon Bautista; the fashion designer Rusty Lopez; the activist nun Sr. Mary John Mananzan of St. Scholastica’s College and the founder of the women’s group Gabriela; respected educators, Dr. Prospero ‘Popoy’ de Vera and Dr. Jose V. Camacho; the award-winning indie filmmakers, Christopher Gozum, who made the first-ever full-length film in the Pangasinan language, and Allan Ibañez; and businessman-philanthropist Cezar T. Quiambao, who is now the current municipal mayor, now serving his second term, together with his wife from the entertainment world, Niña Jose. We can even claim that UN Secretary General Carlos P. Romulo came from here.

 

Proposed artifacts to display: Photos of the above personalities with brief writeups

 

VII. Balon Bayambang (New Bayambang)

 

- The holder of the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest barbecue grill in 2014

 

Proposed artifact to display: Photos of the event

 

- The holder of the Guinness Book of World Records for the tallest supported bamboo sculpture in 2019

 

Proposed artifact to display: Photos of the event

 

- The St. Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park rises as a major tourist attraction in the province.

 

Proposed artifact to display: Replica of statue and a host of other St. Vincent Ferrer statues in various styles

 

- And now a pioneer in town-wide farm mechanization in the Philippines, among a host of other firsts, thanks to good governance under Mayor Quiambao

 

Proposed artifact to display: Miniature models of farm machineries

 

 


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