Tindaan na Baley

Tindaan na Baley (Pamilihang Bayan ng Bayambang, Bayambang Quadricentennial Public Market)

The tindaan na baley, now called the Bayambang Quadricentennial Public Market has always been right smack in the center of town since time immemorial, a hub of trade and thus a pervading presence in the daily life of the town.

This center of economic activity in the Poblacion area is adjacent to the seat of local government, the parish church, the town plaza, and the residence of the town's original principalia, in accordance with the Spanish-era edict called Leyes de Indias.

Today, this economic lifeblood is the actual show window of the municipality of Bayambang, as it is the first thing a traveler notices coming from the north and the south of the town through the main highway traversing the center.

According to the local history monograph "Down Memory Lane" by Dr. Clarita Jimenez et al. (2014), the old public market was among the places that were the "favorite hangouts of the young where they had photos taken and perhaps exchanged pleasantries." ... To paraphrase, at the gate of the old market, one could see Bayambang's first drugstore, the Farmacia San Rafael, at the back. ... "In the absence of an auditorium, big social events were held at the public market where a makeshift stage was built. Some of these events were the coronation of beauty queens during the town fiesta and Garden Day and holding of Costume Balls." This was true for a 1932 costume ball held here, for instance, according to one photographic evidence.

Tindaan is, of course, derived from the Spanish word tienda, meaning "shop" or "store," so the indigenous word for it must be something like saliwan (bentahan). It is alternately called palengke (again from the Spanish palenque), tindahan ng bayan or pamilihang bayan in Tagalog, and public market in English. Other old folks, such as Ilocano old-timers, still refer to it as tienda, and others as mercado (Spanish for market). Meanwhile, "tinda" is a local Pangasinan word which means "market day" instead of "products sold."

Around the public market of old were the accessorias, a type of mixed-use apartment-type of wood-and-concrete buildings, in which the lower floors are used as shops while the upper floors serve as residence, each shop offering a unique or competing line of products and/or services.

The wet section of market proper is not just a market but an indication of the local food culture, while the dry goods shops point to the kind of lifestyle Bayambangueños have. Traditionally, the distinct Bayambangueño products include the rice; corn; fish buro and malangsi (different freshwater fishes); assorted rice, corn, and cassava cakes, and special delicacies such as latik, puto, kundandit, binuburan, and the seasonal deremen, gipang, and inlubi; ebeb (green banana) and other banana varieties; onions; mangoes; and assorted lowland vegetables for pakbet and other vegetable dishes, including black beans, white beans, patani legumes, utong na agayep (sitaw shoots), and the now rare baeg and sabsabirukong.

At the market, buyers practice the amusing art of haggling (panagtawal) with vendors particularly their suki ya lumalako (favored vendor).

Through the years, the Bayambang Public Market has been concretized and expanded by Mayor Jaime Junio, expanded further and renovated by other succeeding mayors (Mayor Ricardo Camacho, Mayor Leocadio de Vera), then overhauled again in a major way by Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao and Mayor Niña Jose-Quiambao under a quick succession of department heads.

It has been gutted by fire a number of times in its history, and has risen up from the ashes each time, thus this institution can be regarded as a resilient survivor.

Trivia: Notably, in maybe early 2010s, the second escalator put up in Bayambang was installed at the public market's main entrance. Unfortunately, it had to be closed down after a child got pinned down by accident in 2014, causing serious injury, alarming the entire town.

Today, the public market continues to operated by the local government under the Office of the Special Economic Enterprises. It has several sections reserved for meat, fruits and vegetables, clothing, school supplies, kakanin, bagoong, buro, other dry goods, etc. A recent addition is a section where Muslim vendors sell assorted wares.

The Public Market officially includes these new facilities as extension: Bayambang Commercial Strip at the back of the Municipal Plaza and in front of the parish church and St. Vincent Catholic School, and the Food Bazaar at the old Bayambang Central School campus.

Local Market Culture

In this foot-traffic-heavy public facility and beyond it, one can hear terms used to refer to different types of vendors and vending being practiced in and around town.

Puwesto - this means either a shop-sized retail store or a small stall with a frontage and separated from other stalls by walls

Stall - another term for puwesto but only reserved for the smaller stores

Papag - wooden tables used for vending in front of stalls to maximize commercial space while giving opportunities to SMEs (small to micro-enterprises).

Tiangge - from Nahuatl language, an often-temporary or seasonal vending place made of tolda (tent) selling an assortment of goods

Baratillo - any place that sells items at marked-down prices (for example, shops that sell everything at "beinte-beinte" or P20)

Talipapa - a makeshift market located in a neighborhood or barangay meant for nearby residents to walk to

Bagsakan - the town's central drop-off point for goods sold wholesale

Ukay-ukay, ukayan, or wagwagan - shops that sell used clothes and other items, often imported, at basement bargain prices

Ambulant or mobile vendors - roving vendors that employ an assortment of mobile transport, from kariton (pushcarts) to garongs (a roof-free tricycle) to vans

Sidewalk vendors - vendors that sell ware right beside the road; now considered illegal for obvious public order and public safety reasons

Garita (Sari-sari store) - a tiny home-operated store that sells everything in tingi (tiny sizes or single pieces), from packed cooking oil to instant noodles to canned goods. (The sari-sari store has been featured here in a separate article.)

The tindaa'y baley, together with other traditional modes of selling and vending, struggle to keep up with the times, as they face stiff competition, if not the threat to sustainability from modern means of local trading and economic exchange in the form of supermarkets and mall chains. Their very survival depends on the choice residents and entrepreneurs make, local government's support, and the free market forces beyond government's influence.