I have always been fascinated by Baler. Baler is home to President Manuel Quezon and Sen. Edgardo Angara. The capital town of Aurora province, Baler would make a beautiful location for a teleserye, a TV movie like Thorn Birds or an epic in the magnitude of Gone with the Wind and War and Peace. Baler is endowed with rich natural resources. It has spectacular topography, it has mountains, it has plains and it faces an ocean. The huge waves of Baler have become an attraction to surfers both local and foreign. Now there is a book called Baler.
Baler, the book, takes its title after the capital town of Aurora province, which is situated between Sierra Madre mountain range and the sea. The rugged, daunting confines, however, have done little to suppress the brilliance and ambition of its natives who have sought and attained national or international prominence.
Sen. Angara, a Baler native and one of the biggest names in Philippine politics, published the book that also sweeps through the life and times of Manuel Luis Quezon, often called the greatest president the country ever had, who like Angara was born and raised in Baler.
“The book is a compelling read. You have history and tragedy. It is about a place of impossible isolation that routinely sees its sons breaking out into national prominence. Yet, there are chapters devoted to flora and fauna, artifacts and heirlooms,” said Angara.
The book, in a glorious but not awkward shift, also gives an answer that Angara himself proposes in answer to a recurring query. Should Baler thrive on its isolation to preserve its physical grandeur, its pristine natural beauty and progress be damned? Or, should it finally join the economic mainstream, end up centuries of isolation and declare itself “open for business?”
Angara’s prescription is a development blueprint that combines sustainable development and massive investments in education.
Baler, as the book powerfully points out, has been a town of incorrigible survivors and optimists. In 1735, a tsunami wiped out the entire township, killer waves swallowing most of its residents save for six families that moved inland before the tsunami ravaged Baler.
The Angaras, Bitongs, Lumasacs, Pobletes, Carrascos and Bijasas built another settlement three miles from the original site instead of relocating elsewhere. From these families and a few infusion of migrants came the president of the Commonwealth (Quezon), two senate presidents (Quezon and Angara), a former president of the University of the Philippines (Angara) and the first woman majority floor leader of the Philippine House of Representatives (Bella Angara-Castillo). Renowned artists Jeho Bitancor, Maria Cruz and Zeneida Angara Amador also had Baler roots.
The contrast between isolation and renown, the irony of a remote place turning out so many prominent leaders is discussed in the book.
The last stand of 50 Spanish soldiers for Mother Spain also took place at the stone church of Baler and this took place after Spain had lost the war and officially declared so. The Spanish cazadores, their ranks diminished by diseases and hunger, stubbornly held out for a year at the stone church, under siege from Katipuneros just as determined to wipe out the last vestige of Spanish military presence.
After their surrender, then wartime President Emilio Aguinaldo offered them a safe passage to Manila so they could return to Spain. In an official communication on June 30, 1899, Aguinaldo praised them for their “uncommon valor.”
June 30 of every year is now Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day, a law authored and sponsored by Angara himself.
ONE art competition
Empowering an entire country — quite ambitious, but this is the goal of One Nation Empowered (ONE), and they’re doing it, one community at a time. ONE is a group of professionals and students who have come up with a string of projects aimed at empowering and inspiring people to build holistically sustainable communities.
One such project is Guhit Bulilit: Pangarap Ko, Pinta Ko, an art competition that ONE organized for Barangay UP Campus in Diliman, Quezon City. Held last March 8, Guhit Bulilit was no ordinary contest. “The activity’s objective was to express the vision of the Brgy. UP Campus community,” said EnP-Archt. Mark de Castro, project manager. “This is important because any kind of future begins with a vision, a dream. Without it, we would have no direction.”
Nearly 70 kids aged between eight and 12 from the different puroks of Brgy UP joined Guhit Bulilit. “We feel it is crucial that we look at our world and our future through the eyes of our children,” Mark said. “They are, after all, our new generation of leaders.”
Leadership is an underlying value in all of ONE’s programs. The organization believes it can be gained through continuous encouragement and learning. “We want to empower our fellow Filipinos, young and old, to use their creativity, intellect and heart to act and lead others in realizing their collective dreams,” Mark shared.
The drawings made by participants of the competition will be used as valuable input into a formal visioning and planning workshop to be conducted later this month by Brgy. Captain Isabelita Gravides, barangay officials and members of their community. ONE will also implement projects in the areas of livelihood, environment, health and education, among others, for Brgy. UP Campus and other communities.
If you’d like to be involved in ONE’s projects, e-mail at [email protected].
Source: DIRECTLINE By Boy Abunda
Published Friday, March 14, 2008
The Philippine Star
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zeneida angara amador
